Pittsburgh Now Owns Philadelphia… Cream Cheese

CNBC Kraft Foods Group stock surged Wednesday after the company announced a merger deal with H.J. Heinz financed in part by Warren Buffett. Buffett told CNBC that his Berkshire Hathaway company will have $9.5 billion worth of common stock in the newly merged H.J. Heinz-Kraft Foods company. It will be headed by Heinz Chief Executive Bernardo Hees. Shares of Kraft Foods were were trading 32 percent higher at $81 on Wednesday after opening at a new all-time high going back to Kraft’s spinoff from its snack food business—now Mondelez International—in October 2012. (Get the latest quote here.) Earlier, the companies said Kraft shareholders will receive stock in the combined company and a special cash dividend of $16.50 per share, financed by a $10 billion investment from private equity firm 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway. Under the terms of the deal, Heinz will return to the public market with a 51 percent ownership of Kraft. Current holders of Kraft stock will own 49 percent of the company.

There you have it, Heinz drops some chump change on Kraft and now owns all its glorious brands. Sure there’s Chip’s Ahoy, Oreo, Mac & Cheese, Velveeta, Sweedish Fish, Sour Patch Kids, Planters, Wheat Thins, Ritz, Nila, Jello, and Oscar Meyer, but the real win is getting Philadelphia Cream Cheese.

Pittsburgh has been waiting in the weeds for decades, ready to pounce and dethrone Philadelphia for the most powerful city in PA. A day after a map showing the most popular throwback jersey in each state comes out and its some how Randall Cunningham in PA, the powers that be sent the deep pocket at Heinz to take care of business.

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