The Coca-Cola Company

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The Coca-Cola Company

Type Public (NYSE: KO)

Founded 1892

Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Area served Worldwide

Key people Muhtar Kent

(Chairman and CEO)[1]

Industry Beverage

Products Coca-Cola

Carbonated Soft Drinks

Water

Other Non-alcoholic beverages
[2]

Revenue ▲ US$31.0 Billion (FY 2009)[3]

Operating income ▲ US$8.23 Billion (FY 2009)[3]

Net income ▲ US$5.82 Billion (FY 2009)[3]

Total assets ▲ US$48.7 Billion (FY 2009)[4]

Total equity ▲ US$24.8 Billion (FY 2009)[4]

 Employees 92,400 (October 2009)

Website [Link] or The Coca-Cola Company Corporate

Website

One of the Coca-Cola Company's headquarters buildings in Atlanta

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world's largest beverage company, largest

manufacturer, distributor and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups in the
world and is one of the largest corporations in the United States. The company is best known for its
flagship product Coca-Cola, invented by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in 1886. The Coca-Cola
formula and brand was bought in 1889 by Asa Candler who incorporated The Coca-Cola Company
in 1892. Besides its namesake Coca-Cola beverage, Coca-Cola currently offers nearly 400 brands in
over 200 countries or territories and serves 1.6 billion servings each day. [5]

The company operates a franchised distribution system dating from 1889 where The Coca-Cola
Company only produces syrup concentrate which is then sold to various bottlers throughout the
world who hold an exclusive territory.

The Coca-Cola Company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Its stock is listed on the NYSE and is

part of DJIA, S&P 500 Index, theRussell 1000 Index and the Russell 1000 Growth Stock Index. Its
current chairman and CEO is Muhtar Kent.

Contents
  [hide]

1 Brands

2 History

3 Revenue

4 Lobbying

5 Bottlers

6 Criticism

7 Products and
brands

8 Sponsorship

9 In video games

10 References

11 External links

[edit]Brands

The Coca-Cola Company brands include:

 Barq's
 Coca-Cola
 Coke Zero
 Dasani water
 Diet Coke
 Glacéau
 Fanta
 Fresca
 Full Throttle
 Fuze
 Hi-C
 Lift
 Mello Yello
 Minute Maid
 Monster Energy distributed by Coca-Cola, made by Hansen Natural
 Oasis
 Odwalla
 Powerade
 Pibb
 Relentless
 Sprite
 Tab
 Thums Up
 Urge
 Vault
 Inca Kola
 Beverly (drink) (only sold in Italy)
 Fio (only sold in Ecuador)
 Royal Tru (sold in Philippines and some parts of Southeast Asia)
 Pop cola(sold in Philippines)
 Sparkle (sold in Philippines) and Denmark
 Eva (table water) (sold in Nigeria and other parts of Africa)
[edit]History

The Coca-Cola Company was originally established as the J. S. Pemberton Medicine Company, a
co-partnership between Dr. John Stith Pemberton and Ed Holland.[6] The company was formed to
sell three main products: Pemberton's French Wine Cola (later known as Coca-Cola), Pemberton's
Indian Queen Hair Dye, and Pemberton's Globe Flower Cough Syrup. [6]

In 1884, the company became a stock company and the name was changed to Pemberton Chemical
Company.[6] The new president was D. D. Doe while Ed Holland became the new Vice-President.
[6]
 Pemberton stayed on as the superintendent. [6] The company's factory was located at No. 107,
Marietta St.[6] Three years later, the company was again changed to Pemberton Medicine Company,
another co-partnership, this time between Pemberton, A. O. Murphy, E. H. Bloodworth, and J. C.
Mayfield.[6]

Finally in October 1888, the company received a charter with an authorized capital of $50,000. [6] The
charter became official on January 15, 1889. By this time, the company had expanded its offerings
to include Pemberton's Orange and Lemon Elixir.[6]

[edit]Revenue
The Coca-Cola Company North America offices in Sugar Land, Texas, United States

According to the 2005 Annual Report, [7] the company sells beverage products in more than
200 [8] countries. The report further states that of the more than 50 billion beverage servings of all
types consumed worldwide every day, beverages bearing the trademarks owned by or licensed to
Coca-Cola account for approximately 1.5 billion. Of these, beverages bearing the trademark "Coca-
Cola" or "Coke" accounted for approximately 78% of the Company's total gallon sales.

