Transcript
Oh, come on. There it is. Time to wake up live. Live from The Meta Meta. I don't like that. Super suck. Or is it super suck? It's a business pants Friday show here at August 1st Studios, featuring analyst home at moscati. On today's weekly wrap-up Zuck trees. Meta 2.0. Yay. More women in the Bro, world, the brothel sphere, the manosphere, the man's spirit. And Matt rants about his alma mater. And here's my joke that everyone's already probably said by now, white University. Matt went to White University, get it. No with Les Brown people Now, featuring less. It's not even a joke. I'm only bringing this up because you, you mentioned, Brown wicker. To last week, our show today is being sponsored by free. Float, analytics.com. The only platform measuring board power connections and performance for free. Although here are three things that doesn't do, it doesn't tell me what it doesn't give me coffee because I'm kind of falling asleep. It doesn't give me water cause I feel the hydrated and doesn't serve as any kind of a urinal because I have to go to the bathroom. So, those three things that fails miserably. I it's true and I have written a complaint to them about, not addressing that. You ready, you ready for some action? I don't know. This banter, that's good. Let's let's move on the stupid banter and these stupid urinal jokes. They're terrible. Oh no no no, no, no, no, no. What is this music? What is actually called music IPS me up every time I don't cares. I don't. This is a weird week for stories to tell you that I guess, though we are at the we're, we're almost entering the dog days of summer, so maybe no one's doing anything interesting. But I'm gonna start off with the story that I foreshadowed in the opening. Mark Zuckerberg just shared his vision for personal. Super intelligence, personal superintelligence? Oh, not someone else's, super yours. No, it's going with Mark, but here's the quote, I like the most, but perhaps even more important is that super intelligent. I love that. This guy has such an ego that he, he's creating a super intelligent intelligence is not enough for him. Yeah, just boring. Almost like, he was reading comic books and he just, he decided to come up with a new business Endeavor. Perhaps, even more important is it super intelligence has the potential to begin a new era of personal empowerment where people will have greater agency to improve the world in the directions. They choose. Mark, why don't you? What are you waiting for? I mean there were like other articles this week about the hundreds of Acres. He owns on Hawaii with bunkers and tunnels and when is he gonna start using his billions of dollars to improve the world? What are we doing that? Yeah, also quick question, is it improving the world when his solution to the fact that people no longer have friends because of his other? Pieces of his business was to make AI friends for them, super intelligent. Personal AI friends. Here are two other healing two other headlines about this that I enjoyed to help. Describe the story, Mark. Zuckerberg is pouring billions of dollars and to AI super intelligence. So why does his Instagram pitch? Feel so underwhelming. And then Mark Zuckerberg looks like he's been taking hosted hostage, as he explains planned for deploying AI. Super intelligence. What look it's like his pitch is not super intelligent. He's not, it doesn't. Super. Intelligence does not mean Super communication nor does it mean? Super sartorial choices. So this is this is much more specific than that. Are they going to Rebrand meta now? Because meta seems so old-fashioned. Like, that's so 2022. Like what are they call? It just like super smart like a smart because only does is Pivot to whatever the thing everyone else is doing is Double brain power smart. I know there was a period where everyone thought Mark Zuckerberg was like Steve Jobs, Ian Wright like that. Sure Do we still do? We think that at all anymore? Well, just seemed like I mean schooler like chasing the one thing memes of the one that good, the one that you have to give credit for is he doesn't he control like three of three at the top five biggest social media sites in the world with user's wise, like Facebook. Instagram and WhatsApp. I mean, that he's good at that two of which she bought and the okay, that he stole from the butt, Winklevoss twins. Still is the worst one in 2025. Maybe that's Steve Jobs in. He just controls social media. I don't know, I don't know what to think. I actually, I'm not sure we love to look at like, these billionaire Tech Bros and say, like, he's that good, I'm not sure he's that good. Well, who is good as me? He had a new idea, I'm the good one because I did call this. I one of my predictions this year, this is the year of Zuck, so maybe he's gonna finally land on something. Maybe met a 2.0, is the winner. I don't like this. Her next big story. This is like a good nerdy governed story for us, Wells, Fargo board. To a point CEO. Charles Scharf as chair and Grant him. A 30 million dollar award. Yeah, I'm glad you brought this up because what is this? First of all? That's all hogwash. I mean, it's not the board. I mean, clearly he made this decision somehow, I don't know. He just told them what to do. I mean, right? I mean, they're just listening to him. Okay. Can we get into this special CEO Equity award? I don't understand this one. I look very closely at the AK file in with that they filed to sec. Says it's getting a one-time Equity work. Consisting of restricted. Share rights with a grant date value of approximately 30 million dollars. Right? And then it says, and 1.046 million stock options. So how do you read this? Is he getting a 30 million dollar? Stock award and options that and is very confusing because I am, I looking at the age. Yeah. And I couldn't find the value of that stock where I did find it an exhibit though, that there already is next exercise prices to established for those options of 82 dollars. I just so he's really getting way more than 30 million dollars, right? Well, the restricted share rights. Is that the right to buy 1.046 million stock? It says and though I don't really know, this is what's confusing to me. What what was the price you found 82 dollars? And sixty-five cents. Yeah, so so simple math would suggest that the grant date fair value of the options is 82 million, right? Like roughly, which means the grant date value of 30 million. Can't be the same thing. He's not getting only 30 million. I don't believe that. I mean, you know, Starbucks dude, Brian Nichols getting. He gets like a 100 million. I, I just everyone's getting these, massive retention Awards, 30 million seems small. And just to just to be clear, he already made 30 million dollars last year including 20 million dollars in equity. So I I don't, I don't know, I don't know why. He just to be the stock is trading at 78 dollars right now. Right? Like, so you're not talking about the stock has to go up by less than 10% for. Him. Further those options to be worth something. He gets options and to 30 million dollar Award of some kind that like so the math. I don't know. That's that's quite an end. That's here's best. Here's another and I've seen in a while he's another and what you really don't see very often The board also approved an amendment to the company's bylaws. This is even without shareholder input. The Amendments remove the requirement that the chair of the board, be an independent director. They they had it in codified that the chair had to be independent and they're just like screw it. They're all going to add a lead independent director but they're not even telling us who that is, which I don't get because they already have it independent chair named Steve black They're not automatically calling him, the lead director. So I don't really know what's going on there. And the other thing I learned about Steve black, was that he was appointed to the Bank of New York Mellon board wins. Charles Sharp was the CEO and chair of the bank and of New York and melon. So That's a that's a bromance right there. I don't I don't know. I don't really know what's going on. I don't know what they're like. They're you know, when you play checkers And you get to the back row and then you get like the, you're like King to get like a double Checker. Yeah. I think they just made Charles a double Checker. Is that what? They're just now, you can double check. Or now, we can jump over all the Wells Fargo customers and employees in any direction he wants, he can just kill you anywhere. He wants to now he's he's Rich, he's more powerful. It's stupid to me. I mean, so when the investor vote comes in because none of this is subject to an investor vote, which is crazy. I don't use this not subject to you. How do you amend the bylaws? Just because you're bored. I don't really get that. I get, I get when you amend the bylaws to like, you know, do something like, you know, increase the coffee. A lot meant during an annual meeting or or like, you know, I mean and extra everything bagel because, you know, extra, yeah. Double like a double, every Super intelligence Bagel. Yeah. Stephen black, really like everything. Seasoning right. The dude. Yeah, go ahead. I don't understand how you can literally strip. Independence off the board as a Amendment to the bylaws. Yeah. Like they just the board itself sits down and says, let's give this guy who are all connected to because it's one of them, there's a super connected board, the most people sit on like three or four other boards and they all know, Charlie sharp through those other boards, or trade, associations, all different ways, it's all in the data, but they sit down together in a room and they're like, you know, what would be a good idea if we gave the guy, we all know, more money and US less power, we should do that. And let's be clear, I want to be clear these first, two stories are connected in the tech World, they do things like super intelligence and and, you know, they already the company and shares and voting power and then like in the banking World they just get they get just sudden grants of more money and they get more power. Like all what's happening is the same Oh is that CEOs are just increasing their wealth and power because there are no checks anymore, there's no right there. There's no checks and balance to their power. It's just it's just sort of out of control, you know? The the proxy statement that that's the time of the year where you make change. You make changes to the board where you maybe ask shareholders. If the chair to see, you can be the chair that's when you decide to Grant him an additional 30 million dollars in equity and you asked the, the shareholders if that's okay they're just doing this after the shareholder meetings whenever they want. This is this reminds me of all the companies that are adding directors right after the meeting they're just whatever. I mean Zuck can be super smart. Why can't I be super rich and super powerful? Was it not working before 30 million dollars a year? It seems pretty good, the board. Like the way the book, like so you made a dramatic change to the dynamic in the boardroom, which is to install the CEO who already has information asymmetry given what they know about the company, of course, he's already in the board. That's true. That's not forget. He was already on the board. Yeah. And what you did was make him the head of controls the agenda. Yeah, he now is the head of himself. The board, is his balls, right? Yeah. Was it not working? The stock was up 220% in the last five years. Well, maybe it wasn't working because he wasn't working, he didn't get an extra 30 million dollars and a million of stock options. So he wasn't working for him. Yes, he did get, if you're an investor, what is the reasoning behind this? Like, I don't know. This was working totally fine for you. Oh, no, and all this. It's been, but there's nothing to vote. No one voted, okay, but No one, everybody will be allowed to vote on the directors next year and the pay. I mean, this is again, it all reminds me of what Trump is doing, is just like unfettered executive control. It's just like executive branch gone, crazy everywhere, but the point zero zero one percenters are just running a muck. All right, can I move on? Yeah, please. I hate I don't care. What else? You have to say about that. The third story, you know, a weird story but I'm going to cover it because it involves some of the companies that we cover. The headline is Wall Street returns to work after Manhattan shooting that killed Blackstone executive. Now, here's why I was drawn to the story, it's a strange story because on Reddit there are already and I'm not saying that Reddit knows what's going on. Reddit is just social media but they're spinning. This is that the guy was really coming up after the Blackstone executive her name was is Wesley lepatner. They're saying this is another story that's kind of like the United Healthcare story, but I'm not seeing any evidence of that. The story that we were told is that, this is a former football player who is angry at the NFL who also had offices in that building because he had experienced the brain injury called CTE and he had gone crazy. Now, the thing that immediately was remarkable to me about this story is that how does the NFL get away with all the CTE crap? I just don't really get it anymore. Like they have brushed this under the rug in such a, I mean, I can't tell you how many times I I see headlines of, like, former great NFL athletes like dying when they're 47. And I mean, there's a significant issue going on here with the CTE stuff and I know that this one event does not necessarily. You know, it's not something a breaking point, it's not all the, all the research on the issue, not everyone becomes a homicidal killer but But I don't know. I just don't know how the NFL continues to support this. This big CTE story. I don't know the documentaries and everything else. I stopped watching the NFL for a long time. Yeah, because Tom, Brady, retired, the Patriots suck. That's why, you know, no, I stop the CTE thing is a real thing. Like it's like scary hard to watch scary, grown men, play a children's game in which they give themselves. Like brain damage. Like, I don't understand that conceptually it's, I guess, I guess it's a voluntary sacrifice. They're making their bodies because that they don't know. They do know about it. Now, they know now, people know, and now it's discussed, and there's a part of me that's like right now, like the civil rights of people in this country are fundamentally being stripped, we are bowing to dictators. We are like, I guess the last thing on my mind is, whether or not men, playing a boy's game, we're fully informed about the brain damage. They're going to get by hitting each other over and over and over again. It seems like, okay you guys want to do that fine, you're gonna make millions of dollars off of it. The League's gonna make billions, you're gonna be like a new version of, you know, like billionaires, basically horse trading you, you know, white billionaires mostly Trading black men, right? Like it's we want to do that still. So there's a lot of stuff going on. I don't know how to feel about, what would have happened to this story. Okay, so where this is like United Healthcare is not only that it happened in Manhattan, but he was targeting the NFL, which is a business. How would this story? How would we be telling the story today if he actually had had a segun, like, Roger Goodell or someone as high up as happened at United Healthcare right then? There'd be an incredible amount of attention on CTE, but because he missed his targets and he only got, you know, some security people in a Blackstone executive. No one seems to really care. Isn't he just strange shooting? Whoever was in the way, right? Yeah, I don't Advocate violence here. But anyway, that's the big story all though. The other other thing that I was gonna talk about. I didn't really know how to talk about that. They and there's also report that the NFL itself is gonna acquire, they're buying 10% of ownership into ESPN, which struck me as odd 2, Uh, when we're talking about executive power here, wait, what when the league now is starting to control it? First of all, it has its own media nfl.com. Is that what it's called? And now it's acquiring a stake in esbn. It's becoming more and more like the WWF, it just weird. I don't know, controlling your own media. I don't know if that's just a strange feeling to me, I don't know. The real question is, what what is ESPN? ESPN. Well, like art, journalism part, entertainment entertainment and now part maybe bedding. I mean, ESPN. Its biggest owner is the, and this is the reason why I bring this up, why it's relevant to us. People are wondering. Disney owns, 80% of ESPN. So so when we talk about the Disney board, normally we're talking about Parks movies, but ESPN is a big part of that, so it's worth. It's worth discussing that. I just find it, I just find it interesting that NFL, controlling its own media, source is just fascinating to me, but anyway, that's whatever. I know. You don't want to talk about this. I don't really. Okay, let's move on the fourth story of the week. Just a tweak. Matt, is this woke. Here's the headline. Woke is officially dead at Brown. Trump says, after Ivy League school, settles with federal government. I'm gonna come back to this officially dead. That's good. Right. But that's cool. I actually did. I'm just I hate it. Terrible thing terrible. All right so my options here, they're not great options. No they're not but personal superintendent Ducks super intelligence, Well, Fargo, go super intelligence, CEO sharp. I like that. They appoint Theo Sharpe as chairman and Grant him the award. They don't mention that he was on the board already. Yeah. They never voted him. Yeah. On the board to the best boards like like everybody wasn't already looking to him for every question raising that board when they're all the first person they were looking at always was Charles Scharf, right? I mean they also appear to have by the by the Amendments like they removed the need for a lead independent director. Basically like the they no longer have to have one so that's that's a nice change. And then while Street the shootings in in Manhattan Blackstone NFL and finally Brown University, which will come back to its Wells Fargo, it's Wells Fargo all day long, undefeated executive power. It is basically like another week, another executive gets a massive retail, but he notices for no like, clear new, No performance hurdles, no performance, hurdles, no nothing. And in this case, Zero Reason, Not only did they just pay the man? They actually said, you can also Be Your Own Boss. Oh, and by the way, we're gonna remove all restrictions encounter, you know, to your boss know, Elite independent directors, know, you know, like what are we doing? Well, this is where I like the data free flow analytics.com. Because not only does it right. Fully call, Charles Sharp, the most powerful member of the boy with 20% influence. It also has determined that the chair. Stephen black is actually the fourth. Most powerful force fourth most influential which which is showing you that no one was paying attention to the chair in the first place. But the second highest influence, is the chair of the compensation committee runs surgeon which I kind of like that. I don't know. I kind of like that, that overlap there because it makes sense. Yeah, right. He's taking care of Charles. That's his job to take care of Charles. All right. Okay. I didn't I don't like any of those stories goodly. These are kind of. they're Two sort of old-fashioned goodly a stories here. They're not bad. Yeah, they're not, they're good. They're good lists. Kind of I don't know if mine is sort of but it was a struggle to find more than two like you know like it's really hard. I challenge you listeners, go out and find a headline where you just read the headline. You're like that makes me feel good. Like, try it. Yeah, you do your women now. Occupy almost a fifth of top Venture rolls the share of women. This is a important role in above has that's doubled since 2018. To 19%. Now. Look, I I know you know what I'm going to say. I mean a victory is a victory I guess. But it's like of all places that whole venture capitalist world. I don't know, it's probably has not gotten less, bro. He's a result. But just the whole idea of like, the one that's making me upset recently, is, is companies like openai where they're not making any money, right? And they're losing money. And yet the VC world is just propping them up for what, just just to enrich themselves, because the The Verge is not out whether it's going to destroy Humanity. Now, all the CEOs of AI companies are worried that AI might destroy the universe, but still, we're pumping the VC world is just pumping billions of dollars into these guys, but that's just one example. I don't think what scares me but at least it's not gonna stop because they're now 19. percent women, and I know that, but You know, we talk a lot about data here. We talk about women in leadership and hey, it's something kind of good. I mean, it's it's an improvement. Maybe if it keeps okay, let me do the math here. Let me do the simplest math. If we keep doubling, Then we'll be up to 76% of the VC world would be controlled, will be controlled by women, and only what? And only 14 years I think that maths gonna hold up. I guarantee that's again, that's a guarantee. Yeah, yeah. All right. What do you got? All right. Mine is very old school. The headline was shame on them Standard Chartered, CEO decries banks. That drop climate pledges. Wow, this is the first. This is like the first. Is it the first one? This is the first. I have not heard you. I, I picked this, because I first of all, back in the day at the mothership and I'm talking 15 years ago at this point when Standard Chartered was one of the companies that I had to analyze, it was always a top rated company at for msci, ESG ratings to the extent that those anyone cares about those, or looks at them anymore, but it was a top rated company largely because of its climate initiatives, the CEO and question here is Bill Winters. They don't name him in the headline obviously, but they do named him in the article and he criticized banks that had jumped on the Climate bandwagon when it was cool. Yeah. And he said quote fashionable and then rolled it back and he just said shame on them. How do you rename individual named rule? That one back I understand rolling back things like like maybe like fizz like fizzy drinks or or putting raspberries on everything. How do you roll back? That the fighting the climate crisis. How does why does one jump that bandwagon? I don't know. Not only how you roll that back. Just in case one, you just stay on that bandwagon. Just in case, I don't know why you roll that back. There's a lot of money made in it as Texas knows. Well, I'm gonna get to that during my asshole. Holy ass, right? But like the old thing is bananas, it's just what, it's nice, that there's one CEO somewhere. Who's saying, hey shippers, you don't have like shame on you, you made a commitment. In fact, one of the things that we found when we did research project for one of our clients last fall was that at the time, this is pre Trump Administration, taking office which feels like 100 years ago. Now, we were looking at boards that flipped on Dei, they made Dei commitments and they flipped on them. We found. Those other words where the flip on. Yeah, we found those boards were four times as likely to flip on carbon targets and they were twice as likely to restate financials, same boards. The point here is when you make a commitment whether it's voluntary or not, if you're willing to flip on it and just say, well, whatever rolling that one back because no one, there's no accountability for it. Anyway, we don't really care that tells you something about the character that investor? I'd be scared. Yeah, I'd be horrified and this guy is calling them out. Saying like you made effectively you made a commitment shame on you. Otherwise speaking of that there is a director on the board of Wells Fargo named Richard shitbird you know that He's new. He's a new addition. I did not see that in any 8K. All right, so good for Bill Winters. So I like that. I like that. What? Like winners a win. Yeah, that I think that's the correct win. I mean, I, yeah, I like, you know, again, I promote women leadership, any chance, I can to everyone. Everyone's sick of me saying it but I do like a CEO saying anything these days. Everyone I like everyone progress but we're still talking about 19%, right? So I'm I'm excited for it to get to 50 where belongs? Yeah. Um all right let's do ask. Holy well 51. That's where 51 also. Here we go. To me. It's gonna happen. My first asshole is Brown University. I said, go ahead. Last week? Yeah, go ahead. If Brown University, I don't remember exactly the words. I said, if they kissed the ring, if they kissed the ring, you're not gonna hang out, you're not gonna not donating any more I'm out. Do not kiss the ring and what did they do? They Kiss the Ring. Yeah, they paid 50 million dollars to settle with the Trump Administration. Now that money doesn't go to the Trump Administration that actually goes to more symbolic. If anything it's it's like a they're paying for Rhode Island Housing Development or something? Yeah. But they should already be doing. But yeah, go ahead. We are talking about pure extortion. So the Trump Administration was was investigating them for anti-Semitism and you know, like you know not protecting students and they were investigating them using like three different departments. Highly ironic considering probably the safest place for Jews, in in the world. Is that an American University? The special on the East Coast? That's, that's probably the safest place for Jewish person to be a Brown University. When I was there, they were, like, 45, like Jewish centers and like, there's they've been focused on that sort of thing. For me, things that I know the two things that Trump takes the most, which is the media in the University's. Those are the places. Word Jewish people have thrived for 100 years in this country. Yeah, I'm not going to pretend that like, you know, Jewish people, there's not anti-Semitism on college campus anti-Semitism at 7-Eleven there's and yeah, semitism. Like, on the moon, it's under a rock, it's everywhere. But here is my big problem with it. Number one that Trump gets to go on Truth. Social and say woke is dead at Brown University with that means but yeah. Okay. First of all, it's fucking lie and it's stupid to find woke. What are we defining? Woke us again. But second of all like, brown do you do you honestly think? Because you settled this they're done with you. Like they you did it to restore Federal funding they got a half a billion dollars. Yeah I was about a half a billion dollars in federal funding but they raise that and taking a little bit from their endowment to cover that. Do you think you're getting that money for real? Do you think that they're not going to come back? And say something else because you you kissed the ring this time, you just proven that because you were willing to make a bargain that you are willing to fold and this is what really got me, here's a quote from the article and I believe this article is the AP article Brown will adopt the government's definition of male and female for example, and must remove any consideration of race from the admissions process. So what they actually agreed to was to for Title Nine compliance now, because Trump controls title line for women and men to play sports. You have to only play in the sport of your gender at Birth. Not so effectively Brown has agreed to discriminate against trans people in sports at a place where Sports is not even important. Not only a sports, not super important, it is D1 but not only is it we're talking about games here people but but You're talking about Brown where like queer identity is almost baked in to Brown. Well that was there. Yeah, I mean that's one of the problems that this world has with all the universities and colleges. Yeah. Queer identity thrives at all these places. This is what Carolyn Leavitt had to say. Trump's press secretary Brown will no longer perform gender reassignment surgeries on minors or prescribed them puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones. Levitating calling it chemical, castration of children that brown agree with that statement. They agreed to that. This is the problem. Yeah, you bent you. You apparently, they actually made a change to their medical practice, like, they don't Brown doesn't do gender realize I'm not, but not as a medical school and there are affiliated with like, like the hospitals and medical institutions, but it's unclear whether or not they they basically agreed to never deal with trans kids, or maybe this is just political theater, right? It's just, but you have given them. The talking point know what they're out there saying, we fucked up Brown University. The most liberal College in this country. We can fuck them all. I don't get why you can't just Sue back. And and just pray that in 2028. A more favorable president comes along. Why can't you hold this up in court? I, I don't know why you don't, I get, I get that there's like, students and staff who are depending on that research. I get that. Like, you're like as an institution, you're trying to balance, like what if it's important this wouldn't they have to release those funds until it's decided I was not work that way. It's what happening everywhere else but Brown would have to fight it and the cost of fighting is going to be more than that settlement was, right? I get that they're making an economic decision but you have to stop the university. I don't get at, you have to stop thinking of this economic decision. You have to start thinking about it as fighting back against an autocrat and a dictator who's trying to tell you and use you and stomp on you. Yeah, I get it. I get it at meta platforms and Starbucks. I don't get it at a university to make that decisions anywhere. Yeah, this is your your right. All right, as a university, what are you fucking doing? And it's not just the university, it's the way all management thinking is happening right now, which is just settle. Now, pay off its CBS Paramount, it's doing the same thing, just pay it off and you make the merger and we'll go do our thing. It's like everyone is paying. Yeah. In fact, Trump's like Presidential Library is effectively a giant extortion ring, where he's now got he's own Air Force One, he's got hundreds of millions of dollars for a guy who doesn't read what's in the library. He just like, this is the, you are paying a dictator, you are paying a tyrant. And what you've taught, everyone else is that, if they act the same way, they can extort you. Also, that's what makes me know. What makes me doubly said, is brown. Brown University knows full well, it's faculty at all its history of research knows full well. Why we consider race in admissions in America, the United States of America. Why it's so important? Of course. Yeah. So it's like they have all the all of the research, all the knowledge of our history to understand why it's important. We're talking about race. We are, we're talking about black people, let's be honest. This is the United States of America, they know full well why, so to to just look the other way on that issue. I mean, let's, you know, the, the whole definition of male and female has become something that we've talked about in the last 10 years. And, and I think it's important too, I think it's important. But this, the other thing, the race in admissions, I mean, that is just, that is just so depressing to me to turn your back on that stuff, just so depressing. Forget what the Supreme Court decides on that. Just forget it. I mean, they're captured too, but but all right. Come on here is where Like before I move on? Yeah, no. Leave you with this last tidbit of knowledge. Sure. Why it matters. Do you want to know who the chancellor of Brown's? Trustees are yes. Brian Moynihan the CEO of Bank of America. Yes, okay. This is where our world's overlap. Yeah. That's not a good overall. I don't like these universities. The trustees of the universities, inevitably our CEOs of major corporations. That's not good. The thinking that they have is not thinking about the academic outcomes, or the faculty, and the faculty. They're not researchers. That's all, they don't care. That's all about the money and their experience. Get the fuck out with that, right? Like, this should be an independent thinking or an organization, Brian Moynihan. You shouldn't be sitting with Christina packs in the president of brown and making deals with the Trump administration because it's expedient. It's also, I mean, I should take this a step further, so I don't even just the faculty, the students. It's also like a few to all the staff or brown who all the people from the Providence area. It's a, it's a turning their backs on them too. I mean, They didn't sign up for this for them to need a trump the, the brown Dairy Daily Herald, which is like the student newspaper is like full of students