Under which state corporation law was Coca-Cola reincorporated in 1919?

Coca-Cola was reincorporated in 1919 under the Delaware General Corporation Law.

The change followed the sale of Coca-Cola to a group of investors led by Ernest Woodruff’s Trust Company of Georgia. On September 12, 1919, the investors purchased the company for $25 million, after which Coca-Cola was reincorporated under Delaware law.

This was a major corporate transition rather than a change to the beverage itself. The Delaware General Corporation Law provided the legal framework for the company’s new corporate structure. Coca-Cola also publicly offered 500,000 shares at $40 per share as part of the financial reorganization.

The 1919 deal began the Woodruff era. Ernest Woodruff’s son, Robert W. Woodruff, later became Coca-Cola’s president in 1923 and helped guide the company through decades of expansion. The reincorporation is sometimes confused with the company’s original founding in 1892, but those were separate corporate milestones.