Matthew Paull Quotations

We are looking for brands with the potential to impact our business, and we're looking at things that can grow to at least 1,000 restaurants,

would not add value to McDonald's and would be a tremendous distraction.

We do not expect any significant increase in capital spending for new restaurants since net new unit growth is expected to continue at 1% to 2% in the near term. In addition, we expect to return roughly $5 billion to $6 billion to shareholders via dividends and share repurchase over the next two years.

The process of restructuring and seeking qualification would be long and arduous,

Significantly, when we convert this group of restaurants to developmental licensees, the results we currently report from these markets will be replaced over time with a royalty--- a royalty based solely on a percentage of sales, and our capital requirements will be eliminated.

In our view, the concept outlined at today's Value Investing Congress would not create significant value for McDonald's shareholders. McDonald's and two separate outside advisors have carefully evaluated the ideas presented and concluded that they would pose serious strategic and financial risks to McDonald's and our overall system,

The proposal is an exercise in financial engineering and does not take into account McDonald's unique business model. While we remain open to ideas, we simply will not jeopardize the long-term health of our company, nor our relationships with customers, franchisees and suppliers for such a financial engineering exercise.

This has been a difficult year and our financial performance has been below expectations.

We have not yet determine exactly how far below 50% we will get or how long it might take us to get there.

An IPO has been served up as a panacea. Believe me, it is not.