PepsiCo

PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational that makes and sells food and drinks. Its headquarters are in Harrison, New York, specifically in the hamlet of Purchase. The company handles the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of its products across the entire food and beverage market. It was created in 1965 when the Pepsi-Cola Company and Frito-Lay, Inc. merged. Since then, PepsiCo has moved beyond its original soda to own a wide variety of food and drink brands. Major purchases include Tropicana Products in 1998, the Quaker Oats Company in 2001 (which brought in Gatorade), and Pioneer Foods in 2020 for $1.7 billion.

As of January 2021, PepsiCo has 23 brands that each bring in over $1 billion in sales every year. Its products are sold in more than 200 countries and territories, and its yearly net revenue tops $70 billion. Based on net revenue, profit, and market value, PepsiCo is the second-largest food and beverage company in the world, right behind Nestlé. In 2023, it ranked 82nd on the Forbes Global 2000 list. Its main product, Pepsi Cola, has been in a long-running competition with Coca-Cola, often called the cola wars. While Coca-Cola sells more than Pepsi Cola in the United States, PepsiCo itself is the biggest food and beverage company in North America by net revenue. The company handles its own beverage distribution and bottling, and also uses licensed bottlers in some areas.

PepsiCo has faced criticism for poor working conditions, contributing to deforestation, using genetically modified ingredients, using a lot of water, having pesticide residue in its products, adding to global plastic pollution, producing significant carbon dioxide emissions, and offering products with poor nutrition. In 2024, PepsiCo was the second-largest producer of branded plastic pollution in the world.

**History**

**Origins** The soft drink Pepsi was created by Caleb Bradham, a pharmacist and businessman from Duplin County, North Carolina. He came up with the name "Pepsi-Cola" in 1898 and sold the drink from his pharmacy in New Bern, North Carolina. The name refers to the digestive enzyme pepsin. As the drink became popular, Bradham started the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1902 and got a patent for his recipe in 1903. The company was incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law in 1919. Bradham's business did well until World War I. But sugar rationing during the war and an unstable sugar market afterward hurt the company's finances so badly that Bradham declared bankruptcy in 1923 and went back to running pharmacies in North Carolina.

On June 8, 1923, the company's trademark and secret recipe were bought by Craven Holding Corporation. In 1931, Roy Megargel, a Wall Street broker, bought the Pepsi trademark, business, and goodwill from Craven Holding, along with Charles Guth. Guth was also the president of Loft, Incorporated, a major candy maker based in Long Island City, New York. Loft had a network of 115 stores across the Mid-Atlantic at the time. Guth used Loft's labs and chemists to change the Pepsi syrup recipe, and as company president, he replaced Coca-Cola with Pepsi Cola at Loft's shops and restaurants. He also used Loft's resources to promote Pepsi and moved the soda company near Loft's own facilities in New York City. In 1935, Loft's shareholders sued Guth for his 91% stake in the Pepsi-Cola Company in the famous case *Guth v. Loft Inc.* Loft won, and on May 29, 1941, it formally absorbed Pepsi into Loft, which was then renamed the Pepsi-Cola Company that same year. Loft's restaurants and candy stores were spun off at that time.

In the early 1960s, Pepsi-Cola expanded its product line by creating Diet Pepsi and buying Mountain Dew. In 1965, the Pepsi-Cola Company merged with Frito-Lay, Inc. to become PepsiCo, Inc. When it was founded, PepsiCo was incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law and based in Manhattan, New York. The company moved its headquarters to its current location in Purchase, New York, in 1970, and in 1986 it was reincorporated in the state of North Carolina.

**Acquisitions and Divestments** From the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, PepsiCo grew by buying businesses outside its main focus of packaged food and drinks. However, it largely left these non-core businesses in 1997, selling some and spinning off others into a new company called Tricon Global Restaurants, which later became Yum! Brands, Inc. PepsiCo also previously owned several other brands that it later sold to focus on its main snack and beverage lines, according to investment analysts reporting on the 1997 divestments. Brands PepsiCo once owned include: Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, Hot 'n Now, East Side Mario's, D'Angelo Sandwich Shops, Chevys Fresh Mex, California Pizza Kitchen, Stolichnaya (via a licensing agreement), Wilson Sporting Goods, and North American Van Lines.

After the 1997 divestments, PepsiCo made several large purchases, expanding beyond soft drinks and snacks into other food and drink areas. It bought the orange juice company Tropicana Products in 1998 and merged with the Quaker Oats Company in 2001, adding the Gatorade sports drink line and other Quaker Oats brands like Chewy Granola Bars and Aunt Jemima. In August 2009, PepsiCo offered $7 billion to buy its two largest North American bottlers: Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas. This deal was completed in 2010, creating a new wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo.