Category: Businesses / Corporations / Industry

Target pulls some LGBTQ+ Pride products from shelves due to violent threats towards staff

Target pulls some LGBTQ+ Pride products from shelves due to violent threats towards staff

This is terrorism, causing fear and harm for a political gain.  This is 1930s German brownshirts attacking Jewish people and establishments along with anyone who did not support Hitlers goals / bigotry.  These people attacking trans people / drag queens and business supporters of the LGBTQ+ are the US fundamentalist Christian maga conservative Nazi gang thugs Taliban pushing their bigotry on to the entire public that doesn’t agree with them.   I keep asking who will be targeted next?   The Texas Chaplin bill that pushes unqualified religious leaders in public school as councilors to the children specifies Christian leaders, and they wouldn’t allow amendments to let other religions be included.  So tell me who the group to be targeted when they force3 the LGBTQ+ into hiding and out of public view?   Hugs 

 
Target has released its Pride Month 2023 collection and the internet has some thoughts.

To mark Pride Month 2023, Target teamed up with LGBTQ+ artists to create capsule collections.(Target/PinkNews)

US retailer Target has pulled some of its LGBTQ+ Pride collection and displays from stores across the country after members of staff faced threats of violence.

 

The company confirmed on Tuesday (22 May) that it will be making changes to its LGBTQ+ merchandise ahead of Pride month, which starts next week.

One of the changes includes moving the Pride collection to the back of some of its shops in southern states, following a backlash from shoppers. 

The New York Post quoted a Target source as saying there were “emergency” meetings on Friday (19 May) to address right-wing customers’ outrage over the collections.

The 15-minute meeting included advice about keeping sales staff safe and what Pride-related items and signage to remove.

“We call our customers ‘guests,’ there is outrage on their part. This year it is just exponentially more than any other year,” the source said.

The company is “terrified of a Bud Light situation”, the insider added. 

“Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work,” Target said in a statement.

“Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the centre of the most significant confrontational behaviour.”

Daily Beast journalist Matt Young shared an extract of the Target statement on Twitter.

Target has not yet confirmed which specific items or brands will be removed, but it is thought that its “tuck-friendly” swimsuits will no longer be on display.

The swimsuit prompted right-wing Americans to call for a boycott of the store, which sells thousands of products for heterosexual, cisgender people. Republican lawmaker Lauren Boebert was among those fuelling the outrage on social media.

Target chief executive Brian Cornell recently defended the retailer’s commitment to inclusion and LGBTQ+ representation while speaking to Fortune’s Leadership Next podcast.

“It’s helping us drive sales, it’s building greater engagement with both our teams and our guests, and those are just the right things for our business today,” he said.

He told the Associated Press that the swimsuits, which provide wearers with extra crotch coverage, are only available in adult sizes. 

Despite Target’s insistence that its change in policy is to protect staff, it has faced criticism online, with people accusing the retailer of “caving in” to right-wing threats.

Some have said that its stance puts LGBTQ+ people in more danger.

One person tweeted: “These people were making death and bomb threats against children’s hospitals, schools and LGBTQ venues.

“Every single time, it got the results they wanted. Why would they stop with Target? Anti-LGBTQ terrorism is continuing to work as intended.”

Bud Light faced a customer boycott over its collaboration with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney last month.

In a bid to regain its formerly loyal customer base, its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, is now said to said to be temporarily redesigning some of its packaging in camouflage print.

PinkNews has contacted Target for comment.

 

Not your church and some other things I wish to share

Freedom Caucus Threatens Debt Ceiling Compromise
AyJayDee2 21 hours ago edited
These aren’t conservatives – they’re theocratic fascist arsonists trying to burn the country down so they can rebuild it as a white Christian supremacist authoritarian regime.
MI County Declares Itself Immune To Non-Local Laws
 It explicitly encourages local law officers such as the sheriff and county prosecutor to not enforce state and federal laws they deem unconstitutional.

Posthumously NZArtist2 days ago edited

GOP Rep: Biden Won’t Appoint “White Guys” As Judges

Yes. He’s saying that straight white men are entitled to one hundred percent of everything.

