Wells Fargo abandons governance, Scharf’s payout, Brown extorted, Barclays’ climate bail, and cowering

Story of the Week (DR):

1. ​​Mark Zuckerberg just shared his vision for 'personal superintelligence.

1. "But perhaps even more important is that superintelligence has the potential to begin a new era of personal empowerment where people will have greater agency to improve the world in the directions they choose,"'

2. Mark Zuckerberg is pouring billions of dollars into AI ‘superintelligence’—so why does his Instagram pitch feel so underwhelming?

3. Mark Zuckerberg Looks Like He's Been Taken Hostage as He Explains Plan for Deploying AI Superintelligence

4. Anthropic's CEO says massive salary changes could 'destroy' company culture

1. "If Mark Zuckerberg throws a dart at a dartboard and hits your name, that doesn't mean you should be paid 10 times more than the guy next to you who's just as skilled."

2. Amodei said such massive salary changes could "destroy" a company's culture by treating people "unfairly."

3. Many of his employees have rejected the outside offers, and some "wouldn't even talk to Mark Zuckerberg."

2. Wells Fargo board to appoint CEO Scharf as chairman and grant $30 million award MM

1. Special CEO Equity Award

1. one-time equity award consisting of Restricted Share Rights with a grant date value of approximately $30 million and 1.046 million Stock Options (Exercise Price: $82.65)

2. the Board approved and adopted the Company’s By-Laws:

1. The amendments remove the requirement that the Chairman of the Board be an independent director.

2. The Board also amended the Company’s Corporate Governance Guidelines to require a Lead Independent Director if the Chairman of the Board is not independent

3. Consistent with this change, the independent directors of the Board intend to appoint Mr. Scharf as Chairman of the Board, and to appoint a Lead Independent Director of the Board.

3. $30M last year, including $20M in equity

2. What happens to existing chair Steven Black?

1. Scharf was former CEO and CHair of The Bank of New York Mellon, when current Chair Black was appointed to the Mellon board

2. Black on Pay Committee

3. With Committee Chair Ron Sargent, former CEO/Chair of Staples and current interim CEO of Kroger

3. Wall Street returns to work after Manhattan shooting that killed Blackstone executive

1. The investigation is ongoing, but authorities found a note on the gunman suggesting Shane Tamura, who had a history of mental health issues, appeared to blame the National Football League (NFL) for a brain injury (CTE) he believed he had from playing football. His intended target was likely the NFL headquarters, which is also located in the building.

2. The investment firm's offices were closed on Tuesday after it said senior Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner was among those killed

3. Report: NFL will acquire up to 10 percent of ESPN as part of NFL Media deal

4. Just to tweak Matt: ‘Woke is officially dead at Brown,’ Trump says, after Ivy League school settles with federal gov

Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):

1. DR: Women Now Occupy Almost a Fifth of Top Venture Roles, Study Finds

1. The share of women in high-echelon postsThat share, which counts those in partner roles and above, has doubled since 2018 to 18.6%, according to nonprofit All Raise

2. MM: ‘Shame on them’: Standard Chartered CEO decries banks that drop climate pledges DR

1. Bill Winters criticised banks that had jumped on the climate bandwagon when it was “fashionable”, but had since rolled back on their green ambitions or gone quiet on the subject.

2. “Shame on them,” he said, without naming individual firms.

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

1.  Brown University

1. Trump: Woke Is Dead at Brown University

2. $50m extortion paid to Trump to restore funding

3. “Brown will adopt the government’s definition of “male” and “female,” for example, and must remove any consideration of race from the admissions process.”

4. “Brown will no longer perform gender reassignment surgeries on minors or prescribe them puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones,” Leavitt added, calling it “chemical castration of children.”

2. Barclays DR

1. Barclays Reports £500 Million in Sustainable Finance Revenues

1. In a report released YESTERDAY, the bank said it made $500m on sustainable finance

2. 44 page report detailing how amazing their work on climate is, how sustainable they are, and all the benefits

2. Barclays latest British lender to quit climate banking alliance

1. "After consideration, we have decided to withdraw from the Net Zero Banking Alliance," the bank said in a statement on its website. "With the departure of most of the global banks, the organisation no longer has the membership to support our transition."

3. Microsoft

1. Microsoft CFO calls for 'intensity' in an internal memo, after blowout earnings

2. The chief financial officer, Amy Hood, sent an email to employees on Wednesday after the company reported a $27 billion quarterly profit, telling them the year ahead would require "intensity, clarity, and bold execution."

3. The adult in the room just joined the middle schoolers in talking about “growth mindset” and “intensity” in a race to the bottom where we gut employees but executives keep their jobs

1. The enigma of adulthood

4. Hood I’m sure is very worried about her job at MSFT… although she already has a job for life on the board of 3M, so why worry?

1. Not for nothing, but Amy Coleman got the role of Chief People Officer in March, just in time to fire everyone

2. She also cashed in more than $24m in options in the last 3 months, and despite being an NEO in the 10k, her contract was not disclosed in an 8K - curious how much she was paid to dispose of employees?  Or is that the “enigma of disclosure”?

4. Cowering employees

1. 37% of employees have wondered if emojis are professional

1. Your employees are worried about emojis being professional

2. Your research team is worried about buying the best governance data on earth because of a podcast with a segment called “Assholiest”

3. Your rank and file, after years of wages that don’t keep the pace of inflation, have to deal with a Walmart exec saying “nobody” will want to hire you if you’re a “Debbie Downer”

2. Meanwhile…

1. Elon Musk Amplifies Bizarre Claim That 'Women Are Built To Be Traded' 

2. CEO Brags That He Gets "Extremely Excited" Firing People and Replacing Them With AI

3. Literally, every week Jamie Dimon says something and Sam Altman is afraid of the apocalypse he’s made… and your employees are so tenuous they’re worried about improper emoji use

Headliniest of the Week

1. DR: Elon Musk Amplifies Bizarre Claim That 'Women Are Built To Be Traded' AND

Elon Musk Pushes View That Women Are 'Anti-White' Because They're 'Weak'

1. DR: U.S. Women in Coffee welcomes Mark Inman to its Board of Directors

2. MM: Tesla Robotaxi Gets Stuck in Infinite Loop as Support Tries to Break It Out

3. MM: Starbucks CEO: The company was 'mismanaged for a couple years'—here's his plan to 'bounce back'

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: King Chuck

2. MM: Chainsaw Charlie! Cue memory reel:

1. Charlie Scharf steps down as Visa CEO in 2016 because he said he couldn’t spend enough time in San Francisco to do the job “effectively”

2. Becomes CEO of Wells Fargo in 2019 and… commutes to San Francisco from NYC

3. Immediately cuts staff, gets nicknamed “Chainsaw Charlie”... then complains he can’t find enough black workers because they’re not qualified

4. Joins board of Microsoft where he can oversee record profits and simultaneous staff cuts, a personal joy

5. Just got this news, he must be stoked: Wells Fargo board to appoint CEO Scharf as chairman and grant $30 million award

Predictions

1. DR: As part of of its 10% ownership of ESPN, the Disney board refuses to add an NFL player to its board but agrees to attend all board meetings wearing spandex and shoulder pads 

2. MM: Wells Fargo’s investors are unhappy with Scharf’s new chair appointment and retention grant, vote 73% approval of Scharf’s pay but 99.6% in favor of everyone on the pay committee who set the pay and voted to make him chair