Pepsico's Median Employee Wage and Benefits Was $46,546 in 2020, FOUR TIMES Coca-Cola's $11,342. It's Because More Than Half of Pepsico's Employees Were Located in Higher Wage Countries, Whereas a Clear Majority of Coca-Cola's Employees Were Located in Very Low Wage Countries Like The Philippines, Mexico, Russia and South Africa.

Unlike Coca-Cola which has 66% of its 2020 Worldwide Total Revenues and 68% of its 2020 Worldwide Pretax Income generated outside of the US, Pepsico has only 38% of its 2020 Worldwide Revenues outside of North America and an even lower 31% of its 2020 Worldwide Operating Profit outside of North America.

The main driver of Pepsico profits is not its beverage business but rather its branded food and snack business, including the seemingly addictive Frito Lay products.  

Even more specifically, its Branded Food and Snack business in the US and in Canada, which is predominately Frito Lay, generated 2020 Operating Profit of $5,340 mil which is 46% of its Worldwide Total  of all Divisions' Operating Profit and also is a very high 29.4% of its Total Revenues.

On the other hand, its Beverage business in North America generated a much lower $1,937 mil in 2020 Operating Profit which is a measly 8.6% of its Total Revenues.

Thus unlike Coca-Cola, which has 88% of its employees located outside of the US and mostly in low wage countries, Pepsico has a clear majority of its employees located in the high wage countries of the US and Canada, as well as some Western Europe and other higher wage countries.

Thus, Pepsico's worldwide median wage and employee benefits is $46,546 in 2020, more than four times Coca-Cola's $11,342.

Pepsico does have about 20,000 employees located in Russia, which is its third largest market after the US and Mexico. 

And Pepsico has 24 plants and three R&D centers in Russia.

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Pepsico elected to only quit selling Pepsi and 7UP in Russia.  Big deal.

This decision showed that Pepsico valued its stockholders much more than the Western World and specifically even more than the US.  While nearly all Western World Countries including the US applied severe economic sanctions to harm Russia's economy, Pepsico did just the opposite by continuing to operate a huge portion of its operations in Russia.  

I think that in the long term, Pepsico's brand will be hurt by this clearly unpatriotic Company-Over-Country decision.

The Month Business Went To War

Pepsico Press Release on Russia