Welcome to Steel Stories by US Steel. In this podcast, we go beyond the headlines, bringing you insights, ideas, and stories shaping how steel is made, used, and reimagined through conversations with industry leaders and innovators. We explore what it takes to keep forging the future of America.
Welcome to Steel Stories by US Steel. I am your host, Ethan Epstein. Today we're joined by a guest who for listeners of this podcast really needs no introduction. However, I will introduce him. Dave Burrett is the president and CEO of US Steel and we are thrilled and frankly a little bit honored that he's joined us today.
Well, thank you very much for having me.
Dave, it's great to see you as always. So, if memory serves, you've been on this podcast before and I think the last time you were here was like some little deal or something you were working on. What was that about? Think of it as maybe a big deal, but that's fine.
Yeah, it was the Nippon US Steel deal.
That's right. Did that get done?
It concluded in a very favorable way, especially for our workers and the communities where we live and work.
Glad to hear. You know, this is actually jogging my memory. And now that I think about it, I think it was a year ago, in fact, that that partnership was officially finalized. So, when you look back on it, there was a lot of political controversy. It was a tough road at times I would think. What really stands out to you about that 18 months?
I think what we showed as a company is that when you assemble the right people that are committed to an important outcome, you get a good result. It wasn't an individual. It was groups of individuals that understood how important this deal really was for the workers and the communities, in addition of course to the stockholders, the customers, the suppliers. All these things combined. It was such a great deal that we felt confident it was going to succeed and I think that strengthened everyone's resolve to go the distance in spite of the fact that there were so many adversaries that made it difficult for us to move this thing forward as quickly as we would have liked.
You know, there was so much rhetoric, even misinformation about the deal and the way it was structured. How did you, as a leader, how did US Steel break through that to talk to the employees to make them understand what this deal really meant for them?
The thing that really helps us at US Steel is we're grounded in our steel principles, our code of conduct: STEEL – Safety first, Trust and respect, Environmental stewardship, Excellence and accountability, and Lawful and ethical conduct. That's at our core. Every time we had our deal team meetings, I would start with why we're here and that we're the truth tellers. I remember people telling me at the time, 'Oh, it's so good that you're reminding us all of that.' The reality was I'd get quite angry and I have a tendency to emote about certain individuals or companies or characters that were trying to kill a great deal. But when I said that, it's always remind yourself what's important. That stood the test of time. As the truth tellers, when people would make up things about the deal, we could always ground ourselves in the truth. It carried us forward, especially when you get the right people on the bus headed in the right direction wanting the right outcome for the company and Nippon, as well as the communities, the workers, the stockholders, the customers, and the suppliers.
By the way, emoting is always welcome on the US Steel podcast. So if you ever, let it rip. I think that during that period you remained very committed, the US Steel leadership team and the Nippon Steel team remained very committed to getting the deal done, but there were naysayers. People said this thing's not going to happen. I'm sure people urged you to pull the plug, that it wasn't worth it. What was it really like personally that kept you strong in the face of all those doubts?
It comes back to our code, but you start with our fiduciary duties. We had a legal obligation to get the best deal for our stockholders. That's what we had to do. You can't have a code of conduct that doesn't respect the law. So we knew we had to do it. Nobody was walking around thinking, 'Oh, I hope we can sell the company.' We didn't want that to happen. But it became evident that we were going to be attacked by adversaries trying to kill the company and hurt our workers. That strengthened our resolve, not only from a legal standpoint but from an ethical standpoint, that we want to do the best for our workers and communities. I think getting this deal done proved that out. We have a remarkable deal with unprecedented levels of investment. We got $10.8 billion that we have to get done by the end of 2028, spent or committed, and a total of $14 billion. That is a remarkable amount for a company. It's like the dog caught the car. Now we have to get the things we worked so hard for, and it's a really good problem to have – to spend this money, upgrade our facilities, and improve the talent because with these new operations, there's going to be education and training for the workers. I'm more than excited about the future as a result of this deal.
You know, a lot of the opposition centered around the fact that US Steel, which is this iconic American company – it has 'US' right in the name – would no longer really be American. They framed that as a loss for America. How did you counter that?
Well, we again just told the truth. The reality is this ends up being a partnership. Yes, Nippon is the single stockholder of US Steel. But you see through all that and realize it's being run by US people. We're going to make sure the headquarters stay in Pennsylvania, that we respect the laws on trade, and that we do everything we can to run this business according to our code in a way that ensures the future of our company for our customers, suppliers, employees, and communities. It's really a beautiful thing.
So, it's June 18th. It's a year now since the deal went through. First of all, do you have any plans to celebrate the birthday?
Of course, you know. In fact, it's interesting because we're already celebrating a birthday – 125 years in the 250th year of this country. We planned it all out this way so it all lines up about the same time. Actually, a lot of this is circumstance, but we're celebrating pretty much every day as a result of getting the deal done because it is such a good thing for everyone.
Within US Steel itself, if I looked at the company a year ago before the deal closed and I looked at it today, what would you say would be the most noticeable differences that have occurred in this year?
No question about it, the talent that we're bringing in from Nippon to teach us how to make the best steel in the world. They are extraordinarily talented and they make steel that people in the United States have never made before, especially as we get into electrical steels and things like that. Bringing in what they call dispatchers or expats, to help us understand what needs to be done to upgrade our facilities, upgrade our talent, and create the best steel maker with world-leading capabilities. Those are the things that make the difference. Nippon has the deep pockets to make these levels of investment. We'd love to make these investments, but we did not have the balance sheet. It's all about capital allocation. You have so much money to spend and you have to put it in those assets that you believe will create the most value. They've experienced many of the issues we've had, they've spent money to improve, and they've brought talent in to improve. They've been through this before and now they're helping us succeed. So it's the technology they're bringing, the talent, the investment – all these things are wonderful for US Steel.
Has anything surprised you in this year, or is this pretty much what you expected?
