fortune--2020-09-03--Trump and his top aides have stopped wearing masks after a brief effort

Donald Trump and his top aides are conducting near-daily public events without wearing masks, disregarding government guidelines as well as the president’s short-lived effort to encourage Americans to cover their faces out of patriotism.
Trump first publicly wore a mask on July 11 during a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, to acclaim from aides. He wore them sporadically through the summer, including while visiting his ailing brother, Robert Trump, in the hospital on Aug. 14.
But as of late, he’s gone bare-faced. Trump twice attended large Republican National Convention events last week without wearing a mask. Almost no one else wore one, either.
He has since traveled to New Hampshire, Louisiana, Texas, Wisconsin and, on Wednesday, North Carolina, in each case meeting with local officials and residents without wearing a mask. His top aides also generally don’t wear face coverings.
Trump’s rejection of masks mirrors his broader rebuke of public health practices to fight the virus, which has killed more than 183,000 Americans. Trump at one point retweeted a Fox News personality who ridiculed Joe Biden for wearing a mask, and in May the president called a reporter “politically correct” for wearing one. But he pivoted sharply in July as cases of the virus surged, leading to the Walter Reed photograph.
It didn’t last. As he urged Americans to reopen the country and brave the coronavirus themselves by returning to work and school, Trump set his own mask aside.
Tested regularly
He has said he personally doesn’t need one because he and those around him are tested regularly, though the tests are not 100% accurate. His refusal to regularly cover his face has helped make masks a partisan issue, with surveys showing Democrats are still likelier to wear one in public than Republicans.
Scores of health officials, including the U.S. Surgeon General and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have urged Americans to wear masks. Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and a White House senior adviser, wore a mask Wednesday during an event in Michigan.
“It’s his own task force that’s recommending this, and it’s his own CDC that’s recommending it,” said Amesh Adalja, a scholar at Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security who studies pandemics. “It’s hypocritical if he expects the population to be able to do that, because the task force he constituted is recommending it, yet he’s not doing it.”
Biden has pointedly worn a mask when he’s in public. “Why do you wear a mask?” he said Wednesday. “To protect your neighbor, to keep someone else from getting sick and maybe dying.”
But Trump’s new medical adviser Scott Atlas has regularly downplayed the necessity of masks. “There’s no real good science on general-population, widespread, in-all-circumstances wearing masks,” he told Fox News last month.
Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said research on masks clearly shows they’re effective in slowing the spread of the virus. “I don’t know any serious public health person who disagrees,” he said, noting that Atlas, a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University, is a neuroradiologist, not a specialist in epidemiology or infectious diseases.
‘Recommended’ guidelines
In addition to flouting his own administration’s advice, Trump is running afoul of state and local regulations and stands in contrast with other elected officials, even Republicans. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, all Republicans, wore masks in encounters with the president in the last week.
Trump “encourages people to make whatever decision is best for their safety and to follow what their local jurisdictions say,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Matthews said. “CDC guidelines are still recommended, but not required. The president is regularly tested and those in close proximity to him are tested beforehand.”
In Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, Trump, Attorney General William Barr and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf arrived without masks for an indoor meeting with police officers and members of the National Guard, who wore them. Wisconsin’s government says people should wear a mask in “indoor places” that are not their homes.
During a roundtable event at a National Guard command post in the city, Trump advised participants, “You might want to take the masks off. Otherwise, you can leave them on. Either way you want.”
“Look how fast you took that off,” he said after all of the roundtable participants removed their masks.
When Trump speaks, spectators often gather without face coverings. Hundreds of guests crowded onto the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday to hear Trump’s Republican nomination acceptance speech, with few masks to be found in the audience.
At a New Hampshire rally the next day, several attendees disregarded a state order to wear a mask – and booed when an announcer reminded them of the requirement over a loudspeaker. Trump, his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and other aides also did not wear masks during the event.
On Saturday, Trump traveled to Louisiana and Texas to survey damage from Hurricane Laura. He deplaned Air Force One without a mask only to be met by six official greeters, who all wore one.
Some removed their masks during conversation with the president. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, kept his on except when he was speaking.
At one point, Trump told journalists asking him questions to remove their masks so he could hear them more clearly. Later, Trump signed keepsakes for local officials while a Secret Service agent and Meadows directed them not to get too close to the president.
‘Modeling good behavior’
In Texas, Trump met Abbott and Cruz, who both wore masks. The officials held a press briefing with more than 50 people crowding into a room in an emergency operations center. Trump, Meadows and Wolf didn’t wear masks.
In North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump again didn’t wear a mask, though he remained about six feet back from a cheering crowd of supporters, hardly any of whom had their faces covered.
Trump’s decision to forgo a mask puts his own health at risk while also setting a bad example, Brown’s Jha said.
“It’s been very disappointing,” he said. “Leadership is about modeling good behavior.”
The White House isn’t impervious to the virus — Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, and Vice President Mike Pence’s communications director, Katie Miller, both contracted Covid-19. They both recovered, and O’Brien accompanied Trump to North Carolina on Wednesday. He did not wear a mask.
Some Secret Service agents have been seen in Trump’s company without wearing masks. A Secret Service spokeswoman, Justine Whelan, would not explain its policy on face coverings.
“The agency takes all appropriate precautions to protect our workforce, our protectees, and the public from exposure to COVID-19,” she said in an e-mail, including the provision and use of protective equipment.
The service has declined to say how many agents have tested positive for the virus.


fortune--2020-09-03--The advice that helped this year’s 40 under 40 find their own path

Elon Musk is now the third-richest person in the world .
Here ’ s how much he ’ s worth

From CEOs to journalists to politicians, this year’s class of Fortune’s 40 Under 40 is an incredible group of innovators who refuse to rest on their laurels. To get a little bit of that magic combination of determination and foresight, we asked them to tell us the best career advice they ever got. They shared tips on everything from pushing through obstacles to being a better leader that came from mentors, bosses, public figures, and—perhaps most useful of all—mom and dad.
On thriving under pressure…
Catherine Coley, 31, CEO at Binance.US
In my first year on the FX trading floor in Hong Kong, my boss slapped a Post-it on my computer monitor: “Pressure is a privilege,” a quote from the No. 1 in the world tennis player, Billie Jean King.
It’s a reminder that when the pressure is on, it is an honor to compete for such high stakes. Pressure is the greatest indicator that what you’re about to do next is worth the fight, worth giving your all, worth going for it big.
On letting go…
Michael Kapps, 31, founder & CEO at Vitalk Health
The best advice I received was from Ricardo Ikeda, a successful Brazilian entrepreneur who was a mentor of mine in 2017. At the time, our company had about a dozen people or so, and I was just learning how to play the part of CEO. Ricardo, upon noticing my incessant micromanagement and stress, said, “As a CEO, you need to be the most incompetent person in the room.” At first this made no sense to me. “Incompetent? A CEO must know everything about his/her company!” I thought.
However, over time, I grew to really appreciate Ricardo’s advice. My goal as a CEO must be to surround myself with great people and help them achieve their utmost potential. If I do end up being the most incompetent person in the room, then that means that I’ve done my job properly! It means that I’ve succeeded in building a killer team that is better than me. Since then, I took a completely different attitude to management. I let go of a lot of my ego, helped our employees succeed even at my expense, listened more, and talked less.
On listening to your parents…
Mona Chalabi, 33, data editor at Guardian US
Advice from my mom: “Don’t look up to anyone and don’t look down on anyone.”
Carolina Garcia, 35, director of original series at Netflix
My parents always say, “Toma el toro por las astas,” which means, “Grab the bull by the horns.” It helps cut through analysis paralysis!
God-is Rivera, 35, global director, culture & community at Twitter
Hands down the best career advice I ever received was from my mother. My mother was a teenage mom who started as a receptionist in a marketing firm and fought her way to becoming a successful proven leader in the marketing industry who has now worked with some of the world’s biggest brands.
She did all of this while balancing being an incredible mother to me who never missed a recital or school play and while existing and excelling as a Black woman in a field that was hardly welcoming. When I first started my career and started to hit a few roadblocks myself, I asked her how she found the confidence to stand up in meetings and fight for her ideas. She told me the answer was simple: She knew that her ideas mattered as much as anyone else’s because “not everyone at the top has it all figured out.” It’s a simple sentiment but one that stuck with me forever.
On breaking through obstacles…
Jalisa Washington-Price, 31, VP, political & advocacy at iHeartMedia
“You may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last.” —Kamala Harris
She repeats this to young women and especially women of color who work for her as a reminder that we break barriers not for the sake of breaking them, but to continue to forge a path for all the people who will follow behind us.
Shivani Siroya, 38, CEO & founder at Tala
The best career advice I ever received came from my boss, Eva Weissman, when I was working at the United Nations Population Fund. I’d just arrived in Ghana for a four-month research project and learned quickly that the data I’d intended to study didn’t actually exist—at least in the digestible form that analysts need! She told me, “Figure it out!” And that has been my ethos ever since.
I knew she believed in me and in my ability to find a solution to what seemed like an insurmountable challenge. My solution was to build the data by becoming a walking QuickBooks. Through interviews and observational studies in these communities, I documented the daily income flows for micro-entrepreneurs. That time spent in Ghana and across West and sub-Saharan Africa became my catalyst for starting Tala, and I regularly encourage my team members to take on a “figure it out!” mindset.
Margaret Anadu, 38, head of the urban investment group at Goldman Sachs
The Angela Davis quote, “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time,” has been crucial given so much of the challenges facing the neighborhoods we invest in are incredibly complex and rooted in decades of injustice.
On working with others…
Lily Peng, 37, group product manager at Google
“Credit is not a zero-sum game” is a saying that Phil Nelson, one of my mentors at Google, often uses. This mindset has been particularly useful tackling problems in health care, where solutions require folks from a range of backgrounds all working together as one team.
David Rogier, 37, cofounder and CEO, MasterClass
Surround yourself with people who think differently than you. Often times, people hire the person who is the most complimentary or a “natural fit” within the organization. But with that thinking, you often miss out on diversity of thought—people who challenge you for the good and come to the table with different perspectives and expertise. Go for the non-consensus hires.
And, “get a good therapist”—my father (and former divorce lawyer).
Will Ahmed, 30, founder and CEO of WHOOP
“You should hear what everyone says. You don’t have to listen to them.” I don’t remember specifically who said this to me, but it helped me evolve from a young entrepreneur to a better leader. When I started WHOOP a lot of people told me I was going to fail or that I should try to build the business differently, and, as a result, I put up a wall toward negative feedback.
This insight of hearing but not always listening allowed me to acknowledge different points of view and try to better understand them without feeling the burden of just doing what people told me.
On remembering your personal life…
Manu Kumar Jain, 39, global vice president, Xiaomi, and managing director, Xiaomi India
The best advice I ever received was from my first boss at McKinsey & Company, Ireena Vittal, who also recruited me into the firm. She taught me the importance of having harmony in [your] personal and professional lives.
She told me that choosing the right spouse/life partner is the most important professional decision that one can make. One spends the most amount of time with the spouse and shares all ups and downs with him/her. If you choose the right life partner, who understands and supports your aspirations, you can achieve almost anything in life.
And finally, just keep moving …
Kate Johansen, 38, director of state policy and government engagement at the Mayo Clinic
“Make yourself useful.” —Everybody I ever met growing up in the Midwest
Matthew A. Cherry, 38, writer, director, and producer at Cherry Lane Productions
“Keep creating. Focus on the work and good things will happen.” —My manager Monica A. Young


