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[00:01]
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What is actual investing? We believe that it's a real world task to deliver thoughtful capital deployment. It's not about speculating over the short term, it's about understanding the long term.
[00:12]
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Opportunities for companies through technological progress or new business models.
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So we seek out those exploring big new ideas that will change the world. Then we back them to give those ideas time to flourish. Bailey Gifford Actual Investors Find out more@baileygifford.com these days it seems like AI agents are just about everywhere you turn every field and every function. But without identity, you can't trust they'll serve your business instead of jeopardizing it. Fortunately, Okta helps you get identity right by securing your AI agents identities, giving you a single layer of control, a single standard of trust. So whether an AI agent supports a single user or your entire enterprise, with Okta you'll turn risk into opportunity. Secure every agent, secure any agent. Okta secures AI Being a small business.
[01:02]
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Owner isn't just a career, it's a calling. Chase for Business knows how much heart and effort go into building something of your own. Manage all your business finances, from banking to payments to credit cards, all in one place with their digital tools, plus access online resources designed to help your business thrive. Learn more@chase.com business chase for business make more of what's yours the Chase Mobile app is available for select mobile devices. Message and data rates may apply JPMorgan Chase Bank NA Member FDIC Copyright 2025 JPMorgan Chase &.
[01:37]
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Co. So have you heard the story about the prescription plan with savings automatically built in, it's where a family of any size can feel confident the cost of their medication won't hold them back. Go to CMK Co Stories to learn how CBS Caremark helps members save just by being members. That's CMK Co.
[02:01]
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Stories. Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio news. You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on.
[02:26]
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YouTube. Ford announced it will take a $19.5 billion charge tied to an overhaul of its electric vehicle business after struggling to turn a profit. Speaking of Bloomberg's Romaine Bostick, Katie Greifeld and Matt Miller, CEO Jim Farley says the overhaul is about moving towards more profitable vehicles. Look for this.
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Announcement. Matt it's really about moving to more profitable.
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Vehicles. You know, we're going to make.
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In Tennessee now an affordable pickup.
[02:54]
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Truck. I think it's going to really surprise the market. These are customers we know, not a lot of guesswork in terms of the revenue, the cost we need to get at and a more affordable van in Ohio. So these are going to be better investments for the company profit and.
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All those hybrid sales, you know, those.
[03:10]
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Are really profitable vehicles for.
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Us. All right, that was Ford CEO Jim Farley speaking with Bloomberg's Romaine Bostick, Katie Greifeld and Matt Miller. After that 19.5 billion billion charge, let's break it down and what does it mean for the company and for the stock? We do that with Steve Mann, global autos and industrials research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. He's based down there in Princeton. Steve, $19.5 billion, that is a massive number for Ford. What goes into that number? What does it mean about their commitment to.
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EVs? Yeah, it is a very big number. Pretty much backed up the truck on these charges. But the important thing is it's clearing the deck for next year. Right. There is a couple of earnings tailwind for Ford and actually to their competitors in Detroit as well. So the biggest, I think the biggest write down, two biggest write down is the writing down the losses on their Mustang Mach E. You know, they've been losing around $25,000 on the EBIT line per vehicle. So it's massive. The other is the charge is really on the joint venture with their battery supplier in Korea. So you know, they're going to repurpose one of those plants for energy storage. So again, it's really clearing the deck. There's a couple of tailwinds for 2026, which includes Trump's loosening the mpg miles per gallon.
[04:44]
D
Rule. Yeah, absolutely. Just looking at the stock, pretty much flat today, but the stock is at a 52 week high, up 37%. Does that reflect, Steve, investors want these auto companies to kind of back away or proceed more cautiously towards their move towards.
[05:00]
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EVs. Yeah, definitely. Especially in the U.S. and look, Ford is, you know, not just pivoting in the US but they're also pivoting in Europe. You know, they just announced a joint venture with Renault to develop EVs over in Europe. And you know, Ford doesn't really have a big presence in Europe, so they're taking that approach of partnership. GM is doing the same thing. Remember, they took a $1.6 billion charge, much more modest than the 19 billion that Ford is taking. And, but you know, GM is dialing back but keeping one foot on the EVs. I think they, I believe they still think that they're you know, they still can succeed, especially when they introduce the Chevy bolt in the new.
[05:50]
D
Year. So Steve, you know, we're many years into this transition to EVs and you know, I know there are many, there are European countries, Scandinavian countries where it's almost 100% of their fleets are, their new car sales are EVs. But that ain't the case here in the U.S. with some hindsight here, why hasn't, why haven't EVs taken a better hold here in this U.S.
[06:14]
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Market? Yeah, it definitely needs more, you know, regulatory support for EV to take grow because you know, ev, there's a lot, three hurdles, right, that consumers have to get over, which is the price, the range and the convenience of charging infrastructure. Without government support to actually build that out, it's going to take some time for this electrification transition. I think a lot of people in the industry still feel that electrification, battery, ev, maybe hybrids in between is the way to go in the future. But you know, I think there's, there's a huge paradigm shift that consumers hair have to get over. And it's really challenging to do that without government support.
[07:07]
D
Here. And it does not appear that this administration at least is willing to provide that support. How does the industry kind of view.
[07:17]
B
That? Oh, it's, it's, it's very unfortunate. I think the, the gyration, the volatility that we're seeing in regulation is really not helping the industry. There's a lot of sunk costs that's been incurred with the shift to de emphasize EVs. You know, all three, many automakers around the globe have spent billions. You know, with that 19.5 billion that Ford just written down, you know, it's probably about half of what they've invested in EV already. So, you know, we do need more stable policy. You know, you mentioned Europe earlier. You know, Europe is in the same situation. I don't think the European regulators really know what they want to do in the future. They're still continuing to talk about, you know, delaying going all EVs by 2035. And you know, that's going to have, you know, some negative as well as positive implication to the global auto.
[08:18]
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Industry. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after.
[08:24]
A
This. What is actual investing? We believe that it's a real world task to deliver thoughtful capital deployment. It's not about speculating over the short term. It's about understanding the long term opportunities for companies through technological progress or new business models. So we seek out those exploring big new ideas that will change the world. Then we back them to give those ideas time to flourish. Bailey Gifford Actual Investors Find out more@baileygifford.com these days it seems like AI agents are just about everywhere. You turn every field and every function. But without identity you can't trust they'll serve your business instead of jeopardizing it. Fortunately, Okta helps you get identity right by securing your AI agents identities, giving you a single layer of control, a single standard of trust. So whether an AI agent supports a single user or you're in entire enterprise, with Okta you'll turn risk into opportunity. Secure every agent, secure any agent. Okta secures AI support for the.
[09:28]
D
Show comes from public on public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com market and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. And that's public.com market paid for.
[10:17]
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By Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing.
[10:20]
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Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures.
[10:37]
A
With the B2B card payment landscape evolving, large corporations face pressure as buyers increasingly demand to pay invoices by virtual card. For merchant acquiring businesses like yours, this is a high growth opportunity waiting to be unlocked. With Mastercard's adaptive approach to B2B acceptance, you can enhance your infrastructure for high value payments and meet your customers unique needs. MasterCard offers solutions and support for every step of the supplier lifecycle, helping you deepen merchant relationships, start fast, grow strategically and scale at your pace. With a modular toolkit you can flexibly deploy. Discover how@mastercard.com commercial.
[11:17]
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Acceptance. You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube. So we want to Take a look at the companies to watch for in 2026. But how do you shrink that universe of investable companies down into 50 that you really want to focus on? Well, thankfully we have Bloomberg Intelligence and Tim Craighead who is our global Chief Content officer for doing just that. Tim is joining us right now. And Tim, you guys have really narrowed it down to companies to watch for, for better or for worse. And you have a couple of themes to keep in mind here. What are the, what are the companies or what are the big themes that have the most companies that you really point us.
[12:11]
