(BFM Bourse) – Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of Economy and Finance, indicated that the government wanted the large groups which operate share buybacks to redistribute more to their employees, and mentioned more profit-sharing, participation or exceptional bonuses.
The veil is gradually lifting on the mechanism that the executive is studying to force groups carrying out share buybacks to give back more to their employees.
“We want the large companies which buy back shares, which therefore have the means to do so, to contribute more to the best remuneration of employees”, declared this Wednesday the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le. Mayor, in front of the senators.
“We therefore want to force them to distribute more profit sharing, more participation, more tax-free bonuses when they buy back shares. We want it to be substantial, we could consider doubling the sums paid under the participation, profit-sharing, tax-exempt bonuses”, he continued. The Bercy tenant clarified that this measure would concern companies with more than 5,000 employees and which therefore carry out share buybacks.
Bruno Le Maire explained that, on the method, the government would send a proposal to the social partners so that they “negotiate on this better participation, this better profit sharing, this wider distribution of shares for large companies which have recourse” to these share buybacks.
The “cynicism” denounced by Emmanuel Macron
Previously Emmanuel Macron had castigated the “cynicism” of companies that make exceptional profits and buy back their own shares, referring to an “exceptional contribution” that would be requested from these groups.
When publishing their annual results, several major CAC 40 groups announced share buyback programs after unveiling record profits. This is the case, for example, of TotalEnergies, LVMH, BNP Paribas, Stellantis or even Axa. According to a count by BFM Bourse, just under 13 billion euros in share buyback programs were announced by these groups when their results were published or relatively soon after.
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