Story of the Week (DR):

Blowhard CEOs:

Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman says you can't 'build something extraordinary' working 38 hours a week

Sam Altman Says If Jobs Gets Wiped Out, Maybe They Weren’t Even “Real Work” to Start With

Marc Benioff Says Trump Should Send Guard Troops to San Francisco

Ron Conway skewers Mark Benioff in board resignation after 25 years: ‘I now barely recognize the person I have so long admired’

Peter Thiel says he warned Elon Musk to ditch donating to The Giving Pledge because Bill Gates will give his wealth away ‘to left-wing nonprofits’

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Says There's a 'Heightened Degree of Uncertainty'

Best Buy’s CEO says growing spending power gap between affluent and poor ‘keeps me up at night’

Billionaire bosses like Jeff Bezos and Reid Hoffman denounce work-life balance—and some think working nonstop is key to success

Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber says she would consider adding an AI agent to her board of directors

Plaid CEO says 'it's inevitable AI will drive our financial lives'

Perret graduated from Duke University (BS, Chemistry, Biology) and previously served on the board of trustees

Verizon exec tells unemployed Gen Z they can always volunteer to stand out in the current bleak job market: ‘No one’s going to say no to free work’

chief talent officer Christina Schelling

Figure AI CEO Brett Adcock says the robotics company is building 'a new species'

Adcock received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Florida

LendingTree founder and CEO dies unexpectedly in weekend ATV accident at age 55

Douglas Lebda: Chair/CEO, 20% shares, 78% influence

Lead Independent DIrector Steven Ozonioa: Chairs Audit Committee and Chairs Compensation Committee; now the longest-tenured director (2011)

SEC To Discourage ESG Shareholder Proposals MM

Glass Lewis to End Share Voting Guidance Opposed by Republicans

Glass Lewis & Co. is ending its decades-long practice of providing recommendations for shareholder votes after receiving criticisms from Republican leaders for promoting pro-environmental, social and governance issues.

Starting with the 2027 annual shareholder season, Glass Lewis will no longer give a “house view” on how investors should vote, according to a paper released by the firm.

Instead, the firm’s more than 1,300 clients who oversee a combined $40 trillion will be making their own decisions on corporate resolutions.

Glass Lewis had previously given voting recommendations for more than 30,000 annual meetings on everything from executive pay to climate goals. The research firm said 55% of US investors voted based on its guidance. In Europe, about a quarter followed the house view.

Meta removes Facebook page allegedly used to target ICE agents after pressure from DOJ

Duke University Has Officially Ended Its Full-Ride Scholarship For Black Students In Need Of Financial Assistance

Board of Trustees (34: 14F20M)

Duke President and Students (4):

Vincent E. Price, President, Duke University

Andrew Greene

*Sydney Hunt

Rickard Stureborg

God people from the same church (2):

*Gregory V. Palmer – Retired Bishop, The United Methodist Church

*Connie Mitchell Shelton – Bishop, United Methodist Church

A journalist who also sits on the board of an insurance company (1):

Ann Pelham – director of Canal Insurance Company since 2004

Business Bros (27)

Adam Silver – Commissioner, National Basketball Association

Mary T. Barra – Chair and CEO, General Motors Company

Eddy H. Cue – SVP of Services, Apple

Amy Abernethy – Co-Founder, Highlander Health

Melissa Bernstein – Co-Founder, Melissa & Doug; Co-Founder, Lifelines

Michael J. Bingle – Vice Chairman, Silver Lake Group

*Lisa M. Borders – CEO, LMB Group, LLC

Tim Cook – CEO, Apple

Nancy-Ann DeParle – Managing Partner & Co-Founder, Consonance Capital Partners

Andrew H. Dillon – Attorney and Shareholder, Nathan Sommers Gibson Dillon

Anne Faircloth – President, Faircloth Farms

*Grant H. Hill – Chairman, Hill Ventures

Kathryn A. Hollister – Retired Partner, Deloitte

*Karen M. King – Managing Director & COO, Silver Lake

Garheng Kong – Founder & Managing Partner, HealthQuest Capital

Thomas H. Lister – Retired Senior Partner and Co-Managing Partner, Permira

Sharon Marcil – Managing Director & Senior Partner & North America Regional Chair, Boston Consulting Group

