Much Ado About Channel Stuffing, Coca Cola, Douglas Daft, and…GMCR

Just when you thought the stream of negative GMCR headlines would go away, GMCR announced the following in an 8K, after market hours on Thursday:

Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.

(b) On May 22, 2012, Douglas N. Daft, age 69, provided notice to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (the “Company”) of his resignation from the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of the Company, effective immediately. Mr. Daft has been a valued member of the Company’s Board, and during his tenure the Company has benefited greatly from his business leadership skills, brand management expertise and financial and corporate governance acumen, among other things. Mr. Daft confirmed that the resignation was for personal reasons, which included extensive overseas and travel commitments, and was not due to any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.

In response to Mr. Daft’s resignation, the Board has reduced its size from nine to eight members, appointed David E. Moran as the Chair of the Compensation and Organizational Development Committee and added Barbara D. Carlini to the Governance and Nominating Committee.

Why leave now? Why not leave when the stock was at $115? Daft knows a thing or two about channel stuffing, litigation, etc. Of all people, he should know whether gmcr committed no wrong-doing. There must be serious problems over at gmcr, and Daft wants out.

“Daft insists that Coke has not been “stuffing the channel.” - March 6, 2000

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/03/06/275222/index.htm

“The SEC and Coke Settle Channel Stuffing Allegations” - April 18, 2005

http://corpfraud.typepad.com/corporate_fraud_blog/2005/04/is_the_sec_snor.html

Coke settles ‘channel stuffing’ lawsuit for $137.5 million - July 7th 2008 http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/07/07/coke-settles-channel-stuffing-lawsuit-for-137-5-million/

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