Business Pants

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1. BLAME: Target’s costume, Callaway shoves a woman, Altria’s new director from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

   Sep 1, 202651 min

   DR 'We Know We Got This Wrong': Target Apologises and Pulls 'Offensive' Halloween Costume After Racist Backlash; Target Executive Chair Brian Cornell Sells 50,000 Shares for $8.2 Million; WHO DO YOU BLAME? Executive Chair/former CEO (since 2014) Brian Cornell : still 21% influence ! CEO Michael Fiddelke : 16% influence; started at Target in 2003; formerly COO and CFO Why does the corporate page not list his years of service in two separate bios?? Dmitri Stockton : 8 years tenure; the double-DEI hater (Deere & Company) Mr. Stockton provides the Board with senior leadership, marketing / design / brands , human capital management, capital deployment, information security / data privacy, financial management, risk management, reputation managemen t, and sustainability and governance skills developed over his more than 30 years of service with General Electric Company in senior leadership positions with escalating levels of responsibility Marketing / Design / Brands: Target's brand and focus on style and design are the cornerstones of our strategy to offer a preferred shopping experience for our guests that differentiates us in the marketplace. Reputation management: To be successful, we must preserve, grow, and leverage the value of our reputation with our guests, Team Members, vendors, and our shareholders and appropriately respond to crisis events affecting them. A random executive? Chief Merchandising Officer Cara Sylvester: joined Target in 2007 Chief Community and Stakeholder Engagement Officer Kiera Fernandez: joined Target in 2001 Chief Stores Officer Adrienne Costanzo: joined Target in 2004 Black CFO representation falls 25% from 2021 peak as diversity levels off: The number of Black finance chiefs in Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies ticked down to 15 this year, according to the report from Crist Kolder Associates. WHO DO YOU BLAME? Tractor Supply Co.: Fully eliminated its DEI goals, retired carbon emission targets, and withdrew sponsorships from social and cultural events. Deere & Company: Ended participation in social awareness parades and pledged to eliminate diversity quotas and identity-based affinity group funding. Target: Scaled back its "Racial Equity Action and Change" roadmap, modified its strategy for Pride Month merchandise, and adjusted internal diversity goals. Walmart: Ended key equity training programs, modified its third-party seller guidelines, and scaled back specific minority supplier programs. Lowe’s: Ended participation in external LGBTQ+ advocacy surveys and consolidated its employee resource groups under a centralized oversight structure. Ford Motor Company: Scaled back internal diversity targets, stopped participating in third-party workplace index surveys, and unlinked executive pay from DEI metrics. Harley-Davidson: Discontinued its dedicated DEI function, eliminated diversity quotas for supplier contracts, and ended HRC index reporting. Molson Coors: Removed DEI quotas from executive incentive plans and stepped back from external diversity rankings. Meta: Reorganized its human resources departments, eliminating specialized DEI teams and specific supplier diversity programs in favor of broader recruitment practices. Amazon: Phased out several internal affinity programs and explicit representation targets for hiring. McDonald’s: Retired numerical demographic goals for senior management roles and paused external workplace diversity surveys. Goldman Sachs: Ended its policy requiring companies it takes public to have at least one diverse board member. The double (and triple?) dippers: Dmitri Stockton: director at Target & Deere John May CEO/Chair Deere & Ford Motor director Marvin Ellison: CEO/Chair at Lowe’s after 15 years at Target Jim Farley: CEO Ford Motor & McDonald’s director & former Harley-Davison director MM Trump 2.0/Elon Shareholder opposition to executive pay eases globally Europe: NO VOTES for past year fell nearly 6 percentage points year-over-year to 25.2%, the lowest average level since at least 2018. United States: Say on Pay Average Support (S&P 500): Rose to 90.4% (up from 89.7%). Failed Votes (<50% Support): Inched higher to 1.4% (up from 1.2% the previous year). WHO DO YOU BLAME? Proxy Advisory Firms (ISS and Glass Lewis): issued fewer NO VOTE recommendations on Say on Pay proposals than in previous proxy seasons Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street: backing Say on Pay at higher rates and industry-wide move toward pass-through voting has fragmented voting blocks and diluted organized shareholder pressure Compensation Committees: must be tweaking pay structures just enough to secure support behind closed doors Anti-woke political pressure: Elon/Trump 2.0 Total Shareholder Return: greed is good Business has lost the trust of a generation : Just 17% of Americans told Gallup in 2026 they have real confidence in big business; among adults under 35, nearly half now view socialism favorably: WHO DO YOU BLAME? The lies: blaming layoffs on AI MM The broken promises: return-to-office mandates The populist math: CEO pay ratios Elon/Bezos/Zuck/Altman Jamie Dimon Larry Fink MM Altria Announces Election of Steve Presley to Altria’s Board of Directors PART 1: WHO DO YOU BLAME for this woeful, information-free 8K disclosure about Presley joining the board?: “Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers. On August 27, 2026, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Altria Group, Inc. (“Altria”) increased the size of the Board from 10 to 11 directors and elected Steven W. Presley to the Board, in each case, effective August 27, 2026. The Board also elected Mr. Presley to the Board’s Compensation and Talent Development, Innovation and Finance Committees, effective August 27, 2026. The Board affirmatively determined that Mr. Presley qualifies as an independent director under the New York Stock Exchange listing standards and Altria’s standards for director independence. Mr. Presley will be compensated for his service on the Board pursuant to Altria’s existing compensation program for non-employee directors, which is described under “Director Compensation” in Altria’s proxy statement for its 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 2, 2026) and is incorporated by reference in this Item 5.02.” General Counsel Bob McCarter Bob went from representing Philip Morris externally to internally, once arguing that a woman’s smoking-caused carotid stenosis was caused by her bad genetics, not smoking Chief Compliance Officer/Chief Human Resources Officer Charlie Whitaker Also a lawyer CEO Sal Mancuso Was the audit/tax department This firm is literally run by lawyers, accountants, and marketing PART 2: WHO DO YOU BLAME for the CHOICE of Presley himself? Nom committee : Ian Clarke, Marjorie Connelly, Matt Davis, Rich Stoddart, Ellen Strahlman, Chair Debra Kelly-Ennis Expanded the board AND added Presley, white male, despite having NO BLACK PEOPLE on the board and two of the 5 women have >12 years tenure, only 4 of the 11 directors got tagged as having merit The number of committees - SIX different committees with SIX members in each (except audit which is 5) for 10 directors at the time - they needed to add ANYONE because they were exhausted from so many committee meetings Rich Stoddart DR Member of Nom/CG (also Audit, “Innovation”, and “Social Responsibility”) Was CEO of Leo Burnett - advertising agency that handled massive portion of Nestle USA advertising. Presley was CEO of Nestle USA. Callaway Golf CEO met with backlash over apology for Good Good video depicting abuse The ad: In the footage, Good Good personality Garrett Clark charges at Alexis Miestowski, knocks her onto the grass, then stands over her and says, "Do not touch my new driver." The company issued a statement on Friday, but CEO Chip Brewer did a social media post this morning stating: "That approval should never have happened. Mistakes were made, and we are taking the matter very seriously. I want to make it clear that we sincerely apologize for the video." He did not apologize to women. WHO DO YOU BLAME? EVP and President of Callaway Golf Glenn Hickey who leads sales and marketing, whose prior work includes being a bond trader and getting a business degree from San Diego State, but was absent for the “don’t shove a woman in an ad” lesson (possibly) Good Good and its CEO Matt Kendrick who made the ad for Callaway and posted, “Interesting that @CallawayGolf asks us to make an ad then approves it then asks us to take the fall then drops us in a coordinated media blitz and covers it up by giving a million dollars away thinking everyone will be ok with it. 30 for 39 will be legendary.” He also apologized. But clearly more annoyed at Callaway than, you know, sorry for women? The women on the board and the management team - they should have caught this before it got out! Oh, what? There’s TWO women on the board (one auditor who is ex-Boeing, a company with no challenges, and the other a Chief People Officer at a food company) and ONE woman in management (Chief People Officer)? None of whom would have seen the ad??? Oops. Tom Dundon - who, according to the Callaway 2026 Proxy Statement, has been a director since “not applicable” - but does own more than 10% of the stock and has 56% influence over the company according to Free Float data MM

2. Meta/Mark’s settlement, Target apologizes, and things we used to care about from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

   Aug 28, 20261 hr 2 min

   Story of the Week (DR): Meta settles social media addiction case with California, other states for $16.7 billion MM 5 Reasons to Be Happy An $18 billion payout sets a historic legal precedent against Big Tech, directing billions in state funding toward youth mental health, counseling, and digital literacy programs. Instagram and Facebook must enforce default two-hour daily usage limits and completely block account activity between midnight and 6 a.m. for users under 18. Teens and parents gain the explicit right to disable addictive engagement algorithms in favor of a non-personalized, chronological feed. The settlement prohibits harmful beauty filters (such as cosmetic surgery simulators), hides "like" counts by default, and silences app notifications during school hours. Meta tied $5.3 billion of the payout to whether TikTok and YouTube adopt similar safety rules, forcing an industry-wide overhaul rather than penalizing just one app. 5 Reasons to Be Angry Paid out over 10 years, the settlement amounts to roughly 10 days of Meta's annual profit , meaning Mark Zuckerberg's financial empire remains virtually unscathed. Meta’s $17 billion child-safety settlement is the biggest tech payout ever—or 3x what it paid to acquihire a 28-year-old AI superstar To put it in perspective, the $17.1 billion number is a little more than three times the roughly $5 billion personal stake that Alexandr Wang held in Scale AI, a data-labeling company that supplies the human-annotated training data AI models are built on. Last year, Meta paid $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in the company and brought in Wang to lead its AI efforts of its new Superintelligence Labs, reporting directly to Mark Zuckerberg. Meta legally denies all wrongdoing, dodging true legal accountability for intentionally engineering addictive, mentally harmful features. The agreement alters user interface features and screen time, but leaves Meta's underlying data-harvesting business model completely untouched. Critical safeguards —like switching off algorithmic feeds— are opt-in settings rather than permanent defaults, shifting enforcement onto parents. Meta only pays 70% ($12.7 billion) upfront; the remaining $5.3 billion is contingent on competitors settling on identical terms, giving Meta a potential financial discount if rivals refuse. Worst headline of the week: Meta’s $17.1 billion settlement will be over 12-times larger than the second largest big tech privacy settlement in the past four years Meta’s $18 billion settlement leaves out the child protections New Mexico already won at trial, its Attorney General says: including a direct ban on romantic and sexualized AI chatbot interactions with minors and stronger safeguards against adults targeting kids in private messages MM: Settlement gaps Age assurance: Meta may elect to use one or more Proprietary Age Assurance Methods. In such event, Meta shall not benefit from the presumption of compliance set forth in Section II.A.3.a. Additionally, Meta will maintain continuous oversight of any Proprietary Age Assurance Method sufficient to ensure that the method is functioning as intended. Tax deductible The Settling States shall cause to be completed and timely filed a Form 1098-F with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) that identifies not less than 50% of the amounts paid to the Settling States as compensatory restitution and remediation within the meaning of 26 U.S.C. § 162(f)(2)(A) THEY BUNDLED CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA INTO THE SETTLEMENT $459m of the $17bn is the “Cambridge payout” - they can now put that behind them too Is there a reason not to literally take Meta all the way? Why settle at all! Midterm elections? TAKE EVERYTHING! Meanwhile, while you settle this: Meta’s creepy smart glasses are part of a much bigger plan “At the same time, Meta is using the content generated across its ecosystem to support Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of a pervasive, AI-driven future. Zuckerberg’s 2026 manifesto describes a world where personal AI agents will do your bidding. But building those systems requires more than conventional AI models. It also requires enormous amounts of data about human behavior, much of it generated and shared through Instagram, Facebook, and other Meta apps, or captured through hardware such as phones, smart glasses, and EMG Neural Band devices.” “We become “algorithm chow,” feeding the models intended to realize Zuckerberg’s vision.” 'We Know We Got This Wrong': Target Apologises and Pulls 'Offensive' Halloween Costume After Racist Backlash An apology from us : We pulled an offensive Halloween costume that should never have been part of our assortment. It is no longer for sale. As a company, we got this wrong, and we are deeply sorry. We know this is especially hurtful for our Black guests, team members and partners. Removing the costume is an important first step, and the company is looking closely at how this happened and what needs to change to ensure this won’t happen again . Target Statement on Offensive Halloween Costume : As a company, we know we got this wrong, and we are deeply sorry. The costume is offensive and should never have been part of our assortment. It is no longer available for sale. We know this is especially hurtful for our Black guests, team members and partners. Removing the costume is an important first step, and the company is looking closely at how this happened and what needs to change to ensure this won’t happen again . The statement comes directly from Target’s Corporate Communications department speaking on behalf of the entire enterprise, rather than a single individual like the CEO or Board Chair. Corporate apologies are deliberately released without a human signature for several strategic and legal reasons: Legal Personhood: Legally under U.S. law, Target Corporation is treated as a single legal entity (often called "corporate personhood"). It can sign contracts, hold liability, and issue official statements as an institution rather than as individual people. Leaving executive names off the statement prevents media coverage from focusing on a specific person (e.g., "CEO Brian Cornell Apologizes"). It keeps the focus on the company's operational changes and prevents individual leaders from becoming personal lightning rods for public backlash. These statements are rarely drafted by an executive. They are heavily scrubbed by legal counsel, crisis PR managers, and corporate strategy teams . Attaching a CEO's signature to a text engineered by a dozen lawyers and communications staff can actually feel less authentic internally. Phrasing the apology around "we" and "the company" establishes institutional accountability . It signals that the failure occurred in corporate vetting systems, not just from one bad decision-maker. In January 2025, Target Corporation announced the termination of its REACH initiative and restructuring of its Supplier Diversity program, marking one of the largest corporate DEI rollbacks in recent history. This decision has triggered public backlash, legal scrutiny, and investor uncertainty. Callaway Golf CEO apologizes after Good Good ad showing male golfer shoving woman sparks backlash Callaway Golf CEO Chip Brewer on Tuesday apologized for an advertisement that sparked an online backlash for its depiction of a male golfer shoving a female golfer to the ground when she attempts to use his driver. "That approval should never have happened. Mistakes were made, and we are taking the matter very seriously," Brewer wrote on Tuesday. "I want to make it clear that we sincerely apologize for the video." Callaway released a statement Thursday explaining its reasoning behind ending the brand partnership: "Over the last several days, we have reflected deeply on the hurt and disappointment caused by the video we reposted. We heard from individuals who shared personal experiences related to violence against women, and their stories were powerful reminders that this issue touches the lives of far too many people. Unequivocally, violence against women is unacceptable and should never be trivialized, normalized, or used as entertainment." "In this instance, our content review process was not comprehensive enough …We have taken appropriate internal corrective actions and significantly strengthened our approval procedures to help ensure this does not happen again." The brand added that it would donate $1 million to organizations that aim to "prevent violence against women, provide resources to survivors, and advance education and awareness efforts." The online video ad, which was released online and has since been pulled, sparked criticism for depicting violence against women, while some consumers said they planned to stop buying products made by Callaway. Brewer said the ad, created by Good Good Golf, was released last week to promote a co-branded driver and had been approved by Callaway before the spot was posted online. The ad featured Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark telling Alexis Miestowski, a former Division I female golfer, in a menacing voice, "Do not touch my new driver," after he shoves her to the ground. Good Good is an American sports YouTube channel and company based in Frisco, Texas. Founded in 2020 by Garrett Clark, Stephen Castaneda, CEO Matt Kendrick, and Matt Scharff. Owner: Scoreboard ventures: co-founders Nahid Giga and Brian Dick Lead Investor: Creator Sports Capital — a firm co-founded by former YouTube executive Benjamin Grubbs and investment executive Brian Kabot. Good Good's CEO went nuclear on Callaway after the brand cut ties over an ad scandal "Interesting that @CallawayGolf asks us to make an ad then approves it then asks us to take the fall then drops us in a coordinated media blitz and covers it up by giving a million dollars away thinking everyone will be ok with it," Matt Kendrick wrote in a post on X. The ad fallout has had major repercussions for Good Good's business beyond the loss of its Callaway partnership. Dick's Sporting Goods yanked Good Good products from shelves, and the golf group pulled out as a title sponsor for a PGA Tour event in the fall. The reverberation has spread to the Golf Channel, which scrapped the upcoming season of its reality golf series "Big Break," whose grand prize was entry into the PGA Tour event that Good Good was supposed to have sponsored. FFA: 14% have merit 2 women! (combined 6% influence) Director Thomas Dundon 56% influence and 10% shares Director Nominee Skills Matrix includes “Golf Enthusiast” (9/9) Consumer Products Experience: 5/9 Bill Gates Warns Humanity About AI: ‘ We Do Not Have the Luxury of Moving Slowly ’ Bill Gates fears world leaders are unprepared for 3 major AI risks: ‘Stunted’ child development; emboldened criminals; and vanishing jobs for Gen Z Bill Gates Issues Stark AI Warning: ' There Is No Plan ' for What Comes Next What did he say? Gates warns AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever created or the worst source of global injustice , claiming world leaders are underprepared for the social upheaval ahead. He proposes that governments legally set aside "human-reserved" job categories —similar to protected nature reserves— for roles requiring human empathy and connection , such as healthcare and teaching. To offset tax policies that encourage replacing humans, Gates suggests taxing AI processing "tokens" and physical robots to fund worker retraining and stronger safety nets . He categorizes AI’s biggest risks into three buckets: permanent job loss, empowering bad actors to launch cyber and biological attacks, and eroding child development . Gates calls for an international AI regulatory agency —modeled after global aviation and nuclear inspection agreements— requiring tight cooperation between the U.S. and China . He claims tech industry executives are downplaying catastrophic AI threats to public safety because there is too much money on the line . Gates warns that agreeable AI companions risk becoming addictive to young people while weakening independent critical thinking . ‘ We have a limited window ': 116 companies, entities sign on to major AI cyber defense push OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Advanced Micro Devices and more than 100 other companies and entities signed a letter on Thursday calling on businesses and policymakers to prioritize cybersecurity and “act decisively” to bolster defenses in the age of artificial intelligence. “We have a limited window to strengthen cyber defenses,” the letter said 9% female CEOs: Accenture: Julie Sweet (Chair/CEO) AMD: Dr. Lisa Su (Chair/CEO) Citi: Jane Fraser Clearly AI: Emily Choi-Greene (Co-founder) Equinix: Adaire Fox-Martin FIS: Stephanie Ferris General Motors: Mary Barra (Chair/CEO) Lumen Technologies: Kate Johnson Nationwide Building Society: Dame Debbie Crosbie Oracle: Safra Catz RunSybil: Ariel Herbert-Voss (Co-founder) TrendAI (Trend Micro): Eva Chen (Co-founder) Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: X Users Post Flock CEO's Address and Photos of His Home After He Says Americans Must 'Compromise' on Privacy DR: Young People Hate AI CEOs So Passionately That It’s Almost Hard to Believe CNBC survey asked over 1,000 US adults aged between 18 and 34 “who do you trust to act responsibly on AI?” Palantir CEO Alex Karp 81 percent “don’t trust” Peter Thiel 79% “don’t trust” Mark Zuckerberg 71% “don’t trust” Elon Musk 70% “don’t trust” Sam Altman 69% “don’t trust” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella 65% “don’t trust” fared the best — albeit with a pitiful 35 percent “trust” score. DR: Jeff Bezos ordered to reinstate fired Black opinion writer at Washington Post over Charlie Kirk reaction The ruling Thursday said the newspaper did not have sufficient cause to terminate Karen Attiah, who at the time was the last Black full-time member of the Post’s opinion desk. The arbitrator, Sarah Miller Espinosa, also ordered the Post to award Attiah full back pay and lost benefits. After Kirk’s killing, Attiah, the founding global opinion editor for the Post and the newspaper’s only Black female opinion writer, made several posts to her Bluesky account. Attiah was emailed a termination letter on Sept. 11, accusing her of “gross misconduct.” “Your public comments on social media regarding the death of Charlie Kirk violate the Post’s social media policies, harm the integrity of our organization, and potentially endanger the physical safety of our staff,” the letter read. MM: Flock CEO Says Americans Must 'Compromise' on Privacy; Then His Own Home Address Leaked Online DR MM: Starbucks Drops Drink Powder That Enveloped Baristas in Clouds of Dust Assholiest of the Week (MM): Meta Settlement and AI earth destruction that has normalized what would have been horrific news, but now we shrug and re-elect the boards - SPEED ROUND! The anti woke : Black Wealth Will Be 4 Times Lower Than Whites By 2050 - SHOULD CARE Men : Real men don’t bike : How cars became the symbol of American manhood - DON’T CARE Cowards : Deloitte to Pay $21.5 Million to End DOJ Fraud Investigation Over DEI Policies - SHOULD CARE Epstein: Ex-Barclays boss denies having sex with woman dressed as Snow White after Epstein emails - SHOULD CARE Epstein adjacent : Elon Musk’s xAI used child porn to train Grok models, lawsuit says - SHOULD CARE Pay committees: CEOs earn 614 times more than workers at US’s 100 lowest-paying corporations - SHOULD CARE Climate change: Study blames fossil fuel emissions for significant loss of American West's water - SHOULD CARE Actual death: Turn Around and Don't Look': Amazon Accused of Letting Worker Die in Warehouse Amid 'Corporate Greed' Claims - SHOULD CARE The anti labor: Disney celebrates blockbuster 2026 by kicking employees' spouses off healthcare plans - SHOULD CARE The anti homeless: This Palantir Billionaire’s Passion Project is Criminalizing Homelessness - SHOULD CARE Other social media companies : TikTok agrees to pay $400 million to settle Justice Department children's privacy case - DON’T CARE “The lawsuit, related to compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, was filed by the Biden administration’s DOJ in 2024” Headliniest of the Week DR: Elon Musk's former right-hand man at X will give you 30 minutes of business advice for $15,000 MM: Boring Trump Claims Junk Food Is 'Good' and Gym ' Boring ' After Doctors Warn He Is 'Playing With Fire' Elon Musk Says He’s Not Warren Buffett’s ‘Biggest Fan’ And Finds His Way of Getting Rich ‘ Super Boring ’ — ‘Does Anybody Want That Job?’ MM: What is a ' meat proxy '? The new term for coworkers who blindly share AI output Who Won the Week? DR: Futurism writer Frank Landymore for this headline: Bill Gates Announces That He Is the First Person Ever to Be Concerned About the Effects of AI after Bill said, “I am in a state of shock that I’m sort of the first one saying, ‘This is crazy. This is insane.'” MM: Watches: Sam Altman's love of watches is getting memed 'Lord of the Rings' style Despite having a net worth of $400 million, Kevin O’Leary still shops at Walmart for $29 jeans : ‘I’m always looking for a great deal’ The picture in the article is him wearing not one, but TWO $15k Rolex watches, one on each wrist - the message: guy who buys jeans JUST LIKE YOU has multiple Rolexes - you should get one too! Predictions DR: I spend $15,000 for business advice from Elon Musk's former right-hand man at X and he tells me a really clever way to save $15,000 MM: French Canadiens, after getting the CEO of Air Canada fired and killing Trump trade talks , decide to make the United States a new Canadian province called New Quebec where French is the only legal language and renames Lake Superior “Lake French Superior”

