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Telephone and Data Systems, Inc.

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July 20, 2009 Forum Report:

Reconsidering TDS Investor Interests

 

 

Forum Report: TDS

Reconsidering TDS Investor Interests

There was no response of any kind to our July 14 request for an explanation of TDS management's refusal to comply  with the Forum's information demand.

The records of communications about the information demand have been presented to the chairman of the board's audit committee, according to the company's procedures for reporting possible violations of the "TDS Code of Business Conduct" and "Code of Business Conduct and Ethics for Officers and Directors."[*]  Forum participants will of course be informed of any response.

However the audit committee now responds, it is apparent that the company's management will not voluntarily respect shareholder information requirements.  We must therefore reconsider the interests of TDS investors in this context.

Please let me know during the next few days what you think the Forum should be addressing to support your interests.

GL – July 20, 2009

 

Gary Lutin

Lutin & Company

575 Madison Avenue, 10th Floor

New York, New York 10022

Tel: 212-605-0335

Email: gl@shareholderforum.com

 


[*] See the July 17, 2009 letter with attachments to George W. Off, Chairman of the Audit Committee of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (10 pages, 223 KB, in PDF format)

 

 

 

This Forum program is open to all shareholders of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE: TDS), and its controlled subsidiary, United States Cellular Corporation (NYSE: USM), and to any fiduciaries or professionals concerned with their investment decisions. Participation is free of charge, according to the Forum's standard Conditions of Participation.

The purpose of the Forum is to provide shareholders with access to information and a free exchange of views relating to their consideration of issues described in the Forum Summary. As stated in the Conditions, all Forum participants are expected to make independent use of information obtained through the Forum, subject to the privacy rights of other participants. Forum polices are intended to support anonymous communication, and provide that participants will not be identified or quoted without their explicit permission.

The initiation of this program was supported by Southeastern Asset Management, Inc., which as manager of the Longleaf Partners Funds and other client funds is the largest TDS shareholder with common and special common stock aggregating more than 15% of the total of all classes outstanding. TDS has been invited to assume corporate responsibility for the costs of addressing issues of apparent significance to a broad range of its investors, according to the Forum's Conditions, and other participants may be invited to contribute support to the continuing program pending the company's acceptance of responsibility.

Inquiries and requests to be included in the Forum's distribution list may be addressed to tds@shareholderforum.com.

The information provided to Forum participants is intended for their private reference, and permission has not been granted for the republishing of any copyrighted material. The material presented on this web site is the responsibility of Gary Lutin, as chairman of the Shareholder Forum.