The Coca-Cola Company

John Stith Pemberton was a Confederate Army veteran and pharmacist in Atlanta, Georgia who was addicted to morphine following a war wound. In 1886, he created a syrup combining coca leaf extract and kola nuts — both of which contained stimulants — as a patent medicine intended to cure headaches and provide energy. A pharmacy soda fountain operator mixed the syrup with carbonated water by accident. The result was Coca-Cola. Pemberton sold it for five cents a glass at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, selling approximately nine glasses per day. He died in 1888, having sold most of his rights to the formula for approximately $1,750.

Asa Griggs Candler acquired the Coca-Cola formula and brand for $2,300 in 1891. Candler was a marketing genius: he distributed free sample coupons, provided pharmacies with free branded merchandise, and built the Coca-Cola brand through relentless promotion before the concept of brand marketing existed. By 1895, Coca-Cola was being sold in every state in the United States. Candler sold the company to a group of investors for $25 million in 1919 — a transaction that was considered the deal of the century. Coca-Cola's market capitalisation today exceeds $250 billion.

The distinctive Coca-Cola contour bottle was designed in 1915 by the Root Glass Company in response to Coca-Cola's request for a bottle so distinctive that it could be identified by touch in the dark or when broken. The designer, Earl Dean, was inspired by the shape of a cocoa pod — a plant he had never actually seen. The contour bottle became one of the most recognised design objects in history and an enduring symbol of American commercial culture.

Coca-Cola changed its formula in April 1985 — "New Coke" — in response to losing blind taste tests to Pepsi. The consumer response was the most intense corporate backlash in American history: the company received 400,000 protest letters, phone lines were jammed with complaints, and a "Society for the Preservation of the Real Thing" formed within days. Seventy-nine days later, Coca-Cola reintroduced the original formula as "Coca-Cola Classic." The episode was initially a disaster; it ended as the greatest accidental marketing event in history, reminding consumers how much they loved the original product.

Coca-Cola sells products in every country on earth except North Korea and Cuba — making it one of only two consumer brands with truly universal distribution (the other is Visa). The company sells approximately 2 billion servings per day. Warren Buffett, who began buying Coca-Cola shares in 1988, has described it as one of his greatest investments: "I'll always have a can of Coke. No one is going to take away my Coke." Berkshire Hathaway owns approximately 9% of the company, generating hundreds of millions in annual dividends.