KNOXVILLE — Floyd Ledbetter, 71, a retired machinist who lives off Chapman Highway, has called PepsiCo’s investor relations line five times since Monday, and each time the woman who answers has told him the company is doing very well.
The shares came through an account his late wife opened in 2004. When Ledbetter read that PepsiCo was closing its Knoxville plant “immediately,” he took it to mean something had gone wrong with the money. The company had reported $3.07 billion in profit for the quarter eleven days before the announcement.
“I figured they were in trouble and I wanted to know how much,” Ledbetter said. “She says no, it’s a record. I said a record of what, and she said profit. So I said, well, then what’s with the padlock on the Knoxville plant, and she says it was a difficult decision. I’d already had that from the fellow on Tuesday. I’ve got the statement right here and I’ve read it three times. Nothing else in it.”
The statement, which Ledbetter has read aloud to the line twice, also says local sales and delivery teams will keep serving the area and that the company is incredibly thankful for the contributions of its employees. He keeps it by the kitchen phone with the earnings report, the quarterly page flagged with a sticky note.
On Wednesday he was transferred to a shareholder services number, where a recording thanked him for being a shareholder. By then he only wanted somebody to look at the report and tell him where the plant was in it.
Ledbetter has the investor relations number saved in his phone under “Pepsi.”