Introduction

LIVE from your ESG and DEI Teeth Bleaching Kit, it’s a Business Pants Friday Show here at February 21st Studios, featuring AnalystHole Matt Moscardi. On today’s weekly wrap up: Canada still cares, Rupert Murdoch knows how to text, the illusion of meritocracy, and an important new announcement from YouTube

Our show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only platform measuring board power, connections, and performance for FREE.

Story of the Week (DR):

ESG Week MM

BlackRock and Vanguard halt meetings with companies after SEC cracks down on ESG

BlackRock resumes stewardship talks after reviewing new ESG guidance

Proxy vote support for ESG drops to record low in 2024

Clarification: ShareAction analyzed how 70 of the world’s largest asset managers voted on 279 ESG shareholder resolutions during the 2024 proxy voting season:

In 2024, only four (1.4%) out of the 279 resolutions we assessed received majority support, less than half of the percentage that gained a majority vote in 2023 (3%), and far lower than the 21% which passed in 2021.

This is reflected in an ongoing downward trend in the average percentage support that these resolutions received, which was 20.6% in 2024 compared to 40% in 2021.

Vanguard, the world’s second largest asset manager, performed the worst of all the managers we assessed, voting in favour of 0% of shareholder proposals.

Top 26 all in Europe

1 GenAM (Italy) 98

2 BNP Paribas Asset Management (France) 97

3 PGGM Investments (Netherlands) 97

28 Federated Hermes (top in US) 80

BlackRock at #67 with a score of 5; Vanguard to out of 70 with a 0.

Tesla Targeted With Worldwide Protests, Vandalism

Tesla showrooms are being hit by a wave of anti-DOGE protests

Sheryl Crow says goodbye to her Tesla and donates to NPR: 'You have to decide who you are willing to align with'

Sign That Says “We Hate Him Too” Appears in Window of Tesla Dealership

Economist Warns That Elon Musk Is About to Cause a "Deep, Deep Recession"

Jesse Rothstein, DOL's chief economist at the start of the Obama administration: "This is going to be very, very bad."

James Murdoch lays bare his relationship with ‘misogynist’ father amid succession fight in rare interview

The interview, published in the Atlantic, reveals James Murdoch, now 52, regarded his father, now 93, as a “misogynist” and described Fox News as a “menace” to US democracy.

A series of “withering questions” put to James by Rupert’s lawyer in a nearly five-hour session at a Manhattan law office. According to the Atlantic, the questions included:

“Have you ever done anything successful on your own?”

“Why were you too busy to say ‘Happy birthday’ to your father when he turned 90?”

“Does it strike you that, in your account, everything that goes wrong is always somebody else’s fault?”

The lawyer also referred to James and his sisters as “white, privileged, multibillionaire trust-fund babies”.

James realised Rupert, who was seated silently, was texting the questions to the lawyer. “How fucking twisted is that?” he asks Coppins.

UnitedHealth’s rough stretch continues, with buyouts, a reported DOJ probe and a 23% drop in three months

UnitedHealthcare is in hot water again as the insurance giant grapples with a reported government investigation of its Medicare billing practices, pursues employee buyouts and potential layoffs and faces sharp criticism from billionaire Bill Ackman.

It extends a tumultuous period for its parent company, UnitedHealth Group, marked by the killing of a top executive, a costly cyberattack against its subsidiary and high medical costs.

The Department of Justice has launched a civil fraud investigation in recent months into UnitedHealth’s billing practices for its Medicare Advantage plans

The probe specifically examines whether diagnoses were routinely made to trigger extra payments in those plans, including at physician groups the insurer owns

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

DR: Canadian banks must reveal diversity of board, top managers under new rules

Canadian banks and other national institutions have to disclose information about the diversity of their boards of directors and top management under new rules published on Saturday, in sharp contrast with the U.S. Trump administration which is ending such practices.

Federally regulated financial institutions must also disclose policies to increase diversity while sending out notices of annual meetings to shareholders.

"Investors lack transparent and standardized information on the representation of women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities in senior leadership positions … Diversity is fundamental to creating a thriving and successful financial sector that reflects Canadian values."

DR: DEI is good for our business, Coca-Cola says

In an annual filing, the company said its business could be adversely affected if it was "unable to attract or retain specialized talent or top talent with diverse perspectives, experiences and backgrounds."

DR: REVERSAL: Trump rescinds DOT approval for NYC congestion toll, condemns city to pollution

DR: REVERSAL: Amazon workers reject union in vote at North Carolina warehouse

Of the 3,276 ballots cast, there were 2,447 votes opposing the union and 829 in favor, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

CAUSE was founded in 2022 by RDU1 employees Mary Hill and Rev. Ryan Brown to voice concerns about the company’s response to the Covid pandemic, which they viewed as inadequate. The group sought to organize RDU1 to boost wages and secure longer breaks.

Starting pay at RDU1 is $18.50 an hour. CAUSE has pushed to negotiate for wages of $30 an hour.

Unions have enjoyed increasing support across the country, with 67% of Americans saying they approve of labor unions, according to Gallup.

North Carolina had the lowest union membership rate in the country last year, with only 2.4% of workers in the state represented, according to the BLS.

MM: NASA Has Some Good News About The Asteroid That Could Hit Earth

MM: Finally, a future lawsuit against return to office mandates is here: Afternoon Naps Boost Your Problem-Solving, Study Finds

110 minute nap!!

MM: What's in that drink? Starbucks becomes less Instagrammable. MM DR

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

Meritocracy, the new buzzword DR

Exxon Swaps 'Diversity' for 'Meritocracy' in Report to Investors

According to our data, ONE of Exxon’s TWELVE directors meets relatively unimpeachable “merit” measures: advanced knowledge of the industry, network power, economic interest in the company, performance (earnings and TSR) at any company board they sit on, and CEO or leadership positions in the past.

The ONE member that hits three of the five is Kaisa Hietala, who was a dissent director put there by Engine No 1 in an activist vote

Here’s why merit’s missing: 7 of 12 directors are white men

There are no people of color anywhere except the two twofers - the woman born in Egypt who lived in Texas her whole life and was part of Trump 1.0, and the black guy on three other boards?

Our data shows on average black women have more merit on paper than any other cohort

New plan: companies need to announce “increased meritocracy targets” - increasing the number of employees, executives, and directors meet meritocracy requirements by 2050

The result will be: 100% of every company is black women

You’re welcome

It’s your job, asshole

Boeing CEO praises Elon Musk for helping with the delayed Air Force One delivery: 'He's a brilliant guy'

Your literal job is to build that thing for a client - imagine if we developed sucky director data, then said we hired ISS to build it because, “they’re better at it!”

