Dive Brief:
- Heinz has ousted Brendan Foley, its chief of North American operations, just seven months after naming him to the post, according to Bloomberg.
- Heinz named Eduardo Luz as president of the North American division. He is the third person to hold the job in the seven months since Heinz was taken over by Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital.
- Also fired in the latest shakeup are Fernando Pocaterra, president of the Latin America division, and Kristen Clark, senior vice president of global human resources.
Dive Insight:
The only bit of good news to be found in watching Heinz flail around senselessly is knowing that we don't work there.
Look: Heinz is in trouble. Not because of any problems with its markets or its products or its staff. In fact, there's nothing wrong with the business at all. The problem is the debt. The Heinz buyout was one of the most egregious and offensive examples we've seen of the plague of private equity investing. And it's been pathetic to watch as the new owners have slashed and burned the company to cover the $14 billion in debt that they piled upon it.
So, as we said just days ago, "we see nothing to suggest that Heinz is about to turn the corner."