I wish to legally acquire a full or partial shareholder list for AT&T
or any of its many spinoff entities or derivations, including SBC
Communications, BellSouth, Verizon Communications, Qwest
Communications, NCR, Lucent Technologies, or Agere. To get paid, the
researcher needn't provide me with an actual list, though that would
be nice. Pointing me to where I can get it would be sufficient.

The money I posted is a start. For good information (ie. a very large
list), I'll pay quite a bit more.

I know I can get a list of major shareholders from the SEC. This is
not what I want. I also realize I'm not likely to be able to get a
complete list. But I want as large a list as possible. The size of the
holdings is not important. In other words, I'm not just looking for a
list of high-net-worth investors. Anbody who owns a few shares of one
of the above stocks is fine. And names alone won't cut it. The list
must contain addresses, and phone numbers would be a nice extra.

Please don't lead me to legal links regarding the means to access
shareholder lists. I understand that stockholders can access
shareholder lists under certain circumstances that vary according to
the laws of the state of incorporation. I'm looking for a place where
I can get a whole or partial list from a third party, without jumping
through the hoops. A somewhat outdated list would be acceptable,
though there are limits. (Telling me everybody who owned AT&T stock in
1967 is not a valuable service).

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Request for Question Clarification by pelican-ga on 20 Dec 2002 23:55 PST

Hello vercingatorix-ga,

After several hours of work, I have been able to identify about 20
shareholders, by taking thir names and addresses from shareholder
proposals.  I know you want the longest possible list, but I have
exhausted my list of (free of charge) business directories, search
engines, etc.  Any suggestions?

Thanks,
pelican-ga

---

Clarification of Question by vercingatorix-ga on 22 Dec 2002 19:03 PST

I'm sorry, I have no more advice to give. You won't find it through
any "normal" channels. I was hoping a researcher had noticed when one
of the lists got into the public record. It is very unlikely that, if
it happened at all, it would be at any site connected with the
companies, the SEC, or any other obvious source.

V

Hate to break it to you but what you are asking for is not possible,
at any price.  Major shareholders are easy - there are financial
services firms that compile holdings for stocks (investment banks
subscribe to these services, you can also get such info via a
bloomberg terminal).  But the information is limited to what is
disclosed publicly - ie, large shareholders (funds, large investors,
individuals with substantial ownership).

What it seems you are looking for is something a little deeper - for
example, what individuals might hold.  Just not possible...you're
talking about info that is known only to schwab, etrade, brokers,
etc...and that information is NEVER made public except by court order.

Sorry...good luck. 

Besides...something tells me these people wouldn't want any more junk
mail or cold calls or solicitations to join class-action lawsuits.

"Hate to break it to you but what you are asking for is not possible,
at any price."

Actually, that's not entirely true, though it's correct 99% of the
time. A number of small, local companies make their shareholder lists
public. Very few large companies do, of course, and none of the ones I
listed above do that. However, partial shareholder lists do hit the
public record from time to time. They're accidentally published during
legal procedures or leaked during merger talks, or just pass from hand
to hand one too many times and end up plastered on a Web site. Once
the list is in the public record, it's fair game.

I was just hoping that someone here knew about a situation in which
all or part of a shareholder list fell into the public domain. If it
did happen, it's worth money to me. If not, I've lost just $0.50 for
the listing fee. And for the record, I don't care how much stock they
hold. Only that they hold stock.

I can't weigh in too knowledgably on this discussion, but I did want
to add what seems to me a tantalizing possibility.  In a recent
announcement of the annual meeting from Gap Inc., there is the
following text [http://www.gapinc.com/financmedia/proxy_stmt/pdf/proxy_02.pdf]:

"You must be a shareholder of record at the close of business on March
15, 2002 to vote at the Annual Meeting. A complete list of
shareholders entitled to vote at this meeting will be available for
inspection at our offices at Two Folsom Street, San Francisco,
California for a period of ten days before the Annual Meeting."

So apparently, the full list is made public sometimes, at least for
limited scrutiny.  How this works, whether or not the list is
obtainable, why the Gap did it (do all public companies do it?) is
beyond my ken.  Perhaps a Google Answerer can provide more insight
here.

Also have a look at:

http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:Vfkt_-A2hQ8C:www.law.wfu.edu/courses/Corporations-Palmiter/Materia/Notes/IVA4_Notes.htm+%22list+of+shareholders%22+AT%26T&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

(sorry for the long URL) regarding Shareholder Right of Inspection. 
There may be more possibilities than first supposed for seeing the
list(s) in question.

Most if not all states require that some people with legitimate
reasons have access to the shareholder list at set times. However,
nowhere is most state laws does it say anything about copying the
list. Shareholder lists may contain thousands of names. In the case of
the companies I seek, tens of thousands. It's not something you could
copy casually.

SEC Rule 14a-7 says that if a company solicits proxies for
the votes of its shareholders at a meeting, any shareholder eligible
to vote and contesting the proposal can ask the company to provide a
shareholder list so that the shareholder may contact other
shareholders.  If a company is unwilling to provide the list, it may
instead offer to mail the shareholder's materials to other
shareholders at his expense.  The requesting shareholder must prove
to the company that he does own shares and provide an affidavit or
similar document describing what he is proposing in the solicitation
or mailing.  The requesting shareholder must also attest that the
list will only be used with respect to the meeting for which the
company is soliciting proxies.

The company must notify the shareholder, within five business days of
receiving the request, whether it will provide a shareholder list or
mail the shareholder's materials.  If the company decides to mail the
shareholder's materials, it must also disclose how many shareholders
will be solicited and what the solicitation will cost. 

The shareholder can also request that the company provide the
shareholder list or mail his materials if the solicitation relates to
a "going private" transaction or a "roll-up" of a limited
partnership.

SEC Rule 14d-5 relates to people making tender offer bids for
securities.  The target company must notify a bidder no later than the
second business day after the bidder's request as to whether it will
forward the bidder's tender offer materials to stockholders or provide
a list of investors who hold the relevant
stock.  If the company decides to mail the tender offer materials, it
has to start sending them out within three business days of getting
the materials.  On the other hand, if the company intends to hand
over a stockholder list, it has three business days after receiving
the bidder's request.  Usually, companies opt to send out the
bidder's materials rather than furnish a shareholder list.

These are the only instances in which federal securities laws allow
access to shareholder lists.  However, a corporation's charter and
by-laws, or the laws of the state where it is incorporated or does
business, may provide for access to shareholder lists in other
circumstances, usually when an investor shows a legitimate corporate
purpose.

Investors with questions about access to shareholder lists and
relevant federal securities laws should contact the Office of
Consumer Affairs, Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.
C. 20549.  Questions relating to shareholder lists also may be
directed to the state regulatory authority that oversees state
securities laws or corporate matters for the state where the company
is incorporated.

SEC rules prohibit these companies from providing the lists except in
the two above circumstances.