Murdoch and Ellison, Voter choice at Vanguard, and Charlie Kirk and the hopeless man problem

Story of the Week (DR):

1. Lachlan Murdoch Secures Control of Fox and News Corp, Ending Succession Fight

1. Lachlan Murdoch is confirmed as Rupert Murdoch’s successor, gaining control over the family’s media empire (which includes Fox Corporation and News Corp). 

2. Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch, and James Murdoch—three of Rupert’s older children—will each receive about US$1.1 billion. They will sell their holdings in Fox and News Corp and give up beneficial/trust rights in those companies.

1. Apart from full siblings Elisabeth and James Murdoch, Lachlan has three half-siblings, an elder half-sister Prudence, and two younger sisters by his father's third marriage, Grace and Chloe. 

3. A new family trust will be set up benefiting Lachlan and Rupert’s younger daughters, Grace and Chloe. That trust will hold controlling voting shares in Fox and News Corp. 

4. The three older siblings will no longer be beneficiaries in the trust(s) connected to Fox and News Corp. They also give up any voting rights held via those trusts. 

5. Rupert Murdoch, despite handing over the control structure, retains a role as Chairman Emeritus. 

6. The new trust arrangement secures Lachlan’s control over the companies through 2050. 

7. One of Rupert Murdoch’s concerns was the possibility that the more moderate siblings (Prudence, Elisabeth, James) could shift the political or editorial leanings of Fox/News Corp after he’s gone. The new structure is designed to prevent that.

2. Senators Call for Hearings About JPMorgan’s Ties to Jeffrey Epstein

1. Democrats want CEO Jamie Dimon to testify about keeping Epstein as a client until 2013

1. Epstein had dozens of accounts at JPMorgan’s private bank and communicated often with bank executives, connecting them to his wealthy contacts, ties The Wall Street Journal first reported in 2023 to be deeper than understood. Epstein was a JPMorgan client before and after he was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008 and forced to register as a sex offender.

2. Trump Epstein letter and drawing from ‘birthday book’ released

3. Eric Trump removed from the ALT5 board of directors after discussion with the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC

1. Trump’s second son, Eric Trump, was removed from the ALT5 board of directors. According to the SEC filing,  the change was made after discussion with the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, therefore, the change was in order to comply with Nasdaq’s listing rules.

2. It is still unclear which of the Nasdaq rules caused Eric Trump to be removed. The closest reason would be the rule that requires a majority of board members at listed companies to be independent. However, if Trump didn’t qualify as independent, other members would have also been removed, which was not the case.

3. after discussion with The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC … and in order to comply with Nasdaq’s listing rules.” 

4. He is now a board observer: While he was originally announced as a full board member, Eric Trump has been reassigned to observer status — meaning he can attend meetings but doesn’t have voting power.

3. Larry Ellison's $100 billion day reminds us why David Ellison could buy Paramount

1. Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, recently saw his net worth jump by around US$100 billion in a single day due to a spike in Oracle’s stock.

2. Larry’s wealth was a key factor enabling his son, David Ellison, to acquire Paramount.

3. David Ellison’s position is less pressured because his father’s vast wealth gives him a kind of “cushion” — meaning that even if some deals don’t go well, he can withstand the backlash more than many media owners could.

1. Paramount Skydance Prepares Ellison-Backed Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery

1. The majority of the planned bid for Warner will be made up of cash

4. A Key to Larry Ellison’s Wealth Creation: Years of Oracle Stock Buybacks

1. Oracle has used aggressive stock buybacks over the past 15 years as a major lever to boost shareholder value—and especially to amplify Larry Ellison’s personal wealth. 

2. Oracle has aggressively repurchased its own shares over roughly the last 15 years — reducing its outstanding share count by nearly 45%. 

1. Because Larry Ellison held roughly the same number of shares, his ownership percentage rose from ~23% to around 41% without buying more stock.

2. This buyback strategy significantly boosted the value of Ellison’s stake — Barron’s estimates that without the buybacks, his stake might have been worth only $215 billion instead of the current ~$387 billion.

3. Ellison didn’t need to purchase additional Oracle shares to increase the value of his investment—he benefited from the shrinking pool of shares and the company’s rising valuation.

4. Vanguard Tries To Get Investors Interested In Proxy Voting MM

1. Vanguard’s trying to get millions of its fund investors involved in big corporate decisions—but so far, most people are still tuning out. That’s left folks wondering who really holds sway at America’s largest companies.

2. Vanguard’s campaign faces a classic case of 'rational apathy', where most index fund investors skip shareholder votes because it feels like a hassle with little impact on their own wallets.

3. Even though Vanguard’s Voting Choice program doubled participation to 82,000 people and tripled the dollar value voted to $9 billion, that’s tiny compared to the company’s 50 million investors and $11 trillion in assets.

4. Studies from Duke, Florida, and Columbia universities show just how overwhelming the sheer number of ballot measures can be—making most people pick broad voting policies, like mainstream or anti-ESG, instead of poring over each decision.

5. While reformers hope wider voting can democratize the system, the early results point the other way: individuals often skip votes or side with management, letting company leaders keep their grip. In fact, last year’s Tesla shareholder votes would have failed if Vanguard’s index funds had voted like individuals.

6. Financial Services Committee Examines the Shareholder Proposal Process and Proxy Advisory Firms

1. On the Impact of Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank on Annual Proxy Statements: “Together, these two laws [Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank] have driven up costs, increased the length and complexity of proxy statements, expanded the disclosure and oversight process, and fundamentally changed much of the shareholder access to the proxy system,” said Chairman Hill.

1. French Hill: founder, Chair, and CEO of Delta Trust & Banking Corporation from 1999 until 2014. A ninth-generation Arkansan, Hill is a direct descendent of slave plantation owner Creed Taylor who was among the wealthiest 1% of Americans in 1860.

2. On the Cost of Unnecessary and Irrelevant Shareholder Proposals: “Under this flawed system, companies are too often forced to waste valuable time and resources fighting proposals that are irrelevant to the company’s bottom line, hurting investors and workers alike,” said Capital Markets Subcommittee Chair Ann Wagner (MO-02).

3. "Allowing a small group of left-wing activists to hijack the proxy proposal process to push social, environmental, DEI, or political objectives totally unrelated to the core business of a company does not advance the cause of capitalism. It undermines capitalism. It corrupts capitalism because it results in the misallocation of resources of the company. It undermines the profitability of the company. It hurts the shareholders,” stated Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chair Rep. Andy Barr (KY-06).

1. Barr believes that abortion should be illegal, including in cases of rape and incest

2. Barr, who’s now running for Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat, made it clear that he and Musk are joined at the hip. A few days after the “town hall” Barr released a photo of himself standing beside a shiny new Tesla, with a big smile, a thumbs-up, and the caption “Elon Musk sure knows what he’s doing!”

4. On How Proxy Advisory Firms Can Deter Businesses from Joining Public Markets: “For many small and medium private companies considering an IPO, the decision often comes down to whether the benefits of accessing public markets outweigh the risk of compliance. But as we have seen in recent years, the shareholder proposal process can be dominated by a small group of activist investors advancing niche political agendas that have little to do with long term value creation. At the same time, proxy advisory firms wield outsized influence over voting outcomes, and [are] operating with limited transparency and potential conflicts of interest. So together, these dynamics can create an uncertainty and additional cost that make public markets less attractive,” declared House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams (TX-25).

1. Williams was listed as the 22nd wealthiest member of Congress in 2018. Williams inherited the family's automobile dealership from his father, who founded the business in 1939.

2. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Williams's Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealership in Weatherford, Texas, received a loan of between $1 million and $2 million as part of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP);[28][29] the loan was later forgiven

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

1. DR: Boone Electric Co-op members can cast drive-thru votes for directors

2. DR: New Mexico will be the first state to make child care free DR MM

1. The program, which will start in November and is expected to save families $12,000 per child annually, is available to all residents regardless of income. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

3. MM: Vanguard Finds ESG Voting Policy by Far the Most Popular Choice for Younger Investors

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

Asshole Speed Round!  You rate the level of asshole for each, and the top scorers are assholes of the week:

1. Paul Atkins 6

1. SEC chief threatens ban on European accounting rules over sustainability

2. The US is thinking about banning IFRS, used everywhere else, because they don’t like the data other countries want to use for investing

3. We already have feet, miles, and pounds, why not just have our own way to measure things that literally no one else uses?

2. Sam Altman 7

1. ‘I haven’t had a good night of sleep since ChatGPT launched’: Sam Altman admits the weight of AI keeps him up at night

2. OMG, SHUT UP.

3. Journalists who don’t understand dual class shares 5

1. Oracle CEO, one of the world’s richest self-made women, just got $412 million richer in 6 hours

4. Charlie Scharf 10

1. Wells Fargo CEO says Trump is entitled to be vocal about the Fed

2. Scharf, also on the MSFT board for the enigma of success

5. Jamie Dimon 8

1. Jamie Dimon says economy is ‘weakening’ but he can’t make sense of all the different data: ‘Maybe, one day, AI will fix that problem’

2. JPMorgan processed over $1B for Jeffrey Epstein despite internal concerns over sex offender status: report

6. Reverse justifying Zuck’s feckless suckups 10

1. Meta CFO explains CEO Mark Zuckerberg's $600 billion White House pledge

2. Susan Li

7. Bros 10

1. The gender pay gap is getting wider, reversing progress

2. The pay gap is now back to where it was in 2017, when the burgeoning #MeToo movement drew wide attention to sex discrimination.

8. Everything Charlie Kirk 10

1. There are two things happening simultaneously that are probable root causes in political assassinations today:

1. Hopelessness - Elon Musk is proposing to pay himself 68% of ALL THE WEALTH of the BOTTOM 50% OF US HOUSEHOLDS.  If this pay package passes, he will have as much worth as ONE QUARTER of EVERYONE UNDER 40 - 166 million people in the US.  We’re convinced because he bought a car company and built some rockets using US subsidies he’s singular.  Combine that with the fact that he’s one of 4 billionaire white men who control social media, which tells us EVERY DAY our life sucks and the reason is “the other side” and capitalism support is at a long term low, and people feel there are NO OTHER OPTIONS but to assassinate someone.

2. Men - more than 99% of political violence is committed by men.  Out of nearly 10,000 global public companies, 93% are lead by men.  73% of all country level parliamentary seats are male.  You know who doesn’t shoot people, engage in constant chest thumping, gun toting nationalism?  Women.  Step aside boys - investors, your opportunity is now, you get to vote on directors.  Do some due diligence.

Headliniest of the Week

1. DR: Hot mic catches Zuckerberg admitting his $600 bn vow to Trump was a guess: “Sorry, I wasn’t ready… I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with.”

2. MM: Uber sued by DOJ for alleged discrimination against disabled riders - isn’t this, like, SUPER WOKE?

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: Every Ellison ever

2. MM: Larry Ellison’s facial hair - he can finally afford a razor

Predictions

1. DR: David Ellison buys Lachlan’s two younger half-sisters (from Rupert’s third marriage), Grace and Chloe, and then immediately trades them for 30% ownership in the Winklevoss twins cryptocurrency-exchange company Gemini Space Station 

2. MM: THIS time, we won’t get thoughts and prayers - we’ll get ideological purges!