Corporate gifting has changed. The branded pen and the generic gift basket still exist, but they no longer do the work that thoughtful companies need them to do. Procurement teams, executive assistants, and client relations managers are asking a different question now. They are asking: does this gift say something true about who we are? That shift in thinking is exactly why kona coffee for office gifts and corporate Hawaii sourcing has moved from niche curiosity to serious consideration for companies across the country.
Here is the problem. Kona coffee has a reputation that precedes it. Mention it in a room and people recognize the name. They associate it with Hawaii, with quality, with something special. That recognition is real and earned. But a lot of what gets sold under the Kona name is not what it claims to be. Blended products, misleading labels, and mass-market repacking have made the category confusing for buyers who are not specialists. When you are sourcing coffee for fifty clients or five hundred employees, the last thing you need is to discover that the gift you sent was 10% Kona and 90% something else.
At Buddha's Cup, we grow, process, and ship our coffee from our farm in Holualoa, Hawaii. We are on the Big Island, in the heart of the Kona coffee belt. We know what authentic looks like because we produce it. We also know what the corporate gifting process requires, because we have worked with companies who need something they can be proud of, something that tells a real story, and something that arrives in great condition.
This guide is for buyers who want to get this right. By the time you finish reading, you will know how to identify genuine Kona coffee, what to look for on a label, how to build a gift package that lands well across a diverse recipient list, and how to source directly from a Hawaii farm. If you are starting from scratch, our Kona coffee buyer's guide is a good companion to what follows here.
Why Kona Coffee Has Earned a Place on the Corporate Gift List
What Makes Kona Coffee Genuinely Rare
Rarity is not a marketing word when it comes to Kona coffee. It is a geographic and agricultural fact. The Kona coffee belt runs along the western slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualalai on the Big Island of Hawaii. This strip of land sits between roughly 1,000 and 3,000 feet in elevation, where morning sun, afternoon cloud cover, and mineral-rich volcanic soil create conditions that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the United States.
Hawaii is the only U.S. state producing coffee at meaningful commercial scale. According to data from the World Population Review, Hawaii's unique growing conditions, including its volcanic soil composition and tropical climate, make it categorically different from every other coffee-growing region accessible to American buyers. No other state comes close to the consistent, farm-to-consumer chain that Hawaii's coffee industry has built over more than a century.
The Kona Belt itself is a narrow geographic corridor. Research from Coffee Studies confirms that the specific microclimate of the Kona region, defined by its combination of altitude, cloud cover patterns, and lava-enriched soil, produces a coffee with characteristics that cannot be reproduced through cultivation in other regions. Even within Hawaii, coffee grown on other islands or on different sides of the Big Island is not Kona coffee.
Holualoa, where Buddha's Cup is located, sits in the upper elevations of this belt. The town is perched above Kailua-Kona, draped in cloud cover through most afternoons, and surrounded by coffee farms that have been operating for generations. When you walk our land, you understand immediately why this place produces something different. The soil is dark and volcanic. The trees are dense and productive. The air is cool enough in the mornings that you would not guess you are on a tropical island.
For corporate gifting, the rarity factor is not just a talking point. It is what makes the gesture meaningful. When you send a client a bag of authentic, 100% Kona coffee from a farm you can name, you are not sending them a commodity. You are sending them something that required specific geography, specific climate, specific labor, and a specific agricultural tradition to produce. That is a genuinely impressive thing to put in a gift box, and it is something that most of your competitors have not figured out yet.
The Sensory Experience That Sets Kona Apart
Not every corporate gift recipient is a coffee expert. That is actually one of the reasons Kona coffee works so well for office gifting. Its flavor profile is accessible. It is not polarizing or challenging in the way that some specialty coffees can be. It is the kind of coffee that earns a compliment from someone who drinks drip coffee every morning and also from someone who travels with their own pour-over equipment.
Kona coffee is known for low acidity. That smoothness is not blandness. It is the result of how the bean develops in the Kona climate, producing a cup that is mild and clean with a natural sweetness that does not require added sugar to enjoy. The body tends to be medium to full, depending on the roast level, and the finish is complex enough to hold your attention without demanding it.
If you compare it directly to commodity grocery store coffee, the difference is immediately apparent. If you compare it to other specialty single-origin coffees, Kona still distinguishes itself through that signature gentleness. You can read more about those differences in our breakdown of Kona coffee vs regular coffee.
There is also a health dimension worth noting for corporate buyers thinking about their recipient list. Kona coffee tends to be easier on the digestive system than many other coffees. The lower acidity means that people who have switched away from coffee due to stomach sensitivity often find they can enjoy Kona without discomfort. For office environments where some employees have already reduced or eliminated coffee for health reasons, this is a meaningful consideration. We have detailed information about this on our Kona coffee digestion-friendly brew page. The antioxidant profile of authentic Kona is also worth noting, and you can explore that through our coverage of Buddha's Cup Kona coffee health benefits.
The practical point for corporate buyers is this. Kona coffee works across a broad audience. It is not a gift that requires the recipient to be initiated. You can send it to your most discerning client and to the administrative team at a partner company and expect it to land well in both settings.
The Cultural Weight of a Hawaii-Sourced Gift
There is something that happens when a gift carries a real story. Recipients remember it differently. Brand recall improves not because of the logo on the packaging but because of the narrative behind the product. A bag of authentic Kona coffee from a named farm in Holualoa tells a story about place. It carries the aloha spirit that Hawaii is genuinely known for, not as a tourism slogan but as a cultural value embedded in how people here do business and treat one another.
Research from Kona Earth, a resource tracking specialty coffee trends, has consistently shown that premium buyers are actively seeking origin connection and direct farm relationships. In 2026, that trend has intensified. Companies that source gifts from farms, cooperatives, and small producers are increasingly seen as more thoughtful, more values-aligned, and more intentional than those that source from distributors or mass-market retailers. The gift becomes a statement about how your company operates.
That story extends further if any of your team members ever visit Hawaii. Buddha's Cup offers farm tours that bring the coffee journey to life in ways that no amount of packaging copy can replicate. When a client or colleague has walked our farm, touched the coffee cherries, and tasted a cup pulled from beans grown on that same hillside, the product they take home is no longer just coffee. It is a memory with a sensory anchor. You can learn more about what that experience looks like on our Kona coffee tour page.
The cultural weight of a Hawaii-sourced gift also carries an implicit message about your company's values. You chose something real over something generic. You chose something that supports a local farming family over something produced by a faceless corporation. You chose Hawaii. For many recipients, that choice alone is enough to make the gift memorable.
The Authenticity Problem Every Corporate Buyer Must Understand
How Much "Kona" Coffee Is Actually Fake
This is where corporate buyers need to pay close attention. The numbers here are not exaggerated for effect. They are the documented reality of an industry that has struggled with label abuse for decades.
Hawaii produces approximately two million pounds of genuine Kona coffee per year. Roughly twenty million pounds of product labeled with the Kona name move through distribution channels annually. That means for every pound of authentic Kona coffee that exists, approximately nine pounds of something else is being sold under a name that implies Kona quality. The gap is not a rounding error. It is a structural problem that has existed in this industry for a long time and that every serious buyer needs to understand before placing an order.
What fills that gap? Coffee Craft Guide has documented the production versus labeling disparity in the Kona category, noting how the volume of Kona-branded products far exceeds what the Kona farming region is physically capable of producing. The gap is filled primarily with low-quality commodity beans blended with a small percentage of genuine Kona, then packaged and marketed in ways designed to imply a Hawaii origin.
Wikipedia's entry on Kona coffee documents the ongoing trademark and labeling battles that have defined this industry for decades. Farmers, cooperatives, and advocacy groups have fought hard to establish clearer standards, and progress has been made. But as of today, the market is still full of products that most buyers would consider misleading if they understood what they were actually purchasing.
For corporate gifting programs, this matters enormously. If you send a client what you believe is Kona coffee and it turns out to be a blend with minimal authentic content, that reflects on your company. The gift intended to convey quality and thoughtfulness instead conveys exactly the opposite. It tells the recipient that you did not look closely, that you bought the label rather than the product. That is a reputational risk that no procurement team should be comfortable accepting.
The 10% Blend Rule and What Is Changing
The legal standard that created the problem is straightforward. For years, a product could be labeled "Kona blend" in Hawaii with as little as 10% genuine Kona coffee content. The remaining 90% could be beans from anywhere on earth. This rule was not an oversight. It was a deliberate accommodation for a retail coffee industry that wanted to sell products at lower price points while capitalizing on the Kona name.
