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This is part of a more systemic issue.
In general, American capital has been buying up European assets for the past 20 years at a large scale.
Because of the way we (EU) prioritize workers, society and customers and they (US) prioritize shareholders and capital, their companies are always in a better position to take over our companies.
We need to protect our European companies in the same way China and Japan protect their companies.
You're really oversimplifying this situation, European multinationals do the exact same thing to US brands. Examples include Nestle, Unilever, and AB InBev, among many others.
Multinational corporations make a boycott of a specific country's products difficult, because oftentimes the factories that make the products may be within your country even if the top of the chain is located somewhere else.
No, you are attacking a straw man.
Of course it's not black and white, but the overall balance is much more towards American capital than European capital.
Even for a company like Unilever, American institutional investors hold a much larger share than European investors hold in Mondelez.
That's the point I was making.
The GDP of the US is about $30 trillion USD while the GDP of the EU + UK is about $23 trillion USD. Europe has enough capital to effectively compete with the US, and it does. "American institutional investors" include a ton of foreign capital. This isn't a "David vs Goliath" situation
We definitely can compete. But we don't really compete.
We have always given the US first pickings in exchange for the security umbrella.
Things like the Plaza and Louvre accords and supporting dollar supremacy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the obvious examples. But there are many, many smaller examples, such as not fully enforcing our tax codes on American multinationals.
If we would actually compete, we would be significantly richer and more powerful.
P.s. when comparing major economies, PPP makes more sense, because Americans paying $6 for a beer when we pay €3 doesn't actually make them any richer in any real sense.
And the EU+UK is about 10% larger than the US.
China is 39T, EU+UK is 33T, US is 30T.
I'm European and even I'm part of the American institutional investor class.
Retirement funds in stock based ETFs = everyone is part of these large insitutional funds. Until my requested change taked place, my fund mostly holds Blackrock (iShares) run ETFs and a few other American ones. Soon it'll be Xtrackers and a few other European ones with no US specific fund, but I'm not rich so this is a drop in the sea.
Lol, you are not part of the American institutional investor class. You invest through an American fund.
Those are not the same thing.
But even granting you this fantasy, it would still be in Europe's best interest that European retail investors invest through European funds instead of American ones.
These institutional investors are literally made up of millions of people's retirement funds. That's what they are, the biggest ones anyway. If you hold their ETFs, you're also part of it.
I'm not saying you or I hold any sway over them, I'm saying that's where Blackrock's huuuuge ass AUM is derived from.
What you say isn't false, but totally irrelevant to the point I am making. To the point that it is either naive or purposefully misleading.
Congratulations for understanding the basics of how mutual funds work.
But you are not in a position to discuss how the EU can get better in control of our own capital assets.
It's both irrelevant and extremely relevant though.
It's irrelevant if you only consider who gets to make management decisions. It's relevant if you consider who the beneficiaries are. Yes the fund manager gets a significant management fee regardless of performance, etc, but when stock go up, it's the people whose money is in the funds that see their number go up. I'm saying there's still a lot of European money that's growing through these American funds buying European companies. So it's not like all the value is going away to the US suddenly. Just most of it, which is still just as bad.
Obviously it would be even better if Europeans' retirement money was invested through European-managed funds. But I'm saying American funds probably have a larger share of European investors than European funds have American investors, as the American ones are more famous globally. It's not a 1:1 comparison between European funds investing in the US vs American funds investing in the EU.
Cadbury is also owned by Mondelez, so many British chocolate bars are out too.
And Cadburys have reduced the quality of their chocolate since the take over, to maximise profits further. I largely try to avoid them along with Nestle, but that mostly leaves you with store own brands & the more expensive but much better quality smaller brands (until they get bought out & ruined in the process!).
I've started seeing Tony's Chocolonely in stores recently, but it's about £3.80 UK price as opposed to a similarly sized Cadbury's bar which is anywhere from £1.50 to £2.00.
It's a shame because I love a good chocolate bar but nearly £4 is a bit too steep for me.
it is steep but it's good chocolate. It makes you rethink your relationship with it doesn't it, we take it for granted when in fact it should be a very occasional treat. This is not meant as a preachy statement, I'm very guilty of eating too much chocolate but I think it's the first step in a more positive direction.
Agree. I’ve developed a taste for dark(er) chocolate this past few years, which also has the benefit of not being so morish, so I tend to have smaller amounts at a time rather than smash through most of a large bar of milk choc. That also makes the more expensive price a little more doable when it lasts longer.
Lindt is a high quality European brand but definitely more expensive. M&S brand chocolate is nice and decently priced. Other supermarkets have their own brands which are cheaper but not as nice IMO.
Love Lindt, always keep an eye out for offers. Will have to check M&S’ own out. I’ve found the Sainsbury’s dark bar with hazelnuts is pretty good & priced relatively ok.
I’ll keep an eye out for it & try it as a one off treat!
The factories are still in France though
LU France is a company in the Biscuits division of the American group Mondelez International (formerly Kraft Foods), acquired by the Danone group in 2007. The LU brand, whether under the Danone or Kraft Foods brand, is the number one biscuit manufacturer in France. It is also the number one in Europe for dry, sweet, and savory biscuits. Since its incorporation into the Kraft Foods group, the company has become the world leader.
The company consists of:
Interesting! Well, it's kind of a tough case. If anyone here knows someone who works for LU, how has things changed since they belong to Mondelez? Maybe there is a difference, but it's not like Kraft or Danone are pop and mom stores
Mondelez is the former snack-food branch of Kraft food. They renamed it and it went an independent company.
Kraft Group stayed for the grocery branch. Eventually, Kraft Group and Heinz merged into Heinz Kraft later.
If they was a change, it would be between Danone and Kraft. It's not the same management culture.
Most global American food companies have food plants around the globe.
Most global ~~American~~ food companies have food plants around the globe.
Did this turn your world upside down, OP?
(Pic.)
As an ex-shelf stacker: who tf stacked that shelf
A customer restacked it
A helpful shopper
That's just plain cruel :( Petit beurres were an integral part of my childhood.TIL though, so thank you.
Mondelez..... nuts! (Or Mondeez Nutz, I dunno, it was funny in my head.)
...i thought mondelēz were mexican!..
Time to learn to bake!
Which is good news if you want to buy their biscuits in Russia
