Pepsi-Cola entered bankruptcy in 1923 after Caleb Bradham's company failed.
Bradham had created Pepsi-Cola in North Carolina and operated the business during a period of severe sugar-price volatility. When sugar prices rose sharply after World War I and then fell, the company suffered financially. Bradham's business could not withstand the resulting strain and entered bankruptcy in 1923.
The brand did not disappear permanently. Roy C. Megargel purchased the Pepsi-Cola trademark and assets from the bankruptcy proceedings and attempted to rebuild the business. Later ownership changes, bottling growth, and national marketing helped Pepsi become a major competitor to Coca-Cola.
This date is often confused with Pepsi's creation in 1893 or its renaming as Pepsi-Cola in 1898. The 1923 event was a corporate bankruptcy, not the end of the beverage's brand history.