Love Big Island has documented the regulatory changes that are reshaping this landscape. In July 2024, new rules went into effect requiring front-label disclosure of the blend percentage, making it harder to bury the blend ratio in fine print. More significantly, a pending 2027 regulation will increase the minimum Kona content requirement from 10% to 51% for a product to carry the Kona blend label at all.
What does this mean for corporate buyers purchasing today? Blends are still widespread. The 2024 disclosure rules have improved transparency, but the 51% threshold does not take effect until 2027. Products sold today as "Kona blend" may still contain only a small fraction of genuine Kona coffee. The only way to guarantee that your corporate gift contains 100% authentic Kona coffee is to purchase a product that explicitly says so and to source it from a farm you can verify.
Our page on blending Kona coffee goes deeper on the labeling rules and what buyers should understand before making a purchase decision. If you are sourcing for corporate gifting, this is required reading before you place an order anywhere.
How to Read a Label Before You Buy in Bulk
Reading a coffee label sounds simple. In practice, it requires knowing what you are looking for and what the red flags are. Here is a practical framework for procurement teams evaluating Kona coffee products before committing to a bulk order.
The most important phrase on any label is "100% Kona Coffee." If that phrase is not present, you are looking at a blend or a product that cannot guarantee Kona content. Coffee How has documented what authentic Kona labeling looks like, including the presence of a farm name or estate designation, a grade notation (such as Extra Fancy or Fancy), and clear disclosure of origin. These elements are markers of a producer who is proud of what is in the bag and has nothing to hide.
Words to be cautious about include "Kona blend," "Kona style," "Kona roast," and any variation that pairs Kona with a modifier that is not 100%. These are not 100% Kona products. The Coffee Folk has noted in its evaluation of Kona producers that the most trustworthy suppliers are those who provide full transparency about their sourcing, processing, and grading, not those who rely on the Kona name without substantiating it.
Here is a practical checklist for procurement teams evaluating any Kona coffee product for bulk corporate purchase. First, confirm the label reads "100% Kona Coffee" without qualifiers. Second, verify that a specific farm name, estate name, or cooperative is listed. Third, check for a Hawaii state grade designation. Fourth, look for a roast date rather than just a best-by date, since roast date tells you how fresh the product actually is. Fifth, contact the seller directly and ask where the coffee was grown. A legitimate farm or farm-direct supplier can answer that question specifically. If they cannot, that is your answer.
Our Kona coffee buyer's guide walks through each of these evaluation criteria in more detail and is a useful resource to share with your procurement team as they evaluate suppliers.
Corporate Sourcing Directly From a Kona Farm and Why It Matters
What Farm-Direct Sourcing Actually Means
Farm-direct sourcing means buying from the grower, not from a repackager, a multi-brand distributor, or a retail aggregator who has purchased from multiple anonymous sources. When you buy farm-direct, you know exactly who grew your coffee, where it grew, how it was processed, and when it was roasted. That chain of custody is not just a nice story. It is the documentation that supports every claim on the label.
The Kona Coffee Farmers association has highlighted how maintaining roasting and sourcing infrastructure within Hawaii is essential to the integrity of the Kona coffee category. When roasting, grading, and fulfillment happen on-island or close to the farm, the quality controls are tighter and the provenance is clearer. This is in direct contrast to the model used by some larger operations, where green beans are purchased from multiple sources, blended to a price point, and roasted off-island before being labeled and shipped.
Industry research on cooperative and family-farm structures in the Kona coffee industry has shown that the small, family-scale farms that make up the majority of Kona production are the backbone of the category's reputation. They are also the producers who are most likely to be transparent about what is in their bags, because their name and their land are on the line with every sale.
At Buddha's Cup, we are that farm. We are based in Holualoa. Our coffee is grown on our land, processed by our team, roasted to order, and shipped directly to you. When you purchase from us for a corporate gifting program, you are not buying from an intermediary who purchased from a farm you cannot identify. You are buying from the farm. That distinction matters for every reason we have described, and it matters practically for the documentation requirements we will discuss shortly.
Traceability as a Corporate Value
By 2026, supply chain traceability has moved from a voluntary best practice to an expectation in many corporate procurement environments. ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) programs at mid-size and enterprise companies now commonly require documentation of where products come from, how they were produced, and whether the sourcing relationship aligns with stated company values around sustainability, labor practices, and community impact.
