Business Pants

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

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Unknown Host hosts Business Pants, a news show with 300 episodes published.

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  Business Pants

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

  Aug 18, 202651 min

  DR1 THINGS WE MISSED NERDY ESG STUFF L3Harris ousts CEO after investigation into conduct CARES L3Harris Technologies, the company that overhauled a Qatari plane now used as Air Force One, has replaced Christopher Kubasik as chairman and chief executive after an investigation determined he violated the defense contractor’s code of conduct. Kubasik’s alleged conduct didn’t involve and has no impact on the Melbourne, Fla., company’s financial reporting, controls, customer relationships or operational performance, L3Harris said Monday. The company didn’t give details on when it received a report of the potential violation. With the aid of independent counsel, the board determined that Kubasik’s removal would be in the company’s best interest, L3Harris said. He will be allowed to retain and exercise some previously vested stock options but won’t receive severance payments, benefits or accelerated stock-based awards. L3Harris Technologies Appoints Sam Mehta, Proven Aerospace and Defense Executive, as President and Chief Executive Officer “The Board determined that the Executive engaged in conduct that was not consistent with the values of the Company as outlined in its Code of Conduct.” Kubasik will still hold onto some of his options that can net him stock worth about $23 million, as well as more than 200,000 shares of stock in L3Harris that he already owns, valued at nearly $57 million. L3Harris has paid Kubasik compensation valued at $66.3 million during the past three years, including $25.6 million in fiscal 2025. The separation disclosure says the L3Harris board decided to reach a deal with Kubasik to get him to leave rather than trying to fire him for cause. Kubasik did not admit to any violation of the company code of conduct, and the deal expressively forbids any of the parties or their representatives from making public statements “inconsistent” with Monday’s disclosure. Harvard reveals $2.2 billion SpaceX holding worth more than half its U.S. equity portfolio CARES Busting CEO Pay Curve in 2025, Musk Made Annual Salary of Average Tesla Worker Every 4.2 Seconds S&P 500 CEO pay jumps to record as Musk-inspired compensation plans spread: average S&P 500 CEO pay reached $340.1 million US SEC to keep hands off shareholder proposals , worrying activists CARES Staying Alive: ISS Continues Its Influence on 2026 Voting Outcomes ISS recommended against fewer say-on-pay proposals than last year: 8.3% versus 9.2% in 2025. ISS supported fewer E&S proposals than in prior years, but investor votes more strongly tracked its recommendations. ISS backed 13% of social proposals in 2026, compared with 15% in 2025 and 46% in both 2023 and 2024.  ISS supported 66% of governance shareholder proposals, up from 55% in 2025 ISS opposed 3% of uncontested director nominees, up slightly from 2.5%. SEC data center ruling is removing a key guardrail from Nvidia's $500B AI financing push CARES A staff opinion from the SEC exempts some data center debt from Dodd-Frank risk retention rules, making AI infrastructure financing more attractive to sponsors Treasury Scales Back Scrutiny of U.S. Shell Companies The Trump administration will not enforce reporting requirements of the 2021 Corporate Transparency Act, which was intended to crack down on money laundering. 25 groups urging Supreme Court to kill climate case have ties to oil companies , report says A survey released Monday by the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog found that 25 of the 38 individuals and organizations that have filed friend of the court briefs on behalf of the industry have financial ties or other connections to the fossil fuel companies that are facing billions of dollars in potential damages for contributing to climate change. The report argues that many of briefs make “nearly identical legal arguments.” Activist Cevian calls for higher pay for UK board members One of Europe’s largest activist investors, Cevian Capital, has called for higher pay for non-executive directors in UK boardrooms as part of efforts to revive growth at British companies and reverse the decline of the London market. The activist, which has stakes in companies including Smith & Nephew and Pearson, said that pay for non-executive directors (NEDs) should increase to attract and retain the best people including from international rivals.  AI STUFF Anthropic is embedding invisible watermarks in Claude text and images CARES OpenAI’s “Head of Ethics” Suddenly Leaves Company Under Mysterious Circumstances: Chloé Bakalar, less than a year after joining from Meta. OpenAI talent exodus raises ‘huge red flag’ ahead of IPO CRO Denise Dresser COO Brad Lightcap CEO of AGI Deployment Fidsji SImo Chief Marketing Officer Kate Rouch Head of safety systems Johannes Heidecke At least 12 executives in 2026 Greg Brockman told CNBC the wave of senior exits is " not that atypical " and that scrutiny stems from OpenAI's high public profile BILLIONAIRE STUFF Bob Iger and Josh Kushner are buying the Lakers for $12.5 billion CARES 41-year-old Josh Kushner ’s World Cup privatization scheme fell apart. Then he became the Lakers co-owner days later Liverpool owners sell minority stake to Jeff Bezos: hold option to purchase controlling stake in Liverpool per terms of deal CARES It Seems Like Bill Gates’ Daughter May Be in Serious Legal Trouble Phoebe Gates (daughter of Bill Gates) and her