Ben Gilbert

And they've done it over the course of 140 years.

It has its roots all the way back in the Civil War.

It grew up through the rise of the automobile, through the Great Depression, through two world wars.

It seamlessly and shamelessly integrated into the hippie culture of the 70s.

And then, of course, it had the epic cola wars of the 80s and onwards.

And David, I would say this episode, perhaps more than any other that we've covered, is about America.

Can't wait to dive into it.

Well, listeners, this episode was selected by you.

Last month, we asked our email subscribers to vote on what company we should cover next, and Coca-Cola was the overwhelming favorite.

So thank you to all of you who participated.

You can join that email list at acquired.fm slash email to get in on the next round of voting.

And that same email list is getting a lot better.

We just did a big overhaul, so each monthly email will now have episode summaries, our big takeaways from the company after studying it, and exclusive photos from our research process.

So never miss an episode drop by signing up at acquired.fm slash email or clicking the link in the show notes.

Before we dive in, we want to briefly thank our presenting partner, JPMorgan Payments.

So with that, this show is not investment advice.

David and I may have investments in the companies we discuss, and this show is for informational and entertainment purposes only.

David, where do we start our story?

Ah, good hook.

All based on zero research, zero studies.