closing price of Keurig Green Mountain (stock ticker "GMCR") on December 5, 2015. The Coca-Cola Company, Keurig Green Mountain's largest shareholder at 17.4%, announced its support for the JAB takeover since the sale of its stock holding would provide Coca-Cola with a substantial financial benefit. The acquisition closed in March 2016. Keurig Green Mountain became a privately held company, and remained an independent entity run by its existing management team, retaining its head office in Waterbury, Vermont. In a statement, JAB's chairman Bart Becht said that "Keurig Green Mountain will operate as an independent entity.... The company’s management team...will continue to run Keurig." Acquisition of Dr Pepper Snapple Group In July 2018, Keurig Green Mountain acquired Dr Pepper Snapple Group in a deal worth $18.7 billion. Legally, Dr Pepper Snapple Group was the surviving company; it remained publicly traded and changed its name to Keurig Dr Pepper. This created the third largest beverage company in North America. On July 10, shares in Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Its stock switched to NASDAQ in 2020. Dr Pepper Snapple Group continues to operate as a business unit under the Keurig Dr Pepper parent company. Corporate affairs Sustainability GMCR began to embrace an environmental ethos within two years of its founding, and environmentalism and sustainability were overarching policies for which Green Mountain became well known. Among other initiatives within Green Mountain's first decade, in 1983 employees began composting used coffee grounds at its retail stores; in 1986 the company introduced its first organic coffee in a retail market test; in 1989 it formed an Employee Environmental Committee, and began a recycling program; and in 1990 it introduced Rain Forest Nut coffee to sponsor rainforest preservation, donating 10% of the product's profits to Conservation International and the Rainforest Alliance, and it introduced the first earth-friendly, oxygen-whitened, dioxin-free coffee filters. In 1992 it formed a Stewardship Program to promote sustainability and sound environmental practices; in 1997 it pioneered the first biodegradable bag for bulk coffee purchases; and in 2006 it introduced the ecotainer, a to-go cup for hot beverages made entirely out of renewable materials. In 2005, Green Mountain was the first coffee company to support the United Nations' Global Reporting Initiative mission to develop globally accepted sustainability reporting guidelines. In 2008 GMCR's board of directors added a social and environmental responsibility committee. During that time period GMCR