fortune--2020-09-04--South Korean boy band BTS built an army. Now, they might get to defer military service

Over a third of executives still have no timeline for reopening their offices

BTS have built an army of K-Pop fans around the globe. For that, they might not have to serve in a real one.
Legislation proposed in South Korea would add entertainers who have made “great contributions” in popular culture to the list of men who can delay their mandatory military service. The would almost certainly include BTS, who earlier this week became the first Asian group since 1963 to top Billboard’s all-genre Hot 100 chart with their English-language single “Dynamite.”
The bill would ensure that the boy band can perform with its current line-up for at least a few more years, seizing on a global boom in South Korean entertainment after “Parasite” notched a landmark Academy Award in February. The group’s oldest member, Kim Seok-jin, is 27 and would normally be required to enter the military by the end of next year.
“Deferring military service differs from making exemptions,” said lawmaker Jeon Young-gi, 29, who introduced the legislation. “We need to give the option to postpone military service to those whose career peaks in their 20s.”
BTS’s success is not only important for South Korean soft power. Their manager, Big Hit Entertainment Co., is looking to raise as much as 962.6 billion won ($812 million) in an initial public offering in Seoul that is set to be the country’s largest in three years.
BTS grossed $170 million last year, ranking it fifth among the world’s top concert draws, just behind Elton John, according to concert trade publication Pollstar. And they’ve amassed a global fan base led the official BTS ARMY. An online concert held by the band in June was the world’s biggest paid online music event, drawing more than 750,000 viewers, the Yonhap News Agency reported.
While South Koreans have cheered BTS’s success, military service exemptions are controversial in a country where issues of inequality and privilege dominate the political debate. All male citizens aged 18 to 28 are required to serve in the military for about two years to guard against North Korea, which maintains one of the world’s largest standing armies and has never signed a peace treaty with South Korea.
Some argue that the exemptions are unfair to young men who sacrificed two potential years of their careers and may not have wealth to fall back on. Current law allows waivers for some elite athletes and classical musicians, but doesn’t include popular entertainers.
The bill would pave the way for other artists to “delay” their military service until they’re 30.


fortune--2020-09-04--Apple introduces new human rights policy after criticism of censorship in China

On Friday, Apple introduced a new policy outlining its commitment to human rights and free speech after shareholders raised concerns about Apple’s ties to China and the company’s role in censoring content.
Apple’s board of directors approved the policy just before a Sept. 5 deadline for shareholders to submit motions for Apple’s 2021 investor meeting. Earlier this year, two-fifths of Apple shareholders supported a motion, which ultimately failed, that would have compelled Apple to uphold freedom of expression worldwide and submit annual reports on its human rights policies. Apple had tried to block the motion from the agenda.
The policy released Friday affirms Apple’s stated support of human rights globally, but also acknowledges the bind it’s in when local laws conflict with those values. “[Where] national law and international human rights standards differ, we follow the higher standard,” the policy says. “Where they are in conflict, we respect national law while seeking to respect the principles of internationally recognized human rights.”
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Human rights advocates heralded the new policy as groundbreaking, even as they criticized its lack of enforcement mechanisms.
“Apple’s adoption of a human rights policy is a breakthrough moment, and we commend Apple for taking this first step,” Sondhya Gupta, campaign manager at nonprofit consumer advocacy group SumOfUs, said in a statement. “However, we still have questions about how the policy will be implemented and what oversight there will be.”
The tension between Apple’s stated principles and local laws has been most apparent in China, where Apple has complied with Beijing’s demands to ban apps the government disapproves of.
In its campaign against Apple, SumOfUs cites the tech giant’s alleged role in helping Beijing censor and surveil its citizens.
Apple has removed tens of thousands of apps from its app store in China in order to comply with Chinese government rules. The purges have targeted virtual private network or VPN apps that enable users to skirt China’s Internet censorship rules and the apps of major news outlets like the New York Times that publish articles critical of the Chinese government.
Last fall, Apple also removed a Hong Kong protest-tracking app called hkmap.live from its Hong Kong app store one day after a Chinese state newspaper criticized Apple for hosting it. The app’s developers claimed the app fostered public safety by letting users locate and avoid confrontations between protesters and police. The Chinese newspaper argued that the app incited illegal behavior and endangered Hong Kong police.
“As a long-term shareowner, we commend Apple for its new policy and look forward to working constructively with Apple to advance digital human rights,” Steven Heim of Boston Common Asset Management said in a statement. “[But] Apple must be much more transparent regarding implementation of its new human rights policy, including transparency in its responses to requests from repressive governments.”
The new policy does not mention oversight or how Apple will track its progress, but the tech giant claims it will now be taking a more active approach on issues related to human rights and free speech.
“At Apple, we are optimistic about technology’s awesome potential for good,” CEO Tim Cook said in the report. “But we know that it won’t happen on its own.”


