The Coca-Cola Company

Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: KO Dow Jones Component S&P 500 Component
Industry	Beverage
Founded	1892 (1892)
Founder(s)	Asa Griggs Candler
Headquarters	Coca-Cola headquarters, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Muhtar Kent (Chairman & CEO)
Products	List of The Coca-Cola Company products
Revenue	US$ 46.542 billion (2011)[1]
Operating income	US$ 10.154 billion (2011)[1]
Net income	US$ 08.634 billion (2011)[1]
Total assets	US$ 79.974 billion (2011)[1]
Total equity	US$ 31.921 billion (2011)[1]
Employees	146,200 (2011)[1]
Subsidiaries	List of The Coca-Cola Company subsidiaries
Website	TheCoca-ColaCompany.com

One of The Coca-Cola Company's headquarters buildings in Atlanta

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups.^[2] The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia.^[3] The Coca-Cola formula and brand was bought in 1889 by Asa Candler who incorporated The Coca-Cola Company in 1892. Besides its namesake Coca-Cola beverage, Coca-Cola currently offers more than 500 brands in over 200 countries or territories and serves over 1.7 billion servings each day.^[4]

The company operates a franchised distribution system dating from 1889 where The Coca-Cola Company only produces syrup concentrate which is then sold to various bottlers throughout the world who hold an exclusive territory. The Coca-Cola Company owns its anchor bottler in North America, Coca-Cola Refreshments.

The Coca-Cola Company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Its stock is listed on the NYSE and is part of DJIA, S&P 500 Index, the Russell 1000 Index and the Russell 1000 Growth Stock Index. Its current chairman and chief executive is Muhtar Kent.

Acquisitions[link]

The company has a long history of acquisitions. Coca-Cola acquired Minute Maid in 1960,^[5] the Indian cola brand Thums Up in 1993,^[6] and Barq's in 1995.^[7] In 2001, it acquired the Odwalla brand of fruit juices, smoothies and bars for $181 million.^[8] In 2007, it acquired Fuze Beverage from founder Lance Collins and Castanea Partners for an estimated $250 million.^[9] The company's 2009 bid to buy a Chinese juice maker ended when China rejected its $4.2 billion bid for the Huiyuan Juice Group on the grounds that it would be a virtual monopoly. Nationalism was also thought to be a reason for aborting the deal.^[10] In 1982 Coca-Cola made its only non-beverage acquisition, when it purchased Columbia Pictures for $692 million. It sold the movie studio to Sony for $1.5 billion in 1989.^[11]

Revenue[link]

The Coca-Cola Company's Minute Maid group North America offices in Sugar Land Town Square, Sugar Land, Texas, United States

According to the 2005 Annual Report,^[12] the company sells beverage products in more than 200^[13] countries. The report further states that of the more than 50 billion beverage servings of all types consumed worldwide every day, beverages bearing the trademarks owned by or licensed to Coca-Cola account for approximately 1.5 billion (the latest figure in 2010 shows that now they serve 1.6 billion drinks every day). Of these, beverages bearing the trademark "Coca-Cola" or "Coke" accounted for approximately 78% of the company's total gallon sales.

Also according to the 2007 Annual Report, Coca-Cola had gallon sales distributed as follows:

• 42% in the United States
• 37% in Mexico, India, Brazil, Japan and the People's Republic of China
• 20% spread throughout the rest of the world

In 2010 it was announced that Coca-Cola had become the first brand to top £1 billion in annual UK grocery sales.^[14]

Lobbying[link]

In the U.S., Coca-Cola is a major lobbying force working to gain favorable legislation for the beverage industry. In both 2005 and 2006, it spent $1 million each year on lobbying. In 2007 that increased to $1.7 million, and by 2008, to $2.5 million. In 2009, total lobbying expenses jumped to $4.5 million, or nearly double the previous year. Much of the increased lobbying expenses are due to the industry’s fight against increased taxes on soft drinks and other sweetened beverages.^[15] For 2009, Coca-Cola has 38 lobbyists at 7 different firms lobbying on its behalf.^[16]

Bottlers[link]

In general, The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) and/or subsidiaries only produce syrup concentrate, which is then sold to various bottlers throughout the world who hold a Coca-Cola franchise. Coca-Cola bottlers, who hold territorially exclusive contracts with the company, produce the finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate in combination with filtered water and sweeteners. The bottlers then sell, distribute and merchandise the resulting Coca-Cola product to retail stores, vending machines, restaurants and food service distributors.

One notable exception to this general relationship between TCCC and bottlers is fountain syrups in the United States, where TCCC bypasses bottlers and is responsible for the manufacture and sale of fountain syrups directly to authorized fountain wholesalers and some fountain retailers.

• 

  1996–2002 Chevrolet Express wagon from The Coca-Cola Company.

• 

  Houston Coca-Cola Bottling Company

Civil Rights[link]

After Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, plans for an interracial celebration in still-segregated Atlanta were not initially well supported by the city's business elite until Coca-Cola intervened.^[17]

J. Paul Austin, the chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola, and Mayor Ivan Allen summoned key Atlanta business leaders to the Commerce Club's eighteenth floor dining room, where Austin told them flatly, 'It is embarrassing for Coca-Cola to be located in a city that refuses to honor its Nobel Prize winner. We are an international business. The Coca-Cola Co. does not need Atlanta. You all need to decide whether Atlanta needs the Coca-Cola Co.' Within two hours of the end of that meeting, every ticket to the dinner was sold.

—Andrew Young ^[18]

Criticism[link]

The Coca-Cola Company has been involved in controversies and lawsuits related to human rights violations and other unethical practices.

A number of lawsuits have been filed in relation to its allegedly monopolistic and discriminatory practices, some of which have been dismissed, some of which have caused The Coca-Cola Company to change its business practices, and some of which have been settled out of court.^[19] There have been continuing criticisms regarding The Coca-Cola Company's relation to the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy.

The company has been criticised on a number of environmental issues. An issue with pesticides in groundwater in 2003 led to problems for the company when an Indian NGO, Centre for Science and Environment, announced that it had found cancer causing chemicals in Coca-Cola as well as other soft drinks produced by the company, at levels 30 times that considered safe by the European Economic Commission. This caused an 11 percent drop in Indian Coca-Cola sales.^[20][21] The Indian Health Minister said the CSE tests were inaccurate, and said that the government's tests found pesticide levels within India's standards but above EU standards.^[22][23] The UK-based Central Science Laboratory, commissioned by Coke, found its products met EU standards in 2006.^[24] Coke and the University of Michigan commissioned an independent study of its bottling plants by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), which reported in 2008 no unsafe chemicals in the water supply, though it criticized Coke for the impact of its water usage on local supply.^[25]

Critics claim that the company's overuse of local water supplies in some locations has led to severe shortages for regional farmers and the forced closure of some plants.^[26] Packaging used in Coca-Cola's products have a significant environmental impact. However, the company strongly opposes attempts to introduce mechanisms such as container deposit legislation.^[27]

The company was accused of being involved in a violent repression of a union at several of its bottling plants in Colombia, South America^[28]. As of August 2005, when PBS's Frontline ran a story on the controversy, Coca-Cola strenuously denied all allegations of union-busting and murder of union leaders. A few shareholders and a few U.S. colleges^[29][30] have attempted to boycott Coca-Cola to exert pressure on the company to approve what they call a full-scale investigation of the charges.^[31]

On December 10, 2008, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wrote to Mr. Muhtar Kent, President and Chief Executive Officer, to warn him that the FDA had concluded that the label on Coca-Cola's product Diet Coke Plus 20 FL OZ was is in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act labeling requirements.^[32] During an interview with Reuters, The Coca-Cola Company's spokesman, Scot Williams, stated, "This does not involve any health or safety issues, and we believe the label on Diet Coke Plus complies with FDA's policies and regulations."^[33]

In January 2009, the US consumer group the Center for Science in the Public Interest filed a class-action lawsuit against Coca-Cola.^[34] The lawsuit was in regards to claims made, along with the company's flavors, of Vitamin Water. Claims say that the 33 grams of sugar are more harmful than the vitamins and other additives are helpful. Coca-Cola insists the suit is "ridiculous."^[35][36]

Products and brands[link]

Coca-Cola Company's office building in Madrid (Spain).

The Coca-Cola Company offers more than 500 brands in over 200 countries, besides its namesake Coca-Cola beverage.

Tab was Coca-Cola's first attempt to develop a diet soft drink, using saccharin as a sugar substitute. Introduced in 1963, the product is still sold today, although its sales have dwindled since the introduction of Diet Coke.

