Robert Kraft

Robert Kenneth Kraft (born June 5, 1941) is an American business magnate. He is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment, real estate development and a private equity portfolio. His sports holdings include the National Football League's New England Patriots, Major League Soccer's New England Revolution, and the stadium in which both teams play, Gillette Stadium.

Early life

Kraft was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. His father, Harry Kraft, a dress manufacturer in Boston's Chinatown, was a respected Jewish lay leader at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline, and wanted his son to become a rabbi. The Krafts were an observant Orthodox Jewish family. Robert grew up in Brookline, where he attended the Edward Devotion School and in 1959, he graduated from Brookline High School, where he was senior class president. During high school, Kraft was unable to participate in most sports because it interfered with his after-school Hebrew studies and observance of the Sabbath.

Kraft Foods

Kraft Foods Group, Inc., was an American manufacturing and processing conglomerate headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Northfield, Illinois.

The company was restructured in 2012 as a spin off from Kraft Foods Inc., which in turn was renamed Mondelēz International. The new Kraft Foods Group was focused mainly on grocery products for the North American market, while Mondelēz is focused on international confectionery and snack brands. Until the merger with Heinz, Kraft Foods Group was an independent public company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

On July 2, 2015, Kraft completed its merger with Heinz, arranged by Heinz owners Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, creating the fifth largest food and beverage company in the world, Kraft Heinz Company.

History

Spinoff of Kraft Foods Group from Mondelēz International, Inc

In August 2011, Kraft Foods Inc. announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies—a snack food company and a grocery company.

On April 2, 2012, Kraft Foods Inc. announced that it had filed a Form 10 Registration Statement to the SEC to split the company into two companies to serve the "North American grocery business."

The Turtles

The Turtles are an American rock band led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, later known as Flo and Eddie. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with their cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965. They scored their biggest and best-known hit in 1967 with the song "Happy Together".

History

The band, originally a surf-rock group called the Crossfires, was formed in 1965 in Westchester, Los Angeles, by high school friends Kaylan, Volman, Al Nichol, Chuck Portz, Don Murray, and Jim Tucker. With the help of KRLA and KFWB DJ and club owner Reb Foster (b. James Dennis Bruton 1936), the Crossfires signed to the newly formed White Whale Records and adhering to the prevailing musical trend, re-branded themselves as a folk rock group under the name the Tyrtles, the intentional misspelling inspired by the Byrds and the Beatles. However, the trendy spelling did not survive long.

As with the Byrds, the Turtles achieved breakthrough success with a Bob Dylan cover. "It Ain't Me Babe" reached the Billboard Top Ten in the late summer of 1965, and was the title track to the band’s first album. Their second single, "Let Me Be," reached the top 30, while their third hit, "You Baby," charted in the top 20 in early 1966. The band's second album, You Baby, failed to reach Billboard's Top LPs chart, and of several singles released in 1966, "Grim Reaper of Love" and "Can I Get to Know You Better" barely entered the Billboard Hot 100. One single, the tough "Outside Chance", written by Warren Zevon, and featuring guitar work in the style of the Beatles' 'Taxman' didn't chart at all. In 1966, the Turtles made an appearance in Universal's beach party spy spoof film Out of Sight, singing "She'll Come Back" on screen.

New England Patriots

The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team plays its home games at Gillette Stadium in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is located 21 miles (34 km) southwest of downtown Boston and 20 miles (32 km) northeast of downtown Providence, Rhode Island. The Patriots are also headquartered at Gillette Stadium.

An original member of the American Football League (AFL), the Patriots joined the NFL in the 1970 merger of the two leagues. The team changed its name from the original Boston Patriots after relocating to Foxborough in 1971. The Patriots played their home games at Foxboro Stadium from 1971 to 2001, then moved to Gillette Stadium at the start of the 2002 season. The Patriots' rivalry with the New York Jets is considered one of the most bitter rivalries in the NFL.

The Patriots have appeared in the Super Bowl eight times in franchise history. The team advanced to the playoffs four times before appearing in Super Bowl XX in 1986, losing to the Chicago Bears 46–10. The team also appeared in Super Bowl XXXI in 1997, losing to the Green Bay Packers 35–21. The Patriots won their first Super Bowl championship in 2002, defeating the St. Louis Rams 20–17 in Super Bowl XXXVI. Their next Super Bowl victory was in 2004, when they defeated the Carolina Panthers 32–29 in Super Bowl XXXVIII. In 2005, they repeated as Super Bowl champions, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 24–21 in Super Bowl XXXIX. They also made Super Bowl appearances in 2008 – following a perfect regular season – and 2012, where they lost to the New York Giants both times. They defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28–24 in Super Bowl XLIX to win their fourth Vince Lombardi Trophy in 14 seasons.

New England

New England is a region which comprises six states of the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by New York to the west, Long Island Sound to the south, the Atlantic Ocean and the Canadian province of New Brunswick to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north.

In one of the earliest English settlements in North America, Pilgrims from England first settled in New England in 1620, forming the Plymouth Colony. Ten years later, the Puritans settled north of Plymouth Colony in Boston, thus forming Massachusetts Bay Colony. Over the next 126 years, New England fought in four French and Indian Wars, until the British and their Iroquois Confederacy allies defeated the French and their Algonquin allies in North America.

In the late 18th century, the New England Colonies initiated the resistance to the British Parliament's efforts to impose new taxes without the consent of the colonists. The Boston Tea Party was a protest to which Great Britain responded with a series of punitive laws stripping Massachusetts of self-government, which were termed the "Intolerable Acts" by the colonists. The confrontation led to open warfare in 1775, the expulsion of the British authorities from New England in spring 1776, and the Declaration of Independence in July 1776.