PepsiCo To Lay Off Hundreds Of White Collar Workers

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Pepsi pops on report Elliott has taken a $4 billion stake in the soda and snack giant

The news comes as Pepsi battles weaker demand, tariffs, and pressure from rivals like Coca-Cola.

9/2/25 7:52AM

PepsiCo stock jumped nearly 5% in premarket trading Monday after The Wall Street Journal reported that Elliott Investment Management has quietly taken a roughly $4 billion stake in the company — one of its biggest bets ever.

Per the WSJ, it’s an activist position, which means the investment management firm will be pushing Pepsi’s leadership to make changes it thinks will boost the company’s market value.

It’s critical timing for the beverage giant, which has seen slower demand across its core snacks and drinks portfolio. In addition to its namesake soda, Pepsi also owns brands like Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Lay’s, Doritos, and Quaker Oats. But the company has struggled of late, losing market share to peers like Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper. It has seen its market value slide from around $270 billion in 2023 to about $203 billion today.

Pepsi’s problems have only intensified in recent months, pressured by tariffs and price-sensitive shoppers. Still, management has been trying to create more value with lower price points and a revamp of core snack brands like Lay’s and Tostitos. In July, Pepsi topped Wall Street’s forecasts for second-quarter earnings and revenue and reaffirmed its full-year outlook. Still, for the first half of this year, Pepsi’s North American sales volume for beverages dropped 3%, while its convenience food volume in the region fell 1%.

The stock is down about 16% over the past 12 months.

Max Knoblauch10/24/25

Premium seats help push airlines higher following third-quarter results

Shares of American Airlines are climbing toward the carrier’s best trading day since August 12, when ultra-budget rival Spirit issued its initial warning about its ability to survive. American’s shares are up more than 7% on Friday afternoon.

Investors’ optimism comes a day after American posted a better-than-expected full-year earnings forecast. In a call with investors, American said that it’s ramping up its premium cabin offerings.

“Our ability to grow capacity in premium markets will be further supported as we take delivery of new aircraft and reconfigure our existing fleet. These efforts will allow us to grow our premium seats at nearly two times the rate of main cabin seats,” CEO Robert Isom said. American CFO Devin May said that nose-to-tail retrofits of certain wide-body jets will bump the number of premium seats available on those planes by 25%.

Extra legroom has been a boon for major carriers, particularly this quarter. Delta Air Lines said its premium product revenue grew 9% in Q3, compared to a 4% drop in economy seat revenue. Similarly, United Airlines said its premium revenue grew 6%, outpacing economy. Shares of both airlines were up more than 3% on Friday.

Carriers with less exposure to first- and business-class tickets like Southwest Airlines and JetBlue didn’t see the same amount of momentum on the day.