Today's Headlines 1. Major! Uni-President Acquires Korea's Woongjin Foods for $1.5 Billion ▲▲▲ On December 20, Uni-President Enterprises announced it would spend $229 million (approximately RMB 1.58 billion) to acquire a 74.8% stake in Woongjin Foods, a Korean beverage and confectionery company. This is Uni-President's largest M&A deal in recent years and marks its expansion into the Northeast Asian market after establishing a presence in mainland China and Southeast Asia, broadening the group's Asian footprint. However, Uni-President emphasized that the transaction is subject to approval from the Korea Fair Trade Commission and Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission before completion. Woongjin Foods primarily produces and sells beverages such as juices, teas, and coffees for the Korean market, and also has a food company that produces pastries. Woongjin Foods became famous for its barley tea beverage, which at its peak held an 80% market share in Korea. @爱尚飞翔: As a member of Uni-President, I feel very proud. @小胡子: Impressive, boss. 2. Kedi Dairy Outlines 3-5 Year Development Goals at Distributor Conference ▲▲▲ Recently, Kedi Dairy's 2018 National Distributor Appreciation Conference was held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The conference summarized the business achievements of 2018, looked ahead to 2019, and painted a clear blueprint for the next 3-5 years. Zhang Qinghai, Chairman of Kedi Group and Kedi Dairy, stated that the company will maintain high-speed growth in the foreseeable 3-5 years, striving to become the fifth-largest in the country within 3 years and the third-largest within 5 years. Additionally, in 2019, the company will adopt a "four-in-one" management model to further improve and strengthen terminal construction and management, using management systems plus the Internet to control the market and personnel, helping distributors improve self-management and service. @酱紫那个: Kedi's small white milk can be considered a dark horse in 2018! It greatly boosted Kedi Dairy's reputation! 3. Luckin Coffee Opens Its 2000th Store! ▲▲▲ ▲ Shanghai New World Daimaru Department Store, Luckin's 2000th store On December 25, Luckin Coffee's Shanghai New World Daimaru store officially opened, also marking its 2000th store nationwide, completing its annual store opening plan one week ahead of schedule. In the last month of 2018, two weeks before announcing the achievement of the 2000-store goal, Luckin also announced the completion of a $200 million Series B financing round, with a post-investment valuation of $2.2 billion. According to data from a so-called Series B business plan document that recently surfaced, in the first nine months of 2018, Luckin Coffee's cumulative sales revenue was RMB 375 million, gross profit was -RMB 433 million (gross margin -115.5%), and net loss was RMB 857 million. However, Luckin Coffee's response was quite calm: "What is certain is that our annual loss is much larger than this. Subsidizing to capture the market is an established strategy, and the loss is in line with expectations." @这么近那么远: Can the small blue cup's internet + money-burning subsidy model be sustainable? 4. Peppa Pig Rights Holder: Nearly 50 Infringement Cases Filed ▲▲▲ On December 25, according to media reports, Olivier Dumont, President of the Family and Brands division at Entertainment One (eOne), the rights holder of Peppa Pig, said that in the next year and a half, while maintaining the same pace of business development, China could surpass the US to become eOne's most important market. Currently, the US remains eOne's most important market. This year, eOne intensified its anti-counterfeiting efforts in China and set up a team in Shanghai for rights protection. So far, nearly 50 civil cases have "yielded favorable results for eOne," with the total amount involved reaching tens of millions of RMB. @大声搭讪的小妹: 50 cases, how long will the lawsuits take? @爱造谣: Everyone can't bypass the Chinese market, but judging from the lawsuits, it shows they entered too late. 5. Food Giants Pledge to Achieve Eco-Friendly Packaging by 2025 ▲▲▲ Looking back at the declarations made by global FMCG giants this year, we observe an interesting "seven-year pact": PepsiCo, Danone, Nestlé, Unilever, and other giants have all announced plans to advance sustainable packaging by 2025. According to Innova's 2019 Top Ten Global Food & Beverage Industry Trends, two-thirds of consumers in the UK, US, and China want companies to invest in sustainable development, making green and sustainable initiatives imperative. This driving corporate goal has led manufacturers to take a series of measures to actively invest in the development of sustainable products and packaging, with many companies joining this "2025 team." "Recyclable packaging" has become a hot star, especially in the food and beverage industry. @Ricky 易: Let's see how well we did with the plastic bag ban? Leisure Moment Gone but Not Forgotten: Thailand's Tearjerker Ad: A Call from Heaven -END- Good article! Don't forget to click "Like"