fortune--2020-11-07--This snack food giant wants to wean us off our lockdown cravings

Nestlé Chief Executive Officer Mark Schneider skips his afternoon Nespresso, as genetic tests revealed his body processes caffeine only slowly, depriving him of sleep. He likes to start his mornings with a smoothie blitzed together from 10 ingredients after colleagues convinced him of the cocktail’s benefits to the immune system.
The German-born Schneider has taken the same methodical approach to refocusing the world’s largest food company on cleaner living. Since joining Nestlé in 2017, he’s shifted the portfolio away from sugary snacks including Butterfinger chocolate bars and Häagen-Dazs ice cream, while giving convenience meals like Stouffer’s a vegan makeover.
“There is a renewed interest in health and nutrition,” Schneider said in an interview. “I think this is here to stay. Certainly throughout the later stages of this pandemic, and, we believe, also beyond that.”
Schneider can’t claim to have invented the company’s healthy push. It’s a concept Nestlé has pursued for the better part of two decades under the stewardship of his two predecessors. And some rivals like Unilever and Mondelez are also remodeling their portfolios around healthier options.
But Schneider has accelerated the transformation with the deepest overhaul in 30 years, harnessing developments from investor pressure for faster growth to changing consumer tastes to the COVID-19 pandemic that have changed the trajectory of the food industry. It’s a shift that’s moved the Swiss company ever further away from the business that long defined Nestlé: snacks and convenience foods that are fun and easy to eat but not necessarily healthy.
“Nestlé will have to perform a tightrope walk in the food segment as it balances appealing to both the health-conscious premium and the mass-market audience,” said Christian Zogg, head of equity and fixed income at LLB Asset Management in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, which holds Nestlé shares.
Helping hand
In his first year at the helm, Schneider got unlikely support from activist investor Dan Loeb, whose Third Point fund had built a stake in the company and demanded Nestlé boost profit. Schneider responded by off-loading the U.S. confectionery and ice cream businesses as well as the skin-care subsidiary. In their stead he brought on assets such as vitamins, supplements, and food allergy treatments and sharpened the focus on coffee.
The consumer trend toward a healthier lifestyle has accelerated, most notably with vegan products infiltrating supermarket aisles and social media accounts. Nestlé was arguably late to the party. The company caught up with a vengeance, as Schneider acknowledges, only after U.S. rivals like Beyond Meat managed to make such offerings appealing to the mainstream, and now offers plant-based burgers and chicken nuggets.
And then, of course, there’s the pandemic, which has reshaped the way many people eat and drink—initially often too much, as Schneider himself concedes.
Lockdown cravings
“People really had a craving for comfort food during the hardest part of the lockdown, and now of course over time, they see that this would not be the new standard diet,” he said.
The attention to well-being and the immune system has revived interest in vitamins and supplements, poised to make the company’s health science unit more important. It’s also made cooking at home a more attractive proposition, a trend Nestlé is seeking to harness with its purchase last month of U.S. meal-subscription company Freshly, in a deal that values the business at $950 million.
Schneider’s drive is on display in Nestlé’s Concept Studio in the Swiss village of Konolfingen. Here, interns, startups, students, and scientists mingle to cook new dairy and alternative products that are both healthier for humans and the planet.
A plant-based milk alternative using fava beans, hatched in Konolfingen, promises close similarity to cow’s milk in taste and texture and will hit shelves in March. A dozen other ideas have been developed here, like Momentz, another plant-based drink using seeds and spices aimed at young flexitarians, or Drop of Life, a vegan liquid food supplement containing vitamin B12. Even if they don’t all end up in supermarkets, they share the goal of offering healthy products and getting them to consumers more quickly.
Sugar flop
The trial-and-error approach also means that some products get swiftly pulled off shelves again if they flop. Take Nestlé’s first attempt at a sugar-reducing technology that hollowed out the molecules in order to cut sugar by about a third without compromising the desired sweetness. The resulting Milkybar Wowsomes chocolate was discontinued after about a year because it didn’t offer the same creaminess of full-sugar chocolate, though the company has not given up on sugar-reduction research.
Schneider said the shift isn’t about dropping everything considered unhealthy, but rather about a more conscious approach to the way we consume.
“If you’re committed to healthy food, it doesn’t mean that you have to abstain from everything that is indulgent,” Schneider said. “It’s important that these more indulgent products are being consumed responsibly, through the appropriate portion size and the labeling, putting you in a position to make an informed decision.”


fortune--2020-11-07--Gold bulls cheer the prospect of a Biden presidency, igniting the biggest rally since July

Biden received more total votes than any presidential candidate in U.S. history

Gold had the biggest weekly gain since July and copper rose as Joe Biden tightened his grip on the race for the White House, while investors also weighed prospects for further Federal Reserve stimulus.
Bullion broke out of a narrow trading range seen over the past month as uncertainty over the U.S. election and renewed stimulus hopes boosted demand for the haven. Democrat Joe Biden has taken the lead in Pennsylvania over President Donald Trump, putting him on the cusp of victory in the presidential race.
Bullion gave up some of the early advances as “stocks have come off highs and the dollar is making a modest comeback. There also seems to some notable profit-taking that started around $1,960,” said Tai Wong, head of metals derivatives trading at BMO Capital Markets.
The market is looking for an increased likelihood of a Biden victory, and a stimulus package — albeit rather a modest one compared to a blue wave scenario — might be still in the horizon, according to Wenyu Yao, senior commodities strategist at ING Bank. With the Fed to stand behind the curve, given its new average-inflation targeting framework, this is leading to low or lower real rates. Investors would still like to add gold into the portfolios, she said.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell opened the door to a possible shift in the central bank’s bond purchases in the coming months, saying that more fiscal and monetary support is needed. The Fed kept its stimulus steady at its meeting this week, but a Republican Senate hamstringing government aid efforts may force it to step up and fill the gap soon.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell more than expected in October, dropping to 6.9%, according to a Labor Department report Friday.
Spot gold rose 0.1% to close at $1,951.35 an ounce, after gaining as much as 0.6%. That extended this week’s gain to 3.9%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index declined 0.3%.
In base metals, copper rose 1.4% to settle at $6,946.50 a ton in London, capping a weekly advance of 3.4%. Zinc reversed an earlier loss to reach the highest since May 2019.
While a contested election ending with a divided government would be the least bullish of all possible outcomes for commodities markets, copper could still hit fresh highs next year on the back of faltering supply and robust demand, Morgan Stanley analysts Susan Bates and Marius van Straaten said in a note.
“Once initial volatility has passed, we expect increased focus on the market fundamentals, which remain broadly supportive for base metals,” the analysts wrote. “Copper still features the strongest fundamentals on a tepid supply growth outlook through 2021.”


fortune--2020-11-07--Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows tests positive for COVID-19

President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows has been diagnosed with the coronavirus as the nation sets daily records for confirmed cases for the pandemic.
Two senior administration officials confirmed Friday that Meadows had tested positive for the virus, which has killed more than 236,000 Americans so far this year. They offered no details on when the chief of staff came down with the virus or his current condition. His diagnosis was first reported by Bloomberg News.
Meadows traveled with Trump in the run-up to Election Day and last appeared in public early Wednesday morning without a mask as Trump falsely declared victory in the vote count. He had been one of the close aides around Trump when the president came down with the virus more than a month ago, but was tested daily and maintained his regular work schedule.
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It marked the latest case of the virus in the West Wing, coming not even two weeks after Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, and other aides tests positive for the virus. Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and at least two dozen others tested positive for the virus in early October, after Trump held large gatherings of people not wearing face-masks, including the ceremony announcing the nomination of now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
Trump has repeatedly said that the nation is “rounding the turn” on the pandemic, which was top of mind for voters in Tuesday’s election.
COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have increased more than 50% in the past two weeks. According to an AP analysis of data from John Hopkins University, the 7-day rolling average for daily new cases rose from 61,166 on Oct. 22 to 94,625 on Nov. 5.


fortune--2020-11-07--China’s markets welcome homegrown tech—but Ant’s suspended IPO is a reminder of the risks

These are the foreign leaders who have congratulated President-elect Joe Biden—before Donald Trump has

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group was expected to make its trading debut in Hong Kong and Shanghai on Thursday at a valuation of roughly $310 billion in the world’s largest-ever IPO. The debut would have made the company more valuable than each of China’s four major state-owned banks, according to Fortune’s 2020 Global 500 ranking.
On Tuesday, just two days before the planned listing, regulators in Shanghai pulled the plug, at least temporarily.
The Shanghai exchange told Ant in a notice that changes in financial technology regulatory requirements and other “major issues” meant the company didn’t meet the requirements needed to list on its exchange.
The news sent shockwaves through the financial world, and came as a surprise to Ant. Just hours before the suspension, the company was still confirming attendees for its planned post-IPO party in Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg.
In a statement on Tuesday, Ant apologized to its investors and said it would “wait for further notice” from the Shanghai stock exchange before making any further announcements on the status of the IPO. It delayed its planned listing in Hong Kong too. Ant did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
The news throws a wrench in the prospects of Chinese tech firms looking to raise capital. For months now, overseas exchanges have grown increasingly inhospitable for Chinese firms, and markets closers to home—Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong—have seemed to offer solace. But the mounting problems for Ant offer a sober reminder to Chinese companies that their home turf has its own special set of risks.
Risks at home
For years, China’s government has sought to help promote the growth of its tech giants. China’s Internet restrictions, collectively referred to as the ‘Great Firewall’, have insulated Chinese tech from foreign competitors and paved the way for Chinese firms to dominate the domestic market.
Chinese tech giant Tencent, for example, saw its WeChat app become China’s go-to social media and messaging platform after Beijing blocked access to American social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
But that nurturing comes with strings, mainly the mutual understanding that a company will never outgrow the government’s grasp. A business can boom—but only to the point that Beijing can still rein it in. The government has a toolkit that keeps companies in-check: messaging via the media outlets it controls and new laws and restrictions that it can impose on a whim.
In 2017, Tencent drew Beijing’s ire after its Honor of Kings gaming app was downloaded hundreds of millions of times in China. The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, blasted the game as “poison” for Chinese society and said it was too addictive. In the days after the People’s Daily editorial, Tencent shares dropped over 5% on the Hong Kong stock exchange, costing the company roughly $17.5 billion in market value. China later imposed sweeping reforms on China’s mobile gaming industry that included content and playing time restrictions.
Chinese tech giant ByteDance, the parent company of video streaming app TikTok, has had its issues with the Chinese government too.
Earlier this year, ByteDance was engaged in discussions to sell the U.S. operations of TikTok to American companies to comply with the U.S.’s threat to ban the app. As the talks progressed, the Chinese government stepped in and announced new restrictions on exporting artificial intelligence technologies, which immediately made the app less valuable to potential American buyers.
Ant runs afoul
Ant, for its part, seemed to run afoul of Beijing in two ways. First, it claims to be a technology company; in reality, its bread and butter is finance.
Ant is best known for running Alipay, the payment platform of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba. But in the first six months of 2020, Ant derived over half its revenue from financial services, including an array of investment, lending, and insurance products. Its CreditTech service alone accounts for nearly 40% of company revenue.
Ant’s financial services have long presented a challenge to China’s state-owned banks, which the government relies on to finance its debt and to support its spending.
Specifically, Beijing has taken issue with banks having to underwrite the loans that Ant facilitates between banks and consumers. The day before the IPO suspension, Beijing released a set of draft regulations that would force companies like Ant to use more of its own funds to underwrite the loans. The Financial Times reported on Thursday that the new regulations, which threaten to put a significant dent in Ant’s future revenues, were a major reason why regulators postponed the IPO.
Ant’s plans to self-distribute shares in its planned IPO also represented a “real challenge” to banking and brokerage interests, said Brock Silvers, chief investment officer at Kaiyuan Capital.
“We don’t know how much of the regulatory pushback was instigated by banking interests, but it wouldn’t be an unreasonable supposition,” Silvers said.
Earlier in the week, a Chinese state-run newspaper Financial News wrote that tech giants like Ant need to be wary of getting too large, warning that any problems they may face could lead to “serious risk contagion” in the Chinese economy.
A second problem for Ant is its founder, the billionaire Jack Ma, who also started Ant’s sister company Alibaba. Ma, a teacher turned entrepreneur, is the poster boy for China’s technological boom and economic rise, but his public remarks hardly pay deference to Chinese regulators and institutions.
When Ant was still a scrappy upstart in 2008, Ma vowed to disrupt China’s financial system. In 2015, he said one of his main goals was to make China’s banks and state-owned enterprises “feel unwell.”
A week before Ant’s listing was delayed, Ma issued another dig at legacy banks and their regulators. In a speech at an industry event, he said Chinese banks guarantee bad loans and are like a “pawn shop,” but Chinese regulators have decided that they are too big to fail.
Going abroad
Ant’s problems come at a time when Chinese companies face a perilous environment abroad, particularly in the U.S., and seem to be seeking a safe haven at home.
This year, the White House and U.S. Congress have sought to tighten regulatory requirements on Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges, a move that may have played a role in Chinese companies like gaming company Netease and video-streaming app Kuaishou opting to list in places like Hong Kong and Shanghai instead of New York. Ant seemed to follow that lead in July 2020, when it announced it was listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Ant has not said publicly whether the hostile U.S. environment motivated its decision to list in China, but the company appears to be on the radar of U.S. authorities. In October, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration was considering whether to impose restrictions on Ant’s financial services payments.
“Ant could face U.S. restrictions once the [U.S. presidential] election is fully resolved,” said Silvers. “That would be a blow to the company’s international growth potential just as people are raising questions regarding its domestic business model.”
Ant’s planned IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai was initially seen in China as a major vote of confidence in the country’s markets, but the delayed debut suggests that Beijing isn’t necessarily welcoming the company with open arms.
Given Beijing’s power over its market, says Jeffery Towson, a private equity investor and management professor at Peking University, the regulatory risks for Chinese companies “were always more significant domestically” than overseas.


fortune--2020-11-07--How the business world is reacting to President-elect Biden’s victory

After a tense four days of waiting, former Vice President Joe Biden was elected the 46th President of the United States. The historic victory has implications for millions of Americans, including entrepreneurs and business leaders, who will now shift to doing business under Democratic leadership.
Reactions to Biden’s win continue to pour in, but some have started to share their thoughts. Bill Gates was among the first to congratulate Biden and Vice President–elect Kamala Harris, saying he looks “forward to working with the new administration and leaders on both sides in Congress on getting the surging pandemic under control, engaging partners around the world on issues like poverty and climate change, and addressing issues of inequality and opportunity at home.”
I look forward to working with the new administration and leaders on both sides in Congress on getting the surging pandemic under control, engaging partners around the world on issues like poverty and climate change, and addressing issues of inequality and opportunity at home. — Bill Gates (@BillGates) November 7, 2020
Another member of the Microsoft community, Brad Smith, who serves as the company’s president, shared his thoughts in a company blog post.
“Election Day this year turned into a very long and tense election week, with many Americans glued to their screens anxiously awaiting the outcome,” he wrote. “It has been commonplace to hear pundits speculate that we have seldom seemed such a divided country. If true, this also makes a different proposition even more self-evident. If we are to move forward as a nation, we must build new bridges to close the gaps that divide us.”
As we did in 2016, we offer our congratulations to the President- & Vice-President-Elect @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. As we move forward as a nation, we look forward to helping build bridges to close the gaps that divide us. @Microsoft’s thoughts here: https://t.co/HUuA6zYm3W — Brad Smith (@BradSmi) November 7, 2020
In a released statement, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said, “Now is a time for unity.”
JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon: Now is a time for unity…No matter our political views, let’s come together to strengthen our exceptional country. pic.twitter.com/PxhHC0QNma — Rebecca Jarvis (@RebeccaJarvis) November 7, 2020
Laurene Powell Jobs shared a celebratory GIF of Biden and Harris, writing, “We celebrate our democracy, our common humanity, and a glass ceiling shattered once and for all.” Harris is the first woman elected as vice president, as well as the first Black and Asian woman elected to the office.
We celebrate our democracy, our common humanity, and a glass ceiling shattered once and for all. pic.twitter.com/IhvGLBcALd — Laurene Powell Jobs (@laurenepowell) November 7, 2020
Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg also congratulated Harris for breaking the glass ceiling, celebrating her “remarkable achievement.”
“There are times when America takes a big step toward creating a government that reflects the diverse country we are,” Sandberg wrote in a post on Facebook. “Today is one of those days. I’m thinking with joy about young people across the country watching the news today and thinking, ‘Maybe I can lead this nation too.’”
AOL cofounder Steve Case tweeted his congratulations to Biden. “I’ve known Joe Biden for three decades,” he wrote. “He is a good man, and a great American. He has the experience & character to bring us together. He can bring hope & opportunity to the people & places that have been left behind. I am *delighted* he will be our next President.”


fortune--2020-11-07--Meet the three people who will define economic policy for the next four years

