LSU Tigers coach Brian Kelly gets doused in Cheez-Its after winning the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl last year. (Joe Petro/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

While the rest of the world burns, Cheez-Its soar

Acquisition talks have Kellanova’s stock up today, but dealmakers don’t love negotiating when markets are unstable.

Nate Becker

8/5/24 12:08PM

On a day when pretty much every stock in the market is down, you just cannot stop Cheez-Its.

Shares of Kellanova, the company that makes Cheez-Its and other snacks like Pringles, are up 13% while the rest of the world is in the red. That’s because Mars, the family-owned maker of candy like M&M's and Snickers, has apparently figured out what we recently reported: everybody loves Cheez-Its.

We jest, but reports surfaced over the weekend that Mars is in late-stage talks to buy Kellanova, which is the reason the stock is up today. If the two companies strike a deal, it would be one of the biggest in packaged-food history.

That said, it’s really hard to make deals when valuations are whipsawing like crazy.

It’s often the case that when you see two well-known news organizations reporting on merger talks on a Sunday, the deal gets announced Monday morning. But dealmakers very much prefer to have some certainty in the markets when they’re agreeing to a purchase price, especially for a take-private the size of Kellanova, which could fetch around $30 billion.

When stocks around the world are moving like they are today, nobody knows what anything’s worth. That’s probably why you’re only seeing a low double-digits percentage premium baked into Kellanova trading right now, compared to a more typical one-third premium for M&A deals. (When Mars bought pet-care company VCA in 2017, for example, it paid a 31% premium.)

The truth about Cheez-its

26 x 24 mm

No it is not a square. Yes that is messed up.

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Texas sues Netflix, accusing streamer of spying on children and collecting user data without consent

The state of Texas filed a lawsuit Monday against streaming giant Netflix, alleging that the company has built a “behavioral-surveillance program of staggering scale.”

The suit alleges that Netflix is “deceptively designed” to be addictive, using features like autoplay to get viewers hooked, “mining those users for data, and then converting that data into lucrative intelligence for global advertising juggernauts.”

“When you watch Netflix, Netflix watches you,” the lawsuit reads.

“This lawsuit lacks merit and is based on inaccurate and distorted information,” Netflix said in a statement to Sherwood News. “Netflix takes our members’ privacy seriously and complies with privacy and data‑protection laws everywhere we operate.”

Texas is seeking civil penalties of “up to $10,000 per violation” of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, along with an additional penalty of up to $250,000 per violation involving a consumer aged 65 or older.

“Netflix is not the ad-free and kid-friendly platform it claims to be. Instead, it has misled consumers while exploiting their private data to make billions,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the press release announcing the lawsuit.

Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.