Bite Size Bad News 4--Candy

Mars just bought out Wrigley in a merger that creates the world's largest candy company with 14% of the global market. This has attracted a lot of attention because financing from the world richest man, Warren Buffett, made it possible.

So this news fits the "bite size" part of the feature like a glove, but where's the "bad news" come in? Well, Buffett is one of the canniest investors ever, and famously stayed away from a lot of the fancy "investment vehicles" which have been imploding so spectacularly over the last year.

Obviously he likes putting together a firm that is the big dog in a monopsonized global market, but a Financial Times columnist, John Gapper, points out that Buffett is also walking the walk on his predictions about the severity of the unfolding recession:

Famously, confectionery companies are often good investments in recessions as people cut back on big luxuries and seek comfort with such small indulgences as chocolate bars.

Uh-oh.