Bill Ackman Says Warren Buffett Told Him ‘I Haven’t Had Water in 48 Years’ — His Cherry Coke Habit Now Pays Berkshire $848 Million a Year

by | Nov 10, 2026 | General

Still or sparkling? At one billionaire’s dinner table, the right answer turned out to be neither.

Years ago, Pershing Square Inc. (NYSE:PS) CEO Bill Ackman hosted then-Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK) (NYSE:BRK) chief Warren Buffett at his home. Ackman made sure Cherry Coke was on hand before his guest arrived, then offered water anyway. Buffett passed and asked for a Coke.

“But I said, you know, ‘Don’t you drink water?’” Ackman recalled on the “Equity Mates Investing” podcast released on Oct. 28. “And he said, ‘Bill, I haven’t had water in 48 years.’”

Forty-Eight Years Keeps Showing Up

The number has a history. Buffett used it once before, in his 1985 letter to Berkshire shareholders, when he gave up Pepsi, the flagship soda of PepsiCo Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP).

“After 48 years of allegiance to another soft drink, your Chairman, in an unprecedented display of behavioral flexibility, has converted to the new Cherry Coke,” Buffett wrote. “Henceforth, it will be the Official Drink of the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.”

It was a real conversion. His son, Howard Buffett, used to call him “Pepsi Warren.”

A Quarter Of His Calories Come In A Can

Decades later, the habit hadn’t faded. “I’m one quarter Coca-Cola,” Buffett told Fortune in 2015.

He meant it literally. “If I eat 2,700 calories a day, a quarter of that is Coca-Cola,” he said. “I drink at least five 12-ounce servings.”

His usual split, he told the magazine, was three Cokes during the day and two at night, with regular Coke at the office and Cherry Coke at home.

A $1.3 Billion Bet That Keeps Fizzing

The drink order turned into one of Berkshire’s best-known investments. Berkshire began buying Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO) stock in 1988 and finished building its 400-million-share stake by 1994 at a total cost of about $1.3 billion, or more than $3 billion in today’s dollars. It still owns roughly 9% of the company and has never sold a share.

Coca-Cola raised its quarterly dividend to 53 cents per share in February, its 64th consecutive annual increase. That works out to $2.12 per share a year.

Across Berkshire’s 400 million shares, that’s about $848 million in annual dividend income, up from $816 million in 2025. Measured against the original $1.3 billion, Berkshire collects roughly 65% of its cost back every year from dividends alone.

Coca-Cola is on track to send Berkshire $848 million this year, and its most famous customer has been holding up his end at the soda fountain for decades.

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