Also according to the 2007 Annual Report, Coca-Cola had gallon sales distributed as follows:

 37% in the United States

 43% in Mexico, Brazil, Japan and the People's Republic of China
 20% spread throughout the rest of the world
[edit]Lobbying

In the US, Coca Cola is a major lobbying force working to gain favorable legislation for the beverage
industry. In both 2005 and 2006, it spent $1 million each year on lobbying. In 2007 that increased to
$1.7 million, and by 2008, to $2.5 million. In 2009, total lobbying expenses jumped to $4.5 million, or
nearly double the previous year. Much of the increased lobbying expenses are due to the industry’s
fight against increased taxes on soft drinks and other sweetened beverages. [9] For 2009, Coca Cola
has 38 lobbyists at 7 different firms lobbying on its behalf. [10]

[edit]Bottlers
Houston Coca-Cola Bottling Company

Main article: List of assets owned by The Coca-Cola Company

In general, The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) and/or subsidiaries only produces (or produce) syrup
concentrate which is then sold to various bottlers throughout the world who hold a Coca-
Cola franchise. Coca-Cola bottlers, who hold territorially exclusive contracts with the company,
produce finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate in combination with filtered water
and sweeteners. The bottlers then sell, distribute and merchandise the resulting Coca-Cola product
to retail stores, vending machines, restaurants and food service distributors.

One notable exception to this general relationship between TCCC and bottlers is fountain syrups in
the United States, where TCCC bypasses bottlers and is responsible for the manufacture and sale of
fountain syrups directly to authorized fountain wholesalers and some fountain retailers.

[edit]Criticism

Main article: Criticism of Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola Company has been involved in a number of controversies and lawsuits related to its
relationship with human rights violations and other perceived unethical practices.

A number of lawsuits have been issued in relation to its allegedly monopolistic and discriminatory
practices, some of which have been dismissed, some of which have caused The Coca-Cola
Company to change its business practices, and some of which have been settled out of court. [11] It
has also been involved in a discrimination case. There have been continuing criticisms regarding the
Coca-Cola Company's relation to the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy.

An issue with pesticides in groundwater in 2003 led to problems for the company when an
Indian NGO, Centre for Science and Environment, announced that it had found cancer causing
chemicals in Coca-Cola as well as other soft drinks produced by the company, at levels 30 times
that considered safe by the European Economic Commission. This caused an 11 percent drop in
Indian Coca-Cola sales.[12][13] The Indian Health Minister said the CSE tests were inaccurate, and
said that the government's tests found pesticide levels within India's standards but above EU
standards.[14][15] The UK-based Central Science Laboratory, commissioned by Coke, found its
products met EU standards in 2006. [16] Coke and the University of Michigancommissioned an
independent study of its bottling plants by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), which
reported in 2008 no unsafe chemicals in the water supply, though it criticized Coke for the impact of
its water usage on local supply.[17]

The company has been criticised on a number of environmental issues. Critics claim that the
company's overuse of local water supplies in some locations has led to severe shortages for regional
farmers and the forced closure of some plants [18]. Packaging used in Coca-Cola's products have a
significant environmental impact. However, the company strongly opposes attempts to introduce
mechanisms such as container deposit legislation.[19]

There are charges that the Coca-Cola Company was involved in the violent repression of a union at
several of its bottling plants in Colombia, South America. As of August 2005, when PBS's Frontline
ran a story on the controversy, Coca-Cola strenuously denied all allegations of union-busting and
murder of union leaders. Shareholders and U.S. colleges [20][21] have boycotted Coca-Cola to try to put
pressure on the company to approve a full-scale, independent investigation of the charges. [22]

On 10 December 2008, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wrote to Mr. Muhtar Kent,
President and Chief Executive Officer, to warn him that the FDA had concluded that Coca-Cola's
product Diet Coke Plus 20 FL OZ was is in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. [23]

In January 2009, the US consumer group the Center for Science in the Public Interest filed a class-
action lawsuit against Coca-Cola[24]. The lawsuit was in regards to claims made, along with the
company's flavors, of Vitamin Water. Claims say that the 33 grams of sugar are more harmful than
the vitamins and other additives are helpful. Coca-Cola insists the suit is "ridiculous."

