Claim:   The Mormons own the Coca-Cola Company.

Status:   False.

Origins:   The Coca-Cola Company is far too sizeable a business entity for any one person or group to own, even if that group were Bill Gates and Kerry Packer. Big Red is a publicly traded company (New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol KO), with 15% of the shares held by insiders (former and current executives plus the families of those who built up the company) and 9% by SunTrust Bank. The remaining 76% of the company is owned by various and sundry institutional and individual investors, some of whom may indeed be Mormon.

Coca-Cola's largest individual shareholder is Berkshire Hathaway, a company run by Omaha, Nebraska, stock-picking guru Warren Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway holds 200 million shares, or 8% of the company, a stake valued at $11 billion. Atlanta's Emory University has Coca-Cola holdings amounting to $3 billion, making it one of the richest universities in the U.S.A. (Harvard holds that particular claim to fame, with endowment holdings of $13 billion.)

To put things in better perspective, a 1% holding of The Coca-Cola Company's stock would be worth $1.375 billion.

A variant of this rumor states that the Mormons own the Pepsi-Cola Company. That too is untrue. Like Coca-Cola, Pepsi is far too large for any group to own even a noticeable part of, let alone possess outright.

Underpinning this legend is the notion that Mormons are forbidden caffeinated beverages, thus how deliciously ironic it would be if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints quietly owned a company it raged against from the pulpit.

Though we hate to ruin a good bit of lore with the facts, the truth is that although Mormons have been advised by church leaders to avoid caffeinated beverages, this suggestion has not been passed down as official church doctrine to which all members in good standing must adhere (unlike, say, the admonitions against coffee, tea, tobacco and alcohol, which are church doctrine). Mormons can swill Coca-Cola, eschew it and all other caffeinated beverages, or indulge in the occasional Coke and still be considered churchgoers in good standing.

Barbara "Coke adds life to rumors" Mikkelson

Last updated:   13 March 2007

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  Sources:

    Miller, Leslie.   "Universities Schooled Hard Way in Ways of Market."

    The Associated Press.   25 September 1998.

    Bloomberg News.   "Stock Fizzles, Loyalty Doesn't."

    The Seattle Times.   4 October 1998   (p. G1).