PepsiCo, Inc.

Origins

The soft drink Pepsi was developed by Caleb Bradham, a pharmacist and businessman from Duplin County, North Carolina. He coined the name "Pepsi-Cola" in 1898, marketing the drink from his pharmacy in New Bern, North Carolina. The name reflects the effects of enzyme Pepsin which helps in digestion. As his drink gained popularity Bradham founded the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1902 and registered a patent for his recipe in 1903. The company was incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law in 1919. Bradham's company experienced years of success leading up to World War I. However, sugar rationing during the war and a volatile sugar market in the war's aftermath damaged the company's financial health to such a degree that in 1923, Bradham declared bankruptcy and returned to running pharmacies in North Carolina.

On June 8, 1923, the company trademark and secret recipe were purchased by Craven Holding Corporation. In 1931, Roy Megargel, a Wall Street broker, purchased the Pepsi trademark, business, and goodwill from Craven Holding in association with Charles Guth. Guth was also the president of Loft, Incorporated, a leading candy manufacturer based in Long Island City, New York. Loft ran a network with 115 stores across the Mid-Atlantic at the time of Guth's acquisition. Guth used Loft's labs and chemists to reformulate the Pepsi syrup recipe, and he used his position as president of the company to replace Coca-Cola with Pepsi Cola at Loft's shops and restaurants. Guth also used Loft resources to promote Pepsi, and moved the soda company to a location close to Loft's own facilities in New York City.

In 1935, the shareholders of Loft sued Guth for his 91% stake of Pepsi-Cola Company in the landmark case Guth v. Loft Inc. Loft won the suit and on May 29, 1941, formally absorbed Pepsi into Loft, which was then re-branded as Pepsi-Cola Company that same year. Loft restaurants and candy stores were spun off at that time.

In the early 1960s, Pepsi-Cola's product lines expanded with the creation of Diet Pepsi and purchase of Mountain Dew. In 1965, the Pepsi-Cola Company merged with Frito-Lay, Inc. to become PepsiCo, Inc. At the time of its foundation, PepsiCo was incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law and headquartered in Manhattan, New York. The company's headquarters were relocated to the present location of Purchase, New York in 1970, and in 1986 PepsiCo was reincorporated in the state of North Carolina.

Acquisitions and divestments

Between the late-1970s and the mid-1990s, PepsiCo expanded via acquisition of businesses outside of its core focus of packaged food and beverage brands; however it exited these non-core business lines largely in 1997, selling some, and spinning off others into a new company named Tricon Global Restaurants, which later became known as Yum! Brands, Inc. PepsiCo also previously owned several other brands that it later sold so it could focus on its primary snack food and beverage lines, according to investment analysts reporting on the divestments in 1997. Brands formerly owned by PepsiCo 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 licensed agreement), Wilson Sporting Goods, and North American Van Lines.

The divestments concluding in 1997 were followed by multiple large-scale acquisitions, as PepsiCo began to extend its operations beyond soft drinks and snack foods into other lines of foods and beverages. PepsiCo purchased the orange juice company Tropicana Products in 1998, and merged with Quaker Oats Company in 2001, adding with it the Gatorade sports drink line and other Quaker Oats brands such as Chewy Granola Bars and Aunt Jemima, among others.

In August 2009, PepsiCo made a US$7 billion offer to acquire the two largest bottlers of its products in North America: Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas. This acquisition was completed in 2010, resulting in the formation of a new wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo, Pepsi Beverages Company.

In February 2011, the company made its largest international acquisition by purchasing a two-thirds (majority) stake in Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods, a Russian food company that produces milk, yogurt, fruit juices, and dairy products. When it acquired the remaining 23% stake of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods in October 2011, PepsiCo became the largest food and beverage company in Russia.

In July 2012, PepsiCo announced a joint venture with the Theo Muller Group, which was named Muller Quaker Dairy. This marked PepsiCo's first entry into the dairy space in the U.S. The joint venture was dissolved in December 2015.

On December 20, 2017, PepsiCo moved its shares to Nasdaq after trading 39 years on the New York Stock Exchange.

On May 25, 2018, PepsiCo announced that it would acquire fruit and vegetable snack maker Bare Foods. It started quarter-owning allMotti in late November 2018 and was PepsiCo's first owned Tech and Computer Service company.

On August 20, 2018, PepsiCo announced that it had entered into agreement to acquire SodaStream. The purchase was completed in December 2018 as part of a strategic plan to steer Pepsi toward offering healthier products.

In April 2019, PepsiCo India sued four small farmers in Gujarat for intellectual property infringement, claiming they were growing the FC5 potato variety—used for production of Lay's—which the company had exclusive plant breeders' rights under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001. The company offered to settle if the farmers joined their potato farming program or stopped growing FC5 potatoes. Later, in May, the company withdrew the lawsuits after discussions with the Indian government and pressure from activists.

On October 3, 2019, PepsiCo announced that they would leave Indonesia after terminating their partnership with local distributor PT Anugerah Indofood Barokah Makmur (AIBM). Both companies stopped production of PepsiCo products on October 10. This has resulted in KFC and Pizza Hut chains in the country to switch to Coca-Cola products.

On December 2, 2019, PepsiCo acquired the snacks brand, BFY Brands, who were then folded into the Frito-Lay division.

In March 2020, PepsiCo announced that it had entered into agreement to acquire Rockstar Energy for US$3.85 billion.

In January 2021, as a plan to fight global warming, PepsiCo announced that it is planning to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, knowing that it had already started generating about 57 million metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions globally in 2019.

On August 3, 2021, PepsiCo announced that it has agreed to sell a majority stake in Tropicana, Naked and other North American juice brands to French private equity firm PAI Partners for US$3.3 billion, so that the company can concentrate on its healthy snack food business. Pepsi will hold a 39% stake in the joint venture as well as having exclusive rights to the brand in the USA.

In December 2021, PepsiCo India had its registration of the FC5 potato variety revoked by the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority after a petition by Kavitha Kuruganti, a farmers' rights activist. PepsiCo India appealed to the Delhi High Court for reinstatement of the registration, which was initially dismissed in July 2023. However, on second appeal to the same court, the registration was reinstated in January 2024.

In August 2022, PepsiCo acquired a $550 million stake in the energy drink maker Celsius.

On October 1, 2024, PepsiCo announced that it would acquire Siete Foods for $1.2 billion. The acquisition was completed on January 17, 2025.

In March 2025, PepsiCo announced it is buying prebiotic soda brand Poppi for more than $1.6 billion.

On December 8, 2025, PepsiCo announced that it would be cutting nearly 20% of its U.S. product lineup by early 2026 as part of a deal with activist investor Elliott Investment Management to simplify its portfolio and focus on core brands, and lower prices to boost sales. 3 manufacturing plants would be shuttered, production lines would be shut down, and an unspecified number of employees would be laid off.