Karcher Enterprises Spent at Least $16,000 on Shareholder Letter
ANAHEIM — Carl Karcher Enterprises spent at least $16,000 on a letter explaining the company’s planned response to a threatened proxy fight by founder Carl N. Karcher, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The letter, sent to shareholders on Sept. 16, was signed by Karcher Enterprises President Donald E. Doyle Jr. and four other members of the company’s seven-person board. It described Karcher’s strategic direction for the company--test-marketing another company’s Mexican-style food products at a handful of Carl’s Jr. restaurants--as unsound.
A Karcher associate, who asked not to be named, described the $16,000 expenditure as “a poor use of company money.”
Karcher, who founded the Carl’s Jr. fast-food chain in 1941, has made significant investments in real estate and a handful of companies but has seen his personal wealth eroded by the stalled Southern California economy.
In early September, Karcher asked a majority of Karcher Enterprises’ outside directors to resign and threatened to initiate a proxy fight. The board responded on Oct. 1 by forcing out Karcher as chairman and replacing him with board member Elizabeth A. Sanders.
Karcher retains a seat on the board.
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