DOJ: Woman Made Terror Threat Calls To CO Gay Bars

Nic Peterson2 days ago

Who wakes up and decides to call businesses that operate 2000 miles away and threaten them with violence? Well a very devout christian might do something like that. Tim McVeigh was a VERY DEVOUT christian.

Decent, ordinary Americans don’t terrorize retail establishments.

Yves R. Mektin Bruno2 days ago

It’s all part of her master plan to make the Palin family seem functional in comparison. Three-dimensional chess.

Brian Curtis2 days ago

Wait for it: soon domestic terrorists and their media apologists will start calling them ‘freedom fighters.’

Mar-A-Lago Staff Moved Docs Ahead Of FBI Arrival

juanjo54 Eliot2 days ago

It is also a second charge for obstruction. Then there is the report he was showing the documents to people not authorized to see them. Remember Jack Teixeira, the kid who was arrested a few weeks ago for posting documents online? Unauthorized retention and dissemination of classified material is what Jackie-boy is facing and if these media reports are accurate then Trump is going to be facing them soon as well.

Kirk Calls On Cult To Use “Force” And Destroy Target: “I Want Skull And Bones, Pain, And Bankruptcy” [VIDEO]

watchthewingnuts2 days ago

GOP wingnut logic in a nutshell: Cancel Culture is only bad when its used against right wing interests.

Uncle Mark’s IML Cosplaying watchthewingnuts2 days ago

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liondon#convictedsexoffender2 days ago

April Smith2 days ago edited

You pulling items and moving them to the back into the closet (sorry, store) didn’t placate the haters.

You should have kept things in place up in the front of the store where security could deal with any problems.

Don’t negotiate or cave in to bullies.

crewman2 days ago

“We need to go after Target in a very serious way.”
This from the guy who has complained umpteen million times about how horrible cancel culture is. It turns out, like everything else, that was a lie. He just can’t stand when he (or the white christian nationalists) don’t have power in any aspect of life.

watchthewingnuts crewman2 days ago

It is always, ALWAYS about power. Never about the children, never about god/jeebus/Christianity… it is ALWAYS about more power for them… and no rights for anyone else they deem as “other.” That is the only endgame for these people.

licuado de platano2 days ago

sounds like terrorism to me

billbear1961 licuado de platano2 days ago

Because it IS!

Imagine what the MEDIA would have to say if the LEFT were calling for ANY kind of violence! THIS, because it comes from the RIGHT, gets a PASS from the corporate sellout FRAUDS! (Electoral-Vote recently said Republicans inclined to speak out are afraid to speak out against Trump because they KNOW it will place their LIVES at risk, theirs and their children’s, that THAT is the purpose of the violent rhetoric, the stochastic terrorism, coming from Trump and his followers, to silence any criticism from Republicans who are alarmed by the FASCISM that has taken control of their party! WHERE are the MEDIA, the “Guardians of Democracy,” to call out and DENOUNCE this fascist rhetoric, these fascist tactics which are an ASSAULT on the democracy it is their journalistic DUTY to DEFEND from just such attacks?! They do NOTHING to call it out–they have instead infamously NORMALIZED it, something they NEVER would have done if ANY Democrat had EVER called for his opponents to be “taught a lesson”! Imagine if OBAMA had EVER adopted such an attitude! The media would have exploded in a RAGE and demanded his resignation! But such rhetoric from the right gets a PASS–they are in no way held accountable!)

WHERE is the DOJ? Where is GARLAND, that goddamned WEAKLING? What a pathetic FARCE!

DmR licuado de platano2 days ago

Oh, the thing is, the Wingers have no problem using violence and threats of violence to get their ways. Since they do not have a majority on the social issues, that is one way they know to get what they want.