Investors - you elected this board, this fool, and it’s your money - is your job as owner the company to keep on a board and management team that needs help to do its basic job?

Just a reminder: Ohio AG sued Boeing’s board for safety failures - they can’t keep their planes safe, they can’t build new planes, they can’t figure out how to deal with their employees… and the lowest vote against wasn’t for prior CEO Dave Calhoun, it was for the guy who chaired the safety committee… for one year!

Ohio voted FOR THEM ALL

What it was always about

The worst version of fuck, marry, kill… fuck anyone with a vagina since you’re a middle school boy, marry money, and kill… people

An Influencer Says She Had Elon Musk’s Baby and the Drama Is Pretty Spectacular, Even by His Standards

Elon Musk has a problem with X's Community Notes when he disapproves of the results

Elon Musk Is Flagrantly Gutting an Agency in Charge of Regulating Tesla

Tesla recalls more than 375,000 vehicles due to power steering issue

Headliniest of the Week

DR: Zuckerberg's New Metaverse Ad Is So Bad That the People Who Created It Must Be Secretly Trying to Embarrass Him

MM: YouTube picked a new shade of red for its logo because the old red was too red - because the old color, hex code #FF1B1B was super loud and diverse, they made it a less diverse woke red, hex code #EB2F3B

Who Won the Week?

DR: NYC pollution

MM: Investor Relations Teams: BlackRock and Vanguard halt meetings with companies after SEC cracks down on ESG. BlackRock resumes stewardship talks after reviewing new ESG guidance. Not said but implied: “don’t worry, we totally can’t actually do stuff now, we’re just talking here”

Predictions

DR: Robbie Starbuck sues Coca-Cola because color of Coke is “too DEI”

MM: Apple, prior to their upcoming meeting, sues Inspire Investing and Wayne Franzten, who copy pasted a shareholder proposal submitted by Bowyer Research, the company propped up by ISS, to Deere for a meeting in the same week. The lawsuit is on the grounds that Wayne Franzten doesn’t exist (the only search result for his name is the Apple proposal, not even in voter records or political donation or real estate records can I find him - and this is his ONLY shareholder proposal in our database EVER), and on the grounds that a religious investor cannot sue on the grounds of financial materiality since Jesus said, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” | Mark 10:24b-25 and “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” | Luke 12:13-15, which means churches are anti-shareholder value.

Blackrock and Vanguard “pause” corporate meetings, SEC’s boardroom power shift in the sarcastic Good Game

Introduction

LIVE from your ESG ESG ESG ESG DEI DEI DEI Climate Change Change Climate Change Global Warming ESG DEI,  it’s a Business Pants Friday Show here at Valentine’s Day Studios, featuring AnalystHole Matt Moscardi. On today’s weekly wrap up: Corporate Abolitionists, The Gulf of Stupidity, The S in ISS stands for Shitty, and Denny’s Truth Bomb 

Our show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only platform measuring board power, connections, and performance for FREE.

Story of the Week (DR):

Goldman Sachs abandons DEI rule, saying it has ‘served its purpose’ MM

Richard Gnodde, CEO of Goldman Sachs International and a member of the bank’s Management Committee, told the BBC that the bank had scrapped its board diversity requirement because of legal developments — and the fact that it had achieved its function.

“That policy served as a catalyst to try and drive a change in behavior. What’s important here is that you have a diversity of views on that board, and if you look at these companies — they’ve all embraced diversity. I think it served its purpose.” 

Billionaire Airbnb Co-Founder Is Said to Take Role in Musk’s Government Initiative

Joe Gebbia, the Airbnb co-founder, is a board member at Tesla.

Mr. Gebbia arrived at O.P.M.’s downtown Washington D.C. headquarters in a black S.U.V. with a three-man security detail

‘Sustainable’ Investors Flee References to Climate Change

The success of Republican attacks on ESG and Donald Trump’s re-election has everyone running for cover.

For more than a decade, investment chief of Green Alpha Investments Garvin Jabusch would show a chart of the planet’s rising temperatures when pitching investment ideas to clients, saying they could help save the planet and still make money: “I’ve given up on anyone ever caring about that”

Parnassus Investments, the biggest US sustainable-investing firm, has removed references on its website that its funds are “fossil-fuel free.”

Engine No. 1, the small activist firm that led the shakeup of ExxonMobil Corp.’s board in 2021, has removed wording on its web page that corporate performance is “greatly enhanced” by investing in workers, communities and the environment. The fund now says it invests in companies that are “powering innovation and driving the reindustrialization of the United States.”

Mr. Blowhard

Jamie Dimon is fed up with remote work

Last year’s proxy statement:

“We continued to deliver strong multi-year financial performance, invest in our future, strengthen our risk and control environment, and reinforce our culture and values, including our long-standing commitment to serve our customers, employees and communities, and conduct business in a responsible way to drive inclusive growth.”

Managed revenue of $162.4 billion — a record for the sixth consecutive year

Experienced growth across all of our market-leading lines of business

Record net income of $49.6 billion

Exceptional Performance: the Firm's sustained strong relative outperformance compared to its peers

JPMorgan CEO Dimon slams RTO pushback: ‘I don’t care how many people sign that f*cking petition’

Jamie Dimon Reportedly Says He’ll Cut Some ‘Stupid’ DEI Costs At JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon wants to cancel some DEI spending after the bank spent billions on racial equity: ‘I was never a firm believer in bias training’

In his remarks, Dimon reiterated the bank’s commitment to improving society and said the company’s approach to diverse employees and communities would stay the course. Yet, he reportedly added: “I saw how we were spending money on some of this stupid sh-t, and it really pissed me off,” Dimon said. “I’m just gonna cancel them. I don’t like wasted money in bureaucracy.”

There are two distinct elements to the determination of Jamie's pay plan: 50% is “the what” and 50% is “the how.” One of the three elements of “the how” is “Teamwork & Leadership,” which specifically includes “Creating an open, respectful, inclusive culture; Employer of choice for top talent from all backgrounds; Delivery on internal DEI initiatives.”

One of the company’s stated achievements in “Client/Customer/Stakeholder” was:

Advancing racial equity: By the end of 2023, we reported nearly $31 billion of progress toward our five-year $30 billion Racial Equity Commitment to help close the racial wealth gap and advance economic inclusion among historically underserved communities in the U.S., including Black, Hispanic and Latino customers and communities. The Firm is committed to continuing work beyond the five-year timeframe identified in our original commitment to complete the 18 individually identified sub-commitments.

“[P]ractices and progress on the Firm's DEI priorities as part of the year-end performance review.”

