<SEC-DOCUMENT>0001096906-25-000069.txt : 20250117
<SEC-HEADER>0001096906-25-000069.hdr.sgml : 20250117
<ACCEPTANCE-DATETIME>20250117161546
ACCESSION NUMBER:		0001096906-25-000069
CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE:	PX14A6G
PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT:		1
FILED AS OF DATE:		20250117
DATE AS OF CHANGE:		20250117
EFFECTIVENESS DATE:		20250117

SUBJECT COMPANY:	

	COMPANY DATA:	
		COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:			COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP /NEW
		CENTRAL INDEX KEY:			0000909832
		STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION:	RETAIL-VARIETY STORES [5331]
		ORGANIZATION NAME:           	07 Trade & Services
		IRS NUMBER:				911223280
		STATE OF INCORPORATION:			WA
		FISCAL YEAR END:			0831

	FILING VALUES:
		FORM TYPE:		PX14A6G
		SEC ACT:		1934 Act
		SEC FILE NUMBER:	000-20355
		FILM NUMBER:		25538845

	BUSINESS ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		999 LAKE DRIVE
		CITY:			ISSAQUAH
		STATE:			WA
		ZIP:			98027-
		BUSINESS PHONE:		4253138100

	MAIL ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		999 LAKE DRIVE
		CITY:			ISSAQUAH
		STATE:			WA
		ZIP:			98027

	FORMER COMPANY:	
		FORMER CONFORMED NAME:	COSTCO COMPANIES INC
		DATE OF NAME CHANGE:	19970401

	FORMER COMPANY:	
		FORMER CONFORMED NAME:	PRICE/COSTCO INC
		DATE OF NAME CHANGE:	19930728

FILED BY:		

	COMPANY DATA:	
		COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:			National Center for Public Policy Research, Inc.
		CENTRAL INDEX KEY:			0001966397
		ORGANIZATION NAME:           	
		IRS NUMBER:				521226614

	FILING VALUES:
		FORM TYPE:		PX14A6G

	BUSINESS ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		2005 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW
		CITY:			WASHINGTON
		STATE:			DC
		ZIP:			20036
		BUSINESS PHONE:		2029847168

	MAIL ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		2005 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW
		CITY:			WASHINGTON
		STATE:			DC
		ZIP:			20036
</SEC-HEADER>
<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>PX14A6G
<SEQUENCE>1
<FILENAME>ncppr_px14a6g.htm
<DESCRIPTION>NATIONAL CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH - PX14A6G
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<DIV style=margin-left:72pt;width:468pt><HR style='border:0;height:0;width:0;margin:14pt 0 0 0'><P align=center style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>United States Securities and Exchange Commission</P>
<P align=center style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>Washington, D.C. 20549</P>
<P align=center style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P align=center style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>NOTICE OF EXEMPT SOLICITATION<BR>Pursuant to Rule 14a-103</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&#160;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>Name of the Registrant: Costco Wholesale Corporation</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>Name of persons relying on exemption: National Center for Public Policy Research</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>Address of persons relying on exemption: 2005 Massachusetts Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C 20036</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&#160;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><I>Written materials are submitted pursuant to Rule 14a-6(g) (1) promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Submission is not required of this filer under the terms of the Rule but is made voluntarily in the interest of public disclosure and consideration of these important issues.</I></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><B>PROXY MEMORANDUM</B></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&#160;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><B>TO:</B>&#160;Shareholders of Costco Wholesale Corporation</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><B>RE:</B>&#160;The case for voting&#160;<B>FOR</B>&#160;Proposal 4: Shareholder Proposal Requesting Report on the Risks of Maintaining DEI Efforts</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&#160;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><I>This is not a solicitation of authority to vote your proxy. Please DO NOT send us your proxy card.</I></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><I>The following &#8211;&nbsp;which was first published on Real Clear Markets on January 7, 2025<SUP><A name=_ftnb1 /><A href=#_ftnf1><SUP>1</SUP></A></SUP> &#8211;&nbsp;should not be construed as investment advice.</I></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:16pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><B>Prediction: Costco&#8217;s Race Focused DEI Programs Won&#8217;t See 2026</B></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><I>By Stefan Padfield</I></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF>Unless you&#8217;ve been living under a rock, you know that big-name companies like&#160;Walmart,&#160;Boeing, Lowe&#8217;s and Ford Motors<SUP><A name=_ftnb2 /><A href=#_ftnf2><SUP>2</SUP></A></SUP>&#160;have been rolling back their DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs. The reasons for this will be fleshed out </FONT></P>
<HR style=text-align:left;width:25%><P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf1 /><A href=#_ftnb1><SUP>1</SUP></A></SUP> https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2025/01/07/prediction_costcos_race-focused_dei_programs_wont_see_2026_1082866.html</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf2 /><A href=#_ftnb2><SUP>2</SUP></A></SUP> https://dailycaller.com/2025/01/01/value-destroying-and-costly-is-corporate-americas-love-affair-with-dei-finally-coming-to-an-end/</P>
<HR style='border:0;height:0;width:0;margin:14pt 0 0 0'><HR style='page-break-after:always;border:0;height:3pt;background-color:#909090;margin:8pt 0'><P style=line-height:0;margin:0></P>
<HR style='border:0;height:0;width:0;margin:14pt 0 0 0'><P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=font-size:14pt;background-color:#FFFFFF>below, but the focus here is on a notable outlier,&#160;Costco,<SUP><A name=_ftnb3 /><A href=#_ftnf3><SUP>3</SUP></A></SUP> which recently made headlines by releasing its&#160;opposition statement<SUP><A name=_ftnb4 /><A href=#_ftnf4><SUP>4</SUP></A></SUP> to a shareholder proposal my employer, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), filed asking Costco to &#8220;conduct an evaluation and publish a report &#8230;&nbsp;on the risks of the Company maintaining its current DEI &#8230;&nbsp;roles, policies and goals.&#8221;</FONT></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF>I posted a&#160;statement on X<SUP><A name=_ftnb5 /><A href=#_ftnf5><SUP>5</SUP></A></SUP>&#160;in response to Costco&#8217;s opposition, and want to expand on those comments here.</FONT></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF><B>1. We oppose DEI because DEI institutionalizes, among other things, racial discrimination.