War on women, bro-co-CEOs, fake CEO retirement, and boards say vote them out

Story of the Week (DR):

1. War against women continues: 

1. Uber Not Responsible for Sex Assault, Jury Finds, as More Cases Follow

1. Ethan P. Schulman, the judge presiding over the California state court cases, told jurors that Uber would be responsible for the woman’s harm if the company was negligent in using adequate safety measures and the negligence was a “substantial factor” in causing the harm.

2. In its decision, the jury unanimously agreed that Uber had been negligent in its general safety practices when the incident occurred in 2016 — but that the negligence was not a substantial factor in causing the attack. The jury’s foreman: “We felt that they could have done more back in the early days of Uber, rather than just focusing on growth,”

2. Meet Lisa Monaco, the 57-year-old Microsoft executive Trump wants fired

1. “Corrupt and Totally Trump Deranged Lisa Monaco (A purported pawn of Legal Lightweight Andrew Weissmann), was a senior National Security aide under Barack Hussein Obama. Monaco has been shockingly hired as the President of Global Affairs for Microsoft, in a very senior role with access to Highly Sensitive Information. Monaco’s having that kind of access is unacceptable, and cannot be allowed to stand.”

2. Monaco helped coordinate the Justice Department’s response to the Jan. 6th attacks on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters in 2021. In January 2022, Monaco publicly announced that the Justice Department was investigating the Trump fake electors plot

3. Military women fear losing 'every bit of ground' as Hegseth looks backward to the 1990s

1. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that he wants to review Defense Department standards that have changed since the 1990s, a time when military women saw far less support for their service and met drastically lower physical standards than today: "The 1990s test is simple. What were the military standards in 1990? And if they have changed, tell me why. Was it necessary change based on the evolving landscape of combat? Or was the change due to a softening, weakening, or gender-based pursuit of other priorities? 1990s seems to be as good a place to start as any."

4. PGA of America CEO apologizes for Ryder Cup missteps, but group's president denies problem

1. The Misogynistic Abuse Towards Rory McIlroy’s Wife at the Ryder Cup Is Deeper Than Golf. It shows a cultural shift, one in which men feel emboldened to attack women in public without shame or consequence. The abuse and taunts were so unrelenting that Stoll was spotted with “tears streaming down her face”

2. PGA of America President Don Rea took a different approach on Sunday in a BBC interview where he downplayed the severity of the crowd’s behavior: “Well, you have 50,000 people there that are really excited, and heck, you can go to a youth soccer game and get some people who say the wrong things,” Rea said. When asked about the abuse directed at McIlroy, he responded, “I haven’t heard some of that. I’m sure it’s happened … Rory understands things like that are going to happen.”

2. Fake billionaire manbaby “retirements” continue DR

1. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek to Step Down. The Stock Is Falling.

1. Spotify founder steps down amid controversy over defence links

1. It comes after Mr Ek has faced fierce scrutiny for investing around €700m (£612m) in defence company Helsing through his venture capital fund. Munich-based Helsing sells AI software for military use and has expanded into weapons manufacturing following an investment by the founder of Spotify.

2. Spotify has said that it is “totally separate” from Helsing

2. Spotify founder Ek Daniel to step down as CEO; says: I will be more involved than a typical US chairman

1. Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström under founder/former CEO/Executive Chair Daniel Ek (43%) (Ted Sarandos on this board)

3. Spotify founder Daniel Ek once said he was the ‘least powerful person’ at the company. Here’s how he built it into a $145 billion music empire

4. The rise of the bro co-CEO: Lila MacLellan

3. CEOs and Trump love affair continues

1. Trump, Pfizer agree to lower U.S. drug prices, exempt company from pharma tariffs

1. Trump announces ’TrumpRx' drug-buying website alongside Pfizer CEO

2. Partnering with Pfizer, beginning in 2026 the federal government will have a website, TrumpRx.gov, through which Pfizer’s prescription drugs can be sold directly to consumers at discounts, without the intermediaries of pharmacy benefit managers such as CVS Health’s Caremark and UnitedHealthcare-owned OptumRx

1. 46% against Say on Pay in 2025

1. Proxy adviser ISS recommended against the compensation proposal

2. CEO/Chair Albert Bourla

3. Other board members include: former Vanguard CEO/Chair Mortimer J. Buckley, OpenAI (2024-) board member and former Meta (2013-2019) board member  Susan Desmond-Hellmann; former Deloitte CEO Joseph J. Echevarria; Adobe CEO/Chair Shantanu Narayen; former Goldman Sachs Vice Chair Suzanne Nora Johnson; Coca-Cola CEO/Chair James Quincey; former State Street Global Advisor CEO Cyrus Taraporevala; Compensation Committee chair (James Smith, former Thomson Reuters CEO) received 93% support

4. Only 23% women; 5 top NEOs all men

3. Trump Adviser Admits Larry Ellison Is “Shadow President of the United States”

1. Larry Ellison once predicted ‘citizens will be on their best behavior’ amid constant recording. Now his company will pay a key role in social media

4. Elon Musk fighting for attention:

1. Elon Musk speaks out on controversial $1 trillion Tesla pay package: 'It's not about compensation'

2. "It's not about 'compensation,' but about me having enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots.”

