RIP shareholder proposals (or views), Marc Benioff needs an off switch, and hot women hate cybertrucks

Story of the Week (DR):

1. Blowhard CEOs:

1. Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman says you can't 'build something extraordinary' working 38 hours a week

2. Sam Altman Says If Jobs Gets Wiped Out, Maybe They Weren’t Even “Real Work” to Start With

3. Marc Benioff Says Trump Should Send Guard Troops to San Francisco

1. Ron Conway skewers Mark Benioff in board resignation after 25 years: ‘I now barely recognize the person I have so long admired’

4. Peter Thiel says he warned Elon Musk to ditch donating to The Giving Pledge because Bill Gates will give his wealth away ‘to left-wing nonprofits’

5. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Says There's a 'Heightened Degree of Uncertainty'

6. Best Buy’s CEO says growing spending power gap between affluent and poor ‘keeps me up at night’

7. Billionaire bosses like Jeff Bezos and Reid Hoffman denounce work-life balance—and some think working nonstop is key to success

8. Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber says she would consider adding an AI agent to her board of directors

9. Plaid CEO says 'it's inevitable AI will drive our financial lives'

1. Perret graduated from Duke University (BS, Chemistry, Biology) and previously served on the board of trustees

10. Verizon exec tells unemployed Gen Z they can always volunteer to stand out in the current bleak job market: ‘No one’s going to say no to free work’

1. chief talent officer Christina Schelling

11. Figure AI CEO Brett Adcock says the robotics company is building 'a new species'

1. Adcock received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Florida

2. LendingTree founder and CEO dies unexpectedly in weekend ATV accident at age 55

1. Douglas Lebda: Chair/CEO, 20% shares, 78% influence

2. Lead Independent DIrector Steven Ozonioa: Chairs Audit Committee and Chairs Compensation Committee; now the longest-tenured director (2011)

3. SEC To Discourage ESG Shareholder Proposals MM

1. Glass Lewis to End Share Voting Guidance Opposed by Republicans

1. Glass Lewis & Co. is ending its decades-long practice of providing recommendations for shareholder votes after receiving criticisms from Republican leaders for promoting pro-environmental, social and governance issues.

2. Starting with the 2027 annual shareholder season, Glass Lewis will no longer give a “house view” on how investors should vote, according to a paper released by the firm.

3. Instead, the firm’s more than 1,300 clients who oversee a combined $40 trillion will be making their own decisions on corporate resolutions.

4. Glass Lewis had previously given voting recommendations for more than 30,000 annual meetings on everything from executive pay to climate goals. The research firm said 55% of US investors voted based on its guidance. In Europe, about a quarter followed the house view.

4. Meta removes Facebook page allegedly used to target ICE agents after pressure from DOJ

5. Duke University Has Officially Ended Its Full-Ride Scholarship For Black Students In Need Of Financial Assistance

1. Board of Trustees (34: 14F20M)

1. Duke President and Students (4):

1. Vincent E. Price, President, Duke University

2. Andrew Greene

3. *Sydney Hunt

4. Rickard Stureborg

2. God people from the same church (2):

1. *Gregory V. Palmer – Retired Bishop, The United Methodist Church

2. *Connie Mitchell Shelton – Bishop, United Methodist Church

3. A journalist who also sits on the board of an insurance company (1):

1. Ann Pelham – director of Canal Insurance Company since 2004

4. Business Bros (27)

1. Adam Silver – Commissioner, National Basketball Association

2. Mary T. Barra – Chair and CEO, General Motors Company

3. Eddy H. Cue – SVP of Services, Apple

4. Amy Abernethy – Co-Founder, Highlander Health

5. Melissa Bernstein – Co-Founder, Melissa & Doug; Co-Founder, Lifelines

6. Michael J. Bingle – Vice Chairman, Silver Lake Group

7. *Lisa M. Borders – CEO, LMB Group, LLC

8. Tim Cook – CEO, Apple

9. Nancy-Ann DeParle – Managing Partner & Co-Founder, Consonance Capital Partners

10. Andrew H. Dillon – Attorney and Shareholder, Nathan Sommers Gibson Dillon

11. Anne Faircloth – President, Faircloth Farms

12. *Grant H. Hill – Chairman, Hill Ventures

13. Kathryn A. Hollister – Retired Partner, Deloitte

14. *Karen M. King – Managing Director & COO, Silver Lake

15. Garheng Kong – Founder & Managing Partner, HealthQuest Capital

16. Thomas H. Lister – Retired Senior Partner and Co-Managing Partner, Permira

17. Sharon Marcil – Managing Director & Senior Partner & North America Regional Chair, Boston Consulting Group

18. Patricia R. Morton – formerly of JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank

19. David R. Peeler – Senior Advisor, Berkshire Partners

20. J.B. Pritzker – Governor, State of Illinois (public official, but also billionaire businessman)

21. Michael G. Rhodes – CEO, Ally Financial

22. Nancy M. Schlichting – Retired CEO, Henry Ford Health System (corporate/health system executive)

23. Michael R. Stone – Firm Partner, TPG (private equity executive)

24. L. Frederick Sutherland – Retired EVP & CFO, ARAMARK Corporation

25. David S. Taylor – Senior Advisor, Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC

26. Jeffrey W. Ubben – Founder & Managing Partner, Inclusive Capital Partners

27. James C. Zelter – President, Apollo Global Management

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

1. DR: CEOs get something right?

1. Mark Cuban Urges Companies To Share Stock Options With Employees Amid Rising CEO Pay Gap

2. Home Depot founder Arthur Blank donates $50 million to Atlanta’s historically Black colleges and universities via foundation

3. Howard Schultz said he's Worried — 'with a big W' — about AI

1. He drew parallels between the speed at which social media progressed, how regulation around social media lagged behind, and warned that AI is on the same trajectory.

2. MM: Ron Conway skewers Mark Benioff in board resignation after 25 years: ‘I now barely recognize the person I have so long admired’ DR

3. MM: Houston American Energy Declassifies Board of Directors MM

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

1. Marc Benioff DR

1. Marc Benioff Says Trump Should Send Guard Troops to San Francisco

1. Democrat, Republican - is there an off switch for billionaires?

2. He said it at the Dreamforce conference - the Salesforce conference where they talk about AI and stuff

1. In 2023, he threatened to take the conference to another city because of homelessness and drug use in the city

2. At the time he made the threat, he was worth 8bn

3. POPULIST MATH

1. There are an estimated 8,000 or so homeless people in SF

2. The median home price in Oakland is 800k

3. If he bought EVERY homeless person a house, including the children, in cash, he would still be worth 4bn today

3. He posted this last night - “safest Dreamforce ever” with a picture of him and a cop… so, national guard?: 

5. Maybe he meant he needs the National Guard at Salesforce’s offices: Salesforce linked security breach fallout escalates with qantas leak - an estimated 1 BILLION records were hacked

2. The labor con job

1. Verizon exec tells unemployed Gen Z they can always volunteer to stand out in the current bleak job market: ‘No one’s going to say no to free work’

1. Yeah, just work for free, it’ll be good for you!

2. Gen Z’s misery is real: Most workers in this economy lack a voice and are stuck in low-quality jobs, a massive Gates-backed study finds

1. Yeah, but just work for free!

3. There’s a shocking disparity between how high-income and low-income earners feel about the economy

1. Why?  Working for free is like, really good for your resume and gap time!

4. Sam Altman Says If Jobs Gets Wiped Out, Maybe They Weren’t Even “Real Work” to Start With

1. Right!  Your work was fake, so go work for free!  Starving is much realer than your job was.

3. Gavin Newsom

1. Gavin Newsom Vetoes Bill to Protect Kids From Predatory AI

4. Sam Altman

1. Sam Altman says OpenAI isn't 'moral police of the world' after erotica ChatGPT post blows up

Headliniest of the Week

1. DR: Divorced Tesla Fan Admits That His Cybertruck Is Repulsive to Women

2. DR: Lay’s drastically rebrands after disturbing finding: 42% of consumers didn’t know their chips were made out of potatoes

3. MM: DirecTV screensavers will show AI-generated ads with your face in 2026

1. I mostly find it funny that DirecTV still exists

4. MM: Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Is Back to Featuring Hot Women After Failed Woke Rebrand

1. Now women of every size and color can be reminded how ugly they are because finally Victoria’s Secret’s won’t put them on a runway

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: Ugly or non-ugly women who divorce men who own Cybertrucks

2. MM: Men without cybertrucks

Predictions

1. DR: Glass Lewis rebrands itself simply as Glass

2. MM: Sam Altman is elected Moral Police Sergeant