PepsiCo said Monday it’s acquiring the prebiotic soda brand Poppi for $1.95 billion.
The acquisition gives PepsiCo a fast-growing brand in the popular functional beverage category.
“More than ever, consumers are looking for convenient and great-tasting options that fit their lifestyles and respond to their growing interest in health and wellness,” PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta said in a statement.
PepsiCo said the transaction includes $300 million of anticipated cash benefits, bringing the net purchase price to $1.65 billion.
Allison Ellsworth, the co-founder of Austin, Texas-based Poppi, said the combination with PepsiCo will expand Poppi’s reach.
“We can’t wait to begin this next chapter with PepsiCo to bring our soda to more people – and I know they will honor what makes Poppi so special while supporting our next phase of growth and innovation,” Ellsworth said in a statement.
Ellsworth developed Poppi – then known as Mother Beverage -- in her kitchen in 2015 because she loved soda but was tired of the way it made her feel. She mixed fruit juices with apple cider vinegar, sparkling water and prebiotics and sold the drink at farmer's markets.
The brand took off in 2018 when Ellsworth and her husband pitched it on “Shark Tank.” An investor on the show, Rohan Oza, took a stake in Mother Beverage and undertook a major rebrand. Poppi, with its brightly-colored, fruit-forward cans, was born.
“We’re beyond thrilled to be partnering with PepsiCo so that even more consumers across America, and the world, can enjoy Poppi,” said Oza, the co-founder CAVU Consumer Partners, which has also invested in beverage brands like Oatly and Bai.
But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Poppi. Last summer, multiple class-action lawsuits were filed against the brand by consumers who said its products don’t improve gut health as much as their marketing suggests.
Poppi denied those claims, and noted that it removed references to “gut health” from its packaging in late 2023. But according to a court filing last week, Poppi has agreed to a settlement that includes an $8.9 million fund for payments to consumers. A hearing on the settlement is scheduled for May 8.
PepsiCo shares rose nearly 2% in morning trading Monday.
FILE - A can of Poppi prebiotic soda is shown on Wednesday, April 10, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, file)
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have concluded a call as the White House pushes its 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine aimed at ending the grinding war.
Trump and Putin agreed during their call to seek a limited ceasefire against energy and infrastructure targets in the Russia-Ukraine war, according to the White House.
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Trump and Putin agreed during their call Tuesday to seek a limited ceasefire against energy and infrastructure targets in the Russia-Ukraine war, according to the White House.
The White House described it as the first step in a “movement to peace” it hopes will eventually include a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea and a full and lasting end to the fighting.
The White House said negotiations would “begin immediately” on those steps. It was not immediately clear whether Ukraine is on board with the phased ceasefire plan.
Putin also called on Trump to end foreign military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine as the U.S. looks to bring an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.
▶ Read more about Trump’s call with Putin
“No one wants to fight more than me, no one fights more than me,” Schumer said in an interview on ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday. “But you’ve got to fight smart.”
That’s several days after declining to answer a question about his support of the Senate Democratic leader.
The two New York lawmakers met Sunday after a public rift over a Republican spending bill last week. Jeffries said Tuesday that they had a “good conversation about the path forward.” Asked if he supports Schumer’s leadership, he said “yes, I do.”
Last week, after Schumer announced he would vote to move forward on the Republican spending bill, Jeffries declined to answer a similar question, responding instead, “next question.”
House Democrats vehemently opposed the bill and were willing to risk a government shutdown if it didn’t pass the Senate. Schumer argued that a shutdown would be worse than the Republican legislation as President Trump has overseen mass firings across the government.
Trump and Putin have concluded the more than hour-long call as the White House pushes its 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine aimed at ending the grinding war.
The White House and Kremlin did not offer any immediate details about the substance of the conversation, but both have confirmed the call has ended.
Trump said before the call that he expected to discuss with Putin land and power plants that have been seized during the three-year war.
▶ Read more about Trump’s call with Putin
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson refrained from commenting on Trump’s decision Tuesday but took the opportunity to criticize the outlets.
“I do not comment on U.S. domestic policy changes,” Mao Ning said when asked about it. “But as for the media you mentioned, their bad records in reporting on China are not a secret.”
The Trump’s administration put almost the entire staff of Voice of America on leave last weekend and ended grants to Radio Free Asia and other media with similar news programming.
Radio Free Asia has an extensive Chinese-language service and frequently reports on human rights issues, including the detention of activists and repression of ethnic groups in Xinjiang and Tibet. The government refutes allegations of abuse.
▶ Read more about Trump’s cuts to Voice of America
In an extraordinary display of conflict between the executive and judiciary branches, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected calls for impeaching federal judges shortly after Trump demanded the removal of the judge who ruled against his deportation plans.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said in a rare statement. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
In a Tuesday morning social media post, Trump described U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg as an unelected “troublemaker and agitator.” Boasberg recently issued an order blocking deportation flights under wartime authorities from an 18th century law that Trump invoked to carry out his plans.
▶ Read more about Trump and Chief Justice John Roberts
The Senate Finance Committee Chairman will hold the hearing to consider Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security Administration on March 25.
The hearing comes as the agency institutes across-the-board cuts, which have prompted questions about the possible effects on benefits for tens of millions of recipients.
Among the changes at the agency are layoffs for more than 10% of the workforce and the closure of dozens of offices throughout the country. It’s all part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce.
The order applies to more than 100 teacher preparation and training programs the administration canceled in February.