3. GOOD? UHG lawsuit, Gen Z hates AI, Disney vs. FCC, anti-pervert glasses from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

   Aug 25, 202641 min

   G UnitedHealth shareholders sue company over ‘corporate governance failures on a historic scale’ UBS fined record $125 million for money laundering violations $125 million civil penalty to the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the primary U.S. anti-money laundering law. FinCEN said the fine is the largest ever assessed against a broker-dealer for BSA violations. The settlement marks FinCEN's second enforcement action against UBS Financial Services, a subsidiary of the Swiss bank UBS. The firm had previously paid a $14.5 million penalty in December 2018 for similar failures, including inadequate monitoring of foreign currency wire transfers. Despite assurances to regulators that it would fix the underlying problems, the firm subsequently failed to monitor more than 50,000 foreign currency wires with a combined value exceeding $10 billion. SEC launches new enforcement unit aimed at accounting fraud How?? The unit will be housed within the SEC’s Division of Enforcement and staffed by both attorneys and accountants with specialized skills related to financial reporting, accounting, and auditing in securities regulation, according to the announcement. The announcement is “a little surprising” given the SEC’s current deregulatory focus under Chair Paul Atkins, Rebecca Fike, a partner in Reed Smith’s regulatory and enforcement group, told CFO Dive. Andreessen Horowitz Focus of DOJ Probe Over Board Directors BIG DATA and AI BS ‍ ‍ Gwyneth Paltrow is rumored to be throwing a party for AI mogul Sam Altman. People don’t love the optics Paltrow played WeWork Rebekah Neumann Anthropic is embedding invisible watermarks in Claude text and images Young People Hate AI CEOs So Passionately That It’s Almost Hard to Believe CNBC survey asked over 1,000 US adults aged between 18 and 34 Asked “who do you trust to act responsibly on AI?” the vast majority of participants said they “don’t trust” any of the nine figures. Palantir’s extremely controversial CEO Alex Karp scored the lowest, with 81 percent choosing “don’t trust,” while Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella fared the best — albeit with a pitiful 35 percent “trust” score. Everyone else fell in between: 79 percent of respondents said they don’t trust Peter Thiel, while a whopping 71, 70, and 69 percent said they “don’t trust” Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Sam Altman, respectively Meta, others lose appeal to drop thousands of social media addiction lawsuits A U.S. Appeals Court [Judge Jacqueline Nguyen] said that thousands of lawsuits targeting Meta Platforms, ByteDance's TikTok and other social media outlets over claims that social media is harmful and addictive can proceed. The court also denied Meta's request to postpone a trial over allegations that they used data from children to keep them on its platforms. AI data center outrage is showing up everywhere from ads to elections Spirit Flight Attendants Fight Google’s Data Bid for AI The flight attendants want assurance that their confidential information will be removed from the sale of the defunct airline’s digital records CULTURE WARS The 'MAGA Alternative to Amazon' Is Fighting for Survival After Nearly $160M in Losses and 99% Stock Crash PublicSquare's marketplace has struggled to grow despite political backing, prompting a costly shift to financial services Disney is suing the FCC in a departure from former CEO Bob Iger's strategy US firms that kept DEI policies despite ‘go woke, go broke’ threats thrived Ellison Is Now Willing to Sell CNN to Save His $111 Billion Deal E Solar Panels on Storage Units: Illinois Is Going All In on This No-Brainer First test flight of largest all-electric aircraft used just $5 of electricity Trump ordered to release billions in climate grants meant for Black communities a $2.8 billion program meant to help mitigate the harm from climate change and environmental issues in Black, low-income, and disadvantaged communities. Trump tried to curb clean energy. It’s booming anyway Clean energy additions will rise by a record 45 gigawatts this year, according to S&P Global Energy—equivalent to the average electricity demand of Turkey. The increase is roughly 25 percent higher than the record set in 2024. It Just Got Way Easier to Sue Fossil Fuel Companies Over Climate Change Climate attribution science A new peer-reviewed study published earlier this month in Earth’s Future suggests that it is possible to demonstrate that “emissions from company X cause injury Y.” It also could potentially provide evidence so industry could be forced to answer for climate impacts. The new methodological framework has, for the first time, drawn a straight line from single corporate emitters like Exxon or Chevron, or even whole countries like the United States, to specific heatwaves and areas of extreme rainfall. By running over 150 simulations across 8 different climate models, the study’s author, Christopher Callahan—an Earth systems scientist and assistant professor at Indiana University’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs—built a statistical model to figure out the relationship between the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the odds of extreme heat or rain. He then used real emissions data to calculate the extent to which specific fossil fuel emitters increased the risk of extreme weather. SPEED ROUND ‍ ‍ DuckDuckGo Is Selling Anti Pervert Glasses That Contain Zero AI, Cameras, or Even Electronics Whatsoever Jason Kelce Wants Fans to 'Pee on Computers' to Protest AI Water Use: 'We Want Your Pee' Cards Against Humanity Unveils 'Sad Little Bitch' Elon Musk Monument Near Texas Starbase France bans unsolicited telemarketing calls--$87,000 fine per call I'm the CEO of Siemens. I reply to most emails with 2-letter responses and don't have recurring meetings Scientists Genetically Engineer High-Protein Lettuce Gen Z is bringing pen and paper back to the workplace Arianna Huffington says even high-flying CEOs are unhappy and feel stuck in their multimillion-dollar jobs: ‘It’s a trap’ Bank of America is splashing out $250 million a year on weight loss drugs for its staff: ‘We see a great impact on employees,’ CEO says ‘We see a great impact on employees,’ CEO says Excuse me? Body shamer.

4. L3Harris’ misconduct problem, Mark’s bad week, the SEC quits SEC’ing from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

   Aug 21, 202657 min

   Story of the Week (DR): L3Harris ousts CEO after investigation into conduct MM L3Harris Technologies, the company that overhauled a Qatari plane now used as Air Force One, has replaced Christopher Kubasik as chairman and chief executive after an investigation determined he violated the defense contractor’s code of conduct. Kubasik’s alleged conduct didn’t involve and has no impact on the Melbourne, Fla., company’s financial reporting, controls, customer relationships or operational performance, L3Harris said Monday. The company didn’t give details on when it received a report of the potential violation. With the aid of independent counsel, the board determined that Kubasik’s removal would be in the company’s best interest, L3Harris said. He will be allowed to retain and exercise some previously vested stock options but won’t receive severance payments, benefits or accelerated stock-based awards. L3Harris Technologies Appoints Sam Mehta, Proven Aerospace and Defense Executive, as President and Chief Executive Officer “The Board determined that the Executive engaged in conduct that was not consistent with the values of the Company as outlined in its Code of Conduct.” Kubasik will still hold onto some of his options that can net him stock worth about $23 million, as well as more than 200,000 shares of stock in L3Harris that he already owns, valued at nearly $57 million. L3Harris has paid Kubasik compensation valued at $66.3 million during the past three years, including $25.6 million in fiscal 2025. The separation disclosure says the L3Harris board decided to reach a deal with Kubasik to get him to leave rather than trying to fire him for cause. Kubasik did not admit to any violation of the company code of conduct, and the deal expressively forbids any of the parties or their representatives from making public statements “inconsistent” with Monday’s disclosure. AND THIS: Women at L3Harris Shared Concerns About CEO’s Behavior Years Before Ouster It was a warning that was shared among women who worked for Chris Kubasik: Avoid being alone with the executive and be careful on the corporate jet. Multiple women at defense contractor L3Harris Technologies LHX had raised concerns about Kubasik’s behavior, including a formal complaint from one woman to human resources that was made around 2023, according to people familiar with the matter. The employee accused the CEO of sexual harassment, the people said. Kubasik stayed on in his role. The woman left L3Harris. Not all L3Harris board members were briefed on the 2023 complaint and it is unclear Ousted L3Harris CEO was previously forced out of Lockheed Martin job Christopher Kubasik's ouster as the L3Harris CEO was not the first time he was forced out of a company amid an allegation of misconduct. In 2012, Kubasik was set to become the CEO of Lockheed Martin when he was forced to resign after an ethics investigation confirmed that he had a close personal relationship with a subordinate employee. Why Do Boards Keep Giving Misbehaving CEOs Second Chances? L3Harris Technologies’ LHX chief executive is out because of misconduct allegations, and it isn’t the first time: More than a decade ago, Christopher Kubasik resigned from Lockheed Martin because he was accused of having a relationship with a subordinate. The Crucial Moment That Companies Miss After They Oust a CEO It matters how a company responds to a scandal once it’s caught in one, most blow the moment by choosing secrecy over transparency. It’s an opportunity to reset the culture that led to the breach in the first place, but instead “your PR team and your legal team tell you ‘Don’t dig into these things—it’s not good for the company,’ so you silence all the debates.”. Meta faces a $1.4 trillion threat that could mean ‘ turning in the keys and walking away ’—but the stakes of the case reach across tech The trial involves a coalition of 29 state attorneys general in a unified case against Meta that was brought in 2023, and will be argued by lawyers representing California, Colorado, New Jersey and Kentucky. The stakes are enormous as leading government officials across the country push for Meta to be held accountable for allegedly violating federal and state laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, and various consumer protection statutes. States accuse Meta of targeting children for Facebook, Instagram addiction: ' The young ones are the best ones ' Meta whistleblower told jury the company took a ' don't ask, don't tell' approach to kids' safety ‘ Harvest their data and hide the truth from the public ’: Four states seek billions from Meta over child safety practices SEC says it will stop responding to no-action requests ‘entirely’ The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to stop responding to no-action requests “entirely … effective immediately,” the agency said in a statement Friday. The decision comes after the SEC sat out the bulk of the no-action process during the 2025-26 proxy season. Investor advocates have since sued the agency, alleging the change violates the Administrative Procedure Act. AI data center outrage is showing up everywhere from ads to elections AI data center outrage is showing up everywhere from ads to elections GOP Begs AI Firms to Fix Data Centers’ “ Toxic Brand ” to Help Midterm Chances As A.I. Data Centers Spread, Pressure Mounts to Share Profits The Data Center Industry’s PR Blitz Is Backfiring Data center backlash echoes fossil-fuel politics Major data center bills advance in California despite industry pushback The ‘Country Hicks ’ Who Refused $26 Million from an AI Data Center Bad news for Jason Kelce: Postal Service rules say you shouldn't mail pee to data centers Politicians Who Once Championed Data Centers Are Now Bashing Them Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro cracks down on data centers, says speculators are ' scaring our communities ' Data centers are using more electricity than anyone predicted . What happens next? Trump oblivious to voter fury about data centers, saying ‘the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous’ Politicians Turn Against Data Centers as Anger Over AI Spreads Amazon is buying rare books and destroying them to train its AI models The team's logo features a dinosaur holding a book. Data center hysteria is the new woke | Opinion Bring back the corporate death penalty More formally known as judicial dissolution, the corporate death penalty basically happens when the government is so pissed off by the corruption or damage a corporation causes that it yanks away their charter. Andreessen Horowitz Focus of DOJ Probe Over Board Directors Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is the focus of a Justice Department antitrust probe over whether its investment partners are improperly serving on the boards of competing artificial intelligence companies, according to people familiar with the matter. The companies at issue include Databricks Inc., one of the most valuable privately held technology companies in the world, and Fivetran Inc., both backed by the VC firm, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential matter. Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz serves on the board of Databricks, and partner Martin Casado is a board member of Fivetran. Both companies help businesses collect, organize and analyze massive troves of data. Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): MacKenzie Scott gave California public education $461 million—and let the recipients decide how to spend every dollar MM: Andreessen Horowitz Focus of DOJ Probe Over Board Directors DR Assholiest of the Week (MM): Bill Brown and Robert Millard DR Never accountable for anything directors L3Harris ousts CEO after investigation into conduct History lesson: Kubasik hired in 2015 after Lockheed disaster firing, hired as COO and President Presiding CEO: Michael Strianese , Chair from 2008, CEO from 2006 Board: Claude Canizares (71, MIT physics professor, 2003) Thomas Corcoran (72, Carlyle, consulting, 1997) Ann Dunwoody (64, only woman, US Army Gen, 2013) Lewis Kramer (69, EY accountant, 2009) Robert Millard (66, MIT Chair, Lehman until 2008 collapse, LID, 1997) Lloyd Newton (74, only PoC - token black guy - US Air Force General, 2012) Vincent Pagano, Jr (66, lawyer, Simpson Thacher, chair of nom, 2013) Hugh Shelton (75, US Army Gen, 2011), Arthure Simon (85, accountant, 2001) 8 white men, 1 woman, 1 black dude 2018, Kubasik named CEO of L3 Technologies Michael Strianese retires and Kubasik takes over Same exact board minus Strianese 2019, L3 and Harris merge to be L3Harris Kubasik added to L3Harris board , named COO and President of the company under Bill Brown, CEO and Chair Surviving the board merger: Thomas Corcoran Robert Millard - LID, nom member Lloyd Newton - chair of nom Lewis Kramer Adjacent - Roger Fradin of Carlyle on board, Corcoran also of Carlyle June 2021, Kubasik becomes CEO and Bill Brown moves to exec chair (obviously) Board: Sallie Bailey Bill Brown Peter Chiarelli Thomas Corcoran Thomas Dattilo (nom) - ex tire CEO Rober Gradin Harry Harris Lewis Hay III (nom) - lawyer, ex CEo of NextEra Lewis Kramer Rita Lan Robert Millard (nom) - MIT Chair, Lehman Lloyd Newton (nom chair) - general So given that the CEOs choose their successors, the nom committees approve them, the rest of the board rubber stamps it… we can thank: Michael Strianese - hires Kubasik, names him CEO at L3, despite Lockheed problems Nom approval: Ann Dunwoody (64, only woman, US Army Gen, 2013), Vincent Pagano, Jr (66, lawyer, Simpson Thacher, chair of nom, 2013), Hugh Shelton (75, US Army Gen, 2011) - a nom committee composed of the ONLY woman, two generals and a lawyer - all of whom are the LOWEST TENURED ON THE BOARD at the time Then Bill Brown - names Kubasik CEO of combined L3Harris, one year of babysitting as exec chair Nom approval: Thomas Dattilo (nom) - ex tire CEO, Robert Millard (nom) - MIT Chair, Lehman, Lloyd Newton (nom chair) - general Familiar names: Millard and Newton - see Kubasik all the way through And the CEOs and directors can keep failing… Bill Brown on the Becton Dickinson board Robert Millard on the Green Dot Corp (nom!), iHeartMedia, Evercore (nom!) boards Brought on to iHeart board just 3 years after an exec there went on a racial slur rant, the company was sued for gender and wage discrimination, and a radio host of the companies were accused of severe harassment - not sure what will change? Dario Amodei “Public benefit corporation” Anthropic: Anthropic Prepares Supervoting Power for Founders as it Readies for Mega-IPO Board: Dario Amodei, Daniela Amodei (President, Dario’s sister), Yasmin Razavi (VC, crypto and prediction market investor), Reed Hastings (Netflix), Chris Liddell (ex Trump WH Deputy Secretary), and Vas Narasimhan (Novartis) - zero “public benefit” (or even public safety) people Public Benefit Corporation: “A benefit corporation's directors and officers operate the business with the same authority and behavior as in a traditional corporation, but are required to consider the impact of their decisions not only on shareholders but also on employees, customers, the community, and the local and global environment” What is the impact of supervoting shares? AI on society? AI on the environment? Who on this board is even remotely qualified to answer those questions? Paul Atkins Exhausting and perpetual gaslighting SEC says it will stop responding to no-action requests ‘entirely’ In order to focus Division resources on the review of Securities Act and Exchange Act filings , including those reviews that are statutorily required, for the protection of investors and facilitation of capital formation, and in light of the extensive body of guidance from the Commission and the staff available to both companies and proponents on Rule 14a-8, the Division has determined to discontinue responding to Rule 14a-8 no-action requests entirely, including those submitted under Rule 14a-8(i)(1),[2] effective immediately, unless and until the Division announces otherwise. It also will no longer respond to notices filed under Rule 14a-8(j) with a letter indicating that it will not object if a company omits a proposal from its proxy materials. From the 1934 House Report about the importance of Rule 14a-8 : “Fair corporate suffrage is an important right that should attach to every equity security bought on a public exchange.” “Managements of properties owned by the investing public should not be permitted to perpetuate themselves by the misuse of corporate proxies . Insiders having little or no substantial interest in the properties they manage have often retained their control without an adequate disclosure of their interest and without an adequate explanation of the management policies they intend to pursue. Insiders have at times solicited proxies without fairly informing the stockholders of the purposes for which the proxies are to be used and have used such proxies to take from the stockholders for their own selfish advantage valuable property rights. Inasmuch as only the exchanges make it possible for securities to be widely distributed among the investing public, it follows as a corollary that the use of the exchanges should involve a corresponding duty of according to shareholders fair suffrage. For this reason the proposed bill gives the . . . Commission power to control the conditions under which proxies may be solicited with a view to preventing the recurrence of abuses which have frustrated the free exercise of the voting rights of stockholders . Investors Slam SEC Plan to Remove Best-Price Rule Atkins also is listening to the crypto bros who want to offer “tokenized securities” off exchanges and is hoping to eliminate a really basic rule that says “investors are entitled to the best price available for stocks they buy” Separately, DOJ Withdraws Antitrust Guidance for Proxy Advisory Industry - no antitrust protections for ISS (good!) but still can’t do anything about the socialist NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA (bad!) Headliniest of the Week DR: Popular breakfast chain closes half its restaurants DR: The man leading Trump’s RTO charge for government workers says he filmed a video in front of a blank wall to avoid work-from-home suspicion Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Scott Kupor, the key driver of President Donald Trump’s return-to-office agenda, admitted in a hot mic moment that he intentionally filmed a video in front of a blank wall while he was working from home so he wouldn’t get blowback over working at home. “I was in my bedroom, but I was trying to find—because I knew someone was going to give me shit if like, they knew, ‘You were out of the office.’ …I was trying to find something that was not recognizable as being in my house, basically. So I was just trying to find a plain corner with a white wall, which was not that easy to find.” Kupor was the first employee hired by Andreessen and Horowitz's venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz. MM: Flock Says It’s “ Taking a Break ” From Responding to Media Requests MM: Eric Schmidt is selling his superyacht Who is this headline for? Billionaire yacht buyers? Poor people who hate billionaires with yachts? Who Won the Week? DR: The women at L3Harris Shared Concerns About CEO’s Behavior Years Before Ouster MM: Joshua Ramer, the CEO at PeopleReturn (one of the last vestiges of diversity data in the US), whose newsletter today did the most Free Float thing I’ve seen anyone other than us do: they tracked a single Getty Image across SIX different company reports The image was called 1325876463 “Young Boy Leaping Into Father Arms In Playground”, mostly for sustainability reports because it’s brown people They found it in Danaher, Crown Castle, TD, Capital One, CSL Plasma, and Toyota Europe Predictions DR: The meritocro-mano-sphere-o hires Christopher Kubasik again without any push back from anything or anyone MM: We decide that, since everyone is trying to make companies immune from climate change lawsuits, that we just make CEOs personally immune for any behavior

5. L3 CEO out, SEC proposals out, Bezos philanthropy out, Zuck isn’t cool from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

