Transcript
Yeah. Bring in the end are real. Is that live? Are we realize we're in an AI hallucination. Right now, live, from a world where Bill Ackman. Prefers ice over Dei Right? That's an acronym. He likes. He likes ice. You know, he's not anti acronym, just the one acronym, just the guy. It's a business pants Friday show here at January 23rd. Studio's featuring in US whole map mascardi. On today's weekly wrap-up CEOs. Learn to talk. Jamie, Jamie keeps talking. And Chip has a chip on his shoulder. You can have to say, I understand what any of this means. You know, how to sell a show? That's true. I'm trying to say is, listen to the end, our show today is being sponsored by free flow Analytics. And Freeport analysts.com, I believe. But the only platform measuring power connections to Performance for free. We got to get back to, you know, there's so much. I don't want to say horrendous, there's so much. Kerfuffle uncertainty, do you want to so much? Yo, terms, horrible and certainly going on the world that we don't do a lot of traditional like stories about directors and CEOs. And then we look at our data and we talk about what that could mean and because really hard to do that, it's hard to do that anymore, isn't it? But let me ask you something. Yeah. Should we do an entire show? Like we work for one of the like seven, big, you know, data companies, like should I pretend like we're back at the mothership or pretend like already showed you already show and do a show where we say things like in a world full of uncertainty, you know? Like or you know, I mean, have nothing to say, do we need to start saying not react? I don't. Well, that's what is not, what the proxy countdown is sort of. For I don't think we are even capable in that show of doing that. Mostly still, I dominate the first 20 minutes with mostly just in the data that I've gotten from. SEC filing, I don't, oh yeah, tremendous amount of data. And yet somehow, we are still like giggling at the Absurd stuff. Okay? Right. Like, That's our incident personality. All right, let's do this before. I lose my mind, let's do it. Done. Let's see how you unravel these stories of the week. I don't think you're gonna like, how I've Done this. Well, I'm shocked. I'm starting with our the idea that our CEO's finding their blowhard whistles again, I don't know what's changed. I don't know if it's, um, so that. So the whole Epstein thing which is still kind of the, I think the central idea of why a lot of people think that Trump was losing his mind. I mean he was already losing his mind but it's getting worse, not that he's like 900 years old. I think dropped, when did that thing get really ugly? Like December. Is that when they first kind of refuse know that's when they were supposed to release the files and they did seven files. Red marker all over them and then Renee good was murdered by Bill, ackman's friend. Jonathan Ross, when did that happen? To happen this month. And then there's just been like a bunch of horrible economic news and, you know, prices keep going up. I don't know. I, I don't know. No, here's my point. Yeah, it was Venezuela right here. Maybe that was very Renee. Good, then Greenland. So something there's been three weeks cauldron of nonsense. That has somehow awakened a few CEOs, to actually say something that, In a certain context, could be anti-trump and let me demonstrate that. So I don't know how? Why? Or how? But let me demonstrate, let's start with our favorite. Jamie dimon now. Jamie dimon has been known over the years. He will go on both sides to the kind of the political aisle, he will, because he at one point, I think he thought of himself as a front-runner to be president, right? So he he has waited in this area before. He's not afraid. He even said he doesn't have a boss, so he can do what he wants basically right? Yeah, he doesn't. But, but I'm gonna start with his comments just because we love Jamie. So the article from Fortune, Jamie Diamond is done being binary. Oh so here's what he had to say, just over the last week, Jamie dimon issues rare CEO criticism of Trump's immigration policy. I don't like what I'm seeing. He's said which you know I mean I can't imagine how could any CEO like what they're seeing. I mean Of course, isn't that? Isn't that binary isn't that I do like or I don't really understand the fortune like article. Yeah, yeah. JP Morgan CEO. Jamie dimon said, Trump's proposed, 10% cap on credit card. Rates would be an economic disaster. Jamie dimon issues rare CEO criticism. Oh, I already got that one and then So Trump is Jamie saying stuff. Okay, of course I'm shocked. Of course, Trump has already suing, JP Morgan for five billion dollars over this, so called D banking Scandal but but yeah, they'll lose that lawsuit. So let's get some others. Nestle CEO Phillip, Phillip Navarro tile. Never a teal blames Trump for company. Going quiet and sustainability. Amazon. CEO, Jesse says, Trump's tariffs have started to creep into prices. Now this is a rare one CEOs are even two afraid to blame the pricing surges on the tariffs but they're starting to Ryan know Ryanair CEO again. He's he he's always talking. This is Michael O'Leary he's in fact I'm not really it this week. He's having a big fight with Elon Musk but he just here's the headline Ryanair. CEO rips Trump as a liar who is historically wrong. It's pretty strong words though, right? I mean and then Of course, the backdrop to all this is this this story from the Wall Street Journal, Minneapolis. Ice standoff has become the political issue that CEOs cannot ignore, but they are ignoring it, but they are no one said anything. So I guess is that an opinion piece? So let me just catch you up to date. What's going on still with Target? There's another article at a fast company employees in Minnesota are afraid to show up to work yet. Still Target is nothing. In fact, they even have a press release saying, Target in your town, how we're showing up in communities from coast to coast. So imagine that they put out that bullshit about how they're doing all this stuff for the local community. But yet they're ignoring the The Ice story Minneapolis there, they have a statements page and their press release section. The last statement Target made was from July Target statement on Texas floods. That's the last statement. They've had Texas floods. And they actually thoughts and prayers. And they actually mentioned climate change. I was just thoughts and prayers, right? I think you might have even predicted this, that one of the ways, a lot of