BLAME GAME: Fishback’s meritocracy, Forward Air’s missing 8k, Carnival’s hip hop, Robinhood’s crypto

DAMION

1. The next phase of Starbucks’ turnaround plan is offering executives up to $6 million in stock grants, as baristas scrap to get annual raises above 2%

1. Starbucks will reward company executives with up to $6 million in stock grants should they effectively fulfill cost-saving and timely rollout goals of the company’s “Back to Starbucks” turnaround strategy. Starbucks Workers United representatives dubbed the move “ridiculous and irresponsible” amid contract negotiations over barista wages.

2. WHO DO YOU BLAME?

1. Double boomerang CEO and founder Howard Schultz

1. 1987-2000; 2008-2017; 2022-2023

2. CEO and Chair Brian Niccol and his $113 million golden hello package

3. The company’s work-from-home policy which allows its CEO to work remotely from his home in Newport Beach, California, while the company's headquarters are in Seattle, Washington. As part of his employment agreement, Starbucks pays for him to travel between his home and the Seattle headquarters on the company’s private jet.

4. Former failure Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer who was appointed as a director to Starbucks 4 days before the announcement of the new retention awards. 

5. Compensation Committee chair Ritch Allison: The guy passes every pay plan for whoever; is the former CEO of Domino’s Pizza so is here to enrich executives; and owns $3M is SBUX stock so doesn’t really care: someone should be responsible for a CEO pay ratio of 6666:1

1. Agios Appoints Dr. Jay Backstrom to Board of Directors

1. Jay Backstrom appointed as Class III director as of July 8, 2025,  20 days after the company held an election to appoint two Class III directors.

2. WHO DO YOU BLAME?

1. The top 4 institutional investors (35% of voting power):

1. Farallon Capital 10% 

2. Vanguard 10%

3. BlackRock 9% 

4. BB Biotech 6%

2. The company’s childish bylaws which separate directors into three classes that are voted on every three years

3. Former CEO Jacqualyn Fouse (23%) who stuck around to serve as board chair after being CEO for only 3 years

4. Nominating Committee chair and Lead independent director Kaye Foster

5. Emasculated CEO Brian GOff (15%) who presides over a board with a +7% gender influence gap

1. An anti-DEI investment firm postponed its Tesla ETF, saying Elon Musk has 'gone too far' by launching a political party

1. WHO DO YOU BLAME?

1. Its BS mission statement: “Azoria is an investment firm with the mission of compounding capital for investors through a commitment to free thinking, excellence, and meritocracy.”

1. Wouldn’t that include Elon?

2. James T. Fishback, Founder and CEO of Azoria, a free-thinking investment firm

1. “We have an anti-American subculture that cancels the science fair in favor of drag queen story hour, forces colleges to spend more time teaching micro-aggressions than microbiology, and teaches kids in America that Cardi B is a role model and Thomas Jefferson is a racist.”

2. “Fishback will become a major Gen Z star in our pro-American movement.” — Vivek Ramaswamy, 2024 Presidential Candidate.

3. “dropped out of Georgetown University to establish a hedge fund at 21 years old”

4. Azoria partner Sol Ehrlich:

1. “For my last day at Spectra, it’s important that I share just how much this opportunity has meant to me. In June of 2023, I was a 28 year old mediocre Euro League baseball player with no job prospects outside of coaching. My only qualification to work in finance was my work ethic, which Brent Donnelly recognized when he met with me over Zoom and saw the litany of Post-It tabs I used to annotate his book”

2. “It’s with great excitement that I’ll be taking this skillset to Azoria as a partner and its Head Trader- an opportunity I couldn’t have imagined 18 months ago.”

3. While the internet was introduced to James Fishback’s talents this year, I’ve been aware of them since 2009 when we competed against each other in high school debate. (His meme game was A+ even then- I still remember him closing a speech on U.S. sanctions with 4 Russian leader puns.)”

3. Me. Because somehow I’m connected to Fishback on linkedin.

4. Greenlight Capital, for making James angry:

1. In a lawsuit: “Greenlight Capital says James Fishback is a liar. The 29-year-old hedge fund manager and former employee, contrary to his own proclamations, was never “head of macro” at Greenlight, never had any “authority or discretion” over investments, and certainly wasn’t responsible for an “insane” $100 million in profits as a mere research analyst. In fact, his contributions were so not “insane” that the hedge fund was about to fire him before he chose to leave of his own accord.”

2. Greenlight's alleged former head of macro is hoping to get at least $5 million from David Einhorn, claiming age discrimination

1. "Mr. Einhorn dismissively told Mr. Fishback that his compensation was 'a lot of money for a kid,'" the filing states, and Fishback argues the comment "demonstrates that Defendants' decision about Mr. Fishback's compensation was driven largely by his age — a protected characteristic."

1. Tech founders call on Sequoia Capital to denounce VC Shaun Maguire’s Mamdani comments

1. Maguire, an outspoken supporter of President Trump, posted on X over the weekend that Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani “comes from a culture that lies about everything.”

2. WHO DO YOU BLAME?

1. Shaun Maguire: “My whole life I've sought out people that I think are really talented but a little bit off the radar.”

2. Shaun Maguire: “[E]ven more important to me is someone that’s just irrationally motivated. For whatever reason, it’s their life mission to try to revolutionize the industry they’re going after.”

3. Shaun Maguire: “Should I go public with the story about the time I was told I can’t be promoted for being a white man? Fuck it, This happened at Google. That company is an absolute trash can dumspeter fire.”

4. Sequoia Capital: for proudly endorsing some of its most insipid founders: Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Vlad Tenev (Robinhood, online betting on stocks), Keller Rinaudo (Zipline, autonomous delivery), Winston Weinberg (Harvey, AI for lawfirms), Brian Chesky (Airbnb, rent killer)

MATT

1. Forward Air, after their AGM battle with Ancora, still hasn’t released their 8K after a MONTH despite Ancora announcing it was a “landslide” directly after

1. WHO DO YOU BLAME for not releasing an 8k?

1. Charles Anderson, Robert Edwards Jr, Michael Hodge who own roughly 25% of the voting power, even if FF data doesn’t properly show them as having all the influence on the board

2. Ancora, who just couldn’t help but IMMEDIATELY put out a press release stating: “Absent the more than 30% of shares that were legally committed to vote for the incumbent Board, Chairman George Mayes, Jr., Javier Polit, and Laurie Tucker lost in a landslide, highlighting the substantial level of concern regarding the legitimacy of the Board’s strategic review. We believe the resignations of these legacy directors will empower the Board to carry out a thorough assessment of value-maximizing opportunities.”

3. Christine Gorjanc, chair of the audit committee, who was chair of the audit committee at Invitae from 2015 to 2024 when it declared bankruptcy despite getting her degree in accounting and a MS in “taxation”

4. Michael L. Hance, chief counsel who also holds a masters in Divinity, who couldn’t find the “submit” button on his iPhone

2. No, Carnival Cruises is not banning rap music

1. Carnival Cruise Lines denied reports circulating online that DJs aren't playing hip-hop.

2. The cruise line has responded to claims circulating online that DJs aren't including hip-hop music in their sets or honoring song requests, with some social media users saying the alleged move is racially motivated.

3. WHO DO YOU BLAME for this malicious rumor?

1. Carnival’s ZERO BLACK leadership team, lead by Mickey Arison - they do have two Hispanic men, Enrique Miguez (General Counsel) and Gustavo Antorcha (President of Princess Cruises), but it’s balanced out by the Scandinavian (Lars Ljoen, Chief Maritime Officer) and other Euro men (Felix Eichhorn, Paul Ludlow)

2. Carnival’s Board of Directors, which has 11 members and is 91% white, with one black woman, Nelda Connors.  Nelda’s background is in hydraulics and metals with a degree in mechanical engineering, so she’s probably too “nerdy” for rap anyway

3. Christine Duffy, the head of Carnival Cruises, whose prior role was President of the Cruise Lines International Association which put out a report in 2008 showing that 93% of cruise passengers were white, and in 2025 said that 1 in 4 passengers came from either Texas or Florida. Duffy grew up in Northwood Philadelphia, which in 1950 was three quarters white but by 2020 is 93% black.

4. Thinking hip hop is “black music”

DAMION

1. People are boycotting Etsy over ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ merch

1. Calls to boycott Etsy are growing since “Alligator Alcatraz” merch popped up on its marketplace. The term refers to the Trump administration’s new migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades.

2. WHO DO YOU BLAME?

1. The 48% influence duo: CEO Josh Silverman (25%) and longest-tenured director (2007): Board Chair and Nominating Committee chair Fred Wilson (23%)

2. The -13% gender influence gap at a company where: “approximately 80% of Etsy's buyers and sellers are women.

1. Leadership is 6 men and 2 women, one of who is CHRO

3. The company’s dumb classified board structure

1. This year’s 3 directors: 24%, 28%, 22% against

1. Tokens to Access Private Companies, or to Investor Trouble?

1. Robinhood is the latest to offer investors a novel, and potentially risky, investment opportunity: crypto that’s meant to give exposure to the likes of OpenAI.

2. WHO DO YOU BLAME?

1. CEO/founder/Chair Vladimir Tenev: 47% influence; 24% voting power

2. Baiju Bhatt: 37% influence; 36% voting power

3. The pesky Class B share: for being worth ten votes per share

4. The non-democratic Founders’ Voting Agreement: Our Co-Founders have agreed: “to vote all of their shares in favor of the election of each Co-Founder”

5. Lead Independent Director Jonathan Rubinstein: for being the most pointless Lead Independent Director of all time: Lead Independent Director at Robinhood since 2021 and Lead Independent Director at Amazon.com from 2017-2023

1. OpenAI Says It's Hired a Forensic Psychiatrist as Its Users Keep Sliding Into Mental Health Crises

1. "We're developing ways to scientifically measure how ChatGPT's behavior might affect people emotionally."

2. WHO DO YOU BLAME?

1. Sam Altman

2. Bret Taylor (Chair)

3. Sam Altman

4. Matt: AI itself for being a jerk