President-elect Joe Biden cinched his place in the Oval Office and history early Saturday morning with a definitive win in Pennsylvania. Immediately, Americans in cities across the country took to the streets, joyous in celebration. But while the Biden campaign took some time to relish their long and hard-fought win, they’re also ready to get to work—and it won’t be easy.
The Biden administration is entering the White House in the midst of a public health crisis, recession, and potential difficult transition of power.
A sustainable economic recovery will be high priority as 22.6 million Americans are currently receiving unemployment benefits, according to the Labor Department. Over 750,000 unemployed workers filed initial jobless claims this week, more than any week during the Great Recession. Eight million Americans are currently facing imminent eviction; in a normal year, 3.6 million Americans do. Over 100,000 small businesses have permanently shuttered since the pandemic began, and that number is expected to increase significantly.
Biden has been in Washington, D.C., for half a century, and along the way he has assembled a cadre of economic advisers whom he knows and trusts—advisers he’ll very likely utilize significantly both in his transition team and in the West Wing. In particular, we’ll be watching three people that Biden has regularly aligned with—the three musketeers of the economy—to see what they have to say over the next few weeks.
Jared Bernstein speaks during the Monetary Policy Strategy, Tools, and Communication Practices Conference in Chicago in 2019. Taylor Glascock—Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jared Bernstein
Bernstein served as Biden’s chief economist and economic adviser under the Obama administration, and it’s expected that he’ll take on a similar role now that his former boss has the top job. A progressive and advocate for laborers’ rights, Bernstein is currently serving as a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
So many millions responsible for this epic victory, in an electoral system that discounts the popular will. But through it all, Pres-elect (!!!) Biden's vision, drive, decency, and faith in the people stands out. — Jared Bernstein (@econjared) November 7, 2020
Bernstein will likely appease the more progressive wing of the Democratic party. “Sometimes people say, Biden’s a moderate,” he told The Atlantic last month. “But I don’t know any moderates who have been that closely linked to the labor movement for their whole political career.”
Bernstein’s main job in the transition will be to work to lower unemployment, create relief proposals for those who are unable to find work because of the pandemic, and to represent Biden with labor and union leaders across the country.
Heather Boushey, executive director and chief economist, Equitable Growth, gives remarks at the White House Summit on the United State of Women in 2016. Cheriss May—NurPhoto via Getty Images
Heather Boushey
Boushey has served the Biden campaign as an unofficial top economic adviser to the President-elect. She currently works as the president and CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, which seeks to diminish inequality by creating economic growth, and she was tapped to serve as the chief economist of Hillary Clinton’s would-be presidential transition team in 2016.
As the country faces alarming inequality, propelled by the COVID-19 crisis, which particularly hurt Americans of color, those living paycheck to paycheck, and those working in lower-paying service-industry jobs, Boushey will likely be tasked with finding long-term policy solutions to a growing divide between the 1% and the 99%, along with a diminishing middle class.
Boushey’s work on bridging the gender pay gap, creating policy for working mothers, and improving work/life balance will also likely come into play.
Collaboration for the win!! https://t.co/EqvyxNm5Gw — Heather Boushey (@HBoushey) November 6, 2020
Ben Harris
Harris is another economist with deep ties to Biden. He replaced Bernstein as the chief economist and chief economic adviser to the vice president from 2014 until the Obama administration ended.
Harris, who currently sits on Chicago’s COVID-19 Recovery Task Force, will likely be responsible for crafting immediate COVID-19 economic recovery policy. He has been advising Biden through the campaign and is a core member of the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force, which is intended to bridge the gap between progressives and the more moderate wing of the Democratic party.
Harris—unlike Bernstein, who is generally well-liked in D.C. and known for his jovial nature and dad jokes, and Boushey—is often viewed as the “silent architect” or the most behind-the-scenes member of Biden’s economic policy team. His role consists of taking policy recommendations and wishes and translating them to Big Business and Big Tech, eventually working to come to a deal that pleases all palates.


fortune--2020-11-07--These are the foreign leaders who have congratulated President-elect Joe Biden—before Donald Trump h

These are the foreign leaders who have congratulated President-elect Joe Biden—before Donald Trump has

From Fiji to Paris, London to Ottawa, foreign leaders were quick to congratulate Joe Biden on Saturday, moments after he was elected the 46th President of the United States.
The words were warm and welcoming for President-elect Biden. There’s something poignant, and a bit controversial, about the timing. The well-wishes come from foreign capitals even as President Trump refuses to concede the victory to Biden—and as he vows to fight the vote tally in the courts.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wasn’t the first to offer his congratulations, but his words set the tone. Over the past four years, America’s biggest allies have been drifting further away from Trump’s Washington on big issues from climate change to freer trade. That all seemed to change on Saturday.
“I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities,” Johnson’s statement read, “from climate change to trade and security.”
Across the English Channel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was even more prescriptive in her kudos note. “The European Commission stands ready to intensify cooperation with the new administration and the new Congress to address pressing challenges we face and notably: fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic and social consequences, tackling climate change together, promoting a digital transformation that benefits people, strengthening our common security, as well as reforming the rules-based multilateral system,” she said in a statement.
I warmly congratulate @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris for their victory in the U.S. Presidential elections.
The EU and the USA are friends and allies, our citizens share the deepest of links. I look forward to working with President-elect Biden. — Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) November 7, 2020
Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used the opportunity to remind the world the two neighbors are first and foremost “close friends, partners, and allies.” During the Trump presidency, that wasn’t always evident. Last December, Trump called Trudeau “two-faced” at a NATO summit press conference after Trudeau got caught on a hot mike criticizing the President to other world leaders.
Congratulations, @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. Our two countries are close friends, partners, and allies. We share a relationship that’s unique on the world stage. I’m really looking forward to working together and building on that with you both. — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) November 7, 2020
The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, too, was quick to make his voice heard amid the flurry of warm greetings. Over the past four years, Trump has repeatedly heaped criticism on NATO partner countries for falling behind on their defense spending obligations. In 2018, the New York Times reported that Trump even discussed with his top aides the prospect of pulling the United States out of NATO, a move that would have seriously hobbled the multinational defense alliance.
Such talk seemed like ancient history on Saturday. Stoltenberg said he looked forward to working closely with the new administration, reminding the world, “A strong NATO is good for both North America & Europe.”
I congratulate @JoeBiden on his election as the next U.S. President & @KamalaHarris as Vice President. I know Joe Biden as a strong supporter of our Alliance & look forward to working closely with him. A strong #NATO is good for both North America & Europe https://t.co/Ij3rWtNH5c — Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) November 7, 2020
Not to be outdone, congratulations also came in from mayors of major international capitals, from Paris to London, including Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
Welcome back America! Congratulations to @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris for their election! While we are about to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, this victory symbolizes our need to act together more than ever, in view of climate emergency. 🇺🇸#Election2020 — Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) November 7, 2020
It’s never clear if a foreign leader gets points for beating the pack to congratulate a new President. But, if so, that honor might go to Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji. He tweeted his congrats almost 12 hours ahead of the official announcement. To be fair, Fiji is 20 hours ahead of Washington, D.C.—maybe he just saw it coming.


fortune--2020-11-07--Biden needs to learn from Lincoln if he wants to be a successful President

The seriousness of today’s presidential challenges can only be compared with those when Abraham Lincoln confronted the Civil War and the end of slavery, or Franklin Roosevelt led the nation through World War II.
With Joe Biden elected as the next President, he will face the monumental task of taming the COVID-19 pandemic, dealing with its unprecedented economic consequences, uniting a divided nation with mounting racial tensions, and restoring America’s credible global role amid the challenges of climate change, health and social inequality, and a shift of global power from West to East.
Unfortunately, history doesn’t award Biden much chance of success.
In his wonderful book Indispensable: When Leaders Really Matter, Gautam Mukunda of the Harvard Kennedy School shows how “filtered” American Presidents (insiders well known to voters before being elected) very rarely achieve significant change or exceptional performance. Following Mukunda’s theory, President-elect Biden (a consecrated insider with almost 50 years in politics) would be doomed to join the list of “dispensable” chiefs, with an expected mediocre performance and thus highly unlikely to successfully bring America back into its glorious past.
But it doesn’t need to be like this.
The narrow but only path to a successful Biden presidency will require him to recreate Lincoln’s famed team of rivals, and urgently assemble a truly exceptional, diverse and inclusive presidential team.
How should Biden confront the daunting task of making more than 4,000 presidential appointments—of which 1,000 require Senate confirmation—with just a couple of months before inauguration?
First, he should remember that for building lasting greatness, it’s not the how or the what but the who (also the title of my 2014 book). Great journeys never start with brilliant strategies and policies carefully designed, but with a visionary leader who puts together an extraordinary team that will help the leader come up with the right strategies and policies for the right times, properly adjust them as circumstances change, and, most of all, successfully implement them.
Second, Biden must carefully assess the candidates’ potential. Given today’s extreme volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (also known as VUCA), jobs are changing so rapidly that past experience becomes quickly irrelevant and we can’t predict the skills required to succeed even a few years out. The transition team will therefore need to identify those future public leaders with a strong ability to grow and adapt to fundamentally unexpected and complex responsibilities.
Biden should check their capacity to grow into that job by looking for four traits: curiosity, insight, engagement, and determination. Is the candidate someone who seeks new experiences, ideas, and knowledge; solicits feedback; and stays open to learning and change? Are they able to gather and make sense of new information and use their insights to shift legacy views? Do they connect on an emotional level with others, demonstrate empathy, communicate a persuasive vision, and inspire commitment to the broader organization? Are they someone with the strength to persist in the face of difficulties and to bounce back from major setbacks?
Third, the President-elect should check the candidates’ levels of emotional and social intelligence. Often in government, candidates get too much credit for their academic backgrounds and years of specific experience; in reality, soft competencies distinguish exceptional leaders from average ones. The diffuse power structures of the public sector demand a superb mix of persuasion, influence, political currency, and collaborative ability. To properly assess candidates’ emotional and social intelligence, Biden should check their references with former peers.
Finally, Biden should appoint effective teams at all levels of his administration. But how will he actually get a team of stars to work well together? All truly effective teams shine in six fundamental areas: balance, alignment, energy, openness, efficiency and resilience. Some of these are more crucial than others. Given the need to unite Americans following one of the most divisive periods in the country’s modern history, the next presidential team should prioritize balance, openness, and alignment, listening to and bringing to the table very different perspectives.
The best practices for recruitment in the business world have already been properly documented. Putting together a stellar presidential team is conceptually simple, but difficult from an emotional standpoint. It will demand from Biden a paradoxical blend of deep humility (to look for, attract, and listen to the best people wherever they may come from) and fierce commitment to his gigantic mission. But it is precisely such a powerful mixture of personal humility and indomitable will that makes exceptional leaders truly great.
Claudio Fernández-Aráoz is an executive fellow at Harvard Business School and the author of It’s Not the How or the What but the Who. For more than three decades, he worked at the global executive search firm Egon Zehnder, where he was a partner and member of its executive committee.


