Investments

6 Months Ended

Jun. 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 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.

Subsequently in 2023, we sold the remainder of our shares of KDP and exited our investment in the company.

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


	Three Months Ended June 30, 2023		Six Months Ended June 30, 2023
	(in millions)
(Loss)/gain on marketable securities sold during the period	$	(104)	$	293
Unrealized (loss)/gain on marketable securities held as of the end of the period	(90)		300
Dividend income and other	5		14
Total (loss)/gain on marketable securities	$	(189)	$	607

In the table above, (loss)/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.

We reported no marketable securities as of June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, and $705 million as of June 30, 2023 in Other current assets in the condensed consolidated balance sheets.

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 June 30, 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 $2.5 billion as of June 30, 2024 and $3.2 billion as of December 31, 2023. We recorded equity earnings of $48 million and cash dividends of $2 million in the three months ended June 30, 2024, and equity earnings of $71 million and cash dividends of zero in the three months ended June 30, 2023. We recorded equity earnings of $79 million and cash dividends of $82 million in the six months ended June 30, 2024 and equity earnings of $106 million and cash dividends of $102 million in the six months ended June 30, 2023.

Based on the quoted closing prices as of June 30, 2024, the fair value of our publicly-traded investment in JDEP was $1.7 billion, and there was no other than temporary impairment identified during the three months ended June 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 six months ended June 30, 2023.

JDEP Transactions

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 three months ended June 30, 2023.

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 June 30, 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 June 30, 2024.