Quaker CEO Robert Morrison was stunned when Mr. Daft phoned him with the news that Coke's board had decided not to proceed. People on the Quaker side say the company was led to believe the Coke board would approve the deal. Messrs. Morrison and Daft had even posed for joint publicity photos at Coke's New York offices earlier in the day, Mr. Morrison holding a Coca-Cola bottle, Mr. Daft a Gatorade. It also reflects a company trying to restore its proud record of growth, partly by looking in the rear-view mirror at rival PepsiCo Inc., which had backed away from its own attempt to buy Quaker. The late Roberto Goizueta, who ruled over the Atlanta soft-drink giant in its glory days in the 1980s and most of the 1990s, liked to know the outcome of every board meeting before it began.
Some outsiders are confused.
Mr. Daft oversaw the courtship of Quaker. Mr. Daft says he runs the company. Put in his job by a board that turned activist last year because of dissatisfaction with Mr. Goizueta's successor, M. Douglas Ivester, Mr. Daft says he listens to his board. Meanwhile, Mr. Buffett, who had reservations about the deal from the start, says he stands behind Mr. Daft. The world feels a lot better about the Coca-Cola company than it did a year ago.