FRIDAY WRAP: Boeing’s AGM is embarrassing, ISS changes its stance on CEO pay, and E.L.F. Beauty’s Dick campaign

Introduction

IT’S FRIDAYYYYY!!! And we are LIVE, and ALIVE. This is Ari the Data Queen, joined by AnalystHole Matt Moscardi, Jessie the Money Whisperer, and Hazelnut Rallis. On today’s weekly wrap up: AGM outcomes, a company’s use of AI that doesn’t sound BAD, a check in with DeSantis AND MORE.

Story of the Week (DR):

1. OpenAI’s Chief Scientist, Ilya Sutskever, Is Leaving the Company AB

1. The chief scientist played a key role in the failed ouster of CEO Sam Altman last year, reports said.

2. Sutskever said in his announcement he is confident OpenAI will build "safe" technology.

3. Days after Altman was pushed out by the board, Sutskever said he regretted his role in the move, and Altman returned to OpenAI as CEO just five days after he was ousted.

4. Despite Sutskever's expression of remorse, his role at the company remained strained.

5. Two people familiar with the situation told Business Insider in December that Sutskever had essentially been shut out of OpenAI after the attempt to remove Altman as CEO.

6. Sutskever has also raised concerns about the potential harm caused by AI models like ChatGPT in the past.

7. Last year, Sutskever launched a new team at OpenAI called Superalignment that is meant to ensure AI models work for the good of humanity and do not cause harm.

8. Sutskever's announcement comes a day after OpenAI announced its latest ChatGPT update, GPT-4o, which has improved voice and vision capabilities.

9.  OpenAI will use Reddit content to train ChatGPT

2. 42% of shareholders vote against BlackRock CEO Larry Fink's pay

1. 3M shareholders vote down executives' pay packages in annual meeting

1. 55% NO

2. Pay Chair James Fitterling 95% YES

3. There are too many ‘Dicks’ in the boardroom

1. The beauty brand E.l.f. found that men named Richard, Rick, and Dick claim a disproportionate number of boardroom seats. Now, E.l.f. is on a mission to change that.

2. They have a Dick! (Audit Chair Richard Wolford. 79/10%

3. 6/9 F with 36% influence

1. Tarang Amin CEo Chair 4% shares/46%

4. In honor of today’s Boeing AGM MM DR

1. DOJ says Boeing faces criminal charge for violating deal over 737 Max crashes

2. Boeing faces a critical investor vote as it hunts for a new CEO

3. Union offering Boeing representatives training on U.S. whistleblower laws

4. Fallout from Alaska Airlines blowout continues as key Boeing supplier is laying off 450 workers because production has slowed

5. Boeing's problems are 'extremely annoying' to the CEO of Germany's largest airline

6. Boeing's Starliner spacecraft has a 'risk of a disaster' and should be grounded, NASA contractor says

7. Unions, lawmakers protest Boeing firefighter lockout

Goodliest of the Week (AB):

1. Sam's Club announces it will stop checking receipts and start using AI at exits

1. I am including this because this is NOT A BAD AI story. I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANY NEGATIVE COMMENTS

2. 42% of shareholders vote against BlackRock CEO Larry Fink's pay MM DR

1. SHAREHOLDERS VOTED AGAINST A THING

3. Smartphones Can Now Last 7 Years.

1. The FTC and right to repair laws are catching up!!!

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

1. Data: AB MM

1. Number of employees laid off: 450

2. Average hourly wage: Ziprecruiter estimates at $16.24

3. Total wages saved: $15,200,640 estimated at hourly rate - add in estimated health insurance and social security at ~20% more, $18,240,768

4. CEO extra pay: $10,173,341

5. Headline: Fallout from Alaska Airlines blowout continues as key Boeing supplier is laying off 450 workers because production has slowed

1. Also: Dave Calhoun needs the next Boeing CEO to be a success and he has more than $45 million riding on it

1. Share price rise of 37% gets him an EXTRA $45m… after he’s gone

2. Number of shares instantly vesting upon CEO’s “separation” from the company: 25,000 free shares currently trading at post-disaster lows

6. Asshole: INVESTORS, AGAIN

1. Comp committee votes in 2023:

1. Lynn Good (chair) - 93.7%

2. Lynne Doughtie - 95.2%

3. David Joyce - 94.5%

4. Steve Mollenkopf (your new chair and “succession planner”!) - 94.5%

2. YOU ASSHOLES PAID HIM

2. Data

1. Texas generates 31% of total energy from solar, wind, and geothermal

2. 26% of all US wind power was in Texas in 2023

3. Texas estimates the total solar investment value was $22bn as of 2023, with 10,000 industry-related jobs

4. Headline: DeSantis signs Florida bill making climate change a lesser priority and bans offshore wind turbines

3. Data 

1. 73.2% of voting power held by two people

2. $15.5bn of share value held by two people

3. Headline: Spotify used this one word to justify a 50% cut in royalties, music creator lawsuit alleges DR

1. The word was “bundled” - the payment setup was for non-product bundles (ie, streaming), but Spotify auto-bundled premium subscriptions with a few audiobooks and used it to cut artist pay by as much as 50%

2. FIRST: Stop saying Spotify.  It’s just Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon with more than 70% of voting power.

3. SECOND: If Ek+Lorentzon were the musicians they pillage, they would have to have 3.1 TRILLION streams to get the value of their share

1. Blinding Lights by the Weeknd is the most streamed song on spotify with 4bn streams - in fact, the top 100 songs total only 233bn streams

2. Ek+Lorentzon have been given the equivalent worth of 13x the top 100 musicians on earth by streaming - are the tech bros worth 13x the highest streamed 66 artists on the planet?

Headline-iest (ALL):

1. Matt: Online job board Indeed is laying off 8% of its staff

2. AB: Elon Musk's Telsa is buying ads on Elon Musk's X to get Elon Musk's $55 billion pay package approved AB MM DR

3. DR: Maine Man Alarmed When Everybody Mocks His Cybertruck, Flips Him Off

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: e.l.f. Beauty

2. AB: Netflix. “Netflix and the N.F.L. Sign a Three-Season Deal”. It has broken into live sports world.

3. MM: Boeing quality control:  'Boeing can and must be every day.  While we have made progress in strengthening our control, the quality control systems..." <dead line>

4. JS: 

Predictions

1. DR: Dick Wolford steps down from e.l.f board because he almost has no choice

2. AB: Netflix will never have a live roast again.

3. MM: Dave Calhoun is re-elected to the board as a boomerang in 2025 to “oversee” the new lady CEO they inevitably set up to fail

4. JS: