B (4:55)

Pretty pretty crazy Peter because I know that the Honest Company has been using so many business cases from a consumer relationship standpoint and loyalty was due to DTC. I got a lot here for us on PepsiCo. Some major executive org shuffles, changes, et cetera. Straight from their website, PepsiCo is pleased to announce a series of org changes designed to advance their growth strategy and support their commitment to being a best in class. And I think the key word here is globally admired company. Over the past year they say we have unified our North America businesses. Continued investments in advanced technology that includes AI, strengthened our brands, modernized our manufacturing, enhanced our warehouse and distribution capabilities. These efforts have made us into a more agile and future ready org. Today we're announcing a series of org changes that mark our next step. So buckle yourself. Stephen Williams, who served as CEO of PepsiCo North America for the past year, has been appointed EVP and Vice Chairman of the company and Global Chief Commercial Officer in Corporate affairs effective 28th December. That's in a week. In this new role he will focus on building a unified selling org, developing a global strategy to accelerate growth for the away from home businesses and engaging stakeholders support the growth in the US and around the world. Obviously with Stephen stepping into his new position, the North America CEO seat opens up. That will be taken by Ram Krishnan once did a camping trip with him back in the 2012s if I remember correctly. Our daughters went to school together back in the days. The older daughter Rhea and he will take that position effective December 20th as well. Aggressive agenda for him is accelerating the integration of foods and bevops where it creates value enables to better meet the need of both consumers and customers. They say Rahm has a strong record as success at PepsiCo building momentum in US beverages through portfolio innovation. All the acquisitions they've done go to market transformations. His experiences across categories, geographies and functions should enable him to approach his work on an end to end consumer first mindset. Now who's in his org? Rachel Ferdinando, CEO of US Foods. That's Frito. Mike Del Pozo will now be president of the US Beverages a role that Rahm himself has done in a previous life and the one that Ram was occupying. Greg Rodin will head north to make a supply chain. He was already in that role. And our old friend from a past life at iri, Brian Santee will lead the US Commercial and go to market teams as CCO for the US and then finally Latin America. Athena Canyora will be the new CEO in addition to a role as Chief Strategy and Transformation officer again effective December 20th, succeeding Paula Santilli who's retiring after 35 years at PepsiCo. A lot going on, Peter. But they needed change. Business doesn't look too healthy based on several analyst reports. What's next?

A (7:46)

Well, more executive change at another major company. Kraft Heinz just announced a major CEO change. Our friend Steve Kalane is taking the reins. Effective January 1st, he'll join the board of directors and lead Global Taste Elevation Co. One of the two companies emerging from the Kraft Heinz planned separation into two publicly traded entities. Carlos Abrahams Rivera stepping down on January 1st, but will stay on as an advisor through March 6th to smooth the transition. I'm honored to be joining Kraft Heinz as CEO at such a pivotal and exciting time. Kaylane said. Like millions of people around the world, I have a deeply personal connection to the Kraft Heinz brands dating back to my childhood. Called the planned separation a strategic accelerator that will unlock the immense opportunity in front of us. The guy knows cpg, sri. I mean, he knows cpg, right? Most recently he was the Chairman President CEO of Kellanova up until the Mars acquisition that closed and under his leadership Kellanova became a global snacking powerhouse. They acquired Pringles, Cheez It, Pop Tarts International, Kellogg's brands. He also orchestrated Kellogg's separation from its North American cereal business, creating Kellanova in the process. I remember when that happened, I was sitting at Cornell University in the Omnichannel, bunch of people from Kellogg sitting behind me. They all had to leave the room for the big announcement. It was quite the big quite before that, he had senior roles at Nature's Bounty, Coca Cola and ABM BEV. Over 30 years in the industry with Crafine splitting into two companies and bringing in a CEO who's already executed a successful separation of Kellogg's, it's clear they're betting big on this restructuring strategy. The question is, can Kane replicate his Kellanova success with an even more iconic but arguably more challenged portfolio? Sree close it out for us?

B (9:38)

Yep. Before I do this last topic, I want to declare I'm not an employee of General Merge, haven't been since May 2024. I have no access to confidential information and everything Peter and I do here analysis is based on industry publicly available info. So it appears. With the latest earnings announcement from a week ago, the North America Leadership Team, which has been in place for two years, really hasn't been able to make a dent in volume. So from Investing.com, uBS maintained its sell rating, which is not exactly a aha moment, and a $47 price target on general stock following the company's fiscal second quarter earnings report. Despite the stock trading at 48.04, general shares rose 3% after reporting better than expected results. With organic sales, gross margin, operating profit margin all exceeding forecast, the company reiterated its full year guidance for fiscal 26, which ends in May of 26. The positive movement comes despite the stock's challenging year with a whopping negative -20.12 year to date total return. While it's not alone in a series of CPG companies, this one just does stand out. UBS noted that while volume growth in North America retail was encouraging, questions remain about whether consumption will improve as category growth remains challenged and competitors will focus on affordability. The investment firm acknowledged some favorable timing and supply chain benefits contributed to the quarterly performance, but highlighted the cautious third quarter outlook, especially regarding profitability. General Stock trades at an EPS of 10.3 times earnings versus its 5 year historical average at about 16 times. Needless to say, that would make it an attractive purchase based on analysts estimation on an absolute basis, but more expensive on a relative basis compared to history. According to ubs. Investing Pro analysis indicates the stock is undervalued based on its fair value model with a notable 5.01 dividend yield. Obviously stock price is low, Dividend has been pretty good. Yield is going to be high. The company has maintained dividend payments for 55 consecutive years. Congratulations to General Mills, a key consideration for some income investors. For deeper insights into the valuation and 12 plus additional pro tips, investors can access the comprehensive Pro Research report available from the company Investing Pro. It covers all 1400 plus top equities with expert analysis Wild Wild Wild.

A (12:01)

Peter closes out yeah Sree. I got to say with General Mills, they obviously divested themselves of a number of portfolio brands. They got rid of Hamburger Helper a couple years ago, the dealing of Yoplait and Lactalis and a couple of others. And with a low stock price the question becomes are they an appealing target and possibly even to be further carved up and divvied out. Not great times in in Golden Valley all right, as we wrap up a reminder to catch up with our recently released episode featuring Dollar General's Angela Martin and Crunch Fitness discussing how fitness marketing works, we have another special from Dollar General this week straight from one of the DG Market stores. All right folks, that's our take on relevant commerce happenings from so many announcements in the past week. We wanted to make sure you got them in the Riff. We hope you enjoyed it. Please do click like our post on all platforms. Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and now YouTube reminder. Both Shree and I are out next week and there is no December 30th episode. We'll be back with the Riff on January 6th, 2026. A very happy New Year from the CPG Happy New Year, y'. All.

C (13:13)

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