Every Coca-Cola sold worldwide makes Warren Buffett money. Here are the (impressive) numbers and what’s behind the strategy of one of the most profitable investments of all time.
How much does Warren Buffett earn every time someone drinks a Coca-Cola? The figure is staggering. Every can, bottle, or glass sold worldwide brings a constant and automatic flow of cash to the coffers of Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company of the Oracle of Omaha.
Between 1988 and 1994, Buffett invested $1.3 billion in Coca-Cola. Today, that stake (400 million shares) is worth over $27 billion. But the most astonishing figure isn’t the capital invested. It’s the dividends he’s been collecting without doing anything for thirty years, amounting to $776 million a year, or $2.12 million a day.
So let’s see how much Buffett earns every time someone buys a Coca-Cola.
How much does Warren Buffett earn for each Coca-Cola sold
In 2024, Coca-Cola sold 33.7 billion cases of beverages worldwide. If a case corresponds to 24 237ml servings, we’re talking about approximately 808.8 billion servings sold in the year. Of these, 47% bore the Coca-Cola label (classic, Zero, Light, and its variants): approximately 379.2 billion servings.
Now for the most interesting figure. Coca-Cola distributed $8.36 billion in dividends in 2024, of which an estimated $3.93 billion was attributable to Coca-Cola branded beverages alone. If we divide this figure by the 379.2 billion servings sold, we get a return of $0.01036 in dividends for every single 237ml Coca-Cola.
Buffett, with his approximately 9.3% stake, so he takes in $0.00096 for every Coca-Cola sold worldwide. Less than a tenth of a cent, in short. But when you multiply that by nearly 400 billion cans and bottles, you get a monstrous cash flow equivalent to $364 million a year, nearly $1 million a day, more than $41,000 an hour.
The (Timeless) Secrets of Buffett’s Strategy
In 2025, Coca-Cola certainly isn’t synonymous with explosive growth. Consumption remains stable, the market is mature, and regulatory pressure on sugar is increasingly intense. But precisely in this seemingly unattractive environment, Warren Buffett has built one of the most profitable and long-lasting passive incomes in the history of finance.
That’s because Coca-Cola is a dividend machine. For 63 consecutive years, it has increased its payout to shareholders, without interruption, not even during crises. At a time when interest rates have begun to decline after the 2022–2024 tightening cycle and the specter of stagnation is looming again, the predictability of solid cash flows is a rare commodity. For Buffett, it’s not the stock price that makes the difference, but how much cash that stock generates each day.
His investment in Coca-Cola has remained stable since 1994. No rebalancing, no new positions. He simply let time work and collected every dividend. The result is an annual return on invested capital that today is nearly 63%. Anyone who buys the same shares today at $69 takes home 2.93%. This explains the power of compound interest over the long term.
It’s natural to ask whether it still makes sense to invest in established giants like Coca-Cola to build an income, or if, without time as an ally, we risk just looking in the rearview mirror.
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The information and considerations contained in this article should not be used as the sole or primary basis for making investment decisions. The reader retains full freedom in their investment choices and full responsibility for making them, since only they know their risk appetite and time horizon. The information contained in the article is provided for informational purposes only, and its disclosure does not constitute and should not be considered an offer or solicitation to the public.|
Original article published on Money.it Italy. Original title: Quanto guadagna Warren Buffett per ogni Coca-Cola venduta