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To? Yeah, sure thing. So, and we can dive into some of those. So it put a little bit of context. This, this group of 50 are all part of what we call focus ideas. It's a broader group of about 100. These are all high conviction ideas. They have high conviction ideas where we see something very different from what we think is embedded in market expectations. And there's catalyst ahead to change the market mindset. Those catalysts coming up in 2026 and that's where these 50 come into. And across the group this year, the biggest bucket are two. One is just simply new product innovation that is being ramped out into 2026. The other, no surprise, AI related. And in some of it's the tech companies. Some of it are companies that are feeding into the process. You know, happy to get into some of those or other topics as well, such as cyclical pressures and competitive concerns on the negative side. And there's a couple of other things as.
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D
Well. So on the new products, give us an example of a new product that you guys think might really be important for a company in a.
[13:26]
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Stock. Yeah. So you know, it's interesting because some of these can be quite technical. Paul, you think Anelin Pharma or Bridge Bio are two biotech companies that have new products coming. One of them relates to heart issues, another relates to dwarfism. But it's new products that will expand the market and drive we think significantly better revenue and earnings. On the other hand, there's some good old fashioned names that you know and you love. Canada Goose has new product flow coming through that we think reinvigorates the top line. Brinker think Chili's, the restaurant are going through a whole new upgrade of their menu and, and upselling clients with, with good stuff like margaritas with patron. And so the new product idea can expand, you know, across a whole number of different segments. It's quite.
[14:29]
C
Interesting. Yeah, I'm looking at Deckers is one of the new products companies you Highlight and their UGG is introducing styles to stay relevant beyond the winter months. Let's talk a little bit about AI because that's going to continue to be a big theme even as investors are starting to make distinctions between companies that are in it were good and those that may be kind of faddish. What are some new names that surprised you in terms of their making the.
[14:53]
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List? Yeah, it's interesting. I'll give you the new names and the ones that aren't on here and I'll do the latter first. There's none of the big LLMs this year that are on our list or Nvidia that's on the list, that's not on the list. What you find are other either enabling technologies. So think LAM Research, it's a semi cap equipment company that makes makes the gear that you make the semiconductors with. That's quite well positioned. Tsmc, the world's largest foundry that's making the AI accelerator chips that feed into the LLMs or even even back up in the channel of how do you build out AI Constellation, which is the US's largest nuclear utility. That's quite important if you're going to generate the electricity to drive the data centers to drive a acs. Interestingly, European construction company, they own Turner, which is the US's largest construction company. They've got the biggest order book for building out data centers. So there's a host of different kinds of ways you can think about leveraging AI beyond just Simply the big LLMs like Google or OpenAI or things along those lines that you hear.
[16:15]
D
About. Tim, on this list you and the BI analysts also highlight stocks that might have pressure on the downside, whether it's cyclical pressure, competition, ma, project delay. Give us a name or two that might have some downside risk this.
[16:31]
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Year. Yeah, it's interesting on that. Think about what's going on from the standpoint of you were just talking about airlines from a European vantage point. We've got wage pressures that are rising. And for Air France, klm, a big chunk of their business is the transatlantic market which is getting more and more competitive. And with both of those factors we think that there's risks to estimates. China Railway Group, it's a big state owned enterprise in China. It's one of the big four engineering companies. And to the degree that China is shifting towards more technology and innovation driven investment and less away from bridges and roads and railroads and things along those lines. China Railway Group we think has downside risk. Couple little companies that are unusual but intriguing DNO Polska, which you've never heard of, I'm sure, is a Polish supermarket company. But they've got two big European competitors that are coming into the Polish market again, downside risk to earnings. And the same thing can be said about Join Labs talked about a couple of positive health care companies. This is one of the contract research companies that helps a pharmaceutical do their drug development and China is now looking to go broad and global with approvals on new pharmaceutical products. Join, who focuses in on China, is losing some of their business. So there's lots of ways we can think about.
[18:18]
D
This. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after.
[18:22]
A
This. These days it seems like AI agents are just about everywhere you turn every field and every function. But without identity, you can't trust they'll serve your business instead of jeopardizing it. Fortunately, Okta helps you get identity right by securing your AI agents identities, giving you a single layer of control, a single standard of trust. So whether an AI agent supports a single user or your entire enterprise, with Okta you'll turn risk into opportunity. Secure every agent, secure any agent. Okta secures AI support for the show comes from.
[18:57]
D
Public. On public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com market and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com market paid for by.
[19:46]
A
Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing.
[19:49]
D
Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation, recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures.
[20:05]
A
With the B2B card payment landscape evolving, large corporations face pressure as buyers increasingly demand to pay invoices by virtual card. For merchant acquiring businesses like yours, this is a high growth opportunity waiting to be unlocked. With Mastercard's adaptive approach to B2B acceptance, you can enhance your infrastructure for high value payments and meet your customers unique needs. MasterCard offers solutions and support for every step of the supplier lifecycle, helping you deepen merchant relationships. Start fast, grow strategically and scale at your pace with a modular toolkit you can flexibly deploy. Discover how@mastercard.com Commercial Acceptance Introducing the.
[20:48]
C
All new Adobe Acrobat studio now with AI powered PDF spaces. Do more with PDFs than you ever thought possible. Need AI to turn 100 pages of market research into 5 insights with a click. Do that with Acrobat. Need templates for a sales proposal that'll close that deal. Do that with Acrobat. Need an AI specialist to tailor the tone of your market report to sound real smart in real time. Do that with the all new Adobe Acrobat Studio. Learn more@adobe.com do that with Acrobat. You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on.
[21:33]
D
YouTube. Some news in the food business today. Kraft Heinz is replacing its chief executive officer getting somebody new here starting January 1st. And this move follows a difficult period for the food company here. And I know they just, they made some announcements about splitting up the company. So a lot going on at Kraft Heinz. Let's break it down with Christina Peterson, food industry reporter for Bloomberg News. She joins us live in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio. Talk to us first about this, the change at the CEO level. What's going on.
[22:00]
F
There? Yeah, we had expected in September that the current CEO would lead one of the two new companies, specifically the one that is the grocery Staples. They actually don't have official names yet, but that was a collection of the least profitable or less profitable food items there, including things like Lunchables and Oscar Mayer Deli Meats. The surprise came this morning that he is in fact not going to lead that company and instead they are bringing in Steve C.A. hellane from Kellanova to lead the second company after the split has gone through that is being called the global taste elevation company that's going to have Heinz ketchup, Kraft Mac and cheese, some of those beloved iconic.
[22:45]
C
Products. So that's the fast growing part of the company and the other one is kind of the, you know, the equivalent of cnn, TNT and you know, the leave it behind assets that, you know are you're managing a decline in. What can you tell us about Steve Cowling, the former Kellanova CEO? What is his approach, his.
[23:03]
F
Philosophy? Well, I just spoke with him and he said that he's going to be focused on bringing organic growth to the company. We talked a little bit about focusing on some of the health and wellness trends that consumers are looking for. Increasing offerings with protein, with fiber, with shorter ingredient lists, you know, the so called cleaner labels. So they'll definitely be leaning into that. It sounds like a little bit more. He also led Kellogg through its split. The Kellogg company split into W.K. kellogg and then Kellanova. Both of those companies were then separately acquired. I asked him if he thought that could be a path here and he said it's hard to predict the future. So not ruling it out, just.
[23:43]
D
Looking at the stock here. Kraft Heinz compounded annual return over the last five years negative 2% versus the consumer packaged good index up about 70%. Of course, the S&P up about 15%. So what's the, what's been a challenge for Kraft Heinz over the last number of.
[24:01]
F
Years? I mean, in general, the food companies are all struggling with this shift as consumers move towards healthier, less popular processed food. The company says that they just had too many brands and that splitting into two will help them focus on each component. I think that there is some analyst chatter that that's what companies say when they just need to, you know, spin off some of their less profitable items. But they will tell you that they expect both companies will have better value when there's an ability to focus more on the condiments and boxed meals and then on some of the other.
[24:37]
C
Foods. Christina Christine, put this all into context for us when Paul talks about how, you know, this group has been kind of struggling overall. We also saw that with PepsiCo, with Coca Cola. I mean, they have had to rethink their strategy.
[24:51]
F
