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Is there a Pepsi
in Ocean Spray's future? 7/16/99 The Boston Consulting Group was obviously helping a large corporation take a thorough and intensive look at Ocean Spray. There was speculation as to whether they were working for one of the big three beverage companies or a huge multinational food company. Now it looks like a beverage company with much to gain from adding Ocean Spray to its line is seriously interested in acquiring the cooperative. It only takes some good shopping sense to look at the juice aisle and imagine the marriage between Ocean Spray and Tropicana. The cranberry blends of Ocean Spray are complementary to the orange blends from Pepsi's Tropicana. Both brands have a "good for you" reputation and their quality is unquestioned. The names together even conjure up similar oceanic imagery. There has been much debate among Ocean Spray grower/ owners about the pros and cons of being acquired by a larger company. Regardless of which side one takes, there can be little argument that a company like Pepsico reveals a tremendous amount of information to the public. For example, you can read excerpts from a recent SEC filing here, and learn how much the CEO earns overall, why he is currently earning a salary of one dollar a year, how much the retiring CEO received as a compensation package, the qualifications of the Board of Directors and how much they are paid to serve on the board. Similar information about Ocean Spray has been withheld from the grower/ owners of Ocean Spray. You can also find a vast array of information about the inner workings of Pepsico on the corporate web site at www.pepsico.com, and about Tropicana on their business web site www.tropicana.com/biz.
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