FRIDAY WRAP: Paramount’s dual class disaster, high speed rails, Philips pays out, and UAW wins

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: the corporate settlements you need to know about, CEO news, and the UAW still #winning.

Story of the Week (DR):

1. Another Boeing whistleblower is dead—this time a healthy 45-year-old who battled a sudden, severe infection

2. Paramount says CEO Bob Bakish is stepping down, will be replaced by a trio of executives AB MM

1.  Brian Robbins, Chris McCarthy and George Cheeks in what is being called the “Office of the CEO.”

3. Peloton CEO steps down as beleaguered company cuts 15% of workforce

1. Barry McCarthy is a former Netflix and Spotify executive and joined Peloton in February 2022, replacing co-founder John Foley.

2. Peloton has not made a net profit since December 2020

1. 4 of 7 board members on board before 2020

2. Two directors stepped down when he took over; Foley left a few months after

3. Pamela Thomas-Graham since 2018; chair of Nom

1. On 4 other boards; including beleaguered Bumble and Rivian Automotive. Also Compass, whose stock has been steadily down from 20$ in 2021 to current $3.17 

4. Exxon to bar Pioneer CEO from its board in deal with FTC, WSJ reports

1. Exxon Mobil's $60 billion deal to buy Pioneer Natural Resources on Thursday received clearance from the Federal Trade Commission, but the former CEO of Pioneer was barred from joining the new company's board of directors.

2. The FTC said Thursday that Scott Sheffield, who founded Pioneer in 1997, colluded with OPEC and OPEC+ to potentially raise crude oil prices. Sheffield retired from the company in 2016, but he returned as president and CEO in 2019, served as CEO from 2021 to 2023, and continues to serve on the board. Since Jan. 1, he has served as special adviser to the company's chief executive.

Goodliest of the Week (AB):

1. UAW and Daimler Truck reach last-minute deal to hike pay by more than 25%, avoiding potential strike of over 7,000 workers MM

1. The German company has four factories in North Carolina, where it builds Freightliner and Western Star trucks, and Thomas Built buses.

2. The deal, which includes profit sharing, automatic cost-of-living increases and equalizes pay among workers at the North Carolina factories, marks a victory for the U.A.W. as it tries to expand its power in Southern states where unions have long been weak.

2. First High-Speed Rail Line in US Breaks Ground: Brightline Vegas to LA at 200 mph to Save Thousands in Emissions AB

1. Fortress Investment Group has gathered $9 billion in financing for the project, including a $3 billion grant from the Biden Administration’s infrastructure funding bill

2. Brightline is expected to serve 11 million passengers every year running alongside US Interstate 15, and the number of total vehicle miles that will be saved is estimated to be 700 million.

3. 400,000 tonnes of CO2 will be eliminated for every year that Brightline West is in operation.

3. New federal rules on airline refunds require cash instead of vouchers DR CR

1. NO MORE AIRLINES CREDITS. NO MORE VOUCHERS. NO MORE CALLING AND BEING ON HOLD FOR HOURS. PETE FOR PRESIDENT.

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

1. Data points:

1. Thousands of documents were suppressed to avoid recall

2. $1bn for 50,000 customers across 700 lawsuits, including those that died of rare cancers

3. “I still don’t have my husband. But it sounds like a good amount of money coming out of their pocket, so it makes me feel a little bit happier.”

1. Philips Agrees to Pay $1 Billion to Patients Who Say They Were Injured by Breathing Machines AB MM

2. No, they did NOT have to admit fault

2. Data points:

1. Offers $6.5bn over 25 years for causing ovarian cancer

2. The company has already reserved $11bn to pay and is offering $6.5

3. The stock was up 3% after the offer was announced

1. Johnson & Johnson wants to pay $6.5 billion to settle its talc ovarian cancer lawsuits

3. Data points

1. 19 dead

2. 700 homeless

3. “Unprecedented” pollutant spread in rivers and drinking water

4. 430,000 affected people

1. Mining firm BHP offers $25.7bn settlement for Brazil dam disaster DR

Headline-iest (ALL):

1. DR

1. Paramount axed its CEO, then held a bizarre earnings call where it played the 'Mission: Impossible' theme song over and over and refused to take questions MM DR

2. The emergency slide that came off a Delta Boeing 767 washed up in front of the house of a lawyer whose firm is suing Boeing over the Alaska blowout

2. MM

1. A dolphin died of bird flu

2. A 101-year-old woman keeps getting mistaken for a baby on flights and says it's because American Airlines' booking system can't handle her age

1. My wife just got through flying AA and was repeatedly told they couldn’t help rebook her after her flight was delayed and she missed her connection because “the system doesn’t let them”

3. Norovirus outbreaks linked to 2 cruise ships with over 150 infected

3. AB: $600 'Pee-Stained' Designer Jeans Sell Out AB

Exhausting-est of the Week (JS):

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: Any still living Boeing whistleblower

2. AB: “From now on when your flight is canceled for any reason, you are entitled to an automatic cash refund and it has to be prompt,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

3. MM: Non Tesla chargers - Tesla Sucked Up Federal Funding for Supercharger Network Before Firing Whole Department

4. JS: 

Predictions

1. DR: Based on this headline: Senators Slam UnitedHealth’s C.E.O. Over Cyberattack

1. UnitedHealth director Kristen Gil becomes Dr. Gil in 2025 proxy

1. She served briefly on the board of cybersecurity company

2. Cybersecurity Risk Oversight completely rewritten: 2023 proxy cited “HITRUST framework [that] is subject to an annual external certification process by the HITRUST Alliance” but no mention in 2024 proxy

1. The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) is an organization governed by representatives from the healthcare industry. HITRUST created and maintains the Common Security Framework (CSF), a certifiable framework to help healthcare organizations and their providers demonstrate their security and compliance in a consistent and streamlined manner

3. 2023 proxy included this link but not in 2024.

1. Link includes data only updated to 2022

4. Mentions specific role of “Chief Information Security Officer” (CISO) in 2023 proxy but not 2024

1. Aimee Cardwell stepped down as CISO

2. No current CISO other than Chief Security Officer Tammi Morton, hired in August 2023

1. Not listed in current list of 26 executive management team

2. Only person listed with “technology” in title is Sandeep Dadlani, EVP, Executive Vice President, Chief Digital & Technology Officer

5. CEO Andrew Witty up $24M this year, 13% increase from last year

2. AB: Boeing will now provide round the clock security to all the whistleblowers. 

3. MM: I release shit stained jeans

4. JS: