Coca-Cola is buying British coffee chain Costa for $5.1 billion

31 Aug Coca-Cola is buying British coffee chain Costa for $5.1 billion

The American soft drink maker is looking to expand its beverage offerings as people’s thirst for coffee continues unabated and people increasingly shun sugary drinks. Coke will pay £3.9 billion (about $5.1 billion) for Costa, which has 3,800 stores in 32 countries and is headquartered in the U.K., reports Bloomberg. This isn’t the first time Coke has flirted with coffee. Last year the company launched Coca-Cola Blak, a sugary soft drink flavored like coffee. That went over about as well as you would expect. But Coke isn’t the only sugar water maker diversifying its offerings. Earlier this month, Pepsi paid $3.2 billion for SodaStream, a company that offers a product that allows users to make their own healthy fizzy drinks.

Source: Fast Company