Shareholder Spotlight : Geode Capital Management Part Two – The Rot Runs Deeper

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Right, let’s get this straight from the off. In part one of this series, we tore into Geode Capital Management like a rabid dog on a bone, exposing their ESG bollocks as nothing more than a smokescreen for dodgy dealings. We hammered their silence on sustainability, their cosy stake in fossil fuel giants like Shell, the 2021 hedge fund meltdown that torched jobs and cash, and those murky whispers about GameStop market fiddling. But fuck me, there was so much filth piling up on these trillion-dollar tossers that we couldn’t cram it all into one go. This is part two, and it’s uglier still. And yes, to confirm the elephant in the room: Geode are indeed shareholders in Cummins, holding a chunky 3.5 million shares as of mid-2025, worth over a billion quid and representing about 2.5% of the company. That’s no pocket change – it’s a deliberate bet on a diesel-chugging beast we’ve been skewering for its emissions scandals and environmental negligence. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Is this just another rotten apple in the Cummins ecosystem, where ethics are treated like optional extras? A world where asset managers like Geode play fast and loose with human decency while counting their profits. Well, buckle up, because the scandals keep coming.

Human Rights Benchmarks: Scoring Rock Bottom in a Race to the Bottom

Christ almighty, if Geode’s performance on human rights benchmarks is anything to go by, they’ve got about as much regard for people as a bulldozer has for a flowerbed. The World Benchmarking Alliance – these are the folks who rank the planet’s biggest players on social responsibility – slapped Geode with scores that’d make a sweatshop owner wince: a pitiful 2.4 out of 10 on respecting human rights, 1.2 out of 6 on decent work, and a laughable 0.9 out of 4 on ethical conduct. This isn’t some minor slip-up; it’s a systemic fuck-you to basic decency. While their peers at least pretend to give a shit with policies and disclosures, Geode’s got nothing – no public commitment to human rights, no framework to avoid trampling on the vulnerable. They’re ranked near the arse-end of 2,000 companies, proving that for these suits, “risk-adjusted performance” means ignoring the human cost entirely.

And here’s the outrage boiling over: in a world where investors like Geode control trillions, their apathy isn’t neutral – it’s complicit. They pump money into global markets without a whisper of oversight on forced labour, discrimination, or exploitation. It’s like handing a loaded gun to a toddler and walking away. How the hell do they sleep at night, knowing their portfolios might be built on the backs of the oppressed? This isn’t ignorance; it’s calculated indifference, a trillion-dollar middle finger to anyone expecting asset managers to act like they’ve got a conscience. Geode, you hypocritical pricks, time to wake up or get called out for the moral vacuums you are.

Tyson Foods Fiasco: Silent on Worker Exploitation and Child Labour

Bloody hell, Geode’s non-response to the Tyson Foods human rights debacle is the kind of gutless bullshit that makes your blood boil. Back in 2023, shareholders pushed a resolution at Tyson – one of Geode’s holdings – demanding proper human rights due diligence. Why? Because Tyson’s been neck-deep in scandals: worker exploitation in meatpacking plants during the pandemic, unsafe conditions that turned factories into death traps, and allegations of child labour in their supply chains. Lawsuits flying left and right, investigations piling up, and what does Geode do when asked for their stance? Sweet fuck all. No comment, no support for the resolution, just radio silence as Tyson brushed off the concerns at their annual meeting.

This isn’t just lazy; it’s fucking criminal in its passivity. As a major investor, Geode could have thrown their weight behind reforms, forcing Tyson to clean up its act and protect the folks grinding away in those hellholes. Instead, they sat on their hands, letting the cycle of abuse roll on. Workers risking life and limb for peanuts, kids potentially slaving away – and Geode’s too busy “managing assets” to give a damn? Outrageous. It exposes the rotten core of passive investing: hold the shares, rake in the dividends, ignore the screams from the shop floor. Geode, you spineless bastards, your silence speaks volumes – and it’s screaming complicity.

Land Grabs and Human Rights Abuses: Profiting from Global South Plunder

Jesus wept, Geode’s tangled up in investments linked to land grabs that’d make colonial overlords proud. A 2023 report from the Transnational Institute, “Green Multinationals Exposed,” calls out big investors for holding stakes in agribusiness firms accused of snatching land in the Global South, evicting indigenous communities, and fuelling deforestation for biofuels and palm oil. Geode pops up as a shareholder – albeit a small one at 0.08% in one case – but that’s no excuse. These operations involve forced displacements, labour exploitation, and environmental carnage, all under the guise of “green” progress. No policies from Geode to screen this shit out; they’re just along for the ride.

The sheer gall of it boils my piss. Families turfed off their ancestral lands, ecosystems razed to the ground, all so some multinational can greenwash its profits – and Geode’s dipping its beak in without a second thought. This is “green grabbing” at its worst, where sustainability is a buzzword for screwing the poor. As a passive giant, Geode enables this by not divesting or demanding change. It’s not direct action, sure, but their inaction props up the system. Fucking hell, Geode, if you’re going to play in the big leagues, at least pretend to care about the human wreckage you’re funding. This hypocrisy stinks worse than a landfill.

Arms Dealers’ Best Mate: Shareholdings in Weapons of War

What the actual fuck? Geode’s got its fingers in the pie of arms manufacturers, propping up the machinery of death without a shred of ethical restraint. Reports on “armed banking” – like the 2025 one from Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau, “Bank Trading in Global Militarism” – flag Geode as a shareholder in General Dynamics, the behemoth churning out tanks, subs, and munitions. These weapons end up in conflict zones, fuelling wars and human rights atrocities, often in violation of international norms. Geode’s got no safeguards, no restrictions on “controversial weapons” – just blind investment in militarism for the sake of returns.

This is the kind of shit that keeps the world in perpetual chaos. While innocents get bombed to bits, Geode counts its dividends from the death dealers. Outraged? You’re damn right. In an era where ethical investing is supposed to mean something, Geode’s treating arms like any other commodity. No regard for the blood on those balance sheets, no pushback against sales to dodgy regimes. It’s complicit capitalism at its ugliest, where profit trumps peace. Geode, you warmongering wankers, how do you justify this? Pull your heads out of your arses and divest, or own up to being part of the problem.

Papua LNG Probe: Too Little, Too Late on Indigenous Rights

Finally, Geode’s half-arsed involvement in probing the Papua LNG project reeks of damage control rather than genuine concern. In March 2025, they joined 13 investors – including heavyweights like BlackRock – in signing a letter demanding transparency on environmental and human rights risks at this TotalEnergies-led fiasco in Papua New Guinea. Allegations abound: displacing local communities, skimpy compensation for land, trampling indigenous rights. The project’s a powder keg of exploitation, delayed multiple times amid outcry.

But let’s call it what it is – a token gesture from Geode, who only piped up after NGOs twisted arms. They’ve held stakes in TotalEnergies via indices for ages, ignoring the red flags until pressure mounted. This isn’t leadership; it’s reactive bullshit to save face. Meanwhile, indigenous folks face eviction and cultural erasure for LNG profits. Fucking infuriating. Geode’s “engagement” highlights their prior neglect: passive investing means passive ethics. If they truly gave a shit, they’d have acted sooner or pulled out. Instead, it’s business as usual, with human rights as an afterthought. Geode, you opportunistic prats, this fig leaf doesn’t hide your indifference.

There you have it – more dirt on Geode than a gravedigger’s boots. This trillion-dollar titan isn’t just hypocritical; it’s a menace, embedding itself in scandals that crush the vulnerable while preaching performance. Time for a reckoning, because the investment world’s evolving, and dinosaurs like Geode are due for extinction. Stay tuned; if there’s more muck, we’ll rake it up.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

Sources

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