Business Pants

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: DePinto’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

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

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

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

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

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

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 MotherS(C)hIp

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

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

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

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