As takeover bids go, it's the ideal script: Irene Rosenfeld, the aggressive, confident head of Kraft Foods, who has guided a $41bn (£25bn) firm through the recession, taking on Cadbury's chief, the dry, acerbic fellow American Todd Stitzer. The bid has so excited the imagination of the markets that Stitzer's personal paper fortune invested in the company has increased by £1.5m to £6m in the last 24 hours, and his share options by £4m to £9m.
As showdowns go, the two bosses could not be more evenly matched. Both are 55, began their careers in New York and share the same passion for tennis. They might have met at 80s food conventions, and now, almost 30 years later, they are fighting for rights to make some of the UK's best-loved chocolate bars.
Rosenfeld is less known in the UK, but in the US her star is rising. She turned around Frito-Lay, a crisps division of PepsiCo in just three years between 2004 and 2006 before being given the top job at Kraft, and was named sixth on the Wall Street Journal's 2008 list of women to watch. She went through a complete overhaul of Kraft in her first year in charge, and is credited with helping it get through the recession relatively safely. She is said to be charming, "sharp-minded but not sharp-elbowed", and quick-witted. She climbed through the ranks at Kraft working in various capacities,starting with consumer research, from 1981 when she joined, right up until 2003 when she was called up to bail out Frito-Lay.
Stitzer, on the other hand, is a technocrat who can easily slip into management speak, using phrases such as "mouth feel" to describe chewing gum.His background is legal – he graduated from Harvard University and became an attorney for a New York City firm, working in mergers and acquisitions. He joined Cadbury Schweppes to work in legal and sales; today he is one of the FTSE 100's best-paid executives, with a base salary of £985,000-£2.7m in 2008 including his bonus. He continually stresses Cadbury's place in British history, and the need to preserve the Quaker heritage.
While he might not compete with Rosenfeld in terms of charisma, he cannot be said to be staid. The demerger of Cadbury Schweppes was his brainchild – spinning off Schweppes as a separate US drinks business – and it is hard to argue with his claims that it has proved successful. He also receives grudging admiration for balancing the topline demands of shareholders with socially-aware business practices.
His appointment as chief executive is recent enough for him to baulk at the idea of handing over the reins to someone else. He also has the power of British heritage on his side, a force not to be underestimated.
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