FRIDAY WRAP: Norfolk’s half win, Dorsey and the board, batteries in CA, child labor at McDonald’s, and woke vs. not woke food

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: 

Story of the Week (DR):

1. Activist investor wins 3 Norfolk Southern board seats but won't have control to fire CEO AB DR

1. Ancora winners:

1. William Clyburn, Jr., former commissioner and vice-chairman of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board

2. Sameh Fahmy, former EVP of precision scheduled railroading at Kansas City Southern

3. Gilbert Lamphere, chairman of MidRail Corporation and co-founder of MidSouth Rail Corporation

2. NS losers: “We thank Amy E. Miles, Jennifer F. Scanlon, and John R. Thompson for their dedication and service to our franchise.”

2. Reddit kicks off its first-ever earnings call in a very Reddit way, answering questions from users

1. The company solicited questions via the little-known subreddit r/RDDT, screening those questions internally before answering them on the call.

2. CEO Steve Huffman said this would be an ongoing practice for the company on future earnings calls. And while the executive team only answered two questions on Tuesday’s call, it said it planned to answer others within the subreddit after the call.

3. Questions:

1. “How are your initiatives going in terms of licensing data for AI data models? Plans to expand beyond Google?”

2. “Can you go into any specifics about what types of advertising are most responsible for the strong increase in earnings? Is it mostly from increased sales on previously existing types of advertising, or opening new types of advertising on the platform?”

3. Oklahoma anti-ESG law blocked by state judge

1. A judge in Oklahoma blocked a state law that prohibits state pension systems from investing with companies that limit investment in the oil and gas industry.

2. Oklahoma County District Court Judge Sheila Stinson on Tuesday issued a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of the law after finding retiree Don Keenan is likely to succeed in his lawsuit filed last year alleging the law violates the state constitution and is too vaguely written.

4. Jack Dorsey said Twitter's board 'has always been a problem' and that he plotted his exit from the firm because of its activist investor MM

1. "I was extremely challenged by my board," Dorsey said. "The board has always been a problem at that company, and I was happy to see it end," Dorsey continued. "But there was only one way for it to end, which is going private. And I think that's the greatest act."

2. "I didn't want to be on a board with an activist," he said. I didn't want to run a company like that. It's just a Wall Street mess. It's not creative, it's diminishing."

1. That investor was Elliott Management, an investment firm led by Paul Singer that wanted to replace Dorsey because he was spending time on his other venture, Square, while running Twitter as CEO.

Goodliest of the Week (AB):

1. FTX customers are getting back all the money they lost in the crypto exchange's collapse

1. The former crypto exchange expects 98% of its creditors to receive approximately 118% of the amount of their allowed claims

2. Batteries are taking on gas plants to power California’s nights MM DR

1. California’s record 10 gigawatts of grid batteries are finally pushing solar generation into post-sunset hours at a meaningful scale, new data shows.

3. Aetna will cover fertility treatments for LGBTQ people under court settlement

1. Good.

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

1. Data:

1. 2,300 child labor law violations since 2013

2. 15 child labor law violations per 100 stores

3. Headline: McDonald’s shareholders demand company tackle child-labor problems

1. The shareholders said in their letter this week that the McDonald’s chairman responded to their 2023 letter by saying he shared their concerns about child labor, while “highlighting that these incidents took place at franchised locations, not corporate owned stores.”

2. “We are concerned that the McDonald’s Board is failing to appropriately oversee the Company’s employment practices and is failing to mitigate risks to the Company’s reputation,” said the letter to McDonald’s incoming lead independent director, Miles White.

3. White’s controversies batting average: .105

4. Average board member FOR vote at McDonald’s: 96.8%

5. Asshole: McDonald’s shareholders writing letters over multiple years to the board while electing… the board

2. Data:

1. -4.3% stores sale drop in 2Q2023 is all it took

2. Headline: Target to pull LGBTQ-themed items from some stores during Pride Month, Bloomberg News reports

1. They will offer products "curated based on guest insights and consumer research,"

2. Some stores will have products and others won’t, everything will be available online

3. Is that research “how much do these customers hate gays?”

4. Why is everyone fucking cowering in fear from what I will now call the anti-gay, anti-black, anti-woman movement?  They’re not anti-woke, that’s a euphemism, call it what it is - but all these corporations are fucking slinking quietly away.

3. Data: DR AB

1. “emissions must peak in 2025 and reduce by 43% by 2030”

2. “merits of the case [by Follow This] fully accepted”

3. Arguments Follow This are “stronger [than in 2023] given the discontinuation of the 2035 target, scaling back of the 2030 target, and growing role of LNG”

4. Paris-aligned 2030 Scope 3 targets are “not part of company’s current strategy”

5. Acceptance of proposal “might imply the Board must review the strategic direction”

6. Headline: ISS’ voting recommendation at Shell contradicts its analysis

1. Resolution: Shareholders support the Company, by an advisory vote, to align its medium-term emissions reduction targets covering the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the use of its energy products (Scope 3) with the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement: to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.

2. ISS, after agreeing with the entirety of the merit of the resolution, suggests: Given “uncertainty” in the impact of the resolutions, vote AGAINST

3. WHO BUYS THIS SHIT?

Headline-iest (ALL):

1. A definitive list of woke and non-woke foods - New Zealand Herald

1. GAME SHOW TIME - woke or not:

1. Banana

2. Beans

3. Baked Beans

4. Quinoa

5. Quinoa

6. Potato chips (salted, salt and vinegar)

7. Potato chips (any other flavor)

8. Plant based jerky

9. Spaghetti

10. Canned spaghetti

11. Basil pesto with meat in dish

12. Salad made with iceberg lettuce

2. (DR) Does Becton, Dickinson and Company's (NYSE:BDX) CEO Pay Matter?

3. Sam Bankman-Fried has a new currency to trade in prison: rice

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: NS CEO Alan Shaw

2. AB: 

3. MM: Alan Shaw: Norfolk Southern Investors Reject Plan to Oust Its Management - Alan Shaw loses Amy Miles but is still on the board, which means the Ancora winners will have less influence to make change

Predictions

1. DR: A giant diaper falls on Jack Dorsey’s head

2. AB: Howard Schultz Is Giving His Successor at Starbucks Advice on LinkedIn - he’s coming back

3. MM: We are 24 months away from the first legal marriage to AI in the US: Lonely Teens Are Making "Friends" With AIs