U.S. Steel, which was formed in 1901 by J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie and Charles M. Schwab, among other industrial age titans, announced yesterday that Nippon Steel Corporation (Japan’s largest steelmaker) is acquiring the American company “for $55 per share in an all-cash transaction representing representing an equity value of approximately $14.1 billion plus the assumption of debt, for a total enterprise value of $14.9 billion.”
When U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) heard of the news, he released a video standing outside the U.S. Steel-owned Edgar Thompson Factory in his hometown of Braddock, and said: “The acquisition of U.S. Steel by a foreign company is wrong for workers and wrong for Pennsylvania. I’m gonna do everything I can to block it.”
The acquisition of @U_S_Steel by a foreign company is wrong for workers and wrong for Pennsylvania. I’m gonna do everything I can to block it. pic.twitter.com/9EqohwRhRJ
— Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) December 18, 2023
Blocking the acquisition will likely require going around the authority of U.S. Steel’s Board of Directors, which “unanimously approved” the deal with Nippon Steel.
One of the 13 U.S. Steel board members includes attorney Jeh C. Johnson, who joined the U.S. Steel board in 2020. Johnson, a long-time partner at the prestigious law firm of Paul, Weiss Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, was U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security during the Obama Administration (2013-2017), general counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense (2009-2012) and the U.S. Air Force (1998-2001).
Fetterman isn’t the only politician to publicly oppose of the acquisition. His Keystone State colleague, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), said the sale “appeared to be a bad deal for Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania workers,” and State Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland), said “we will continue to do all we can to maintain its presence where it belongs — Pittsburgh.”
Note: The U.S. Steel press release announcing the acquisition states that U.S. Steel will retain its name and headquarters in Pittsburgh.
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