There's a common rumour that does the rounds on the internet that at one point, PepsiCo was given a bunch of ships by the USSR, and as a result of this transaction, it's often stated to have owned the 6th largest navy in the world at that point, which obviously raises the question, did it? Well, to begin, the story often deviates on when PepsiCo came into ownership of this navy. Some versions say that it was after the Second World War, and some say it was in the 60s, and others the 80s, with the last one being correct since the transaction occurred in 1989. So what was this transaction? So Pepsi wanted to continue selling its drinks to the very large internal market of the USSR, yet there was a snag.
The Soviet ruble was a closed currency, meaning that outside of the USSR it was basically worthless. It couldn't be traded for dollars, which meant that foreign companies couldn't take their profits out of the country. To counteract this, Pepsi made a deal in the 1970s with a Soviet vodka company.
This meant that some of the profits from the sale of that vodka globally would be used to reimburse Pepsi for its sales in the USSR. As time went on though, Pepsi was starting to lose money and so it renegotiated. And this is where the ships come in.
Pepsi made a deal with the Soviet government and it was reported in the USA that in return for the continued sale of Pepsi there, the USSR would instead pay with decommissioned naval vessels which would then be sailed to India and then sold for scrap to reimburse the company. Some news outlets reported that the deal had secured Pepsi 17 submarines, a frigate, a destroyer and a cruiser. Would this have been the sixth largest navy in the world though? Well, no, not even close. It wasn't even in the top 30, but for a private company that would have been a fairly impressive navy.
There's also one other problem in that it never happened. The sale of these warships for scrap was an idea floated by the Soviet government but it was never accepted. Every ship in the Soviet navy which was scrapped during this period is accounted for, and in fact the deal saw the USSR build freight ships for Pepsi which could then sell or lease them out as it saw fit. And so, sorry to disappoint you all, but Pepsi never owned a navy and even if it had it wasn't a very large one.
For what it's worth though, the deal was finalised in 1990 and it remained in effect for 18 months before the USSR collapsed and Pepsi had to start negotiations all over again. It's all fun and games until Coke gets an aircraft carrier.