Billionaire investor Warren Buffett buys Ketchup company Heinz for record $23 Billion

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is dipping into the ketchup business as part of $23.3 billion deal to buy the Heinz ketchup company.

Shares in H.J. Heinz Co. bounced 20 per cent to $72.45 after the deal, which is the largest ever in the food industry. Heinz, based in Pittsburgh, also makes Classico spaghetti sauces, Ore-Ida potatoes and Smart Ones frozen meals.

The company was founded by Henry John Heinz and his neighbor L. Clarence Noble in 1869. The pair's first product was grated horseradish, bottled in a clear glass to showcase its purity.

The first ketchup was introduced in 1876; the company says it was the country's first commercial grade ketchup.