World’s largest meat producer JBS begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange
The Brazilian meat giant’s NYSE listing has ignited global backlash over its documented links to illegal deforestation, systemic animal suffering, and labor exploitation.
Photo: We Animals
The world's largest meat producer has begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), drawing strong criticism from animal and environmental groups.
JBS made its debut on the NYSE on 12 June, despite fierce opposition over the Brazilian company’s history of illegal deforestation, environmental destruction, animal cruelty, and corruption scandals.
The listing has faced strong opposition from numerous groups. The environmental organization Mighty Earth urged the NYSE board to reject it, accusing JBS of profiting from illegally deforested land in Brazil.
“Giving JBS access to billions of dollars of new funding will serve only to supercharge deforestation and its climate-wrecking operations,” Mighty Earth CEO Glenn Hurowitz said in a statement. “Listing on the NYSE is meant to be a signal to investors that a company is serious about transparency, but JBS has shown its only playbook is hiding the true scale of its destruction, climate emissions and human rights abuses.”
In a statement, Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, said he had led a two-year Senate committee investigation that found JBS had “turned a blind eye as parts of its supply chain burned down the Amazon,” and that he had “strong concerns” about its public listing, according to the New York Times.
Wyden was among the group of 15 US senators from across parties who signed a letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2024 to “express deep concerns” about JBS’s plans.
“As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) considers this proposal, we urge the SEC to protect the integrity of U.S. capital markets and the legal rights of U.S. investors by exposing the risks that JBS poses to potential shareholders, including its track record of corruption, human rights abuses, monopolization of the meatpacking market, as well as environmental risks,” wrote the senators.
Independent investor advisory firm Glass Lewis also urged JBS shareholders to reject the listing, citing concerns over the return of Joesley and Wesley Batista, sons of the company’s founder, to the board. The brothers were previously jailed in Brazil in 2017 for bribery and corruption.
JBS dominates the global meat industry, with annual sales doubling since 2019 to reach $75 billion last year. In the US, it is the largest beef producer and the second-largest producer of poultry and pork. JBS also has operations in South America, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.
The company has continually been accused of unethical and illegal practices ranging from deforestation to human rights abuses.
In Brazil, where wildlife habitats and ecosystems are destroyed to make way for the production of corn and soy for farmed animal feed, JBS has been linked to multiple instances of illegal deforestation.
The company has also been accused of using slave labor in parts of its supply chains, with exploited workers reportedly kept in “slavery-like conditions” and paid around $11 per day.
Animal protection groups report that JBS’s mass production of poultry, beef, and pork confines animals in overcrowded, inhumane conditions, leading to widespread suffering across its supply chain. In a report on the state of factory farming, JBS was among five companies that collectively slaughter over 11 billion chickens and 150 million pigs every year.
“The shame is on the New York Stock Exchange as they have decided to list a climate culprit and abuser of millions of animals,” said Tricia Croasdell, World Animal Protection CEO. “We will not be silenced in exposing JBS, the biggest meat supplier in the world, as one of the most destructive, cruel, and unethical multinational corporations.
"As well as their appalling animal cruelty, JBS has amassed a litany of convictions, fines and scandals for bribery, corruption, price-fixing, human rights abuses, and devastating deforestation,” Croasdell continued.
"Its emissions rival those of entire nations, which have consistently increased in recent years despite statements of net-zero goals. It is morally failing and putting profit ahead of people, animals, and the planet," Croasdell added.
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