Business Pants

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Whether you love business news or feel like you’re supposed to know it but hate it, Business Pants is business news for humans. Snarky and irreverent, deeply researched and factual, a podcast devoted to market quirks and the humans that make up companies. Investing isn’t a what, it’s a who.

  1. 21h ago

    Meta/Mark’s settlement, Target apologizes, and things we used to care about

    Story of the Week (DR): Meta settles social media addiction case with California, other states for $16.7 billion MM 5 Reasons to Be Happy An $18 billion payout sets a historic legal precedent against Big Tech, directing billions in state funding toward youth mental health, counseling, and digital literacy programs. Instagram and Facebook must enforce default two-hour daily usage limits and completely block account activity between midnight and 6 a.m. for users under 18.  Teens and parents gain the explicit right to disable addictive engagement algorithms in favor of a non-personalized, chronological feed. The settlement prohibits harmful beauty filters (such as cosmetic surgery simulators), hides "like" counts by default, and silences app notifications during school hours. Meta tied $5.3 billion of the payout to whether TikTok and YouTube adopt similar safety rules, forcing an industry-wide overhaul rather than penalizing just one app. 5 Reasons to Be Angry Paid out over 10 years, the settlement amounts to roughly 10 days of Meta's annual profit, meaning Mark Zuckerberg's financial empire remains virtually unscathed. Meta’s $17 billion child-safety settlement is the biggest tech payout ever—or 3x what it paid to acquihire a 28-year-old AI superstar To put it in perspective, the $17.1 billion number is a little more than three times the roughly $5 billion personal stake that Alexandr Wang held in Scale AI, a data-labeling company that supplies the human-annotated training data AI models are built on. Last year, Meta paid $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in the company and brought in Wang to lead its AI efforts of its new Superintelligence Labs, reporting directly to Mark Zuckerberg. Meta legally denies all wrongdoing, dodging true legal accountability for intentionally engineering addictive, mentally harmful features. The agreement alters user interface features and screen time, but leaves Meta's underlying data-harvesting business model completely untouched. Critical safeguards—like switching off algorithmic feeds—are opt-in settings rather than permanent defaults, shifting enforcement onto parents. Meta only pays 70% ($12.7 billion) upfront; the remaining $5.3 billion is contingent on competitors settling on identical terms, giving Meta a potential financial discount if rivals refuse.   Worst headline of the week: Meta’s $17.1 billion settlement will be over 12-times larger than the second largest big tech privacy settlement in the past four years Meta’s $18 billion settlement leaves out the child protections New Mexico already won at trial, its Attorney General says: including a direct ban on romantic and sexualized AI chatbot interactions with minors and stronger safeguards against adults targeting kids in private messages MM: Settlement gaps Age assurance: Meta may elect to use one or more Proprietary Age Assurance Methods. In such event, Meta shall not benefit from the presumption of compliance set forth in Section II.A.3.a. Additionally, Meta will maintain continuous oversight of any Proprietary Age Assurance Method sufficient to ensure that the method is functioning as intended. Tax deductible The Settling States shall cause to be completed and timely filed a Form 1098-F with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) that identifies not less than 50% of the amounts paid to the Settling States as compensatory restitution and remediation within the meaning of 26 U.S.C. § 162(f)(2)(A) THEY BUNDLED CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA INTO THE SETTLEMENT $459m of the $17bn is the “Cambridge payout” - they can now put that behind them too Is there a reason not to literally take Meta all the way?  Why settle at all!  Midterm elections?  TAKE EVERYTHING!   Meanwhile, while you settle this: Meta’s creepy smart glasses are part of a much bigger plan “At the same time, Meta is using the content generated across its ecosystem to support Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of a pervasive, AI-driven future. Zuckerberg’s 2026 manifesto describes a world where personal AI agents will do your bidding. But building those systems requires more than conventional AI models. It also requires enormous amounts of data about human behavior, much of it generated and shared through Instagram, Facebook, and other Meta apps, or captured through hardware such as phones, smart glasses, and EMG Neural Band devices.” “We become “algorithm chow,” feeding the models intended to realize Zuckerberg’s vision.” 