Tag / RFRA

by Hoosier Econ

SalesForce.com: Uh…about that Indiana ban

Back in March Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed into law RFRA legislation for the state of Indiana. Continue reading →

by Hoosier Econ

Angie’s List Inc. is Perfect Example of Crony Capitalists

Angie’s List Inc.recently announced they put their Indianapolis project on hold due to the new RFRA law signed by Indiana Governor Mike Pence. This company has been bleeding money for quite some time and just went to the state begging for $18.5 million in public assistance. Here is snapshot I took this morning of how bad the stock has dropped in one year:
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Overall Angie’s List announcement on this matter is more desperation than practical. Crony capitalist companies like Angie’s List use tactics like this to hedge their bets in order to get more money out lawmakers then standing up for some social issue.

by Hoosier Econ

Is Marc Benioff Breaking the Law With His Indiana Ban?

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SalesForce.com CEO Marc Benioff announced Thursday he is reducing the companies investment in Indiana due to Governor Mike Pence signing RFRA legislation.

There is nothing illegal with a CEO of a company being politically or socially active in government current events. The problem lies within the fact his company is a publicly traded investment. This means its listed on the stock exchange for all to buy. When you are a publicly traded company you must follow rules set forth by the Securities Exchange Commission when making big investment moves so stockholders can see. I will list a few but compliance can be found at Investor.gov:

    Current Reports on Form 8-K. Companies file this report with the SEC to announce major events that shareholders should know about, including bankruptcy proceedings, a change in corporate leadership (such as a new director or high-level officer), and preliminary earnings announcements.

And here is another rule for the company to follow moving any major investment out of Indiana that could affect shareholders investments. Shareholders would possibly need to vote on the matter:

    Proxy Statements. Shareholder voting constitutes one of the key rights of shareholders. They may elect members of the board of directors, cast non-binding votes on executive compensation, approve or reject proposed mergers and acquisitions, or vote on other important topics. Proxy statements describe the matters to be voted upon and often disclose information on the company’s executive compensation policies and practices.

To be clear, Marc Benioff is not claiming to be shutting down any operations at this time. A move like that would MOST DEFITINETLY have to be filed and voted on by shareholders. From my a**hole business experience I think he is bluffing and within months will be fully operational in sending people to Indiana for business. I’m positive his lawyers got a hold of him and made him carefully word his statement after the first one posted above. If he does start moving assets out like employees or selling off property without notification, then he will be in violation.

I will be following Investor.gov to monitor his threats.