J.Martindale2 days ago edited

“I will not allow my kid to be corrupted by this trans agenda.” First, the only agenda I know of is that trans people want the right to live as a man or woman depending on their perceived gender identification. That has nothing to do with your children or you. And if you don’t want your children in Target, keep them home. Some people may want the merchandise they are selling, and it is none of your business whether Target sells it or not. You right wingers are just busybodies with too fucking much interest in stuff that is none of your damned business. (He reminds me of Gladys Kravitz.)

Uncle Mark’s IML Cosplaying2 days ago edited

Couldn’t help, but notice that Walmart sells gay pride apparel as well, yet Target becomes the focus of their manufactured ire.

Then again, Target was among the large retailers that encouraged transgender customers to use the bathroom of their choice, several years ago.

mythictom2 days ago

Two things…

1/ stochastic terrorism?

2/ if Target had a spine, they should set their lawyers loose to bankrupt him.

weshlovrcm2 days ago

Target is already caving. Fascism is winning, folks, I’m sorry to say. And no one is doing a thing to stop it.

Texas Gov Gets Bill To Place Chaplains In Public Schools
House Democrats offered amendments to bar proselytizing or attempts to convert students from one religion to another; to require chaplains to receive consent from the parents of school children; and to make schools provide chaplains from any faith or denomination requested by students. All of those amendments failed. Rep. Cole Hefner, who authored the House version of the bill, said in debates that local school boards will be allowed to set requirements for chaplains.

As I reported on Monday, the bill is the work of a Texas evangelist who falsely testified to the Texas House that the chaplains will not be “working to convert people to religion.”
In fact, his organization has been open about their desire to proselytize to public school students.
Paul  SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dad3 days ago
require chaplains to receive consent from the parents of school children

That jumped out at me too. So their long-standing argument that parents should have a voice in their children’s education has been bullshit all along? Got it.
House Dems Heckle MTG’s Demand For “Decorum”

LGBTQ Groups To Target: Defend Us, Stand Up To Hate

LGBTQ Groups To Target: Defend Us, Stand Up To Hate

If stores and other LGBTQ+ allies hide their support the hateful fundamentalist Christian white supremacist maga brownshirt gang thugs win.   That encourages them to do more acts of this domestic terrorism.   And they are proud of their tactics.   And they won’t stop, they can not be appeased.   Hugs Matt Walsh quote 

Just in via press release:

Recent pushback against businesses such as Anheuser-Busch and Target, blatantly organized by extremist groups, serves as a wake up call for all businesses that support the LGBTQ+ community.

We’ve seen this extremist playbook of attacks before. Their goal is clear: to prevent LGBTQ+ inclusion and representation, silence our allies and make our community invisible.

These attacks fuel hate against LGBTQ+ people, just as we’ve seen this year with more than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that restrict basic freedoms and aim to erase LGBTQ+ people.

Extremist attacks and harassment of businesses for standing in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community and values of diversity, equity and inclusion have challenged Target, and businesses more broadly, to lead – to demonstrate they mean what they say when investing in and standing with LGBTQ+ people, creatives, and organizations.

Businesses must continue to lead and respond with unwavering support for LGBTQ+ employees, shareholders, customers, allies – and the broader community. When values of diversity, equity and inclusion are tested, business must defend them unequivocally.

Doubling down on your values is not only the right thing to do, it’s good for business. Research shows that if a brand publicly supports and demonstrates a commitment to expanding and protecting LGBTQ+ rights, Americans are 2x more likely to buy or use the brand.

Americans ages 18-34 are 5.5x more likely to want to work at a company if it publicly supports and demonstrates a commitment to expanding and protecting LGBTQ+ rights.

It isn’t just LGBTQ+ consumers and communities: 70% of non-LGBTQ+ people believe companies should publicly support and include the LGBTQ+ community through practices like hiring, advertising and sponsorships (Accelerating Acceptance, 2023).

At this moment, it’s critical that Target champions equity and inclusion as it has for over a decade. Target consistently tops the list for brands that show genuine, authentic support of the LGBTQ+ community through outreach and policies.

Target received recognition for outstanding commitment to DEI from the Executive Leadership Council in 2022. It’s time to prove the recognition was earned.

