Question:
I was wondering if one is halachically allowed to buy stock in a company that sells some kosher and some non kosher products, even if I wouldn’t eat there. For example, Starbucks, which some people use, while I personally do not. Additionally, can one invest in a company that is a non-kosher establishment, some items they sell may actually be treif. I wasn’t sure if one can benefit from a company’s stock going up if they are making their money from their stores which sell non kosher food or treif food.
Answer:
It is permitted as long as you don’t have a significant percentage of the companies stock. The reason is because small amounts of stock as not considered as real owners of the company, but only as owners of a financial commodity, since it is only meant as a form of monetary trading. This is even though the stockholders technically can “vote”. This Voting is only a formality, because the majority of the company is owned by real owners, and the vote of the small stockholders doesn’t matte at all.
For a more in depth analysis of this issue please see the following links;
https://dinonline.org/2010/04/22/kosher-shareholdings/1
/https://dinonline.org/2010/04/22/kosher-shareholdings/2/
https://dinonline.org/2010/04/22/kosher-shareholdings/3/
Best Wishes
