McDonald’s CEO Says that the Company Has ‘Most Likely’ Made More Black Millionaires than Any Other Company

McDonald's recently came under fire after it was accused of alleged ill-treatment of its Black franchisees and executives, including its low-wage workforce which is largely made up of people of color.

Last Tuesday, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said on CNBC’s ‘Mad Money with Jim Cramer’ that the chain has probably created more Black millionaires than any other company regardless of the allegations against the company. He also added that the company still had enough room to accommodate racial diversity.

“Probably, McDonald’s has created more millionaires within the Black community than probably any other corporation on the planet, but there’s still work to do.”

McDonald’s also openly stepped out to condemn Black killings by issuing statements that condemn racism amid the nationwide protests. In spite of that, two senior McDonald’s executives, Vick Guster-Hines and Domineca Neal filed a lawsuit against the food-chain in January. The lawsuit was filed on the grounds of racial discrimination. Kempczinski was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, and the company has openly said it disagreed with the suit’s characterization but will review the allegations made against it.

In December 2019, it was reported by Business Insider that Black franchisees have been shrinking for many years. According to the publication, the Black franchisee nets $68,000 less per month compared to MacDonald’s overall franchisee average.

There has also been the issue of workers’ salaries and safety since the outbreak of the Covid-19. With regard to this, McDonald’s workers in Chicago filed a lawsuit in May. The lawsuit stated that the company failed to provide adequate safety for them from the coronavirus.

In spite of all the racial allegations against McDonald’s, Kempczinksi said that the company’s restaurant-level workers are about 70% racially diverse. He also added that the company was prioritizing the recruitment of more racially diverse employees and franchisees.

“I think, for us, diversity is something that has to touch every single aspect of the business… we’ve had a lot of conversations about that in the last couple of months with the entire McDonald’s system, and it was really powerful to just hear how committed everyone is to making sure that we stand out in that, and certainly, that starts with me.”

1. Last Tuesday, McDonald’s stock closed up less than 1% after it reported that its US same-store sales fell 5.1% in May. The company has a market value of $147 billion, however, its shares have since fallen 3% this year.