Pepsi buys SodaStream for $3.2B as big bev continues to expand beyond sugary sodas

PepsiCo is set to buy carbonated drink-machine maker SodaStream for $3.2B as it battles to one-up Coca-Cola (who bought carbonated cult classic Topo Chico last year) in the healthy beverage market. 

You can carbonate anything these days

Seriously… orange juice, coffee, whiskey (no word on milk yet, but probably)…  and it’s all thanks to SodaStream.

Founded in Britain in 1903, the now-Israel-based SodaStream makes machines that allow consumers to carbonate tap water and other beverages at home by filling a reusable bottle and flavoring it with syrups.

Fun fact: According to Reuters, SodaStream was a popular device in British kitchens in the ’70s and ’80s before bottles came around and made the process of getting your carb’ on much cheaper.

Now, as soft drink sales have gone flat, SodaStream’s share prices have bubbled 85% so far this year, after a 78% increase in 2017.

Things may be a little awkward around the carbonated water cooler

SodaStream has criticized PepsiCo in public statements and advertising campaigns in the past, calling out bottled water makers for polluting the environment (Pepsi owns Aquafina and a few smaller brands).

“Shame on PepsiCo,” SodaStream Chief Executive Daniel Birnbaum said last year when the soda giant presented its newest bottled-water brand LIFEWTR. “The bottled-water industry is the biggest marketing scam of all time.”