A consortium of investors led by BlackRock has agreed to buy majority stakes in ports on both sides of the Panama Canal from CK Hutchison for $22.8 billion, the companies said Tuesday.

The deal would bring the key ports under American corporate ownership, from Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison. 

Corporations — entities that have long capitalized on social causes to chase profit — seem to be telling on themselves with an apparent pullback on Pride Month marketing this year. 

“There’s been a definite scaling back in both big and small ways,” Joanna Schwartz, a marketing professor who studies outreach to LGBTQ audiences at Georgia College & State University, told Vox. “I had expected some brand caution, but this year seems [to be] a near full-scale retreat.”

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell bluntly warned Republican senators in a private meeting not to sign on to a bill from Sen. Josh Hawley aimed at limiting corporate money bankrolling high-powered outside groups, telling them that many of them won their seats thanks to the powerful super PAC the Kentucky Republican has long controlled.

President Joe Biden’s administration is set to roll out new guidelines Wednesday that determine when the federal government will challenge corporate mergers, a major step that has long been anticipated by antitrust advocates and is likely to set off a battle with big business.

Biden will announce the new guidelines, along with a handful of other new antitrust policies, at the fifth meeting of his White House Competition Council on Wednesday.

Bud Light has announced that the brand is donating $200,000 to the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) despite facing an ongoing boycott over its partnership with social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, a biological man who identifies as a transgender woman. 

Parent company Anheuser-Busch announced the donation to the NGLCC, which defines itself as “the business voice of the LGBT community,” in a May 30th press release titled “Bud Light And The NGLCC Continue To Empower LGBTQ+ Owned Small Businesses Across America.” 

Corporate America's commitment to LGBTQ+ causes, messages and products is under an intense spotlight during Pride Month this year.

Why it matters: Companies like Target and Bud Light — which both caved after right-wing backlashes to LGBTQ-themed products and promotions — suddenly face extreme pressure after years of supporting Pride events without issue.

They're trying to delicately two-step their way through the vitriol, but consumers increasingly want them to take a stand with conviction.

A report that reviewed the policies of 75 major American corporations found rampant disregard for religious freedom and free speech in virtually every company and only saw eight businesses improve from last year.

Inflation has proved more stubborn than central banks bargained for when prices started surging two years ago. Now some economists think they know why: Businesses are using a rare opportunity to boost their profit margins.

State and local governments issued at least eight separate $1 billion subsidy packages to major corporations in 2022, thanks in part to federal COVID-19 spending, according to analysis by the nonprofit think tank Good Jobs First, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Workers at a Trader Joe’s store in Louisville, Kentucky, are now pushing to become the third store at the trendy US supermarket chain to unionize since 2022.