in Burma in part because of criticisms that by remaining in Burma the company was helping to
support the repressive military regime that now ruled the country.1 In a letter to a shareholder who had
been one of many pressuring the company to get out of Burma, the company’s corporate secretary wrote:
When we first spoke about Burma I promised to stay in touch with you on the subject. I n
that spirit, I wanted to let you now about a change in our business there. We’ve decided
to sell PepsiCo’s minority stake in our franchise bottler and we expect to finalize the
divestiture soon. As a result we will have no employees and no assets in the country.
We’re taking this action for a number of reasons, including the sentiment expressed
by you and others about investing in Burma at this time. Having said that, let me
reiterate our belief that free trade leads to free societies.2