Who Owns Dr Pepper? Hint: It's Not Coke Or Pepsi

It's easy to imagine Dr Pepper being owned by a corporate soda king like PepsiCo or The Coca-Cola Company. After all, the two giants, between themselves, have a slew of other popular drink brands in their stable, ranging from Sprite to Fanta, Powerade, Gatorade, Rockstar Energy drinks, and more. But not Dr Pepper. It belongs to another mega-drink corporation called Keurig Dr Pepper, Inc. — yes, of Keurig coffee fame. It's a publicly traded beverage company formed in 2018 after the merger of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Keurig Green Mountain. 

Keurig Dr Pepper isn't singularly owned by a family or group, but rather by many shareholders. However, one shareholder in particular stands out for its size, influence, and controlling stake: JAB Holding Company. Ironically, this holding company is indeed family-owned, despite its giant reach. Dr Pepper is currently a global brand and primary player in the beverage game, but it's been a long journey for the one-time small Texas soda drink. The path has been winding, tangled, and at times complicated, with a slew of mergers, acquisitions, and spin-offs along the way. 

The Dr Pepper story begins in 1885 in Waco, Texas. Like other early soda fountain drinks, Dr Pepper emerged from an ordinary drugstore, this one called Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store. A young pharmacist named Charles Alderton started blending several flavors at the soda fountain, striving to create a brand-new taste. In no time, townsfolk were ordering a "Waco soda," which eventually morphed into what store owner Morrison christened the "Dr Pepper."

From that Waco soda fountain, the homespun drink quickly grew beyond Texas. Dr Pepper exploded in popularity after its introduction at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, where an estimated 20 million attendees sampled the drink. The then-owners were soon bottling and selling Dr Pepper across the nation. Dr Pepper went public in 1946, then private again in 1984, before entering a mind-blowing period of potential buyouts. After seemingly endless deals, agreements, and growing pains, a big step came in 1988 when Dr Pepper merged with Seven-Up, becoming Dr Pepper/Seven Up Companies, Inc. 

Together, after combining products and increasing bottling capacity, the two former newbies stood proudly in the same success realm as Coca-Cola and Pepsi. But the criss-crossing and deal-making still wasn't over. In 1995, the London-based Cadbury Schweppes, which already owned shares from a previous deal, swooped in with a successful offer of roughly $1.7 billion to purchase and fully own Dr Pepper/Seven Up. In 2008, it became the Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc., then finally, today's Keurig Dr Pepper, Inc., whose company portfolio includes at least 125 brands. 

If that dizzying array of activity over more than a century isn't enough to ponder, there's another 2025 deal brewing for a $18.4 billion purchase of JDE Peet's, after which more spin-off shenanigans will occur. For some down-to-earth, everyday Dr Pepper trivia, check out our articles on Dr Pepper as a hot drink and how to visit the Dr Pepper Museum.