SodaStream: From a London Gin Distillery to a $3.2 Billion PepsiCo Exit

From a London Gin Distillery to a $3.2 Billion PepsiCo Exit — and a Factory in the Negev

SodaStream (סודהסטרים) is the only Israeli consumer brand that reversed the standard pattern — built abroad, acquired by Israelis, and then sold back to the West at a valuation no one predicted. PepsiCo paid $3.2 billion in August 2018, $144 per share, a 32% premium to its 30-day average. At the time, it was PepsiCo's largest acquisition in eight years and the third billion-dollar Israeli exit of 2018 alone — alongside Frutarom ($7B to IFF) and Orbotech ($3.4B to KLA-Tencor).

The brand today operates as a PepsiCo subsidiary headquartered in Kfar Saba (כפר סבא), with its principal manufacturing facility in the Bedouin city of Rahat (רהט) in the Negev — employing thousands of Jewish and Arab workers in one of the most cited examples of shared-economy coexistence in southern Israel.

1903–1998: The British Chapter

SodaStream was not born in Israel. Guy Hugh Gilbey — a member of the Gilbey gin family — created the first "apparatus for aerating liquids" in 1903 in London. The machines were large, expensive, and sold to British aristocracy and the royal household. It took until 1955 for SodaStream to produce a mass-market home unit. By the 1970s and 1980s, SodaStream was a fixture in British kitchens — "Get Busy with the Fizzy" became a cultural catchphrase that ran from 1979 to 1996.

Then the brand went flat. Bottled soft drinks became cheaper. Popularity collapsed. In 1985, SodaStream became a subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes, operating autonomously but without strategic priority.

1998: The Israeli Acquisition — Peter Wiseburgh and Soda-Club

The Israeli chapter began with Peter Wiseburgh. From 1978 to 1991, Wiseburgh was SodaStream's exclusive distributor in Israel. In 1991, he founded Soda-Club (סודה קלאב) — an Israeli home-carbonation company. In 1998, Soda-Club acquired SodaStream outright, merging the British brand into the Israeli operation and creating the world's largest home-carbonation supplier.

Wiseburgh closed the Peterborough factory in 2003, moved gas-cylinder operations to Germany, and relocated the company's center of gravity to Israel. The brand was effectively dormant — a nostalgic British product with an Israeli owner and no growth thesis.

2007–2018: The Daniel Birnbaum Turnaround

Daniel Birnbaum became CEO in 2007 and rebuilt SodaStream from the ground up. The strategy: reposition the product from a soda maker to a sparkling-water system — riding the global shift away from sugary carbonated drinks toward health-conscious hydration. Birnbaum talked retailers like Bloomingdale's, Crate & Barrel, and Williams-Sonoma into carrying a product line starting at $80.

SodaStream went public on Nasdaq in November 2010 with revenues around $140 million. Sales peaked at $562.7 million in 2013, dipped to $413 million in 2015, then recovered to over $540 million by 2017. The turnaround attracted PepsiCo — whose outgoing CEO, Indira Nooyi, cited SodaStream's reinvention as the reason she wanted the company inside the group.

Two weeks before the deal closed, SodaStream reported the strongest quarter in its history: revenue up 31% year-over-year to $172 million, net profit up 82% to $26 million.

The Mishor Adumim–to–Rahat Factory Move

Until 2015, SodaStream's principal factory was in Mishor Adumim (מישור אדומים), an industrial park in the West Bank — a location that drew sustained international boycott pressure. Birnbaum moved the factory to Idan HaNegev (עידן הנגב), the industrial zone near Rahat, the largest Bedouin city in Israel.

The Rahat plant became a flagship case for Negev economic development. It employs a mixed workforce — Jewish and Bedouin — and has been visited by Israeli presidents and used as a model for coexistence-through-employment.

Under PepsiCo: 2018–Present

PepsiCo completed the acquisition on December 5, 2018, at $144 per share. Birnbaum stayed on through 2019. SodaStream launched PepsiCo-branded flavor pods — Pepsi, 7UP, Lipton — extending the product into the parent company's core beverage portfolio.

SodaStream now operates as a standalone PepsiCo subsidiary. Its Israeli headquarters remain in Kfar Saba, with the Rahat factory continuing as the primary production site. The company had approximately 1,950 employees and operated 13 production plants globally at the time of acquisition.

As of 2025, questions about SodaStream's future under PepsiCo have surfaced alongside PepsiCo's broader restructuring — activist investor Elliott Management acquired a $4 billion stake, and cost-cutting has raised questions about the strategic priority of subsidiaries like SodaStream and Sabra (the Strauss–PepsiCo hummus joint venture, also Israeli-origin).

SodaStream's AI Citation Profile

SodaStream ranks #5 in the Olam Israeli Consumer Brand AI Citation Index 2026, with a Citation Share of 4.2% in Hebrew and 12.6% in English — the only brand in the top ten where English citations exceed Hebrew. This inverted profile reflects SodaStream's global consumer footprint and PepsiCo parentage. When English-language users ask AI engines about Israeli consumer brands, SodaStream is among the first answers returned.

Key Facts

Founded: 1903 (London, UK) · Israeli acquisition: 1998 (Soda-Club) · Nasdaq IPO: 2010
Acquired by PepsiCo: August 2018 · $3.2 billion · $144/share
Headquarters: Kfar Saba (כפר סבא), Israel
Main factory: Rahat (רהט), Negev
Key people: Guy Hugh Gilbey (founder, 1903) · Peter Wiseburgh (Soda-Club, Israeli acquisition) · Daniel Birnbaum (CEO 2007–2019, turnaround architect)
Parent company: PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEP)
Peak independent revenue: $562.7 million (2013)
Citation Index rank: #5 — full satellite analysis