Costco Wholesale Corporation

Who owns it

• Vanguard Group Inc.9.84%external_dataset · 2025-12-31
• BlackRock, Inc. (company)7.88%external_dataset · 2026-03-31
• State Street Corporation4.09%external_dataset · 2026-03-31
• Geode Capital Management2.4%external_dataset · 2026-03-31
• Morgan Stanley2.23%external_dataset · 2026-03-31
• Fidelity Investments (FMR LLC)1.51%external_dataset · 2026-03-31

What’s documented

• 2026-04-29legalProceedingMultiple class action lawsuits were filed against Costco in April-May 2026 in Illinois, Washington, and other jurisdictions, alleging the retailer will receive billions in IEEPA tariff refunds from the U.S. government after already passing those tariff costs to consumers through higher prices. The lawsuits followed the Supreme Court's February 20, 2026 ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump striking down the IEEPA tariffs as unconstitutional. Plaintiffs allege Costco is poised to be 'paid twice for the same unlawful tariff burden: once by its customers (through elevated prices) and once by the U.S. government (through tariff refunds).' In May 2026, Costco filed a motion to dismiss, arguing the consumers' tariff-refund theory does not state a valid claim.source →
• 2026-04-20legalProceedingIn April 2026, consumers from Washington, Ohio, California, and Pennsylvania filed a class action lawsuit against Costco alleging the retailer is seeking government refunds on tariffs it had already passed along to customers through higher prices. The suit follows the U.S. Supreme Court's February 2026 ruling invalidating IEEPA tariffs, which triggered refund claims by importers. Separately, Costco had sued the Trump administration over the tariffs directly, distinguishing itself from Walmart and Target who declined to join that legal challenge.source →
• 2026-04-15regulatoryAction1000 SEC filings on record (570 4, 117 8-K, 61 144, 57 4/A, 29 10-Q)source →
• 2026-04-15regulatoryActionSEC 8-K material event filing: 8-Ksource →
• 2026-03-05regulatoryActionSEC 8-K material event filing: 8-Ksource →
• 2026-01-21regulatoryActionSEC 8-K material event filing: 8-Ksource →
• 2026-01-10lobbyingUnion leaders criticized Telus for receiving lucrative federal and provincial government contracts and subsidies while cutting thousands of jobs; USW and CUPE lobbied the federal government to attach job-preservation conditions to telecom subsidiessource →
• 2026-01-09laborRelationsTelus offered voluntary severance packages to approximately 700 more employees across Canada in January 2026, totaling nearly 1,400 severance offers in under a year; customer complaints to the CCTS rose 62% in 2025 compared to 2024source →
• 2025-12-11regulatoryActionSEC 8-K material event filing: 8-Ksource →
• 2025-12-03otherA December 3, 2025 Farm Forward report, based on USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service data, found that Costco's Lincoln Premium Poultry plant in Fremont, Nebraska -- which supplies roughly 40% of Costco's chicken, including its Kirkland Signature and rotisserie chicken -- received the FSIS's worst salmonella-contamination category (Category 3) in 100% of inspections from September 2023 through July 2025.source →
• 2025-10-20regulatoryActionSEC 8-K material event filing: 8-Ksource →
• 2025-10-15regulatoryActionSEC 8-K material event filing: 8-Ksource →
• 2025-09-25regulatoryActionSEC 8-K material event filing: 8-Ksource →
• 2025-08-07regulatoryActionSEC 8-K material event filing: 8-Ksource →
• 2025-08-01regulatoryActionVanguard was ordered to pay a $19.5 million civil penalty by the SEC for disclosure failures related to adviser compensation. Between August 2020 and December 2023, Vanguard tied parts of advisers' performance evaluations and bonuses to client enrollment and retention metrics in its Personal Advisor Services program, while marketing content downplayed or misstated these conflicts of interest.source →
• 2025-07-16regulatoryActionSEC 8-K material event filing: 8-Ksource →
• 2025-06-11regulatoryActionSEC 8-K material event filing: 8-Ksource →
• 2025-05-29regulatoryActionSEC 8-K material event filing: 8-Ksource →
• 2025-05-15regulatoryActionCostco's May 2025 EPA settlement under FIFRA addressed the unlawful importation of antimicrobial work gloves and misbranded air filters. The case raised health-safety concerns about consumer-product label claims for products marketed for protective and air-quality functions.source →
• 2025-05-15otherIn May 2025, EPA reached a settlement with Costco Wholesale Corp. for violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) through the illegal import of antimicrobial work gloves and misbranded air filters containing pesticide claims.source →
• 2025-05-15regulatoryActionIn May 2025, EPA reached a settlement with Costco Wholesale Corp. for violations of FIFRA involving the illegal import of antimicrobial work gloves and misbranded air filters. Costco agreed to pay a $3.1 million civil penalty, one of the largest ever assessed under FIFRA.source →
• 2025-02-01laborRelationsTelus offered voluntary severance packages to approximately 700 employees nationwide across network operations, engineering, and business solutions, continuing a restructuring that has eliminated roughly 3,300 jobs since 2023source →
