Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News Running a large packaged-food company has become increasingly difficult, as years of price increases have pushed consumers toward cheaper store brands or healthier alternatives, according to The Wall Street Journal’s analysis of McCormick & Co.’s ( MKC ) potential acquisition of Unilever’s ( UL ) ( UNLYF ) food division. Established players such as General Mills (...
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News Running a large packaged-food company has become increasingly difficult, as years of price increases have pushed consumers toward cheaper store brands or healthier alternatives, according to The Wall Street Journal’s analysis of McCormick & Co.’s ( MKC ) potential acquisition of Unilever’s ( UL ) ( UNLYF ) food division. Established players such as General Mills ( GIS ), Campbell’s ( CPB ) and Kraft Heinz ( KHC ) are seeing weak volume growth while smaller, trendier competitors gain ground. Executives face limited options. Cutting prices hurts margins, cost reductions can weaken brands and increased spending on marketing or innovation may take time to pay off. Rising input costs add further pressure, leaving mergers as one of the few remaining strategies. McCormick ( MKC ) is now exploring a major deal with Unilever’s ( UL ) food division, which includes brands like Hellmann’s and Knorr. The move would significantly expand McCormick’s global reach and scale, though it comes as its shares have fallen sharply amid concerns about growth and profitability. The strategic case centers on gaining leverage with retailers and unlocking cost savings, but history offers reasons for caution. Large mergers in the consumer goods sector often fail to deliver, with past deals leading to weak growth or asset write-downs. Execution risk is also high. Integrating a much larger, globally complex business would challenge McCormick’s ( MKC ) capabilities and likely require significant investment and restructuring. Meanwhile, overpaying could undermine the benefits, especially given the slower growth of Unilever’s food unit. If priced carefully and managed well, the deal could transform McCormick ( MKC ) into a global leader in flavor brands. If not, it risks becoming another costly misstep in an industry with a long history of disappointing mega mergers, according to the Journal’s “Heard on the Street” column. More on McCormick, Unilever McCormick Q1 Ear...
Dane wins GC as Brady Gilmore takes stage seven victory Jasper Philipsen wins one-day In Flanders Fields race Jonas Vingegaard triumphed at the Volta a Catalunya as he continued his strong start to the season, while Brady Gilmore sprinted to a surprise stage seven victory. Vingegaard topped the general classification 1min 22sec ahead of France’s Lenny Martinez and a further eight seconds ahead of ...
Dane wins GC as Brady Gilmore takes stage seven victory Jasper Philipsen wins one-day In Flanders Fields race Jonas Vingegaard triumphed at the Volta a Catalunya as he continued his strong start to the season, while Brady Gilmore sprinted to a surprise stage seven victory. Vingegaard topped the general classification 1min 22sec ahead of France’s Lenny Martinez and a further eight seconds ahead of Germany’s Florian Lipowitz. Gilmore, racing with the retired football great Andrés Iniesta’s NSN team, edged out Dorian Godon and Remco Evenepoel in a thrilling bunch sprint finale. Sunday’s 95km final stage took in seven circuits of Montjuïc in Barcelona, where the Tour de France will start in July. Continue reading...
Rheinmetall AG avowed its “utmost respect” for Ukrainians’ defense efforts against Russia after the German company’s chief executive appeared to belittle its use of drones. Ukrainians are making an “immeasurable contribution” to their defense, especially since the country is fighting “highly effectively even with limited resources,” the Dusseldorf-based company said in a statement on X on Sunday. ...
