1. NESTLE
The guy is Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, a brand owned by Nestle. The woman below is Liliane Bettencourt, CEO of L'Oreal. Bettencourt and Nestle each control a a quarter of the shares and voting rights at L'Oreal. The pic to the right of Willy Wonka shows the Chinese milk scandal of 2008 when the Hong Kong government claimed to have found melamine in a Chinese-made Nestlé milk product. The logo to the right of Bettencourt shows Novartis. Nestle has agreed to sell Alcon, the world's largest eye-care company to Novartis in 2010. The other logos are Perrier and San Pellegrino, mineral water brands of Nestle.
2. HERSHEY'S
The guy shown with the quote is Milton Hershey. Row 2 shows the writer O'Henry (extreme left), the name of a choclate brand marketed by Hershey's in USA. The pic to the right of O'Henry shows the Hershey Bears, a premier team in the American Hockey League. The pic to the right of Hershey Bears shows Walter Murrie who was President of Hershey for 20 years and then founded M & M. The pic in row 3 shows three Hershey mascots at the entrance of the Hershey's theme park.
3. CADBURY
John Cadbury. The pic to the right of Cadbury shows Bournville which has been associated with Cadbury from the outset. The engine has Cadbury Bournville on it and formed part of Cadbury's epic factory at Bournville. The pic to the right of Bournville shows Salmonella, the bacterium that Cadbury products were purported to contain during the Salmonella Cadbury scare. Below Salmonella is the Great Root Bear, the mascot of A & W Root Beer which is currently owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group (formerly Schwepped which was with Cadbury). The pic below John Cadbury shows the logo of the Cadbury World, their entertainment park.
4. KRAFT FOODS
Kraft Foods began as a processed cheese manufacturer. They used to own Duracell and Tupperware. Altria (Philip Morris) owned Kraft at one point. Kraft Foods replaced AIG in the Dow Jones Index after the latter's collapse. Kraft purchased Groupe Danone's biscuit and cereal division for US $7.2b in 2007. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has an acquired an 8% stake in Kraft worth US $4b in 2008. The woman below Buffett is Irene Rosenfeld, the current CEO of Kraft.
5. RBS
The logo above Banco Santander is Fortis. Fortis, Banco Santander and RBS bought ABN AMRO in 2007, the largest banking takeover in history. The logo to the right of Fortis is Natwest (National Westminster Bank) owned by RBS. The man below the logos is Sir Fred Goodwin (longtime CEO) associated with the excesses that led to the downfall of RBS and its subsequent nationalization. RBS printed a 5 pound note as a tribute to Jack Nicklaus. RBS owns an insurance arm called Churchill Insurance. To distinguish it from Winston Churchill, they have the logo (to the left of Churchill) with a large bulldog.
6. Defence strategies to hostile takeovers
When faced with a hostile takeover, a company's response can be called any of these.
Crown Jewels Defence - Selling one's prized assets so as to make the buyer less interested
Nancy Reagan Defence - She was famous for her 'Just Say No' stance in the anti-drug programs of the 80s. So when a company just isn't open to being acquired, it is termed as such.
Pacman Defence - When a company offers to buy the prospective buyer (from Pacman when a certain mode or object allows you to devour the ghosts that are intent on devouring you)
Jonestown Defence - Named for the Jonestown suicide triggered by Jim Jones, leader of the People's Temple religious cult. When a company divests all its assets in a bid to avoid the buyout, it is termed as such.
Scorched Earth Defence - Similar to the generic war practice (eg - Russians adopted it when Nazi Germany invaded during WWII, Iraqis adopted it during the Gulf war - the burning of the Kuwaiti oilfields is shown) and similar to the crown jewels defence. A company makes itself seem less attractive to the prospective buyer.
The final connect is, as must be obvious by now, the Kraft buyout of Cadbury. The principal players are Kraft and Cadbury. The US $7.2b loan is funded by RBS. The possible defence options for Cadbury might have been those in the answer to question 6. Nestle and Hershey stand to be affected.
Zed
