Schumpeter: 3G Capital, magicians of the consumer industry, need to learn a new act

Print section Print Rubric:  3G Capital, magicians of the consumer industry, need to learn a new act Print Headline:  And now for my next trick Print Fly Title:  Schumpeter UK Only Article:  standard article Issue:  America’s global influence has dwindled under Donald Trump Fly Title:  Schumpeter Main image:  20171111_WBD000_0.jpg OCCASIONALLY a business idea emerges that is so simple you cannot believe it works. Consider the five founders of 3G Capital, an investment firm. Warren Buffett co-invests with them and calls them “among the best businessmen in the world”. They use debt to buy consumer-product firms, then they revamp their brands and slash costs. In total, since 1997, they have launched $470bn of deals, through 3G Capital or earlier entities (for simplicity this article lumps these all together and calls them “3G”). That makes 3G the second most ...