Rheinmetall AG avowed its “utmost respect” for Ukrainians’ defense efforts against Russia after the German company’s chief executive appeared to belittle its use of drones. Ukrainians are making an “immeasurable contribution” to their defense, especially since the country is fighting “highly effectively even with limited resources,” the Dusseldorf-based company said in a statement on X on Sunday. Germany’s biggest defense contractor has faced a high-profile backlash in recent days after Chief Executive Officer Armin Papperger was quoted in a March 27 article in The Atlantic in which he dismissed Ukraine’s reliance on drones, saying: “This is how to play with Legos.” In the article, the CEO said that Ukrainian technology with small drones is not on a par with technology advancements from companies including Lockheed Martin Corp. , General Dynamics Corp. and Rheinmetall. The biggest producer of drones in Ukraine are “housewives” who have “3-D printers in the kitchen,” Papperger was cited as saying. “This is not innovation.” His comments have touched off a flurry of criticism from figures including Oleksandr Kamyshin , an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy . He took to X late on Saturday to push back against the nature of the remarks. “Rheinmetall says our #LEGODrones are #MadeByHousewives in their kitchens. Fine,” he wrote. “Meanwhile our #LEGODrones already burned more than 11 thousands of russian tanks.” Kamyshin followed up on Sunday with a post saying Ukrainian women “deserve respect.” Meanwhile, Florian Seibel , the co-founder and co-CEO of German drone maker Quantum Systems, said on LinkedIn that he was “very sorry and embarrassed for the public statements made by a fellow German defense CEO.” Quantum Systems “stands with all Ukrainian Housewives,” he added, offering to give out military patches depicting Ukrainian women piloting drones. Rheinmetall, in its own statement Sunday, said that the “innovative strength and the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian pe...
[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Aging populations, shifting lifestyles and persistent stress are driving a global surge in debilitating chronic diseases – creating vast unmet medical needs and mounting social and economic pressures. In Hong Kong, a new generation of biotech innovators is racing to respond, powered by strong government support, forwardloo...
[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Aging populations, shifting lifestyles and persistent stress are driving a global surge in debilitating chronic diseases – creating vast unmet medical needs and mounting social and economic pressures. In Hong Kong, a new generation of biotech innovators is racing to respond, powered by strong government support, forwardlooking policies and worldclass medical institutions. This momentum has rapidly elevated the city into...
[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] In Kai Tak Arena, under bright lights, a group of young fencers crossed blades in a demonstration bout that drew sharp intakes of breath from the crowd. Silver medallist Ho Sze-long from the 15th National Games of China faced off against Chan Lok-hei, a two-time junior silver medallist in Hong Kong, their movements precise...
[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] In Kai Tak Arena, under bright lights, a group of young fencers crossed blades in a demonstration bout that drew sharp intakes of breath from the crowd. Silver medallist Ho Sze-long from the 15th National Games of China faced off against Chan Lok-hei, a two-time junior silver medallist in Hong Kong, their movements precise and swift. Nearby, nearly 170 young fencers competed in the Champions Cup for 20 coveted places in...
Last week, one of our product managers (PMs) built and shipped a feature. Not spec'd it. Not filed a ticket for it. Built it, tested it, and shipped it to production. In a day. A few days earlier, our designer noticed that the visual appearance of our IDE plugins had drifted from the design system. In the old world, that meant screenshots, a JIRA ticket, a conversation to explain the intent, and a...
Last week, one of our product managers (PMs) built and shipped a feature. Not spec'd it. Not filed a ticket for it. Built it, tested it, and shipped it to production. In a day. A few days earlier, our designer noticed that the visual appearance of our IDE plugins had drifted from the design system. In the old world, that meant screenshots, a JIRA ticket, a conversation to explain the intent, and a sprint slot. Instead, he opened an agent, adjusted the layout himself, experimented, iterated, and tuned in real time, then pushed the fix. The person with the strongest design intuition fixed the design directly. No translation layer required. None of this is new in theory. Vibe coding opened the gates of software creation to millions. That was aspiration. When I shared the data on how our engineers doubled throughput, shifted from coding to validation, brought design upfront for rapid experimentation, it was still an engineering story. What changed is that the theory became practice. Here's how it actually played out. The bottleneck moved When we went AI-first in 2025, implementation cost collapsed. Agents took over scaffolding, tests, and the repetitive glue code that used to eat half the sprint. Cycle times dropped from weeks to days, from days to hours. Engineers started thinking less in files and functions and more in architecture, constraints, and execution plans. But once engineering capacity stopped being the bottleneck, we noticed something: Decision velocity was. All the coordination mechanisms we'd built to protect engineering time (specs, tickets, handoffs, backlog grooming) were now the slowest part of the system. We were optimizing for a constraint that no longer existed. What happens when building is cheaper than coordination We started asking a different question: What would it look like if the people closest to the intent could ship the software directly? PMs already think in specifications. Designers already define structure, layout, and behavior. They d...