General Electric (Ticker: GE) shareholders ask: ‘Is CEO Jeff Immelt lobbying against GE’s earnings?’; Free Enterprise Action Fund (Ticker: FEAOX) urges GE shareholders to demand justification for company’s global warming lobbying
For more info contact: Steve Milloy, 301-258-2852, steve@feafund.com
Washington DC, April 5, 2007 –- Action Fund Management, LLC (AFM), investment advisor to the Free Enterprise Action Fund (Ticker: FEAOX) today urged that fellow General Electric Company (Ticker: GE) shareholders vote for the FEAOX’s shareholder proposal asking that GE justify its lobbying for global warming regulation. Shareholders will vote on the FEAOX proposal at GE’s annual meeting on April 25.
“We believe that GE CEO Jeff Immelt is lobbying for global warming regulation that may harm the economy and GE’s earnings, without providing any environmental benefit” said AFM’s Steve Milloy. “Not only has Mr. Immelt not provided shareholders with information indicating that global warming regulation will benefit or, at least not harm, GE shareholders, he has twice asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to block our shareholder proposals that request the information,” said Milloy.
“We believe that Mr. Immelt’s advocacy of global warming alarmism and the need for regulation may harm the company in ways he may not have anticipated,” AFM’s Tom Borelli. “Legislation has already been proposed in California to ban the incandescent light bulb, a major GE product, by 2012,” said Borelli.
The FEAOX (http://www.FEAOX.com) is an institutional shareholder in GE. The FEAOX’s shareholder proposal is in GE’s 2007 Proxy Statement (http://www.ge.com/ar2006/proxy/sprop7.htm).
“If global warming regulation is such a good idea for GE and the environment, why doesn’t Mr. Immelt let shareholders see the data and judge for themselves?,” asked Milloy.
“GE’s stock price has underperformed the S&P 500 since Mr. Immelt became CEO in September 2001,” said Borelli. “That’s been bad enough for shareholders, but now we’re afraid that by lobbying for global warming regulation, Mr. Immelt is actually endangering GE’s stock price,” Borelli said.
“GE founder Thomas Edison once said, ‘I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.’”, said Milloy. “The FEAOX shareholder simply requests disclosure of whether GE performed the requisite due diligence to determine that global warming regulation is what GE and the world needs,” he added.
AFM urges GE shareholders to vote “FOR” on “Shareowner Proposal #7: Global Warming Report.”
The FEAOX aims to increase shareholder value by advancing free-market principles in the companies it owns. FEAOX is available exclusively through BISYS Fund Services Limited Partnership (applications may be obtained at http://www.FEAOX.com/how.html), and through E*Trade Financial and HSBC.
An investor should consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses carefully before investing or sending money. This and other important information about the Free Enterprise Action Fund can be found in the fund's prospectus. To obtain a prospectus, please call 1-800-766-3960 or visit http://www.FEAOX.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Mutual fund investing involves risk, including loss of principal.
The Free Enterprise Action Fund is advised by Action Fund Management, LLC., which receives a fee for its services, and is distributed by BISYS Fund Services Limited Partnership, which is not affiliated with Action Fund Management, LLC.