The Coca-Cola Company also produces a number of other soft drinks including Fanta (introduced circa 1941) and Sprite. Fanta's origins date back to World War II when Max Keith, who managed Coca-Cola's operations in Germany during the war, wanted to make money from Nazi Germany but did not want the negative publicity. Keith resorted to producing a different soft drink, Fanta, which proved to be a hit, and when Coke took over again after the war, it adopted the Fanta brand as well. The German Fanta Klare Zitrone ("Clear Lemon Fanta") variety became Sprite, another of the company's bestsellers and its response to 7 Up.

Coca-Cola South Africa also released Valpre Bottled "still" and "sparkling" water.

During the 1990s, the company responded to the growing consumer interest in healthy beverages by introducing several new non-carbonated beverage brands. These included Minute Maid Juices to Go, Powerade sports beverage, flavored tea Nestea (in a joint venture with Nestle), Fruitopia fruit drink and Dasani water, among others. In 2001, Minute Maid division launched the Simply Orange brand of juices including orange juice.

In 2004, perhaps in response to the burgeoning popularity of low-carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins Diet, Coca-Cola announced its intention to develop and sell a low-carbohydrate alternative to Coke Classic, dubbed C2 Cola. C2 contains a mix of high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, sucralose, and Acesulfame potassium. C2 is designed to more closely emulate the taste of Coca-Cola Classic. Even with less than half of the food energy and carbohydrates of standard soft drinks, C2 is not a replacement for zero-calorie soft drinks such as Diet Coke. C2 went on sale in the U.S. on June 11, 2004, and in Canada in August 2004. C2's future is uncertain due to disappointing sales.

Coca-Cola is the best-selling soft drink in most countries, and was recognized as the number one global brand in 2010.^[37] While the Middle East is one of the only regions in the world where Coca-Cola is not the number one soda drink, Coca-Cola nonetheless holds almost 25% marketshare (to Pepsi's 75%) and had double-digit growth in 2003.^[38] Similarly, in Scotland, where the locally produced Irn-Bru was once more popular, 2005 figures show that both Coca-Cola and Diet Coke now outsell Irn-Bru.^[39] In Peru, the native Inca Kola has been more popular than Coca-Cola, which prompted Coca-Cola to enter in negotiations with the soft drink's company and buy 50% of its stakes. In Japan, the best selling soft drink is not cola, as (canned) tea and coffee are more popular.^[40] As such, The Coca-Cola Company's best selling brand there is not Coca-Cola, but Georgia.^[41]

On July 6, 2006, a Coca-Cola employee and two other people were arrested and charged with trying to sell trade secrets information to the soft drink maker's competitor, PepsiCo for $1.5 million. The recipe for Coca-Cola, perhaps the company's most closely guarded secret, was never in jeopardy. Instead, the information was related to a new beverage in development. Coca-Cola executives verified that the documents were valid and proprietary. At least one glass vial containing a sample of a new drink was offered for sale, court documents said. The conspiracy was revealed by PepsiCo, which notified the authorities when they were approached by the conspirators.^[42]

The company announced a new "negative calorie" green tea drink, Enviga, in 2006, along with trying coffee retail concepts Far Coast and Chaqwa.

On May 25, 2007, Coca-Cola announced it would purchase Glaceau, a maker of flavored vitamin-enhanced drinks (vitamin water), flavored waters, and Burn energy drinks, for $4.1 billion in cash.^[43]

On September 3, 2008, Coca-Cola announced its intention to make cash offers to purchase China Huiyuan Juice Group Limited (which has a 42% share of the Chinese pure fruit juice market^[44]) for US$2.4bn (HK$12.20 per share).^[45] China's ministry of commerce blocked the deal on March 18, 2009, arguing that the deal would hurt small local juice companies, could have pushed up juice market prices and limited consumers’ choices.^[46]

In October 2009, Coca-Cola revealed its new 90-calorie mini can that holds 7.5 fluid ounces.^[47] The first shipments are expected to reach the New York City and Washington D.C. markets in December 2009 and nationwide by March 2010.^[47]

For the Winter Holidays of 2011, Coca-Cola revealed a white can that contained regular Coke instead of Diet Coke, but it was quickly withdrawn only a month after release due to consumer complaints about the similar look to the silver cans commonly used for Diet Coke. There were also complaints about deviating from the traditional red color of Coca-Cola cans.^[48]

Coca-Cola operates a soft drink themed tourist attraction in downtown Atlanta, Ga; the "World of Coca-Cola" is a multi-storied exhibition of the many flavors sold by the company as well as a museum to the history of the company.