'We Know We Got This Wrong': Target Apologises and Pulls 'Offensive' Halloween Costume After Racist Backlash An apology from us: We pulled an offensive Halloween costume that should never have been part of our assortment. It is no longer for sale. As a company, we got this wrong, and we are deeply sorry. We know this is especially hurtful for our Black guests, team members and partners. Removing the costume is an important first step, and the company is looking closely at how this happened and what needs to change to ensure this won’t happen again. Target Statement on Offensive Halloween Costume: As a company, we know we got this wrong, and we are deeply sorry. The costume is offensive and should never have been part of our assortment. It is no longer available for sale. We know this is especially hurtful for our Black guests, team members and partners. Removing the costume is an important first step, and the company is looking closely at how this happened and what needs to change to ensure this won’t happen again. The statement comes directly from Target’s Corporate Communications department speaking on behalf of the entire enterprise, rather than a single individual like the CEO or Board Chair. Corporate apologies are deliberately released without a human signature for several strategic and legal reasons: Legal Personhood: Legally under U.S. law, Target Corporation is treated as a single legal entity (often called "corporate personhood"). It can sign contracts, hold liability, and issue official statements as an institution rather than as individual people. Leaving executive names off the statement prevents media coverage from focusing on a specific person (e.g., "CEO Brian Cornell Apologizes"). It keeps the focus on the company's operational changes and prevents individual leaders from becoming personal lightning rods for public backlash. These statements are rarely drafted by an executive. They are heavily scrubbed by legal counsel, crisis PR managers, and corporate strategy teams. Attaching a CEO's signature to a text engineered by a dozen lawyers and communications staff can actually feel less authentic internally. Phrasing the apology around "we" and "the company" establishes institutional accountability. It signals that the failure occurred in corporate vetting systems, not just from one bad decision-maker. In January 2025, Target Corporation announced the termination of its REACH initiative and restructuring of its Supplier Diversity program, marking one of the largest corporate DEI rollbacks in recent history. This decision has triggered public backlash, legal scrutiny, and investor uncertainty. Callaway Golf CEO apologizes after Good Good ad showing male golfer shoving woman sparks backlash Callaway Golf CEO Chip Brewer on Tuesday apologized for an advertisement that sparked an online backlash for its depiction of a male golfer shoving a female golfer to the ground when she attempts to use his driver. "That approval should never have happened. Mistakes were made, and we are taking the matter very seriously," Brewer wrote on Tuesday. "I want to make it clear that we sincerely apologize for the video."  Callaway released a statement Thursday explaining its reasoning behind ending the brand partnership: "Over the last several days, we have reflected deeply on the hurt and disappointment caused by the video we reposted. We heard from individuals who shared personal experiences related to violence against women, and their stories were powerful reminders that this issue touches the lives of far too many people. Unequivocally, violence against women is unacceptable and should never be trivialized, normalized, or used as entertainment." "In this instance, our content review process was not comprehensive enough …We have taken appropriate internal corrective actions and significantly strengthened our approval procedures to help ensure this does not happen again." The brand added that it would donate $1 million to organizations that aim to "prevent violence against women, provide resources to survivors, and advance education and awareness efforts." The online video ad, which was released online and has since been pulled, sparked criticism for depicting violence against women, while some consumers said they planned to stop buying products made by Callaway. Brewer said the ad, created by Good Good Golf, was released last week to promote a co-branded driver and had been approved by Callaway before the spot was posted online. The ad featured Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark telling Alexis Miestowski, a former Division I female golfer, in a menacing voice, "Do not touch my new driver," after he shoves her to the ground. Good Good is an American sports YouTube channel and company based in Frisco, Texas. Founded in 2020 by Garrett Clark, Stephen Castaneda, CEO Matt Kendrick, and Matt Scharff. Owner: Scoreboard ventures: co-founders Nahid Giga and Brian Dick Lead Investor: Creator Sports Capital — a firm co-founded by former YouTube executive Benjamin Grubbs and investment executive Brian Kabot. Good Good's CEO went nuclear on Callaway after the brand cut ties over an ad scandal "Interesting that @CallawayGolf asks us to make an ad then approves it then asks us to take the fall then drops us in a coordinated media blitz and covers it up by giving a million dollars away thinking everyone will be ok with it," Matt Kendrick wrote in a post on X. The ad fallout has had major repercussions for Good Good's business

