Not One Penny Statement On Kroger Annual Meeting Today

Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Tax Cuts Have Gone to Shareholders, Not Employees

Kroger Has Laid Off Over 1,500 People Since the Passage of the GOP Tax Bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, June 28, 2018

PRESS CONTACT:
press@notonepenny.org

WASHINGTON, DC – Not One Penny spokesman Tim Hogan released the following statement on Kroger’s annual meeting taking place today in Cincinnati, Ohio:

“While shareholders and executives are cashing in on these hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts, working families are being left in the dust. Kroger saved $922 million this past year thanks to the Republican tax plan and $260 million in the first quarter of 2018 alone. What has been the result? 1,500 workers laid off in North Carolina, no significant new hiring and a brand new $2.2 billion stock buyback program to enrich shareholders.”

KEY FACTS:

• Kroger reported $922 million in savings thanks to the GOP tax bill in 2017. The company also got a tax cut of $260 million in the first quarter of 2018 alone compared to what it would have paid under its previous tax rate.

• In June 2018, after receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts, the company announced it would eliminate 1,500 positions when it closes all of its stores in N.C.’s Triangle Region.

• Kroger has announced it expects to add 11,000 positions in 2018. That number is on par with its 2016 hiring of 12,000 jobs and 2017 hiring of 10,000 positions, with no significant increase as a result of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts.

• On April 20, 2018 Kroger announced an additional $1.2 billion in an accelerated share repurchase program on top of a $1 billion share repurchase program announced on March 15, 2018, for a total of $2.2 billion in share buybacks since the passage of the GOP tax bill.

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