Pepsico

General Cinema Corp. said yesterday it agreed to sell its soft-drink bottling business to PepsiCo Inc. for $1.75 billion in cash. The company said it would have an after-tax profit of more than $1.1 billion on the sale. But General Cinema said it also will have to pay about $600 million in taxes on the sale. General Cinema had agreed last year to sell the unit, which is the largest independent Pepsi bottler in the United States, to PepsiCo. The deal was scuttled because of tax concerns.

PepsiCo Inc. has a new Pepsi Challenge. The company relaunched its classic advertising campaign this year. But unlike the late 1970s, when the ads were introduced, the company's primary goal is not to take market share from arch-rival Coke. This time, it is to earn dollars on the New York Stock Exchange. Roger Enrico, PepsiCo's chairman and chief executive officer, has spent the last three years reorganizing the company to focus more on snack foods than on its traditional soft drinks.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Leroy S. Zimmerman, in an antitrust suit filed yesterday against PepsiCo and two of its central Pennsylvania bottlers, said the giant soft-drink company was using fines and boycotts to prevent price competition in the sale of its products. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, accuses PepsiCo Inc. of Purchase, N.Y., Allegheny Pepsi Bottling Co. Inc., of Harrisburg, and Confair Bottling Co. Inc. of Williamsport, of imposing fines and staging boycotts against retailers who buy Pepsi products from anyone but their local bottler.

PepsiCo Inc. ended its record-setting, nine-year sponsorship of Michael Jackson after the pop superstar canceled his world tour, a spokesman for the soft-drink giant said yesterday. Spokesman Gary Hemphill yesterday said the company had been scheduled to end the sponsorship deal once the tour was completed, "so we no longer have a relationship. " PepsiCo's sponsorship of Jackson dates back to 1984 when it supported "The Victory Tour," which reunited the singer with his brothers from the former Jackson Five.

Joseph Neubauer, best known as benefactor to some of the region's top cultural organizations, stepped down Tuesday as chief executive of Aramark Corp. after 29 years as its leader. Aramark, one of Philadelphia's largest companies, with a global workforce of 250,000, has hired Eric J. Foss, 53, a former PepsiCo Inc. executive, to succeed Neubauer as president and chief executive. The move marks the end of an era for the food-services and facilities-management company, which has known just five chief executives since 1936.

The cranberry vines on Joe Darlington's 700-acre farm in Pemberton Township have produced fruit for Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. for more than 50 years. Like Darlington, they have endured by adjusting to changing market forces and consumer preferences. And every time, Darlington or his ancestors made the call on how best to adapt. But that may change soon. Ocean Spray growers, who number about 925 throughout North America, will be voting on their cooperative's fate this week: whether to continue operating independently or enter into a joint venture with food and beverage behemoth PepsiCo Inc. "The cooperative is structured specifically to benefit the grower," Darlington said as he tended to his bogs in Burlington County last week.

Ocean Spray cranberry growers rejected a proposal yesterday by PepsiCo Inc. to buy a stake in the cooperative, voting instead to remain independent and farmer-owned. The vote - 52 percent against pursuing the venture - ended a yearlong courtship by the food and beverage behemoth that would have given PepsiCo half-ownership of the Lakeville, Mass.-based Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. About 925 farmers, including those in New Jersey, narrowly rejected the offer. "The 'no' verdict on the Pepsi deal means the board of directors will cease all talks with PepsiCo and other potential equity investors, focusing all efforts instead on working with management to build the Ocean Spray business for the future," Ocean Spray officials said in a written statement.

General Cinema Corp. plans to sell its Pepsi-Cola bottling subsidiary to PepsiCo Inc. for $1.5 billion in notes by the end of this month, the companies announced yesterday. The sale would be virtually tax-free until the principal is retired in a single payment in 20 years because, for tax purposes, it will be treated as an installment purchase, said Peter Farwell, spokesman for General Cinema of Chestnut Hill, Mass. "We have built and managed one of the most profitable soft-drink bottling operations in the industry," said Richard Smith, General Cinema's chairman and chief executive.

Honickman Group, of Pennsauken, will acquire Pepsi-Cola bottling operations on Long Island, N.Y., from another independent bottler, Pepsi Bottling Ventures L.L.C. (PBV). Terms of the transaction, expected to be completed during the second quarter, were not disclosed. Honickman's Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. of New York currently operates in New York City's five boroughs and Westchester County. "Nassau and Suffolk counties provide the requisite scale for us to reinvest significantly in our make-sell-deliver capabilities and partner with PepsiCo to proudly reinvigorate our presence in the greater New York market," said Harold A. Honickman, chairman of the Philadelphia-area's largest soft-drink bottler.

Wendy's International Corp. yesterday said it was making a $1.6 billion switch from Pepsi to Coke at its fast-food restaurants, ending a 17-year relationship with PepsiCo Inc. Wendy's said it was dropping Pepsi products from the menu at its company- owned outlets because PepsiCo's push into the restaurant business has made the soft-drink company a competitor of Wendy's. "They, in effect, are a competitor of ours, and that is a conflict we just cannot stand," said Paul Raab, a spokesman for Wendy's.

