The market value of soft drink giant Coca Cola dropped from $242bn to $238bn after the incident.
In the latest example of famous personalities rocking the financial markets, Cristiano Ronaldo’s decision to remove two Coca-Cola bottles from a press conference table and shout “Agua” (water) prompted a sudden sell-off on the markets, dropping the drinks company’s share price from $56.10 to $55.22.
Cristiano Ronaldo simply moving Coca Cola out of the way and saying “drink water” caused Coca Cola to lose $4 billion in value today… pic.twitter.com/pOsOsXiXGy
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 15, 2021
Responding to the Portugal playmaker, Coca-Cola said “everyone is entitled to their drink preferences” and have different “tastes and needs”.
As an official sponsor of Euro 2020, a spokesman for the tournament said “players are offered water, alongside Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, on arrival at our press conferences.”
Ronaldo moved ahead of Michel Platini as the record goalscorer at the European tournament, scoring twice last night against Hungary to bring his total to 11 goals.
The world-famous Juventus attacker now stands alongside entrepreneurs like Elon Musk for wielding their new-found influence on the financial markets, although the effect of Ronaldo’s gesture was likely unintended.
Musk has most recently appeared conciliatory towards Bitcoin, announcing his Tesla company had only sold a fraction of its holdings and would start accepting the cryptocurrency again when mining becomes more environmentally friendly.
This is inaccurate. Tesla only sold ~10% of holdings to confirm BTC could be liquidated easily without moving market.
When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 13, 2021
His statement distancing Tesla from Bitcoin last month saw the price of the coin drop by more than 50 per cent, in a sudden spiral for what had been an increasingly popular asset.
Ronaldo says 'drink water' and Coca Cola stocks drop by $4 billion.
Is he the Elon Musk of carbonated beverages?— Sorabh Pant (@hankypanty) June 16, 2021
Elon:My one Tweet Can Change Whole Crypto Market
Ronaldo:hold my water🤣#CocaCola #Ronaldo @CocaCola @Cristiano ❤ pic.twitter.com/X14IZUvnoK— //ح م ز ہ ر ا ج// (@MrHamzu__) June 16, 2021
It remains to be seen if Paul Pogba can have a similar effect on the market value of Heineken, however.
First Ronaldo with the Coca-Cola…
Now Paul Pogba wasn't happy with the Heineken in front of him at his press conference 🍺❌ pic.twitter.com/SU1ifQPGOP
— Goal (@goal) June 16, 2021
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