Completely. Yeah, there's just been a lot of movement in the food industry right now. PepsiCo announced some pretty dramatic changes last week. They're going to reduce the number of products they sell by 20% and lower prices in some of their key brands. As part of an agreement with activist investor Elliott Investment Management, Coke has a new CEO. I think Coke is in pretty solid shape. They've been doing their, their shares have been doing really well compared to some of the other business companies. But yet in general the, the companies that I think are really tapping into this health and wellness interest in consumers are often the smaller startup brands and the big companies are playing catch up, not only with them, but some of the private label companies too, that are really nimble and able to get some of these new products to market really.
[25:36]
D
Fast. Well, I know, I mean, you mentioned a Private label. I know when I go to the shop, right in Belmar, New Jersey, we buy a lot more private label than we ever used to. How's that's gotta be a bummer for somebody like Kraft Heinz who spent my lifetime getting me to, you know, brand up with Cheez Whiz or something. I mean, now I'm going store brand. That's gonna be a.
[25:54]
F
Problem. I mean, consumers are definitely under pressure. They still need to buy food and one of the things they do is turn to more affordable food. And often private label is an enticing option. Interestingly, we are seeing that more on the food side than on the beverage.
[26:08]
D
Side. Yeah, that's.
[26:10]
C
True. Yeah, I guess people are willing to pay for beverage, but I mean I think about, especially on the food side, it's that move towards protein. Everyone is obsessed with ingesting protein and making sure that whatever they are eating, if they are on Ozempic or something else, that it's going to add to their, you know, their healthfulness rather than, you know, kind of take away from it. What are these companies doing in terms of competing better against those startup brands? Are they looking to acquire them for.
[26:35]
F
Instance? Yeah, for sure in some cases that we saw PepsiCo acquire Poppy, the prebiotic soda brand this year and Siete Grain Free chips. So they are in certain instances acquiring some of these companies and I expect we'll see more of that in 2026.
[26:50]
D
Also. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after.
[26:54]
A
This. These days it seems like AI agents are just about everywhere you turn every field and every function. But without identity, you can't trust they'll serve your business instead of jeopardizing it. Fortunately, Okta helps you get identity right by securing your AI agents identities, giving you a single layer of control, a single standard of trust. So whether an AI agent supports a single user or your entire enterprise, with Okta you'll turn risk into opportunity. Secure every agent, secure any agent. Okta secures AI support for the.
[27:28]
D
Show comes from public on public. You can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks generated assets are completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com market and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com market paid for by.
[28:17]
A
Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing.
[28:20]
D
Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures.
[28:37]
A
With the B2B card payment landscape evolving, large corporations face pressure as buyers increasingly demand to pay invoices by virtual card. For merchant acquiring businesses like yours, this is a high growth opportunity waiting to be unlocked. With Mastercard's adaptive approach to B2B acceptance, you can enhance your infrastructure for high value payments and meet your customers unique needs. MasterCard offers solutions and support for every step of the supplier life cycle, helping you deepen merchant relationships, start fast, grow strategically and scale at your pace. With a modular toolkit you can flexibly deploy. Discover how@mastercard.com Commercial equipment acceptance introducing.
[29:19]
C
The all new Adobe Acrobat studio now with AI powered PDF spaces. Do more with PDFs than you ever thought possible. Need AI to turn 100 pages of market research into 5 insights with a click. Do that with Acrobat. Need templates for a sales proposal that'll close that deal. Do that with Acrobat. Need an AI specialist to tailor the tone of your market report to sound real smart in real time. Do that with the all new Adobe Acrobat Studio. Learn more at adobe.com/do that with Acrobat. You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on.
[30:04]
D
YouTube. Big take story. You know we love these Big take stories. These are great topics on a who thinks of them. Great topics. They're really well reported, deeply sourced, all that kind of good stuff. A lot of times they have fun graphics for me to look at, so this one is really cool. Saudi sisters wield $50 billion fortune as global power brokers. I had no idea about these people, but our next guest does. Devin Pendleton. She's a wealth reporter for Bloomberg News. She joins us live here in the Interactive Broker Studios. Who is the Olayan Group? Olayan.
[30:38]
G
Group? Yeah, Olayan.
[30:39]
D
Olayan. Who are the two sisters behind this Saudi.
[30:42]
G
Group? So it is Lubna and her sister Hutham Alayan. They're both in their early 70s and they have been at the helm of this family enterprise for decades, for more than 40.
[30:54]
E
Years.
[30:55]
C
Wow. And they have fairly low profiles too. That's the thing that is striking. They have these low profiles, but they are known as steely negotiators. Tell us what they've.
[31:06]
G
Done. Yeah, they've done an incredible job building this family business which was started by their father who was a really, you know, unbelievable character. He basically worked his way up from nothing. You know, he's not a royal, was not connected to the royals at a young age, but he built an oil servicing company which he grew striking deals with all sorts of consumer brand companies in the US bringing them to Saudi Arabia, everything from Coca Cola to Cheez its to Oreos. And he came over to the US in the early 1960s, was very inspired by what he saw and bought some bank stocks and basically his daughters took over that business, which was sprawling. I mean it was in all sorts of sectors, real estate, oil field services, consumer goods, and hung on to those equity stakes, those banking stakes. So now they have this incredible portfolio of investments in the us, on Wall street, as well as this booming multi sector business in Saudi.
[32:06]
D
Arabia. But people in power know these two sisters. They were at the White House recently. Tell us about that. How do they subtly wield their.
[32:17]
G
Influence? They are not noisy people. I think it's one thing to do business and thrive in Saudi Arabia is you have to really sort of be, be quiet, be, be forceful, sort of know, be a little bit deferential to, you know, who's really in charge, which would be the government and the king and the Crown Prince. But they have had long term ties with the U.S. i mean, you really saw that at the White House dinner. You mentioned Paul. She was sitting right next to Elon Musk. But you know, arguably one of the most important people in the room because she has these connections on Wall street through their long term equity investments. It's really important right now, especially because the Kingdom is trying to bring in a lot of inbound investment to transform their economy past oil. It's a big deal for them to be bringing in money. And these alliance sisters have had these connections for a long, long time. So they're more important than.
[33:08]
C
Ever. So they have the connections with the right people in Saudi Arabia. How does their, I mean, when I think about prominent investors in the Kingdom, I think about Prince Abaled Bin Talal and how he's been very vocal about his positions. He's, you Know, often seen on media networks. You don't hear about these alliance sisters at all. And I wonder how much of that is, you know, is part of their success.
[33:32]
E
Story.
[33:32]
G
Totally. It's, it's so, so important. I think they are extremely discreet. They are, like I said, like they really know their role in the kingdom. Like they're important. They step in and help when they need to. For example, in Saudi Aramco IPO back in 2019, the kingdom was having trouble kind of getting people excited and really getting the investors they needed early to get backstop this ipo. They asked some influential families and the lions were one that, you know, they really showed up. That matters for the kingdom and it also gives them, you know, license to, to really expand their business as much as they need to and to be in a position of power to help out, but also have favors in.
[34:13]
D
Return. And the Bloomberg the Rich Go Function lists their wealth of the family at approximately $50 billion US.
[34:20]
G
Right? Yes, $50 billion US but I can guarantee you that that is a conservative.
[34:25]
D
Estimate. Is that right? Now, I understand that while they keep a low profile, these sisters, they have good relationships with some of the big folks on Wall street like Larry Fink of blackrock, things like that. So that's got to be.
[34:35]
G
Useful. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, just through one portfolio alone, they have their big investors in BlackRock, the equity investors. They have a one and a half billion dollar stake in BlackRock. They own an almost billion dollar stake in JP Morgan. It's actually where live Lyon first got her start. She was initially working as a low level banker at JP Morgan right after college. So they're really worldly, very well traveled and just tough, tough in this sort of very, you know, meaningful business sense. Like negotiators, they're very involved in their investments. People really describe them as.
[35:15]
C
Intense. How hard was it to do the reporting on this story? I mean, these are people who intentionally want to keep a low profile. As you write, they came of age at a time when women weren't allowed to drive. They needed a male guardian's permission to even get a passport to leave the kingdom. So were people willing to open up about.
[35:33]
G
Them? No, Scarlett, it was so hard. In fact, me and my colleagues who worked on this story, we had been reporting on them for years, like just kind of keeping tabs on what they were doing and writing things down in our notebooks for years until we felt like we were at a point where we could put together a story and people just did not want to talk about them because they respect how discreet they want to be, and especially when they found out that we were trying to give a sense of their influence by tabulating their wealth, they were like, no way. Absolutely not. You know, they're very modest.
[36:09]
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People. Have you heard from anyone in the kingdom following the.
[36:11]
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Story? Not.
[36:12]
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Yet. This is the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast, available on Apple, Spotify and anywhere else you get your podcast. Podcasts listen live each weekday 10am to noon Eastern on Bloomberg.com, the iHeartRadio app, TuneIn, and the Bloomberg Business App. You can also watch us live Every weekday on YouTube and always on the Bloomberg.
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Summary6 min read

Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Ford Will Take $19.5 Billion in Charges Tied to EV Overhaul
Date: December 16, 2025
Hosts: Scarlet Fu, Paul Sweeney
Notable Guests: Steve Mann (Bloomberg Intelligence), Tim Craighead (Bloomberg Intelligence), Christina Peterson (Bloomberg News), Devin Pendleton (Bloomberg News)
Main Theme:
A deep dive into Ford’s historic $19.5 billion charge linked to its electric vehicle (EV) restructuring, with analysis of the company's pivot in strategy, broader EV industry trends, a look at companies to watch in 2026, consumer foods industry shake-ups, and a powerful profile on the Olayan sisters of Saudi Arabia.

1. Main Theme Overview

This episode opens with Ford’s headline-making announcement: a $19.5 billion charge as it drastically reshapes its EV ambitions after continuing financial losses. Bloomberg experts and insiders explore the implications for Ford, its shareholders, and the industry at large, alongside segments focusing on companies set to make waves in 2026, the evolution and challenges of legacy food brands like Kraft Heinz, and an in-depth feature on the discreet yet massively influential Saudi Olayan sisters.

2. Key Discussion Points and Insights

Ford’s $19.5 Billion EV Charge and Strategic Pivot

(02:25–08:18)

The Announcement and Rationale
- Ford CEO Jim Farley underscores a move "towards more profitable vehicles" after EV struggles.
  
  "We’re going to make in Tennessee now an affordable pickup truck... [and] a more affordable van in Ohio. So these are going to be better investments for the company profit." – Jim Farley [02:51]
- The $19.5B charge is mostly tied to writing down large EV losses, especially the Mustang Mach-E (about $25,000 EBIT loss per vehicle), and joint ventures with battery suppliers. This is described by Steve Mann as “clearing the deck” for future financial years [03:40].
Industry and Market Implications
- The move creates short-term earnings headwinds but potential for tailwinds by 2026, including regulatory changes such as possible loosening of mileage standards under Trump [04:44].
- Investors seem to welcome caution: Ford’s stock is at a 52-week high (up 37%) [04:44].
- The U.S. EV adoption rate still sharply trails Europe, with three main consumer barriers cited: price, range, and charging infrastructure [06:14].
- Mann highlights regulatory inconsistency as a major obstacle, both in the U.S. and Europe. Automakers seek more predictable policies to justify massive investments [07:16].
  