When it comes to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, there is no such thing as neutrality.

We’re calling on Target to release a public statement in the next 24 hours reaffirming their commitment to the LGBTQ+ community, put Pride merchandise back on the sales floor and online in full, ensure safety of team members who are on the front lines.

Target, and all businesses, can leverage the support of LGBTQ+ organizations to navigate this hate, so that together, we can let extremists know unequivocally that, just as with every other failed anti-LGBTQ+ campaign of the past, fear will not win.

The above is cosigned by GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National LGBTQ Task Force, the National Black Justice Coalition, and other groups mentioned below.

 

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Girlgoon  Gustav22 days ago

Frank zappa has been saying this about the evil-gelicals since his last interview with Larry King. No one believed it then.

jimbo65  Girlgoon2 days ago

Yup.

 
 

 

Gigi2 days ago edited

This is how it started in Hitler’s Germany. Nazi propaganda campaigns claimed that Jews were “predators” who were “coming for your children.” Then came the attacks and violence. Flash forward to America in 2023. Christofascists claim that trans people, drag queens and pretty much anyone who isn’t a far-right fascist is a “groomer” who’s “coming for your children.” They won’t stop until there’s blood in the streets.

Wintercat  Gigi2 days ago

They didn’t stop then until they had killed millions and then only stopped because the Allies were shooting them.

Stultus  Houndentenor2 days ago

I see the attacks on Drag Shows as low grade kristallnacht. I used lower case not to disrespect the memory

April Smith 2 days ago edited

Target already pulled a Bud Lite (first support the LGBTQ community then cave into the haters) so either stand with us 100% or don’t even bother.

teeveedub  April Smith2 days ago

The waffling is not a good look.

teeveedub  April Smith2 days ago

The waffling is not a good look.

Jack Frost  teeveedub2 days ago

Just ask the Dodgers.

evanedwards  teeveedub2 days ago edited

Beyond that, it only makes things much worse. As soon as any waffling happens, the fascists smell blood in the water. It only amps them up. To them it’s a sign of weakness and a signal to pounce en masse. More people need to understand the psychology of fascism, it’s well documented and there are many resources online. Knowledge is power.

 

Immigrant workforce reaches a new high

https://www.axios.com/2023/05/26/immigrants-workforce-us-economy

Emily Peck
 
 
Note: Foreign-born describes adults born outside the U.S., where neither parent is a U.S. citizen, and includes legally-admitted immigrants, refugees, temporary residents and undocumented immigrants; Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics; Chart: Axios Visuals

The share of foreign-born workers in the U.S. labor force reached a record high last year, per new data from the Labor Department.

Why it matters: With more Americans aging out of the workforce than entering into it — and at a time of labor shortages — immigrants are playing an increasingly crucial role in the labor market.

State of play: The share of foreign-born people in the workforce has been steadily rising for decades, but dipped during the pandemic — making last year’s uptick look a bit more striking than it is, said Abraham Mosisa, a senior economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

  • Still, this is a trend that isn’t going anywhere. The U.S. labor force participation rate of native born men has been consistently decreasing, he pointed out. And the rate for women has stagnated.
  • The number of foreign-born workers in the U.S. increased to 29.8 million in 2022, from 27.9 million the previous year — a jump of about 6%.
  • The number of native-born workers went from 133.2 million to 134.5 million — up barely 1%.
  • One key factor is that a bigger share of the immigrant population is of working age (18-64), at 77%, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute (MPI). That compares with about 59% of the native-born population.

Meanwhile: The relative size of the immigrant population has stayed flat over the past two decades — comprising 13.6% of the total U.S. population in 2021, according to the most recently available data from MPI — just below where it was before the pandemic.

Zoom in: Foreign-born workers tend to take different jobs than the native-born (see the chart below), and they typically earn less money.

  • In 2022, median weekly earnings for foreign-born full-time workers was $945, or 87% of their native-born counterparts.
Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics; Chart: Rahul Mukherjee/Axios

Worth noting: Immigration opponents might see the record number of foreign-born workers and argue that foreign born workers are somehow stealing jobs from Americans — but that’s not what’s happening.

