PepsiCo, Inc.
Food and beveragesFounded 1965- Updated June 2026
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Last reviewed: June 2026
CorpDigest
PepsiCo, Inc.
Company History
Founded 1965 in Purchase, New York
Last reviewed: 2026-06-03 · By Swet Parvadiya
PepsiCo, Inc. is a Food and beverages company with $93.9B in 2025 revenue and 318K employees worldwide. PepsiCo, Inc. Was founded in 1965 in Purchase, New York by Merger of Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay. The company operates in Food and beverages and is led by Ramon Laguarta. Revenue model: PepsiCo earns revenue from branded snacks, beverages, concentrates, direct-store delivery, foodservice, and international packaged-food operations. PepsiCo, Inc. PepsiCo, Inc. Reported $93.9B in revenue for fiscal year 2025. Market capitalization stands at approximately $186.8B. The company employs approximately 318K people globally. Competitive position: PepsiCo's advantage is its snacks-and-beverages portfolio, Frito-Lay scale, distribution reach, brand portfolio, and retailer relationships. Strategic direction: PepsiCo is focused on convenient foods, zero-sugar beverages, international growth, productivity programs, and portfolio renovation toward permissible indulgence and health trends.
Donald M. Kendall was the Pepsi-Cola executive most closely associated with creating PepsiCo through the 1965 merger with Frito-Lay. His specific contribution was recognizing that the cola war could be strengthened by owning adjacent food occasions rather than simply spending more on soda advertising. After the merger, Kendall served as PepsiCo's chief executive and helped build the company into a more aggressive global competitor. He pushed international expansion, youth-oriented marketing, and broader diversification, including the later restaurant strategy that would eventually be unwound. Kendall's legacy is strategically mixed: he made PepsiCo more ambitious than a beverage company, but some later diversification moved too far from the packaged-goods core. His lasting influence is PepsiCo's willingness to compete through portfolio breadth, retail relationships, and cultural marketing rather than cola alone.
Herman W. Lay was the snack entrepreneur whose distribution culture became central to PepsiCo's long-term advantage. He supported the 1965 merger because he saw that snacks and beverages shared retailers, consumer occasions, and promotional opportunities. After the merger, Lay served as chairman and helped preserve the strength of the Frito-Lay business inside the larger PepsiCo structure. His contribution was not merely brand ownership; it was the direct-store-delivery mindset that kept products visible and fresh in thousands of outlets. That operating approach still defines PepsiCo's snack advantage in North America. Lay's lasting influence is visible whenever Frito-Lay controls shelf presentation, launches a new flavor quickly, or uses route density to defend share. PepsiCo's most durable advantage owes as much to Lay's distribution instincts as to Pepsi's marketing history.
PepsiCo acquired Tropicana to expand into premium juice and reduce dependence on carbonated soft drinks. Tropicana gave PepsiCo a strong refrigerated juice brand at a time when juice looked aligned with healthier beverage demand.
PepsiCo acquired Quaker Oats primarily to gain Gatorade, a leading sports drink brand, while also adding Quaker breakfast and grain products. The deal strengthened PepsiCo's position in non-carbonated beverages and gave it a major platform outside cola.
PepsiCo acquired SodaStream to enter at-home sparkling water and reduce reliance on traditional bottled and canned beverage formats. The deal aligned with health, customization, and packaging-waste reduction themes.
PepsiCo acquired Rockstar to strengthen its owned position in energy drinks after years of being less forceful in the category than Monster and Red Bull. The deal allowed PepsiCo to use its beverage distribution and marketing capabilities in a faster-growing category.
PepsiCo acquired Pioneer Foods to strengthen its presence in South Africa and broader sub-Saharan Africa. The company brought local food brands, manufacturing, and distribution capability in a region PepsiCo views as a long-term packaged-food growth market.
PepsiCo acquired BFY Brands, maker of PopCorners, to expand Frito-Lay's better-for-you snack portfolio and add popped snack manufacturing capabilities. The deal gave PepsiCo a brand aligned with demand for lighter snack formats.
PepsiCo acquired Siete Foods to add Mexican-American, grain-free, and better-for-you food products to its portfolio. The brand brought tortillas, chips, sauces, seasonings, cookies, beans, and other products with strong cultural identity and simple-ingredient positioning.
PepsiCo acquired Poppi to enter the fast-growing prebiotic soda category with an established challenger brand. The deal supports PepsiCo's push into lower-sugar, functional, health-adjacent beverages aimed at younger consumers.