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<PAGE> PAGE 3
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SIGNATURE VINCENT P. CORTI
TITLE SECRETARY
Report of Independent Accountants
January 28, 2000
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, 1999, 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
controls 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 error 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, 1999.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of the
Board of Directors, management and the Securities and Exchange
Commission and is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone
other than these specified parties.
PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP
Los Angeles, California
WARNING: THE EDGAR SYSTEM ENCOUNTERED ERROR(S) WHILE PROCESSING THIS SCHEDULE.
<TABLE> <S> <C>
<ARTICLE> 6
<MULTIPLIER> 1000
<S> <C>
<PERIOD-TYPE> YEAR
<FISCAL-YEAR-END> DEC-31-1999
<PERIOD-START> JAN-1-1999
<PERIOD-END> DEC-31-1999
<INVESTMENTS-AT-COST> 34,879,953
<INVESTMENTS-AT-VALUE> 56,044,188
<RECEIVABLES> 114,094
<ASSETS-OTHER> 148
<OTHER-ITEMS-ASSETS> 0
<TOTAL-ASSETS> 56,158,430
<PAYABLE-FOR-SECURITIES> 0
<SENIOR-LONG-TERM-DEBT> 0
<OTHER-ITEMS-LIABILITIES> 63,201
<TOTAL-LIABILITIES> 63,201
<SENIOR-EQUITY> 0
<PAID-IN-CAPITAL-COMMON> 32,217,640
<SHARES-COMMON-STOCK> 1,728,032,586
<SHARES-COMMON-PRIOR> 1,561,093,865
<ACCUMULATED-NII-CURRENT> 299,609
<OVERDISTRIBUTION-NII> 0
<ACCUMULATED-NET-GAINS> 685,747
<OVERDISTRIBUTION-GAINS> 0
<ACCUM-APPREC-OR-DEPREC> 21,164,235
<NET-ASSETS> 56,095,229
<DIVIDEND-INCOME> 680,619
<INTEREST-INCOME> 406,393
<OTHER-INCOME> 0
<EXPENSES-NET> 287,705
<NET-INVESTMENT-INCOME> 799,307
<REALIZED-GAINS-CURRENT> 5,292,279
<APPREC-INCREASE-CURRENT> 1,931,502
<NET-CHANGE-FROM-OPS> 8,023,088
<EQUALIZATION> 0
<DISTRIBUTIONS-OF-INCOME> 807,510
<DISTRIBUTIONS-OF-GAINS> 4,829,809
<DISTRIBUTIONS-OTHER> 0
<NUMBER-OF-SHARES-SOLD> 174,371,241
<NUMBER-OF-SHARES-REDEEMED> 174,052,877
<SHARES-REINVESTED> 166,620,357
<NET-CHANGE-IN-ASSETS> 7,597,646
<ACCUMULATED-NII-PRIOR> 307,707
<ACCUMULATED-GAINS-PRIOR> 494,439
<OVERDISTRIB-NII-PRIOR> 0
<OVERDIST-NET-GAINS-PRIOR> 0
<GROSS-ADVISORY-FEES> 127,846
<INTEREST-EXPENSE> 0
<GROSS-EXPENSE> 287,705
<AVERAGE-NET-ASSETS> 52,000,296
<PER-SHARE-NAV-BEGIN> 31.07
<PER-SHARE-NII> 0.49
<PER-SHARE-GAIN-APPREC> 4.45
<PER-SHARE-DIVIDEND> 0.51
<PER-SHARE-DISTRIBUTIONS> 3.04
<RETURNS-OF-CAPITAL> 0
<PER-SHARE-NAV-END> 32.46
<EXPENSE-RATIO> .005
[AVG-DEBT-OUTSTANDING] 0
[AVG-DEBT-PER-SHARE] 0
</TABLE>
For period ending 12/31/99
File number 811 - 116
77(C). Matters submitted to a vote of security holders.
a) Meeting of shareholders - October 19, 1999
(1) Directors elected:
Charles H. Black, Ann S. Bowers, Louise H. Bryson,
Malcolm R. Currie, Jon B. Lovelace, Jr., John G. McDonald, Bailey
Morris-Eck, Richard G. Newman, William C. Newton, James W. Ratzlaff,
Olin C. Robison, R. Michael Shanahan, William J. Spencer.
(2) Ratification or rejection of the selection by the
Board of Directors of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the independent
accountant
Votes:
Affirmative
Against
Abstain
990,514,162
5,750,141
24,127,642
b) Meeting of shareholders - November 16, 1999 adjourned session
(1) Amendments to Certificate of Incorporation (i) increasing
the authorized shares of capital stock, (ii) establishing a new
class of common stock and (iii) authorizing the Board to create
additional series of shares within the new class of common stock.
Votes:
Affirmative
Against
Abstain
827,588,205
38,273,476
47,835,925
(Broker Non-Votes = 271,714,776)
(2) Amendment to Certificate of Incorporation reducing the par
value per share of capital stock
Votes:
Affirmative
Against
Abstain
800,229,624
54,877,058
58,590,924
(Broker Non-Votes = 271,714,776)
