Empire Company Limited

Who owns it

No filing-sourced ownership yet. That means we haven’t found a filing — not that the company has no owners.

4 further ownership links are recorded, but not from a filing we can point you to, so they are not shown here.

What’s documented

• 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 →
• 2025-08-01regulatoryActionVanguard 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 →
• 2025-05-15otherMercy For Animals reported in May 2025 that Empire Company / Sobeys, which pledged 100% cage-free eggs by end of 2025, had reached only 17–18% cage-free sourcing — making "virtually no progress in four years." Empire dropped the policy's fulfillment deadline in 2021.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 →
• 2025-01-30regulatoryActionEmpire Company voluntarily removed a property control in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta following Competition Bureau action. The restrictive covenant had prevented any new grocery store from opening in the area since 2017.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 →
• 2025-01-16regulatoryActionEmpire Company Limited (Sobeys' parent) reached a settlement with Canada's Competition Bureau on January 16, 2025, agreeing to remove a property control that had restricted grocery competition in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta since 2017. The control had prevented a competitor from opening a second grocery store in the community. The settlement allows a new competitor to enter the market in 2025.source →
• 2025-01-15regulatoryActionIn January 2025, Canada's Competition Bureau announced that Empire Company Limited (parent of Sobeys) agreed to remove a property control that restricted retail grocery competition in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. The agreement is part of the broader Bureau investigation into property controls in Canadian grocery leases announced March 2024.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 →
• 2025-01-01lobbyingEmpire Company Limited (Sobeys) maintained active lobbying communications with federal officials in fiscal 2025 on topics including grocery affordability, federal food policy, and supply chain regulations. In fiscal 2024, Sobeys' community investment framework totalled more than $23 million in funds raised and donated.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 →
• 2024-11-01legalProceedingTexas 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 →
• 2024-09-01politicalDonationThe Sobey family (controlling shareholders of Empire Company Limited) recorded maximum personal donations to both federal Liberal and Conservative party candidates during the 2024 election cycle, continuing a pattern documented by The Breach of grocery industry executives maintaining influence across party lines. Liberal Minister Sean Fraser received multiple maximum-allowed personal donations from the Sobeys family.source →
• 2024-06-25otherEmpire Company committed approximately $700 million in fiscal 2025 capital investment, with continued expansion of Farm Boy in Ontario (50+ locations by 2025), Longo's, and FreshCo discount banners in Western Canada and Ontario.source →
• 2024-06-13regulatoryActionCompetition Bureau obtained court orders in June 2024 to advance investigations into Empire Company's use of property controls (restrictive covenants preventing competing grocery stores from opening on or near sold properties).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 →
• 2024-06-01environmentalAccording 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 →
• 2024-02-15otherEmpire (Sobeys) declined a federal request to provide monthly updates on grocery affordability efforts. Executive VP Doug Nathanson stated the company would not provide advance public notice of business plans or periodic updates on submissions to government.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

• political influence7
• environmental damage6
• worker exploitation3
• monopoly abuse3

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