Warren Buffett's face will adorn cans of Cherry Coke in China

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Coca-Cola is putting the likeness of Warren Buffett on Cherry Coke cans in China, hoping to benefit from its biggest shareholder's popularity in the country.

According to its website, Coca-Cola got permission from the billionaire investor to use his image on cans for a limited time, while supplies last. It launched Cherry Coke in China on March 10.

Cherry Coke has been available in the US since 1985.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc, which Buffett runs, is Coke's largest investor, with a 9.3 percent stake worth roughly 17 billion dollars.

Muhtar Kent, chairman and chief executive officer of Coca-Cola Co., looks on during a Bloomberg Television interview at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on January 21, 2016. /CFP Photo

"I can't think of a better way to launch Cherry Coke than with its best-known fan on the package," Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent said in a release. "It is an honor for us to be able to feature Warren on his favorite drink as it rolls out in one of the world's most exciting and dynamic consumer markets."

Buffett has many fans in China, which often sends a large contingent to watch him at Berkshire's annual meetings in Omaha, Nebraska.

Last year, Berkshire webcast its meeting for the first time, and provided simultaneous translation only in Mandarin, and the Omaha World Herald reported more than 3,000 Chinese investors traveled to the meeting.

"Warren Buffett is the financial god in China," said Linda Steele, a founder of the Nebraska Chinese Association in Omaha, told the paper. "He is being praised in China as the one who can never be beaten in the stock market. Many Chinese investors are crazy about him."

Buffett has often said he drinks five Cokes a day, and joked that he is "one quarter Coca-Cola" because the beverage accounts for 25 percent of his caloric intake.

The 86-year-old told shareholders at Berkshire's annual meeting last April that he had no evidence he would be more likely to live to 100 if he switched to "water and broccoli."

(Source: Reuters)