I can’t remember if I blogged about this a while back or if I just mentioned it to Josh for a CRM post. Well, I just wanted to add to what Josh had mentioned about why Fidelity is no a good company to invest with. I’m just going to include a couple excerpts from the Fidelity Out of Sudan website:

The government of Sudan continues to pursue genocide in Darfur, drawing on its oil revenue to provide arms and funding for the genocide, rather than economic development for the poor people of Sudan. Despite the mass atrocities in Darfur, Fidelity, through its mutual funds, not only has been a major investor in oil companies operating in Sudan, but, until recently, had been significantly increasing its holdings. In its February SEC filing, Fidelity’s global holdings of PetroChina topped $1.3 billion and it was the largest holder of PetroChina (PTR) on the NYSE. Fidelity has significantly reduced its holdings in PetroChina and Sinopec on the NYSE, but continues to be a very large holder of these stocks. Join us and tell Fidelity to stop investing our money in companies helping to fund the genocide in Darfur.

The Good news is the campaign seems to be having an effect. From a recent email update:

Our collective efforts are paying off. Fidelity’s May 15 filing with the SEC showed that as of March 31, Fidelity had sold 91% percent of its PetroChina shares and 99% of its Sinopec shares that trade on the New York Stock Exchange. This action by Fidelity is a significant step in the right direction and evidence that your voice and those of thousands of others are being heard.

And now SaveDarfur is joining in with some TV ad campaigns:

“Fidelity portfolio managers make their investment decisions based on business and financial considerations, and take into account other issues only if they materially impact these considerations or conflict with applicable legal standards.”
- Fidelity letter of October 5, 2006

So, as if Playboy wasn’t enough to keep you from investing in Fidelity, maybe genocide is.

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