The judge in Maryland issued the preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and the National Center for Teacher Residencies.
The administration cut $600 million in grants to teacher training programs, saying they ran afoul of its policies against diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Grantees rejected the notion that their work was tied to DEI. Many programs used the money to hire teachers, to pay for college scholarships, and to address retention issues leading to staff shortages.
The White House says President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have begun a highly anticipated call as the U.S. administration looks to persuade the Russian leader to sign-off on a 30-day ceasefire proposal as a possible pathway to end the war.
Tuesday’s call comes after Ukrainian officials last week agreed to the American proposal during talks in Saudi Arabia led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, remains skeptical that Putin is ready for peace as Russian forces continue to pound Ukraine.
Trump, before the call, said he expected to discuss with Putin land and power plants that have been seized during the grinding three-year war.
▶ Read more about Trump’s call with Putin
The Trump administration’s “great plan” to jumpstart a resurgence of manufacturing in the United States is simple, the vice president said.
“We’re going to cut your taxes, we’re going to slash regulations, we’re going to reduce the cost of energy so that you can build, build, build,” he said at a summit on American dynamism in Washington.
Vance said innovation will be a key component and there’s too much fear that artificial intelligence will replace jobs. He recalled early concerns that ATMs would replace bank tellers.
“People in our country illegally can self-deport the easy way, or they can get deported the hard way. And that’s not pleasant,” Trump said in a video posted to the White House account on the X social media platform.
He said his administration is repurposing a Customs and Border Protection app first launched under the Biden administration into one people can use to voluntarily leave the country and avoid being forcibly removed as he executes on his promise of mass deportations.
Trump said anyone leaving the country on their own could potentially return legally at a future date.
But if they don’t, he said “they will be found, they will be deported and they will never be admitted again to the United States ever, ever again.”
On Tuesday, the president called for the impeachment of a federal judge who has tried to stop deportations to El Salvador.
“This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The Republican president’s latest post aligns him more with allies like Elon Musk, who has made similar demands.
On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “I have not heard the president talk about impeaching judges.”
Shortly after taking office, Trump directed his national intelligence director and attorney general to come up with a plan to release the sought-after records related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The killing has spawned countless conspiracy theories.
Trump said Monday that some 80,000 files will be released, but it wasn’t clear how many of them are among the millions of JFK records that have already been made public.
He said his instructions to his staff were, “don’t redact.”
Trump has hung a copy of the Declaration of Independence in the Oval Office, according to images he shared on social media.
The Republican president’s official account on X showed two images Monday of a framed copy of the historical document hanging on the wall not far from the president’s desk.
It was not immediately clear where the copy came from and when it was installed.
“The Nationals Archives delivered the Declaration of Independence to the White House at the President’s request. It is displayed in the Oval Office where it will be carefully protected and preserved,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
The original version of the Declaration of Independence is very faded and displayed in the Archives’ building. On the version hanging in the White House, according to the images posted, the words are clear and legible.
The White House and National Archives did not respond to messages inquiring what version of the document was in the White House.
▶ Read more about Trump’s new Oval Office decor
Vice President JD Vance’s speech will focus on support for American industry and workers, according to his office.
The summit is taking place at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington. It used to be a Trump hotel when Trump was president the first time.
According to the White House press office, Trump plans to sign executive orders in the Oval Office at 3:30 p.m. ET.
The White House has also confirmed Trump and Russian President Vladamir Putin will hold a call to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine on Tuesday, which is expected to happen between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. ET.
The Trump administration fired most of the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace and sent its new leader into the Washington headquarters of the independent organization on Monday, in its latest effort targeting agencies tied to foreign assistance work.
The remaining three members of the group’s board — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin — fired President and CEO George Moose on Friday, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.
An executive order that President Donald Trump signed last month targeted the organization, which was created by Congress over 40 years ago, and others for reductions.
Current USIP employees said staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency entered the building despite protests that the institute is not part of the executive branch. USIP called the police, whose vehicles were outside the building Monday evening.
▶ Read more about the gutting of USIP
District Judge James E. Boasberg was incredulous over the administration’s contentions that his verbal directions did not count, that only his written order needed to be followed, that it couldn’t apply to flights that had left the U.S. and that the administration could not answer his questions about the deportations due to national security issues.
“That’s one heck of a stretch, I think,” Boasberg replied, noting that the administration knew as the planes were departing that he was about to decide whether to briefly halt deportations being made under a rarely used 18th century law invoked by Trump about an hour earlier.
Deputy Associate Attorney General Abhishek Kambli contended that only Boasberg’s short written order, issued about 45 minutes after he made the verbal demand, counted. It did not contain any demands to reverse planes, and Kambli added that it was too late to redirect two planes that had left the U.S. by that time.
▶ Read more about the Trump deportation flights
The leaders are scheduled to speak between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. ET, a spokesperson for Putin said.
The talks are part of Trump’s effort to push the two sides into ending the three-year conflict by getting Putin to agree to a U.S. plan for a 30-day ceasefire that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted last week.
Zelenskyy said late Monday in his nightly video address that Putin is the one who is dragging out the war.
Trump said Washington and Moscow have begun discussing “dividing up certain assets” between Ukraine and Russia as part of the conflict-ending deal.
President Donald Trump talks with reporters as he visits the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Monday, March 17, 2025. (Pool via AP)
President Donald Trump attends a board meeting at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Monday, March 17, 2025. (Pool via AP)
FILE - President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