  “The gyration, the volatility that we’re seeing in regulation is really not helping the industry. There’s a lot of sunk costs... We do need more stable policy.” – Steve Mann [07:16]

Companies to Watch in 2026: Thematic Insights

(11:16–18:17)

Methodology and Top Themes
- Tim Craighead introduces Bloomberg’s “Focus Ideas”: 50 companies with high conviction for 2026, selected for their divergence from consensus and clear catalysts ahead [12:10].
- Two main themes:
  - New product innovation (e.g., biotech companies like Anelin Pharma, and consumer brands like Canada Goose)
  - AI-related plays, with a focus not on headline names (like OpenAI or Nvidia), but on enablers such as LAM Research and TSMC, and even supporting industries like utilities and construction (for data center buildouts) [14:53].
Downside Risks
- The list also includes companies facing headwinds:
  - Air France-KLM: Rising wage pressures and stiffening transatlantic competition.
  - China Railway Group: Risk as China shifts away from traditional infrastructure.
  - DNO Polska: Facing entry of big European competitors.
  - JOIN Labs: Losing ground as Chinese pharma look globally [16:31].

Kraft Heinz: Leadership Shuffle and Industry Shifts

(21:32–26:49)

CEO Change Amid Spin-Offs
- Kraft Heinz is appointing Steve Cahillane (ex-Kellanova) to lead “Global Taste Elevation”, the faster-growing division after a company split. The less profitable “staples” division is left with legacy brands like Lunchables and Oscar Mayer, contradicting earlier expectations about the company’s leadership [21:59].[22:45]
- Cahillane will focus on “organic growth” and health/wellness trends: more protein, fiber, and shorter ingredient lists [23:03].
- Kraft Heinz’s long-term performance lags the industry: –2% annual return over five years, versus +70% for its peer index [23:43].
Broad Industry Trends
- Big food companies are struggling to keep up with changing consumer preferences, especially toward health and wellness. They’re challenged by nimble startups, private label/store brands, and are frequently resorting to M&A to stay relevant (e.g., PepsiCo's acquisitions of Poppy and Siete Grain Free) [24:50],[26:34].

The Olayan Sisters: Saudi Arabia’s $50 Billion Power Brokers

(30:04–36:12)

Background and Influence
- Lubna and Hutham Alayan run the vast Olayan Group, active in everything from oil services to global equity stakes [30:37].
- Despite low publicity, they’re celebrated for their discretion, negotiation skill, and influence with both Saudi leadership and Western financial titans [31:05],[32:17],[33:32].
- They played a crucial role in the Saudi Aramco IPO and maintain sizable investments in firms like BlackRock and JP Morgan [34:19].
Challenges and Reporting
- The sisters’ influence comes from their connections and their ability to help (and extract favors from) the government.
- Reporting on them is difficult due to their discretion and the respect they command in the kingdom.
  
  "People just did not want to talk about them because they respect how discreet they want to be." – Devin Pendleton [35:32]

3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Ford CEO Jim Farley on refocusing:

“We’re going to make in Tennessee now an affordable pickup truck...and a more affordable van in Ohio. So these are going to be better investments for the company profit.” – Jim Farley [02:51]
On the scale of Ford’s write-offs:

“They’ve been losing around $25,000 on the EBIT line per vehicle [on the Mustang Mach E]... The other big charge is the joint venture with their battery supplier.” – Steve Mann [03:40]
On EV adoption in the US:

“There’s a huge paradigm shift that consumers have to get over. And it’s really challenging to do that without government support.” – Steve Mann [06:14]
On regulatory “gyrations”:

“The gyration, the volatility that we’re seeing in regulation is really not helping the industry…We do need more stable policy.” – Steve Mann [07:16]
Tim Craighead on 2026’s themes:

“The biggest bucket: new product innovation...The other, no surprise, AI-related…there’s a host of different ways you can leverage AI beyond just the big LLMs like Google or OpenAI.” – Tim Craighead [12:10],[14:53]
On the Olayan sisters’ influence:

"They are not noisy people...They step in and help when they need to." – Devin Pendleton [32:17]
On reporting difficulties:

"People just did not want to talk about them because they respect how discreet they want to be." – Devin Pendleton [35:32]

4. Segment Timestamps

Ford’s $19.5B Charge / EV Industry Analysis: 02:25–08:18
Top Companies for 2026 — Tim Craighead: 11:16–18:17
Kraft Heinz Restructuring & Food Industry Trends: 21:32–26:49
The Olayan Sisters, Discreet Saudi Power Brokers: 30:04–36:12

5. Episode Flow and Tone

The discussion moves fluidly from high-level, actionable company and market insights to evocative stories on prominent figures — all delivered with Bloomberg’s analytical, but lively and accessible style. The back-and-forth between journalist and expert brings clarity and context to complex industry shifts, while memorable guest commentary adds both authority and color.

This summary provides a comprehensive yet engaging capture of the episode for listeners (and investors) who want the substance, critical takeaways, and key personalities — without needing to hear the episode in full.