fortune--2020-11-07--What a Biden administration means for the next stimulus package

The gridlocked stimulus negotiations on Capitol Hill just got a major shake-up: a Joe Biden win.
Since July, the White House, Senate Republicans, and the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives have failed to reach a deal on a second massive stimulus package. Democratic leaders came down from their $3.4 trillion ask to $2.2 trillion, while White House came up from under $1 trillion to $1.9 trillion. But the two sides never reached a final agreement as they battled over the size and scope of the package. And even had the two sides come to terms, it was never clear if fiscally conservative Senate Republicans would be on board.
Now, an incoming Biden administration is already changing the dynamics of stimulus debates. The Democratic President-elect made it clear during the campaign that he favored a larger stimulus package, like the one put forward by House Democrats.
But a lot of this hinges on who takes control of the Senate. Republicans are expected to get to 50 seats—if you give them uncalled races in North Carolina and Alaska, where they’re currently leading. Meanwhile, Democrats are currently at 48 seats, and control of the chamber will likely come down to a pair of Republican Georgia Senate seats going into runoffs in early January. If Republicans hold one Georgia seat, they retain the chamber. If Democrats take both, they’d have power of the 50–50 spilt chamber through the tie-breaking vote the Constitution grants the Vice President (now Vice President–elect Kamala Harris).
It’s unclear who is favored in the Georgia races. But if Democrats manage to win both seats, they’ll have control of the White House and congressional legislative bodies. That means after Biden’s inauguration in January, they could move forward with a possibly larger package that includes more than $1 trillion for state and local government, a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment benefits, and funding for testing and hospitals. In that scenario, Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, thinks “lawmakers will quickly agree to spend close to another $2 trillion to shore up the economy,” he wrote in a note Monday.
Zandi speculates a Democratic Senate could also pave the way for another stimulus deal in the summer of 2021. He sees that deal also costing around $2 trillion, focused on getting the U.S. back to full employment with support for government spending projects like infrastructure.
But if Republicans win one of the Georgia runoffs and retain the Senate, the stimulus package might be much smaller, perhaps even less than the $1.9 trillion offered by the White House. Senate Republicans from the get-go were uncomfortable going over $1 trillion, and twice they voted on a more modest $500 billion package—which Senate Democrats blocked both times. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi still calls that bill a “nonstarter.”
And if Republicans retain control of the Senate, others like Michael Reynolds, investment strategy officer at Glenmede Trust, believe that a smaller package could come during the lame-duck session that acts as “a stop-gap measure to make sure in the short run, people are getting what they need with enhanced unemployment insurance or if they do another round of stimulus checks,” with the possibility of further stimulus being passed later.
When Trump was running for reelection and—presumably—seeking a campaign boost from stimulus talks, Democrats had lots of leverage to push the White House to offer more. And it was working: The White House was eager to reach a deal as the election neared and quickly upped its offer from $1 trillion to $1.9 trillion, while Pelosi held firm at her request of $2.2 trillion. But that leverage is gone now, and it will likely be harder to get reelected Mitch McConnell on board with a larger package.
Another factor that could potentially stand in the way of a larger bill, Glenmede’s Reynolds argues, is that improving unemployment numbers might hinder the urgency of another bill in the minds of some on Capitol Hill. Case in point: On Friday, we learned the unemployment rate dropped from 7.9% in September to 6.9% in October.
“Republicans are seeing the unemployment report…and maybe thinking that [stimulus] doesn’t need to be as big as initially expected in terms of the size of the package,” Reynolds said.
On Wednesday, McConnell said another deal was needed and “we need to do it before the end of the year.” But following the strong October jobs report on Friday, McConnell told reporters the economy could use more modest stimulus—not another massive package like the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed in March.
“Something smaller, rather than throwing another $3 trillion at this issue, is more appropriate,” McConnell said. But that idea was quickly rebuffed by Democrats: Pelosi told reporters on Friday a smaller deal “doesn’t appeal” to her.


fortune--2020-11-07--Gift Guide: Extremely 2020 holiday ornaments

The end of a year is a natural time for reflection, and 2020 has been a most unusual year, with plenty of grief and frustration. More than 235,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, and the unemployment rate neared 15% this year.
Yet for those of us privileged enough to survive with our health and loved ones intact, we’ll look back on the toilet paper supply-chain issues and our time spent picking out the right mask pattern with a little laughter. To commemorate surviving 2020—something that everyone should celebrate—we’ve picked out a few ornaments that seem quite fitting for these times.
Courtesy of Paper Source
Nothing says the holidays like a little sparkle—and safety.
Courtesy of The Ornament Shop
He may not be putting toys under your tree, but if guidelines on evolving science are on your list, he’s got you covered.
Courtesy of Storiedcreatives
There’s nothing more to say here.
Courtesy of ChiclyBuilt
The only thing to do after surviving the toilet paper crisis of 2020 is to remember it every single year.
Courtesy of Zoeysholiday
Silent nights should be a little easier this holiday season since it’s best practice to stay away.
Courtesy of Country Craft Heaven Store
Pairs nicely with a bottle of wine. Or three.
Courtesy of Callisters Christmas
You better not pout; you better not cry. You better mask up; I’m telling you why: Santa Claus is coming to town, and he’s in a high-risk age group.


fortune--2020-11-07--What the Democrats can learn from Biden’s narrow win in Pennsylvania

Joe Biden has won the big prize, and the biggest prize: Pennsylvania and thus the presidency.
The numbers, announced Saturday morning, show that Biden will eke out a win in Pennsylvania by at least a 0.5% margin, not far from the 0.7% that marked Donald Trump’s victory four years ago. Indeed, the story in the Keystone State encapsulates the scenario in most of the battlegrounds: How, in a game of inches, Biden did just a bit better than Hillary Clinton with seniors and rallied a gigantic turnout in the blue-leaning suburbs that narrowly blunted a never-before-witnessed working-class surge for Trump.
“This wasn’t a big shift or a wave,” says Chris Borick, the Muhlenberg College professor who oversees its Institute of Public Opinion voter surveys. “About the same percentage of voters in Philadelphia voted for Biden, but a lot more of them turned out. In the rural parts of the state that are deep red, Trump did even better than in 2016. It was small shifts on the margin that made the difference.”
Borick notes that only two of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties changed colors. In both, the swings were small. But those subtle trends were also bellwethers of a narrow Biden win. “Those two were the first to report on Wednesday,” says Borick, giving an early hint that the former Vice President would win by a hair. In Rust Belt icon Erie County, Trump flipped the state Republican four years ago, winning 48.6% to 47%. But the ultimate coal mine canary is Northampton County, home to Bethlehem in the central-eastern tier. Obama carried the county easily on his two runs, but Trump shocked the pollsters in winning by three points in 2016. This time, Biden rewrote the plot once again, notching what is at least a 0.5% win.
“The great thing about Northampton is that it has a little of everything,” says Borick. “It has deep industrial roots as the birthplace of Bethlehem Steel and an urban core in Bethlehem. It also has lots of Hispanic voters and major suburbs because of its proximity to New York and location 20 minutes from Philly.” For Borick as a veteran pollster, Northampton represents something of a microcosm of Pennsylvania—and the nation as a whole. “When I saw the shift from the early returns in 2016, it was a tell that Trump could win,” says Borick. The slight shift to Biden on Wednesday, he adds, telegraphed that the former Vice President had the upper hand.
Nothing epitomized Trump’s 2016 more vividly than his gains in another industrial stalwart, Lackawanna County, whose hub is Scranton. Trump got 47% of the vote in the former Democratic stronghold, improving on Mitt Romney’s numbers by 12 points. But Biden staged a big blue comeback, winning by 8.5%. “That’s the county where Biden spent the first 10 years of his life and had his campaign headquarters. It’s right near the state line with Delaware,” says Borick. “That he beat Clinton’s totals by several points was another great predictor.”
The trends in Erie, Northampton, and Lackawanna, says Borick, showed that Biden was making modest progress where Trump had notched huge gains four years earlier. In fact, the whole election wasn’t about the wild swings of 2016 but gentle moves at the margin. He says that Trump lost support from seniors because of what many of the 65-and-over crowd viewed as his bungled response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But once again, Borick doesn’t think the swing was a big one. What sealed Biden’s victory was the battle between the state’s two paramount blocks, which were each fiercely passionate about their candidate: rural voters in farming and fracking regions and their blue-leaning, opposite numbers in the metros, notably Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and their suburbs.
In 2016, Clinton swept 82.5% of the ballots in Philadelphia County. This time, Biden dipped a tad to 80.8%. He made up for the shortfall in Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County, hitting 59.3% to Clinton’s 56.6%. In the rest of the state, Trump logged 55% of votes, beating his 2016 margin overall, with an especially big lift in the oil-rich western areas. “Biden’s comments on ending fracking probably helped Trump somewhat in those areas. But that support was mainly baked in,” says Borick. “Once again, the shift was modest—the story of the whole election in Pennsylvania.”
It was the one big shift that handed Biden his narrow win––the jump in turnout across the entire state. By late afternoon on Nov. 6, Lackawanna, Philadelphia, and three surrounding counties, Delaware, Chester, and Montgomery, had already cast 1.642 million ballots for Biden. That’s 142,000 or almost 10% more than in 2016. And Philadelphia and Lackawanna have some ballots still outstanding, mail-in votes predicted to break heavily for Biden. Trump also generated huge turnout in the rest of the state, especially in the farming and fracking regions. But although he got 70%-plus in those areas, he also slipped versus 2016 in populous areas such as Lackawanna and Northampton.
So overall, Biden managed a slightly bigger turnout in blue strongholds, where his share of the votes matches Clinton’s, than what Trump amassed in the red areas he dominates. That tiny edge made the difference. It was a fascinating interplay of currents and crosscurrents that decided the outcome. And none of them were big enough to produce anything like a wave.


fortune--2020-11-07--15 women who paved the way for Kamala Harris

The victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is history-making—for its arrival amid a pandemic, for the tumultuous nature of the 2020 contest, and for its Vice President–elect. Harris, the California senator, will be the first Black woman to serve as Vice President, the first South Asian– or Asian-American woman to fill the role, and the first woman to obtain the nation’s second-highest office.
But Harris isn’t the first to try. Her victory builds on a long history of women who fought for representation in U.S. leadership, from running for office as serious candidates to pursuing symbolic bids as a means of pushing for women’s political participation earlier in the country’s history.
These are the women who paved the way for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Victoria Woodhull
Victoria Woodhull, circa 1872. Hulton Archive/Getty Images
In 1872, newspaper publisher, Wall Street broker, and radical suffragist Victoria Woodhull ran for President—and was the first woman to do so, a half-century before women earned the right to vote. Then 33 years old, Woodhull wasn’t legally old enough to be President—a hurdle separate from her gender as she competed against incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant. A celebrity of her time, Woodhull ran on a ticket for the Equal Rights Party and nominated abolitionist Frederick Douglass as her Vice President. He never acknowledged the nomination, and Woodhull didn’t seriously campaign.
Belva Lockwood
Belva Lockwood was nominated for President in 1884. Courtesy of Brady-Handy Photograph Collection/Library of Congress
In 1884, attorney Belva Lockwood again pointed out the apparent oversight in laws barring women from voting—that there was “no law against their being voted for.” California newspaper owner Marietta Stow nominated Lockwood to run for President, representing the National Equal Rights Party. Stow joined Lockwood’s ticket, and the pair campaigned for office—winning 5,000 out of American men’s 10 million votes cast.
Charlotta Bass
Charlotta Bass (right) with Vincent Hallinan in Los Angeles, 1952. Bass joined Hallinan’s ticket through the Progressive Party and became the first Black woman to be a candidate for Vice President. Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis/Getty Images
Charlotta Bass, in 1952, was “disappointed” in both the Republican and Democratic parties for their lack of attention to the rights of women and Black people. The owner of the Black newspaper the California Eagle, Bass joined Vincent Hallinan’s ticket through the Progressive Party and became the first Black woman to be a candidate for Vice President. The Progressive duo campaigned against the Eisenhower-Nixon ticket.
Margaret Chase Smith
Sen. Margaret Chase Smith in San Francisco on July 13, 1964. Paul DeMaria—NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images
Margaret Chase Smith accomplished several firsts: the Republican politician was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives, the first woman elected to the Senate, and the first woman, at the Republican National Convention, “to have her name put in for nomination for the presidency by a major political party.” The Maine senator’s 1964 run for President ended when she lost the GOP nomination to Barry Goldwater. Of her run for the nation’s highest office, Smith said: “I have few illusions and no money, but I’m staying for the finish. When people keep telling you, you can’t do a thing, you kind of like to try.”
Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Chisholm at the Democratic National Convention in Miami on July 12, 1972. Thomas J. O’Halloran/Library of Congress
Rep. Shirley Chisholm’s 1972 run for President is perhaps the campaign most often cited as breaking ground for Black women in politics. The New York congresswoman was the first Black woman elected to Congress in 1969 and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Women’s Political Caucus. As she sought the Democratic nomination in 1972, her campaign slogan was “Unbought and Unbossed.” The nomination that year ultimately went to Sen. George McGovern.
Patsy Mink
Rep. Patsy Takemoto Mink (D-Hawaii) was the first woman of color—and the first Asian-American woman—elected to Congress in 1959. Bettman/Getty Images
In that same cycle, Hawaii Rep. Patsy Mink mounted another campaign for President. In 1959, Mink had been the first woman of color—and the first Asian-American woman—elected to Congress. She appeared on the Democratic presidential primary ballot after the Oregon Democrats invited the congresswoman to run to draw attention to the anti–Vietnam War movement. Mink ran a real campaign in the state, visiting often throughout the primary season; she said her campaign was based on the idea of “humanism.” Mink won 2% of the vote in Oregon and continued to earn votes in other states after she wrapped her campaign.
Frances ‘Sissy’ Farenthold
Frances “Sissy” Farenthold (right) in 1972. Bill Peters—The Denver Post/Getty Images
1972 was a milestone year for women seeking higher office. At the 1972 Democratic National Convention, feminist leader Gloria Steinem nominated the year’s Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Frances “Sissy” Farenthold, as a candidate for Vice President on George McGovern’s ticket. Farenthold “was a serious contender but lost the nomination to Missouri Sen. Thomas Eagleton.” (Eagleton was later replaced with Sargent Shriver.)
LaDonna Harris
LaDonna Harris was the first Native American woman to seek the vice presidency. Bettmann/Getty Images
In 1980, activist LaDonna Harris served as the vice presidential nominee on the Citizens Party ticket alongside presidential nominee Barry Commoner. A member of the Comanche Nation, Harris was the first Native American woman to seek the position. Harris is known for her work advocating for environmental issues and for Indigenous people in Washington, D.C., where she spent time with her husband, Oklahoma Sen. Fred Harris.
Angela Davis
Communist Party nominee for Vice President Angela Davis waves to a crowd in Chicago in 1984. The Abbott Sengstacke Family Papers/Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images
Not only an influential writer, activist, and academic, Angela Davis also ran as the Communist Party’s vice presidential nominee in both 1980 and 1984. She ran for office alongside the party’s presidential nominee Gus Hall.
Geraldine Ferraro
Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale and his running mate, Geraldine Ferraro, at the 1984 Democratic Victory Gala on Sept. 26, 1984, in Washington, D.C. AP Images
As Walter Mondale’s 1984 pick for Vice President, Geraldine Ferraro broke an important glass ceiling: She was the first woman chosen as VP on a major party ticket. The New York congresswoman didn’t make it to the White House after the Mondale-Ferraro Democratic ticket lost out to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Carol Moseley Braun
Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, along with the other 2004 Democratic presidential candidates, before the Iowa Public Television Presidential Debate on Jan. 4, 2004. Chuck Kennedy—KRT/ABACA/Reuters
In 1993, Carol Moseley Braun became the first Black woman to serve in the Senate; when Kamala Harris was elected to the institution in 2016, she was only the second. It’s Moseley Braun’s 2004 campaign for President, however, that puts her on this list. After she dropped out of the race, Moseley Braun endorsed Howard Dean in a field that ultimately consolidated around Democratic nominee John Kerry.
Sarah Palin
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is introduced by presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain at a campaign rally Aug. 29, 2008, in Dayton. Mario Tama—Getty Images
Sen. John McCain shocked the political establishment when he chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008. His choice broke the same glass ceiling that Ferraro had 24 years earlier, this time on the other side of the aisle. Palin was the first woman to appear on the Republican Party’s presidential ticket.
Carly Fiorina
Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina mounted her own campaign for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Kayana Szymczak—Getty Images
Businesswoman and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina mounted her own campaign for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination—and for a short period of time served as the Vice Presidential pick for Sen. Ted Cruz on his own ticket that year.
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton came the closest to smashing the “highest, hardest glass ceiling” of the presidency in 2016 that any woman had in American history. MARK RALSTON—AFP/Getty Images
Hillary Clinton, through her 2008 campaign for President—and, finally, her 2016 nomination as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate—came the closest to smashing the “highest, hardest glass ceiling” any woman had in American history. Her loss to President Donald Trump—although Clinton won the country’s popular vote—set the stage for this year’s contest.
2020 Democratic primary candidates
The 2020 Democratic primary candidates included a record-breaking and history-making number of women in the field. Allison Farrand—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Before Kamala Harris was Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick, she was part of a primary field that included a record-breaking—and history-making—number of women. Harris, in 2019 and 2020, ran alongside Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and author Marianne Williamson. That field paved the way for Biden’s promise to choose a woman as his partner on the Democratic ticket—and led him to Harris.


fortune--2020-11-07--Kamala Harris elected the first female vice president of the U.S.

