Epstein (non)accountability, Disney’s shiny CEO toy, Nike vs. EEOC, Texas oil blacklist is illegal

Our show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only platform measuring board power, connections, and performance for FREE.

Story of the Week (DR):

1. Epstein: The tech bros

1. Reid Hoffman (2,658 Files)

2. Bill Gates (2,592 Files)

3. Peter Thiel (2,281 Files)

4. Elon Musk (1,116 Files)

1. Kimbal too (100+ files)

5. Larry Page (314 Files)

6. Sergey Brin (294 Files)

7. Mark Zuckerberg (282 Files)

8. Jeff Bezos (196 Files)

9. Eric Schmidt (193 Files)

2. Epstein: the lack of US-based corporate fallout MM

1. Head of firm founded by Mandelson to quit after Epstein releases

1. Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, the chief executive of the lobbying firm co-founded with Peter Mandelson, has announced his resignation after information in the Jeffrey Epstein files detailed apparent links between the company and the convicted sex offender.

2. ‘Ignore It.’ How the Elite Consoled Jeffrey Epstein Over His Crimes.

3. A Revolt Inside Paul Weiss Over the Epstein Files Took Down Brad Karp

1. On Wednesday, an exclusive group of 10 or so Paul Weiss partners met unbeknown to their longtime chairman, Brad Karp, to discuss whether he could continue to lead the law firm.

2. The partners, who manage the firm and refer to themselves as the “Deciding Group,” were grappling with the release of new emails suggesting Karp had a more extensive relationship with Jeffrey Epstein than they realized, including in the months before the convicted sex offender’s death. 

3. Karp led one of the country’s biggest law firms for 18 years and had survived a maelstrom less than a year ago when he struck a first-of-its-kind settlement with President Trump on his firm’s behalf. He wouldn’t survive a second controversy as the firm’s leader. 

4. World Economic Forum investigates its CEO over Epstein links

1. CEO Borge Brende

5. Wasserman Group CEO issues public apology after being mentioned in Epstein files

1. Casey Wasserman

6. Peter Attia, longevity doctor named in Epstein files, no longer listed on advisory board on sleep tech company's website

1. But still at CBS: but Bari Weiss hates cancel culture

3. Elon Musk announces SpaceX’s acquisition of AI startup xAI

1. Record-Breaking $1.25 Trillion Valuation

2. Goal: Orbital AI Data Centers

3. Consolidation of the "Muskonomy"

4. Disney

1. Josh D’Amaro (Incoming CEO): Currently the Chairman of Disney Experiences (Parks and Resorts), D’Amaro will officially become CEO on March 18, 2026, following the Annual Shareholder Meeting. He is a 28-year Disney veteran credited with driving the $36 billion revenue growth in the parks segment.

1. Disney's next CEO often dresses like Bob Iger. Is it a good idea to copy your boss's style?

2. Dana Walden (New President & CCO): In a historic move, Walden (formerly Co-Chair of Disney Entertainment) has been named President and Chief Creative Officer. Reporting directly to D'Amaro, she will oversee the creative direction of the entire company, ensuring brand consistency across all storytelling platforms.

1. Same Old Disney: Woke Exec Elevated to Top Position as ‘Head Storyteller’

3. Bob Iger (Senior Advisor): Iger will step down as CEO on March 18 but will remain as a Senior Advisor and Board Member until his formal retirement on December 31, 2026, to ensure an "orderly transition."

4. Pay

Base Salary

Target Bonus

Annual Equity

One-Time Award

Total Year 1

Josh D’Amaro

$2.5M

$6.25M

$26.25M

$9.7M

$44.7M

Dana Walden

$3.75M

$7.5M

$15.75M

$5.26M

$32.26M

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

1. DR: Judge rules Texas anti-ESG law is unconstitutional

2. MM: 38% of Companies’ Emissions Trajectories Are Aligned with Global Climate Goals: MSCI

Assholiest Triggeringiest of the Week (MM):

1. Nike among the first targeted by EEOC for DEI activity DR

1. The charge: Specifically, on May 24, 2024, EEOC Commissioner (now Chair) Andrea R. Lucas issued Charge No. 551-2024-04996, alleging that Respondent NIKE may have violated Title VII “by engaging in a pattern or practice of disparate treatment against White employees, applicants, and training program participants in hiring, promotion, demotion, or separation decisions (including selection for layoffs); internship programs; and mentoring, leadership development, and other career development programs.”

2. This is crazy to me: EEOC counsel signatory GWENDOLYN YOUNG REAMS - a black woman who signed off on this lawsuit was the subject of an entire article on the amazing power of Title VII for the civil rights movement in July of 2024.  Reams has been at EEOC since 1972, and Biden made her acting general counsel.

3. Trump took over, appointed Andrea Lucas as chair who DEMOTED Reams to Associate General Counsel to make room for Catherine Eschbach, a Federalist Society who has SIX YEARS EXPERIENCE AT A LAW FIRM who got her Bachelor’s in 2010 and her law degree in 2015 (a whole 10 years experience!), but had this to say upon her appointment: 

1. “President Trump made clear in his executive order on eliminating DEI that EO 11246 had facilitated federal contractors adopting DEI practices out of step with the requirements of our Nation’s civil rights laws and that, with the rescission of EO 11246, the President mandates federal contractors wind those practices down within 90 days. As director, I’m committed to carrying out President Trump’s executive orders, which will restore a merit-based system to provide all workers with equal opportunity.”

