{
  "id": 2812086,
  "title": "Can Hershey step up to buy Mondelez?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/23/can-hershey-step-up-to-buy-mondelez",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-23T15:33:08.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Investing.com",
    "slug": "investing-com",
    "url": "https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/can-hershey-step-up-to-buy-mondelez-4872464"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Hershey and Mondelez are more likely to bolster collaborations in overseas markets rather than engage in a full-scale merger in the near future, according to Bernstein. The firms have already achieved notable success with joint Reese's and Oreo product launches in 2025. Mondelez holds a substantial China market presence, whereas Hershey has faced challenges establishing a foothold there. A partnership could enable Hershey to leverage Mondelez's established distribution and market knowledge to broaden its brand reach. Europe presents a comparable opportunity for growth. While Hershey has made headway with Reese's peanut butter cups in Britain and other European nations, its overall European presence remains modest. A potential acquisition by Hershey has not been ruled out, but the current control structure of the Hershey Trust, which owns roughly 79% of voting shares through Class B stocks, presents substantial obstacles. Even under optimistic scenarios, where Hershey's share price is 15% higher than Mondelez's and Hershey achieves cost savings equivalent to 8.5% of sales, earnings per share would only be diluted initially by 5% and become accretive by nearly 11% in two to three years. However, a more aggressive leverage ratio of four times could result in less than 2% dilution and 16% accretion. Given the significant structural barriers and lack of public statements from either company, Bernstein does not foresee a Hershey acquisition of Mondelez in the near term. Instead, they anticipate continued cooperation between the U.S. and international markets, with a merger becoming more plausible if market conditions and governance evolve favorably.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [
    "Hershey and Mondelez likely to collaborate more than merge.",
    "Mondelez strong in China, Hershey struggles there.",
    "Hershey Trust structure hinders potential acquisition."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}