Ann Pettifor

Profiting from disaster: shareholders gain $1 billion

Five days after appearing before Congress to testify about its responsibility in one of the worst oil spills in US history, the Swiss company that owned and operated the oil rig that sunk into the Gulf of Mexico announced that it would shell out $1 billion in dividends to shareholders, ‘Raw Story’ reports.

……..To put the distribution in perspective, the amount of profit that Transocean plans to pay out in the next year is half of what Exxon ultimately paid for the Exxon Valdez disaster off the Alaska Coast.

t’s also more than double what BP has said they’ve spent on the cleanup to date.

Read more here:  http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0517/spill-rig-owner-approves-1-billion-dividend-shareholders/

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2 thoughts on “Profiting from disaster: shareholders gain $1 billion”

  1. the.Duke.of.URL

    This seems to be just another instance of the corporate takeover of the state and consequent lack of public accountability of the large corporation. What will it take to bring about a revolt? Another massive financial failure plus some other eco-disaster? This may be coming to your area any time real soon now.

    Bertrand Russell once wrote, and I paraphrase, that should humankind destroy itself via nuclear or some other means, peace would once again return to the face of the earth.

  2. Well established maritime law would seem to cap Transocean’s liability at a low dollar amount.
    Under its lease contract, BP is the operator of the rig and bears complete liability for damages unless it can prove negligence on the part of Transocean. BP will , no doubt, try to shift some or all of the blame to Transocean.

    Since neither the law or the facts of this matter seem to be relevant to commentators, the most prudent course of action for Transocean to take is to distribute money to its shareholders. By doing so it makes itself a slightly smaller target for those in society who are unconcerned with facts and laws.

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