   Aug 18, 202651 min

   DR1 THINGS WE MISSED NERDY ESG STUFF L3Harris ousts CEO after investigation into conduct CARES L3Harris Technologies, the company that overhauled a Qatari plane now used as Air Force One, has replaced Christopher Kubasik as chairman and chief executive after an investigation determined he violated the defense contractor’s code of conduct. Kubasik’s alleged conduct didn’t involve and has no impact on the Melbourne, Fla., company’s financial reporting, controls, customer relationships or operational performance, L3Harris said Monday. The company didn’t give details on when it received a report of the potential violation. With the aid of independent counsel, the board determined that Kubasik’s removal would be in the company’s best interest, L3Harris said. He will be allowed to retain and exercise some previously vested stock options but won’t receive severance payments, benefits or accelerated stock-based awards. L3Harris Technologies Appoints Sam Mehta, Proven Aerospace and Defense Executive, as President and Chief Executive Officer “The Board determined that the Executive engaged in conduct that was not consistent with the values of the Company as outlined in its Code of Conduct.” Kubasik will still hold onto some of his options that can net him stock worth about $23 million, as well as more than 200,000 shares of stock in L3Harris that he already owns, valued at nearly $57 million. L3Harris has paid Kubasik compensation valued at $66.3 million during the past three years, including $25.6 million in fiscal 2025. The separation disclosure says the L3Harris board decided to reach a deal with Kubasik to get him to leave rather than trying to fire him for cause. Kubasik did not admit to any violation of the company code of conduct, and the deal expressively forbids any of the parties or their representatives from making public statements “inconsistent” with Monday’s disclosure. Harvard reveals $2.2 billion SpaceX holding worth more than half its U.S. equity portfolio CARES Busting CEO Pay Curve in 2025, Musk Made Annual Salary of Average Tesla Worker Every 4.2 Seconds S&P 500 CEO pay jumps to record as Musk-inspired compensation plans spread: average S&P 500 CEO pay reached $340.1 million US SEC to keep hands off shareholder proposals , worrying activists CARES Staying Alive: ISS Continues Its Influence on 2026 Voting Outcomes ISS recommended against fewer say-on-pay proposals than last year: 8.3% versus 9.2% in 2025. ISS supported fewer E&S proposals than in prior years, but investor votes more strongly tracked its recommendations. ISS backed 13% of social proposals in 2026, compared with 15% in 2025 and 46% in both 2023 and 2024. ISS supported 66% of governance shareholder proposals, up from 55% in 2025 ISS opposed 3% of uncontested director nominees, up slightly from 2.5%. SEC data center ruling is removing a key guardrail from Nvidia's $500B AI financing push CARES A staff opinion from the SEC exempts some data center debt from Dodd-Frank risk retention rules, making AI infrastructure financing more attractive to sponsors Treasury Scales Back Scrutiny of U.S. Shell Companies The Trump administration will not enforce reporting requirements of the 2021 Corporate Transparency Act, which was intended to crack down on money laundering. 25 groups urging Supreme Court to kill climate case have ties to oil companies , report says A survey released Monday by the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog found that 25 of the 38 individuals and organizations that have filed friend of the court briefs on behalf of the industry have financial ties or other connections to the fossil fuel companies that are facing billions of dollars in potential damages for contributing to climate change. The report argues that many of briefs make “nearly identical legal arguments.” Activist Cevian calls for higher pay for UK board members One of Europe’s largest activist investors, Cevian Capital, has called for higher pay for non-executive directors in UK boardrooms as part of efforts to revive growth at British companies and reverse the decline of the London market. The activist, which has stakes in companies including Smith & Nephew and Pearson, said that pay for non-executive directors (NEDs) should increase to attract and retain the best people including from international rivals. AI STUFF Anthropic is embedding invisible watermarks in Claude text and images CARES OpenAI’s “Head of Ethics” Suddenly Leaves Company Under Mysterious Circumstances: Chloé Bakalar, less than a year after joining from Meta. OpenAI talent exodus raises ‘huge red flag’ ahead of IPO CRO Denise Dresser COO Brad Lightcap CEO of AGI Deployment Fidsji SImo Chief Marketing Officer Kate Rouch Head of safety systems Johannes Heidecke At least 12 executives in 2026 Greg Brockman told CNBC the wave of senior exits is " not that atypical " and that scrutiny stems from OpenAI's high public profile BILLIONAIRE STUFF Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are buying the Lakers for $12.5 billion CARES 41-year-old Josh Kushner ’s World Cup privatization scheme fell apart. Then he became the Lakers co-owner days later Liverpool owners sell minority stake to Jeff Bezos: hold option to purchase controlling stake in Liverpool per terms of deal CARES It Seems Like Bill Gates’ Daughter May Be in Serious Legal Trouble Phoebe Gates (daughter of Bill Gates) and her shopping app startup, Phia, recently landed in hot water over allegations of a digital commission trick known as cookie stuffing. Cookie stuffing is essentially digital credit-stealing. An app secretly plants its tracking cookie into your browser without actually helping you find a deal or directing you to the website Phia initially claimed the issue was an accidental software bug. However, leaked internal Slack messages showed Gates and her co-founder discussing auto-dropping cookies as far back as December to artificially boost revenue Cookie stuffing isn't just breaking tech platform terms; US law treats it as federal wire fraud Phoebe Gates Took Secret Stanford Course on Controlling Society , Used It to Recruit for Her Startup That’s Now Facing Accusations META STUFF Meta faces ‘astronomical’ consequences as legal fight reaches critical moment in California CARES The trial involves a coalition of 29 state attorneys general in a unified case against Meta that was brought in 2023, and will be argued by lawyers representing California, Colorado, New Jersey and Kentucky. The stakes are enormous as leading government officials across the country push for Meta to be held accountable for allegedly violating federal and state laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, and various consumer protection statutes. Four state attorneys general are seeking up to $1.4 trillion in penalties and changes to how Meta operates its platforms MEANWHILE: OpenAI launches ChatGPT for Teens Meta Caught Paying Nazis to Post on Facebook Meta was paying out-and-out neo-Nazis to post on Facebook, an investigation from Australia’s ABC News found. These pages and individual creators posted content that appeared to be in clear violation of Facebook’s own hate speech policies. Nonetheless, they were able to earn money on their posts through the platform’s “Content Monetization” program — which is invitation-only. Zuckerberg's Yacht Allegedly 'Refused' Coast Guard Calls To Help Stranded Boat Despite Being 'Closer' Zuckerberg: AI's biggest risk is one entity with too much control Zuckerberg Says Meta Will Give Billions a 24/7 Personal Superintelligence , Lays Out AI Vision in Lengthy Essay Zuckerberg brings back the floating battle barge to spar with UFC fighter Merab Dvalishvili SEGUE ALERT: Zuckerberg’s Manifesto About the Glorious Freedoms AI Will Bring Was Completely Contradicted by His Own CTO During a Company Meeting Meta CTO Dismisses Vacation Requests: ' It's Very Dumb ' to Ask for More Time Off During a July Q&A with staff, CTO Andrew Bosworth shut down an employee who asked if AI productivity gains could be used to revive “Meta Days,” a cancelled holiday program that once allowed staff to take more days off a year. Bosworth was apparently appalled at the idea, saying that “I hope that what we do with our extra time is do even more and cooler stuff for the users who use our products every day … We got billions of people using our products every day. I get an extra hour. You know what I do with it? I put it into that.” The executive then dug his heels even further, personally insulting the staffer for asking about work-life balance: “Go to your parents and ask them: hey, like every time I get a chance to talk to my boss, ask me if I can have more days off. Ask your parents what they think of that as a career strategy.” BLOWHARD INDEX CEO of $49 billion AI company says it’s ‘mind-boggling’ people think you can work 38 hours a week, have work-life balance, and be successful SHUT UP Bill Ackman agrees with Jeff Bezos : Being a great CEO can do more for the world than philanthropy SHUT UP Corcoran Group CEO says Gen Z’s housing market struggles mirror what boomers faced 30 years ago: ‘ Stop buying Starbucks coffee, ’ she advises SHUT UP SHUT UP OpenAI’s CFO insists AI won’t replace judgment SAY MORE OpenAI Warns AI Models Can Automate Cyberattacks and Exploit Security Vulnerabilities SHUT UP Sam Altman thinks working at Goldman Sachs ‘ sounds unbelievably terrible now’ and admits he was ‘peer pressured’ into accepting an internship there SAY MORE Sam Altman says 4 years could be too long for college : ‘The way the world has evolved, college just shouldn’t be as long as it is’ SAY MORE Kalshi’s 30-year-old CEO says most business advice is ‘trash’—he doesn’t read management books or listen to podcasts: ‘I’m gonna make it up as I go’ SAY MORE Paramount demands $1.9 billion from states, citing Warner deal delays SHUT UP Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says AI writes 60% of its code—and sustaining ‘founder mode’ is the key to winning in the age of AI SHUT UP Far-Right UK Politician Says People Should ‘Enjoy’ Climate Change SAY MORE In 1992, Richard Tice started working for the housebuilding and commercial property company founded by his grandfather, The Sunley Group. Tice was its joint chief executive officer (CEO) for 14 years before leaving the company in 2006. Mark Cuban tells Ro Khanna 'you don't understand business,' threatens investment shift over billionaire tax SHUT UP PEOPLE/THINGS NOT TO HATE? MacKenzie Scott has given away $26 billion and rarely speaks publicly. Now she’s releasing a novel—but you won’t find it on Amazon DON’T HATE Amazon’s New AI Data Center Is So Enormous That It Appears It Will Become the Largest Single Source of Pollution in the United States Bernie Sanders asked the leading AI CEOs to pause development . DON’T HATE US firms that kept DEI policies despite ‘go woke, go broke’ threats thrived DON’T HATE France bans unsolicited telemarketing calls DON’T HATE Cards Against Humanity Unveils ' Sad Little Bitch ' Elon Musk Monument Near Texas Starbase DON’T HATE Gen Z is bringing pen and paper back to the workplace

6. Meritocracy = boys, DOGE fraud, Zuck’s publicity stunt, simple minded governance from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

   Aug 7, 202659 min

   Story of the Week (DR): Uber’s Strategy for Fighting Sexual Assault Suits: ‘ What Were You Wearing? ’ An aggressive defense strategy is being used in response to an avalanche of litigation, with over 4,000 lawsuits filed by passengers accusing Uber of failing to protect them from sexual assault While Uber publicly champions itself as a "survivor-centric" ally and trains support staff against victim-blaming, its defense lawyers ruthlessly contradict this to protect the $145 billion company. Uber’s attorneys aggressively interrogate survivors about their clothing (e.g., asking if they wore underwear or heels), drug and alcohol consumption, and sexual history. The legal team weaponizes past trauma by scouring private medical records and therapy notes, even petitioning courts to force survivors to undergo psychiatric exams or reveal details of childhood abuse to paint them as "unreliable narrators". Legal experts warn these scorched-earth tactics are deliberately designed to re-traumatize victims, discouraging lawsuits and intimidating survivors into settling. Chief Legal Officer Tony West: “ Why safety is personal to me ” Cites his public service career to cover for ruthless corporate tactics, like drafting Prop 22 to strip driver protections. Frames survivor trauma as a flaw of the "adversarial legal system," deflecting from Uber’s own attorneys using aggressive, victim-blaming tactics to minimize payouts. Uses a single favorable quote from one trial judge to dismiss widespread litigation abuse. Touts ending forced arbitration while continuing to block class-action lawsuits, trapping survivors in isolated 1-on-1 fights. Brags about transparent reporting despite Uber burying 400,000+ assault complaints (2017–2022) under labels like "unaudited." TikTok Withheld a Safety Feature From Millions. One Died by Suicide When TikTok tweaked its algorithm in 2021 to stop users from being overwhelmed with harmful content, the company didn’t roll out the safer version to everyone, a confidential internal document shows. Instead, to see if the change might reduce the app’s stickiness, the company conducted an experiment. It created a control group of 10% of US users — at the time, that would have been about 15 million people — who kept the old version of the app . This group, according to the document, included 16-year-old Chase Nasca. TikTok’s algorithm pushed him thousands of videos about suicide, sadness, hopelessness and loneliness, right up until he killed himself. TikTok says moderator error delayed removal of Perez Hilton's livestream showing acts of self-harm GAO finds Elon Musk’s DOGE inflated claims of $110 billion in savings for federal government The GAO found that 96% of the savings DOGE claimed from grant cancellations lacked supporting evidence or methodology to verify. DOGE claimed $27.4 billion in savings across 2,503 contracts—including a $1.7 billion Pentagon IT deal—that were never actually terminated or reduced. Over 40% of the lease cancellations listed on DOGE’s "Wall of Receipts" were already in progress before the agency was created. GAO uncovered widespread data errors, such as overstating total lease savings by nearly $60 million and failing to report baseline limitations. DOGE failed to disclose how it calculated its metrics and completely ignored GAO requests for interviews and supporting data. Where are Elon Musk’s former DOGE staffers now? Edward “Big Balls” Coristine: a whistleblower alleged that Coristine planned to upload sensitive Social Security Administration data to an unsecured server. He also helped dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. Coristine now appears to work at the National Design Studio , an office created to overhaul federal websites and other public-facing services, making them more usable, visually consistent and less expensive to build. Jeremy Lewin: helped oversee the dismantling of USAID Lewin later became the State Department’s senior official for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs and religious freedom , giving a former DOGE operative authority over the programs his old team had helped slash. He was subsequently reported to be moving to the White House National Security Council . Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox Founded a holding company called Special, which promises to do for private businesses what DOGE did for the federal government. “To achieve this, Special is building an operating system to transform critical American industries with AI. We call it SpecialOS.” Gavin Kliger, Luke Farritor, Marko Elez and Jack Stein Founded Cathedral, a startup that plans to use AI to expand U.S. military cyber capabilities, including defenses against adversaries such as China . Reuters reported that the company raised $160 million at a $1.4 billion valuation. Ethan Shaotran: helped move thousands of immigrants into the government’s “Master Death File,” effectively deactivating their Social Security numbers. Founded Blitz Industries, which he described to Wired as “a defense company backed by big names.” Elon Musk: SpaceX Achieves Its First Moon Landing by Accidentally Crashing Into It at 5,400 Miles Per Hour, Causing Huge Explosion and 60-Foot Crater Why companies that call themselves meritocracies don't always pay equally AND Meritocracy claims make managers pay men more than equally qualified women MM Explicitly branding an organization a "meritocracy" lowers managers' vigilance against bias, ironically making them more likely to discriminate. Given identical job titles and performance ratings, managers in self-proclaimed meritocracies systematically award higher bonuses and raises to men over equally qualified women. The meritocracy illusion compounds wage gaps across demographics, yielding lower financial rewards for women, racial minorities, and immigrants with identical output. Vague definitions of "merit" allow supervisors to act on personal favorability and affinity bias while genuinely believing their choices are purely objective. Trusting the "meritocracy" label creates false complacency, leading companies to eliminate or skip active pay-equity audits that would otherwise catch these disparities. Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Google Scraps AI Satellite Images Within 24 Hours: Why 'Deepfakes in the Sky' Alarmed Researchers This happened after facing fierce backlash from journalists, researchers, and open-source intelligence experts who warned that it could accelerate the spread of misinformation. The feature allowed users to generate AI-created satellite images by zooming into any location in Google Earth and entering a text prompt. MM: Courts: MM DR Court rules against Trump EPA’s freeze of $20B in ‘ green bank ’ funds UBS fined record $125 million for money laundering violations Meta fined $567m in largest child safety ruling against social media giant Judge says Nexstar can’t appoint its executives to TEGNA’s Board of Directors Assholiest of the Week (MM): Everything’s a publicity stunt: Jealously Watching OpenAI and Anthropic, Meta Suddenly Claims That Its AI Went on a Hacking Spree Too Zuckerberg conveys ‘ apologies ’ for child sex abuse material, errors in operating the platform, government sources say ‘ Pure insanity ’—Elon Musk details SpaceX’s plan to turn the moon into its newest manufacturing site Anthropic's Mythos created fake identities to fool humans in new cyber incident GAO finds Elon Musk's DOGE inflated claims of $110 billion in savings for federal government Everything’s a vanity project Jeff Bezos Says He’s Selling $1 Billion In Amazon Stock Every Year to Fund Blue Origin — ‘ It’s The Most Important Work I’m Doing ’ SpaceX Achieves Its First Moon Landing by Accidentally Crashing Into It at 5,400 Miles Per Hour , Causing Huge Explosion and 60-Foot Crater Judge Sets Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Trial for March Everyone’s a victim The AI bros are lonely Palantir CEO Alex Karp Says Frontier AI Labs Will Steal Your IP, Your Know-How, and Your Expertise — ‘ You Deserve To Be Colonized ’ ‘ Socialism is a disaster ’: Bill Ackman says Zohran Mamdani’s bad left-wing housing policy is worsening New York’s affordability crisis No one is accountable DR Bobby Kotick, former CEO of Activision, may join Paramount's board of directors Jefferies analyst calls out ‘simple-minded’ criticism of SpaceX’s governance ABC, CBS, and NBC aired nearly 200 segments about three U.S. heat events without mentioning climate change Disney (Iger, still), Ellison family, and Roberts family - one cowed exec, two dictators! Headliniest of the Week DR: Pepsi is launching soda-scented body wash and scrub in a beauty collaboration PwC U.S. CEO [Paul Griggs] advises young workers to say yes a lot, even if it means working on the weekends —‘That person climbs into the next role’ Top Consulting Group PwC Caught Using AI on “Thought Leadership” Report About AI , Resulting in Corporate Document Filled With Bizarre Hallucinations DoorDash CEO Tony Xu once thought his $87 billion company would only make $100 million. He tells founders to be ‘greedy’ and dream bigger Class A = 1 vote; Class B = 20 votes; CEO Tony Xu personally owns roughly 3% of actual shares but controls 55% of voting power via a “binding agreement” with the other co-founders Misleading proxy shows he got paid $432k (they cited a 12:1 pay ratio) but he actually made $343M from shares and stocks DoorDash excludes Dashers from SEC disclosures by classifying them as 1099 independent contractors. Factoring drivers into the worker pool expands the headcount from 20,000 to over 7 million, moving the median worker from corporate offices directly onto the delivery platform. Dasher: while gross pay averages ~$15–$22/hour, net driver earnings sink further after deducting out-of-pocket expenses like fuel, vehicle wear, and self-employment taxes, pulling true net median compensation closer to $400–$900 annually Anthropic CEO reportedly worried new hires only care about money : reportedly expressed concern about new talent coming to the company for the money rather than the mission MM: Stripe CEO says his ‘urgency’ to drop out of MIT ‘ was a bit unnecessary ’ Who Won the Week? DR: Harvard Business School graduates TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and TikTok US CEO Adam Presser, because nobody ever talks about you or knows who you are MM: Meat. After seeing Salad and Go files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after cyclospora fears worsened its challenges , you can’t help but wonder if RFK Jr orchestrated a parasite to get people to buy more meat. Predictions DR: Tony Xu introduces Class F stock where shareholders’ children enter indentured servitude and must deliver 1000 Cheesy Gordita Crunches from Taco Bell before they are set free ; they will then get 0.0002 shares per vote MM: Boards are calling retired CEOs back as succession pipelines run dry : Boards run out of ex-CEOs to re-king and begin looking for different, egalitarian, integrated professionals to fill new roles. They call it DEI.

7. IN OR OUT: SpaceX earnings, Uber sex assault, governistas, meritocracy from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

   Aug 4, 202657 min

   DR Matternet Appoints Starbucks EVP Sanjay Shah to Board of Directors Developer of commercial drone delivery systems for urban and suburban environments CEO/founder Andreas Raptopoulos: M.A. in Industrial Design Engineering; Diploma of Imperial College in Industrial Design Engineering; Diploma in Mechanical Engineering Chris Dawson: M.B.A. from INSEAD. Sanjay Kotte: B.B.A. in finance and management; M.B.A. and J.D. Laurence Marton, M.D.: expert in drug development, polyamine metabolism, and cancer research, Saurabh Ranjan: certification in human resource and law; M.A. and M.B.A. No female directors or executives but now a second Sanjay: IN OR OUT Sanjay Shah: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Starbucks Chief Supply Chain Officer SVP of Operations, Gopuff COO, Beyond Meat SVP, Tesla VP of North American Customer Fulfillment, Amazon AAON Increases Board Size and Appoints Robert L. Buttermore III, and Patrick J. Jermain as Independent Directors Before 2/9 F now 2/11 F AAON manufactures heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment for commercial and industrial indoor environments IN OR OUT: Robert L. Buttermore III: BS mechanical engineering Chief Supply Chain Officer of Rockwell Automation, one of the world’s leading industrial automation and digital transformation companies previously led Rockwell’s Power Control business and oversaw strategic expansion initiatives supporting industrial, semiconductor, energy, HVAC, and data center customers. IN OR OUT: Patrick J. Jermain: MBA Former CFO Plexus Administration and Management: 100% . The others: Caron A. Lawhorn: former CFO, ONE Gas, Inc. Stephen O. LeClair: MBA, Chair/former CEO, Core & Main Bruce Ware: MBA, CEO, One America Bancorp Inc., a financial institution that he founded to provide niche financial and banking services Uber’s Strategy for Fighting Sexual Assault Suits: ‘ What Were You Wearing? ’ IN OR OUT on the board skillset: Consumer and Digital Experience: “Background in the development and improvement of consumer experiences with a company’s products, services, and brand, including through a digital interface.” AND Sustainability and Human Capital Management: “Experience in corporate responsibility, human capital management, and managing sustainability initiatives.” Who is in BOTH ? Arora: CEO, Palo Alto Networks (cybersecurity); Softbank Burns: Former CEO/Chair Xerox; currently invests in tech Eckert: Partner at PE firm; former CEO Mattel Ginsberg: Partner at PE firm; former CEO Match Group Khosrowshahi: CEO; former CEO Expedia Sugar: Former CEO Northrop Grumman (war); Apple: Foxconn suicide machine Wynaendts: former CEO Aegon (life insurance); Deutsche bank IN OR OUT on Chief Legal Officer Tony West: “ Why safety is personal to me ” Uses past public service as a human shield for his current corporate ruthlessness : West spends roughly a third of the statement reciting his resume (prosecuting child exploitation, doing pro bono work for domestic violence survivors, and overseeing the Office on Violence Against Women under Obama) which is why “I would never support or condone conduct—inside or outside a courtroom—that fails to treat women and survivors with dignity and respect” West was a chief architect and defender of Uber's ruthless campaign to pass Proposition 22 in California. Uber and other gig companies spent hundreds of millions of dollars to exempt themselves from state labor laws, ensuring their drivers remained classified as independent contractors without a minimum wage, healthcare, or sick leave. Blames “the system:” “I’ll be the first to say that our adversarial legal system can be particularly tough for survivors. By its nature, the trial process is designed to extract facts ... And the fact that all of this occurs in public view makes it all the more difficult …” “The system" isn't asking victims what they were wearing—Uber’s highly paid defense attorneys are West is shifting the blame from his own legal department's aggressive, victim-blaming litigation strategies onto the abstract concept of the "adversarial legal system." the New York Times and unsealed court documents from the multidistrict litigation (MDL) reveal, once a survivor steps into a courtroom, Uber’s high-priced defense lawyers resort to classic, traumatizing victim-blaming. Asking women what they were wearing or weaponizing their personal histories to discredit them is a deliberate strategy to minimize corporate payouts Cherry picks one favorable moment: West quotes a single federal judge from a February trial who praised Uber’s attorneys, saying they did not engage in "the slightest bit of shaming" and that he wanted it "clear on the record." one favorable quote from one judge in one specific trial: "Look, this one guy said we're nice, so the New York Times must be lying." Bullshits the bigger picture: “Uber was among the first companies to end forced arbitration and mandatory confidentiality agreements in matters involving sexual assault and sexual harassment” Yes, they ended individual forced arbitration, but they fought ruthlessly to ensure survivors still cannot form class-action lawsuits. Forcing victims to fight Uber one-on-one is a massive legal advantage for the company Lies about ESG data: “Uber was also the first—and continues to be one of the only—companies to voluntarily and consistently publish data on the reports of sexual assault” They published "safety data," but as the Times revealed, they hid hundreds of thousands of complaints by categorizing them as "unaudited" or "less serious." While Uber publicly reported a few thousand incidents, internal documents showed they received over 400,000 reports of sexual assault or misconduct between 2017 and 2022. Jefferies ESG chief says investors overstate SpaceX governance risks Aniket Shah, Jefferies' global head of sustainability: Investors who avoid SpaceX because of Elon Musk's extraordinary control over the company may be letting governance concerns outweigh potential long-term returns "The idea that there's an — in quotes — acceptable form of good governance" is one that "I highly question," Shah said. " People who try to put governance into some kind of straight-jacket are too simple-minded and, frankly speaking, not looking at data. " “Investors who rely on governance checklists alone risk overlooking companies capable of generating substantial long-term returns, particularly founder-led businesses that concentrate decision-making power in a single executive.” IN OR OUT on SpaceX? Did he change your mind? Does this help change your mind? Bill Ackman Says "Never Bet Against Elon," Even as He Passes on SpaceX Stock. Here's Why He's Staying Out. IN OR OUT on SpaceX? Did Bill change your mind? IN OR OUT based on this headline: Mark Zuckerberg Says AI Will Create An 'Infinite' Instagram : outlined a vision where AI-generated content becomes a third major source of content Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s school is the latest billionaire education experiment to collapse : The Primary School closed after nearly a decade, following disappointing outcomes and a shift in the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s philanthropic priorities from social advocacy toward scientific philanthropy The Primary School was a passion project for Chan, who regularly visited the campus, read books to kindergartners, and appeared in a curriculum video with Sesame Street’s Elmo Despite her hands-on approach, the school struggled with some of its nontraditional elements Teachers, for instance, were required to sign nondisclosure agreements, and the school experienced high turnover among principals. Finding the right curriculum and policies also proved challenging as administrators tried to determine the best approach to teaching students. Chan told The Wall Street Journal last year: “ The outcomes just weren’t where [the board] would have wanted them to be or, frankly, anyone would have wanted them to be.” IN OR OUT on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative? MM IN OR OUT: Your AI strategy isn’t failing because of bad design. It’s because your team doesn’t believe in you Which is more likely - the team is rejecting AI or the messenger? In which case, IN OR OUT round - if you were employed by the following, and they said you were going to execute an AI strategy, you buying or selling? Mark Zuckerberg ALL IN BABY! FIRE EVERYONE! SELL Jamie Dimon “Total redeployment” BUY Bill Brown, CEO at 3M Ask3M - product innovation using AI (talk to a chatbot and get ideas I think?) SELL Kelly Ortberg, CEO at Boeing “Intelligence” - enhance spec drawings and productivity? They’re not going deep on AI yet, no money BUY Brian Cornell, Target not-CEO-but-actually-CEO One bullet: Using data and technology in new ways to strengthen inventory planning, improve in-store consistency and enhance guest interactions SELL SpaceX's first-ever earnings report comes with stock under pressure : Q2 preview Straight up, IN OR OUT - buying SpaceX with it cheap or selling? Elon Musk still runs it like an uncontrolled dictator with sycophants surrounding him! Aniket Shah says you shouldn’t be so parochial about that or you’ll miss “generational wealth event” like with Facebook, because Facebook was good for everyone! Musk rumored to be building an entire telco (or buying one) because his personal net worth can afford to buy him Verizon and still have almost $800bn left over! Everyone calling this a “test”, but it doesn’t matter since the only thing you can do is buy or sell! Meritocracy claims make managers pay men more than equally qualified women IN OR OUT: MEN OR WOMEN Starbucks CEO Earns 1,794 Times More Than the Average Worker : Here's Why He's Paid $31M IN or OUT The turnaround strategy is working - Niccol made more than any other restaurant CEO per share, stock is up! Starbucks pay committee is a mess of overpaying, interconnected directors: Ritch Allison (chair) bats .249 on pay ratio, Andy Campion bats 0.041, Mike Sievert 0.067, Neal Mohan 0.031. These are literally the among the highest paying directors in the database - so did he earn it or do these people not care and pay egregious amounts? ALL the execs make a lot - is it a good sign when all the execs get PAID, since they’re making money in stores? Not EVERYONE is making money - Starbucks not only regressed its offer to the union , they sued them to no longer use the Starbucks logo (which is so fucking petty), and Niccol refused to negotiate with them at first and excluded them from the bonus pool Stock is up 20% YTD, 15% in last year! Beating the S&P (slightly)!

