Business Pants

By: Free Float Media Inc.
Listen for free

  • Summary

  • Whether you love business news or feel like you’re supposed to know it but hate it, Business Pants is business news for humans. Snarky and irreverent, deeply researched and factual, a podcast devoted to market quirks and the humans that make up companies. Investing isn’t a what, it’s a who.
    2024, Free Float Media Inc.
    Show more Show less
Business & Careers Economics Personal Finance Politics & Government
Show more Show less
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2
Episodes
  • FRIDAY WRAP: WWE government, Jaguar and the non-US anti-woke movement, airline CEO blowhards

    FRIDAY WRAP: WWE government, Jaguar and the non-US anti-woke movement, airline CEO blowhards
    Nov 22 2024
    IntroductionLIVE from Vanguard’s "Mirror Voting Policy", it’s a Business Pants Friday Show here at November 22nd Studios, featuring AnalystHole Matt Moscardi. On today’s weekly wrap up: DEI and Meritocracy Shark Jumping, no more Jaguars for blue-collar America, A-Holey (or is it A-Holy) investors, Will the real Elon Shady please stand up?Our show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only platform measuring board power, connections, and performance for FREE.Story of the Week (DR):DOJ says Google must sell Chrome to crack open its search monopolyThe Department of Justice says that Google must divest the Chrome web browser to restore competition to the online search market, and it left the door open to requiring the company to spin out Android, too.Stop & Shop cybersecurity issue empties shelves before ThanksgivingTrump's new administration should 'not tolerate' the level of cyber attacks coming from Russia and China, Microsoft president saysThe AI Effect: Amazon Sees Nearly 1 Billion Cyber Threats a DayNews Corp Shareholders Reject Activist Bid to End Dual-Class Share StructureAn advisory, nonbinding stockholder proposal requesting that the Board take the necessary steps to adopt a recapitalization plan that would eliminate the Company’s dual-class capital structure failed to pass as follows:35% FORSubtract Rupert’s shares: 64% FORThe Murdoch family controls 41% of company votes, despite having a 14% stake in the company.Has Meritocracy jumped the shark? Linda McMahon, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for education secretary: Trump's education secretary nominee once said she had an education degree. She doesn't. MMThe billionaire professional wrestling mogul served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009At the confirmation hearing in 2009, she said education was her passion and that her work as CEO of the WWE taught her "firsthand the skills Connecticut students need to obtain through education to be successful."Stepped down for this:McMahon is now facing fresh scrutiny for incorrectly claiming in a vetting questionnaire before being nominated to serve on the state Board of Education in early 2009 that she had earned a degree in education from East Carolina University in 1969; it was actually in French.Member of board of trustees for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut (2004-2017)McMahon also co-founded the conservative research group America First Policy Institute in April 2021, which says its mission is to "provide sound research and carefully crafted policy recommendations to advance the America First agenda"Leadership Team: 15 white people/0 PoC9 women: 7 blond and 2 brunettesTrump’s Education Secretary Pick Named in Sexual Abuse LawsuitA recent lawsuit alleges Linda McMahon knowingly enabled the sexual exploitation of children by a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) employee as early as the 1980s.Work Advice: I’m uncomfortable with our CEO invoking Jesus in meetingsReader: I’m a mid-level executive for a publicly traded company. I’ve been here four years, and I hope to stay until I retire about 10 years from now.However, I feel increasingly uncomfortable when my CEO, a devout Christian whose family has owned the company since its founding a century ago, begins each meeting or company event with a Christian prayer. These are innocuous prayers that revolve around the health and safety of employees, their families, and our clients. But they always end the same way: “In Christ’s name, amen.” I’m frequently the only one in the room who doesn’t bow my head.Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):DR: Anti-woke shark jumping? MMJaguar dubbed 'Bud Light 2.0' after releasing modernist rebranding ad with androgynous models, no carsJaguar Rebrand Sparks Confusion, Angers Anti-‘Woke’ Critics—Including Elon Musk And Andrew TateTexas AG opens investigation into advertising group that Elon Musk sued for 'boycotting' XPro-family Volvo ad celebrated on social media following Jaguar rebrand backlashTexas governor orders state agencies to sell China assetsVolvo Car AB top shareholder: Eric Li (via Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd.) - 79%Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC top shareholder: Tata Motors Limited (which is controlled by Tata Sons Limited)DR: Bluesky CEO Jay Graber says X rival is ‘billionaire proof’“The billionaire proof is in the way everything is designed, and so if someone bought or if the Bluesky company went down, everything is open source,” Graber said. “What happened to Twitter couldn’t happen to us in the same ways, because you would always have the option to immediately move without having to start over.”Assholiest of the Week (MM):News Corp investors36% of non Murdoch investors wanted to stick with dual class structureIf we assume the top two investors that aren’t Murdochs - Independent Franchise Partners and SOF Ltd (who was founded by a Murdoch friend) - vote with the Murdochs, 17% of non Murdoch ...
    Show more Show less
    56 mins
  • Get surprised: Bakkt acquisition, investors love Air Products’ board, Vanguard’s 4 for 1 policies, and KFC China CEO’s weird fetish

    Get surprised: Bakkt acquisition, investors love Air Products’ board, Vanguard’s 4 for 1 policies, and KFC China CEO’s weird fetish
    Nov 19 2024
    The Random Ask Matt Stuff about the Headlines Game!Donald Trump’s social media group in talks to buy crypto trading venueTruth Social owner is close to an all-share takeover of Intercontinental Exchange’s BakktWhich one of these key facts surprises you the most? The least? Hoover you want to answer:Bakkt, which has struggled for profitability since its launch, was created by ICE, and the owner of the New York Stock Exchange still holds a 55 per cent economic interest in it.Bakkt’s first CEO was Kelly Loeffler, a former head of marketing at ICE and a Republican ex-senator for Georgia during Trump’s first presidency. She is co-chair of the committee organizing his inauguration in January.She is also married to Jeff Sprecher, ICE’s founder, chair and CEO.Air Products Refreshes Board Ahead of Face-Off With ActivistsAir Products and Chemicals Inc. named two new board members ahead of its shareholder meeting in a potentially defensive move against pressure from two activist investors.The company named industrials executives Bob Patel and Alfred Stern as candidates for the 2025 board election, according to a statement Monday. Two existing board members — David Ho and Matthew Paull — will not seek re-election.Pop QUIZ Question: Since 2015, what is the average level of investor support for Air Products and Chemicals Directors?78%88%98%The CEO of Bluesky's Actual Name Means "Blue Sky" in ChineseWhich thing do you care about most and will either make you join Bluesky?The CEO of Bluesky is in fact a woman named Jay GraberBluesky is an independent public benefit corporationBluesky is owned by Jay Graber and the Bluesky teamBluesky confirms Jack Dorsey is no longer on its boardDorsey hadn’t seemingly been a particularly active participant at the company. In March, when The Verge’s Nilay Patel asked Graeber for Decoder about his level of involvement with Bluesky, she said she gets “some feedback occasionally,” but implied he’s otherwise “being Jack Dorsey on a cloud,” as Nilay put it. Months before that interview, Dorsey had closed his Bluesky account.After Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, Twitter severed all legal and financial ties with Bluesky SocialCVS strikes deal with activist Glenview Capital for four board seatsJust a few weeks after the health-care giant ousted former CEO Karen Lynch.Glenview CEO Larry Robbins will join the CVS board effective immediately, alongside Leslie Norwalk, Guy Sansone and Doug Shulman. CVS’ board will expand to 16 members.Two of the directors–Leslie Norwalk and Guy Sansone–have experience in healthcare. Which of these two useless other directors are you most excited about joining the CVS board that will now have 16 board members!A hedge fund dude. Glenview Capital founder and CEO Larry RobbinsDoug Shulman, the CEO of a financial services holding company called OneMain Financial, where the board has a sizable -19% gender gapRate on a scale of 1-10 how surprised you are by these headlines:San Francisco Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie names OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to transition teamRFK Jr., Who Claims to Be Super Against Fast Food, Spotted Snacking on McDonald's With Trump and Elon MuskVanguard Gives Investors Option to Avoid Voting for ESG Issuesthe "Third Party Wealth-Focused Policy," which votes an investor’s proportionate shares in accordance with the recommendations from a third-party, the Egan-Jones Rating Co. ratings agency, that “focuses on maximizing shareholder value without being influenced by political or social agendas”Another new option will be "Mirror Voting Policy," which votes an investor’s proportionate shares in approximately the same proportions as the votes cast by other shareholders. This policy replaced the "Not Voting Policy."The existing policy lineup comprises the "Company Board-Aligned Policy," the "Third-Party ESG Policy," and the "Vanguard-Advised Funds Policy."Don Jr.’s New Gig: An Investment Firm Connected to Christian Nationalists1789 Capital, an anti-ESG venture capital firm that Donald Trump Jr. is joining instead of taking a White House roleTrump picks Liberty Energy CEO and Oklo board member Chris Wright as Energy secretaryOilfield services company Liberty Energy -13% gender gapOklo; chair and director and 6% owner Sam Altman Bonus question: which do you hate the most?And finally, China's KFC and Pizza Hut CEO [Joey Wat] said she spends hours watching her customers eatWat said that she stakes out Yum China restaurants and spends "two, three hours" watching people eat. That time leads to new product ideas, like KFC China's "mash potato burger."Which surprises you the most?That Yum China Holdings has a positive 10% gender influence gap–led by CEO Joey Wat and Compensation Committee Chair Min “jenny” ZhangThat China's KFC and Pizza Hut CEO Joey Wat spends "two, three hours" watching people eat
    Show more Show less
    37 mins
  • FRIDAY WRAP: Meritocracy RIP, Jamie Dimon’s governance take, missing 8K at Tesla, and Kraft Heinz’s bad week

    FRIDAY WRAP: Meritocracy RIP, Jamie Dimon’s governance take, missing 8K at Tesla, and Kraft Heinz’s bad week
    Nov 15 2024
    IntroductionLIVE from your ESG sad sack, it’s a Business Pants Friday Show here at November 15th Studios, featuring AnalystHole Matt Moscardi. On today’s weekly wrap up: The government is getting its own Facebook Oversight Board; Meritocracy is not the name of a new WWF character; and food with a 36-month shelf life is still bad for youOur show today is being sponsored by Free Float Analytics, the only platform measuring board power, connections, and performance for FREE.Story of the Week (DR):Trump taps Musk, Ramaswamy to oversee ‘drastic’ changes to U.S. governmentDepartment of Government Efficiency–nicknamed DOGE after the cryptocurrency preferred by the Tesla CEO–its stated purpose is to radically shrink the size of the federal government by streamlining bureaucracy, eliminating jobs and shaving up to a third off of the $6.75 trillion fiscal budget.Conservatives have advocated starving the bureaucracy of resources ever since Ronald Reagan transformed the party with his famous 1986 slogan “the nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help’.”How DOGE will exactly operate remains at present unclear. Nor has there been an official explanation as yet regarding oversight, as Trump has confirmed it will operate outside of the executive branch but under his authority. This means it could be little more than a glorified advisory body or it could wield considerable influence, depending on how much favor it carries with the President-elect. Even Exxon Mobil Is Horrified by Trump's Climate PlanAs the New York Times reports, Exxon CEO Darren Woods warned that withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement would greatly weaken our global efforts to curb carbon emissions — a grim irony, given the fact that he represents one of the biggest contributors to global warming in the world."We need a global system for managing global emissions. Trump and his administrations have talked about coming back into government and bringing common sense back into government. I think he could take the same approach in this space."Twitter Is Getting Absolutely Destroyed as Users Flee to Rivals Run by People Who Haven't Lost Their MindsBluessky saw a major influx of well over a million new users in the week following the presidential election, growing from just 9 million users in September to 15 million.Bluesky even became the number one free app on Apple's App Store this week, beating out Meta's Threads — which is also spiking in apparent user count, though in a slightly more dubious fashion.Meanwhile, X-formerly-Twitter was in the news this week after British newspaper The Guardian announced it would be leaving the Elon Musk-owned platform, which has quickly devolved into a cesspool of hate speech and disinformation since his acquisition.Jamie Dimon on not getting a job under Trump: 'I haven't had a boss in 25 years and I'm not about ready to start' MMGoodliest of the Week (MM/DR):DR: The Onion Buys Alex Jones’s Infowars Out of BankruptcyThe Onion said its bid was sanctioned by the families of the victims of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, who in 2022 won a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against Mr. Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems.MM: Kraft Heinz discontinues school Lunchables MMWhile the Lunchables were said to be tailored to meet school standards, CR found that they contained high levels of sodium—even higher than those kits found in the grocery store, as well as potentially troubling levels of phthalates and heavy metals. CR said the products contained between 460 to 740 milligrams per serving, or “nearly a quarter to half of a child’s daily recommended limit for sodium.” Amy Keating, a dietician for CR, explained that Lunchables are “highly processed” and that processed meat “has been linked to an increased risk of some cancers.” Assholiest of the Week (MM):Meritocracy DRSure, Matt Gaetz, Vivek, Elon, Tulsi Gabbard, etc… but we’re gaslit everywhere to believe meritocracy is what drives markets and appointmentsFrom this week: Felicia Williams Joins NeoGenomics Board of DirectorsWilliams brings experience as the interim CFO of Macy’s (after it declared bankruptcy) and experience at Coca-Cola to the board of… oncological DNA test company NeoGenomicsHere’s a fun one - in our database - Apple is tops on the list of US large cap companies that ignores the core knowledge ever other company in its industry has - 20% of directors in the Technology Hardware industry have Computer Science backgrounds. At Apple, only Tim Cook has that background - Apple is the Disney of tech!Vivek’s Strive voted against Cook, the only qualified director8KsTesla - no 8k mentioning the fact that their CEO is tapped as a government employee?ANTHER FUCKING JOB?Voting against self interestTraders betting against clean-energy stocks have made $1.3 billion since Trump's election winJob growth by state in ...
    Show more Show less
    56 mins

What listeners say about Business Pants

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com reviews

Amazon reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for MR Family

Business and ESG news, but fun

It’s like the Daily Show for business news with a sustainability twist - seriously the only way to get news.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!