Lew Robertson
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Ben & Jerry is buying back the same name brand from Unilever (UL) during negotiations. (00:30) Anheuser-Busch (Bud) believes that the impact on beer prices in 2025 is limited. (02:05) Meta apologized for Glitch, which filled the Instagram reel with graphic content. (02:56)
This is an abridged transcript.
The founder of Ben & Jerry Ice Cream is reportedly negotiating to buy the iconic company from Unilever Corporation (NYSE:UL).
Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield started the ice cream business in Burlington, Vermont in 1978, selling it for $326 million. Since then, the company has been the largest sales of ice cream in the United States, with annual sales reaching $1 billion.
Last year, to reduce its business and focus on its core business, Unilever (NYSE:UL) is discussing selling its ice cream business (including Ben & Jerry’s, Breyer’s and Magnum), selling it to private equity firms to private equity firms, or selling it to a business to sell it to Amsterdam Stock Exceard Exchange.
This is part of a broader concession to the Dutch government to preserve some actions by Unilever (NYSE:UL) in the country. In return for the tax incentive, Unilever (UL) vowed to list any businesses that will be developed with the Dutch Exchange in the future. Unilever (UL) continues to separate from its ice cream business after the failure of the private equity deal.
With Unilever (UL) opening up the possibility of selling, Cohen and Greenfield can regain ownership of their company of the same name, despite a significant premium in their 2000 sale.
Cohen and Greenfield may want to work with socially like-minded investors with “deep pockets” to fund multi-billion dollar acquisitions, according to Bloomberg.
Unilever (UL) insisted in an email statement to Bloomberg that the business is not for sale.
Anheuser-Busch Inbev (Bud) does not believe that the tariffs on aluminum will have a significant impact on the prices of its U.S. beer in the near term.
CEO Michel Doukeris told Reuters that the company comes primarily from cans from local companies, but these companies source raw metals from around the world. While tariffs along the supply chain may lead to higher costs of prepared aluminum, factors such as hedging and productivity initiatives are expected to limit the impact in 2025.
But Doukeris warned that the impact on U.S. beer prices could be more obvious in 2026 if tariffs are paid at full strength.
Anheuser-Busch Inbev (Bud) shares ended 7.2% on Wednesday, with its fourth-quarter earnings report improving.
Meta (NASDAQ:META) apologized for the failure on Instagram after users worldwide reported that their feed was full of graphic short videos, including those killed and disabled.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the videos were recommended on the user’s reel tag on Wednesday, some of which had “sensitive content” warnings, while others did not. The videos reportedly included being shot, being knocked down by a vehicle and being violent by cartels.
“We have resolved a bug that has caused some users to see content in their Instagram reel feeds that should not be suggested,” an Instagram spokesperson told WSJ. “We apologize for this error.”
An Instagram spokesman said the error had nothing to do with Meta’s (NASDAQ:META) decision to simplify its content review policy to avoid censoring speeches.
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Catalyst watch:
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Notable investor activities include Front Door (FTDR) Investor Day, Primo Brands (PRMB) Investor Day and G. Willi-Food International (WILC) special sessions to vote on leadership appointments and compensation policies.
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Fluoroscopy Therapy (CATX), Varex Imaging (VREX), and Zymeworks (Zyme) are some of the companies participating in the B. Riley Securities Precision Precision Precision Precision Ancology & Radiopharma conference.
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The information on the AI AI Agenda live event in San Francisco will include participation from anthropomorphism, Pagerduty (PD), Adobe (Adbe) and IBM (IBM).
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Intel (INTC) will participate in the fireside chat of Bernstein Technology, Media and Telecom Forums on corporate business and casting strategies.
Now, let’s take a look at the market before the opening. Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in green. Crude oil rose 0.8% to $69 per barrel. Bitcoin fell 3.2% to $86,000.
In the world market, the FTSE 100 rose 0.2%, and the DAX fell 1.1%.
The biggest move before the day’s listing: Snowflakes (NYSE: SNOW) +9% – After the stock soared, the company reported more than expected fourth-quarter results and guidance.
On today’s economic calendar:
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8:30 AM GDP
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10:00 am to be determined Home Sales Index
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Cleveland Federal Reserve President Beth Hammack spoke at Columbia University/Banking Policy Institute at 1:15 pm: “Financial Stability” was presented at the 2025 Banking Regulation Research Conference.
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3:15 PM Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker spoke on the economic outlook ahead of the Lyon economic forecast proposed by the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship at the University of Delaware.
