The COVID-19 Corporate Hall of Shame
After the Fed announced that it would pour billions into the corporate debt market during the COVID-19 pandemic, corporate debt sales soared. America’s largest corporations took this opportunity to cash out, receiving multi-billion-dollar loans in the market.
Many of the same corporations proceeded to pay their CEOs millions, send massive payouts to shareholders, and lay off thousands off workers. We thought this was shameful, so we decided to create a running list of the worst offenders. Here are a few.
Boeing
- Bond sales: $25 billion
- CEO compensation: $21 million
- Job cuts: announced 30,000 planned layoffs
Chevron
- Bond sales: $12 billion
- CEO compensation: $29 million
- Dividend payments: $9.7 billion
- Job cuts: announced 10-15% workforce cuts, implying reduction of between 4,500 and 6,700 jobs
Honeywell
- Bond sales: $7.1 billion
- CEO compensation: $19 million
- Dividend payments: $2.59 billion
- Stock buybacks: $3.71 billion
- Job cuts: laid off at least 9,929 people worldwide, refused to disclose specific number of U.S. layoffs
Exxon
- Bond sales: $9.5 billion
- CEO compensation: $15.6 million
- Dividend payments: $14.9 billion
- Job cuts: announced cuts of 15% of workforce, including 1,900 U.S. jobs
Marriott International
- Bond sales: $3.6 billion
- CEO compensation: $8.9 million
- Job cuts: 673 workers cut at Marriott HQ, thousands across nationwide Marriott locations
Coca-Cola
- Bond sales: $15.6 billion
- CEO compensation: $18 million
- Dividend payments: $7.04 billion
- Job cuts: announced 1,200 U.S. job cuts