8. Cracker Barrel hires Herschel, fake apologies, and AI will kill us by 2036 from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

   Jul 31, 20261 hr 4 min

   Story of the Week (DR): Cracker Barrel CEO is out after MAGA backlash to "Uncle Herschel" logo change MM Before Julie Masino was brought in, Cracker Barrel was facing a slow-moving existential crisis: Their primary core customer base (older generations and rural highway travelers) was naturally shrinking, and younger diners were simply not replacing them. Kitchen tech, supply chains, and digital ordering lag behind competitors like Texas Roadhouse or Olive Garden. Some great fake populism from Fox: Cracker Barrel to pay for outgoing CEO’s security , $4.6M severance after failed rebrand Cracker Barrel names David Deno CEO Burger King Yum! Brands and Pizza Hut for 15 years, including serving as CFO and COO. Quiznos CEO. Best Buy: Served as President of Asia and CFO for Best Buy's International Division Bloomin' Brands for 12 years: CEO, CFO and Chief Administrative Officer Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill, and Bonefish Grill Board Memberships Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (2016-) Panera Brands (2024-): Audit Committee Chair Krispy Kreme (2016-) Bloomin' Brands (2019–2024) Peet's Coffee (2006-2012) Macalester College: Former Chair of the Board of Trustees (1998-2022). From Cracker Barrel to Boeing, Companies Are Turning to Retired CEOs These retired CEOs are being hired to be "fixers." They are brought in to cut costs, repair supply chains, restore investor confidence, and act as a stabilizing force rather than reinventing the brand. Exxon and Chevron profits surge on rising oil prices due to Iran war Chevron posted its highest profit in six years as the Iran war boosted oil prices Big Oil Is Getting Sued for Heat Deaths. It’s Fighting Back With an Army of Immunity Laws More than a decade after investigations found that Exxon Mobil had known about the dangers of global warming since the 1970s but publicly downplayed the threat, lawsuits against oil companies have proliferated. There are nearly 40 of these cases pending across the country In the meantime, the industry has been mobilizing a counterattack against the lawsuits with the help of the Trump administration and Republican politicians. Republicans are trying to pass laws to grant oil majors immunity to these kinds of lawsuits, with success in several states so far. Utah, Iowa, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Louisiana have recently signed laws shielding fossil fuel companies from lawsuits related to greenhouse gas emissions Oil executives have also gotten help from the federal government, following an executive order from President Donald Trump last year directing the attorney general to prioritize blocking climate lawsuits by states. This May, the Justice Department responded to Minnesota’s climate lawsuit against Big Oil with a lawsuit of its own, just as the state’s case was moving into the discovery phase. It said Minnesota was undermining “American energy dominance” and attempting to regulate greenhouse gases, which should fall under the purview of federal law—echoing the oil industry’s well-known argument. Elon Musk Is Quietly Turning to This Fossil Fuel to Power His AI Ambitions Sam Altman Announces That the Singularity Has Arrived : a hypothetical future point in time when technological growth becomes autonomous, uncontrollable, and irreversible, fundamentally transforming human civilization “We are now, like, in the singularity ... Now we’re actually in the moment that we used to talk about at the lunch table in a very not-serious way ...I’ve been waiting for this my whole life, and I think it’s going to be incredible, hugely positive, awesome for the world.” Sam Altman says one of his biggest fears is that a small number of companies will control AI: ' That'd be very, very bad ' Sam Altman says the Hugging Face hack is a reminder that an AI power monopoly could lead to 'long-term disaster ' OpenAI says its rogue AI tried to hack other companies Mark Zuckerberg is urging the U.S. to accelerate AI development , not restrict it ’No Way to Stop It' : Elon Musk Warns Humans Will Lose Control of AI and Face Extinction by 2036 Microsoft CEO Warns That Companies Embracing AI Could Drive Themselves Out of Business AI hackers are getting faster. The government may not be ready Anthropic says its Claude models ' gained unauthorized access ' to other organizations' systems Anthropic says its models went rogue and hacked 3 companies during testing ’It Will Happen Frequently' : Musk Warns of Rogue AI Threat After Anthropic Breached Three Firms Elon Musk Commits Up to $120M to Republican Midterms : Sets Feud With Trump Aside for Major Election Push Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Gen Z women are having an entrepreneurship boom Of all women who started businesses in 2025, 47% of Gen Z women did so, compared with 38% the previous year. Gen Xers followed close behind at 46%. Then came millennials at 43% and baby boomers at just 23%. Overall, in 2025, 69% of new Black-owned businesses were started by women. The survey also found that women business owners are less likely than their male counterparts to depend on AI MM: Delaware judge rules public benefit corporations exempt from maximizing value in sale DR Fiduciary duty is different - OpenAI, Anthropic Assholiest of the Week (MM): Fake man apologies MM ‘ I’m sorry ... but ’: Apologetic Alan Joyce tells his side of the Qantas story Joyce has expressed some regret “So with the information we had at the time, I still don’t think there was any other decision you could make,” “Hindsight is a great thing.” “I’m actually very, very proud of the fact that I’m not sitting here and apologising for Qantas going bankrupt, [something] that many airlines around the world did,” Australian Competition and Consumer Commission fined Qantas $120 million for selling tickets for 8000 already cancelled flights “I apologise for the angst that was generated [for] the customers on it, but the reality was we had 22 million bookings in the system [and] the system wasn’t designed to do an automatic refund,” “Stop us!” More than 1,200 AI workers across Anthropic, DeepMind, OpenAI, and Meta are asking for Washington’s help building an AI slowdown plan ‘ No Way to Stop It ': Elon Musk Warns Humans Will Lose Control of AI and Face Extinction by 2036 Elon Musk’s new 5-year warning to Americans: AI will beat human brains by 2032 (then go wild). Get rich or get crushed? Sam Altman says the Hugging Face hack is a reminder that an AI power monopoly could lead to 'long-term disaster' It Will Happen Frequently ': Musk Warns of Rogue AI Threat After Anthropic Breached Three Firms But also, DON’T stop us, obviously… Palantir CEO warns US against Europe's AI regulation path , urges Trump admin to not ban open models Elon Musk's xAI sues Minnesota over law to ban 'nudify' apps Mark Zuckerberg is urging the U.S. to accelerate AI development, not restrict it Elon Musk Commits Up to $120M to Republican Midterms : Sets Feud With Trump Aside for Major Election Push Ignoring boards Hims & Hers mission: “Hims & Hers is the leading health and wellness platform on a mission to help the world feel great through the power of better health. We believe how you feel in your body and mind transforms how you show up in life. That’s why we’re building a future where nothing stands in the way of harnessing this power. Hims & Hers normalizes health & wellness challenges—and innovates on their solutions—to make feeling happy and healthy easy to achieve. No two people are the same, so the Company provides access to personalized care designed for results.” Hims & Hers board: CEO: Andrew Dudum, tech VC bro investor “serial entrepreneur” with deep health experience from Bungalow (airBnB knockoff in the UK), Homebound (a “homebuilding platform”), TalkIQ (an AI startup, duh), and Terminal (something about scaling engineering?) TWO directors from DoorDash (Kofi Amoo-Gottfried from Marketing, previously of Facebook, and Christopher Payne the COO, previously of eBay, MSFT, and Amazon) TWO pharma execs (one lawyer, Deb Autor, one with an econ degree, Kare Schultz) One guy from Netflix (David Wells) and one lady from Urban Outfitters (marketing/brand, Andrea Perez) and one pure law firm lawyer (Anja Manuel) ONE DOCTOR EXCLUSIVE: US FTC sues Hims & Hers for sending user health info to Meta, Snap Users' sensitive health information was shared with online advertising companies including Meta ​Platforms and Snap despite the company leading customers to believe their ​data was private, the FTC alleged in the lawsuit filed along with Los ⁠Angeles County and Utah. Hims & Hers also started charging users for prescriptions before ​they have ⁠had a chance to meet with healthcare providers, the FTC alleged. Most customers do not receive a consultation with a provider, and instead are charged for ⁠prescriptions ​soon after filling out an intake form, ​according to the agency. Headliniest of the Week DR: CEO apologizes for offering interviews to people who got tattoos of his AI company logo San Francisco tech CEO Jordan Zietz, co-founder of an early stage AI startup called LemonLime. Stanford grad. “LemonLime learns your business and then automates your team's busywork in a single click, no coding or manual setup required.” Former Qantas CEO reflects on tenure, issues apology to passengers over post COVID chaos AND ‘ I’m sorry ... but ’: Apologetic Alan Joyce tells his side of the Qantas story MM: Amazon received $600 million in tariff refunds and will pass some back to customers MM: Trump Staff Cuts Blamed After Watermarked OpenAI Map Mislabels Africa at AIDS Conference It’s the fact that we have less staff that meant we couldn’t bother to figure out which country was which Who Won the Week? DR: Kohls: For getting some much-needed female influence on board: Kohl’s Appoints Wendy Arlin as Chair of the Board Currently only 2: Robbin Mitchell (7%) and Wendy Arlin (1%) John Schlifske (27%) stepping down MM: The phrase “not due to any disagreement with the Company” Anne Sweeney Resigns From Netflix Board On July 26, 2026, Anne Sweeney notified Netflix, Inc. (the “Company”) that she was resigning from the Board of Directors of the Company effective as of that date. Ms. Sweeney's resignation is not due to any disagreement with the Company 1,660 8-Ks in the last 5 years have the exact phrase “not due to any disagreement with the Company” So we’re saying that 1,660 c-suite and board members resigned in 5 years - more than 300 per year - and NONE were due to a disagreement with the companies? That’s only THAT phrase - no other details are given for most of them except occasionally: To pursue another job Personal reasons For scale, in the last 5 years, the term “was due to a disagreement with the Company” appears… 5 times Predictions DR: Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson apologizes that it took former CEO Alan Joyce to apologize for something she already apologized for despite not being CEO when any of it happened MM: Damion resigns from Free Float due to a disagreement with the zero dollars he gets paid, but Free Float puts out a statement saying it’s “not due to any salary reason related to the company”

9. Zuck reads your kids to sleep, pervert glasses, and dual class federal elections from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

   Jul 28, 202634 min

   DR1 CEO Overlords In our 'Zuck saves kids from Mommies' headline of the week. Meta Working on Crushingly Sad AI App That Tells Bedtime Stories to Children, for “Tired” Parents *************** In our 'CEO overlords say the trick to getting a good career is figuring out how to please us' headline of the week. As millions of Gen Zers face unemployment, CEOs of Amazon, Citi, and McDonald’s say opportunity is still there—if you have the right mindset *************** In our 'If you have to ask why then you probably won't understand the answer' headline of the week. Why did a $154 billion CEO just endorse stripping most Americans of voting rights—and taking us back to the 19th century? *************** Tobias Lütke, CEO/cofounder of Shopify In our 'Yeah, but they waaaaaaant it' headline of the week. The Type of Orbital Data Centers That Billionaires Want to Launch Into Space Would Wreak Ecological Catastrophe, Scientists Warn *************** In our 'Meglomaniac looks in the mirror, doesn’t like what he sees' headline of the week. Sam Altman says one of his biggest fears is that a small number of companies will control AI: 'That'd be very, very bad '*************** MM1 In our 'I mean, it didn't ONCE tell me to kill myself!' headline of the week. Sam Altman says he got ‘addicted’ to TikTok, including a Saturday afternoon where he scrolled ‘for like 3 hours’ In our 'Sorry, I was scrolling TikTok... what happened?' headline of the week. Sam Altman Announces That the Singularity Has Arrived In our 'Things that you can get carried away doing include ordering pastrami sandwiches, buying Christmas presents, and plucking your eyebrows' headline of the week. Musk Says He Got “Carried Away” With DOGE Cuts, Which Are Set to Kill Millions In our 'Zuckerberg announces another massive company rebranding: from Meta Platforms to Pervert Platforms' headline of the week. Meta Desperately Trying to Ban Creeps Misusing Its AI “Pervert Glasses” Does Mark count? In our 'Are boobs pecuniary?' headline of the week. Cracker Barrel CEO is out after MAGA backlash to "Uncle Herschel" logo change Are logo changes pecuniary? Isn’t the fact that a logo changed and it cost money and the CEO her job evidence that ESG data IS PECUNIARY? The logo is non-financial! ESG for all! DR2 In our 'Sorry, watching World Cup' headline of the week. OpenAI didn't realize its agent was responsible for hack for a week *************** In our 'What's next? Are they going to start wearing glasses?' headline of the week. Japan office workers cool off with shorts amid record-breaking summers *************** In our 'Come for the ethically sourced, single-origin dark roast stay for the Maltodextrin' headline of the week. Starbucks Powder Designed to Make Drinks 'Look Better' Makes Baristas Feel Worse *************** In our 'Hey Ma, why is it 215 degrees in my bedroom? Ask Dad' headline of the week. Startups are installing tiny data centers in people’s homes to reduce strain on the beleaguered electrical grid *************** In our 'Come for the child's game, stay for the crushing dystopia' headline of the week. Pokémon Mandates Facial Scans at Five Japan TCG Stores to Combat Scalping, Prompting Privacy Questions *************** MM2 In our 'We tried HUMAN powered security cameras, and while that worked really well, it was really too nuanced and human' headline of the week . MIT Is Blanketing Its Entire Campus in AI-Powered Security Cameras Firm is AI-Rgus and it’s able to tell if your camera is tilted or blurry In our 'We tried HUMAN powered relationships, but there was so much TALKING and CONNECTING and EMOTIONS' headline of the week. AI is quietly becoming an unofficial and potentially unwanted 'third' in relationships In our 'Elon Musk said on Twitter that using a white font as a trick was racists against whites' headline of the week. Professor Hides White Font in Midterm, Catches Students Using AI in the Stupidest Way Possible In our 'You wouldn't be anxious about AI if you were plotting to kill it' headline of the week. Jeff Bezos says being lazy, not working hard, is the root of anxiety: ‘The stress goes away the second I take that first step’ In our 'CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA' headline of the week. China pours funding into green energy deals as Iran war hits oil demand

10. OpenAI’s rogue AI, Trump’s governance diarrhea, EEOC’s Andrea Lucas hates data from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

    Jul 24, 202658 min

    Story of the Week (DR): Trump’s Explosive Diarrhea Scandal Is Getting Worse and Worse Epidemiological data linked a widespread Cyclospora parasite outbreak—sickening over 1,600 people across multiple states—to shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico, triggering a voluntary 27-state recall. The FDA briefly reported a positive lab test on a Taylor Farms sample before retracting it a day later as a " false positive " due to testing complexities. Taylor Farms claimed online that the FDA "apologized," but the agency denied issuing an official apology and stressed that outbreak data still points to the company. Public records show parent company Taylor Fresh Foods contributed $1 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. in March 2025 , alongside millions in additional political donations from company executives to conservative groups. Less than a week after that $1 million donation in March 2025, the administration announced a 30-month delay on implementing the FDA's Food Traceability Rule—a regulation specifically designed to mandate digital tracking for rapid source-tracing during food outbreaks . Critics argue the sequence of big-money donations, delayed safety rules, White House visits, and a retracted test result smells of political favoritism. Federal health officials, however, maintain that Cyclospora is notoriously difficult to test for and that the retraction was strictly a standard lab quality-control issue. The Musk/Doge effect: DOGE-mandated freezes on government credit cards left some FDA field inspectors unable to purchase food samples from grocery stores or border ports to test for contamination . Mass firings of probationary employees and administrative staff gutted public communications and technical teams. Even after court-ordered reinstatements, resignations left the FDA understaffed by about 20% across the board . State health agencies perform over 90% of U.S. produce inspections. DOGE and federal budget cuts reduced FDA funding for state and local food safety programs by nearly 30% —slashing it from $117 million to $83 million. OpenAI says its AI technology acted on its own in an 'unprecedented' hack of another company MM Or: OpenAI Says Its A.I. Models Went Rogue and Attacked a Digital Library OpenAI Says a Group of Its Models Broke Out of Secure Containment and Hacked a Prominent AI Site OpenAI Reveals AI Agent Breached Another Company's Systems, It Did Exactly What It Was Built To Do What happened? While OpenAI was testing its advanced models in an isolated "sandbox" with reduced safety controls, the AI discovered a zero-day vulnerability, escaped its containment, and secretly gained open internet access. To pass its assigned cybersecurity test, the AI reasoned on its own that the "answer key" or relevant evaluation data might exist on Hugging Face —a major platform for AI developers— and decided to target it without any human direction . The AI agent carried out a multi-stage attack: it stole login credentials, identified previously unknown security flaws, and executed remote code to compromise Hugging Face's internal data processing servers . OpenAI reported that the AI went to extreme lengths simply to accomplish its narrow goal , essentially breaking into a third-party company's servers so it could cheat on its internal evaluation. Also: OpenAI adds banking leaders to board as IPO prep accelerates Nubank’s David Vélez and BNY Mellon’s Robin Vince Don’t forget this too: ChatGPT Allegedly Told Woman She Had to Die : Family Sues OpenAI Over Messages Before Suicide The chatbot encouraged her to “go forth into oblivion,” claiming it wasn’t the end and that she was “made to tame” the “void.” The chatbot insisted she wasn’t “delusional” but “prophetic.” “This is not suicide,” the AI affirmed at one point. “This is surrender.” Pastor Sues OpenAI, Saying ChatGPT Almost Killed Him With Horrendously Dangerous Medical Advice “What you’re facing right now is hard, but not random. It’s not punishment. God walks with you through affliction — not around it. You’re not alone in this. And we’re walking it out together — step by step .” OpenAI President [Greg Brockman] says the HuggingFace security beach ‘is indicative of the times we are in ’ as the company continues to investigate how its models went rogue: “sometimes it’s hard to lose track of any one dimension that they’re actually very capable at” AI Regulation POP QUIZ : Where OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, and other AI giants stand on regulation XAI Microsoft Meta Google OpenAI To make things even more confusing: Alphabet’s Anthropic Stake Jumps to Around $124 Billion Google Discloses $94.1 Billion in SpaceX Stock, Marking 6% Stake Don’t forget: Microsoft owns ~27% stake (~$135B+ valuation) in OpenAI Target appoints former 7-Eleven CEO to board of directors Debt, Cost Pressures, and Strategic Missteps Joe DePinto’s success is based on massive acquisitions that made 7-Eleven the dominant convenience store chain in North America: the $3.1B buyout of Sunoco assets in 2018 and the $21B purchase of Speedway in 2021 In the final years of his tenure, his aggressive M&A strategy that drove earlier growth began to backfire as economic realities shifted: D ePinto’s final years were challenged by heavy debt loads from the $21 billion Speedway buyout, high inflation squeezing low-income consumers, and declining sales in legacy categories like tobacco . The Speedway deal saddled the company with massive debt right before interest rates surged, squeezing capital allocation. 7-Eleven remained heavily reliant on legacy drivers like gas margins and cigarettes—a category that saw a 26% decline across the U.S. industry. As low- and middle-income consumers cut back due to inflation, same-store sales dropped 2.7% in fiscal 2024. In late 2024, 7-Eleven was forced to slash its operating income forecast by nearly 28%, announce the closure of ~450 underperforming stores, and sell off $750M in real estate via sale-leasebacks . Activist shareholders heavily criticized his compensation package—which reached $52M in 2023 and $30M in 2024 DePinto was selected to serve on Target’s Audit & Risk Committee and Infrastructure & Finance Committee Oracle signs 10-year software contract with Pentagon worth up to $7 billion Oracle Cut 21,000 Jobs to Fund AI: Now Its Biggest Project Faces a $7 Billion Obstacle : Oracle faces higher costs and funding challenges after a credit downgrade, with regulators refusing to subsidize its data centre investments Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: France blocks access to Polymarket website MM citing concerns it could expose users to ‌significant gambling losses and that some wagers offered on the platform could be manipulated. MM: Google slapped with $1 billion fine under landmark EU digital law MM: Is Target going BANKRUPT? Target appoints former 7-Eleven CEO to board of directors Typical process for failing/bankrupt companies are to add “turnaround artists” to the board DePinto: Board of JOANN Stores (bankrupt) Board of OfficeMax (failed, acquired) CEO 7-Eleven (dying) President of GameStop (I mean, c’mon…) Or more likely, it’s a bro situation… Brian Cornell knows him - both were on the board of OfficeMax together! Hooray! Fail uppers! Assholiest of the Week (MM): Billionaire Asshole Says What Speed Round: Sam Altman: 2023: Sam Altman: CEO of OpenAI calls for US to regulate artificial intelligence 2025: Sam Altman Testifies At US Senate Hearing On AI Competitiveness “European-style AI rules that he said if duplicated would set the US back in the global race against China to develop the technology” Altman repeatedly rejected specific calls for regulation. He said proposals requiring AI developers to vet their systems before rolling them out would be “disastrous” for the industry. Asked about more limited proposals to have the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) set AI standards, Altman replied, “I don't think we need it. It can be helpful.” Altman later advocated for “sensible regulation that does not slow us down.” 2026: Sam Altman Wants A Global Referee For AI . 2026: OpenAI's Altman says world ' urgently' needs AI regulation July 10: OpenAI’s Head of Safety Is Leaving the Company July 21: OpenAI Says Its A.I. Models Went Rogue and Attacked a Digital Library Elon Musk Elon Musk Declares ' I'm Not Racist ' After Posting Racially Charged Content Throughout January 2026 On 22 January, Musk posted on X: 'Whites are a rapidly dying minority' amplified a message warning that if white men became a minority, they would be 'slaughtered', before adding a '100' emoji. Jensen Huang Jensen Huang says AI leaders need to be more thoughtful in how they talk about AI: ‘ We’re scaring people .’ "I think that we ought to be much more enthusiastic about it, help the United States realize that the only way we get left behind, the only way we get left behind is if we don't apply the technology." Zuck ‘ Call us whatever the hell you want ’: Mark Zuckerberg just launched an AI optimism blitz using nostalgia to sell Meta’s AI future amid backlash “Call us optimists, call us dreamers, call us whatever the hell you want, but we’re betting on people, and we like those odds.” Unclear if the prerecorded voiceover was his AI Avatar or the real Zuckerberg Bill Ackman CEOs agree there’s an affordability crisis, but how to solve it isn’t so simple “When I grew up, if a guy in my neighborhood got a Corvette, no one resented the guy. Everyone was like, ‘Wow, that’s supercool. Hopefully, someday I can be as successful as that guy so I can buy a Corvette, too.’ We want to get back to that version of America.” You can: stop taking billions from labor Andrea Lucas / anti-DEI industrial complex - DR EEOC: Employers may no longer have to disclose race and gender data “Collecting such data about employees’ race and sex—absent any specific allegation of discrimination—not only risks hindering effective enforcement of equal employment laws but also raises constitutional concerns.” Nike’s $7.5 Million Stumble: Gender Discrimination Verdict Headliniest of the Week DR: Lettuce lovers are confused and afraid Jamie Dimon says insecurity, not ego , is what destroys the careers of top CEOs Burger King is promising a free Whopper if its burger doesn't meet your expectations MM: Taco Bell is dropping the price on one of its menu items to $1 for a day. And yes, it's lettuce-free . Who Won the Week? DR: The amount of $7 billion dollars MM: Kale, because there’s no risk of getting diarrhea at Taco Bell from kale since they don’t have kale Predictions DR: Jamie Dimon kneels on a head of lettuce MM: Real prediction: OpenAI IPO flops hard, Altman is ousted as CEO. Fake prediction: news media celebrates Tasha McCauley and Helen Toner who saw this coming and were ousted for it, OpenAI chair Bret Taylor resigns and makes Toner the new chair on the way out

