The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company sells beverage brands worldwide, mostly by selling concentrates and syrups to bottlers, and partly by selling finished drinks through bottling operations it owns.

Ticker

KO

Company

The Coca-Cola Company

Exchange

NYSE

Listing

listed

Sector

Beverages

The narrative that circulates around KO is that a global brand-and-concentrate system can stay resilient when drink volumes grow only slowly, because the company sells inputs to bottlers rather than owning every bottle on the shelf.

• SEC EDGAR lists CIK 0000021344 as COCA COLA CO, ticker KO, exchange NYSE. The Form 10-Q cover registers Common Stock, $0.25 Par Value, trading symbol KO, on the New York Stock Exchange.S1S2
• The Form 10-K states that The Coca-Cola Company is a total beverage company, and that beverage products bearing its trademarks, sold in the United States since 1886, are now sold in more than 200 countries and territories.S3
• The Form 10-K states that the company owns or licenses and markets beverage brands grouped into Trademark Coca-Cola; sparkling flavors; water, sports, coffee and tea; juice, value-added dairy and plant-based beverages; and emerging beverages, and that it owns and markets Coca-Cola, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Fanta and Diet Coke/Coca-Cola Light.S3
• The Form 10-K states that the company operates in two lines of business, concentrate operations and finished product operations. Concentrate operations typically generate net operating revenues by selling beverage concentrates, syrups and certain finished beverages to authorized bottling operations. Finished product operations generate net operating revenues by selling finished beverages, primarily through consolidated bottling and distribution operations in the Bottling Investments operating segment.S3
• The Form 10-K states that in 2025 concentrate operations accounted for 59% of net operating revenues and finished product operations for 41%, while concentrate operations accounted for 85% of worldwide unit case volume.S3
• The Form 10-Q states that the organizational structure consists of five operating segments, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific, and Bottling Investments.S2
• On the consolidated statement of income in the Form 10-Q, which is presented in millions except per share data, net operating revenues for the three months ended July 3, 2026 were $13,380 million.S2
• On that same statement, operating income for the three months ended July 3, 2026 was $4,672 million, and net income attributable to shareowners of The Coca-Cola Company was $4,425 million.S2
• Diluted net income per share for the three months ended July 3, 2026 was $1.03.S2
• On the consolidated balance sheet in the Form 10-Q, which is presented in millions except par value, cash and cash equivalents were $12,907 million as of July 3, 2026, and total assets were $107,922 million.S2
• As of July 3, 2026, equity method investments were $20,782 million. Long-term debt was $37,001 million, plus another $6,494 million of long-term debt due within twelve months, which the balance sheet lists separately under current liabilities.S2
• The Form 10-Q cover states that 4,302,549,243 shares of $0.25 par value common stock were outstanding as of July 27, 2026.S2

• narrativeInvestors sometimes treat the concentrate model as a reason the brand system can matter more than the revenue that shows up from bottles the company sells itself.
• narrativeModest volume growth is often discussed on social feeds as less important than whether bottlers keep paying for concentrate. That is a story about the future, not a figure in the filing.
• narrativeThe 10-K describes equity-method stakes in some bottlers. Reading the whole equity-method line as if it were the sales of the wider Coca-Cola system is a story, not what the balance sheet says.

• ▸The Form 10-Q says forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience and the company’s present expectations or projections.S2
• ▸The same caution names the possibility that assumptions used to calculate an estimated aggregate incremental tax and interest liability, related to the potential unfavorable outcome of the ongoing tax dispute with the United States Internal Revenue Service, could significantly change.S2
• ▸The Form 10-K says the company generates a significant portion of net operating revenues by selling concentrates and syrups to independent bottling partners, and that those partners make their own business decisions that may not always align with the company’s interests.S3
• ▸The Form 10-K says competitive pressures may cause the company and its bottling partners to reduce prices, or may restrict the ability to increase prices in response to commodity and other cost increases.S3
• ▸The Form 10-Q says the company faces many uncertainties and risks related to various economic, political and regulatory environments in the countries and territories in which it operates, particularly in developing and emerging markets.S2
• ▸The Form 10-Q discloses a ransomware event at fairlife operations in the U.S., part of the North America operating segment. It involved unauthorized access to a portion of fairlife’s systems and the taking of certain data, and led to a temporary suspension of production operations. The company states that a majority of production operations have resumed and that, based on information then available, it believes the incident has not had and is not reasonably likely to have a material impact on financial condition or results of operations.S2
• ▸This explainer is built only from the specific SEC filings cited above and is not a complete financial picture. Read the full filings before making any decision.

Concentrate

— Flavorings and other ingredients that bottlers combine with water and, depending on the product, sweeteners to make syrups or finished drinks. The 10-K uses this meaning.

Bottling partner

— An authorized bottler that buys concentrate or syrup and packages finished drinks for sale in a territory.

Equity method investment

— An accounting line for investments where the company can exercise significant influence, including some bottlers. It is not the same number as consolidated revenue.

Net operating revenues

— The top line of the consolidated income statement. In this 10-Q the figures are in millions of dollars.

Diluted net income per share

— Net income attributable to shareowners divided across shares including the effect of dilutive securities, as presented on the income statement.