Loading summary

Transcript104 lines

[00:01]
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What is actual investing? We believe that it's a real world task to deliver thoughtful capital deployment. It's not about speculating over the short term, it's about understanding the long term.
[00:12]
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Opportunities for companies through technological progress or new business models.
[00:17]
A
So we seek out those exploring big new ideas that will change the world. Then we back them to give those ideas time to flourish. Bailey Gifford Actual Investors Find out more@baileygifford.com these days it seems like AI agents are just about everywhere you turn every field and every function. But without identity, you can't trust they'll serve your business instead of jeopardizing it. Fortunately, Okta helps you get identity right by securing your AI agents identities, giving you a single layer of control, a single standard of trust. So whether an AI agent supports a single user or your entire enterprise, with Okta you'll turn risk into opportunity. Secure every agent, secure any agent. Okta secures AI Being a small business.
[01:02]
C
Owner isn't just a career, it's a calling. Chase for Business knows how much heart and effort go into building something of your own. Manage all your business finances, from banking to payments to credit cards, all in one place with their digital tools, plus access online resources designed to help your business thrive. Learn more@chase.com business chase for business make more of what's yours the Chase Mobile app is available for select mobile devices. Message and data rates may apply JPMorgan Chase Bank NA Member FDIC Copyright 2025 JPMorgan Chase &.
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[02:01]
C
Stories. Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio news. You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on.
[02:26]
D
YouTube. Ford announced it will take a $19.5 billion charge tied to an overhaul of its electric vehicle business after struggling to turn a profit. Speaking of Bloomberg's Romaine Bostick, Katie Greifeld and Matt Miller, CEO Jim Farley says the overhaul is about moving towards more profitable vehicles. Look for this.
[02:46]
A
Announcement. Matt it's really about moving to more profitable.
[02:49]
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Vehicles. You know, we're going to make.
[02:51]
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In Tennessee now an affordable pickup.
[02:54]
A
Truck. I think it's going to really surprise the market. These are customers we know, not a lot of guesswork in terms of the revenue, the cost we need to get at and a more affordable van in Ohio. So these are going to be better investments for the company profit and.
[03:08]
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All those hybrid sales, you know, those.
[03:10]
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Are really profitable vehicles for.
[03:12]
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Us. All right, that was Ford CEO Jim Farley speaking with Bloomberg's Romaine Bostick, Katie Greifeld and Matt Miller. After that 19.5 billion billion charge, let's break it down and what does it mean for the company and for the stock? We do that with Steve Mann, global autos and industrials research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. He's based down there in Princeton. Steve, $19.5 billion, that is a massive number for Ford. What goes into that number? What does it mean about their commitment to.
[03:40]
B
EVs? Yeah, it is a very big number. Pretty much backed up the truck on these charges. But the important thing is it's clearing the deck for next year. Right. There is a couple of earnings tailwind for Ford and actually to their competitors in Detroit as well. So the biggest, I think the biggest write down, two biggest write down is the writing down the losses on their Mustang Mach E. You know, they've been losing around $25,000 on the EBIT line per vehicle. So it's massive. The other is the charge is really on the joint venture with their battery supplier in Korea. So you know, they're going to repurpose one of those plants for energy storage. So again, it's really clearing the deck. There's a couple of tailwinds for 2026, which includes Trump's loosening the mpg miles per gallon.
[04:44]
D
Rule. Yeah, absolutely. Just looking at the stock, pretty much flat today, but the stock is at a 52 week high, up 37%. Does that reflect, Steve, investors want these auto companies to kind of back away or proceed more cautiously towards their move towards.
[05:00]
B
EVs. Yeah, definitely. Especially in the U.S. and look, Ford is, you know, not just pivoting in the US but they're also pivoting in Europe. You know, they just announced a joint venture with Renault to develop EVs over in Europe. And you know, Ford doesn't really have a big presence in Europe, so they're taking that approach of partnership. GM is doing the same thing. Remember, they took a $1.6 billion charge, much more modest than the 19 billion that Ford is taking. And, but you know, GM is dialing back but keeping one foot on the EVs. I think they, I believe they still think that they're you know, they still can succeed, especially when they introduce the Chevy bolt in the new.
[05:50]
D
Year. So Steve, you know, we're many years into this transition to EVs and you know, I know there are many, there are European countries, Scandinavian countries where it's almost 100% of their fleets are, their new car sales are EVs. But that ain't the case here in the U.S. with some hindsight here, why hasn't, why haven't EVs taken a better hold here in this U.S.
[06:14]
B
Market? Yeah, it definitely needs more, you know, regulatory support for EV to take grow because you know, ev, there's a lot, three hurdles, right, that consumers have to get over, which is the price, the range and the convenience of charging infrastructure. Without government support to actually build that out, it's going to take some time for this electrification transition. I think a lot of people in the industry still feel that electrification, battery, ev, maybe hybrids in between is the way to go in the future. But you know, I think there's, there's a huge paradigm shift that consumers hair have to get over. And it's really challenging to do that without government support.
[07:07]
D
Here. And it does not appear that this administration at least is willing to provide that support. How does the industry kind of view.
[07:17]
B
That? Oh, it's, it's, it's very unfortunate. I think the, the gyration, the volatility that we're seeing in regulation is really not helping the industry. There's a lot of sunk costs that's been incurred with the shift to de emphasize EVs. You know, all three, many automakers around the globe have spent billions. You know, with that 19.5 billion that Ford just written down, you know, it's probably about half of what they've invested in EV already. So, you know, we do need more stable policy. You know, you mentioned Europe earlier. You know, Europe is in the same situation. I don't think the European regulators really know what they want to do in the future. They're still continuing to talk about, you know, delaying going all EVs by 2035. And you know, that's going to have, you know, some negative as well as positive implication to the global auto.
[08:18]
D
Industry. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after.
[08:24]
A
This. What is actual investing? We believe that it's a real world task to deliver thoughtful capital deployment. It's not about speculating over the short term. It's about understanding the long term opportunities for companies through technological progress or new business models. So we seek out those exploring big new ideas that will change the world. Then we back them to give those ideas time to flourish. Bailey Gifford Actual Investors Find out more@baileygifford.com these days it seems like AI agents are just about everywhere. You turn every field and every function. But without identity you can't trust they'll serve your business instead of jeopardizing it. Fortunately, Okta helps you get identity right by securing your AI agents identities, giving you a single layer of control, a single standard of trust. So whether an AI agent supports a single user or you're in entire enterprise, with Okta you'll turn risk into opportunity. Secure every agent, secure any agent. Okta secures AI support for the.
[09:28]
D
Show comes from public on public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com market and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. And that's public.com market paid for.
[10:17]
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By Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing.
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Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures.
[10:37]
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[11:17]
C
Acceptance. You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube. So we want to Take a look at the companies to watch for in 2026. But how do you shrink that universe of investable companies down into 50 that you really want to focus on? Well, thankfully we have Bloomberg Intelligence and Tim Craighead who is our global Chief Content officer for doing just that. Tim is joining us right now. And Tim, you guys have really narrowed it down to companies to watch for, for better or for worse. And you have a couple of themes to keep in mind here. What are the, what are the companies or what are the big themes that have the most companies that you really point us.
[12:11]
E