$36M last year: $145M for 6 NEOs

One of COO Daniel Pinto’s stated achievements: “Delivered key CIB DEI initiatives to drive a more inclusive work environment for employees”

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

DR: Seattle Voters Say Yes to Corporate Tax Hike to Fund Social Housing

a ballot initiative to fund social housing through an "excess compensation" tax on city businesses paying salaries of over $1 million

68.32% of voters backed funding for social housing and 57.55% chose to fund it specifically with the proposed tax

MM: Mexico’s President Sheinbaum said her government would ask Google to make ‘Mexican America’ pop up on  maps of the U.S. MM DR

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

‘Greenhushing’ Emerges as Anti-ESG Pressures Mount for Companies

STAND UP FOR YOURSELVES, YOU BABIES

Either it is the right thing to do for shareholders and stakeholders and you should say so, or it’s not and you’re a fraud

ISS

ISS Indefinitely Halts Consideration of Diversity Factors When Making Proxy Voting Recommendations

Let’s talk value of “diversity factors” - I’m talking strictly data here, not the justified moral outrage about having all white male boards.  Let’s just talk about how investors are now paying ISS hundreds of thousands of dollars instead of Free Float in order to get LESS data - here are the “factors” you no longer consider for recommendations:

Gender diversity:

Women outpace men globally in sector knowledge for boards they’re on - women are more likely to have gone to an elite school or have an advanced degree AND have direct knowledge of the industry of the company they’re on the board of

Women have stronger networks - because so few break the glass ceiling of boards, they end up getting recycled, which means they know more board members or have friends in common

Women and men have exactly the same performance metrics as directors - by performance, I mean during their tenures, they oversee the exact same TSR and earnings performance percentiles versus industry peers

Men have the advantage in leadership and economic interest - as in, women are rarely made CEOs unless there’s a crisis and mommy has to clean up after the boys, and the boys almost always keep shares for themselves and don’t give any to the girls

Racial/ethnic diversity:

Black female directors at S&P 500 companies are the most knowledgeable of their industries

Black female directors at S&P 500 companies also have the strongest networks - they have been recycled more, and thus have more friends in high places

Asian male directors at S&P 500 companies have the highest performance rates on TSR and earnings

Overall, black male and female directors are the most “meriting” board positions at the S&P 500 companies 

Shareholders who don’t use their rights DR

SEC Looks to Muzzle Shareholder Culture Warriors

Schedule 13G is filed by owners of stock who have more than 5% of shares - so basically, Blackrock, Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity - major investors

BUT, if the owner takes an ACTIVIST position (like Elliott amassing in BP right now), and that position is greater than 5%, they file a 13D, not G - D means they intend to influence or change management in a proxy fight (or through engagement)

13D has more reporting requirements because it’s an activist stake

Well, because investors have basically ignored their basic rights for so long and deferred to management, this happens: SEC Provides New Guidance on Schedule 13G Eligibility

The new guidance says:

Schedule 13G would be unavailable if a shareholder engages with the issuer’s management to specifically call for the sale of the issuer or a significant amount of the issuer’s assets, the restructuring of the issuer, or the election of director nominees other than the issuer’s nominees.

For example, Schedule 13G may be unavailable to a shareholder who:

recommends that the issuer remove its staggered board, switch to a majority voting standard in uncontested director elections, eliminate its poison pill plan, change its executive compensation practices, or undertake specific actions on a social, environmental, or political policy and, as a means of pressuring the issuer to adopt the recommendation, explicitly or implicitly conditions its support of one or more of the issuer’s director nominees at the next director election on the issuer’s adoption of its recommendation; or

discusses with management its voting policy on a particular topic and how the issuer fails to meet the shareholder’s expectations on such topic, and, to apply pressure on management, states or implies during any such discussions that it will not support one or more of the issuer’s director nominees at the next director election unless management makes changes to align with the shareholder’s expectations.

ENGAGEMENT DEATH BY BEAURACRACY THE MAJORS! This works out one of three ways: 

the majors can no longer vote against any director for fear it appears to be “coercive”, and subjects them to 13D scrutiny, OR…

They axe entire engagement teams, stop engaging at all, abstain and only offer pass through voting

They buy Free Float data - imagine a world where you stop engagement or conversation about “key issues”, and vote instead against candidates that just failed to perform without telling them why.  No engagement, just voting on the data!

But in the end, because you never actually used actual data on your director vote, the SEC is making it harder for you now.  Congrats!

Headliniest of the Week

DR: Denny’s Says Consumers Fatigued by News, Economy, Inflation...Everything

MM: Double Deuce Announces Appointment of Paul A. Dumas as Chairman of the Board of Directors

We believe that his experience and knowledge of the mining sector, his wealth of contacts, and his expertise in growing a company and creating shareholder value will be incredibly beneficial to Double Deuce Exploration.

Knowledge, network, performance - three tags for merit!

Who Won the Week?

DR: Two winners

Joe Gebbia: for proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that he is NOT an independent board member at Tesla and that his life choices have led him to believe that he needs three security guards to protect him from a world that very likely hates him.

Richard Gnodde, a South African investment banker and CEO of Goldman Sachs International, in a mic-dropping moment for equality across the globe for declaring an end for the need of both the Civil Rights and Equal RIghts Movements

MM: Anyone not a cow veterinarian: H5N1 testing in cow veterinarians suggests bird flu is spreading silently

Predictions

DR: Jamie Dimon starts to remove tampons from women’s bathrooms at JPMorgan Chase because he says “I was never a firm believer in women’s hygiene products”

MM: 

Live from a stack of DEI-hating lead independent directors dipped in milk chocolate, it’s an all-new Whacky Wednesday edition of Business Pants. Joined by Analyst-Hole Matt Moscardi! On today's Twizzler-shaped proxy voting policy called February 12th 2025: Biz Nuggets!

Our show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only platform measuring board power, connections, and performance for FREE.

DAMION1

DEI

In our 'Hey Ma, Civil Rights Hurts My Back! And Equal Rights Gave Me a Stomach Ache!I quit! Tell Dad!' headline of the week. Diversity Is No Longer a Factor for Assessing US Boards, Proxy Adviser ISS Says***************

In our 'White Men Have Scarier Lawyers' headline of the week. Goldman Sachs ends IPO diversity policy citing legal developments***************

In our 'Are they Atrophied and Unprepared enough to Ignore this Study?' headline of the week. Microsoft Study Finds AI Makes Human Cognition “Atrophied and Unprepared”***************

In our 'ISS Borrows "Mission Accomplished" banner from George W. Bush' headline of the week. Proxy Advisory Firm ISS Removes DEI Factors from Voting Recommendations for U.S. Boards***************

In our 'The Dilemma Is Do We Actually Give a Shit or Were We Merely Pretending to Give a Shit?' headline of the week. There is a DEI dilemma taking place across Corporate America***************

Meritocracy

In our 'The Meritocracy is Plastic' headline of the week. In a move to ‘Back to plastic,’ Trump bans paper straws***************

In our 'The Meritocracy Is Super Duper Confusing, says a College Dropout Dude' headline of the week. Mark Zuckerberg warned employees to prepare for an ‘intense year.’ He just laid off 3,600 workers—including some who claim they got glowing reviews***************

MATT1

In our 'ISS added, "we also feel that voting recommendations on the basis of performance, skills, knowledge, fit, usefulness, age, height, ability to tie shoes, or familiarity with modern technology are unneccesary and potentially discriminatory against 85 year old Uncle Gary and will no longer be a part of our assessment."' headline of the week. ISS drops race, gender from U.S. proxy voting

In our 'ISS added, "future assessments will no longer refer to predators, as that is disrespectful to the predators from the movie series Predator."' headline of the week. Macy's calls Diddy 'an equal opportunity sexual predator' in bid to be dropped from sexual assault lawsuit

In our 'ISS added, "our policy has also changed to ignore legal cases in favor of diversity as material, as we feel someone might disagree with a law and that would be awkward for our clients."' headline of the week. Companies like Costco have a strong legal case for keeping DEI

In our 'ISS added they will also be ignoring wildfires, sea level rise, drought, famine, floods, mudslides, tornadoes, hurricanes, communicable disease, and the puppy dog eyes of children dying of famine in future reports.' headline of the week. S.E.C. Moves to Kill Climate Disclosure Rule

In our 'ISS added, "Yes, we bought one."' headline of the week. Shopify takes down Ye website selling swastika shirts after Super Bowl ad

In our 'Our new advisor to the board, Nelson Peltz, as advised we rebrand our inclusion program as "black people should most be cast as drug dealers", but we chose "Reapplying Yesterday's Comedic Racism"' headline of the week. Disney drops controversial ‘Reimagine Tomorrow’ program as company pairs back DEI initiatives

DAMION2

In our 'Headline Prefers Nouns Over Names Because Names Are TMI' headline of the week. 3M CEO Named New Chairman of the Board***************

In our 'Greedy Airline CEOs Want In on Budding Oligarchy' headline of the week. Major airlines urge Trump administration to abandon passenger compensation review***************

In our 'The other half is being donated to AI's world domination ensuring the need for half their wealth to be donated…' headline of the week. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Husband Pledge to Donate Half Their Wealth***************

In our '"Trump moves to halt $5B EV-charging program" because Nobody is gonna buy a car, They are gonna buy helicopters and private jets' headline of the week. Trump blasts WFH policies: ‘Nobody is gonna work from home. They are gonna be going out, playing tennis, playing golf’***************

In our 'We’ll all be dead soon and first class tickets don’t grow on trees so leave me alone' headline of the week. BP set to scale back green investments as profits drop sharply***************

In our 'Reid Hoffman doesn't want his son's pivot to vegetarianism to mean fewer cheeseburgers' headline of the week. Reid Hoffman doesn't want Big Tech's pivot from fact-checking to mean more misinformation***************

In our 'You had me at Unequal Shareholder Rights' headline of the week. How Unequal Shareholder Rights Influence Proxy Voting Outcomes and Corporate Governance***************

MATT2

In our 'When you say something is as "strong as ever", and "ever" was "never", do you mean "as strong as never"?' headline of the week. JPMorgan’s CFO says succession planning for CEO Jamie Dimon is ‘strong as ever’

In our 'When we said "hiring", we mean "stealing", and by "thousands", we mean "your shit."' headline of the week. Elon Musk's xAI plans massive hiring spree of thousands to train Grok, employees say

In our 'Kimbal Musk sells Tesla stock worth about $28 million as Elon's brother cashes in on rally since Trump's victory' headline of the week. Wave of Vandalism and Protests Hit Tesla

In our 'High school white male accuses middle school white male of insecurity' headline of the week. Sam Altman says former friend Elon Musk isn’t a happy guy: ‘Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity’

In our 'In fairness, Kimbal Musk can only complete 29%' headline of the week. OpenAI’s DeepResearch can complete 26% of ‘Humanity’s Last Exam’ — a benchmark for the frontier of human knowledge

In our 'Finally, a white male CEO gets a chance without the oppression of rules, laws, and social norms' headline of the week. Exclusive | Criminal probe into WWE boss Vince McMahon dropped: lawyer

Musk’s DOGE is an investor problem, make the anti-DEI movement measure merit, and nanoplastic teaspoons

Live from a pile of dark chocolate-dipped kittens, it’s an all-new Terrific Tuesday edition of Business Pants. Joined by Analyst-Hole Matt Moscardi! On today's calorie free Double Big Mac called February 4th 2025: the Who Do You Blame? Game!

Our show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only platform measuring board power, connections, and performance for FREE.

DAMION1

Who Do You Blame? Game

Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf Gets Pay Bump To $31.2 Million

CEO Charlie Scharf: for being greedy. His pay ratio was already an alarming 325:1 last year.

Shareholders: Say on Pay 57% approval in 2021; 73% approval in 2022. Despite policy tweaks which resulted in 92% support in 2023 and 93% in 2024: the song remains the same: the CEO’s pay steadily and magically increases annually: $21M, $25M, $26M, and now $31M

Pay Committee chair Ronald Sargent: why on earth would you ask the former CEO of Staples to control setting the pay of a fellow S&P 500 CEO brother? It’s an immediate conflict of interest.

Female board power: at -19% this is a board that chooses to underpower female leadership. 5 women control an aggregate 20% influence while the top 5 men control 68%

Citi bucks back-to-office trend and embraces hybrid working

The board: 8 of 14 directors are women

The CEO: In 2021, Jane Fraser became Citi’s CEO and the first woman to lead a major U.S. bank 

Shareholders: 26% in 2024 supported a SHP requesting a report on the effectiveness of Citi’s policies and practices in respecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights in Citi’s existing and proposed financing

Chief Human Resources Officer Sara Wechter: Sara serves on the board of Onex Corporation (relatively rare for CHROs and is not afraid in her Citigroup bio to state that “she has championed diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across Citi, leading the firm in exceeding its original 3-year aspirational representation goals set in 2018 for women globally and black talent in the U.S.”

McDonald’s Shamrock Shake returns — and so does Grimace’s uncle

The CEO: Chris Kempczinski’s CEO pay ratio of 1,212:1 proves he doesn’t care what anybody thinks.

The Chair: oh wait, that’s also Chris Kempczinski

The Lead independent Director: Miles White, clearly not independent having served on the board since 2009

The Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility Committee Chair: The Committee that monitors strategies covering food, sourcing, the environment, human rights, community engagement, philanthropy, and DEI is Paul Walsh. A man who sold alcohol (former CEO at Diageo) and is currently the Executive Chair at a company that sells expensive racing cars (McLaren Group).

