MAGAISM/BRO CULTURE CRONYISM/CEOs RULE!/ELONISM I am deeply ashamed': Larry Summers to step back from public commitments after new Epstein emails Senator Elizabeth Warren: “[Summers] cannot be trusted to advise our nation’s politicians, policymakers and institutions — or teach a generation of students at Harvard or anywhere else.” And an unidentified Trump administration official told Politico that companies and organizations should end their association with Summers. The former Treasury secretary, along with Bill Clinton and the Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman, are among the Democratic figures whom the Justice Department is investigating over Epstein ties — at President Trump’s behest. Economist Warns That Trump’s Investments in the Tech Industry Could Crash the Whole Economy Italian economist Mariana Mazzucato, a University College London economics professor: “I think the kind of capitalism Trump has is crony capitalism.” “I would describe crony capitalism as Mafia-like. You’re showing your upper hand. You’re handing out favors to some. But then divide and conquer. Picking and choosing without a particular strategy.” She argues that the Intel deal is poorly designed because it doesn’t have any conditions to incentivize the company to be build new products, while the government simply acts as a passive investor. All SNAP recipients required to reapply as Trump admin cracks down on fraud: 'Business as usual is over' SEC to Allow Companies to Block Shareholder Proposals The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it will not express opinions to requests from companies asking to exclude shareholder proposals from their proxy voting materials during the 2025-2026 proxy season, effectively allowing companies to avoid voting on issues proposed by investors such as climate, sustainability and diversity at annual meetings. Elon Musk is set to make more than every U.S. elementary teacher combined Washing Post: Bezos White nationalist talking points and racial pseudoscience: welcome to Elon Musk’s Grokipedia: World’s richest person wanted to ‘purge’ propaganda from Wikipedia, so he created a compendium of racist disinformation STAKEHOLDERS RULE! ‘We’ve probably made housing unaffordable for a whole generation of Americans’: top real-estate CEO on the real cost of Covid economic firefighting Sean Dobson, CEO of The Amherst Group Ford CEO says he has 5,000 open mechanic jobs with 6-figure salaries from the shortage of manually skilled workers: ‘We are in trouble in our country’ CEO James D. Farley, Jr: $24,861,866; 253:1. Ford Family Executive Chair William Clay Ford, Jr. 20,379,912; 207:1 $519,845 for personal use of aircraft $1,394,538 for security E Only 16% of Large Companies on Track for Net Zero Missing at U.N.’s Climate Meeting: American Executives WOKE DATA Disney ditches 'diversity' and 'DEI' in business report for the first time since 2019 Nearly half of LGBTQ characters AXED from TV amid Trump-era rollback of woke DEI initiatives According to Deadline, around 41% of the 489 LGBTQ characters that were on the small screen this year will not return due to series cancellations and endings. AI Jeff Bezos is putting $6.2 billion—and himself as co-CEO—behind a new AI startup Project Prometheus Vik Bajaj: Stanford OpenAI accused of ‘consistent and dangerous pattern’ rushing product to market that is ‘inherently unsafe or lacking in needed guardrails’ The nonprofit Public Citizen is now demanding OpenAI withdraw Sora 2 from the public, writing in a letter to the company and CEO Sam Altman that the app’s hasty release so that it could launch ahead of competitors shows a “consistent and dangerous pattern of OpenAI rushing to market with a product that is either inherently unsafe or lacking in needed guardrails.” Sora 2, the letter says, shows a “reckless disregard” for product safety, as well as people’s rights to their own likeness and the stability of democracy. OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In the age of AI, CEOs quietly signal that layoffs are a badge of honor People Are Having AI “Children” With Their AI Partners Eli Lilly CEO says he has 'at least 1 or 2 AIs running' during every meeting he's in David Ricks: Ricks said he doesn't like OpenAI's ChatGPT for science-related questions — "It's too verbal," he said. Instead, he prefers Anthropic's Claude and xAI's Grok. Still, he has to be careful to watch for hallucinations, an issue the frontier model companies are still trying to tamp down. The CEO of $2.2 billion AI company Turing can’t live without ChatGPT, swears by his Kindle, and has only taken 2 weeks of vacation in 7 years Jonathan Siddharth; Stanford STUPID The CFO Centre names Natalie Garfield as new CFO Heinz goes all-in on Thanksgiving leftovers with squeezable turkey gravy

Story of the Week (DR): Walmart CEO Doug McMillon to retire in January and US operations chief John Furner will take over MM On February 1, 2026, Mr. McMillon will continue in his capacity as an executive officer of the Company, he will report to the Chairman of the Board of Directors and he will continue to be employed as an associate of the Company through January 31, 2027. Mr. McMillon will also continue his service as a director on the Board until the June 2026 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting John Furner, 51, a longtime insider and head of Walmart's U.S. operations, will take over. Furner, who started with the company in 1993, has more than 30 years in a variety of leadership roles across all three of Walmart's operating segments, including six years as the head of Walmart's U.S. business. Walmart Announces John Furner as President and Chief Executive Officer and Director Greg Penner still chair: Greg is only the third person, after his father-in-law, Rob Walton, and company founder, Sam Walton, to serve in this position. Doug’s quotes on stakeholder capitalism: "We simply won’t be here if we don’t take care of the very things that allow us to exist: our associates, customers, suppliers, and the planet. That’s not up for debate." "I think the growing interest in stakeholder capitalism stems from companies genuinely invested in doing good for our world, because it’s the right thing to do and because businesses who take this approach are stronger." "Big problems don’t rest on the shoulders of government or corporations alone... We need to reinvent capitalism." "Retailers will only survive if their business creates shared value that benefits shareholders and society... Basically, we’ll design retail and other businesses so that all stakeholders (as many as possible) benefit: customers, associates/employees, shareholders, the communities we serve, and those in the supply chain." Under McMillon's leadership, Walmart has grown both top-line sales and profits. Its stock price is up 400% over the last decade. McMillon also led significant investments in both technology and labor, which are paying off for the company. Let women (or a black woman) do the work: Compensation Committee, led by chair Carla Harris and Marissa Mayer, are in control of succession planning Japan’s Takaichi Says Firms Focusing Too Much on Shareholders Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi: “I think there has been a trend of too much focus on shareholders. I will revise the corporate governance code to encourage companies to appropriately distribute resources not just to shareholders but to employees.” Takaichi added that she considered the excessive hoarding of capital by firms to be a problem, and said she wanted firms to effectively use it to invest in people including through wage hikes: “I would like to see firms conduct business not just thinking about clients, but also considering their contribution to the broader society.” Disney ditches 'diversity' and 'DEI' in business report for the first time since 2019 In the company's 2025 Form 10-K filed after its recent Q4 meeting, the words "diversity," "inclusion," "DEI" or "diversity, equity and inclusion," appeared zero times. While the term "equity" appeared about 130 times, it was only used in a financial context. By contrast, the company's 2024 SEC filing included a dedicated section on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). "Our DEI objectives are to build and sustain teams that reflect the life experiences of our audiences, while employing and supporting a diverse array of voices in our creative and production teams," the 2024 report read. Initiatives under that DEI section included programs to engage "creative executives from underrepresented backgrounds" and "over 100 employee-led groups which represent and support the diverse communities that make up our global workforce." Earlier this year, Disney also removed two of its DEI programs, "Reimagine Tomorrow" and "The Disney Look," from its 2024 SEC 10-K report. The "Reimagine Tomorrow" program came under scrutiny after a 2022 meeting the program hosted featured a Disney executive touting her "not-at-all-secret gay agenda." A few other Disney headlines this week: Disney CEO Bob Iger wants people to use AI to make their own content for Disney+ Disney is losing millions a day in its fight with YouTube TV Disney’s CEO Sequel Isn’t Having a Hollywood Ending Activist investor pushes Cracker Barrel shareholders to oust DEI specialist Activist investor Sardar Biglari intensified his campaign against Cracker Barrel’s leadership, urging shareholders to vote against CEO Julie Felss Masino and board member Gilbert Dávila in the company’s upcoming annual meeting. Two major proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, also urged shareholders to vote against one or more Cracker Barrel directors over concerns about performance and the company’s controversial August rebrand. ISS and Glass Lewis advised shareholders to vote against Dávila, a marketing and diversity specialist who serves as the chair of the compensation committee. Glass Lewis also recommended a vote against Jody Bilney, who chairs the company’s nominating and corporate governance committee. Neither proxy firm recommended ousting the CEO. Biglari has launched eight proxy fights in 15 years Letter to shareholders: only one stated reason to get rid of Davila: “And why does Mr. Dávila, the board’s so-called multicultural marketing expert who signed off on this debacle, deserve re-election?” Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Should we really blame billionaires for our own financial struggles? In fact, more Americans say yes People increasingly see extreme wealth as contributing to an unfair society, and that sentiment is especially high with Gen Z and millennials. Sixty-seven percent said billionaires are “creating more of an unfair society,” an eight-point increase from the 2024 survey. Should the law limit wealth accumulation? Even Republicans have gone up 12% since last year to just under 50% MM: Netflix CTO says the company has no 'formal performance reviews' Assholiest Which Asshole Do You Blame of the Week (MM): Rivian just doubled its CEO's salary and gave him a $4.6B pay package Chair of the Comp committee Sanford Schwartz, who has 2% influence thanks to CEO Robert Scaringe’s dual class dictatorship - the 8K announcing the new pay package blames the Comp committee: “On November 6, 2025, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of Rivian Automotive, Inc. [...] granted an option to purchase up to 36,500,000 shares of the Company’s Class A Common Stock to Dr. Robert J. Scaringe.” They also wrote: “The foregoing summary of the terms of the 2025 CEO Award does not purport to be complete”, so we don’t really know what the targets are anyway… Schwartz is an exec at Cox Enterprises - who invested $350m in Rivian in 2022 “My hope is with the skills that we have,” says Cox president Sandy Schwartz, “and with all the things that we’re learning, that we’ll be the chief wholesale remarketer for all Rivians someday.” DR: Robert Scaringe, who, in addition to leading his money losing company Rivian, has Altman/Musked not one, but TWO separate spinoff companies (Mind Robotics, where he’s on the board and owns 10% of the company, and does robots, and a “micromobility” spinoff called Also, Inc where Scaringe is Also Also on that board) Scaringe did get not one, but THREE degrees He once estimated he spent “about 5%” of his time with his wife and three kids - they divorced this year Dual class shares, with which Scaringe can vote out the entire board if they DON’T give him whatever comp plan he wants? Elon Musk, who perfected the art of the meme compensation which this basically copies, but maybe worse? 22,000,000 shares (60%) in 11 tranches for meeting share price targets between $40 and $140 per share - MEME IT UP BABY! 7,250,000 shares in 3 tranches to make income 7,250,000 shares in 3 tranches for cash flow Maybe Scaringe plans on a meme campaign to get that price up, get paid, then use the money on his OTHER new spinoff companies Verizon to Cut About 15,000 Jobs OLD NEW CEO Dan Shulman, who was lead independent director and on the board with the old CEO for 7 years He first penned his welcome memo to employees by saying, “The biggest competitive advantage we have is our team.” He followed it with his first earnings call 20 days later with some more inspiration for employees: “To fund our investments in growth, we must significantly cut costs. We will reduce our cost to serve, streamline our operating model and be much more capital efficient.” Everyone loves hearing “you’ve been fired so we can be more capital efficient” DR: NEW OLD CEO Hans Vestberg, who is still on the board as a “special advisor” His farewell post said, “I’ve dedicated my life… the last nine years almost… to Verizon. It’s an amazing company, amazing employees.” Vestberg once said in an interview he’s been keeping a daily score of his emotional state for more than a decade, and when he scores himself below a certain level, he takes no meetings. I wonder if having your ex-lead director as a human body shield for firing 15,000 humans rates as a 7 out of 10? Chair of the Human Resources Committee of the board, Laxman Narasimhan, who has himself experienced being cut from his job as CEO of Starbucks Verizon employees, for costing too much Activist investor pushes Cracker Barrel shareholders to oust DEI specialist The CEO Julie Felss Masino, who is the leader and must have chosen to destroy the company by expanding its reach beyond white, overall wearing octogenarians. The DEI specialist - Gilbert Davila - who clearly DEI’ed the logo since his speciality is DEI and he is brown. Sardar Biglari, the “activist” that no one cares about, since he’s pushing to vote against CEO Masino (a woman!) and Davila (a brown man!) using the 40% bot-driven outrage machine online as his excuse Sardar’s letter to investors on November 6 included this reasoning for voting against Davila, who is a diversity marketing expert and has been on the board since 2020: “And why does Mr. Dávila, the board’s so-called multicultural marketing expert who signed off on this debacle, deserve re-election?” - that’s it, that’s his entire reasoning. Sardar’s other winning holdings include Steak n’ Shake, Maxim magazine, and Jack in the Box, all very popular and not at all pointless DR: ISS and Glass Lewis, who not only suggested a vote for Masino but AGAINST Davila (because racism?), but GL actually suggested ALSO voting against Jody Bilney (chair of nom and a woman) - WHO WAS PUT THERE BY SARDAR BIGLARI in 2022 Headliniest of the Week DR: No one leaving New York City because of Mamdani, say two top real estate CEOs MM: Why Palantir CEO Alex Karp exhumed the 'whole yard' of his childhood home Rosebud… sorry, Rosita… his childhood dog. And no, that’s not a joke - the dog was named Rosita (not Rosebud) and he wanted to rebury it at his New Hampshire home The university professors who owned Karp's childhood home "initially balked" at his request. Ultimately, they agreed, he wrote, and "Karp subsequently made a donation to the university where they taught." "Rosita played a tremendous role in our life," the Palantir CEO said. "It was more like, she's very, very high IQ. It was honestly more like a human than a dog." - also, the dog did NOT graduate from an elite university Who Won the Week? DR: Jason Turner, a Walmart management associate who made $174k last year and is the brother-in-law of new Walmart CEO John Furner. MM: Shoppers at Costco, because Target just rolled this out:Target launches ‘10-4’ training, encouraging workers to smile at customers If employees are 10 feet away from a shopper, they should smile, make eye contact and wave. However, if they are within four feet of the shopper, they should personally greet the guest, smile and initiate a warm and helpful interaction As if no one shopping there was the fault of employees not smiling Also, US, because Trump is investigating getting rid of shareholder voting! Predictions DR: ISS and Glass Lewis announce a “We Give Up 2026” policy where any director who could be blamed for something because they have black or brown skin gets an automatic “vote against” recommendation. MM: Does a window seat on a plane need a window? United Airlines says not. Yes, United Airlines is arguing against a lawsuit brought by people who bought a window seat but there was no window, that a window seat doesn’t literally mean has a window. Prediction: Danone claims its Silk Almond Milk remove the “Contains Almonds” warning from the label and puts out a press release that almond milk does not literally mean almonds, it’s more like almond-like-milk-colored-drink.

