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☆ Pepsi is changing its Zero Sugar recipe
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Pepsi Zero Sugar will soon taste different. Pepsi Zero Sugar’s tweaked formula comes about a year after debuted a refreshed Coca-Cola Zero Sugar recipe. From a sales standpoint, Pepsi Zero Sugar has struggled against main rival Coke Zero Sugar. “Pepsi can no longer be satisfied having an also-ran to Coke Zero Sugar,” Duane Stanford, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, told CNN. “Reformulating Pepsi Zero Sugar is a line in the sand that says it’s time to compete in earnest for share in the most important cola segment today.”He added that “reformulation is a must to compete effectively,” because customers like sweeter colas.

☆ Coke, PepsiCo Are Target of Probe by Federal Trade Commission
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Jennifer Maloney | Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating potential price discrimination in the U.S. beverage market by Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. Still at a preliminary stage, the probe is looking for violations of a law that prohibits suppliers from offering advantageous prices to favored customers or in a specific geographic market, according to people familiar with the matter.

REUTERS/Jorge Silva/HOUSTON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Venezuela's oil exports last year declined due to infrastructure outages, U.S. sanctions and rising competition in its key Asia market despite assistance from ally Iran, according to shipping data and documents. Iran expanded its role in Venezuela last year, sending supplies to boost exports and technicians to repair a refinery. Venezuela's crude production averaged some 721,000 bpd according to a preliminary data for December and OPEC reports. A U.S. license granted to Chevron Corp (CVX.N) to recover output and exports in Venezuela will take effect this year. A global appetite for fuel alternatives boosted its oil byproducts exports, which added millions of dollars last year.

☆ The soda market is flat, but not for Dr Pepper
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

And recently, Dr Pepper has been gaining ground on its competitors, even as the overall soda market goes flat. “One of the bright spots … has been Dr Pepper.”Founded in 1885 in Waco, Texas, Dr Pepper was the first in a wave of 19th-century upstart soda companies. Courtesy Keurig Dr PepperToday, Dr Pepper advertises itself as a treat, using a pint-sized mascot called Lil’ Sweet in its commercials. After Dr Pepper established itself as an alternative to mainstream colas, it launched on a path that ultimately made it part of the country’s third-largest soft drink maker, Keurig Dr Pepper. Dr Pepper hits the sceneDuring the wave of mega-mergers in the 1980s, Coca-Cola tried to scoop up Dr Pepper.

☆ From the McRib to the Choco Taco, here are 6 foods we lost in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Chili’s Original Chicken TendersChili's replaced its Original Chicken Crispers with something crispier, as pictured here. Honest TeaRIP Honest Tea. Weeks after Coke’s announcement, the founders of Honest Tea launched another bottled iced tea drink called Eat the Change. Wendy’s Vanilla FrostyWendy's vanilla Frosty will come back eventually. Let’s be clear: the Vanilla Frosty isn’t gone for good.

☆ Warren Buffett's right-hand man Charlie Munger might not get his windowless dorm built at UC-Santa Barbara
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

UC-Santa Barbara's Munger Hall may not be built after 13 people said it could pose health risks. The dorm — backed by a $200 million donation from Munger — was supposed to be 11-stories high with 4,500 beds across 70 square-foot bedrooms with no windows, according to the Times. Munger Hall has been criticized for its lack of windows in the bedrooms where students would live. Panelists said that Munger Hall could pose challenges to the mental and physical health of students, Vice reported. As far as the report, Munger told The Real Deal that the it's "all horseshit," adding that "it's ridiculous."

☆ A coal mine is on fire in Utah leaving a small town at risk
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Sara Ruberg | Sara Ruberg Is A News Associate With Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The Trump administration gave several towns relying on oil, gas and coal a boost by cutting royalty payments and expanding projects. East Carbon is a coal town, one of only a few hundred still hanging on. Emery County Coal Resources, which is a subsidiary of American Consolidated Natural Resources, owns Lila Canyon Mine and did not reply to several requests for comment. Utah relies heavily on coal for energy: 61% of the state’s electricity net generation came from coal-fired plants. But Porter said Emery County Coal Resources, the company that runs the mine, has a solid plan to extinguish it.

☆ In a leaked all-hands recording, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff discussed executive departures and vowed again to try and win them back
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Salesforce is experiencing an executive exodus as co-CEO Bret Taylor and others resign. Marc Benioff addressed the exits in the company's latest all-hands, vowing to recruit them back. Salesforce cofounder and CEO Marc Benioff addressed the company's recent executive exodus during a company all-hands last week, according to a recording viewed by Insider. Taylor's plans to leave the company became public Nov. 30 — exactly one year after taking over as co-CEO alongside Benioff. At the all-hands, Benioff put a cheerful spin on the exodus, emphasizing yet again plans to pursue those who have left.

