Colgate-Palmolive Approves 2-for-1 Stock Split

Colgate-Palmolive Approves 2-for-1 Stock Split

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Colgate plans stock split, hikes dividend

Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL), the third- largest U.S. household-products maker, approved a two-for-one stock split and boosted its dividend 9.7 percent as it works to keep the shares affordable and return cash to investors. The record date for the split is April 23, and the shares will be distributed on May 15, the New York-based company said today in a statement. The quarterly dividend will rise to 68 cents per share on a pre-split basis from 62 cents.

Comment: My kind of stock. Others: UL, PG, KMB

Darlie Toothpaste

Back to the Days of Blackface

Excerpt:

Of all the unfamiliar products in a Chinese supermarket, one of the most shocking to American visitors is a toothpaste featuring the logo of a minstrel singer in a top hat, flashing a white smile. Even more shocking: the paste, known as Darlie in English and as Black People Toothpaste in Chinese, is a product of the Hawley & Hazel Group, a Hong Kong–based company established in 1933, which is now owned in part by the Colgate-Palmolive Co.

Darlie used to be called Darkie. According to the book America Brushes Up: The Uses and Marketing of Toothpaste and Toothbrushes in the Twentieth Century, the CEO of Hawley & Hazel saw blackface performer Al Jolson in the U.S. and thought, “Jolson’s wide smile and bright teeth would make an excellent toothpaste logo.” He was right: the firm now claims to be one of the market leaders of toothpaste products in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia.

Comment: Weird!