OpenAI files a trademark application for humanoid robots and VR headsets as Sam Altman teases big hardware ambitions

The CEO: Sam Altman the guy who refused to be fired for his board while subverting the company’s mandate and mission.

The Chair: Bret Taylor, the guy who comes from Twitter/Facebook/Google and is clearly disinterested in what humanity actually needs.

The board: for allowing a CEO who was previously fired partly for lying to the board to sit on the board as a director.

The two women who nearly fired Sam Altman: former OpenAI directors Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley

Target hit with national boycott call over decision to drop DEI initiatives

The CEO: Brian Cornell’s CEO pay ratio of 719:1 proves he doesn’t care about anybody but himself.

The double DEI-hating director: Dmitri Stockton also on the board of Deere 

The lead independent director: woman of color Monica Lozano, former CEO of The College Futures Foundation, whose “commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is paramount to its vision for advancing a racially, socially, and economically just California where generations of learners can thrive.”

The chair of the committee responsible for Human capital management, specifically “DE&I in support of our business”: Compensation & Human Capital Management Committee chair Monica Lozano

Coca-Cola and Novartis’s CEOs don’t care if ‘ESG’ has become a toxic phrase among some

Novartis CEO Vasant (Vas) Narasimhan: whose ego is so strong and secure he doesn’t even need to serve on the board responsible for his oversight.

Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey: for having the strength to say it:

“If ESG becomes toxic as a phrase, which it basically has in the U.S., it doesn’t matter to me. I’m just going to stop saying ‘ESG.’ But the idea that for my basic product, I want to be water positive, I want to have a circular economy on my packaging, and I want to grow our business with less sugar—you can call it anything you like, but no one with common sense says those are bad ideas.

“My business strategy is constant and clear and centered around the business and the things that consumers care about and that fix societal problems. If people want to attach labels to it, that’s their issue. I’m saying this business will be great if I fix these problems, and it will be good for shareholders and be good for society.”

Coca-Cola’s Lead Independent Director and Corporate Governance and Sustainability Committee chair Maria Elena Lagomasino: maybe some of the woke messaging of Disney movies altered her conscience?

Female board power at Coke: 49% influence

MATT1

Ryder's $2.5M Settlement Brings 4-Year Governance Overhaul: What's Changing for Shareholders - suit alleged Ryder’s management team and board artificially inflated the values of certain Ryder assets and made materially misleading statements regarding those values - suit alleged breach of fiduciary duties, unjust enrichment, and waste of corporate assets.  Board has to create a Corporate Risk Steering Committee, company must hire a Chief Compliance Officer, a Management-level “Disclosure Committee”, at least two Audit Committee members must be financial experts, they have to hire a third party to do market research, they have to have a “pricing” team to examine market prices, they have a clawback, and they have a non-retaliation policy.

CEO Robert Sanchez - CEO since 2013, the Man in the Chair

The Audit Committee - a FIVE person audit committee, all of whom they disclosed in 2020 were “financial experts”, all but one of whom was a CEO at another company that made them a “financial expert” (the fifth was an accounting professor), one of whom was the lead independent director who had been there since 2002

Dmitri Stockton! The director who now has the wonderful distinction of having sat on the Deere board the flipped on DEI, the Target board that flipped on DEI, Stanley Black and Decker who was sued for not disclosing executive perks, and the Ryder board who was sued for sucking at being a board - all while he was there!

DEI!  Dmitri Stockton is BLACK and Robert Sanchez SOUNDS MEXICAN!

US Steel Flags Trump DEI Order as Risk Factor for Investors

Racist old white guys and tech bros!  The order was written, ostensibly, by Stephen Miller, Trump, and Musk, the three horseman of the brownpocolypse, and US Steel is now including Trump’s DEI order as a material risk to the company

The lawyers! The company said in its annual report last year that it aims “to have an engaged and diverse workforce to promote new ideas and innovation, reflect the communities where we operate, and deliver exceptional customer service.” This year, that same sentence omitted a reference to having a “diverse” workforce.  That sounds like Duane D. Holloway, chief ethics and compliance officer and general counsel, right?

DEI!  Duane Holloway… is BLACK!  Mr. Holloway serves on the board of directors of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, the Allegheny County Parks Foundation and Gilman School. He also serves as Executive Sponsor of U. S. Steel’s SteelPARENTS Employee Resource Group.  That all sounds exceedingly woke and DEIish.

The board!  US Steel managed to find 8 white males for their 12 person board, 3 white woman, and 1 black woman… so people of color have a whopping 6% influence on the board.  It DOES feel risky to talk about them though, right?

Walgreens stock plunges. Its dividend payout changes are to blame

Roz Brewer!  She was a DEI hire after all, right?  Can’t we pin this on her tenure as fake CEO?

Steffano Pessina!  The man with 61% of board influence, the man who fired Roz Brewer, the man who we’ll find out today won re-election despite cratering the company as executive chair!

DEI!  Did you see this line in the announcement about the dividend cessation?  “In fiscal 2024, WBA scored 100% on the Disability Equality Index for disability inclusion”.  SO WOKE.

Introduction

LIVE from your DEI Blame Game, it’s a Business Pants Friday Show here at January 31st Studios, featuring AnalystHole Matt Moscardi. On today’s weekly wrap up: a DeepSeekWeek, The Zuck Suckup Tour, Target is not the new Costco, and fecal phones 

Our show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only platform measuring board power, connections, and performance for FREE.

Story of the Week (DR):

DeepSeek shocks AI world with 'cheap' Chinese chatbot MM

Marc Andreessen warns Chinese ChatGPT rival DeepSeek is ‘AI’s Sputnik moment’

DeepSeek limits registrations due to cyber attack

Alibaba says it has an AI model even better than DeepSeek

Meta Chief Zuckerberg Joins the Business Roundtable

Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly hunting for a home in Washington, D.C., to be even closer to the commander-in-chief and his inner circle

U.S. Bancorp’s Next CEO to Be First Woman of Color to Lead a Major U.S. Lender

Gunjan Kedia, who was named the bank’s president in May, will take the job in April, succeeding Andy Cecere, who will become executive chairman.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom Offers Apology Over Fatal Mid-Air Collision Near Washington, D.C. Airport

Trump criticizes FAA diversity efforts after deadly plane crash, even as he says he doesn't know the cause yet

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

DR: Whole Foods workers in Philadelphia vote to form Amazon-owned grocery store's first union

DR: Starbucks and Workers United Union Agree to Contract Mediation

MM: Negative ESG news creating buying opportunity, say private banks MM DR

MM: Record number of CEOs leave roles amid activist pressure, research shows

202 bosses of some of the world’s largest listed companies left last year — up 9 per cent from 2023

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

COWARDS

Target rolls back DEI initiatives, the latest big company to retreat

Target announced Jan. 24 that it would conclude the DEI goals previously set to increase Black employees’ representation and advancement, improve Black shoppers’ experiences and promote Black-owned businesses.

Scrubbed all mention of diversity from website

This is the reason why you get targeted:

Black executives and professionals at Target doubled from 2019 to 2023 to max out 10% and 9% respectively

29% of board influence are people of color

Props to Dmitri Stockton for joining the double coward club - on the board of Deere and Target

Boycotts go both ways, not just shooting cans of Bud Light: Target hit with national boycott call over decision to drop DEI initiatives

But important note - the conservative Trumpers turned this into a legal battle, not ideological - so if you’re angry, you’re not angry with just target, you’re angry with the Supreme Court

SYCOPHANTS AND SUCKUPS

Mark Zuckerberg Defends Embrace of Trump Administration in Meta Employee Q&A

Zuckerberg has shown us who he really is. Believe him

Meta Agrees to Pay Trump $25 Million to Settle His Lawsuit

Amazon ramps up ad spending on Elon Musk's X, WSJ reports

Elon Musk Teams Up With Boeing to Rush Production of New Air Force One

Exxon foe Engine No. 1 to build fossil fuel plants with Chevron

Google caves to Donald Trump’s executive order and will change ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to ‘Gulf of America’ on its maps

DUE DILIGENCE

Appointment

date 1

date 2

days

Norfolk Southern names Lori J. Ryerkerk to board of directors

1/27/2025

5/9/2025

102

Bank of America Names Maria Martinez to Board of Directors

1/29/2025

4/24/2025

85

CSX Corporation (CSX) Appoints Ann Begeman to Board of Directors

1/29/2025

5/8/2025

99

Former Ally CEO joins First Horizon's board of directors

1/29/2025

4/23/2025

84

Carlisle Companies Elects Sheryl D. Palmer to its Board of Directors

1/29/2025

5/1/2025

92

Mitek Systems Announces Mark Rossi as Nominee to Its Board of Directors

1/28/2025

3/4/2025

35

Xcel Energy Elects Devin Stockfish to Board of Directors

1/29/2025

5/22/2025

113

Average of 3 months from appointment to election

In the midst of a manflake broligarchy, in a world where there is no accountability in the alternative democracy unless there’s an activist, THIS is what we spend our time on?

NYC Comptroller targets United Airlines on heat dangers

Headliniest of the Week

DR: Bill Gates says he thinks it's 'insane' that Elon Musk is allowed to 'destabilize' politics in other countries

MM: Team Says They've Recreated DeepSeek's OpenAI Killer for Literally $30

Who Won the Week?

DR: companies that provide energy to support AI

MM: AI coders with $30

Predictions

DR: an AI company accidentally erases itself after fearing it may destroy the world

MM: The next avian flu is on your phone: Your phone is a breeding ground for fecal bacteria. This is how to keep it clean and prevent getting sick

Our show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only platform measuring board power, connections, and performance for FREE.

DAMION1

The AI Tech BroBubble

‘Sputnik moment’: $1tn wiped off US stocks after Chinese firm unveils AI chatbot

Anger and Fighting Back

Walmart is facing backlash from investors after cutting DEI programs

A lawyer says he dropped Meta as a client after what he called a 'descent into toxic masculinity [and Neo-Nazi madness]' by Zuckerberg's company

BMW trolled after announcing it’s ‘no longer posting’ on X: ‘Becoming More Woke’

Nearly a third of Elon Musk’s EV-loving Dutch customers may sell their Teslas: ‘There’s been a debate in the Netherlands around Tesla shame’

I drive a Cybertruck, and I'm sick of people flipping me off. I wish they understood how helpful this car is for me.

Misogynistic taunts cost Philadelphia Eagles fan his job at DEI firm

Biden warns that an oligarchy is forming that threatens US democracy

Is the warning good?

Old-fashioned ESG

Record Number of Funds Drop ESG Labels Ahead of New EU Rules

SBTi Passes 10,000 Companies Committing to Science-Based Climate Targets

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg To Fund UN Climate Change Body After US Withdrawal

Majority of companies leading on emissions reductions have tied executive pay to ESG aims

Boeing should treat workers better to recover from its 'mess,' Emirates boss tells BI

Fines and Lawsuits and Settlements and Regulations

Vanguard will pay $106 million over 'misleading statements' about retirement funds

Tennessee drops BlackRock ESG suit after asset manager agrees concessions

DOJ sues Walgreens, alleging it 'knowingly' filled millions of prescriptions that lacked legitimate medical purposes

GM can't sell your location data for the next five years

California Bans Insurance Policy Cancellations In Boost To Property Owners. The Insurance Industry Prepares For Record-Breaking Losses

California considers letting wildfire victims sue oil companies for damages

The DEI/Union Speed Round

Whole Foods workers in Philadelphia vote to form Amazon-owned grocery store's first union

Jamie Dimon is doubling down on JPMorgan's DEI work as a conservative group targets Wall Street: 'Bring them on'

Costco union representing 18,000 workers authorizes nationwide strike

Delta Doubles Down on DEI, ESG Policies

Story of the Week (DR):

Trump signed an order ending DEI. Here’s what it means for Fortune 500 companies

Trump’s latest presidential moves mandate government agencies to specifically target companies in the private sector engaged in what it describes as “illegal DEI discrimination and preferences.”

Despite the intended chilling effect of these executive moves, multiple legal sources point out that Trump’s order and action do not constitute a change in the law. Rather, the language used in the order simply “enforces longstanding federal civil rights laws,” says Britney N.D. Torres, senior counsel at employment law firm Littler.

Trump’s executive moves just mean that companies will have to continue to carefully review their DEI-related policies, practices and initiatives based on longstanding anti-discrimination laws, and make sure they can’t be interpreted in a way that is different from what they intended, she says.

This week in Davos, Jamie Dimon reaffirmed JPMorgan’s DEI commitments after the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative nonprofit, proposed the bank revisit how compensation is tied to the company’s racial-equity goal. “Bring them on,” said Dimon referring to the efforts from right-leaning groups. “We are going to continue to reach out to the Black community, the Hispanic community, the LGBT community, the veterans community.”

Will this ever trickle down to JPM leadership?

15 on Operating Committee: 1 POC (an Indian man–Sanoke Viswanathan, CEO of International Consumer and Wealth–who came from McKinsey); 7/15 F though so some credit due

Board: nearly 50% F but a woeful -21% gender gap; no leadership positions on board or top 3 committees: only committees where women have power are Public Responsibility Committee and Risk Committee; 11 on board: 9 WM and 2 BF

Can we stop pretending board and shareholder oversight is a thing? DR

JPMorgan CEO Dimon's 2024 pay rises 8.3% to $39 million after record profit

Disney CEO Bob Iger’s Pay Package Rises 30% to $41.1 Million in 2024

Barclays proposes 45% increase in CEO pay under new bonus-linked scheme

Goldman CEO gets big pay boost, and $80 million bonus for another five years at helm

I promise I try not to pick Musk, but…

‘The gesture speaks for itself’: Germans respond to Musk’s apparent Nazi salute

Some say it was an unambiguous Nazi salute but others are unsure and say focus should be on Musk’s stated support for far-right

Starbucks lead independent director Mellody Hobson to step down

Is this the only time in history a lead independent director was named in a headline or even mentioned at all?

No more black people on board: no women in leadership positions

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

DR: Trump has a message to CEOs: Build in America or pay up

DR: This confusing headline: Voters who backed Trump identify new swamp to drain: corporate power

“The pendulum has swung so far. Things have gotten so out of line. Companies ought to be able to police themselves and not hurt people, and it’s just gotten way, way out of line. It’s time that it swings back the other way.”

DR: Trump’s DOGE department is now down to just one leader after Vivek Ramaswamy steps down

MM: Microsoft Signs Forest Restoration Deal to Remove 3.5 Million Tons of CO2 DR MM

MM: Jamie Dimon is doubling down on JPMorgan's DEI work as a conservative group targets Wall Street: 'Bring them on'

Jamie Dimon says LFG RACISTS

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

John Deere

See, instead of sticking up for yourself against pretend journalists with zero credibility who cosplay at being ESG analysts but are really just anti gay middle school boys, you caved.  

You caved and now you have not one, but THREE shareholder proposals in a couple weeks

And the ONLY one you challenged - the one you tried to exclude from your proxy - was the one by As You Sow, who asked the SAME THING as the National Public Policy Research Consumer Blah Blah Blah

National Legal and Policy Center (8 shares): SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL ON A REPORT ON RACIAL AND GENDER HIRING STATISTICS

As You Sow (26,000 shares): SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL ON A REPORT ON EFFECTIVENESS OF EFFORTS TO CREATE A MERITOCRATIC WORKPLACE 

You also got these anti woke gems:

National Center for Public Policy Research ($2,000): SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL ON A CORPORATE FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY REPORT, asking for a new committee to show how committed you are to making money

Bowyer Research (100 shares): SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL ON A REPORT ON CHARITABLE GIVING, asking for a report on how you don’t give to Southern Poverty Law Center, but they think you might be and they’re discriminating against white religious conservatives and the KKK

You thought, “oh, if we just cut out our DEI stuff and make a press release, they’ll go away… sure, we’ll offend, like, all the black people and women and stuff, but it’s worth it for our white farmers, and everyone will forget…”

You were wrong.  Your board was wrong.  Your management was wrong.  You know what petty middle school bullies do when you give them your lunch money?  Take it the next fucking day, too.  

Grow a spine, tell the anti woke shitbirds that DEI is about expanding the talent pool that’s been historically excluded and maximizing skills, and keep your lunch money in your pocket

Maybe call someone at Costco to ask for advice on how to grow a pair

The proxy vote at Air Products

Only three directors have batted under 500 during their tenure at Air Products, only two on all boards in the last 7 years

80 year old CEO has been on the board since 2013 and has 32% influence

There are 81 current directors that are 80 with >30% influence in the US, 21 of whom are CEOs

Of them, 12 rate worse than Seifi on TSR, and 13 are worse at EBITDA

22% of the board are connected through other directorships

There are 910 US companies with higher degree of director interlocks

12 of those companies have directors over 80 years old with >30% influence, and 8 of them perform worse than Air Products

What the fuck does ISS and Glass Lewis do all day that they can write this about Air Products, but NOT the others:

ISS: “With that said, one must acknowledge the reality of Ghasemi’s age, and the board should have a robust strategy in preparation for his eventual departure. Confoundingly, the board appears to have ceded control of deciding Ghasemi’s successor to Ghasemi himself…”

GL: “… we are concerned that available information strongly suggests that the incumbent board, if left to its own devices and not held accountable at the forthcoming AGM, may simply surface something of a figurehead candidate previously selected or endorsed by Mr. Ghasemi, while concurrently permitting Mr. Ghasemi to retain substantial influence for an unspecified period, without a substantive acknowledgment of the poor capital allocation performance of his strategy.”

Egan Jones: “We firmly believe that Air Product’s unsatisfactory performance stems in part from mismanagement and the absence of effective leadership to guide the Company.”

And why the fuck to investors WAIT until an activist is involved??

Air Products CEO unseated from board; Activist investors win 3 seats

Will Hild, Consumer Research

Nasdaq files to withdraw mandate on ‘diverse’ board directors after court defeat

Those cheering Nasdaq’s decision to pull the diversity mandate included Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research. He said he was pleased to see the exchange “abandon its anti-White, anti-Asian, and anti-male discrimination scheme.”

24,960 directors in the US

17,453 are male with an average influence of 1.4 women (it would take about 1 ½ women to equal one dude)

White and Asians are 83% of directors and 83% of the US workforce, but are worth 1.4x the influence

Will Hild’s most discriminated group - the White and Asian male - is worth, on average, 1.75x the average Black or Hispanic woman in terms of influence and power

Consumers Research is associated with the Philanthropy Roundtable which is associated with every idiot anti-woke anti-gay anti-black anti… non profit org, and Will Hild has made a solid 300k/year making up things about ESG and wokeism

Holding students hostage

Data breach hitting PowerSchool looks very, very bad

64.2m students

9.5m teachers

Largest breach ever

Maybe they also need to hire Clorox CEO on their board…

Headliniest of the Week

DR: Velveeta just made nacho cheese you can stick in your pocket

MM: Marriott elects Taco Bell CEO to board of directors

Who Won the Week?

DR: the security team paid to protect Tim Noel, UnitedHealthcare new CEO to replace murdered Brian Thompson: best negotiation position ever?

MM: Lawyers - how many law firms salivated at the idea of suing the Trump administration for every one of his six thousand executive orders on day one?

Predictions

DR: Compensation Committees go buck wild in 2025

MM: Zuckerberg’s new algorithms automatically append the word “boobs” to every user search, except for the search for Democrats, which also replaces the word Democrats with “boobs”

Introduction

LIVE from your ESG EV Dipstick, it’s a Business Pants Friday Show here at January 17th Studios, featuring AnalystHole Matt Moscardi. On today’s weekly wrap up: The CEO takeover has accelerated; bravery for sale at Costco; and men finally have power 

Our show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only platform measuring board power, connections, and performance for FREE.

