stockrowWhat it does
Mondelez International was founded in 2012, is headquartered in Chicago and is led by Chief Executive Officer Dirk Van de Put. It is a snack-food company that makes and sells chocolate, biscuits and baked snacks, alongside gum and candy, cheese and grocery products, and powdered beverages.
Its biscuit and baked-snack brands include Oreo, Ritz, LU, Clif Bar and Tate’s Bake Shop. Its chocolate brands include Cadbury Dairy Milk, Milka and Toblerone. The company sells in over 150 countries and operates in approximately 80 countries. Its products are sold mainly through retailers, distributors and digital channels rather than directly through a single customer.
The company had global net revenues of $38.5 billion and net earnings of $2.5 billion in 2025. It had 91,000 employees at December 31, 2025. Its operating model combines regional management teams, which run the business and product categories in their markets, with manufacturing, distribution, marketing, research and development, and shared-services capabilities.
The company develops new products and formats, including products intended to address changing taste, nutrition and convenience preferences. It also licenses some trademarks, patents and proprietary rights to third parties, while selling some products using intellectual property licensed from third parties.
How it makes money
Mondelez earns revenue by selling packaged snacks to retailers, wholesalers, distributors, businesses and consumers. Its core categories are biscuits and baked snacks and chocolate; its adjacent categories are gum and candy, cheese and grocery, and beverages. In FY2025, Biscuits & Baked Snacks revenue was $18.4 billion and Chocolate revenue was $12.7 billion. These were followed by Gum & Candy revenue of $4.1 billion, Cheese & Grocery revenue of $2.4 billion and Beverages revenue of $1.0 billion.
The company manages the business through four regional operating segments: Europe, North America, AMEA, and Latin America. Regional teams are responsible for the business, product categories and financial results in their regions. This structure is intended to use regional operating scale while allowing local teams to address local consumer preferences and commercial conditions.
Revenue depends on product volumes, mix, pricing, promotional activity and distribution. The company uses price increases, manufacturing and overhead control, and commodity hedging to address higher input costs and currency effects. Demand is generally balanced during the year, although the fourth quarter is typically higher because of holidays and seasonal events; the timing of Easter can affect first- and second-quarter sales.
The latest full-year totals were $38.5 billion of global net revenues and $2.5 billion of net earnings in 2025. Management expects at least 2% top-line growth in the second half of 2026, reflecting positive volume mix and a modest pricing contribution.
| Product or service | Revenue, FY2025 | Share | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biscuits & Baked Snacks | $18.4 billion | 47.7% | 3.31% |
| Chocolate | $12.7 billion | 32.9% | 12.9% |
| Gum & Candy | $4.1 billion | 10.5% | 0.50% |
| Cheese & Grocery | $2.4 billion | 6.19% | 5.72% |
| Beverages | $1.0 billion | 2.61% | −8.21% |
Customers and how it sells
Mondelez generally sells to supermarket chains, wholesalers, supercenters, club stores, mass merchandisers, distributors, convenience stores, gasoline stations, drug stores, value stores and other retail food outlets. It also sells directly to businesses and consumers through pure-play e-retail platforms, retailer digital platforms, direct-to-consumer websites and social-media platforms. No single customer accounted for 10% or more of continuing-operations net revenue in 2025.
Its distribution network includes direct-store delivery, company-owned and satellite warehouses, distribution centers, third-party distributors, independent sales offices and agents. The company also works with pure e-tailers and omnichannel retailers through its digital-commerce organization.
Europe was the largest regional segment in FY2025, with revenue of $15.0 billion and 39.0% of revenue. North America produced $10.7 billion, or 27.7%; AMEA produced $7.9 billion, or 20.6%; and Latin America produced $4.9 billion, or 12.7%. The United States represented $9.3 billion, or 24.2%, of FY2025 revenue, while other countries represented $29.2 billion, or 75.8%.
| Region | Revenue, FY2025 | Share | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other | $29.2 billion | 75.8% | 8.24% |
| United States | $9.3 billion | 24.2% | −1.33% |
Suppliers and costs
Mondelez buys substantial quantities of cocoa, dairy, wheat, edible oils, sugar and other sweeteners, flavoring agents and nuts. It also buys packaging materials, natural gas, fuels and electricity for factories and warehouses. The company operates 145 principal manufacturing and processing facilities across 49 countries.
Commodity availability and cost are affected by inflation, geopolitical uncertainty, weather, crop yields and plant health, transportation and labor conditions, exchange rates, trade policy and regulations. Cocoa has been a particular cost pressure. The company expects cocoa costs to be lower in 2026 than in 2025 but to remain elevated relative to historical levels in the near and medium term.
