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Warren Buffett’s successor appears to be considering his first significant move after taking over as CEO this month.Kraft Heinz warned investors Tuesday that Berkshire Hathaway may be interested in selling its 325 million shares in the name brand food giant that Buffett helped create back in 2015. The news came in a filing with stock market regulators.Buffett and the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital orchestrated the merger of Kraft and Heinz back then because they already owned Heinz and believed in the power of their brands. Now Greg Abel may be plotting a different course.Over the years since Buffett had come to realize that the company’s competitive moat around its brands wasn’t as strong as he thought as consumers have increasingly been willing to switch to store brands and move away from processed foods. Berkshire took a $3.76 billion writedown on its Kraft-Heinz stake last summer. Buffett said last fall that he was disappointed in Kraft Heinz’ plan to split the company in two, and Berkshire’s two representatives resigned from the Kraft board last spring.But still it was rare for Buffett to unload an acquisition during his six decades leading Berkshire even when he soured on a business’ prospects. Berkshire didn’t respond to questions Tuesday about the filing where Kraft Heinz disclosed that its largest shareholder “may offer to sell, from time to time, 325,442,152 shares.” Kraft Heinz shares fell nearly 4% to $22.85 after the announcement.There’s no sign Berkshire has started selling yet, but CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert wonders if this could be just the beginning of a comprehensive review of Berkshire’s varied holdings. In addition to its massive stock portfolio worth over $300 billion, Berkshire owns an assortment of insurers including Geico, several utilities, BNSF railroad and an eclectic mix of manufacturing and retail companies.“My sense is that Greg Abel’s leadership style may be a departure from Buffett’s, and this sale, if completed, would represent a shift in corporate mindset,” Seifert said. “Berkshire under Buffett typically only made acquisitions- not divestitures. It’s not inconceivable, in our view, that Abel may likely assess every Berkshire subsidiary and decide to jettison those that do not meet his internal hurdles.”Of course Abel already knows many of Berkshire’s companies well because he has been managing all of the non-insurance companies since 2018. But he only became CEO on Jan. 1. Buffett remains chairman, but investors are watching closely for any changes Abel might make at the venerable conglomerate.Investor Chris Ballard, who is managing director at Check Capital, said “selling Kraft is probably the most low-hanging fruit for Greg. We personally wouldn’t be sad to see the holding go.”But of course it would be bard for Berkshire to unload all of its shares on the public market because it is such a large stake, so Ballard said he wonders if there could be a large prospective buyer in the wings.But Buffett said last fall that Berkshire wouldn’t accept a block bid for its shares unless the same offer was made to all Kraft Heinz shareholders. Josh Funk, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
President Donald Trump arrived at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, after a minor electrical issue aboard Air Force One had forced a return to Washington to switch aircraft.Shortly after he landed in Zurich, his Marine One helicopter took him to the site of the international gathering. The White House said arriving late wouldn’t push back his scheduled address at the forum in the Swiss Alpswhere his ambitions to wrest control of Greenland from NATO ally Denmark could tear relations with European allies and overshadow his original plan to use his appearance at the gathering of global elites to address affordability issues back home.Trump’s speech is set to focus on domestic policy. But it may touch on Greenland as well as the U.S. military operation that led to the recent ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.On Thursday, Trump plans to more heavily lean into foreign policy, including discussing hemispheric domination by Washington, and the “Board of Peace” he’s creating to oversee the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas.That’s according to a White House official who spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that haven’t been made public. Trump will also have around five bilateral meetings with foreign leaders, though further details weren’t provided. Tariff threat looms large Trump comes to the international forum at Davos on the heels of threatening steep U.S. import taxes on Denmark and seven other allies unless they negotiate a transfer of the semi-autonomous territorya concession the European leaders indicated they are not willing to make.Trump said the tariffs would start at 10% next month and climb to 25% in June, rates that would be high enough to increase costs and slow growth, potentially hurting Trump’s efforts to tamp down the high cost of living.The president in a text message that circulated among European officials this week also linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize. In the message, he told Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Stre, that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of Peace.”In the midst of an unusual stretch of testing the United States’ relations with longtime allies, it seems uncertain what might transpire during Trump’s two days in Switzerland.On Tuesday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a Davos panel he and Trump, a Republican, planned to deliver a stark message: “Globalization has failed the West and the United States of America. It’s a failed policy,” he said.“This will be an interesting trip,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Tuesday evening for his flight to Davos. “I have no idea what’s going to happen, but you are well represented.”In fact, his trip to Davos got off to a difficult start. There was a small electrical problem on Air Force One, leading the crew to turn around the plane about 30 minutes into the flight out of an abundance of caution. That pushed the president’s arrival in Switzerland back hours.Wall Street wobbled on Tuesday as investors weighed Trump’s new tariff threats and escalating tensions with European allies. The S&P 500 fell 2.1%, its biggest drop since October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.8%. The Nasdaq composite slumped 2.4%.“It’s clear that we are reaching a time of instability, of imbalances, both from the security and defense point of view, and economic point of view,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in his address to the forum. Macron made no direct mention of Trump but urged fellow leaders to reject acceptance of “the law of the strongest.”Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that should Trump move forward with the tariffs, the bloc’s response “will be unflinching, united and proportional.” She pointedly suggested that Trump’s new tariff threat could also undercut a U.S.-EU trade framework reached this summer that the Trump administration worked hard to to seal.“The European Union and the United States have agreed to a trade deal last July,” von der Leyen said in Davos. “And in politics as in business a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it must mean something.” Trump will talk about housing Trump, ahead of the address, said he planned on using his Davos appearance to talk about making housing more attainable and other affordability issues that are top priorities for Americans.But Trump’s Greenland tariff threat could disrupt the U.S. economy if it blows up the trade truce reached last year between the U.S. and the EU, said Scott Lincicome, a tariff critic and vice president on economic issues at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.“Significantly undermining investors’ confidence in the U.S. economy in the longer term would likely increase interest rates and thus make homes less affordable,” Lincicome said.Trump also on Tuesday warned Europe against retaliatory action for the coming new tariffs.“Anything they do with us, I’ll just meet it,” Trump said on NewsNation’s “Katie Pavlich Tonight.” “All I have to do is meet it, and it’s going to go ricocheting backward.”Davos a forum known for its appeal to the global elite is an odd backdrop for a speech on affordability. But White House officials have promoted it as a moment for Trump to try to rekindle populist support back in the U.S., where many voters who backed him in 2024 view affordability as a major problem. About six in 10 U.S. adults now say that Trump has hurt the cost of living, according to the latest survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.U.S. home sales are at a 30-year low with rising prices and elevated mortgage rates keeping many prospective buyers out of the market. So far, Trump has announced plans to buy $200 billion in mortgage securities to help lower interest rates on home loans, and has called for a ban on large financial companies buying houses. Promoting the ‘Board of Peace’ There are more than 60 other heads of state attending the forum. On Thursday, Trump plans to have an event to talk about the Board of Peace, meant to oversee the end of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and possibly take on a broader mandate, potentially rivaling the United Nations.The White House official said around 30 are expected to join the board after invites were sent to about 50 countries late last week.Fewer than 10 leaders have accepted invitations to join the group so far, including a handful of leaders considered to be anti-democratic authoritarians. Several of America’s main European partners have declined or been noncommittal, including Britain, France and Germany.Trump on Tuesday told reporters that his peace board “might” eventually make the U.N. obsolete but insisted he wants to see the international body stick around.“I believe you got to let the U.N. continue, because the potential is so great,” Trump said. Michelle L. Price contributed from Washington. Josh Boak, Will Weissert and Aamer Madhani, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
In October, gold hit a significant milestone, reaching $4,000 an ounce for the first time. Less than four months later, the precious metal is well on its way to $4,900 an ounce in an astonishing push that shows no signs of stopping. Late Tuesday, January 20, gold hit a new record high of $4,800 an ounce, and by Wednesday morning, it rose to over $4,880 an ounceup more than 12% year-to-date (YTD) and up about 76% over the last 12 months. A report from the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) predicts gold could trade anywhere between $3,450 and $7,150 an ounce in 2026. Analysts surveyed by the LBMA predict wildly different figures, with Robin Bhar of RBMC forecasting an average of $4,000 per ounce, and Julia Du of the ICBC Standard Bank predicting an average of $6,050 per ounce. Silver has also continued its surge right alongside gold. The precious metal surpassed $95 per ounce for the first time on Tuesday. It has fluttered ever since, dropping within $2 less an ounce, before reaching above $95 again and again. Silvers new record-high figure is up about 34% YTD, and up more than 201% over the last year. In the LBMA report, Du took an equally bullish stance on silver, forecasting an average of $125 per ounce, while Bart Melek of TD Securities predicted an average of $44.25 per ounce. Why do gold and silver continue to rise? Gold and silver are seen as safe-haven assets at a time of intense geopolitical uncertainty. This week has seen President Donald Trump continue his push to take Greenland by whatever means necessary. Today, he is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos to further his demands, and push back against European leaders who oppose them. Over the weekend, Trump threatened tariffs of up to 25% on eight European countries, including the United Kingdom and Denmark.
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E-Commerce
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