being. Like we're glad that this is over. This will strengthen Brown, we maintained our academic freedom and it's like, you guys don't see the forest for the trees. That's always, you know? The the student newspaper, every call. The one that's like, okay, by the University's, always the one that sucks. They're always there is the anger, right? Just do me, do me a favor re-enroll and brown and go. And, like, yell at somebody just wears anger, just get fucking know. You, I want you to go back to Brown as a student and then, like, I I don't talk about that one, he would love that. Come on. All right, number two Barkley's, okay, on the back of Standard Charter, build winter saying, shame on you. Here are two back-to-back headlines. Get literally yesterday and this morning yesterday Barkley's reports, 5, 0, 0, Sustainable Finance revenues. In a report they released yesterday, it was a 44 page report, extolling, the amazing virtues, and all the money they're making and sustainable Finance money. Lots of money. Now it's a 34 billion dollar Revenue company so we're not talking about like it's like a vast bulk of what they make but it's 500 million dollars and it's across multiple arms of what they do. This morning. The headline is Barkley's latest British lender to quit climate banking Alliance. This is their quote after consideration we have decided to withdraw from The Net Zero banking alliance with the departure of most of the global Banks. The organization no longer has the membership to support our transition. They blame they said they left because all the other Banks left and they don't have any friends to help them anymore. That was their fucking stupid excuse. You guys are making money on this. I don't understand what you're changing. Like I know you're worried about like some sort of fake antitrust. Collusion it's not a real thing, it's not real. If you fought that because you could fight back and say every Trade Organization is collusion every single one. Like if you trade like they're just colluding like true. Like so what is the difference with this? You are following science and you're dropping out of these organizations who are designed to actually probably part of this. Yeah, you should be following science, not the political headwinds. Unbelievable. What else? Brown Barkley's number three, Microsoft, again. Didn't we? Again, we're What are the Enigma of success? Is that what it was? And then go such an Adele wrote a memo last week about the Enigma of success as the Enigma of success can literally be counted in market cap value. It's really simple well, so he put out that that memo and then when this week and a fired, a bunch of people that was the memo. He said like you know we we know where, you know like our trajectory is upward to the right and all we're doing amazing work but you know this is the Enigma of success on Wednesday of this week. Yeah. Wednesday of this week. He they Microsoft announced one of the most profitable quarters. It's ever had his time in good timing, right? Yeah. So everybody should feel better about the memo but then today, here's the headline or yesterday, Microsoft CFO calls for intensity air quotes in an internal memo after blowout. Earnings, what does that mean? Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood, she's an email to all the employees on Wednesday at this is a 27 billion dollar profit for the quarter, 27 billion. So Barkley's, made 34 billion dollars last year, Microsoft made 27 billion dollars this quarter. She told them the year ahead would require quote, intensity, Clarity, and bold execution. So what we've what we've got is the adult in the room which is supposed to be Microsoft because all of these little middle school man, baby Tech Bros, like Zack and Sergei, and Larry and musk. They're all like cutting all their staff. They're doing all the AI stuff and they're and they're getting into growth mindset, whatever the hell that is Microsoft just joined them. In a race to the bottom and which you cut as much staff. As you possibly can Executives, all keep their jobs, the stock price goes up, they all make shit, tons of money. And they gut as much a middleman as they possibly know. It's crazy, you know, tell them, get into growth mindset to anybody who's left just to put this into popular's math terms, because I have a popular math calculator that I use for things like this for stories like this. So TI populist, the Enigma of leadership sought in a deli is already laid off 15,000 people. This year, people that he said basically have helped to create to build Microsoft into the great company. It is, you could give them all another million dollars in severance Here today with that profit and still have 12 billion dollars left over in quarterly. Yeah, it's a lot of billions still have 12 billion dollars left over. It's a lot because you should be paying these people, a huge Severance packages, huge, well, CFO, Amy Hood, who it is not worried about losing her job at Microsoft. Clearly also already has a board position at 3M, so she's already got a job in which she's going to have money for the rest of her life. She'll never get fired. It's not a problem but she tends on that board. He got she has intensity there I'm sure she's super intense if? Yeah. Yeah. Where everything's intense making like stickers, you know not for nothing. A different Amy. Amy Coleman. Got the role of Chief people officer at Microsoft in March of this year. Just in time to fire. Everybody is that right? Is that one of the first layoffs started? The layoffs started effectively around May so there was no 6,000 and 9,000. Yeah. Um she I looked for the announcement of her, getting the role Chief people officer is one of the named executive officers in the 10K typically, right? So when you're when you're in the as an Neo, they usually have to file an 8K and disclose your contract details and that you were promoted on that stuff, there was none of that could not find any of that. She managed to cash in 24 million dollars of options in the last three months. And that's all form fours that I can tell. Damn. And I am curious about the Enigma of disclosure. Yeah. Why do we not know anything about? I wish she effectively brought in to fire everyone and paid for it. What I'm focused on is the Enigma of intensity. What does that mean? Intensity, what is a lot of? What is she want? What is she want? What does Amy Hood want the workers to? How do they, how does one? What is the quantification of intensity? Are we working like more hours like what they have to talk four decibels higher than they currently? It reminds me of the George Costanza when he was working for the Yankees on Seinfeld and just buy? He said by every time his boss would walk by, he just acted angry and it made it look like he was working really busy. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe that anger that'll make. That's one scene. Was somebody like comes over and goes to ask him a question and he just looks up and he's like Right? That's and they're like, oh he must be busy and they walk away. I'm excited for that. What a culture of Microsoft? What else you got? The last one before and this one's way down. Powering employees, cowering, cowering. I am tired of like this is a general theme Here. I am tired of cowering, I don't know why everyone on coloring know but like here's the headline I saw 37% of employees have wondered if emojis are professional, okay, wait, I saw that headline. 37% of employees have wondered if emojis of professional, Matt does this mean that 63% of employees think that they are professional or they think they're not. What do you think? They're really not one ring if they're not one, so let me know. They know they are professional. No, they're not. They know what the other really. That's who I want to talk to you. I want to talk to the 63%. Yeah, go. Here's what I took away, though. Like it's 2025, you're employees are worried about whether or not emojis are professional. Nobody cares anymore, everyone has emojis. I saw this, this headline Walmart executive said that, quote, nobody will want to hire you if you're a Debbie Downer. So despite the fact that wages have an increased in 50 years, wait you have to worry whether you're waiting Debbie Downer, we're talking about the country that Did a president, who all he did was whine about how America, so it's the worst. Everything sucks in is, make it great again because it's everything like a third world country. We're eating dogs. Like, so that's the biggest Debbie down or whatever. Exactly. The Walmart executive saying, nobody wants to hire you. If you're a Debbie Downer we found out like this week that the reason why people won't buy the best governance data on, right? We are good Debbie downers? Yeah, because we have a segment on a podcast called as holiest. Meanwhile. This headline Elon Musk, amplifies bizarre claim that women are built to be traded. Yeah, I didn't like and one that was my old brags that he gets extremely excited, firing people and replacing them with AI every single week. We get headlines about Jamie dimon says something. You know, like employees need to shut up. A Sam Altman is terrified. The world is falling apart. Your employees are worried about the dumbest things possible, whether or not you can use an emoji in an email and everybody else is taking your money. Stop worrying. Stop powering about emojis and worrying about that shit. I read years ago the corporate one of the reasons why corporations let their employees do things like fantasy sports and you know check their Facebook page is that they're happy with that distraction as long as the employees are not talking to their neighbor's about unionizing like right? No, I'm serious. I'm serious like that was So that's one of the things like they they want them to be busy with with inanity over actually focusing on maybe some of the important things that could help them. That and that's exactly right. Look up from the Emoji that you're thinking about, like, do I put add this? This like melty face or do I not? Is that professional? Are they gonna think I'm a jerk or not? Well, get me that promotion or not. They are using your jobs as a cuddle because they're going to fire you anyway. Yeah. Because if they had unionized that places like Microsoft, they would not have been laid off this year, so here's what I'm proposing. It is a time for a rise of counterculture. Again, you need to start being like, fuck you, we're doing it. Our way more jeans. That's what more scenes I want more zenes. I want more underground. More Riot girls Spotify. Yeah, I want more like, like, right girls. He's remember what it was and I'm talking to you genetics. Remember what it was when you had? You were squeezed between Boomers and Millennials? I was no one cared about you and you had to build your own shit king of Gen X. I was thinking about so for gaze of his band. But, you know, big Gen X bad, that famously held their ticket prices. They had a cap on their ticket prices to all shows. It was like, I don't know. What was like, eight dollars. I went to a few, forgot the shows. They they kept it low, right? Yeah. Flash for the 2025, when, you know, families are taking out loans to go to Taylor Swift. There's a, there's a music festival right down the street from me. This, this Weekend. It's it's a two-day Music Festival, that costs like a couple hundred dollars, the beer, the beer is set. It's 17 dollars for an IPA 12 dollars for for a Bud Light. I mean, I think you're right. I think we need to like dial the clock back. We need to like it's too much. It's really saying go back to like, you know, when we were racing too much, I'm saying ReDiscover, the anger of the underground. Yeah. Like don't tell me you can't buy our data because we have a segment that is that a little too far, but when you buy the data, oh yeah. Put me in the, in the like, memo part of the check because I don't have a, I don't have as holy. Yes. Dude, who does populist math. I don't really use. I don't really, really popular, right? I still don't get why. Msci, is allowed to turn their data into these opinionated grades and we can't like why. I know Matt's being cheeky saying things are as holy is, but Just his way of writing a company a d or an F. Right? I mean there's a difference nothing there's nothing you're about what we're doing and frankly the data where we've got is more interesting and better just go with better beaver. Like Roger Ebert having a thumb down at a movie. It's just matches being Coy with the language. That's all. Gotta gotta restart the underground. So come on. Those are my four. I've got brown Barkley's, Microsoft, cowering employees people. Cowering. I'm tired of it as holy. Yes. I don't, you know, the whole Brown thing. Yeah, that's really just a meat thing. That's for, you know, It's upsetting for sure. Specially, I'm a New Englander makes me upset. I gotta go with just, just in honor of the Standard Chartered, CEO Bill Winters, who said shame on you all these Banks. So let's go with Barclays. Wow. That's like a weird old school one, right there. Yeah. Well I think it's important to. Well, you're talking about you want people to like stop caring and we got a call out these things when they happen, right? Yeah. Because now you can you can back out of pledges you can get rid of D. E, I can do all this stuff, and no one's like, no one does anything. I know they're angry about it. I know there's, I believe me if I talked to anyone about the this, when I talked to normal people about the subjects we cover, When I tell them this week that we're yelling at CEOs, for backing at a climate pledges that were yelling at Brown University, who has the CEO of Bank of America on their board and yet they're caring to Trump, they are they, are they join me in the anger against these things? So let's let's talk about it. Let's not talk about emojis because emojis are fine. You can use them. Don't worry about it. Yeah. You could use the emo, people. Don't care about emojis anymore. All right. I agree with you. All right, let's come up like this. Come on. Yeah I got two headlines I unfortunately have two as well. I go first. All right, you go first. I actually had a double a double Elon Musk headline. One of them you already met mentioned and I figured this is better than talking a lot about Elon Musk and other parts of the show, which just I'll just quickly say the headlines and we'll move on Elon Musk. Amplifies bizarre claim that women are built to be traded and it's another headline, Elon Musk pushes view, that women are anti-white because they are weak. Now, remember, this is the guy who said that, if I get too crazy, the board should fire me. So I'm giving the board permission as of August 1st. 2025 that a man who holds these abhorrent misogynistic views against women. And that is a full majority of the population of the Earth. It's a little over. 50% right, a man who holds such disgusting views and yet while trying to sell Cars to men and women. This is a man you should fire not to mention that sales are down. That China is beating him on everything anyway. But hey board. Fired him a hundred years. He told you when he's crazy to fire him, this is disgusting. The talking about women amplifying posts on his website. That women are built to be traded. That's a fireball offense, that's not, that's not, that's not appropriate behavior from the CEO of a publicly traded company. It's appropriate conversation at a discussing, maybe Country Club where it's where it's men, only maybe in Georgia, that's fine, but not, it's not behavior of a CEO but he did use any emojis. When you are interested. My other headline, headline is of this is just because it tickles me. You us women in coffee. This is this is a like a group, a trade grouper, kind of a thing us women in coffee. Welcome, Mark Inman to which board of directors. See, even the women are kind enough to have men on their boards. So why can't we go the other way? Like I can't, I think they just want to trade mark in men, some other board. All right here, my headlines, Tesla Robo. Taxi gets stuck in infinite loop as support tries to break it out. Just keep it in the loop. I just love it. Like just going around and start. I like to think that there's somebody in it. Yeah. Like I can't get out of this thing is just going around the block terrible um and Starbucks CEO. The company was mismanaged for a couple years. Here's his plan to bounce back, I just shots fired. Yeah. That's when Howard Schultz was the executive chair of the board, right? Like so locksmith near semen. Yeah, I'm pretty sure you just said the founder and executive chair Howard sucked at his job. Yeah. I like that. I like that. All right, who's your winner? Well, same as you actually. It's I'll let you if you want to talk about it more. But mine's King. King Chuck, right? Just I Chainsaw Charlie. I actually set up a memory real to remember Charlie, go ahead, we talked about Charlie sharp many times on these shows many times. Well, so he in 2016. He was the CEO of Visa, he steps down and the reason why he stepped down at the time is he said and this is what he actually said that he couldn't spend enough time in San Francisco where Visa is headquarter to do the job, quote effectively. That's weird. I want Just moved to San Francisco. So he's a New Yorker and he didn't want to move to San Francisco. He was his family was in New York, and he stepped down from the CEO role. Because he didn't want to commute as well. First, I'm pretty sure they don't. They have a big Bill comes well, as far as CEO and 2019 and commutes to San Francisco from New York City. Because Wells Fargo is headquartered more money Francisco. Immediately cut staff at Wells Fargo and got the nickname Chainsaw. Charlie. When we started talking about him, he it was because he was complaining that he couldn't find any black workers because they were not qualified. Yeah, this is true by this is not hyperbole. No, that's not what he said. He was earnestly saying you're looking for more minorities to higher but we are having a difficulty because they're not qualified. Yeah, in the sense that he was actually like he wanted to hire more black, it's not like he was against her and he just couldn't find any calls, couldn't find them. Yeah, which is moderately Would you say puzzling or racist which racism? I'm okay. And then he joins the board of Microsoft, which to bring this whole thing, full circle, Microsoft cutting everybody, their Chainsaw Charlie and Microsoft while they have record profits and sharp is on that board for that too bored. Yeah, so it's all coming up Charlie as he's now chair and and made made 30 million plus a million in options for nothing like analytics.com. Charles Scharf is this has the second highest influence on that board of Microsoft. He's a very connected, dude. All right, predictions. As part of its 10% ownership of ESPN. The the Disney because that's did the Disney controls 80% of ESPN, but as part of its 10% ownership of ESPN, the Disney board is gonna refuse to add an NFL player. NFL is going to try to get a player onto the Disney board but the Disney board is gonna agree to attend all board meetings, wearing Spandex and shoulder pads. That's, that's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. I actually, I am my pretty she's going to come true. Yeah, go ahead Wells. Fargo's investors are going to be unhappy. The sharp was made chair and he got a giant retention Grant. They're gonna vote 73% approval of Sharp's pay. Okay, that's a pretty hefty vote against actually banking investors. Have been voting no on pay once. So you like, almost 30% against pay, but 99.6% will be in favor of every member of the pay committee. I agree that prediction will have that prediction will come true. That's all we got. That's his little Raul's. Gary. We are free float. Come back next week, when we do more of this, To take away from ourselves to bringing you information that actually matters. Until then good. Bye.