Kraft to rename its global snacks company Mondelēz International

Posted by AFN Staff Writers on 22nd March 2012

Kraft has announced plans to change the name of its global snacks business’s corporate name to Mondelez International.

Kraft said that ‘Mondelez’ (pronounced ‘mohn-dah-leez’) is a newly coined word that “evokes the idea of ‘delicious world’”. ‘Monde’ derives from the Latin word for ‘world’, and ‘delez’ is a fanciful expression of ‘delicious’.

As previously announced, Kraft Foods is dividing to create two public companies before the end of 2012: a high-growth global snacks business and a high-margin North American grocery business.

The North American grocery company will retain the Kraft brand for its corporate identity and as the brand for many of its consumer products. As a result, the global snacks company will require a new name when it launches later this year.

Kraft’s iconic snack brands include Cadbury, Jacobs, Maxwell House, Milka, Oreo, and Trident.

Kraft’s Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld said, “For the new global snacks company, we wanted to find a new name that could serve as an umbrella for our iconic brands, reinforce the global nature of this business and build on our higher purpose – to ‘make today delicious’.

Last year, the company invited employees from around the world to suggest names for the new global snacks company. As part of this co-creation process, more than 1,000 employees participated, submitting more than 1,700 names for consideration. Mondelez International was inspired by separate suggestions from two employees, one in Europe and another in North America.

If shareholders approve the amendment, the company expects the new name to become effective when the global snacks company launches before the end of 2012. The company has also reserved the stock symbol “MDLZ.”