The Coca-Cola Company facts for kids
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Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta
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| Public | |
| Traded as | |
| ISIN | ISIN: [https://isin.toolforge.org/?language=en&isin=US1912161007 US1912161007] |
| Industry | Beverage |
| Founded | January 29, 1892, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Founder | Asa Griggs Candler |
| Headquarters |
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U.S.
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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| Brands | List of Coca-Cola brands |
| Revenue |  US$45.8 billion (2023) |
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Operating income
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US$11.3 billion (2023) |
| US$10.7 billion (2023) |
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| Total assets | US$97.7 billion (2023) |
| Total equity | US$27.5 billion (2023) |
| Owners |
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Number of employees
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79,100 (2023) |
| Subsidiaries | List of subsidiaries |
The Coca-Cola Company is a big American company that started in 1892. It is most famous for making Coca-Cola, a popular soft drink. The company also makes, sells, and markets many other non-alcoholic drinks. You can find their products all over the world!
The original Coca-Cola drink was created in 1886 by a pharmacist named John Stith Pemberton. When it first came out, the drink had ingredients from coca leaves and kola nuts. These ingredients gave it a special kick. The names "coca" and "kola" are where the drink got its name. Back then, Coca-Cola was even promoted as a "healthy tonic."
In 1889, the recipe and brand were sold to Asa Griggs Candler. He then started The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta in 1892. Since 1889, the company has used a special system called franchising. This means they mostly make the syrup concentrate. Then, other companies around the world, called bottlers, buy the syrup and turn it into the finished drinks.
The Story of Coca-Cola
In July 1886, a pharmacist named John Stith Pemberton from Columbus, Georgia invented the first Coca-Cola drink. It was sold in drugstores and was advertised to help with headaches. Pemberton experimented a lot to create the drink.
Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, came up with the name Coca-Cola. He also designed its famous logo. He chose the name because of the two main ingredients: coca leaves and kola nuts. He also liked how the name sounded with both words starting with "Co."
An American businessman, Asa Griggs Candler, bought the Coca-Cola recipe and brand. He officially started The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta in 1892. By 1895, Coca-Cola was being sold all across the United States. Later, in 1919, the company was sold to Ernest Woodruff's Trust Company of Georgia.
Coca-Cola's first advertisement said, "Coca Cola. Delicious! Refreshing! Exhilarating! Invigorating!" Candler was one of the first business people to use special advertising methods. By 1948, Coca-Cola sold about 60% of all drinks in its market. However, by 1984, this share dropped to 21.8% because new competitors came along.
Buying Other Companies
Coca-Cola has bought many other companies over the years.
- In 1960, they bought Minute Maid, known for its juices.
- In 1982, they even bought a movie studio called Columbia Pictures. They sold it to Sony in 1989.
- In 1993, they bought the Indian cola brand Thums Up.
- In 1995, they bought the American soda company Barq's.
- In 1999, Coca-Cola bought half of the shares of Inca Kola for $200 million.
- In 2001, they bought Odwalla, a brand of fruit juices and smoothies. They stopped selling Odwalla in 2020.
- In 2007, they bought Fuze Beverage.
- In 2011, they fully bought Honest Tea, a tea company.
- In 2013, they bought ZICO, a coconut water company.
- In 2014, they bought a part of Monster Beverage for $2.15 billion. This was to work together on energy drinks.
- In 2016, they bought a part of Chi Ltd, a Nigerian drink company. They bought the rest of Chi Ltd in 2019.
- In 2017, they bought the Mexican sparkling water brand Topo Chico.
- In 2018, they bought Costa Coffee for about £3.9 billion. They also bought Moxie soda and MOJO Kombucha.
Money and Sales
In 2005, The Coca-Cola Company sold drinks in more than 200 countries. Out of about 50 billion drinks consumed daily worldwide, Coca-Cola's brands made up more than 1.3 billion of them. The original "Coca-Cola" or "Coke" drink made up about 55% of the company's total sales.
In 2010, Coca-Cola became the first brand to sell over £1 billion worth of products in UK grocery stores in one year. However, in 2017, Coca-Cola's sales went down by 11%. This happened because people started choosing drinks with less sugar.
Company Stock
Since 1919, Coca-Cola has been a company whose shares can be bought and sold by the public. Its stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. You can find it under the symbol "KO."