The company seeks to limit raw-material volatility through forward purchasing and hedging, while also using pricing and manufacturing and overhead cost control. Hedging may not fully protect against commodity increases, including dairy costs where hedging ability is limited. Its costs may not move in step with market prices because of forward purchasing and hedging.
- Revenue$38.5B
- Cost of revenue−$27.6B
- Selling, general and administrative−$7.2B
- Other operating costs−$214.0M
- Operating income$3.5B
Competitive position
Mondelez operates in markets with global, regional and local competitors, including start-up brands and businesses. It competes on product quality, brand recognition and loyalty, service, innovation, taste, convenience, nutritional value, consumer insight, sales and marketing, routes to market, distribution, promotions and price. No individual competitor is identified in the available business description.
The company seeks to maintain market positions through local product formats, pack sizes and price points, digital and other marketing, product innovation, product quality, supply-chain optimization, research and development, advertising and consumer promotions. Its intellectual-property rights include trademarks, patents, copyrights, registered designs, trade secrets, recipes, technology and know-how; it states that these rights are material to the business.
Our reading: Brand recognition, supported by trademarks and a portfolio that includes Oreo, Ritz, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Milka and Toblerone, is a meaningful moat because the company explicitly competes on recognition and loyalty. [item1]
Our reading: The route-to-market moat is meaningful because the company combines direct-store delivery, warehouses, distribution centers and third-party distributors across many countries, but competitors can also compete through price, promotions and alternative channels. [item1]
Our reading: Manufacturing scale and regional management provide operating reach, while commodity-sensitive inputs and local competition limit how durable that advantage can be. [item1; item7]
Growth opportunities
Mondelez’s growth plan centers on chocolate, biscuits and baked snacks; distribution expansion; new products and formats; channel expansion; local price points; digital commerce; and productivity that can be reinvested in brands and commercial activity. The company also seeks multi-category growth in key geographies and greater participation in under-represented segments and price tiers.
Emerging markets are a stated distribution and penetration opportunity. Management said emerging markets represent about 40% of the business. Management also said the company added 100,000 stores in India and that Brazil now has 1 million stores. In India and China, management said that about half of net-revenue growth typically comes from additional stores rather than same-store sales.
Innovation is another growth input. Management said slightly more than 10% of net revenue comes from products launched during the past three years. Management said it is extending the Biscoff range across formats and geographies, including a planned Brazil launch at the beginning of 2027. Management also said a Biscoff range reached 7% market share in Scandinavia during its first month after launch.
Management expects continued volume-led growth in emerging markets, improved execution in North America and a volume improvement in Europe as prior-year pricing is lapped.
- $28.7BFY2021
- $31.5BFY2022
- $36.0BFY2023
- $36.4BFY2024
- $38.5BFY2025
Structural risks
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Commodity costs and availability: Commodity and other input prices are volatile, and availability may become constrained. Cocoa supply is exposed to climate, weather, crop yield, plant health, local rules in producing countries and global regulations.
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Pricing and demand: The company has used pricing to address elevated raw-material costs, but elasticity from price increases has adversely affected consumer demand, particularly in the United States and Europe.
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International operations and currencies: Operations across many countries expose the company to exchange-rate volatility, capital controls, trade restrictions, local legal uncertainty, foreign-ownership restrictions, collection risk and limits on enforcing intellectual-property and contractual rights.
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Geopolitical disruption: The Ukraine war, Middle East conflict and changing trade policies can disrupt operations, increase transportation and input costs, affect consumer demand and create risks to assets or revenue.
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Regulation and sustainability: Food labeling, packaging, safety, marketing, environmental, privacy, trade, tax and extended-producer-responsibility rules can raise costs or restrict operations. The business is also subject to increasing focus on sustainability matters.
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Systems execution: The multi-year ERP and supply-chain systems transformation requires implementation across regions and phases, with spending expected through 2028.
Bottom line
Our reading
Our reading: Mondelez is a global packaged-snacks business built around chocolate and biscuits, sold through a broad retailer, distributor and digital network across more than 150 countries. [item1]
Our reading: Its business rests on brand portfolios, routes to market, regional operating scale and repeated consumer purchases, while its earnings remain exposed to cocoa and other commodity costs, pricing elasticity, currencies, regulation and geopolitical disruption. [item1; item1a; item7]
Our reading: Distribution expansion and product innovation are central to its growth approach, particularly in emerging markets, alongside productivity and reinvestment in brands. [item1; call_qa]