No more Kraft for Oreo, Ritz: Snack unit to be named ‘Mondelez’
Kraft Foods, one of the country’s most recognizable company names and owner of brands such as Oreo, Ritz and Trident, will try on a new corporate moniker: Mondelez International Inc.
The name, which means “delicious world,” will replace the Kraft handle when the company spins off its global snacking division later this year. That is, assuming the name is popular enough with shareholders, who will vote on it in May.
The company seems optimistic, though – it’s already reserved the MDLZ stock ticker symbol.
Mondelez -- whose name draws from the Latin word for “world” and the made-up word “delez,” a shortened form of “delicious” -- will be a $35-billion operation doing 80% of its business outside North America.
The name was spawned from two suggestions out of more than 1,700 submitted by employees in the fall.
Kraft also plans to split off into an $18-billion North American grocery business that will maintain brands such as Planters, Oscar Mayer and Maxwell House and retain the Kraft Foods name.
The grocery segment and Mondelez will be based in separate Illinois headquarters. The split is expected to claim 1,600 North American jobs.
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