shopping app startup, Phia, recently landed in hot water over allegations of a digital commission trick known as cookie stuffing. Cookie stuffing is essentially digital credit-stealing. An app secretly plants its tracking cookie into your browser without actually helping you find a deal or directing you to the website Phia initially claimed the issue was an accidental software bug. However, leaked internal Slack messages showed Gates and her co-founder discussing auto-dropping cookies as far back as December to artificially boost revenue Cookie stuffing isn't just breaking tech platform terms; US law treats it as federal wire fraud Phoebe Gates Took Secret Stanford Course on Controlling Society , Used It to Recruit for Her Startup That’s Now Facing Accusations META STUFF Meta faces ‘astronomical’ consequences as legal fight reaches critical moment in California CARES The trial involves a coalition of 29 state attorneys general in a unified case against Meta that was brought in 2023, and will be argued by lawyers representing California, Colorado, New Jersey and Kentucky. The stakes are enormous as leading government officials across the country push for Meta to be held accountable for allegedly violating federal and state laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, and various consumer protection statutes. Four state attorneys general are seeking up to $1.4 trillion in penalties and changes to how Meta operates its platforms MEANWHILE: OpenAI launches ChatGPT for Teens Meta Caught Paying Nazis to Post on Facebook Meta was paying out-and-out neo-Nazis to post on Facebook, an investigation from Australia’s ABC News found. These pages and individual creators posted content that appeared to be in clear violation of Facebook’s own hate speech policies. Nonetheless, they were able to earn money on their posts through the platform’s “Content Monetization” program — which is invitation-only. Zuckerberg's Yacht Allegedly 'Refused' Coast Guard Calls To Help Stranded Boat Despite Being 'Closer' Zuckerberg: AI's biggest risk is one entity with too much control Zuckerberg Says Meta Will Give Billions a 24/7 Personal Superintelligence , Lays Out AI Vision in Lengthy Essay Zuckerberg brings back the floating battle barge to spar with UFC fighter Merab Dvalishvili SEGUE ALERT: Zuckerberg’s Manifesto About the Glorious Freedoms AI Will Bring Was Completely Contradicted by His Own CTO During a Company Meeting Meta CTO Dismisses Vacation Requests: ' It's Very Dumb ' to Ask for More Time Off During a July Q&A with staff, CTO Andrew Bosworth shut down an employee who asked if AI productivity gains could be used to revive “Meta Days,” a cancelled holiday program that once allowed staff to take more days off a year. Bosworth was apparently appalled at the idea, saying that “I hope that what we do with our extra time is do even more and cooler stuff for the users who use our products every day … We got billions of people using our products every day. I get an extra hour. You know what I do with it? I put it into that.” The executive then dug his heels even further, personally insulting the staffer for asking about work-life balance: “Go to your parents and ask them: hey, like every time I get a chance to talk to my boss, ask me if I can have more days off. Ask your parents what they think of that as a career strategy.” BLOWHARD INDEX CEO of $49 billion AI company says it’s ‘mind-boggling’ people think you can work 38 hours a week, have work-life balance, and be successful SHUT UP Bill Ackman agrees with Jeff Bezos : Being a great CEO can do more for the world than philanthropy SHUT UP Corcoran Group CEO says Gen Z’s housing market struggles mirror what boomers faced 30 years ago: ‘ Stop buying Starbucks coffee, ’ she advises SHUT UP SHUT UP OpenAI’s CFO insists AI won’t replace judgment SAY MORE OpenAI Warns AI Models Can Automate Cyberattacks and Exploit Security Vulnerabilities SHUT UP Sam Altman thinks working at Goldman Sachs ‘ sounds unbelievably terrible now’ and admits he was ‘peer pressured’ into accepting an internship there SAY MORE Sam Altman says 4 years could be too long for college : ‘The way the world has evolved, college just shouldn’t be as long as it is’ SAY MORE Kalshi’s 30-year-old CEO says most business advice is ‘trash’—he doesn’t read management books or listen to podcasts: ‘I’m gonna make it up as I go’ SAY MORE Paramount demands $1.9 billion from states, citing Warner deal delays SHUT UP Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says AI writes 60% of its code—and sustaining ‘founder mode’ is the key to winning in the age of AI SHUT UP Far-Right UK Politician Says People Should ‘Enjoy’ Climate Change SAY MORE In 1992, Richard Tice started working for the housebuilding and commercial property company founded by his grandfather, The Sunley Group. Tice was its joint chief executive officer (CEO) for 14 years before leaving the company in 2006. Mark Cuban tells Ro Khanna 'you don't understand business,' threatens investment shift over billionaire tax SHUT UP PEOPLE/THINGS NOT TO HATE? MacKenzie Scott has given away $26 billion and rarely speaks publicly. Now she’s releasing a novel—but you won’t find it on Amazon DON’T HATE Amazon’s New AI Data Center Is So Enormous That It Appears It Will Become the Largest Single Source of Pollution in the United States Bernie Sanders asked the leading AI CEOs to pause development . DON’T HATE US firms that kept DEI policies despite ‘go woke, go broke’ threats thrived DON’T HATE France bans unsolicited telemarketing calls DON’T HATE Cards Against Humanity Unveils ' Sad Little Bitch ' Elon Musk Monument Near Texas Starbase DON’T HATE Gen Z is bringing pen and paper back to the workplace

