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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

#41

Post by jeffbee »

FredPret wrote: post #35
jeffbee wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Youtube is a platform business. Being in the top 5 is everything because that's how you get creators and consumers. If Youtube fell to #27, it would be a ghost town and lose a ton of money. But steel is just steel. You make it and then you sell it. If you make money, great. That is what US Steel does. They make steel, they sell it at a profit. I call that a win.

Fair. But it's not like US Steel has just been humming along for decades printing money. There are a lot of failure smells about it. Hundreds of thousands of people have been laid off at least once. Dozens of mills have been shut down.

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

#43

Post by hammock »

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…

Not unions solely, but as other commenters have pointed out, the cost of labor more generally is what did it.

And the comparative cost of labor in e.g. China vs. US is driven by the balance of trade. Expensive labor is the price the US pays to run a trade deficit

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

#45

Post by makeitshine »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #33
Supermancho wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those “integrated” steelmakers soon lagged behind so-called “mini-mills,” nonunion competitors that use more efficient electric arc furnaces to turn old steel scrap from discarded cars and other products into new steel products This means "chinese" mini mills^1 which require a lot of manual labor to collect the steel. This is not a technology problem, but a manpower/safety race to the bottom, that the US couldn't e…

Most chinese workers (and foreigners working in China) are in a union, however run by the communist party.

These are differently structured and run than unions outside of China. There's little recourse for protest and negotiation through them.

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

#46

Post by FredPret »

jeffbee wrote: post #41
FredPret wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Youtube is a platform business. Being in the top 5 is everything because that's how you get creators and consumers. If Youtube fell to #27, it would be a ghost town and lose a ton of money. But steel is just steel. You make it and then you sell it. If you make money, great. That is what US Steel does. They make steel, they sell it at a profit. I call that a win.

Fair. But it's not like US Steel has just been humming along for decades printing money. There are a lot of failure smells about it. Hundreds of thousands of people have been laid off at least once. Dozens of mills have been shut down.

Correct. But they seem to have sorted out many of the biggest issues. They could probably continue profitably as-is for the foreseeable future though, which is really the most you can hope for from a business.

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

#47

Post by greenie_beans »

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?

it's not controversial. you just didn't prove it. you said "yes, absolutely" as if it's universal truth, without any evidence.

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

#48

Post by datameta »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #33
Supermancho wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those “integrated” steelmakers soon lagged behind so-called “mini-mills,” nonunion competitors that use more efficient electric arc furnaces to turn old steel scrap from discarded cars and other products into new steel products This means "chinese" mini mills^1 which require a lot of manual labor to collect the steel. This is not a technology problem, but a manpower/safety race to the bottom, that the US couldn't e…

Most chinese workers (and foreigners working in China) are in a union, however run by the communist party.

Of what value is a union in China? I have seen some of the most deplorable safety tandards that don't even dream of OSHA-tier compliance.

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

#49

Post by kranke155 »

wmeredith wrote: post #32
kranke155 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One more misinformed HN top comment.

Please illuminate us. How is this misinformed?

Top comment said the company was a failure. Doesn´t seem to be the case, since the company was clearly profitable.

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

#50

Post by tehjoker »

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.

probably bc there are safety and other concerns that need to be addressed? management gets to check that off why not the people building it?
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