After "taking down" Twitter, Musk targeted Coca-Cola again?
■ Source丨 Billion Consumers, The Paper, World Wide Web, Per App
After "taking down" Twitter, Musk targeted Coca-Cola again?
According to the surging news on April 28, following Twitter's announcement on April 25 that it had reached an acquisition agreement with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Musk suspected of locking in a "new target" on Twitter on the 28th - the acquisition of american consumer goods giant Coca-Cola Company.
Image source: Visual China
In addition, there is also a netizen PTu Musk's tweet, saying that he will buy McDonald's and repair all the ice cream machines. (Note: In the United States, "McDonald's ice cream machine that never fixes" has become the object of late-night talk shows and TikTok's daily jokes), and Musk quotes the image with the caption, "I can't do miracles."
Musk tweeted "To buy Coca-Cola"
At 8:56 Beijing time on the 28th, Musk tweeted, "Next I want to acquire Coca-Cola and add cocaine back in." As soon as the tweet was posted, it caused heated discussion among netizens. Currently, Musk has more than 86 million followers on Twitter.
According to a popular science article in 2016 on the official WeChat platform of the Office of the National Narcotics Control Commission, Coca-Cola's original product contained the drug cocaine.
The timeline shows that in 1860, doctors extracted cocaine from coca leaf and used it as a medical anesthetic; in 1884, Freud recommended the use of cocaine as an alternative to alcohol and morphine addiction; in 1886, Coca-Cola containing trace amounts of cocaine was introduced, and in 1906, the formula was ruled out; in 1914, the United States declared cocaine banned.
The Office of the National Narcotics Control Commission introduced in the above article that coca is a plant that grows mainly in South America. As early as the 16th century, Spanish explorers noticed that the South American natives refreshed themselves by chewing the leaves of coca plants. Cocaine, also known as cocaine, is a white powder extracted from coca leaves that makes smokers feel excited and agitated. At the same time, cocaine has a damaging effect on the digestive system, immune system, cardiovascular system and genitourinary system, especially as a dose-dependent hepatoxin, which can lead to hepatocyte necrosis.
Coca-Cola is "much more expensive" than Twitter
For Musk, buying Coca-Cola is more difficult than buying Twitter.
First of all, Coca-Cola is much more expensive than Twitter, as of the close of trading on April 27, local time, Coca-Cola shares at $65.56 / share, up 0.78%, the latest market value of $283.94 billion, while Musk is currently worth about $260 billion.
Moreover, the "stock god" Warren Buffett has a rather "long-term affection" for The Coca-Cola Company, and has been firmly holding on to Buffett since he bought it in 1988. As of the end of last year, Warren Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, held a 9.23 percent stake in The Coca-Cola Company.
Moreover, Coca-Cola is currently operating well, and its stock price is even more upstream, hitting a record high, and it has outperformed the S&P 500 index this year.
On April 26, Coca-Cola announced its first quarter 2022 financial report. During the reporting period, Coca-Cola achieved net revenue of $10,491 million, an increase of 16% year-on-year; net income of $2,793 million, an increase of 24% year-on-year; and earnings per share of $0.64, an increase of 23% year-on-year.
John Murphy, Chief Financial Officer of The Coca-Cola Company, said: "This is a good start, but the overall environment is still challenging due to higher costs and labor costs. The Company expects earnings per share in comparable currencies to grow by 8% to 10% under non-GAAP.
James Quincey, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola, said he was pleased with the results for the first quarter. "Our company executes effectively in a highly dynamic and uncertain operating environment, and we are confident in our guidance throughout the year. We have the ability to win in all types of environments because Coca-Cola has strong revenue momentum and creates value for our stakeholders. ”
According to reports, Coca-Cola attributed the performance growth in the first quarter of this year to "a 7% increase in price /product mix" and "an 11% increase in centralized sales". In addition, during the reporting period, Coca-Cola's global single-box sales increased by 8% year-on-year, and single-box sales in the Asia-Pacific market increased by 4% year-on-year. Among them, the global single-carton sales of nutritional drinks, juices, dairy products and plant-based beverages achieved a 12% increase, which was mainly driven by the growth of the Chinese market such as meijuyuan fruit oranges.
Some insiders also expressed the view that a large part of Coca-Cola's strong sales are due to price increases. In the first quarter of 2022, the Coca-Cola price mix rose by 7% globally and 11% in North America, respectively. By raising prices, Coca-Cola passed on the increased costs to consumers, offsetting the effects of rising inflation, all of which helped boost profits.
The joys and worries of Coke
From a global perspective, Coca-Cola delivered a brilliant quarterly report: in the first quarter of 2022, Coca-Cola's global revenue reached $10.5 billion, an increase of 16% year-on-year, and net profit reached $2.78 billion, an increase of 24% year-on-year.
From the attitude of the capital market to Coca-Cola in 2022, we can see the company's situation since the beginning of the year: after entering 2022, Coca-Cola's stock price has risen by more than 10%, and Coca-Cola has also entered the "cycle" with the fastest market value growth after the epidemic.
"Markets such as North America and the United Kingdom are the key engines behind Coca-Cola's growth in early 2022." Liu Bin analysis believes that the "channel" and "consumption scene" gradually returned to normal, is the main reason for The recovery of Coca-Cola sales in the world, taking the United Kingdom as an example, the Coke consumption in the Premier League is gradually approaching before the epidemic, and some cities' stadium business districts have even seen retaliatory Coke and alcohol consumption.
An interesting consumer detail is that because Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo "removed Coke" during the European Championship and therefore appeared on the hot search, in the Premier League, some fans of teams that play against Manchester United will deliberately buy Coke. During the competition, the sales of Coke in nearby taverns and restaurants will increase slightly.
During the European Championship, C Luo moved Coke to put Coca-Cola on the cusp of the storm
In North America, coca-cola has gradually recovered sales in this key channel as cinemas have gradually resumed normal operations. Some of the new products launched in North America have allowed Coca-Cola to achieve a strong growth rate - taking Coca-Cola's low-temperature milk product Fairlife Milk as an example, the product has seen an explosive sales growth in the North American market in the second quarter of 2021, based on which Coca-Cola's "juice, dairy and plant-based beverages" in the North American market grew by more than 25% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2021.
In 2021, coca-cola achieved year-on-year sales growth every quarter, with the consumption heat brought by the North American market and Europe (as well as African French-speaking users and African English users), and finally made the annual sales volume in 2021 exceed the annual sales volume in 2019 before the epidemic. This trend continues into 2022: markets such as North America and Europe remain Key Growth Markets for Coca-Cola in the first quarter.
But the flip side of the coin is that Coca-Cola is facing greater challenges in the Chinese market.
The latest financial report shows that Coca-Cola's growth rate in the Asia-Pacific market (mainly China, India, the Philippines and other markets) is only 1%, it is worth noting that as of now, the Chinese market is the third largest market for Coca-Cola, and in the first quarter of 2022, the top two markets of Coca-Cola have shown a trend of sales growth.
"In the Chinese market, the impact of catering channels on Coca-Cola sales is critical, and under the influence of the epidemic, some restaurants, especially chain restaurants (chain catering itself is a key channel for Coca-Cola in China), have been significantly affected, which has led to a downward trend in Coke sales." Caterer Cheng Bin told Tiger Sniff that the highest-selling non-alcoholic beverages in his store are Coke, Sprite and Meijuyuan Juice (also Coca-Cola's products).
The challenge is not only from the epidemic, but also from the "0 sugar" wind in the Chinese market after 2016 and the reinterpretation of "carbonated drinks" on the content traffic side. A UP owner who creates content on the B station told Tiger Sniff in 2021 that there are two types of popular beverage content on the Little Red Book and B station: one is to mix up DIY, that is, to mix different drinks, and then concoct new flavors, this kind of "cocktail system" content will continue to have heat in 2021; the other is to directly squeeze vegetables or fruits through equipment such as wall breakers, and then concoct pure natural drinks. The creator said that in 2016-2018, the network around the "traditional carbonated drinks" is mostly questioning its high-sugar high card, but this wave of public opinion in 2018-2020 gradually overdone, some around the carbonated drinks of diyy videos and spit spoof videos began to rise. After the epidemic, the popularity of "natural fruit and vegetable juice" has gradually increased, "in essence, it can be seen that everyone is more concerned about the health and natural ingredients of the drink." ”
A person familiar with the matter told Tiger Sniff in November 2021 that Coca-Cola has realized the global impact of the "0 sugar" wind since 2016 and begun to transform from the product architecture and strategic level.
A key detail is that in 2017, Coca-Cola launched a new sugar-free Coke to replace Coke Zero, which has been around for many years, when overall sales of sugar-free carbonated beverages in Europe (mainly in markets such as the United Kingdom) increased year-on-year, even by more than 10% annually.
But in the Chinese market, the rise of "new local beverage forces" has caught traditional beverage giants by surprise, and in 2016, brands such as Yuanqi Forest quickly cut into the field of "sugar-free" sparkling water through new channels such as e-commerce, and just in time for the rise of Chinese Generation Z young people, which triggered a small wave of "sugar-free waves" in the Chinese beverage world.
"But the deeper level is not the sugar-free wave, but the change in consumption habits brought about by young people." A senior beverage distributor told Tiger Sniff that in the eyes of some industry insiders, from 2016 to 2020, Generation Z is bringing channel changes to the beverage market, which is not the same as the development of foreign markets.
This is also the key challenge that Coke faces in the Chinese market: there is a slightly blurred boundary between traditional core users and young and emerging users, and how to "eat all" users requires Coke to carefully taste.
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