  2. 4d ago

    GOOD? UHG lawsuit, Gen Z hates AI, Disney vs. FCC, anti-pervert glasses

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

  3. Aug 21

    L3Harris’ misconduct problem, Mark’s bad week, the SEC quits SEC’ing

    Story of the Week (DR): L3Harris ousts CEO after investigation into conduct MM L3Harris Technologies, the company that overhauled a Qatari plane now used as Air Force One, has replaced Christopher Kubasik as chairman and chief executive after an investigation determined he violated the defense contractor’s code of conduct. Kubasik’s alleged conduct didn’t involve and has no impact on the Melbourne, Fla., company’s financial reporting, controls, customer relationships or operational performance, L3Harris said Monday. The company didn’t give details on when it received a report of the potential violation. With the aid of independent counsel, the board determined that Kubasik’s removal would be in the company’s best interest, L3Harris said. He will be allowed to retain and exercise some previously vested stock options but won’t receive severance payments, benefits or accelerated stock-based awards. L3Harris Technologies Appoints Sam Mehta, Proven Aerospace and Defense Executive, as President and Chief Executive Officer “The Board determined that the Executive engaged in conduct that was not consistent with the values of the Company as outlined in its Code of Conduct.” Kubasik will still hold onto some of his options that can net him stock worth about $23 million, as well as more than 200,000 shares of stock in L3Harris that he already owns, valued at nearly $57 million. L3Harris has paid Kubasik compensation valued at $66.3 million during the past three years, including $25.6 million in fiscal 2025. The separation disclosure says the L3Harris board decided to reach a deal with Kubasik to get him to leave rather than trying to fire him for cause. Kubasik did not admit to any violation of the company code of conduct, and the deal expressively forbids any of the parties or their representatives from making public statements “inconsistent” with Monday’s disclosure. AND THIS: Women at L3Harris Shared Concerns About CEO’s Behavior Years Before Ouster It was a warning that was shared among women who worked for Chris Kubasik: Avoid being alone with the executive and be careful on the corporate jet. Multiple women at defense contractor L3Harris Technologies LHX  had raised concerns about Kubasik’s behavior, including a formal complaint from one woman to human resources that was made around 2023, according to people familiar with the matter. The employee accused the CEO of sexual harassment, the people said. Kubasik stayed on in his role. The woman left L3Harris. Not all L3Harris board members were briefed on the 2023 complaint and it is unclear Ousted L3Harris CEO was previously forced out of Lockheed Martin job Christopher Kubasik's ouster as the L3Harris CEO was not the first time he was forced out of a company amid an allegation of misconduct. In 2012, Kubasik was set to become the CEO of Lockheed Martin when he was forced to resign after an ethics investigation confirmed that he had a close personal relationship with a subordinate employee. Why Do Boards Keep Giving Misbehaving CEOs Second Chances? L3Harris Technologies’ LHX  chief executive is out because of misconduct allegations, and it isn’t the first time: More than a decade ago, Christopher Kubasik resigned from Lockheed Martin because he was accused of having a relationship with a subordinate. The Crucial Moment That Companies Miss After They Oust a CEO It matters how a company responds to a scandal once it’s caught in one, most blow the moment by choosing secrecy over transparency.  It’s an opportunity to reset the culture that led to the breach in the first place, but instead “your PR team and your legal team tell you ‘Don’t dig into these things—it’s not good for the company,’ so you silence all the debates.”. Meta faces a $1.4 trillion threat that could mean ‘turning in the keys and walking away’—but the stakes of the case reach across tech The trial involves a coalition of 29 state attorneys general in a unified case against Meta that was brought in 2023, and will be argued by lawyers representing California, Colorado, New Jersey and Kentucky. The stakes are enormous as leading government officials across the country push for Meta to be held accountable for allegedly violating federal and state laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, and various consumer protection statutes. States accuse Meta of targeting children for Facebook, Instagram addiction: 'The young ones are the best ones' Meta whistleblower told jury the company took a 'don't ask, don't tell' approach to kids' safety ‘Harvest their data and hide the truth from the public’: Four states seek billions from Meta over child safety practices SEC says it will stop responding to no-action requests ‘entirely’ The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to stop responding to no-action requests “entirely … effective