Warren Buffett’s $57 billion face-plant: Kraft Heinz breaks up a decade after his megamerger soured

Warren Buffet, in glasses and a red tie, looks to the side of the camera. (Credit: Daniel Acker—Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Kraft Heinz, the packaged-food giant created in 2015 by Warren Buffett and Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital, is officially breaking up. The Tuesday announcement ends one of Buffett’s highest-profile bets—and one of his most painful—as the merger that once promised efficiency and dominance instead wiped out roughly $57 billion, or 60%, in market value.

Shares slid 7% after the announcement, and Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway still owns a 27.5% stake, was blunt about his feelings.