maybe it's just me but it seems like every story about coca-cola is negative lately... and any positive news is buried in the story somewhere.

for example, i was reading a story today and the headline was "coca-cola profits fall 28% in fourth quarter."

but that was only half-true. sales were actually UP... for the first time in five quarters. which is the REAL story. and earnings were actually ABOVE wall street estimates.

(note: profits were only down AFTER money was subtracted from increased advertising, etc.)

anyway, it just seems to me that the media has it in for coke for the last few years. and i'm just not exactly sure why.

"The bigger they are,the harder they fall" unknown source.

Coca Cola is the Big Daddy KING of the soda pop industry. Envy is the root of all evil and so it goes with the nay sayers of Coca Cola.

Coca Cola is a fine company,it makes good products that please consumers world wide. This goes unsaid in the main stream media.

[ 02-08-2006, 12:21 PM: Message edited by: Mr Zabe ]

I've questioned the same thing, popologist, I've been reading a lot of stories about the 4th quarter results of Coca-Cola, and almost all the newspaper and financial websites show Coke as a loser... and the worst of all... Pepsi (PBG specifically) as the big winner. And not only with the 4th quarter results, there were bad news about Coke everytime... for example, that the gay executive won against Coca-Cola FEMSA the case of discrimination after Coca-Cola FEMSA fired him, that a woman in Argentina "found" an spiral mosquito repelent inside a bottle, but later, the department of health found that the production code was already erased by the woman, the whole Raquel Chavez thing, the possible increase in the price of the syrup... sad

Unfortunately a newspaper here in Mexico who always told difamations and bad comments about Coca-Cola and Pepsi is "La Jornada"... a newspaper that only says good things about the presidential candidate Lopez Obrador, well known as "Peje" (who also stupidly compared Coke and Pepsi with the PRI and PAN parties: "they're the same thing, same impunity, same corruption" ), and bad things about the corporate world... That newspaper sucks...

[ 02-08-2006, 02:38 PM: Message edited by: Ramón Coca-Colero ]

Originally posted by popologist:
maybe it's just me but it seems like every story about coca-cola is negative lately... and any positive news is buried in the story somewhere.

for example, i was reading a story today and the headline was "coca-cola profits fall 28% in fourth quarter."

but that was only half-true. sales were actually UP... for the first time in five quarters. which is the REAL story. and earnings were actually ABOVE wall street estimates.

(note: profits were only down AFTER money was subtracted from increased advertising, etc.)

anyway, it just seems to me that the media has it in for coke for the last few years. and i'm just not exactly sure why.

I think the story is that Profits are down 28%. Who cares if your sales are up if your not making any money doing it? The whole reason we are in business is to come away with the highest profit possible. Shareholders don't care that sales are up at the expense of profit.
I think the reason many think the press is against Coke is because Coke has had some blunders lately. The Last 2 CEO's performances were flat and less than innovative. Coke has resorted to buying market share rather than earning it like they did back in the days of Goizeta. Coke used to be the benchmark in the industry when it came to innovation and marketing. Now it is back in the middle of the pack.
Heres an interesting article that details some of Cokes problems since Goizeta left the Company.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...3001_mz001.htm

There is a graphic that states that since Goizetas retirement(or death) the total return to Coke shareholders was a negative 28% whileduring the same time the return rate to Pepsi Shareholders was a positve 46%.

[ 02-08-2006, 03:14 PM: Message edited by: greg ]

yeap. coke is not servicing it's shareholders and it's costing us. i regret buying the stock.

the bad news stories aren't bandwagoning, they're true. coke better shape up and stop playing CEO-a-go-go.

I guess it doesn't help that Coke is literally the biggest symbol of globalism's cultural dilution.


SEV

Originally posted by SnappleElementsVenom:
I guess it doesn't help that Coke is literally the biggest symbol of globalism's cultural dilution.


SEV

Good Point!

I admit that I was concerned during 9-11 about the Coke HQ being hit. I lived in Atlanta during that time and with Coke being the Number 1 recognizable logo around the world( I think 96% of people around the world know what it is) it would be a target. Afterall, Coke is synonamous with capitalism around the world and the World Trade Centers represented the exact same thig.

I think what people, even in our own country, hate is America itself. Coke is a symbol of that so the news media in this country and out bash them.

i've never heard a bashing coke story. i've heard a, "well coke is doing bad" story because they are. until recently, most new products released bombed. coke lost the feel for what the market wanted and pepsi was roaring. coke seems to be on a positive note right now, but they financials still aren't there.

this is what the article is talking about. financials, what really matters to a company. and they aren't fantastic at KO and haven't been for years. none of you can disagree with that. I bought my shares at 56 and now they're in the mid forties. at one point it was 36. when a company's stock dips 20$ a share should we write happy articles about them and how happy and great and fun and super they are? maybe ramon can. KO's needed a dose of reality and pepsi gave it to em. if pepsi wasn't going to beat them with pepsi, it was with dew.

maybe coke's learning something...

everyone makes some good points.

but my point was that the headline was negative... but the real story wasn't.

after all, if it was really bad news, would the stock have gone up? probably not.

on the other hand, it's also generally accepted in the business world that coke has had bad leadership for about ten years now (not to mention several scandals).