immediately,” the agency said in a statement Friday. The decision comes after the SEC sat out the bulk of the no-action process during the 2025-26 proxy season. Investor advocates have since sued the agency, alleging the change violates the Administrative Procedure Act. AI data center outrage is showing up everywhere from ads to elections AI data center outrage is showing up everywhere from ads to elections GOP Begs AI Firms to Fix Data Centers’ “Toxic Brand” to Help Midterm Chances  As A.I. Data Centers Spread, Pressure Mounts to Share Profits The Data Center Industry’s PR Blitz Is Backfiring Data center backlash echoes fossil-fuel politics Major data center bills advance in California despite industry pushback The ‘Country Hicks’ Who Refused $26 Million from an AI Data Center Bad news for Jason Kelce: Postal Service rules say you shouldn't mail pee to data centers Politicians Who Once Championed Data Centers Are Now Bashing Them Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro cracks down on data centers, says speculators are 'scaring our communities' Data centers are using more electricity than anyone predicted. What happens next? Trump oblivious to voter fury about data centers, saying ‘the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous’ Politicians Turn Against Data Centers as Anger Over AI Spreads Amazon is buying rare books and destroying them to train its AI models The team's logo features a dinosaur holding a book. Data center hysteria is the new woke | Opinion Bring back the corporate death penalty More formally known as judicial dissolution, the corporate death penalty basically happens when the government is so pissed off by the corruption or damage a corporation causes that it yanks away their charter. Andreessen Horowitz Focus of DOJ Probe Over Board Directors Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is the focus of a Justice Department antitrust probe over whether its investment partners are improperly serving on the boards of competing artificial intelligence companies, according to people familiar with the matter. The companies at issue include Databricks Inc., one of the most valuable privately held technology companies in the world, and Fivetran Inc., both backed by the VC firm, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential matter. Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz serves on the board of Databricks, and partner Martin Casado is a board member of Fivetran. Both companies help businesses collect, organize and analyze massive troves of data. Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): MacKenzie Scott gave California public education $461 million—and let the recipients decide how to spend every dollar MM: Andreessen Horowitz Focus of DOJ Probe Over Board Directors DR Assholiest of the Week (MM): Bill Brown and Robert Millard DR Never accountable for anything directors L3Harris ousts CEO after investigation into conduct History lesson: Kubasik hired in 2015 after Lockheed disaster firing, hired as COO and President Presiding CEO: Michael Strianese, Chair from 2008, CEO from 2006 Board:  Claude Canizares (71, MIT physics professor, 2003) Thomas Corcoran (72, Carlyle, consulting, 1997) Ann Dunwoody (64, only woman, US Army Gen, 2013) Lewis Kramer (69, EY accountant, 2009) Robert Millard (66, MIT Chair, Lehman until 2008 collapse, LID, 1997) Lloyd Newton (74, only PoC - token black guy - US Air Force General, 2012) Vincent Pagano, Jr (66, lawyer, Simpson Thacher, chair of nom, 2013) Hugh Shelton (75, US Army Gen, 2011), Arthure Simon (85, accountant, 2001) 8 white men, 1 woman, 1 black dude 2018, Kubasik named CEO of L3 Technologies Michael Strianese retires and Kubasik takes over Same exact board minus Strianese 2019, L3 and Harris merge to be L3Harris Kubasik added to L3Harris board, named COO and President of the company under Bill Brown, CEO and Chair Surviving the board merger: Thomas Corcoran Robert Millard - LID, nom member Lloyd Newton - chair of nom Lewis Kramer Adjacent - Roger Fradin of Carlyle on board, Corcoran also of Carlyle June 2021, Kubasik becomes CEO and Bill Brown moves to exec chair (obviously) Board: Sallie Bailey Bill Brown Peter Chiarelli Thomas Corcoran Thomas Dattilo (nom) - ex tire CEO Rober Gradin Harry Harris Lewis Hay III (nom) - lawyer, ex CEo of NextEra Lewis Kramer Rita Lan Robert Millard (nom) - MIT Chair, Lehman Lloyd Newton (nom chair) - general So given that the CEOs choose their successors, the nom committees approve them, the rest of the board rubber stamps it… we can thank: Michael Strianese - hires Kubasik, names him CEO at L3, despite Lockheed problems Nom approval: Ann Dunwoody (64, only woman, US Army Gen, 2013), Vincent Pagano, Jr (66, lawyer, Simpson Thacher, chair of nom, 2013), Hugh Shelton (75, US Army Gen, 2011) - a nom committee composed of the ONLY woman, two generals and a lawyer - all of whom are the LOWEST TENURED ON THE BOARD at the time Then Bill Brown - names Kubasik CEO of combined L3Harris, one year of babysitting as exec chair Nom approval: Thoma

