Transcript
live from your Cracker Barrels. All new Dei dart board. Featuring canned green beans. It's a business pants Friday show here at November 14th Studios, featuring analyst whole matte mascardi. On today's weekly, wrap-up. Walmart loses a Doug, I'm sure they have a dog's but they've got a lot of dogs at Walmart. Stakeholder capitalism in Japan. And a very special asshole blame game. Yeah, so we got some feedback. I don't know. You're a regular listener of our show me know, I don't actually listen to it. We got some feedback that the blame game which we occasionally do on our Tuesday. Shows was A favorite. So I'm doing my favorite mini, I'm doing a mini blinking, so one of my favorite to write and produce mostly because I learned a lot because there's a lot. Well boy, there's a lot of digging for that took me like like six hours of production work to get this one done. So our show today is being sponsored by free float, analytics.com. The only platforming board power connections performance for free, you know? I don't want to tease anything that might be coming up later, but I should say I don't want to steal the Thunder of anything you might cover later. So I'll just tease this If the Trump Administration does manage to destroy ISS and glass Lewis, very good flow, analytics.com to get your data. And in fact, partner with us And we could help you actually come up with the voting plans. And honestly, there's nothing left for you to do like you for anyone who wants to vote a proxy, then there's nothing left to do. All right, let's let's get this on the road because it looks like it sounds. I think. Matt has more to say about that later. Let's go. Come on. I just have a I'm really proud to announce that. All four of my stories are kind of good old-fashioned corporate governance. I don't have a lot of dystopia. I don't have a lot of like, Brady Middle School, Tech, CEO, jerk trillionaires. I just have kind of small Fashions stories. She stories. This first one broke this morning. Walmart, CEO, Doug McMillan. To retire. He's only 59 years old to retire in January. And US operations Chief, John furner will take over John. Furner been at the company for 30 years more than 30 years I believe. For those of you who don't remember who Doug McMillan is or was, we talked a lot about Doug on this show because it used to be the chair of the Business Roundtable. And he came out in 2019 and then, you know, and for the next few years after a while it was still politically expedient. He had some incredible quote that I want to apply it here as he stepping down from Walmart. And I'm just gonna read a few of them. We said we simply won't be here if we don't take care of the very things that allow us to exist or Associates customers suppliers in the planet. That's not up for debate. He said, I don't, I think the growing interest at stakeholder capitalism stems from companies genuinely invested in doing good for our world because it is the right. It's the right thing to do and because businesses who take this approach are stronger who could argue with this coming from an incredible 10 year at one of the most powerful companies in the world. He also said, Big problems don't rest in the shoulders of government or corporations alone. We need to reinvent capitalism. I mean, blah, blah blah. He actually sounds like zero more to say. Actually he does, you're absolutely right and it makes me wonder this. Because again I'm not gonna even be cynical about this. I appreciate what he had to say about that. He's 59 years old. He unlike Bob Iger, he didn't have to quit and come back 17 times. And then end up like screwing it all up in the end by being a buffoon. Maybe he, who knows? Maybe he actually might run for office. I can see this dude right now office. I could see it happening. Do you? Well, first of all, just saying he's to do it, he's in the position to do it because 50 Young He is, he's to he's retiring in January. Yeah. Before you get his retirement isn't a retirement. Okay, no, no, I actually you're wrong. Let me get to this. And and first of all, let me also to I can't believe I'm like supporting Walmart. Here we go. Now I'm let me tip my hat to the compensation committee because as it turns out you need a, you basically need a black woman, you need a black woman to figure stuff out or you need at least a majority of women. The competition committee, which is in charge of succession planing at this company. For exactly, this thing compensation committee is led by Carla Harris. Black woman, Carla Harris and another former CEO Marissa Mayer. Say what you will about her but the two women controlled this Committee. Now here's where you're wrong. It it sounds like the McMillan will linger for a while for about a year. Yeah. But he is not. But but then He will step down from the board in June, Which is less than a year away, and then he will leave the company. Remember, they already have one of the in laws of the Walton family. Greg Penner is the chair. You guy won't the new guy. John furner will not become chair. Doug McMillan is leaving the company. He will leave the company. I think it's somewhat normal to stay around for a little while and kind of a Just like a pretty sudden announcement, maybe he's gonna spend a year kind of handing off duties, but he's leaving. Yo, this is an actual succession. He wouldn't, he will continue through January 2027. Okay. But that's that's a little more than a year and he won't be as he won't be as an executive. It might just be he will continue. It says he will continue in his capacity as an executive officer. He will report to the chair who is a Walton relative and will continue to be employed as an associate of the company. But you'll be leaving salary, the only thing, if he usually the chair I missed, you know, he's leaving. If he was made the chair, then he would be called an executive chair because The Waltons control the company through dual class shares. They installed Greg Penner, as the chair there wasn't room for an executive co-chair Doug McMillan will leave. That's the one upside that he's getting an executive salary and will stay on board. Okay. More than a year that's look, I to me. This is a victory. I mean, that he's not letting that I, I mean, look, I mean, again, calling these to Victory is. All right, so I'm but this is an actual succession plan. He's actually leaving but, you know, you're right. It is a little weird because it's at a company that's controlled by a family, Greg Penny him. Right. Pinner in love. What know who's the succession? Two of, like, do we know like the guy who's because the guy right taking over John further? Yeah, but do we know, like, any like much about him is he's just a Walmart guy, right? He's been at the company for over 30 years. He's ahead of Walmart's us business. He's, you know, he's a leadership role. Does like nothing else about did he like, marry a different Walton? No, I think he's actually not, he's not related to a Walton. That's confused by like how did they choose him? Well, he's a, he's a good white American dude. Oh, okay. All right. As long as we're clear. Alright. But it's not something like a Cracker Barrel like Dei expert or, you know, he's not. Ooh, let's get to that. He's not Barack Hussein Obama. He's John, furner. Look. I mean, honestly comforted, I can't, I actually can't criticize this for for a company. That is basically run by a family that's been doing well. The CEO is succeeded. Why would you this? This is an instance where you would hire from within why we unlike Target, which is a shit show, and it's self. Okay, true. They're the ones who should be hiring from from external sources, right to change the culture? Why would Walmart change? Okay, are we revisionist on walls, literally what? Literally was the evil empire. We used to complain about how Walmart was getting small businesses out of business and then we stop complaining about that when Amazon came along, and put them all out of business. Well, look at that. And I like follow up on this because all the reporting I saw that. One of the things that McMillan accomplished here is a huge investments into labor. I'd like to see. I like to actually see the difference is in the in the wages and and the salary is and see if he actually did make a difference there. I know there have been a lot of I've seen a lot of headlines about managers getting raises and all that, but I wonder if that's actually just like press release or if he actually did, he actually is paying the people more because that's the most important part of his legacy. If it's true. Also the Legacy, the most recent part of his legacy is the rollback on Dei because of Robbie Starbucks under Doug McMillan. McMillan wait, roll back, Walmart rollback on DS. Of course, they did Robbie start by targeted Walmart. I thought it was a Target, both know, and Walmart and the irony here, but you're blaming for this. That's the Walton family know that is the Walton family, but like Doug McMillan's a CEO. So, what's the point of the CEO? Why do we celebrate the CEO? I'm not championing. The company. I'm, you are smooth succession. You are championing a smooth succession plan. I don't know what I'm championing. You know what your positivity is about? Here's what it is. I I he's like the last credible Source in Corporate America that has any remaining quotes on stakeholder capitalism. So I'm like, putting that go on whatever. But like, but to me, that's his legacy, actually, dare say, it was the last thing he said about stakeholder, capitalism. Did you say yes? I love Douglas. I'm saying, I'm glad he's leaving. All right, and an efficient manner. Let's go to the second story of the week. Okay, there was a new prime minister in Japan, sanae takaichi. She is known to be, you know the rock and roll prime minister. She's she's on the right, she's a, she's a, she's she's their version of Maga, but okay, and I picked this because I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna stakeholder capitalism high this week. This is why it's a story. The headline is that she is. She's she's she says that firms. Should our focusing too much on shareholders? She said, quote I will revise the corporate governance code to encourage companies to appropriately distribute resources, not just to shareholders, but to employees. She said that she's considers excessive hoarding of capital to be a problem. And she wants them to invest in people including through wage hikes. She said, quote, I would like to see firms conduct business, not just thinking about clients but also considering their contribution to their broader Society. This is their version of the right wing which is completely different than our version of. We are basically shutting down anything that you are killing doesn't, please CEO? Yeah. And we are monstrous raises to see EOS letting them build your selling for people crypto and taking away their food. So I what, I don't know what that's gonna mean, but I applaud this, at least this sort of initial shift to a stakeholder system. I have already heard that. There's a lot of push back on her because she's made her employees like her her. Yeah. Like like her executive team or yeah like whatever. Like and the government literally Works 16 hour days like and like that welcome to Pan. It's well the the criticism is, aren't we trying to stop this in Japan? Oh why are you doing? No, no, in fact we reported on this show that she is absolutely not trying to start. This is not one of the things that she said was trying to running a little more money to work. He wants to go back to it. Yeah, she wants to go back to like, working all the time. Yeah, next story. But you know, these are confusing work all the time but not she'll pay them more, they won't. I mean, they won't have any time to enjoy their lives, but she'll pay more, at least. Yeah, sure. Okay. He's ten dollars extra now, work till you're dead. Not everything has to be black and white man. Not everything is good or bad like intrinsically. You have to do the the math on your own you have to do using to me. Yeah. All right, this last the third one is not confusing. It's pretty straightforward. Disney ditches, diversity, and d and business report for the first time since 2019. I mostly love this story because I was just like giggling at the Fox Business perspective on all this. So Uh, they they left. So for the first time in five years, they left out the words, diversity. They left out the words inclusion, they left out Dei, they left out diversity, Equity inclusion, it all appeared zero times, but this article said, while the term Equity appeared 130 times, it was only used in a financial context. So this is what the people Fox are scared about. They're scared of a quality. This is what gets them a quality. Yes. Equality who who is a quality discriminating against, which subset of our culture, get discriminated against with wait, what a call. So yeah, if I have two doughnuts and they have two Donuts, where who is suffering in that equation? Well, they have three doughnuts and you have one donut. Oh, so I take their, I don't know. Like what, what is it all about? You reaching over the table and taking my Donut from me that I got myself right? Like so that's not so cool. Also Disney removed this year. Two of its Dei programs called reimagine tomorrow in the Disney look. One of the one of the, the sections that they took out of their reports are a program that engaged creative Executives from underrepresented backgrounds. I mean, this is what Disney's afraid of that that was like the pelts move, right? That was, this is what their, this is what they're and I and let me just tell you a few other Disney headlines this week. Just to give you an idea of what's going on at Disney. And none of this actually has to do with the Jimmy Kimmel stuff, but Disney CEO Bob auger wants people to use AI to make their own content for Disney plus like that sounds horrible. Disney is losing Millions a day and it's fight with YouTube TV and Disney CEO sequel. That's talking about Bob biker coming back is not having a Hollywood ending. So, A fun fun times over there at Disney. I mean, I don't know. Who knows what's going on there? I actually went through there. So it didn't say in their 10K but they do. I did look through their CSR like their impact report, okay? But everyone knows that's just written by a bunch of ESG. They got rid of the word diversity in. They did tooth report, it appeared three times and it only appeared in the context of like, like biodiversity or like okay appear a couple times in there, but not, it's, it's mostly been stripped out. So I, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Even though, I, I personally don't believe in any of this bullshit, but let's just say, they believe that by having official programs that hire based on diversity metrics, they think that's illegal and they might get sued. But, but to just completely Scrub out to woke wash everything out. We can't even talk about like non cyst white cisgendered males or like that's it. Like if if they were can't even talk about it applying for a grant in the Trump Administration, I'll just remember the keyword search well woman, right? If the grant had the word woman in it it was not funded well won't matter soon because as the government adopts Ai and they're going to use grok AI, they're going to get everything wrong anyway. So what does it matter? Their You know, the rocks in a say that they that a document, that says the word, diversity, 15 times, he's 0 times. Yeah. All so that it doesn't matter what Disney said it was woke. I'm sure it would just say that was woke and my fourth story the week and I won't spend a lot of time because I think you're going to cover this in your section. Again some good old-fashioned corporate governance. Nonsense here and more political theater activist investor pushes Cracker Barrel shareholders to oust. Dei specialist, whatever that is. Yeah. Yeah. Let's come back to that. Is that like a sniper in the Army? What is a DPI specialist? I don't believe for a second. This would, this would imply that the only reason why this person is on the board is because they're a Dei specialist. Like that's the only reason why they wanted them in the board. Are they did join in 2020, which was the time of the world, why? Yeah, this is when everybody was woke Washington to begin with that said, so I don't. So he's the blame for the sign. Is that what we're led to believe the sign that is apparently, but let's come back to this, okay? Got his big story of the week, he got out his big eraser that like a races, like white people, white people from signage from just signage though, right? Like and then like and then they walked in, while he was doing it and he turned around, he was like, oh, Yeah, that's exactly. What do you do in here? Yeah. Okay. Like you're fired. I was in my four stories. I'm gonna go with because I can't. Yeah, it's Doug. It's Doug all day long because Doug's been there for a while. Walmart's a big company. They're old-fashioned bread and butter just covering people, right? I am sad that Doug McMillan no longer the head of the Business Roundtable aboard. No longer the head now, is it Mary is a guy from Cisco. It's a oh, thank God. Yeah. So we're safe. Yeah. One of our leading capitalism and you ready to do. Good list. Let's listen. All right, are we moving along? I can't talk. I can't tell. I have a lot though. So, Yeah, you're playing a game. Um, you go, first, I have one ironic one or like, you know, tongue and cheek one. I saw you are. Yes, yes. Netflix CTO, that's Chief technology officer for those of you who are keeping score Netflix. CTO says the company has quote, no formal performance reviews. I Just Vibe. Vibe. Yeah smell Like an older. So they describe it, okay. They describe it as like, continuous like feedback mechanisms in which they just are good. Yeah, yeah. And and they give them the opportunity to leave is like the way they described it. Well, no. Formal vacation either, right? Like, isn't it like unlimited vacation or they get rid of yes. And no one ever takes it. But be honest, be honest with yourself. When we were at the mothership msci we had annual performance reviews. Yeah, everyone we know and other companies and other Industries, they pretty much all have annual performance reviews that is like one week a year where you have to schedule a sit-down for 40 minutes with your manager. They tell you seven things you suck at and everyone. But yeah, and everyone bullshits the things they do and don't do during the yes, present to their manager. Yeah, you got like when it's almost like, like, when my brother was 11 or 12, he was trying to get like a dog walking gig in the neighborhood. So he handed out resumes. And he said, in it, that he was a like, he was a, he was like working as a janitor, but he called it like, you know, clean maintenance services, you know, like you. Yeah, there was actually, I remember as a kid, there's a joke in the Flintstones about that. Fred was a janitor, but he called himself a custodial engineer. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It was something like that. Fred Flintstone, I'm referring to. We All hated that process. We would hear things in that. Once a year process that we didn't hear all year. Yeah, and also it was completely subjective. It was completely subjective like you couldn't, there were, despite the fact that it was basically tied to your bonus and your promotion. There was no real understanding of how the point added, or what it meant, especially compared to your peers, none of it made sense and they Netflix. Apparently, they tell them on an ongoing basis that they suck. Which means, you know, you're not getting a bonus, you can budget better. Like it just seems good overall good. I'm confused by your. That doesn't feel make me feel good. Mine is a bit more in the Socialist tip. The anti billionaires. Yeah, my headline is from Fast Company. Should we really blame billionaires for our financial struggles? In fact, more Americans say yes, so, 65 67%. Said billionaires are creating more of an unfair Society. Here's the one that shocked me. There is a question should the law limit? Well, accumulation Even Republicans have gone up 12% in this metric since last year to just under 50%, just under 50% of Republicans think that we should limit law while the commission. Now, we talked about last week about or is it a couple weeks ago about this anti anti Dei push and elections. Yeah, my sense is that Trump and musk are such disgusting. Buffoons, such greedy, gross creepy rapy. None of this is hyperbole that it actually is helping the country. Go back the other way. Now, which I guess is common in the nature of the election Cycles in America, it's we're commonly going Cycles. We go back and forth which which is leading me back to this point, which is why did all the companies and CEOs immediately have to abandon their Dei and diversity programs. Knowing that if you just waited it, Perkins might actually want it again, in a few years. Like, well, you just now, you know, you just know the ones that did same with the environment I should say, I should say, same for their fight against the climate crisis. Like, but, you know, the ones that do abandon it, you, that just tells you something about them, right? Like that. That never believed in the first place, you should never put you. In fact, you should never believe those companies ever again, anything they say. But I want to know who are the 33% that say billionaires are creating a more fair Society. There are those. What's the last names? Their last names are teal and Ellison. Who's gonna say like, who's on that side of the fence. Well, you know, I there is that like that bullshit trickle-down theory of Economics, that was taught during the Reagan Era which is that it was worked out well with more rich people. They're just gonna like spread the joy. They just read the dollar bills. Yeah. Like they buy. Someone's got a wax, it for them. Right? Like that's a job created, that's my God? Yes, let's move on. All right, there's no winners. This still winners this week. I changed up good. That means I just participate as holiest of the week and usually I'm doing, I'm angry the whole time. Well, this time where you're going to do, which, asshole, do you blame of? I love this. I love and there. There are three stories and I'm gonna give you a series of people and you just pick who you blame. Okay, pay attention, let's go. All right, first story rivian just double. Yes, CEOs salary and gave him a 4.6 billion pay package. Almost one of my stories a week. I'm glad you covering this, go ahead. So his salary doubled from one million to 2 million, which is mean less in the overall context of CEO pay and yeah, right article has no understanding of the subject. Yeah. They made it sound like you know it was a big deal but it's not a big deal that part's not the big deal, the four point six billion. All right. So the way the payback is work, which is named again. Who's the name is Robert scarin okay? Okay. Remember this guy and notice I asked that because this is a car company. The let's be on us in I think it's primarily American know. It is all American. Yeah, it has basically. No market share. I mean, yeah. Maybe I've seen, too, so they sold for 2000. I think. Okay, 40,000. Yeah. I've seen like two and in my town, my city. But this is not an important car company. I just say it, I'll just start with that premise. Well, not currently, but not wait to hear the payback. Yeah, go ahead, go ahead. All right, so first of all, you have to understand the PayPal package a little bit. It's it's muscle one too, okay? Would hate it. Yeah, but 4.6 billion is the potential earnings here. Who do you blame? Which asshole would you choose to blame for this pay package? Your first option is obvious. Who is it? Who's your first time mosque? No, that's your fourth option. Denham, go ahead. Your first option is the chair of the comp committee. A guy named Sanford, Schwartz. Who has 2% influence on the board? Because Robert's CEO as 80% influence, and 100% of the Class B voting. Oh, so that that helps him because he can vote out the entire board. But, In the 8K, announcing the new pay package. It actually says, quote on November 6th, 2025 the compensation Committee of the board, granted an option to purchase 36.5 million shares. Oh my class A stock to Dr. Robert screen. Okay insane, remember users for contacts, back at the corporate library. We had official term for a mega Grant of stock options, which we deemed to be excessive, and we would flag it and talk about it. And that number was 500,000 options. Was considered it's not 36.5 million, never unheard and unheard of them. Would you unheard of number? Yeah, the grant value is obviously on the 5th or 6th of November so it's about 15 dollars a share. But the fun part is they also wrote the four going. Summary of terms, they list the terms in the 8K, the foregoing summary of terms of the 2025 CEO. Award does not purport to be complete. Oh They didn't give the contract, they said, refer to a 2021 plan. Oh no, for terms and stuff. But there's no contract for the Milestones that he has to hit. There's just a list of sort of vague Milestones. So now fresh discretionary targets Sanford, they're not really discretionary, there's some numbers behind them, but it's hard to tell Samford Schwartz. Who's the head of the committee? The thing to know about him is he's an executive at Cox Enterprises. You know, Cox Communications. You know, like your cable company in New England heard of it. Yeah, I know it, the one that you because they're horrible, the worst one. Well, he works there. Apparently, Cox Enterprise is invested, 350 million dollars in rivian in to 2022. Okay. At the time, Schwartz said, My Hope Is with the skills that we have and with all the things that we're learning that will be the chief wholesale remarketer for all. In someday. So like an investment, this is like part of enhancing the event. Cox's investment. My yeah, my my buddy. Like why invested in or this guy? I invested in so strong. I am now I am now chair of the comp committee and now I'm gonna pay him, he's flammable, he's flammable well. All right. Number two, Roberts gringe, so CEO. Because in addition to Leading this money losing company, that is really, that's the key, right? Money loses, they have, they don't, they don't make money. There's a shark tank. They would ridicule this man. He actually had this year, created not one, but two separate spinoff companies. Really one called Mind roll Botox where screen is also on the board and owns 10% of the company. They make robots. What is that? These guys not a joke they make robots. That's the same. It's the same thing but he also owns he's on the board of also Inc. Which does Micro Mobility. It's like, scooters, electric scooters, and electric bikes. If you want almost a five billion dollar PayPal package, what he should be only working companies only at rivian, Like only it really doesn't even make money yet. What are you doing at three separate companies and you don't make money the farm one. I'm pretty sure they even when we worked at the mothership and we we made crappy salaries. Even there you you needed some level of like supervisory acceptance or whatever. If you were to work other jobs, imagine if you want really even allowed, I couldn't get a job, join a board. Certainly, I definitely couldn't join a board but I couldn't even work in a Bagel Company. If like msci, I found out that they would have fired me for that. He did say at one point that he estimated. He spent quote about 5% and quote of his time with his wife and three kids, I was gonna say, but according to Wikipedia, they got divorced this year. Yep. They just got divorced. I can't, I can't figure out why. Well, we just five percent of your time with them, maybe then maybe, I maybe, yeah, I don't know. Just say about that. I mean, he probably did. Favor to his ex former, I'm sure, I'm sure. All right, so, Robert syringe, he does have dual class shares. He owns all the Voting Rights, so even Sanford. Schwartz on the comedy shows works by syringe. Yeah, well because grinching you could blame dual class shares themselves because that's the reason why he's the idea get paid. I mean the actual his last year's because go ahead that old enables them to yeah hire and fire everyone on the board or you can blame Elon Musk. Okay, here are the tranches of the syringe. Now, Elon Musk just got paid an extra trillion dollar PayPal package. I just played every one of hate this. I hate this to and it's like an 11 or 12 tranche plan where he had certain milestones and he gets each and they all have vest. This is exactly the same. There are, first of all, 22 million of syringes shares. 60% of the shares are 11 Tron. Meeting share price targets between forty dollars and 140 dollars per share. So 60% he gets paid if just the share price goes up. So all he has to do is make meme stock out of it, right? Like in the share price goes up, which he already has a model for that with Elon Musk. Which he has a model for now, apparently, no one cares about Robert syringe, so it's, it's a little, my care now. That yeah, now that he's entering into this, like billionaire baby category, maybe they'll pay more attention. I mean one can hope because Lord knows we need another billionaire, so that's 2 point seven, eight ish billion that he can make. Just just on share price going up. Share price go up. Okay, just on Meme. Okay. 7.3 million Shares are on three tranches of income. In 7.3 million, Shares are in three tranches of cash flow. There are no numbers for those. Sure, there's not a number, I've looked well just filing this year, they'll adjust it when they need to. So I have no idea what those, what, what? So how he actually gets paid on those. Let me ask you, this, does this. Any of this matter? Does? He control the vote? he controls the vote of the cars, he Wait, so he actually voting, he gets, he is allowed to vote on this. Payback, I only think disinterested voters can vote on the PayPal package, but it's non-binding anyway. So, and but I'm saying like he controls the voting power at this company know. Well, yes, except that like Stanford Schwartz as an executive at Cox Enterprise is an investor in Cox in rivian and owns. Well, look, I blocks, right? Like, the whole thing's a joke. I hate to Hate to simplify my who I blame here. But and I think you made a certainly, we could make a case that Elon Musk and Robyn denholm should be blamed for creating a model that is that's why horrible. although then, I guess, I guess you would blame the The investors Tesla because Elon Musk does not actually control that vote. So maybe you blame Tesla investors, but and I could make a case for Sanford Schwartz. Although he's just a version of Robyn denholm. Just trying to get rich in some way or other. I took me as clearly, Robert String just because there's no model. in history that that you build a successful company through your own personal greet. That model doesn't exist. We've built incredible companies in the East and the west and across the globe and greed was never necessarily a part of it. So, He I'm questioning his ego, his greed, his petulance, everything I'm questioning him. I mean, I don't know anytime. I'm just, I'm just wondering who blaming him, which asshole, paid him. All right, you blame him. All right. Next Here's the story. Here's the headline Verizon to cut about 15,000 jobs. Wow, that's a lot. How many do they employ? A lot, it's a lot of but that's a lot of people. So there's some obvious choices here, right about? That's approximately. 15% of their Workforce. That's significant. It's very significant. It's a massive. It's a massive layoffs. Special announced this a month before the holiday season. Oh, I'm sure they'll get a nice holiday bonus on their way out. So yeah, so at least half of Verizon right now is, is crapping themselves at a fear, at least half of them at least half. Yeah. So do you blame? Yeah, the old new CEO Dan Schulman. And I say old, yeah, because he's been on the board for seven years as lead independent director, but he's now the new CEO, so he's a PayPal guy. Yeah, he's the PayPal guy. He seems like the obvious person in the blame. Yeah, he penned his welcome memo to employees by saying, quote, the biggest competitive Advantage, we have is our team. Well, 85% of October, not that 15% of the team early, October, he said that, and then 20 days later for his first earnings call, he came up with some more inspiration for his employees, quote, to fund our investments, in growth, we must significantly cut costs. We will reduce our cost to serve streamline, our operating model and Be much more Capital efficient. I love that which I love every employee loves. Nothing is as inspiring as being Capital efficient. I love that these so called Geniuses come in and they they know the company so well already. That they, they have earmarked 15,000 human beings with souls to eliminate that. And they haven't even spent a single amount of effort, trying to decide whether they could reuse those people in the company for whatever they're building forever, whatever their growth is, they didn't spend an ounce of time or energy thinking instead of firing these people, can we relocate them in different departments? Can we use them for other things? Like no, we're we've looked at it for five days and we're gonna fire a bunch of you because that's just it. This is the confusing part because my second option of who to blame is the new old CEO Hans Vesper. Okay, is he still bored? I forget, still on the board. Yeah, he's still on the board as a special advisor, special adviser. He was in his farewell post on Instagram, because he didn't pen a letter that if he did some public on Instagram. Well, the if he wrote a letter to employees, didn't, Become public. But he did do a post on Instagram and what she very awkward. These are like an awkward dude like he was awkwardly hand gesturing and talking. He is farewell post said quote, this is this is a quote quote, I've dedicated my life. The last nine years. Almost two Verizon. Well, he's 10 years old that, that's a big part of his life. I thought I just cracked up when you I watched that like six times in a row to make sure I was like understanding it properly with the captions and like he joined in 2017. Yes, he's been there for nine years. Oh, no, Vesperia actually said in an interview that he's been keeping a daily score of his emotional state. Do you remember this? We covered this. Yeah. Do you remember that? He scores himself between very European, it's very European of them and below if he scores below a certain level he actually works alone. He says he takes no meetings if he's a one or two like he's he so he is very careful about that. I wondering if they're creepy having your ex-leader. As a human body shield for firing 15,000, people that seven minutes ago were your employees but you're still in the board. I wonder if that's a seven out of 10 for his emotional state. A two out of 10. Well, what is that? What is funding their Investments and growth? But like, Dan Schulman clearly was sitting on the board as a leading him. But director, did he say to Hans Vesper? We need to fire 15,000 people. And hands was like, No. And they were like, okay, I'll be the CEO and you be on the board after we fire them. We can swap back, like, like the whole situation is, I'm surprised. Are, you know, I'm surprised most about this is that, this is clearly a company that is struggling. So you my intuition would tell me that hands the best for created this situation that needed to fire 15th does people. I'm surprised this didn't, this wasn't a glass Cliff higher. I'm so glad we didn't hire a woman or like a South. Yeah. Oh, like I'm surprised it was another man white man, because Prudential, this this could be a difficult turnaround. I mean people are hate these type of companies, let's say that you are 100% correct and that it's a shit show their and hands Vesper. He's to blame. Why is he still on the board? Well, why do you keep so Gleeful about McMillan, leaving Walmart, and they're not even struggling. Yeah, in 2027. He'll finally leave. Like, okay, he's leaving the board in June, doc McMillan, what all I want to know is Hans Vespers, if you sucked at your job, there needed to be replaced. Why do you need to sit on the board and give advice to the guy who was on the board? Who replaced you? What advice are you gonna give him like oh Carl and you know like the mailroom. He's real good. Don't fire him. Definitely fired Linda though like she sucks like what his his golden parachute. At least the value of it back in 2021 was up to 40 million dollars. He's also getting a lot of money just to walk away, but yeah, okay. So yeah, walk over to the chair next on the best burger. Who else am I blaming it last option? Oh, well, last person, single person is chair of the human resources Committee of the board laxman narrow semen. Okay, perfect example now, and this is a coincidence, but lackmans, the glass Cliff, Southeast, Asian, Starbucks, who, and one of the reasons why these companies appoint usually women or people of color to struggling companies to see. Yo, is because they know that if the turnaround plans not working in the first like, 14 months, they could just fire them, they can just like, to get rid of them. Nobody cares about you in the first place, like, good luck to you and that's what happened with blacksmith Starbucks, they barely gave him time to figure stuff out, but he's got experience then like like getting Sidelines human versus committee. Is that there is that their version? Of the compensation committee that's their version of like that. Nami like you get human Talent really relaxed the receiving, the guy who share the board. Yeah, that guy was who was running Starbucks. When there's still like Barista problems and striking. And yeah when they could they like fighting against unions with like that choice? Yeah and then last not a single thing. But do we blame the Verizon employees who just cost too much like to just blame me. I'm sure how dare they be born in the first place shoes. Now my Instagram for the last company was going right to the CEO and which one? Well no I'm saying for the for for rivian oh was the greedy. CEO just seemed to its seemed to this one. at first I was like, you got a blunt blame Dan Schulman but I think the real answer here is Hans Vesper because not only is he lingering, but he clearly created this situation