Coke Taps New CEO to Navigate a World Drinking Less Sugar. What to Watch.

Henrique Braun, a longtime executive at Coca-Cola, will become the beverage giant’s next CEO in the first quarter of 2026. (Courtesy Coca Cola)

Key Points

• Henrique Braun will become Coca-Cola’s next CEO in the first quarter of 2026, succeeding James Quincey, who will become executive chairman.
• Coca-Cola’s growth in 2025 has been driven by pricing, with unit-case volumes remaining tepid despite beating earnings expectations.
• The company faces a shifting consumer landscape with increased demand for low-sugar and functional beverages, and scrutiny over ingredients.

Henrique Braun, a longtime executive at Coca-Cola, will become the beverage giant’s next CEO in the first quarter of 2026, the company announced on Wednesday.

The decision marks the careful handoff at one of the world’s most recognizable consumer companies. It’s a familiar playbook for Coca-Cola: promote a seasoned insider, steady the wheel, and signal to investors that the ship will keep moving in its planned direction.

Braun joined Coca-Cola in 1996 and has led operations across Latin America, China, and South Korea before becoming chief operating officer last year. Current CEO James Quincey, who has been in the position since 2017, will move into the role of executive chairman. The company said Quincey will “continue to be very active in the business”.

Coca-Cola has posted solid financial results in 2025, beating earnings expectations and brushing aside concerns about softer consumer spending. But growth is increasingly dependent on pricing rather than consumption, as unit-case volumes have stayed tepid.

Coca-Cola under Braun will confront a more fractured demand landscape. Classic sodas are still the cash cow, but consumers are increasingly shifting toward low-sugar beverages with functional ingredients such as electrolytes, prebiotics, and protein.

The company is also facing increasing customer scrutiny of its ingredients. This summer, after a shoutout from President Donald Trump, Coca-Cola said it would release a version of its trademark Coke with cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.

Looking ahead, Coca-Cola remains a cash-rich business with unmatched brand power and enviable profitability, but it needs a clearer playbook for a world less enamored with sugary drinks.

When Quincey took over as CEO, the company had accumulated hundreds of niche or underperforming brands, from regional fruit drinks to novelty teas. Quincey slashed roughly half of them to free resources for products with better growth momentum and global potential.

During his nine years as CEO, Coca-Cola added more than 10 billion-dollar brands. It acquired sports-drink company BodyArmor, fully took over protein-rich milk brand Fairlife, and deepened its partnership with energy-drink company Monster Beverage —just to name a few.

To be sure, not all investments have paid off. Costa Coffee was acquired before the pandemic with high hopes of making Coca-Cola a major player in the lucrative coffee market. But it never gained the traction hoped for, and some reports suggest the company is considering a sale.

Besides reshaping Coca-Cola’s portfolio, Quincey invested heavily in digital transformation, making the company’s marketing, supply-chain planning, and retail execution more efficient and data-driven. He also completed the refranchising of bottling operations, shifting Coca-Cola from a capital-intensive bottler to a higher-margin brand owner.

For Braun, the mandate is not to reinvent, but to continue and accelerate what Quincey has been doing. Coca-Cola must keep extending its portfolio without losing discipline or distracting itself from what it does best. Investors would also expect Braun, with years of experience working overseas, to drive the company’s growth outside North America.

Coca-Cola stock slipped 1.3% in Thursday trading. Shares are up 12% this year—one of the few bright spots in an otherwise battered consumer-food sector.

Write to Evie Liu at evie.liu@barrons.com