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  Business Pants

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

  Aug 7, 20261 hour

  Story of the Week (DR): Uber’s Strategy for Fighting Sexual Assault Suits: ‘ What Were You Wearing? ’ An aggressive defense strategy is being used in response to an avalanche of litigation, with over 4,000 lawsuits filed by passengers accusing Uber of failing to protect them from sexual assault While Uber publicly champions itself as a "survivor-centric" ally and trains support staff against victim-blaming, its defense lawyers ruthlessly contradict this to protect the $145 billion company. Uber’s attorneys aggressively interrogate survivors about their clothing (e.g., asking if they wore underwear or heels), drug and alcohol consumption, and sexual history. The legal team weaponizes past trauma by scouring private medical records and therapy notes, even petitioning courts to force survivors to undergo psychiatric exams or reveal details of childhood abuse to paint them as "unreliable narrators". Legal experts warn these scorched-earth tactics are deliberately designed to re-traumatize victims, discouraging lawsuits and intimidating survivors into settling. Chief Legal Officer Tony West: “ Why safety is personal to me ” Cites his public service career to cover for ruthless corporate tactics, like drafting Prop 22 to strip driver protections. Frames survivor trauma as a flaw of the "adversarial legal system," deflecting from Uber’s own attorneys using aggressive, victim-blaming tactics to minimize payouts. Uses a single favorable quote from one trial judge to dismiss widespread litigation abuse. Touts ending forced arbitration while continuing to block class-action lawsuits, trapping survivors in isolated 1-on-1 fights. Brags about transparent reporting despite Uber burying 400,000+ assault complaints (2017–2022) under labels like "unaudited." TikTok Withheld a Safety Feature From Millions. One Died by Suicide When TikTok tweaked its algorithm in 2021 to stop users from being overwhelmed with harmful content, the company didn’t roll out the safer version to everyone, a confidential internal document shows. Instead, to see if the change might reduce the app’s stickiness, the company conducted an experiment. It created a control group of 10% of US users — at the time, that would have been about 15 million people — who kept the old version of the app . This group, according to the document, included 16-year-old Chase Nasca. TikTok’s algorithm pushed him thousands of videos about suicide, sadness, hopelessness and loneliness, right up until he killed himself. TikTok says moderator error delayed removal of Perez Hilton's livestream showing acts of self-harm GAO finds Elon Musk’s DOGE inflated claims of $110 billion in savings for federal government The GAO found that 96% of the savings DOGE claimed from grant cancellations lacked supporting evidence or methodology to verify. DOGE claimed $27.4 billion in savings across 2,503 contracts—including a $1.7 billion Pentagon IT deal—that were never actually terminated or reduced. Over 40% of the lease cancellations listed on DOGE’s "Wall of Receipts" were already in progress before the agency was created. GAO uncovered widespread data errors, such as overstating total lease savings by nearly $60 million and failing to report baseline limitations. DOGE failed to disclose how it calculated its metrics and completely ignored GAO requests for interviews and supporting data. Where are Elon Musk’s former DOGE staffers now? Edward “Big Balls” Coristine: a whistleblower alleged that Coristine planned to upload sensitive Social Security Administration data to an unsecured server. He also helped dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. Coristine now appears to work at the National Design Studio , an office created to overhaul federal websites and other public-facing services, making them more usable, visually consistent and less expensive to build. Jeremy Lewin: helped oversee the dismantling of USAID Lewin later became the State Department’s senior official for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs and religious freedom , giving a former DOGE operative authority over the programs his old team had helped slash. He was subsequently reported to be moving to the White House National Security Council . Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox Founded a holding company called Special, which promises to do for private businesses what DOGE did for the federal government. “To achieve this, Special is building an operating system to transform critical American industries with AI. We call it SpecialOS.” Gavin Kliger, Luke Farritor, Marko Elez and Jack Stein Founded Cathedral, a startup that plans to use AI to expand U.S. military cyber capabilities, including defenses against adversaries such as China . Reuters reported that the company raised $160 million at a $1.4 billion valuation. Ethan Shaotran: helped move thousands of immigrants into the government’s “Master Death File,” effectively deactivating their Social Security numbers. Founded Blitz Industries, which he described to Wired as “a defense company backed by big names.” Elon Musk: SpaceX Achieves Its First Moon Landing by Accidentally Crashing Into It at 5,400 Miles Per Hour, Causing Huge Explosion and 60-Foot Crater Why companies that call themselves meritocracies don't always pay equally AND Meritocracy claims make managers pay men more than equally qualified women MM Explicitly branding an organization a "meritocracy" lowers managers' vigilance against bias, ironically making them more likely to discriminate. Given identical job titles and performance ratings, managers in self-proclaimed meritocracies systematically award higher bonuses and raises to men over equally qualified women. The meritocracy illusion compounds wage gaps across demographics, yielding lower financial rewards for women, racial minorities, and immigrants with identical output. Vague definitions of "merit" allow supervisors to act on personal favorability and affinity bias while genuinely believing their choices are purely objective. Trusting the "meritocracy" label creates false complacency, leading companies to eliminate or skip active pay-equity audits that would otherwise catch these disparities. Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Google Scraps AI Satellite Images Within 24 Hours: Why 'Deepfakes in the Sky' Alarmed Researchers This happened after facing fierce backlash from journalists, researchers, and open-source intelligence experts who warned that it could accelerate the spread of misinformation. The feature allowed users to generate AI-created satellite images by zooming into any location in Google Earth and entering a text prompt. MM: Courts: MM DR Court rules against Trump EPA’s freeze of $20B in ‘ green bank ’ funds UBS fined record $125 million for money laundering violations Meta fined $567m in largest child safety ruling against social media giant Judge says Nexstar can’t appoint its executives to TEGNA’s Board of Directors Assholiest of the Week (MM): Everything’s a publicity stunt: Jealously Watching OpenAI and Anthropic, Meta Suddenly Claims That Its AI Went on a Hacking Spree Too Zuckerberg conveys ‘ apologies ’ for child sex abuse material, errors in operating the platform, government sources say ‘ Pure insanity ’—Elon Musk details SpaceX’s plan to turn the moon into its newest manufacturing site Anthropic's Mythos created fake identities to fool humans in new cyber incident GAO finds Elon Musk's DOGE inflated claims of $110 billion in savings for federal government Everything’s a vanity project Jeff Bezos Says He’s Selling $1 Billion In Amazon Stock Every Year to Fund Blue Origin — ‘ It’s The Most Important Work I’m Doing ’ SpaceX Achieves Its First Moon Landing by Accidentally Crashing Into It at 5,400 Miles Per Hour , Causing Huge Explosion and 60-Foot Crater Judge Sets Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Trial for March Everyone’s a victim The AI bros are lonely Palantir CEO Alex Karp Says Frontier AI Labs Will Steal Your IP, Your Know-How, and Your Expertise — ‘ You Deserve To Be Colonized ’ ‘ Socialism is a disaster ’: Bill Ackman says Zohran Mamdani’s bad left-wing housing policy is worsening New York’s affordability crisis No one is accountable DR Bobby Kotick, former CEO of Activision, may join Paramount's board of directors Jefferies analyst calls out ‘simple-minded’ criticism of SpaceX’s governance ABC, CBS, and NBC aired nearly 200 segments about three U.S. heat events without mentioning climate change Disney (Iger, still), Ellison family, and Roberts family - one cowed exec, two dictators! Headliniest of the Week DR: Pepsi is launching soda-scented body wash and scrub in a beauty collaboration PwC U.S. CEO [Paul Griggs] advises young workers to say yes a lot, even if it means working on the weekends —‘That person climbs into the next role’ Top Consulting Group PwC Caught Using AI on “Thought Leadership” Report About AI , Resulting in Corporate Document Filled With Bizarre Hallucinations DoorDash CEO Tony Xu once thought his $87 billion company would only make $100 million. He tells founders to be ‘greedy’ and dream bigger Class A = 1 vote; Class B = 20 votes; CEO Tony Xu personally owns roughly 3% of actual shares but controls 55% of voting power via a “binding agreement” with the other co-founders Misleading proxy shows he got paid $432k (they cited a 12:1 pay ratio) but he actually made $343M from shares and stocks DoorDash excludes Dashers from SEC disclosures by classifying them as 1099 independent contractors. Factoring drivers into the worker pool expands the headcount from 20,000 to over 7 million, moving the median worker from corporate offices directly onto the delivery platform. Dasher: while gross pay averages ~$15–$22/hour, net driver earnings sink further after deducting out-of-pocket expenses like fuel, vehicle wear, and self-employment taxes, pulling true net median compensation closer to $400–$900 annually Anthropic CEO reportedly worried new hires only care about money : reportedly expressed concern about new talent coming to the company for the money rather than the mission MM: Stripe CEO says his ‘urgency’ to drop out of MIT ‘ was a bit unnecessary ’ Who Won the Week? DR: Harvard Business School graduates TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and TikTok US CEO Adam Presser, because nobody ever talks about you or knows who you are MM: Meat.  After seeing Salad and Go files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after cyclospora fears worsened its challenges , you can’t help but wonder if RFK Jr orchestrated a parasite to get people to buy more meat. Predictions DR: Tony Xu introduces Class F stock where shareholders’ children enter indentured servitude and must deliver 1000 Cheesy Gordita Crunches from Taco Bell before they are set free ; they will then get 0.0002 shares per vote MM: Boards are calling retired CEOs back as succession pipelines run dry : Boards run out of ex-CEOs to re-king and begin looking for different, egalitarian, integrated professionals to fill new roles.  They call it DEI.

