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SIGNATURE VINCENT P. CORTI
TITLE SECRETARY
<TABLE> <S> <C>
<ARTICLE> 6
<MULTIPLIER> 1000
<S> <C>
<PERIOD-TYPE> YEAR
<FISCAL-YEAR-END> DEC-31-1998
<PERIOD-START> JAN-1-1998
<PERIOD-END> DEC-31-1998
<INVESTMENTS-AT-COST> 29,312,570
<INVESTMENTS-AT-VALUE> 48,545,168
<RECEIVABLES> 191,751
<ASSETS-OTHER> 319
<OTHER-ITEMS-ASSETS> 0
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<SENIOR-LONG-TERM-DEBT> 0
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<SENIOR-EQUITY> 0
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<SHARES-COMMON-PRIOR> 1,405,903,965
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<OVERDISTRIBUTION-NII> 0
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<OVERDISTRIBUTION-GAINS> 0
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<NET-ASSETS> 48,497,583
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<INTEREST-INCOME> 351,079
<OTHER-INCOME> 0
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<NET-INVESTMENT-INCOME> 716,799
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<NET-CHANGE-FROM-OPS> 9,056,360
<EQUALIZATION> 0
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<ACCUMULATED-GAINS-PRIOR> 0
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<INTEREST-EXPENSE> 0
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<PER-SHARE-NAV-BEGIN> 28.25
<PER-SHARE-NII> .48
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</TABLE>
January 29, 1999
To the Board of Directors of
The Investment Company of America
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of
The Investment Company of America (the "Fund") for the year ended
December 31, 1998, we considered its internal control, including
control activities for safeguarding securities, in order to
determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our
opinion on the financial statements and to comply with the
requirements of Form N-SAR, not to provide assurance on internal
control.
The management of the Fund is responsible for establishing and
maintaining internal control. In fulfilling this responsibility,
estimates and judgments by management are required to assess the
expected benefits and related costs of controls. Generally,
controls that are relevant to an audit pertain to the entity's
objective of preparing financial statements for external purposes
that are fairly presented in conformity with generally accepted
accounting principles. Those controls include the safeguarding of
assets against unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in internal control, errors or
fraud may occur and not be detected. Also, projection of any
evaluation of internal control to future periods is subject to the
risk that it may become inadequate because of changes in conditions
or that the effectiveness of the design and operation may
deteriorate.
Our consideration of internal control would not necessarily
disclose all matters in internal control that might be material
weaknesses under standards established by the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants. A material weakness is a condition
in which the design or operation of one or more of the internal
control components does not reduce to a relatively low level the
risk that misstatements caused by errors or fraud in amounts that
would be material in relation to the financial statements being
audited may occur and not be detected within a timely period by
employees in the normal course of performing their assigned
functions. However, we noted no matters involving internal control
and its operation, including controls for safeguarding securities,
that we consider to be material weaknesses as defined above as of
December 31, 1998.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of
management and the Board of Directors of the Fund and the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP
Los Angeles, California
