Latest news with #corporategreed
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Major Beauty Company Announces Price Hikes Amid Billion-Dollar Acquisition
Just days before announcing a billion-dollar acquisition, a major beauty company took to social media to let its fans know that it would be raising prices on many of its popular products. e.l.f. Beauty, which has long been a fan-favorite makeup brand due to its affordable products and high-quality dupes of more expensive brands, shared a post on Instagram on May 23 where it said, 'Starting August 1, our prices are going up by $1.' The post, which featured a series of slides explaining the move, placed the blame on 'inflation and tariffs' before stating that 75% of e.l.f. products will remain at $10 or less. Fans were divided by the news, with some taking to the comments to decry the move as 'corporate greed,' while others praised the beauty company for its transparency and for giving a three-month notice before the hikes go into effect. 'I'm happy to see the transparency rather than doing this silently BUT let's not pretend that this huge corporation can't eat the cost instead of raising prices on one of the most affordable makeup options we have. $1 is a slap in the face,' wrote one Instagram commenter. On May 28, the beauty company announced that it acquired rhode, a beauty brand founded by model Hailey Bieber. 'The $1 billion deal is comprised of $800 million of consideration payable at closing in a combination of cash and stock, subject to customary adjustments, and an additional potential earnout consideration of $200 million based on the future growth of the brand over a three-year timeframe,' the brand said in a statement. Next: Major Beauty Company Announces Price Hikes Amid Billion-Dollar Acquisition first appeared on Parade on May 29, 2025 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Times
20-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Trump Scolded Companies for Raising Prices. Do They Have a Choice?
When President Trump complained on Saturday that Walmart should 'stop trying to blame tariffs' for looming price increases, many economists recalled the last time they heard a president rail against companies for raising prices. It was last year, in fact, when President Joseph R. Biden Jr. cited 'corporate greed' as the reason Americans were paying more for gas, food and rent, while deflecting criticism that his policies had worsened inflation. And economists are generally no more persuaded of the accusation when a Republican leveled it than when a Democrat did. 'Fundamentally, what we're seeing in both instances is that the president makes a policy mistake, that policy mistake leads to an increase in consumer prices and the president who made the policy mistake is blaming the businesses,' said Michael Strain, an economist at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. In the case of Mr. Trump's tariffs, which are set at 30 percent on Chinese imports until mid-August, the effects will reverberate across the economy, either pushing up prices for consumers or, if companies do absorb some of the costs, lowering profits for businesses. Those responses could drive inflation, slow growth and raise unemployment. Yet while mainstream economists are generally in agreement that there is nothing unseemly about companies raising prices when their costs spike, that view is hardly universal outside the profession. A variety of populist-minded thinkers across the political spectrum think there may be grounds for concern about price gouging, and that Mr. Trump wasn't necessarily wrong to call out companies for raising prices. 'I'm not here to tell you whether he's right about certain industries,' said Elizabeth Wilkins, the president of the Roosevelt Institute, a liberal think tank. 'But the basic idea that companies have more pricing power than we believe that they did is something we should interrogate.' Mr. Trump suggested that Walmart use its billions in profits from last year — 'far more than expected,' he wrote on his platform Truth Social on Saturday — to cushion consumers against price increases. But the size of a company's profits have little effect on its decision to raise prices, said Chad Syverson, an economist at the University of Chicago. Most companies want to preserve their profits whether they are large or small, because failing to do so would incur the wrath of their owners or shareholders, some of whom are pension funds and small-time investors. They pass along price increases to consumers instead. Pricing decisions come down to factors other than profitability, like how much competition companies face and how sensitive consumers are to price increases. If you splurge on a latte only now and then, you may balk when the coffee shop raises prices. If you can't live without your daily caffeine and sugar hit, you may suck it up and pay the higher amount. And if, in some cases, companies increase prices by even more than the jump in their costs, that doesn't necessarily reflect nefarious behavior, said Alexander MacKay, an economist at the University of Virginia. It may reflect the fact that consumers are no longer as turned off by price increases. This appeared to happen during the pandemic, when some companies raised prices by a small initial amount in response to their costs going up. Companies that saw little drop in demand often continued to raise their prices. Jared Bernstein, who served as Mr. Biden's top White House economist, said many consumers during the pandemic were less deterred than usual by price increases because they were flush from a series of government cash infusions. But, Dr. Bernstein added, those idiosyncratic circumstances have largely disappeared, so firms are likely to be more restrained in raising prices in response to Mr. Trump's tariffs as a way to bolster profits. He said he still expected them to pass along cost increases, however. Populist critics of mainstream economics see companies' pricing decisions much more cynically. Oren Cass, a former Republican policy aide, said in an email that a large company like Walmart had far more influence over its prices than it let on. 'If Walmart were to simply adopt a policy that 'we will not change our prices in response to the tariffs,' there would be some situations where suppliers ate the costs, some where suppliers shifted to other sources of supply to avoid the tariffs, and some where Walmart accepted lower margins,' said Mr. Cass, whose think tank, American Compass, pushes Republicans to adopt more worker-friendly policies. Walmart argues that its options are still limited. In an interview with CNBC last week, Walmart's chief financial officer, John David Rainey, said that the company is 'well equipped' to navigate price increases of 2 or 3 percent but not a tariff of 30 percent, the current rate on goods from China. Mr. Rainey added that Walmart would in fact absorb some of the cost increases. Nick Iacovella, executive vice president of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, which has advised the Biden and Trump administrations on efforts to expand domestic manufacturing, noted a dubious logic to price-setting by companies: An automaker will scream about the need to raise prices when costs increase, but when an automaker takes advantage of a trade deal to shift production to Mexico, it rarely passes the savings along to consumers. 'Can you tell me what car they lowered the price for when they saved all that money?' said Mr. Iacovella, a former Senate aide to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 'The answer is none.' On the left, Ms. Wilkins of the Roosevelt Institute argued that large companies do not merely raise prices when their costs increase, or when shoppers become willing to pay more. She said companies sometimes exploit widespread concerns about inflation to actively manipulate prices. In a competitive industry, she said, a company should be reluctant to announce a price increase, for fear that other companies would undercut it. But in a market with only a few actors, a large company might signal its intention to raise prices on an earnings call as a way to encourage other large companies to follow suit. 'It's not explicit collusion, but you can kind of throw those one-sided invitations out there,' said Ms. Wilkins, a former chief of staff to Lina Khan, Mr. Biden's head of the Federal Trade Commission, who considered looking into these practices. Dr. MacKay, the University of Virginia economist, conceded that this sort of coordination was possible. He pointed to a recent study arguing that airline industry executives have effectively coordinated to reduce seats on competitive routes by telegraphing their intentions during earnings calls. But Dr. MacKay wasn't entirely convinced. 'Executives need to make disclosures about what they're doing as a public company,' he said. 'Often when firms face common industrywide trends, they're making similar decisions. So it's hard to say conclusively.'
Gizmodo
17-05-2025
- Business
- Gizmodo
Trump Demands Walmart ‘Eat the Tariffs'
He's right about one thing: Walmart already makes enough money. Donald Trump is employing a new strategy to ensure that consumers don't blame him for the increasing cost of goods: begging corporations to save him. In a post on Truth Social on Saturday morning, the President took aim at Walmart and said the corporation should stop blaming his ongoing trade war for rising prices and insisted the company 'EAT THE TARIFFS.' 'Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected,' he wrote. 'Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, 'EAT THE TARIFFS,' and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I'll be watching, and so will your customers!!!' Trump demands that Walmart 'EAT THE TARIFFS' and not raise prices — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 17, 2025 Have to say: he had us in the first half there, not gonna lie. Trump, as he will do from time to time, stumbled into a 'right for the wrong reasons' situation by calling out the fact that corporate profits continue to climb at a time when the cost of living is going up and wages are largely stagnant—and in some cases, declining. That is plenty of reason to press these companies to pay their employees a fair wage, improve the benefits and conditions of their workforce, cap executive compensation, or just tax them more and fund social services. Instead, he's only calling out corporate greed because it might affect him. Consumer confidence is already at a three-year low, and his approval ratings are sinking, including hitting new lows on economic matters that he is usually viewed as strong on. And that is all before we really see prices jump from Trump's tariffs. Most retailers have kept their prices the same as they work through existing stock, per Bloomberg, but that is likely to change as new shipments come in and get hit by Trump's tax on goods. Walmart received Trump's attention because it has intentionally kept its prices down through the first couple of months of the President's inexplicable trade war. But now it's not so sure that it can keep that up. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said during an earnings call earlier this week that the company would do its best to keep prices down, but 'we aren't able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.' That means price increases are coming, and consumers are going to know exactly what caused it: Trump's tariffs. So now the President seems stuck between a rock and a hard place that he willingly crawled into. He can't further back down from his trade war, especially with China or he'll look weak. And he can't really do anything to bring down costs for consumers despite loving to take credit for cheap gas and eggs whenever he can. So he's stuck posting into the void, screaming at corporations to 'EAT THE TARIFFS' for him. It's a far cry from his claim that tariffs are 'a tax on a foreign country' that 'doesn't affect our country.'
