[aspenmayer]

> During the Second World War, Germany was under a United States trade embargo, the British naval blockade and the import of Coca-Cola syrup was prohibited. To circumvent this, Max Keith, the head of Coca-Cola Deutschland (Coca-Cola GmbH), decided to create a new product for the German market, using only ingredients available in Germany at the time, including sugar beet, whey (a cheese byproduct), and apple pomace. He later described them as the "leftovers of leftovers".

An embargo is literally a ban on trading.

[tzs]

That's Coca-Cola GmbH, a German company that was owned by a US company. When the US and Germany were at war the US Coca-Cola lost control of Coca-Cola GmbH. It wasn't until after the war that the US company got control back.

[aspenmayer]

A distinction that matters somewhat in the context of the comparison to IBM, but given that the two Coca-Cola companies recombined after the war, it’s one of little difference.