Kamala Harris made history Saturday as the first Black woman elected as vice president of the United States, shattering barriers that have kept men — almost all of them white — entrenched at the highest levels of American politics for more than two centuries.
The 56-year-old California senator, also the first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency, represents the multiculturalism that defines America but is largely absent from Washington’s power centers. Her Black identity has allowed her to speak in personal terms in a year of reckoning over police brutality and systemic racism. As the highest-ranking woman ever elected in American government, her victory gives hope to women who were devastated by Hillary Clinton’s defeat four years ago.
Harris has been a rising star in Democratic politics for much of the last two decades, serving as San Francisco’s district attorney and California’s attorney general before becoming a U.S. senator. After Harris ended her own 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, Joe Biden tapped her as his running mate. They will be sworn in as president and vice president on Jan. 20.
Biden’s running mate selection carried added significance because he will be the oldest president ever inaugurated, at 78, and hasn’t committed to seeking a second term in 2024.
Harris often framed her candidacy as part of the legacy — often undervalued — of pioneering Black women who came before her, including educator Mary McLeod Bethune, civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer and Rep. Shirley Chisholm, the first Black candidate to seek a major party’s presidential nomination, in 1972.
“We’re not often taught their stories,” Harris said in August as she accepted her party’s vice presidential nomination. “But as Americans, we all stand on their shoulders.”
That history was on Sara Twyman’s mind recently as she watched Harris campaign in Las Vegas and wore a sweatshirt featuring the senator’s name alongside Chisholm.
“It’s high time that a woman gets to the highest levels of our government,” said Twyman, who is 35 and Black.
Despite the excitement surrounding Harris, she and Biden face steep challenges, including deepening racial tensions in the U.S. in the wake of a pandemic that has taken a disproportionate toll on people of color and a series of police killings of Black Americans. Harris’ past work as a prosecutor has prompted skepticism among progressives and young voters who are looking to her to back sweeping institutional change over incremental reforms in policing, drug policy and more.
Jessica Byrd, who leads the Movement for Black Lives’ Electoral Justice Project and The Frontline, a multiracial coalition effort to galvanize voters, said she plans to engage in the rigorous organizing work needed to push Harris and Biden toward more progressive policies.
“I deeply believe in the power of Black women’s leadership, even when all of our politics don’t align,” Byrd said. “I want us to be committed to the idea that representation is exciting and it’s worthy of celebration and also that we have millions of Black women who deserve a fair shot.”
Harris is the second Black woman elected to the Senate. Her colleague, Sen. Cory Booker, who is also Black, said her very presence makes the institution “more accessible to more people” and suggested she would accomplish the same with the vice presidency.
Harris was born in 1964 to two parents active in the civil rights movement. Shyamala Gopalan, from India, and Donald Harris, from Jamaica, met at the University of California, Berkeley, then a hotbed of 1960s activism. They divorced when Harris and her sister were girls, and Harris was raised by her late mother, whom she considers the most important influence in her life.
Kamala is Sanskrit for “lotus flower,” and Harris gave nods to her Indian heritage throughout the campaign, including with a callout to her “chitthis,” a Tamil word for a maternal aunt, in her first speech as Biden’s running mate. When Georgia Sen. David Perdue mocked her name in an October rally, the hashtag #MyNameIs took off on Twitter, with South Asians sharing the meanings behind their names.
The mocking of her name by Republicans, including Trump, was just one of the attacks Harris faced. Trump and his allies sought to brand her as radical and a socialist despite her more centrist record, an effort aimed at making people uncomfortable about the prospect of a Black woman in leadership. She was the target of online disinformation laced with racism and sexism about her qualifications to serve as president.
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington said Harris’ power comes not just from her life experience but also from the people she already represents. California is the nation’s most populous and one of its most diverse states; nearly 40% of people are Latino and 15% are Asian. In Congress, Harris and Jayapal have teamed up on bills to ensure legal representation for Muslims targeted by Trump’s 2017 travel ban and to extend rights to domestic workers.
“That’s the kind of policy that also happens when you have voices like ours at the table,” said Jayapal, who in 2016 was the first South Asian woman elected to the U.S. House. Harris won election to the Senate that same year.
Harris’ mother raised her daughters with the understanding the world would see them as Black women, Harris has said, and that is how she describes herself today.
She attended Howard University, one of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities, and pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha, the nation’s first sorority created by and for Black women. She campaigned regularly at HBCUs and tried to address the concerns of young Black men and women eager for strong efforts to dismantle systemic racism.
Her victory could usher more Black women and people of color into politics.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who considers Harris a mentor, views Harris’ success through the lens of her own identity as the granddaughter of a sharecropper.
“African Americans are not far removed from slavery and the horrors of racism in this country, and we’re still feeling the impacts of that with how we’re treated and what’s happening around this racial uprising,” she said. Harris’ candidacy “instills a lot of pride and a lot of hope and a lot of excitement in what is possible.”
Harris is married to a Jewish man, Doug Emhoff, whose children from a previous marriage call her “Momala.” The excitement about her candidacy extends to women across races.
Friends Sarah Lane and Kelli Hodge, each with three daughters, brought all six girls to a Harris rally in Phoenix in the race’s closing days. “This car is full of little girls who dream big. Go Kamala!” read a sign taped on the car’s trunk.
Lane, a 41-year-old attorney who is of Hispanic and Asian heritage, volunteered for Biden and Harris, her first time ever working for a political campaign. Asked why she brought her daughters, ages 6, 9 and 11, to see Harris, she answered, “I want my girls to see what women can do.”


fortune--2020-11-07--What a Biden administration means for business

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Only in 2020 would CEOs welcome a new President who promises to raise their taxes, intensify business regulation, and massively empower labor unions. But then this is no ordinary year.
Joe Biden as President will not be much of a friend to Big Business. Exactly what he will do or can do depends heavily on the makeup of the Senate, which is still undetermined. But he has declared several specific actions he will take as President if he can, and after 50 years in public life, his instincts are clear.
The one-sentence description of Biden’s economic inclinations is this: He thinks the middle class and working class should get more, and the wealthy should get less. He’s no socialist; for most of his political career he’s been near the center. But in a major speech last summer in Dunmore, Pa., a former coal-mining borough near his old hometown of Scranton, he was blunt: “Wall Street bankers and CEOs didn’t build this country. You can just look around your neighborhood or your kitchen table and see who built this country.” The people of Dunmore are the kind of voters whose support he has always sought.
Biden’s leanings are apparent in the most important business-related policy changes he has said he wants to make:
Raise taxes on companies
He has been unequivocal on this, saying that raising taxes will be a “day one” priority, effectively undoing Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017—if Congress agrees. The TCJA cut the top corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%; Biden would raise it to 28%. He has also said, “We’re going to double the tax on foreign profits so we don’t encourage people to leave and build abroad.” At the same time, he would offer tax incentives to companies that bring overseas operations to the U.S. and make certain green investments, among other things.
Raise taxes on individuals making over $400,000 a year
Biden would increase personal taxes in multiple ways, starting by raising the top marginal income tax rate from 37% to 39.6%. He’d also increase Social Security taxes on income over $400,000, tax capital gains as ordinary income on income over $1 million, and reduce the value of itemized deductions for taxpayers with incomes over $400,000. He’d increase or create tax credits for those with low incomes. “The guiding principle,” he has said, should be, “we must reward work as much as we’ve rewarded wealth.”
Strengthen labor unions
Of all Biden’s policy prescriptions, this is the closest to his heart. “Unions built the middle class,” he has said. “That’s why we have a middle class. In corporate America, the only way to deal with abuse of power is with power, and labor unions are the only ones that have the capacity to do it.” He has promised to tilt the balance of power by facilitating union organizing in myriad ways and by giving workers new legal protections. He says he will also protect employees—unionized or not—by getting much tougher with employers. “We will increase funding and staffing at the Department of Labor to aggressively enforce wage, hour, health, and safety rules across the economy,” the Democratic platform promises.
Impose new regulations
In addition to union-related regulations, Biden has been clear that he would raise the federal minimum wage to $15; create a public credit reporting agency and require federal lending programs to use it; “reinvigorate” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was established in the Dodd-Frank Act; eliminate forced-arbitration clauses in employment and service contracts; and mandate paid family and medical leave for up to 12 weeks. He has also promised to scrutinize mergers and acquisitions much more closely.
Add a public option to Obamacare
Biden’s public option would be available to all. He would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and would permit importation of lower-cost drugs. The U.S. health care industry—America’s largest industry, accounting for 18% of the entire economy—generally hates those proposals, fearing they’d decimate or demolish wide swaths of the sector.
Increase infrastructure spending by $2.4 trillion during his term
That’s a change business in general would love, and delivering it ought to be easy: Legislators are united in wanting to bring federal dollars back home. But President Trump also wanted an infrastructure bill, and partisan warfare was so fierce that in four years Congress couldn’t agree on the details. Biden will have a tough time doing better.
The big picture
A larger question—how Biden will affect the U.S. economy overall—remains hard to answer. No President alone can significantly change fiscal policy; that’s mostly up to Congress. Monetary policy is almost entirely out of the President’s hands. A study from Moody’s Analytics concluded that a President Biden would produce far more jobs and income than a continuation of Trump, while research from Stanford University’s Hoover Institution found the opposite. Research from Princeton University says there’s little evidence that Presidents influence the economy’s performance one way or the other.
Why do so many CEOs welcome the seemingly hostile Biden’s victory? For a couple of specific reasons and one big general reason. Specifically, Biden is less likely than Trump to escalate trade wars, not just with China but also with U.S. allies, notably Europe, Canada, and Mexico. For every company that benefits from tariffs, dozens of others suffer from the higher cost of imports and from retaliatory tariffs on their own exports. While Biden vows to be tough on China, he’s well positioned to dial down trade combat.
In addition, Biden will likely be less menacing to immigrants than Trump has been. The agriculture, construction, and technology industries in particular rely on immigrants and have suffered from Trump’s restrictions and his bellicose rhetoric that makes immigrants feel fearful and unwelcome. Biden won’t throw open the gates; he doesn’t want immigrants taking jobs away from unionized workers. But he says he’ll provide a road map to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and end workplace and community raids.
The big, general reason many business leaders are fine with a President Biden is that they can’t take the tumult any longer. Business prizes stability, predictability, certainty. Trump’s incessant whipsawing on some of the largest issues—imposing tariffs, closing borders, retaliating against companies, leaving NATO—has exhausted businesspeople. As many of them say privately, they can compete so long as they know the rules, but can’t if the rules are constantly changing.
Biden is far from U.S. business’s ideal President. But after the past four chaotic years, he’ll do just fine.