The Independent
17-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
Co-op prioritises corporate greed over animal welfare, says Chris Packham
TV presenter Chris Packham has urged the Co-op to stop the sale of so-called 'Frankenchickens' as he blamed the 'greed of the corporate world' for prioritising profit over animal welfare. The broadcaster and naturalist joined demonstrators outside the supermarket's AGM in Manchester. They are calling on the chain to ditch fast-growing chickens raised for meat, known as 'Frankenchickens', from its supply chain. 'Frankenchickens' are bred to produce the maximum amount of meat in the shortest amount of time and can reach a slaughter weight of more than 2.0kg in five to six weeks, according to animal welfare charity The Humane League. Speaking to the PA news agency from the protest, Packham said the rapid growth rate of the chickens puts a 'horrendous' burden on the 'physiology and the anatomy' of the birds. 'Basically, they're taking on too much weight too quickly for their skeleton to cope with it, and we see all sorts of hideous deformities and muscular problems in the chickens, they end up scrabbling around in their own excrement, which is acrid and burns their skin off,' he said. Some supermarkets justify their use of 'Frankenchickens' by arguing some customers cannot afford meat raised in better welfare conditions, the environmentalist added. 'There's an ethical problem there to start with and that is that people on lower incomes should have as much right to exercise their choices when it comes to the ethics of animal welfare as anyone else,' he said. 'That is entirely wrong to say that people can't afford to make an ethical choice – well, that affordability is in the hands of the Co-op. 'They're the ones that are setting the price and we know full well that supermarkets sell some of the items on their shelves at loss to lure us in, where they make a profit on other items.' Of the price difference between chickens raised in higher and lower welfare conditions, Packham continued: 'The interesting thing is, I need to be very clear about this, the increase when it comes to chicken is in pence, not pounds. 'It's pence we're talking about here, so this is basically the greed of the corporate world, once again, striving to maximise its profits at the expense of high welfare standards.' On his message for Co-op customers, Packham said: 'The pound in our pockets or purses is incredibly powerful. 'If we don't buy it, they won't sell it because they're interested in making a profit.' A motion proposed at the Co-op AGM (annual general meeting) two years ago to stop the chain using 'Frankenchickens' was passed by 96%, but since then 'nothing has happened', he added. Another motion on phasing out the use of the fast-growing chickens was passed at Saturday's AGM with 90.94% voting in favour. According to the motion, the Co-op is supplied with more than 10 million chickens, 98% of which are 'Frankenchickens'. A spokesperson for the Co-op said: 'Animal welfare is extremely important to us and our members, and we work hard to ensure all the animals in our supply chain are looked after. 'All Co-op fresh chicken is 100% British, reared in lower-stocking density environment and exceeds Red Tractor standards, placing us significantly ahead of most other retailers for chicken welfare. 'We will explore all opportunities to continue to improve animal welfare across our supply chain, whilst also considering the impacts on British farming, on the environment and the prices our members and customers pay in store.' Claire Williams, campaigns manager at The Humane League UK, said: 'If human babies grew as quickly as Frankenchickens they'd weigh as much as an adult tiger at two months old – that's nearly 300 kilos. 'These birds have been bred to suffer; their lives are marked by pain, stress and burden. Yet so-called ethical retailer Co-op continues to sell them. 'This urgently needs to change.' Members at Saturday's meeting also voted in favour of ceasing 'all trading' with Israel following the conflict in Gaza. Citing the Co-op's previous decision to 'boycott Russian products' following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the motion read: 'We urge the board to show moral courage and leadership, apply the same ethical principles and values it did to Russia, and take all Israeli products off the shelves.' The board said it will consider the thoughts of members expressed by the non-binding vote. The motion passed with 72.8% voting in favour. The supermarket chain is currently recovering after a major cyber attack caused significant disruption including bare shelves in many of its shops in recent weeks.
The Independent
17-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
Co-Op prioritises corporate greed over animal welfare
TV presenter Chris Packham has urged the Co-Op to stop the sale of so-called 'Frankenchickens' as he blamed the 'greed of the corporate world' for prioritising profit over animal welfare. The broadcaster and naturalist joined demonstrators outside the supermarket's AGM in Manchester who are calling on the chain to ditch fast-growing chickens raised for meat, known as Frankenchickens, from its supply chain. Frankenchickens are bred to produce the maximum amount of meat in the shortest amount of time and can reach a slaughter weight of more than 2.0kg in five to six weeks, according to animal welfare charity The Humane League. Speaking to the PA news agency from the protest, Mr Packham said rapid growth rate of the chickens puts a 'horrendous' burden on the 'physiology and the anatomy' of the birds. 'Basically, they're taking on too much weight too quickly for their skeleton to cope with it, and we see all sorts of hideous deformities and muscular problems in the chickens, they end up scrabbling around in their own excrement, which is acrid and burns their skin off,' he added. Some supermarkets justify their use of Frankenchickens by arguing some customers cannot afford meat raised in better welfare conditions, the environmentalist added. 'There's an ethical problem there to start with and that is that people on lower income should have as much right to exercise their choices when it comes to the ethics of animal welfare as anyone else,' he said. 'That is entirely wrong to say that people can't afford to make an ethical choice – well, that affordability is in the hands of the Co-Op. 'They're the ones that are setting the price and we know full well that supermarkets sell some of the items on their shelves at loss to lure us in, where they make a profit on other items.' Of the price difference between chickens raised in higher and lower welfare conditions, Mr Packham continued: 'The interesting thing is, I need to be very clear about this, the increase when it comes to chicken is in pence, not pounds. 'It's pence we're talking about here, so this is basically the greed of the corporate world, once again, striving to maximise its profits at the expense of high welfare standards.' On his message for Co-Op customers, Packham said: 'The pound in our pockets or purses is incredibly powerful. 'If we don't buy it, they won't sell it because they're interested in making a profit.' A motion proposed at the Co-Op AGM two years ago to stop the chain using Frankenchickens was passed by 96%, but since then 'nothing has happened', he added. Another vote on phasing out the use of the fast-growing chickens is expected at the AGM on Saturday. According to the motion, the Co-Op is supplied with more than 10 million chickens, 98% of which are Frankenchickens. In response, the Co-Op board said the company is 'committed to improving animal welfare across the whole supply chain' and was 'proud' of the progress it had made on the issue over recent years, according to AGM documents. The board added: 'A move to a slower growing breed would also cost tens of millions of pounds, which would result in an increase in the price of chicken in our stores. 'At a time when consumer confidence is low and there is a tough economic climate, we are acutely aware of the need, and our responsibility, to provide our members and customers with well sourced, quality products at a good value price point.' Claire Williams, campaigns manager at The Humane League UK, said: 'If human babies grew as quickly as Frankenchickens they'd weigh as much as an adult tiger at two months old – that's nearly 300 kilos. 'These birds have been bred to suffer; their lives are marked by pain, stress and burden. Yet so-called ethical retailer Co-op continues to sell them. 'This urgently needs to change.' The supermarket chain is currently recovering after a major cyber attack caused significant disruption including bare shelves in many of its shops in recent weeks.