3. Elon Musk makes history as first person ever to hit $500B net worth milestone

4. New Evidence Links Elon Musk to Epstein’s Island

5. Elon Musk Calls Wikipedia “Too Woke,” Announces His Own Grokipedia

6. Elon Musk implores people "Cancel Netflix" over a canceled TV show because of woke

5. More Dummies from DealBook:

1. Talking A.I. With CEO William Stone of SS&C, a major investment fund administrator and transfer agency, acquired the automation software company Blue Prism for around $1.6 billion in 2022:

1. How do you personally use A.I.? “I’m interested in horse racing, and I own horses. I use A.I. to track how they’re doing. There are all kinds of statistics, like how far can they travel before their performance starts to deteriorate: If they’re in Kentucky, can they go to California? Can they go to New York?”

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

1. DR: Gavin Newson [sic] Signs Law Cracking Down on AI Industry

1. California governor Gavin Newsom signed what proponents say is the first AI safety and transparency law in the US. The Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, also known as SB 53, requires AI companies with over $500 million in revenue to publicly disclose their safety and security protocols in fairly granular detail

2. MM: F.D.A. Approves a New Generic Abortion Pill DR MM

3. MM: Activist Investor Wants Target's Brian Cornell Completely Out

4. MM: One line from this story about Tesla’s advising sleepy drivers to stay away by enabling Full Self Driving: Tesla’s cars can’t actually drive themselves without close human supervision. Nonetheless, the automaker labels its most advanced driving mode “Full Self-Driving” (FSD), while its CEO and chief overpromiser Elon Musk explicitly says that they do, in fact, “drive themselves” seemingly every other week.

Assholiest of the Week Biggest Loser (MM):

1. US Women

1. The rise of the bro-co-CEO

2. Military women fear losing 'every bit of ground' as Hegseth looks backward to the 1990s

3. Uber Not Responsible for Sex Assault, Jury Finds, as More Cases Follow

4. KKR Appoints Former Eaton CEO Craig Arnold to Board of Directors, Increasing Independent Seats to Eleven

1. Continues a trend - from 29% to 26% female by adding another dude through board expansion

5. Meanwhile…

1. Share of female execs at major Japan firms rises to 18.4%

2. Spineless companies

1. Disney's image tanks among Republicans, Democrats after Jimmy Kimmel controversy

2. Cracker Barrel Drops Firm Behind Ill-Fated Logo Change

3. Investors

1. U.S. States are shedding shareholder protections. That’s an advantage for Canada

2. Preparing the board for 2026: More than half of directors want a peer replaced, survey finds

3. FedEx shareholders elect Richard Smith, son of founder Fred Smith, to board of directors

4. Everyone else

1. Godfather of AI Says We’re Barreling Straight Toward Human Extinction

2. OpenAI says it’s worried about ‘doomscrolling, addiction, isolation, and … sloptimized feeds’ as it rolls out Sora social media app

3. Meta won’t allow users to opt out of targeted ads based on AI chats

4. Elon Musk Calls Wikipedia “Too Woke,” Announces His Own Grokipedia

5. Larry Ellison once predicted ‘citizens will be on their best behavior’ amid constant recording. Now his company will pay a key role in social media

6. The wealth of the top 1% reaches a record $52 trillion

5. The climate

1. New BP Chair Urges Faster Pivot to Oil and Gas

2. Duke Energy backs off renewables after North Carolina cuts climate goal

3. Trump administration cancels nearly $8 billion in climate funding to blue states: Vought

4. MAGA comes for the ‘woke pope’ after pontiff blesses block of ice in climate change gesture

5. OpenAI’s New Data Centers Will Draw More Power Than the Entirety of New York City, Sam Altman Says

Headliniest of the Week

1. DR: New Poll: 94% of Gen Z Youth Report Experiencing Regular Mental Health Challenges

2. MM: Police Pull Over Waymo to Check for Drunk Driving

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: Daniel Ek: the dude who got rich by devaluing artists, then used his billionaire ego to create a vanity money-spending company with the pretentious name Prima Materia (“formless primeval substance regarded as the original material of the universe”).

1. Prima Materia says it wants to “partner with exceptional people to build companies that leverage technology to help solve meaningful problems for society.”

2. He set it up with Shakil Khan — a fellow Spotify investor and close personal friend with a criminal past, who was accused of hiding his real role at Spotify during its IPO.

1. Khan doesn’t appear in any of Spotify’s filing documents, even though he’s been publicly described as: 1) “head of special projects,” 2) “advisor to Daniel Ek,” 3) “personal advisor to the Spotify CEO,” 4) “investor in Spotify,” 5) “founder,” 6) “consigliere,” 7) “second-in-command,” and 8) “prominent public role” — apparently to avoid scaring investors.

2. Khan cites Mark Zuckerberg as the American leader he admires most.

3. Now their company invests (and Ek chairs) in literal weapon building (Helsing/military strike drones, etc.) and nonsense like Neko Health, the so-called “Apple of healthcare” that charges £300 for preventative screenings like mole checks — giving Daniel Ek more time to feel super important and potentially destroy the world while getting richer?

2. MM: Ron Sugar, who TWICE has had his age limit restriction waived on the Apple board, will turn out a-okay: Dr. Ronald Sugar and Gilman Louie join Ursa Major's Board of Directors

Predictions

1. DR: Daniel Ek’s Prima Materia leads €600 million Series D strategic financing round for Moodify, an AI-supported app that will “end depression” by pushing algorithmically-optimized dopamine ads 24/7, think TikTok for sadness

MM: LAY UP: After reading this - Apollo Global Management director Pauline Richards resigns from board - the board is now 4 women and 10 men (Marc Rowan owns 63% of board influence, so no one really matters).  I predict Pauline Richards will be replaced by a male director, going from 33% female to 27% female in one fell swoop.  Side note: Apollo’s fun joke was to have a “sustainability committee” on the board they take so seriously, it’s the committee with 3 women and and anti-woke anti-ESG ex-Senator Patrick Toomey