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Letters to Regulators: Letter in Response to the Department of Commerce’s RFI on the Implementation of the CHIPS Incentives Program

AFREF led thirteen partners in submitting a comment letter in response to a Department of Commerce request for information on the implementation of the CHIPS incentives program.  The letter describes how stock buybacks and outsized executive compensation packages undermine innovation and inclusive economic growth, and details the semiconductor industry’s track record of massive spending on stock buybacks and CEO compensation. It then recommends bright-line rules to restrict stock buybacks and executive compensation, as well as pro-worker policies that would promote innovation and inclusive economic growth.

In The News: Albertsons wants to issue a $4 billion ‘special dividend.’ Critics call it ‘looting.’ (The Washington Post)

“Private equity firms have a long track record of being extractive — that is, extracting wealth from their portfolio companies,” said Carter Dougherty, spokesman for the Americans for Financial Reform, which advocates for regulation of private equity. “When you see Cerberus shaking $4 billion out of a company in a difficult industry like groceries, it’s not out of bounds to say this is yet another episode of industry abuses.”