Trump’s Transition Week in Review: All the President’s Men (and Women)
Trump’s Billionaire Cabinet Picks Reflect Agenda Written By-and-For Billionaires, Big Corporations
U.S. Chamber’s Tax Filings Shows Group Bankrolls Activist Republican AGs on Mission to Take Away Consumer Protections, Abortion Access
Watchdog: Want to Get a Job in the Trump Administration? Defend Trump in Court
Trump Transition Week-in-Review: More Unfit Crony Nominees That Invite Corruption & Rigged System Against Working People
Site Menu

Wealthy Investors to General Mills: You Magically Enrich Us

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After hiking prices a shocking five times in the past year, earnings data released by General Mills reveals the food manufacturing giant saw its fourth quarter profits skyrocket 97% to $823 million. For its 2022 fiscal year, the company’s profits jumped 16% to $2.7 billion. General Mills also spent over $2 billion on shareholder handouts and boosted its stock buybacks by 191%. The corporation’s massive profits reaffirm ongoing research from Accountable.US exposing how major companies across several industries are using inflation and pandemic uncertainty as an excuse to increase their wealth and line their shareholders’ pockets at the expense of working families.

During its earnings call this week, General Mills’ CEO touted its “fourth consecutive year that we’ve delivered results that met or exceeded our targets for top and bottom-line growth and cash generation” as the company continues to upcharge working families despite its increased bottom line.

“

After marking up prices on working families not once, but five times, General Mills enjoyed a stunning 97 percent boost in profits – making it painfully obvious the food giant did not need to dig deeper and deeper in the pockets of everyday consumers. This behavior is emblematic of the corporate greed run amok across several industries, where highly profitable companies are choosing to squeeze the maximum amount of profits out of consumers while falsely claiming market forces drove them to it. If billion-dollar corporations like General Mills continue to make inflation challenges worse through blatant profiteering, lawmakers must act to rein in these greedy practices, starting by ensuring they finally pay their fair share in taxes.”

Liz Zelnick, spokesperson for Accountable.US

SEE MORE EXAMPLES OF PANDEMIC PROFITEERING IN GROCERY STORES: 

  • In its earnings data, Hormel Foods — which planned on hiking prices not once, but twice, in 2021 — touted “its fifth consecutive quarter of record net sales” and $132 million in first quarter shareholder dividends. The company is doing so well that it completed a $3.35 billion acquisition of Kraft Heinz’s Planters peanuts — the largest acquisition in the company’s history. CEO Jim Snee even admitted that this acquisition was a “catalyst for earnings growth.”

  • After Mondelez — whose brands include Oreo, Ritz, Wheat Thins, and Triscuits — saw its gross profit increase by over $800 million in 2021, the company still increased prices by up to 7% in January 2022 and is leaving the door open to raising them again despite spending nearly $4 billion on stock buybacks and dividends in 2021.

  • In December 2021, Kroger’s Chairman and CEO said the company was “in a position of strength“ as the grocery chain reported a third quarter operating profit of $868 million and spent $297 million on quarterly stock buybacks just months after it said it was “‘passing along higher cost to the customer.'”
back to top