FRIDAY WRAP: Chick-fil-A ends the woke wars, Congress ends a debt staring contest, Bobby Kotick comes home, eating disorder chatbots, and fast fashion is back

LIVE from your ESG compost bin, it’s a Business Pants Friday Show here at June 2nd Lane Studios, featuring all your favorites: Ari the data queen, Jessie the money whisperer, BS-man Matt Moscardi. On today’s weekly wrap up: Gay chicken wars, Indian batteries, Bobby Kotick is still Bobby Kotick, and the motherhood penalty

Story of the Week (DR):

1. After Chick-fil-A ruffles far-right feathers, Fox News asks if the culture war has gone too far MM AB JS

1. "Until they start selling tuck swimsuits, I’m not going to be boycotting Chick-fil-A," said Fox's Kayleigh McEnany

2. Now that some ultra-conservatives have vowed to boycott Chick-fil-A over the company's corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, Fox News hosts are scrambling on-air to determine whether the public backlash towards "woke" companies — the same backlash they've previously helped direct at brands like Bud Light and M&M's — has finally gone too far.

3. Trump Admits Republicans Don’t Even Know What ‘Woke’ Means - Rolling Stone

4. America’s national beer could soon be Mexican as Memorial Day weekend sales drop plunges Bud Light further into crisis

2. Shareholders say stuff

1. Hollywood writers take revenge on Netflix as shareholders follow union’s advice and reject executive pay

1. Netflix shareholders rejected the company’s pay packages for top executives in a rare move on Thursday after striking Hollywood writers urged them to vote against the plans.

2. Netflix held its annual shareholder meeting on June 1, during which a non-binding “say on pay” vote was held, which sought approval for huge pay offerings for top executives including co-CEO Ted Sarandos, new co-CEO Greg Peters, and executive chairman and former CEO Reed Hastings.

3. Sarandos and Peters will each be paid annual salaries of $3 million by Netflix this year, Variety reported. Sarandos will also be paid $20 million in stock, and has the potential to earn a bonus worth up to $17 million. Peters will receive $17.3 million in stock as well as up to $14.3 million in bonuses.

4. Hastings, meanwhile, will reportedly be paid a $500,000 salary and $2.5 million in stock this year after giving up the top job.

5. Shareholders withheld support for the 2023 executive compensation packages, however, backing calls from striking writers to vote down the proposals.

6. It is not yet clear how much the vote failed by, with the final tally to be included in an upcoming SEC filing.

2. Dollar General shareholders pass proposal to improve worker safety

1. A proposal asking Dollar General’s board to commission an independent, third-party audit that would examine the company’s policies and practices and how it affects worker safety was passed by shareholders during the company’s annual meeting.

2. Dollar General is facing mounting pressure from regulators, activists and employees to improve working conditions.

3. The company is currently facing more than $21 million in fines from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration for safety hazards.

3. Elizabeth Holmes is heading to prison — and some inmates are looking forward to her arrival and becoming her friend: WSJ

4. Biggest ever ESG show ends?

1. ‘Succession’ Finale Delivers a Masterful, Feel-Bad Ending

Goodliest of the Week (AB):

1. India pauses plans to add new coal plants for five years, bets on renewables, batteries

1. On Wednesday the Indian government announced it will not consider any proposals for new coal plants for the next five years and focus on growing its renewables sector

2. India is currently reliant on coal for around 75% of its electricity, making it the world’s third highest emitter

2.  Steel built the Rust Belt. Green steel could help rebuild it.

1. A study by the Ohio River Valley Institute found that a transition to “green” steel — steel manufactured using hydrogen generated with renewable energy could grow total jobs supported by steelmaking in the Western Penn/Ohio region by 27 to 43 percent through the rest of the 2020s

2. “Regional jobs supported by traditional steelmaking are expected to fall by 30 percent in the same period.”

3. The industry generates 7.2 percent of all carbon emissions worldwide, making it more polluting than the entire European Union.

3. US Congress averts historic default, approves debt-limit suspension MM JS DR

1. Congress needed to act by June 5th. The Senate approved the bill yesterday that had been passed on Wednesday by the House of Representatives soooo all is good in the hood and this was all political theater but no default so yay.

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

1. Thank you, Mark, for coming home to us

1. Meta just threatened to block news on Facebook and Instagram if California’s journalism bill passes

2. Don’t threaten!  Do it, asshole!

3. Also, META didn’t threaten - MARK threatened.  The guy who controls 85% of social media.  That guy.  Not “Meta” - that’s fake.  Try “Mark”.

2. Thank you, Bobby, for coming home to us DR 

1. Bobby Kotick Breaks His Silence: Embattled Activision CEO Addresses Toxic Workforce Claims as Microsoft Deal Hangs in Balance - Variety

2. “We’ve had every possible form of investigation done. And we did not have a systemic issue with harassment — ever. We didn’t have any of what were mischaracterizations reported in the media,” Kotick asserts. “But what we did have was a very aggressive labor movement  working hard to try and destabilize the company.”

3. Although he has become synonymous with Activision, he’s quick to point out that he does not have control of the company through voting rights — as some media moguls do — and that he owns less than 5% of its shares. “No board of directors in a noncontrolled company is going to allow the CEO of an enterprise to stay running the enterprise if those things were truthful,” he says of Activision’s spree of bad press and investigations.

1. A Board Sabermetrics “are you being an asshole” moment!

1. Kotick has 56% board influence!

2. Brian Kelly, board chair, BFF (actually) with Kotick, been on board 27 years, 14% influence - no other boards (needs this job)

3. Bob Morgado, other BFF (actually) with Kotick, been on board 25 years, 12% influence - no other boards (needs this job)

4. Bob Corti, been on board 19 years, 3% influence - no other boards (needs this job)

2. The band “Three Bobs and a Brian” have been together 19+ years and own 85% of the board power.  Female influence = 8%, -25% power gap, ranking 35th worst OUT OF 1,973 US COMPANIES THAT AREN’T CONTROLLED. 

3. Verdict: THIS BOARD WILL ALLOW YOU TO BRO YOUR WAY TO A SECURE CEO SEAT

3. Possibly the assholiest headlines of ALL TIME - no exaggeration: AB JS

1. AI chatbot will replace human helpline workers at National Eating Disorder Association

1. After agreeing to unionize because they were burnt out, the humans were all replaced entirely with AI

2. One day later… National Eating Disorders Association Disabled AI Chatbot After It Gave Dieting Advice

1. During her 35-minute exchange with Maxwell, Tessa recommended tracking her calorie intake and daily weigh-ins, according to screenshots reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Tessa said a realistic weight-loss goal is 1 to 2 pounds a week.

3. Tessa is not built on ChatGPT, but if we’re honest, NO ONE does this until after ChatGPT, right?

Exhausting-est of the Week (JS):

1. Understanding the motherhood penalty and what it means for women’s finances DR

1. The motherhood penalty is the price women pay for growing their families while they’re in the workforce. According to a Harvard study, hiring managers are less likely to hire mothers than women who don’t have kids.

2. And the same study reveals a flipside: Fathers don’t pay the same penalty.

3. One major factor that plays a role in the high rate of moms shelving their careers: childcare expenses. Data from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) shows that families can expect to spend anywhere from $800 to $1,230 per month, per child, on licensed childcare services.

4. The motherhood penalty impacts long-term wealth: According to a global Wealth Equity Index report from WTW in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, women upon retirement are expected to have only 74% of the wealth that men have—despite having longer life spans, on average.

5. It will take employers and lawmakers making changes to mitigate the penalty

2. Fast Fashion’s Curious Comeback AB MM

1. When asked where their first-choice shopping destination is for “going-out” clothes, Gen-Z respondents marked Shein as their No. 1 pick

2. The same generation that reported climate change and environmental issues were their top concern in a Deloitte study

3. How can you not connect the dots here…

3. The companies behind ‘forever chemicals’ covered up the dangers for decades

1. Just like Big Tobacco and Big Oil before it, companies like DuPont and 3M knew about the threat that PFAS posed and hid it from the public.

2. A new report reveals that as early as the 1960s, the chemical industry knew that PFAS, so-called forever chemicals, had adverse health effects—and they went on to suppress that knowledge.

3. UC San Francisco researchers analyzed documents from DuPont and 3M, the largest manufacturers of PFAS, from 1961 to 2006, finding evidence that these companies knew about PFAS harms, and yet kept that information quiet.

4. “DuPont had evidence of PFAS toxicity from internal animal and occupational studies that they did not publish in the scientific literature and failed to report their findings to EPA as required under [The Toxic Substances Control Act],” the paper reads. “These documents were all marked as ‘confidential,’ and in some cases, industry executives are explicit that they ‘wanted this memo destroyed.’”

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: Constellation Brands (aka the Sands Brothers with 71% influence but only 14% ownership), the American distributor for Mexican beer that will soon outsell Bud Light: 

2. AB: THE NORTH FACE. Showing Bud Light inauthentic marketing can do more harm than good.

3. MM: Board Sabermetrics, because of this quote: No board of directors in a noncontrolled company is going to allow the CEO of an enterprise to stay running the enterprise if those things were truthful.  

4. JS: Patagonia- for ranking #1 in a survey by Axios and Harris Poll that gauges the reputation of the most visible brands in America

Predictions

1. DR: Our Fringe Show “The Boring Boring Company” is so boring that an audience member who works at Glass Lewis and came up for the weekend to stuff his face with lobster rolls, punches me in my left ear.

2. AB: I predict this year’s hottest Christmas gift was unveiled yesterday on Insta by Mark Zuckerberg. Zuck showed us his new VR headset yesterday, Apple is revealing their new headset next week… but Zuck’s headset will start at $500 compared to Apple's estimated 3k… so I believe for this coming Christmas Meta’s Quest 3 will be the most buy-now-pay-later’ed item. 

3. MM: An anti-woke Twitterer reads Ruger, the firearms manufacturer’s, documents closely, including their Ethics policy that includes a Discrimination and Harassment clause that states: “Discrimination and Harassment. The Company's legal compliance requirement includes all federal and state regulations prohibiting discrimination against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, sexual orientation, genetic information, age, disability or veteran status. They then proceed to SHOOT their Ruger guns with Smith & Wesson guns before realizing that Smith & Wesson has an ESG charter which establishes an ESG Committee on the board that focuses on, among other things, “diversity and inclusion”.  The anti woke obviously have no choice but to blow up all their guns using a land mine, just to be safe.  However, they actually just self combust when they find Olin, who manufactures their land mines, has a “sustainability strategy” that includes “uphold(ing) our Olin values and governance standards as we amplify our culture of inclusion and cultivate our diverse workforce”.  Every anti-woker dies like the zombies at the end of World War Z, struggling for anti woke air, upon realizing all of their favorite things may have gay employees or sell to a gay somewhere.  

4. JS: After riding in Matt’s new Ioniq this weekend, I’m even more depressed that my husband leases a Tesla