“The Federal Trade Commission today announced that it will require The Coca-Cola Company to restrict its access to confidential competitive business information of rival Dr Pepper Snapple Group as a condition for completing Coca-Cola’s proposed $12.3 billion acquisition of its largest North American bottler, which also distributes Dr Pepper Snapple carbonated soft drinks. Under a settlement with the FTC, Coca-Cola will set up a “firewall” to ensure that its ownership of the bottling company does not give certain Coca-Cola employees access to commercially sensitive confidential Dr Pepper Snapple marketing information and brand plans. In a complaint filed with the settlement, the FTC charged that access to this information likely would have harmed competition in the U.S. markets for carbonated soft drinks. On February 26, 2010, the FTC approved a proposed settlement order in which PepsiCo agreed to set up a similar information firewall after acquiring its two largest bottlers and distributors (see press release).”