Patricia R. Morton – formerly of JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank

David R. Peeler – Senior Advisor, Berkshire Partners

J.B. Pritzker – Governor, State of Illinois (public official, but also billionaire businessman)

Michael G. Rhodes – CEO, Ally Financial

Nancy M. Schlichting – Retired CEO, Henry Ford Health System (corporate/health system executive)

Michael R. Stone – Firm Partner, TPG (private equity executive)

L. Frederick Sutherland – Retired EVP & CFO, ARAMARK Corporation

David S. Taylor – Senior Advisor, Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC

Jeffrey W. Ubben – Founder & Managing Partner, Inclusive Capital Partners

James C. Zelter – President, Apollo Global Management

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

DR: CEOs get something right?

Mark Cuban Urges Companies To Share Stock Options With Employees Amid Rising CEO Pay Gap

Home Depot founder Arthur Blank donates $50 million to Atlanta’s historically Black colleges and universities via foundation

Howard Schultz said he's Worried — 'with a big W' — about AI

He drew parallels between the speed at which social media progressed, how regulation around social media lagged behind, and warned that AI is on the same trajectory.

MM: Ron Conway skewers Mark Benioff in board resignation after 25 years: ‘I now barely recognize the person I have so long admired’ DR

MM: Houston American Energy Declassifies Board of Directors MM

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

Marc Benioff DR

Marc Benioff Says Trump Should Send Guard Troops to San Francisco

Democrat, Republican - is there an off switch for billionaires?

He said it at the Dreamforce conference - the Salesforce conference where they talk about AI and stuff

In 2023, he threatened to take the conference to another city because of homelessness and drug use in the city

At the time he made the threat, he was worth 8bn

POPULIST MATH

There are an estimated 8,000 or so homeless people in SF

The median home price in Oakland is 800k

If he bought EVERY homeless person a house, including the children, in cash, he would still be worth 4bn today

He posted this last night - “safest Dreamforce ever” with a picture of him and a cop… so, national guard?: 

Maybe he meant he needs the National Guard at Salesforce’s offices: Salesforce linked security breach fallout escalates with qantas leak - an estimated 1 BILLION records were hacked

The labor con job

Verizon exec tells unemployed Gen Z they can always volunteer to stand out in the current bleak job market: ‘No one’s going to say no to free work’

Yeah, just work for free, it’ll be good for you!

Gen Z’s misery is real: Most workers in this economy lack a voice and are stuck in low-quality jobs, a massive Gates-backed study finds

Yeah, but just work for free!

There’s a shocking disparity between how high-income and low-income earners feel about the economy

Why?  Working for free is like, really good for your resume and gap time!

Sam Altman Says If Jobs Gets Wiped Out, Maybe They Weren’t Even “Real Work” to Start With

Right!  Your work was fake, so go work for free!  Starving is much realer than your job was.

Gavin Newsom

Gavin Newsom Vetoes Bill to Protect Kids From Predatory AI

Sam Altman

Sam Altman says OpenAI isn't 'moral police of the world' after erotica ChatGPT post blows up

Headliniest of the Week

DR: Divorced Tesla Fan Admits That His Cybertruck Is Repulsive to Women

DR: Lay’s drastically rebrands after disturbing finding: 42% of consumers didn’t know their chips were made out of potatoes

MM: DirecTV screensavers will show AI-generated ads with your face in 2026

I mostly find it funny that DirecTV still exists

MM: Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Is Back to Featuring Hot Women After Failed Woke Rebrand

Now women of every size and color can be reminded how ugly they are because finally Victoria’s Secret’s won’t put them on a runway

Who Won the Week?

DR: Ugly or non-ugly women who divorce men who own Cybertrucks

MM: Men without cybertrucks

Predictions

DR: Glass Lewis rebrands itself simply as Glass

MM: Sam Altman is elected Moral Police Sergeant