Following his purchase of Twitter for $44 billion, Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased buying more iconic American companies in order to ostensibly restore them – even suggesting that he might buy Coca-Cola in order to reintroduce cocaine into the ingredients of the soft drink.
“Next I’m buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in,” Musk quipped in a late-night tweet Wednesday.
A Twitter user responded by sharing a photo of the first publicly-sold bottle from 1894 – a product that contained 3.5 grams of cocaine. “Bring it back,” the user added.
Musk replied that full-cocaine Coca-Cola “Kicks Red Bull’s ass!”
Billy Markus, the co-creator of Dogecoin who uses the Twitter name “Shibetoshi Nakamoto” (a reference to Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used by the inventors of Bitcoin), asked Musk, “can you buy fox I want another season of ‘firefly’.” “Firefly” (2002-2003) became a cult classic, despite getting canceled after only one season.
“Some sci-fi that actually features sci-fi would be great,” Musk replied.
The Tesla CEO even shared what appears to be a doctored photo of him promising on Twitter, “Now I’m going to buy McDonald’s and fix all of the ice cream machines…”
“Listen, I can’t do miracles ok,” Musk quipped in response to the suggestion.
Listen, I can’t do miracles ok pic.twitter.com/z7dvLMUXy8
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 28, 2022
John Stith Pemberton invented Coca-Cola in the late 1800s and marketed it as a temperance drink intended as a patent medicine. The name refers to two of its original ingredients: coca leaves, from which cocaine is derived; and kola nuts, a source of caffeine. Coca-Cola once contained an estimated nine milligrams of cocaine per glass (for comparison, a typical dose of cocaine is 50-75 milligrams). The company removed the cocaine in 1903.