Company Overview

Atlanta pharmacist John Styth Pemberton could not have imagined what a sensation he was creating when he concocted a syrupy elixir from coca leaves and kola nuts in his backyard in 1886. Today, Coca-Cola—the fizzy brew based on his original recipe—is the world's leading soft drink. The Coca-Cola Company dominates half of the global beverage market, and has some 400 brands in approximately 200 markets worldwide. Coke owns four of the five leading soft-drink brands: Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite, and Fanta. However, the company hasn’t been keeping up in the lucrative bottled water and sports drink categories. Coca-Cola has aggressively expanded its product offerings in response to declining demand for soft drinks by increasingly health-conscious and carb-counting consumers.

In 2004, the company introduced C2, which features half the calories and half the carbohydrates of regular Coke. In spring 2005, it launched Minute Maid Light juice drinks and announced plans to introduce Splenda-sweetened Diet Coke, Coke Zero, and Diet Nestea. And in 2006, Coca-Cola brought a number of new beverages and flavors to the market, including the grape collection from Dasanti and Powerade, green tea products, new Enviga, that burns calories, and hybrid energy Vault, among others. The company also introduced its Far Coast brand in Toronto, and announced the launch of a new coffee line with partner Caribou Coffee in Canada. A good corporate citizen, in 2006, Coca-Cola, along with its rivals, committed to sell only water, lowfat milk, and unsweetened juice to public elementary and middle schools in the United States.