Coffee gifts are not exempt from this scrutiny. If your company has a supplier code of conduct, a sustainable sourcing policy, or an ESG reporting requirement, the coffee you send as a corporate gift is subject to those standards just like any other purchase. Kona Earth's coverage of specialty coffee trends in 2026 confirms that the premium buyer mindset has shifted decisively toward wanting traceability, freshness documentation, and evidence of a direct farm connection. This is not niche. It is mainstream among the kind of companies that care enough about their gifts to research them before ordering.
Farm-direct sourcing from Buddha's Cup can support your documentation needs. We can provide information about our farm, our cultivation practices, and the provenance of your specific order. For companies pursuing special edition Kona single estates, the traceability is even tighter, with individual lot documentation that supports detailed provenance reporting.
Beyond compliance, traceability is a talking point. When your procurement lead presents the gift program to leadership, being able to say that the coffee was sourced directly from a named farm in Holualoa, Hawaii, that the farm can be visited, and that the company received documentation of the sourcing relationship is a qualitatively different conversation than saying you ordered from an online retailer who aggregates multiple brands.
Supporting Hawaii's Agricultural Economy Through Your Purchase
Every purchase decision has an economic downstream. When you buy 100% Kona coffee directly from a family farm, that money stays in the local economy in ways that mass-market purchasing does not replicate. Kona farming is labor-intensive and seasonal. The harvest runs from roughly October through February. The families and workers who tend these farms operate on margins that are sensitive to whether buyers choose authentic products or blends.
Small Kona farms like Buddha's Cup are not just coffee producers. They are agricultural anchors for communities like Holualoa that have built their identity around farming. When corporate buyers choose farm-direct 100% Kona, they are participating in the preservation of that agricultural tradition. That is a meaningful story to tell internally when presenting a gifting program, and it is a story that resonates with employees and clients who care about where their products come from.
At Buddha's Cup, our farm also grows mamaki tea. Mamaki is a native Hawaiian herbal plant with a long history of traditional use on the islands. It grows on our property alongside the coffee trees, and it adds a genuinely unique dimension to what we can offer corporate buyers. For recipients who do not drink coffee, mamaki tea provides an equally authentic, equally Hawaii-origin gift option that keeps your program inclusive without compromising the story you are telling. If you are curious about the broader range of what a dedicated Kona coffee sourcing relationship can include, our page for the Kona coffee collector shows the depth of what is available from a serious farm-direct producer.
Building a Kona Coffee Corporate Gift Package
Choosing the Right Roast and Format for Office Recipients
Not every office has the same coffee infrastructure, and not every recipient engages with coffee the same way. Building a corporate gift package that works across a range of contexts means making deliberate choices about roast level and product format before you place your order.
Roast level is the most common question from first-time corporate buyers. Light roasts preserve more of the bean's natural terroir characteristics. For Kona, that means more of the bright, nuanced notes that make the coffee distinctive. Light roast Kona is excellent for recipients who are already engaged with specialty coffee and who will appreciate the subtlety. Medium roast is the most broadly accessible choice for office gifting. It balances Kona's natural smoothness with enough body and depth to satisfy a wide range of palates without being challenging to anyone. Dark roast is bold and familiar, comfortable for recipients who are accustomed to darker commercial coffees, though it can mask some of Kona's more delicate characteristics.
Coffee Studies has noted that roast level significantly affects how Kona's natural flavor characteristics express in the cup. For corporate gifting where you do not know every recipient's preference, medium roast is the safest and most crowd-pleasing selection. If your budget allows for variety, sending a sampler that includes both light and medium is a thoughtful approach that lets recipients discover their own preference.
Whole bean versus ground is the next decision. Whole bean coffee stays fresh longer because oxidation begins the moment a bean is ground. For coffee-serious recipients, whole bean is always the better choice. For offices that have limited equipment, pre-ground coffee in a medium or drip grind is more practical. If you are unsure about your recipient base, you can offer both options or choose ground as the more universally accessible format. Our Kona coffee buyer's guide covers grind selection in more detail for buyers who want to match the format to their recipients' likely brewing methods.
