CORPORATE OVERVIEW
The Coca-Cola Company was founded in 1886, when an Atlanta pharmacist, Dr. John Pemberton, invented the first Coca Cola formula, a combination of lime, cinnamon, coca leaves, and the seeds of a Brazilian shrub in a three legged brass kettle in his backyard. Coca-Cola was initially sold in Atlanta's largest pharmacy, Jacob's Pharmacy as a patent medicine allegedly curing myriad diseases including morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headaches and impotence for five cents a glass.1 Later, the carbonated water was added to the syrup to make the beverage what we know today as Coca-Cola. One of Pemberton's close friends, Frank Robinson named the company; he also penned the famous Coca-Cola logo in unique script.
Background:
Dr. John Pemberton sold a portion of the Coca-Cola Company to Asa Candler, who incorporated it as the Coca Cola Corporation in 1888. After Pemberton's death Candler acquired complete ownership of the Coca-Cola business in 1891 for $2,300 and in 1892, incorporated a second company, The Coca-Cola Company ? the current corporation. Candler opened the first syrup manufacturing plant in 1884. On January 31, 1893, the famous Coca-Cola formula was patented. Candler sold most US bottling rights in 1899 to Benjamin Thomas and John Whitehead for $1. The two designed a regional franchise bottling system that created more than 1,000 bottlers within 20 years. In 1915, Alexander Samuelson and Earl R. Dean of the Root Glass Company created the contour bottle for the Coca-Cola company. "Widely recognized as a pioneering example of package-driven branding, the contour bottle is one of the few packages to ever receive a trademark from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, helping to make Coca- ...