[edit]Products and brands

Main article: Coca-Cola brands

The Coca-Cola Company offers nearly 400 brands in over 200 countries, besides its
namesake Coca-Cola beverage. This includes other varieties of Coca-Cola such as:

 Diet Coke (introduced in 1982), which uses aspartame, a synthetic phenylalanine-

based artificial sweetener in place of sugar
 Diet Coke Caffeine-Free
 Cherry Coke (1985)
 Diet Cherry Coke (1986)
 Coke with Lemon (2001)
 Diet Coke with Lemon (2001)
 Vanilla Coke (2002)
 Diet Vanilla Coke (2002)
 Coca-Cola C2 (2004)
 Coke with Lime (2004)
 Aquarius Mineral Water (2004)
 Diet Coke with Lime (2004)
 Diet Coke Sweetened with Splenda  (2005)
 Coca-Cola Zero (2005)
 Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla (2006)
 Diet Coke Black Cherry Vanilla (2006)
 Coca-Cola BlāK (2006)
 Diet Coke Plus (2007)
 Coca-Cola Orange (2007)
 Sprite
 Diet Coke with Citrus Zest (2008)

Tab was Coca-Cola's first attempt to develop a diet soft drink, using saccharin as a sugar substitute.
Introduced in 1963, the product is still sold today, however its sales have dwindled since the
introduction of Diet Coke.

The Coca-Cola Company also produces a number of other soft drinks including Fanta (introduced
circa 1942 or 1943) and Sprite. Fanta's origins date back to World War II when Max Keith, who
managed Coca-Cola's operations in Germany during the war, ran out of the ingredients for Coke,
which could be supplied only from the United States. Keith resorted to producing a different soft
drink, Fanta, which proved to be a hit, and when Coke took over again after the war, it adopted the
Fanta brand as well. The German Fanta Klare Zitrone ("Clear Lemon Fanta") variety became Sprite,
another of the company's bestsellers and its response to 7 Up.

During the 1990s, the company responded to the growing consumer interest in healthy beverages by
introducing several new non-carbonated beverage brands. These included Minute MaidJuices to
Go, Powerade sports beverage, flavored tea Nestea (in a joint venture with Nestle), Fruitopia fruit
drink and Dasani water, among others. In 2001, Minute Maid division launched theSimply
Orange brand of juices including orange juice.
In 2004, perhaps in response to the burgeoning popularity of low-carbohydrate diets such as
the Atkins Diet, Coca-Cola announced its intention to develop and sell a low-carbohydrate
alternative to Coke Classic, dubbed C2 Cola. C2 contains a mix of high fructose corn
syrup, aspartame, sucralose, and Acesulfame potassium. C2 is designed to more closely emulate
the taste of Coca-Cola Classic. Even with less than half of the food energy and carbohydrates of
standard soft drinks, C2 is not a replacement for zero-calorie soft drinks such as Diet Coke. C2 went
on sale in the U.S. on June 11, 2004, and in Canada in August 2004. C2's future is uncertain due to
disappointing sales.