</B></FONT></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF>When Costco makes statements about seeking to demonstrate &#8220;leadership commitment to equity through &#8230;&nbsp;support of diversity and inclusion initiatives within the organization,&#8221; and proudly touts that its &#8220;workforce is representative of the communities where we do business,&#8221; there can be little doubt it is talking about socially engineering its workforce and related parties on the basis of race, sex, and ethnicity. We know this because on the very&#160;same page<SUP><A name=_ftnb6 /><A href=#_ftnf6><SUP>6</SUP></A></SUP>&#160;containing these statements Costco also reports that it &#8220;closely monitor[s] demographic data at all levels across the organization,&#8221; and sets forth detailed charts of gender, race, and ethnicity allocation. Add to this references to &#8220;Supplier Inclusion Goals&#8221; and &#8220;Diversity in Costco&#8217;s Product Line&#8221;<SUP><A name=_ftnb7 /><A href=#_ftnf7><SUP>7</SUP></A></SUP> and&#160;millions of dollars<SUP><A name=_ftnb8 /><A href=#_ftnf8><SUP>8</SUP></A></SUP>&#160;committed to &#8220;the Black Economic Development Fund&#8221; and &#8220;the Entrepreneurs of Color Loan Fund&#8221; and &#8220;the Fearless Fund&#8221; (yes, the Fearless Fund that was shut down after a court ruled it&#160;likely violated federal civil-rights law<SUP><A name=_ftnb9 /><A href=#_ftnf9><SUP>9</SUP></A></SUP>&#160;by excluding applicants other than black women) &#8211;&nbsp;and it is difficult to conclude anything other than that Costco has institutionalized the neo-racism popularized by phrases such as &#8220;discrimination in </FONT></P>
<HR style=text-align:left;width:25%><P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf3 /><A href=#_ftnb3><SUP>3</SUP></A></SUP> https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2025/01/01/costco-is-caught-in-the-crosshairs-of-the-dei-controversy/</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf4 /><A href=#_ftnb4><SUP>4</SUP></A></SUP> https://materials.proxyvote.com/Approved/22160K/20241115/NPS_591967/INDEX.HTML?page=36</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf5 /><A href=#_ftnb5><SUP>5</SUP></A></SUP> https://x.com/StefanPadfield/status/1873331727625601053</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf6 /><A href=#_ftnb6><SUP>6</SUP></A></SUP> https://mobilecontent.costco.com/staging/resource/img/25w03130/2a_Inclusion_FY24.pdf</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf7 /><A href=#_ftnb7><SUP>7</SUP></A></SUP> https://mobilecontent.costco.com/staging/resource/img/25w03130/2d_SupplierInclusion_FY24.pdf</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf8 /><A href=#_ftnb8><SUP>8</SUP></A></SUP> https://mobilecontent.costco.com/staging/resource/img/25w03130/2c_Communities_FY24.pdf</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf9 /><A href=#_ftnb9><SUP>9</SUP></A></SUP> https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/appeals-court-blocks-venture-firms-grant-program-for-black-women-476fc8f7</P>
<HR style='border:0;height:0;width:0;margin:14pt 0 0 0'><HR style='page-break-after:always;border:0;height:3pt;background-color:#909090;margin:8pt 0'><P style=line-height:0;margin:0></P>
<HR style='border:0;height:0;width:0;margin:14pt 0 0 0'><P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=font-size:14pt;background-color:#FFFFFF>the name of anti-discrimination.&#8221;<SUP><A name=_ftnb10 /><A href=#_ftnf10><SUP>10</SUP></A></SUP> (Notably, Costco denied none of the evidence of racial discrimination at Costco we cite in our proposal.)</FONT></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF><B>2. Among other risks, racial discrimination poses material risks to a company&#8217;s bottom line.</B></FONT></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF>When it comes to&#160;the risks of this neo-racism,<SUP><A name=_ftnb11 /><A href=#_ftnf11><SUP>11</SUP></A></SUP> relevant reports include a&#160;$25M single &#8220;reverse discrimination&#8221; case<SUP><A name=_ftnb12 /><A href=#_ftnf12><SUP>12</SUP></A></SUP>&#160;against Starbucks, as well as&#160;$10B in lost market cap<SUP><A name=_ftnb13 /><A href=#_ftnf13><SUP>13</SUP></A></SUP>&#160;at John Deere before it agreed to walk back its DEI programs in response to Robby Starbuck exposing them. There is much more to say here on&#160;relevant risks<SUP><A name=_ftnb14 /><A href=#_ftnf14><SUP>14</SUP></A></SUP>&#160;related to securities fraud, breach of duty, etc., but that will have to wait for another day.</FONT></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF><B>3. Costco apparently justifies its discrimination because, among other things, &#8220;a diverse group of employees helps bring originality and creativity to our merchandise offerings.&#8221;</B></FONT></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF>One would be forgiven for concluding that this sounds like pure race essentialism. If originality and creativity are the goal, why not just hire the most creative and original people you can? Again, there is much more to say here but one critical question is:&#160;Where is the data?<SUP><A name=_ftnb15 /><A href=#_ftnf15><SUP>15</SUP></A></SUP> We are repeatedly told that what&#8217;s valued gets measured, but all we&#8217;ve gotten in terms of company-specific support for the &#8220;diversity is good for business&#8221; mantra appears to be platitudes. It is worth noting the SEC was recently unable to make that claim &#8212;&nbsp;as much as it wanted to &#8212;&nbsp;in our legal challenge to Nasdaq's diversity rule, which we won. The totality of the&#160;relevant empirical data<SUP><A name=_ftnb16 /><A href=#_ftnf16><SUP>16</SUP></A></SUP>&#160;simply does not support that claim. This constitutes another potential basis for breach of duty and other lawsuits.</FONT></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<HR style=text-align:left;width:25%><P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf10 /><A href=#_ftnb10><SUP>10</SUP></A></SUP> https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2024/12/24/corporations_clinging_to_dei_will _lose_social_license_to_operate_1080483.html</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf11 /><A href=#_ftnb11><SUP>11</SUP></A></SUP> https://lawliberty.org/the-duty-to-monitor-diversity-training/</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf12 /><A href=#_ftnb12><SUP>12</SUP></A></SUP> https://abcnews.go.com/Business/starbucks-discrimination-lawsuit-awarded-white-employee-25-million/story?id=100104620</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf13 /><A href=#_ftnb13><SUP>13</SUP></A></SUP> https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/1820894638019879129</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf14 /><A href=#_ftnb14><SUP>14</SUP></A></SUP> https://www.zerohedge.com/political/marc-andreessen-every-signal-being-sent-trump-doj-official-harmeet-dhillon-will-drop</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf15 /><A href=#_ftnb15><SUP>15</SUP></A></SUP> https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2025/01/01/costco-is-caught-in-the-crosshairs-of-the-dei-controversy/</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf16 /><A href=#_ftnb16><SUP>16</SUP></A></SUP> https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2025/01/01/costco-is-caught-in-the-crosshairs-of-the-dei-controversy/</P>