 
  • Although was a big increase in net immigration in 2022 — essentially catching up from the COVID slump — there were plenty of jobs to go around.
  • At times last year there were actually two jobs available for every job-seeker. And this year, the unemployment rate has continued to hover around a record low.

Zoom out: As wealthier nations contend with shrinking workforces, many are crafting new immigration policies to find more workers — and combat inflation, as the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.

  • Policies that encourage immigration “will determine the extent and persistence of labor supply challenges,” as a note from Moody’s Investors Service pointed out a few weeks ago.
  • Immigration law in the U.S., meanwhile, remains a contentious and fairly intractable political issue.

What they’re saying: “If you want a growing workforce, without immigration, that isn’t going to happen,” said Phillip Connor, a senior demographer at FWD.US, an immigration advocacy group.

 
 

Target Pulls Some Pride Items After MAGA Violence

Target Pulls Some Pride Items After MAGA Violence

And so the Christian Taliban maga brownshirts win.  I have seen one of the videos of these extremists telling other shoppers that a rainbow shirt was from the devil and it was supporting child sex, question workers and other shoppers if they were Satanist or believed in god, talking of grooming kids, all this hyper anti-gay religious stuff.  That video is below in the comments.  These people have learned to be violent, like the maga that went into stores and threw beer out of the shelves and coolers.  Instead of standing up to these domestic terrorist, these chain stores are giving in to them.   Shades of 1930s Germany.  Hugs

The Associated Press reports:

Target is removing certain items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month, after an intense backlash from some customers including violent confrontations with its workers. “Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work,” Target said in a statement Tuesday.

”Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.” Target confirmed that it has moved its Pride merchandise from the front of the stores to the back in some Southern stores after confrontations and backlash from shoppers in those areas.

Target’s Pride month collection has also been the subject of several misleading videos in recent weeks, with social media users falsely claiming the retailer is selling “tuck-friendly” bathing suits designed for kids or in kids’ sizes.

Read the full article.

 

Octoberfurst a day ago

I get so sick and tired of this shit! I understand Target wanting to protect its employees but caving in to terrorist demands only emboldens these cretans.
“Don’t have a Pride parade or we’ll kill ya!”
Result: Pride parade canceled.
“Don’t have Drag Queen story hour or we’ll kill ya!”
Result: Drag Queen story hour canceled.
“Don’t sell gay merchandise or we’ll kill ya!”
Result: Gay merch banned.
Seriously, when does this end? What’s next? “Don’t be gay in public or we’ll kill ya!” So all gay people have to act straight? This is nonsense! I am tired of Bible thumping bigots trying to rule our lives.

 

heleninedinburgh a day ago

Great idea. It is a known fact that if you do what terrorists want, they will go away and never bother you again.

thisone  heleninedinburgha day ago

On the other hand, this Target employee is not backing down.

“Do you support the satanic pride agenda?”

“Mmhmm, both. Satan and Pride.”

juanjo54  thisonea day ago

This video is a year old. Not complaining, mind you because it shows the mindset of the Christian nut jobs who go around preaching hate. But it is not a recent event from this year.

That said there has been some hateful woman going around filming herself in Target screaming about LGBT merchandise. I saw one of her videos yesterday, can’t remember if it was here or on Reddit.

Ohbehr in Minnesota  thisonea day ago

What a little weenie with his little agenda. What an wrongly righteous creep. I hope I don’t run into these kind of people anywhere. What idiocy for Christian grooming and Christian nationalist terrorism.

unsavedheathen a day ago

Hiding the Pride merchandise in the back of the store sure doesn’t scream PRIDE to me.

April Smith  unsavedheathena day ago

Yes and moving the merchandise will not placate the extremists. They won’t be satisfied until it’s been completely removed.

Ron the Juana day ago

They are letting the domestic terrorists win.

