On the desk today · The Coca-Cola Company
They don't make the bottle. They don't make the can. They make the syrup — and collect on every sip.
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The Pharmacist's Syrup
That Conquered the World
On May 8, 1886, a Civil War veteran and pharmacist named John Stith Pemberton carried a jug of caramel-colored syrup down the street to Jacobs' Pharmacy in Atlanta. He mixed it with carbonated water. The pharmacy sold it at the soda fountain for five cents a glass. About nine people bought one that day. Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, suggested the name — he thought the two C's would look good in advertising. He wrote "Coca-Cola" in the flowing script that would become the most recognized trademark on earth.
Pemberton died two years later. He sold the business for $2,300.
I reached into a cooler at a gas station last week. Without thinking — without comparing, without pausing — I grabbed a Coke. Red label, same one since forever. I paid $2.19. The bottle was cold. The logo was unchanged. The formula was the same. It was the most effortless purchase I've made in years. And that effortlessness is the whole point.
Most people think Coca-Cola makes Coke. It doesn't. Not the bottle. Not the can. Not the liquid inside. The Coca-Cola Company makes the concentrate — the syrup, the essence, the formula. Then it sells that concentrate to more than 225 bottling partners around the world. The bottlers add water, carbonate it, package it, and distribute it to stores, restaurants, and vending machines. Coca-Cola collects its margin on the concentrate and never touches the finished product. It is the purest toll booth in consumer goods.
Asa Griggs Candler acquired the business from Pemberton for $2,300 and incorporated The Coca-Cola Company on January 29, 1892. In 1919, a group led by Ernest Woodruff bought the company for $25 million — from $2,300 to $25 million in 27 years. Today, the company is worth over $300 billion. Candler would not recognize the scale. But he would recognize the model — sell the syrup, let someone else do the heavy lifting.
Warren Buffett started buying Coca-Cola stock in 1988. He has never sold a share. At one point, he told an interviewer: "If you gave me $100 billion and said take away the soft drink leadership of Coca-Cola in the world, I'd give it back to you and say it can't be done." Berkshire Hathaway still owns approximately 400 million shares. Buffett still drinks several Cherry Cokes a day. He is 95 years old.
In fiscal 2025, Coca-Cola reported $47.9 billion in net revenue — up 2% on a reported basis, 5% organically. Gross profit reached $29.5 billion at a 61.6% margin. Net income hit $13.1 billion. Concentrate operations — the syrup business — generated $28.5 billion, or nearly 60% of total revenue. More than 2.1 billion servings of Coca-Cola beverages are consumed every day, in more than 200 countries and territories. And the company has raised its dividend every single year for 63 consecutive years.
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Those 63 consecutive years of dividend increases are not a streak. They are a statement about the business model itself. Coca-Cola has raised its payout through every recession, every oil shock, every war, and every financial crisis since 1963. It can do this because the concentrate model produces cash with extraordinary reliability. The syrup costs almost nothing to produce. The bottlers bear the capital cost of manufacturing, packaging, and distribution. Coca-Cola collects a margin on the concentrate and lets the system handle everything else. It is asset-light by design.
The pricing power is embedded in the habit. Nobody comparison-shops for a Coke. A restaurant buys fountain syrup from Coca-Cola because every customer expects to see Coke on the menu. A convenience store stocks the cooler with Coke because it's the brand that moves. In 2025, Coca-Cola grew organic revenue 5% — driven almost entirely by pricing. Price/mix grew 4%. Concentrate sales grew 1%. The company charged more. Consumers paid. The volume barely moved. That is the pricing power of a brand so deeply embedded in daily life that raising the toll doesn't change behavior.
James Quincey — who has led Coca-Cola as chairman and CEO since 2017 — described the dynamic in the fourth-quarter 2025 earnings release: "Our all-weather strategy continues to drive results. We delivered solid organic revenue growth and strong comparable earnings growth, while navigating macroeconomic complexity."
The flywheel is the Coca-Cola System. The company owns the brands and the concentrate. Its 225+ bottling partners own the factories, the trucks, and the distribution relationships. Each bottler is deeply invested in Coca-Cola's success — they've built their entire business around it. And each new product that Coca-Cola introduces — from Coca-Cola Zero Sugar to Topo Chico to Costa Coffee — rides the same distribution network. Same trucks. Same coolers. Same store shelves. The incremental cost of adding one more brand to the system is close to zero. The system scales because it was built to scale.
WHY THIS WORKS
The concentrate model is the toll booth. Coca-Cola sells the syrup. Bottlers do the manufacturing, packaging, and distribution. Coca-Cola collects its margin without touching a single bottle. Nearly 60% of revenue comes from concentrate.
The brand is 139 years old — and unchanged. The script logo, the contour bottle, the red label. The formula hasn't materially changed since 1886. The brand is so embedded in global culture that it transcends product categories.
63 consecutive dividend increases. Every year since 1963. Through every recession, every crisis, every market cycle. The cash generation is so reliable that the dividend has never missed a beat.
2.1 billion servings per day across 200+ countries. Coca-Cola operates in virtually every country on earth. The consumption is habitual, daily, and culturally embedded. Nobody wakes up and decides to stop drinking Coke.
Asa Griggs Candler bought Coca-Cola for $2,300 in 1891. In 1919, it was sold for $25 million. Today it generates $47.9 billion in revenue and $13.1 billion in net income. Warren Buffett owns 400 million shares and has never sold one. The formula sits in a vault in Atlanta. The script hasn't changed since a bookkeeper wrote it with a pen. And the syrup — a few cents' worth of ingredients mixed with carbonated water — is served 2.1 billion times a day, in 200 countries, to people who never think about what they're reaching for. That is the toll booth. It doesn't look like a toll booth. It looks like a bottle of Coke. And that is why it works.
