Investments

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2024

Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]

Note 6. Investments

Marketable Securities

During the first quarter of 2023, our ownership in Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ: "KDP") fell below 5% of the outstanding shares, resulting in a change of accounting for our KDP investment, from equity method investment accounting to accounting for equity interests with readily determinable fair values ("marketable securities") as we no longer had significant influence over KDP. Marketable securities are measured at fair value based on quoted prices in active markets for identical assets (Level 1).

On July 13, 2023, we sold 23 million shares, the remainder of our shares of KDP. We received proceeds of approximately $704 million.

On June 8, 2023, we sold 23 million shares of KDP, which reduced our ownership by 1.6 percentage points, from 3.2% to 1.6% of the total outstanding shares. We received proceeds of approximately $708 million.

On March 2, 2023, we sold 30 million shares of KDP, which reduced our ownership by 2.1 percentage points, from 5.3% to 3.2% of the total outstanding shares. We received proceeds of approximately $1.0 billion and prior to the change of accounting for our KDP investment, recorded a pre-tax gain on equity method transactions of $493 million ($368 million after-tax) during the first quarter of 2023.

Pre-tax (losses)/gains for marketable securities are summarized below:


	Three Months Ended September 30, 2023		Nine Months Ended September 30, 2023
	(in millions)
Gain on marketable securities sold during the period	$	—	$	593
Dividend income and other	(1)		13
Total (loss)/gain on marketable securities	$	(1)	$	606

In the table above, gain on marketable securities sold during the period reflects the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the marketable securities at the beginning of the period or the date of the change of accounting for our investment in KDP, if later.

Equity Method Investments

Our equity method investments include, but are not limited to, our ownership interests in JDE Peet's (Euronext Amsterdam: "JDEP"), Dong Suh Foods Corporation and Dong Suh Oil & Fats Co. Ltd. Our ownership interests may change over time due to investee stock-based compensation arrangements, share issuances or other equity-related transactions. As of September 30, 2024, we owned 17.6%, 50.0% and 49.0%, respectively, of these companies' outstanding shares. We continue to have board representation with two directors on JDEP's Board of Directors and have retained certain additional governance rights. As we continue to have significant influence, we continue to account for our investment in JDEP under the equity method.

Our investments accounted for under the equity method of accounting totaled $2.6 billion as of September 30, 2024 and $3.2 billion as of December 31, 2023. We recorded equity earnings of $54 million and cash dividends of $33 million in the three months ended September 30, 2024, and equity earnings of $10 million and cash dividends of $34 million in the three months ended September 30, 2023. We recorded equity earnings of $133 million and cash dividends of $115 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2024 and equity earnings of $116 million and cash dividends of $136 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2023.

Based on the quoted closing prices as of September 30, 2024, the fair value of our publicly-traded investment in JDEP was $1.8 billion, and there was no other than temporary impairment identified during the three months ended September 30, 2024.

During the three months ended March 31, 2024, we determined there was an other-than-temporary impairment based on the period of time for which the quoted market price fair value had been less than the carrying value of the investment and the uncertainty surrounding JDEP's stock price recovering to the carrying value. As a result, the investment was written down to its estimated fair value based on the closing price of the underlying equity security of €19.46 per share on March 28, 2024, resulting in an impairment charge of €612 million ($665 million). This charge was included within (Loss)/gain on equity method investment transactions including impairments in the condensed consolidated statement of earnings. There was no other than temporary impairment identified in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023.

JDEP Transactions

On March 30, 2023, we issued options to sell shares of JDEP in tranches equivalent to approximately 7.7 million shares. These options were exercisable at their maturities which were between July 3, 2023 and September 29, 2023, with strike prices ranging from €26.10 to €28.71 per share. During the three months ended September 30, 2023, options were exercised on 2.2 million shares, which reduced our ownership percentage by 0.4 percentage point, from 18.1% to 17.7% of the total outstanding shares. We received cash proceeds of €57 million ($62 million) and recorded a loss of €3 million ($4 million) for these shares during the three months ended September 30, 2023.

On April 3, 2023, we sold approximately 7.7 million shares of JDEP, which reduced our ownership by 1.6 percentage points, from 19.7% to 18.1% of the total outstanding shares. We received cash proceeds of €198 million ($217 million) and recorded a loss of €18 million ($19 million) on this sale during the during the second quarter of 2023.

In 2021, we issued €300 million exchangeable bonds, which were redeemable at maturity during September 2024 at their principal amount in cash or, at our option, through the delivery of an equivalent number of JDEP’s ordinary shares based on an initial exchange price of €35.40 and, as the case may be, an additional amount in cash. At maturity, we repaid the exchangeable bonds in cash. Refer to Note 8, Debt and Borrowing Arrangements for additional detail on this repayment.

On October 21, 2024, we announced the sale of our remaining 85.9 million shares in JDEP to JAB Holdings Company for approximately €2.2 billion ($2.4 billion), at a price of €25.10 per share. The sale transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024.