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Matt G, Rochester a day ago

If the store staff was being threatened, call the police and have the terrorist arrested! If the local yocals, county clowns, or staties won’t prosecute, call the FBI. After all, they are the ones who are supposed to deal with domestic terrorism. Turn over the store security videos to the FBI and make examples of a few NAZIs.

April Smith  Matt G, Rochestera day ago

Most Target stores I’ve been to have security already. They are usually up by the front doors (not far from where Pride items are/were). Now that Target is hiding the Pride merchandise it will be more vulnerable to vandalism.

Target might as well get rid of all the Pride stuff. They’re shown they really don’t have our backs like they’ve pretended to.

lenvus  April Smith21 hours ago edited

It is definitely different this year in a few of the Tucson stores. Not only is there NOT as much stuff, it is hidden in the very back of the store. The display is inconspicuous. There is only but a few items of clothing, translucent cups, plates, and … yep, that’s about it. A couple of years ago, in that same store, there were three (maybe FOUR!) displays, including one dedicated to music by itself. What in the hell is wrong with Target? As you mentioned, they are capitulating to the whims of the bigots. Something has to change…for the better.

Correction: What the hell is wrong with SOCIETY that Target has to actually protect its employees and its customers from this shit? I wholeheartedly agree with posters (in different threads) here that Target still deserves our support. Unlike other corporate chains, Target has been — and hopefully, will continue to be — supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. I sure as hell would not expect to even find any pride merchandise in, say, Hobby Lobby to start with. So, the mere fact that Target employees have to HIDE merchandise in the first place speaks volumes about the supportive environment of the store and the corporation.

 

 

Some things I wanted to share from the last four days

Uncle Mark3 days ago

It ALWAYS starts out with the Trojan Horse of protecting the young children, before quickly expanding to including all teens/minors, and then the banishing of LGBTQ adults from sight…”for the sake of the children,” and not for the bigoted adults hiding behind them.

Halou3 days ago edited

bans the “instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to students enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade

Question 1. Are you married?
Question 2. How do you explain that to an 18 year old without alluding to the fact that you’re a man and the person to which you are married is not?

Question 3. Why is that an exception to your rule?

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Ban and pushcoming for your freedomshandmaiden of fascismwoke means

Flora DeMann rednekokie4 days ago

I’ve been dubious of the word “fascism” being thrown around. But it’s the right word. After reading How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley, I am convinced that DeSantis is in fact a fascist.

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“What normalization does is transform the morally extraordinary into the ordinary. It makes us able to tolerate what was once intolerable by making it seem as if this is the way things have always been.”

If you take government assistance, the republicans demand you have a work requirement

Going broke because the wealthy want all the money, no help for the people / public

clay thatotherjean2 days ago

Defaulting would also slash the dollar (and our trade balance), jack up interest rates (putting the brakes on housing and infrastructure construction), and reduce our status as the largest free economy.

Gianni Chucktech2 days ago

Aside from the usual times he makes himself look and sound stupid in public, he has a magical way of doing that to himself in pics, too. Our Commander in Chief of all our armed forces actually saluted a Russian military official as if that was what needed to be done to show his abject subservience. Even the Russian would have settled for a handshake. He, along with all the other “felonies” attached to him, did so much to trash America’s prestige and standing in the world.

The farce of this whole thing

Shell accused of ‘profiteering bonanza’ after record first-quarter profits of $9.6bn

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/04/shell-makes-record-quarterly-profits-of-nearly-10bn

Just hear a republican say it was not record profits and price gouging causing inflation, but the government spending.  When asked about raising taxes on these record-breaking profits being made by corporations and the upper wealthy, the republican lied about how that was going to crash the economy and wouldn’t help the budget shortfalls.   The host never bushed back on the republicans lies, instead framing her questions in how unreasonable the democrats were being for not being willing to entertain all the cuts and economic hardships the republicans are demanding.   The republicans know what their cuts will do to the people, the harm to the poor, and wipe out every advance in policy that Biden managed to do.   They want this to happen, so they can campaign on that harm, hurt, and economic collapse, blaming Biden for it and saying he has not managed to pass anything to help the people.   It has nothing to do with the debt, it has to do with politics and trying to regain the Senate and White House, and keep the house.    Hugs

Figure easily beats predictions and comes despite fall in oil and gas price

Shell sing and stock graph in the backgroundShell will now offer shareholders $4bn in share buybacks after its record quarterly profit. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

 

Shell has been accused of a “profiteering bonanza” after it made record first-quarter profits of more than $9.6bn (£7.6bn) and showered shareholders with more than $6bn, even as oil and gas prices tumbled from last year’s highs.

The better than expected profits in the first three months of this year were well above the $7.96bn predicted by industry analysts, and topped Shell’s previous first-quarter record set last year at $9.1bn for the same period.

 

Europe’s biggest oil and gas company handed shareholders $2bn in dividend payments and bought back shares worth $4.3bn over the last quarter, and plans to offer its investors another $4bn in share buybacks over the next three months.

 
BP logo of BP is seen at a petrol station
BP’s profits labelled ‘heinous’ as calls grow for tougher windfall tax
Read more

The FTSE 100 company said profits increased despite higher taxes and lower sums paid on the market for the oil and gas it produces, thanks in part to its energy trading teams managing to mitigate against falling prices.

Global oil prices averaged $81.7 a barrel in the first quarter of this year, according to Shell, down from $102.2 a barrel in the same period a year earlier, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ignited a surge in oil and gas markets.

Shell has also had to pay higher taxes, reaching over $3bn globally for the last quarter. Its UK tax bill hit $134m last year after the government’s windfall energy profits levy was introduced in May. Shell expects to pay more than $500m to the Treasury this year after the levy was increased from January.

Shell’s bumper profits emerged two days after its smaller rival BP reported a profit of $4.96bn for the first quarter, down from $6.2bn in the same period last year, but well above the $4.3bn expected by analysts.

Sharon Graham, the general secretary of the Unite union, said both firms were “continuing the profiteering bonanza”, adding: “The scale of profiteering displayed today by Shell and earlier this week BP is one of the corporate scandals of our times. And this is practically untouched by Rishi Sunak’s so-called windfall tax.

“Not taking any action against ‘Big Oil’ means the profiteering plundering will continue without end.”

Charlie Kronick, of Greenpeace UK, said: “As temperatures soar from Madrid to Mogadishu, Shell is once again posting bumper profits while promising to keep extracting fossil fuels for years to come. Millions around the world are already feeling the effects of the climate crisis and it’s those who did the least to cause it who are paying the heaviest price.

“The UK government should stop issuing new oil and gas licences and force Shell and the rest of the industry to start using their obscene profits to pay for the damage that their fossil fuel habit is causing to lives and livelihoods around the world.”

Shell’s new chief executive, Wael Sawan, said the company had delivered “strong results and robust operational performance, against a backdrop of ongoing volatility”.

The company reported a record annual profit of $40bn for 2022 after posting better than expected profits in the final quarter of last year. The full-year profits were more than double what it reported in 2021 owing to rocketing oil and gas market prices last year, leading to calls for a windfall tax on the earnings.

A survey commissioned by Christian Aid, an international development charity, found nearly four in five UK adults agreed it was wrong for oil and gas companies to make record profits without taking responsibility for their role in causing the climate crisis. More than six in 10 of those surveyed said the government should tax fossil fuel profits to help pay compensation to communities that faced the impacts of the climate crisis.

Sawan succeeded Shell’s previous chief executive Ben van Beurden in January after the company moved its headquarters to London from the Hague and abolished its dual listing in the Netherlands.

He is now preparing to lead a capital markets day next month where he is expected to set out an updated strategy for the oil company. It is expected to include an exit from the UK’s home energy supply market after a little over five years by selling off Shell Energy.

Sawan told journalists the home energy business had been “very, very challenging” owing to significant government intervention to support the market.

“On balance, what we have found is that it’s not the sort of area where we can potentially outcompete others,” he said. “We’re looking at all options, everything is being considered, and I hope to have an update in the coming weeks.”