Full Description

The Coca-Cola Company, incorporated in September 1919, is a manufacturer, distributor and marketer of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups in the world. Finished beverage products bearing its trademarks are sold in more than 200 countries. The Company markets nonalcoholic sparkling brands, which include Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. The Company manufactures beverage concentrates and syrups, which it sells to bottling and canning operations, fountain wholesalers and some fountain retailers, as well as finished beverages, which it sells primarily to distributors. The Company owns or licenses approximately 500 brands, including diet and light beverages, waters, enhanced waters, juices and juice drinks, teas, coffees, and energy and sports drinks. In addition, it has ownership interests in numerous beverage joint ventures, bottling and canning operations, although most of these operations are independently owned and managed.

In 2008, the Company acquired Kildevaeld and Kurvand brands in Denmark and Finland from Carlsberg Group Beverages (Carlsberg). During 2008, the Company sold of Refrigerantes Minas Gerais Ltda. (Remil), a bottler in Brazil, to Coca-Cola FEMSA and divested 49% of its interest in Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Ltd. (Coca-Cola Pakistan) to Coca-Cola Icecek A.S. (Coca-Cola Icecek).

The Company sells the concentrates and syrups for bottled and canned beverages to authorized bottling and canning operations. In addition to concentrates and syrups for sparkling beverages and flavored still beverages, it also sells concentrates (in powder form) for purified water products, such as Dasani to authorized bottling operations. Its beverage products include Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Classic, caffeine free Coca-Cola, caffeine free Coca-Cola Classic, Cherry Coke, Diet Coke (sold under the trademark Coca-Cola Light in many countries other than the United States), caffeine free Diet Coke, Diet Coke Sweetened with Splenda, Diet Coke with Lime, Diet Cherry Coke, Diet Coke Plus, Coca-Cola Zero (sold under the trademark Coke Zero in some countries), Fanta brand sparkling beverages, Sprite, Diet Sprite/Sprite Zero (sold under the trademark Sprite Light in many countries other than the United States), Pibb Xtra, Mello Yello, Tab, Fresca brand sparkling beverages, Barq’s, Powerade, Aquarius, Sokenbicha, Ciel, Bonaqa/Bonaqua, Dasani, Dasani brand flavored waters, Georgia brand ready-to-drink coffees (sold in Japan), Lift, Thums Up, Kinley, Eight O’Clock, Qoo, Vault, Full Throttle and other products developed for specific countries. In many countries (excluding the United States, among others), its Company’s beverage products also include Schweppes, Canada Dry, Dr Pepper and Crush.

The Company produces, distributes and markets juice and juice-drink products, including Minute Maid juices and juice drinks, Simply juices and juice drinks, Odwalla nourishing health beverages, Five Alive refreshment beverages, Bacardi mixers concentrate (manufactured and marketed under license agreements from Bacardi & Company Limited) and Hi-C ready-to-serve juice drinks. The Company has a license to manufacture and sell concentrates for Seagram’s mixers, a line of sparkling drinks, in the United States and certain other countries.

The Company markets Nestea and Enviga products under a sublicense agreement with a subsidiary of Nestle S.A. (Nestle). Multon, a Russian juice business (Multon) operated as a joint venture with Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company S.A. (Coca-Cola Hellenic), manufactures, markets and sells juice products under various trademarks, including Dobriy, Rich and Nico, in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Beverage Partners Worldwide (BPW), the Company's joint venture with Nestle, markets ready-to-drink tea products under various trademarks, including Nestea, Enviga, Yang Guang, Nagomi, Frestea, Ten Ren, Yuan Ye, Heaven & Earth, Tian Yu Di, Nestea Vitao and Nestea Cool, in various markets worldwide, other than the United States and Japan. The Company manufactures, markets and sells packaged juices, nectars and fruit-flavored beverages under the del Valle trademark through joint ventures with its bottling partners in Mexico and Brazil. Ilko Coffee International, S.r.l. (Ilko), a joint venture with illycaffe S.p.A., and Ilko Hellenic Partners GmbH, a joint venture between Ilko and Coca-Cola Hellenic, manufacture, market and sell ready-to-drink coffee under the illy issimo brand.

The Company competes with Nestle, Cadbury Schweppes plc, Groupe Danone, Kraft Foods Inc. and Unilever.