Story of the Week (DR):

DealBook: C.E.O.s hail the chief MM

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg to attend Trump's inauguration: The three will be seated together on the inauguration platform with other prominent guests.

About $200M so far (BIden about $60M)

Amazon: $2 million

Meta: $1 million

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg: $1 million (personal donation)

Robinhood: $2 million

Bank of America: $1 million

Goldman Sachs: Undisclosed

Google: $1 million

Microsoft: $1 million

Uber: $1 million

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: $1 million (personal donation) 

Boeing: $1 million

Ford/GM//Hyundai/Toyota: $1 million

Ripple [Cryptocurrency]: $5 million

Apple CEO Tim Cook: $1 million (personal donation)

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman: $1 million (personal donation)

etc.

In Farewell Address, Biden Warns of an ‘Oligarchy’ Taking Shape in America

President Joe Biden's farewell address Wednesday came with a series of warnings for the future of the country, among them that a rising “oligarchy taking shape” threatens American democracy: "Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead."

“... concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex," Biden said. "It could pose real dangers for our country as well."

"Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit." he said, appearing to refer to Meta’s ending its fact-checking program.

without safeguards, AI could "spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy, how we work and how we protect our nation."

​​161 years ago, a New Zealand sheep farmer predicted AI doom

On June 13, 1863, a letter titled "Darwin among the Machines" written by Samuel Butler (under the pseudonym Cellarius) published in The Press newspaper of Christchurch warned about the potential dangers of mechanical evolution and called for the destruction of machines, foreshadowing the development of what we now call artificial intelligence—and the backlash against it from people who fear it may threaten humanity with extinction. It presented what may be the first published argument for stopping technological progress to prevent machines from dominating humanity.

The letter drew direct parallels between Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and the rapid development of machinery, suggesting that machines could evolve consciousness and eventually supplant humans as Earth's dominant species.

"We are ourselves creating our own successors." he wrote. "We are daily adding to the beauty and delicacy of their physical organisation; we are daily giving them greater power and supplying by all sorts of ingenious contrivances that self-regulating, self-acting power which will be to them what intellect has been to the human race. In the course of ages we shall find ourselves the inferior race."

In the letter, he also portrayed humans becoming subservient to machines, but first serving as caretakers who would maintain and help reproduce mechanical life—a relationship Butler compared to that between humans and their domestic animals, before it later inverts and machines take over.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon says AI can write 95% of an IPO prospectus

The initial registration prospectus for an IPO, called S1, usually took a six-person team two weeks to complete. However, now 95 per cent of the work can be completed by AI in minutes, he said. 

Goldman Sachs chief David Solomon questions start-ups’ need to list

He also asked private companies to take ‘great caution’ before deciding to go public, adding that the depth of capital in private markets has made the need to go public redundant for many. 

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

DR: Costco is holding the line on DEI; Delta Doubles Down on DEI, ESG Policies; Apple backs diversity programs rejected by US firms

MM: European Union orders X to hand over algorithm documents

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

Alpha masculine cosplay

Middle school beta nerds realizing they have “fuck you” money and now trying to act like big boys… which means dunking on women, gays, blacks, trans, and mom

We need to be more manly

Mommy made me do it, but now I’m a big boy

Elon paid for someone to spend 24 hours a day leveling up a video game character, then pretended it was him and he was good at it

Trump Taps Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight as Hollywood ‘Ambassadors’

Bezos has a HUGE NEW ROCKET guys

The Nerd Alpha Cosplay is using MAGA Trump as a vehicle…

Inauguration hypocrisy ($170m)

Game: of the top donors to the Trump inauguration, which is the biggest hypocrite?

I give you the name of 10 largest donors, you say whether they’re a hypocrite who gave more to Dems or not because they gave more to GOP anyway

Autocrat hypocrisy DR

Instagram and YouTube Prepare to Benefit if TikTok is Banned

Zuckerberg, Brin, and Page Prepare to Benefit if China is Banned

There are 743 authoritarian (dual class, founder lead, fake democratic) US companies that trade out of about 2,200 - that’s a whopping ⅓ of the US market that’s fake democratic public companies

Let’s apply the “China Threat Theory” to them:

Economic consolidation

Totalitarian companies are 34% of US market cap

Military spending

Palantir (0.3% of market cap) and 9 other totalitarian companies have weapons manufacturing (total 2% of US cap)

Privacy and espionage

16% - 16% - of US market cap is totalitarian companies involved in privacy violations or data breaches

The top 4 are obviously nerd alpha cosplayers - Brin/Page, Bezos, Zuck, Musk

Propaganda

Tesla and Walmart are the two largest firms flagged for misleading customers through advertising

Musk straight up lies to customers

Total cap of 3.33%

Human rights

Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta are flagged for human rights problems, both in and out of labor force

Palantir and Salesforce as well

11% of US market cap

Here are the most Chinese Threat US Totalitarian companies:

National Presto Industries

Palantir

Berkshire Hathaway

Tesla

Meta

Amazon

Alphabet is tops!

Yeah, but DEI!

John Deere Sued by FTC Over Equipment-Repair Practices

SEC sues Elon Musk, says he cheated Twitter investors out of $150 million

Toyota truck unit fined $1.6 billion for emissions violations

Yeah, but it was a DEI firm, so we feel bad for the fan

Headliniest of the Week

DR: Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly blaming former Meta exec Sheryl Sandberg for a company inclusivity initiative

Mark Zuckerberg praises benefits of 'masculine energy', calls corporate America 'culturally neutered'

78% of Fortune 500 HR leaders say they have trouble getting the C-suite to believe in the long-term benefits of childcare

MM: McDonald’s Retires DEI Goal Setting

MM: Carrier Global Corporation Appoints Amy Miles to its Board of Directors

You might not think this is funny if you don’t know who Amy Miles or Carrier are… 

Carrier makes HVAC systems

CEO is David Gitlin, on Boeing board

Amy Miles is the CEO of Regal Entertainment (the movie theaters) and is on the board of Gap

She joins ex Walmart, ex GSK, ex American Water Works, ex TIAA CREF execs on a board overseeing… air conditioners

Who Won the Week?

DR: Oligarchy Truthers

MM: Co-co-co CEOs - Paramount Will Allow Its 3 Co-CEOs to Resign and Receive Severance If They Are Demoted

Predictions

DR: The DEI decision train gets rolling as a bulk of S&P 500 takes a side

MM: After Vivek said we have to stop venerating jocks, and the middle school nerdboys with money have shown how unfit they are to run anything, Free Float adds a data point that shows the percentage Jock Influence on every board to get a sense of there being team players that might actually be adults in the room and it’s the beginning of the end of the Nerd Fake Alpha era