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  Business Pants

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

  Aug 4, 202657 min

  DR Matternet Appoints Starbucks EVP Sanjay Shah to Board of Directors Developer of commercial drone delivery systems for urban and suburban environments CEO/founder Andreas Raptopoulos: M.A. in Industrial Design Engineering; Diploma of Imperial College in Industrial Design Engineering; Diploma in Mechanical Engineering Chris Dawson: M.B.A. from INSEAD. Sanjay Kotte: B.B.A. in finance and management; M.B.A. and J.D. Laurence Marton, M.D.: expert in drug development, polyamine metabolism, and cancer research, Saurabh Ranjan: certification in human resource and law; M.A. and M.B.A. No female directors or executives but now a second Sanjay: IN OR OUT Sanjay Shah: B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Starbucks Chief Supply Chain Officer SVP of Operations, Gopuff COO, Beyond Meat SVP, Tesla VP of North American Customer Fulfillment, Amazon AAON Increases Board Size and Appoints Robert L. Buttermore III, and Patrick J. Jermain as Independent Directors Before 2/9 F now 2/11 F AAON manufactures heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment for commercial and industrial indoor environments   IN OR OUT: Robert L. Buttermore III: BS mechanical engineering Chief Supply Chain Officer of Rockwell Automation, one of the world’s leading industrial automation and digital transformation companies previously led Rockwell’s Power Control business and oversaw strategic expansion initiatives supporting industrial, semiconductor, energy, HVAC, and data center customers.   IN OR OUT: Patrick J. Jermain: MBA Former CFO Plexus Administration and Management: 100% . The others: Caron A. Lawhorn: former CFO, ONE Gas, Inc. Stephen O. LeClair: MBA, Chair/former CEO, Core & Main Bruce Ware: MBA, CEO, One America Bancorp Inc., a financial institution that he founded to provide niche financial and banking services Uber’s Strategy for Fighting Sexual Assault Suits: ‘ What Were You Wearing? ’ IN OR OUT on the board skillset: Consumer and Digital Experience: “Background in the development and improvement of consumer experiences with a company’s products, services, and brand, including through a digital interface.” AND Sustainability and Human Capital Management: “Experience in corporate responsibility, human capital management, and managing sustainability initiatives.” Who is in BOTH ? Arora: CEO, Palo Alto Networks (cybersecurity); Softbank Burns: Former CEO/Chair Xerox; currently invests in tech Eckert: Partner at PE firm; former CEO Mattel Ginsberg: Partner at PE firm; former CEO Match Group Khosrowshahi: CEO; former CEO Expedia Sugar: Former CEO Northrop Grumman (war); Apple: Foxconn suicide machine Wynaendts: former CEO Aegon (life insurance); Deutsche bank IN OR OUT on Chief Legal Officer Tony West: “ Why safety is personal to me ” Uses past public service as a human shield for his current corporate ruthlessness : West spends roughly a third of the statement reciting his resume (prosecuting child exploitation, doing pro bono work for domestic violence survivors, and overseeing the Office on Violence Against Women under Obama) which is why “I would never support or condone conduct—inside or outside a courtroom—that fails to treat women and survivors with dignity and respect” West was a chief architect and defender of Uber's ruthless campaign to pass Proposition 22 in California. Uber and other gig companies spent hundreds of millions of dollars to exempt themselves from state labor laws, ensuring their drivers remained classified as independent contractors without a minimum wage, healthcare, or sick leave. Blames “the system:” “I’ll be the first to say that our adversarial legal system can be particularly tough for survivors. By its nature, the trial process is designed to extract facts ... And the fact that all of this occurs in public view makes it all the more difficult …”  “The system" isn't asking victims what they were wearing—Uber’s highly paid defense attorneys are West is shifting the blame from his own legal department's aggressive, victim-blaming litigation strategies onto the abstract concept of the "adversarial legal system." the New York Times and unsealed court documents from the multidistrict litigation (MDL) reveal, once a survivor steps into a courtroom, Uber’s high-priced defense lawyers resort to classic, traumatizing victim-blaming. Asking women what they were wearing or weaponizing their personal histories to discredit them is a deliberate strategy to minimize corporate payouts Cherry picks one favorable moment: West quotes a single federal judge from a February trial who praised Uber’s attorneys, saying they did not engage in "the slightest bit of shaming" and that he wanted it "clear on the record." one favorable quote from one judge in one specific trial: "Look, this one guy said we're nice, so the New York Times must be lying." Bullshits the bigger picture: “Uber was among the first companies to end forced arbitration and mandatory confidentiality agreements in matters involving sexual assault and sexual harassment” Yes, they ended individual forced arbitration, but they fought ruthlessly to ensure survivors still cannot form class-action lawsuits. Forcing victims to fight Uber one-on-one is a massive legal advantage for the company Lies