Big Time Cleveland-Cliffs

BIGTIME

Cleveland-based steel plant owner Cleveland-Cliffs has experienced tremendous growth

■ CLEVELAND-CLIFFS, which owns and operates the Middletown steel plant, continued its “remarkable transformation” by being named to the Fortune 500 list, said Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president, and CEO.

Today, Cleveland-Cliffs announced it was named to the Fortune 500 list for the first time since its transformation from a mining company to become the largest flat-rolled steel company and the largest supplier of steel to the automotive industry in North America. Cleveland-Cliffs purchased AK Steel for $1.1 billion in 2020. After that the Cleveland-based company bought the U.S. assets of ArcelorMittal for $1.4 billion, officials said.

The company’s ranking of 171 on the list for 2022 surpassed its highest ranking ever of 366 in 2012. The Fortune 500 list ranks companies that are incorporated and operate in the U.S. by total revenues for their

Cleveland-Cliffs was named to the Fortune 500 list for the first time since its transformation from a mining company to becoming the largest supplier of steel to the automotive industry in North America.

respective fiscal years. Goncalves said despite all the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the “long lasting consequences” to supply chains still affecting its clients, ClevelandCliffs grew from $2 billion in revenues in 2019 to over $20 billion in revenues in 2021.

The company has 26,000 employees with almost 20,000 of them represented by unions.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list. According to Fortune, together the 500 corporations on this year’s list generated a record $16.1 trillion in revenue and $1.8 trillion in profits.

Neil Douglas, president of IAM Local 1943, said every union employee received more than $10,000 last year in profit sharing and he hopes that benefit continues this year. He said the Middletown plant is looking to hire at least 200 employees.