FRIDAY WRAP: Reddit pops, Anguilla wins the AI race, ISS is pointless, ISS sucks, and who pays for ISS

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. ISS is stupid AB

1. backing Nelson Peltz because Nelson “could be additive to the succession process.”

2. ISS also said shareholders should abstain from voting for Jay Rasulo, all three Blackwells candidates and current director Maria Elena Lagomasino

3. NYT:  "I.S.S. advised withholding votes for an incumbent board member, Maria Elena Lagomasino, citing “multi-year concerns” about her role on the compensation committee"

2. Reddit pops 48% in NYSE debut after selling shares at top of range MM DR

1. Much-hated Reddit founder and CEO Steve Huffman gifted himself a stunning $193 million compensation package — while unpaid moderators on the platform have yet to see a single dollar, as Variety reports.

2. During a recent Q&A video posted to the subreddit named after the company's brand new New York stock exchange ticker RDDT, Huffman argued that he was totally justified in paying himself more than the CEOs of Meta, Pinterest and Snap combined.

3. Voting agreement (46.7%): Huffman (3.3%), Advance (33.5%), and Tencent Holdings (9.4%)

1. “Mr. Huffman may have the ability to control the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of our directors and the approval of any change in control transaction”

1. Because of the ten-to-one voting ratio between our Class B and Class A common stock, respectively, the holders of our Class B common stock collectively will continue to control a majority of the combined voting power of our common stock and therefore will be able to control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval.

2. “no director can be selected as chairperson of our board of directors without the prior written approval of each of Advance and, for so long as he remains our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Huffman

2. Random horrible tech bros

1. Sam Altman 9.1%

2. Lee Linden (Quiet Capital and Tacit Capital) 5.5%

3. Alexander Tamas (Vy Capital) 5,4%

3. Advance is Steven Newhouse (Warner Brothers Discovery director)

3. DOJ sues Apple over iPhone monopoly in landmark antitrust case

1. "Apple undermines apps, products, and services that would otherwise make users less reliant on the iPhone," and has consolidated its monopoly "not by making its own products better, but by making other products worse," Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference.

Goodliest of the Week (AB):

1. Unilever to unload super woke Ben & Jerry's after years of fighting with independent board over Israel and Native American rows

1. Ben & Jerry’s to become FREE from Unilever

2. In 2022 Unilever and B&J got in a fight after the board of B&J said it would stop the sales of its products in Israeli settlements in the West Bank

2. Ginsburg family blasts plan to give RBG Award to Musk, Murdoch, others

1. THE BIGGEST JOKE OF THE WEEK

2. “The honor was first awarded in 2020, before the justice’s death, with the intent to recognize ‘an extraordinary woman who has exercised a positive and notable influence on society and served as an exemplary role model in both principles and practice.’ 

3. …. And now it’s being awarded to billionaires Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch

3. The A.I. Boom Makes Millions for an Unlikely Industry Player: Anguilla MM DR

1. The small Caribbean island collects a fee from every registration for internet addresses that end in “.ai” (like .fr for france) THIS HAS BROUGHT IN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS  (>10 percent of its G.D.P), from companies registering .ai web addresses 

2. IT’S LIKE WINNING THE LOTTERY WITHOUT EVEN BUYING A TICKET

Assholiest of the Week (MM):

1. ISS DR MM

1. Advisory firm ISS tells Disney shareholders to side with Nelson Peltz in proxy fight

1. This analysis costs investors 100s of thousands: 

1. Dissident nominee Peltz, as a significant shareholder, could be additive to the succession process

2. Rasulo’s potential presence might create added friction on the board

3. ISS agrees that Perlmutter’s involvement is “an unfortunate distraction” and that he “may cast a baleful shadow over the Board” if Peltz is elected.

2. This is the MAGA version of governance - just stir the pot!  Let a rich white guy shake things up!  Everyone’s too complacent!  Too many Democrats and Jews!  

1. ZERO evidence Peltz is any good

2. History of underperformance: Nelson Peltz is America’s most overrated activist investor. Here’s what the experts missed about his performance

3. He had to send out a letter from people he knows intimately who said he’s cool - you know who does that?  PEOPLE WHO SUCK.

4. But sure ISS, put him on the board because he could be good maybe!

2. Blackrock

1. When are you ESGers going to learn - you don’t cozy up to the anti woke and do what they say, they’re fucking nuts.  This is theater, this isn’t a reasoned discussion about the use of data.

2. Exhibit A1: The Ass Kiss didn’t work: 

1. February: Texas Lauds BlackRock’s ‘King of Wall Street’ in Change of Tune

2. March: Texas schools fund pulls $8.5 billion from BlackRock over ESG investing

3. Lead Independent Directors AB

1. McDonald's CEO Kempczinski to assume role of board chairman

1. Miles White named Lead Independent Director

2. INDEPENDENT???

1. Director since 2009 (15 years)

2. Connected to 58% of the CURRENT board

3. Has nearly 40 loops back to board members in the last 7 years alone

4. Was on the board for the disaster that was Steve Easterbrook

5. Miles is part of the Boeing American Board Other board history:

3. LIDs

1. There are 284 US large caps out of just over 600 with a strong executive presence (CEO/Chair combo, founder, or executive chair) and a Lead Independent Director on the board - that’s 47% of US large cap boards

1. WHO SAID MONARCHY IS DEAD?

2. Of those…

1. At 59% the LID has 10+ years of tenure

2. At 29% BOTH the executive AND the LID have more than 10 years of tenure - as in they worked together for a decade

3. So this means at the majority of companies using a Lead Independent Director to comply with ISS or Glass Lewis “best governance practices” are calling a person who’s been on one board for more than 10 years “independent”, which in the UK is NOT considered independent

4. Worse, our data shows that at 57% of those companies, the executive and LID combo own greater than 40% of board influence, and a quarter of them own the majority of influence

5. We also found that at the worst 10% of them, the LID and executive were the most connected people on the board to the other directors

Headline-iest (ALL):

1. MM:

1. Content creators worry about miseducation in a world without TikTok

2. Nvidia announces AI-powered health care 'agents' that outperform nurses — and cost $9 an hour

1. It’s the “and cost $9 an hour” as if nurses are wildly overpaid for changing grandpa’s bedpan and watching people die all day

2. DR: Bentley CEO says sales are down because the rich are experiencing ‘emotional sensitivity’ due to the cost of living and don’t want to flaunt their wealth with a new luxury car

3. Japan’s Labor Market Has a Lesson for the Fed: Women Can Surprise You AB MM DR

Exhausting-est of the Week (JS):

Who Won the Week?

1. DR: Reddit CEO Steve Huffman ($193M) and COO Jennifer Wong ($93M)

2. AB: BEN AND JERRY’S

3. MM: Nelson Peltz

4. JS: 

Predictions

1. DR: ISS does something stupid. Yay, I already got this one right!

2. AB: Nelson Peltz drops contest (again)

3. MM: Nelson Peltz wins a board seat, because I hate the world

4. JS: