In 1931, at the depth of the Great Depression, the Pepsi-Cola Company entered bankruptcy – in large part due to financial losses incurred by speculating on the wildly fluctuating sugar prices as a result ofWorld War I. Assets were sold and Roy C. Megargel bought the Pepsi trademark.[3] Megargel was unsuccessful, and soon Pepsi's assets were purchased by Charles Guth, the President of Loft, Inc. Loft was a candy manufacturer with retail stores that contained soda fountains. He sought to replaceCoca-Cola at his stores' fountains after Coke refused to give him a discount on syrup. Guth then hadLoft's chemists reformulate the Pepsi-Cola syrup formula.
On three separate occasions between 1922 and 1933, The Coca-Cola Company was offered the opportunity to purchase the Pepsi-Cola company, and it declined on each occasion.[5]