PepsiCo

In 1893, a North Carolina pharmacist named Caleb Bradham mixed pepsin and cola to create a fountain drink he called Brad's Drink. Five years later, he renamed it Pepsi-Cola and founded the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1902. On the snack side, Charles Elmer Doolin started the Frito Company in 1932, and H.W. Lay launched his own snack business the same year; the two merged in 1961 to form Frito-Lay. The modern PepsiCo was born in 1965 when Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay merged, with Donald M. Kendall as president and CEO and Herman Lay as board chair. At that moment, the company employed 19,000 people and posted annual revenues of $510 million.

Today, PepsiCo's portfolio spans more than 500 brands, 23 of which each generate over $1 billion in annual sales. The lineup includes carbonated soft drinks like Pepsi and Mountain Dew, sports drink Gatorade, energy drink Rockstar, bottled water Aquafina, juice brand Tropicana, and snack giants Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Ruffles, and Tostitos, plus Quaker Oats cereals and granola bars. Under CEO Ramon Laguarta, who took the helm in 2018, the company has accelerated its PepsiCo Positive sustainability initiative, aiming for healthier product lines and reduced environmental impact by 2030. Recent acquisitions, Rockstar Energy in 2020, SodaStream in 2018, and Pioneer Foods in 2020, have strengthened its position in energy drinks, home carbonation, and African markets.

Headquartered in Purchase, New York, PepsiCo operates in more than 200 countries and employs roughly 318,000 people. For fiscal year 2024, net revenues reached $91.85 billion. The company trades on NASDAQ under the ticker PEP and has no controlling shareholder. Its biggest competitor in beverages is The Coca-Cola Company, while in snacks it faces rivals like Mondelez International and private-label manufacturers. Nearly half of its revenue comes from international markets, with major operations across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. [edit]