FRIDAY WRAP: Mungeer dies, Musk says "go eff yourself", the 2 year geothermal plant, State Street's "voter choice" gaslight, Monsanto's toxic lights

Introduction

Story of the Week (DR):

1. Charlie Munger, right-hand man of Warren Buffett, dies aged 99 AB DR

2. Elon Musk on X antisemitism controversy: “Don’t advertise. Go f*** yourself”

1. Musk says X advertiser backlash is "going to kill the company."

2. "If somebody is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go fuck yourself," Musk said. Sorkin replied, "but," and trailed off. Musk wasn't done. "Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is. Hey, Bob!" Musk said. Musk was apparently addressing Disney CEO Bob Iger, who previously said at the conference that advertising on X "was not necessarily a positive" association and so Disney "decided we would pull our advertising."

1. Elon Musk says he debated the 'meaning of life' as a 12-year-old and wondered 'isn't it all pointless?'

1. During the interview, Musk spoke about his "demons of the mind" and elaborated on how his mind often feels like a "very wild storm." He responded "no" when asked if it was a "happy storm."

3. Disney names Morgan Stanley CEO to its board as Bob Iger prepares for fight with billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz MM

1. James Gorman and Sky Exec Chair and former CEO Jeremy Darroch

2. Disney's Iger to step down in 2026, says Chapek's tenure was 'disappointing'

4. Sam Altman has officially been reinstated atop OpenAI as CEO JS

1. Sam Altman says he harbors 'zero ill will' towards former OpenAI board member Ilya Sutskever

2. Microsoft to take non-voting, observer position on OpenAI's board

3. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went on an 18-month, $85 million real-estate shopping spree — including a previously unknown Hawaii estate

4. OpenAI staff reportedly warned the board about an AI breakthrough that could threaten humanity before Sam Altman was ousted

1. Former Google CEO Warns AI Could Endanger Humanity Within Five Years

1. Companies' AI guardrails "aren't enough" to prevent harm

2. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says artificial general intelligence will be achieved in five years

1. AI will be ‘fairly competitive’ with humans in 5 years

Goodliest of the Week (AB):

1. UN declares PFAS pollution in North Carolina a human rights violation. DR This is the first time the UN has used this type of framework to address PFAS.  UN Special Rapporteur Marcos Orellana sent a letter stating the ongoing contamination of the Cape Fear watershed (500k ppl) in NC violates residents’ right to a clean and safe environment.

1. This letter was sent to Dupont, Chemours, and Corteva. 3 companies associated with the Fayetville Works chemical plant that has been polluting Cape Fear for FORTY YEARS.

2. The reason it was sent to 3 diff companies is because chemical companies are SO good at blame-shifting exercises that they split up and reinvent themselves to make it difficult for regulators (or anyone else) to hold anyone accountable.

3. These 3 companies reached a $1.1B settlement with U.S. Water systems in June 2023, and on Wednesday reached a $110M settlement with Ohio 

2. America's first 'enhanced' geothermal plant just got up and running MM JS

1. 2 years after Fervo Energy and Google signed a development deal, the ‘enhanced geothermal’ plant started supplying power to the grid!

2. Basically, they dig deeper and better than others and advance the efforts to harness the earth’s heat as a widespread renewable energy option.

3. Google’s motivation - “24/7 carbon-free energy” operations (data centers, office campuses worldwide) not just through “purchasing renewable power but also accelerating the dev of innovative energy technologies”

3. Virgin Atlantic Completes First Ever 100% SAF-Powered Transatlantic Flight on Commercial Airliner

1. London-JFK 

2. Fuel accounts for the vast majority of the aviation sector’s emissions. Generally produced from sustainable resources, like waste oils and agricultural residues, SAF producers estimate the fuels can result in lifecycle GHG emissions reductions of as much as 85% relative to conventional fuels.

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

1. State Street adds option to fully back corporate boards DR AB JS

1. Here’s a problem no one had: board members getting full backing from investors

2. The average FOR vote for a board member is 96%.  Only 90% of Americans can agree the Earth is round, but 96% of investors agree that their board members are worth electing

3. An academic paper found that 57% of stocks underperform US treasury bonds between 1926 and 2019 - meaning HALF of stocks are worse than getting a government bond from your grandma for your 10th birthday

4. For the privilege of that underperformance, ONLY 0.2% OF DIRECTORS ARE VOTED OUT

5. State Street is coming out strong by giving every retail investor the ability to, by default, approve of our corporate overlords!

6. Like this guy: Alexander Wynaendts

1. Ex-CEO at Aegon and he’s now a director at three companies: Uber, Air France, and Deutsche Banks.  WINNERS ALL!

2. Sir Alex is connected to someone on every board where he sits, so he’s among friends

3. Which explains why every nominating committee is OK with the fact that in his career on boards, he bats:

1. .131 on TSR - bottom 14%!

2. .243 on earnings - bottom 25%!

3. .157 on carbon - bottom 16%!

4. .010 on controversies - BOTTOM 1%!  CONGRATS!

4. And guess what - YOU JUST ELECTED HIM THANKS TO STATE STREET!

1. Wynaendts got a 99.2% FOR vote last year despite never sitting on boards where the companies actually perform

2. Given this year Uber reported its first profit just over 3 years since its IPO, you might think, “they’re doing great!” or “you're aligned with management, let's go all-in” says Lori Heinel at State Street!

2. Mary Barra

1. GM announces record $10 billion stock buyback—more than it’s spending on UAW raises—as its electrification push stalls

1. LABOR KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR!

2. LABOR IS THE REASON FOR INFLATION!

3. LABOR COULD KILL US ECONOMY!

4. LABOR IS TRIGGERING LAYOFFS!

5. Where’s my “Blackrock (owns 10%), Vanguard (owns 8% of shares), Mary Barra (owns 4.2 million shares and 20% of company influence) are killing EVs, inflation, the economy, and forcing layoffs” headline?

3. Sam Altman

1. 'Hurt and angry': Sam Altman opens up about OpenAI board's failed coup

1. That seems so sad to be angry they did their job…

2. Sam Altman says he harbors 'zero ill will' towards former OpenAI board member Ilya Sutskever

1. … sorry, just angry at the women?...

3. OpenAI staff reportedly warned the board about an AI breakthrough that could threaten humanity before Sam Altman was ousted

1. … sorry, angry at the two women who listened to concerns of staff about threats to humanity?...

4. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went on an 18-month, $85 million real-estate shopping spree — including a previously unknown Hawaii estate

1. … sorry, angry at the two women who almost didn’t let you buy estates in Hawaii WHILE you threaten humanity?...

5. OpenAI says white men ‘Bret, Larry and Adam’ will work hard to build diverse board

1. … sorry, so angry at the two women, you offered their seats to two white bros?...

6. OpenAI unlikely to offer board seat to Microsoft, other investors

1. … and you promise no MORE tech bros?...

7. Microsoft gets OpenAI board seat as non-voting observer

1. … except just THIS one… but as an observer… but we don’t yet have room for women or people of color to just “observe”... 

Exhausting-est of the Week (JS):

1. JEFF BEZOS’ SUPERYACHT IS SO GIGANTIC IT NEEDS TO BE DOCKED NEXT TO OIL TANKERS MM

1. Alongside these headlines:

2. The Biggest Delivery Business in the U.S. Is No Longer UPS or FedEx- it’s Amazon

3. Amazon says Black Friday, Cyber Monday sales event was its 'biggest ever'

4. Amazon packages reportedly overwhelm small post offices, delaying other mail

5. P.S. It costs ~$137K per day to operate…imagine the pollution.

2. WA school employees sue Monsanto for $165 million over toxic contamination leaked from light fixtures DR JS

1. Okay, I love that they’re suing

2. Washington teachers at the Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, WA say that exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, that leaked from light fixtures gave them cancer and brain injuries

3. This verdict against Monsanto marks the latest trial loss for the company, which is now facing nearly $870 million in verdicts from alleged PCBs exposure at the Sky Valley center, said an attorney for the plaintiffs.

4. Why is this exhausting: Bayer Monsanto is behind the extremely dangerous chemical glyphosate (aka Roundup) that’s poisoning our food supply in the US. As of November of this year, Monsanto has reached settlement agreements in nearly 100,000 lawsuits for Roundup. They paid ~ 11B

3. X CEO Linda Yaccarino tries to bail Elon Musk out of trouble again, as she labels his expletive-laden rant against advertisers a ‘candid’ exchange AB

1. This week, Musk told companies like Apple and Disney to “go fuck yourself” for pulling their business after they felt X had become unsafe for their brands. 

2. Yaccarino attempted to portray his frustration as part of a “wide-ranging and candid” interview with the New York Times

4. JUST QUIT LINDA…when will it be enough? Do not go down with this fool.

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: The Buffett/Munger bromance

2. AB: 

3. MM: I hate this, but Buffett and Munger on why they won’t buy companies with shitty leadership: “If you want to ruin your life, spend it trying to change your spouse,” Munger said. “It's really stupid.” “Marrying somebody to change them is crazy,” Buffett chimed in. “And I would say hiring somebody to change him is just as crazy, and becoming partners with them to change them is crazy.”

4. JS: Forbes for compiling a Hall of Shame, highlighting names it regrets picking for 30 under 30 list…starting with none other than SBF and Caroline Ellison.

Predictions

1. DR: Condoleezza Rice becomes first female OpenAI board member

2. AB: Howie Buff III joins BH board

3. MM: Nelson Peltz hires Free Float to show that Disney’s new “ringer” board members bat a collective .465 for TSR, with Darroch as a fairly abysmal sub .400 batting average.  Meanwhile, Peltz himself bats a much better .537.  The result is Iger relents, Peltz joins the board himself, and both Iger and Peltz praise the idea of moneyballing your management teams.

4. JS: Linda quits