Coca-Cola is the best-selling soft drink in most countries. While the Middle East is one of the only
regions in the world where Coca-Cola is not the number one soda drink, Coca-Cola nonetheless
holds almost 25% marketshare (to Pepsi's 75%) and had double-digit growth in 2003. [25] Similarly,
in Scotland, where the locally produced Irn-Bru was once more popular, 2005 figures show that both
Coca-Cola and Diet Coke now outsell Irn-Bru.[26] In Peru, the native Inca Kola has been more
popular than Coca-Cola, which prompted Coca-Cola to enter in negotiations with the soft drink's
company and buy 50% of its stakes. In Japan, the best selling soft drink is not cola, as
(canned) tea and coffee are more popular.[27] As such, the Coca-Cola Company's best selling brand
there is not Coca-Cola, but Georgia.[28]

Some claim Coke is less popular in India due to suspicions regarding the health standards of the
drink.

On July 6, 2006, a Coca-Cola employee and two other people were arrested and charged with trying
to sell trade secrets information to the soft drink maker's competitor, PepsiCo for $1.5 million. The
recipe for Coca-Cola, perhaps the company's most closely guarded secret, was never in jeopardy.
Instead, the information was related to a new beverage in development. Coca-Cola executives
verified that the documents were valid and proprietary. At least one glass vial containing a sample of
a new drink was offered for sale, court documents said. The conspiracy was revealed by PepsiCo,
which notified the authorities when they were approached by the conspirators. [29]

The company announced a new "negative calorie" green tea drink, Enviga, in 2006, along with trying
coffee retail concepts Far Coast and Chaqwa.

On May 25, 2007, Coca-Cola announced it would purchase Glaceau, a maker of flavored vitamin-
enhanced drinks (vitamin water), flavored waters, and energy drinks, for $4.1 billion in cash.[30]

On September 3, 2008, Coca-Cola announced its intention to make cash offers to purchase China
Huiyuan Juice Group Limited (which has a 42% share of the Chinese pure fruit juice market [31]) for
US$2.4bn (HK$12.20 per share).[32] China's ministry of commerce blocked the deal on March 18,
2009, arguing that the deal would hurt small local juice companies, could have pushed up juice
market prices and limited consumers’ choices.[33]

In October 2009, Coca-Cola revealed its new 90-calorie mini can that holds 7.5 fluid ounces.[34] The
first shipments are expected to reach the New York City and Washington D.C. markets in December
2009 and nationwide by March 2010. [34]

[edit]Sponsorship

Coca-Cola has sponsored the English Football League since the beginning of the 2004-05

season (beginning August 2004). Other major sponsorships include NASCAR, the NBA, the PGA
Tour, NCAA Championships, the Olympic Games, the NRL, the FIFA World Cups and the UEFA
Euro, as well as the hit Fox singing-competition series American Idol. Coca-Cola is a sponsor of the
nightly talk show on PBS, Charlie Rose in the US.

[edit]In video games

In PlayStation Home, the PlayStation 3's online community-based service, Coca-Cola placed a
vending machine in Home that took users to a space called the "Georgia Break Station". The
vending machine also distributed original avatar items and presented, along with "C-pons", digital
coupons that could be used to get real drinks from real vending machines. This was to promote
Coca-Cola's Georgia series of canned coffee. The space was a lounge where users could sit and
chat and included two in-lounge avatars that told the users about the Georgia coffee. It was available
from September 7, 2009 to December 17, 2009 in the Japanese version of Home. [35]

In Dreamcast's Shenmue in 1999, Coca-Cola was featured in the Japanese only version when the
main character Ryo Hazuki finds vending machines on the street corners in the video game, and
actual cans that were sold in Japan in 1986, the setting of the video game. Sometimes, Ryo gets a
special can which can be turned in for prizes.

Coca-Cola Company

The registered trademark of this multinational soft drink firm represents arguably the most
widely recognized consumer product on the face of the earth. 
Coca-Cola Logo
From "The Pause That Refreshes" to "The Real Thing," the company's
advertising slogans have become as much a part of Americana as has our visual perception of
the fat and jolly Santa Claus first drawn by the artist Haddon Sundblom for a Coca-Cola
advertisement that appeared in 1931. As the company expanded its business to global markets,
particularly after World War II (1941-45), many people in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America
have come to associate the taste of this carbonated cola drink with American culture.
Origins

When John Stith Pemberton sold the 

John Stith Pemberton
first glass of his newly concocted drink in Atlanta's Jacobs Pharmacy in 1886,
he was entering an already established but localized market for soda fountain tonics that
promised health benefits of one kind or another along with refreshment. Born in tiny Knoxville,
Georgia, in 1831, Pemberton had trained at a college of herbal medicine before graduating from
pharmacy school in Philadelphia. He first practiced his trade in Oglethorpe before moving
toColumbus, where he operated as a druggist for fourteen years with various partners. After
relocating to Atlanta in 1869, Pemberton began to experiment

extensively with extracts of the coca leaf and kola nut, initially marketing a moderately
successful health drink called "French Wine Coca." One of Pemberton's four partners, Frank M.
Robinson, coined and trademarked the name Coca-Cola, derived from its central ingredients. He
also registered the product's famous script logo, and a marketing phenomenon was born. From
that moment a mystique over the supposed "secret formula" of Coca-Cola Coca-Cola Hutchinson
Bottle
embodied in the aptly named "Merchandise 7X" has remained. Folklore has it
that the original beverage contained cocaine from the coca leaf, at least until
the passage of the Pure Food and Drugs Act in 1906. The official position of the firm, however, is
that the drink does not and has never contained the drug. Meanwhile, company attorneys have
fought aggressively in the courts to protect trademarks and ensure Coke's identity.

Pemberton's small company grew rapidly after it was acquired by Asa Griggs Candler between
1889 and 1891. Candler, a successful druggist and businessman, outlined the company's basic
strategy—the manufacture and distribution of Coca-Cola syrup to be mixed with carbonated
water at the soda fountain. 

A staunchMethodist whose brother was a church bishop, Candler successfully marketed the

nonalcoholic beverage as a "temperance drink," but he did not see beyond the drugstore
fountain. In an astounding deal negotiated in 1899, two Chattanooga, Tennessee, lawyers,
Benjamin Franklin Thomas and Joseph Brown Whitehead, obtained the rights
Asa Griggs Candler
to bottle Coca-Cola throughout the United States except in Mississippi, where
Joseph A. Biedenharn of Vicksburg had obtained rights in 1894. When Thomas
and Whitehead undertook to grant exclusive rights to other bottlers, the term parent
bottler emerged to designate large regional bottlers. These parent bottlers in turn granted
franchises to thousands of smaller, independently licensed franchises all over the United States.

Independent Coca-Cola bottlers soon became established in small and middle-sized towns
throughout America; most of them also became very wealthy. 
Coca-Cola Delivery
Truck In Georgia a number of prominent families made their fortunes as franchised
Coca-Cola bottlers, including the Barrons of Rome, the Cobbs of LaGrangeand
West Point, the Haleys of Albany, the Montgomerys of Atlanta, the Robertses of Columbus, and
the Samses of Athens. To better coordinate relations with and between the franchised bottlers,
the parent company established the Coca-Cola Bottlers Association in Atlanta in 1914. Two years
later Coca-Cola introduced the distinctive "hobbleskirt" bottle as the standard package for use by
its franchisees. This contoured bottle has become a well-known symbol for the beverage and
serves to further distinguish the "real thing" from its imitators.

Foreign Operations

Significant growth internationally had to await the change in ownership and control that
accompanied the Candler 
Robert W. Woodruff
interests' sale of the firm for $25 million to a consortium headed by Atlanta
businessman Ernest Woodruff in 1919. Prominent Columbus businessman W. C. Bradleyplayed a
critical financial role in the group, serving as board chairman until 1939 and chairman of its
advisory committee until 1946. The Bradley family remains a prominent force in Columbus today
through its many business interests and the philanthropy of the Bradley-Turner Foundation. In
1923 Ernest Woodruff's son Robert Woodruffbecame president and the eventual architect of
Coke's worldwide expansion. Key steps included the formation of the Coca-Cola Export
Corporation in 1930 and the World War II pledge to provide a Coca-Cola for five cents to every
American serviceperson,

wherever he or she might be stationed. This brilliant business strategy

Coca-Cola Bottles
and patriotic gesture provided the Coca-Cola Company with worldwide
bottling plants and a business infrastructure poised to go forward at
the end of the war.

