Cats and Dogs Living Together, Mass Hysteria As Coke, Dr Pepper Sign Distribution Deal

That's the word out of Plano this morning: Legacy Drive-HQ'd Dr Pepper Snapple Group issued a press release moments ago announcing that The Coca-Cola Company is paying $715 million for the rights to license and distribute Dr Pepper products throughout North America. That's because Coca-Cola Company is buying its bottling...

By Robert Wilonsky

June 7, 2010

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That's the word out of Plano this morning: Legacy Drive-HQ'd Dr Pepper Snapple Group issued a press release moments ago announcing that The Coca-Cola Company is paying $715 million for the rights to license and distribute Dr Pepper products throughout North America. That's because Coca-Cola Company is buying its bottling company, Coca-Cola Enterprises, which already distributes Dr Pepper products. Which means, pending the closing of the bottling deal at year's end, Coca-Cola will fill fountains with Dr Pepper and Diet Dr Pepper, which is a big deal if you've ever tried to order Dr Pepper outside of, oh, let's say Texas.

Dr Pepper Snapple's president and CEO Larry Young is thrilled -- thrilled -- with this morning's announcement: "We're increasing our fountain presence, enabling millions of consumers to sample our brands each day -- a great win for Dr Pepper." Deal's good for 20 years, after which there's a renewal period for another 20 years. Great success.

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