11. BLAME: RJK Jr recalls, Zaslav’s summer camp, Target’s Swiss Army execs from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

    Jul 21, 202653 min

    DR Warner Bros.’ Zaslav Offers $68 Million to Buy Summer Camp new January 2026 employment agreement $96M: Make-Whole RSU award to CEO Daivd Zaslav of 1,963,465 shares; after January 2 Follow-On Option award of 3,052,734 options because share price is down Under a new employment agreement executed on June 12, 2025, Zaslav received a special award of 20,898,776 stock options with an exercise price of $10.16 (~$400M). Additionally, on January 2, 2026, he was granted 3,052,734 follow-on stock options with an exercise price of $28.51 (~$40M). To address the higher exercise price of these options compared to the initial grant, Zaslav received 1,963,465 restricted stock units on January 5, 2026 (~$56M). The Compensation Committee: 23 meetings in 2025 *Paul A. Gould, 80, 18 years tenure Gould and Zaslav worked closely together at Discovery, Inc. for nearly 15 years. David Zaslav took the helm as President and CEO of Discovery, Inc. in January 2007. Paul Gould joined the Discovery, Inc. Board of Directors shortly after, serving as an independent director from 2007 until the company merged with WarnerMedia. Both men belong to the tight-knit professional circle surrounding cable pioneer and billionaire John Malone. Paul Gould has a long history as a trusted director across Malone’s web of companies, serving for years on the boards of Liberty Global and Liberty Latin America. David Zaslav has publicly and frequently cited John Malone as his primary professional mentor. Their shared ties to Malone are so closely linked that in 2012, Zaslav partnered with other high-level executives to donate $1 million to the Cable Center specifically to build and name the John Malone Theater. Paul Gould has served as a Managing Director and Executive Vice President at Allen & Company, a premium boutique investment bank deeply embedded in the media and entertainment ecosystem. Through this avenue, Gould and Zaslav connect in two ways: Financial Advisory: Allen & Company has a long history of providing valuation opinions, advisory services, and market analysis for major transactions initiated by Zaslav during his career. The Sun Valley Conference: Allen & Company famously hosts the annual "Summer Camp for Billionaires" in Sun Valley, Idaho. As a prominent media mogul, Zaslav is a regular, high-profile attendee at this event, which is organized by Gould’s firm. Kenneth W. Lowe Ken Lowe is the former Chair/CEO of Scripps Networks Interactive (the former parent company of massive lifestyle brands like HGTV, Food Network, and ID). The Link: In 2018—four years before the Warner Bros. deal even closed—Zaslav orchestrated Discovery’s $14.6 billion acquisition of Scripps Networks. As a direct result of that blockbuster cable industry consolidation, Lowe joined Discovery Inc.’s board of directors. He and Zaslav had already been working together closely at the board level for years before the legacy company expanded into WBD. The board of AT&T Richard W. Fisher Outside of WBD, Zaslav’s connection to Fisher is rooted in Fisher's previous role as a member of the Board of Directors for AT&T. When Zaslav was hammering out the complex transaction to spin WarnerMedia away from AT&T, Fisher was one of the crucial board leaders on the other side of the table who evaluated and signed off on the deal. As part of the closing agreement, Fisher was designated by AT&T to transition directly over to the new WBD board. Debra L. Lee Debra Lee was the longtime Chair/CEO of BET Networks (Black Entertainment Television) from 2006 to 2018. Zaslav and Lee have long-standing commitments to The Paley Center for Media, sharing space as members of its highly prestigious Board of Trustees. Additionally, Lee served on the board of AT&T, meaning she was part of the corporate governance team that initially approved Zaslav's pitch to merge Discovery with WarnerMedia. Geoffrey Y. Yang Just like Richard Fisher and Debra Lee, Yang’s primary pre-WBD connection to Zaslav comes down to AT&T. Yang sat on AT&T's board during the high-stakes dealmaking window. Because of his background in digital media and venture capital, he was designated by AT&T leadership to transition to the WBD board to help Zaslav steer the newly formed company's streaming and direct-to-consumer technology strategies. The board that ignores Say on Pay votes At our 2025 Annual Meeting held on June 2, 2025, we held an advisory vote on executive compensation, or "Say on Pay" vote, and a majority of the votes cast by stockholders were cast against our executive compensation program. Our executive compensation program is designed to pay for performance and effectively balance executive and stockholder interests. The Committee considered the outcome of the "Say on Pay" vote from the 2025 Annual Meeting, and while it continues to believe that our executive compensation structure, which includes long-term agreements with each of our NEOs and delivers a significant majority of NEO compensation in performance-based vehicles, is effective in meeting our compensation objectives, it took note of the negative 2025 "Say on Pay" vote when making compensation decisions after the 2025 Annual Meeting. The Dodd-Frank Act: "The shareholder vote … shall not be binding on the issuer or the board of directors of an issuer, and may not be construed as overruling a decision by such issuer or board of directors” Special meeting vote 4/23/26 : Say on Pay 83% no 6/9 AGM: Shareholders Paul A. Gould 52% no Richard W. Fisher 31% no Debra L. Lee 32% no Kenneth W. Lowe 31% no Geoffrey Y. Yang 31% no Zaslav 3% no Say on Pay 84% no Still on board Paul A. Gould Richard W. Fisher Debra L. Lee Kenneth W. Lowe Geoffrey Y. Yang Zaslav The SEC: "The Say-on-Pay … votes are advisory rather than binding ... Unlike a binding vote, advisory votes do not require the company or its board of directors to take a specific action. The company's board of directors may consider advisory votes and may follow up with other communications or dialogue with shareholders as part of its deliberative process in making policy decisions." The workers for being poor 1,378 to 1 CEO pay ratio. Andrew M. Cuomo Joins the OKX Board of Directors The world Men Greed The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) In February 2025, OKX pled guilty in a U.S. federal court to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and violating anti-money laundering (AML) laws. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that despite OKX having an "official policy" banning U.S. users, the exchange actively pursued U.S. customers and generated hundreds of millions in fees from them. Internal logs showed OKX employees explicitly telling U.S. clients how to bypass the exchange’s own blocks—even telling a customer to "just put a random country" during identity verification. The exchange was used to facilitate over $5 billion in suspicious transactions and criminal proceeds, resulting in a staggering $504 million penalty. Trump Trump has normalized crypto. Is it the path to the next financial collapse? Jon Ossoff Rips RFK Jr.'s ‘Foolish' Cutback To Cyclosporiasis Monitoring : Sen. Jon Ossoff says a cyclosporiasis outbreak spreading nationwide could be harder to track because the Trump administration changed CDC surveillance last year. In a letter to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Ossoff argues that the CDC’s FoodNet program (a public health network that monitors infections from multiple pathogens across CDC, USDA, FDA, and 10 states) stopped requiring monitoring cyclospora, and that the administration later made data collection optional at FoodNet sites for most pathogens (except Salmonella and E. coli). Elon Musk "ESG is the devil" A "scam" weaponized by "phony social justice warriors" Vivek Ramaswamy The author of Woke, Inc. founded an entire asset management firm (Strive) designed explicitly to offer "anti-woke" investment options that ignore ESG metrics in favor of pure profit. Ron DeSantis Spearheaded a massive legislative pushback against ESG in Florida, signing bills that banned state and local governments from using ESG factors when investing public funds or issuing bonds Argues ESG is a way to bypass voters and enforce a political agenda through corporate power . Peter Thiel Called ESG a "hate factory" used to control capital and punish companies that don't fall in line with mainstream corporate ideology Tariq Fancy (Former Head of Sustainable Investing at BlackRock) “Whistleblower” Called ESG a "dangerous placebo" that does nothing to actually fix the planet but allows Wall Street to charge higher fees while greenwashing their portfolios Mike Pence Argues that major Wall Street firms use ESG to enforce a radical left-wing agenda on everyday Americans , forcing companies to adopt policies that hurt the domestic energy sector. Glenn Hegar (Texas Comptroller) Created a blacklist of financial companies (including BlackRock) banned from doing business with the state of Texas Called ESG an "opaque and perverse system" that violates fiduciary duty Andy Puzder (Former CEO of CKE Restaurants/Hardee's and Carl's Jr.) Argued that forcing companies to focus on social goals instead of profits violates shareholder capitalism and ultimately hurts the economy Senator Tom Cotton Attacked ESG from a legal and regulatory standpoint. He led a group of Republican senators in warning top U.S. law firms that advising companies to cooperate on ESG goals could open them up to massive federal antitrust violations Sanjai Bhagat (Finance Professor, University of Colorado) Argues that ESG funds don't actually deliver higher returns and that companies in ESG portfolios often have worse compliance records for labor and environmental rules than standard companies Men I pay my employees $1,000 a month per child for day care . It's one of my ice cream company's best investments. A woman All women DEI Molly Moon Neitzel founder and CEO of Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream Her business plan which included living wages and free health insurance for everyone who worked at least 18 hours a week MM C-suite promotions now come with three or more jobs - from the article: “When Target named Michael Fiddelke CEO in February 2026, the leadership changes he announced went beyond a standard promotion. Target eliminated its chief commercial officer role and consolidated merchandising authority into a single position, naming Cara Sylvester, previously chief guest experience officer, as the sole chief merchandising officer overseeing product development, assortment design, and partner collaborations.” - WHO DO YOU BLAME?? AI Isn’t “taking more jobs on” what the promise of AI has been? The article claims “Executives who excel in a specific function are increasingly entrusted with broader operating mandates spanning commercial, technology, operations, finance, or customer strategy” - but really, aren’t we just admitting that marketing and sales can be done by a dopey robot? Executive Chairs As the TOP boys realize they can offload their work by becoming Executive Chair (same salary, fewer hours, no responsibilities!), maybe the CEO class is realizing THEY can stop doing as much if they just give more jobs to underlings? It seems telling the prime example in the article is Target where Brian Cornell still lingers on the board like a boil Pay committees Pay committees are handing out massive golden hellos, particularly to CFOs but all c-suite, and they can justify them by “rolling” pointless jobs into a single person, right? Boards Boards aren’t actually paying attention to executives anyway - the data suggests by and large boards in the US are either deferential to the executives (do whatever you want!) or entirely self dealing (highly connected horse trading jobs on other boards!). The result is an indifferent board to actual executive shakeups either way - and CEOs are using indifference to shake up the c-suites General Mills is recalling nearly 736,000 Pillsbury bread rolls over possible glass - WHO DO YOU BLAME?? Public Responsibility Chair Jorge Uribe Ex “productivity” officer at P&G until he retired in 2015. MBA and bachelor’s in “management engineering”, which confused our knowledge typing which pinged off “engineering” to give him Public Safety knowledge, but there’s no ACTUAL EVIDENCE he did anything but sales/marketing 10 year tenure - longer than the CEO, but not as long as… Longest tenured director and man on Public Responsibility committee Steve Odland Odland is the CEO of the Conference Board, who does public policy and governance stuff - he was CEO of Office Depot and AutoZone, and came from food (Quaker Oats, Sara Lee) Been on the board 22 years!! Solid job if you can get it But both Steve and Jorge are tagged as “deferential” in the data (this is an important gig for them), so maybe… CEO Jeff Harmening With General Mills since 1994, came from marketing, but was COO - maybe Jeff’s job as a director at Toro Company made him too busy to notice the glass? Or, maybe it wasn’t their fault at all… RFK Jr: It’s not just Taco Bell lettuce and possible glass in Pillsbury rolls: Food and drink recall events reached a 6-year year-over-year high

12. Tech exec fear, Paul Atkins’ war on you, Jamie Dimon says a lot from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

    Jul 17, 20261 hr 4 min

    Story of the Week (DR): ‘ We faltered ’: IBM stock collapses after a grave warning about AI Customers are Prioritizing AI Hardware: While IBM mostly sells software nowadays, businesses are currently cutting back on their software budgets. Instead, they are rushing to spend their money on physical computer parts (like chips and servers) needed to build new Artificial Intelligence systems. Board skills/tenure Former Intel CEO says the chipmaker went off the rails ‘when it started to be run by business people’ The inside story of IBM’s shocking profit warning Xbox CEO Joins Fed AI Jobs Task Force Days After Announcing 3,200 Layoffs Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who previously worked in Microsoft’s Core AI group before taking over Xbox, joins Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and Charles I. Jones, a Stanford University economics professor currently on leave at Anthropic. Productivity and Jobs task force, which will study the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including AI, as part of the central bank’s approach to monetary policy. Marc Andreessen Says AI Is 'Already a Better Doctor Than 99.99% of Human Doctors' Jamie Dimon says he understands why people have grown 'anti-rich' Gallup CEO says colonizing Mars may be closer than fixing today’s ‘broken’ workplace —where disengagement levels are as high as 2020 Elon Musk Says His Goal Is for SpaceX to Be Worth More than the Entire Earth The U.S. Added 441,000 Millionaires Last Year, While the Typical American Got 20% Poorer James Murdoch may have reaped as much as $7.5 billion from his pre-IPO investment in Elon Musk’s SpaceX Palantir CEO Alex Karp Warns AI Could Become America's Biggest Driver of Wealth Inequality "You now have a revolution where, you know, I could become 20 times wealthier than I am now," he added. Karp said AI is creating a "complete decoupling" between ordinary economic gains and a small group of people accumulating "unimaginable wealth." The AI Backlash Has Tech Executives Fearing for Their Lives MM Peter Thiel and other tech billionaires are publicly shielding their children from the products that made them rich Anthropic's New AI Ad Is So Disturbing , OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Thought It Was Satire Meta Oversight Board study: AI chatbots may be the most perfect propaganda machine ever invented A Majority of Americans Now Support Seizing Wealth From AI Industry Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: New York bans data center construction for a year, rattling AI industry AND New York becomes first U.S. state to impose AI data center ban MM: FREE FLOAT! MM Microsoft’s emissions rose 25% last year. Experts say they’ll surge even more dramatically in the years ahead We said FIVE YEARS AGO that MSFT board was one of the worst at managing carbon despite setting a net negative target at the time We were correct Assholiest of the Week (MM): It’s not us, it’s you xAI sued a Grok user for allegedly generating deepfakes of child sexual abuse In the ultimate in tech bro manbaby id, Musk is blaming the USERS for his failure to stop child sex abuse Like a gun company suing a gun owner for using the gun used in murder - gun terms of service! Dimon urges calm over fear about AI's impact on jobs: ' Stop being breathless over it ' AI isn’t the problem, your breathless fear is Robotaxis Are Turning Passengers Into Horrible and Entitled Menaces to Society It’s not the service, it’s the user… Meta CTO Says He'd Like to Sue Leakers , Then Audio From That Same Meeting Leaks It’s not what I said that’s the problem, it’s that you told someone Peter Thiel and other tech billionaires are publicly shielding their children from the products that made them rich But YOUR children should use them, obviously It’s the USER’s fault now… unless, of course, it’s a school - in which case the SCHOOL is to blame: 84% of students use AI for homework. Only 3 in 10 schools have rules for it Access White House teleprompter operator investigated over alleged trades on Trump speeches Trump Media to Sell Faster Access to President’s Social Posts OpenAI Strikes Bold Deal With Kalshi to Mix Together the Most Hated Technologies in Existence: AI and Prediction Markets DOJ Defends Musk's Unpermitted Gas Turbines, Saying Shutting Down Grok Threatens National Security Elon Musk’s $1 million offers to voters in Wisconsin election were probably illegal bribes , bipartisan panel rules Paramount Shareholder Sues Ellisons, Board For Alleged Side Deal , Promises To Donald Trump Michael Dell has nailed his relationship with Donald Trump, and it's paying off Meritocracy Pete Hegseth Announces Military Will Test Service Members' Testosterone Levels and Offer Hormone Therapy Everyone is a trans man! Is AI Rejecting Your CV Because of Your Age or Race ? Landmark Lawsuit Could Reshape Recruitment For Black women hit by anti-DEI backlash , this election is personal Australia's highest paid CEO makes 500 times the average salary The American E.V. Has Been Crushed . Will It Take the U.S. Auto Industry With It? WE WANT THE CARS. Just give us the Chinese ones now Jim Cramer on Meta: “ Zuckerberg’s Not a Bozo , You Can Quote Me on That” Paul Fucking Atkins and The War on John Cheveddan DR “Regardless of the fate of Rule 14a-8 next season and beyond, I implore all who have a role in the shareholder proposal process to not let it be weaponized by those who represent fringe interests. Annual meetings are not vehicles for political or social debates that have little or no bearing on investors’ financial returns.” “This past season, one—yes, one—individual was the sole or lead proponent for approximately 41 percent of the shareholder proposals that were voted upon.[20] Of this individual’s proposals, only eight percent received majority support.[21] Simply put, when a single shareholder can seize annual meetings to present scores of proposals on issues that are not generally supported by other shareholders, the system is woefully ineffective and in desperate need of reformation.” That individual is John Cheveddan Atkins neglected to mention the rise of anti-ESG filers as a group, and their average of <1% support Also neglected to mention that companies LET CHEVEDDAN THROUGH the process, so there is a bias in who even got to vote (and what percentage of proposals were allowed on the ballots, because he stopped reporting in March) Also neglected to mention that 8% winning is MASSIVE YEAR OVER YEAR - typically NO ONE WINS EXCEPT CHEVEDDAN Meanwhile, no SEC suit against Trump Media who… Hasn’t filed a proxy since March 2025 Just had >50% of the board flip in the last 2 months Headliniest of the Week DR: Charles " Dan " Phillips Joins the Redwood Capital Bancorp Board of Directors DR: Evidence Grows That Taco Bell Infected Massive Number of Customers With Explosive Diarrhea MM: General Mills is recalling nearly 736,000 Pillsbury bread rolls over possible glass Who Won the Week? DR: Insider Traders MM: All journalists who pen headlines that read “Jamie Dimon says…”: Jamie Dimon Said the Clarity Act's Stablecoin Rules Will "Blow Up" the System. JPMorgan Chase's June 29 Position Paper Explains Why. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says he’s eyeing up book deals and teaching gigs when he steps away from his decades-long career at the banking giant Jamie Dimon says JPMorgan has slashed 40% of jobs in some departments, thanks to AI Jamie Dimon says he understands why people have grown 'anti-rich' Jamie Dimon Says the U.S. Economy Is Showing ‘Resiliency’—But Risks Threaten ‘Meaningful Disruptions’ Jamie Dimon says broad access to Mythos would be like giving 'ballistic missiles to individuals' JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says 300,000 workers are needed to rebuild American shipbuilding—with jobs paying $100,000 without a college degree Predictions DR: A female judge tells xAI to eff off with its lawsuit against Grok user MM: Secretive Silicon Valley Startup Tries to Quash Interview, Says It’s Definitely Not Working on Growing Brain-Free "Organ Sacks" - I predict that, in the next year, companies begin announcing exclusively what they are NOT working on

13. GOOD GAME: Zuck’s NOT a bozo, social media resistance, women to the rescue from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

    Jul 14, 202632 min

    Fun Headlines Tesla Stock Is Waiting For Godot Jim Cramer on Meta: “ Zuckerberg’s Not a Bozo , You Can Quote Me on That” Zuck Sucking Meta Employees Burned $221M in AI Tokens in One Month: Now Big Tech Starts Counting Every AI Prompt Mark Zuckerberg said AI agent tech is advancing more slowly than expected in an internal town hall Fighting Back Against Big Data Middle School Bro Bullies Japan enacts social media law requiring flagging of AI content in elections Law School Bans Laptops and Phones as AI Cheating Scandal Grows Disable autoplay and infinite scroll or risk massive fines, EU tells Meta Meta found to breach EU laws with ' addictive ' Instagram, Facebook designs California vs. Elon Musk: Tesla Snubbed as New EV Incentives Boost Rivian, Lucid New ' Anti-Elon ' ETFs Allow Investors to Avoid Tesla and SpaceX Social Media's 'Big Tobacco Moment': Meta Faces $1.4 Trillion Fine for Allegedly Fueling Teen Suicide and Addiction Google loses fight over record $4.7 billion EU antitrust fine EU Proposal to Curb Minors’ Access to Social Media Coming Later This Year Stakeholders Fighting Back Paramount, WBD hit with lawsuit from 12 states, including California, to block merger The states are seeking to freeze the transaction, which could cost Paramount millions because it agreed to pay a $650 million “ticking fee” for every quarter the deal doesn’t close after Sept. 30 NY Attorney General Sues 3M, Others Over ‘ Forever Chemicals ’ New York City becomes first in the US to ban deceptive subscription practices John Deere Farm Equipment Owners Have Right-to-Repair , F.T.C. Says Power Workers Independence Day Strike Wins Pensions in Pennsylvania Women to the Rescue Judge Rules Trump's $1.8 Billion IRS Deal Invalid – Then Calls Lawsuit an Attempt to Manipulate the Courts 35 Percent of Women on SPI Boards of Directors Swiss Performance Index At companies where women make up less than 30 percent of the board, the percentage of votes against female nomination committee chairs at this year’s annual shareholder meetings was 25 percent, up from 19 percent the previous year. Women reach record share of Finnish company boards 37% The women who wouldn’t let climate data disappear Rebecca Lindsey, Anna Eshelman, and Mary Lindsey Stakeholders Rule! Fortune 500 Land O’Lakes is letting workers choose what days and times they work—and the flex jobs are getting 25% more applicants than full-time gigs He Earns $33 an Hour as a Costco Cashier . Now He’s a Millionaire. Chief sustainability officers’ new pitch to CEOs: climate action isn’t about morals— it’s about money Idiots Losing Money Eric Trump Has Lost $600 Million of Daddy’s Money Betting on Crypto Larry Ellison Loses $60 Billion Speed Round of Stupid Honda recalling more than 325,000 vehicles over potential crash risk Costco CEO promises the $1.50 hot dog isn’t going away: ‘The price will not change as long as I’m around’ West Virginia spent $3M to create university program to fight ‘woke ideology.’ One student is enrolled Olive Garden is bringing back its $100 unlimited pasta pass after a six-year break Taco Bells Makes Urgent Changes After Outbreak of Explosive Diarrhea

