Cracker Barrel’s activist and Disney say no to DEI, Doug McMillon steps down, Alex Karp’s ‘Rosebud’

Story of the Week (DR):

1. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon to retire in January and US operations chief John Furner will take over MM

1. 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

2. 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.

3. Walmart Announces John Furner as President and Chief Executive Officer and Director

4. 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.

5. Doug’s quotes on stakeholder capitalism:

1. "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."

2. "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."

3. "Big problems don’t rest on the shoulders of government or corporations alone... We need to reinvent capitalism."

4. "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."

5. 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.

6. 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

2. Japan’s Takaichi Says Firms Focusing Too Much on Shareholders

1. 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.”

2. 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.”

3. Disney ditches 'diversity' and 'DEI' in business report for the first time since 2019

1. 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.

2. By contrast, the company's 2024 SEC filing included a dedicated section on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

1. "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.

2. 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."

3. 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."

3. A few other Disney headlines this week:

1. Disney CEO Bob Iger wants people to use AI to make their own content for Disney+

2. Disney is losing millions a day in its fight with YouTube TV

3. Disney’s CEO Sequel Isn’t Having a Hollywood Ending

4. Activist investor pushes Cracker Barrel shareholders to oust DEI specialist

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

1. Neither proxy firm recommended ousting the CEO.

4. Biglari has launched eight proxy fights in 15 years

1. 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):

1. DR: Should we really blame billionaires for our own financial struggles? In fact, more Americans say yes

1. People increasingly see extreme wealth as contributing to an unfair society, and that sentiment is especially high with Gen Z and millennials.

2. Sixty-seven percent said billionaires are “creating more of an unfair society,” an eight-point increase from the 2024 survey. 

3. Should the law limit wealth accumulation? Even Republicans have gone up 12% since last year to just under 50%

2. MM: Netflix CTO says the company has no 'formal performance reviews'

Assholiest Which Asshole Do You Blame of the Week (MM):

1. Rivian just doubled its CEO's salary and gave him a $4.6B pay package

1. 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…

1. Schwartz is an exec at Cox Enterprises - who invested $350m in Rivian in 2022

2. “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.”

2. 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)

1. Scaringe did get not one, but THREE degrees

2. He once estimated he spent “about 5%” of his time with his wife and three kids - they divorced this year

3. Dual class shares, with which Scaringe can vote out the entire board if they DON’T give him whatever comp plan he wants?

4. Elon Musk, who perfected the art of the meme compensation which this basically copies, but maybe worse?

1. 22,000,000 shares (60%) in 11 tranches for meeting share price targets between $40 and $140 per share - MEME IT UP BABY!

2. 7,250,000 shares in 3 tranches to make income

3. 7,250,000 shares in 3 tranches for cash flow

4. Maybe Scaringe plans on a meme campaign to get that price up, get paid, then use the money on his OTHER new spinoff companies

2. Verizon to Cut About 15,000 Jobs

1. OLD NEW CEO Dan Shulman, who was lead independent director and on the board with the old CEO for 7 years

1. He first penned his welcome memo to employees by saying, “The biggest competitive advantage we have is our team.” 

2. 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.”

3. Everyone loves hearing “you’ve been fired so we can be more capital efficient”

2. DR: NEW OLD CEO Hans Vestberg, who is still on the board as a “special advisor”

1. His farewell post said, “I’ve dedicated my life… the last nine years almost… to Verizon.  It’s an amazing company, amazing employees.”

2. 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.

3. 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?

3. Chair of the Human Resources Committee of the board, Laxman Narasimhan, who has himself experienced being cut from his job as CEO of Starbucks

4. Verizon employees, for costing too much

3. Activist investor pushes Cracker Barrel shareholders to oust DEI specialist

1. 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.

2. The DEI specialist - Gilbert Davila - who clearly DEI’ed the logo since his speciality is DEI and he is brown.

3. 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

1. 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.

1. Sardar’s other winning holdings include Steak n’ Shake, Maxim magazine, and Jack in the Box, all very popular and not at all pointless

4. 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

1. DR: No one leaving New York City because of Mamdani, say two top real estate CEOs

2. MM: Why Palantir CEO Alex Karp exhumed the 'whole yard' of his childhood home

1. 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

2. 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."

3. "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?

1. DR: Jason Turner, a Walmart management associate who made $174k last year and is the brother-in-law of new Walmart CEO John Furner.

2. MM: Shoppers at Costco, because Target just rolled this out:Target launches ‘10-4’ training, encouraging workers to smile at customers

1. 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

2. As if no one shopping there was the fault of employees not smiling

3. Also, US, because Trump is investigating getting rid of shareholder voting!

Predictions

1. 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.