☆ Russia's Gazprom Neft eyes steady oil refining volumes in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Olesya Astakhova | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The stable output at Gazprom Neft, which controls Russia's largest oil refinery in the western Siberian city of Omsk, shows the resilience of the Russian oil industry despite the harshest Western sanctions in recent history. The 400,000-barrel per day (bpd) Omsk plant, 1,600 km east of Moscow, started operations in 1955 and is Russia's largest oil refinery. He said the company continues modernisation of the plant following the launch of a deep oil refining complex earlier this year. Next year, Gazprom Neft plans to install a primary refining complex at the plant with capacity of 8.4 million tonnes per year. According to Vedernikov, the Omsk refinery is also working on production of the needle coke.

☆ Coca-Cola is getting into Christmas movies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The venture is a continuation of Coca-Cola’s Real Magic platform, which takes an experimental approach to marketing the company’s core product. The Christmas Anthology is part of a new platform called Real Magic Presents. Coca-Cola has a history of associating itself with Christmas, so much so that the company has an FAQ page for “Did Coca-Cola create Santa Claus?” (The answer: Sort of. “It allows us to work on content that fits into our Real Magic platform,” said Careaga. It’s more centered on our traditions.”The Coca-Cola anthology is designed to appeal to a global audience.

Through trial and error, I learned to keep track of my spending and gained valuable experience with money. I still use these lessons today to monitor my spending, keep a budget, and compare prices for the best deals. A $5 bill gave me practical experience with money every dayI used problem-solving skills to make sure my sister and I had enough money for food and beverages without going over our budget. When we asked our mom for more money, she reminded us to use our money more thoughtfully next time. My mother's lessons continue to help me be an informed consumerMy mother's lessons with the $5 bill remain with me today.

☆ PepsiCo plans to cut hundreds of corporate jobs, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

PepsiCo is eliminating hundreds of corporate jobs in North America, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company's beverage unit is expected to be hit harder by the cuts because the snacks unit already shrank its workforce through a voluntary retirement program, according to the Journal. Pepsi employed 309,000 people worldwide as of Dec. 25, with more than 40% of those jobs located in the U.S., according to a company regulatory filing. Several food and beverage companies have also cut jobs, including Beyond Meat , Impossible Foods and PepsiCo's main rival Coca-Cola . In November, Coke said it would restructure its North American business through a voluntary separation program that included buyouts.

Exports also benefited from the restart of a PDVSA-Chevron crude upgrader at their Petropiar joint venture in the Orinoco Belt. Nearby, one of Petrolera Sinovensa's two crude blending plants operated by PDVSA and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) also resumed work. Venezuelan PDVSA's crude processing facilities restarted operations after outages and a lack of diluents, leading to a sale increase in November. PDVSA also sent about 38,000 bpd of crude, fuel oil and gasoline blend stock to key political ally Cuba. Another Iran-flagged tanker in Venezuela, the Huge, is also expected to navigate back carrying fuel oil for NICO this month as part of an oil swap with PDVSA, according to the documents.

☆ From Elon Musk to Drake, Celebrity Nightstand Photos Are Causing a Stir
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Lane Florsheim | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

After Elon Musk shared a photo of his bedside table on Twitter, online observers had many questions about the cans of caffeine-free Diet Coke atop it. Twitter and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk stoked plenty of armchair analysis in that vein on Monday, when he tweeted a picture of his bedside table’s contents. Why, some wondered on Twitter, did Mr. Musk have four open cans of caffeine-free Diet Coke next to his pillow? (Observers said they looked like non-firing replicas—one of Washington’s own, the other from the videogame “Deus Ex: Human Revolution”—though Mr. Musk has not corroborated their observations.) The internet was quick to quip about the chaotic display and the “divorced energy” the items evoked.

☆ I was laid off from Lehman Brothers right before it collapsed. Here's what the final chaotic weeks were like from the inside.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Emma Magnus | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Adam Taylor had been working in M&A at Lehman Brothers in London for 2½ years in 2008. I had started working at Lehman Brothers in the summer of 2005, when I was 25. In retrospect, there were warning signs before it collapsedAt the time, nobody thought Lehman Brothers would go under in 2008. I had friends who bought shares in Lehman Brothers when they were really low, thinking they were only going to go up, but they lost their money. I lost the sense of identity I had linked to the companyFor 2½ years, I'd been "Adam Taylor who works at Lehman Brothers."

☆ Tesla delivers its first electric Semi trucks promising 500 miles of range
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The Tesla Semi was first shown as a prototype in 2017. The fully electric semi truck features an unusual design in which the driver sits in the center of the cab rather than on one side. Tesla has boasted of the truck’s performance — saying it accelerates much more quickly, even with a full load, than traditional diesel-powered semi trucks. A video during the presentation showed, according to Tesla, a fully loaded Tesla Semi accelerating up a steep grade and passing other trucks. Since it has no multi-geared transmission, as diesel trucks do, it’s also much easier to drive than other semi trucks, Musk said.

☆ Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman defends Elon Musk amid layoffs and chaos at Twitter - and says he's not concerned about the bank's massive loan to the Tesla exec
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Morgan Stanley's James Gorman defended Elon Musk amid Twitter chaos on Thursday. There have been layoffs and chaos around user verification at Twitter since Musk's takeover. "Twitter is a great company, and Elon Musk is an extraordinary executive. Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required," Musk tweeted on Nov. 4. Gorman says he's unbothered by Musk's social media presence.

☆ Elon Musk's joke about putting the cocaine back in Coca-Cola has been framed and hung in the lobby at Twitter's HQ, staffer says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A viral Elon Musk tweet about putting cocaine in Coca-Cola has been framed and hung at Twitter's HQ. An image — with the location tagged as Twitter's main San Francisco office — shows three framed tweets displayed against a blue wall. There were even fake Musk tweets photoshopped before the real Musk tweeted the gag himself. The framed tweets were shared by a senior engineer at Twitter, whose LinkedIn profile appears to confirm his employment status. It's unclear how long the framed tweets have all been up.

☆ Elon Musk has waged war on Apple, claiming the tech giant "hates free speech"
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

From Elon Musk's war with Apple to the rise and fall of a pharmacy startup, it's a packed edition. Elon Musk is going to war with Apple. The world's wealthiest man slammed the world's biggest tech company, questioning if Apple "hates free speech" and suggesting that it's threatening Twitter's presence in the App Store. According to a book, Cook swore at Musk after he asked to be the CEO of Apple. According to career site Indeed, tech companies Intuit, Google, and Apple offer the most flexibility in terms of where and when employees are expected to work.

☆ Billionaire Elon Musk prefers caffeine-free Diet Coke over the original—here's why
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Nicolas Vega | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk may have an $180 billion fortune, but one of his favorite drinks costs less than $1 a pop. Musk wasn't always partial to the caffeine-free version of the drink, which comes in a gold can rather than the classic silver. A can of Diet Coke has 46mg of caffeine, meaning Musk was consuming at least 368mg of caffeine each day from his soda intake alone. "Now, the office has caffeine-free Diet Coke." But that's not to say Musk doesn't still enjoy a traditional Diet Coke every now and then.

☆ Everything in Elon Musk's bedside table photo, including what appears to be 2 replica guns and a Buddhist ritual object
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Objects on the table include cans of caffeine-free Diet Coke and what appear to be two replica guns. In a 2007 profile of Musk, Inc. wrote that Musk was drinking eight cans of Diet Coke a day, until he started cutting back. "Now, the office has caffeine-free Diet Coke." Musk must really like George WashingtonThe replica gun and painting aren't the only Washington-related things on Musk's table. Twitter/@elonmuskThere also appears to be a Buddhist ritual object on the tableIn the bottom-left corner of the photo appears to be a Buddhist ritual object called a Vajra Dorje, according to the New York Post.

☆ Elon Musk posted a bizarre photo of his 'bedside table,' featuring 2 guns, 4 empty cans of caffeine-free Coke, and a picture of George Washington
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Musk posted a picture of his "bedside table" on Monday morning with guns and Diet Coke cans. The billionaire CEO captioned the picture "My bedside table," which featured a series of unusual objects including two guns, four empty cans of caffeine-free diet Diet Coke, and a recreation of the Emanuel Leutze's painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River. It is unclear if Musk actually took the picture himself, or if it is actually his bedside table. Historically, maintaining their power over the people is why those in power did not allow public ownership of guns," Musk told CNBC in an email. Musk said his offices only have caffeine-free Diet Coke now.

☆ Elon Musk appears to be reading a book by George Washington about how to behave in public
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Grace Kay | Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk's bedside table appears to feature a book on etiquette by George Washington. Musk shared a picture Monday morning of what he said was on his bedside table. The book gives advice on "how to dress, walk, eat in public, and address one's superiors." It is unclear whether Musk took the picture himself or whether it's actually his bedside table. The box set wasn't the only thing on what Musk said was his bedside table.

☆ Analysis: Mexican companies could resort to more spinoffs to enhance market value
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Valentine Hilaire | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Mexican telecommunications giant America Movil (AMXL.MX) kicked off the trend late last year when its shareholders approved the spinoff of its cell tower business. Some analysts said both Alfa and Televisa may consider further spinoffs as they look to boost their depressed valuations. Other companies, like Coke bottler and retailer Femsa (FEMSAUBD.MX), whose shares are down 3.3% year-to-date, after gaining 6% in 2021, may follow suit. Alfa lost 2.69% the day after its shareholders approved the Axtel spinoff, while Televisa's shares advanced 0.86% the day after it revealed plans for a similar move. Televisa, meanwhile, could follow its sports spinoff with either its editorial or magazine businesses, two analysts said.

☆ World Cup advertisers are operating in a minefield
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

London CNN Business —Billions of people watch FIFA’s World Cup every four years, a tantalizing opportunity for advertisers who want to capitalize on the feel-good fervor of the world’s biggest sporting event. In 2018, the World Cup drew in a record 3.6 billion viewers. Given such high levels of engagement, companies are eager to capitalize on the hype and spirit of camaraderie attached to the World Cup. “A Euros or a World Cup for four weeks in the middle of the summer — it’s literally like an island in the middle of the ocean,” ITV sales director Mark Trindler said on an industry podcast this past spring. It had already beaten revenue records for the tournament, and succeeded in bringing more than 20 new advertisers on board.

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