Coca-Cola Reopens A Costa Sale It Abandoned Earlier This Year, Says Report

• The company opened a process to sell Costa in late 2025 and shut it earlier this year after bids missed its expectations.
• What Coca-Cola would ask in a fresh sale process is unclear, Semafor noted. 
• In KO’s full-year 2025 results, released February 10, coffee volume was flat in both the fourth quarter and the year.

Coca-Cola (KO) is reportedly again weighing a sale of Costa Coffee, months after an earlier auction collapsed for lack of bids that met its price. 

The Atlanta drinks group is seeking to unwind the British chain it bought from Whitbread in 2018 for $5.1 billion, according to Semafor. At least one strategic buyer looked and walked away over valuation and fit issues.

Shares of Coca-Cola closed up about 2% on Thursday, helped by a shift into consumer staples as technology stocks sold off and by PepsiCo’s third-quarter report. PepsiCo beat expectations, with revenue of $25.27 billion and core earnings of $2.34 a share, but cut its full-year profit outlook and said a North America recovery is taking longer than planned, opening up the possibility for Coca-Cola. PepsiCo’s North American beverage volumes fell 2%, and management said carbonated soft-drink sales trailed the category. PEP shares closed up about 4%.

KO’s Previous Attempts At Costa Sale

Coca-Cola opened a process to sell Costa in late 2025 and shut it earlier this year after bids missed its expectations. What Coca-Cola would ask in a fresh process is unclear, Semafor noted.

Costa lost nearly £20 million across 2023 and 2024 combined, Semafor reported. UK filings since then show a partial recovery, not a clean turnaround. Costa Ltd made an operating profit of £20 million in the year to December 31, 2025, reversing a £13.5 million loss in 2024 and a £5.8 million loss in 2023, with revenue up 5 percent to almost £1.3 billion, the Guardian reported this month.

Coca-Cola does not break out Costa’s sales or profit in its earnings. In the full-year 2025 results, released February 10, coffee volume was flat in both the fourth quarter and the year. The broader water, sports, coffee and tea category grew 2 percent for the year.

Costa runs about 2,700 shops in the UK and Ireland and employs roughly 20,000 people. It has pushed iced drinks and matcha at younger customers, and reopened a batch of refurbished high-street stores in early 2026, around the time the first sale was dropped. A new Hertfordshire headquarters, with room for 300 staff, is due in January 2027.

How Did KO Retail Traders React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around KO stock stayed within ‘bearish’ territory over the past 24 hours, while message volume stayed at ‘normal’ levels.

KO stock has risen 26% year-to-date. 

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