---
title: "Which came first, Fanta or Samsung?"
description: "Fanta vs Samsung: Samsung came first, by 2 years — 1938 against 1940. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/fanta-vs-samsung/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Fanta or Samsung?

**Which came first, Fanta or Samsung?: Samsung**

1938 — 2 years before Fanta

Samsung came first, by 2 years. Lee Byung-chul opened a trading company in Daegu, Korea.

## Side by side

|  | Fanta | Samsung |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1940 | 1938 |
| Date | — | 1938-03-01 |
| Category | food | company |
| What happened | Coca-Cola's German bottler invented it when syrup imports stopped. | Lee Byung-chul opened a trading company in Daegu, Korea. |

## Fanta

When the war cut Coca-Cola GmbH off from American syrup, its head Max Keith made a drink from what was available in Germany — whey left over from cheese making and apple pomace left over from cider pressing. The name came from a brainstorming session where staff were told to use their imagination, Fantasie. Sprite arrived 21 years later in 1961, developed from a German lemon drink Coca-Cola had launched in 1959, so Fanta comfortably predates it.

## Samsung

Samsung began in 1938 as a grocery trading company dealing in dried fish, vegetables and noodles, which it exported to Manchuria. It moved into textiles, insurance and retail before making its first electronic product — a black-and-white television — in 1970. The name means "three stars".

## Common questions

### Which came first, Fanta or Samsung?

Samsung, by 2 years — 1938 against 1940.

### When did Fanta start?

1940. Coca-Cola's German bottler invented it when syrup imports stopped.

### When did Samsung start?

1938. Lee Byung-chul opened a trading company in Daegu, Korea.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]