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Bernie Marcus, The Home Depot co-founder, dies
NEW YORK | Bernard “Bernie” Marcus, the co-founder of The Home Depot, a billionaire philanthropist, and a big Republican donor, has died. He was 95.
Marcus died Monday in Boca Raton, Florida, surrounded by family, according to a Home Depot spokesperson.
Marcus was Home Depot’s CEO as it grew rapidly during its first two decades, and was chairman of the board until his retirement in 2002. Home Depot is now the world’s largest home improvement chain. In recent years, he became an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump.
“We owe an immeasurable debt of gratitude to Bernie,” the company said in a statement. “He was a master merchant and a retail visionary. But even more importantly, he valued our associates, customers and communities above all. He’s left us with an invaluable legacy and the backbone of our company: our values and culture. “
The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Marcus was born in 1929 and grew up in a tenement in Newark, New Jersey, according to a biography on the company’s website. Marcus had aspirations of becoming a doctor, but his family couldn’t afford medical school and he endeavored to become a pharmacist, receiving a degree from Rutgers University. Marcus used to say he’d skip classes to sell Amana freezers door-to-door, according to Home Depot.
After college, Marcus worked at the manufacturing conglomerate O’Dell’s and the retail chain Vornado, quickly ascending the corporate ladder. By 1972, Marcus was chairman and president of Handy Dan Improvement Centers, part of the Daylin conglomerate. It was there that Marcus formed a lifelong friendship with Arthur Blank.
The big moment in his career arrived after he was fired by Handy Dan in 1978, along with Blank. Marcus had dreamt of a one-stop shop for do-it-yourselfers. At age 49, Marcus, along with Blank, founded Home Depot. Investment banker Ken Langone helped to secure financing to get The Home Depot started, according to the company.
The first Home Depot opened in Atlanta the following year and by 1981, the company went public and began selling stock. There are now more than 2,000 Home Depot stores and the company employs more than 500,000 people. In the past decade annual sales at Home Depot have doubled, reaching nearly $153 billion in 2023
Marcus has financially supported various charities as well as Jewish and medical organizations through donations. He also built the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, one of the largest in the world. The company said that his philanthropic work will continue through The Marcus Foundation, with a focus on Jewish causes, children, medical research, free enterprise and the community.
Marcus was a vocal and financial supporter of Donald Trump, donating nearly $5 million to the Republican Party between 2016 and 2020, according to OpenSecrets, an organization that tracks political spending. Last year, Marcus penned an op-ed for Real Clear Politics, a clearinghouse of elections data and analysis, that spelled out the reasons he was endorsing Trump for a second term.
Saudi oil giant Aramco posts third-quarter profits of $27.5B
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates | Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco reported third-quarter profits of $27.5 billion on Tuesday, down about 15% from last year as low oil prices ate into its revenues.
Aramco, formally known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., had revenues of $111.1 billion over the quarter, the company said in a filing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. It had $113 billion in revenues the same quarter last year.
Profits for the third quarter last year were $32.5 billion.
The profit decrease “was mainly due to the impact of lower crude oil prices and weakening refining margins,” Aramco said.
Profit for the first nine months of 2024 was $83.9 billion, down from $94.5 billion the year before.
Oil prices have been depressed over recent days as tensions in the Middle East appear to have receded slightly and as China’s economy has slowed. Benchmark Brent crude traded Tuesday at around $75 a barrel.
Aramco will pay dividends of $20.28 billion for the third quarter and a performance-linked dividend of $10.77 billion, the company said. It has said it hopes its overall dividend for the year will be over $124 billion.
While a sliver of Aramco trades on the Tadawul, the vast majority is held by Saudi Arabia’s government, fueling its expenditures and providing wealth to its Al Saud royal family. The company also serves as a bellwether for the global oil industry.
Stock in Aramco traded around $7.31 a share Tuesday, down from a high this year of over $9. It has fallen over the past year as oil prices have dropped.
Aramco has a market value of $1.7 trillion, making it the world’s sixth-most valuable company behind Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Alphabet which owns Google, and Amazon.
Aramco reported a $121 billion annual profit in 2023, down from its 2022 record due to lower energy prices.
Saudi Arabia’s vast oil resources, located close to the surface of its desert expanse, make it one of the world’s least expensive places to produce crude. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hopes to use the oil wealth to pivot the kingdom off oil sales, through projects such as his planned $500 billion futuristic desert city, called Neom. But lower oil prices have Saudi Arabia reportedly looking at curtailing some of those ambitions as the kingdom likely faces looming budget deficits.
Meanwhile, activists criticized the profits amid global concerns about the burning of fossil fuels accelerating climate change.
China files complaint at World Trade Organization over EU tariffs
GENEVA | China has moved forward with a complaint at the World Trade Organization that alleges the European Union has improperly set anti-subsidy tariffs on new Chinese-made electric vehicles.
The Chinese diplomatic mission to the WTO said Monday it “strongly opposes” the measures and insisted its move was designed to protect the EV industry and support a global transition toward greener technologies.
The European bloc announced last month it was imposing import duties of up to 35% on electric vehicles from China, alleging the Chinese exports were unfairly undercutting EU industry prices. The duties are set to remain in force for five years, unless an amicable deal can be struck.
Electric vehicles have become a major flashpoint in a broader trade dispute over the influence of Chinese government subsidies on European markets and Beijing’s burgeoning exports of green technology to the bloc.
China alleged that the EU move amounted to “an abuse of trade remedies” that violates WTO rules, and amounted to “protectionist” measures, according to the mission’s statement.
Valdis Dombrovskis, the executive vice president of the EU’s Commission, last week called the steps “proportionate and targeted” and were aimed to underpin fair market practices and support the bloc’s industrial base.
—From AP reports
