A Google Exec's Ode to Life after Work: Your Headlines for Wednesday

Google CFO Patrick Pichette is retiring. He's staying on until a replacement can be found and while he's a beloved exec, this isn't a blow to the company or something you'd hear about if it wasn't Google. But the man wrote a lovely note, about a beautiful moment atop Kilimanjaro, about working and making time for the rest of life.

I am completing this summer 25-30 years of nearly non-stop work (depending on how you wish to cut the data). And being member of FWIO, the noble Fraternity of Worldwide Insecure Over-achievers, it has been a whirlwind of truly amazing experiences. But as I count it now, it has also been a frenetic pace for about 1500 weeks now. Always on – even when I was not supposed to be. (...) I could not find a good argument to tell (my wife) we should wait any longer for us to grab our backpacks and hit the road.

That's quitting with class. And while we're on that topic, for other (good and bad) ways to quit, check out our new series #IQuit and contribute your own post.

Univision is looking at a $1 billion IPO. This, the largest media IPO in a while, would value the Spanish-language broadcaster at $20 billion, on par with Charter Communications, Whole Foods or Keurig Coffee. (That's half an Uber but two Snapchats, in the billion-dollar startup club, if looking at private companies.) Who said there was no money in old media?

Keep an eye out today for stress test results on US banks. Goldman Sachs is the one the Fed's particularly looking at.

The dollar has gone up so much, it's closing in on parity with the euro. This hasn't happened in 12 years. Last year still, Europeans – I first among them – travelled to New York with empty suitcases for cheap shopping. The strong dollar is being blamed for a tanking stock market, which yesterday lost all its gains from 2015.

Wage pressure is starting to mount in the US. Seventy percent of CFOs expect to increase pay by at least 3 percent, especially in tech, professional services, manufacturing and healthcare. Rising wages are a sign of a healthier labor market and have been the one missing element of the US recovery so far.

Pharrel Williams and Robin Thicke owe the estate of Marvin Gaye $7.4 million for copyright infringement. Their song "Blurred Lines" was deemed a bit too resembling to the late master's "Got to Give It Up" (you can make up your own mind here.) In a music industry that relies so heavily on sampling and where it seems everything's been done before, the verdict could have a chilling effect. In creative work, where do you draw the line between influence and plagiarism?

Rumors are swelling that McDonald's is looking to add kale to its menu. That's after promising in an ad campaign not two months ago that its burgers would "never be kale." The fast food chain is going through a major identity crisis with declining sales and trendier competitors like Chipotle and Shake Shack. If you ask me – and no one has, though I'm in their employee archives somewhere – forget kale. Go back to the McDonald's of the 1950s, with core fast-food items for good value that actually taste good. Make it about working men grabbing their morning coffee, families getting together on a Saturday night, friends sharing a shake after prom and kids making out in the parking lot. You know, make it McDonald's again.

Uber is partnering with UN Women to promise 1 million jobs for women by 2020. Uber is accustomed to grand declarations about job creation, but never mentions those it destroys. The taxi industry could certainly use more women – only 14% of US Uber drivers are female; I suspect what Uber is really doing is attempting to balance out all the PR fails that have cemented its reputation as a hotbed of Silicon Valley bro culture.

HBO will release new episodes of Games of Thrones simultaneously all over the world in an effort to prevent piracy. HBO is proud that GoT is the world's most pirated show, but now it's trying to sell its content to consumers around the globe – and not just US cable subscribers – it has to come up with a strategy. Finally, someone catches on.

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