Harvard directors on boards, Verizon trades DEI for Frontier, and Blackrock’s new “Whatever” fund prediction

Story of the Week (DR):

1. Right wing faux populism:

1. Josh Hawley blasts Allstate CEO for making $26M last year — while company can’t ‘afford’ to pay out claims

2. Trump Attacks Walmart, Tells Retailer to ‘Eat the Tariffs’ Instead of Raising Prices

2. Tesla CFO earns staggering $139M compensation package

1. Vaibhav Taneja: Approximately 80% of Mr. Taneja’s equity award was granted as stock options and 20% of the award was granted as restricted stock units. Robyn Denholm member of Pay Committee

1. In 2024, Tesla experienced its first annual sales decline in nearly a decade, with a 1.1% drop in global deliveries. 

2. In April 2025, Chinese automaker BYD surpassed Tesla in European electric vehicle sales for the first time, registering 7,231 units compared to Tesla's 7,165. This shift is attributed to BYD's competitively priced and technologically advanced lineup. 

3. Tesla's sales in California, its largest American market, declined in all four quarters of 2024, with Model 3 sales plunging 36% for the year. 

4. In 2024, Tesla led all automakers in the U.S. with over 5 million vehicles recalled across 16 separate campaigns

5. In 2025, Tesla dropped to 95th place out of 100 in the Axios Harris Poll, down from 8th place in 2021

2. In a hidden 10K/A from 4/30/25

3. “Staggering” is from Fox: even more fake anti-capitalist rhetoric

3. Scared bro dictatorships: Duolingo deletes its TikTok and Instagram posts amid AI backlash

1. CEO Luis von Ahn, posted a memo on LinkedIn last month describing plans to make the company "AI-first." He said the company would "gradually stop using contractors to do work that AI can handle" and "headcount will only be given if a team cannot automate more of their work."

2. The backlash was harsh. Tweets, TikToks, and Reddit posts exploded in outrage. As of Tuesday, Duolingo's social accounts had been wiped — no posts, no icon. Duolingo did not respond to a request for comment.

1. And the one statement that was released by a Duolingo spokesperson, after the account went dark, did not shade much light on the situation (pun intended): “Let’s just say we’re experimenting with silence. Sometimes, the best way to make noise is to disappear first.”

3. Duolingo CEO says there may still be schools in our AI future, but mostly just for childcare

4. Bro dictatorship (76% combined voting power)

1. Co-founder CEO Luis von Ahn (43%); co-founder CTO Severin Hacker (40%)

2. Classified board: why?

3. Each share of Class A common stock is entitled to one vote, and each share of Class B common stock is entitled to 20 votes

4. The worst kind of suck-ups: Verizon ends DEI programs, diversity goals as it seeks approval for Frontier acquisition MM

1. Verizon dumped DEI. Then regulators cleared its $20 billion Frontier deal

2. 4/1/25: T-Mobile announces DEI changes in pursuit of Lumos

1. A day after T-Mobile said it would end some diversity, equity and inclusion practices, the FCC gave a green light to T-Mobile's deal with EQT for fiber operator Lumos.

3. 5/22/25: AT&T CEO on potential Trump DEI pressure for $5.75B deal: 'We don't have to roll back anything'

1. AT&T CEO John Stankey isn't showing his hand yet on whether he plans to dial back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to gain approval for a big new fiber deal from the Trump administration.

2. AT&T said late Wednesday it would acquire all of Lumen Technologies' (LUMN) fiber business for $5.75 billion, above the already pricey $5.5 billion that deal watchers estimated a few weeks ago.

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

1. DR: Most US executives want to remove at least one director, PwC survey says

1. 93% said they wanted at least one director to be replaced, an all-time high for the five years this survey has been conducted

2. 78% said two or more should be replaced

3. 56% worried about directors' performance being diminished by their advanced age

4. 47% worried members served on too many boards

5. Only 32% believe their boards have the right skills and expertise

2. MM: BYD overtakes Tesla in Europe for the first time. That's more bad news for Elon Musk. MM

1. I’m now rooting for China… and I’m not alone: Jamie Dimon says he is a 'red-blooded American patriot capitalist,' but he sees how China's hustle is paying off

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

1. Shareholders lamenting the rise of virtual meetings

1. Shareholders lament the rise of virtual annual meetings

2. They miss the time they could meet directors face to face before voting 97% in favor?

2. Shareholders afraid to vote against directors

1. 93% of U.S. Executives Desire Board Member Replacements, Survey Finds - News and Statistics

1. 49% of directors think one other director should get the axe too according to PwC