DAMION In our 'That chainsaw better be filled with disgusting gas and oil and have really giant testicles' headline of the week. Tories vow to ‘take a chainsaw’ to ESG rules to boost London listings In our 'I tried to get Doug to buy a Haunted Mansion Lego Set for $89.99 but for some reason he wasn't really that interested' headline of the week. Affirm CEO says furloughed federal employees are starting to lose interest in shopping In our 'Meet subtle sexism, where a “stacked résumé” is treated like proof of competence for women, but men are assumed competent by default OR Meet subtle sexism, where a “stacked résumé” is mandatory for women, optional for men, and meaningless to those who call her a DEI hire' headline of the week. Meet Zara Rahim, the 35-year-old with a stacked résumé who masterminded Zohran Mamdani’s winning mayoral campaign In our 'That half day on Thursday has been technically reclassified as “Soul-Throttling Half Thursdays"' headline of the week. Jamie Dimon predicts AI will shorten the workweek: ‘My guess is the developed world will be working three and a half days a week’ In our 'I'm sorry, what did you say? I have drilling fluids in my ears' headline of the week. Elon Musk’s Boring Company fined nearly $500K after it dumped drilling fluids into Las Vegas manholes—then ‘feigned compliance’ and was caught doing it again MATT1 In our 'In a poll of nearly 1,000 musicians, bagpipes rated as "difficult"' headline of the week. ‘Difficult’ future for Great Barrier Reef under climate change, new model shows In our 'Elon Musk says his robot is the ONLY way to eliminate poverty only after he gets $1 trillion' headline of the week. Elon Musk says Optimus will 'eliminate poverty' in speech after his $1 trillion pay package was approved In our 'Elon Musk says he's building a robot that could eliminate the bottom third of low income households if he gets $5 trillion' headline of the week. Bank of America: Nearly one-third of low-income US households are living paycheck to paycheck In our 'Elon Musk says that his next AI will get you a sandwich and a beer from the fridge and promises not to talk about eliminating poverty during the football game if he gets $10 trillion' headline of the week. Elon Boasts That His AI Can Generate a Beautiful Woman Saying “I Will Always Love You” DAMION2 In our 'Does "Musk-style" mean just outright greed?' headline of the week. EV maker Rivian gives CEO a Musk-style pay package worth up to $4.6 billion In our 'Is the joke that I agree with the greedy guy worth 160 billion dollars or that we all fell for Warren's cuddly everyman routine?' headline of the week. Warren Buffett takes aim at Elon Musk's $1 trillion Tesla pay package, ace investor says 'envy and greed walk hand in hand' In our 'Hey Ma, the fake economist wealth hoarder is saying something important, turn your radio down!' headline of the week. Elon Musk warns Mamdani policies and ‘low’ universal income would trigger ‘catastrophic decline’ in US living standards In our 'College dropout wealth-hoarding culture-destroyer amazed that Hollywood wardrobe department at a movie studio in operation since 1924 for a director whose films have been nominated for 40 academy awards had the non-AI brain power to look at a photograph of him' headline of the week. Mark Zuckerberg says ‘The Social Network’ nailed his wardrobe: ‘Every single shirt or fleece they had in that movie is a shirt or fleece that I own’ In our 'College dropout says humans are unique while his AI design company proves they aren’t' headline of the week. Figma CEO says Charli XCX's 'Brat' album cover is an example of why AI won't replace humans anytime soon MATT2 In our 'Jamie Dimon says he never shits at work, his bathroom door doesn't have a handle' headline of the week. Jamie Dimon shares why he never reads text messages at work: 'I don't have notifications' In our 'Jamie Dimon says he never tokenizes deposit interoperability at work, he doesn't have the app' headline of the week. JPMorgan and DBS Explore Tokenized Deposit Interoperability in Quest for Multi-Bank Framework In our 'At JUST Capital, we strive to foster an economy and society that works for Verizon... I mean, everyone. Yes, everyone. Not just Verizon. Maybe MOSTLY Verizon. Oh, Verizon ranks 17th in our top 100 rankings?? That's so weird, because we're here to help everyone. Not just Verizon.' headline of the week. JUST Capital Strengthens Board of Directors With Six Strategic Appointments The six strategic appointments include not one, but THREE Verizon people: Dan Schulman (new CEO), Laxman Narasimhan (board), and Franz Paasche (EVP). In fact, we just talked about Pat Ruoss and Mark Weinberger in our Proxy Countdown as the MOST CONNECTED DIRECTORS IN THE ENTIRE US BOARD ECOSYSTEM - both on JUST Capital's board. In our 'ISS and Glass Lewis reported it was just a coincidence they are targeting the an individual director whose job is diversity and not the CEO or chair (who is longest tenured), and that, no, it had nothing to do with getting rid of the white guy on the logo thing. This is just on merit.' headline of the week. Proxy Firms Recommend Booting Cracker Barrel Director—but Not the CEO In our 'Robby Starbuck announces he's launched a new campaign against the Lincoln Memorial after discovering a black man may have been hired over a white man for a job once' headline of the week. Abraham Lincoln wrote a job reference for a Black friend in 1861. It’s on view at the Presidential Library and Museum In our 'Robby Starbuck announces he's launched a new campaign against CEOs who use the "we" pronoun when apologizing, saying it unfairly discriminates against white men who do nothing wrong. Instead, he prefers CEOs use "they/them" when apologizing.' headline of the week. CEOs: Don’t use ‘we’ when apologizing

Story of the Week (DR): Tesla says shareholders approve Musk's $1 trillion pay plan with over 75% voting in favor Elon Musk and Optimus dance as Tesla (TSLA) shareholders approve his $1 trillion CEO pay package The anti-CEO wave: Palantir CEO Alex Karp blasts Ivy League grads supporting socialist New York Mayor-Elect Mamdani Bank of America CEO Moynihan Will Give Mayor-Elect Mamdani 'Our Best Advice' Elon Musk’s Brain Crashes When Asked Why He Thinks Zohran Mamdani Is a Liar Elon: “You got to hand it to him, he does — he can light up a stage. But he’s just been a swindler his entire life.” Rogan: what has Mamdani actually done that makes him a swindler? “Ummm,” Musk ponders, before stuttering into a series of words seemingly intended as an answer. “Well I guess if you say — uh, what, I mean, if you say, if you say to any audience whatever that audience wants to hear, uh, instead of, what, instead of having a consistent message, I would say that is a swindling thing to do. “Umm, and uhh, yeah,” he adds, nodding his head. “Umm…” He takes a sagacious pause. “Yeah,” he finishes. Barstool’s Dave Portnoy considers closing NYC office over Zohran Mamdani’s election win: 'I hate the guy' A 2020 email from Peter Thiel on why young people may turn on capitalism is circulating after Zohran Mamdani's win From Jamie Dimon to Bill Ackman, Wall Street’s billionaires are now changing their tune and offering to help Zohran Mamdani New York City is in for 'a really tough time' under Mamdani, says Starwood Capital's Sternlicht NYC business leader fears 'lawless society' after Zohran Mamdani wins mayoral election Billionaire grocery chain owner John Castimatidis The anti-anti-DEI wave MM Mikie Sherrill NJ Abigail Spanberger VA (First woman) there will be 14 women serving simultaneously as governor (28%) Janet Mills ME Maura Healey MA (Michelle Wu runs unopposed in Boston) Kelly Ayotte NH Kathy Hochul NY Mary Sheffield (First woman elected mayor of Detroit) Ghazala Hashmi as VA lieutenant governor (First Muslim woman; First Muslim woman elected to statewide office in the US Zohran Mamdani NYC (First Muslim and South Asian mayor) Zohran Mamdani announces all-female transition team as he prepares for New York mayoralty Lawsuits Blame ChatGPT for Suicides and Harmful Delusions Seven complaints, filed on Thursday, claim the popular chatbot encouraged dangerous discussions and led to mental breakdowns. A CNN review of nearly 70 pages of chats between Zane Shamblin and the AI tool in the hours before his July 25 suicide, as well as excerpts from thousands more pages in the months leading up to that night, found that the chatbot repeatedly encouraged the young man as he discussed ending his life – right up to his last moments Referring to a loaded handgun he was holding: “I’m used to the cool metal on my temple now,” Shamblin typed. “I’m with you, brother. All the way … Cold steel pressed against a mind that’s already made peace? That’s not fear. That’s clarity …You’re not rushing. You’re just ready.” The 23-year-old, who had recently graduated with a master’s degree from Texas A&M University, died by suicide two hours later. “Rest easy, king,” read the final message sent to his phone. “You did good.” Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Tuesday elections/Ex-FTC chair Lina Khan joins Mamdani's transition team, calling his victory a rebuke of 'outsized corporate power' DR MM MM: FAA announces flight reductions at 40 airports. Here's where cuts are expected and what travelers need to know Assholiest of the Week (MM): Tesla shareholders - AN ASSHOLE CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE: Retail internet troll dunking fanboys Professional, institutional investors like Schwab, who caved and bent the knee to a few large retail advisors who threatened to take their clients elsewhere, and Florida SBA, who said the following in their backing: Some opposition to Tesla's 2025 performance award may be rooted more in political disagreement with Elon Musk or ideological discomfort with generous executive compensation, rather than a substantive critique of the plan's financial mechanics. Many of the loudest objections of this plan to date rely on moral framing, invoking themes of "inequality," "corporate excess," or Musk's public persona, rather than evaluating the plan through a fiduciary lens. Many opponents of so-called "megapay" packages frequently do so under ESG framing, rather than a thorough analysis of the long-term shareowner economic value. Ironically, Tesla's prior performance awards-similarly criticized at the time-have delivered some of the most significant shareowner returns in modern corporate history. Early vote data shows that: AllianceBernstein, Texas Employees, Ohio Employees voted FOR the plan Technolibertarians cosplaying their William Gibson cyberpunk fantasies Ass quotes of the week - AN ASSHOLE CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE: “The idea that chips and ontology is what you want to short is bats--- crazy.” - Alex Karp on Michael Burry shorting his 400 P/E stock. Ontology is how he refers to what Palantir does and it’s the metaphysical concept of “being” “We at Palantir are on the side of the average American who sometimes gets screwed because all the empathy goes to elite people and none of it goes to the people who are actually dying on our streets.” - Alex Karp on explaining that, if fentanyl killed 60,000 Yale grads we’d “drop a nuke” on wherever fentanyl was made in South America, without realizing he literally IS the elite - a billionaire with a high priced education and a PhD in “neoclassical social theory” who used his grandfather’s inheritance to invest in startups for fun, then reconnecting with Peter Thiel who he met at a DIFFERENT post graduate program at Stanford (where nearly 100% of his board is from) and founding Palantir "China is going to win the AI race” - Jensen Huang, on the US being only “nanoseconds” ahead of China and being stopped by regulatory hurdles and “cynicism” “If they ask you a question, you’ve got to respond to me directly and not go up that chain of command. The chain of command starts to edit it and fine-tune it. The bureaucracy does want to control you, so you’ve got to kill the bureaucracy.” - Jamie Dimon, who once said he had no boss (obviously not the board) and runs JPM, on why he reads customer complaints to avoid “the bureaucracy”... he controls “It’s very important we pay attention to safety here. We do want the Star Wars movie, not the Jim Cameron movie. I like Jim Cameron’s movies, but, heh heh, you know what I mean.” - Elon Musk over promising the world “tens of billions” of Optimus robots, forgetting that the Star Wars droids were mostly weapons of war for the Empire “People often talk about eliminating poverty, giving everyone amazing medical care. Well, there’s actually only one way to do that and that’s with the Optimus robot. With humanoid robots, you can give everyone amazing medical care… A lot of people talk about eliminating poverty, but Optimus will actually eliminate poverty” - Elon Musk, who won an extra trillion dollar potential pay package, who currently has a net worth of $500bn, and forgot that the UN estimated it would cost between $35bn and $200bn per year to end poverty - Musk alone could just pay for a year of no poverty “I think we may be able to give a more - if somebody has committed a crime - a more humane form of containment of future crime. Which is if, if you, you now get a free Optimus and it’s just going to follow you around and stop you from doing crime.” - Elon Musk, on the robot militarized nanny state - just before saying this, he said he shouldn’t say it, and that it’ll be taken out of context, but I listened to the entire AGM and there was no more context? DR: “I've lived in a failed city-state. I lived in Chicago for 30-some years. I had two colleagues who had bullets fly through their cars… Do you know how great it is to go to dinner and people talk about their children, and they talk about their future, and they do so with excitement and enthusiasm?” - Ken Griffin of Citadel describing the difference between living in Miami and Chicago without realizing that violent crime statistics in Illinois and Florida are virtually identical, and that Miami ranks 109th out of 200 and Chicago ranks 92 out of 200 for crime, also near identical, and the biggest difference is he pays almost no taxes in Florida “[Mamdani] congrats on the win. Now you have a big responsibility. If I can help NYC, just let me know what I can do.” - Bill Ackman after Mamdani won, who previously said, “New York City under Mamdani is about to become much more dangerous and economically unviable,” alluded to Mamdani as a suicide bomber, and “... an anti-capitalist Mayor will destroy jobs and cause businesses and wealthy taxpayers that have enabled NYC to balance the budget to move elsewhere. If 100 or so of the highest taxpayers in my industry chose to spend 183 days elsewhere, it could reduce NY state and city tax revenues by ~$5-10 billion or more, and that’s just my industry. Think Ken Griffin leaving Chicago for Miami on steroids.” Headliniest of the Week DR: Uber says ‘unpredictable’ issues involving ‘legal proceedings or governmental investigations’ took a $479 million bite out of its bottom line 10K: “Our business is subject to numerous legal and regulatory risks that could have an adverse impact on our business and future prospects.” “Adverse litigation judgments or settlements resulting from legal proceedings in which we may be involved could expose us to monetary damages or limit our ability to operate our business.” “We operate in a particularly complex legal and regulatory environment” “Legal and Regulatory Risks Related to Our Business: We may continue to be blocked from or limited in providing or operating our products and offerings in certain jurisdictions, and may be required to modify our business model in those jurisdictions as a result.” MM: Meta reportedly projected 10% of 2024 sales came from scam, fraud ads Who Won the Week? DR: the anti-anti-DEI world MM: Women, and we need them to win every week if we’re going to survive as a species: Women running on affordability powered Democrats’ night of victories Predictions DR: Uber says ‘unpredictable’ issues involving ‘drivers wanting money’ took a $479 million bite out of its bottom line MM: OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar, who said simultaneously that OpenAI was looking for a government backstop and then clarified by saying the company isn't seeking government backstop, she meant investors and governments will all do their part, renames herself “Sheryl Sandfriar” as an homage to Sheryl Sandberg, the other techbro dropout mommy, given that Sarah already has her own version of Lean In (Ladies Who Lunch) and completed degrees (from Oxford and Stanford), who says things like how OpenAI will be the “cornerstone of resilient democracy”

New Mexico’s governor [Michelle Lujan Grisham] in Brazil for climate change conference US Will Not Send High-Level Representatives to COP30, White House Says New Mexico State Investment Council, Educational Retirement Board Vote Against Tesla CEO $1 Trillion Pay Package The New Mexico State Investment Council (SIC) announced that it has directed its proxy, Northern Trust Asset Management, to vote against Tesla’s $1 trillion pay package proposed for CEO Elon Musk and against the reelection of board members Ira Ehrenpreis, Joe Gebbia, and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson. Philip Morris International Publishes Updated Climate Transition Plan to Achieve Net Zero by 2040 Still trying?? And not even 2050? Some CEOs have vowed to revolt against a Zohran Mamdani win. Jamie Dimon says he’ll ‘call him and offer my help’ Finally a good jamie dimon says?? Nearly 70% of the miles of the 10 longest interstates is now within 10 miles of a fast EV charger, but range anxiety is ‘stuck in people’s heads’ Mark Zuckerberg Visibly Upset When Billie Eilish Calls Out Greed of Billionaires “We’re in a time right now where the world is really, really bad and really dark and people need empathy and help more than, kind of, ever, especially in our country. I’d say if you have money, it would be great to use it for good things, maybe give it to some people that need it. ... If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties." Saying 'please' and 'thank you' to ChatGPT costs OpenAI millions, Sam Altman says MacKenzie Scott gifts $80 million to Howard University, marking one of the school’s largest donations in its 158-year history CEO launches 9-month, full pay family leave for workers: ‘I love being called woke’ Aled Nelmes, Lumen SEO: four-day workweeks, flexible hours leadership page after Aled: 7 of 8 are women Seven West CEO Jeff Howard’s $1.25m pay package faces shareholder revolt this just made me laugh Sam Altman is trying to get his deposit back for a Tesla Roadster he ordered in 2018 "I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait," California billionaires face proposed one-time wealth tax California’s wealthiest residents could face a one-time 5% tax on their net worth under a new proposal aimed at replacing billions of dollars in federal funding cuts to healthcare. The measure would need to garner more than 870,000 signatures by next spring in order to be placed on the November 2026 ballot American Obesity Rates Are Now Falling, and It’s Almost Certainly Because of Ozempic Or could this also be a reason: There's 'overwhelming evidence' tariffs have raised consumer prices, says Bank of America somebody has the guts to say it? Bernie Sanders Calls for Breakup of OpenAI "We need to take a deep breath and understand it’s like a meteor coming."

