Companies kill benefits, activist wants manly Victoria’s Secret, Buffett turns off the lights

Companies kill benefits, activist wants manly Victoria’s Secret, Buffett turns off the lights

Free Float Media

Story of the Week (DR):

1. Trump is bringing Tim Cook, Elon Musk, and a dozen other CEOs to Beijing for his Xi summit

   1. Technology & AI

      1. Elon Musk – CEO, Tesla and SpaceX

      2. Tim Cook – CEO, Apple

      3. Jensen Huang – CEO, Nvidia (joined as a last-minute addition after a personal call from the President)

      4. Cristiano Amon – CEO, Qualcomm

      5. Sanjay Mehrotra – CEO, Micron Technology

      6. Dina Powell McCormick – President, Meta

      7. Jim Anderson – CEO, Coherent

   2. Finance & Investment

      1. Larry Fink – CEO, BlackRock

      2. Stephen Schwarzman – CEO, Blackstone

      3. David Solomon – CEO, Goldman Sachs

      4. Jane Fraser – CEO, Citigroup

   3. Aerospace & Manufacturing

      1. Kelly Ortberg – CEO, Boeing (reportedly finalizing a massive 500-jet deal during the trip)

      2. Larry Culp – CEO, GE Aerospace

   4. Payments & Services

      1. Michael Miebach – CEO, Mastercard

      2. Ryan McInerney – CEO, Visa

   5. Agriculture & Biotech

      1. Brian Sikes – CEO, Cargill

      2. Jacob Thaysen – CEO, Illumina

2. Paypal agrees to $30 million settlement with Trump's Justice Department over 'illegal DEI'

   1. The company launched a $530M Economic Opportunity Fund in 2020 for Black and underrepresented minority businesses

   2. Did not fight this in court, just surrendered

      1. To make the DOJ happy, PayPal had to ditch its race-based criteria; instead, it now funnels that financial support to veteran-owned businesses and companies in farming, manufacturing, or technology. A direct “black” to “white” transfer

   3. Any company that launched a race-specific grant or loan program after 2020 is now officially in the DOJ’s crosshairs, and "social justice" is being litigated as "civil rights fraud."

   4. PayPal board:

      1. “Independent” chair David W. Dorman (2015-; 17%)

         1. member of the Dell Technologies Board

            1. Michael Dell and Donald Trump are BFFs: Dell pledged $6.25B to Trump Accounts

      2. Jonathan Christodoro (2015-; 13%): a disciple of billionaire Carl Icahn (former Managing Director at Icahn Capital), one of Trump’s oldest and most vocal allies

      3. Founder PayPal Mafia Trump BFFs: Musk (DOGE), David Sacks (AI and Crypto Czar), Peter Thiel (JD Vance creator)

      4. Frank Yeary (2015-; 12%): Intel director since 2009 and chair since 2023

3. It Was One of DOGE’s Most Absurd Abuses. A Court Finally Exposed It

   1. This whole saga centers on a major legal showdown between the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). 

   2. The case is a consolidated lawsuit (often called the NEH-DOGE lawsuit) filed in May 2025 by groups including the Authors Guild, the American Historical Association, and the Modern Language Association.  

   3. On May 7, 2026, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon issued a massive 143-page ruling. She essentially nuked DOGE’s attempt to defund hundreds of humanities projects, calling their process a "textbook example of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination."

      1. The AI Purge: Instead of a professional review, DOGE staffers (described in court as young "technologists" with no background in humanities) ran thousands of grant descriptions through ChatGPT.

         1. DOGE staffers—mostly described as 20-somethings with "zero experience in the humanities"—attempted to dodge government transparency laws by conducting official business on Signal with auto-delete enabled. The court found this was a blatant violation of the Federal Records Act, proving that "efficiency" is often just code for "avoiding a paper trail."

      2. The Woke Filter: They told the AI to flag anything related to "DEI." This backfired spectacularly when the AI flagged projects on Holocaust survivors, Appalachian history, and Italian-American archives simply because they used words like "identity," "culture," or "women."

         1. DOGE didn't actually read the grants they cut. Instead, they used ChatGPT and basic keyword searches to flag any program containing "incriminating" words like "history," "culture," "identity," or "BIPOC." If the AI thought it sounded "woke," the funding was axed—a move Judge Colleen McMahon called a "textbook example of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination."

         2. In perhaps the most "mask-off" moment of the proceedings, it was revealed that DOGE staffers flagged and canceled a documentary about Jewish women’s slave labor during the Holocaust. The reason? Their AI-driven filter decided that focusing on "Jewish cultures" and "female voices" made it an illegal DEI program. Apparently, documenting Nazi atrocities is now "radical identity politics."

      3. The ruling highlighted a minor detail the administration seemed to forget: DOGE isn't a real government agency. The judge noted that DOGE had absolutely no lawful authority to terminate congressionally appropriated funds. They were essentially a group of private-sector bros playing President with the NEH checkbook

         1. The Redirect: The court found that the $100 million "saved" wasn't actually returned to the Treasury. Instead, it was being funneled into the administration's own projects, like the "National Garden of American Heroes."

4. Why Two Big Companies Just Cut Paid Family Leave MM

   1. For the last decade, a tight labor market forced companies to compete for talent with generous perks. Now, with the job market cooling and employees having less leverage to quit, companies like Deloitte and Zoom are quietly rolling back benefits.

      1. Zoom, the company that became the face of remote work, has slashed its paid parental leave. Birthing parents saw their leave drop from up to 24 weeks to 18 weeks, while non-birthing parents were cut from 16 weeks down to 10.

      2. Deloitte is making deep cuts, but not for everyone. The reductions specifically target “Center” employees—the administrative, IT, and finance support staff who generally earn less—rather than the high-earning consultants. Their leave was halved from 16 weeks to just eight.

         1. Beyond just time off, Deloitte is axing its $50,000 reimbursement program for adoption, surrogacy, and IVF for these support roles.

   2. I Hate Working 5 Days': Zoom CEO Eric Yuan Says AI Could Shrink Workweeks To 3 Days In A Major Future Shift

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

1. DR: Chipotle CEO [Scott Boatwright] tells customers to ‘just ask’ if they want bigger portions after downsizing accusations: “You should ask for a little more ... We serve big, beautiful bowls and burritos. Full stop, no questions asked. If you want more, just ask the team member. I promise you there’s never a team member on that line that’s going to say no.” 

   1. 886 to 1

2. MM: Oil shortages DR MM

   1. Beer demand stumbles as gas prices surge, data shows

      1. I mean, isn’t this the double best?  Less idiots driving drunk AND less idiots DRIVING!

   2. Oil shortages are even hitting colored snack bags

      1. Ugly snacks, maybe less eating!

Assholiest TRIGGERIEST of the Week (MM):

1. Brett Blundy

   1. Victoria’s Secret unveils allegations against activist investor, loses board director

   2. Blundy, Australian billionaire who launched Bras N Things, a classy establishment sold to Hanes, and currently chairs Lovisa, a fast fashion jewelry business, bought 13% of VS and thinks he can run it better

   3. He’s disappointed with VS acquisition of Adore Me (online retailer) and the drop in earnings

      1. Meanwhile, Lovisa’s 1Y market returns: -22% vs. ASX +4%

   4.  TRIGGERED:

      1. Blundy, a fucking Australian billionaire blowhard, chairs Lovisa

         1. Lovisa board: Blundy, Mark McInnes (“deputy chair”), John Cheston (CEO), Bruce Carter, Tracey Blundy (wife), John Charlton, Sei Jin Alt (woman, Asian)

         2. Brett and Tracey own 40%+ of shares

         3. Zero merit directors

         4. Exec team: John, Mark, Victor, Chris - zero women

      2. Blundy is targeting VS, whose board is…

         1. Donna James, Hillary Super (CEO), Irene Britt, Sarah Davis, Jacqueline Hernandez, Rod Little, David McCreight, Mariam Naficy, Lauren Peters, Anne Sheehan

         2. Exec team: 4 women, 1 man

      3. This is the ultimate mansplain - some chest thumping billionaire walks into a room full of women, pushes them out, takes over… and this from the filing:

         1. “On November 13, 2025, members of the Board held a videoconference call with Mr. Blundy to inform him that the Board had determined, in accordance with its fiduciary duties, that appointing Mr. Blundy to the Board would not be in the best interests of VS&Co or its stockholders. In an effort to reach a

mutually agreeable resolution, the Board proposed collaborating with BBRC and Mr. Blundy on (i) adding one mutually-agreed new independent director

not affiliated with BBRC to the Board, (ii) Mr. Blundy’s participation in a review with the Board of the Company’s capital allocation, (iii) entering into a

longer-term information sharing agreement and, in the context of a negotiated resolution with BBRC and Mr. Blundy, an agreement on customary standstill restrictions, and (iv) taking down the Rights Plan. After this call, the Board delivered to Mr. Blundy the following letter explaining its rationale for rejecting his candidacy and proposing a new framework for a mutually agreeable resolution:

1. “The potential for significant reputational and legal risk to Victoria’s Secret arising from (1) your pattern of hiring executives with a history of serious allegations of sexual harassment or other misconduct, and (2) the reported and alleged instances of harassment and highly inappropriate employee policies that occurred under your oversight at companies you controlled or effectively controlled.

