CalSTRS, with a $150 BILLION investment portfolilo, is also reviewing ALL it's portfolios for presence of gun connections.
It gets worse for Cerberus. USA Today reports, "California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer said Tuesday he would like his state's two largest pension funds to sell their investments in gunmakers. The California Public Employees' Retirement Systems, or CalPERS, also has a $400 million investment in Cerberus, according to its most recent quarterly report of its private-equity holdings."
Divesting a major company from an investment portfolio is a huge move.
This quick development, just days after the massacre, demonstrates the incredible power that large investment funds hold when they even mention the consideration of divestment.
Taking a smaller but significant step, "the Dick's Sporting Goods chain, which has more than 500 stores in 44 states, said that "out of respect for the victims and their families" it was suspending the sale of modern sporting rifles nationwide as well as halting gun sales and displays in its store nearest to Newtown, Conn., where the shootings occurred," USA today reports.
The USA Today article also cited Anthony Sabino, a corporate litigator, who said that 'Cerberus' decision to sell the gunmaker was "more of a public relations move. Cerberus doesn't want this stake, whatever its size, showing up on its reports to investors, It's more to placate public pension funds. Money is not the motivation here. Perception is."
Huffpo reports that the the NY City pension fund may sell off almost $18 million worth of gun stocks.
Even Walmart in a token gesture, has removed the Bushmaster page from its website.
This is exciting news to me, as an activist. It shows the potential power of retirement funds that take a principled stand with the hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars they, combined, wield. If a handful of key people in leadership positions can use their positions to shame retailers or motivate investors to pull money out of gun related industries, then the effects could be really big. Already stock values in some gun companies have plummeted, as Bloomberg reported on Monday,
"Smith & Wesson dropped 5.2 percent to close Monday at $8.65, extending its slide to 9.3 percent over two days after Friday's massacre. Sturm Ruger has fallen 7.8 percent during the period, while Cabela's, an outdoor-gear retailer that sells guns and ammunition, slumped 7.3 percent."
flickr image By Walter Rodriguez
Alan Dershowitz, in a Daily Beast article, argues against the use of boycotting, saying,
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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