fortune--2020-09-04--Weight loss and obesity drugs could help fight COVID-19, Novo Nordisk says

Novo Nordisk A/S, the Danish drugmaker, is exploring whether a new class of medicines that helps people lose weight and control diabetes also has potential in fighting Covid-19.
Research shows people afflicted by obesity and diabetes often fare worse in trying to overcome SARS-CoV-2. Now initial analysis of electronic medical records shows that GLP-1 drugs, which help patients keep blood sugar levels in check, could be a “very meaningful therapy” in helping people with diabetes battle Covid-19, Novo Chief Scientific Officer Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen said in an interview. He pointed to evidence the virus attacks cells that produce the hormone insulin.
“The early indication is that the GLP-1 class is actually beneficial in Covid-19,” he said. “That’s not unexpected because this is the class of agents that target the risk factors for bad Covid-19 outcomes.”
Novo shares recouped earlier losses to trade down 0.2% at 11:40 a.m. in Copenhagen.
GLP-1 drugs include Novo’s Ozempic for diabetes and Saxenda for obesity. Sales of such drugs, which also include Eli Lilly & Co.’s Trulicity and AstraZeneca Plc’s Bydureon, totaled more than $11 billion last year, according to a report from Grand View Research.
Rush for Treatments
Novo, the world’s biggest maker of diabetes drugs, is studying the role such medicines could play as researchers and governments rush to find treatments to combat the coronavirus. The U.S. last month cleared use of convalescent plasma — which uses blood from people who have recovered from Covid-19 to help those currently infected — on an emergency basis for some cases.
That added to a growing list of therapies available to doctors. In May, regulators granted emergency authorization to the Gilead Sciences Inc. antiviral drug remdesivir, while dexamethasone, a widely available generic anti-inflammatory drug, has shown life-saving promise.
Patients with Covid-19 can suffer from an inflammatory condition in which the immune system overreacts to the virus, causing damage that is worse than the infection itself. Studies show that semaglutide, the key ingredient in Ozempic, “dampens systemic inflammation” in people with diabetes and obesity, Thomsen said.
Novo is carrying out further studies and will make the results public if it can substantiate the preliminary data, he said. Thomsen added that there’s no clinical evidence that GLP-1 drugs have an antiviral effect on Covid-19.
Sales Forecasts
Novo has bet on GLP-1 drugs including Ozempic, forecast by analysts to generate $3.4 billion in sales in 2020. Saxenda is expected to cross $1 billion in sales this year. The company expects regulators to decide whether to approve semaglutide in obesity at the end of next year, or the middle of 2021 if it decides to use a priority review voucher, Thomsen said.
Research indicates that obese and overweight people are at high risk of suffering severe cases of Covid-19, with a French study last month finding that only one in 10 who end up in intensive care with the disease were in a range of healthy weight. Another report in August highlights concerns future vaccines for Covid-19 could be less effective for individuals with obesity due to a weakened immune response.
“Obesity, hypertension and diabetes are big risk factors for bad outcomes,” according to Thomsen. “But it is also so that the virus puts further stress on your cardiometabolic condition.”