4. The proxy should just say, “Australian white male billionaire who is cool sexually harassing women while selling them underwear wants to take over massive underwear store run by women”

2. Elon Musk and Sam Altman

   1. Musk first…

      1. Sam Altman Accuses Elon Musk of Laughing at Memes During Important OpenAI Meetings

      2. Musk's China trip during OpenAI trial prompts apology from his lawyer for CEO's absence

         1. TRIGGERED: This is the man child trillionaire we’re supposed to take seriously - does his mom fold his socks for him?  Does he eat Cheerios out of a frisbee for breakfast?  These are our male adult role models?

         2. Musk apparently was too busy for the trial, but during talks of absorbing OpenAI into Tesla, he wasn’t too busy to spend a long time forcing everyone to look at his fucking dopey idiot manboy memes that made him laugh

         3. Reminder time: Musk is in charge of who gets internet in military conflict (Starlink), gutted the government (DOGE), is trying to implant chips in brains (Neurolink), and used everyone else to get his billions (Tesla was bought, subsidized, SpaceX subsidies, Boring Company steals municipal money to dig holes…)

   2. Altman next…

      1. Sam Altman faces awkward grilling over 'toxic culture of lying'

      2. ChatGPT Told a 19-Year-Old How to Mix Drugs — His Mother Found Him Dead the Next Morning

         1. WHEN YOU PUT A SOCIOPATH AND MANCHILD IN CHARGE OF A WORLD DESTROYING DEVICE, IT TURNS OUT IT’S BAD

3. Warren Buffett DR

   1. Put the folksy “I’m just a guy eating a werther’s original candy making money” schtick aside, where he says they pick great management and let them do their thing - this is “their thing”:

      1. TRIGGERED: Electric Company Says It’s Cutting Off an Entire Town So It Can Sell All Its Power to Data Centers

   2. There is so much to hate here:

      1. Tech billionaires building data centers for AI: check

      2. NV Energy is wholly owned by Berkshire Energy which is owned by Warren Buffett: check

      3. Trump appointed asshole running regulatory agency that represented utilities: check

   3. The town is Lake Tahoe - 50,000 residents have to find a new source of electricity in ONE YEAR because Buffett/Berkshire/NV Energy decided the re-route all energy to data centers for AI

      1. Google, Apple, MSFT all have facilities, 12 data center projects in Northern Nevada

      2. Nevada would have to ask woke California to build hundreds of millions of dollars worth of transmission lines in a year to get to Tahoe, FERC would have to approve other changes (Chair Laura Swett, Trump appointee, represented electric utilities and the firm wrote pieces about the glory of data centers - one of the Amicus Briefs they wrote in 2024 was on behalf of… NV Energy)

         1. Of the fines issued by FERC this year, 99% are one company: an energy efficiency company

         2. Since Trump was elected, FERC has issued fines targeting blue state utilities and renewables at a more than 2:1 rate

   4. So the people are fucked - maybe Warren can tell them to power their town on See’s Candy sugar rushes

Headliniest of the Week

1. DR: Kids with fake mustaches can fool high-tech age verification systems

2. MM: Waymo recalls 3,800 robotaxis after glitch allowed some vehicles to 'drive into standing water'

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: Steve Roth, the CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, expressed his support for fellow billionaire and the Citadel CEO Ken Griffin: “I must say that I consider the phrase tax the rich — quote tax the rich — when spit out with anger and contempt by politicians both here and across the country, to be just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs”

2. MM: Lawyers - literally everything now is a lawsuit and everyone is a lawyer. 

Predictions

1. DR: NYC Mayor Mahmdani asks Steve Roth for “just little more” and Roth replies: “I’m not a fucking Chipotle, commie scum.”

2. MM: Chili's CEO wakes up at 5 a.m., runs daily, and uses that time to generate ideas for the business: On a run next Thursday, May 21, Chili’s CEO Kevin Hochman stops short and says out loud, “What if the Big Crispy Chicken Sandwich was BIGGER???”