BP’s bully pulpit, index funds hate your rights, Dell buys a contract, and baby name lies
Story of the Week (DR):
BP ousts chair over ‘serious’ governance, oversight concerns MM
The board said the decision was unanimous. In a statement, Amanda Blanc, BP's senior independent director, described the board as having been caught off guard by what it found: "The board has been surprised and disappointed to learn of governance oversight and conduct issues it deems unacceptable and has taken decisive action."
The oil giant’s board removed Albert Manifold from his roles as chair and director this week, effective immediately. He faced a contingent of investor opposition at BP’s recent annual meeting.
Internal leaks and a whistleblower report point to a pattern of "aggressive," "verbally abusive," and "bullying" behavior toward multiple colleagues, alongside accusations of withholding info from the board and leaking privileged data.
Ousted BP Chair Hits Back at ‘Lies’ About His Conduct
The boardroom turmoil at BP deepened after its ousted chair, Albert Manifold, claimed allegations about his conduct were “lies”.
In a new and lengthy statement, Manifold disputed reports about his conduct, saying: “At no point in my tenure as chairman of BP has anyone raised with me any issue about my conduct or my relationship with my colleagues.”
He also described media reports that he wanted to exert control of the FTSE 100 company like an executive chair as “nonsense”. Manifold said he had “many other commitments” and had only spent 13 days in BP’s London office so far this year.
“What I do not accept is that lies can be told about me, nor that anyone should be allowed to hide behind anonymity when commenting on my time at BP.”
Manifold conceded he may have “pushed hard and challenged people directly” amid his “determination to drive change on costs, performance, the balance sheet and shareholder communications”.
However, he disputed reports from the company about his behaviour, adding: “There is a considerable distance between driving an organisation with urgency and the characterisation of my conduct that is now being put about.”
He said such “accusations” had not been previously made about his behaviour during his 40-year career. He added that he “called out … unnecessary or excessive expenditure” but felt not everyone shared his priorities.
Manifold said he turned down many of the benefits traditionally enjoyed by top executives, which he called a “culture of entitlement”, including chauffeur-driven cars, being flown by private jet or taking advantage of corporate hospitality: “I had no interest in having a dedicated chauffeur-driven limousine at my beck and call on the occasions that I was in London. I, like most people, walked, took taxis, trains, etc. I had no interest in taking private aviation nor in availing myself of corporate tickets for sports events. I made my own coffee, bought my lunch in the local cafe. I sat in a small office, eschewing the grand corner-office privilege of previous chairmen.”
Ian Tyler has been named interim chair, BP said, with the board set to begin a formal process to identify a permanent successor: "The Board and leadership team have deep conviction in the strategic direction we have laid out, and the company is moving at pace to deliver it."
This marks BP's fourth abrupt top-tier departure in three years, following the rapid exits of previous chair Helge Lund and chief executives Bernard Looney and Murray Auchincloss.
Board
Ian Tyler Interim Chair 2025
Meg O'Neill CEO 2026
Kate Thomson CFO 2024 (Interim in 2023)
Dame Amanda Blanc Senior Independent Director 2022
Dave Hager 2025
Tushar Morzaria 2020
Hina Nagarajan 2023
Satish Pai 2023
Dr. Johannes Teyssen 2021
Manifold took up the chairmanship just last October. At last month's annual general meeting, just 81.8% of shareholders backed his election
Among the most consequential decisions of Manifold's short tenure: pushing out former CEO Murray Auchincloss and overseeing the selection of Meg O'Neill to succeed him — a hire that marked the first time BP had recruited an external CEO and the first time a woman had led one of the oil industry's largest players.
Dell wins a $9.7 billion Pentagon software deal after donating to Trump accounts
Dell stock skyrockets 32%, heads for best day ever as AI server revenue soars
Michael Dell added $35.8 billion to his personal fortune in a single day.
Michael Dell pledged $6.25 billion to Trump Accounts
This greatly helps with $100M Dell ($4M personally for Michael) had to pay in 2010 for its Intel Cookie jar Scandal: Dell was telling investors that its high profits were due to amazing management and great computer sales. In reality, a massive chunk of their profits came from secret exclusivity payments from Intel so that Intel could shut out their competitor AMD.
SpaceX’s Unconventional Corporate Arrangements Favor Elon Musk
Danish pension fund rejects SpaceX IPO over valuation and governance concerns
Standard Chartered CEO apologises for ‘lower-value human capital’ remarks
Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters triggered a massive PR firestorm by describing the bank’s plan to replace back-office staff with automation as replacing "lower-value human capital" with financial investment
Standard Chartered is cutting roughly 7,800 jobs—representing about 15% of its global back-office corporate support roles—over the next four years to make room for AI
JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon downplayed the viral backlash against Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters—calling it an "inartful" slip-of-the-tongue from a friend.
Tyson Foods hands CEO role to director
Incoming CEO Jeffrey K. Schomburger is Lead Independent Director (2016-)
Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):
DR: Ride-Share Drivers in Massachusetts Formally Unionize MM DR
DR: Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner stands by ad accusing Red Sox private equity owners of ruining the team
DR: Supreme Court lets Vermont’s Meta lawsuit proceed, opening door to 50-state legal wave
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a push to avoid a lawsuit alleging that Facebook and Instagram harmed young users, a decision that comes as social media companies increasingly face legal scrutiny.
Meta had argued that it can’t be sued in Vermont court because neither the company nor the app design has specific ties to the state. Vermont countered that the sites’ large number of teen users gives its courts jurisdiction.
DR: New Hampshire data center developer withdraws plans hours before opponents were to pack town meeting
MM: The world’s largest data center was supposed to run on 100% natural gas. Utah’s Republican governor says ‘never.’
Must include solar, geothermal
MM: Labor union participation is on the rise even as U.S. companies spend $1.7 billion annually to halt union formation MM DR
Assholiest of the Week (MM):
Index funds should just quit pretending DR
Exxon wins shareholder backing for legal move to Texas
71.3% support
We know ~22% of that is BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street
We can GUESS that ~13% of that is retail
Estimated 40% of shares are retail
28% voted prior to retail vote capture plan by Exxon
If we GUESS that maybe only 10% of retail voters adopted vote plan when they sent it out at the end of 2025, and if we GUESS that half of them were non voters, we can figure that maybe 33% of retail voted this go around - giving management ~13% of the vote before the vote started
Which means individuals with no idea and index funds voted 35% in favor - and the rest of investors voted 36% in favor
YOUR INDEX FUNDS HATE YOUR VOTING RIGHTS
Throw in that the SHP to add more options to retail voting plan - which included an option to default vote AGAINST management - only got 23.5% support, and we know that BLK/Vanguard/SS voted against it and retail voted with management, the real vote in favor: 36% - EXACTLY THE NUMBER OF REAL INVESTORS THAT VOTED AGAINST REDOMESTICATION
This is unlikely a coincidence - ACTUAL INVESTORS with ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE like rights, but index funds and uneducated retail could fucking care less
Safe Harbor Financial Expands Board of Directors with Appointment of Tyler Klimas and Sean Tonner
Two dudes added to an all dude board overseeing weed banking at a non dual class company… because women don’t do banks or weed I guess? Investors, what say you?
Last year, they said “we don’t care” - 97% in favor
Meanwhile, in the UK…
Investors tell BP to fix shareholder rights and governance after chair removal
Tech bros should quit pretending
Meta commits additional funding to Oversight Board through 2028
$13m - Zuck owns a $300m yacht and spent $13m for a bunch of well meaning reporters, academics, and human rights experts to help him decide what to do about horrible human behavior on his platforms
When they decide, he listens… 42% of the time
Here’s one they listen to: from September 2025, decided in April 2026 (inside a year!), and Instagram post listed the reasons dating someone in a wheelchair is great, and a comment said it was also good because they can’t run away.
Meta left the comment up, but the board found it in the appeals and said it should come down - and Meta took it down under its bullying policy
Meanwhile, for AI driven fake content for war and conflict, Meta is considering it…
OpenAI Foundation is committing $250 million to help workers navigate AI disruption
Oh, thank god, we’re saved
Marc Andreessen Sputters Incomprehensibly at Question About How AI Will Actually Benefit Humankind
"I mean, look, so it, it is, alright — I mean, alright I'm gonna give you the deepest of all pitches, I'm gonna give you the, the — okay."
Just stop pretending it’s for “humankind” and not for YOU TO MAKE TRILLIONS
The NY Post and “baby naming expert”
Literally everything in this headline is incorrect - and so is this quote from “baby naming expert” Taylor A. Humphrey: ““Mayor Mamdani is so divergent from tradition and I do wonder if that played some part in Gen Z parents moving back towards more traditional heritage,” adding that Mamdani was campaigning, and in the spotlight for much of 2025.”
The data is very inconvenient for this narrative - 77 of the 100 names are exactly the same from 2023, and here are the different “new traditional” names according to Taylor:
Archer, Arthur, August, Beau, Bennett, Brooks, George, Lincoln, Parker, and Rowan replacing names like…
Abraham, Austin, Eli, Hunter, Ian, Jonathan, Jordan, Kai, Ryan, and Zachary
Adeline, Clara, Daisy, Delilah, Eden, Georgia, Iris, Kennedy, Margot, Parker, and Sloane replacing names like…
Anna, Ariana, Ashley, Autumn, Bella, Hailey, Jade, Rachel, Rose, Sarah, and Savannah
Alternate theory using spurious data, because yes, this is what I spend my time doing:
I looked at all 2023 NY state names vs. all 2025 NY state names and compared them to the number of corporate board directors with those names at those times - I can show that the name changes are definitely positively for sure related to the rise or fall of that name on corporate boards because parents are increasingly focused on who runs their companies.
The biggest growth was in the name Zoe (ZOHRAN! Not made up!) from 2 active directors to 7 in 2025!
In the top 10 of names includes… Amir!!! From 18 to 22 names!
Second biggest drop - the decidedly unwoke, “traditional” name Oliver, down 22%
Headliniest of the Week
DR: New Website Detects Apocalypse If Billionaire Jets Start Fleeing en Masse
MM: Kevin O’Leary slams people who want work-life balance: ‘I hope they work for my competitors’
Who Won the Week?
DR: BP Bully Albert Manifold’s now famous coffee maker. Or maybe Michael Dell
MM: Illinois state house of reps, lead by Daniel Didech, much to the annoyance of state senator Bill Cunningham who introduced SB 3444 to exempt AI companies from liability for mass death, passed one of the strongest laws in the country to force third party audits of AI companies, and it passed 110-0
Predictions
DR: Based on the survey which reveals that 99 Percent of CEOs Are Preparing to Lay Off Workers and Replace Them With AI Within Two Years, it is revealed that the 1% of CEOs who are not preparing to lay off workers and replace them with AI understood AI to mean Actual Intelligence
MM: OpenAI’s upcoming S-1 filing reveals that, not to be outdone by Musk’s SpaceX insecurities, Sam Altman gives himself dual class shares worth 300 votes and 99% voting power, has a classified board, incorporates in Nevada, has mandatory arbitration clauses and a minimum lawsuit threshold of 100% of the stock ownership, and the first board member is Illinois state senator Bill Cunningham
