10AM Hour: New Coca-Cola CEO’s First Broadcast Interview, UPS CEO on Earnings, Southern Company CEO on Data Center Buildout 7/28/26

In this segment, CNBC interviews Coca-Cola CEO Enrique Braun during his first broadcast appearance since taking over in March. Braun emphasizes continuity and strategic focus on building major brands and leveraging the company's global system of bottlers. He highlights the company's strong quarterly performance driven by diverse portfolio categories, including water, sports drinks, and coffee, assisted by successful campaigns like the World Cup and innovative packaging initiatives. Braun discusses consumer-centric approaches, value-based pricing, and efforts to increase consumer engagement through digital innovation and product choices, including responding to environmental concerns such as artificial ingredients and ingredient transparency. He also addresses the company's outlook on growth, the potential impact of inflation, and their ongoing efforts to tell the story of data center growth and its benefits.

UPS CEO Carol Tomay discusses the company's recent earnings, which surpassed expectations, and their optimistic full-year guidance despite a declining stock price. She elaborates on their strategic focus post-'Glide Down' of Amazon volume, emphasizing growth in segments like healthcare and SMB, and leveraging their integrated network to serve evolving customer needs. Tomay addresses concerns about data center growth, competitive pressures from Amazon, and the importance of structured contracts to ensure sustainable benefits for the company. She highlights the company's efforts to manage inflation and supply chain challenges, and their positive outlook for upcoming holiday season volume growth and profitability, while also touching on discussions around tariffs and their impact on global trade.

Southern CEO Chris Womack discusses the burgeoning data center industry in Atlanta and across southeastern US, driven by major developments like OpenAI's power agreement outside Savannah. Womack stresses the importance of transparent communication about data centers, emphasizing that they should be viewed as economic assets that benefit communities and support national security. He talks about the company’s strategic approach to powering growth, managing power demand, and supporting community investments through equitable contracts, while addressing political and environmental concerns over data center energy consumption and environmental impact. Womack highlights the transformative potential of data centers for regional economic development, job creation, and technological innovation, asserting that Southern Company is well-positioned to support this growth with reliable, clean power.