JBS Donation To Trump Raises Fresh Concerns Over US Stock Market Listing

JBS, the world’s largest meat company, has a track record of bribery, deforestation, animal cruelty and human rights abuses. Now, new scrutiny is falling on its political ties, with records revealing that Pilgrim’s Pride, a key JBS subsidiary, donated $5 million to Donald Trump’s second inauguration committee - the single biggest donation it received. 

This donation came just months before JBS and its parent company paid $280 million in fines for a major bribery scheme involving US-based acquisitions. Despite these violations, and five formal objections filed by environmental group Mighty Earth, the SEC has allowed the company to proceed with its IPO. 

World Animal Protection UK's Farming Campaign Manager Lindsay Duncan said:

The SEC’s greenlighting of JBS’s listing sends a dangerous message—that animal cruelty, environmental destruction, and corporate corruption can go unchecked if the short-term profits are big enough. JBS has built its empire on factory farming, but it’s animals, people, and the planet that pay the price. A transition, away from factory farming is urgently needed, to high-welfare, sustainable farming systems that protect animals, support farmers, and safeguard our planet.

JBS’s reach extends well beyond Brazil and the US. The company owns several major UK meat brands, including Moy Park, Pilgrim’s UK and Richmond. It remains the biggest global drivers of factory farming and deforestation, with a deforestation footprint in Brazil estimated at 4.2 million acres. 

Its climate record is equally appalling. JBS has admitted it never had a formal net zero target, despite issuing $3.2 billion in “sustainability-linked bonds.” The company’s methane emissions, which is a critical issue for livestock-heavy supply chains, remain unaccounted for in its public filings. 

Worryingly, as part of its restructuring, JBS plans to shift its corporate seat to the Netherlands, creating a new entity, JBS N.V., that would hand almost total voting power to the Batista brothers - the same executives previously jailed for their role in one of Brazil’s biggest corruption scandals. 

The final stage of the process will be a shareholder vote scheduled for 23 May. The decision from Brazil’s state development bank to abstain means minority shareholders will decide whether one of the most scandal-hit corporations in the world secures its place on Wall Street. 

This is another strong indicator that factory farming is harming animals, people and the planet. There is simply no future for it.