<HR style='border:0;height:0;width:0;margin:14pt 0 0 0'><HR style='page-break-after:always;border:0;height:3pt;background-color:#909090;margin:8pt 0'><P style=line-height:0;margin:0></P>
<HR style='border:0;height:0;width:0;margin:14pt 0 0 0'><P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF><B>4. Costco accuses NCPPR of &#8220;inflicting burdens on companies with their challenges to longstanding diversity programs.&#8221; However, the wave of customer backlash we&#8217;ve seen against DEI recently makes clear that it is DEI that is the problem.</B></FONT></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF>Rather than doing the right thing and evaluating the relevant risks as requested, Costco is apparently doubling down on divisive and value-destroying DEI.</FONT></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF><B>5. Costco also claims NCPPR is not focused on risk-reduction at Costco because it is in reality pursuing &#8220;abolition of diversity initiatives.&#8221; This is a non-sequitur.</B></FONT></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF>Because corporate diversity initiatives are, among other things, race-discrimination initiatives, they expose companies to legal and reputational risks. Thus, our broader goals are perfectly consistent with the value-maximization goals of our fellow shareholders, not in tension with them. While it is often claimed that our proposals would receive greater support if we truly represented broad shareholder interests, it is important to note that those votes are likely materially distorted by, among other things, ESG-related conflicts at the Big 5 asset managers and proxy advisors, as well as potential internal conflicts at the corporations themselves. One question to ask on the latter point is how willing the companies we deal with have been to negotiate withdrawals of proposals submitted by left-leaning shareholder activists while subjecting NCPPR to ad hominem attacks in opposition statements.</FONT></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF><B>6. Prediction: Costco&#8217;s Neo-Racist DEI Programs Won&#8217;t See 2026</B></FONT></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><FONT style=background-color:#FFFFFF>No, I won&#8217;t claim I&#8217;ve already gotten this prediction correct because Costco has apparently rebranded its DEI programs as &quot;People &amp; Communities&quot;<SUP><A name=_ftnb17 /><A href=#_ftnf17><SUP>17</SUP></A></SUP> initiatives. Rather, I&#8217;ll simply note that Costco is already the subject of&#160;calls for boycotts<SUP><A name=_ftnb18 /><A href=#_ftnf18><SUP>18</SUP></A></SUP>&#160;after it defiantly doubled-down on its neo-racism in response to our proposal, and Robby Starbuck is hinting at a related&#160;file drop<SUP><A name=_ftnb19 /><A href=#_ftnf19><SUP>19</SUP></A></SUP>&#160;later this year. Stay tuned.</FONT></P>
<HR style=text-align:left;width:25%><P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf17 /><A href=#_ftnb17><SUP>17</SUP></A></SUP> https://www.costco.com/sustainability-people-communities.html</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf18 /><A href=#_ftnb18><SUP>18</SUP></A></SUP> https://www.newsmax.com/us/costco-dei-boycott/2024/12/31/id/1193477/</P>
<P style='font:12pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><SUP><A name=_ftnf19 /><A href=#_ftnb19><SUP>19</SUP></A></SUP> https://x.com/robbystarbuck/status/1873789698193150034</P>
<HR style='border:0;height:0;width:0;margin:14pt 0 0 0'><HR style='page-break-after:always;border:0;height:3pt;background-color:#909090;margin:8pt 0'><P style=line-height:0;margin:0></P>
<HR style='border:0;height:0;width:0;margin:14pt 0 0 0'><P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'><I>For these reasons, we urge shareholders to vote </I><B><I>FOR</I></B><I> Proposal 4: Shareholder Proposal Requesting Report on the Risks of Maintaining DEI Efforts.</I></P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&nbsp;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>THE FOREGOING INFORMATION MAY BE DISSEMINATED TO SHAREHOLDERS VIA TELEPHONE, U.S. MAIL, E-MAIL, CERTAIN WEBSITES AND CERTAIN SOCIAL MEDIA VENUES, AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED AS INVESTMENT ADVICE OR AS A SOLICITATION OF AUTHORITY TO VOTE YOUR PROXY.</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&#160;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>THE COST OF DISSEMINATING THE FOREGOING INFORMATION TO SHAREHOLDERS IS BEING BORNE ENTIRELY BY THE FILERS.</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&#160;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>PROXY CARDS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED BY US. PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR PROXY TO US. TO VOTE YOUR PROXY, PLEASE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON YOUR PROXY CARD.</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>&#160;</P>
<P style='font:14pt Times New Roman;margin:0;color:#000000'>For questions regarding our shareholder proposal on the Costco Wholesale Corporation 2025 proxy ballot, please contact NCPPR at <FONT style='border-bottom:1px solid #000000'>info@nationalcenter.org</FONT>.</P>
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