MONDAY KETCHUP: Rite Aid’s bankrupt (board), CEOs rule (countries), Ford’s America loses (more CEO pay), Universal is Disney, things we hate and things we hate to love

Live from your CEO’s non-reusable grocery bag, it’s yet another Manic Monday edition of Business Pants. Joined by Analyst-Hole Matt Moscardi! In today’s expired milk called October 16, 2023: Monday Morning Headlines and Things Our AnalystHole Agrees With!

Our show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only ESG data platform to measure real board influence

DAMION1

1. Rite Aid just filed for bankruptcy and could be closing more of its 2,100 stores

1. In March, the US Justice Department sued Rite Aid and its subsidiaries, accusing the company of missing "red flags" when pharmacists filled opioid prescriptions.

1. Rite Aid filled hundreds of thousands of prescriptions that did not meet legal requirements, Vanita Gupta, the associate attorney general, said in the complaint. "Rite Aid's pharmacists repeatedly filled prescriptions for controlled substances with obvious red flags, and Rite Aid intentionally deleted internal notes about suspicious prescribers. These practices opened the floodgates for millions of opioid pills and other controlled substances to flow illegally out of Rite Aid's stores."

2. In addition to the opioid-related litigation, the company has struggled with slowing sales and a mounting debt burden. 

3. Rite Aid Corporation also announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Jeffrey S. Stein as CEO, Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) and a member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. Mr. Stein succeeds Elizabeth (“Busy”) Burr, who has served as Interim CEO of Rite Aid since January 2023. Ms. Burr will continue to serve on the Company’s Board.

1. In addition to Mr. Stein, Rite Aid has appointed Carrie Teffner and Paul Keglevic to its Board

1. turnaround/transformation experts?

2. Previously or currently servoed on the following boards:

1. DXC Technology

2. International Data Group

3. BFA Industries

4. Ascena Retail Group

5. Avaya

6. GameStop

7. WeWork

8. Evergy

9. Envision Healthcare

10. Ascena Retail Group

11. Bonanza Creek Energy

12. Clear Channel Holdings

13. Cobalt International Energy

14. Frontier Communications

2. CEOs (actually) Rule!

1. Swiss Populists Set To Sweep Polls With War On 'Woke Madness', Migration

1. Led by Christoph Blocher: former CEO and majority shareholder of EMS-Chemie: plastics and chemical company

2. New Zealand elects conservative Christopher Luxon as premier after 6 years of liberal rule

1. Former CEO of  Air New Zealand and Unilever Canada

3. Experts overwhelmingly blame one person for climate change confusion: ‘One of the greatest climate villains’

1. Climate scientist and University of Pennsylvania professor Michael Mann, per the Guardian: “He has wielded his global media empire as a cudgel to sow confusion and doubt about the science and the solutions. He will go down in history as one of the greatest climate villains.”

2. Speaking to the Guardian, climate scientist at Australian National University Joëlle Gergis said: “It’s hard to think of another person who has single-handedly done more to muddy the public’s understanding of climate change.”

3. Want to guess?

3. Bill Ford calls for end to auto strike, saying that ‘America loses’ if union wins higher wages

1. Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford called on autoworkers to come together to end a monthlong strike that he says could cost the company the ability to invest in the future.

2. In a rare speech during contract talks in the company’s hometown of Dearborn, Michigan, Ford said high labor costs could limit the company’s ability to make future investments. “If we lose it, we will lose to the competition. America loses. Many jobs will be lost,” said the great grandson of company founder Henry Ford.

3. FFA

1. Bill Ford controls 61% of board influence

1. great-grandson of founder Henry Ford

2. Still gets a paycheck despite Ford family fortune 

1. $17M (vs $21M for CEO)

2. Shareholder give him:

1. $636,394 for personal use of aircraft

2. $1,113,703 for security

3. He’s actually the most hated director

1. 14% against (656,990,053 votes)

2. 3 Williams and 5 Johns

3. Female power gap: 29% to 10%

1. All 5 NEOs men

2. 31 company officers

1. Only 6 women (19%)

1. And yes: one is the head of HR and one os a Ford family member so more like: 13%

2. (Don’t ask me how many of Ford’s 31 corporate officers are black. Ok, I’ll tell you: ONE

1. It only gets worse when you pull back: 89 listed leadership profiles on Ford’s website: only 5 black leaders: this includes the aforementioned Smith, one black board member, and the Chief Diversity Officer

4. Meanwhile: Big 3 carmakers paid their CEOs $1 billion since 2010 and now say they can’t afford to pay striking workers what they’re demanding

1. While both arguments have some merit, one fact stands out: The 10 individuals who’ve served as chief executive officers of the companies since 2010 have collected more than $1 billion of compensation. Meanwhile, wages of US auto workers — unionized or not — have declined around 17% in that time frame.

4. Months after DeSantis stripped Disney of a special district, Universal Orlando Resort just got one

1. Just months after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stripped Disney of its self-governing status, a neighboring theme park has been granted many of the same benefits.

2. The Orange County Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted earlier this week to create a special district for the 719 acres encompassing Universal Orlando Resort and its ongoing expansion. Taxes and fees collected in that area will fund the district. All land is owned by either Universal Orlando or the company that owns the Hilton Orlando adjacent to the park.

3. The special district will reportedly use $174 million in bonds to fund infrastructure, including a planned rail service station connecting the Orlando airport to an area near the park.

4. All of the board seats for the special district will be held by Universal employees. That’s far different from the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which oversees Walt Disney World and other Disney theme parks in Florida. The board overseeing that area was taken over by DeSantis allies after the state dissolved Reedy Creek’s special status.

5. Citibank wins lawsuit against fired analyst who expensed his partner’s meals to the company and then claimed he ate two of everything

1. Former analyst Szabolcs Fekete had sued the bank for unfair dismissal after being fired last year for gross misconduct over the expenses claim. He initially said that he had consumed the 2 sandwiches, 2 pasta dishes, and 2 coffees by himself during a business trip to Amsterdam, but later acknowledged that his partner had shared some of the food.

1. Mr Fekete's senior manager said that the receipt "appears to have two sandwiches, two coffees, and another drink . . . Are you advising that this was all consumed by you?"

2. Mr Fekete confirmed this was the case, saying that all his expenses were within Citibank's $100 daily spending allowance, and argued that he didn't "have to justify my eating habits to this extent."

3. He later admitted that he had shared the food, which he expensed to his employer, with his partner, and was ultimately dismissed by the bank. Mr. Fekete argued that there were mitigating factors, including the recent loss of his grandmother and that he was on strong medication when he replied to the emails.

6. Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyers say he needs more Adderall to concentrate in court

1. SBF's lawyers are petitioning the court to grant him access to more Adderall during his trial.

2. Lawyers said he wouldn't be able "to concentrate at the level he ordinarily would" without it.

3. They suggested adjourning the trial for a day if the court can't provide the necessary medication.

7. Finally, in CEO detention news:

1. Australia fines X for failing to crack down on child abuse content

1. Australia internet safety watchdog has slapped a A$610,500 ($386,000; £317,360) fine on Elon Musk's X for failing to cooperate with a probe into anti-child abuse practices.

2. It comes after Mr Musk in a post last November said that "removing child exploitation is priority #1".

2. Elon Musk's X illegally fired an employee in retaliation for her internet posts challenging its return-to-office policy, the U.S. labor board alleged on Friday.

3. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz violated federal labor law by telling a barista in California who questioned the coffee chain's response to union organizing to "go work for another company," a National Labor Relations Board judge has ruled.

MATT1

Things I hate I agree with:

• Vivek Ramaswamy says it's 'not productive' for companies to blacklist Harvard students who make 'dumb' statements like blaming Israel for the Hamas attacks

• Harvard alumnus who perpetually says you shouldn’t blame Harvard students for dumb statements feel self serving, but also correct

• VC billionaire Marc Andreessen on Tesla and SpaceX: They ‘probably would have gone under’ with anyone besides Elon Musk

• Andreessen meant to say “I have such a Musk fetish that I just can’t fund anyone else anymore.  Except of course upfailer Adam Neumann”

• Fox News host and Trump supporter Sean Hannity suggests GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is 'not qualified to be president' because he's never held public office

• Not so much because he’s never held public office, but because he’s an unqualified rube.

• ‘I don’t think it’s too much’: Waffle House workers push for $25 an hour

• HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A WAFFLE HOUSE?  It should be $100/hr.

• Attorney: Waffle House shooter believed God commanded him

• ‘They don’t go for jewellery any more’: Olive oil theft on the rise in Greece

• Correct.  Olive oil is better.

Things I vehemently disagree with:

• Plant-based cheese may be getting more appetizing

• Netflix is planning 'houses' where fans can get closer to their favorite shows

• GTFU

• Why did the metaverse die? Because Silicon Valley doesn’t understand the concept of fun

• FALSE.  It’s because it was a hell hole

• Dollar General's boomerang CEO doubled its market cap during his first stint. Can he do it again?

• Yeah, it was really super to have the lowest paid employees and shittiest work conditions before - does wonders for stock prices!

• ‘People are fed up’: Dollar General workers push to unionize amid hostility from above

• Sobriety Is in, and Non-Alcoholic Beer Sales Are Soaring

• America is literally shooting cans of beer because it’s woke - this is a short term condition