“The business involvement which we have is a very, very minor part of our activity… We try to operate the few – and I emphasize that – the few business interests that we do have in a business-like prudent way, as any prudent business corporation would do, and use them for public good.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, quoted in Ken Wells, Wall Street Journal – 9 November 1983, “The Mormon Church is Rich, Rapidly Growing and Very Controversial” (New York, NY: The Wall Street Journal, 1983), 1.

“But, in fact, the LDS Church has considerably more than a few business interests. The Church’s investments are enormous, constantly shifting to take advantage of profit margins in the stock market, and highly diversified. The Church runs a virtual business empire, with assets close to $8 billion [in 1985] by conservative estimates. These Church operations have been run basically for their economic returns and not necessarily for the public good.”

John Heinerman and Anson Shule, The Mormon Corporate Empire (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1986), 76.