‹ Kraft Heinz
Ch 3 · When a Brand Loses Its Shine
Chapter 3 · The Moat
The write-down is the market repricing the brand.
A $9 billion impairment isn't just an accounting entry — it's an admission that the brands are worth less than they were.
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✦ The bottom line
A great brand is a moat — it lets you charge more. Kraft Heinz's moat is leaking: shoppers keep trading down to cheaper store brands.
↓ the brief below
✦ Teach me
Pricing power
The ability to raise prices without losing customers. Strong brands have it — people pay up for the name. When shoppers switch to the store-brand ketchup instead, that power is fading.
Wall Street calls this
Pricing power / the moat
A brand only earns its premium if buyers stay when the price rises. Falling volume says some aren't.
From the 10-K · who they're up against
We compete with both branded and private label products sold by retailers, wholesalers, and cooperatives.
↳ Translated: every store's cheaper house-brand is a direct rival — and lately it's winning shoppers.
Source · 10-K · Risk Factors — Competition · FY2025 · Filed Feb 12, 2026
Are the brands still growing?
Organic sales growth — most recent fiscal year
Unilever
+4.3%
P&G
+2.5%
Kraft Heinz
−3.4%
Rivals selling soap and snacks are still growing. Kraft Heinz is going backwards — the clearest sign the moat is leaking.
Source · 10-K · each company's latest annual report (KHC FY2025 10-K; P&G & Unilever most recent annual filings) · FY2025 · Filed Feb 12, 2026
That $9.3B write-down in Chapter 2 was this story in accounting form: the company marking its own brands down to today's worth.
Eroding
Peers still grow; Kraft Heinz shrinks. A moat that leaks every year is still leaking.
You just finished
Chapter 3 · MOAT
When a Brand Loses Its Shine
you now read: pricing power
Up next
Then
Chapter 5 · BEHIND THE NUMBERS
Three Takes on the Turnaround
Chapter 6 · RISK
Value Trap or Comeback?