Who Are You Really Buying From?
Written by: Arlo Hoover (J)
In today's grocery stores, there are thousands of products available for consumers to choose from. The money you spend on necessities and commodities alike may seem like it’s going to a variety of companies, but in reality, it goes to a few large ones and their investors.
At Walmart, you see a lot of products under the name “Great Value”. Many think that this is Walmart's brand, however Great Value is a conjunction of brands under the names like, “SaraLee”, “Conagra”, “Kelloggs”, “Ziplock", and "Land O’ Lakes”. SaraLee produces the baked goods, Congra makes miscellaneous food items, Kelloggs makes many cereals, sweets and other convenience foods, Ziploc produces storage bags and containers, and Land O’ Lakes provides dairy items. By using nearly the same ingredients, these companies produce the same items under a different, and cheaper, name.
Let’s start with an extremely common item bought, toilet paper. Some of the brands sold at Walmart are “Angel Soft”, “Quilted Northern”, “Scott, “Great Value”, “Charmin”, and “Cottonelle”. There are a variety of roll sizes and thicknesses to choose from, as well as roll quantities. Angel Soft, Quilted Northern are under “Georgia Pacific”. Scott and Cottonelle are produced by “Kimberly-Clarke”. Charmin is made by “Procter & Gamble”. Out of the six main options, you have four companies to choose from. However it goes deeper than just four companies. Georgia-Pacific is owned by “KOCH Industries”, and both Kimberly-Clarke and Charmin and mainly owned by one corporation: “BlackRock' and its companies “Vanguard” and “State Street Corporation”. There are a small number of companies to choose from, but the toilet paper aisle is small, so why don’t we analyze one that has a larger variety.
Cereal has options from bland and healthy, to complete sugar. The products observed are Honey “Bunches of Oats”, “Mini Wheats”, “Lucky Charms”, “Reese's Puffs”, “Raisin Bran”, “Special K”, “Cinnamon Toast Crunch”, and “Cheerios”. The largest provider of these cereals is “General Mills”, who takes Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Reese’s Puffs, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. While Kellogg’s owns the rest. But guess who holds that majority of shares in both companies. That's right, BlackRock. According to Techpedia, the BlackRock Investment Company has over 149,200,000 shares outstanding as of January 2024. The company has a networth of $113,620,000,000. Well, this is just two aisles of a grocery store. How about we check another?
The soft-drink aisle is a common visit by Americans, where 48% of them reported to Princeton University in a study that they drink at least one glass of soda a day. According to LoveToKnow, America's favorite sodas are “Coke”, “Pepsi”, “Sprite”, and “Mtn Dew”. “PepsiCo” owns Pepsi and Mtn Dew, while “Coca-Cola” owns Coke and Sprite. Pepsico also owns a variety of franchises including “Gatorade”, “Ruffles”, and “Frito-Lay”. Coca-Cola only owns drinks: “Powerade”, “Fanta”, “Peace Tea”, and “Vitaminwater” are a few examples. The main shareholders are BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street Corp. So, again, BlackRock is at the top of both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola. Maybe in a different sweets aisle we could find something different?
The candy aisle is amazing. A wide array of colors, sugar, and unhealthy-deliciousness draw customers in. USA Today says that America's favorite candies are: “Reese’s”, “Fun Dip”, “Snickers”, “Kit Kat”, “Starburst”, “Twix”, “Skittles”, and “Hershey’s” various items. Now, we are going to take a look at these tasty treats to see who owns them. “Mars Incorporated” has the most of these listed being Starburst, Skittles, and Twix. The “Hershey Company” owns (obviously) Hershey’s products and Reese’s. “Nestle” is the final owner with Kit Kat and Fun Dip. Mars Inc. is actually the first company here that doesn’t have BlackRock as a shareholder, and they are entirely family owned. However, Nestle and Hershey have large BlackRock ties. Maybe somewhere else a little more healthy might have a new finding.
The bread aisle has a large variety of options, from sliced white, to a braided French bread. The most common brands grabbed are “Wonder”, Great Value, “Nature’s Own”, and SaraLee. As mentioned before, Sara Lee actually produces the baked goods for Great Value, yet the name brand costs $1.08 more for basically the same bread. The difference between the Great Value bread and The name brand has sesame seeds and vitamin E acetate. First of all, sesame seeds are the last ingredient listed. Ingredients are listed by weight, so these have the least amount in the product. Vitamin E acetate is just as it seems, a vitamin. “Flowers Foods” owns both Nature’s own and Wonder bread. “Kohlberg Company” makes Sara Lee and Great Value Bread. Both of these companies have BlackRock as the largest shareholder. We’ve mentioned them enough now, but who's the face behind BlackRock?
Larry Fink, 71 years old, is the CEO and founder of BlackRock. He currently has a networth of $1.2 billion. His annual income according to Reuters was $32.7 million in 2022 and $26.9 million in 2023. So, a good amount of money that you believe is going to the right places, really isn’t. This is bad because one company makes a large percentage of profits, while the workers receive nothing compared to what the CEO’s keep. By having one company holding this many stocks, it takes profits away from small and local businesses, and it encourages a monopoly-like reign over the market. If you're trying to boycott certain companies, you need to watch out for the shareholders behind them. BlackRock has hands in anything you can possibly think of, from Apple and Microsoft, to the energy sector, and even in healthcare. Blackrock does not only invest in the consumables and necessities markets either. They are the majority shareholder in the “Smith & Wesson” brand, the largest gun manufacturing business in the United States . They aren’t limited to just guns, either. “Lockheed Martin”, the worlds largest weapons manufacturer, and the producer of F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, Hellfire R9X, and so many more extremely destructive weapon systems that are primarily owned by the group. Many of these weapons have recently been provided to Israel. However even with this Israel support, they have hands in Gaza as well. Some companies who have financially supported Palestine are “Capri Holdings”, the owner of designer brands like “Versace” and “Michael Kors”, “Airbnb”, and “American Express”. All three companies have sent money to help the humanitarian crisis. BlackRock is a main shareholder in all of these as well, meaning they are indirectly funding both groups in the war in Gaza.
In conclusion, a large portion of your money goes to CEO Larry Fink and other investment company owners. These companies fund conflicts and profit from the events, and they are so large that you really don’t have a choice to buy from anyone but them. They have a monopoly-like influence on the consumer, and any market, by hiding under the mask of other companies.
