Consumer Biz Rewind: Pepsico and Others WORRY About Water, The NYT DIVESTS About.com

Beverage industry big players such as PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE:PEP), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE:DPS), and Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP) formed a group in 2006 to support water conservation projects with which to ensure a reliable supply of their prime ingredient. These and other industry companies spend millions in this effort, but the current long-term forecasts show the scarcity of water as one of the very biggest risks, and this year’s widespread drought has raised the resulting anxiety to even greater levels.

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The New York Times Co. (NYSE:NYT) will divest About.com to Answers.com for $270 million, says AllThingsD. In July the firm wrote down a $195 million goodwill loss on its question and answer website as it posted lower profit estimates.

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