If someone bought one share of Coca-Cola stock for $40 in 1919 and kept reinvesting all the money they earned from it, that share would have been worth $9.8 million by 2012! That's a huge increase over time.
Coca-Cola has paid money back to its shareholders every year since 1920. As of 2019, they had increased this payment for 57 years in a row. This shows how strong and steady the company has been.
The company has many owners, but here are some of the largest shareholders in early 2024:
- Berkshire Hathaway: 9.3%
- The Vanguard Group: 8.6%
- BlackRock: 5.6%
- State Street Corporation: 4.0%
Leaders and Staff
Here are some of the main leaders of The Coca-Cola Company as of March 2023:
- James Quincey is the Chairman of the Board and the chief executive officer (CEO).
- John Murphy is the president and chief financial officer (CFO).
- Manuel Arroyo is the global chief marketing officer.
- Jennifer Mann is the president of the North America operating unit.
- Lisa Chang is the global chief people officer.
- Nancy Quan is the chief technical and innovation officer.
Bottling Partners
The Coca-Cola Company mainly makes the syrup concentrate for its drinks. It also gets ingredients like coffee beans, tea leaves, and juices. Then, it sells these to different bottling companies around the world. These bottlers have special agreements with Coca-Cola.
The bottlers mix the concentrate with filtered water and sweeteners. They then put the finished drink into bottles and cans. After that, they sell and deliver Coca-Cola products to stores, vending machines, restaurants, and food service places.
Since the 1980s, Coca-Cola has encouraged these bottlers to join together into larger groups. The company often owns a part of these bigger "anchor bottlers." This helps make the process more efficient.
Some of the large bottling partners around the world include:
- Coca-Cola Europacific Partners: Operates in Europe, Oceania, and Indonesia.
- Coca-Cola FEMSA: Operates in many countries in Latin America.
- Coca-Cola HBC AG: Operates in Europe, Russia, and Nigeria.
- Swire Coca-Cola: Operates in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, and parts of the U.S.
- Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Holdings: Operates in Japan.
In the U.S., some major bottlers are:
Helping Communities
The Coca-Cola Company has been involved in community efforts. For example, after Martin Luther King Jr. won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, there were plans for a dinner to celebrate him in segregated Atlanta. At first, many business leaders in the city did not support it.
However, J. Paul Austin, who was the chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola, stepped in. He told other business leaders that it was "embarrassing" for Coca-Cola to be in a city that wouldn't honor its Nobel Prize winner. He reminded them that Coca-Cola was a global business. After his words, all the tickets for the dinner quickly sold out.
Coca-Cola also works with campaigns like (RED). This campaign aims to prevent the spread of the HIV virus from mothers to their children.
Advertising and Marketing
Coca-Cola is famous for its advertising. It has had a big impact on popular culture. The company spends billions of dollars each year to promote its drinks around the world. In 2019, they spent about $4.24 billion on advertising.
Coca-Cola advertises in many ways:
- Through websites and social media.
- Using text messages and viral campaigns.
- At sporting events, concerts, and other cultural gatherings.
- On their delivery trucks, coolers, and vending machines, which are bright red with the Coca-Cola logo.
Products and Brands
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As of 2020, The Coca-Cola Company offers more than 500 different brands in over 200 countries. In September 2020, the company announced it would reduce its number of brands. This was due to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other Soft Drinks
Besides Coca-Cola, the company makes many other popular soft drinks:
- Fanta was introduced around 1941. It started during World War II when it was hard to get cola syrup in Germany. Max Keith, who ran Coca-Cola's German office, created a new drink using ingredients available in Germany. He called it Fanta. It was a hit, and after the war, Coca-Cola kept the brand. Fanta is usually orange-flavored but comes in many other flavors now.
- Sprite was introduced in 1961. It is a lemon-lime soft drink and is one of the company's bestsellers. It was Coca-Cola's answer to the popular 7 Up.
- Tab was Coca-Cola's first diet soft drink, launched in 1963. It used a sugar substitute. Tab was sold until 2020, but its sales had gone down a lot since Diet Coke came out.
Healthy Drinks
In the 1990s, people became more interested in healthy drinks. Coca-Cola responded by introducing new non-carbonated brands:
- Minute Maid Juices to Go
- Powerade sports drink
- Flavored tea Nestea (with Nestlé)
- Fruitopia fruit drink
- Dasani water
- In 2001, the Minute Maid division launched the Simply Orange brand of juices.