To? Yeah, sure thing. So, and we can dive into some of those. So it put a little bit of context. This, this group of 50 are all part of what we call focus ideas. It's a broader group of about 100. These are all high conviction ideas. They have high conviction ideas where we see something very different from what we think is embedded in market expectations. And there's catalyst ahead to change the market mindset. Those catalysts coming up in 2026 and that's where these 50 come into. And across the group this year, the biggest bucket are two. One is just simply new product innovation that is being ramped out into 2026. The other, no surprise, AI related. And in some of it's the tech companies. Some of it are companies that are feeding into the process. You know, happy to get into some of those or other topics as well, such as cyclical pressures and competitive concerns on the negative side. And there's a couple of other things as.
[13:20]
D
Well. So on the new products, give us an example of a new product that you guys think might really be important for a company in a.
[13:26]
E
Stock. Yeah. So you know, it's interesting because some of these can be quite technical. Paul, you think Anelin Pharma or Bridge Bio are two biotech companies that have new products coming. One of them relates to heart issues, another relates to dwarfism. But it's new products that will expand the market and drive we think significantly better revenue and earnings. On the other hand, there's some good old fashioned names that you know and you love. Canada Goose has new product flow coming through that we think reinvigorates the top line. Brinker think Chili's, the restaurant are going through a whole new upgrade of their menu and, and upselling clients with, with good stuff like margaritas with patron. And so the new product idea can expand, you know, across a whole number of different segments. It's quite.
[14:29]
C
Interesting. Yeah, I'm looking at Deckers is one of the new products companies you Highlight and their UGG is introducing styles to stay relevant beyond the winter months. Let's talk a little bit about AI because that's going to continue to be a big theme even as investors are starting to make distinctions between companies that are in it were good and those that may be kind of faddish. What are some new names that surprised you in terms of their making the.
[14:53]
E
List? Yeah, it's interesting. I'll give you the new names and the ones that aren't on here and I'll do the latter first. There's none of the big LLMs this year that are on our list or Nvidia that's on the list, that's not on the list. What you find are other either enabling technologies. So think LAM Research, it's a semi cap equipment company that makes makes the gear that you make the semiconductors with. That's quite well positioned. Tsmc, the world's largest foundry that's making the AI accelerator chips that feed into the LLMs or even even back up in the channel of how do you build out AI Constellation, which is the US's largest nuclear utility. That's quite important if you're going to generate the electricity to drive the data centers to drive a acs. Interestingly, European construction company, they own Turner, which is the US's largest construction company. They've got the biggest order book for building out data centers. So there's a host of different kinds of ways you can think about leveraging AI beyond just Simply the big LLMs like Google or OpenAI or things along those lines that you hear.
[16:15]
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About. Tim, on this list you and the BI analysts also highlight stocks that might have pressure on the downside, whether it's cyclical pressure, competition, ma, project delay. Give us a name or two that might have some downside risk this.
[16:31]
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Year. Yeah, it's interesting on that. Think about what's going on from the standpoint of you were just talking about airlines from a European vantage point. We've got wage pressures that are rising. And for Air France, klm, a big chunk of their business is the transatlantic market which is getting more and more competitive. And with both of those factors we think that there's risks to estimates. China Railway Group, it's a big state owned enterprise in China. It's one of the big four engineering companies. And to the degree that China is shifting towards more technology and innovation driven investment and less away from bridges and roads and railroads and things along those lines. China Railway Group we think has downside risk. Couple little companies that are unusual but intriguing DNO Polska, which you've never heard of, I'm sure, is a Polish supermarket company. But they've got two big European competitors that are coming into the Polish market again, downside risk to earnings. And the same thing can be said about Join Labs talked about a couple of positive health care companies. This is one of the contract research companies that helps a pharmaceutical do their drug development and China is now looking to go broad and global with approvals on new pharmaceutical products. Join, who focuses in on China, is losing some of their business. So there's lots of ways we can think about.
[18:18]
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This. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after.
[18:22]
A
This. These days it seems like AI agents are just about everywhere you turn every field and every function. But without identity, you can't trust they'll serve your business instead of jeopardizing it. Fortunately, Okta helps you get identity right by securing your AI agents identities, giving you a single layer of control, a single standard of trust. So whether an AI agent supports a single user or your entire enterprise, with Okta you'll turn risk into opportunity. Secure every agent, secure any agent. Okta secures AI support for the show comes from.
[18:57]
D
Public. On public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com market and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com market paid for by.
[19:46]
A
Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing.
[19:49]
D
Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation, recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures.
[20:05]
A
With the B2B card payment landscape evolving, large corporations face pressure as buyers increasingly demand to pay invoices by virtual card. For merchant acquiring businesses like yours, this is a high growth opportunity waiting to be unlocked. With Mastercard's adaptive approach to B2B acceptance, you can enhance your infrastructure for high value payments and meet your customers unique needs. MasterCard offers solutions and support for every step of the supplier lifecycle, helping you deepen merchant relationships. Start fast, grow strategically and scale at your pace with a modular toolkit you can flexibly deploy. Discover how@mastercard.com Commercial Acceptance Introducing the.
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[21:33]
D
YouTube. Some news in the food business today. Kraft Heinz is replacing its chief executive officer getting somebody new here starting January 1st. And this move follows a difficult period for the food company here. And I know they just, they made some announcements about splitting up the company. So a lot going on at Kraft Heinz. Let's break it down with Christina Peterson, food industry reporter for Bloomberg News. She joins us live in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio. Talk to us first about this, the change at the CEO level. What's going on.
[22:00]
F
There? Yeah, we had expected in September that the current CEO would lead one of the two new companies, specifically the one that is the grocery Staples. They actually don't have official names yet, but that was a collection of the least profitable or less profitable food items there, including things like Lunchables and Oscar Mayer Deli Meats. The surprise came this morning that he is in fact not going to lead that company and instead they are bringing in Steve C.A. hellane from Kellanova to lead the second company after the split has gone through that is being called the global taste elevation company that's going to have Heinz ketchup, Kraft Mac and cheese, some of those beloved iconic.
[22:45]
C
Products. So that's the fast growing part of the company and the other one is kind of the, you know, the equivalent of cnn, TNT and you know, the leave it behind assets that, you know are you're managing a decline in. What can you tell us about Steve Cowling, the former Kellanova CEO? What is his approach, his.
[23:03]
F
Philosophy? Well, I just spoke with him and he said that he's going to be focused on bringing organic growth to the company. We talked a little bit about focusing on some of the health and wellness trends that consumers are looking for. Increasing offerings with protein, with fiber, with shorter ingredient lists, you know, the so called cleaner labels. So they'll definitely be leaning into that. It sounds like a little bit more. He also led Kellogg through its split. The Kellogg company split into W.K. kellogg and then Kellanova. Both of those companies were then separately acquired. I asked him if he thought that could be a path here and he said it's hard to predict the future. So not ruling it out, just.
[23:43]
D
Looking at the stock here. Kraft Heinz compounded annual return over the last five years negative 2% versus the consumer packaged good index up about 70%. Of course, the S&P up about 15%. So what's the, what's been a challenge for Kraft Heinz over the last number of.
[24:01]
F
Years? I mean, in general, the food companies are all struggling with this shift as consumers move towards healthier, less popular processed food. The company says that they just had too many brands and that splitting into two will help them focus on each component. I think that there is some analyst chatter that that's what companies say when they just need to, you know, spin off some of their less profitable items. But they will tell you that they expect both companies will have better value when there's an ability to focus more on the condiments and boxed meals and then on some of the other.
[24:37]
C