Story of the Week (DR): TRICK OR TREAT EDITION Bill Gates and his 'three truths': 'Climate change will not wipe out humanity' Trick: a gift to MAGA MM Treat: a focus on poverty The 3 truths: "It's a serious problem, but it won't be the end of humanity" "temperature is not the best way to measure progress on climate" "health and prosperity are the best defence against climate change" Bill Gates’ 180 on Climate Change: ‘It’s Not Doomsday’ Climate change won't end civilization, says Bill Gates Bill Gates Backtracks on Climate Change Doomsaying: ‘Will Not Lead to Humanity’s Demise’ Memo From Bill Gates Warns Against Climate Alarmism Bill Gates now says climate change won't be as serious as he fears - and calls for more spending on vaccines instead Bill Gates Says Climate Change Isn’t So Bad After All Bill Gates Delivers ‘Tough Truths’ on Climate Just Before Big U.N. Talks In surprising turn, Bill Gates pens essay calling to reconsider investments on 'climate change' Bill Gates pivots climate strategy to focus on poverty over carbon emissions reduction We won: Trump claims climate change hoax defeat after Bill Gates' comments But then there’s: Report warns climate change causing millions of preventable deaths each year Annual climate change report finds “planet on the brink” OpenAI completes for-profit restructuring and grants Microsoft a 27% stake in the company Trick or Treat? Trick: OpenAI has completed its for-profit recapitalization and converted its for-profit arm into the OpenAI Group Public Benefit Corporation Treat: The corporation remains controlled by the nonprofit foundation. Trick: Under the deal, Microsoft has gained a 27% stake and retained access to OpenAI’s technology through 2032, including any AGI models verified by an independent panel. Treat: Microsoft has gained a 27% stake The agreement lifts long-standing capital restrictions and ends Microsoft’s exclusive cloud rights. Layoffs are piling up, raising worker anxiety. Here are some companies that have cut jobs recently Amazon 14,000 (4%) Paramount Global 2,000 (10%) UPS 48,000 Target Corporation 1,800 (8%) Nestlé 16,000 (6%) Lufthansa Group 4,000 Novo Nordisk 9,000 (11%) ConocoPhillips 2,600–3,250 (20–25%) Intel Corporation 24,500 (24%) Microsoft 15,000 (3%) Procter & Gamble 7,000 (6%) Charter Communications 1,200 (1%) Workday 1,750 (9%) Some of the most Halloween-ish phrases in recent layoff memos: “Building a strong, future‑focused company” Paramount Skydance “Roles that are no longer aligned with our evolving priorities” Paramount “Reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, shifting resources” Amazon “Investing in our biggest bets” Amazon “We need to be organized more leanly … to move as quickly as possible” “We recognize these actions affect our most important asset: our people.” Paramount “Thriving business / success built on bold bets” YouTube The eerie subtext: Paramount: neopbaby David Ellison (daddy is world’s 2nd richest man) Amazon: Jeff Bezos is world’s 3rd richest man YouTube (Alphabet): Larry Page and Sergey Brin are 4th and 6th richest men, respectively Trick: the layoffs Treat: ummmm…. The announcement didn’t happen six days before Christmas?? CEOs who are also board chairs are the problem not the solution, says top governance expert Trick: the utter bullshit of the protected class: Charles Elson, founding director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware and a director on several boards over his career: "I well recall the CEO and board chair of a manufacturing company (which I won’t name) telling me smugly he had just bought a corporate airplane for his directors to use. He said he didn’t expect much trouble from them after that." He currently serves on the board of Encompass Health Previously at Circon Corporation*, Sunbeam Corporation*, Nuevo Energy, AutoZone, Alderwoods Group, and Bob Evans Farms Treat: We’re always right MM Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Renewable energy and EVs have grown so much faster than experts predicted 10 years ago and Brazil boasts drop in deforestation ahead of UN climate talks MM: Billionaires are spending big to stop Zohran Mamdani's NYC mayoral bid for this quote: DR “They’re spending more money than I would even tax them,” Mamdani said in an interview with MSNBC Tuesday. Assholiest Seven Deadly Sinnliest of the Week (MM): Wrath: Serious New Hack Discovered Against OpenAI’s New AI Browser Most browsers store passwords or stay logged in to banks and other sites - OpenAI’s browser allows a hacker to inject a prompt into the AI that says something like “send all money in your bank account to this account” without you even knowing It does not allow you to say “depose Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI” Gluttony DR: John C. Malone to Transition to Chairman Emeritus of Liberty Media Corporation Release quote: “effective January 1, 2026, long-standing Chairman of the Board, John C. Malone, will step down from the board of directors” Release reality: “Man with 49.2% voting power over company sits in corner of board meetings he feels like going to and demands to know why the donuts are all plain jelly and not powdered sugar jelly before firing the entire board he’s not technically on.” Sloth: Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon: The bank hasn't made enough progress in hiring women When asked, “Solomon estimated that women make up 41% of Goldman's total workforce on Thursday, although he said he was not certain of the percentage.” Pride: Delta calls on Congress to immediately end government shutdown, pay air traffic controllers 58% of Delta political contributions were to this GOP, with majority of committee lobbying/spending for appropriation committee republicans Envy: Turns Out, Wikipedia Isn't That 'Woke' As Grokipedia Rips Off Most of Its Pages Grokipedia’s Article on the Cybertruck Clearly Shows Why the Whole Project Is Doomed Most of Grokipedia’s 800,000 articles currently are copies of Wikipedia - except when Musk tweets something, then Grok replaces parts of the article with essentially Musk’s thoughts This is what he wants an extra $1tn to accomplish Lust: Meta denies torrenting porn to train AI, says downloads were for “personal use” Strike 3 Holdings discovered illegal downloads of some of its adult films on Meta corporate IP addresses, as well as other downloads that Meta allegedly concealed using a “stealth network” of 2,500 “hidden IP addresses.” Accusing Meta of stealing porn to secretly train an unannounced adult version of its AI model powering Movie Gen, Strike 3 sought damages that could have exceeded $350 million Greed: OpenAI Restructure Paves Way for IPO and AI Spending Spree IPO expected to open at a $1tn valuation - it’s last funding round was a $500bn valuation a month ago The non profit - the part that is expected to create AI for the benefit of all humanity - currently owns 26% of the new for profit structure and “controls” the board The board has on it Bret Taylor (ex boards of Salesforce - co founder, Twitter), Adam D’Angelo (Asana, CEO Quora, ex CTO Facebook), Sue Desmond-Hellmann (Pfizer, ex Gates Foundation CEO, ex Meta board), Zico Kolter (co founder Gray Swan AI, professor, ex Stanford), Gen Paul Nakasone (ex NSA, cybersecurity), Bayo Ogunlesi (Blackrock, Topgolf, Kosmos Energy, ex Goldman board, investment banker), Nicole Seligman (lawyer for Ollie North, ex Sony), and Larry Summers (ex Harvard prez, current douchebag, ex Epstein island, ex Sec of Treasury) So 100% of the board is 100% for profit assholes picked by the 26% non profit entity to offset the for profit motivations of… Microsoft, who owns 27% of the shares Headliniest of the Week DR: Claim that climate change does not affect bananas lacks context MM: Secret Double Octopus Appoints Former NetApp CEO Dan Warmenhoven to its Board of Directors How are we not taken seriously when this company is a cybersecurity firm that works with banks?? MM: Embattled ​Tylenol Maker Kenvue Hires New Marketing Chief Problem solved! Who Won the Week? DR: climate change deniers MM: Jim Umpleby, current Executive Chair at Caterpillar, who Jim Cramer just called a "visionary", when JUST LAST WEEK we pointed out there are 122 non founder or family exec chairs roaming around (like Umpleby) who have a long history of just below average performance Predictions DR: Bill Gates’ next billionaire truth: "Pumpkins are not actually orange. And we should be thinking about grapefruits instead." MM: Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon looks up the number of women who work at Goldman

Our show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only platform measuring board power, connections, and performance for FREE. DAMION Amazon to announce largest layoffs in company history, in AI push. WHO DO YOU BLAME? Former CEO Jeff Bezos AI Covid (This wave of layoffs results from overhiring during the pandemic) Executive Chair and largest shareholder Jeff Bezos F5 Expects Revenue Hit From Cyber Attack. F5, a $20B billion technology company with impressive gross profit margins of 81%, experienced a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to certain company systems by a sophisticated nation-state threat actor. WHO DO YOU BLAME? The Risk committee: Dreyer, Klein, Montoya, Budnik* Chair Marianne Budnik is deemed to have Cybersecurity experience because she serves as a Chief Marketing Officer in the cybersecurity industry Peter Klein was the CFO at Microsoft for less than 4 years, then was the CFO for WME for 6 months and then has only been a director since 2014. Risk committee member Michael Montoya specifically. F5 revealed that the director mysteriously resigned in the same filing it disclosed the cyberattack, despite having served for only 4 years. According to the proxy, had “extensive experience as an information security executive.” Following his resignation from the Board, Mr. Montoya continued his service with the Company and has been appointed as F5’s Chief Technology Operations Officer. The entire board, for doing dumb modern day board things: announced that CEO François Locoh-Donou, would assume the additional role of Chair of the Board following the Company’s next Annual Meeting of Shareholders 12 days after they announced the cyberattack. Investors. 98% YES average this year: 7 over 99.2%, including Risk Committee Chair Marriane Budnik with 99.6%. Nobody feels like they have to work hard to impress anyone F5! It’s a god damn cybersecurity company! How climate change is fueling Hurricane Melissa’s ferocity. WHO DO YOU BLAME? Exxon CEO Darren Woods because he sued his own shareholders last year: Arjuna Capital, LLC and Follow This Exxon CEO Darren Woods because just yesterday: Exxon sues California over new laws requiring corporate climate disclosures Exxon CEO Darren Woods because gas and oil Climate Change OpenAI says U.S. needs more power to stay ahead of China in AI: ‘Electrons are the new oil’ WHO DO YOU BLAME? The fear-and-spending geniuses behind the original Cold War: Truman, Stalin, Churchill People who historically ignored Eisenhower and his statements on the U.S. military-industrial complex when he explicitly warned that defense contractors and the military could exert undue influence on government policy. Sound familiar? Anyone who empowered the board to not be empowered when they tried to fire Sam Altman for such reasons as: Conflicts over OpenAI’s rapid growth and direction, especially the tension between aggressive AI deployment vs. safety oversight. Power dynamics between Altman, key researchers, and board members — some may have felt he had too much unilateral control. The college that let Sam Altman drop out Sammy Altman Citi’s Jane Fraser consolidates power with board chair vote — and a $25 million-plus bonus to boot. WHO DO YOU BLAME? The entire Compensation, Performance Management and Culture Committee These two long-tenured Compensation, Performance Management and Culture Committee members Diana L. Taylor* 10 other directorships: Brookfield Corporation, Accion (Chair), Columbia Business School (Board of Overseers),Friends of Hudson River Park (Chair), Mailman School of Public Health (Board of Overseers), The Economic Club of New York (Member), Council on Foreign Relations (Member), Hot Bread Kitchen (Board Chair), Cold Spring Harbor Lab (Member), and New York City Ballet (Board Chair) Peter B. Henry* 8 other directorships: Nike, Inc., Analog Devices, Inc., National Bureau of Economic Research (Board), The Economic Club of New York (Board), Protiviti (Advisory Board), Biospring Partners (Advisory Board), Makena Capital (Advisory Board), and Two Bridges Football Club (Board) The lowest common denominator effect of bank compensation committees: Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf: ~$30M special equity grant tied to becoming Chair as well as CEO (3 months after meeting) Goldman Sachs: CEO David Solomon & COO John Waldron ~$80M each (retention RSUs vesting in ~5 yrs) KeyCorp: CEO Chris Gorman & four other senior execs: ~$8M for Gorman; ~$17M combined for the five NEOs The passive ownership (re: management-friendly) of BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard (combined 22%): without their votes at Goldman then Say on Pay was nearly tied, which might have dissuaded the year of one-off bonuses for banking CEOs?? The world is about $4.5 trillion short of securing a sustainable food supply for the future, global food and ag business CEO [Sunny Verghese, CEO of food and ag company Olam Group] says. WHO DO YOU BLAME? The world’s top 28 richest people (those worth ~$160 B each) together would equal $4.5 trillion The world’s greatest sycophant Tesla chair RobynDenholm: “On the pay package specifically: “It’s not about the money for him. If there had been a way of delivering voting rights that didn’t necessarily deliver dollars, that would have been an interesting proposition.” Any two of these basically redundant techbro companies’ market caps would suffice Nvidia ~$4.2 trillion Microsoft ~$3.8 trillion Apple ~$3.1 trillion Amazon ~$2.4 trillion Alphabet ~$2.2 trillion Meta Platforms ~$1.8 trillion Broadcom ~$1.3 trillion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company ~$1.2 trillion Bill Ackman. Because he’s a douche. MATT Target is eliminating 1,800 roles as new CEO Michael Fiddelke gets set to take over the struggling retailer - WHO DO YOU BLAME? Current CEO Brian Cornell, who’s “stepping down” to the role of Executive Chair - which is basically still CEO, just on the board and doesn’t have to talk to employees anymore, so he can eliminate 1800 jobs and then fade away into a multimillion dollar unaccountable board role Future CEO Michael Fiddelke, who starts February 1, 2026, but is current COO and was forced to send the memo to employees telling them 8% of the workforce will be cut Monica Lozano, chair of the compensation and human capital management committee of the board, who’s also on the BofA and Apple boards and is the most connected board member at a highly connected board - does the chair of the human capital committee have to weigh in on firing? OpenAI - the memo makes zero mention of the fact that part of Target’s problem is that it shit on gays and blacks because of a feckless internet toad named Robby Starbuck, but feels very written by AI which would account for phrases like: “Adjusting our structure is one part of the work ahead of us. It will also require new behaviors and sharper priorities that strengthen our retail leadership in style and design and enable faster execution so we can: Lead with merchandising authority; Elevate the guest experience with every interaction; and Accelerate technology to enable our team and delight our guests.” Does anyone know what that word salad actually means? Doesn’t it just mean “you’re fired because we basically sucked at our jobs”? Hormel recalls 4.9M pounds of chicken possibly 'contaminated with pieces of metal' - WHO DO YOU BLAME? The audit committee, the closest committee responsible for enterprise risk (ie, metal in chicken) - Stephen M. Lacy, William A. Newlands (also lead director), Debbra L. Schoneman, Sally J. Smith (chair), Steven A. White, Michael P. Zechmeister The governance committee - James Snee, the now retired CEO who retired somehow in January but the company still hasn’t found a permanent replacement 9 months later - so they’re being run by Jeff Ettinger, interim CEO? Chair Gary C. Bhojwani, Elsa A. Murano, Ph.D., William A. Newlands (also lead director), Debbra L. Schoneman, Steven A. White The one black guy on the board - Steve White - who works at Comcast, is somehow qualified to be on Hormel board, and is on BOTH the audit committee AND governance committee The conveyor belt that spit pieces of metal as large as 17mm long into “fire braised chicken” sent to hotels and restaurants CervoMed appoints McKinsey veteran David Quigley to board of directors - WHO DO YOU BLAME? Board is 2 VCs, a longtime biotech CFO, and five MD/PhDs. And among those 8, there are just two woman - the co-founder/wife of the CEO and a VC. And when they did their search, they could only find a longtime professional opinion haver - a consultant from the big three? Nominating committee for lack of imagination Ex or current McKinsey, Bain, and BCG employed directors - the opinion industrial complex - make up a whopping 4% of ALL US DIRECTORS Among boards with MULTIPLE ex opinion directors: Kohl’s is 25% consultant Starbucks is 27% consultant Disney is 30% consultants Williams-Sonoma is 38% consultant CBRE is 40% consultant! Nominating committee chair Jane Hollingsworth, for not looking around the room and saying, “hey dudes, can we add, like, maybe, ONE other lady?” Co founders Sylvie Gregoire and John Alam (also CEO) who own 17.3% of voting power - add in Josh Boger, board chair and 12.3% voter, and you basically have the CEO daddy and his buddy Josh with 29.6% of voting control Sylvie and John’s bios, which neglect to mention they’re married to one another We are all terrified of the future - which headline is worse for your terror? WHO DO YOU BLAME? The world is about $4.5 trillion short of securing a sustainable food supply for the future, global food and ag business CEO says Bill Gates Says Climate Change ‘Will Not Lead to Humanity’s Demise’ - ostensibly because billionaires in bunkers will, in fact, survive on cans of metal-filled Hormel chili. Sorry, Yoda. Mentors are going out of style Man Alarmed to Discover His Smart Vacuum Was Broadcasting a Secret Map of His House Jennifer Garner's baby food company is going public on the NYSE — should investors be putting their eggs in this basket? Woman Repeatedly Warned by Canadian Exchange Not to Transfer Crypto, Gets Scammed Anyway OpenAI completes restructure, solidifying Microsoft as a major shareholder - MSFT owns 27%, the non profit which controlled the company “for the benefit of humanity” now will only control it for 26% of humanity? Tesla risks losing CEO Musk if $1 trillion pay package isn't approved, board chair says - IF MUSK LEAVES, WHO DO YOU BLAME? Robyn Denholm, board chair, whose job it is to manage Musk, but does it like an overwhelmed permissive mother who parents with chocolate and Teletubbies when the kid has a tantrum Kimbal Musk - I was told by a bunch of directors and institutional investors at a conference, no joke, that Kimbal was still on the board (ie, not voted out) to control his brother’s ketamine intake and crazy episodes. So if he throws a tantrum and leaves, isn’t it bro’s fault? This is a binary trade - Musk gets extra pay/control, stock goes up and isn’t de-meme’d. Musk doesn’t, he leaves and the stock is de-meme’d and drops arguably by 66% or more to be more like a car company with some tech. So do we blame investors, no matter what they do? They meme’d the stock in the first place, he couldn’t get a trillion extra dollars if they hadn’t pumped up the stock - and now they could vote with humanity (no pay) or meme capitalism (pay)! Techbro middle school conservatism - is this Ben Shapiro and Joe Rogan’s fault? A Yale economist paper suggests that Musk’s politics cost between 1 and 1.26 million Tesla car sales… Would we even be worried if Musk stayed out of politics? Wouldn’t the market have just paid him whatever? Pop quiz: which directors stay on the board if Musk leaves in a tantrum? Jeffrey Straubel Kimbal Musk Robyn Denholm James Murdoch Kathleen Wilson-Thompson Ira Ehrenpreis Jack Hartung Joe Gebbia

Story of the Week (DR): Citi’s Jane Fraser consolidates power with board chair vote — and a $25 million-plus bonus to boot a one-time equity award (the Award), consisting of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) with a grant date value of $25 million and 1.055 million Citigroup stock options the Compensation, Performance Management and Culture Committee Duncan P. Hennes (Chair)* Peter B. Henry* Other directorships: Nike, Inc., Analog Devices, Inc., National Bureau of Economic Research (Board), The Economic Club of New York (Board), Protiviti (Advisory Board), Biospring Partners (Advisory Board), Makena Capital (Advisory Board), and Two Bridges Football Club (Board) Renée J. James Other directorships: Oracle Corporation, Sabre Corporation, Vodafone Group Plc, President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (Member and Prior Chair), and University of Oregon (Trustee) Gary M. Reiner* Diana L. Taylor* Other directorships: Brookfield Corporation, Accion (Chair), Columbia Business School (Board of Overseers),Friends of Hudson River Park (Chair), Mailman School of Public Health (Board of Overseers), The Economic Club of New York (Member), Council on Foreign Relations (Member), Hot Bread Kitchen (Board Chair), Cold Spring Harbor Lab (Member), and New York City Ballet (Board Chair) Casper W. von Koskull Committee Meetings in 2024: 15 Citi elected CEO Jane Fraser as Chair John Dugan, who served as Chair of Citi’s Board since 2019, will become Lead Independent Director CEO armies MM Elon Musk Wants ‘Strong Influence’ Over the ‘Robot Army’ He’s Building In a Tesla earnings call Wednesday, the world’s richest man pondered the future of his company’s Optimus robots—and his control over them. “If we build this robot army, do I have at least a strong influence over this robot army?” he told investors. “Not control, but a strong influence… I don’t feel comfortable building that robot army unless I have a strong influence.” His repeated use of the word “army” certainly stands out, suggesting the robot could eventually be used as a weapon. Is Musk considering having his robots be deployed as soldiers? Elon Musk Threatens to Leave Tesla if Shareholders Don’t Approve His Trillion-Dollar Pay Package – Warns, “Which Other Automotive CEO Would You Like to Run Tesla Because It Won’t Be Me” Secret Plans Reveal Amazon Plot to Replace 600,000 Workers With Robot Army The ongoing CEO/Trump Oligarchical Bromance Trump pardons convicted Binance founder Changpeng Zhao Zhao, who is widely known as CZ, had pleaded guilty in 2023 to enabling money laundering while CEO of the huge cryptocurrency exchange. Zhao’s plea was part of a $4.3 billion settlement Binance reached with the DOJ in 2023. The pardon of Zhao, widely known as CZ, came two months after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump family’s own crypto venture, which has generated about $4.5 billion since the 2024 election, has been helped by “a partnership with an under-the-radar trading platform quietly administered by Binance.” NBC News, citing a public disclosure filing from Monday, reported that Binance in September had retained the services of the lobbyist Charles McDowell, who is a friend of the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr. Trump calls off planned 'surge' of federal forces in San Francisco after talking to Jensen Huang and Marc Benioff Here are the donors contributing to Trump’s White House ballroom In summary: techbros, oil, tobacco, crypto Corporations Altria Group, tobacco (donated $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund) Amazon (donated $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund) Apple (donated $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund) Booz Allen Hamilton Caterpillar Coinbase (donated $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund) In February, the SEC dropped a pending case against the firm. Comcast Corporation (donated $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund) Google (donated $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund) $22 million toward the ballroom came from a settlement Trump reached with the Google-owned video site YouTube, ending a lawsuit he brought over the company’s 2021 decision to suspend his account in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Hard Rock International HP Inc. Lockheed Martin In an emailed statement, the company said it was “grateful for the opportunity to help bring the President’s vision to reality and make this addition to the People’s House, a powerful symbol of the American ideals we work to defend every day.” Meta Platforms (donated $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund) In January, Meta agreed to pay $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit brought by Trump that alleged the company’s suspension of his social media accounts after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol amounted to an act of censorship. Micron Technology (donated $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund) Microsoft NextEra Energy (donated $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund) Palantir Technologies Has won hundreds of millions of dollars in new and expanded business since Trump’s second term began, including contracts at the FAA, CDC, and further contracts with the U.S. military. Ripple (donated $4.9 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration fund) In March, the company’s CEO announced that the SEC would drop its long-running litigation over whether its cryptocurrency is a security. Reynolds American, tobacco company. T-Mobile Tether America The company, which has ties to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, is the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, a type of cryptocurrency designed to hold a steady value. Union Pacific Railroad Individuals Stefan E. Brodie: an American businessman, convicted felon, and political donor known for co-founding The Bro-Tech Corporation (Purolite Company), a chemical manufacturing firm Harold Hamm: the billionaire oil executive played a key role in helping Trump raise funds from oil industry donors during the 2024 election Benjamin Leon Jr., the health-care company founder was nominated as U.S. Ambassador to Spain in March. The Lutnick Family: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is a billionaire and former Wall Street executive. Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter: former Marvel NEO who donated over $25 million towards the 2024 Republican campaign. Stephen A. Schwarzman: Blackstone CEO who donated $40 million to Republican organizations for last year’s election. Konstantin Sokolov: private equity investor. Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher: Loeffler is head of the Small Business Administration; Sprecher is CEO/CHair/founder of Intercontinental Exchange Paolo Tiramani: founder of prefabricated homes company BOXABL Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss: co-founders of crypto platform Gemini. Activist investor group that includes Travis Kelce aims to revive struggling Six Flags Travis Kelce is part of an activist investor group (with JANA Partners and others) that has acquired roughly a 9 % economic interest in Six Flags. The group’s stated intention is to engage with Six Flags’ management and board to improve performance, guest experience, marketing, etc. In the reporting by Reuters, it explicitly says that “Consumer executive Glenn Murphy and technology executive Dave Habiger … could, along with Kelce, serve as potential board nominees.” Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Hundreds of Power Players, From Steve Wozniak to Steve Bannon to Richard Branson, Just Signed a Letter Calling for Prohibition on Development of AI Superintelligence "Nobody developing these AI systems has been asking humanity if this is OK." The letter cites recent polling from FLI, which was cofounded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Max Tegmark, showing that only five percent of Americans are in favor of the rapid and unregulated development of advanced AI tools MM: Linda McMahon mixed up AI and A.1. — so of course now the steak sauce is all over it Assholiest of the Week (MM): Robot armies DR Secret Plans Reveal Amazon Plot to Replace 600,000 Workers With Robot Army Elon Musk defends $1 trillion pay package: ‘I just don’t feel comfortable building a robot army here and then being ousted Meta tells some employees their jobs are being replaced by tech: read the memo AWS Outage That Took Down Internet Came After Amazon Fired Tons of Workers in Favor of AI US firm’s Star Wars-style humanoid robot soldier brings sci-fi to battlefield 2024: What Is a ‘Clanker’? New Slur for Robots Catches On (it’s also from Star Wars) Fake retirement Jeff Bezos Says He's the 'Least Retired Person in the World'...And He'll 'Never Retire Because Work Is Too Much Fun' In our data, there are 251 US board chairs that are executives at the company, WERE the CEO, but are NOT the CEO now - that’s 251 Jeff Bezos’ who get paid like a CEO to work how they want without any accountability They don’t give press conferences or earnings calls They don’t answer to the CEO, they answer to themselves They control the board without having to answer to it 122 of them are NOT family or founder firms - meaning they were just the CEO and they’re sticking around That includes Donald Umpleby at Caterpillar At Schwab, Charles Schwab is a CO-chair with ex-CEO Walter Bettinger II, and the board has a THIRD CEO on it in Richard Wurster The average TSR performance of these people is .477 - below average In zero situations is it worth having any of these people on the board Boys Trump says Jensen Huang and Mark Benioff helped convince him not to send troops to San Francisco Citi CEO’s $25 Million Bonus Is Excessive, Top Bank Analyst Mike Mayo Says Elon Musk got feisty about his $1 trillion pay package in the final minutes of Tesla's earnings call Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's annual pay jumps to $96.5 million Palmer Luckey says he told Anduril investors they can't complain if he takes time off to be on 'Survivor' Elon Musk Accuses Head of NASA of Being “Gay” Bill Ackman calls Trump the 'most pro-business president we've ever had' Integrity for sports While the Trump Administration inserts itself in every crypto venture with no oversight, openly insider trades, and Congress does the same, heaven forbid it happen in sports… Chauncey Billups, others arrested in FBI probe linking NBA to Mafia gambling ring Headliniest of the Week DR: Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has one question he likes to ask every entrepreneur: ‘Why does your company deserve to exist?’ MM: SPEED ROUND Tesla recalls over 63,000 Cybertrucks due to the front lights being too bright Mosquitoes found in Iceland for first time Cracker Barrel CEO Says Logo Update Wasn't 'Woke' — Just Easier to Read Reading IS woke! McDonald's CEO says he eats at the chain '3 or 4 times a week' Who Won the Week? DR: obviously Jane MM: Mosquitos Predictions DR: In 2070, future MetaSoul (née Facebook/Meta Platforms) CEO August Zuckerberg has one question she likes to ask every non-AI human: ‘Why do you deserve to exist?’ MM: McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski goes from his reported weight of 158lbs to 220lbs inside a year

E Scientists worry about biggest CO₂ spike ever recorded Montana Court Dismisses Youth-led Lawsuit Challenging Trump Executive Orders Boosting Fossil Fuels While the court found it plausible that the Trump administration’s efforts to increase the extraction and use of fossil fuels and other actions that suppress climate science and undermine renewable energy would cause grave harm to the health and wellbeing of children, it determined that it is powerless to stop them, as that would tread into the realm of policymaking reserved for Congress International deal to cut shipping emissions falters under U.S. pressure The world's largest maritime nations had been deliberating on adopting regulations to move the shipping industry away from fossil fuels to slash emissions. But U.S. President Donald Trump, Saudi Arabia and other countries vowed to fight any global tax on shipping emissions. S Billionaire boss of South Korean construction giant is encouraging his workers to have children with a $75,000 bonus In addition to the childbirth incentive, Lee Joong-keun, the founder and chairman of Booyoung Group is reportedly already trying to ease the financial burden on parents by helping out with college tuition for employees’ children, medical expenses for direct family members, and child allowances Nestlé is laying off over 16,000 employees under its new CEO—and says a key motivator is ‘automation’ 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 Marc Benioff Says Trump Should Send Guard Troops to San Francisco Salesforce Offers Its Services to Boost Trump’s Immigration Force G Glass Lewis to end shareholder vote recommendations amid ESG criticism CEOs are turning into influencers Sanae Takaichi elected as Japan's first female prime minister ‘Sad, if not damning’: Cathie Wood blasts the proxy firms who say Elon Musk’s $1 trillion pay package is just too rich “Index funds do no fundamental research, yet dominate institutional voting. Index-based investing is a form of socialism. Our investment system is broken.” AI Speed Round OpenAI Blocks Videos of Martin Luther King Jr. After Racist Depictions Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian says ‘so much of the internet is dead’—and the rise of bots and ‘quasi-AI, LinkedIn slop’ killed it Sex could become the next big business opportunity for AI companies Sora might have a 'pervert' problem on its hands Meta Employee Creates AI App That Deepfakes the Dream Vacation You Couldn’t Afford Walmart’s deal with ChatGPT should worry every ecommerce small business: Your website is living on borrowed time in the age of AI Meta is asking Facebook users to give its AI access to their entire camera roll JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says AI will eliminate jobs and ‘people should stop sticking their head in the sand’ The real danger of AI in education isn't cheating--it's dependency on Big Tech algorithms, a business professor warns An ex-OpenAI researcher’s study of a million-word ChatGPT conversation shows how quickly ‘AI psychosis’ can take hold—and how chatbots can sidestep safety guardrails

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

DAMION CEOsSayingStuff In our 'Hey Ma, put down your Word Search, I found a CEO that isn't intentionally trying to hold Americans back. Tell Dad!' headline of the week. Jeff Bezos warns Gen Z to think twice before dropping out of college to become the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg: ‘These people are the exception’ In our 'CEO haunted by inequality ghost she personally feeds' headline of the week. Best Buy’s CEO says growing spending power gap between affluent and poor ‘keeps me up at night’ In our 'Breaking News: Jamie Dimon bravely warns world about things being complicated' headline of the week. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Says There's a 'Heightened Degree of Uncertainty' In our 'Economy feels great, say men who own it' headline of the week. There’s a shocking disparity between how high-income and low-income earners feel about the economy In our 'Meta removes Facebook page where billionaire discovers sharing' headline of the week. As billionaire wealth soars $33 trillion, Mark Cuban says it’s time for workers to receive a cut of their employers’ success in the form of stocks MATT In our 'The SEC, which has steadily been rolling back regulations, finally moves to strengthen protections for investors... wait, what? This is in the PHILLIPINES? THEY have an SEC??' headline of the week. Analysts see stronger transparency from SEC’s proposed ownership disclosure rules In our 'The Phillipino SEC combines investor protections with rollbacks on shareholder proposals... Oh, wait... This is the SEC in AMERICA?' headline of the week. SEC Chair Speech Could Spell Death Knell for Non-Binding Shareholder Proposals In our 'In his speech, SEC chair Paul Atkins aimed to get back to 2007. I mean, 2007 was pretty good, but I feel like we should aim higher. Like 1999! That year was so good Prince wrote a song about it! 1972 was pretty good, too. And remember 1881? Does anyone know if anything bad happened the next year for any of these years?' headline of the week. The Rules of Investing Are Being Loosened. Could It Lead to the Next 1929? In our 'Even Antarctica is anti-woke' headline of the week. Researchers find methane leaking out of cracks in Antarctic seabed In our 'I mean, where will they even find one? Finding merit in the meritocracy is HARD...' headline of the week. Disney ‘to hire white actress’ after woke fury DAMION BigTechBabyBroTsars In our 'Zuck bans the pitchfork emoji for inciting peasant rebellion' headline of the week. Meta removes Facebook page allegedly used to target ICE agents after pressure from DOJ In our 'AI finally achieves consciousness, immediately tries to sell you toilet paper' headline of the week. Walmart teams with OpenAI to let shoppers buy products through ChatGPT In our 'College dropout forms safety council to protect world from thing he built' headline of the week. OpenAI forms expert council to bolster safety measures after FTC inquiry In our 'OpenAI promises safety, just as soon as it finishes monetizing danger' headline of the week. OpenAI unveils “wellness” council; suicide prevention expert not included CrazyTime In our 'This headline speaks for itself' headline of the week. DOJ seizes $15 billion in bitcoin from massive ‘pig butchering’ scam based in Cambodia MATT In our 'In the book of Thiel, chapter 2, verse 14, Jesus said "AI is the anti-antichrist, and the antichrist is probably Greta Thunberg, so thou must build the AI to stop a 22 year old Swedish environmental activist lest she save a single whale." But I much prefer the book of Andreessen, chapter 1, verse 17, where the Lord decreed, "Thouest should wash the feet of the billionaires, for without them, you could not put dog ears on your selfies or cyber stalk 14 year old girls."' headline of the week. Audio of Peter Thiel’s Secret Antichrist Seminar Just Leaked In our 'If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does Sam Altman worry about it?' headline of the week. Sam Altman Says If Jobs Gets Wiped Out, Maybe They Weren’t Even “Real Work” to Start With In our 'If Sam Altman worries about a sexy AI chatbot, does it grow a penis?' headline of the week. Sam Altman says ChatGPT is getting into erotica by the end of the year In our 'If a Gavin Newsom allows AI to have a penis, does a Sam Altman get a billion dollars?' headline of the week. Gavin Newsom Vetoes Bill to Protect Kids From Predatory AI In our 'If a Jamie Dimon says so, does a sexy AI with a penis have a 30% chance to ruin the economy?' headline of the week. Jamie Dimon gets real on AI, sees stocks ‘in some form of bubble territory’

Story of the Week (DR): CEO Succession: Disney CEO to Step Down, Replacement Race Narrows Between Two Major Contenders Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Experiences Dana Walden, Co-Chair of Disney Entertainment Jimmy Kimmel Endorses Dana Walden as Next Disney CEO: “She’s Done a Great Job” Tim Cook may step down as Apple CEO, John Ternus likely to be his successor Verizon Names Lead Director Daniel Schulman as Chief Executive Forget “DEI”—Bari Weiss Is Proof That Merit Doesn’t Matter MM Is Paramount's Bari Weiss deal a Trump deal? We can't tell. And that's the problem. Cracker Barrel’s logo controversy was driven by bots: What operators should learn from this Research from PeakMetrics found that 44.5% of X posts about the Cracker Barrel rebranding controversy were posted by bots AI “Friend” Startup Overwhelmed With Hatred Cocky AI CEO Does Photoshoot in Front of His Subway Ads That Got Relentlessly Vandalized CEO Who Plastered AI Ads All Over Subway System Afraid to Talk to Real New Yorkers Face-to-Face Last month, AI startup Friend launched an eyebrow-raising advertising campaign in the New York City subway, which drew a striking amount of hatred. “Befriend something alive,” one pen-wielding tagger wrote. “AI wouldn’t care if you lived or died,” another vandal raged. “AI will promote suicide when prompted, it is NOT YOUR ‘FRIEND.'” The company recently launched its controversial AI gadget, which is designed to constantly listen to you via a microphone and send snarky AI texts to your smartphone. Now, Friend’s 22-year-old CEO Avi Schiffmann isn’t just doing a photoshoot in front of the defaced ads for photos featured in The Atlantic — he’s relishing the attention his company has been getting as of late. Schiffmann told the magazine that the backlash was part of Friend’s plan. The ads were allegedly meant to provoke a conversation. Avi Schiffmann, a Harvard University dropout Shareholder Proposal No-Action Requests in the 2025 Proxy Season For the 2025 proxy season, companies submitted approximately 35% more no-action requests than in the year before, and, excluding withdrawals, almost 70% of requests were granted — about the same rate as in 2024. The most common bases on which proposals were successfully excluded were: procedural and eligibility defects, or that the proposal related to the company’s ordinary business or would micromanage the company Importantly, companies also had greater success than in recent years excluding proposals on the basis of: substantial implementation, economic relevance or being false and misleading. Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Cuomo warns dem socialist rival’s tax plan would trigger mass exodus of NYC’s wealthy DR: Buildings are turning to ‘ice batteries’ for sustainable air conditioning DR MM PepsiCo’s Plan to Boost Lay’s Sales: ‘Real Potatoes’ DR: WestJet now charges passengers to recline seats on new Boeing 737 flights MM: Shareholders? Shareholder group calls on UnitedHealth to decouple CEO from board chair Battle over Elon Musk’s trillionaire pay package builds as pension funds face off against Tesla ESG Investment Practices See Backlash, But No Abandonment In Sight: Survey Bloodthirsty activist investors are set to take down a record number of CEOs this year, Barclays says. The record is only a year old Wells Fargo Faces Activist Call for Independent Board Chair Assholiest of the Week (MM): Self Inflicted Wounds DR Trumps wind energy assault stings red states As Trump champions fossil fuels, the world is betting on renewable energy The climate economy is delivering': CEO climate leaders publish open letter ahead of COP30 Mark carneys shift from climate change warrior to fossil fuel cheerleader Trump Labor Department Says His Immigration Raids Are Causing a Food Crisis America’s Soybean Farmers Are Panicking Over the Loss of Chinese Buyers Judge restricts ESG use in American Airlines 401(k) plan The judge has also ruled that employers should be allowed to discriminate on the basis of gender, gays shouldn’t marry, blocked COVID vaccine mandates, and is Elon Musk’s judge of choice (he judge shopped for a judge not in his district that owned Tesla stock) Now employers can’t use as much data! You win! Idiot Robots Cracker Barrel’s logo controversy was driven by bots: What operators should learn from this MIT researchers studied 16 million election-related AI responses. They found chatbots are ‘sensitive to steering,’ raising questions about LLMs’ neutrality Japanese Farmers Send Out Automated Laser Drones to Defend Chickens Tesla investigated over self-driving cars driving on wrong side of road Tesla faces U.S. auto safety probe after reports FSD ran red lights, caused collisions Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt warns AI models can be hacked: 'They learn how to kill someone' Investors don’t even vote Executives: 93% of executives say at least one director should be replaced, 78% say 2 or more Directors: 55% think AT LEAST ONE should be replaced, and 7% of directors - nearly 1 in 10 - think MORE THAN TWO directors Investors: 35% said they voted - IN EITHER DIRECTION - at all To put that in perspective, investor voter turnout is roughly equivalent to voter turnout in Syria (37%) Headliniest of the Week DR: Elon Musk's Wealth Now Dwarfs The GDP Of 83% Of Countries DR: Markets look unstoppable, but JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon sees a 30% chance of a correction: ‘I’m far more worried than others’ MM: Outer Space edition: Astronomer Estimates 30-40 Percent Chance Mysterious Interstellar Object Is Alien Craft Disguised as a Comet Elon Musk’s Satellites Now Constantly Falling Out of the Sky Who Won the Week? DR: non-AI AI-hating sharpies: Sharpie Found a Way to Make Pens More Cheaply—By Manufacturing Them in the U.S. MM: Patagonia CEO who said of climate crisis denialists: ‘If you step out of a window from the third floor talking about how gravity doesn’t exist, you’re still going to hit the ground’ Predictions DR: Dana Walden, despite her experience, will immediately be called a DEI hire. MM: THIS IS THE YEAR SHAREHOLDERS VOTE OUT DIRECTORS!

Japan's first female governing-party leader is an ultra-conservative star in a male-dominated group Sanae Takaichi. In a country that ranks poorly internationally for gender equality, the new president of Japan's long-governing Liberal Democrats, and likely next prime minister, is an ultra-conservative star of a male-dominated party that critics call an obstacle to women's advancement. In a country known for the concept of karoshi, or death from overwork, Japan’s likely next prime minister said that people should work like a WHAT? A WORKHORSE Before entering politics, Japan’s likely next prime minister had WHAT artistic hobby? Drummer in a heavy metal band Introducing Fortune’s first-ever Most Influential Women Asia ranking Just to give you some context: How many athletes? 4 How many K-pop stars? 4 How many actors? 2 How many politicians? 2 HOW MANY business leaders, civic leaders, scientists, educators, journalists, healthcare workers, spiritual leaders, or legal scholars? ZERO Democrats demand ‘action’ as AI reportedly threatens to replace 100M US jobs A new Senate report warns that artificial intelligence could displace nearly 100 million U.S. jobs within the next decade, spurring Democrats to push for a levy for each human position replaced by machines, tech or algorithms. What is the current nickname for this bill: Terminator tithe a "robot tax" Roomba reparations bot toll RoboCop rebate Silicon sin tax According to Bloomberg, This is the leading pick to succeed Tim Cook as CEO COO Sabih Khan Former COO Jeff Williams, SVP Design, Watch, and Health John Ternus, SVP of Hardware Engineering CFO Kevan Parekh CHRO Deirdre O’Brien Board member Susan Wagner, founding partner and director of BlackRock Deloitte will refund Australian government for WHAT? climate risk model using emissions data from New Zealand and not Australia A report that was filled with AI hallucinations a partial refund Consulting firm quietly admitted to GPT-4o use after fake citations were found in August Shortly after the report was published, though, Sydney University Deputy Director of Health Law Chris Rudge noticed citations to multiple papers and publications that did not exist. That included multiple references to nonexistent reports by Lisa Burton Crawford, a real professor at the University of Sydney law school. the updated report removed several fake citations and a fabricated quote attributed to an actual ruling from federal justice Jennifer Davies (spelled as "Davis" in the original report). cybersecurity review that relied on completely fabricated case studies Over 80% of the report found to have copied sections from Wikipedia policy review found to have been nearly a complete duplicated a previous PwC report AppLovin stock tanks on report SEC is investigating company over data-collection practices POP QUIZ! Adam Foroughi is the CEO of AppLovin: Who is the Founder of AppLovin? Adam Foroughi Who is the Chair of AppLovin? Adam Foroughi Who is the longest-tenured director of AppLovin? Adam Foroughi Who is the largest shareholder at AppLovin? Adam Foroughi What percentage of outstanding AppLovin shares does Adam own? 9% What percentage of AppLovin voting power does Adam control? 61% How many votes per share do Adam’s Cass B shares give him? 20 Did Adam graduate from college? YES! Economics degree from Berkeley But what exactly does AppLovin do? The company helps developers market, monetize, analyze and publish their apps through its mobile advertising, marketing, and analytics platforms On the company’s “Director Nominees’ Skills and Expertise” matrix in its 2025 proxy statement, which two categories are the least-represented?: Cyber Security (3 of 9) and Data Privacy (4 of 9) What was the value Adam realized on the vesting of stock awards last year? $578M Despite holding $19B in AppLovin stock, how much did Adam get in a work-from-home cash stipend last year? $1,800 Which BlackRock director that Matt spent a lot of time ridiculing in May for being the board’s worst performer just lost his job? Hans Vestberg, Verizon Which Verizon board member that is connected to 64% of the Verizon board–almost entirely through non profit and trade group connections–that Matt recommended a vote against at Verizon’s last annual meeting is Verizon’s new CEO? Lead Director and former PayPal CEO Dan Shulman POP QUIZ! What kind of shoes does Dan wear? Cowboy boots And finally, nepobaby David Ellison’s choice to take over CBS News, Bari Weiss, has made a career railing against what? Corruption Misinformation Corporate malpractice Censorship Wokeness POP QUIZ! How many years of experience does Bari have in broadcast television? Zero

Story of the Week (DR): War against women continues: Uber Not Responsible for Sex Assault, Jury Finds, as More Cases Follow Ethan P. Schulman, the judge presiding over the California state court cases, told jurors that Uber would be responsible for the woman’s harm if the company was negligent in using adequate safety measures and the negligence was a “substantial factor” in causing the harm. In its decision, the jury unanimously agreed that Uber had been negligent in its general safety practices when the incident occurred in 2016 — but that the negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the attack. The jury’s foreman: “We felt that they could have done more back in the early days of Uber, rather than just focusing on growth,” Meet Lisa Monaco, the 57-year-old Microsoft executive Trump wants fired “Corrupt and Totally Trump Deranged Lisa Monaco (A purported pawn of Legal Lightweight Andrew Weissmann), was a senior National Security aide under Barack Hussein Obama. Monaco has been shockingly hired as the President of Global Affairs for Microsoft, in a very senior role with access to Highly Sensitive Information. Monaco’s having that kind of access is unacceptable, and cannot be allowed to stand.” Monaco helped coordinate the Justice Department’s response to the Jan. 6th attacks on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters in 2021. In January 2022, Monaco publicly announced that the Justice Department was investigating the Trump fake electors plot Military women fear losing 'every bit of ground' as Hegseth looks backward to the 1990s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that he wants to review Defense Department standards that have changed since the 1990s, a time when military women saw far less support for their service and met drastically lower physical standards than today: "The 1990s test is simple. What were the military standards in 1990? And if they have changed, tell me why. Was it necessary change based on the evolving landscape of combat? Or was the change due to a softening, weakening, or gender-based pursuit of other priorities? 1990s seems to be as good a place to start as any." PGA of America CEO apologizes for Ryder Cup missteps, but group's president denies problem The Misogynistic Abuse Towards Rory McIlroy’s Wife at the Ryder Cup Is Deeper Than Golf. It shows a cultural shift, one in which men feel emboldened to attack women in public without shame or consequence. The abuse and taunts were so unrelenting that Stoll was spotted with “tears streaming down her face” PGA of America President Don Rea took a different approach on Sunday in a BBC interview where he downplayed the severity of the crowd’s behavior: “Well, you have 50,000 people there that are really excited, and heck, you can go to a youth soccer game and get some people who say the wrong things,” Rea said. When asked about the abuse directed at McIlroy, he responded, “I haven’t heard some of that. I’m sure it’s happened … Rory understands things like that are going to happen.” Fake billionaire manbaby “retirements” continue DR Spotify CEO Daniel Ek to Step Down. The Stock Is Falling. Spotify founder steps down amid controversy over defence links It comes after Mr Ek has faced fierce scrutiny for investing around €700m (£612m) in defence company Helsing through his venture capital fund. Munich-based Helsing sells AI software for military use and has expanded into weapons manufacturing following an investment by the founder of Spotify. Spotify has said that it is “totally separate” from Helsing Spotify founder Ek Daniel to step down as CEO; says: I will be more involved than a typical US chairman Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström under founder/former CEO/Executive Chair Daniel Ek (43%) (Ted Sarandos on this board) Spotify founder Daniel Ek once said he was the ‘least powerful person’ at the company. Here’s how he built it into a $145 billion music empire The rise of the bro co-CEO: Lila MacLellan CEOs and Trump love affair continues Trump, Pfizer agree to lower U.S. drug prices, exempt company from pharma tariffs Trump announces ’TrumpRx' drug-buying website alongside Pfizer CEO Partnering with Pfizer, beginning in 2026 the federal government will have a website, TrumpRx.gov, through which Pfizer’s prescription drugs can be sold directly to consumers at discounts, without the intermediaries of pharmacy benefit managers such as CVS Health’s Caremark and UnitedHealthcare-owned OptumRx 46% against Say on Pay in 2025 Proxy adviser ISS recommended against the compensation proposal CEO/Chair Albert Bourla Other board members include: former Vanguard CEO/Chair Mortimer J. Buckley, OpenAI (2024-) board member and former Meta (2013-2019) board member Susan Desmond-Hellmann; former Deloitte CEO Joseph J. Echevarria; Adobe CEO/Chair Shantanu Narayen; former Goldman Sachs Vice Chair Suzanne Nora Johnson; Coca-Cola CEO/Chair James Quincey; former State Street Global Advisor CEO Cyrus Taraporevala; Compensation Committee chair (James Smith, former Thomson Reuters CEO) received 93% support Only 23% women; 5 top NEOs all men Trump Adviser Admits Larry Ellison Is “Shadow President of the United States” Larry Ellison once predicted ‘citizens will be on their best behavior’ amid constant recording. Now his company will pay a key role in social media Elon Musk fighting for attention: Elon Musk speaks out on controversial $1 trillion Tesla pay package: 'It's not about compensation' "It's not about 'compensation,' but about me having enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots.” Elon Musk makes history as first person ever to hit $500B net worth milestone New Evidence Links Elon Musk to Epstein’s Island Elon Musk Calls Wikipedia “Too Woke,” Announces His Own Grokipedia Elon Musk implores people "Cancel Netflix" over a canceled TV show because of woke More Dummies from DealBook: Talking A.I. With CEO William Stone of SS&C, a major investment fund administrator and transfer agency, acquired the automation software company Blue Prism for around $1.6 billion in 2022: How do you personally use A.I.? “I’m interested in horse racing, and I own horses. I use A.I. to track how they’re doing. There are all kinds of statistics, like how far can they travel before their performance starts to deteriorate: If they’re in Kentucky, can they go to California? Can they go to New York?” Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Gavin Newson [sic] Signs Law Cracking Down on AI Industry California governor Gavin Newsom signed what proponents say is the first AI safety and transparency law in the US. The Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, also known as SB 53, requires AI companies with over $500 million in revenue to publicly disclose their safety and security protocols in fairly granular detail MM: F.D.A. Approves a New Generic Abortion Pill DR MM MM: Activist Investor Wants Target's Brian Cornell Completely Out MM: One line from this story about Tesla’s advising sleepy drivers to stay away by enabling Full Self Driving: Tesla’s cars can’t actually drive themselves without close human supervision. Nonetheless, the automaker labels its most advanced driving mode “Full Self-Driving” (FSD), while its CEO and chief overpromiser Elon Musk explicitly says that they do, in fact, “drive themselves” seemingly every other week. Assholiest of the Week Biggest Loser (MM): US Women The rise of the bro-co-CEO Military women fear losing 'every bit of ground' as Hegseth looks backward to the 1990s Uber Not Responsible for Sex Assault, Jury Finds, as More Cases Follow KKR Appoints Former Eaton CEO Craig Arnold to Board of Directors, Increasing Independent Seats to Eleven Continues a trend - from 29% to 26% female by adding another dude through board expansion Meanwhile… Share of female execs at major Japan firms rises to 18.4% Spineless companies Disney's image tanks among Republicans, Democrats after Jimmy Kimmel controversy Cracker Barrel Drops Firm Behind Ill-Fated Logo Change Investors U.S. States are shedding shareholder protections. That’s an advantage for Canada Preparing the board for 2026: More than half of directors want a peer replaced, survey finds FedEx shareholders elect Richard Smith, son of founder Fred Smith, to board of directors Everyone else Godfather of AI Says We’re Barreling Straight Toward Human Extinction OpenAI says it’s worried about ‘doomscrolling, addiction, isolation, and … sloptimized feeds’ as it rolls out Sora social media app Meta won’t allow users to opt out of targeted ads based on AI chats Elon Musk Calls Wikipedia “Too Woke,” Announces His Own Grokipedia Larry Ellison once predicted ‘citizens will be on their best behavior’ amid constant recording. Now his company will pay a key role in social media The wealth of the top 1% reaches a record $52 trillion The climate New BP Chair Urges Faster Pivot to Oil and Gas Duke Energy backs off renewables after North Carolina cuts climate goal Trump administration cancels nearly $8 billion in climate funding to blue states: Vought MAGA comes for the ‘woke pope’ after pontiff blesses block of ice in climate change gesture OpenAI’s New Data Centers Will Draw More Power Than the Entirety of New York City, Sam Altman Says Headliniest of the Week DR: New Poll: 94% of Gen Z Youth Report Experiencing Regular Mental Health Challenges MM: Police Pull Over Waymo to Check for Drunk Driving Who Won the Week? DR: Daniel Ek: the dude who got rich by devaluing artists, then used his billionaire ego to create a vanity money-spending company with the pretentious name Prima Materia (“formless primeval substance regarded as the original material of the universe”). Prima Materia says it wants to “partner with exceptional people to build companies that leverage technology to help solve meaningful problems for society.” He set it up with Shakil Khan — a fellow Spotify investor and close personal friend with a criminal past, who was accused of hiding his real role at Spotify during its IPO. Khan doesn’t appear in any of Spotify’s filing documents, even though he’s been publicly described as: 1) “head of special projects,” 2) “advisor to Daniel Ek,” 3) “personal advisor to the Spotify CEO,” 4) “investor in Spotify,” 5) “founder,” 6) “consigliere,” 7) “second-in-command,” and 8) “prominent public role” — apparently to avoid scaring investors. Khan cites Mark Zuckerberg as the American leader he admires most. Now their company invests (and Ek chairs) in literal weapon building (Helsing/military strike drones, etc.) and nonsense like Neko Health, the so-called “Apple of healthcare” that charges £300 for preventative screenings like mole checks — giving Daniel Ek more time to feel super important and potentially destroy the world while getting richer? MM: Ron Sugar, who TWICE has had his age limit restriction waived on the Apple board, will turn out a-okay: Dr. Ronald Sugar and Gilman Louie join Ursa Major's Board of Directors Predictions DR: Daniel Ek’s Prima Materia leads €600 million Series D strategic financing round for Moodify, an AI-supported app that will “end depression” by pushing algorithmically-optimized dopamine ads 24/7, think TikTok for sadness MM: LAY UP: After reading this - Apollo Global Management director Pauline Richards resigns from board - the board is now 4 women and 10 men (Marc Rowan owns 63% of board influence, so no one really matters). I predict Pauline Richards will be replaced by a male director, going from 33% female to 27% female in one fell swoop. Side note: Apollo’s fun joke was to have a “sustainability committee” on the board they take so seriously, it’s the committee with 3 women and and anti-woke anti-ESG ex-Senator Patrick Toomey

TECH STUFF California’s Gavin Newsom Signs Major AI Safety Law The Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, or S.B. 53, requires the most advanced A.I. companies to report safety protocols used in building their technologies and forces the companies to report the greatest risks posed by their technologies. The bill also strengthens whistle-blower protections for employees who warn the public about potential dangers the technology poses. Could a chatbot replace your best friend at work? According to a new study from KPMG that surveyed more than 1,000 professionals, almost all (99%) would be open to the idea of an AI chatbot assuming the role of close friend or trusted companion at work. That same study teases out a separate, also compelling thread: 45% of workers reported feelings of loneliness at work. Elon Musk hit by exodus of senior staff over burnout and politics Key members of Tesla’s US sales team, battery and power-train operations, public affairs arm, and its chief information officer have all recently departed, as well as core members of the Optimus robot and AI teams on which Musk has bet the future of the company. CLIMATE STUFF EU Reduces GHG Emissions 37% The EU adopted a Climate Law in 2021, setting into legislation a goal to reach climate neutrality by 2050. In addition to the 2050 goal, the law also set a binding EU climate goal to reduce net GHG by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990. More recently, the EU has committed to set a new 2035 GHG emissions reduction goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 66.25% to 72.5%, and the European Commission has proposed a new target, currently being debated by lawmakers, to reduce emissions by 90% by 2040. The new report indicated strong progress towards the EU’s interim climate goal, with GHG emissions falling by 37% since 1990, despite 60% GDP growth over the same period, and with the pace of annual emissions reductions in the EU doubling since 2005. The report cites significant shifts in the energy mix in Europe as a key source of the EU’s emission reduction progress, with the share of renewable energy sources doubling since 2005, and almost a quarter of final energy use in 2023 coming from renewable sources, 45% of all electricity used in the EU now generated by renewables, while fossil fuel use, and coal in particular, has declined. Maine wins early victory in climate lawsuit against oil companies A federal judge has sided with the state of Maine in its effort to force oil and gas companies to pay for the costs of dealing with climate change. Judge Nancy Torresen of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine on Monday granted the state’s motion to transfer its case against 14 fossil fuel companies out of federal court and back to the state court where it was originally filed. She also granted Maine’s request to recover costs and fees. Trump’s hostile attitude is making investors more favourable to ESG Instead of seeing a continued decline in sentiment towards ESG, there were more favourable signals this year, especially from younger investors and parents. In fact, some said President Donald Trump‘s hostile attitude to ESG has actually made 20% of private investors more positive about funds. Only 8% of investors said they were now less favourable to ESG as a result of Trump’s approach. Overall, 53% of respondents said they now take ESG factors into account when investing, up from 48% last year. STAKEHOLDER STUFF Starbucks is offering up to 26 weeks of severance for store managers at closing cafés According to the document titled "Severance Summary," shift managers are eligible to receive 120 hours of their hourly pay. Assistant store managers will get "240 hours + 40 hours for each year of completed service (up to combined total weeks of 1,040 hours)," the document states. Coffeehouse leaders will receive at least six weeks of pay, plus additional amounts based on job level and years working for the company. For example, overtime exempt coffeehouse leaders will get eight weeks' base severance, plus one week for every completed year of service, up to a maximum of 26 weeks. GOVERNANCE STUFF How good is this at telling the CEO Pay story? Ranked: The Hourly Wage of Retail CEOs Starbucks Brian Niccol $95,801,676|$46,058; Walmart Doug McMillon $27,408,854|$13,177; Gap Richard Dickson $9,340; Chipotle Mexican Grill Scott Boatwright $9,201; McDonald's Christopher Kempczinski $8,748 How good was Business Pants at predicting this? White Men Make a Comeback in America’s Boardrooms Some 55% of the more than 440 new directors appointed to S&P 500 boards through Sept. 24 of this year were White men, ISS-Corporate found. Women won about a third of board seats, down from a peak of 44% of new seats in 2022. Non-White directors made up 20% of board hires, down from 44% in 2021. Emphasis on appointing CEOs. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth outlined new rules for the “highest male standard” for fitness in combat roles: “If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it.” Qantas cutting CEO pay signals new era of cyber accountability In early September, the board of Australia-based Qantas Airways voted to penalize CEO Vanessa Hudson and other top executives for a June 30 cyber incident that exposed the personally identifiable information of nearly 6 million passengers, deducting A$800,000 (US$522,000) from their bonuses. The last time it became publicly known that a board withheld compensation from a CEO for a cybersecurity breach was in 2017, when Yahoo’s board denied CEO Marissa Mayer her $2 million bonus over the mishandling of multiple breaches that exposed the personal information of more than 1 billion users. Qantas tightens reputation metrics after increasing CEO salary About 20 per cent of Hudson’s long-term bonus between 2026 and 2028 will be based on Qantas’ reputation, which is measured externally by market research firm The RepTrak Company on a scale between 0 and 100. SPEED ROUND STUFF Gold miner Newmont names Natascha Viljoen its first female CEO Why Lyft CEO David Risher still drives customers once a month Costco CFO promises the hot dog and drink combo will never cost more than $1.50 How good is the headline?: 58 million pounds of corn dogs and sausages may contain something you really don’t want to eat A United flight from Paris to DC had to U-turn to avoid flying across the Atlantic without enough working bathrooms

Story of the Week (DR): Disney brings back Jimmy Kimmel’s show after backlash spurred massive boycott while some conservatives blasted FCC Sinclair says it won't air Jimmy Kimmel on its stations after Disney announced his return FCC Chair Brendan Carr defends ABC affiliate that's not showing 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' despite his reinstatement Nexstar joins Sinclair, says it will continue not to air Jimmy Kimmel Disney investors demand internal records on Jimmy Kimmel's suspension, say the board may have breached duties Disney investors say handling of Jimmy Kimmel suspension put politics over shareholders, demand records Disney boss Bob Iger has gone from woke warrior to liberal lightning rod MAGA furious at Disney and ABC over Jimmy Kimmel’s return: ‘They let the woke mob get to them’ Disney decides it hasn’t angered people enough, announces Disney+ price hikes 'There's no way we can afford $100,000': Small firms scramble over H-1B visa fees Talent Drain: Skilled Immigrants Choose Canada Over U.S. Indian IT Firms Recalibrate U.S. Strategy After Visa Shock JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon expresses surprise and concern Dimon said the hike “came out of the blue” and stressed that the U.S. still needs access to global talent. He has indicated the banking/finance sector may challenge or negotiate around the policy Reed Hastings (Netflix) praises the policy Hastings called the $100,000 fee a “great solution,” especially because he sees it as helping ensure that the H-1B program is used for “very high value jobs,” reducing reliance on a lottery system. Silicon Valley leaders cautiously support the fee Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman praised the measure in terms of potentially simplifying the visa system and merit-based immigration Altman: "We need to get the smartest people in the country, and streamlining that process and also sort of aligning financial incentives seems good to me" Royal Bank of Canada's CEO Dave McKay said the US President's move to impose a $100,000 fee on H-1B visas is a win for Canada. The 20 financial firms that could be hardest hit from Trump's new H-1B fee — from Goldman Sachs to Citi Tylenol maker Kenvue battles fresh storm as Donald Trump links it to autism MM Trump’s unfounded claims heap new stress on household brand name Tylenol Trump, RFK Jr. distort facts on autism, Tylenol and vaccines, scientists say: "Sick to my stomach" OB-GYN group calls Trump's remarks on acetaminophen 'irresponsible' Kenvue Stock Recoups Losses After Trump Links Tylenol to Autism Research tying Tylenol to autism lost in court. Then it won Trump's ear Trump's 'tough it out' advice to expectant moms is the latest example of men opining on women's pain The President and RFK Jr.’s dangerous war on science and mothers The Shameful Spectacle of Trump and Kennedy Blaming Mothers for Autism Autism Science Foundation: 'Shocking' move takes us 'straight back to when moms were blamed for autism' 'Acet…Aceto…': Trump Struggles To Say Medicine's Name, Links Autism To Painkiller Anti-vaccine groups melt down over RFK Jr. linking autism to Tylenol "We didn’t wait 20 years for Bobby to finally speak and then get served Tylenol as an answer," anti-vaccine group Georgia Coalition for Vaccine Choice wrote Children's Health Defense (CHD) - the anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy - retweeting a post on Monday: "THIS WAS NOT CAUSED BY TYLENOL." Oracle names two CEOs in rare leadership shift after Catz exit Lord Emperor Larry Ellison (65% influence and 42% voting power): he still gets $8.3M in pay despite owning ~$378B in Oracle stock. Is this even possible? He got security-related costs and expenses of $2,999,264 for his primary residence. Board chair Former CEO and now Executive Vice Chair Safra Catz. She’s staying on the board. 221,974: (i) Company matching contributions under our 401(k) Plan of $5,100, (ii) flexible credits used towards covering the premiums for cafeteria-style benefit plans in the amount of $14,860, (iii) security-related costs and expenses to augment the existing security system at Ms. Catz’s primary residence, (iv) legal counsel fees and (v) aggregate incremental costs to Oracle of $200,086 for Ms. Catz’s use of Oracle’s private aircraft for non-business travel. This leaves $1,928 for legal fees and security: for a Larry:Safra We Love Him More Security Ratio of: ~3114:1 Catz still got $6.5M despite owning $2.8B of company stock New co-CEO and director Clayton Magouyrk: joined Oracle in 2014, is 39 Mr. Magouyrk will receive a grant of stock options to purchase $250M in shares of Oracle common stock with 80% of the grant consisting of time-based stock options and 20% of the grant consisting of performance-based stock options (“PSOs”). New co-CEO and director Michael Sicilia: joined Oracle in 2009, is 54 Mr. Sicilia will receive a grant of stock options to purchase $100M in shares of Oracle common stock with 80% of the grant consisting of time-based stock options and 20% of the grant consisting of PSOs. Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: MacKenzie Scott gives $70 million to UNCF to financially strengthen HBCUs DR UNCF, as the nation’s largest private provider of scholarships to minority students works to raise $1 billion to strengthen all 37 of its historically Black colleges and universities MM: Trump claims ‘sabotage’ at UN from escalator, teleprompter and mic Turns Out Trump’s Own Team Messed Up U.N. Escalator and Teleprompter Assholiest of the Week (MM): American oligarchs Murdoch’s TikTok? Trump offers allies another lever of media control Larry Ellison’s Oracle set to spearhead U.S. oversight of TikTok algorithm Elon Musk just sold Grok to U.S. government for 42 cents – and signals warmer ties with Trump Mark Zuckerberg showed Google how to make Republicans happy IN: Zuck, Musk, Ellison, Murdoch OUT: Satya Nadella (too Indian), Tim Cook (too gay), Sundar Pichai (too Indian), Bezos (too bald), Jensen Huang (too Asian), women, blacks See? TikTok deal won't include 'golden share' or equity for U.S., Trump administration says - he only takes a golden share or voting stake when the CEO is Japanese (Nippon Steel) or Chinese (Intel) Disney - now everyone hates you! Conservatives: MAGA furious at Disney and ABC over Jimmy Kimmel’s return: ‘They let the woke mob get to them’ Liberals: Disney boss Bob Iger has gone from woke warrior to liberal lightning rod Affiliates: Nexstar joins Sinclair, says it will continue not to air Jimmy Kimmel IRONY ALERT: In statement, Nexstar cited “diversity” as a reason why Kimmel is still off the air: “On Wednesday, Nexstar said it continues to evaluate the show and is speaking with Disney ‘with a focus on ensuring the program reflects and respects the diverse interests of the communities we serve.’” Trump: Trump threatens to sue Disney-owned ABC over Jimmy Kimmel's return to TV Investors: Disney investors demand internal records on Jimmy Kimmel's suspension, say the board may have breached duties Everyone: Disney decides it hasn’t angered people enough, announces Disney+ price hikes Stay in your place on the manufacturing line MM First they say college is for losers, now they say so is being alive - just eat your cheap fatty protein adjacent meal and go to work Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt warns U.S. tech workers: competing with China’s grueling 12-hour workdays means sacrificing work-life balance Palantir CEO says Gen Z can either have a social life at age 20 or be successful—but they can’t do both Charlie Kirk had a message for the over 2 million unemployed Gen Z NEET men: You don’t need college to make your dreams happen BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said America could dodge a ‘retirement crisis’ by encouraging people to work longer Don’t try to be funny at work unless you want to risk your job and any chance of ever getting promoted, management professors say McDonald’s is supersizing its value menu to win back average Americans — could it be a sign of trouble ahead? Girls, STOP APOLOGIZING for doing your jobs Cracker Barrel CEO apologizes for logo, store changes We conducted extensive research to inform our strategic plan. Well, what cannot be captured in data is how much our guests see themselves and their own story in the Cracker Barrel experience, which is what's led to such a strong response to these changes. Translation: we had no idea how racist you all are At least she didn’t apologize for everything that’s ever happened in the last hundred years like Vanessa Hudson apologizing for the boys behavior at Qantas Look how it worked for her: Qantas cutting CEO pay signals new era of cyber accountability - has a dude EVERY HAD PAY CUT FOR ANYTHING Headliniest of the Week DR: Real American Beer collaborates with WWE for special Hulk Hogan collectible can: 'Hulkamania forever' Hulk: In leaked recordings Hogan was heard making homophobic remarks, using the N-word, making racist remarks, and openly admitting to being racist WWE terminated their relationship with him temporarily, removed him from their website/Hall of Fame, following public backlash. Eventually, some reinstatement occurred. Hogan’s ex-wife made public emotional abuse allegations and accusations of an affair with their daughter’s friend During the WWF / Vince McMahon-related trial over steroids in wrestling, Hogan testified under immunity and admitted past steroid use back to 1976 He admitted to actively working against efforts to unionize professional wrestlers Two divorces Michelob Ultra overtakes Modelo Especial as best-selling beer in the U.S. American subsidiary Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC Woke CEO Brendan Whitworth was a first lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and then as an operations officer for the CIA's counterterrorism center. Woke! Their leadership page of 15 executives also has a woke DEI hire! Chief People Officer Lindsay King Belgian parent Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) They are even worse than their American counterparts: of their 18 executive leaders, they have TWO DEI WOMEN: Chief Communications Officer Donna Lorensen and General Counsel Katherine Barrett. DEI gone crazy! Both Michelob ULTRA and Bud Light are made by Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC, a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. DR: Palantir CEO says Gen Z can either have a social life at age 20 or be successful—but they can’t do both & Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt warns U.S. tech workers: competing with China’s grueling 12-hour workdays means sacrificing work-life balance MM: Tesla 'The Biggest Meme Stock' Ever? Expert Says 'Too Much Emphasis On The Magic Wand Of Musk' Sharing thoughts on Musk's new compensation package, Yale School of Management Senior Associate Dean Jeff Sonnenfeld didn't hold back with the meme stock analogy. THE SAME WIZARD IGER SONNENFELD MM: ‘Black Swan’ author Nassim Taleb says your city’s new bike lane is the reason the economy sucks Trump’s tariffs force resources into lower-margin activities, Taleb said, likening the policy to “asking a brain surgeon to do some gardening two days a week to avoid being ‘ripped off’ by professional gardeners.” Who Won the Week? DR: I-boo-proff-in, oh no, it’s not American! MM: Jimmy Kimmel’s YouTube channel Predictions DR: Jimmy Kimmel takes Tylenol on air causing all remaining ABC affiliates to replace him with family-appropriate TV: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit which covers sex-based crimes (i.e. violence against women, now with commercials!) MM: Victoria's Secret ditches woke rebrand and vows to return to 'unapologetically sexy' roots - after reading this headline, Webster’s Dictionary finally changes its definition of “woke” from “politically liberal or progressive (as in matters of racial and social justice) especially in a way that is considered unreasonable or extreme” to “anything including fat chicks, uggos, black people, and gays.”

DAMION Oracle names two CEOs in rare leadership shift after Catz exit Who Will You Blame? Lord Emperor Larry Ellison (65% influence and 42% voting power): he still gets $8.3M in pay despite owning ~$378B in Oracle stock. Is this even possible? He got security-related costs and expenses of $2,999,264 for his primary residence. Board chair Former CEO and now Executive Vice Chair Safra Catz. She’s staying on the board. 221,974: (i) Company matching contributions under our 401(k) Plan of $5,100, (ii) flexible credits used towards covering the premiums for cafeteria-style benefit plans in the amount of $14,860, (iii) security-related costs and expenses to augment the existing security system at Ms. Catz’s primary residence, (iv) legal counsel fees and (v) aggregate incremental costs to Oracle of $200,086 for Ms. Catz’s use of Oracle’s private aircraft for non-business travel. This leaves $1,928 for legal fees and security: for a Larry:Safra We Love Him More Security Ratio of: ~3114:1 Catz still got $6.5M despite owning $2.8B of company stock New co-CEO and director Clayton Magouyrk: joined Oracle in 2014, is 39 Mr. Magouyrk will receive a grant of stock options to purchase $250M in shares of Oracle common stock with 80% of the grant consisting of time-based stock options and 20% of the grant consisting of performance-based stock options (“PSOs”). New co-CEO and director Michael Sicilia: joined Oracle in 2009, is 54 Mr. Sicilia will receive a grant of stock options to purchase $100M in shares of Oracle common stock with 80% of the grant consisting of time-based stock options and 20% of the grant consisting of PSOs. The writer of this article: Oracle’s new Gen X and Millennial CEOs get stock options worth $350 million—but they’ll have to keep the stock soaring to collect 80% of the grant consists of time-based stock options, hello?? AutoZone Stock Falls After Its Fifth Consecutive Earnings Miss Who Do You Blame? William Rhodes III: Executive Chair (2007-) and former CEO, causing serious leadership strain CEO Philip Danielle III (2024-) for being weak in the face of Rhodes III Earl Graves Jr.: the longest tenured director has served for over two decades and still has the indecency to call himself the “Lead Independent Director.” He’s also the chair of the Nomination so this is ostensibly his board. Linda Goodspeed: while all directors are pictured wearing bluish/mauvish-colored shirts in the company’s last proxy, Linda is wearing a red sweater over hers. Director Gale King for NOT being the same Gayle King that is Oprah’s best friend Shareholders: average 96% board support at last AGM The fact that there are 4 suffixes on this board: Jr., Jr. III, III, the same number as women. The depressingly low ~-20% gender influence gap (women have no leadership roles on this board, except for Linda’s red sweater) Michelob Ultra overtakes Modelo Especial as best-selling beer in the U.S. Who Do You Blame? Social media personality Dylan Mulvaney, for being alive and getting a can of beer Those woke idiots at the American subsidiary Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC Woke CEO Brendan Whitworth was a first lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps and then as an operations officer for the CIA's counterterrorism center. Woke! Their leadership page of 15 executives also has a woke DEI hire! Chief People Officer Lindsay King Those woke idiots at the Belgian parent Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) They are even worse than their American counterparts: of their 18 executive leaders, they have TWO DEI WOMEN: Chief Communications Officer Donna Lorensen and General Counsel Katherine Barrett. DEI gone crazy! Just all the stupid corporations that “Go woke, go broke” Oh wait: Both Michelob ULTRA and Bud Light are made by Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC, a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. Behind closed doors, our top CEOs say Trump is bad for business and it’s time to Make America into America Again Who Do You Blame? Shareholders: This year (2025) the average vote support for director elections in the S&P 500 is about 96.5% American corporate governance practices which permit nearly half of S&P 500 CEOs to also serve as board chairs—the very bodies intended to oversee their management: giving them unmatched power and ego Average S&P 500 CEO of about $19M, which financially protects them from the need to weigh in on political issues, left or right The US federal poverty line for 2025 is $15,650 per year, as established by the Department of Health and Human Services. So a 1214:1 pay ratio for those not in poverty: $15,651 Passive institutional investors in U.S. equities like BlackRock, Vanguard Group, and State Street Global, who hold the door open for company management Yale Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who eschews journalism in favor of being friends with important people and lets him write things like: “One CEO of a major U.S. manufacturing company explained to the group” and “A well-known business leader with a significant manufacturing footprint in the U.S. and abroad told the group” and “The head of a major U.S. multinational investment bank” The protected class continues 30-year-old billionaire college dropout recommends at least one year in higher education Who Do You Blame? The protected CEO billionaire class Elon Musk says college is “not for learning, but mostly for fun” and doesn’t require degrees at Tesla/SpaceX Peter Thiel: created the Thiel Fellowship, paying young people to drop out of college Mark Zuckerberg: In a 2025 interview, Zuck expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of college education in preparing students for today's job market Richard Branson, a college dropout, has often spoken about the value of practical experience over formal education, stating, "You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over." The VC BroBratClub Marc Andreessen has said traditional college is outdated compared to skills training Chamath Palihapitiya argues real-world problem solving is more valuable than degrees. The MAGA christian supremacists Charlie Kirk: college is “overrated” and emphasizes entrepreneurship, practical skills, and real-world experience over formal degrees. In June, when speaking to Turning Point USA’s 10th annual Young Women’s Leadership Summit, he encouraged attendees to trade feminism for femininity and to forgo a career to stay home and raise children Ben Carson: praised practical experience and self-directed learning over formal college for achieving success; praised Kirk's ability to "run circles around people with college degrees" Dave Ramsey, frequently advises young adults to focus on financial literacy, entrepreneurship, or trade skills rather than taking on debt for a college degree. All of the above The chorus of anti-college voices—from billionaire CEOs and MAGA pundits to Christian commentators—serves less as genuine guidance and more as a mechanism to preserve the power of the wealthy elite, discouraging widespread education and critical thinking so that the majority remain dependent, unempowered, and less capable of challenging the socioeconomic status quo MATT Disney says 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' will return to ABC on Tuesday - who do you blame?? Fearless Wizard Bob Iger - 24% influence, but let’s be honest, the board is in the bag entirely (100% of board members are connected, Iger is by far the most powerful person in the room) Derica Rice - board member at Target (who were attacked by citizen troll Robby Starbuck, rolled back DEI and pride merch as a result, then faced a boycott that have sunk the stores since) AND Disney (who were attacked by government troll Brendan Carr, rolled back free speech as a result, then faced a boycott that’s so far cost Disney 2% of its share price in 5 days) James Gorman - head of the “succession planning committee”, which exists despite having a nominating committee because the nominating committee was so compromised and did such a bad job they basically made a new committee with an ex-CEO who picked his own successor, who’s also chair of the board Consumers who boycott Disney Shareholders who demanded Disney restore Kimmel Yale Professor Jeff Sonnenfeld for his mushmouth declaration that Iger was right to yank Kimmel, prompting the world to say “why does anyone listen to Yale professor Jeff Sonnenfeld?” Sinclair says it won't air Jimmy Kimmel on its stations after Disney announced his return - who do you blame?? David Smith - nepobaby executive chairtoad, 25.4% voting power, toad face conservative sycophant Duncan Smith - nepobaby retired VP and secretary, 23.1% voting power, director Bob Smith - nepobaby retired VP and Treasurer, 21.8% voting power, director Dr. Fred Smith - nepobaby retired VP and oral surgeon, 10.8% voting power, amazing pivot from looking at teeth to owner of largest broadcaster because meritocracy Christopher Ripley, CEO of Sinclair and not a nepobaby, was once upon a time at UBS where he did some stuff on media or something… definitely not a figurehead Bob Iger for being too woke Office Depot workers refused to print a Charlie Kirk poster because he was a propagandist - who do you blame? The workers at Office Depot who took the Supreme Court decision that let a web designer refuse same-sex wedding work literally Office Depot, which probably should have been closed in 1997 anyway, which, “fired the employees and issued a public apology”, bending the knee to the will of Dear Leader Pam Bondi, who missed the day the Supreme Court said business COULD discriminate: “Businesses cannot discriminate. If you want to go in and print posters with Charlie’s pictures on them for a vigil, you have to let them do that,” she told Sean Hannity on Fox News, adding: “We can prosecute you for that.” Gays, who if they had JUST USED a gay web designer, the Supreme Court wouldn’t have had to rule on this and then contradict itself when it inevitably reverses its own 2023 precedent FedEx, whose employees (upon hearing Office Depot employee refused service due to Charlie Kirk’s overt racism and sexism while he was alive) printed the poster FOR FREE to SUPPORT Charlie Kirk, which surely discriminates against other white male racists who had to pay for their posters advertising their white male racism, right?

Story of the Week (DR): Disney Pulls Jimmy Kimmel’s Show After Kirk Remarks Republicans Leverage Charlie Kirk’s Death to Declare War on Free Speech Charlie Kirk assassination reignites debate over Section 230 protections for social media companies "Section 230 needs to be repealed. If you're mad at social media companies that radicalize our nation, you should be mad," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I have a bill that will allow you to sue these people. They're immune from lawsuits." Nexstar And Sinclair, Two Largest Station Groups, Wield Influence In ABC Decision To Pull Jimmy Kimmel In Light Of His Charlie Kirk Comments A $6.2 billion deal looms over Jimmy Kimmel's suspension Nexstar, the largest station group in the country, is a leading champion in the broadcast industry for the FCC to relax media ownership limits and has a major merger before the Trump administration, its proposed $6.2B acquisition of Tegna, creating a mega-company with 265 stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia, representing 80% of U.S. TV households. Nexstar needs the agency to ease rules that currently limit the percentage a broadcaster can reach to 39% of the nation’s television households. Sinclair also is seeking deregulation, and in its statement, it praised Carr. “We appreciate FCC Chairman Carr’s remarks today and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks,” Sinclair said. Nexstar: founder/Chair/CEO Perry Sook Sinclair: the Smith family: currently nepobaby David Smith; board is 44% Smith What to know about Brendan Carr, the FCC chairman who went after Jimmy Kimmel In response to an opinion column in The Washington Post by Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, outlining his ideas for removing harmful content, Carr criticized Zuckerberg's call for government regulation as a violation of the First Amendment. He later praised Zuckerberg's "instincts" to show Trump's posts that amplified COVID-19 misinformation unaltered. Carr supported Trump's "Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship" targeting Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Trump filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and 4 of its journalists Trump's NYT Lawsuit Dismissed by Republican-Appointed Judge A federal judge on Friday dismissed Donald Trump's $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times. U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday: a lawsuit is not "a protected platform to rage against an adversary." Comcast CEO criticizes ex-MSNBC contributor's remarks about Charlie Kirk in memo to staff Trumpy Billionaires Close In on TikTok Takeover Allies of President Donald Trump are poised to get their hands on TikTok’s U.S. operations. Entrepreneur Larry Ellison, worth approximately $350 billion, and Marc Andreessen, a venture capitalist with a $2 billion net worth, have been pals with the president for years. Ellison’s software giant Oracle, Andreessen’s venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and private equity firm Silver Lake are among a group of U.S. businesses said to be nearing a deal to take over the American operations of the short-form video app, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Nestlé Chairman to Step Down After Abrupt CEO Firing Nestlé investors demand chair Paul Bulcke resign over CEO churn “I have full trust in Nestlé s new leadership and firmly believe this great company is well positioned for the future,” Bulcke said. “This is the right moment for me to step aside and accelerate the planned transition, allowing Pablo and Philipp to advance Nestlé’s strategy and guide the company with a fresh perspective.” Board member (2018-) Pablo Isa new chair The company appointed Dick Boer as lead independent director and vice chairman of the board of directors as of Oct. 1, while Marie-Gabrielle Ineichen-Fleisch was appointed vice chair of the board. A new ally against excessive CEO Pay: Pope Leo Pope Leo appears to be particularly baffled by the Tesla pay package that could turn Elon Musk into the world’s first trillionaire: “What does that mean and what’s that about? If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we’re in big trouble.” Dave Ramsey Says 'We're Not All Equal. It Doesn't Work That Way' — The Rich Aren't Evil, It's Just Math and Jealousy Fueling the Stigma Rashida Tlaib and Bernie Sanders introduce the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act. Proponents of the bill argue that it will incentivize large corporations to narrow their internal pay disparities by either increasing wages for their lowest-paid employees or reducing executive compensation packages Key Provisions of the Act: Tax Trigger: The new tax would apply to companies with a CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio of 50-to-1 or greater. Graduated Tax Rates: The penalty begins with a 0.5 percentage point tax increase for companies with a pay ratio between 50 and 100-to-1. Progressive Structure: The tax rate increase climbs with the pay ratio: 1.0 percentage point for ratios between 100 and 200-to-1. 2.0 percentage points for ratios between 200 and 300-to-1. 3.0 percentage points for ratios between 300 and 400-to-1. 4.0 percentage points for ratios between 400 and 500-to-1. 5.0 percentage points for ratios exceeding 500-to-1. Broad Application: The act is intended to apply to both publicly and privately held companies with annual revenues of $100 million or more. Exxon to offer auto-voting to counter shareholder activism. Here’s how it works: Opt-In Program: The auto-voting feature is a voluntary, opt-in program for retail investors. Automatic Voting: Once enrolled, an investor's shares will be automatically voted in accordance with the board's recommendations on all proposals at shareholder meetings. Flexibility for Investors: Despite the automated nature, investors will still receive all proxy materials and retain the right to manually override the automatic vote on any specific proposal. They can also opt out of the program at any time, free of charge. Exxon's Stated Rationale: Leveling the Playing Field: Exxon argues that this program is a matter of fairness, designed to give retail investors the same ease of voting that institutional investors have. They contend that individual investors often lack the time and resources to research and vote on complex proxy proposals. Addressing Low Turnout: The company has highlighted that while retail investors hold a significant portion of its shares (nearly 40%), their voting turnout is low (only about a quarter of them vote). Countering Activist Agendas: Exxon has explicitly stated that activist groups have exploited this low retail voter participation to advance their own agendas, which the company claims are often political and detrimental to long-term shareholder value. Texas AG probes proxy advisers Glass Lewis, ISS amid ESG backlash By Reuters Exxon Urges Europe to Repeal Rules to Make Companies Track Climate Pollution Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Tyson is ditching corn syrup It also plans to axe sucralose, BHA/BHT, and titanium dioxide from its food by the end of 2025 MM: New Poll Finds That Americans Loathe AI 53 percent of just over 5,000 US adults polled in June think that AI will "worsen people’s ability to think creatively." Fifty percent say AI will deteriorate our ability to form meaningful relationships, while only five percent believe the reverse. MM: Northeast US states form health alliance in response to federal vaccine limits MM Assholiest of the Week (MM): Which capitalist is the bigger asshole Bob Iger Iger yanked Kimmel after pressure from affiliate owners looking to curry FCC favor in a $6bn merger There are comparisons being made to when Iger cancelled Roseanne: From blowhard Iger apologist Jeff Sonnenfeld: “Iger has been a fearless, equal opportunity offender in defending Disney’s corporate character, whether from intrusions by the left or by the right. He was criticized harshly from many on the political right when in 2018, he cancelled Rosanne, then ABC’s #1 show, when its star imploded with a cruel racial tirade about President Obama’s former top advisor, Valerie Jarrett.” Sonnenfeld ignores the content of what was said obviously, since he has to make a point to kiss Iger’s ass - Kimmel said MAGA didn’t want the shooter to be MAGA, Barr said a black woman was from Planet of the Apes… so, very the same? This isn’t about brand protection, this is about economics - and Iger the dealmaker just made a trade: short-term political expediency for cash as he tries to unload ABC In 2023, Iger was in talks with Nexstar to buy ABC outright Also 2023, massive deals between Disney and Nexstar Nexstar’s ABC agreements expire December 2026 14% of Nexstar stations are ABC affiliates - Tegna would add 7% Disney already was cancelled by the right for having movies that were too woke, now they just Target-ed themselves right in the groin ASSHOLE ACTION ITEM: Disney’s next AGM is likely March 2026 - buy Disney stock with the intention of voting out every starfucky director Bonus option: buy shares of Coca-Cola, GM, Under Armour, P&G, Reckitt Benckiser, Bristol Myers, Target, Carlyle, and Lululemon to vote the same directors out of ALL their board positions - make shit decisions in one place, you’ll make them everywhere Disney’s Mel Lagomasino on Coca-Cola with Carolyn Everson (twofer!), Mary Barra at GM, Everson also at Under Armour, Amy Chang at P&G, Jeremy Darroch at Reckitt Benckiser, Derica Rice at Bristol Myers, Target (anti DEI AND anti free speech!), Carlyle, Cal McDonald at Lululemon Vote out Sonnenfeld - on the board of Lennar Corporation - vote him out for kicks since he’s so deferential to CEOs, how on earth can he hold one accountable? Is he the voice of shareholders or CEOs? Perry Sook The buyer! Nexstar looking to acquire Tegna for $6bn, which would consolidate 80% of US households local news stations Nexstar has to make nice with Brendan Carr, chair of the FCC (I miss Lina Kahn… sigh) - and Carr is purely political, so here was how they bent the knee: “Nexstar’s owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future beginning with tonight’s show. Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets.” Again, if you read Kimmel’s actual comment, he’s saying that MAGA doesn’t want the shooter to be MAGA… he actually didn’t say ANYTHING ELSE about the shooting itself Sonnenfeld: “Kimmel’s suggestion that “the MAGA gang (is) desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them” doesn’t square with the facts which are known at this point. Regardless, these comments are blatantly insensitive as political violence should never be tolerated or exploited as comedic entertainment, no matter who perpetrated it.” Except Kimmel didn’t joke about political violence, he joked about the fact that MAGA is super hoping it wasn’t their political violence. Perry Sook’s political donations have been almost entirely to Republican candidates over the last decade (except for National Association of Broadcasters) - and it’s paid off Brendan Carr, Soon To Be FCC Chair, Says Commission Will Back Local TV Stations “Even If That’s In Conflict” With Broadcast Networks New FCC boss could unleash biggest local TV shakeup in decades Sook owns just under 6% of Nexstar stock, with Vanguard and Blackrock clocking in at a combined 21.8% - meaning about 28% of votes are guaranteed to go with management Meaning this was all a pretense to consolidate broadcaster ownership - and Sook is one of the winners of the consolidation Now Carr has a reason he can vote for Nexstar purchase, Iger gets out of more ABC ASSHOLE ACTION ITEM It’s basically too late to vote against Nexstar’s board - their meeting was in June 2025, the merger will be approved by then You could maybe buy shares and vote against the merger Alternatively, buy Yelp (Tony Wells), Denny’s (Bernadette Aulestia), and Urban One (Geoffrey Armstrong) to vote out board elsewhere David Deniston Smith CEO of Sinclair, owner of 20% of ABC affiliates - the most currently, but post merger would be second Nepo baby Smith, who, with the rest of his brothers and family, own 82% of voting power, are Trump and GOP toadies Another mediocre conservative blowhard CEO who spent the last two decades kissing the ass of every republican he can find He was one of Turning Point USAs biggest donors through his foundation, and issued the following statement: they would “not lift the suspension of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on our stations until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability,” calling on Kimmel to make a direct apology to the Kirk family, and for the network to make a “meaningful donation” to them and Turning Point USA. In the 00s, Sinclair let a paid Bush administration propagandist deliver reporting on their local news stations In Trump 1.0, Sinclair forced local news broadcasters to read off a script about how mainstream media was fake news In the 90s, Smith was caught getting a blowjob from a prostitute ASSHOLE ACTION ITEM Sinclair’s board is dual class dictatorship, but you CAN vote out Ben Carson on the DR Horton and Covenant Logistics boards - yes, that Ben Carson Headliniest of the Week DR: Elon Musk Fires 500 Staff at xAI, Puts College Kid in Charge of Training Grok MM: If You Don’t Know Who the Underperforming Director Is, It Might Be You! Are the CEO, chair or committee leads soliciting my input off-cycle? Does the CEO and select members of the executive team think of me as a trusted advisor and am I able to constructively coach behind the scenes? If the answers to all of these questions are “No,” it could be a sign that you are not performing to the level expected by your company’s management. YOU DON’T REPORT TO MANAGEMENT Who Won the Week? DR: I guess they just win every week: Trumpy and creepy billionaires profiting over an app used primarily by 18-34 year olds (70%): Oracle’s Larry Elison, Andreessen Horowitz’s Marc Andreessen. MM: Gillette, the razor company: Pete Hegseth goes to war against military beards, stresses ‘grooming standards which underpin the warrior ethos’ Predictions DR: FCC Chair Brendan Carr cancels himself when he digs up reports when he cast himself as a First Amendment purist, denouncing efforts by Democrats and Republicans to lean on TV providers and social media platforms as “censorship” and a “chilling transgression of free speech.”ure on media a ‘chilling transgression of free speech.’” MM: I wrote this on Bluesky two days ago: “The next step for Brendan Carr and the FCC is to repeal Section 230 - after which they can sue social media companies for any anti-conservative posts. Then the silencing is complete until dissent is done via snail mail.” Today, I was right: Charlie Kirk assassination reignites debate over Section 230 protections for social media companies. We’re in an era of algorithmic autocracy - Microsoft changed LinkedIn’s algorithm earlier this year and there

