Cristiano Ronaldo: Coca-Cola loses $ 4 billion on the stock market after the star refuses to drink the drink
The movement is brief: Cristiano Ronaldo, the star of the Portuguese football team of Euro 2020, withdraws two bottles of Coca-Cola from the table where he is about to give a press conference.
"Water," he said, shaking the bottle in his hand. "No Coca-Cola."
The gesture, with which the football star gave the impression of inviting to leave the soft drinks behind, occurred on Monday, during the conference which served as a preview of the match between Portugal and the Hungary in Budapest in Group F on Tuesday, which the Lusitanian team won with two goals from the striker.
And that coincided with a drop in the Coca-Cola share price, which fell from $ 56.10 to $ 55.22 (30,801 FCFA to 30,318 FCFA) immediately after the media took note of the commentary. striker from Juventus.
This is a decrease of 1.6%, which means that the market value of the beverage giant fell from 242 to 238 billion dollars (over 132 trillion to over 130 trillion FCFA).
That is almost $ 4 billion less
Analysts said it was highly likely that the fall in stocks was due to the Portuguese striker's gesture, but that it is not something that will impact the company in the long term.
"It is plausible to think that the movement of the Coca-Cola stock may have been somewhat influenced by the market reaction to the snub from Ronaldo's bottle during the press conference," says Kenneth Shea, market expert. drinks from Bloomberg Intelligence, to BBC Mundo.
Ms. Shea stressed that these short-term movements in the share price do not necessarily change the value of the company in the long term.
“It's clear that celebrity support is important to many consumers, at least right now. But companies like Coca-Cola are built for the long haul and have diversified their product portfolio to include sugar-free drinks and calorie-free and bottled water, ”says Diego Mora, senior analyst at Coca-Cola.
Diego Mora, senior analyst at XTB, argues that "you can never know exactly why millions of people decide to sell a stock".
However, given Ronaldo's media impact and his ability to influence people, "it's very likely that Coca-Cola's downfall was due to his words," he told BBC Mundo.
But the case did not end there.
Coca-Cola is one of the official sponsors of the tournament and this gesture forced the organizers to explain in the media that "everyone has the right to have their preferences when it comes to drink, which depends on tastes and needs".
However, several users of social networks recalled an advertisement in which the Portuguese had played for Coca-Cola in Japan on the occasion of the 2006 World Cup.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) also noted that during press conferences, players and coaches are offered, in addition to Coca-Cola, bottles of water from the same company.
But the gesture of Ronaldo, who has toured the world and reached among others his nearly 300 million Instagram followers, was also echoed by other stars playing in the European Championship.
Thus, on Tuesday, French midfielder Paul Pogba, in the middle of a press conference after the 1-0 victory against Germany, hid from sight a bottle of Heineken non-alcoholic beer, another of the tournament's sponsor brands.
Pogba is a Muslim and does not drink alcoholic beverages.
Cristiano's records
In addition to the Coca-Cola bottles, Cristiano Ronaldo has once again made a name for himself for his goals.
Entering the lawn of the Ferenc Puskas stadium in Budapest, he became the only player to have taken part in five European championships.
However, his historic feat began in the 87th minute, when he converted a penalty to score his side's second goal against Hungary.
He repeated the feat in the 93rd minute, scoring the third goal. He thus brought his total to 11 goals, surpassing Michel Platini's record by two and becoming the top scorer in the history of the continental tournament.
He also extended his European dominance: Cristiano Ronaldo is also the top scorer in the history of the Champions League with 134 goals, the Portuguese national team with 106 goals and Real Madrid with 311 goals to his name.
He is also four goals behind Ali Daei, the legendary Iranian striker, to overtake him as the player who has scored the most goals for a country.