Foods. Christina Christine, put this all into context for us when Paul talks about how, you know, this group has been kind of struggling overall. We also saw that with PepsiCo, with Coca Cola. I mean, they have had to rethink their strategy.
[24:51]
F
Completely. Yeah, there's just been a lot of movement in the food industry right now. PepsiCo announced some pretty dramatic changes last week. They're going to reduce the number of products they sell by 20% and lower prices in some of their key brands. As part of an agreement with activist investor Elliott Investment Management, Coke has a new CEO. I think Coke is in pretty solid shape. They've been doing their, their shares have been doing really well compared to some of the other business companies. But yet in general the, the companies that I think are really tapping into this health and wellness interest in consumers are often the smaller startup brands and the big companies are playing catch up, not only with them, but some of the private label companies too, that are really nimble and able to get some of these new products to market really.
[25:36]
D
Fast. Well, I know, I mean, you mentioned a Private label. I know when I go to the shop, right in Belmar, New Jersey, we buy a lot more private label than we ever used to. How's that's gotta be a bummer for somebody like Kraft Heinz who spent my lifetime getting me to, you know, brand up with Cheez Whiz or something. I mean, now I'm going store brand. That's gonna be a.
[25:54]
F
Problem. I mean, consumers are definitely under pressure. They still need to buy food and one of the things they do is turn to more affordable food. And often private label is an enticing option. Interestingly, we are seeing that more on the food side than on the beverage.
[26:08]
D
Side. Yeah, that's.
[26:10]
C
True. Yeah, I guess people are willing to pay for beverage, but I mean I think about, especially on the food side, it's that move towards protein. Everyone is obsessed with ingesting protein and making sure that whatever they are eating, if they are on Ozempic or something else, that it's going to add to their, you know, their healthfulness rather than, you know, kind of take away from it. What are these companies doing in terms of competing better against those startup brands? Are they looking to acquire them for.
[26:35]
F
Instance? Yeah, for sure in some cases that we saw PepsiCo acquire Poppy, the prebiotic soda brand this year and Siete Grain Free chips. So they are in certain instances acquiring some of these companies and I expect we'll see more of that in 2026.
[26:50]
D
Also. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after.
[26:54]
A
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The all new Adobe Acrobat studio now with AI powered PDF spaces. Do more with PDFs than you ever thought possible. Need AI to turn 100 pages of market research into 5 insights with a click. Do that with Acrobat. Need templates for a sales proposal that'll close that deal. Do that with Acrobat. Need an AI specialist to tailor the tone of your market report to sound real smart in real time. Do that with the all new Adobe Acrobat Studio. Learn more at adobe.com/do that with Acrobat. You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10am Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on.
[30:04]
D
YouTube. Big take story. You know we love these Big take stories. These are great topics on a who thinks of them. Great topics. They're really well reported, deeply sourced, all that kind of good stuff. A lot of times they have fun graphics for me to look at, so this one is really cool. Saudi sisters wield $50 billion fortune as global power brokers. I had no idea about these people, but our next guest does. Devin Pendleton. She's a wealth reporter for Bloomberg News. She joins us live here in the Interactive Broker Studios. Who is the Olayan Group? Olayan.
[30:38]
G
Group? Yeah, Olayan.
[30:39]
D
Olayan. Who are the two sisters behind this Saudi.
[30:42]
G
Group? So it is Lubna and her sister Hutham Alayan. They're both in their early 70s and they have been at the helm of this family enterprise for decades, for more than 40.
[30:54]
E
Years.
[30:55]
C
Wow. And they have fairly low profiles too. That's the thing that is striking. They have these low profiles, but they are known as steely negotiators. Tell us what they've.
[31:06]
G
Done. Yeah, they've done an incredible job building this family business which was started by their father who was a really, you know, unbelievable character. He basically worked his way up from nothing. You know, he's not a royal, was not connected to the royals at a young age, but he built an oil servicing company which he grew striking deals with all sorts of consumer brand companies in the US bringing them to Saudi Arabia, everything from Coca Cola to Cheez its to Oreos. And he came over to the US in the early 1960s, was very inspired by what he saw and bought some bank stocks and basically his daughters took over that business, which was sprawling. I mean it was in all sorts of sectors, real estate, oil field services, consumer goods, and hung on to those equity stakes, those banking stakes. So now they have this incredible portfolio of investments in the us, on Wall street, as well as this booming multi sector business in Saudi.
[32:06]
D
Arabia. But people in power know these two sisters. They were at the White House recently. Tell us about that. How do they subtly wield their.
[32:17]
G
Influence? They are not noisy people. I think it's one thing to do business and thrive in Saudi Arabia is you have to really sort of be, be quiet, be, be forceful, sort of know, be a little bit deferential to, you know, who's really in charge, which would be the government and the king and the Crown Prince. But they have had long term ties with the U.S. i mean, you really saw that at the White House dinner. You mentioned Paul. She was sitting right next to Elon Musk. But you know, arguably one of the most important people in the room because she has these connections on Wall street through their long term equity investments. It's really important right now, especially because the Kingdom is trying to bring in a lot of inbound investment to transform their economy past oil. It's a big deal for them to be bringing in money. And these alliance sisters have had these connections for a long, long time. So they're more important than.
[33:08]
C
Ever. So they have the connections with the right people in Saudi Arabia. How does their, I mean, when I think about prominent investors in the Kingdom, I think about Prince Abaled Bin Talal and how he's been very vocal about his positions. He's, you Know, often seen on media networks. You don't hear about these alliance sisters at all. And I wonder how much of that is, you know, is part of their success.
[33:32]
E
Story.
[33:32]
G
Totally. It's, it's so, so important. I think they are extremely discreet. They are, like I said, like they really know their role in the kingdom. Like they're important. They step in and help when they need to. For example, in Saudi Aramco IPO back in 2019, the kingdom was having trouble kind of getting people excited and really getting the investors they needed early to get backstop this ipo. They asked some influential families and the lions were one that, you know, they really showed up. That matters for the kingdom and it also gives them, you know, license to, to really expand their business as much as they need to and to be in a position of power to help out, but also have favors in.
[34:13]
D
Return. And the Bloomberg the Rich Go Function lists their wealth of the family at approximately $50 billion US.
[34:20]
G
Right? Yes, $50 billion US but I can guarantee you that that is a conservative.
[34:25]
D
Estimate. Is that right? Now, I understand that while they keep a low profile, these sisters, they have good relationships with some of the big folks on Wall street like Larry Fink of blackrock, things like that. So that's got to be.
[34:35]
G
Useful. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, just through one portfolio alone, they have their big investors in BlackRock, the equity investors. They have a one and a half billion dollar stake in BlackRock. They own an almost billion dollar stake in JP Morgan. It's actually where live Lyon first got her start. She was initially working as a low level banker at JP Morgan right after college. So they're really worldly, very well traveled and just tough, tough in this sort of very, you know, meaningful business sense. Like negotiators, they're very involved in their investments. People really describe them as.
[35:15]
C
Intense. How hard was it to do the reporting on this story? I mean, these are people who intentionally want to keep a low profile. As you write, they came of age at a time when women weren't allowed to drive. They needed a male guardian's permission to even get a passport to leave the kingdom. So were people willing to open up about.
[35:33]
G
Them? No, Scarlett, it was so hard. In fact, me and my colleagues who worked on this story, we had been reporting on them for years, like just kind of keeping tabs on what they were doing and writing things down in our notebooks for years until we felt like we were at a point where we could put together a story and people just did not want to talk about them because they respect how discreet they want to be, and especially when they found out that we were trying to give a sense of their influence by tabulating their wealth, they were like, no way. Absolutely not. You know, they're very modest.
[36:09]
C
People. Have you heard from anyone in the kingdom following the.
[36:11]
G
Story? Not.
[36:12]
C
Yet. This is the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast, available on Apple, Spotify and anywhere else you get your podcast. Podcasts listen live each weekday 10am to noon Eastern on Bloomberg.com, the iHeartRadio app, TuneIn, and the Bloomberg Business App. You can also watch us live Every weekday on YouTube and always on the Bloomberg.
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