fortune--2020-11-07--Americans vote for change as Joe Biden is elected 46th President

Joe Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States. His success is the culmination of 50 years in public service: 36 years in the Senate, eight years as Vice President, and two failed previous presidential campaigns. At 78 on Inauguration Day, he will be the oldest President to take office.
Biden crossed the 270 electoral threshold Saturday morning, clinching the race with his victory in Pennsylvania, according to the Associated Press. Sen. Kamala Harris will join the President-elect as the first Black, Indian, and female Vice President in American history. Biden received more than 4 million more votes than Trump overall.
Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware on Nov. 4, 2020. JIM WATSON—AFP/Getty Images
The win ends 18 months of constant campaigning in what was the most tumultuous presidential election in modern history. Within the past year alone, President Donald Trump was impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress; 235,000 Americans have died in the COVID-19 pandemic; the President tested positive for the virus and was hospitalized; the U.S. fell into recession with an unemployment rate that neared 15%; George Floyd was killed by a white police officer leading to massive civil unrest and protests across the country; and wildfires ravaged the West Coast, displacing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.
There is no campaign handbook for navigating a deadly and airborne global pandemic. There’s no sage adviser who can explain exactly how to calm an angry and anxiety-ridden population. Add to that a news cycle moving faster than the speed of sound, propelling with it a sonic boom–esque din that makes it impossible to focus on any one thing for too long, and you’ve got a potential recipe for chaos.
But both candidates tried to figure it out.
The campaigns made mistakes, some deadly. Candidates made gaffes; staffers struggled with technology and with childcare. Americans struggling to put food on their tables were asked again and again to donate. Fundraising was done digitally. The all-consuming intricacies of a presidential campaign didn’t take place on a trail; they took place on a couch.
The contrasts between how the two campaigns functioned were stark. Trump continued to hold large rallies with little to no social distancing or mask-wearing protocol. His campaign ran much like it did in 2016, just with the addition of the backdrop of the White House, utilized for a number of events that certainly tested the boundaries of the Hatch Act.
Biden speaks during a drive-in campaign rally in the parking lot of Cellairis Ampitheatre on Oct. 27, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. Drew Angerer—Getty Images
Biden and his team, meanwhile, pivoted entirely. The vast majority of fundraising and campaigning took place from home or online. Instead of stumping on a number of initiatives and policy proposals, Biden hammered in on two messages: COVID-19 and the economy. Without travel, local surrogates and coalition groups became essential components of the campaign. TV ad budgets were increased to make up for a lack of in-person events, and they were front-loaded for September and early October instead of late October, to account for an increase in early voting.
Throughout this pivot, Biden maintained a strong, sometimes double-digit lead over Trump. And though Biden struggled to raise funds in the initial months of his run, he easily outearned Trump in the general election.
In the final full month of the election, Biden had three times more cash on hand than the sitting President. That extra money allowed him to spend on ads in states that wouldn’t typically be in play for a Democrat: Texas, Arizona, and Georgia. They worked. In a long-unprecedented accomplishment Biden won Arizona by at least a point and a half, a state Trump won by 3.5 points in 2016. He also broke records in Georgia, a ruby red state that hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 28 years.
If the logistics of the campaign were the bread, then Biden’s ability to position himself as a clear alternative to the status quo was the butter. The campaign operated as a vessel to deliver the good stuff. Biden’s folksy, man-of-the-people demeanor paired with his experienced, seen-it-all steadiness convinced Americans that he could guarantee a return to normalcy while progressing toward the future.
Supporters listen as Biden speaks in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Nov. 3, 2020. ANGELA WEISS—AFP/Getty Images
Trump, meanwhile, repeatedly refused to acknowledge the problems that plague the country. He insisted that America was, indeed, great. Just weeks before the election, the Republican National Committee tweeted out its priorities for a second term. The first goal? Colonize the Moon.
Pres. Trump is fighting for YOU! Here are some of his priorities for a 2nd term:
*Establish Permanent Manned Presence on The Moon
*Send the 1st Manned Mission to Mars
*Build World’s Greatest Infrastructure System
*Establish National High-Speed Wireless Internet Network — GOP (@GOP) October 23, 2020
The country had turned a corner on COVID-19, said Trump, as infection rates increased dramatically and governors of red states begged for help. The economy was the best it had ever been as over 100,000 small businesses closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. America had no race problem despite Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, implying on national television that Black Americans lacked the ambition to be successful.
Biden appealed directly to Americans with a simple message: It’s time to face reality.
A broken “Make America Great Again” hat model lies on the ground as people gathered at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington on Nov. 3, 2020. Hannah McKay—Reuters
Biden used his win to present himself as the great uniter, a theme woven through his entire campaign. Democrat or Republican, he said frequently, I’m here to represent you.
His actions stood in great juxtaposition to the rhetoric that has come from the White House over the past four years. Through both campaigns and his presidency, Trump rarely missed an opportunity to berate Democrats, question Biden’s mental state, and challenge the validity of U.S. elections.
There was no come-to-Jesus moment for the sitting President upon his loss. His tone was remarkably familiar during a speech delivered Thursday evening.
“This is a case where they’re trying to steal an election. They’re trying to rig an election, and we can’t let that happen,” Trump said without evidence. At least 65 million Americans mailed their ballots through the USPS or left them at local drop-off boxes, according to the non-partisan U.S. elections project. That’s about double the 33 million Americans who voted by mail in the 2016 presidential election.
Philadelphia election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots for the general election at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Nov. 3, 2020. Matt Slocum—AP Images
In reality, vote-by-mail fraud is exceedingly rare in the United States. The right-leaning Heritage Foundation maintains a database of all recent instances of recorded voter fraud and found just 204 reported cases involving the fraudulent use of absentee ballots over the past 20 years—only 143 resulted in convictions. That means that over the past two decades, about 0.00006% of total vote-by-mail votes cast were fraudulent—far from the rampant manipulation that the President described.
The President has said that he will pursue legal action to challenge the results of the election. If he does his options are limited, and his chances of success are incredibly small. But here’s what he might do: The electors in the Electoral College do not meet until Dec. 14 to cast their votes, and those aren’t counted and finalized until Jan. 6, 2021. That means the President has some time to continue to shout his accusations of foul play and demand that mail-in ballots received after Nov. 3 aren’t counted. If he can get some states to agree to change their rules, either voluntarily or through the courts, he could shift elector votes. But that’s a very steep battle.
Biden, meanwhile, will continue to work with his transition team and function as the President-elect.
Given the myriad of crises currently facing the country, Biden won’t be looking at a leisurely transition into the White House. He’ll immediately be faced with limiting the toll COVID-19 takes on American lives and the economy, the escalating environmental devastation that is worsened by climate change, and deteriorating global relationships. Americans will be impatient: They’ve been waiting for another stimulus bill for months already.
The team tasked with these issues will likely be contain a number of Biden’s Democratic primary competitors, especially those who rallied around him last March in an attempt to stall his competitor, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, ahead of Super Tuesday. In an unprecedented move, former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg, former congressman Beto O’Rourke, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar all announced that they planned to back the former Vice President within a week of one another.
Sen. Kamala Harris, who also endorsed Biden, went on to become his VP pick.
Biden and Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention, which was held virtually, on Aug. 20, 2020. OLIVIER DOULIERY—AFP/Getty Images
Coalescing behind Biden did the trick. His campaign had floundered during the primaries: He was unable to raise funds, and his debate performances were weak. But once he had the full support of establishment Democrats, he flew through Super Tuesday and picked up the nomination with ease. In April, Sanders publicly backed Biden and urged his followers to do the same.
“Today, I am asking all Americans—I’m asking every Democrat; I’m asking every independent; I’m asking a lot of Republicans—to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I endorse, to make certain that we defeat somebody who I believe is the most dangerous President in the modern history of this country,” Sanders told Biden.
The pair pledged to create six task forces to bridge policy divides between the moderate and progressive wings of the Democratic Party.
Biden’s attempts to engage with younger progressives lent Trump a strange and unfounded talking point that became a major element in his campaign for reelection. “Biden has made a corrupt bargain in exchange for his party’s nomination,” Trump said. “He has handed control to the socialists and Marxists and left-wing extremists like his Vice Presidential candidate,” he said referring to Harris, who previously served as the attorney general of California. The election, said Trump, was “a choice between a socialist nightmare and the American dream.”
But polling found that the President’s attempts to tether Biden to policies like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal didn’t work.
The President used his socialist nightmare messaging in a play for the Latino vote, which aided him in certain communities, particularly in Florida. Donald Trump Jr. led a Fighters Against Socialism bus tour in Florida to court voters from Latin American countries that had been governed by Socialist or Communist leaders. Trump ultimately received a higher percentage of of the Latino vote than he did in 2016. In Florida, a state Trump won, Biden earned just over half of the Latino vote, compared to the 62% who supported Hillary Clinton in 2016.
“We’ve been sounding the alarm about Dem vulnerabilities with Latinos for a long, long time. There is a strategy and a path, but the necessary effort simply hasn’t been put in,” said New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez via Twitter.
Latinx supporters attend a Biden-Harris Nevada Hispanic Legislative Caucus at the Walnut Community Center’s early voting location in Las Vegas, Nevada on Oct. 24, 2020. Melina Mara—The Washington Post/Getty Images
Progressives also turned out in droves for Biden, though many claimed that they were “settling” for a lesser evil. Worries about voter enthusiasm and turnout proved to be unfounded as a record breaking 73.5 million Americans are projected to have cast their votes for Biden this year. Nearly 9 in 10 voters who identified as liberal on most political matters cast their vote for Biden, according to New York Times exit polling, rebuffing fears of a divide within the Democratic party.
The President, however, had more up his sleeve: the dreaded October surprise. Biden’s son Hunter, who has struggled with addiction, reportedly left a laptop computer at a repair shop and never returned to claim it. Items from the hard drive, which the New York Post claims to have seen, included compromising pictures, emotional and personal texts between Hunter and his father, and emails that mentioned Hunter’s work with Burisma, a Ukrainian holding company where he served on the board. Emails about business dealings in China were also recovered. The Trump campaign claimed that these emails were proof that Biden had conspired to position his son into lucrative jobs abroad in order to rake in money. The story is still unconfirmed, and the accusations did not stick, as most mainstream outlets decided not to speculate without real facts.
The world wasn’t expecting President Trump to win in 2016. His tough, often mean-spirited, sexist speech created a spectacle that Americans couldn’t help but gape at. His promise to make America great again appealed to voters who felt abandoned by the system. He was an outsider like them, he said, a very successful one.
But four years later, surrounded by death, economic turmoil, and growing civil unrest, Americans did not find the name-calling as entertaining as they once did. They did not buy it when the President told them that America was great and that he had succeeded in his policy initiatives. They were ready to try something new.
Biden strongly considered a run in 2016, but he ultimately abandoned his decades-long dream after the death of his eldest son, Beau, to an aggressive form of brain cancer. For years, this election was litigated and re-litigated. If Biden had run, analysts said, he could have taken the race. Of course that’s speculation.
It’s impossible to predict what would have happened if Biden, a political figure known for giving his personal cell phone number to grieving strangers, who has suffered through unthinkable personal tragedy of his own, had appealed to the voters of 2016. Those voters were sitting on record-low unemployment numbers, and they had just experienced a two-term presidency where the wearing of a khaki suit was considered a great controversy.
A Trump supporter argues with a Biden supporter on the street outside Sacramento McClellan Airport on Sept. 14, 2020. Gabrielle Lurie—The San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images
2020 voters are different: They see the world with new eyes.
Every American has experienced some sort of hurt this year, and we have all suffered to varying degrees. We’ve fought for our health. We’ve lost a loved one, our income, our home, our sense of personal freedom, our physical community. Voters felt this deeply when they went to the polls this week, and they picked the candidate who they believed would right the ship, not charge the iceberg.
Now is not the time for name-calling or conspiracy theories, Americans said with their votes this November. Now is not the time for drama or for laughs at another’s expense. Now is the time for Joe Biden.


fortune--2020-11-07--The Facebook ad boycott ended months ago. But some big companies continue the fight

Several big companies continue to boycott advertising on Facebook, long after a high-profile corporate uprising against the service’s lax policing of hate formally ended over the summer.
Verizon, Clorox, Coca-Cola, HP, and Lego are now in their fifth month of the ad boycott. Meanwhile, companies including Target, Nike, Netflix, Hershey, and Microsoft have vastly reduced their spending, according to digital marketing firm Pathmatics.
The boycott, which was intended to pressure Facebook to do more to combat hate and harassment, was only supposed to last during the month of July. And after July came and went, many of the hundreds of companies that participated resumed spending, in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars weekly on Facebook ads.
But a relatively small number of businesses continued with their boycott. They want to see Facebook make more progress before they buy new ads on the service.
“As a people-centered company committed to our values, we feel compelled to take action against hate speech, which we believe will increase through the balance of the year,” Stacey Grier, Clorox’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement about its plans to boycott Facebook until 2021. “This creates an increasingly unhealthy environment for people and our purpose-driven brands.”
The reluctance of companies like Clorox to return shows that Facebook still has work to do. But considering the relatively small numbers of holdouts, it raises the question of whether Facebook even needs to make additional changes.
Earlier this year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg championed the idea of freedom of speech on his social network. Since then, under intense pressure, he has tightened some of the service’s policies for what users can and can’t post.
For example, in recent months, Facebook has banned posts that deny or distort the Holocaust, include photos with people in blackface, and promote Jewish stereotypes.
The one-month boycott, called the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, was organized by civil rights and Internet safety advocates. After having failed to get Facebook to change its policies through talk, they decided that hitting the company in its pocketbook may get better results.
Though businesses of all sizes joined the boycott, Facebook didn’t seem very concerned about any potential effects. Zuckerberg reportedly told employees in July that advertisers would be back “soon enough.”
Ultimately, based on Facebook’s third-quarter earnings, the boycott appears to have had little financial impact. Revenue during the three months that included July rose 22% to $21.5 billion.
Facebook didn’t respond to a request for comment about the boycott. But in response to an analyst’s question during a conference call for its latest earnings, Susan Li, Facebook’s vice president of finance, touted Facebook’s revenue growth, fueled by small- and medium-size businesses. Because of the pandemic, many of those companies have shifted more of their sales online. As a result, they’re also buying more online ads.
Some big companies that participated in the initial boycott have, in fact, returned to Facebook. But they have vastly reduced the amount of money they are spending on ads.
Microsoft, which was Facebook’s third largest advertiser last year, spent nearly nothing in the third quarter on Facebook compared with an average of $5.1 million monthly in the preceding quarter, according to Pathmatics.
Microsoft declined to comment.
At the same time, Target, which was Facebook’s 25th largest advertiser last year, slashed spending from $1.7 million monthly on average in the second quarter to $419,000 in the third quarter. And Netflix cut its average monthly ad spending to $286,000 in the third quarter from $1.8 million in the one before it.
Some companies like Lego stopped advertising on Facebook, but they are still buying ads on Facebook-owned Instagram. The toymaker, which spent an average of nearly $436,000 monthly on Facebook ads in the second quarter, has since halted all Facebook marketing in the U.S. and Europe and plans to expand that ban to other regions as well. In addition to shifting ads to Instagram, Lego is also buying ads on YouTube and Snapchat.
“We have resumed paid advertising on some global social media platforms…where we have assurances that action is being taken to address inappropriate content and protect our brand,” Lego said in a statement. “We have decided not to advertise on Facebook where we are less confident progress is being made.”
As for Clorox, it said it had increased its overall ad spending in the third quarter for digital, television, print, and audio by 30%, though it didn’t buy Facebook ads. The company declined to specify where it increased spending, only that it was on “other media.”
Prior to halting its ads, Clorox spent an average of $1.6 million monthly with Facebook during the second quarter. Though it said it will remain off the service through the remainder of the year, Clorox said it has been encouraged by Facebook’s recent moves to crack down on hate speech.
“In the past month it’s been encouraging to see important progress being made in the area of hate speech,” Grier said. “We’re continuing to have conversations with Facebook and are pleased to see these steps in the right direction.”