FRIDAY WRAP: 49ers Jed York gets himself chegged, UPS applications spike, Live Nation's bros are the real "Summer of Women" winners, and Zoom flipflops an AI training

LIVE from your ESG-powered hot dog steamer, it’s a Business Pants Friday Show here at August 10th Lane Studios, featuring all your favorites: Ari the data queen, Jessie the money whisperer, Analyst-Hole-man Matt Moscardi. On today’s weekly wrap up: 

Story of the Week (DR):

1. The Legal Assault on Corporate Diversity Efforts Has Begun

1. Conservative groups are challenging Amazon, Comcast and others using many of the same arguments that boosted minority representation in the workforce.

2. Comcast settled a case accusing it of illegally favoring minority-owned small-business customers with grants and marketing advice. Amazon has been sued in Texas over a program offering an extra $10,000 to Black- or Latino-owned delivery-service contractors. Starbucks directors and executives are being sued by a shareholder arguing they violated their duty to investors by supporting diversity policies.

3. Kellogg's 'woke' workplace diversity programs are illegal, group claims

1. This is the second complaint filed this week against a company by America First Legal, a nonprofit run by Stephen Miller, who was an adviser to then-President Donald Trump.

2. It also criticized marketing campaigns including boxes of Cheez-It crackers featuring drag queen RuPaul and cereal boxes celebrating LGBTQ Pride Month.

2. ESPN launches sportsbook in partnership with Penn Entertainment

1. Penn Entertainment is partnering with Disney’s ESPN to rebrand and relaunch its sportsbook as ESPN Bet.

2. ESPN plunges into sports betting in deal that is complicated by parent Disney trying to preserve its family-friendly image

3. Disney Sale to Apple? Don’t Count It Out This Time

3. Facing backlash, Zoom says it won’t use your videos or chats to train AI without consent JS CM MM

1. The video-conferencing platform was doing damage control on Monday after its updated terms of service went viral for the wrong reasons.

2. Zoom recently updated its terms of service to add an interesting clause, seemingly giving the company broad permission to use customer data to train its AI products.

3. After a bit of backlash, the company later added a point-by-point note to the TOS, stating that it will not use audio, video, or chat customer content to train its AI models without first receiving customer consent.

4. Ratings agency S&P Global stops grading borrowers’ ESG credit risk amid political backlash over ‘woke capitalism’

5. Biden’s DOJ doesn’t think the Sackler family should get released from opioid liability and the Supreme Court agrees—for now

1. The Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily blocked a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would shield members of the Sackler family who own the company from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids.

Goodliest of the Week (AB):

1. UPS JS, CM

2. Grid MM

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

1. John Schnatter

1. A timeline…

1. Criticizes anthem protest because he believes it hurt sales: 

1. Now, to the NFL, the NFL is hurting, and more importantly by not resolving the current debacle to the player and owner's satisfaction, NFL leadership has hurt Papa John's shareholders. 

2. Like many sponsors, we are in contact with NFL, and once the issue's resolved between the players and the owners, we are optimistic that the NFL's best years are ahead. 

3. You need to look at exactly how the ratings are going backwards. Last year, the ratings for the NFL went backwards because of the elections. This year, the ratings have gone backwards because of the controversy. And so the controversy is polarizing the customer, polarizing the country, and that's the big difference here.

2. Neo nazis declare Papa John’s their pizza as a result:

1. In the days after Schnatter’s remarks, white supremacist publication the Daily Stormer dubbed Papa John’s as the official pizza of the alt-right.

3. Hies Laundry Service, Casey Wasserman’s sub marketing brand, to try new digital messaging, but they immediately have to clean up blaming the NFL for player protests

4. Says n-word in audio released:

1. Schnatter: what bothers me is Colonel Sanders called blacks n******. I'm like, I've never used that word. And they get away with it. [UNINTELLIGIBLE CROSSTALK] Yet we use the word debacle and we get framed in the same genre. It's crazy. The whole thing's crazy.

5. Says it was taken out of context, releases whole transcript: 

1. Post call conversation… 00:56:54 – UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE SPEAKER: I think the most uncomfortable part of this whole thing beyond all the uncomfortable parts were that when we said are you racist and he first read that question he had to ask the rest of the rest of team if he's still working with a certain, like, community or committee still.  

6. Schnatter sues Laundry Service, the marketing company, for leaking the “misleading” audio to intentionally hurt Schnatter and Papa John’s

1. Schnatter alleged that the conference call with Laundry Service was a setup and believes that is demonstrated by comments on a secret recording by the firm.

7. And now the case will go to trial 

1. Papa Johns founder John Schnatter's case will go to trial

2. Papa John Schnatter Wins Major Ruling, Lawsuit Against Ad Firm to Proceed

8. And will be before Judge Benjamin Beaton

1. Trump appointed!

2. Schnatter donated to Trump, friends with Kochs, hard right anti-woker!

2. Nepo-baby NFL owner board member cronyism CM MM

1. 49ers CEO Jed York accused of insider trading and covering up a college exam cheating scandal

2. Two shareholders' lawsuits allege York and other members of the board covered up an online college exam cheating scandal during the COVID-19 pandemic and also engaged in insider trading. The scheme, colloquially known as "chegging," allowed college students to find the answers to test questions online using one of Chegg's services. The company's stock soared during the pandemic when colleges switched to virtual classrooms but plummeted once colleges resumed in-person classes.