about ESG data: “Uber was also the first—and continues to be one of the only—companies to voluntarily and consistently publish data on the reports of sexual assault” They published "safety data," but as the Times revealed, they hid hundreds of thousands of complaints by categorizing them as "unaudited" or "less serious." While Uber publicly reported a few thousand incidents, internal documents showed they received over 400,000 reports of sexual assault or misconduct between 2017 and 2022. Jefferies ESG chief says investors overstate SpaceX governance risks Aniket Shah, Jefferies' global head of sustainability: Investors who avoid SpaceX because of Elon Musk's extraordinary control over the company may be letting governance concerns outweigh potential long-term returns "The idea that there's an — in quotes — acceptable form of good governance" is one that "I highly question," Shah said. " People who try to put governance into some kind of straight-jacket are too simple-minded and, frankly speaking, not looking at data. " “Investors who rely on governance checklists alone risk overlooking companies capable of generating substantial long-term returns, particularly founder-led businesses that concentrate decision-making power in a single executive.” IN OR OUT on SpaceX? Did he change your mind? Does this help change your mind?  Bill Ackman Says "Never Bet Against Elon," Even as He Passes on SpaceX Stock. Here's Why He's Staying Out. IN OR OUT on SpaceX? Did Bill change your mind? IN OR OUT based on this headline: Mark Zuckerberg Says AI Will Create An 'Infinite' Instagram : outlined a vision where AI-generated content becomes a third major source of content Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s school is the latest billionaire education experiment to collapse : The Primary School closed after nearly a decade, following disappointing outcomes and a shift in the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s philanthropic priorities from social advocacy toward scientific philanthropy The Primary School was a passion project for Chan, who regularly visited the campus, read books to kindergartners, and appeared in a curriculum video with Sesame Street’s Elmo Despite her hands-on approach, the school struggled with some of its nontraditional elements Teachers, for instance, were required to sign nondisclosure agreements, and the school experienced high turnover among principals. Finding the right curriculum and policies also proved challenging as administrators tried to determine the best approach to teaching students. Chan told The Wall Street Journal last year: “ The outcomes just weren’t where [the board] would have wanted them to be or, frankly, anyone would have wanted them to be.” IN OR OUT on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative? MM IN OR OUT: Your AI strategy isn’t failing because of bad design. It’s because your team doesn’t believe in you Which is more likely - the team is rejecting AI or the messenger? In which case, IN OR OUT round - if you were employed by the following, and they said you were going to execute an AI strategy, you buying or selling? Mark Zuckerberg ALL IN BABY!  FIRE EVERYONE! SELL Jamie Dimon “Total redeployment” BUY Bill Brown, CEO at 3M Ask3M - product innovation using AI (talk to a chatbot and get ideas I think?) SELL Kelly Ortberg, CEO at Boeing “Intelligence” - enhance spec drawings and productivity?  They’re not going deep on AI yet, no money BUY Brian Cornell, Target not-CEO-but-actually-CEO One bullet: Using data and technology in new ways to strengthen inventory planning, improve in-store consistency and enhance guest interactions SELL SpaceX's first-ever earnings report comes with stock under pressure : Q2 preview Straight up, IN OR OUT - buying SpaceX with it cheap or selling? Elon Musk still runs it like an uncontrolled dictator with sycophants surrounding him! Aniket Shah says you shouldn’t be so parochial about that or you’ll miss “generational wealth event” like with Facebook, because Facebook was good for everyone! Musk rumored to be building an entire telco (or buying one) because his personal net worth can afford to buy him Verizon and still have almost $800bn left over! Everyone calling this a “test”, but it doesn’t matter since the only thing you can do is buy or sell! Meritocracy claims make managers pay men more than equally qualified women IN OR OUT: MEN OR WOMEN Starbucks CEO Earns 1,794 Times More Than the Average Worker : Here's Why He's Paid $31M IN or OUT The turnaround strategy is working - Niccol made more than any other restaurant CEO per share, stock is up! Starbucks pay committee is a mess of overpaying, interconnected directors: Ritch Allison (chair) bats .249 on pay ratio, Andy Campion bats 0.041, Mike Sievert 0.067, Neal Mohan 0.031.  These are literally the among the highest paying directors in the database - so did he earn it or do these people not care and pay egregious amounts? ALL the execs make a lot - is it a good sign when all the execs get PAID, since they’re making money in stores? Not EVERYONE is making money - Starbucks not only regressed its offer to the union , they sued them to no longer use the Starbucks logo (which is so fucking petty), and Niccol refused to negotiate with them at first and excluded them from the bonus pool Stock is up 20% YTD, 15% in last year!  Beating the S&P (slightly)!

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  Business Pants

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

  Jul 31, 20261h 5m

  Story of the Week (DR): Cracker Barrel CEO is out after MAGA backlash to "Uncle Herschel" logo change MM Before Julie Masino was brought in, Cracker Barrel was facing a slow-moving existential crisis: Their primary core customer base (older generations and rural highway travelers) was naturally shrinking, and younger diners were simply not replacing them. Kitchen tech, supply chains, and digital ordering lag behind competitors like Texas Roadhouse or Olive Garden. Some great fake populism from Fox: Cracker Barrel to pay for outgoing CEO’s security , $4.6M severance after failed rebrand Cracker Barrel names David Deno CEO Burger King Yum! Brands and Pizza Hut for 15 years, including serving as CFO and COO. Quiznos CEO. Best Buy: Served as President of Asia and CFO for Best Buy's International Division Bloomin' Brands for 12 years: CEO, CFO and Chief Administrative Officer Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill, and Bonefish Grill Board Memberships Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (2016-) Panera Brands (2024-): Audit Committee Chair Krispy Kreme (2016-) Bloomin' Brands (2019–2024) Peet's Coffee (2006-2012) Macalester College: Former Chair of the Board of Trustees (1998-2022). From Cracker Barrel to Boeing, Companies Are Turning to Retired CEOs These retired CEOs are being hired to be "fixers." They are brought in to cut costs, repair supply chains, restore investor confidence, and act as a stabilizing force rather than reinventing the brand. Exxon and Chevron profits surge on rising oil prices due to Iran war Chevron posted its highest profit in six years as the Iran war boosted oil prices Big Oil Is Getting Sued for Heat Deaths. It’s Fighting Back With an Army of Immunity Laws More than a decade after investigations found that Exxon Mobil had known about the dangers of global warming since the 1970s but publicly downplayed the threat, lawsuits against oil companies have proliferated. There are nearly 40 of these cases pending across the country In the meantime, the industry has been mobilizing a counterattack against the lawsuits with the help of the Trump administration and Republican politicians. Republicans are trying to pass laws to grant oil majors immunity to these kinds of lawsuits, with success in several states so far. Utah, Iowa, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Louisiana have recently signed laws shielding fossil fuel companies from lawsuits related to greenhouse gas emissions Oil executives have also gotten help from the federal government, following an executive order from President Donald Trump last year directing the attorney general to prioritize blocking climate lawsuits by states. This May, the Justice Department responded to Minnesota’s climate lawsuit against Big Oil with a lawsuit of its own, just as the state’s case was moving into the discovery phase. It said Minnesota was undermining “American energy dominance” and attempting to regulate greenhouse gases, which should fall under the purview of federal law—echoing the oil industry’s well-known argument. Elon Musk Is Quietly Turning to This Fossil Fuel to Power His AI Ambitions Sam Altman Announces That the Singularity Has Arrived : a hypothetical future point in time when technological growth becomes autonomous, uncontrollable, and irreversible, fundamentally transforming human civilization “We are now, like, in the singularity ... Now we’re actually in the moment that we used to talk about at the lunch table in a very not-serious way ...I’ve been waiting for this my whole life, and I think it’s going to be incredible, hugely positive, awesome for the world.” Sam Altman says one of his biggest fears is that a small number of companies will control AI: ' That'd be very, very bad ' Sam Altman says the Hugging Face hack is a reminder that an AI power monopoly could lead to 'long-term disaster ' OpenAI says its rogue AI tried to hack other companies Mark Zuckerberg is urging the U.S. to accelerate AI development , not restrict it ’No Way to Stop It' : Elon Musk Warns Humans Will Lose Control of AI and Face Extinction by 2036 Microsoft CEO Warns That Companies Embracing AI Could Drive Themselves Out of Business AI hackers are getting faster. The government may not be ready Anthropic says its Claude models ' gained unauthorized access ' to other organizations' systems Anthropic says its models went rogue and hacked 3 companies during testing ’It Will Happen Frequently' : Musk Warns of Rogue AI Threat After Anthropic Breached Three Firms Elon Musk Commits Up to $120M to Republican Midterms : Sets Feud With Trump Aside for Major Election Push Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR): DR: Gen Z women are having an entrepreneurship boom Of all women who started businesses in 2025, 47% of Gen Z women did so, compared with 38% the previous year. Gen Xers followed close behind at 46%. Then came millennials at 43% and baby boomers at just 23%. Overall, in 2025, 69% of new Black-owned businesses were started by women.  