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Watchdog: Shipping Giant Maersk Spent Over $6.5B On Stock Buybacks As Port Workers Strike For Fairer Treatment
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new analysis from government watchdog Accountable.US found a major shipping corporation at the center of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) strike has spent over $6.5 billion on stock buybacks benefiting wealthy investors, while another company announced up to $101 million in buybacks with plans to potentially authorize more. On October 1st, thousands of dockworkers represented by the ILA began striking at East and Gulf Coast ports to secure “higher pay and more job security” after talks broke down with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents terminal operators and ocean carriers, including Maersk and COSCO.
The Accountable.US review found Maersk is deep into a major stock buyback program totaling nearly $12 billion, having already spent $6.5 billion buying back around 3 million Class A and B shares as of January 2024. Meanwhile, in August 2023, Cosco Shipping Holdings announced plans to repurchase up to $101 million of its A-shares, with plans for further buybacks, after an “industry-beating” profit of $2.7 billion in the first half of 2023.
The same foreign-owned shipping giants that say they can’t find the money for fairer wages and treatment of American port workers managed to find billions of dollars to enrich a small group of wealthy investors after riding a wave of record profits. When the big shipping industry was faced with a choice – share its success with the U.S. workers that delivered it, or go overboard with greed – its executives clearly chose the latter.”
Accountable.US’ Liz Zelnick.
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