3. York and Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig are also accused of allegedly dumping company stock at the height of its market price before the scandal was discovered and without informing investors of an impending crash. The lawsuit claims York made $1.4 million after he sold 20,000 shares.

4. Also, Jed is an ESG expert (maybe not G)

3. Anti woke bureaucracy JS

1. What a new Missouri ESG rule could mean for your investments - The Kansas City Beacon

1. “I, [NAME OF CUSTOMER], consent to my [as applicable, NAME OF BROKER-DEALER OR AGENT] incorporating a social objective or other nonfinancial objective into any discretionary investment decision my [as applicable, BROKER-DEALER OR AGENT] makes for my account; any recommendation, advice, or solicitation my [as applicable, BROKER-DEALER OR AGENT] makes to me for the purchase or sale of a security or commodity; or the selection my [as applicable, BROKERDEALER OR AGENT] makes, or recommendation or advice my [as applicable, BROKER-DEALER OR AGENT] makes to me regarding the selection of, a third-party manager or subadviser to manage the investments in my account. Also, I acknowledge and understand that incorporating a social objective or other nonfinancial objective into discretionary investment decisions, recommendations, advice, and/or the selection of a third-party manager or subadviser to manage the investments, in regards to my account, will result in investments and recommendations/advice that are not solely focused on maximizing a financial return for me or my account.”

1. Same in Wyoming

2. SOUND FAMILIAR?

1. The woman certifies in writing on a form that the department shall provide, prior to performance or inducement of the abortion, that the information that is required under subds. 1. and 2. has been provided to her in the manner specified in subd. 3., that the ultrasound required under sub. (3g) has been performed or that requirement is waived under sub. (3m) (a), that she has been offered the information described in par. (d) and that all of her questions, as specified under subd. 4., have been answered in a satisfactory manner. The physician who is to perform or induce the abortion or the qualified person assisting the physician shall write on the certification form the name of the physician who is to perform or induce the abortion. The woman shall indicate on the certification form who provided the information to her and when it was provided and who performed the ultrasound and when it was performed, unless the ultrasound requirement is waived under sub. (3m) (a). If the ultrasound required under sub. (3g) was performed at a facility other than the facility where the physician who is to perform or induce the abortion is located, the woman shall provide to the physician who is to perform or induce the abortion the certification form described under sub. (3g) (d).

3. The anti woke are super good at paperwork

4. Also, definitely this guy:

1. https://www.jeremysrazors.com/pages/about

Exhausting-est of the Week (JS):

1. Climate change…still CM

1. Devastating Hawaii fires made ‘much more dangerous’ by climate change

1. The entire town of Lahaina (Maui) is gone after a fire ripped through

2. 55 people have died

3. Katharine Hayhoe, the chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy, tweeted, “Climate change doesn’t usually start the fires; but it intensifies them, increasing the area they burn and making them much more dangerous.”

2. Headlines like this: The Summer Women Flexed Their Spending Power MM JS

1. What the media wants us to think: Women supporting women… that these female artists are the sole beneficiaries of women coming out in droves to support them

2. Reality:

1. Live Nation board is one of the most appallingly male dominated boards I’ve seen: 66% of the board is owned by two men, Chad Hollingsworth and Greg Maffei

2. The board is 18% female WITH A 16% FEMALE POWER GAP!!!! One of the females, Latriece Watkins, has 0% influence…

3. Per the 2022 Compensation Table: CEO Greg Maffei made $139M and CFO Joe Berchtold made $52M

4. The reality is that there are a lot of men with stock compensation that are benefitting wildly from “Women flexing their spending power”

5. Oh and also… Musicians describe the 'demented struggle' of touring in a shrinking industry where one giant company sells the tickets for most major venues.

3. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas took lavish vacations with a billionaire who criticized student-loan forgiveness months before the Supreme Court struck it down

1. An investigation revealed new information on the gifts billionaires have given Thomas over the years- including at least 38 vacations, 26 private jet flights, VIP passes to sporting events, and private stays at luxury resorts

2. Ethics experts told investigators the justice had violated the law by failing to disclose some of those gifts

3. One of the funders of those gifts was David Sokol, a billionaire and former executive at Berkshire Hathaway and a vocal opponent of Biden’s student-debt relief plan

4. Months later, Thomas voted with the majority to strike it down

Who Won the Week?

1. MM: Anti woke headline writers - S&P’s credit ESG scores just sucked, but we get to lump it in with the anti woke

Predictions

1. DR: Nothing really groundbreaking here: Bob Iger came back to sell Disney to Apple

2. MM: Jed York sues Chegg for embarrassingly saying that he has no skill in “subscriptions” on the skills matrix of the board, stating “I have both Disney+ and Netflix accounts, AND I even subscribe to Vanity Fair.”