4. All the other lawyers signing were white, and I can only guess Reams had no choice but to sign unless she decided to do MLK dirty 60 years after seeing him in college

5. But literally, the EEOC discriminated against a black lawyer who was in charge to put white lawyers in charge to bring discrimination cases against companies

6. NOT TO MENTION, here is Nike’s workforce composition in 2024:

1. 57% white, 50% male overall

2. 65% white, 55% males for management

3. 77% white, 62% male for leadership

7. The EEOC workforce demographics as of 2022, when it was WOKEST:

1. 60% white, 56% male

8. NIKE IS WHITER THAN THE EEOC FROM MANAGEMENT UP

2. Blackrock and every Wall Street bank that quit Net Zero Alliance

1. Rather than sticking it out and fighting, knowing that you were correct and legally able to invest however you wanted and associate with anyone you wanted, you all cowered when Texas passed the first law saying you “discriminate against” fossil fuels and generated an arbitrary “black list”

2. Now, this: Texas anti-ESG law declared unconstitutional by US judge

1. In a decision made public on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Alan Albright said the law violated First Amendment free-speech protections because it punished businesses for speaking about fossil fuels and associating with organizations that oppose fossil fuels.

3. First Amendment!  The very first one!  You didn’t even have to read ALL the amendments to figure out which 

3. Stewardship whining

1. The UK Investment Association stewardship working group, a group that included Aegon, BlackRock, Fidelity, M&G, Schroders, Artemis, CCLA, Legal and General, and Royal London Asset Management, put out a paper: Realigning Stewardship: Delivering sustainable value through Stewardship

2. The group wants you to know some things about stewardship, specifically:

1. Stuff happening in the future is too far away for us to care now: 

1. “The need for realism over what stewardship can achieve – There are potential time horizon trade-offs between achieving real world outcomes on sustainability themes such as climate change and delivering financial returns to clients. These trade-offs need to be actively considered. Additionally, there are concerns that targeted sustainability goals may not always be realistic, and that government and other stakeholders may have developed unrealistic expectations of stewardship's capacity to deliver systemic change.”

2. Translation: if we actually invested for climate and were stewards of climate in our portfolios given that climate change will totally fuck up everything we know and invest in, we’d have to give up on, like, AI and oil and stuff… we can’t really do that because there’s too much money and stonks and rockets and whatever, so we’ll give up on climate, but just like, for NOW, later we’ll fix it by asking nicely

2. Despite historically having voted 96% in favor of virtually EVERYTHING: 

1. “There is an undue focus on voting as a barometer of good stewardship, which does not reflect the role of all stewardship mechanisms.”

2. Translation: we get no credit for talking about this for a decade and voting for everything - like, NONE.  Stewardship teams are seen as cost centers, not alpha generation.  But we should get credit for talking about stuff in the hopes that things change over a long period of time.

3. We are poor: 

1. “There are different costs associated with the process of stewardship for both investors and companies, who have finite resources.”

2. Translation: I mean, PLENTY of resources for CEO pay that outstrips inflation and massive AI investments to displace workers and stuff, but you know… poor.

3. OMG, stop whining… the vote IS THE MECHANISM YOU’VE NEVER USED!  Your owners WANT YOU TO and you vote with management at a higher rate than people in the US believe in the moon landing!

Headliniest of the Week

1. DR: The meritocracy is officially a lie: Elon Musk's hiring advice: 'Don't look at the résumé — just believe your interaction'

2. DR: It’s official, we are right about everything: Disney’s Bob Iger achieves an essential feat for outgoing CEOs: giving his successor a clean slate

3. MM: Hillary Clinton wants testimony on Jeffrey Epstein in public: 'Let's stop the games'

4. MM: My neighborhood is pushing back against sidewalk delivery robots. The fight’s coming to your town next

5. Picture of the week from inside a Cracker Barrel, which is getting its mojo back:

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: The Epstein Bros (see Matt’s winner)

2. MM: White men (again) - I am already filing a lawsuit against that girl in high school who wouldn’t make out with me for discriminating against white men with ugly glasses and long noses.  It’s racism of the highest order.

Predictions

1. DR: The best we can hope for are shareholder derivative lawsuits against boards who failed to oversee the "reputational risk” of their Epstein tech bro directors and CEOs.  

2. MM: When I saw this: Elon Musk says it's hard to convince engineers with families to move to SpaceX's 'technology monastery' in Texas, it was clear: Elon Musk will re-reincorporate SpaceX in a really nice suburb somewhere near or around San Francisco in an effort to re-re-rehire talent (who may actually have families), after which a single white man who moved to Texas to join SpaceX will sue the company for discrimination against single white men who move to Texas, forcing Musk to re-re-reincorporate in Texas again.