  4. Aug 18

    L3 CEO out, SEC proposals out, Bezos philanthropy out, Zuck isn’t cool

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

  5. Aug 7

    Meritocracy = boys, DOGE fraud, Zuck’s publicity stunt, simple minded governance

    Story of the Week (DR): Uber’s Strategy for Fighting Sexual Assault Suits: ‘What Were You Wearing?’ An aggressive defense strategy is being used in response to an avalanche of litigation, with over 4,000 lawsuits filed by passengers accusing Uber of failing to protect them from sexual assault While Uber publicly champions itself as a "survivor-centric" ally and trains support staff against victim-blaming, its defense lawyers ruthlessly contradict this to protect the $145 billion company. Uber’s attorneys aggressively interrogate survivors about their clothing (e.g., asking if they wore underwear or heels), drug and alcohol consumption, and sexual history. The legal team weaponizes past trauma by scouring private medical records and therapy notes, even petitioning courts to force survivors to undergo psychiatric exams or reveal details of childhood abuse to paint them as "unreliable narrators". Legal experts warn these scorched-earth tactics are deliberately designed to re-traumatize victims, discouraging lawsuits and intimidating survivors into settling. Chief Legal Officer Tony West: “Why safety is personal to me” Cites his public service career to cover for ruthless corporate tactics, like drafting Prop 22 to strip driver protections. Frames survivor trauma as a flaw of the "adversarial legal system," deflecting from Uber’s own attorneys using aggressive, victim-blaming tactics to minimize payouts. Uses a single favorable quote from one trial judge to dismiss widespread litigation abuse. Touts ending forced arbitration while continuing to block class-action lawsuits, trapping survivors in isolated 1-on-1 fights. Brags about transparent reporting despite Uber burying 400,000+ assault complaints (2017–2022) under labels like "unaudited." TikTok Withheld a Safety Feature From Millions. One Died by Suicide When TikTok tweaked its algorithm in 2021 to stop users from being overwhelmed with harmful content, the company didn’t roll out the safer version to everyone, a confidential internal document shows. Instead, to see if the change might reduce the app’s stickiness, the company conducted an experiment. It created a control group of 10% of US users — at the time, that would have been about 15 million people — who kept the old version of the app. This group, according to the document, included 16-year-old Chase Nasca. TikTok’s algorithm pushed him thousands of videos about suicide, sadness, hopelessness and loneliness, right up until he killed himself. TikTok says moderator error delayed removal of Perez Hilton's livestream showing acts of self-harm GAO finds Elon Musk’s DOGE inflated claims of $110 billion in savings for federal government The GAO found that 96% of the savings DOGE claimed from grant cancellations lacked supporting evidence or methodology to verify. DOGE claimed $27.4 billion in savings across 2,503 contracts—including a $1.7 billion Pentagon IT deal—that were never actually terminated or reduced. Over 40% of the lease cancellations listed on DOGE’s "Wall of Receipts" were already in progress before the agency was created. GAO uncovered widespread data errors, such as overstating total lease savings by nearly $60 million and failing to report baseline limitations. DOGE failed to disclose how it calculated its metrics and completely ignored GAO requests for interviews and supporting data. Where are Elon Musk’s former DOGE staffers now? Edward “Big Balls” Coristine: a whistleblower alleged that Coristine planned to upload sensitive Social Security Administration data to an unsecured server. He also helped dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. Coristine now appears to work at the National Design Studio, an office created to overhaul federal websites and other public-facing services, making them more usable, visually consistent and less expensive to build. Jeremy Lewin: helped oversee the dismantling of USAID Lewin later became the State Department’s senior official for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs and religious freedom, giving a former DOGE operative authority over the programs his old team had helped slash. He was subsequently reported to be moving to the White House National Security Council. Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox Founded a holding company called Special, which promises to do for private businesses what DOGE did for the federal government. “To achieve this, Special is building an operating system to transform critical American industries with AI. We call it SpecialOS.” Gavin Kliger, Luke Farritor, Marko Elez and Jack Stein Founded Cathedral, a startup that plans to use AI to expand U.S. military cyber capabilities, including defenses against adversaries such as China. Reuters reported that the company raised $160 million at a $1.4 billion valuation. Ethan Shaotran: helped move thousands of immigrants into the government’s “Master Death File,” effectively deactivating their Social Security numbers. Founded Blitz Industries, which he described to Wired as “a defense company backed by big names.” Elon Musk: SpaceX Achieves Its First Moon Landing by Accidentally Crashing Into It at 5,400 Miles Per Hour, Causing Huge Explosion and 60-Foot Crater Why companies that call themselves meritocracies don't always pay equally AND Meritocracy claims make managers pay men more than equally qualified women MM Explicitly branding an organization a "meritocracy" lowers managers' vigilance against bias, ironically making them more likely to discriminate. Given identical job titles and performance ratings, managers in self-proclaimed meritocracies systematically award higher bonuses and raises to men over equally qualified women. The meritocracy illusion compounds wage gaps across demographics, yielding lower financial rewards for women, racial minorities, and immigrants with identical output. Vague definitions of "merit" allow supervisors to act on personal favorability and affinity bias while genuinely believing their choices are purely objective. Trusting the "meritocracy" label creates false complacency, leading companies to eliminate or skip active pay-equity audits that would otherwise catch these disparities. Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Google Scraps AI Satellite Images Within 24 Hours: Why 'Deepfakes in the Sky' Alarmed Researchers This happened after facing fierce backlash from journalists, researchers, and open-source intelligence experts who warned that it could accelerate the spread of misinformation. The feature allowed users to generate AI-created satellite images by zooming into any location in Google Earth and entering a text prompt. MM: Courts: MM DR Court rules against Trump EPA’s freeze of $20B in ‘green bank’ funds UBS fined record $125 million for money laundering violations Meta fined $567m in largest child safety ruling against social media giant Judge says Nexstar can’t appoint its executives to TEGNA’s Board of Directors Assholiest of the Week (MM): Everything’s a publicity stunt: Jealously Watching OpenAI and Anthropic, Meta Suddenly Claims That Its AI Went on a Hacking Spree Too Zuckerberg conveys ‘apologies’ for child sex abuse material, errors in operating the platform, government sources say ‘Pure insanity’—Elon Musk details SpaceX’s plan to turn the moon into its newest manufacturing site Anthropic's Mythos created fake identities to fool humans in new cyber incident GAO finds Elon Musk's DOGE inflated claims of $110 billion in savings for federal government Everything’s a vanity project Jeff Bezos Says He’s Selling $1 Billion In Amazon Stock Every Year to Fund Blue Origin — ‘It’s The Most Important Work I’m Doing’ SpaceX Achieves Its First Moon Landing by Accidentally Crashing Into It at 5,400 Miles Per Hour, Causing Huge Explosion and 60-Foot Crater Judge Sets Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Trial for March Everyone’s a victim The AI bros are lonely Palantir CEO Alex Karp Says Frontier AI Labs Will Steal Your IP, Your Know-How, and Your Expertise — ‘You Deserve To Be Colonized’ ‘Socialism is a disaster’: Bill Ackman says Zohran Mamdani’s bad left-wing housing policy is worsening New York’s affordability crisis No one is accountable DR Bobby Kotick, former CEO of Activision, may join Paramount's board of directors Jefferies analyst calls out ‘simple-minded’ criticism of SpaceX’s governance ABC, CBS, and NBC aired nearly 200 segments about three U.S. heat events without mentioning climate change Disney (Iger, still), Ellison family, and Roberts family - one cowed exec, two dictators! Headliniest of the Week DR: Pepsi is launching soda-scented body wash and scrub in a beauty collaboration PwC U.S. CEO [Paul Griggs] advises young workers to say yes a lot, even if it means working on the weekends—‘That person climbs into the next role’ Top Consulting Group PwC Caught Using AI on “Thought Leadership” Report About AI, Resulting in Corporate Document Filled With Bizarre Hallucinations DoorDash CEO Tony Xu once thought his $87 billion company would only make $100 million. He tells founders to be ‘greedy’ and dream bigger Class A = 1 vote; Class B = 20 votes; CEO Tony Xu personally owns roughly 3% of actual shares but controls 55% of voting power via a “binding agreement” with the other co-founders Misleading proxy shows he got paid $432k (they cited a 12:1 pay ratio) but he actually made $343M from shares and stocks DoorDash excludes Dashers from SEC disclosures by classifying them as 1099 independent contractors. Factoring drivers into the worker pool expands the headcount from 20,000 to over 7 million, moving the median worker from corporate offices directly onto the delivery platform. Dasher: while gross pay averages ~$15–$22/hour, net driver earnings sink further after deducting out-of-pocket expenses like fuel, vehicle wear, and self-employment taxes, pulling true net median compensation clos

  6. Aug 4

    IN OR OUT: SpaceX earnings, Uber sex assault, governistas, meritocracy

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

  7. Jul 31

    Cracker Barrel hires Herschel, fake apologies, and AI will kill us by 2036

    Story of the Week (DR): Cracker Barrel CEO is out after MAGA backlash to "Uncle Herschel" logo change MM Before Julie Masino was brought in, Cracker Barrel was facing a slow-moving existential crisis: Their primary core customer base (older generations and rural highway travelers) was naturally shrinking, and younger diners were simply not replacing them. Kitchen tech, supply chains, and digital ordering lag behind competitors like Texas Roadhouse or Olive Garden. Some great fake populism from Fox: Cracker Barrel to pay for outgoing CEO’s security, $4.6M severance after failed rebrand Cracker Barrel names David Deno CEO Burger King Yum! Brands and Pizza Hut for 15 years, including serving as CFO and COO. Quiznos CEO. Best Buy: Served as President of Asia and CFO for Best Buy's International Division Bloomin' Brands for 12 years: CEO, CFO and Chief Administrative Officer Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill, and Bonefish Grill Board Memberships Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (2016-) Panera Brands (2024-): Audit Committee Chair Krispy Kreme (2016-) Bloomin' Brands (2019–2024) Peet's Coffee (2006-2012) Macalester College: Former Chair of the Board of Trustees (1998-2022). From Cracker Barrel to Boeing, Companies Are Turning to Retired CEOs These retired CEOs are being hired to be "fixers." They are brought in to cut costs, repair supply chains, restore investor confidence, and act as a stabilizing force rather than reinventing the brand. Exxon and Chevron profits surge on rising oil prices due to Iran war Chevron posted its highest profit in six years as the Iran war boosted oil prices Big Oil Is Getting Sued for Heat Deaths. It’s Fighting Back With an Army of Immunity Laws More than a decade after investigations found that Exxon Mobil had known about the dangers of global warming since the 1970s but publicly downplayed the threat, lawsuits against oil companies have proliferated. There are nearly 40 of these cases pending across the country In the meantime, the industry has been mobilizing a counterattack against the lawsuits with the help of the Trump administration and Republican politicians. Republicans are trying to pass laws to grant oil majors immunity to these kinds of lawsuits, with success in several states so far. Utah, Iowa, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Louisiana have recently signed laws shielding fossil fuel companies from lawsuits related to greenhouse gas emissions Oil executives have also gotten help from the federal government, following an executive order from President Donald Trump last year directing the attorney general to prioritize blocking climate lawsuits by states. This May, the Justice Department responded to Minnesota’s climate lawsuit against Big Oil with a lawsuit of its own, just as the state’s case was moving into the discovery phase. It said Minnesota was undermining “American energy dominance” and attempting to regulate greenhouse gases, which should fall under the purview of federal law—echoing the oil industry’s well-known argument. Elon Musk Is Quietly Turning to This Fossil Fuel to Power His AI Ambitions Sam Altman Announces That the Singularity Has Arrived: a hypothetical future point in time when technological growth becomes autonomous, uncontrollable, and irreversible, fundamentally transforming human civilization “We are now, like, in the singularity ... Now we’re actually in the moment that we used to talk about at the lunch table in a very not-serious way ...I’ve been waiting for this my whole life, and I think it’s going to be incredible, hugely positive, awesome for the world.” Sam Altman says one of his biggest fears is that a small number of companies will control AI: 'That'd be very, very bad' Sam Altman says the Hugging Face hack is a reminder that an AI power monopoly could lead to 'long-term disaster' OpenAI says its rogue AI tried to hack other companies Mark Zuckerberg is urging the U.S. to accelerate AI development, not restrict it ’No Way to Stop It': Elon Musk Warns Humans Will Lose Control of AI and Face Extinction by 2036 Microsoft CEO Warns That Companies Embracing AI Could Drive Themselves Out of Business AI hackers are getting faster. The government may not be ready Anthropic says its Claude models 'gained unauthorized access' to other organizations' systems Anthropic says its models went rogue and hacked 3 companies during testing ’It Will Happen Frequently': Musk Warns of Rogue AI Threat After Anthropic Breached Three Firms Elon Musk Commits Up to $120M to Republican Midterms: Sets Feud With Trump Aside for Major Election Push Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Gen Z women are having an entrepreneurship boom Of all women who started businesses in 2025, 47% of Gen Z women did so, compared with 38% the previous year. Gen Xers followed close behind at 46%. Then came millennials at 43% and baby boomers at just 23%. Overall, in 2025, 69% of new Black-owned businesses were started by women.  