Investments

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]

Note 6. Investments

Marketable Securities

On March 2, 2023, we sold approximately 30 million shares of Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ: "KDP"), which reduced our ownership interest by 2.1 percentage points, from 5.3% to 3.2% of the total outstanding shares. We received approximately $1.0 billion in proceeds and recorded a pre-tax gain on equity method transactions of $493 million ($368 million after-tax) on this sale during the first quarter of 2023. This reduction in ownership, to below 5% of the outstanding shares, resulted 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). Subsequently in 2023, we sold the remainder of our shares of KDP and exited our investment in the company.

Pre-tax gains for marketable securities are summarized below:


	Three Months Ended March 31, 2023
	(in millions)
Unrealized gain on marketable securities held as of the end of the period	$	787
Dividend income and other	9
Total gain on marketable securities	$	796

We reported no marketable securities as of March 31, 2024 and $1.6 billion as of March 31, 2023 in Other current assets in the condensed consolidated balance sheet.

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 March 31, 2024, we owned 17.7%, 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 $2.4 billion as of March 31, 2024 and $3.2 billion as of December 31, 2023. We recorded equity earnings of $31 million and cash dividends of $81 million in the three months ended March 31, 2024, and equity earnings of $35 million and cash dividends of $102 million in the three months ended March 31, 2023.

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 has 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. Any potential future impairments of JDEP will continue to be assessed based upon the other-than-temporary impairment criteria. There was no other than temporary impairment identified in 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. Subsequent to the three months ended March 31, 2023, we exercised options on 2.2 million of the 7.7 million shares.

In 2021, we issued €300 million exchangeable bonds, which are redeemable at maturity in 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. If all bonds were redeemed in exchange for JDEP's shares, this would represent approximately 8.5 million shares or approximately 10% of our equity interest in JDEP as of March 31, 2024. Refer to Note 9, Financial Instruments, for further details on this transaction.