these companies have been watering down the influence of women on their boards, just by hiring more men. And they target very quietly, added two male directors, white men, yes, two, white women this week, from the most boring of sources, a guy from Nike John Hoke, and a guy from Hanes brands. Steve, Brett pies. So, I mean, Target, I mean, Haines Haines underwear. This is, this is, I mean, this is how you get in the future. They have to dilute the pool because otherwise, they look like one of the most diverse pools of of a board in the country. And yeah, I don't want to focus on target here though. I I threw that at the end saying that people are seem to be ready for CEOs to talk again but Target still not talking. So that's my first story that there are some CEOs. They're starting to melt off against Trump. Am I seeing something? I don't think so. You don't buy, I mean. Look, here's like here is what, for instance, that that Wall Street Journal article that you're talking about where their, it's a political issue. CEOs, can ignore in for ice. This is the way they're not ignoring it Target. Circulated updated guidelines for house staff in stores, and warehouses, should respond to unannounced immigration related contacts. So they responded with guidance Hill responded by saying, it was a Safety and Security issue. It's, and they said it was complicated more complicated than normal. Oh, stop. This is the responding, they're responding in America. Going into like a worldwide company in the travel sector that has to, you know, Has. That's these are your employees that they're arresting that are here. There's no proof that they're here illegally. like, Do we think Hilton is out there, like hiring thousands of undocumented immigrants in Hiltons everywhere but he'll be pretty low. But Hilton has hotels in in countries that have had, you know, Wars and other kinds of disturbances. So, I mean, they're supposed to be able to handle complicated issues, just saying it's not enough. This is complicated anyway. So you're not buying that I'm not buying that at all. Well look I'm seeing something. I mean, you know, from everything you see, polls are trending. That people are getting a little bit more tired of trump. I don't know. I I'm hoping I'm hoping that that I don't know what's going on. I really don't but the Optics against Trump seemed to get worse and worse. My question is this before we move on would it matter if the CEOs if they started to talk out against Trump would have an effect on the American population, No. Okay. Okay. I mean actual like they would have to like Target itself would actually have to close its stores I guess for the yeah. Right. The effect would have to be something more dramatic than Brian Cornell saying something. Yeah. Like like yeah I don't. To see how this. All right, so let's move on. The second story of the week again, kind of in the same territory and maybe this is the fall of Davos. But I'm sorry. I'm starting to see some like things that I could consider some wins. Some like stakeholder wins. We have a category here that we tagged our articles called stakeholder rules. And we kind of came up with that based on the 2019 purpose of a corporation from The Business Roundtable that in 2019, The Business Roundtable of all people decided, oh, maybe maybe stock prices not King after all. Maybe we need to pay attention other things. Of course, you know it's like we're 10,000 years away from that Proclamation. But here are the stakeholder wins. I saw the last week and again, all they have lines. We cover on the show are just in the last week. I don't dig far back to make a point. The first one is amazing. Trump Administration drops appeal over anti Dei funding threat to schools and colleges. That's a big win. Of course, I've seen a lot of wins like this, but it's taking lawsuits to get those wins but hey, I applaud it. Yeah, go ahead. Well, if in the in that there's so much Nuance they basically said they basically said there's a hundred other ways that they're more likely. I think they're moved to a different path of like the removing funding that is harder to Sue and updating guidelines funny different way. Like colleges, they're finding different ways to basically just shut it all down. Anyway, even even if this one, I'm surprised about this one. I don't even know why they're admitting this Trump Administration. Concedes that the Doge team may have misused Social Security data. Why are they even telling us this? Isn't that like throwing some shade at Elon Musk and pay attention to Elon instead of trump being crazy old daughter and old man. Brett Kavanaugh says letting Trump fire Lisa Cook. She's one of the Federal Reserve board would weaken if not shatter their independence of the Federal Reserve that seems like a minor Victory there. I didn't, they already shatter the Federal Reserve into and Amazon joins, Microsoft and pledge to self-fund power grids while, while CEO Andy jassy questions, open ai's, ambitious, spending. I mean, wow, that. So if a Fortune 500, CEO is questioning The loonacy. It open AI. That's something. No, I think we're really stretching for, okay? Like, this is Sam Altman. Should have been fired. Yes, that is correct. Was fired. Now is a stunning are many times over we have been. This is the thing that we have been leaning on forever that we agreed with that fire and it should have happened, Andy, Jesse, I don't know, he's opening a door of saying like something look, I'm just saying there's Whispers And then let's get to all the the real Pro stakeholder purpose of a corporation stuff. Jamie dimon tells Davos, You didn't do a particularly good job, making the world a better place. Jamie dimon says, government should have power to intervene in ai-driven Mass layoffs. That's a big one. He also said that roll out of AI may need to be slow to save Society. I mean, what what are the drink? I mean, what kind of weed are they smoking Salesforce Benny off calls, for AI regulations as models have been become suicide. Coaches that's pretty strong black rocks, billionaire, think Warren's AI could be capitalism's. Next big failure after 30 years of unsustainable inequality. Yeah, we'll come back to these. He also said, capitalism is not spreading the well and AI might not either. So I But this all of this is like Mom Donnie. Is he like worming into the brains of the elite like what what's happening here? There's a what's happening? A 100% chance that all? This is real. It's all when they get the Davos. This is what they do. They get a little bit of a conscious and maybe they think like boy we better like give a dollar back or they're gonna come that poor. Guy is going to come and kill me once a year. People fly billionaires and millionaires fly from all over the world to sit and rooms together. Why they're about how they have all the money. They'll be concerned. No one else has any why did that there? Because they're all because it's way easier like, if someone dropped a nuclear bomb on Davos, you would kill like 60% of the world's Millionaires and billionaires, like it's literally, they're all there. So when you're walking around in Davos and you're going to mirroring me the Chalet, like it's not even at the conference. Like the events around Davos are like, they're more people there than are these conferences. So you go there and you're looking around and everyone there, it's like, oh, hey, there's a billionaire. Oh look, oh billionaire. Like they're looking at themselves in a mirror and being like, God, I really am an asshole like this, really? I don't think this self. I don't think it's introspection. I think it's like when they see all the billionaires. They're like, whoops, all of us are here. Yeah, that's all of us. And we all kind of smell like, like, should we be concerned that? This is all of us. Let's move on. No one else has anything. So you're not buying my two big stories that we go. I again like I follow these Headlines almost. It's almost an addiction. It's so it's unhealthy. The amount of headlines I fall in stories. I look at. So I there is a trend that's all I'm gonna say. Whether it lasts. I have no idea. The third story of the week, the next two stories are kind of in the nerdy ESG. Part of our, our world. I'm calling this third story that we so the board actually matters. Question mark Lululemon founder chip Wilson blames bored. For total operational failure. In a, some launch of some pants that are see through. This is not the first time at Lululemon has sold see-through pants by mistake. But again, I'm just pointing this one out because once again, There's a story where the board might matter the board the boards being blamed for something, right? It's only an activist campaign. That's all the story and we're going to come back to get us. Yeah. And finally, the fourth story of the week and again, this is the super nerdy boring story. I wanted to give an early 2026 season. Proxy season peak. So here's some early indicators. We talked about. In fact we talked with Mike and Anne on their shower, privacy about addictions well, what might be coming? I suggested you all. I think you all laughed at me. Because I am, you know, in that group, I'm clearly the mouth that the knuckle dragger, clearly, the one bead of my one, a of stupidity. But I suggested that that you all thought, like, Cheryl the proposals are dead. I suggested, let's wait because it's really what they're gonna let through that is going to be most telling, right? But, but there are some trickling through Apple. Although, you know, they're diminishing app there's one at Apple, I should have looked up how many there were last year because there's a lot of money. Okay? Because I haven't seen, I think. Somehow, this is the one that got through. I, I don't understand one of the, I'm calling them. The anti-walk 3. This is the far the far, right? Like women hate. The they hate brown people. They hate women. They hate trans people. That's the national Center for Public Policy, research, the national legal, and policy Center. And the Boyer research. Those are the that's like the far, right? Three. It's not a great nickname but I don't know what else to call them. They're like the They're the Dei haters, they have a China, entanglement audit at Apple. So, we're still on China. We're still doing China. China. Yeah we're still doing China as as they're far, right. Their beloved leader is taking over like trying to take over Greenland and Venezuela. He's messing with NATO and you're worried about China, which is starting zero Wars anywhere. I don't, I still don't know where China is starting Wars, but they circled, they Circle an island Taiwan as they Circle and I own right out there Coast. So great, I care. Disney at Disney four. Charlotte proposal is a Disney three of them from the far. Right? Three something about Looking at climate commitments, of course, because they hate, they hate climate commitments. So think about the gift matching program, discriminating against Christianity. Charitable donations not to churches. Yeah because you know because you know clearly Christianity is not a real thing anymore, right? Like Christian yeah yeah no Christians in America and the third one is down, right? Like it's like John chevin territory, Jim McGee, territory, they're asking for Kilmer to voting for Border elections. I don't know how that one slip through. And then the finally, there's a fourth one from a shareholder asking about accessibility and disability inclusion practices. I don't know why Disney let those four through but they did and then I picked a company that another big company that's not a big famous company that people really talk about a lot that's Qualcomm. They have two John and he slipped through their Shareholder ability to call for special shareholder meeting. And then, again the far right, three Boyer research risk of China exposure So China. That's what we're, we're back to China, I guess, right? This is going to be the year of China like Why China? The copy pasted. That's why it's not. It's the only letting those through why that why are we letting China through? So there this is the story of the week. Yeah. I'm just gonna front run like so the stories you gave me, which are you hate? Uniformly. Horrible hate on stories. But our CEOs are actually saying, like, sneaking in to say something. Trump said. Yeah, the there might be the, the edge of stakeholders winning. Something Society, a society, you know, Bubbles and a horrible hateful, cauldron. Maybe, the CEOs are going to save us. The board might actually matter for something at Lululemon and then 2026 proxy indicators. Now, this is the nerdy won the 2020. Picking this one story the week. That is the story that we thought he's gonna laugh at the way you intended. The The the things that are getting through. Yeah, everywhere, including Costco, which was the first company to not use scc's new exclusion rules. If we can't use Costco's a Bellwether for anything, because they're they're down right? Like crazy. So Disney Let through four proposals but they got five. They got six know. Yeah, one of them, two of them that they excluded I mean they like were I mean one was patently ridiculous and was awesome to you. Anyway going to you it was it was the guy running for lieutenant governor in Florida who said, whenever shareholder asks something of you you must respond within 30 days that was his share. Hey, puzzle. Like the people vote. Um, I suppose and the other one was was I think just badly formed. I think it was like, literally written. Like how fast can you solve a Rubik's cube right on? Like yeah, I was like a Sudoku puzzle. But here's what I'm noticing. The proponents, the ones that are going to vote are vast majority. The anti-woke, the companies are so petrified of the anti-woke and the Trump Administration and the SEC act like processes against shareholder vote, they're letting the shareholder vote, go to Boyer National Center for Public Policy, research and National legal policy. So 70, so of the three companies, the three companies that I randomly selected yet to your point seven one percent are going to the far right through. Apple had 16 17 shareholder proposals last year this year. They have one and it's only an anti wolf. China. Costco had a half dozen and they had won this year and Santa will Disney had a dozen last year and now it's four and three of the four are anti Wok. Yeah, there is there. The things that they're letting through that. One of two reasons, either the companies are letting those through or the woke proposals are never even being handed to them anymore. That could be true. My sense is the What the sort of, like, could be engaging online sustainability. I don't think it's engagement. I think they're, they're processing differently. I think they're basically saying the days where we ask for something and get 2% shareholder, support are over or done. We it's not worth asking for it anymore. Pivot vote, directors out. Now listening else right now, let's be good. Give me. But yeah, I don't like their. We also know the SEC is disproportionately shelving John Chevette and proposals, right? Like they're taking their time to write. No to him. So he's credit here. Here's some. Give me, give me some future credit, maybe if I'm onto something. If CEOs. And companies are starting to have the guts to actually speak out against Trump. Then maybe we'll see these early proxies season, indicators change, maybe they won't feel. Like that. They have to put out every far, right, you know, proposal. Maybe maybe they'll start to say no to Boyer research and write because they don't maybe because to your point you're saying they're worried about something. Maybe they'll stop being worried. Come April, I don't know. Maybe we'll start to see these excluded, I don't know. That's it. Let's that's enough of that. Let's move on. Yeah, let's party. That was a weird one. That's a weird story the week. It was a weird. Yeah, it's weird for you. Oh, I don't know. What do you want me to do? Like you want me to talk about the Elon Musk Ryanair, CEO fight. I don't want to talk about that. We're gonna talk about that anyway. Well, what do you have for goods the week? He feel good about something. Okay, this here's I feel good about this and this is the perfect blueprint to get it done. So thanks for telling us White House Azar David sacks, America could lose the AI race. Because of too much pessimism, White House, AI Czar. David sacks says great thank you. First of all, I hope we do because the American version of AI is dominated by like a very small handful of like College Dropout, dudes to suck. And so maybe and and thank you for for releasing the blueprint. So we just need to stay pessimistic and maybe that's how we battle the CEOs. That's how we do it. We just stay negative because great because then this show will win everything because we're super pessimistic and negative You're not buying this. Move on. What do you have for good list? I, you just got to call it, you're just become a skeptical person. Look, I'm standing a lot of time dealing with AI and a lot of time in the news and I hate it all. I have two though, this is the first one, here's the headline. Elon Musk says, they will eventually apply the wealth tax to everyone, just like how income tax started as a temporary tax for the top 1%. What does it mean to everyone? I mean to all. So I mean rich people. So, there's a lot of like they're talking about the billionaire tax in California, and it's a wealth tax. It's not an income tax there. Effectively, saying like we will tax 1% of your total wealth. Almost like a version of the inheritance tax or something. A sort of its, they take into account, like all your assets, and they basically say, they're trying what they're trying to do, is remove the incentive to wealth horde, right? Like these. These people are hoarding billions and billions of dollars themselves and properties all over the place, and they shelter it, and all over the place. Like, now they're just saying, like, look, I don't care that you haven't sold your shares and your so you can borrow against them. You're you're worth on paper is a billion dollars. We are going to tax you 1% of that worth. Let me explain to you in terms that you can understand. This is the popular math version of The Story. You're on like a maybe like a vacation. Like maybe you go to like a little rustic cabin, there's nothing to do this. There's no internet. There's you with your kid. You want to play a game? All they have is Monopoly, right? But one person is just like dominating, it's completely boring. So you start to like kind of share some of the gifts, some of the money back to their players, or the game can keep going, right? It's like okay, we don't have any other games. So we're not gonna let one, what's the fun of having one person with all the hotels and all the money? Like what I, what I hear some money. Let's keep playing. Let's let's say, alive for a while, let's play the game. Come on musk wrote this as a threat. Like as in to say like another play, blueprint they're coming for me now. Yeah, like good Jews in Germany, right? Like they're coming for me now they're gonna come for you next, right? Like that was what he intended as a threat. Oh, except it's fucking brilliant because you wealth taxed me right now you get 12 cents right, like what? What do I care? It only matters to them, but he meant it as a threat. I think it's it's fabulous. Like great. You just, you just pointed out the problem. If you did a wealth tax for everyone at, Percent of total wealth. Guess how much most people would pay a hundred bucks, a year, a thousand, maybe as a tax, it's a sick. The sick thing is that most of us who aren't CEOs and Elon Musk tops musk types are like more than happy to share that. Like, like we go to We Believe In stuff at the school. Yeah, we both we believe in taxes, you know, if they help our community and stuff. So we're not like anyway, it's not. I love that. And here's the other one. I loved this is the headline AOC and Paris Hilton. Team up on a bill targeting, AI deep fake porn. Okay, team. Yeah, well, let's not forget that back in the day. When, when women really did not that they have much of a an easy go now. But I will say that after the, the me too movement. There's been a little bit more power in this area but Paris Hilton wasn't involved with one of the first sex tape scandals and correct me if I'm wrong. I think that it was a man who released a tape of her I don't think that she had much power in that situation, and nobody cared he made money on it, okay? But are you sure about that? I will not sure she had to sue for it. I think she had to sue for it. But yeah, I think it was like, but it was illegally and then she made money. It was 20, I think it was over 20 years ago. But but even then like those issues didn't matter, like nobody cared about the women's. Well, there was like YouTube at the time or like you know like what yeah it was so time ago I'm glad they're working the legislate stuff like this and yeah I don't know I guess that's good I don't know that I feel I feel sad about that one but you know look I like I like when strange bedfellows and AOC and Paris Hilton get together with a common cause that is, you know, Justified cause I like that AOC and I know you probably want to, but let's work on Section 230 because yeah, any company, any company that gets music and he company. That is a ball with AI, deep fake porn. I mean, you shouldn't be a company, I really should be. You should lose your license. I mean, if the baby good place around the corner, Was like selling like tainted salami and rat meat after a while they wouldn't be a business. So Let's, let's get, let's take care of section 230. I'm loving all of it. All right, absolutely. So the week, oh, here we go. There are three options The first option you actually mentioned just about everything I have in here. So there's it's well it's not like really there's some a little bit of depth if they're the dominant stories this week for sure in my mind but your first option is a governance asshole and it's Chip. Wilson chip Wilson, dentist Wilson, Dennis J Wilson. You Lululemon founder Lululemon founder not on the board. Former CEO. Former CEO, he left in 2015, and he is now waging a proxy battle with Lululemon. Here's the headline. Yeah, here in. Damien, you mentioned, it already. Lululemon's, founder is blasting. The company for selling sheer leggings, calling it a new low. Yeah. Lululemon founder chip Wilson blames board for total operational failure, and get low launch, which the Get Low launch is the sheer like games. Here is something from the same article and this is an article by Business Insider in 2013, Lululemon recalled, 17% of all its pants for being too sheer. At that point, the company blamed the manufacturing error on an incomplete testing protocol. at the time in 2013, when what chip Wilson is now calling sheer leggings a new low at the time, Wilson owned, 29.22% of the stock at the time. Here are the board members that were on. It's a classified board that chip Wilson hand picked When they went IPO in 2007, he handed the board until he left in 2015 because he had enough shares to do it. He was the founder and it was a classified board. It was impossible to get rid of these people. The board. He's blasting. Today has members that he picked, including Martha marfit, David musafir, Michael Casey and Emily white all directors hand-picked by chip Wilson. That's 40% of. The current board is Chip Wilson's board. I don't understand what we're talking about chipping. Well let me add something about that. This the see through pants thing. It actually started in 2013 when he was still on the board. That's what I'm saying, 2013, he was on the board, he owned 29% of the stock, he was here, he was the chair and they had a and when they were complaints about see through pants, he said, frankly, some women's bodies, just actually don't work. For wearing Lululemon pants due to thy rubbing causing. A customer backlash. So, he basically blamed, he blamed women, overweight, women and women, and their legs. Yeah, the yeah. That's, yeah. Go ahead. These. The ones they released now are sheer on purpose. They didn't hide the fact that they're sheer, they're part of the things supposed to be sexy, Lululemon pants or something. Sure, First of all, ship Wilson has been a controversial figure forever. He He also said in a book that he didn't he wasn't entirely opposed to child labor. that some no, I'm serious that some that some kids that some children are not school material and they should be put to work but but I Want to go over. Can I go over a brief timeline of Chip Wilson? I love a timeline. So is the CEO and founder until 2005. He sold 50 50% of the company to private Equity firms and then the company IPO two years later, she didn't, he wasn't even involved with it with the IPO of the company. So he stayed on as a executive until 2012. When he left the stock price was 63 dollars. He remained chair until 2014 at which point the stock price was 43 dollars and then he was a director for a few more months stock price. Bounced back up to 65 dollars. When CEO Calvin, McDonald resigned in December, the stock price was at 187 dollars. The current share price is 193 dollars and yes, it's down from highs over the last few years, but during covid, but when chip was involved, The share price sucked and to your point, he put most of the board members on the board fucking boards. So I don't really know why we're listening to chip in the first place. Why we're listening to chip at all. I don't know why the best part is last week on our proxy countdown show, you pointed out that, this headline, Lululemon founder chip Wilson launches proxy fight for board shake up. Quote Wilson is nominated three independent director candidates to be elected at the 2026 annual meeting and submitted a proposal to declassify the board. So that all members must stand for election annually, man. Founder and man who classified the board now realizes that classified boards, suck and share. He was a chair that classified was seven years for seven years like, and now he doesn't like the class for. Can you think of a bigger blowhard position then literally coming out with? No, no like, you know, Considering like your role in any of this. Blast the boards and experience, as part of the reason why they would release sheer leggings, when you did the exact same thing, when you were on the board with, for the exact same members of the board. What on Earth are you talking about you, shit, head, like, can you it's just such an asshole move because you give the guy a microphone and a whole bunch of money and he still owns a lot of the stock through various foundations. In fact, it was probably nearly a dozen different orgs that had to file for the 13th. I read in the, like, the Holdings report it was like, you know, there's like 11 different companies. It's like his sister, his cousin, his wife, his two of his foundations, you know, it's nuts and that guy, you handle a microphone. He feels entitled to spout off about this board and them failing. When he loves about failure and did all the same. Fucking Stuff in 2024 and a Forbes interview of all places. He criticized, Lululemon's, diversity efforts, Stating that Brands shouldn't be everything to everybody and then he called plus size models and ads on healthy and sickly. This is your guide. This is your guy. This is your shopping, a little lemon. Just know that he is one of your major shareholders and trying to get control the board back. Okay. That's your first a whole issue. Are you listening? Are you listening to this when you come up with your recommendation? All right, that's too, they can't, they're not allowed to they're not allowed to actually study the although no actually you're right. That's actually, that's when they, that's when they're allowed to have an opinion, they're allowed to have an opinion. It's so this is the one that they're gonna have an opinion on what else. Alright, my second asshole, our capitalist assholes, it's everyone at Davos right now, this is easy. This is an annual asshole. I feel like not the people call her, like cleaning the hotels though. Not that? No, no. But here, I just, I picked some Choice Davos quotes that you already mentioned, but I want to juxtapose them. Black rock, CEO says, capitalism, isn't spreading the wealth. And AI might not either, this is Larry Fink who is basically saying, Barbarians. Yeah. At the gate because you know, right? He compared the AI Revolution to the Industrial Revolution, he said effectively that it Consolidated wealth in the hands of a few and capitalism did that really really well and now ai is going to do that for White Collar jobs, not just blue collar jobs but here's a headline from October of 2025, black rocks. 40 billion dollar deal highlights the Unstoppable AI data center Gold Rush as CEO. Larry Fink pushes back on AI bubble fears. So Larry thinks that Davos talking about how AI is going to ruin you know, people and could cause you know societal collapse while funding. Yeah Ai and mass Society. He didn't want to get, keep getting rich off of it. He's just warning us. He literally is saying we have too much wealth in this room. It's Consolidated right here and we're going to blow it up even worse with AI. We should be concerned about that. While making more money off of that, it's fucking psychotic. Yeah, or hey, name is company BlackRock. So you know, Jamie Diamond tells Davos you didn't do a particularly good job, making the world a better place, too, but he wasn't with worldview. He's not you, it's not like he's runs. One of the most powerful banks in the world. This is he like, literally like the story the story, what? Two weeks ago and the New York Times how Wall Street turned its back on climate change, right? He's he's looked around the room. You didn't do a particularly good job. Making you speaking to the similar, like, CEOs in the audience, is that we know. But, like, all I know is he said, you didn't know. He he just got a 43 million dollar payday rolled back climate. Every climate rule has gone like totally into crypto and Ai and he's looking around going. You guys didn't do a good job. Making the World better. I mean we'll see this scolding his work office, scolding his workers from working from home when he let them work from home. But but to be clear what we don't know here is that that quote could have, he could have been in the bathroom of his two-star hotel at Davos looking in the mirror, right? He could have been shaving. He might have been saying to himself that you know you didn't do a good job, right? So we don't know, we don't know, that's true. I believe most of these Quotes. Come from bathroom stalls. Keep them billionaire. Mark. Benny off challenges, the AI sector. What's more important to us growth or our kids? Well, it's clearly growth, so I can answer that for you mark. Well, no, he's saying it because he also said that AI has become a suicide machine. He's coming out, I know strong against AI, I get that I'm saying like, it's clearly growth is more important. Mark, we know what? Let's check in November. What you thought Mark. Salesforce, CEO Mark Benny off says he cut 4,000 support roles because Of AI. But those they were those were the childless workers. They don't have family, they don't have carrots. It's going to say they don't have to worry about their kids. Yeah no no no it's just other kids. Yeah. You might be worried about and then and then there's just like the all the side conversation like this one antimicrobial resistance, pandemic will kill more people than cancer by 2050 and no one at Davos is talking about it leading scientists seek out at Frontier science house. Yeah, it's like stuff like that. Like literally, we're talking all they talked about was Ai and how much wealth they have and whether that's a good or bad thing and someone outside is like, you know, we're all dead anyway because you have a change because of antimicrobial resistance, because of all these other things that you're causing, you see the RFK Jr. Basically is telling us to eat more beef. He has red beef, red meat. Yes, that's okay. I mean, that's a good way to kill Americans. Sorry, what else do you have? All right. So, that's the that's number, two. Number three. And this is now a recurring one. The anti-education, uber wealthy Tech Bros. This is the worst. There were just two headlines that I saw and it just more, but you pick the best ones? Yeah, and videos. Jensen Huang says, it's a good time to be a plumber. And not just because it's an AI proof job. I wish Jensen that you would quit. Go a company. Go be a farm face. We don't need, we don't, you don't need more. Well, we don't need more chips, literally. A shittier thing to say, like, when you have are literally a multi-billion, go be a plumber. I bet you like, I bet he'd be a great plumber. I bet he's so good. He's already got a leather jacket. So like if he falls in the basement he won't skin his arm. Yeah, it's really rough. It's hard to get through that jacket and then palantir. Just says everything all the time. It says, this AI will destroy Humanities jobs, but there will be more than enough jobs for people with vocational, you know. Okay. Can I say that this might that's a guy who got a law degree, didn't he? This might be like the one of the most important headlines of the early year, because it because what it reveals. So, what it reveals to me, first of all is the reason why AI is going to destroy Humanities and Humanities jobs is because it's being run by boys like Alex carp, right? Because the other the other part of this is that who gets Humanity's degrees 2/3 are women. So he's basically in one in one thought, here he is eliminating creativity. You know, Humanity's degrees often come with a vast ability of her like analytical critical ability, right creativity. And then he's also wiping out skill. Sets held by women. So that I mean it really is an important quote here. Alex Carr, forget held by women. Alex karp, who's telling you, that AI is going to wipe out Humanities and basically, you should get a job as a plumber, or a carpenter. Got a Bachelor's degree in philosophy and he got a law degree. Yeah. Are there any more? Okay, he's a job, a degree. Then philosophy at Haverford College, we've already established his hypocrisy because he hates Elite. He hates elitist too. And his entire board is either stand for their Duke graduate, so it's the worst. So those are your options, it is but please he's honest, right? Dominus and Tech Bros. I mean is he is he Hey. I don't know where to go with this one. Chip chip Wilson. Just seems like a jerk. I don't know if he's like a full. I mean he is an asshole but he's an asshole. Fucking assholes. But he's just like a, I mean, excuse me, if you're not an activist investor in right to me and prove me that I'm wrong, but the tone of most activist investors are like this. They just like they come out of nowhere. They suddenly make all these Grand proclamations about why governments is important. But but then they disappear and I don't know. I so this just sounds like more activist investor nonsense and Chip Wilson is a known asshole. So I don't know if this is new. Although the Davos thing is not new either every year they sound like there's the like this education not of its really so I guess I got I feel like we're nearing a nadir of History so that I like that. I'll go back to say that because it is a timely and of the week I will go with chip Wilson. There's my asshole the week. Oh there it is. All right, let's move on. I hate everything right now. I'll say that. Well, we have had lightning is and we have winners and predictions. End of the week. Uh, Ryanair launches, great idiot seat sale for Elon as Feud escalates. I'll just leave it at that. That's right. There was that well that background of that is you know on mustard called Ryanair CEO. Michael O'Leary a great idiot, like, didn't he called him like an okay? The here's where they're not. Like you really want to get everything the argument originated because Ryanair CEO. Michael O'Leary did not want to add startling to all of his Planes because his argument especially was on short, haul flights. It creates a certain amount of drag these antennas, and it's just not worth it. And I'll have that that cost will be passed on to the customers. First of all, I mean, you need to you need Wi-Fi for 20 minute flight. I don't know why we need and we shouldn't have short flights. Anyway, look out the window, but, but the point is that Elon wrote back saying like because this is how Elon operates he immediately just went into Hellfire. You're, you're an idiot mode because because he didn't, he didn't buy Michael O'Leary's, you know, assessment of using starlink. And then he started off by saying like, you know, you're an accountant so you don't know anything. About airplanes and because I guess you know I guess the CEO of an airline can't ask people about the effect of anyway, this is this is how it escalated is, it came from really, it came from Elon, it had nothing to do with the Ryanair CEO. It was Elon who spouted off, but Elon managed to sell some flight tickets. Apparently, so Michael, O'Leary saying, yeah, I guess, I guess the Ryanair stock prices gone up. He sold a bunch of tickets off of this and, and it's ended up with statements like launching the great idiot seat sale specially for Elon, that's how that's where we've got. That's where we are. Every company dunks on one another, there's no conversation, there's no nothing. I have two actually had to go ahead. First one, you already said, so I'm just reiterating, but Nestle Chief blames Trump for company. Going Quiet on sustainability. I pulled up because It doesn't, he run the company? I mean, I don't want to say it out loud, but like you said, it's Trump's fault that you your company is not talking about sustainability. You are a international company based in Europe and you run it. I want to be fair here. His name is Philip. Navratil. He did take over in September of 2025. It is possible that he he inherited. Nestle's weakness when it came to fighting climate. So maybe he's taking a different direction. He's not responsible for the prior decisions for the company going quiet sustainability. So, maybe he's gonna turn back around. I'm just saying right. Okay. Well, he started to talk so I'm gonna give him a chance here. Maybe he's gonna. All right, here's the other one, though. How anti Doom scrolling influencers or combating social media addiction? Well, let me let me unravel that one and tie Dooms. Wait, influencers. Where, like on the Town Square Mill Creek, where the media influencers who are focused on Auntie, Doom scrolling. So they're because they're influencing on social media about social media, so, because every alcoholic usually uses alcohol to get over their alcohol. Addiction like, yeah, it is. Well, look, this is probably the world we live in. This is one of the things I wrestle with kind of the most, when I go to bed at night is, when I, because I feel like when I have These these moments of clarity knowing like, oh, I'm probably half responsible for our company not getting out there more and being more successful, reaching bigger audience, because I refuse to use social media because I because I don't want to be a hypocrite here, right? I I know it's a, I know what's a good vehicle to get reach to get attention but I also know it's ruining Humanity so I kind of refused to use it. So I it's a, it's a conundrum for those of us who give a shit. But I love, I love their version of it which is it's ruining Humanity, but we're still gonna use it to ruin. Like we're still gonna, we're gonna make you addicted to not being addicted, Doom, scroll. So I wish I still addicted. I wish I could learn to not care too, as oh, I'm trying to say and just go for it. All right, who's your winner for the week? My Winters boring anti-china, right wing blowhards. I just love that we're back into China again. Like I just love that, right? When people are just like they just they find a version of a non-white person and they just they love. They love whether it's brown people, they want to kick out of the country because God knows the ice is unfortunately in my city and my state right now. Ah, but God knows, they don't target white immigrants, and there's a lot of white immigrants in Maine. Believe me because a lot of them actually came, illegally over the northern border from Quebec, but we don't care about that. I just love these far, Boyer research, all the national legal, whatever, centers. I just love other constantly scapegoating with race. I think it's like, kinda, let's let's China. Why would Apple Tim Cook, why would they want to sell an iPhone that Chinese people? That's anti-American, right man. First of all, that's not fair. They all are right, gays? It's anti-American right to sell a iPhone to a Chinese citizen, right? Agree with me. Yeah, I absolutely agree. Yes, the far right here. You're sad. You're sad people. I don't know why you have such hate in your heart, but it's sad, it's sadness. My winner is a winner that comes up every single year which is private jets Business, Insider tracked, 157. Private jets, at least not a Davos at Davos. Oh, it is I thought they went commercial. No, no, no. And they write, they had the tags for benioff Eric Schmidt, who was former Google CEO now. And then, there was a company Jets from black rocks. So think good for you, like just like the little people, taking their private jet from place to place and then talking about the little people you manage to do that. Aramco Blackstone City HP, Google JP Morgan. That's the that's the Jamie dimon jet Lockheed Martin, they all right, but by private jet private jets having a moment and know every year Davos you make a unintended good point here. Which is that if you actually are worried about humanity and now, is the moment, maybe where you're you're trying to, like, figure out how to bridge. The gap between, you know, income inequality is showing the world. Why don't you sit with some real people once in your life? Like, take a, take a bus, take the subway, take a, take a plane when you have a conversation with someone. Who is not a black rock. Uh, sycophant who you've hired for middle management or like, have a conversation, I it Can imagine them, you can do it right. But I'm just saying like it in the cabin car of a train you can do it. That should be stuck with black with Larry Fink on a Like in a middle seat, how would you feel? Do you think he'd upgrade for the aisle? How tall he is? Maybe he needs extra legroom. Yeah, go ahead. Predictions predictions. I'll go first because I have a short one. Target because don't forget, Brian Cornell has A a week left of being a CEO, right? And I of course, he's gonna be executive chair. Unlike Doug McMillan at Walmart, he's sticking around because whereas I could probably give Douglas a lot of credit because Walmart has compared to Target has done well in a lot of areas. Brian Cornell just seems like a big failure and yet he's staying as executive chair. So yeah, better got to keep that guy. Keep that guy going. I love and two. Like they got they just got a direct her from Hanes brand and Nike, I mean, that's a genius, right? I mean, that's pretty genius, right? Hands brand. I mean, yeah, that's Target's where you get to, where I've been just what a genius, Innovative thought. So congratulations, but Target. Soft launches. Brown, stay with me here, brown colored oranges. They start selling brown colored, oranges to see if America is ready to care about race again. So if, so, if the brown orange is sell Maybe. Maybe they can have a statement about what's going on in Minneapolis or about a trumpet Administration that is is violently and recklessly targeting people of color to deport them taking over Venezuela, you know. But let's see if the brown colored oranges move. Let's see if we can sell some of those days. That's the only way capitalism can really write, that's the house, my prediction and you gotta stick with me. It's going to take me here, you read this headline. Jamie dimon is done being binary on Trump's economic disaster or economic disaster. Credit Grand plans foreign policy, yada yada yada. I am predicting that Jamie Diamond, officially declares himself as non-binary. Oh, requested the media address him as a day, okay? Floating him, okay, not even they, he, but they like that, just puree. Non-binary, straight up, he then caught they then contact Fortune. After reading the headline about their self, Jamie dimon says, he'd have no issue paying higher taxes. If if it actually went to people who need it right now, it just goes to the Washington swamp. That's what the headline says, and Diamond demands to edit it. To Jamie dimon says, they'd have generally some but not none issue, paying higher or lower taxes. If it actually went to pour or rich people, but now it goes to Washington swamp or Everglades or desert. Either way. It's delightful but also could be terrible. Wow, that's a mouthful. What you just said? I think the takeaway is that you think that Jamie dimon is going to declare themselves as non-binary. That's that's the great takeaway. That's a great prediction. Let's see that wouldn't be amazing. I would Love that. That's Damien to his mother. I'm here. So I'm at Scotty, we are free float, sir, Friday, show. Come back next week. We'll have a proxy countdown. Next week, we got our Tuesday show next week. There's a older privacy next week so much content that comes out of this. Stay tuned for that until then goodbye.