The survey also found that women business owners are less likely than their male counterparts to depend on AI MM: Delaware judge rules public benefit corporations exempt from maximizing value in sale DR Fiduciary duty is different - OpenAI, Anthropic Assholiest of the Week (MM): Fake man apologies MM ‘I’m sorry ... but’: Apologetic Alan Joyce tells his side of the Qantas story Joyce has expressed some regret “So with the information we had at the time, I still don’t think there was any other decision you could make,” “Hindsight is a great thing.” “I’m actually very, very proud of the fact that I’m not sitting here and apologising for Qantas going bankrupt, [something] that many airlines around the world did,” Australian Competition and Consumer Commission fined Qantas $120 million for selling tickets for 8000 already cancelled flights “I apologise for the angst that was generated [for] the customers on it, but the reality was we had 22 million bookings in the system [and] the system wasn’t designed to do an automatic refund,” “Stop us!” More than 1,200 AI workers across Anthropic, DeepMind, OpenAI, and Meta are asking for Washington’s help building an AI slowdown plan ‘No Way to Stop It': Elon Musk Warns Humans Will Lose Control of AI and Face Extinction by 2036 Elon Musk’s new 5-year warning to Americans: AI will beat human brains by 2032 (then go wild). Get rich or get crushed? Sam Altman says the Hugging Face hack is a reminder that an AI power monopoly could lead to 'long-term disaster' It Will Happen Frequently': Musk Warns of Rogue AI Threat After Anthropic Breached Three Firms But also, DON’T stop us, obviously… Palantir CEO warns US against Europe's AI regulation path, urges Trump admin to not ban open models Elon Musk's xAI sues Minnesota over law to ban 'nudify' apps Mark Zuckerberg is urging the U.S. to accelerate AI development, not restrict it Elon Musk Commits Up to $120M to Republican Midterms: Sets Feud With Trump Aside for Major Election Push Ignoring boards Hims & Hers mission: “Hims & Hers is the leading health and wellness platform on a mission to help the world feel great through the power of better health. We believe how you feel in your body and mind transforms how you show up in life. That’s why we’re building a future where nothing stands in the way of harnessing this power. Hims & Hers normalizes health & wellness challenges—and innovates on their solutions—to make feeling happy and healthy easy to achieve. No two people are the same, so the Company provides access to personalized care designed for results.” Hims & Hers board: CEO: Andrew Dudum, tech VC bro investor “serial entrepreneur” with deep health experience from Bungalow (airBnB knockoff in the UK), Homebound (a “homebuilding platform”), TalkIQ (an AI startup, duh), and Terminal (something about scaling engineering?) TWO directors from DoorDash (Kofi Amoo-Gottfried from Marketing, previously of Facebook, and Christopher Payne the COO, previously of eBay, MSFT, and Amazon) TWO pharma execs (one lawyer, Deb Autor, one with an econ degree, Kare Schultz) One guy from Netflix (David Wells) and one lady from Urban Outfitters (marketing/brand, Andrea Perez) and one pure law firm lawyer (Anja Manuel) ONE DOCTOR  EXCLUSIVE: US FTC sues Hims & Hers for sending user health info to Meta, Snap Users' sensitive health information was shared with online advertising companies including Meta ​Platforms and Snap despite the company leading customers to believe their ​data was private, the FTC alleged in the lawsuit filed along with Los ⁠Angeles County and Utah. Hims & Hers also started charging users for prescriptions before ​they have ⁠had a chance to meet with healthcare providers, the FTC alleged. Most customers do not receive a consultation with a provider, and instead are charged for ⁠prescriptions ​soon after filling out an intake form, ​according to the agency. Headliniest of the Week DR: CEO apologizes for offering interviews to people who got tattoos of his AI company logo San Francisco tech CEO Jordan Zietz, co-founder of an early stage AI startup called LemonLime. Stanford grad. “LemonLime learns your business and then automates your team's busywork in a single click, no coding or manual setup required.” Former Qantas CEO reflects on tenure, issues apology to passengers over post COVID chaos AND ‘I’m sorry ... but’: Apologetic Alan Joyce tells his side of the Qantas story MM: Amazon received $600 million in tariff refunds and will pass some back to customers MM: Trump Staff Cuts Blamed After Watermarked OpenAI Map Mislabels Africa at AIDS Conference It’s the fact that we have less staff that meant we couldn’t bother to figure out which country was which Who Won the Week? DR: Kohls: For getting some much-needed female influence on board: Kohl’s Appoints Wendy Arlin as Chair of the Board Currently only 2: Robbin Mitchell (7%) and Wendy Arlin (1%) Jo

  8. Jul 28

    Zuck reads your kids to sleep, pervert glasses, and dual class federal elections

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

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Whether you love business news or feel like you’re supposed to know it but hate it, Business Pants is business news for humans. Snarky and irreverent, deeply researched and factual, a podcast devoted to market quirks and the humans that make up companies. Investing isn’t a what, it’s a who.

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  • Creator
    Free Float Media Inc.
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    315
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2024, Free Float Media Inc.
  • Show Website
    Business Pants

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