- In 2016, Coca-Cola India introduced Vio, a flavored milk, to enter the dairy market.
In 2004, Coca-Cola created C2 Cola. This was a lower-carbohydrate version of Coke Classic. It had less than half the calories and carbohydrates of regular soft drinks. C2 was sold in the U.S. and Canada. It was later replaced by Coca-Cola Life in 2013.
Since 2009, The Coca-Cola Company has invested in Innocent Drinks, which makes smoothies and juices.
Best-Selling Drinks
Coca-Cola is the best-selling soft drink in most countries around the world. It was named the number one global brand in 2010.
However, in some places, other drinks are more popular:
- In the Middle East, Pepsi sells more than Coca-Cola.
- In Scotland, the local drink Irn-Bru used to be more popular, but now Coca-Cola and Diet Coke sell more.
- In Peru, the native Inca Kola is more popular than Coca-Cola. This led Coca-Cola to buy half of Inca Kola's shares.
- In Japan, canned tea and coffee are more popular than cola. So, Coca-Cola's best-selling brand there is Georgia coffee.
In May 2016, The Coca-Cola Company temporarily stopped making its main drink in Venezuela because of sugar shortages.
New Products and Ideas
- In 2006, the company announced a new "negative calorie" green tea drink called Enviga.
- In 2007, Coca-Cola bought Glaceau, which makes flavored vitamin-enhanced drinks (like vitaminwater) and energy drinks.
- In October 2009, Coca-Cola introduced a new 90-calorie mini can. These smaller cans hold 7.5 fluid ounces and are often sold in 8-packs. Even though they cost more per ounce, they have sold very well.
- In November 2011, Coca-Cola released a special holiday design for its regular Coke cans. This was part of a partnership with the World Wildlife Fund. However, they pulled it after only a month because people complained it looked too much like Diet Coke cans. People also didn't like that it wasn't the traditional red color.
Sponsorships
Coca-Cola spends a lot of money on advertising and sponsorships. In 2011, they spent over $3.2 billion.
Sports Sponsorships
Coca-Cola sponsors many major sports events and leagues:
- They sponsored the English Football League from 2004 to 2010.
- They sponsor the AFL, NHRA, NASCAR, the PGA Tour, NCAA Championships, and the Olympic Games.
- They are a big sponsor of the FIFA World Cups and the UEFA European Championships.
- They have worked with Panini to create virtual sticker albums for the World Cup since 2006.
- In 2017, Major League Baseball made a deal with Coca-Cola to be its official soft drink. Many MLB teams sell Coca-Cola products in their stadiums.
- Since 2019, they have been the title sponsor of the Uzbekistan Super League in soccer.
- They also sponsor the Overwatch League and major Overwatch tournaments.
- In 2020, Coca-Cola became the title sponsor for the eNASCAR iRacing series.
- Since 2018, Coca-Cola has sponsored the Formula 1 team McLaren.
Television Sponsorships
- Coca-Cola sponsored the 1965 TV special "A Charlie Brown Christmas".
- They sponsored the popular singing competition show American Idol from 2002 to 2014.
- Coca-Cola is also an executive producer of Coke Studio (Pakistan). This is a music show that has been adapted in many countries like India, Bangladesh, and Africa.
Theme Park Sponsorships
Coca-Cola sponsors and provides drinks in many theme parks around the world. They often have exclusive deals, meaning only their drinks are sold there. This includes:
- Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
- Merlin Entertainment
- Universal Destinations & Experiences
- Six Flags
- Cedar Fair
- SeaWorld Entertainment
The company also directly sponsors the Coca-Cola London Eye and used to sponsor the Coca-Cola Orlando Eye. They also have "Coca-Cola" visitor centers in Israel, Belgium, and Turkey.
Images for kids
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The Coca-Cola Company's Minute Maid group North America offices in Sugar Land, Texas.
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Certificate of Purchase Class A Stock for 20 Shares of the Coca-Cola Company, issued February 20, 1929.
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A small bottle of Coca-Cola.
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A Chevrolet Express van with the Coca-Cola Company logo.
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Coca-Cola Company's office building in Madrid, Spain.
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A Coca-Cola vending machine in Berlin, Germany.
