Pepsico, Inc.

U.S. conglomerate. The soft drink Pepsi-Cola was created by a pharmacist, Caleb D. Bradham, who gave his tonic its name (from Greek pepsis, “digestion”) in 1898 and incorporated the Pepsi-Cola Co.

in 1902. After two bankruptcies and several reincorporations, the Pepsi-Cola trademark and assets were bought in 1931 by Charles G. Guth, who improved the formula and marketed a 12-ounce bottle for five cents with huge success. Pepsi-Cola merged with the soda-fountain chain Loft, Inc., in 1941, and in 1965 it merged with Frito-Lay, Inc., adopting its current name, PepsiCo, Inc. In the 1970s and '80s PepsiCo bought restaurant chains such as Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Kentucky Fried Chicken, but in 1997 it spun off its restaurant business into a separate company, Tricon Global Restaurants. In 2001 the Quaker Oats Co. merged with PepsiCo.