fortune--2020-09-04--Book recommendations from Fortune’s 40 under 40 in tech

The coming-of-age autobiography of one of America’s greatest poets; a shrewd examination of incarceration in the 21st century that is still heavily linked to Jim Crow laws of the 19th century; and a guide to problem solving that might be especially apt during the age of coronavirus.
Here is a selection of book recommendations from this year’s 40 under 40 in tech.
Have you ever read the same book a second (or third) time and gotten something very different out of the reread? Or listened to a talk that was only moderately good, but you were in a creative headspace, so the whole experience turned out to be a highlight of your day? I think the book itself is only partially responsible for its being experienced as the “best”; the mental/emotional context of the reader is also critical. So with all that, this evening I’m looking forward to revisiting Nonviolent Communication.
Despite my aversion to superlatives, I consider communication to be one of the most difficult, important, and ubiquitous activities. Whether I’m communicating with a supplier, a specific group of colleagues, any users of a codebase, or my future self, most of my daily activities are dominated by communication. My ability as an engineer and researcher to make progress on truly grand challenges hinges on extensive teamwork. Accordingly, I see on a daily basis how the quality of yesterday’s communication impacts today’s productivity, through lasting effects that can be content-driven but, realistically, are more often emotional. Nonviolent Communication offers a conscientious look at emotional aspects of communication and considers how to embrace them in productive, good-faith exchange. At least for me, insights from the book manifest in speaking as in listening, and develop additional facets upon rereading. —Marissa Giustina, senior research scientist and quantum electronics engineer, Google Research (Google AI Quantum, hardware division)
Open by Andre Agassi
I loved Andre Agassi’s Open. So many good points here, both on achieving success and evolving as a person. Inspiring to read about the hard work, ongoing learning, and level of stress necessary for greatness. When things are tough I think about his line: “Treat this crisis as practice for the next crisis.” There’s also an interesting thread in the book about being misunderstood while trying to figure yourself out at the same time. I think this is something we can all relate to, both personally and professionally. Some of the toughest challenges are either interpersonal or struggles with ourselves. —Kristin Schaefer, chief financial officer, Postmates
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
There are several books I’ve found myself referencing throughout my career, but two have stood out the most. The first is The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, written by a handful of notable career coaches. The book essentially revolves around one main principle of eliminating drama from your life by behaving like an adult.
The second book, written by Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, is Man’s Search for Meaning. His book helped me in many different ways including how to be thankful and show gratitude in difficult situations, which makes them easier to manage in real time. By looking at challenges through a different lens, I’ve found that each one has an important takeaway I can learn from. As I apply this to my career, I’m very thankful that I have a job where my work is valued and important to those around me, and beyond. I’m proud to say that the work I do every day is very fulfilling, even when it may be difficult or when I’m faced with new challenges. —Steve Huffman, cofounder and CEO, Reddit
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
I do not have THE book that has been equally important to me throughout all the years. But Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman is among the top five books. It has helped me to better understand how the human brain works. Another one that has had an impact on me is a fun book called Fish!: A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results by Stephen C. Lundin, John Christensen, and Harry Paul. It has taught me that we, ourselves, can choose our attitude every day. And we can choose it to be “positive” each and every day. —Juergen Mueller, executive board member and chief technology officer, SAP
The book I most frequently think about is Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. It explores how the mind processes different kinds of information and unpacks hidden biases and structures behind how we think and make decisions every day. —Anthony Casalena, founder and CEO, Squarespace
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
I have read some great books in my day that really helped me think differently. Interestingly enough, the one book that was a catalyst for how I thought about and approached both my work—and personal and professional mission—was a book that was not about productivity or self introspection at all. It was about systemic injustice, and the sickening, inextricable link between chattel slavery in the United States and the prison industrial complex that extends and deepens slavery’s devastating effects on Black Americans in present day; this book was The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.
At the time of reading, I was already quite aware of the horrors of slavery, and disgusted by the prison industrial complex and school-to-prison pipeline. However, the way Alexander weaves together the grotesque, shameful history of the institution of slavery and shows that through systems both perpetuated and accepted by society, its worst effects were not only allowed to continue—but were thriving. This book is a stunning look at how societal systems connect history to the present, for better or worse, and how warped the message around the truth can become when those in power can’t tell their story or proclaim their injustices en masse. I always knew that I wanted to amplify the voices of those who had been silenced and marginalized. This book and its deafening call to action let me know that I didn’t just want to amplify underrepresented voices, but that this was a calling I must follow at all costs. —God-is Rivera, global director, culture and community, Twitter
Worth the Fighting For by John McCain
A memoir by my former boss, the late Sen. John McCain. To me, he personified service, courage, and integrity—or as he liked to say, “It’s your character alone that will make your life happy or unhappy.” I’ve tried to remember that when faced with hard calls. —Jill Hazelbaker, senior vice president of public affairs and marketing, Uber
Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership by Joseph Jaworski
Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership was the first book I ever read in the management science genre at the age of 16. I found it deeply formative for how I approach problem solving and partnership with a servant leadership mindset. I always strive to set a clear vision of the end state and try to recruit others to the cause through listening, learning, and evolving the plan. The specific tactics don’t matter; the journey is about learning, which requires different perspectives, and the goal is success or fast failure. —Rebecca Elizabeth Lipon Weekly, senior director of cloud business strategy and platform enabling, Intel
Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam Grant
I appreciate the research of organizational psychologist Adam Grant. In his book Give and Take, he shows that creating an environment that rewards collaboration instead of individual results leads to more success. A collaborative culture allows “givers,” or people who contribute to a solution without expecting something in return, to thrive. Often, givers are the highest-performing individuals in an organization. —Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org, Flexport
Simple Habits for Complex Times: Powerful Practices for Leaders by Jennifer Garvey Berger and Keith Johnston
Simple Habits for Complex Times is one of my favorites. Many books I’ve read focus on tactically defining solutions for various types of career challenges. This one is different; it highlights ways to reframe problems altogether to help you find creative solutions. Especially during times of COVID, this book feels especially relevant for me today. —Elizabeth Reid, vice president of engineering, Google
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
I grew up in northern Wisconsin, and this was the first “real book” my father read aloud to me. Later I had the opportunity to study Wildlife Ecology in the University of Wisconsin–Madison department that Aldo Leopold himself had founded. I was so impressed with the practical route Leopold took in his career. Before writing A Sand County Almanac, he wrote Game Management on the mathematics and statistics of wildlife population control through hunting. Leopold was relentlessly curious and never afraid to change his mind after learning new facts. My college graduation present was a copy of the book signed by members of the department, and I keep it on my desk at work both to read and to remind myself that the natural world is incredibly complex, and beautiful, and worth saving. —Dr. Lucas Joppa, chief environmental officer, Microsoft
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
One of my earliest memories of reading a book that moved me deeply was in high school when I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. It was the first time I had read one of Dr. Angelou’s books, and I distinctly recall the abundance of emotions I felt. This book made me see and feel in a way that I had not previously thought possible from a book. It showed me how much a piece of content can impact someone’s life—whether to make them cry, laugh, or learn about the world in new ways. And it stuck with me throughout my career. Can I help create content that makes someone feel something, or learn about the world in new ways? —Vanessa Guthrie, head of Snap Originals, Snap Inc.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
This is actually not a self-help or nonfiction book, but the book that resonates for me is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The journey of the main character, Santiago, shows that your career is a journey, and it is not about going as quickly as possible from point A to point B. Your career, heavily tied to your personal life, is filled with twists and turns, but you can get to where you want to go if you are passionate about it, continue to pursue it, and don’t be afraid to take risks and fail. Enjoy the ride as you are going on your journey.
My personal journey has taken me on a circuitous route from financial services to Prime memberships to now the current Amazon in the Community team to give back to the community. I have learned a lot in all my previous roles and companies, and I use it in my current work to think about how I can leverage Amazon’s assets—products, logistics, technology—to support communities and families impacted by poverty, hunger, homelessness, and natural disasters. —Trang-Thien Tran, principal product manager, Amazon
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
Jean Louise Finch’s journey resonated really deeply with my own professional experience, and I thought it was one of the more authentic coming-of-age stories I have ever read. Learning things you really don’t want to learn that may fundamentally alter your worldview without losing yourself is an exceptionally powerful skill. The book has helped me learn more about the world as it actually is versus how I would like it to be. —Ted Mabrey, head of commercial, Palantir Technologies
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
I love books and movies that inspire big ideas. One of my favorite movies (adapted from a book) is Ready Player One. Part of this inspires my dreams of the global, multidimensional, interactive classroom where you can have a vivid, virtual meta-verse that allows real people from around the world to communicate with and learn from one another. The movie really drives my imagination and hope for the future: Students deserve not just to learn about the pyramids, but to see and experience them in a virtual world together with their classmates from across the globe. One day we’ll see this come true, and it’s through VIPKid that we’re helping to inspire the students who will grow up to make it happen. —Cindy Mi, founder and CEO, VIPKid
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
I think the book that has helped me the most is The Lord of the Rings, not because I learned something very important from it, but because it gave me the perfect metaphor to explain why privacy is important to students and other nontechnical experts. Without privacy, we run the danger that someone will build The Ring and destroy society by ruling us all. Privacy is needed. —Carmela Troncoso, assistant professor, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)


fortune--2020-09-04--Over a third of executives still have no timeline for reopening their offices

Trump and Biden ’ s election odds are virtually even for the first time in 3 months

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Good morning.
The Conference Board polled business executives across the U.S. and found that only 27% of U.S. workplaces in America’s 20 largest metro areas will be reopened by the end of the month. And more than a third of the executives surveyed—35%—still have no timeline to reopen their offices. A slightly larger group—39%—are targeting reopening in the first quarter of 2021.
Interestingly, the survey found that wide availability of a vaccine would be the deciding factor for only 5% of respondents.
Meanwhile, Fortune’s own research shows a large number of Americans—8% of those surveyed—may consider moving as a result of the pandemic. If they follow through on that intention, that would be a massive migration, and bad news for cities. But this isn’t the first time big cities have been declared dead, and I wouldn’t write them off. There’s a not easily quantifiable advantage to putting lots of creative people in close proximity.
Separately, I talked yesterday with Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos. His company focuses on neurological diseases, so hasn’t gotten as caught in the hubbub over COVID as other biopharma companies. (Although it’s gotten lots of attention for the unfortunate fact that its February conference became a super spreader event.)
Vounatsos says the kind of cooperation that’s been sparked by the pandemic also will be necessary to deal with the Alzheimer’s epidemic. The FDA last month agreed to review Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab for clinical use by March 7 next year. If approved, that would be a significant step forward, but far from a silver bullet. “One company alone won’t be able to solve this,” Vounatsos told me. Moreover, “the infrastructure is not ready.” There are too few medical specialists to diagnose early Alzheimer’s, too few of the necessary diagnostic scanners, and too few infusion centers to deliver treatment. Collaboration of the sort springing up around COVID will be critical.
Vounatsos will be joining me on September 16 for a conversation on climate, health & equity. If you are interested, register here.
More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
After the storm
Yesterday's tech-led selloff on U.S. markets (the S&P 500 fell 3.5%) was followed by more modest drops in Asia (Hang Seng down 1.3%, Nikkei 225 down 1.1%), but things picked up in Europe this morning, with the Stoxx 600 up 0.7% at the time of writing. U.S. futures also look modestly positive. The development suggests yesterday was really just a demonstration of profit-taking by tech investors. Financial Times
Tesla shares
Tesla's share price has fallen 18% since Monday's close, including a 9% drop during the aforementioned tech selloff. It's not quite clear why Tesla's zippy stock-price ascent has taken a hit—could be gravity, could be to do with Tesla's plan to sell up to $5 billion in shares. Fortune
Google antitrust
More rumblings about the potential antitrust case apparently being readied against Google in the U.S. According to the New York Times, the Justice Department is weeks away from unveiling a case, against the objections of career lawyers who say more time is needed to build the case first. The paper's sources say Justice officials told lawyers involved in the Alphabet inquiry to wrap up their work by the end of the month. NYT
Apple antitrust
Japan's antitrust regulator is taking a look at Apple's App Store practices following the clash between Epic Games and the iPhone maker, over the app store's 30% revenue cut. Japanese gaming executives are also starting to talk openly about how they hope Epic, maker of the smash hit Fortnite, will win the fight. Fortune
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Trump and soldiers
President Trump has strongly denied multiple reports saying he called veterans and dead or missing soldiers "losers". The initial report, from the Atlantic, specifically referred to Trump's cancellation of a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, claiming he didn't want his hair to become disheveled in the rain, and that he said the American marines buried there were "suckers" and "losers". Trump called the reports a "disgraceful attempt to influence the 2020 election." Politico
NSA surveillance
The phone surveillance program exposed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden as the first of his 2013 revelations was in fact unlawful and possibly unconstitutional, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled yesterday. Snowden: "I never imagined that I would live to see our courts condemn the NSA’s activities as unlawful and in the same ruling credit me for exposing them." Guardian
Data transfers
After the demolition of the U.S.-EU Privacy Shield by the EU's top court in July—largely due to Snowden's other surveillance revelations—there will be "no quick fix" for a replacement, the EU's justice commissioner warned Thursday. Didier Reynders also told members of the European Parliament that the European Commission wants to "modernize" the standard contractual clauses that many companies use for transatlantic data transfers, again due to the same ruling. Euractiv
Eviction moratorium
The U.S.'s newly-expanded eviction moratorium kicks in today, and Fortune's Aric Jenkins is on hand to explain what's happening: who's eligible, what it means for landlords, and when that rent will be due. Fortune
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.


fortune--2020-09-04--Trump wants a Covid-19 vaccine by Election Day. But will one be ready?

There are growing signs that the Trump administration is preparing to license a COVID-19 vaccine before the November presidential election, alarming scientists who warn that rushing a vaccine into use before large-scale clinical trials have concluded could be dangerous and might dent the public confidence needed for a successful inoculation program.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has told state health officials to be prepared to begin distributing a coronavirus vaccine to health care workers and other high-priority groups by Nov. 1, days before Americans head to the polls.
Over the past several days, two top U.S. health officials—Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration—have also told news organizations that a vaccine might be made available to some high-priority groups, like health care workers, even before clinical trials are concluded, if the preliminary data from those trials is overwhelmingly positive.
It is thought that President Donald Trump and his advisers are eager to have a vaccine approved in order to blunt criticism of the administration’s COVID-19 response and boost Trump’s chances of reelection.
Vaccine A and Vaccine B
The CDC said it was planning to distribute one or two vaccines but did not identify them, calling them only Vaccine A and Vaccine B in the planning documents sent to state health agencies, according to the New York Times, which obtained copies of the documents. The paper said that descriptions in the documents seemed to match a vaccine candidate being tested by biotechnology company Moderna and another being developed by Pfizer in conjunction with German biotech firm BioNTech.
The Financial Times reported last month that members of the Trump administration had discussed granting emergency use authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine being developed by a team from the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford, in England, and manufactured by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. In a statement, the company said it has not held any such discussions and that it would be “premature to speculate on that possibility.”
Pfizer has said previously that its vaccine—which is currently undergoing late-stage clinical trials in the U.S., Germany, Argentina, and Brazil—was “on track” for regulatory approval “as early as October.” Moderna’s vaccine is also undergoing late-stage human testing in the U.S.
But what will we know from these clinical trials by November? The answer is far from clear. And there’s a good case to be made that not enough evidence will have been gathered to be certain that a vaccine works and is safe.
Airfinity, a London-based science information and analytics firm, forecasts that the AstraZeneca and Oxford team will be the first to report preliminary data from a Phase III trial, probably around Sept. 19. It estimates that Pfizer will have preliminary data around Oct. 8, and Moderna around Oct. 23. Preliminary results for a fourth vaccine candidate, produced by Chinese firm Sinovac, may also be ready around that date.
The company bases these predictions on when the clinical trials begin, the rate at which they report enrolling volunteers, and the infection rates in the areas where the testing is being conducted. But these are just preliminary readouts; AstraZeneca’s vaccine is the only candidate that Airfinity predicts will have final results ready before Election Day.
Preliminary readouts
Rasmus Bech Hansen, Airfinity’s chief executive officer, says that preliminary readouts from clinical trials are sometimes sufficient to give a clear indication that a drug will be effective, allowing pharmaceutical firms to apply for immediate regulatory approval without having to complete expensive further clinical testing. Conversely, sometimes the early results show that a medicine will clearly fail. But most often, he says, the preliminary readouts simply provide enough positive indications to know that it is worth completing the full clinical trial.
To receive a U.S. license, the FDA has said, a vaccine must provide 50% more protection than a placebo. To determine that, the companies conducting the trials give the vaccine to one group of volunteers and a placebo to a control group and then see who actually gets COVID-19 over the subsequent weeks and months.
But if there aren’t enough infections in the control group, proving that the vaccine works is difficult. In both Moderna’s and Pfizer’s clinical trials, which involved 30,000 people, about 50 infections will need to be reported between both the control group and the inoculated group in order to get an early readout of the results, Hansen says. The trials are not expected to produce final results, however, until three times that number of infections have been recorded among the participants.
That is why it has been essential to conduct trials in places where infection rates remain high. Even in a place like Florida, with about 115 new cases per 100,000 people at the moment, one would only expect about 35 total cases in a cohort of 30,000 trial volunteers—which is why it can take a long time to get enough infections among the trial participants to draw conclusions about whether the vaccine works.
It is possible for the preliminary readouts to produce results that appear promising but aren’t statistically significant. This is why scientists say they would be particularly wary of any move to grant emergency use authorization to a vaccine on the basis of the initial efficacy results from earlier stage human testing, as opposed to the larger Phase III trials.
These early tests often involve 1,000 or fewer people and are mostly designed to provide an indication that a vaccine is safe, not whether it is effective. Nonetheless, these early studies do provide clues to how effective a vaccine might be. One is by studying what is called the “immunogenicity” of the vaccine: What kind of immune response does it seem to produce. This is most often gauged by looking for antibodies to the virus in blood samples taken from the inoculated volunteers. Those results have already been reported for all three leading vaccines, but the lack of standardized antibody tests makes interpreting the results difficult.
‘Vaccine efficacy measure’
Unusually for a Phase I trial, a few of the COVID-19 early human trials—most notably the Oxford Jenner Institute’s study—had an explicit goal of providing an “vaccine efficacy measure.” This is done the same way as in the larger, later-stage clinical trials: Just wait and see how many people in the inoculated group contract COVID-19 compared with the control group. The AstraZeneca-Oxford team is expected to report these figures for its Phase I trial sometime in the next few weeks.
But Ira Longini, a biostatistician at the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute in Gainesville who has also written a book on vaccine trial design, told the trade publication Pharmaceutical Technology that the Phase I trials of the Oxford vaccine, with 1,000 volunteers and an “efficacy measure” end point at 30 total COVID-19 infections among this study participants, is too small to produce “clinical significance” and should not be used to authorize a vaccine. In fact, other researchers told the publication that depending on how those 30 infections break down between the control group and the inoculated volunteers, the results might not have any statistical significance.
Steve Pritchard, a spokesman for Oxford University, told Fortune that the idea of using the Phase I trial to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Jenner Institute’s vaccine was based on the idea that there would still have been enough COVID-19 transmissions in the U.K., where the trial took place, to get a good indication of the vaccine’s effectiveness. But this “has changed since the protocol’s inception. We are in Phase III clinical trials currently with higher expected transmission in the U.K. and other populations in the months ahead.”
Safety concerns are another reason why many researchers would prefer that full Phase III trial results are known before any vaccine receives authorization. Some rare adverse reactions to the inoculations may only show up once the vaccines have been studied in a large, diverse population. Others may not even show up until months or years after a person has been vaccinated. Hansen says that vaccines have “an unfortunate history of not being safe,” but that the need for long-term safety studies needed to be balanced against the risks of the pandemic.
But many researchers worry that the Trump administration’s rush to approve a vaccine before the election may backfire—undermining public confidence in the vaccine and maybe any future ones too. “Any negative publicity at all about vaccine efficacy or safety would muddy the waters and undermine confidence in one of the most significant missions humankind has ever faced,” Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College’s Hammersmith Hospital in London, wrote in an opinion piece for U.K. medical journal The BMJ.


