By Diana L. Moss and Ed Gresser
U.S. Steel (USS) is a 123 year-old American company, founded by J.P. Morgan at the turn of the 20th century. As with any centenarian company, USS has seen a lot, navigating changes in demand for steel, the globalization of steel markets, the “greening” of the steel industry, and antitrust troubles. Between 2008 and 2022, USS slid from 8th largest to 24th largest steel producer in the world.
Today, USS finds itself at the center of an unwelcome debate. In late 2023, Nippon Steel made a bid for the company, a deal that would combine the largest Japanese steel producer with the 3rd largest U.S. steelmaker. The bid outmatched a competing offer by the recently assembled conglomerate Cleveland-Cliffs, a mining company turned metals producer that in 2020 emerged as one of the largest American steelmakers after buying up most of the U.S. assets of Arcelor-Mittal.