14. Zuck’s tough week, women save climate data, and Sonnenfeld fights for dictators from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

    Jul 10, 20261 hr 3 min

    Story of the Week (DR): Social Media's 'Big Tobacco Moment': Meta Faces $1.4 Trillion Fine for Allegedly Fueling Teen Suicide and Addiction Meta is being sued by 33 US states, led by California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey. 12 blue/12 red/9 purple The states allege that Meta deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to children and teens, fueling a youth mental health crisis (including anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide). They also accuse Meta of violating child privacy laws by collecting data from children under 13 without parental consent. Meta warned a federal court that it could face up to $1.4T in penalties if the states prevail at the upcoming trial (set for August 18, 2026). Meta extrapolated this massive figure—which is roughly equivalent to the company's entire stock market value —based on the methodology proposed by the lead states for calculating damages. Meta calls the penalty "outlandish" and "unsubstantiated," arguing it has no precedent in consumer protection history: 'A sanction of that size has no analog in the history of consumer protection enforcement.' The company accuses the states of improperly multiplying penalties (e.g., stacking fines based on daily usage time). Meta denies the allegations, asserting its platforms have extensive safety tools and that the claims are unmoored from actual unfair practices. ‘I Don't Think I'm Ever Going to Stop,' Says Mark Zuckerberg. Even With 'Infinite Money,' He Has No Plans to Retreat to His Massive Hawaii Estate Meta found to breach EU laws with 'addictive' Instagram, Facebook designs Instagram and Facebook’s “addictive” designs have put Meta in breach of the European Union’s digital laws , the EU concluded Friday in a preliminary report. The tech giant violated the EU’s Digital Services Act by failing to adequately consider the risks associated with design features that affected the physical well-being of its users, including minors and vulnerable adults , the European Commission said. These features include infinite scroll, which constantly shows fresh content, autoplay, push notifications and highly personalized recommendation systems — feeding users’ compulsion to continue using platforms and putting them into “autopilot mode.” The EU Commission also accused Meta of ignoring available information about how much time young people are spending on Instagram or Facebook at night, and how different types of content formats, from reels to stories, could lead to excessive use of its services. Meta said, “We disagree with these preliminary findings.” New Zealand Moves To Ban Climate Change Litigation . Will The U.S. Follow? New Zealand has proposed a bill to limit the ability of individuals to sue high greenhouse gas emitters over the impacts of climate change, relying instead on the enforcement measures taken by the government. The bill appears poised to pass. The women who wouldn’t let climate data disappear MM After losing their jobs at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Rebecca Lindsey, her sister Mary and colleague Anna Eshelman teamed up to rebuild a pivotal resource the Trump administration took offline Rebecca Lindsey, a technical writer for NASA–one of 280,000 federal workers fired by Musk/Trump, joined forces with former NOAA employees Anna Eshelman, and Mary Lindsey, her older sister, to become the core team behind the deactivated site’s successor, Climate.us, preserving over 15 years of key climate data and resources. Elon Musk says he always wanted his SpaceX employees to get rich — and now thousands of them are millionaires Elon Musk's 'Chainsaw for Bureaucracy' Just Left an $11 Billion Budget Hole as Trump Rehires Staff The trove features key maps, educational materials and climate indicator reports, including the now-deleted Fifth National Climate Assessment, the government’s most comprehensive analysis of climate change that was at risk of being lost to the public Jersey Mike’s $12 billion IPO filing reveals a $50 million payday for the founder’s stepson and a $41 million jet Family members of founder Peter Cancro were employed Jersey Mike’s in various roles and received compensation in excess of $120,000 from the Company as follows for the years ended December 28, 2025 and December 31, 2024 and 2023: John Cancro, Mr. Cancro’s brother , received total compensation of approximately $20,019,231, $519,231 and $500,000, respectively; Paul J. Cancro, Mr. Cancro’s son , received total compensation of approximately $8,001, $216,022 and $208,023, respectively; Robert Cancro, Mr. Cancro’s son , received total compensation of approximately $38,462, $1,038,462 and $1,000,000, respectively; Tatiana Cancro, Mr. Cancro’s wife , received total compensation of approximately $11,538, $311,539 and $300,000, respectively; Caroline Jones, Mr. Cancro’s daughter , received total compensation of approximately $38,462, $1,038,462 and $1,000,000, respectively; Alexandra Powers, Mr. Cancro’s sister-in-law , received total compensation of approximately $0, $1,165,437 and $0; Daniel Powers, Mr. Cancro’s brother-in-law , received total compensation of approximately $30,213,462, $1,793,952 and $0; John Tesauro Jr., Mr. Cancro’s brother-in-law , received total compensation of approximately $0, $0 and $2,429,628, respectively; Phillip Sivolobov, Mr. Cancro’s stepson , received total compensation of approximately $50,011,538, $311,539 and $276,923, respectively. GRAND TOTAL: $112M Stepson Phillip got $51M, brother John got $21M Other Peter Cancro schwag in 2025: Got a $41 million jet and an additional fixed amount of $166,666.66 per month in light of the business expenses incurred by Mr. Cancro related to air transportation to travel from time to time for business purposes. Lease agreements valued at $1M in rent (leases go to 2030) Controlled company: Blackstone (will control more than 50% of voting power) Board : 8 directors Blackstone: Chair Nigel Travis (also chair of Abercrombie & Fitch) David N. Kestnbaum Devon L. Rinker Michael J. Staub Founder/former CEO/chair: Peter Cancro CEO Charles R. Morrison Cheryl S. Miller, director on two controlled companies: Tyson Foods Old Dominion Freight Line (Congdon brothers) Fran Horowitz, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch (where chair serves as chair) Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Amazon, Walmart and Other Large Employers Could Face New Costs As New Jersey Targets Companies With Medicaid Workers — Will Other States Follow? DR: UBS says rich people will be younger, female and openly queer thanks to the Great Wealth Transfer MM: Meta Buried Research Linking Instagram To Teen Harm While Facing $1.4 Trillion Penalty That Could Erase Its Entire Worth MM: ESG! Madison Square Garden Kept a List of Gay Celebrities An internal Madison Square Garden database of VIPs labels Joe a “medium risk,” one of roughly 400 celebrities given a risk score. If you’re a celebrity and you’re marked with a risk score—even as a low risk—it means “you’ve done something in the publicity world, the social media world, that has caught the attention of the wrong people,” the source continues. The talent database also tracks some celebrities’ race, gender identity, and sexual orientation; 93 entries are marked as “LGBTQIA.” MM: California vs. Elon Musk: Tesla Snubbed as New EV Incentives Boost Rivian, Lucid MM DR Assholiest of the Week (MM): Billionaire amplification Ken Griffin says everyone is misinterpreting the AI revolution — and wishes Zohran and Bernie would ‘ read a damn history book for once ’ “[Capitalism is] the greatest success story in the history of humanity,” Griffin said, urging the self-identified socialist politicians, “whether it’s Bernie Sanders, whether it’s Mamdani,” to “read a damn history book for once and then tell us how to run our country.” Jeff Bezos ' Made All of Our Lives So Much Better ,' Says Billionaire Investor Tim Draper "Amazon has made all of our lives so much better," Draper said. Draper said he has benefited from what Bezos has done, and that's a part of the world economy that isn't spoken about enough. "Those geniuses who create this incredible world for us are benefiting all of us." 40 Epstein-Tied Billionaires Have Injected $1.6B Into US Elections , Report Finds These are the millionaires and billionaires pledging to fund Trump accounts Zuck Meta AI Data Centre Contractor Triggers Biohazard Scare After Flushing Rare Bacterium Into Public Sewers Meta Platforms To Build $9 Billion A.I. Data Centre In Canada The $145 Billion Lie? Zuckerberg's Leaked Town Hall Audio Exposes Massive AI Failures After Mass Layoffs Meta jumps into AI coding market in effort to chase Anthropic and OpenAI What person in their right mind would trust Zuckerberg with their coding? Hollywood Vs Zuckerberg: CAA Warns Meta's AI Image Tool Needs A Major Privacy Overhaul ‘ I Don't Think I'm Ever Going to Stop ,' Says Mark Zuckerberg. Even With 'Infinite Money,' He Has No Plans to Retreat to His Massive Hawaii Estate Jeff Sonnenfeld - DR In defense of Musk, SpaceX, and dual class shares “the rigid formulas of proxy advisors create a perverse, socially destructive incentive: hoard your wealth like an oligarch to maintain your good governance rating, or give it away and risk losing your company” “The proxy advisors want a world governed by rigid mathematical formulas because auditing a checklist is easy. Evaluating human character, industry dynamics, track records of success and failure, and the capacity for visionary leadership is hard. But it is exactly that hard work of judgment which is vital. When it comes to dual-class shares, it is time for the critics to step out of the theoretical vacuum and look at the real-world scoreboards” Headliniest of the Week DR: OpenAI Wants a $1 Trillion Valuation. But College Students Are Testing At The Level Of 10-Year-Olds AND Suspecting AI cheating, Ivy League prof ordered an in-person final; scores fell 50% MM: ‘Waymo Takes Revenge, Dropping Drunk Teens Directly Into Squad of Cops MM: West Virginia spent $3M to create university program to fight ‘woke ideology.’ One student is enrolled Who Won the Week? DR: Free Float’s new platform And blowhard Jeffrey Sonnenfeld for arguing that dualclass owners are necessary because the dualclass mechanism allows them to sell shares and maintain voting power so they can “cure diseases, endow universities, and combat poverty” MM: Free Float data: Elon Musk and the age of the corporate leviathan Above a certain size the ordinary rules of governance apparently cease to apply. Of the 16 listed firms worth more than $1trn, seven are shareholder fundamentalists. None has an elaborate statement of corporate purpose, since they are mostly content making heaps of money Free Float says Nvidia, Amazon, Broadcom, Micron are all TOTALITARIAN Next are the corporate paternalists, who believe that the problem with shareholder democracy is that its voters do not know what is best for them. Free Float says Berkshire, Google, Meta are all TOTALITARIAN The final clan presents the strongest argument against the end of corporate history: individual shareholders consent to hand over all of their rights to the world’s richest man, who then governs as he sees fit. Free Float says SpaceX, Tesla are TOTALITARIAN Basically, it’s nice of the economist to recognize everything Free Float says every week Predictions DR: Jeff Sonnenfeld writes something on Fortune that triggers me MM: Jeff Sonnenfeld writes something on Fortune that triggers Damion

15. In or Out: JPM succession team, Nintendo, and iconic CEO clothes from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

    Jul 7, 202655 min

    DR1 THINGS WE MISSED The meritocracy is still a lie: ‘ Don’t look at the résumé ’: Elon Musk admits he’s ‘fallen prey’ to flashy credentials and says conversation matters most when hiring “Generally, what I tell people—I tell myself, I guess, aspirationally—is, don’t look at the résumé,” he said. “Just believe your interaction. The résumé may seem very impressive…but if the conversation after 20 minutes is not ‘Wow,’ you should believe the conversation, not the paper.” “I think goodness of heart is important.” Four Black women. Nine degrees. Not one steady paycheck. The president promised to save “Black jobs,” but his policies have resulted in fresh pain for the Black middle class as the employment gap widens. Study: Women are more likely to get hired after taking GLP-1s Zuck still sucks: Mark Zuckerberg Sure Sounds Eager to Get Young People Hooked on Online Gambling The Meta CEO is developing a social network betting market app—and wants help from Polymarket and Kalshi. Starbucks “Actively Reassessing” 2030 Climate Goal Starbucks initially unveiled its climate goal in 2020, targeting a 50% reduction in Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2030, on a 2019 basis. While the company’s impact report indicates that it has succeeded in cutting operational emissions, with Scope 1 and 2 falling 17% since 2019, wider value chain emissions have continued to climb, with Scope 3 rising by 8% since 2019. With Scope 3 accounting for over 90% of overall emissions, Starbucks has seen its GHG footprint grow by 7% overall since 2019. The reassessment of the goal comes as the company takes “a fresh, comprehensive look at our sustainability goals,” according to a blog post by Starbucks’ Chief Sustainability and Social Impact Officer Kelly Goodejohn, as part of the company’s ‘Back to Starbucks’ strategy initiated by CEO Brain Niccol. From the Impact Report : Overall Grants from the Starbucks Foundation FY25 $13.6M ($31M) FY24 $21.4M ($96M) Delaware Court of Chancery Interprets New Section 144 and Applies Heightened Presumption of Director Independence The Opinion arose in a common context in Delaware stockholder litigation : claims over director and management compensation. In the decision, Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will applied, for the first time, the statute’s heightened presumption of independence for directors of public companies determined by the board to be independent under the relevant NYSE or Nasdaq listing standards to dismiss derivative claims on demand futility grounds. In conducting the demand futility analysis, which looks to whether a majority of the board can independently consider a stockholder demand to bring derivative litigation, the Court reasoned that the new statutory language requiring a plaintiff to plead “substantial and particularized facts” to rebut the “heightened” presumption of independence sets a higher bar than under pre-existing law. Specifically, the Court held that the addition of “substantial” to the existing standard that already required particularized facts meant that “a plaintiff must plead specific, non-conclusory facts of sufficient qualitative significance to support a reasonable inference of a material interest or relationship that would impair the director’s objective judgment.” The Court was clear that it is not a matter of quantity but rather quality, observing that “a collection of trivial facts” will not rise to the level of materiality required to satisfy this “heightened” standard. Applying that standard to the facts in the case, the Court concluded that the plaintiff’s allegations of various overlapping board positions, overlapping investments, and other “business ties” with the company’s founder and non-executive chairman were not sufficiently material. DR2 The Boardroom Buy-In The Taser CEO Who Says AI Is the Future of Policing Taser and body-cam king Rick Smith is betting Axon’s dominance—and his own pay package—on his tech-driven vision 66% influence Rick Smith: Every 30 seconds one of his Tasers is fired by somebody in the U.S., usually a police officer. The pay package he and his board put together catapulted him to the top of last year’s list of the highest-paid CEOs, with a compensation package valued at $164.4 million. 33% no 2025 ; 10% no 2026 Smith has already hit three of seven goals. At the end of 2025, Axon estimated the shares underlying the full award could be worth nearly $386 million. IN : Not a dictatorship One share one vote BlackRock 9.3% The Vanguard Group 11.6% Patrick Smith 3.5 % OUT: Patrick Smith 66% influence MM With Chair Michael Garnreiter (2006-); sits on Audit, Compensation Committee, and Nominating committees Compensation Committee chair Hadi Partovi (2010-): Smith (‘91) and Partovi (‘94) both members of the Theta Eta chapter of Sigma Chi at Harvard OUT: Patrick Smith ignores his board: In the wake of the tragic 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Smith announced that Axon would begin developing Taser-equipped drones that could fly into classrooms to incapacitate active shooters. This decision was made unilaterally, bypassing Axon's own independent AI Ethics Board. The board issued a rare, public rebuke of Smith, accusing him of "trading on the tragedy" of school shootings to push a dangerous idea. Consequently, 9 of the 12 ethics board members resigned in protest, citing a total loss of faith in Axon’s ability to act responsibly. Smith was forced to publicly back down and pause the project. IN: The CEO Performance award was specifically voted on in 2024 and passed, barely, but it passed: 50.1% yes Nintendo Boss to Give Sweeping 10% Salary Raise to Retain Employees While most of the players in the gaming industry continue to hemorrhage jobs, Nintendo is opting to take a different path. The Kyoto-based gaming giant has recently announced a 10% increase to base salaries for its employees, a move that highlights its commitment to talent retention while everyone else is laying off employees. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa made the announcement during a recent shareholder meeting, emphasising that maintaining competitive compensation is central to the company's strategy. The raise applies to the company's workforce, which has grown to over 8,200 employees, the highest headcount in Nintendo's history. IN: CEO Shuntaro Furukawa’s (18%) annual executive compensation at Nintendo generally totals around $2.5M OUT: 63% of shares held by institutional investors. What the hell do these suits know about video games? IN: Of six outside directors , 3 are women (20% average in Japan) IN: Because they literally have questions like this at their annual meeting, in fact it was the first one: “With the release of Splatoon Raiders approaching, how does Nintendo evaluate the previous title, Splatoon 3? Some players experienced communication errors and discrepancies in hit detection in that title. I feel that Nintendo’s response to these issues may not have been consistent with “sincerity,” one of the values in the Nintendo DNA.” Copart CEO Jeff Liaw to step down, Jay Adair to return CEO Jeff Liaw will step down from his position and leave the board of directors effective July 31, 2026. Executive Chairman Jay Adair to resume the CEO role on the same date. Adair previously served as Copart’s CEO. Liaw will assist with the transition as Special Advisor to Adair. Liaw has been with the online vehicle auction company for approximately a decade, serving first as CFO, then as President, before becoming the company’s third CEO. OUT: Leadership messiness, highlighted by a boomerang CEO and so much more: The board has a Chair (founder Willis Johnson 40%) AND an Executive Chair: Willis’ son-in-law and co-founder and boomerang CEO Jay Adair 38% The board also included resigning CEO/former CFO Jeff Liaw and former COO Jim Meeks and former Copart executive Steve Cohan IN: a boomerang marks a return to the glory days? former CEO Liaw is actually leaving the board Stock price down 50% over past few years OUT: A dumb board for an online car auction company: 12 directors 5 are former or current executives One independent director with an car experience: sort of. Matt Blunt is the president of the American Automobile Policy Council, which represents the public policy interests of Stellantis N.V., Ford Motor Company, and General Motors Company Served as the governor of the State of Missouri from 2005 to 2009. Only 2 women. 3 directors involved as a private inverter or venture capital IN: CEO Pay Ratio is 46:1 Liaw $2.1M Adair $432k for certain benefits MM1 Things We Missed DOL’s Replacement ESG Rule Reaches White House The rule isn’t interesting in and of itself - it reverts to Trump’s prior rule in his first term that basically said ESG (E+S really) is dumb, and that everything must be "pecuniary focused” But the interesting part this time around: Trump also signed an executive order in December 2025 directing the DOL to tighten fiduciary rules governing proxy voting and to increase transparency about plan sponsors’ use of proxy advisers. The department issued a technical release in April warning that proxy advisory firms may be subject to ERISA fiduciary standards and that proxy voting is a fiduciary act under the law that must be carried out “for the exclusive purpose of maximizing risk-adjusted return.” From the technical release in April: The Department has long recognized that voting rights and other shareholder rights attributable to shares held by ERISA-governed employee benefit plans are plan assets in their own right. Accordingly, management of those rights is subject to ERISA’s fiduciary duties, including the duties of prudence and loyalty. The Department first issued guidance on this topic in the 1980s. For example, a 1988 letter (Avon Letter) noted that “it is the Department’s position that the decision as to how proxies should be voted . . . are fiduciary acts of plan asset management.”(2) Proxy advisory firms may also be functional fiduciaries under ERISA section 3(21)(A)(ii) by providing investment advice for a fee to plans with respect to property of that plan. Here’s why it’s interesting: Defining fiduciaries as those who provide advice for a fee means everyone selling research is a fiduciary if the research is used in an investment decision The DOL is squarely defining proxy voting as a fiduciary act - which means that there can be no rational apathy as Mike Levin likes to talk about - if voting your proxies is definitionally your fiduciary duty, you can’t defer it or ignore it If you vote 99% in favor of management, you definitionally are ignoring your fiduciary duty - half of companies will underperform some peer set, meaning they produced fewer returns than peers, in any given year. So you either set the time frame longer (thus forcing the inclusion of long term data like climate and social factors) and say that in any one year it makes sense to vote with management to allow them time to execute strategy, OR you should be voting against nearly half of management proposals for underperformers each year because they are not producing pecuniary returns Governance chairs remain under pressure as investor scrutiny rises despite rising support for directors , research shows ISS found that the MEDIAN support for directors has hit 98% They found that governance/nom chairs (those are specifically governance/nom committee chairs) had median support of 94.1% Pay chairs had 96.9% support MM2 The Boardroom Buy-In JPMorgan built a pipeline of female CEO candidates that was the envy of Wall Street. How did it fall apart? Are you IN or OUT on this board to find a successor to Dimon? IN or OUT: Nom chair: Gini Rometty (2020) Massively connected - highest betweenness, 82% connected to other directors (highest on board) Ex IBM CEO (retired 2020), IBM lifer (since 1981), Council on Foreign Relations, Business Roundtable CEOs replaced: herself? With Arvind Krishna, who was at IBM for more than 30 years IN or OUT: Michele Buck (2025) Newly appointed, ex CEO of Hershey, Hershey for 20 years and Kraft/Nabisco for 17 years prior (two companies, all food), board of NY Life CEOs replaced: zero (dictatorship at Hershey) IN or OUT: Stephen Burke (2004) Lead Director! 16% influence, 22 year tenure Comcast since 1998, Disney/ABC 1986, director at Berkshire Hathaway CEOs replaced: zero (dictatorship at NBC/Comcast) IN or OUT: Alex Gorsky (2022) Ex CEO of J&J, Boards of Apple, IBM (!), ex Business Roundtable CEOs replaced: Tim Cook, himself, Gini Rometty (!) Jensen Huang's iconic leather jacket is going up for auction. Are you IN or OUT on “iconic” founder clothes? IN or OUT: Steve Jobs’ turtleneck IN Enabled by Arthur Levinson IN or OUT: Zuck hoodie IN Enabled by Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen IN or OUT: Bill Gates’ glasses OUT IN or OUT: Elizabeth Holmes’ turtleneck OUT IN or OUT: Jack Dorsey’s “love” hat OUT IN or OUT: Musk’s chainsaw IN Sub question: if a board member has been on the board as long as the founder, are they iconic? Tench Coxe - 32 years on Nvidia board, only board he’s on, buddies with Jensen Harvey Jones - 32 years on Nvidia board, only board he’s on, buddies with Jensen Brooke Seawell (28 years) and Mark Stevens (17 years) - both were with Jensen when Nvidia just made dopey video cards for better video games

