MONDAY KETCHUP: transcript 11/14

Live from the ESG Skyscraper in BlackRock, Nevada, it’s an early Monday edition of Business Pants. Joined as always by our BS Correspondent, Matt Moscardi, I’m Mr. Consternation. In today’s fun-sized Snickers bar called November 14, 2022: Sexy Story Updates and Sleazy Academic papers!

DAMION1

Sexy Story Updates

1. Tesla’s board STILL SUCKS:
2. Elon Musk says he has too much work on his plate: 'The amount that I torture myself is next level, frankly'
3. "My workload has recently increased quite a lot," Musk said. "I have too much work on my plate, that is for sure."
4. Musk, who's also the CEO of Tesla, talked about running Tesla's global operations, noting that he runs the electric vehicle manager "with great difficulty."
5. "I'm working the absolute most that I can work — morning to night, seven days a week," Musk said in the interview, dressed in a traditional Indonesian batik shirt. "The amount that I torture myself is next level, frankly," he added.
6. SpaceX buys large Twitter ad campaign for Starlink as advertisers pause spending after Elon Musk's takeover, report says
7. SpaceX bought one of the biggest ad campaigns on Twitter for its Starlink service, CNBC reported.
8. The Twitter ad package can cost companies at least $250,000, sources told CNBC.
9. It comes after some companies suspended advertising on Twitter since Elon Musk took over.
10. The campaign is known as a Twitter "takeover," per CNBC. One current and one former Twitter employee told the outlet that the package, which ensures the ad remains on top of the Twitter timeline for a day, is typically worth at least $250,000.
11. The current and former employees told CNBC SpaceX had not typically bought ad campaigns from Twitter in the past.
12. Since Musk closed his $44 billion deal with Twitter on October 27, companies started suspending advertising on the platform. This included major firms, such as Audi, Pfizer, and General Motors. The Wall Street Journal reported these companies paused spending partly due to concerns over Musk's plans for content moderation on the site.
13. Elon Musk told he's '100% wrong' for claiming Twitter is the internet's biggest click driver 'by far'
15. 'This dude is bullshit’: Elon Musk describes the first time he met now-disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried
16. King Charles is giving hundreds of his lowest-paid workers a $700 bonus out of his own pocket, report says
17. King Charles promised hundreds of his workers who earn less than $35,000 a bonus this month.
18. The Sun reported the monarch's plan to give $700 to cleaners, servants, and footmen.
19. Other workers will receive a bonus ranging from $236 to $472.
20. The source also said Charles was "very much aware" of the big jump in energy bills people and was "doing what he can."
21. A bonus of ￡400 will be given to those earning between ￡30,000 and ￡40,000, while those earning up to ￡45,000 will get ￡350, according to The Sun. Single people who are provided with accommodation by the Palace will get an extra ￡200.
22. British Airways changes dress code to allow male pilots and cabin crew to wear makeup, nail varnish, piercings
23. British Airways have changed its guidelines to allow all staff to wear makeup during flights.?
24. Its staff, regardless of gender, can wear "subtle shades" of nail polish, makeup, and piercings.
25. We’re looking at you, hot pink and eggplant purple!!
26. BA said it wants staff to "bring the best, most authentic version of themselves to work every day."
27. Populist CG dive:
28. All white management committee at International Airlines Group (IAG): Only 2 of 12 are women but one of those is… Carolina Martinoli is Chief of People, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer
29. List of Former Chairmen
30. Sir David Nicolson (1972–1975)
31. Lord McFadzean of Kelvinside (1976–1979)
32. Sir Ross Stainton (1979–1980)
33. Lord King of Wartnaby (1981–1993)
34. Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge (1993–2004)
35. Sir Martin Broughton (2004–2013)
36. Keith Williams (2013–2016)
37. álex Cruz (2016–2021)
38. List of Former Chief Executives (position was formed in 1977)
39. Sir Ross Stainton (1977–1979)
40. Sir Roy Watts (1979–1983)
41. Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge (1983–1995)
42. Bob Ayling (1996–2000)
43. Sir Rod Eddington (2000–2005)
44. The 'next Warren Buffett' curse: Sam Bankman-Fried is the latest market icon to fall after being compared to the legendary investor
45. The Warren Buffett curse is alive and well following the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried and his crypto exchange FTX.
46. Fortune magazine asked if Bankman-Fried was the next Warren Buffett in an August profile.
47. Other market icons that were once compared to Buffett and then faded include:
48. Eddie Lampert
49. As chairman of Sears Holdings, Lampert organized a takeover of Kmart in a bid to turnaround two struggling retailers. But then an e-commerce behemoth known as Amazon wrecked those plans. The end result was a long and winding road to bankruptcy that saw a complete value destruction of Sears, leading to the total closure of the once-iconic retailer.
50. Bill Ackman
51. Just three months after the magazine profile, a price-gouging drug scandal hit Valeant hard, and its stock swiftly plummeted more than 90%. Ackman's thesis on the health care company, which he called a platform company similar to Berkshire Hathaway, was invalidated. Later, Ackman's short bet against Herbalife would also turnout to be a near $1 billion money loser for him.
52. Chamath Palihapitiya.
53. But by the end of 2021, it became clear that the SPAC boom had gone bust, and Palihapitiya's reign as the so-called SPAC king came to an end as the bubble that had formed around blank-check firms burst.
54. Cruise ship docks in Sydney after 800 people on board infected by COVID outbreak
55. The BBC reports that approximately 4,600 passengers and crew were aboard the luxury Majestic Princess, and 800 people were affected by the outbreak of the viral bug.?
56. President of the cruise operator Carnival Australia Marguerite Fitzgerald told ABC Australia that they began seeing many cases halfway through the 12-day cruise around New Zealand, with all cases either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.?
57. She told the news outlet, "Reflective of the increase in community transmissions, we too have seen more guests test positive for COVID-19 on the current voyage of Majestic Princess. This is a result of mass testing of our 3,300 guests."
58. She added that staff would be assisting all COVID-positive guests "with accessing private transport and accommodation to complete their isolation period," according to ABC.?
59. One passenger told ABC, per The Guardian: "It was scary because we heard about it, but of course, we tested negative, and the Majestic Princess were really good with the protocols. [We] wore masks for these last seven days, and we were very careful when we went ashore."

MATT1

In honor of Elon Musk, here’s an oldie but goodie Nerd Alert

CEO narcissism and corporate social responsibility: Does CEO narcissism affect CSR focus?

From 2019 by Marwan Al-Shammari, Abdul Rasheed, Hussam A. Al-Shammari

Fortune 500 between 2008 and 2013

• Nerds say:?
• Narcissistic CEOs love CSR
• Narcissistic CEOs do it for external validation
• They might totally ignore internal CSR issues (ie, labor) for external ones (ie, carbon targets)

MATT2

Board Bored Bits

SK pledges to empower outside board members

• It’s a lovely press release reprinted in the Korea Herald
• Currently, influence is consolidated among FOUR SEPARATE CEO INSIDERS ACTING ON THE BOARD:
• Sung-ha Park: 21%
• Dong-hyun Jang: 21%
• Tae-Won Chey: 25%
• Dae-Sik Cho: 23%
• Total for other 5 independent directors: 9%
• The way they hope to “empower” them is essentially an internal social network where they can talk and share files
• They also hope to teach them about their company
• Suggestion:
• Limit your insider CEOs on the board to maybe just 1
• WeChat for directors doesn’t solve your influence problems