Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR.DL) is hoping that a pop star will get it back in Wall Street's good graces. The company behind the Keurig single-cup brewing system revealed that Coca-Cola (KO -0.24%) executive Brian Kelley will be its new CEO.
Back in September, Coke had tapped Kelley to head its North American refreshment business starting in January. Well, he decided to go with Green Mountain instead.
The Coca-Cola connection doesn't mean Green Mountain will move away from hot beverages, though the company already has the "Brew Over Ice" line of beverages that are brewed hot but cooled down by trickling into a cup of ice.
Kelley will help give the company credibility when it needs it, after seeing its stock get slammed over the past year. It would be a bonus if he's able to use his extensive list of contacts to expand Green Mountain's retail reach.
Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.
- Nuance Communications (NUAN) investors don't want to hear this, but the pioneer of voice-recognition technology fell short on the top line in its latest quarter. Nuance's revenue climbed an impressive 28% to $468.8 million, but the pros were targeting $498 million this time.
- Baidu (BIDU -1.36%) raised nearly $1.5 billion in debt financing, even though the company already has more than $3.3 billion in cash and marketable securities on its balance sheet. Maybe China's leading search engine will eye a few acquisitions with its newfound funds.
- Research In Motion (BB -9.51%) traded in the double digits for the first time since June, triggered by an analyst who doubled his price target on the shares from $5 to $10. BlackBerry 10, don't fail RIM now.
Moving on
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