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US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

cnn.com

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Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#21

Post by RetpolineDrama »

ryzvonusef wrote: post #3
ryzvonusef wrote: post #2

> US Steel has agreed to be bought by Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker, in a $14.1 billion deal. > Earlier this summer the United Steelworkers union vowed to only support a proposed offer by another unionized American steel company, Cleveland Cliffs, to buy US Steel, in a cash and stock deal then valued at $32.53 a share, or 40% less than Nippon’s all cash offer. The US Steel board rejected that offer and sta…

on why it failed: > US Steel and other steelmakers eventually followed those foreign competitors to upgrade factories and equipment, but they still largely used the older methods to make steel by melting raw materials such as iron ore in giant blast furnaces. > Those “integrated” steelmakers soon lagged behind so-called “mini-mills,” nonunion competitors that use more efficient electric arc furnaces to turn old steel…

>So the question is... did unions prevent a path to upgradation to new tech?

Of course they did. It's even worse in legacy auto, Engineering has to get approval from the union for any significant new vehicle features.

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#23

Post by abtinf »

eunos wrote: post #5

After being coddled up by the govt for so many years (NatSec tariffs, tax breaks, bailouts, import restrictions, etc), ultimately it still failed.

I have no comment on this specific case, but in general: all of those things—all government interventions that ostensibly protect an industry or company—make it more brittle, less efficient, and more likely to fail. That is precisely the point.

You can’t build a successful business by ignoring reality.

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#24

Post by jeffbee »

Pxtl wrote: post #7

FFS, they bought up and ruined Stelco here in Hamilton (Canada's Pittsburgh) just to loot its customer-list and they still failed anyways?

They bought bits and pieces of Stelco out of bankruptcy. It seems as if it was pre-ruined before USS owned it.

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#26

Post by hef19898 »

ryzvonusef wrote: post #3
ryzvonusef wrote: post #2

> US Steel has agreed to be bought by Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker, in a $14.1 billion deal. > Earlier this summer the United Steelworkers union vowed to only support a proposed offer by another unionized American steel company, Cleveland Cliffs, to buy US Steel, in a cash and stock deal then valued at $32.53 a share, or 40% less than Nippon’s all cash offer. The US Steel board rejected that offer and sta…

on why it failed: > US Steel and other steelmakers eventually followed those foreign competitors to upgrade factories and equipment, but they still largely used the older methods to make steel by melting raw materials such as iron ore in giant blast furnaces. > Those “integrated” steelmakers soon lagged behind so-called “mini-mills,” nonunion competitors that use more efficient electric arc furnaces to turn old steel…

Isn't that one of the case studies in the Innovator's Dilema? I don't remember any mention of unions in that.

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#28

Post by hef19898 »

RetpolineDrama wrote: post #21
ryzvonusef wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

on why it failed: > US Steel and other steelmakers eventually followed those foreign competitors to upgrade factories and equipment, but they still largely used the older methods to make steel by melting raw materials such as iron ore in giant blast furnaces. > Those “integrated” steelmakers soon lagged behind so-called “mini-mills,” nonunion competitors that use more efficient electric arc furnaces to turn old steel…

>So the question is... did unions prevent a path to upgradation to new tech? Of course they did. It's even worse in legacy auto, Engineering has to get approval from the union for any significant new vehicle features.

That is some realy bold claim, any sources for that?

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#29

Post by jeffbee »

FredPret wrote: post #10
eunos wrote: post #5

After being coddled up by the govt for so many years (NatSec tariffs, tax breaks, bailouts, import restrictions, etc), ultimately it still failed.

US Steel hasn't failed, it's been pumping out money for a long time. $1.6B in profit in the last 4Q's on a market cap of $9B. It's far from dead - leverage is only 45%; they've got $11B in equity in the company. [ https://valustox.com/X ]

If YouTube goes from having 100% market share to the 27th-largest video site, you will definitely say that it has failed. That is the history of US Steel.

Re: US Steel, once the largest corporation, agrees to sell to Nippon Steel

#30

Post by wmeredith »

adastra22 wrote: post #17
MisterTea wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[citation needed]

Seriously? What citation is needed? The unions are why they didn’t switch to a less labor-intensive process. How is that a controversial statement?

A comment above yours says that these scrap-processing mini-mills are more labor-intensive to operate, which is why most of them are in China. So... yes, seriously, a citation is needed for your claim.
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