For sizing, individual gift bags in the 8-ounce or 12-ounce range work well for personal gifts to named recipients. For office breakroom gifting or team-wide packages, larger formats or multiple bags bundled together make more sense. Consider the context in which the coffee will be used. A single executive gift calls for a different presentation than a gift for an entire department.
Adding Hawaii-Made Complements to the Coffee Gift
The most memorable corporate gifts are not single items. They are curated experiences in a box. For Kona coffee gifts, the natural complements come from the same geographic and cultural origin. Everything in the package should belong together, and everything should reinforce the Hawaii story you are telling.
Buddha's Cup's signature rum cakes are a natural companion to Kona coffee. They are made in Hawaii, they pair beautifully with a cup of coffee, and they add a sweet, shareable element to any gift box. For office environments, shareable items have a secondary benefit: they create a social moment around the gift. When a team cuts into a rum cake together, the gifting company's name is in the room for that conversation. That is a form of brand presence that a bag of coffee alone cannot create.
Mamaki tea is an equally important consideration for corporate gift packages, specifically because it makes the gift inclusive. Not every recipient drinks coffee. Some have reduced or eliminated coffee for health reasons. Some simply prefer tea. Including mamaki tea, a native Hawaiian herbal tea grown right on our farm, means that every recipient in the office has something in the gift that speaks to them. The tea has its own story, its own health context, and its own connection to Hawaiian tradition. It is not a consolation item. It is a genuinely interesting product that many coffee drinkers will enjoy in addition to the coffee.
Hawaiian gift items, including locally made additions that carry the Hawaii origin story, round out the package for buyers who want a more comprehensive presentation. Kona coffee works as a standalone gift for many corporate purposes, but when the gift is meant to represent your company's relationship with Hawaii or to mark a significant occasion, building a fuller package elevates the gesture.
If you are interested in the culinary side of Kona coffee, our pages on uses of Kona coffee in desserts and how to make a Kona coffee cake offer inspiration for recipients who want to take the experience further in their own kitchen. These pages can be included as printed inserts or QR code links in your gift packaging, turning the gift into an ongoing engagement with the brand.
Packaging, Branding, and Presentation Considerations
Packaging is not an afterthought in corporate gifting. It is the first impression, and for many recipients it frames how they experience everything inside. The packaging needs to look as good as the product it contains, and it needs to tell the right story at first glance.
Buddha's Cup packaging is farm-branded and visually rooted in Hawaii. The design communicates authenticity without being kitschy. When a recipient opens a Buddha's Cup gift, the packaging itself signals that what they are holding is the real thing, not a generic product dressed up in tropical imagery. That matters for corporate buyers who need the gift to reflect well on their company.
For companies that want to add their own branding element, a custom card or company note tucked into the gift box is the cleanest approach. It allows the farm's authentic packaging to do what it does best while giving the gifting company a voice in the presentation. We can accommodate custom notes for corporate orders. If you have specific requirements around card size, messaging, or company logo placement, reaching out directly through buddhascup.com is the best starting point for that conversation.
Shipping logistics for Hawaii to mainland U.S. orders deserve attention, especially for time-sensitive gifting seasons. Freshness is affected by transit time, so coordinating your order placement with your desired delivery window is important. For Q4 gifting, which typically targets November and December deliveries, we recommend placing bulk corporate orders no later than mid-October. This allows time for roasting to order, packaging, and transit without compressing the freshness window on arrival. For very large orders or orders requiring custom elements, earlier lead times are better. Contact us through the website to discuss your timeline before you finalize your program.
The Grading System and What Corporate Buyers Should Know Before Ordering
Hawaii's Official Kona Coffee Grade Classifications
Hawaii has an official state grading system for Kona coffee, and understanding it is useful for corporate buyers who want to make informed decisions about what they are purchasing and presenting to recipients.
The grading classifications, from highest to lowest, are Kona Extra Fancy, Kona Fancy, Kona No. 1, Kona Select, and Kona Prime. The grades are determined by bean size, moisture content, and defect count per pound. Extra Fancy represents the largest beans with the fewest defects. As you move down the classification scale, beans may be smaller, include more natural variation, or have a higher acceptable defect count.
Coffee How has documented how grade notation functions as part of authentic labeling. A product that carries a state grade designation is making a verifiable claim about the physical characteristics of the beans inside the bag. That claim can be audited. It is a form of accountability that blended or ungraded products cannot offer.
What does grade mean for corporate buyers in practical terms? Higher grades generally correlate with more consistent flavor and appearance, which matters when you are sending the same gift to dozens or hundreds of recipients and want them all to have a comparable experience. Lower grades are not poor quality coffee. They are simply less uniform in size or appearance, and in many cases they taste excellent. For corporate gifting, Extra Fancy and Fancy grades are the most common selections, because they carry the most prestigious designation and present the most reliably.
Our page on coffee graders for Kona explains the cupping and evaluation process behind these designations in more detail. If you want to understand what goes into the grade before you specify it in a corporate order, that resource will give you the full picture.
When you contact a supplier about a corporate order, asking specifically what grade the product is should be part of your standard question set. Any supplier selling 100% Kona coffee should be able to answer immediately and specifically. If they cannot, that is a signal worth taking seriously.
Grade vs. Price and Setting a Realistic Budget
Authentic, 100% Kona coffee costs more than commodity coffee. It costs more than most blends. It costs more than the coffee your company is probably already purchasing for the office breakroom. That is not a reason to avoid it for corporate gifting. It is a reason to understand the value proposition clearly before presenting it to your budget authority.
The price difference between 100% Kona and blended "Kona" products reflects the reality of what genuine Kona production costs. The farming is labor-intensive. The growing region is geographically constrained. The harvest is hand-picked because the terrain and the coffee trees themselves make mechanical harvesting impractical. Processing, grading, and quality control add additional costs that commodity operations absorb by using cheaper beans in the blend. When you pay for 100% Kona, you are paying for all of that.
Coffee Craft Guide's research on the price context for authentic Kona confirms that the premium over commodity coffee is real but justified by the quality differential. The Coffee Folk, in its buyer-perspective evaluation of Kona producers, notes that cost-per-unit comparisons between 100% Kona and blended products miss the point. The comparison should be between what the recipient experiences and remembers with each option.
For corporate gifting budget conversations, the useful framework is cost per impression, not cost per unit. A generic gift that is forgotten within a week has a very high cost per impression because the investment generated no lasting brand association. An authentic Kona coffee gift that a client talks about, shares with their team, and remembers when your company comes up in conversation has a much lower cost per impression, even if the per-unit price is higher. That framing tends to land well with decision-makers who are accustomed to evaluating marketing spend in terms of return.
Freshness, Roast Date, and Shelf Life for Bulk Orders
Freshness in coffee is a function of roast date, not purchase date. This distinction matters for corporate buyers placing bulk orders, because the gap between when coffee is roasted and when it arrives with your recipients directly affects the experience those recipients have.
Coffee begins to degas and oxidize immediately after roasting. The first week post-roast is a period of active degassing, during which the coffee is actually slightly too fresh to brew at peak quality. The sweet spot for most brewing methods falls between one and four weeks after roast. After about six to eight weeks, depending on packaging and storage conditions, noticeable flavor degradation begins. This means that for bulk corporate orders, coordinating the roast date with the delivery window is not a minor logistical detail. It is what determines whether your gift arrives tasting excellent or merely adequate.
Our page on ideal humidity levels for drying Kona beans covers the upstream conditions that affect bean quality before roasting, giving you a fuller picture of how freshness is built into the product before it ever reaches the roaster. And for buyers curious about how aging interacts with Kona coffee quality, our page on aging Kona coffee blends offers context on when and how extended aging is used in this category.
For recipients, we recommend passing along simple storage guidance with the gift. Coffee should be kept in an airtight container, away from light and heat, and not in the refrigerator or freezer unless it will not be opened for more than a month. A small card with these instructions, tucked into the gift package, extends the quality of the experience and shows an additional layer of thoughtfulness from the gifting company.
At Buddha's Cup, we roast to order for corporate accounts. This means your coffee is not sitting in a warehouse. It is roasted when your order is confirmed, packaged fresh, and shipped with the smallest possible gap between roast and recipient. For companies that have experienced receiving corporate gifts of food or beverage that clearly sat in distribution for too long, this approach is a meaningfully different model.
Farm Tours as a Corporate Experience Add-On
Turning a Gift Into an Invitation and Farm Tours at Buddha's Cup
Corporate gifting does not have to be a one-directional transaction. For companies whose