The Mormon Church's $52 billion stock fund bought Tesla and trimmed legacy automakers Ford and General Motors last quarter (2024)

FAQs

Did the Mormon church buy Tesla? ›

Ensign Peak Advisors has a $569 million stake in Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). The fund first bought a stake in the company back in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The portfolio owns thousands of stocks, and its top holdings show little difference from the S&P 500, with Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon among its largest positions. But the fund is active, with stocks in the tobacco and alcohol sectors excluded from the portfolio.

In 2019, a whistleblower alleged the church had stockpiled nearly $100 billion in funds, rather than directing it toward charitable causes.

The faith, widely known as the Mormon church, maintains billions of dollars of investments in stocks, bonds, real estate and agriculture. Much of its portfolio is controlled by Ensign Peak Advisers, a nonprofit investment manager overseen by ecclesiastical leaders known as its presiding bishopric.

Of the 30 companies that comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Coca-Cola is the only one Ensign Peak Advisors did not invest in. The fund didn't own stock in soda makers PepsiCo or Keurig Dr Pepper, either. Caffeinated sodas are not part of the church's health code, known as the Word of Wisdom.

Conclusion: The Catholic Church owns the most land, far more than McDonald's and billionaire Bill Gates.

In 2001, Mormon billionaire James Sorenson started one of the earliest genetic test kit companies, Relative Genetics, in part due to his religious interests. It was later bought by Ancestry.com, another Mormon company. While today, Ancestry is a publicly traded company, it uses LDS church records and the IGI.

Russell M. Nelson is the current president and prophet of the Church. Russell M. Nelson, 17th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

So many Mormons then will say well, we should not drink any caffeinated beverages. MARTIN: In 2012, the church released an official statement stating explicitly that caffeinated soda is allowed under church doctrine.

The LDS Church today teaches that tithing is ten percent of one's annual income. It is left to each member to determine what constitutes "income".

How much real estate does the Mormon Church own? ›

This latest cache of data — captured in 2020 and released Tuesday by the Truth & Transparency Foundation (formerly known as MormonLeaks) — reveals a nearly 16,000-parcel collection of 1.7 million acres held by identified LDS Church firms.

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has allegedly amassed US$100 billion in purportedly charitable assets since 1997 without ever giving any money away – a possible breach of federal tax laws.

Latter-day Saints believe in “obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law” (Articles of Faith 1:12). Accordingly, the Church and its affiliated entities pay taxes and other governmental levies as required by the laws of each country in which the Church functions.

Local clergy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serve as volunteers, without pay. But “general authorities,” the top leaders in the church, serve full-time, have no other job, and receive the living allowance.

Do you have to be Mormon to own a Chick-fil-A? Chick-fil-A is owned by devout Christians, not Mormons, and their managers and employees overwhelmingly seem to be Christian and endlessly polite.

Many Mormons saw the similarity between the two drinks as having caffeine and thus decided not to drink soda with caffeine as well. The church authorities and the Church leaders never officially restricted Coca-cola or fizzy drinks from its members. It was only ever suggested to avoid drinking it.

Mormon undergarments must be worn day and night by members who have received the ordinance of the temple endowment to remind them of the commitment they made to God, according to Brigham Young University. The LDS Church's handbook states the garments also “provide protection against temptation and evil.”

From thousands of acres of farmlands to thousands of places of worship and from shiny commercial enclaves in urban centers to flowing fields in swelling suburbs, a newly released list shows The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns U.S. properties valued at nearly $16 billion and ranks the Utah-based faith ...

Roman Catholic Church: 70 million hectares

The largest landowner in the world is not a major oil magnate or a real estate investor. No, it's the Roman Catholic Church.

What private citizen owns the most land in the US? ›

Nothing is known about the DNA of Book of Mormon peoples. Even if such information were known, processes such as population bottleneck, genetic drift, and post-Columbian immigration from West Eurasia make it unlikely that their DNA could be detected today.

In fact, we can trace the mtDNA back to a woman from about 150,000 or 200,000 years ago that everyone on the planet is related to. And the Y chromosome to a man we're all related to from 60,000 or so years ago. Scientists have dubbed them Mitochondrial Eve and Y Adam.

Please note: Ancestry does not share your Genetic Information with third-party marketers, insurance companies, or employers, and we will not use your Genetic Information for marketing or personalized advertising without getting your explicit consent.

The policy of companionships staying together at all times serves to discourage these activities. While missionaries may interact with members of the opposite sex, they may never be alone with them or engage in any kind of intimate physical or emotional activity (e.g., kissing, hugging, holding hands, flirting).

It's also double that of the Roman Catholic Church, which has roughly 1.3 billion members and holds assets of $50 billion. That's a little more than $38 per member.

“Thankfully, the LDS Handbook and church newsroom have no negative guidelines regarding facial hair,” it states. “Leaders have long known that becoming a global church involves multiple cultures, realizing that a beard holds different meanings around the world.”

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Mormons are free to down a co*ke or Pepsi. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has clarified its position on caffeinated soft drinks, noting the news media often incorrectly states that its members are forbidden to drink caffeine.

In keeping with the Mormon belief that heaven is full of millions of spirits awaiting an earthly body, birth control and abortion are also forbidden.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practice the Biblical principle of tithing by donating 10 percent of their income to the Church. Tithing has been known since Old Testament times.

Does the Mormon church own any hospitals? ›

Is Pepsi a Mormon owned company? Long answer: No. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not own PepsiCo. What is the source of the old rumor that the Pepsi company was owned by the LDS church?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (known to everyday people as the Mormons) made bank off the boom in GameStop stock earlier this year, new SEC filings reveal. The Church saw a gain of over 900% on stock owned through its secretive investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors.

Utah's Motor Vehicle Franchise Act had banned manufacturers to have direct ownership interests in any new car dealerships. Tesla opened its first Utah dealership in 2015 but had to quickly downgrade its store to a service center after the Utah Attorney General's Office ruled that the dealership violated the law.

Mormon Pioneer Odometer

He seemed to agree with me that it could be easily done at a trifling expense." In this fashion the odometer, called the roadometer, was invented in 1847 by the Mormon pioneers crossing the plains from Missiouri. The odometer was attached to a wagon wheel as the wagon traveled.

So many Mormons then will say well, we should not drink any caffeinated beverages. MARTIN: In 2012, the church released an official statement stating explicitly that caffeinated soda is allowed under church doctrine.

New Marriott rooms to get Bible, Book of Mormon

Marriott, whose namesake founding family is active in the Mormon church, has been putting both the Bible and the Book of Mormon in its rooms since opening its first hotel in the late 1950s.