'I'm not buying Coca Cola to put cocaine back in': Elon Musk after Manchester United joke

After clarifying his tweet on buying football club Manchester United, Elon Musk has now tweeted about his previous idea of buying Coca Cola. After sealing a multi-billion dollar deal to acquire Twitter back in April this year, Musk had tweeted that he would buy the beverage company to "put cocaine back in". Irrespective of the morality behind this move, his tweet became one of the most popular ones on Twitter and it has garnered over 4.7 million likes as of August 17.

Now almost four months after his joke, the billionaire said that he will not buy the brand despite the popularity of the idea. "And I’m not buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in, despite the extreme popularity of such a move", Musk wrote in his tweet. 

During his recent appearance on the Full Send Podcast, Musk reiterated that Coca Cola did contain cocaine initially. "Coca-Cola used to have Cocaine back in the day", Musk was heard saying.

Did Coca-Cola really have cocaine as an ingredient?

Invented by Atlanta-based pharmacist John Pemberton in 1885, the beverage did contain cocaine initially but not in the form which is usually perceived. The original recipe actually contained extracts of coca leaf, from which cocaine is derived after complete processing.

Citing paleoethnobotanist Matthew Biwer, a professor at Dickinson College, Inverse reported that this extract was called ecgonine, which is a less processed form of cocaine and was used in the beverage in small amounts until 1929. Grown mostly in western South America, Coca can be used for recreational purposes as well as curing altitude sickness, according to the expert. 

Apart from Coca, the other half of the brand's name is inspired by the Kola nut which is found in West Africa and is rich in caffeine. 

Musk's tweet on buying Manchester United

Earlier today, Musk tweeted that he is going to but European football club Manchester United, however, he soon labelled it as a joke after his statement went viral. "No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams", Musk said when asked if he is being serious. "Although, if it were any team, it would be Man U. They were my fav team as a kid", he added in another tweet.