Reuters scores with scoop on Cadbury-Kraft investor briefings

Reuters left rivals in its wake on Sept 23 with details from a series of private presentations made by the CEOs of Kraft and Cadbury which left the path for a Kraft takeover of Cadbury far clearer and sparked a huge reaction from other media and market players, who cited Reuters. Our contacts passed on a confidential briefing note detailing the presentations including comments from Cadbury’s Todd Stitzer examining potential valuations and detailing new synergy targets. Cadbury shares rallied for the rest of the day as market opinion hardened that a deal would take place. Bloomberg picked up our story 10 minutes later with full credit, while the Merrill analyst who wrote the briefing note scrambled to clarify his comments as media speculation circulated , including at FT.com, that Stitzer may have breached the takeover code. Dow Jones started sending out alert headlines to clients from the briefing note some 4 hours later and a carbon copy of our story was the front page lead in the Financial Times the next day.