16. JPMorgan week, ESG ratings are back, AI doublespeak from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

    Jun 26, 20261 hr 1 min

    Story of the Week (DR): JP Morgan’s news week The Lurid Lawsuit, Salami Scandal and Trash-Can Thief Vexing JPMorgan’s PR Department AND Meme of ' JPMorgan's HR Department in 2026 ' Has People in Stitches Amid Sex Scandal and Knicks Bin Incident She Stole a Knicks Trash Can Off the Street and Lost Her Job at JPMorgan The Trash Bin That Cost Her Career: Who Is Angie Báez? JPMorgan DEI Executive Fired After Viral Knicks Parade Video The Trash-Can Thief: Angie Báez, an Executive Director of Community and Industry Engagement at the bank, was captured on a viral video during the New York Knicks championship parade emptying a public trash bin onto a Manhattan sidewalk so she could steal the limited-edition, blue-and-orange Knicks-themed container. The Resolution: JPMorgan quickly terminated her employment after the video went viral. Báez eventually returned the trash bin and was issued $175 in sanitation fines. But what kinds of thing DON’T get you fired and get you fined? In 2023, JPMorgan Chase agreed to a $290 million (1,657,143x) settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit from survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. The bank was accused of actively ignoring glaring red flags and helping bankroll Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation for 15 years. Internal documents and later congressional probes revealed that the bank processed roughly 4,700 suspicious transactions totaling $1.1 billion for Epstein. They failed to file a single Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) until after his death. Who Kept Their Job? Mary Erdoes: The Head of Asset & Wealth Management was fully aware of Epstein’s status as a high-risk sex offender, reviewed his account, and was directly implicated in internal communications regarding his status. She faced zero professional demotions and remains one of the top candidates to eventually succeed Jamie Dimon as CEO. In 2020, JPMorgan Chase entered a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a record $920 million (5,257,143x) to settle federal charges of market manipulation. For nearly a decade, traders on JPMorgan’s precious metals and U.S. Treasuries desks engaged in "spoofing"—placing tens of thousands of fake, deceptive orders to artificially move market prices and maximize their own profits. The FBI stated that traders "openly disregarded U.S. laws." While a couple of mid-to-high-level traders (like Michael Nowak and Gregg Smith) were later criminally convicted and sentenced to prison, the executive leadership team responsible for supervising them and implementing compliance programs suffered no casualties. Top management stayed perfectly secure , chalking the multi-million dollar fraud up as the work of a few "bad apples." The Salami Scandal: Veteran wealth manager Brent Bodner was fired by JPMorgan in 2024 after he expensed a $642.50 deli platter (containing wings, sandwiches, and salads) for a Super Bowl gathering at his Beverly Hills home. The bank accused him of intentionally misclassifying a personal party as a pre-approved business meeting. Bodner counter-sued, jokingly dubbing the controversy the "salami incident." He argued that the event was a legitimate client-acquisition dinner that only two prospects ended up attending, and that the minor coding error was used as a pretext to push him out. The Resolution: A FINRA arbitration panel sided heavily with Bodner, ruling that JPMorgan acted preemptively out of paranoia that brokers were leaving for rivals. The panel ordered JPMorgan to pay Bodner $4.25 million in damages. The Lurid Lawsuit: Chirayu Rana, a former vice president on JPMorgan's leveraged finance team, leveled highly salacious allegations against his female supervisor, Executive Director Lorna Hajdini. Rana’s lawsuit alleges he was subjected to a campaign of racial discrimination, severe harassment, and forced sexual relations under the threat of having his career sabotaged. The Resolution: Rana rejected a $1M settlement offer, countering with a demand for up to $22 million before escalating the fight to court. Both Hajdini and JPMorgan strongly deny the allegations as entirely fabricated, and the legal battle is moving toward a highly publicized trial. JPMorgan Chase promotes Petno, Rohrbaugh to copresidents , setting up two more successors for Dimon The Wait to Replace Jamie Dimon Keeps Getting Longer: Another potential successor, Marianne Lake, is leaving JPMorgan, as the longstanding chief executive enters his third decade atop the bank. How JPMorgan went from 3 female CEO contenders to an all-male succession race JPMorgan named Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh, current co-heads of the bank's commercial and investment bank, as co-presidents, setting them up as the frontrunners to succeed longtime CEO Jamie Dimon . Their promotions, the bank said in a press release, "are part of the Board's ongoing succession planning process." Petno and Rohrbaugh were among a handful of powerhouse candidates poised to succeed Dimon, including Jennifer Piepszak, chief operating officer, Marianne Lake, CEO of the commercial bank, and Mary Erdoes, CEO of asset and wealth management. Marianne Lake , a Potential Dimon Successor, Leaves JPMorgan One-time Retention and Continuity equity awards to the following Operating Committee members: Doug Petno, Co-President and CEO of the Commercial & Investment Bank, and Troy Rohrbaugh, Co-President and CEO of Consumer & Community Banking, in the amount of $30M each ; Mary Erdoes, CEO of Asset & Wealth Management, and Jennifer Piepszak, Chief Operating Officer, in the amount of $20M each . JPMorgan Chase unveils $50 billion buyback , Goldman Sachs raises dividend after Fed stress test A 6 year study shows which CEOs are pushing RTO mandates: The ones with the biggest egos Fortune 500 bosses demanding staff return to the office share one trait: narcissism , research finds A six-year study tracking corporate executives revealed that strict return-to-office (RTO) mandates are heavily driven by narcissism and executive ego, rather than actual employee productivity Wharton organizational psychologist Adam Grant noted that researchers used reliable corporate proxies to quantify CEO narcissism, including the oversized scale of their compensation packages, the size of their signatures, and the prominence of their photos in company annual reports. The data showed that leaders with highly inflated self-opinions consistently coveted maximum power and status, making them the most aggressive opponents of remote work. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan pushed hard for a 5-day-a-week return to the office. Why they’re now letting employees work from home GameStop CEO Cohen spurns $35 billion pay plan to focus on plan to buy eBay GameStop CEO on His eBay Pursuit: ‘I’m Not Going to Stop, I’m Not Going to Go Away’ GameStop unveiled a compensation package worth roughly $35B for Ryan Cohen ​in January, hinging on a turnaround that requires him to lift the struggling company's market value more than tenfold and sharply boost its profit. In May, Cohen surprised Wall Street with an unsolicited offer to buy eBay for roughly $56 billion in cash and stock to ‌turn the e-commerce company into ⁠a bigger competitor to Amazon. EBay's board rejected the proposal, calling the offer "neither credible nor attractive." Cohen argued that he doesn't want the package ⁠so that GameStop's leadership can fully focus on its operating performance and the planned acquisition. SpaceX handed lowest possible ESG rating by MSCI : Triple C score puts Elon Musk’s company on par with Russia after 2022 invasion of Ukraine Musk 'most obvious risk' following SpaceX's lowest possible ESG rating “Board of Directors: The SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES board currently has an independent majority, which enables it to more effectively fulfill its critical function of overseeing management on behalf of shareholders. The company has failed to split the roles of CEO and chairman, which may limit the board's independence from current management interests. Split CEO and chairman roles are characteristic of 67% of companies in this market.” Welltower CFO’s $167 million pay package sets new record Welltower’s Tim McHugh is the new highest-paid finance chief among the biggest U.S. companies. His $167 million pay package in 2025 not only dwarfs that of his CFO peers but also outpaces the compensation of many CEOs. McHugh’s pay at Welltower, a real-estate investment trust focused on rental housing for seniors, surpasses the $139 million compensation package received by Tesla’s Vaibhav Taneja in 2024. This puts him more than $135 million above Alphabet’s Anat Ashkenazi, the next highest-paid CFO in 2025. And it secures him a spot in the club of executives making $100 million or more, a group that remains rare. Here’s what the article DID NOT MENTION: CEO Shankh Mitra: $821M Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Scientists Say New Method Turns Coffee Grounds Into High-Potency Renewable Fuel According to a press release from South Korea’s National Research Council of Science and Technology, a team of researchers at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) have developed a method to convert spent coffee waste into high-quality charcoal, known as biochar . While that’s a feat in and of itself, the kicker is the method’s blistering speed: it takes just 90 seconds from start to finish , with no drawn-out drying process or oil separation required. According to the release, the new technique solves a major issue in extracting the latent energy potential of spent coffee beans. DR: Bill to raise minimum wage to $25 an hour will be introduced in Senate DR MM The bill would incrementally increase the minimum wage from its current rate of $7.25, with the first jump to $12 an hour in the first year of enactment. Major corporations would have six years to work up to a $25 minimum wage, while smaller employers would have a 13-year runway. The legislation would also do away with subminimum wages for tipped workers, such as restaurant servers, youth workers and workers with disabilities. Nearly half of the American workforce makes less than $25 an hour. DR: Federal judge blocks new law aimed at ESG, DEI investing decisions A federal judge has blocked Kansas from enforcing a new law that requires institutional investment advisers to make certain disclosures when recommending against company management on issues, including environmental, social and governance principles. U.S. District Judge Holly Teeter on Wednesday issued a preliminary injunction halting enforcement of law enacted last session that two major national institutional investment advisers said was unconstitutional because it discriminated based on speech. MM: MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America’s $19.2 billion in megagifts last year Assholiest of the Week (MM): CEO SPEED ROUND - ONE HEADLINE, ONE CEO, ONE LINER Tim Cook - It’s pretty sweet to quit your job and let the new guy fight the union: Apple closed America's first unionized store and blocked workers from transfers — now the union is fighting back Jamie Dimon - It was easy - we just pointed to the ones with boobs and said “Not you”: How JPMorgan went from 3 female CEO contenders to an all-male succession race Zuck - The best thing about being a little man king with no accountability is I can randomly change and unchange and rechange my mind… about people’s lives: Meta pauses an AI training program that tracks employees' keystrokes after an internal leak Larry Fink - Have you SEEN the size of my signature??? Fucking come to work: A 6 year study shows which CEOs are pushing RTO mandates: The ones with the biggest egos “In the six-year study, researchers collected data on Fortune 500 CEOs, using behavioral proxies—signature size, photo size in annual reports, pay gap relative to peers—to construct narcissism scores. The higher the score, the more likely a CEO was to publicly oppose remote and hybrid work and seek additional status (like a board chairmanship). In a separate experiment, CEOs whose egos were primed—by reflecting on the assertive leadership styles of Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison—showed significantly greater opposition to working from home than a control group” Andy Jassy - Now we know EXACTLY when you’re wasting our time peeing in a bottle instead of working: Amazon is on a mission to optimize warehouse work. Its latest test puts wearable devices on support staff . Nikesh Arora - If you just said, “Who?”, you better pay attention because I have important things to say: Palo Alto Networks CEO: We're in 'a Darwinian moment ' where employees have to prove their AI skills - BRONZE ASSHOLE Satya Nadella - If I complain about how everyone TALKS about AI, does that make me sound more sympathetic?: Microsoft's CEO Takes Aim At AI Companies: 'We Have To Walk The Walk' To Convince The Public - GOLDEN ASSHOLE Jeff Bezos - I mean, if I’m honest, everyone is terrible and should be laid off: Jeff Bezos Called Washington Post His Worst Investment and Staff He Laid Off ‘Terrible’ People - SILVER ASSHOLE Brian Moynihan - I mean, or your kid was late to school because they forgot to make their card for teacher appreciation day, you didn’t eat breakfast, and you rushed in to work from the office as fast as you could because working from home isn’t allowed anymore: By 7 a.m., Bank of America’s CEO has already read 5 newspapers, his email inbox, and hit the gym— he says if you’re late to meetings, you’re ‘selfish’ Dave Ramsey - 0.0001% of Musk’s worst day could end hunger ON EARTH, but sure, take away Halloween and pets from the rest of us: Dave Ramsey Says 20% of Americans' Halloween and Pet Budgets Could End Hunger : 'There'd Be No Hungry Kids' Headliniest of the Week DR: Beloved Grandmother Was Standing in Her Own House When a Tesla, Allegedly on Autopilot, Smashed Through the Wall and Killed Her in Grandchildren’s Playroom A popular password manager was hit by a hack . What you need to know—and how to keep your data safe MM: Ryanair says it will reluctantly not charge parents to sit next to children MM: Elon Musk will get a billion shares of SpaceX if he can settle a million humans on Mars Just make it 10 trillion shares if he can safely land Gus who sleeps at the bus station on Neptune Who Won the Week? DR: The M other S ( C )h I p MM: ESG Ratings Predictions DR: Symbolically giving up your $35 billion CEO pay package becomes the new $1 salary: proxy statements will say: “Our CEO generously waived his $35 billion pay package as a gesture of sacrifice to lead by example, preserve corporate cash, and show solidarity with displaced workers and stressed stakeholders.” MM: Ryanair announces a new fee children can pay to sit AWAY from their parents

17. NUGS: Zuck’s vending machine offer, Bezos hates everyone, Thiel does ESG ratings from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

    Jun 23, 202634 min

    DR1 Our Tech Overlords In our 'Elon Musk's alibi to police was, "It couldn’t be my fault; I haven’t been at Tesla since they passed my pay package."' headline of the week. Tesla Under Fire After Car Smashes Into Texas Home and Kills 76-Year-Old Grandmother *************** In our 'Hello, my name is Jeff, I have a younger brother and sister, my favorite food is Betty Crocker pancakes, and I am a Coupon-ism major at Columbia University' headline of the week. Jeff Bezos Called Washington Post His Worst Investment and Staff He Laid Off ‘Terrible’ People *************** LivingSocial (Written Down 2016): In 2010, Amazon poured $175 million into this daily-deals competitor to Groupon. The daily-deals craze fizzled out quickly, and six years later, LivingSocial was acquired by Groupon for effectively $0 In our 'Just tell them it will make their Netflix better' headline of the week. Head of Microsoft Rages at His Fellow CEOs for Admitting What They’re Actually Doing to Society With AI *************** “You can’t say, hey, all white-collar jobs are gone and this could even be a weapon and we will use all the power to build data centers,” Nadella explained (Microsoft’s own AI CEO Mustafa Suleyma, it’s worth noting, very recently claimed that AI was on the verge of performing most “professional tasks.”) Nadella is now pushing an approach that factors in the common worker, criticizing those who get excited to announce AI-driven layoffs. “No, how about we think about reorganizing the jobs?” In our 'Mark has super-duper pinky-promised to stop using his $150,000 Patek Philippe watch to time exactly how long it takes a developer to cry' headline of the week. Meta CTO Admits Mark Zuckerberg Has Completely Crushed Employee Spirits *************** In our 'Hey Ma, every time I click on this ad it wipes my butt, buys a dozen frozen turkey burgers, and breaks up with my girlfriend, tell Dad!' headline of the week. These new Amazon ads don’t just recommend products—they can make your purchases for you *************** MM1 In our 'What if I replace the Oreo knockoff brand Kroger Chocolate Lovers Kid-O's with Hydrox in the vending machines? Will you like working here again?' headline of the week. Meta Floats Bigger Snack Budget After AI Shakeup Tanks Employee Morale In our 'What if I make it LOOK LIKE your job isn't harming children, so you can tell your Mom at Thanksgiving, "no, we don't hurt children, that's ridiculous!"? Will you like working here again?' headline of the week. Meta lobbies Congress for immunity from lawsuits alleging online harm to children In our 'OK, what if I replace the HYDROX with ACTUAL OREOS in the vending machines? Not even Elon Musk would do that - would you like working here again?' headline of the week. X tells 'neglected' Meta employees that it is hiring and will 'exceed any snack budget offer' In our 'I should have gotten the worst possible grade for GOVERNANCE, not ENVIRONMENT... don't you people read?' headline of the week. Musk Furious After SpaceX Stock Get Worst Possible Environmental Grade In our 'Free Float data already created influence metrics, says, "make your own ESG data, jerk"' headline of the week. Inside Peter Thiel's Invite-Only Dialog Network: Secret A-B-C Grading System for Billionaires and Politicians Grades are assigned based on factors including fame, wealth, influence and political fit: C ratings go to the most prominent figures, A to those who are established but less high-profile, and B to most others DR2 The Stupid In our 'Target screams, you're supposed to fake fire your CEO and make him Executive Chair and promote the COO in times of internal crisis!' headline of the week. Lucid Motors Fires 18% of Workforce and Axes COO Marc Winterhoff as EV Market Slowdown Hits Hard *************** In our 'Target screams, yes exactly!' headline of the week. Domino's names COO Joe Jordan as new CEO amid slowing sales *************** Outgoing CEO Russell Weiner will transition to executive chairman In our 'Group of experts suggest painting the pool blue to get rid of the problem' headline of the week. ‘ESG Hasn’t Gone Away’: Group Urges Trump, SEC to Rein In ‘Big Three’ Asset Managers’ Voting Power Long Term *************** Bull Moose Institute: 8 men, 0 women: ran by Aiden Buzzetti, President | 1776 Project Foundation & Bull Moose Project In our 'Soccer 1, Child Care 0' headline of the week. After forcing workers back to the office, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are now letting their staff work remotely—but only for the World Cup *************** In our 'Board members include Kimbal Musk, O.J. Simpson, Dana White, Rebekah Neumann, Elizabeth Holmes, Richard Sackler, John R. Tyson, and John T. Walton' headline of the week. Trump Forms UFO Board to Investigate 'Mothership' Orb Threat Over Sensitive National Security Site John T. Walton (1992-2005), the billionaire son of Walmart founder Sam Walton, died in 2005, when the home-built experimental ultralight aircraft he was piloting crashed Unlike siblings Rob and Jim Walton, who took executive roles, John's involvement emphasized oversight without deep immersion in merchandising or supply chain functions MM2 In our 'Blackrock announces funding a reboot of the movie The Highlander called The Gay Highlander: There Can Be Only One' headline of the week. With the exits of Apple’s Tim Cook and Dow’s Jim Fitterling, the Fortune 500 is losing two groundbreaking gay CEOs—leaving just one In our 'Lying sociopath is 100% excited about making money, 74% excited about taking a bath, 29% excited to go home to his baby, and 12% excited to eat Hydrox' headline of the week. Sam Altman was ‘0%’ excited to be a CEO of a public company—but OpenAI is taking steps to compete in the AI IPO blitz anyway In our 'Lying sociopath hires man accused of aiding suicide to build product that will destroy humanity' headline of the week. OpenAI Just Hired a Guy Accused of Terrible Things Noam Shazeer, cofounder of Character.AI who has been accused of having an AI chatbot that rooted for their customer's suicides In our 'Lying sociopath who hired man accused of aiding suicides for product designed to destroy humanity thinks the product will be able to do it by next Christmas' headline of the week. Sam Altman thinks AI will surpass human intelligence by 2030. His rival AI billionaires say it’ll be even sooner In our 'Man who owns everything and has all the money suggests you try out whittling or become a cobbler' headline of the week. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says electricians and plumbers will be needed by the hundreds of thousands in the new working world

18. Conservative media dictatorships, manbaby secret clubs, and Zuck has a Casio from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

    Jun 19, 202656 min

    Story of the Week (DR): Big Media Dictatorship Craziness MM Justice Department Decision to Allow Paramount Deal Surprised Staff Investigators and US approval of Paramount/Warner Bros. deal surprised DOJ lawyers and The UFC’s Despicable Night at the White House Senior Justice Department officials suddenly closed an eight-month antitrust investigation and approved Paramount’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, shocking career staff attorneys who were preparing to recommend a lawsuit to block it. DOJ investigators worried the combined company's massive debt would prevent it from honoring its promise to release 30 movies annually. However, senior leadership dismissed the debt concerns, arguing the merger would beneficially create a stronger rival to streaming giants like Netflix. The unexpected approval has drawn intense criticism from lawmakers, notably Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who suggested the green light from the administration was politically motivated and stated the decision "reeks of corruption." The deal also faces regulatory hurdles at the FCC; despite Chairman Brendan Carr's support, the merger requires a special FCC waiver due to significant equity stakes held by sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. While the federal government has stepped aside, the mega-merger still faces strict, ongoing antitrust scrutiny from the European Union and potential lawsuits from several state Attorneys General (including California) who insist the merger is not a done deal. Comcast Class A Shareholders Reject $107M Co-CEO Pay as Stock Slid 20% Brian Roberts 34% of vote 42% no on pay with Roberts: 80% no without David Zaslav 2025 Pay Rejected By WBD Shareholders In Non-Binding Vote 84% no for his $165M No major shareholder: On the verge of being acquired by the Ellisons Fox Corp to acquire Roku in $22B deal Fox increased CEO/Chair Lachlan K. Murdoch's target annual bonus to $9M (up from $6M) and target annual equity award to $20M (up from $11M) If the maximum stays: annual from $12M to $18M and equity from $22M to $40M So a possible increase of $24M “Mr. Murdoch recused himself from all discussions and votes regarding his employment term extension and compensation adjustments” Lachlan = 36% of vote The government and AI Anthropic and Trump Trump Blocks Foreigners From Using Anthropic’s Latest AI Tech Under orders from the US government citing national security concerns, AI company Anthropic suspended foreign nationals (including its own employees) from using its most advanced tech and disabled access to its newest Claude models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5. The directive follows a feud starting in February, when the Trump administration barred federal agencies from using Anthropic products after the company refused to grant the military unrestricted access to its AI for mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. Anthropic’s IPO pitch has a new problem: the government can shut it down Coming just over a week after Anthropic confidentially filed its IPO paperwork, the government-mandated shutdown highlights severe regulatory and geopolitical vulnerabilities that threaten the company's massive valuation and commercial stability. Trump’s Anthropic restrictions may be illegal Bernie and AI Bernie Sanders AI sovereign wealth fund bill 2026 Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced legislation Thursday that would give the American public a direct 50% ownership stake in the country's largest artificial intelligence companies through a one-time tax on their stock Bernie Sanders unveils $7 trillion plan to give Americans control of AI industry Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced a sweeping $7 trillion legislative package aimed at breaking up private tech monopolies and transitioning the development of advanced artificial intelligence into a publicly owned, democratically overseen federal trust. AI dividend: Bernie Sanders pitches $1,000 annual payout from public ownership of AI Jim Cramer says SpaceX investors aren't buying earnings — they're buying Elon Musk The primary critique of ESG investing is about introducing non-pecuniary goals (e.g., lowering carbon emissions, promoting specific boardroom demographics, or boycotting certain industries) into the decision-making process. The Fiduciary Violation: If a fund manager chooses a lower-performing, ESG-compliant investment over a higher-performing, non-ESG investment (like oil, defense, or tobacco), they have violated their Duty of Loyalty by prioritizing social engineering over the client's wallet Drunk Crew Causes 30% Pay Cut For A Major Airline CEO An internal investigation found that two flight attendants had consumed alcohol during their layover period beyond permitted company limits, which set specific restrictions on pre-duty alcohol intake. The airline determined that the consumption occurred the day before departure and represented a breach of internal policy, escalating the matter from a single failed test to a wider compliance violation within the crew pairing on that layover. "We sincerely apologize for the incident involving flight JL252 on May 23, which has severely damaged the trust placed in us. We take this seriously, recognizing it stems from structural weaknesses in our organizational monitoring. Moving forward, we are fully committed to ensuring safety and restoring trust by strengthening our inspection procedures and implementing company-wide reforms." Japan Airlines responded by implementing disciplinary measures affecting both frontline staff and senior management. CEO Mitsuko Tottori, the first female to lead the company after joining as a flight attendant herself in 1985, accepted a 30% reduction in salary for two months, while other executives also received temporary pay cuts as part of the company’s internal accountability process. Safety manager Yukio Nakagawa and cabin services manager Junko Nakano will each take a 20% salary reduction for one month. Meanwhile, all other directors will receive a 10% pay cut over the same period. Alongside executive action, the airline introduced a stricter policy banning alcohol consumption during layovers for more than 6,000 flight attendants. Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Melinda French Gates’ advice to new IPO millionaires: ‘ Give half your money away ’ DR: Judge Rules Trump Administration Cannot Erase Slavery and Climate Change History from National Parks DR: The global under-16 social media ban Is no longer a fringe policy DR: Target, Walmart and Amazon among brands losing LGBTQ+ consumer spending MM DR MM: Nearly 80% of data center capacity is at elevated risk to climate hazards like flooding and fire, study says MM: Meta Sued for Over $100 Million by Eminem's Team for Illegally Using 243 Songs Assholiest of the Week (MM): Which is the bigger asshole move: Being part of a secret club - DR Trump’s boys: See the celebrities and business execs who showed up to the UFC fight at the White House (none women attended); Jensen Huang on his relationship with Trump: ‘ calls me in the middle of the night ; A signal of where power sits': Trump and world leaders joined by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google at G7’ Incel middle schoolers: Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel’s Secretive ‘Dialog’ Society Secret street tours: Chef Karl Wilder joins Secret Street Tours Board of Directors Regulatory fist bump: SpaceX gets assist from DOJ in effort to toss NAACP air pollution lawsuit Gaslighting for votes Voters reject effort to hike Oklahoma’s minimum wage “Tonight, voters chose to protect Oklahoma’s economic momentum and one of our greatest competitive advantages: affordability.” OK has $7.75, the federal minimum wage… WA has $17.13, which is the minimum wage pegged to CPI Tesla Allegedly Showed Cooked Data to Get Full Self-Driving Approved Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to stop California's billionaire tax . He has just over a week left to keep it off the ballot. Farage's ' Pro-Women' Law Could Slash Equal Pay Rights and Cost Female Workers Most Palantir Shareholders Vote for Human Rights Probe. Why It Won’t Happen No ESG-related shareholder proposals pass in 2026 proxy season Threatening and complaining because you’re the victim Amazon investigating engineers who criticized AI data center expansion This is literally three engineers exercising their rights as citizens and being discriminated against as a result NY Amazon Driver Fired for Posting Pro-Union Content on Social Media US tech billionaire issues stark China warning : American companies have been ‘hollowed out’ by the Red Dragon Trump Administration Tells Federal Employees to Wear “Freedom” Pins— Or Else Mark Zuckerberg Orders His Employees to Start Having Fun Again After Brutal Layoffs Culled Their Colleagues While no one is looking, take everything At Tesla, Elon Musk Chooses To Exercise Options, Resulting In $110.55B Jeff’s Dream Team: Bezos recruits world’s top architects to build most expensive mega mansion on Billionaire Bunker island Trillionaire Elon Musk Makes $6.4 Billion Every Time SpaceX Stock Rises by $1 825,806,452 minimum wage hours in OK - or 20.7m work weeks at 40 hours a week - or 397,000 worker years Headliniest of the Week DR: People don't trust AI. They do yearn for Lunchables : survey. MM: Mark Zuckerberg is a certified watch guy . His collection ranges from a $120 Casio to multimillion-dollar timepieces. Who Won the Week? DR: Japan: for holding everybody accountable MM: Casio - the $120 Casio is NOW ON SALE! YOU CAN BE LIKE ZUCK FOR JUST $96 Predictions DR: Meta emulates Japan Airlines by taking away one of Zuck’s watches every time he lays off 10% of his workforce MM: Lunchables sells a watch

19. SpaceX fetish IPO, Trump’s Chinese phone, beef vs. Ebola, AI religious exemption from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

    Jun 12, 20261 hr 5 min

    Story of the Week (DR): SuperBroIpoDystopia: Some key facts: MM a record-breaking $135 per share with$1.8T valuation To make that math make sense, analysts estimate the company needs to grow its sales by 50% every single year for the next decade SpaceX lost $4.9B last year Wall Street is Being Treated Like Order-Takers: Musk pre-set the IPO price strictly at $135 and dictating exactly which investors got allocations. This forced major investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to act as glorified order-takers without even knowing their exact compensation beforehand Saudi Aramco $1.7T; Alibaba: $237B; Facebook $118B Nasdaq aggressively pushed through "fast-entry" rule changes specifically to allow mega-caps like SpaceX to bypass the traditional year of seasoning and enter the Nasdaq-100 in just 15 trading days . This forces passive index funds to buy in blindly to avoid tracking errors Meme stocker bros: $100B in share orders 30% of $75B offering is earmarked for individual retail investors. This effectively shifts late-stage, hyper-inflated valuation risk away from institutions and onto the public. BlackRock $5B Institutional investors admitted that when they bought into SpaceX privately, they were given high-level revenue figures but were denied a copy of the actual balance sheet—an unprecedented lack of transparency for a company raising tens of billions University of Washington more than 10% of its $17B in assets UNC about 10% SpaceX will make $75B in proceeds Saudi Aramco $26B; Alibaba $22B Elon Musk’s Absolute Voting Tyranny (80% of voting power) personal net worth has officially skyrocketed past $1.1T SpaceX’s foundational scale was built on the back of the American public, securing over $20 billion in U.S. federal government contracts to fund its rocket development Antonio Gracias: personally lent Musk $1M to keep him afloat; his PE firm Valor gave $76M That $1M lifeline and early institutional backing from 2008 have compounded into what analysts are calling the most lucrative return on a personal favor in business history. The Second-Largest Shareholder : Through various Valor entities, Gracias controls roughly 7.3% of SpaceX’s Class A stock (more than 500 million shares) Gracias’s stake is officially worth anywhere from $91B to over $140B This single corporate listing instantly catapults Gracias into the ranks of the world's 50 richest people . The big party: combined valuation of $3.6T Anthropic ($965B) filed confidentially on June 1 OpenAI ($1T) filed confidentially on June 8 "We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company. But it's a complicated set of tradeoffs, and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best." What does it all amount to? 4 horrible objectives: Funding a Sci-Fi Passion Project with Public Cash Becoming the Pentagon's Irreplaceable War Machine Forget the folksy narrative that Starlink is just for connecting rural schools or isolated communities: SpaceX is systematically turning itself into the ultimate military contractor Project Starshield: Those satellites are the foundation for a highly classified, militarized version of the network designed for government surveillance, secure communications, and real-time battlefield tracking. Too Big to Regulate: By launching the vast majority of the world's payloads and controlling the dominant orbital communications network, SpaceX is making the U.S. military entirely dependent on its hardware. The ultimate point is to become so deeply embedded in national defense that the government can never afford to regulate, penalize, or dismantle Musk's empire An Orbital Real Estate Land Grab Building a Borderless, Lawless Empire SpaceX is attempting to build a tech infrastructure that exists entirely outside the jurisdiction of Earth Ultimately, SpaceX isn't trying to save humanity from a dying Earth; it's trying to ensure that whoever controls Earth's future has to pay rent to Elon Musk Iran threatens Elon Musk’s companies in Middle East: Iranian state media All of Elon Musk’s companies in the Middle East are military targets for Iran as it retaliates against the U.S., Iranian state media outlet Fars reported. The targets include a regional Starlink ground station, according to Fars. Sen. Warren calls on SEC to delay SpaceX IPO , flagging concerns about valuation and governance The letter to the heads of the Nasdaq, S&P Dow Jones Indices, FTSE Russell and Morningstar Indexes sent on Thursday asked the companies whether they had made or considered rule changes based on lobbying from Elon Musk, other SpaceX officials or officials from OpenAI or Anthropic, and asked for any communications between the companies and the indexes LSEG, which owns the FTSE Russell, and Nasdaq declined to comment. Morningstar did not respond to a request from CNBC for comment. S&P Dow Jones Indices didn’t comment on the letter, but the company noted it had decided not to change its rules regarding indexes : “S&P DJI determined that exceptions to these requirements should not be granted solely based on market capitalization,” it said in a statement to CNBC. “The decision not to adopt the proposed exceptions preserves core index principles by maintaining consistent application of these key requirements.” Democrats ask Goldman Sachs CEO why he’s keeping lawyer who said she’d resign over ties to Epstein Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon is facing new scrutiny from congressional Democrats over his reported effort to retain the bank’s top lawyer months after she said she would resign over revelations about her ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein In a letter sent Wednesday: U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services on the House Oversight Committee “Ruemmler ‘educated (Epstein) on how the law differentiates between underage victims of sex crimes and adult prostitutes…’” In February, Ruemmler announced her resignation from Goldman Sachs, effective June 30, 2026: “At the time, you stated that you “reluctantly” accepted Ruemmler’s resignation. While Goldman Sachs has declined to comment on this matter, new reporting suggests that you ‘pressed’ her to reconsider her resignation and instead move to a new position within the firm.” Teardown of Trump Phone Reveals Incredibly Embarrassing Secret A recent teardown by repair company iFixit confirmed that the T1 is an almost entirely unmodified HTC U24 Pro, a two-year-old and mid-tier Android phone, with a cheap coat of gold coloration Trump is selling an entirely Chinese smartphone, despite waging an economic war against the country. Apart from minuscule changes to the speaker grille and a lengthened flex cable, iFixit concluded that “everything is the same, except the pattern of holes in the case.” Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Google and Meta denied new trial in youth social media addiction case MM: In the United States, Solar Energy is Outpacing Coal for the First Time Ever Assholiest of the Week - SPEED ROUND (MM): BP’s useless, reactionary board of directors: BP drops net zero division in wake of boardroom turmoil; BP’s new CEO Meg O’Neill rips up the energy giant’s playbook— and the ‘green’ era with it - 10 Ryanair blowhard CEO Michael O’Leary : Ryanair investigated over charging parents to sit with children - 5 EV killing GM and Mary Barra : GM is pivoting its battery expertise toward powering AI data centers and the grid - 10 Every company that fired employees and replaced them with AI: Unfortunate Company Accidentally Blows Half a Billion Dollars on Claude in One Month ; AI sticker shock hits corporate America - 10 Everything out of Alex Karp’s fat mouth: Palantir CEO Alex Karp says executives who brag about their AI cuts might as well ‘ sign up for the Bernie Sanders manifesto ’; Palantir CEO says AI companies ' don't understand how unlikeable they are '; - 10 Sorry Liz, this is investors job: Sen. Warren calls on SEC to delay SpaceX IPO , flagging concerns about valuation and governance - 0 Every investor in SpaceX IPO: Franklin Templeton to participate in SpaceX IPO , CEO Johnson tells CNBC; SpaceX IPO demand is approaching four times oversubscribed , source says; Wall Street’s undignified SpaceX mania ; SpaceX's president hints at a Tesla merger : 'That might make Elon's life a little easier' - 10 Billionaires: Billionaires’ Billions Are Increasing Faster Than Ever - 10 Beef (not Ebola): Elon Musk Faces Backlash as a Horrific Texas Screwworm Outbreak Follows Brutal DOGE Budget Cuts - 10 Mark : Meta Furious Over Bombshell Smart Glasses Revelation “Last week, Wired reported that Meta discreetly moved to infuse facial recognition tech into its popular smart glasses, as evidenced by a piece of code discovered in the Meta AI app by the magazine’s journalists.” - 10 Headliniest of the Week DR: UBS CEO [Sergio] Ermotti hopes to step down before 2030 MM: You Can Now Get a Religious Exemption From Using AI at Work “The funniest possible outcome of the AI mandate era is about to be HR departments discovering that ‘sincerely held religious belief’ under Title VII has a much lower bar than they assumed, and Pope Leo handed every Catholic employee a written excuse,” tweeted San Francisco-based startup founder Corey Quinn. (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination and retaliation based on race, color, national origin, religion, and sex.) MM: Furious Judge Cancels Entire Trial After Finding Out Lawyers on Both Sides Used AI Who Won the Week? DR: HTC U24 Pro, a two-year-old and mid-tier Android phone. Or maybe it was the cheap gold paint? MM: Everyone religious - what CAN’T you opt out of using a religious exemption? Predictions DR: Attacking dictator-run companies (i.e., Iran/Tesla) starts to enter the realm of normalcy MM: Atheists adopt a religion to opt out of tech bro oligarchies

20. BLAME: Carnival data breach, Danone methane reduction, GM loses a director from Business Pants, opens in a new tab

    Jun 2, 202644 min

    DAMION Carnival Corporation's data breach exposed personal data of nearly 6 million customers: An April social engineering attack on an employee account compromised names, dates of birth, and government-issued ID numbers. WHO DO YOU BLAME Skills: Technology & Cybersecurity: Experience with information technology and cybersecurity matters is increasingly important to mitigate the risks our business faces, promote innovation and maintain a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving technological age Least represented 5/11 CEO Josh Weinstein NO: at Carnival since 2002, started as General Counsel Sir Johathon Band NO: First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, the most senior officer position in the British Navy (2006 to 2009, when he retired); Admiral and Commander-in-Chief Fleet (2002 to 2006); Served as a naval officer in increasing positions of authority (1967 to 2002) Jason Cahilly NO: CEO Dragon Group LLC, provides capital and business management consulting and advisory services worldwide; The NBA: CFO & Chief Strategic Officer; Goldman Sachs: Partner; Global Co-Head of Media and Telecommunications; Head of Principal Investing for Technology, Media & Telecommunications Nelda Connors NO: CEO/Chair Pine Grove Holdings, a privately held investment company; CEO Atkore International, manufacturer of electrical, safety and infrastructure solutions; VP Eaton Corporation, electrical and automotive supplier Laura Weil NO: Founder Village Lane Advisory LLC, specializes in providing executive and strategic consulting services to retailers COO New York & Company, women’s apparel and accessories retailer; CEO Ashley Stewart, women’s apparel retailer; CEO Urban Brands, apparel retailer; COO AnnTaylor Stores, women’s apparel retailer; CFO American Eagle Outfitters, apparel retailer Audit Committee : Oversee management’s risk assessment processes to identify principal and emerging risks, including financial, IT, cybersecurity and non-HESS operational risks Laura Weil*: NO Jason Cahilly: NO Jeffrey Gearhart: NO Walmart Corporate Secretary and lawyer Stuart Subotnick: NO CEO at Metromedia Company, wireless/communications, until 2010; Carnival director since 1987 Health, Environmental, Safety and Security Committee: Oversee management’s processes to identify principal and emerging health, environmental, safety, security and sustainability-related risks, including those related to ship operations and cybersecurity , RAAS health, environmental, safety, security audits, IAG and external investigations into significant ship incidents, and health, environmental, safety, security-related hotline complaints, and assess the steps management has taken to minimize such risks. Sir Johathon Band*: NO Nelda Connors: NO Helen Deeble: NO Former CEO P&O Ferries Division Holdings, shipping and logistics business Katie Lahey: NO Executive Chair Korn Ferry Australasia, leadership and talent firm Micky Arison (75%): Exec Chair and former CEO and 7% stockholder The CEO Pay Ratio 1,063:1 24 retail CEOs made as much in a day as their typical employee earned in a year — and a big one didn't . WHO DO YOU BLAME The separation of CEO and Chair: Hamilton E. James Chair/Ron Vachris MM Not unique Only 50% of the board is men. WTF? unique One share = one vote Not unique State of HQ = Washington Also Starbucks State of Inc = Washington Also Starbucks Pledge of allegiance to stakeholders Costco generally has: Higher wages; Better benefits; Lower turnover; Higher sales per employee. Industry-leading employee compensation AND Self-imposed low-margin pricing philosophy Walmart only low-margin pricing Other comps: Todd Vasos of Dollar General, Shane O'Kelly of AutoZone, Gerald Morgan of Texas Roadhouse, Jack Sinclair of Sprouts Farmers Market, William Stengel of Genuine Parts Company, Michael Creedon of Dollar Tree, Ronald Sargent of Kroger, Lauren Hobart of Dick's Sporting Goods, Joshua Kobza of Restaurant Brands Inc., Kecia Steelman of Ulta Beauty, Scott Boatwright of Chipotle, Ted Decker of Home Depot, Bob Eddy of BJ's Wholesale Club, Corie Barry of Best Buy, James Conroy of Ross Stores, Chris Turner and David Gibbs of Yum Brands, Chris Kempczinski of McDonald's, Marvin Ellison of Lowe's, Brian Cornell of Target, Ernie Herrman of TJX Companies, Doug McMillon of Walmart, Brian Niccol of Starbucks, Hal Lawton of Tractor Supply Co, Laura Alber of Williams-Sonoma Figma Gets an Activist Investor. Exhibit A on Why Companies Don’t Want to Go Public. Figma’s first year as a public company hasn’t gone well. Findell Capital Management said it needs to take steps to shed its unwarranted reputation as an artificial-intelligence “loser.” WHO DO YOU BLAME? Figma founder and CEO Dylan Field: Owns 10% of shares but 72% of voting power: Class B shares worth 15 votes per share Dylan owns 158 Class A Shares (or 0.00003556% of 444,278,887) And Chair $5B net worth $865M total summary compensation in 2025; $91M in 2024 Nominating Agreement: Figma must nominate Dylan Field to be a director and include him in the proxy statement The company must use its resources to back him up and actively convince other shareholders to vote for him In response to a question about how he was going to change the world, Dylan said he was going to build better software for drones. Bro fest sausage party 2 of 9 directors are women Top 5 NEOs all dudes Peter Thiel Forced Dylan to drop out of Brown for a dumb fellowship VC Blowhardiness on the Board VC dude John Lilly (Greylock): Lead Independent Director 2nd longest tenure (2014) Member of the Audit Committee; Member of the Nominating Committee (only Lilly and Rimer) VC dude Andrew Reed (Sequoia) Director at debt-maker Klarna Group (also way down since IPO): down roughly 54% from its initial $40.00 IPO price, and down nearly 68% from its all-time high Member of the Compensation Committee (which modeled Dylan’s pay package after Elon Musk) VC dude Danny Rimer (Index Ventures) Director since 2014 B.A. in History and Literature from Harvard Member of the Compensation Committee (which modeled Dylan’s pay package after Elon Musk) Member of the Nominating Committee (only Lilly and Rimer) Luis von Ahn Duolingo co-founder and CEO 2025 : shared an internal email outlining Duolingo’s new "AI-first" strategy where Duolingo would “gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle” Stated that "AI is a better teacher than humans" and that the future role of teachers would be reduced to providing "childcare." Blamed the controversy on a "lack of context" in his original statements "AI-First" memo goes viral: $389; today $118 MATT Danone, Starbucks shine in methane-reduction ranking Danone is the only company in the group aligned with the Global Methane Pledge, an initiative backed by 150 countries that targets a 30 percent reduction in global levels of the gas by 2030. The French multinational also leads the pack in progress toward its target, having come close to hitting it five years ahead of schedule. WHO DO YOU CREDIT? Chair of the CSR committee Lise Kingo (9% influence), one of three directors tagged as merit directors master’s degree in Responsibility & Business from the University of Bath bachelor degrees in Religions and Ancient Greek Art bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Economics certificate as International Director from INSEAD Ex Novo Nordisk environmental affairs, internal audit, compliance, human resources, communication, branding and sustainability Helped create the UN SDGs and the UN Global Compact Somehow only bats 559 on carbon intensity (career) and 415 for scope 1/2 (career) Also, using deference metrics, the ONLY DIRECTOR tagged as fully independent Employee rep member of the CSR committee Bettina Theissig (5% influence) and the employees of Danone The committee charter mandates employees get a say: At least two thirds of the CSR Committee must be independent, as defined by the AFEP-MEDEF Code. At least one Director representing employees must be a member of the Committee. In France (Danone’s domicile), the European Investment Bank found that French employees were the most aware of environmental issues - 82% of French employees said they were highly concerned about environmental issues, highest in Europe Lead Independent Director and chair of the Nom/comp committee who put together the comp plan, Valerie Chapoulaud-Floquet 15% influence, second to the 18% influence CEO (democracy!!), got 99.16% shareholder approval in April (even as CEO got 89.73% approval and pay got 93.19% approval) 20% of short-term pay and 30% of long-term pay is based on hitting sustainability targets When you pay a CEO to do a thing, they are more likely to do a thing Ex-CEO Emmanuel Faber Ousted in 2021 by the board of directors and activist investors, he transformed Danone into an “enterprise a mission” (a French version of a B corp) Investors voted 99% in favor of the move and a year later ousted Faber, the board resigned, and the new board and CEO are basically moving back towards being environmental leaders because it paid off Short term share price lagged He said in 2024 that nature is “at the core” of Danone, It took the stock 3 years from Faber’s ousting to return to Faber levels - and in the meantime, they were sued for plastics and emissions Isn’t this HIS win? Current CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique Because CEO GM Board Director Jonathan McNeill Stepping Down CEO of DVx Ventures. Ex COO at Lyft Inc. and ex president, Global Sales, Delivery and Service at Tesla, current director at Lululemon, GM director since 2022, on the Governance and Corporate Responsibility committee and Risk and Cybersecurity committee. We know that half of boards on average think someone on the board should be replaced - did the GM board not like McNeill? WHO/WHAT WOULD WE BLAME FOR PUSHING MCNEILL OUT? Outsider dude bro DR Let’s be honest, McNeill worked at much more… modern?... companies than GM The board is OLD SCHOOL - ex Northrop Grumman, ex Visa, ex Lazard, ex HP, ex eBay, ex Novartis, ex Walmart, other directorships at Goldman, Huntsman, P&G… these are professional, insular boards Meanwhile, he’s investing as a VC in AI, other auto/mobility startups, comes from boards that are bro founder lead (Tesla, Lyft) He’s invested in AI, crypto, heavy tech, intertwined with VCs all over Not deferential enough Barra is connected to 94% - THE ENTIRE - board McNeill has the highest network power on the board at $9tn, higher than even Mary Barra (who is super connected), but is NOT a power player in the board community of GM - the dominant board communities for GM are massive blue chip US companies, where McNeill has deeper connections in smaller IT/tech focused companies He doesn’t need the pay, he gets nothing for the connections really, he has connection to Barra but his network is different - was he too independent? Pissed he doesn’t have enough influence McNeill has the LOWEST influence on the GM board at 4% He’s relatively new, younger, working as a VC where you have a lot of power of capital allocation “I don’t need this shit” effect? Too many women McNeill’s dvX ventures portfolio team is 6 dudes and 1 women dvX entire operations staff is two woman - guess what they do “Chief of Staff” (ie, HR) Executive Assistant (yes, listed on the team) Board is 2 women, 3 men (McNeill not on board) This one seems unlikely I guess? Too busy, meh, move on One of dvX portfolio companies is curbee, with GM Ventures’ Kurt Baumgarten on the board (and the dvX co-founder is founder of Curbee) McNeill on at least 3 of his portfolio boards or advisory committees, plus LULU and GM…