Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) is the largest food and beverage company headquartered in North America and the second largest in the world after Nestlé SA.The Philip Morris Company (now known as Altria Group), acquired Kraft for $12.9 billion in 1988, eventually merging it with another food subsidiary, General Foods, which it had acquired in 1985. In 2000, Philip Morris acquired Nabisco and merged it with Kraft. Altria sold 280 million Kraft shares via an initial public offering in 2001, retaining an 88.1% stake. On January 31, 2007, after months of speculation, the company announced that its 88.1% stake would be spun off to Altria shareholders at the end of March 2007. Kraft is now an independent publicly held company.Kraft is headquartered in Northfield, Illinois, USA, a Chicago suburb. Kraft Foods markets many popular brands in more than 155 countries.Kraft Foods is named after James L. Kraft, who founded the original wholesale cheese business in 1903.