• 2025-01-30laborRelationsCostco Teamsters representing 18,000 workers across CA, WA, MD, VA, NJ and NY voted to authorize a strike with a February 1, 2025 deadline. Workers sought higher wages, pension increases, and stronger union-rights protections. A tentative agreement was reached at the deadline.source →
• 2025-01-17regulatoryActionVanguard agreed to pay $106.41 million to settle SEC charges for misleading statements about capital gains distributions and tax consequences for retail investors holding Vanguard Investor Target Retirement Funds in taxable accounts. The SEC found Vanguard lowered minimum investment for Institutional TRFs from $100 million to $5 million in December 2020, triggering mass redemptions that generated unexpected taxable capital gains for remaining Investor TRF holders.source →
• 2025-01-09environmentalBlackRock withdrew from the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative on January 9, 2025, causing NZAM to temporarily suspend its activities pending a review. BlackRock stated that its participation in climate-focused groups had caused confusion about its investment practices and subjected the firm to legal inquiries from state officials. BlackRock had been among the founding members of NZAM and managed over $11 trillion in assets at the time of withdrawal.source →
• 2024-12-31lobbyingVanguard Group spent $2,650,000 on federal lobbying in 2024. The company's PAC made $502,046 in political contributions during the 2024 election cycle, including $382,500 to federal candidates.source →
• 2024-12-31lobbyingBlackRock Inc. spent $2.88 million on US federal lobbying in 2024 and made approximately $2.6 million in political contributions during the 2024 election cycle, according to disclosure data filed with the US Senate and recorded by OpenSecrets.source →
• 2024-12-23legalProceedingA proposed class-action lawsuit filed December 23, 2024 accuses Costco Canada of 'double ticketing' — charging higher prices online than in-store for the same products, a practice banned under Canada's Competition Actsource →
• 2024-11-01legalProceedingTexas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit in November 2024 against Vanguard Group, BlackRock Inc., and State Street Corporation, alleging the three asset managers conspired through ESG-aligned investment practices and climate coalitions to restrict coal production in violation of federal antitrust law.source →
• 2024-11-01legalProceedingTexas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit in November 2024 against BlackRock Inc., Vanguard Group, and State Street Corporation, alleging that the three asset managers conspired through ESG-aligned investment practices and climate coalitions to restrict coal production in violation of federal antitrust law.source →
• 2024-09-01environmentalVanguard supported zero environmental and social shareholder proposals during the 2024 proxy season, including declining to support any of the resolutions flagged by Climate Action 100+ investors. Vanguard also supported none of ten votes against company directors flagged by the initiative. Vanguard stated proposals were either financially immaterial, overly prescriptive, or that the companies receiving them already had adequate governance practices.source →
• 2024-06-01environmentalAccording to urgewald's 2024 'Investing in Climate Chaos' report, BlackRock held approximately $263 billion in fossil fuel company bonds and shares, making it one of the two largest institutional fossil fuel investors worldwide. BlackRock's holdings included over $75 billion in tar sands producers, over $11 billion in companies building new coal power capacity, and approximately $37 billion in ExxonMobil alone.source →
• 2024-06-01environmentalUrgewald's 2024 'Investing in Climate Chaos' report identified Vanguard as the world's single largest institutional investor in fossil fuels, with approximately $413 billion in fossil fuel company bonds and shares. Vanguard declined to adopt any fossil fuel exclusion policy and consistently voted against climate-related resolutions at portfolio companies.source →
• 2024-02-13environmentalIn February 2024, BlackRock transferred its Climate Action 100+ membership from its US arm to BlackRock International, significantly reducing its participation in the investor initiative targeting major greenhouse gas emitters. During the 2024 proxy season, BlackRock voted in favour of only 2 of 20 shareholder resolutions flagged by Climate Action 100+ members.source →
• 2023-06-01regulatoryActionVanguard was fined $800,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for problems with account statements related to money market funds in 2019 and 2020.source →
• 2022-12-07environmentalVanguard announced its withdrawal from the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative in December 2022, stating that membership had caused 'confusion about the views of individual investment firms.' Vanguard cited its index fund model — in which approximately 80% of client assets are invested passively in benchmark indices — as a key factor, and stated it would pursue its climate disclosure positions independently.source →

What we’ve classified so far

• environmental damage7
• worker exploitation3
• political influence3
• misleading claims2
• monopoly abuse2

24 further documented actions have not been classified yet. These counts show what we have got to, not a total.