The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage

corporation and manufacturer, retailer, and marketer of nonalcoholic

beverage concentrates and syrups, which is headquartered in
Atlanta, Georgia.[2] The company is best known for its flagship product
Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in
Columbus, Georgia.[3]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. 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 CocaCola 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. As of
2015, its chairman and CEO is Muhtar Kent.
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 the local 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. Outside the United
States, the bottlers also control the fountain business.
Since the early 1980s, the Company has actively encouraged the
consolidation of bottlers with the Company often owning a share of these
"anchor bottlers".
The Company's largest bottlers outside North America are:

Coca-Cola Amatil, based in Australia (Australia, New Zealand,

Indonesia, South Pacific nations) (Company owns share)

Coca-Cola European Partners PLC, based in the United

Kingdom(western Europe) (Company owns share)

Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc., based in the Philippines, a joint

venture between the Company and Coca-Cola FEMSA

Coca-Cola FEMSA, based in Mexico (parts of Mexico and Latin

America) (Company owns share)

Arca Continental, also based in Mexico (parts of Mexico and Latin

America) (independent)

Embotelladora Andina S.A, based in Chile (southern South America)

(independent)

Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, based in Port Elizabeth, South

Africa(southern and eastern Africa) (company owns share)

Coca-Cola Korea, based in South Korea (independent)

Coca-Cola HBC AG, originally based in Greece but now located

inSwitzerland (Greece, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Nigeria) (Company
owns share)

Coca-Cola Icecek, based in Turkey (Turkey, southwest Asia, Arabia)

(Company owns share)

Swire Group, based in Hong Kong (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong)

(independent)

Kirin Company, based in Japan (independent)

In the United States, the company bypasses bottlers and is responsible for
the manufacture and sale of fountain syrups directly to authorized fountain
wholesalers and some fountain retailers.
After purchase of the North American assets of Coca-Cola Enterprises, as
of 2014 the company directly owned 100% of Coca-Cola Refreshments, the
anchor bottler of Coca-Cola products in North America, representing about
90% of Canada and 80% of the United States.
Other major bottlers in the United States are:

Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, based in Charlotte, North

Carolina(company owns share)

Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England based

in Bedford, New Hampshire and owned by Kirin Company

Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, based in Birmingham,

Alabama(independent)

Swire Coca-Cola USA, based in Salt Lake City, Utah and owned by
Swire Group

In September 2015, the company announced the sale of several production

plants and territories to Swire, Consolidated, and United and creation of the
Coca-Cola National Product Supply System which controls 95% of the
territory in the United States. [24]
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 intervened.
The company has a long history of acquisitions. Coca-Cola
acquired Minute Maid in 1960,[4] the Indian cola brand Thums Up in 1993,
[5]
and Barq's in 1995.[6] In 2001, it acquired the Odwalla brand of fruit
juices, smoothies, and bars for $181 million.[7][8] In 2007, it acquired Fuze
Beverage from founder Lance Collins and Castanea Partners for an
estimated $250 million.[9][10] 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 grounds that it would be a virtual monopoly.[11] Nationalism
was also thought to be a reason for aborting the deal. [12] In 1982, CocaCola purchased Columbia Pictures for $692 million. It sold the movie studio
to Sony for $3 billion in 1989