The survey also found that women business owners are less likely than their male counterparts to depend on AI MM: Delaware judge rules public benefit corporations exempt from maximizing value in sale DR Fiduciary duty is different - OpenAI, Anthropic Assholiest of the Week (MM): Fake man apologies MM ‘ I’m sorry ... but ’: Apologetic Alan Joyce tells his side of the Qantas story Joyce has expressed some regret “So with the information we had at the time, I still don’t think there was any other decision you could make,” “Hindsight is a great thing.” “I’m actually very, very proud of the fact that I’m not sitting here and apologising for Qantas going bankrupt, [something] that many airlines around the world did,” Australian Competition and Consumer Commission fined Qantas $120 million for selling tickets for 8000 already cancelled flights “I apologise for the angst that was generated [for] the customers on it, but the reality was we had 22 million bookings in the system [and] the system wasn’t designed to do an automatic refund,” “Stop us!” More than 1,200 AI workers across Anthropic, DeepMind, OpenAI, and Meta are asking for Washington’s help building an AI slowdown plan ‘ No Way to Stop It ': Elon Musk Warns Humans Will Lose Control of AI and Face Extinction by 2036 Elon Musk’s new 5-year warning to Americans: AI will beat human brains by 2032 (then go wild). Get rich or get crushed? Sam Altman says the Hugging Face hack is a reminder that an AI power monopoly could lead to 'long-term disaster' It Will Happen Frequently ': Musk Warns of Rogue AI Threat After Anthropic Breached Three Firms But also, DON’T stop us, obviously… Palantir CEO warns US against Europe's AI regulation path , urges Trump admin to not ban open models Elon Musk's xAI sues Minnesota over law to ban 'nudify' apps Mark Zuckerberg is urging the U.S. to accelerate AI development, not restrict it Elon Musk Commits Up to $120M to Republican Midterms : Sets Feud With Trump Aside for Major Election Push Ignoring boards Hims & Hers mission: “Hims & Hers is the leading health and wellness platform on a mission to help the world feel great through the power of better health. We believe how you feel in your body and mind transforms how you show up in life. That’s why we’re building a future where nothing stands in the way of harnessing this power. Hims & Hers normalizes health & wellness challenges—and innovates on their solutions—to make feeling happy and healthy easy to achieve. No two people are the same, so the Company provides access to personalized care designed for results.” Hims & Hers board: CEO: Andrew Dudum, tech VC bro investor “serial entrepreneur” with deep health experience from Bungalow (airBnB knockoff in the UK), Homebound (a “homebuilding platform”), TalkIQ (an AI startup, duh), and Terminal (something about scaling engineering?) TWO directors from DoorDash (Kofi Amoo-Gottfried from Marketing, previously of Facebook, and Christopher Payne the COO, previously of eBay, MSFT, and Amazon) TWO pharma execs (one lawyer, Deb Autor, one with an econ degree, Kare Schultz) One guy from Netflix (David Wells) and one lady from Urban Outfitters (marketing/brand, Andrea Perez) and one pure law firm lawyer (Anja Manuel) ONE DOCTOR  EXCLUSIVE: US FTC sues Hims & Hers for sending user health info to Meta, Snap Users' sensitive health information was shared with online advertising companies including Meta ​Platforms and Snap despite the company leading customers to believe their ​data was private, the FTC alleged in the lawsuit filed along with Los ⁠Angeles County and Utah. Hims & Hers also started charging users for prescriptions before ​they have ⁠had a chance to meet with healthcare providers, the FTC alleged. Most customers do not receive a consultation with a provider, and instead are charged for ⁠prescriptions ​soon after filling out an intake form, ​according to the agency. Headliniest of the Week DR: CEO apologizes for offering interviews to people who got tattoos of his AI company logo San Francisco tech CEO Jordan Zietz, co-founder of an early stage AI startup called LemonLime. Stanford grad. “LemonLime learns your business and then automates your team's busywork in a single click, no coding or manual setup required.” Former Qantas CEO reflects on tenure, issues apology to passengers over post COVID chaos AND ‘ I’m sorry ... but ’: Apologetic Alan Joyce tells his side of the Qantas story MM: Amazon received $600 million in tariff refunds and will pass some back to customers MM: Trump Staff Cuts Blamed After Watermarked OpenAI Map Mislabels Africa at AIDS Conference It’s the fact that we have less staff that meant we couldn’t bother to figure out which country was which Who Won the Week? DR: Kohls: For getting some much-needed female influence on board: Kohl’s Appoints Wendy Arlin as Chair of the Board Currently only 2: Robbin Mitchell (7%) and Wendy Arlin (1%) John Schlifske (27%) stepping down MM: The phrase “not due to any disagreement with the Company” Anne Sweeney Resigns From Netflix Board On July 26, 2026, Anne Sweeney notified Netflix, Inc. (the “Company”) that she was resigning from the Board of Directors of the Company effective as of that date. Ms. Sweeney's resignation is not due to any disagreement with the Company 1,660 8-Ks in the last 5 years have the exact phrase “not due to any disagreement with the Company” So we’re saying that 1,660 c-suite and board members resigned in 5 years - more than 300 per year - and NONE were due to a disagreement with the companies?  That’s only THAT phrase - no other details are given for most of them except occasionally: To pursue another job Personal reasons For scale, in the last 5 years, the term “was due to a disagreement with the Company” appears… 5 times Predictions DR: Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson apologizes that it took former CEO Alan Joyce to apologize for something she already apologized for despite not being CEO when any of it happened MM: Damion resigns from Free Float due to a disagreement with the zero dollars he gets paid, but Free Float puts out a statement saying it’s “not due to any salary reason related to the company”

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  Business Pants

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

  Jul 28, 202635 min

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

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