Calling your business Innocent sets the ethical bar pretty high. Much like Google’s company mantra “don’t be evil,” which has come to haunt the search giant whenever it does anything controversial, assuming the mantle of saintliness can be a hostage to fortune.
But on Monday, Innocent — maker of fruit smoothies for stressed city workers — put its right-on credentials on the line when it sold a stake in the business to the world’s biggest drinks group, Coca-Cola, for £30 million (US$45 million).
ECO-FRIENDLY
The deal would appear to mark a major change of direction for the eco-friendly, health-conscious group, which distributes drinks in vans that have been modified to look like cows.
Based at west London offices dubbed Fruit Towers, Innocent markets itself unconventionally, by running “village fetes” and the Fruitstock festival in Regent’s Park — a far cry from the multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns run by its new partner, which dominates the global soft drinks market.
Innocent was founded by Adam Balon, Jon Wright and Richard Reed. The trio met as undergraduates at Cambridge, and it is 10 years to the month since they launched their venture, having come up with the idea on a snowboarding holiday and tested their smoothie skills at a music festival.
On its first day, selling from a shop in Ladbroke Grove, west London, Innocent shifted just 24 bottles — and none the following day. But today the company has its products stocked in 11,000 outlets across Europe and sells 2 million smoothies a week, which should bring in turnover of £105 million this year. It employs 250 staff and has operations in Ireland, France, Scandinavia, Germany and Austria.
SMALL FIRMS
Innocent is not the first small, independent-minded company to bring in a large corporate investor: UK sandwich chain Pret A Manger sold a stake to McDonald’s before selling up to a private equity group last year; the ice-cream maker Ben & Jerry’s was bought by Unilever; and the chocolate company Green & Blacks was taken over by Cadbury.
The three founders, who each own about 20 percent of the company’s shares, say they are committed to the company for the long term. In a letter on the Innocent Web site explaining Coca-Cola’s investment, they thanked their customers: “Without you, we’d just have an expensive fruit-crushing hobby.”
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS