Business Pants – 2025-01-31

Yep. Live from your DPI blame games. It's a business pants Friday, show here at January, 31st Studios. Featuring analyst Hall. Matt Mascari who's been sick since last September? It's never ending. On today's weekly wrap-up, a deep seek week. The Zuck suck up tour. Target is not the new Costco and fecal. Phones. Oh no. Yeah, I don't like that story at all. Our show today is being sponsored by free flow analytics.com. Yeah, the only platform measuring board power connections and performance for free. And I will, I will remind the listening on audience in case we have any new listeners this week, that the data that we present there is it, it's not, it can't be data in itself, can't be coercive to either direction unless you it's not ideological want it to be, that's what you're saying. Yeah, it really can't be unless you come with an ideology and you kind of cherry-pick data to support that which, you know, I if that's how people want to use a data, that's kind of it's human nature too. But but what we represent here, even though I'm on the left of things is not, it doesn't actually represent the left or right. It represents everything, I think. I mean, look, the fact is, if you on free flow, analytics.com, who sponsors the show? You are looking at data flowing. All it says, is these are the directors. This is estimate the power that they have, that estimate is based off of 30 years of academic research, not like a couple of guys etiology, 30 years of academic research, rigorous research across all manner of topics, Sports analytics sport, analytics primatology, everything and then it just passes through and says, this is how they perform. It's very, very simple. It's not actually super complicated and like And to be clear to anyone who's an anti-de position or anti Dei company, or whatever the diversity in itself, has never been in power. It's never been in control. So none of this data is skewed by the idea that women or people of color are ruining things by making decisions because they've never been left to make decisions so you don't, you don't have to worry about that either if you want to make an antidepressant talking to him, too. Yeah, and he went got in a back and forth on LinkedIn, where he called me a liar, because they have a proposal for a deer where they're sort of obtuse leasing dear discriminates in its philanthropy, right? Like against religious generally white groups, regardless of that read the, you can read The Proposal yourself. You can get into the details yourself, I don't care about that. If you want to make an anti Dei argument, the data is There, you could go into the data set and say, look women underperform on boards. You could say, look black women who are gay underperform in Tech boards. I don't you could try to figure out like, that's all you could lock though. But good luck with that argument because there's never been a board or a company that is that is allowed diversity, right? I mean, at least not in the S&P 500. I mean, what are we talking about here? It's never been a thing. So, so even so even like the president blaming something on Dei. It's not, it's not real, it's just never. We've never been, I am fighting for this. I want this to happen in our country, but we've never been in this position in our country or anywhere in the western world where these people have had enough power to blame them the first place, but that's just saying we can move go at it. The data's there. You can try to make your argument. That's all I'm sorry. Like it's all I'm saying. Ready for story of the week. Yeah, let's just started the music playing because it is, What do you got for me? Oh, the first one was kind of an old fashioned one for us. There's no there's no there's no sadness or anger or blame or die. It's just that it's just this thing called Deep Sea. That came out of China that rocked the AI World on Monday. I believe in the headline, deep seek shocks AI world with cheap Chinese chatbot. They're calling an AI Sputnik moment I guess it. Like what? Like wiped away. One trillion dollars of market value. Its first day, I don't know if that the stock market maybe is back up since then, I don't know. But also there's already been a Cyber attack against deep Sikh. American AI companies are kind of scrambling to respond and and then just yesterday I see another Chinese company. Alibaba says, it has an AI model even better than deep sea. Oh, I don't know. I don't understand the map. The thing I just, I can't comprehend anymore, is the amount of resources were dumping into this AI nonsense to me is just it's out of control. I mean, you talked a lot about private investors giving money to that, but it's just like the energy. We need to maintain this all of it just like what the hell are we doing? I mean, what the hell's going on? All I love about these stories. What makes it such a great story. Is, people are talking like Andreessen called it AI Sputnik moment, right? Like where you just those for those of you under the age of 60. Yeah, Russia puts, but Sputnik, you know, into orbit before the US got up there and it made the us all the sudden rushed to, you know, like space program, right? Okay. But what it really represented Matt, which I think is the Perfect. Analogy is really the beginning of the Cold War, which is like, kind of a way to convince to convince your people that we need to spend a lot of money. To fight off the Russians who were coming, right? It's kind of the same thing. But this one is funnier to me. Because what it really proved was all the hype coming out of Silicon Valley, Mark Andrews and writing techno Optimist manifestos and Zuckerberg talking about how if we don't combat China, and the National Security of tiktok and all we don't do like China, will ya rhetoric are coming out of Silicon Valley in the Broly Garcia, and the man flakes who are running this world right now with billions a trillions of dollars at their disposal, really. They're not clever, they're not smarter, they're not more efficient, there's like a couple of Chinese Engineers who figured out a way to do it just as good as any like us Tech bro, and they lost their minds. The mark that lost its mine. Here's the thing though. Matt, we had a model for that that could have called open AI, which was supposed to be billed like on a non for profit model, right? We could have done that, we all the Bros. They all could have rallied behind this. Non for profit concept where where no single Corporation was was enriching themselves off of this but we we let that go pretty quickly. I mean, the board tried rightfully to fire. Sam Altman and it failed at that and now like they're all fighting against each other. So clearly, this is not about saving Humanity or saving American might, this is just about their own nest egg. This is about their own company. Yeah, as it always is. Is it always is, which is fine. This isn't like socialism be capitalism. This isn't anything like that. This is just like, we don't have the corner on smart people, who can do shit in a in America. I would be weird if we did. That would be weird if we did call College dropouts. Yeah. Like, our trillionaires. You're not the smartest. Well, the smartest look, I mean, I eventually the, if the world wants to survive, we're eventually going to get to a point in our human history where we Work together as a global I don't. Is that possible? I don't know. Probably not that's you know I'm saying? I know I know but yeah go nationalism. Yay it's so much fun. It's so interesting like I'm so absorbed by by made up borders. Oh yay, what fun. Okay so the next story of the week Ah, this is an old fashioned for us meta. They call it meta Chief. This must be out of the the Europe meta, Chief Zuckerberg joins The Business Roundtable. So, Mark Zuckerberg, the Emperor of meta. I didn't really realize he was never part of business problem. No, he's joining us and, and Matt. He's reportedly hunting for her home in Washington DC to be even closer to Trump. Oh, that's what you think about this though. Joining The Business Roundtable is this, is this meaningful. That's so cute. He's looking for house like next to Donnie's house. So the two of us. Hey, in the afternoon, I mean, this is the fourth. This is the four-year power grab. I mean this is like the Business Roundtable is why not only a thing anyway? Like I know like why now well, why all of a sudden look, I'm not suggesting it's meaningful, I'm asking you, is it meaningful? Because no it's I mean like it's why wasn't there before? Because he's a big man, baby. He's actually sucking up to a new dad. Now we seeing I guess now he's seeing the conduit, you know like my real my My real gut instinct is here and this is not confirmed by any inside. Intel. Sheryl, sandberg's gone. Mama's Gone. My real gut feeling is when Mommy left. Yeah, Mark is floundering around. Peter, Thiel was on the board for a long time. We actually did a show many years ago about he'll Peter Thiel. How? Like, when geese imprint on the first thing that like, looks like a parent Zuckerberg basically imprinted like teal imprinted on Zuckerberg as as like a father figure like he was sitting on his shoulder for years and years and years. When teal left there was still Cheryl. Now there's nobody left. Now, he's picking Dana White for his board and he and his buddies like that like X Enron Traders putting on my audit. Committee's basically all hell is broken when Mark has to make his own decision with no adult in the room. You realize he's a College Dropout with no adult in the room. And now this is like, isn't this the next step? He's looking for a new dad. He is just it's Daddy Donny, he's just getting as close as he can. That's all That's the second story of the week, the third story of the week, I guess the people that boy your research would call this grift right that I that I even care about this next story that they would suggest. This is some part of ESG Dei grip. I don't really know what that means but anyway, sorry that I'm I believe in anything. That's real. Yeah. But here's the headline, US Bank Corps next CEO to be first woman of color to lead. A major US lender, that's gunjan, kedja who was named the she was named the banks president. Last May she'll become CEO and April and she succeeding, Andy cheer, who will Who will, of course, stay around to be executive chair. So he's not. Okay, so we'll see. Hey, if you want to know how much she actually has, you should go to free flow analytics.com. And we do that day update to see how much influence she actually has on that board, but I'm out on this announcement that. Okay? The week sucks. Next, dare you, how dare you crap on things. I care about. And finally, unfortunately, I kind of wedged this one in here mostly because, you know, it is about it happened to a public corporation and then it does sort of kind of ugly, ugly ugly, ugly it in an ugly way. It covers a lot of some of the things that we've been talking about. Recently, the headline American Airline CEO, Robert Isom, Offers apology after fatal mid-air collision near Washington, DC airport, and then Trump immediately yesterday, criticized, the FAA, diversity efforts after the plane crash, even though even as he says, he doesn't know the cause yet. So, and this is really, but this is, this is a, I mean, I, I thank him for for this only. Because like, at least he's admitting the game, right? Like, and I, and it goes to the same with the people at Boyer research, who, who get very like agitated about things like diversity and Leadership. Because the game really is that they don't, they don't want diversity. They don't want diverse people in leadership, and they don't really have an answer. Why? Like, they don't really have data to support or reasons to support. They just don't want it, they just don't want you. Well, okay, but at least that's what they're saying, but at least sort of trump comes the admits it like, I don't know what happened, but I'm gonna blame who I want to blame, right? This Case people with, dwarfism, he basically just blamed like, people with disabilities and dwarfism. That's why why, what are you talking about? He read out the FAA, a specific God stopped, the FAA, diversity initiative. This is true where he blamed people with. Like, I like the whole readout was all focused on people with like mental disabilities and dwarfism was like the last part of that. Like it wasn't even this time. It was like, he's like scraping the bottom of the diversity Barrel in a way, he's like we've already played the blacks and women and gays for everything. Yeah, now I need another set of diversity to like, say that that's the reason without having any evidence that was at all. The reason for any of this, right? Well, even he even blamed Obama. So thank you next time. I go to Starbucks and I don't like my lofty. I'm gonna blame Melody hubsan. That's true. You should although the American Airlines, like, offering an apology, this one actually does not feel like like, This wasn't a Boeing problem, this doesn't feel like the airlines are horrible. Know different problem entirely like yes, an infrastructure system and air traffic control that has been under stress and strain for 20 years, like yeah. Well I I think this The Strain really began during the Reagan Administration when he fired a bunch of write a bunch of people who work for that unit when they were threatening to strike. You know better than me. All right what? Come on. Give me a vote story of the week here. The week is easy. This is deep, is it? Okay, let's move on. Then let's move on all week. I honor I honor your voting right? Unlike say on pay, I honor your vote. Advisory vote though. Like I said, you know, rule me absolutely binding. All right, good list. I have too easy ones. All right, you know, first then I'll go, I'll go next minor, sort of connected. So I'll go quickly Whole Foods workers and filled out if you have to form Amazon, own grocery stores. First Union I didn't, I didn't know. That was the first Union Whole Foods. Also, here's some encouraging news that have Starbucks Starbucks and Workers. United union, agreed to contract mediation. That's seems like a very short of positive. Step for a major corporation, right? Because aren't these mediation talks? Usually binding that the Arbiter is like a binding Maybe maybe they're not, maybe they're not, maybe they're not binding arbitration yet but this does seem like a positive step to me. All I know is that Brian Nichol somehow has already made 96 million dollars, despite having done nothing in the job that the head. No, he's bringing back mugs. He's bringing back mugs. Never mind they're winning. So, um, I am free rebuilds, which I support free. Refills this. He's got to earn the money somehow. So mediation sounds like a good way to earn some money. I'm such a, I'm such a dupe meth that, the free refill thing. Actually, will probably bring me in you'll get back. I love a free refill. I love a free refill. All right, I got two. The first one is negative. Here's a headline. Negative. ESG news creating buying opportunities, says private Banks. Well, that makes sense. Right? Because what isn't ESG at its heart? Just like a way of identifying long-term risk. Isn't that all really is? Look, this is this fabulously encapsulates, what ESG really is to your point, right? That's it. That's it data, set and dat. Set that like, if you're just counting it it means that the companies are less likely to have ESG risks priced in and there are buying opportunity or opportunities priced in and they're buying opportunities. Imagine thinking about these sort of, like, while everyone in the conservative America is calling it Griffin and horrible. Imagine thinking of it is like oh shit I can make a ton of money because they're not looking, which is exactly what Jamie Diamond Mark Cuban like the Costco board, their common sense. It's Common Sense saying this special in 2025 minutes common sense, not only that map. But but the thing that gets me about the, the people who complain about ESG is that is that there are probably very few people in the ESG world even who would suggest this is the only thing to look at this is your only input. It's like only, it's like, only looking at earnings, that's it. Nothing else only earnings. Nobody Does this. People ESG is just a very natural this to set up data points. It's a very natural inclusion, to everything else that you're already staring at Dummies. Wait, wait, wait, how you please? But how would you how could you ignore more data about a possible investment? Why would anyone do that? I love this. Deadline because it encapsulates that so people go out there and make yourself some money. Get what else you have another one. My other one is record number of CEOs, leave roles amid activist pressure. Research shows, I know that one upsets me, I don't like that one. I love it because there are 202 CEOs at the world's largest listed companies that left last year up, 9%, and of them, the vast majority had less than not the vast majority. A large portion of them had less than three years on the job and activists stepped in and basically had no like a baseball manager, which is why I loved it. We like activists are thinking the way regular investors should be thinking, which is just to say, I agree. But why do we only care when they're involved? Yeah. Otherwise, I'm voting you out. That's it. I that's what I get for my share. I get a like an orange juice and a vote. That's what I get. Well, the average the irritating part of this is that the competition committees are are ensuring that these CEOs, get paid, no matter what happens. So, even if they fail, yeah, baby, they've either gotten a golden. Hello. They've gotten a golden parachute, like that. That, that's the part of it. That's out of whack. If you suck at being a CEO, you shouldn't be paid for them. Sorry, I mean, maybe like a salary but nothing else to see is the research of the the CEOs who are ousted by activists getting new CEO jobs somewhere else. Of course they do they do but not that often, it's much less. So do the research. There might there's some good there. So who, what is the good list of the week here? My vote is definitely negative. ESG news, creating buying, our, I'm going with the two. That's our whole thing. I love it. I think it's fabulous. So, I do, and by the way, if anyone wants to buy all the negative ESG news that, I that I hate every month, I think I have about 1500 stories. I tagged every month. Reach out. I'll sell it to you. Yeah. So what do you waiting for? It's all about buying opportunity. Let's go to ask. Holy. Um, okay look, we've been upbeat. We're moving so far. I'm in a good mood. So careful, I have like a don't punch too hard now. Um, there we go. Number one asshole. Well, first option, cowards? Because of this headline, Target rolls back Dei initiatives. The latest Target company to retreat. Um, Target announced our sand a couple days ago. It would conclude the Dei goals previously, set to increase black employees, representation and advancement, improve black Shoppers experiences and promote black owned businesses, right? Why are we doing that? What's wrong with that? They also scrub mention of diversity, which was prominent on the website. They now it's buried like seven layers in like, you can't find it very quickly. Well, are we doing this? Why I actually went through all their eosc reports which are the Equal Employment date. They actually report on their the, the mandated report their mandated, their mandated to report to the eosc but they're not married to just disclose it, but they close it or they have up until now my guess is, they will stop sure. But here's the reason why everyone's targeting Highest level of Target, they doubled between 2019 and 2023 as a percentage of Executives and professionals. They went from like just around 5% to around 10%, that's great. So 10% still less than the US population still less than their Workforce. Their Workforce is 16% black or and Stage still out, right? That's a major achievement for years. When you look at how easy it is people, we look at the number of white employees like as you go up and seniority that percentage of white people just goes up and up, and up, and up, and up and up, okay? That's still the case. But that's the reason why they get targeted right. Like because well, even this, but everyone's more targeted. What do you mean what you think? They think these people targeted targeted, just because of that, or is it because they're a major retailer? Well, there are major retailer and they have some brand problems but like you wouldn't know one like white men. Wouldn't care. If the number of, if you had like, 15 initiatives and none of them resulted in people of color, actually, getting more jobs, would you care that much? Do you have reason to believe that they're actually doing a due diligence? And looking at data? Do you think they're that intelligent? I have reason to believe that the more things a company signs on to like Target. Now, actually, the, the Minneapolis where Target is base their Annual Pride Parade, which has sponsored for 20 like decades, right? Like a long time. They've given some money to the group that streaming liberal City. Yeah, the group has refused. Their donation this year. Oh, because of these rollbacks, interesting, and I think that the more things that Target was doing like that that the more attention they bring and the more people look to say, like, you know what? Oh look, the number went up. Like the how do we know those people were good at their jobs? Did they just put more black people and management? Right? That's what they think, right? Yeah, it's a terrible way of thinking. Because again, what we've as we've said nauseam, how do we know that the other races are doing are there by Merit and doing their jobs? Well, Well. Here's there are two outcomes to this number one, Dmitri Stockton. Yeah, right a board member. Yep. He is a black man on the board. He gets to join the double coward Club. He's on the board of Target and deer. So good for him, good for him. Well, okay, we don't TV Fair to Dimitri, we don't we don't know how he might have voted or what his voice said, and when dealing with those proposals, we don't know. I would love to know Dmitry reach out. Tell us, maybe you did fight for this. Yeah, we'd love to have you on the show and you could tell us like went, because you've now seen it happen. Twice. You saw a deer and now Target, maybe you're doubly depressed, you fought both times lost coming here, the majority I'm depressed too. These days so come and share. Maybe we can commiserate together. Maybe we can go on a little like a little trip together and we can like buy some cheeseburgers or something, but I don't know. What am I talking about? No idea. I don't even know but the second outcome here, is this headline Target hit with National boycott over a decision to drop D initiative. So okay, so coming from the left. So now you have People on the left who are saying like the Dei initiatives are not a problem boycotting Target and you had people on the right saying, oh, you know, having Pride, merchandise in the store is a problem, they boycotted. Yeah, the end result is no one goes to Target. Well, I also saw one twice Brian Cornell, CEO of Target. I also I tagged several articles where black suppliers are saying, please don't boycott Target. I mean, it's, it's boycotting Target will hurt those same black suppliers that you're worried about. Sure. Yeah. But what are we left with here? I don't know. Can you go directly to those suppliers? We do. We have to go to Target in the first place. I don't know. Directly to the suppliers. Sure. Vote, your shares and vote out this entire board. Do it all like, there's other way. That's our first assholes. Tart Is coward specifically at Target quickly. Target that, um, your second option here is sycophants and suck UPS. It's a big weeks, you talking about CEOs in general or specific CEOs. Well, here, you're just a headline list. All right, we don't have to go deep Zuckerberg defends Embrace of trumpet, Trump Administration, and meta employee Q&A. Did you how is that? You know what, I was thinking about this. We know that California especially San Francisco area is specially liberal, right? I mean, let it whether it's Democratic or not, I don't know, but it's definitely to the left of things. Right. How was the city with all those employees? I mean, not well I I'm guessing they're already making enough money that they're kind of afraid to leave which is Are one of our theories about people in our own industry like the ESG industry, is why they're giving up the fight. Now is because they already have really nice jobs and really nice homes, maybe second homes, even and they don't want to, they don't want to fight, they'd rather just have their nice home. So, I'm just wondering like, it's, it's got to feel pretty crappy, right? I mean, where are they going to go? What are they gonna do? How do you fight back against a CEO? Who also owns your company? Like, what the hell, where, where do you fight? They are resorting to some guerrilla warfare tell me where, like up. So apparently they had tampons in the men's bathroom for for Trans people, you know, or that those are being taken out and they took them all out. So now you win Mark Zuckerberg employees are buying tampons and putting them in there, like, wait a wedge hate into any corner you can think of, I don't understand who cares. Like, that's my wife. I thought as American I thought I thought the whole Year of America was to just not care to like let let unless your neighbor is like, aiming his crossbow at your children and about to pull the trigger. What do we care if, if your neighbor is like, you know, building a big Lego set, I don't care. Nobody cares. This is America. I don't when they start happening, I don't get it. I really don't care about anyone else's genitals. Why would you like I like, I barely care about my own. I don't know why. Conservatives in America are so deeply invested in someone else's genitals control and power. I assume, I guess, but like everyone else's genitals. It's weird so much, especially like a company in San Francisco. I mean, what are you doing? Just just go with the the youth vote there. I don't know, ask her, ask her employees what they want to do. We're gonna start mandating that like you can only masturbate with a moist towel made by, you know, like one company. Not another like deep sea, deep sleep. Other headlines. Yeah, sub headline here. Is there's headline. Zuckerberg has shown us who he really is. Believe him. I unfortunately for that I believe I believe that the only layer keeping him from this was Sheryl Sandberg for the last 10 years. That's that's a that's from Fast Company. Calm. Yeah. What else? Meta agrees to pay Trump. 25 million to settle his lawsuit so talk about suing again. Yeah, who doesn't Trump Sue? Yeah, he was suing for censorship but he's suing everybody right? Like, well, he's sues everybody. Since the 1970s probably his dad is the same thing. Isn't this? The greatest way to donate to Trump now? Like he sued you. So now you just pay him something and say we're on your side baby and we're gonna pay you and it goes right to your coffers great and everybody's happy, right? So it's pure graphed. So which suck up. That's clear. Suck up though. Clever. How about this? Amazon ramps up, ad spending on Elon musk's ex this one bothered me. The most that when I really I Really soulless decision there by Bezos and Company like come on what we're ramping it up. What are we flexing? Our bro our technical muscles doing turkey baby. What are we doing? Seriously I right. But Matt is still America and like Supportive Neo-Nazi parties doing Nazi salutes. It's really not cool. It's like it's kind of not what Americans do. So get over it. Bezos baby, make that get over it. How about this one? Elon Musk teams up with bowing to rush production of new Air Force Ones. So now care about that. I don't care about anything about. Well, musk is like basically the vice president. Yeah. I don't care about space, I don't care about. Let's fix our problems down, but it's barely out Boeing now. Now it's like don't even care. Why are we spending money on this? There's like, hey your friends with Donnie. Like can we and Elon weren't we supposed to be in Mars like five years ago? What, why are you? Why are you predictions? So awful. Oh, he's been busy with the Nazi party in Germany. I'm busy making boring cars. Yeah, go ahead. How about this Exxon Pho engine number, one to build fossil fuel plants with Chevron. I don't understand this one. So engine number one, used to be like kind of anti fossil fuels, didn't they? They were environmentally minded. They switched the board at exiled put on quote, on, why are the Champions League minded people because money in a baby bunny? Really? Is this is this enough to keep you going in life. Come on, get it, get it. Take a walk through the woods or something. What what's come on? What are we doing? Here's my favorite and sycophants and suck-ups. Yeah, Google caves to Donald Trump's executive order, and will change Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, on its man explaining to me when this one to me because nobody owned that body of water. So, if you're using Google Maps in Mexico, what does it say? Do you know, does it? They Google apparently says that they respect whatever the, you know, the, which is fine maps of the country, I guess. Yeah. Donald Trump has decided that it's the Gulf of America, but if you are in France, but if you're in France, it wouldn't say that it was right. It would maintain its old name, right? Can you change the name of anything with an executive order? You could just like, be like, I think so let Goshen. It's now that isn't that the Hallmark of America we kind of like like the white people from Western Europe, came in the sort of changed the names of everything is not idiocracy, like the know, I know it's it's stupid but as we were learning like stupid, A wind. It helps you maintain power. At least. Yeah, look over there. It's the Gulf of America now and now, yeah, I don't even know why that's so important. I was thinking about this very issue when I tagged this article, What do we have exactly to be angry about with Mexico? Like, it's a, it's a wonderful place with, like, wonderful people, a wonderful culture, it's beautiful. It's, it's just absolutely gorgeous. Like, what exactly are we upset about with Mexico? You know what I mean? Like, I just don't, I don't see it. But, like, a Dei socialist is what you said. Maybe one thing if it was like this country notoriously that was like, grinding up children in these big nut Grinders and they were like just they were like shooting like dogs and you know like but it's just a lovely place, I don't know. I just don't understand. But anyway, yeah, I mean, that's your second option. What's your third? Come on. Your third option is straight up, due diligence. Here's you, you pulled this list. We have a list called the tradewater. It's All Aboard members to go hate that laborious. So I went through a bunch of them. Here's the average there. So Norfolk Southern Bank of America CSX First Horizon Carlyle Group, Xcel Energy. There's a bunch of these boards that are getting a new director all these days a lot these days. Yeah announces. So and so a point so-and-so so it's a points names. Where is the shareholder problem at? Well, there's a thing, I looked at the date of all these things. And then I went and I looked at the date of their next AGM that when they would get actually elected because they don't have the, they should not have the job now. Know that right. Absolutely. Right with no access and they don't start until the AGM but that's not the way it works. They actually pay them their signing bonuses and they give them their Equity plans. They sign up, they do all the stuff. The average is almost exactly. It's 88 days from the appointment to the election. With the longest being Xcel Energy elected, Devon stock, fish to the board of directors, the elected him a couple days ago and you can't vote on it until the end of May 20th. Of course, we've seen around, we've seen worse than this recently. Where were unclassified boards we've seen directors appointed? That won't be up for election for a couple years. Oh yeah, this isn't the worst. But I just want to remind you that you are allowing someone to get paid for three months at a like Of their job, which is a quarter of the year. It's a quarter, it's a full quarter. Like they have strategic input, they get a they get on boarded the whole thing before you actually elect them to the job. Just as a, reminder, look as the only company that the still kind of tries to come up with new ESG, initiatives, tries to try to go to ESG 2.0 here and doesn't just like dwell and and do things that we've been doing 20 years ago and cry, and, and pivot and all that. One of the initiatives. Absolutely. Should be that this can't happen. What what you can do is you can announce Anonymous, you can announce a nominee, To the board who will be up for election at the AGM. That's fine. If you want to have two or three months, Head Start and you want to support your candidate and talk about how great they're great. That's why not absolutely allowed but you cannot put that person on the board before shareholders approve, it? No. Well, not to mention that when you actually analyze people, like I got, I went into the Norfolk Southern director. Her name is Lori rire Kirk. She has been named to the board of directors. She's connected, can't do that. This thing board. She's connected through three, a number of companies, Blue Chip companies. They have a lot of sort of, like, Social Circles in common. Which means what do you really adding? Are you adding something new? I mean, he's not a safety expert and you just, you're still dealing with a major Crash from two years ago, like what do you adding? I'm gonna say this a lot over the next four years. If we continue to do these shows for more years, which is stop wringing, your hands stop. Like you know, being ignorant, stop like pivoting. Let's change the existing structure as we know it now, to to fight off the things that you're worried about. This is one of those. This is one of those areas that we could work to fight to fight, right? Yeah. All right, so I get to vote or more have one last one, it's a one-liner because I saw this headline, New York City, comptroller targets, United Airlines on heat dangers. Hmm, there's a new shareholder proposal that the New York City comptroller has put up at United Airlines. It says they want to report on the dangers. Facing employees who work outside. Give all the tarmacs you mean on the tarmac, oh my God, I every time I fly anywhere in the summer and I look at this people, I feel sick for them. Look it must I get to be 130 degrees down there. I get it but see the heat rising match. Can see the heat but aren't there significantly bigger Target like we're wasting tons of legal resources like this? What the conservatives are using against you because you are targeting a report. So Like narrow and specific. So Niche or Mac workers at United Airlines. You're wrong. I think they should keep up their fight. We should all keep up our fights. Keep up your fights against the fight. Progress is slow. It's a marathon Sprint. Have we divested from every dual-class company? Have we like I wish dual class existing, which is yeah, which is a much, much bigger problem. No, you're right. Did you get directors that are underperforming? That are family members. We should be. We should be consistently. Really? I agree with you, Matt, I agree with you but I'm not gonna vote for them for asshole the week. I'm absolutely not going to do it. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, all right, those are four options, coward fans, far, and away. Yeah, oh yeah. Powered fans. Yeah. And then the narrow shareholder proposal. Sorry, to cut you off Far and Away. The one that gets me the most this week. Uh, as much as I want to vote for Target and this ongoing problem with the boards, it should be illegally, you should not be allowed to have the directors, start their job before the show runs away, and it's absolutely stupid and really it's subverts a process that is already in place that shouldn't be allowing this. I don't know how this, if any of our smart friends or listening like the Doug, Charles in the world reach out to us and tell us like, how is this even allowed in the first place? I don't want to, for this week is absolutely the sick of fans and suck UPS. We've seen such a drastic turn. I, my head is spinning Matt. Like my like, I know, we're only a few years removed from the business roundtable's pivot to this, this stakeholder capitalism, only a few years removed from from Target, you know, strongly supporting pride and Dei all these things. How how is this happening so quickly based on a on an election, a political election, where we know For decades, Matt that, you know, the, the left and the right, they fight back and forth and this guy wins, and this one wins and this one way. But, but usually, the rest of us, stay the course, right? What, why are we pivoting so quickly? What? Why the sudden money grab? Why? The sudden power grab? What is changed? Matt. Help me. Figure this out. I don't understand it. I I can't help you figure it out. All right. Sick of fans. All right, let's finish with headlines. Oh, do we get to be done with this show? Yeah. Double the Show headlines. Winners predictions. God my my headlines. No fun. I usually pick something fun here but I just picked some that just spoke to me. But now I feel bad about I wish I picked something fun like something about. Like last week I picked like Velveeta was developing something like nacho cheese goes in your pocket. But this one, this one's depressing and I apologize. The headline is Bill Gates says, he thinks it's insane shit. The Elaine the lawn. Sorry, Elon Musk is allowed to destabilize politics and other countries look yeah, he's just saying it bill. Somebody is saying it, right? It's correct because no one's listening to us. So, anyway, that's my headline of the week. Mine is more fun. Good good. Do something team says they've recreated deep seeks open. AI killer for literally thirty dollars. The one thing we haven't even talked about is that. So they're they're tracing like deep seek success by because they I guess they may be like borrowed some information they got from open AI but an open AI is all pissed off. But open AI, of course is only something because it stole everyone's data and creativity to create its own AI. Yeah. But this is that we've done this dance before. Yeah, we have stole the data that we write fully stole is the argument of Silicon Valley. That's the whole. But it's a bit, it's a bit, my numbing, I just love that the headline. They're not that wasn't like an exaggeration. They did it for 30 dollars. Is that right? They did it for. We hire them here. We need some fixes for 30. That's what I like. It's unbelievable to me which gets me to my winner of the week. I'll just pivot right to my winner which is an AI coder with 30 dollars. Yeah. What a fucking winner. I would like to see this. You think? Do you think that they slap down a 20 and a 10 on the table and then just did it? Or you know mine is sort of similar my winner of the week is just all the companies that provide energy to support AI. I mean we're entering this like this this world right where if you're just making, if you're just selling energy for these idiots, you're gonna You're Gonna Be Rich, right? I mean, Yeah I don't like another depressing winner. All right I'm gonna edit myself next week and be a little less depressing predictions. Yeah, you go first okay I don't you tell me maybe this is less depressing. My prediction is that one of these AI companies, open AI deep seek whatever. I don't know, one of these companies, accidentally erases itself, after after fearing, it may destroy the world. Yeah, so somehow part of its algorithm is like, wait, what am I? What am what is this? I don't, I don't think we're good for Humanity yet. We're sucking up all this energy. We're making these Tech Bros like super rich and affecting income inequality, like maybe I should delete myself to prevent some of this. I would love an AI fight. Like, what would that look like? Could you get a pay-per-view where? Like, deep seek fights like chat GPT, as long as Dana White's default, I'm happy. All right, what's your prediction? Let's call this the show. I mean, it'll play myself. My prediction is the next avian, flu is on your phone right now. There's the headline. Your phone is a breeding ground for fecal bacteria. This is how to keep it clean and prevent getting sick. You want to know why we have normal, virus, outbreaks, at a scale, we've never seen. They're saying it's because everyone goes and takes the shit with their ball and then Can't clean their kids, yeah. This is a problem people. All right. Get rid of your phones. That's it like it. That's hazelnut Rollins. I am. Your animal is toll Matti. We are free float. I gave Jerry Bauer an invitation to join us on this show. He's already saying that. Like, I call them a secret racist which is not what I call them. Like I didn't say, tell people who tell people who he is on the show, we just want to have a conversation quickly, tell people who he is quickly, he's the family head of the bower research, which they do the research. For issu skeptic policy which is traditional investors are using because it sounds like anti-esg but with management. Hey I said if you want to save a boatload of money your ESG skeptic policy should just be not paying attention to. Yes, she did. How about that? You don't have to spend money. That's all we got come back next week when we do even more of this nonsense Until then good. Bye.