Sponsorship[link]

Sports[link]

Coca-Cola sponsored the English Football League from the beginning of the 2004–05 season (beginning August 2004) to the start of 2010/11 season, when the Football League found a new sponsor in NPower.

Along with this, Coca-Cola sponsored the Coca-Cola Football Camp, otherwise known as a soccer camp, that took place in Pretoria, South Africa during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, during which hundreds of teenagers from around the world were able to come together and share their love of the game, partly due to Best Buy's efforts through their @15 program.^[49]

Other major sponsorships include NASCAR, the NBA, the PGA Tour, NCAA Championships, the Olympic Games, the NRL, the FIFA World Cups and the UEFA Euro.

In the Philippines, it has a team in the Philippine Basketball Association, the Powerade Tigers.

Television[link]

The company sponsors the hit Fox singing-competition series American Idol. Coca-Cola is a sponsor of the nightly talk show on PBS, Charlie Rose in the US.^[50]

In video games[link]

In PlayStation Home, the PlayStation 3's online community-based service, Coca-Cola placed a vending machine in Home that took users to a space called the "Georgia Break Station". The vending machine also distributed original avatar items and presented, along with "C-pons", digital coupons that could be used to get real drinks from real vending machines. This was to promote Coca-Cola's Georgia series of canned coffee. The space was a lounge where users could sit and chat and included two in-lounge avatars that told the users about the Georgia coffee. It was available from September 7, 2009 to December 17, 2009 in the Japanese version of Home.^{[51][unreliable source?]}

In Dreamcast's Shenmue in 1999, Coca-Cola was featured in the Japanese only version when the main character Ryo Hazuki finds vending machines on the street corners in the video game, and actual cans that were sold in Japan in 1986, the setting of the video game. Sometimes, Ryo gets a special can which can be turned in for prizes.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

• Zyman, Sergio (June 1, 1999). The End of Marketing as We Know It. New York: HarperBusiness. ISBN 0-88730-986-0. 

Further reading[link]

• "History of Bottling". The Coca-Cola Company. http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/historybottling.html. 
• August W. Giebelhaus (May 13, 2008). "Coca-Cola Company". The New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Humanities Council. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1854. 
• "Coca-Cola Company". SourceWatch. Center for Media and Democracy. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Coca-Cola_Company. 
• "Robinson, William E.: Papers, 1935–69" (PDF). Abilene, Kansas: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library. http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Finding_Aids/PDFs/Robinson_William_Papers.pdf. 
• "Coca-Cola Co". Lobbying Database. The Center for Responsive Politics. http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?lname=Coca-Cola+Co&year=2009%20?. 

External links[link]

	Atlanta portal
	Companies portal
	Food portal

• Official Website

v t e Coca-Cola brands Sodas Ambasa Ameyal Barq's Beat Beverly Bjäre Julmust Chinotto Citra Coca-Cola Fanta Fioravanti Fresca Fruktime Frutonic Gold Spot Hit Inca Kola Jaz Cola Joya Kinley Kola Inglesa Krest Lemon & Paeroa Lift Lilt Limca Mare Rosso Mello Yello Mezzo Mix Mr. Pibb Nordic Mist Northern Neck OK Soda Portello Quatro Quwat Jabal Ramblin' Root Beer Red Flash Royal Tru Santiba Sarsi Seagram's Senzao Smart Sparkle Sparletta Sprite Stoney Surge Tab Tanora Thums Up Tiky Urge Vault VegitaBeta Victoria Yoli Juices & teas Ayataka Cappy Capri Sun Cepita Delaware Punch Enviga Far Coast Five Alive Fruitopia Frutonic Fuze Glaceau Gold Peak Hajime Hi-C Honest Tea Innocent (58%) Maaza Matte Leão Minute Maid Nestea Oasis Odwalla Qoo Royal Tru Simply Sokenbicha Sparkle Tum-E Yummies Vitamin Water Energy & sports drinks Aquarius BPM Energy Burn Full Throttle Gladiator Mother NOS Powerade Relentless Rockstar Bottled water AdeS Arwa Avra Ciel Dasani Deep River Rock Malvern Water Smart Water Spring! Valpre Other Beverage Partners Worldwide Caribou Coffee Columbia Pictures Georgia Swerve

