WOKE WEDNESDAY: Everything bad happens on X, Walgreens new fake CEO, Goyder fake apologizes, and it’s all motherhood’s fault

Live from an ESG data-scented LED candle, it’s the ESG Industry’s ONLY weekly woke data podcast, featuring AnalystHole Matt Moscardi In today’s jetlagged ESG blackout curtains called October 11, 2023: CEOs name and shame college students and the Qantas board chair gives up his hissy fit

Our show today is being sponsored by ESGauge, your ESG data solutions provider.

DAMION1

1. Here are the CEOs and investors who want Harvard to release the names of students blaming Israel for the Hamas attacks — so they can avoid hiring them

1. Bill Ackman says the students who blamed Israel for Hamas' attacks have to stop hiding behind the Harvard brand

2. "Share the list, please. We'll stay away," Ale Resnik, the CEO of rental housing startup Belong, replied to Ackman's post on X.

3. Tech investor and entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky echoed the same sentiment. Varsavsky told Insider in a text message he thought Ackman was "right."

4. "I would like to know so I know never to hire these people," Jonathan Newman, the CEO of salad chain Sweetgreen, wrote in response to Ackman.

5. "We are in as well," said Michael Broukhim, the CEO of gift box membership company FabFitFun.

6. "Same," wrote David Duel, CEO of healthcare services firm EasyHealth on X, in response to Newman.

7. "I completely agree, and have been wondering the same the last couple of days if/when the names of these students would come out," said Michael McQuaid, the head of DeFi operations at blockchain company Bloq.

8. Others who appeared to voice their agreement with Ackman's post include Stephen Ready, the CEO of the brand marketing firm Inspired; Hu Montague, the founder and vice president of the construction company Diligent; Art Levy, the chief strategy officer of the payments platform Brex; and Jake Wurzak, the CEO of the hospitality investment group Dovehill Capital Management.

9. EU warns Elon Musk 'disinformation' is spreading on X after Hamas attack

1. The EU has warned Elon Musk that X is being used to spread "disinformation" after Hamas' attack on Israel.

2. In a post on the site formerly known as Twitter, the bloc's industry chief said "violent and terrorist content" had not been taken down, despite warnings - as is required by EU law.

3. Failure to comply with the European regulations around illegal content could result in fines worth 6% of a company’s annual revenue.

2. Walgreens names veteran health-care executive Tim Wentworth as next CEO

1. Walgreens Boots Alliance has chosen veteran health care executive Tim Wentworth as the company’s new chief executive starting Oct. 23.

2. Wentworth is the former CEO of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits management company, Express Scripts, which was acquired by Cigna in 2018.

3. Walgreens’ board has said they were intent on hiring an executive with deep health experience who could rein in all of its new services.

4. Walgreens pharmacy staffers stage walkouts over work conditions as chain names Tim Wentworth new CEO

1. Health care is suffering from wider worker dissatisfaction and staffing shortages that are not isolated to drugstores, as the recent Kaiser Permanente strike shows.

2. The exact scale of the pharmacists’ protest was unclear. Organizers on Tuesday estimated that more than 300 Walgreens locations — out of nearly 9,000 nationwide — were affected by walkouts planned for Monday through Wednesday. A company spokesperson said “no more than a dozen” pharmacies experienced disruptions.

3. A Walgreens pharmacy manager who helped organize the walkouts told The Associated Press that teams were short-staffed and overworked, especially with the additional demands from the COVID-19 pandemic.

4. Many Walgreens workers aren’t unionized and the employees who walked out are organizing online. They shared three main requests for the company, the organizer said: to improve transparency about shifting hours and schedules; to set aside training hours for new team members; and to adjust tasks and expectations at each location based on staffing levels.

5. The organizer said if Walgreens does not address concerns from pharmacy staff, more walkouts could happen at the end of the month.

3. Qantas Chairman Says He’ll Quit After Airline’s Reputation Nosedived But 2024 Departure is Too Late For Unions

1. Goyder, who became chairman in 2018, has previously fought against pressure to resign, including from the airline’s pilots, saying that he had followed high ethics throughout his career.

2. The Qantas Board today announces plans for board renewal in recognition of the reputational issues facing the Group and to support restoration of trust in the company.

1. Chairman Richard Goyder (16%) will retire prior to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in late 2024. As announced in May, non-executive director Michael L’Estrange will retire at this year’s AGM on 3 November 2023. To facilitate further renewal, Jacqueline Hey (21%) and Maxine Brenner (16%) will retire at the Qantas half-year results in February 2024 after 10 years of service.

1. Including Joyce… 82% board influence leaving

3. “As a board, we acknowledge the significant reputational and customer service issues facing the group and recognise that accountability is required to restore trust,” Goyder said in a statement announcing that he will retire prior to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in late 2024.

1. Qantas has gone through an incredibly difficult period since our operation was grounded during the pandemic. The recovery has not been easy, and mistakes were made. We again apologise for those times where we got it wrong,” Goyder continued.

1. Vanessa Hudson: “I am sorry.”

2. His apology was not, however, enough for the Transport Workers Union of Australia who said Goyder should quit immediately.

1. “Joyce did very little right in his tenure at Qantas, but the one thing he did do was take an early exit, and Goyder should follow him.”

3. Goyder defended his tenure, saying he had always “sought to act in the best interests of Qantas”.

4. The view from the board room

1. DealBook got an exclusive look at PwC’s annual survey of board directors for 2023. Here are three findings that caught DealBook’s eye.

1. There is a growing disconnect between E.S.G. and strategy. The survey found that 54 percent of directors said their corporate strategy was linked to ESG concerns, down from 64 percent in 2021. The drop comes amid increasing scrutiny of E.S.G., including pressure from states’ attorneys general and some of the leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination.

2. The gender divide on the importance of board diversity is widening. Just 73 percent of male directors believe gender diversity is an important attribute on their board, down from 90 percent in the 2016 survey. By contrast, all the female directors continue to think it is.

3. The gap is growing as companies themselves are shifting their approach, with businesses that had been rapidly adding more minority and women directors slowing their efforts.

4. Fewer directors think executives are overpaid. Half of board members think they are, compared to 70 percent in 2017.

1. At the same time, the number of directors who say high executive pay exacerbates income inequality has fallen, with 57 percent saying it does, compared to 66 percent in 2017.

5. PwC said one reason may be that companies have become more transparent and are doing a better job of connecting performance to pay. The gap between compensation for C.E.O.s and workers remains wide, with increased disclosure shining a light on the disparity.

5. Exxon Mobil Buying Pioneer Natural Resources For Nearly $60 Billion—In Biggest Deal In Decades

1. Exxon Mobil will acquire Pioneer Natural Resources as part of an all-stock transaction valued at $59.5 billion, according to a joint statement Wednesday, the largest deal by the oil giant since an estimated $80 billion merger between Exxon and Mobil in the late 1990s, as it looks to expand its gas production in Texas.

6. Claudia Goldin Wins Nobel Prize In Economics For Studying Women At Work

1. Harvard professor Claudia Goldin was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics this morning for her research on women at work. She became the third woman in history to win the prize after Elinor Ostrom in 2009 and Esther Duflo in 2019.

2. The awarding committee gave Goldin the prize “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labor market outcomes.” Goldin analyzed over 200 years of data from U.S. labor, and her research busted some myths about the gender pay gap and women’s participation in the labor force.

3. In the U.S., women currently make about 82 cents for every dollar a man earns. Historically, Goldin found that differences in education and occupational choices could explain this gender gap in earnings. More recently, Goldin found that the bulk of the current earnings difference is between men and women in the same occupation. That is, when women and men hold the same job, men get paid more. Therefore, education and occupational choice cannot be totally to blame.

4. Instead, her research suggests that the earnings difference can be blamed, at least partially, on motherhood. In one study of MBA students, Goldin and a fellow researcher found that men far outearn their female counterparts a decade after they graduate from business school. The disparities in income were predominantly tied to women’s career interruptions and a reduction in weekly work hours linked to the birth of a child.

7. Birkenstock set for US listing after $1.5 bln IPO

1. LVMH-backed Birkenstock (BIRK.N) was set to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday after the German luxury sandal maker notched a valuation of $9.3 billion in its U.S. initial public offering (IPO).

2. The company's IPO raised $1.48 billion after its 32.3 million shares were conservatively priced at $46 apiece, positioning the 250-year-old brand for a smooth market debut.

3. Founded in 1774 in the German village of Langen-Bergheim, the company was run by the Birkenstock family for six generations, until a majority stake was sold to L Catterton, the PE group backed by France's Bernard Arnault and his luxury goods empire Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH.PA), in 2021.

4. The brand gained widespread attention after Australian actress Margot Robbie wore a pair of pink Birkenstocks in the final scene of the hit movie, "Barbie", which was released this summer.

5. "The movie fueled a spike in online searches for Birkenstock sandals. Similar investor excitement could reasonably fuel near-term demand for the stock," said Michael Ashley Schulman, partner and CIO at Running Point Capital Advisors.

6. FFA

1. (classified) Board

1. Chair: J. Michael Chu owns 83% shares; Global Co-Chief Executive Officer and the co-founder of L Catterton

2. Alexandre Arnault: Arnault  family member dude

3. Ruth Wilson: served on board of company sold to LVMH

4. Anne Pitcher

5. Nisha Kumar: Managing Director, CFO and Chief Compliance Officer of Greenbriar Equity Group

6. Nikhil Thukral: Managing Partner at L Catterton

7. CEO Oliver Reichert

2. Management

1. CEO Oliver Reichert

2. And 8 other dudes! Impressive. Take that, barbie

8. Nelson Peltz increases Disney stake, reignites potential proxy battle

1. Activist investor Nelson Peltz and his firm, Trian Fund Management, are reigniting a potential proxy war with Disney less than a year after dropping the initial battle.

2. Trian has increased its stake to roughly 30 million shares, valued at more than $2.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The firm plans to push for multiple board seats, they added.

3. Disney’s share price hit a 52-week-low recently as the media and theme park empire has struggled.

The firm plans to push for multiple seats on the board this time, including one for Peltz, the people said. Earlier this year, the firm sought only a spot for Peltz.