Embattled Meat Giant JBS Cleared for NYSE Listing, Was Trump’s Largest Inauguration Donor

April 23, 2025 – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cleared JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, for listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) yesterday, and the company announced it will hold a shareholder vote on the listing on May 23.

Environmental organizations, animal welfare groups, and investors have been fighting to keep the Brazilian company from achieving an IPO for about a year and half based on allegations of bribery, corruption, and environmental destruction.

Many of those groups decried the SEC’s approval of the registration. In one statement, Laura Fox, a research scholar in Yale Law School’s Law, Environment, & Animals Program, said that by not resolving allegations that the company made misleading claims about its role in driving climate change and biodiversity loss, the SEC failed in its obligation to protect investors.

“The SEC should have thoroughly investigated these concerns to prevent investors from being misled and to ensure that corporate greenwashing does not further fuel climate destruction and ecological harm,” Fox said.

A spokesperson for the SEC said the agency cannot comment on “a specific issuer or filing.”

Many groups also called attention to the fact that earlier this week, records revealed the largest donor to President Trump’s inauguration was Pilgrim’s Pride, a chicken company JBS has owned since 2009.