Honickman Group, of Pennsauken, will acquire Pepsi-Cola bottling operations on Long Island, N.Y., from another independent bottler, Pepsi Bottling Ventures L.L.C. (PBV). Terms of the transaction, expected to be completed during the second quarter, were not disclosed. Honickman's Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. of New York currently operates in New York City's five boroughs and Westchester County. "Nassau and Suffolk counties provide the requisite scale for us to reinvest significantly in our make-sell-deliver capabilities and partner with PepsiCo to proudly reinvigorate our presence in the greater New York market," said Harold A. Honickman, chairman of the Philadelphia-area's largest soft-drink bottler.

Joseph Neubauer, best known as benefactor to some of the region's top cultural organizations, stepped down Tuesday as chief executive of Aramark Corp. after 29 years as its leader. Aramark, one of Philadelphia's largest companies, with a global workforce of 250,000, has hired Eric J. Foss, 53, a former PepsiCo Inc. executive, to succeed Neubauer as president and chief executive. The move marks the end of an era for the food-services and facilities-management company, which has known just five chief executives since 1936.

Arch Clark West, 97, the retired Frito-Lay executive credited with creating Doritos, died Sept. 20 in Dallas. Mr. West had a food-industry reputation when the Frito Co. recruited him as its marketing vice president in 1960. He had worked for Lever Bros. and Young & Rubicam in New York as a liaison between the creative teams and clients that included Jell-O. He was inspired to create Doritos after Frito merged with H.W. Lay & Co. in 1961. During a family vacation to California, "we were near San Diego and he stumbled on some little shack where they were making some interesting kind of chip," his daughter Jana Hacker said.

Plastic bottles. They're everywhere. They're clogging drains, floating in the Schuylkill and way too often being sent to landfills instead of recycling bins. As such, they've become eco-culprits. The industry has responded by coming up with better bottles, lighter bottles. Earlier this month, PepsiCo unveiled a bottle that is "plant-based" and still recyclable. I'm putting it out there as part of a new blog feature running every Friday: Green Gauntlet. Readers get to weigh in on whether a product is as green as purported.

Add Gatorade to the list of endorsement deals that Tiger Woods has lost. A representative for the drink, sold by PepsiCo Inc., confirmed late yesterday that it had ended its relationship with the golfer, who made a lengthy public apology last week for his infidelities. "We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts and have ended our relationship," a Gatorade spokeswoman said. "We wish him all the best. " She said Gatorade would continue its relationship with the Tiger Woods Foundation.

Constar International Inc., a Philadelphia manufacturer of plastic containers dogged by losses since its 2002 spin-off from Crown Holdings Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday. The bankruptcy, prearranged with key creditors, will reduce debt by $175 million and eliminate $19.3 million in annual interest payments, Constar said. The deal will wipe out current shareholders, including Crown, which still owned 9.7 percent of Constar's shares. Not that shareholders had much to lose: The stock had already lost most of its value, closing at 15 cents a share Monday.

Even in his own time, Ben Franklin was a master of spin. Biographer Walter Isaacson called him America's "first great publicist. " How would he fare in today's ultra-image-conscious world? We asked three Philadelphia advertising teams to give Ben's outsize personality a modern makeover and bring him into the 21st century. Gyro Worldwide Advertising, which prides itself on attracting young customers, focused on Franklin's bad-boy side. "I really think he would have been having more fun than people are saying," Gyro chief executive officer Steven Grasses said of Franklin.

They don't call it the Grand Old Party for nothing. In cigar lounges and museums, on yachts and rooftops, in ballrooms and bowling alleys, Republicans are partying hard courtesy of some of the nation's biggest companies. Last night, you could have shot pool with the chairman of Goldman Sachs or been whisked away for a private showing of Cartier diamonds - before moving on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for PepsiCo-sponsored cocktails at the foot of the Egyptian Temple of Dendur, circa 15 B.C. If, that is, you were on the GOP A-list (read big donors, movers and shakers)

Ocean Spray cranberry growers rejected a proposal yesterday by PepsiCo Inc. to buy a stake in the cooperative, voting instead to remain independent and farmer-owned. The vote - 52 percent against pursuing the venture - ended a yearlong courtship by the food and beverage behemoth that would have given PepsiCo half-ownership of the Lakeville, Mass.-based Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. About 925 farmers, including those in New Jersey, narrowly rejected the offer. "The 'no' verdict on the Pepsi deal means the board of directors will cease all talks with PepsiCo and other potential equity investors, focusing all efforts instead on working with management to build the Ocean Spray business for the future," Ocean Spray officials said in a written statement.

The cranberry vines on Joe Darlington's 700-acre farm in Pemberton Township have produced fruit for Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. for more than 50 years. Like Darlington, they have endured by adjusting to changing market forces and consumer preferences. And every time, Darlington or his ancestors made the call on how best to adapt. But that may change soon. Ocean Spray growers, who number about 925 throughout North America, will be voting on their cooperative's fate this week: whether to continue operating independently or enter into a joint venture with food and beverage behemoth PepsiCo Inc. "The cooperative is structured specifically to benefit the grower," Darlington said as he tended to his bogs in Burlington County last week.