Should GE Shareholders Sell to Protest MSNBC's Left Leaning News Bias? 35 comments
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Shareholders of General Electric (GE) stock expressed their displeasure last month towards the NBC Universal division of the company during the annual shareholders meeting. The target of their furor, according to published reports, was the politically left-leaning news network, MSNBC.
Situations such as these bring to question an investor's intention whey buying stock in a particular company. It's no secret that MSNBC, if not the entire NBC brand, lives on the far-left side of the political fence, but does that mean those with opposing political views should sell their GE stock in protest?
To make it simple, the answer to that question is 'Yes' and 'No.'
There would be two reasons to sell based on General Electric's NBC division:
One, because the investor feels NBC's political bias will eventually hurt the bottom line by pushing viewers towards other networks and therefor losing advertising revenue for the company.
Or
Two, the investor, personally, wants no part of a company that promotes viewpoints in opposition to his or her own.
It would be entirely understandable to sell the stock under each of these scenarios. I have even thought about selling my stake in GE because I believe that NBC is going to lose more and more viewership (if there is even anyone left watching) on their cable news channel until a middle ground can be found. The loss of viewership will ultimately transform into a loss of advertising revenue which will, in turn, effect the bottom line of the NBC Universal division. Additionally, CNBC is facing new competition for viewers of financial news by Fox Business Channel, but I don't think FBN poses a serious threat to CNBC just yet, so that remains a non factor for now.
On the other hand, the NBC Universal division of General Electric is just a small piece of a very large pie. Government and Security contracts continue to accumulate for the larger company and GE is continuously among the leaders in innovative new products that are distributed around the world. This includes, most recently, power grids that could set the new standard for energy efficiency as we know it. Also, with the economy now bottomed and the recover underway, the GE Financial Services division, which took a huge hit during the economic collapse and was largely responsible for the collapse in GE share price, should rebound as well.
A company that regularly rakes in over $4 billion in quarterly profits should not be taken lightly when deciding whether to buy, hold or sell. In my opinion, these factors weigh more heavily on my decision not to sell than does letting the concern that MSNBC may go under get the best of me.
However, a shareholder is viewed as a supporter of a company's business plan simply by holding shares. In that sense, I would understand an investor selling shares to protest the political ideology of the company, especially when that ideology could potentially hurt the bottom line, as MSNBC's extremely low ratings may end up doing. However, small investors make little difference in the price of a large cap stock, and selling would, for the most part, go unnoticed in the market unless a wave of investors followed suit. Probably more effective would be to speak up at the annual shareholders meeting, as did shareholders of GE last month, and possibly influence the election of the Board.
While I definitely understand both sides of the story, I believe selling the GE stock in protest of NBC's left-leaning news network is not worth the potential gains that the stock has to offer. Especially when the stock is trading as low as it is now, and has for quite a while.
As the economy recovers, so should GE's stock price, so VFC is remaining long.
As for MSNBC? Sooner or later the bigwigs at corporate GE will notice that no one is watching, and maybe, just maybe, they'll start reporting news that everyone can watch.
Disclosure: VFC is long GE.
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This article has 35 comments:
I think there are more than enough of the Rushes, Foxes, Cheneys distorting facts to go around.
On May 19 08:32 AM Traveler6 wrote:
> Don't you think we have enough of the "far right warped perspective
> of how life should be"
> I think there are more than enough of the Rushes, Foxes, Cheneys
> distorting facts to go around.
So far, none of our comments address the question of GE. I own a lot of it and I will hold for a while longer but it is one of the stocks on my sell watch list.
And, and AIR AMERICA!
On May 19 08:32 AM Traveler6 wrote:
> Don't you think we have enough of the "far right warped perspective
> of how life should be"
> I think there are more than enough of the Rushes, Foxes, Cheneys
> distorting facts to go around.
"Investing should be fun. Who wants to buy stock in--and therefore root for the success of--a company that makes a product or renders a service that he or she finds personally offensive? ...Don't invest in companies that do things you do not admire."
My personal application of this is tobacco companies. Smoking killed both of my parents, and therefore I do not invest in tobacco companies. Simple decision and one I've never regretted.
To apply your criteria to it's logical conclusion you would not want to be buying any company with anything to do with Communism. So no companys dealing with China.
Of course to be really true to your convictions you will have to live someplace other than the U.S.A. since our country deals with China all the time.
Good luck on your social mission.
I've owned GE for years and my recent conflictions with the direction of the company (and reduced dividend income) have led me to sell ATM covered calls. If it rises above the strike and I get called away, good riddance. If it falls further then I pocket the premium and repeat.
On May 19 08:48 AM User 328724 wrote:
> I think FOX News is un-American and a danger to us all and should
> have thgeir license revoked before such uninformed ideas as sell
> GE are even given the light of day.
The left-leaning NBC, ABC, and CBS of the world are slowly fading away just like the left-leaning newspapers!
It's been a focused strategy, perhaps initially well conceived, that had some success as the Bush administration became increasingly unpopular since the '04 election, but the niche strategy has lost steam since their man was elected President. Now it's just rehashing attacks on Bush administration policies which are getting tired and worn out.
MSNBC currently devotes the better part of two hours of prime time each night to the single issue of torture - when there are a plethora of other news items to cover - and it's not surprising that their ratings have gone in the toilet. As someone commented above, it's only a matter of time before there's a shakeup.
I want more facts and truth and less political slants, anyway.
I am super-tired of so many things being two or more yelling over each other and nothing really said.
And I value GE for other reasons, especially technology for changes in energy, etc.
On May 19 08:48 AM User 328724 wrote:
> I think FOX News is un-American and a danger to us all and should
> have thgeir license revoked before such uninformed ideas as sell
> GE are even given the light of day.
I despise CNBC as much as the next guy, but there are far, Far better reasons to sell GE. They got to $6/share in the last panic, they will get back to it in the next panic.
"Someday a real rain will come, and wash away all the filth" out of the honored name of GE. But that is likely still years away.
You miss the point -- NBC is carving out a niche market just as Fox has. CNN will be left to appeal to the moderates, of which there appear to be fewer and fewer among cable viewers.
"Sooner or later the bigwigs at corporate GE will notice that no one is watching . . "
Unlikely, since as Random Number states, MSNBC is gaining, not losing, viewers. More importantly, they have the biggest chunk of the 18-34 y.o. viewership.
if you stay on the business perspective side, which in GE's case is CNBC, you won't find too many liberal-leaning commentators on that program.
for heaven's sake, i have to keep from puking while kudlow dishes is far right slant for several hours in the middle of each day. throw rick santelli (who i happen to enjoy listening to because he's actually passionate about the markets and rarely throws any political rhetoric into his game), joe kernan, quintanilla, most of the chick hosts, and most of the "fast money" cast and you get a fairly right-leaning network.
so, give this topic and article the circular filing bin because that's where it belongs. another pseudo-american trashing other americans for being american. great. congratulations. you've successfully added to the hatred and rift and discourse we have for one another.
your parents must be so proud.
look for the numbers here, seem different than what was claimed.
tvbythenumbers.com/200...
On May 19 11:38 AM Random Number wrote:
> Check the facts--MSNBC's viewership is increasing, not decreasing.
> Fox is decreasing.
On May 19 12:59 PM dividendgrowthinvestor wrote:
> I am no liberal but fel each person should do what they think is
> best for them.I would never own GE with Immelt because he lied about
> doing business with Iran and about cutting the dividend and the foolish
> deal he did with Buffett which screwed the shareholders. This man
> is an immoral inept CEO and NBC and their television business is
> a very small part of their revenues and will continue to shrink daily.
Have you ever tuned into to Fox? You know, the station that reads Republican talking point memos verbatim as if they were - what's the word - news? Oh, I get it. Fox isn't being biased if they're espousing yor own BS. Right? And as far as NBC's list to portside, have you ever tuned into the Street Squawkers and listened to Kudlow and Faber and their (yours?) ilk? Oh, wait, I see now. It's those two opinion and commentary shows with that big-head guy, what's his name, Olbermann, and that Maddow chick that have you all in a tizzy. How dare NBC allow that liberal crap over the public airwaves. God, if we only had more "fair and balanced" networks like Faux, huh? Geez. Gimmeabreak.
Now I know why !!!
On May 19 08:48 AM User 328724 wrote:
> I think FOX News is un-American and a danger to us all and should
> have thgeir license revoked before such uninformed ideas as sell
> GE are even given the light of day.
NBC and its cable affliates seem essentially balanced to me.
News viewership isn't dropping and I have seen stats suggesting it is raising
GE is a terrific long term hold.
Harb