in the first place. He handed off these problems to Dan Schulman and they probably picked Angela because Dan Schulman was more than willing to fire. A bunch of people. Dan Shulman was on the board for study was a lead independent director, but I blame. I'm playing, I'm still blaming hands of Asperger. It's really hard to pick because they still haven't found the best part. All right, last one. Yeah, and you mentioned this at the top as one of the stories of the week. The activist investor push against Cracker Barrel. This is terrible. I hate. Um, the the Spells, I mean, we're not going specialist, don't turn out this podcast, we're not going to, but I could, we could spend six hours talking about how horrible the situation is. Well, let's make it easy and just, you know, somebody to blame for this situation. Number one, option CEO Julie, Fells messino. So I'm blaming the woman who took over less than two years ago to turn around and struggling company. Yeah, so, I mean, but clearly, she's the one who destroyed shareholder value by trying to reach Beyond. Swift higher over that. I just all wearing octogenarians. Like, she's the one who was like, I'm trying to appeal to a bigger audience and it killed shareholder value. Those who don't know, a glass Cliff higher essentially, is when a company hires a woman and clean up a mess to clean up a mess, but the mess is so big that she's teetering on the edge of the cliff. And Julie is about to be pushed off the cliff. It's obvious And we can, I will bet you all the Bitcoin in my backyard. That's buried in my backyard, all the big chunks, all of when I have that, the next CEO will be a man. I mean I will bet you all of it. No doubt. Do you blame the Dei specialist? So this is a man on the board is now Gilbert. Develo is Malcolm X. Still alive. Do they, did they dig them up and put them on the board? So Gilbert Davila is like he works at a does like, diversity and inclusive marketing. Oh, like that's, that's is background. It's actually like, a firm that like works with Nike and like, oh, you know, it's like, he's like a real way. So you're telling me that the In America, which is, you know, it's increasingly heading towards to being like, only, like 50% white, right? I don't know what we're at right now, but we're getting pretty close to that. You're telling me that all these non-white people, they all so buy stuff. They you should Market to them, too. I don't know. You have to ask Gilbert that, I don't know. Do they like, watch sports? Listen to music, too. Like they do all they buy clothes everything. I know they watch sports, but I don't, I don't know about music. So, this is the guy they're mad at them. They're mad at guy who's in marketing. Okay, so he clearly Dei the logo. because his specialty is Dei advisor, Brown by Dei, you mean They just modernized a logo at a company that was struggling. I mean they removed the picture of a very old overall wearing white guy who was not part of the original style of this company, it was not on the original sign, wasn't on the original sign, nobody even really knows who it is in the first place. If anybody cares, I watched the Fox News, you know a rewasd the Fox News broadcast about the Cracker Barrel logo and the woman they brought on his expert to talk about how dumb it was. That they removed the logo said I have been to Cracker Barrel and then had to admit that she actually never even knew her uncle Herschel. Was she hadn't realized he was on the sign but it was really dumb of them for people who would be triggered about the traditional nature of the sign. This is America said they have been changing their menu and it's better. Like I don't believe that this is America we are average person could name more a company logos mascot then we could like Flags of the United Nations. Okay? This is who we are in America, right? No one has ever heard of this. This is not Colonel Sanders. This is not the Nike Swoosh. Colonel, not Mickey Mouse. No one has ever heard of Uncle Herschel. It's not part of our, the Canon of our pop culture. It never has been in fact. Well, most of most of us haven't even heard of Cracker Barrel but that's why was this the like shot across the bow? To Colonel Sanders like his Colonel Sanders now worried like that? Where was that? Where where are those? Where are the anti? They should be mad at KFC, right? Because they took they took Kentucky out of their title, right? Oh, but you where were they know that? They don't think they know this. But KFC is owned by a Chinese company called Yum brands. Well, that's that's the other iron at the other thing, the other crazy irony of this whole story which makes your head spin. Is that the actress investor who constantly fights cracker, Girl is a man named Sedar. Belari who is Iranian? Yeah, well let's get to him because he's your next but one but but we all know that the Maga people in our country and the anti Dei people. They don't like people from the Middle East so well, they're doing what are we doing? Yeah, but okay, so first of all, sort our big Laurie, who's the self-styled activist who's called himself like a Warren Buffett kind of activist his major Stakes right now, include Steak and Shake Maxim magazine, and Jack in the Box. So just like Warren Buffett, just like Warren Buffett. Yeah. But like, you can forgive an Iranian who owns Maxim magazine because is there anything more American than like boobs and like guy Tech that he makes but no offense, but he makes Buffett's sound like William Faulkner. I mean, you know, maximum magazine and steak. So the reason why this is 8th. Try at Cracker Barrel. Yeah, that's right. Okay, he's been trying to get this company for for since 2011. Let's talk about that fox business because Fox Business, all over the summer, we we go after shareholder for the proponents of Cheryl proposals like they're ruining capitalism. How about going after a big Larry for eight expensive distracting campaign to how where, where's the outcry about that? That that's literally attacking capitalism in our country. Well, let me read you from Cedars letter to investors on November 6th, that included his reasoning because he's the one pushing for miseno. The CEO and Gilbert Avila, the Dei specialist quote on quote, to get voted off the board. He targeted develo, like, it's his choice to Target to Vila so this he didn't Target the chair of the board. The chair of the board is an old white guy like he didn't Target him. He Targeted. The only the brown guy and the CEO so a woman in a brown guy. Not the chair. This is what he said in his letter. Where he I read that letter. I read. This is his. This is his full reasoning. I'm not gonna edit it all his full reasoning for getting rid of guilt. I know this is true and how, I know this is true is that I actually I actually cut and pasted the same thing in my section. But I, it is mind blowing. His Rico ahead. Go ahead. This is the full reasoning. Oh reasoning, and I did a control. Find in this letter, his name always showed up three times twice, just the references name and then this sentence go ahead quote. And why does Mr develo the board, so called multi-cultural marketing expert who signed off on this debacle deserve re-election. Yeah, that was it, that was it. That was the only that was the only argument in the entire letter about getting rid of this guy. Yeah. It's basically he's trying to trigger you because he said, multi-cultural marketing. What is that? What is? Yeah, America. We don't want to Market towards non-white. What do we? What's the problem there? I don't. I don't. And and by the way, First of all, do we have proof that he signed up on this debacle? Do we see the board vote? How do we know what about the rest of the board that signed up on this to buckle? How do we know? He might have proof? But like we know, at least two groups that bought this idea and their last on the blameless here. ISS and glass Lewis, this is the proxy advisors this is like trigger alert for how terrible ISS and glass Lewis are hello. That sunk. They didn't see they suggested voting for miseno. So keep the CEO, but against Gilbert devil. I why? A racism, there's no other way. There's no other explanation. There is like this guy has been on the board. This for he's been on the board since 2020. He's been on the board less than other people. The chair wasn't targeted. They say vote for the reason why they said vote, it's okay to vote for the CEO. Is it would be too much disruption, but that means they're going to vote against the brown guy for what that, there's no evidence that he had anything to do with this necessarily. And even if there was evidence that he had something to do with it, isn't he? The guy that you would ask the specific question? How do we get other people to come to our store? That's exactly my point. Is that, this is it part of the turnaround plan here, which you need to turn around plan is to get customers to get new customers. This guy has worked at Disney. He's worked at Sears Coca-Cola. I mean, what's the problem? What's the problem? The funny part actually is not ISS and glass Lewis said vote against Him for not only here and not the CEO glass. Louis Vuitton plan. It's her turn around plan glass. Lewis also suggested another vote against that. That big Larry did not ask for, but Glasgow is suggested that you vote against the chair of the nominating committee, not the chair of the board, the chair of the nominating committee. Also another woman her name is Jody bilney. And not one of the longest on your director. Do you know how she got on the board? She was put there by Sardar biglari in 2022. That is not a joke. That is real. This is like, Lewis, like glass Lewis said vote against her. So literally there's no consistency. We're just voting against the brown guy and the woman for what, for no reason, no reason why anyone. And for for controversy that was driven by bots on the internet. Why would you? They already did a study. Why would you use glass Lewis or ISS? Why would you, why would you go to them? Why would you contract with them? Your, your board? Actually? Was. Messina, and the board and I can't believe I'm gonna say the Cracker Barrel is pointless. They are your solution before about business, finally, like I don't care if they go out of business but they were your solution that Rebrand from like getting the picture. The guy and just making it, say Cracker Barrel and then changing the menu slowly was maybe. Maybe the only way you were gonna sell each Cracker Barrel for a country that you even the people believe. Yeah. And Cracker Barrel and meatloaf and canned beans. Even they don't eat there, they for 10 years, this this company has been dropping. Yes, like a stone and the only, the only people are still around life to said, let's change a thing. The only people who are still eating out or like anywhere, young people who are in debt, who are charging, who going to restaurants and charging. So, you want to appeal to young people, they're not gonna go to a place with a barrel and a weird guy like, and if you look at the pictures of the food, just okay, but even beside that point I I'm not good if glass Lewis and I assess Had said you know what this turnaround plan sucks? We're gonna blame the CEO. We're gonna blame anyone that we're targeted for. We think that my people part of this plan, this this, you know, like we don't, we actually think that they should Market only to white people in the South and this guy represent, whatever, whatever clock. I mean, me idea they come up with, but to single him out, but not the seat, I'm just confused and lost like, this is just a nightmare only explanation I have and this is pure tin, you know, 10 foil hat. Conspiracy theory is that the the activist biglari? Toxic glass Lewis and ISS and this that is like the compromise, right? The guy who's been trying. This is an eighth time that this is the guy that listening to that loud mouth. That's the only. That's the only explanation I can have for because there is no reason why you look at that guy. I didn't say it was. I didn't say it was like a good reason. It's in defensible to me, but like that's the only reason I can do stupid. See them doing it. So those are options. You blame the CEO. Do you blame the Dei specialist? Do you blame the activist Sardar, biglari or ISS and glass Lewis? I definitely I got to go to. I'm going right to Isis and glass Lewis for forever. Really this? I just think it That. We need them to speak out against this nonsense. We needed to have some like objective criteria to help figure this stuff out. But, but I think the glass glass was trolled biglari by saying all so vote against the woman he put on the board in 2022 but all this is based on Hyperbolic. Reporting around a few internet, trolls, who talked about a sign change and nobody cared. It's just that some of the mainstream press started to pick up. The fact that in social media people were complaining and this whole thing is erupted into this. I s s in class Lewis would go along with this. It's just it just makes the whole system just seem fake to me and unreal. I can you, you shouldn't be in the business of recommending because this is just I just find this to be what I just really has a show if you listen to the show and you're like an expert in marketing and or like logo like design or whatever. How many logo rebrands have happened in the last 20 years alone but also don't 10,000 like and and I will add this a lot, right? This is not like a an app. This is not like a company that you interact with their logo. Like people don't go to restaurants for their logo. Is they go by the quality of the service and food? That's basically it, right? I mean there's no price maybe the other thing I yeah that's right quality. No one's looking at the sign on their way in and like making a some kind of a determination based on the side. The whole thing is just so stupid. I this is why I'm just angry Isis in glass Lewis for weighing in this way. They just they're they're making this seem like it's okay. And to me none of it's okay. No. And again this all began with reporting on internet, trolls. This is all this all started with a couple of people in social media complaining about a sign. Nobody cares McCarthy. Yeah. Well I think anyway, probably wrong. Anyway, it probably was the activist who's done this eight times. Oh no. But but he's just the EI special. That's the political theater of our time. I I that's just the nonsense, the world that we live in. I I, oh yeah. Is there blaming the pretend adults? Yes, I am. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. All right, let's go let's get out of here, headlines, winners predictions. What do we think about doing? Blames and said, assholes. I like it. I like it, but it's alright. Me up a bit, too much. You got a headline of the week that that Cracker Barrel story is just it really gets me going. I it's just such a farce because it really it's a joke. It's a joke. All right. A book about real, this stupid world of anti political theater. We live in a corporations. That's your case Cracker Barrel. It's a what a disaster. My headline is the week. Okay, here, I'm done. He write he won the, he won the mayorship in New York City. A couple weeks ago every day. Every freaking CEO, every rich person in New York. They donated all their money that could have gone right to women shelters to food pantries. To all the many needy resources in New York City, they threatened to leave. They said the whole cities in a collapse. Everything is in a in here. We're already at this headline. And this is from CNBC this is not from like the new Republic or something. CNBC, we're already here. The headline is no one leaving New York City because of mum Donnie. Say, two top real estate CEOs. It was all it was all bulshit. Of course, it was all just scared, I know, bit like they got, first of all, you gotta wait for him to even be inaugurated before you start leaving, right? Like now everybody just but this sits back scared tactics these the way we we foment like Auntie d e. I sense is just it's crazy to me. It's it's nonsense. How we operate? It's crazy. I saw this one and it's better headline than yours. Oh, yours is ridiculous. The headlines not great. Actually, but the context is the headline is why palantir? CEO Alex, karp exhumed the whole yard of his childhood home. Yeah I had read that he was basically bragging that this is one of the fun things of being so rich before you get the story. Why is there so many Alex karp stories these days? Why? Because there's a book out. So all these quotes are coming there by the publisher. Okay. So the reason why he zoomed is because of Rosebud. Oh sorry Rosie to his childhood dog. You see what I did there. See, the rosebud, you know that you saw and this is not a joke, the dog is in carp. See what I did. Yeah. Oh, that's even better than mine. That's the worst pun. The dog is named Rosita and he wanted to read bury it in his New Hampshire home and University Professor that owned carps childhood home balked initially at the idea, stupid then ultimately agreed. And the terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but carp subsequently made a donation to the university where they taught. Yeah, notice the University of professor's. They, they did it because they beg a billionaire because they donated to the university, but if it was a CEO, they would have, they would have needed like multiple tranches to be to earn trillion dollars of personal wealth. That's the only way that you can make CEOs happy, but the professors were willing to donate it right to the university. See this. Here's what here's a carpet to say, Rosita played a tremendous role in our life. It was more like, she's very, very High IQ. It was honestly more like a human than a dog but the dog did not. He didn't say this but the dog did not graduate from an elite University so he was cool like his entire board. I mean yes he's cool with that. I hate that. I hate it. Who's the winner of the week? I don't know why this show is so exhausting. Uh, my winners very clear that is a man named Jason Turner. He is a Walmart management associate who made about 170,000 dollars last year. Why him? Why Jason turner? He's The brother-in-law of the new Walmart, CEO, John Furrier. I mean Jason's life is about to get Kush. Oh, wait a minute. Turner furner. Is that? Oh, fun? It's another fun angle, but come on. He's gotta be the, you know that he's, I mean, you know how many days he's gonna take off, you're gonna golf matches. He's gonna go to. And if you assume John furner new CEO sister, I don't know her name. Let's say Jane furner Jane, Mary Turner. Jason Turner also works at Walmart so is she now like Jean Turner? So like her name basically didn't change unless she hide it. Yeah, I chose this winter. I have two winners. One is Shoppers at Costco. Because Target just rolled out this new thing, Target launches 10-4, training encouraging workers to smile at customers. The problem, the target was their sales suck and everything. Everyone knowing goes to go there anymore because of the smiling. I guess. What is a 10-4 refer to So if employees are 10 feet away from a shopper, they should smile make eye contact and wave. Oh God. The wave is just putting it over the top if they are within four feet of the Shopper and please, no one get within 450. No one needs to be within four feet of me. If they're within four feet. They should personally greet the guests smile and initiate a warm and helpful interaction. What do you mean personally greet like, hi, my name is Doug. What can can you think of a Time? Think about how close four feet is. You reach your hand out. That's four feet, I was okay with it. Now I'm kind of out on that whole game. Can you think of a time where if somebody was four feet or less from you that they wouldn't say hey like like does it happen often when you're in a store? And you're less than four feet and you don't have to, like, acknowledge their presence. I know, is this having made the switch from all? I know is this. I made this switch officially from Target to Costco. It's the one, it's my one big. Massive Box Store guilty, you know, it's not a pleasure but it's my, it's where I go for big things, like stupid things like dishwashing soap and all that. And we did reporting earlier this year. You know that Costco is supporting Dei and all that and then, and that the average wage is going to be up to 30 dollars an hour. I'll tell you this. That might be the answer because the worries an hour. Yeah, workers at Costco are incredibly helpful. They're incredibly friendly. They actually seem to want to work there. And my experience at Target is the opposite and I, and I'm guessing it's not because there was not a 10-4 rule this because they're underpaid, and they're in their miserable, that's good point. And this is a, this is the new CEO Fidel's write, the new old CEO who's been at the new old 30 years. Been there for a while. This is his initiative. Oh congratulations. They're not this for for months online. But second winner is us because the Trump Administration is currently investigating getting rid of shareholder proposals and sure, holder voting there. Well, we predicted that unfortunately, we predicted that but but that means we're gonna be the one data provider good to offer. Anything anymore. They're gonna get rid of the proxy advisors, right? Any predictions. my prediction is the ISS and glass Lewis announced a, we give up 2026 voting policy, where any director Who could be blamed for something? Because they have black or brown skin gets an automatic vote against recommendation. Wow. We give up as a great like who subscribes to that one? Do you think? Yeah, but as long as they could be blamed, they don't have even it's not even have to be their fault but they could be blamed by some good by saying. Yeah. All right, I got this. This is the headline. I read does a window seat on a plane. Need a window, you know? Airlines says not. Oh so there are you doing that? You the window seat does not literally mean a window because they're under a lawsuit. So my prediction Denon, you know, the company Noonan. Claims, its Silk, almond milk. Does not contain almonds. More and they pull the warning label off and they put out a press release. Saying that almond milk does not literally mean almonds, it means more like almond like milk colored drink. Okay? You lost me on that one. So you're saying is that almond milk doesn't eat almonds and windows seeds. Don't need Windows that you're just saying. Nothing needs to be what anybody says it is anymore, but I understand that prediction is just what do we need? You say, windows? But it's not a window seat, you got to sue them that whatever. It's like, nothing means what it means. Yes, sure. I'm with you, I'm with you move on. Just as long as I don't care. Just, give me the money. That's all we got. That says on rollers, Damien rollers to his friends. I'm gonna be our free float come back next week, we got a practice countdown next week, there's one more Cheryl Primacy before the Thanksgiving week in the US. Just gonna disrupt everything for us. But until then good.