By 2025, America’s food giants will be slightly smaller.
After years of amassing broad portfolios, some companies are now shedding pounds to focus more on their businesses in the face of a slowdown in consumption. Kraft Heinz and Keurig Dr Pepper announced their intent to break up this year, and Unilever spun off its ice cream division.
Nonetheless, while some companies have scaled back their portfolios, others have resorted to M&A to strengthen their presence in new or trendy sectors, such as health and wellness. PepsiCo’s $2 billion acquisition of Poppi and Hershey’s LesserEvil popcorn deal helped the food giant capitalize on new trends to diversify its offerings and better reach younger consumers.
Spin-offs also paved the way for some food companies to grow bigger. Mars and Ferrero close their acquisition of spun-off Kellogg, positioning themselves as stronger competitors in 2026.
Food Dive has closed some of the biggest M&A deals and announcements of 2025. With sales continuing to be sluggish, the company will likely continue to buy and sell brands next year to better position its portfolio for growth.
