The company, which generates $60 billion in annual revenue, will also reveal the funds it has paid to grassroots and tax-exempt organizations that write and endorse model legislation.The agreement emerged after DiNapoli issued a shareholder’s resolution asking the company to release information on its lobbying and political spending.
A shareholder resolution is a proposal submitted by a stock owner at a publicly traded company’s annual meeting.
DiNapoli has the power to do this because he controls the state Common Retirement Fund, which owns about $400 million in PepsiCo stock.
After the agreement was reached, DiNapoli withdrew the resolution. The lobbying information is expected to be published on PepsiCo’s website before the company’s annual meeting on May 1.
“PepsiCo has taken an important step in giving shareholders a clear view of the way it uses corporate dollars in the political arena,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “Shareholder value is enhanced and reputational risks are reduced when companies disclose how corporate money is being spent in politics. Companies should follow PepsiCo’s lead by embracing transparency.”
In an email, PepsiCo’s senior director of communications Jeff Dahncke said he would respond to questions about the agreement late Friday, but he did not respond to follow-up inquiries.
Some information about PepsiCo’s lobbying in New York is already posted online. Last year PepsiCo paid Meara Avella Dickinson in Albany $90,000 to lobby legislative and executive members of state and municipal governments in New York, according to the New York state Commission on Public Ethics’ website.
In 2011 and 2012, the state retirement fund filed 27 shareholder resolutions seeking disclosure of political spending, reaching agreement with 10 companies, according to the Comptroller’s Office. This year, DiNapoli filed 26 such resolutions and he reached agreements with several companies, including KeyCorp.
