Keurig Dr Pepper

In beverage, only three companies can buy you, and you can grow too big for them

Allison Ellsworth explains that a beverage brand's realistic acquirers are Keurig Dr Pepper, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola. A brand that grows too big to be bought has to IPO without a distribution partner. Celsius is the exception: it went public with Pepsi as its distributor and a minority holder.

“You can get too big to be bought, and then you're forced to go IPO. And within a beverage, that's not great because then you don't have a distribution partner. And so you're looking at who can be a great distribution partner. There's only 3 people that can buy you, which is Keurig Dr Pepper, Pepsi, and Coke.”