By Candice Choi, Food Industry Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Coca-Cola said Thursday it named company veteran James Quincey as president and chief operating officer, creating a new No. 2 position in its chain of command.
The world's largest beverage company says Quincey's appointment is effective immediately and that he will report directly to CEO Muhtar Kent. The appointment raised speculation that Quincey is being set up to succeed Kent.
In a call with reporters, Kent said it would be "inappropriate to speculate on CEO succession." Kent has been CEO since 2008, and chairman since 2009. He is 62.
The appointment means Coca-Cola's operating groups will now report to Quincey, rather than Kent. Kent said that will free him up to focus on the company's long-term strategy.
Coca-Cola Co., which makes drinks including Sprite, Powerade and Dasani, has been slashing costs as it faces sales struggles and says it's in a transitional period. As people have turned away from traditional sodas in North America, the company has regrouped to lessen its focus on merely pushing up sales volume. Instead, Coca-Cola is now putting marketing behind smaller bottles and cans that may not drive up volume, but fetch more money per ounce. The company also positions them as a way to enjoy its drinks, without feeling guilty about guzzling too much sugar.
On Thursday, the company also said that the president of Coca-Cola International, Ahmet Bozer, will retire in March and that his position will not be refilled. Bozer, 55, joined the company in 1990 as a financial control manager and has been seen as a potential successor to Kent.
Kent said the retirement was Bozer's decision.
Quincey, 50, had been reporting to Bozer as president of the company's Europe group. He is moving to Atlanta from London for his new role.
Ali Dibadj, a senior analyst with Bernstein, said he believes Quincey's appointment sets up a succession plan, but that it doesn't necessarily suggest that Kent will be leaving shortly.
"Change at Coca-Cola is not necessarily a bad thing," Dibadj said, noting the appointment was a surprise to many.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More