PepsiCo North America chief to retire, Frito-Lay and Beverages get new chiefs

PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) announced today that its North America CEO Albert P. Carey will retire at the end of March 2019. Carey will bid adieu to the soda giant after nearly four decades.

Carey leaves a power vacuum that Pepsi looks to fill with two people. Frito-Lay North America President and COO Vivek Sankaran will now serve as the Frito-Lay North America CEO.

Kirk Tanner, who currently serves as President and COO of North America Beverages, will become North America Beverages CEO.

While Al leaves big shoes to fill, I have every confidence in our North America businesses under the skilled leadership of Vivek and Kirk in these critical roles,” said Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo Chief Executive Officer.

With more American dumping carbonated beverages and shifting to healthier alternatives, the cola giants have been busy tweaking their product portfolios, primarily by including non-conventional food varieties. PepsiCo in October went the extra mile by creating a new business division, The Hive, exclusively to track the emerging trends in snacking and build brands accordingly.

A few weeks after buying Israel-based carbonation products maker SodaStream, the company struck the first major deal under The Hive initiative to woo its health-conscious customers by catering to their nutritional requirements. Pepsi, by October end, acquired Health Warrior, a “super-food company” that makes plant-based organic food products and on-trend offerings.

Back in October, PepsiCo Inc. also posted upbeat revenue and earnings for the third quarter of 2018. The food and beverages giant reported total revenues of $16.4 billion, up 1.5% from the same period last year. Organic revenue grew 4.9%. Net income attributable to PepsiCo grew 16% to $2.4 billion, and diluted EPS rose 18% to $1.75 per share versus the prior-year period.

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