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For comparison, DuPont alone saw around $1 billion in annual profits from its PFOA products back in 2016.[0] It's unlikely that 3M saw its PFOA/PFAS profits wip

For comparison, DuPont alone saw around $1 billion in annual profits from its PFOA products back in 2016.[0] It's unlikely that 3M saw its PFOA/PFAS profits wiped out by this settlement alone, although you might very well get there if some of the estimates of the company's liability--up to $30bn--are anywhere close to accurate. There are dozens of additional cases out there, and likely many more to follow. Even though many will probably get dismissed, the ongoing litigation costs alone are going to be a pain. Then there's political pressure, damage to 3M's brand, and more. It's all going to add up to a truly massive number. Not sure if it'll do much to dissuade any companies from embarking on the next massive environmental fuckup, but one can hope. 0. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer-who-became-duponts-worst-nightmare.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer-who-b... 1. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/pfas-project/companies-face-billions-in-damages-as-pfas-lawsuits-flood-courts https://news.bloomberglaw.com/pfas-project/companies-face-bi...

gruez 3y ago
For comparison, DuPont alone saw around $1 billion in annual profits from its PFOA products back in 2016.[0] That claim seems suspect. Dupont booked around 4 billion in profits in 2016[1]. If the claim was true, it would mean PFOA made up around a quarter of their business. However, if you look at their net sales/profit by business segment[2] along with segment descriptions[3], there's basically no way that PFOA made up a quarter of their profits. They make too much other stuff for that to be the case. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/540512/net-income-of-dupont/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/540512/net-income-of-dup... [2] https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/d/NYSE_DD_2016.pdf#page=2 https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive... [3] https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/d/NYSE_DD_2016.pdf#page=9 https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive...

gruez 3y ago

For comparison, DuPont alone saw around $1 billion in annual profits from its PFOA products back in 2016.[0] That claim seems suspect. Dupont booked around 4 billion in profits in 2016[1]. If the claim was true, it would mean PFOA made up around a quarter of their business. However, if you look at their net sales/profit by business segment[2] along with segment descriptions[3], there's basically no way that PFOA made up a quarter of their profits. They make too much other stuff for that to be the case. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/540512/net-income-of-dupont/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/540512/net-income-of-dup... [2] https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/d/NYSE_DD_2016.pdf#page=2 https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive... [3] https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/d/NYSE_DD_2016.pdf#page=9 https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive...