Thursday, July 06, 2006
Honor Among Soft-Drink Rivals, if not Thieves
Three (very former) Coca-Cola, Co. employees snuck out of the office carrying trade secrets, including samples of a new drink and formulas for a few other drinks. They offered the secrets to PepsiCo, who promptly turned around and handed the turncoats to Coke and the FBI. Undercover agents offered the soft-drink swindlers $1.5 million in exchange for the confidential secrets (note that the “secret recipe” for regular Coke was not stolen). The perpetrators opened up a bank account in anticipation of the payday, which allowed the Feds to make their arrests.
Said CEO Neville Isdell:
"Sadly, today's arrests include an individual within our company. While this breach of trust is difficult for all of us to accept, it underscores the responsibility we each have to be vigilant in protecting our trade secrets. Information is the lifeblood of the company."
Information? We thought it was high-fructose corn syrup, or maybe caffiene. Mmmm. Delicious buzz.