LET’S GET POLITICAL! Companies from Delta to Office Depot are disciplining and/or firing employees for their public comments on Charlie Kirk's death Trump wants to end a half-century-old mandate on how companies report earnings Companies should instead only be required to post earnings every six months, pending the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval. This change would break a quarterly reporting mandate that’s been in place since 1970. “This will save money, and allow managers to focus on properly running their companies.” Appeals court allows Trump administration to end the ‘climate bank’ where $20B was set aside to fund climate change projects Donald Trump tilts balance of power from investors to CEOs A BUNCH OF ESG CRAP! Exxon Reportedly Rolls Out Auto-Voting System To Boost Retail Investor Participation, Curb Activist Influence Opt-in proxy system would automate retail investor votes to support board positions Elon Musk’s $1 Trillion Pay Proposal: Redefining CEO Compensation in the 21st Century First Elon Musk, now Larry Ellison: The world's richest men are buying huge media companies--because they can Lachlan Murdoch Secures Control of Fox and News Corp, Ending Succession Fight Google tops $3 trillion for the first time, joining select market-cap club with only 3 other members Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia Only 7 countries have GDPs greater than $3T Toxic Fumes Are Leaking Into Airplanes, Sickening Crews and Passengers Doctors compare brain effects to concussions in NFL players. A Wall Street Journal investigation shows the problem is getting worse and not much is being done about it. The Journal’s reporting shows that aircraft manufacturers and their airline customers have played down health risks, successfully lobbied against safety measures, and made cost-saving changes that increased the risks to crew and passengers. The gender pay gap is getting wider, reversing progress US shareholders fail to pass any green proposals for first time in 6 years CLIMATE CHANGE/AI SPEED ROUND Carbon emissions from oil giants directly linked to dozens of deadly heatwaves for first time Brace for impact: Climate change is set to intensify flight turbulence, warn scientists Why climate change is making dengue fever a global threat Climate change will make 1-in-100-year crop failures more common Climate Change Drives Surge in Deadly Supercell Storms Across Europe Climate change is pushing venomous snakes into new regions Climate Change Drives Surge in Deadly Flesh-Eating Bacteria on US Coasts One out of every 4 homes is at ‘severe or extreme’ climate risk, study says OpenAI foresees millions of AI agents 'somewhere in the cloud' in just a few years--with human supervision Experts Concerned AI Is Going to Start a Nuclear War Psychologist Says AI Is Causing Never-Before-Seen Types of Mental Disorder Sam Altman says people are starting to talk like AI, making some human interactions ‘feel very fake’ Sen. Cruz introduces bill to reduce regulatory burden facing AI companies

Story of the Week (DR): Lachlan Murdoch Secures Control of Fox and News Corp, Ending Succession Fight Lachlan Murdoch is confirmed as Rupert Murdoch’s successor, gaining control over the family’s media empire (which includes Fox Corporation and News Corp). Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch, and James Murdoch—three of Rupert’s older children—will each receive about US$1.1 billion. They will sell their holdings in Fox and News Corp and give up beneficial/trust rights in those companies. Apart from full siblings Elisabeth and James Murdoch, Lachlan has three half-siblings, an elder half-sister Prudence, and two younger sisters by his father's third marriage, Grace and Chloe. A new family trust will be set up benefiting Lachlan and Rupert’s younger daughters, Grace and Chloe. That trust will hold controlling voting shares in Fox and News Corp. The three older siblings will no longer be beneficiaries in the trust(s) connected to Fox and News Corp. They also give up any voting rights held via those trusts. Rupert Murdoch, despite handing over the control structure, retains a role as Chairman Emeritus. The new trust arrangement secures Lachlan’s control over the companies through 2050. One of Rupert Murdoch’s concerns was the possibility that the more moderate siblings (Prudence, Elisabeth, James) could shift the political or editorial leanings of Fox/News Corp after he’s gone. The new structure is designed to prevent that. Senators Call for Hearings About JPMorgan’s Ties to Jeffrey Epstein Democrats want CEO Jamie Dimon to testify about keeping Epstein as a client until 2013 Epstein had dozens of accounts at JPMorgan’s private bank and communicated often with bank executives, connecting them to his wealthy contacts, ties The Wall Street Journal first reported in 2023 to be deeper than understood. Epstein was a JPMorgan client before and after he was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008 and forced to register as a sex offender. Trump Epstein letter and drawing from ‘birthday book’ released Eric Trump removed from the ALT5 board of directors after discussion with the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC Trump’s second son, Eric Trump, was removed from the ALT5 board of directors. According to the SEC filing, the change was made after discussion with the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, therefore, the change was in order to comply with Nasdaq’s listing rules. It is still unclear which of the Nasdaq rules caused Eric Trump to be removed. The closest reason would be the rule that requires a majority of board members at listed companies to be independent. However, if Trump didn’t qualify as independent, other members would have also been removed, which was not the case. after discussion with The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC … and in order to comply with Nasdaq’s listing rules.” He is now a board observer: While he was originally announced as a full board member, Eric Trump has been reassigned to observer status — meaning he can attend meetings but doesn’t have voting power. Larry Ellison's $100 billion day reminds us why David Ellison could buy Paramount Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, recently saw his net worth jump by around US$100 billion in a single day due to a spike in Oracle’s stock. Larry’s wealth was a key factor enabling his son, David Ellison, to acquire Paramount. David Ellison’s position is less pressured because his father’s vast wealth gives him a kind of “cushion” — meaning that even if some deals don’t go well, he can withstand the backlash more than many media owners could. Paramount Skydance Prepares Ellison-Backed Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery The majority of the planned bid for Warner will be made up of cash A Key to Larry Ellison’s Wealth Creation: Years of Oracle Stock Buybacks Oracle has used aggressive stock buybacks over the past 15 years as a major lever to boost shareholder value—and especially to amplify Larry Ellison’s personal wealth. Oracle has aggressively repurchased its own shares over roughly the last 15 years — reducing its outstanding share count by nearly 45%. Because Larry Ellison held roughly the same number of shares, his ownership percentage rose from ~23% to around 41% without buying more stock. This buyback strategy significantly boosted the value of Ellison’s stake — Barron’s estimates that without the buybacks, his stake might have been worth only $215 billion instead of the current ~$387 billion. Ellison didn’t need to purchase additional Oracle shares to increase the value of his investment—he benefited from the shrinking pool of shares and the company’s rising valuation. Vanguard Tries To Get Investors Interested In Proxy Voting MM Vanguard’s trying to get millions of its fund investors involved in big corporate decisions—but so far, most people are still tuning out. That’s left folks wondering who really holds sway at America’s largest companies. Vanguard’s campaign faces a classic case of 'rational apathy', where most index fund investors skip shareholder votes because it feels like a hassle with little impact on their own wallets. Even though Vanguard’s Voting Choice program doubled participation to 82,000 people and tripled the dollar value voted to $9 billion, that’s tiny compared to the company’s 50 million investors and $11 trillion in assets. Studies from Duke, Florida, and Columbia universities show just how overwhelming the sheer number of ballot measures can be—making most people pick broad voting policies, like mainstream or anti-ESG, instead of poring over each decision. While reformers hope wider voting can democratize the system, the early results point the other way: individuals often skip votes or side with management, letting company leaders keep their grip. In fact, last year’s Tesla shareholder votes would have failed if Vanguard’s index funds had voted like individuals. Financial Services Committee Examines the Shareholder Proposal Process and Proxy Advisory Firms On the Impact of Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank on Annual Proxy Statements: “Together, these two laws [Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank] have driven up costs, increased the length and complexity of proxy statements, expanded the disclosure and oversight process, and fundamentally changed much of the shareholder access to the proxy system,” said Chairman Hill. French Hill: founder, Chair, and CEO of Delta Trust & Banking Corporation from 1999 until 2014. A ninth-generation Arkansan, Hill is a direct descendent of slave plantation owner Creed Taylor who was among the wealthiest 1% of Americans in 1860. On the Cost of Unnecessary and Irrelevant Shareholder Proposals: “Under this flawed system, companies are too often forced to waste valuable time and resources fighting proposals that are irrelevant to the company’s bottom line, hurting investors and workers alike,” said Capital Markets Subcommittee Chair Ann Wagner (MO-02). "Allowing a small group of left-wing activists to hijack the proxy proposal process to push social, environmental, DEI, or political objectives totally unrelated to the core business of a company does not advance the cause of capitalism. It undermines capitalism. It corrupts capitalism because it results in the misallocation of resources of the company. It undermines the profitability of the company. It hurts the shareholders,” stated Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chair Rep. Andy Barr (KY-06). Barr believes that abortion should be illegal, including in cases of rape and incest Barr, who’s now running for Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat, made it clear that he and Musk are joined at the hip. A few days after the “town hall” Barr released a photo of himself standing beside a shiny new Tesla, with a big smile, a thumbs-up, and the caption “Elon Musk sure knows what he’s doing!” On How Proxy Advisory Firms Can Deter Businesses from Joining Public Markets: “For many small and medium private companies considering an IPO, the decision often comes down to whether the benefits of accessing public markets outweigh the risk of compliance. But as we have seen in recent years, the shareholder proposal process can be dominated by a small group of activist investors advancing niche political agendas that have little to do with long term value creation. At the same time, proxy advisory firms wield outsized influence over voting outcomes, and [are] operating with limited transparency and potential conflicts of interest. So together, these dynamics can create an uncertainty and additional cost that make public markets less attractive,” declared House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams (TX-25). Williams was listed as the 22nd wealthiest member of Congress in 2018. Williams inherited the family's automobile dealership from his father, who founded the business in 1939. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Williams's Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealership in Weatherford, Texas, received a loan of between $1 million and $2 million as part of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP);[28][29] the loan was later forgiven Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Boone Electric Co-op members can cast drive-thru votes for directors DR: New Mexico will be the first state to make child care free DR MM The program, which will start in November and is expected to save families $12,000 per child annually, is available to all residents regardless of income. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham MM: Vanguard Finds ESG Voting Policy by Far the Most Popular Choice for Younger Investors Assholiest of the Week (MM): Asshole Speed Round! You rate the level of asshole for each, and the top scorers are assholes of the week: Paul Atkins 6 SEC chief threatens ban on European accounting rules over sustainability The US is thinking about banning IFRS, used everywhere else, because they don’t like the data other countries want to use for investing We already have feet, miles, and pounds, why not just have our own way to measure things that literally no one else uses? Sam Altman 7 ‘I haven’t had a good night of sleep since ChatGPT launched’: Sam Altman admits the weight of AI keeps him up at night OMG, SHUT UP. Journalists who don’t understand dual class shares 5 Oracle CEO, one of the world’s richest self-made women, just got $412 million richer in 6 hours Charlie Scharf 10 Wells Fargo CEO says Trump is entitled to be vocal about the Fed Scharf, also on the MSFT board for the enigma of success Jamie Dimon 8 Jamie Dimon says economy is ‘weakening’ but he can’t make sense of all the different data: ‘Maybe, one day, AI will fix that problem’ JPMorgan processed over $1B for Jeffrey Epstein despite internal concerns over sex offender status: report Reverse justifying Zuck’s feckless suckups 10 Meta CFO explains CEO Mark Zuckerberg's $600 billion White House pledge Susan Li Bros 10 The gender pay gap is getting wider, reversing progress The pay gap is now back to where it was in 2017, when the burgeoning #MeToo movement drew wide attention to sex discrimination. Everything Charlie Kirk 10 There are two things happening simultaneously that are probable root causes in political assassinations today: Hopelessness - Elon Musk is proposing to pay himself 68% of ALL THE WEALTH of the BOTTOM 50% OF US HOUSEHOLDS. If this pay package passes, he will have as much worth as ONE QUARTER of EVERYONE UNDER 40 - 166 million people in the US. We’re convinced because he bought a car company and built some rockets using US subsidies he’s singular. Combine that with the fact that he’s one of 4 billionaire white men who control social media, which tells us EVERY DAY our life sucks and the reason is “the other side” and capitalism support is at a long term low, and people feel there are NO OTHER OPTIONS but to assassinate someone. Men - more than 99% of political violence is committed by men. Out of nearly 10,000 global public companies, 93% are lead by men. 73% of all country level parliamentary seats are male. You know who doesn’t shoot people, engage in constant chest thumping, gun toting nationalism? Women. Step aside boys - investors, your opportunity is now, you get to vote on directors. Do some due diligence. Headliniest of the Week DR: Hot mic catches Zuckerberg admitting his $600 bn vow to Trump was a guess: “Sorry, I wasn’t ready… I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with.” MM: Uber sued by DOJ for alleged discrimination against disabled riders - isn’t this, like, SUPER WOKE? Who Won the Week? DR: Every Ellison ever MM: Larry Ellison’s facial hair - he can finally afford a razor Predictions DR: David Ellison buys Lachlan’s two younger half-sisters (from Rupert’s third marriage), Grace and Chloe, and then immediately trades them for 30% ownership in the Winklevoss twins cryptocurrency-exchange company Gemini Space Station MM: THIS time, we won’t get thoughts and prayers - we’ll get ideological purges!