Grand Jury to Probe Coke

myway.com ^ | 5 3 04 | Reuters

[freepatriot32]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal probe of Coca-Cola Co. has intensified as a federal grand jury was scheduled and regulators subpoenaed employees, The Wall Street Journal said on Monday. The grand jury will begin to hear testimony in the case around May 25, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the probe.

The U.S. attorney's office and the Securities and Exchange Commission are examining whether Coca-Cola overshipped drink concentrate to distributors in some markets including Japan -- called "channel-stuffing" -- thereby possibly inflating financial results.

Three former finance officials of the world's largest soft drink maker have told federal investigators they witnessed the company engaging in the channel stuffing in Japan in recent years, the Journal reported in January.

Channel-stuffing refers to a legally murky practice in which a company convinces clients to accept unwanted or early deliveries of a product. It can be used to pad revenue and help a firm meet quarterly financial targets.

Rebates, extended payment terms and other incentives are often provided to clients in exchange for their complicity.

A Coca-Cola representative was not immediately available to comment to Reuters.

[ConservativeMan55]

LOL!!!

[norraad]

This is policy at all levels.

At a big chain grocer they'll dump way more than can be handled by each store by "giving" the manager a plasma TV.

Meanwhile the grunts at the store have to stack the crap in every nook & cranny back of house they can find & hope the fire marshals bribe was good enough.

[johnfrink]

"Your honor, we have learned that Coca-Cola's original recipe tastes great, and provides cool refreshment all summer long!"

Following week: "Grand Jury to probe previous grand jury."

[Moonman62]

I guess this is how the SEC is going to spend all that extra money GWB is giving them.

In the meantime the US congress uses its own Enron accounting system unfettered.

[blackdog]

I don't think I've ever worked at a company that didn't ship anything to anybody even remotely likely to take delivery at the end of each quarter.

"Just invoice it", susequently the first month of the next quarter gets clobbered with credits and adjustments for wrongly recorded sales the prior month.

But hey, that's what a Wharton graduate gets paid for right? You don't sit on a board if you can't be creative.......

[genefromjersey]

"Channel stuffing",huh ?

Boy,howdy ! A lot of magazines must be channel stuffing when they try to get you to renew for 2 or 3 years the minute your initial subscription is placed.

Coca Cola is also in BIG TROUBLE with 15 or 20 loudmouthed Rutgers students because the evil corporation defended its interests against armed leftist guerrillas in South America.
(Believe it or not,that "big protest" got almost a page of newspaper space in my local (Gannett) rag !

[freepatriot32]

ping

[NCjim]

they witnessed the company engaging in the channel stuffing

That is sticky business...