Coca-Cola to go for stock split after 16 years
26 Apr 2012
Coca-Cola is proposing its first stock split after 16 years. The world's biggest beverage maker said yesterday that the 2-for-1 split was as per its plans to double revenue over this decade.
The Atlanta-based company's stock started trading in 1919 and has been split only 10 times since then.
Companies split stocks when they think that the share price is too expensive or if the stock was trading too far above the stock of similar companies.
If approved, Coke's split would see the number of its shares increase to 11.2 billion from 5.6 billion with shareholders getting one additional share of stock for each share held in early August.
The move would be subject to shareholders' approval by 10 July.
The company, last week reported first-quarter profit that beat Wall Street expectations. The strong performance comes with the company selling more drinks worldwide, especially in emerging markets like China and India.