The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates

and syrups, which is headquartered [2] in Atlanta, Georgia. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by [3] pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia. The Coca-Cola formula and brand was bought in 1889 by Asa Griggs Candler(December 30, 1851 - March 12, 1929), who incorporated The Coca-Cola Company in 1892. Besides its namesake Coca-Cola beverage, Coca-Cola currently offers more than 500 [4] brands in over 200 countries or territories and serves over 1.7 billion servings each day. The company operates afranchised distribution system dating from 1889 where The Coca-Cola Company only produces syrup concentrate which is then sold to various bottlersthroughout the world who hold an exclusive territory. The Coca-Cola Company owns its anchor bottler in North America, Coca-Cola Refreshments. Its stock is listed on the NYSE and is part of DJIA, S&P 500 index, the Russell 1000 Index and the Russell 1000 Growth Stock Index. Its current chairman and chief executive is Muhtar Kent.
Contents
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1 Acquisitions 2 Revenue 3 Stock 4 Lobbying 5 Consumer relations 6 Bottlers 7 Civil rights 8 Criticism

o o o o o o

8.1 Environmental issues 8.2 Overuse of water supplies 8.3 Australia 8.4 Union in Colombia 8.5 USDA-Coca Cola letter 8.6 Vitamin Water lawsuit

9 Products and brands

9.1 Brands

9.1.1 Tab 9.1.2 Other soft drinks 9.1.3 Columbia Pictures 9.1.4 Breakmate 9.1.5 Healthy beverages

9.1.6 Best selling 9.1.7 Information 9.1.8 Green tea 9.1.9 Glaceau 9.1.10 Huiyuan Juice 9.1.11 Coke Minilmini 9.1.12 Holiday can 9.1.13 World of Coca Cola

10 Sponsorship

o o

10.1 Sports 10.2 Television

11 In video games 12 See also 13 References 14 Further reading 15 External links

Acquisitions[edit]
The company has a long history of acquisitions. Coca-Cola acquired Minute Maid in 1960, the Indian [6] [7] cola brand Thums Up in 1993, and Barq's in 1995. In 2001, it acquired the Odwalla brand of fruit [8][9] juices, smoothies and bars for $181 million. In 2007, it acquired Fuze Beverage from founder Lance [10][11] Collins and Castanea Partners for an estimated $250 million. The company's 2009 bid to buy a Chinese juice maker ended when China rejected its $2.4 billion bid for the Huiyuan Juice Group on the [12] grounds that it would be a virtual monopoly. Nationalism was also thought to be a reason for aborting [13] the deal. In 1982, Coca-Cola purchased Columbia Pictures for $692 million. It sold the movie studio [14] to Sony for $3 billion in 1989.
[5]

Revenue[edit]

The Coca-Cola Company's Minute Maid group North America offices in Sugar Land Town Square, Sugar Land, Texas, United States

According to the 2005 Annual Report, the company sells beverage products in more than [16] 200 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 (the latest figure in 2010 shows that now they serve 1.6 billion drinks every day). 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: 43% in the United States 37% in Mexico, India, Brazil, Japan and the People's Republic of China 20% spread throughout the rest of the world

[15]

In 2010, it was announced that Coca-Cola had become the first brand to top 1 billion in annual UK [17] grocery sales.

Stock[edit]
Since 1919, Coca Cola has been a publicly traded company. One share of stock purchased in 1919 for $40, with all dividends reinvested, would be worth $9.8 million in 2012, a 10.7% annual increase, adjusted [19] for inflation. In 1987, Coca Cola once again became one of the 30 stocks which makes up the Dow, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is commonly referenced as the performance of the stock [20] market. It had previously been a Dow stock from 1932 to 1935. Coca Cola has paid a dividend, [21][22] increasing each year for 49 years. Stock is available from a direct purchase program, through [23] Computershare Trust Company, but unlike many programs, has investment fees.
[18]

Lobbying[edit]
In the U.S., 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 industrys fight [24] against increased taxes on soft drinks and other sweetened beverages. For 2008, Coca-Cola has 38 [24] lobbyists at 7 different firms lobbying on its behalf.

Consumer relations[edit]
Throughout 2012, Coca-Cola contributed $1,700,500 to a $46 million political campaign known as "The Coalition Against The Costly Food Labeling Proposition, sponsored by Farmers and Food [25] Producers" This organization was set up to oppose a citizen's initiative, known as Proposition 37, demanding mandatory labeling of foods containing genetically modified ingredients. In the aftermath of the proposition's defeat at the polls, backers called for a boycott of companies that contributed to the [26] opposition campaign.

Bottlers[edit]

Houston Coca-Cola Bottling Company

19962002 Chevrolet Expresswagon from The Coca-Cola Company.

Main article: List of assets owned by The Coca-Cola Company In general, The Coca-Cola Company and its subsidiaries only 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 the 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 The Coca-Cola Company and bottlers is fountain syrups in the United States, where the company bypasses bottlers and is responsible for the manufacture and sale of fountain syrups directly to authorized fountain wholesalers and some fountain retailers.

Civil rights[edit]
After Martin Luther King, Jr. won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, plans for an interracial celebratory dinner in still-segregated Atlanta were not initially well supported by the city's business elite until Coca-Cola [27] intervened. J. Paul Austin, the chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola, and Mayor Ivan Allen summoned key Atlanta business leaders to the Commerce Club's eighteenth floor dining room, where Austin told them flatly, 'It is embarrassing for Coca-Cola to be located in a city that refuses to honor its Nobel Prize winner. We are an international business. The Coca-Cola Co. does not need Atlanta. You all need to decide whether Atlanta needs the Coca-Cola Co.' Within two hours of the end of that meeting, every ticket to the dinner was sold.

Andrew Young

[28]

However, Coca-Cola has also faced allegations of racial discrimination in its employment practices, and f