| KALAMAZOO, April 1, 2001.—Annual report monitor Sid Cato has high praise for the 2000 IBM annual report to shareholders, even if it did fall three short of "world-class" status, scoring only 97 of a potential 135 points. This is Cato's 18th year of monitoring the world's annuals, using computer programs he conceived and whose creation he directed. He featured the IBM report on Pg. 1 of Issue No. 212 of his Newsletter on Annual Reports. Separately, in an online feature, Sid's Soapbox, for April (www.sidcato.com/soapbox/index.html), he hailed the shareholder letter from Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., as "putting to shame the 'sage' Jack Welsh and Warren Buffett," CEOs of General Electric and Berkshire Hathaway, respectively. Observed Cato: "Don't get me wrong—the GE and Berkshire letters always are superb. It's just that Gerstner's, based on careful reading, is extraordinary; none finer that I can recall." |