Israeli company's stock drops in wake of Scarlett Johanssen's choice to represent SodaStream over Oxfam.
By JTAEmployees at the SodaStream factory at the ishor Adumim Industrial Park in the West Bank.(photo credit: TOVAH LAZAROFF)
SodaStream, under fire for operating a factory in the West Bank, has seen its stock drop to the lowest level in more than a year.The Israeli company’s stock price on the New York Stock Exchange fell 3.3 percent on Monday to$35.34.On Jan. 13, the share price dropped 26 percent after the manufacturer of home soda-makers failed to meet projected earnings for 2013, according to Bloomberg. It was also the first day of trading after the company signed actress Scarlett Johannson as its first global ambassador.Johansson late last month resigned from the humanitarian organization Oxfam following a protracted debate over her employment with SodaStream.Company CEO Daniel Birnbaum said earlier this week that the Israeli government had reneged on a deal to provide millions of dollars in aid to the company in order to expand its factory in the Negev, within the 1967 borders. He said the company would scale back its planned expansion.Birnbaum has said the company will not abandon its West Bank factory in Ma'ale Adumim, which employs Israelis and Palestinians.
