Church of England will keep Amazon shares despite Archbishop criticism
The Church of England will hold onto its Amazon stock even after the Archbishop of Canterbury accused the online retail behemoth of “leeching off the taxpayer”.
Church commissioners disclosed that Amazon was one of the CoE’s 20 most valuable equity holdings in their annual 2017 report.
But they will keep hold of their shares despite Archbishop Justin Welby’s criticism.
He denounced the firm in a speech to the Trades Union Congress earlier this week, accusing it of contributing little to society in the way of taxes or salaries.
"They don't pay a real living wage, so the taxpayer must support their workers with benefits,” he said.
"And having leeched off the taxpayer once they don't pay for our defence, for security, for stability, for justice, health, equality, education."
The CoE said in a statement that by remaining a shareholder the Church could have greater influence in Amazon’s future direction.
“We have previously been on the record that we consider aggressive tax avoidance or abusive tax arrangements to be both a business risk and an ethical issue,” a spokesperson said.
“As with other issues, we take the view that it is more effective to be in the room with these companies seeking change as an active shareholder than speaking from the sidelines.”
The CoE made 18.6 per cent return on its global equities investments in 2017.
Amazon briefly passed $1 trillion in value last week to become the world’s second most valuable company behind Apple.
Boss Jeff Bezos became the richest man in the world in July, with a personal fortune surpassing $150bn (£114bn). Yesterday he pledged $2bn to help homeless families and preschools.