The company has always had success creating partnerships with local franchised bottlers, but a
recent trend to expand the number of company-owned bottling plants abroad mirrors changes in
distribution strategies at home. As supermarket sales and regional distribution have come to
dominate the beverage industry, the number of local bottlers has waned. The parent firm in
1986 formed a wholly owned subsidiary, Coca-Cola Enterprises, as a vehicle for acquiring a
larger share of bottling operations domestically and later overseas.

Coca-Cola Today

As the world's largest manufacturer, distributor, and marketer of nonalcoholic beverage

concentrates and syrups, 
Coca-Cola Delivery Trucks
operating in more than 200 countries, the firm supplies many products
in addition to its flagship brand. These include fruit-based and other carbonated beverages
tailored to local tastes as well as newer variants of the main brand, such as Diet, Cherry, and
Vanilla Coke. Although the company did experiment with diversification in recent decades (for
example, motion pictures, coffee, and wine), current corporate strategy has emphasized the
nonalcoholic beverage market. Although carbonated beverages represented 85 percent of
worldwide sales volume in 2002, increased market share for the Coke products Dasani bottled
water, POWERade sports drink, and Minute Maid orange juice have demonstrated growth in the
noncarbonated sector.

The Coca-Cola Company and the individuals associated with its history have left a lasting imprint
on the 
face of [Link] University in Atlanta has benefited immensely from the philanthropy of
both the Candlers and the Woodruffs, and the company has long been at the forefront of
sponsorship of the arts and civic affairs. Robert W. Woodruff, who remained a power within the
corporate leadership of the company up until his death in 1985 at age ninety-
five, had been called "Mr. Anonymous" because of the millions of dollars he Cherry Coke

contributed quietly to a host of causes. The Robert W. Woodruff Memorial Arts Center in Atlanta
is perhaps the most recognized monument to his philanthropy. Woodruff's handpicked
successor,Roberto Goizueta, who steered the company to corporate success more recently, also
has been noteworthy for his charitable contributions.

Just after Woodruff's death in 1985, Coca-Cola embarked on one of the most famous marketing
blunders in the history of American business. 
Former World of Coca-Cola
Museum Concerned by taste tests that suggested a growing preference among
the young for the sweetness of archrival Pepsi-Cola, management
announced a change in the formula of its main brand. Ensuing protests and torrents of negative
publicity greeted "New Coke" and resulted in the decision to reverse policy and retain "Classic
Coke." The company weathered the storm to emerge even stronger in the 1990s and by the
early twenty-first century had reestablished itself as the pacesetter in the nonalcoholic beverage
industry.

The company in 1990 opened the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta. This popular museum served
the company well while retelling one of Georgia's most famous success stories to thousands of
daily visitors. In 2007 the museum moved to a larger facility featuring new exhibits and artifacts,
as well as a statue of John Pemberton. It is located near other attractions in downtown Atlanta,
including Centennial Olympic Park, the CNN Center, and the Georgia Aquarium.

Several new varieties of Coke were introduced early in the twenty-first century. In 2004 the
company launched C2, a low-carbohydrate cola, and Full Throttle, an energy drink. The following
year Coca-Cola with Lime; Coca-Cola Zero, a no-calorie beverage; and a sugar-free version of
Full Throttle debuted. In 2006 Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, both regular and diet; Vault and Vault
Zero, energy sodas; and Coca-Cola Blak, a coffee-cola combination, entered the marketplace.

In his 2005 best-seller, A History of the World in Six Glasses, social historian Tom Standage
includes Coca-Cola as one of six beverages, along with beer, wine, spirits, coffee, and tea, that
have shaped different eras in world history. He singles out Coke to represent the globalization of
U.S. business and industry in the twentieth century and chronicles its role as an international
symbol of freedom during the cold war.

In 2007 Coca-Cola acquired Glaceau, a beverage company that produces flavored and vitamin-
enhanced water.