Letter to Vanguard Index Fund about Coke, please
review
One of our members used the form on the Coke web site last
week to once again ask about the actions of Coca Cola that we have
complained about. Is anyone surprised that they still received
basically the same response denying their participation in the
Georgia Business PAC.
At some point, surely Coke will realize that their participation
is the Georgia Business PAC is a matter of public record and take
enough time to at least come up with a new form letter to send in
response.
But lets look at some recent events. In Augusta, Georgia the
Mayor recently without public input or debate removed the Flags from
two Memorials to our ancestors. When asked by he gave answers to the
effect that the NAACP and "Business community" asked him to.
Well surprise, surprise, surprise, when you look up the listed
prominent members of the Augusta Chamber of Commerce on their web
site guess what one of the companies is?
Yep you guessed right, The Coca-Cola Company!
Did Coke once again use
their influence to attack Southern Heritage for the sake of forcing
political correctness upon the people of Georgia?
Well we do not know,
since they will not respond. But failing to respond does tell us
something doesn't it?
As Coke continues to perform below expectations in North America
there are going to be some not so happy stock holders when they see
the growing list of North American residents who have made a
commitment to not buy Coke products due to Coke's political
involvement.
So this month we start notifying some of the major holders of
Coke Stock:
|
Holder |
Shares |
% Out |
Value* |
Reported |
|
Vanguard 500 Index Fund |
22,636,376 |
0.94 |
$1,142,684,232 |
30-Jun-04 |
| Fidelity Magellan Fund Inc |
19,666,100 |
0.81 |
$992,744,703 |
30-Jun-04 |
| Vanguard Institutional
Index Fund-Institutional Index Fd |
9,851,017 |
0.41 |
$497,279,326 |
30-Jun-04 |
| SPDR Trust Series 1 |
9,621,473 |
0.4 |
$413,338,485 |
30-Sep-03 |
| Vanguard Total Stock
Market Index Fund |
8,724,243 |
0.36 |
$440,399,775 |
30-Jun-04 |
| Fidelity Growth & Income
Portfolio |
6,677,500 |
0.28 |
$292,875,154 |
31-Jul-04 |
| Growth Fund of America Inc |
6,290,000 |
0.26 |
$317,519,192 |
30-Jun-04 |
| Washington Mutual
Investors Fund |
6,075,000 |
0.25 |
$306,665,992 |
30-Jun-04 |
| Putnam Fund For Growth and
Income |
5,515,094 |
0.23 |
$241,892,026 |
31-Jul-04 |
| Fidelity Blue Chip Growth
Fund |
5,496,800 |
0.23 |
$241,089,651 |
31-Jul-04 |
|
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Since this is your effort,
a letter to Vanguard 500 Index Fund is below. We urge you to review
it and submit any comments, corrections, etc. In the past we have
gotten some very good feedback and the letter will mailed a week
from now on November 19. Remember it is your money and they want it,
to get it they have to get out of anti-Southern politics. Send
comments to
VanguardLetter@boycottcoke.org
In the meantime the online
petition is located at:
The Coca-Cola Company Should Get Out of Politics Petition
And to help spread the
word, consider referring this page to others:
Spread the word, recommend this page to a friend
Letter follows:
Mr. George U. Sauter
Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer
The Vanguard 500 Index Fund
P.O. Box 1110
Valley Forge, PA 19482November 19, 2004
Re: The Coca-Cola Company – KO
Dear Mr. Sauter:
This purpose of this letter is to provide information
concerning The Coca-Cola Company (KO) as The Vanguard 500
Index Fund was reported as a holder of 22,636,376 shares of
this stock on June 30, 2004 with a reported value of $1,142,684,232
as of that date.
The attached correspondence demonstrates what we
consider to be the epitome of a customer relations failure by
The Coca-Cola Company to complaints by former Coca-Cola
customers. Our efforts to communicate our complaints to The
Coca-Cola Company have either been ignored and/or received
what in our opinion are deceitful and insulting replies.
Even as late as last week communication with The
Coca-Cola Company via their offered channels (web site contact
form) still receive a
denial of facts that are a matter of public record via the State
of Georgia campaign finance disclosure statements.
We make no statement of the magnitude of our effort on
the performance of The Coca-Cola Company, but do believe that
holders of their stock have a right to know some portion, and
apparently a growing portion, of their customer base have made
a commitment to not purchase their products until The
Coca-Cola Company reverses
their use of corporate funds for what we consider
anti-Southern political activities. More importantly that
reasonable efforts to voice a complaint have been ignored at
best.
Should you have any questions about any of the attached
correspondence, please do not hesitate to contact us.
We remain, former Coca-Cola Company customers,
Mike Crane
725 Ridgeview Road
Morganton, Georgia 30560
Cc: E. "Neville" Isdell, Board of Directors, The
Coca-Cola Company
John R. Alm President & Chief Executive Officer Coca-Cola
Enterprises Inc.
By reference: Verified electronic petition signatures
(The Coca-Cola Company Should Get Out of Politics) petition,
online at:
http://www.spofga.org/petition/petition.phtml?PetitionID=4)
November 18, 2003 - Letter to Warren Buffett, member
Coke Board of Directors
November 18, 2003 - Letter to Douglas Daft , Board of
Directors
March 1, 2004 – Letter to Douglas Daft, Board of
Directors and registered agent (Georgia).
September 27, 2004 - Letter to E. "Neville" Isdell,
Board of Directors
October 11, 2004 – Letter to John R. Alm President &
Chief Executive Officer Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc.
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