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There are many people in history who are commonly appended with the phrase "the Great", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as e Bozorg and e azam in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.^[1]

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus)^[2] assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "the Great".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers[link]

• Abbas I of Persia (1571–1629), Shah of Iran
• Akbar (1542–1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India
• Alain I of Albret (1440–1522), French aristocrat
• Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia
• Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia
• Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias
• Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex
• Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire
• Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty
• Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),
• Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire
• Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand
• Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)
• Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736–1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)
• Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden
• Casimir III the Great (1310–1370), King of Poland
• Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
• Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India
• Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans
• Chulalongkorn (1853–1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)
• Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks
• Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen
• Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman emperor
• Cyaxares the Great (c. 625-585 BC), third king of Media
• Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire
• Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire
• Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse^[3]
• Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile
• Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia
• Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire
• Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe
• Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594–1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader
• Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea^[4][5]
• Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC
• Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)
• Henry IV of France (1553–1610), King of France and King of Navarre
• Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea
• Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris
• Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France
• Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057–1101)
• Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat
• Ivan III of Russia (1440–1505), Tsar of Russia
• John I of Portugal (1358–1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve
• John II of Aragon (1398–1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre
• Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor
• Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i
• Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India
• Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010–1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia
• Kublai Khan (1215–1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty
• Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales
• Louis I of Hungary (1326–1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland
• Mangrai the Great (1238–1317), Lanna, northern Thailand
• Emperor Meiji (1852–1912), Emperor of Japan
• Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)
• Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)
• Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom
• Mstislav I of Kiev (1076–1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus
• Naresuan (1555–1605), King of Ayutthaya
• Narai (1633–1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)
• Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine
• Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)
• K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque
• Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka
• Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia
• Peter the Great (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia
• Peter III of Aragon (1239–1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily
• Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar
• Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar
• Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.^[6][7][8]
• Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–1044), Tamil King of India
• Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
• Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)
• Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082–1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties
• Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)
• Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev
• Saladin (c. 1138-1193), Kurdish Sultan of Egypt and Syria, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and victor over the Crusaders
• Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre
• Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire
• Sejong the Great (1397–1450), Korean king^[9]
• Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia
• Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire
• Stephen III of Moldavia (1433–1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)
• Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks
• Taksin (1734–1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)
• Tamar (1160-1123), Queen of the Georgian Empire
• Timur (1336–1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty
• Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie
• Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire
• Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor
• Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia
• Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia
• Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire
• Valdemar I of Denmark (1131–1182), King of Denmark
• Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor
• Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus
• Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy
• William I, Count of Burgundy (1020–1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon
• William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou
• Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)
• Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures[link]

• Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East
• Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia
• Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian
• Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt
• Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader
• Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)
• Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint
• Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint
• Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)
• Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine
• Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)
• Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)
• Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit
• Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)
• Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople
• William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other[link]

• Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies
• Emmy the Great, folk singer
• Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III
• Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also[link]

• Epithet
• List of monarchs by nickname
• List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I
• James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus
• Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, whose common honorific "Mahatma" means "Great Soul"

Notes[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2011)

Muhtar Kent
Born	Muhtar A. Kent 1952 New York, USA
Nationality	Turkish
Education	Tarsus American College University of Hull Cass Business School of City University, London
Occupation	Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company
Religion	Islam
Parents	Necdet Kent, Turkish consul-general who saved Jews in France during World War II

Muhtar Kent (born in 1952 in New York) is a Turkish-American business executive. He is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Coca-Cola Company. He was appointed to assume the position of Chief Operating Officer of the Company in 2008.

Early life[link]

Muhtar Kent was born 1952 in New York, where his father, His Excellency Mr. Necdet Kent, was the Turkish consul-general. Muhtar Kent is of the Muslim faith. After completing high school at Tarsus American College in Mersin, Turkey in 1971, Muhtar Kent went to the United Kingdom to study at the University of Hull. Subsequently, he earned his MBA degree at Cass Business School, London.^[1]

Professional career[link]

Muhtar Kent at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 2010.

Muhtar Kent found a job at The Coca-Cola Company through a newspaper ad. He toured the country in trucks to sell Coca-Cola, and thereby learned its distribution, marketing and logistics systems.

In 1985, he was promoted to the general manager position of Coca-Cola Turkey and Central Asia, and transferred the headquarters of the company from Izmir to Istanbul. Three years later, he was appointed vice president of Coca-Cola International, responsible for 23 countries in a region from the Alps to the Himalayas. Living in Vienna, Austria, he served at this post until 1995.

From 1989 to 1995, he served as president of the Company’s East Central Europe Division during which he was responsible for 23 countries.

Promoted further, Muhtar Kent became in 1995 managing director of Coca-Cola Amatil-Europe. In two years, he increased the turnover of the company about 50%, which covered bottling operations in 12 European countries.

In 1999, he left the Coca-Cola Company after 20 years of service. Returning to Turkey, Muhtar Kent became CEO of Efes Beverage Group at Anadolu Group, the largest local shareholder of the Coca-Cola franchise in Turkey and one of Europe's largest international beverage businesses. He extended the company's territory from the Adriatic to China.

In May 2005, he rejoined Coca-Cola after almost 6 years and was appointed president and chief operating officer of the company’s North Asia, Eurasia and Middle East Group, a position reporting directly to chairman and chief executive officer Neville Isdell. Muhtar Kent's rise continued and he was promoted in January 2006, the newly-created position of president of International Operations. In this capacity, he was responsible for all operations outside of North America, and all group presidents outside of North America reported to him.

His successful career took him finally to the summit of the Coca-Cola Company, which named him chairman and chief executive officer, effective July 1, 2008.^[2]

He is also an invitee of the Bilderberg Group and attended the Greece 2009 Bilderberg conference at the Astir Palace resort in Vouliagmeni, Greece.^[3]

He currently serves on the board of directors of GBCHealth as well as the National Committee on United States-China Relations.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Muhtar Kent

• Turkish Daily News December 7, 2007
• Newspaper Radikal September 25, 2007 (Turkish)
• Charlie Rose interview with Muhtar Kent on June 9, 2009

Tyrese Gibson
Gibson at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con for Image Comics
Background information
Birth name	Tyrese Darnell Gibson
Also known as	Black-Ty
Born	(1978-12-30) December 30, 1978 (age 33) Watts, Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Contemporary R&B, hip hop
Occupations	Author, singer, actor, VJ, screenwriter, film producer, television producer,
Years active	1996
Labels	RCA (1997–2001) J (2002–2006) Voltron (2011–Present)
Website	www.myspace.com/tyrese

Tyrese Darnell Gibson (born December 30, 1978) also known simply as Tyrese, is an American R&B singer, rapper, actor, author, former fashion model and MTV VJ. After releasing several albums, he transitioned into films, with lead roles in several Hollywood releases.

Early life[link]

Gibson was born in Los Angeles, California, growing up in the Watts neighborhood.^[1][2] His mother, Priscilla Murray Gibson (née Durham), raised him & his 3 older siblings as a single parent after Gibson's father, Lurk Gibson left.^[3][4] Gibson's career began when he was discovered on a bus. An appearance in a 1994 Coca-Cola advertisement, singing the phrase "Always Coca-Cola",^[5] led to bigger fame.

Acting[link]

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it.

Discography[link]

• Tyrese (1998)
• 2000 Watts (2001)
• I Wanna Go There (2002)
• Alter Ego (2006)
• Open Invitation (2011)

Filmography[link]

Gibson also featured in Lady Gaga's music video, "Telephone" ft. Beyonce and "Angel of Mine" by Monica.

Awards/nominations[link]

• American Music Awards
  • 2000, Favorite New R&B/Soul Artist: (Winner)^[6]

• Black Movie Awards
  • 2006, Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Waist Deep (Nominated) ^[6]

• Black Reel Awards
  • 2006, Best Ensemble: Four Brothers (Nominated)^[6]
  • 2002, Best Song: "Just a Baby Boy" from Baby Boy w/ Mr. Tan & Snoop Dogg (Nominated)^[6]
  • 2002, Best Actor: Baby Boy (Nominated)^[6]

• Grammy Awards
  • 2004, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "How U Gonna Act Like That" (Nominated) (released December 17, 2002)
  • 2000, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance: "Sweet Lady" (Nominated)

• Image Awards
  • 2002, Outstanding Hip-Hop Artist: 2000 Watts (Nominated)
  • 2002, Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture: Baby Boy (Nominated)^[6]
  • 2002, Outstanding Performance in a Variety Show: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Nominated)^[6]

• Literary Awards
  • 2011, Best Writer, African-American Literary Award, Category: Self-Help, "How To Get Out of Your Own Way" (Nominated)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tyrese Gibson

• Tyrese Gibson at the Internet Movie Database
• Tyrese Gibson at AllRovi