2. Grant them their wish!!  Just YOU choose instead of them!

3. I’ll do it for you:

1. If I look at directors actively on 2+ boards, who have served on at least 3 boards in the last 7 years…

2. Filter them by performance - below average earnings, TSR, AND controversies…

3. There are 66 options to choose from!

4. Including… Stephen Girsky, CEO of fraudulent company Nikola!

5. Randy Weisenburger at Valero Energy and Carnival!

6. Robert Johnson on the boards of Spirit Aero, Roper, and Spirit Airlines!

7. Arnold Donald on four boards - Salesforce, BofA, GE Vernova, MP Materials!  Four times the underperformance!

8. Chip Bergh at HP and Pinterest!

9. What, you don’t recognize any of these names?  These sound like random board members?  Shame on you!

1. Johnson has been on the boards for 18,19, and 14 years respectively

2. Weisenburger for 14 and 16 years

3. Donald’s been at BofA for 12 years

4. Bergh’s been at HP for 9 years!

4. These people are tenured.  They’ve been around.  They’ve proven they are really good at overseeing underperformance.  VOTE. THEM. OUT.

5. I’m sure you’re worried about hurting their feelings or seeming activist - you’re not, and you won’t!  Even the boards and executives wish you would vote someone out!  Try it!

3. Harvard board members DR

1. DHS barred Harvard from enrolling international students. Here’s what’s at stake and what’s still uncertain

2. You’ve let Bill Ackman be your big fat useless mouthpiece - where the fuck are you all?  Oh, I found you…

1. 2,173 companies in our database have at least one director who attended Harvard

1. 848 of those companies are NON US companies

2. Just under 4% of ALL GLOBAL DIRECTORSHIPS are held by what we KNOW are Harvard alums

1. It’s 9% of all US company directorships - nearly 1 in every 10 US directors at a company are from Harvard

3. Average network power of a Harvard director is $6.2 trillion, compared to a global average of $2.6 trillion - Harvard directors have nearly 2.5x the power of an average director

4. Harvard directors have on average 13% influence compared to 11% for other directors

5. On average, 38% of Harvard directors have merit - while 20% of non Harvard directors do

1. Driven largely by the fact that 62% of them have core industry knowledge and 55% are company leaders - vs. 19% of non Harvard directors with core industry knowledge and 44% of non Harvard directors being leaders

6. Where we have race/ethnicity data for Harvard directors (1,664 of them), 28% are non white - compared to non Harvard directors where we have race (12,412 of them) only 16% are non white

7. At least 70 of the directors who went to Harvard in our database are tagged as international nationals in our data - and that’s a WOEFULLY incomplete dataset

3. Open your fucking mouths!  Did going to Harvard any of you help you get jobs and board positions?  Was it nice to network and meet people who eventually could help you get jobs?  Is there a culture of Harvard?  I hate Harvard, and even I think this is utter madness and stupidity - stand up!  Say something you cowards! 

Headliniest of the Week

1. DR: Chicago Sun-Times prints summer reading list full of fake books: Reading list in advertorial supplement contains 66% made up books with real author names: "Tidewater Dreams" by Isabel Allende and "The Last Algorithm" by Andy Weir

2. MM: ‘Buy the dip’? You’re twice as likely to do that if you’re a man

1. Nacho dip?  Women Outperform Men as Investors, Statistics Show. Here Are 3 Possible Reasons.

3. MM: Anthropic's new Claude model blackmailed an engineer having an affair in test runs

4. MM: Pitney Bowes appoints activist investor as new CEO

1. I love when a company literally just gives up entirely

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: Sam Alman, Ugh: Sam Altman Tells Staff Plan to Ship 100 Million Devices That See Everything In Users’ Lives after OpenAI is buying iPhone designer Jony Ive’s AI devices startup for $6.4 billion

2. MM: Bud Light - thanks to one trans beer drinker, everyone that shot their Bud Light cans avoided future illness: Beer is the latest source of hazardous PFAS, or ‘forever chemicals,’ according to worried scientists.  Thank you, trans beer drinkers!  You saved us once again!

Predictions

1. DR: When AT&T gives up its DEI program to the Trump altar, I buy some string and quickly make hummus so I can use two empty cans of chick peas to make my new phone

MM: Since this is going forward - Antitrust Cops Say BlackRock, Other Fund Giants May Have Hurt Coal Competition - which should read “Company owners ask companies they own to do stuff” - Blackrock will launch a new investment vehicle called “Pick Your Own Damn Stocks, We Don’t Give a Damn LP” in which clients can pick the investments and are auto enrolled in a proxy voting program called “Whatever the Fuck Ever” in which voting and engagement are assigned directly to every board chair.