fortune--2020-09-04--Mulan’s Disney+ release is reigniting a boycott movement

After the coronavirus pandemic forced Disney to delay and eventually cancel a global theatrical release of its live-action Mulan earlier this year, the movie debuted on the company’s streaming platform on Friday.
In China, where cinemas started reopening in late July, Mulan will appear in theaters starting Sept. 11, and Disney has a lot riding on the mainland release.
The entertainment giant has spent years trying ensure that Mulan, based on the Chinese folk story “Ballad of Mulan,” pulls in mainland audiences, unlike Disney’s 1998 animated film of the same name, which flopped there.
Disney producers made a concerted effort to represent Chinese values as accurately as possible in hopes of attracting moviegoers in China, the second-biggest box office in the world. (Before the pandemic upended the global industry, China was projected to surpass the U.S. to become the world’s largest cinema market.) Mulan producers also cast Chinese actors who are popular in mainland China, cut scenes that Chinese test audiences didn’t like, and shared the script with Chinese authorities and advisers to make sure the film would secure approval for a theatrical release.
Despite Disney’s careful planning, Mulan hasn’t managed to escape controversy.
In August 2019, at the height of the anti-government protests in Hong Kong, Liu Yifei, the Chinese-American actress who plays Mulan in the movie, shared a post on Chinese social media expressing her support for the Hong Kong police. Calls to #BoycottMulan proliferated on social media in Hong Kong and from pro-democracy activists in the region, who accused Liu of advocating police brutality against protesters.
The film’s delay also postponed the boycott campaign, but its Disney+ debut on Friday and upcoming theatrical release in Hong Kong have revived the movement.
Students and activists in Korea staged a protest in late July calling for a boycott in support of protesters in Hong Kong. Activists in Thailand staged similar demonstrations on Thursday, holding signs that read #BanMulan. The hashtag #BoycottMulan was trending on Twitter in Hong Kong on Friday.
Disney didn’t immediately respond to Fortune‘s request for comment.
“This film is released today. But because Disney kowtows to Beijing, and because Liu Yifei openly and proudly endorses police brutality in Hong Kong, I urge everyone who believes in human rights to #BoycottMulan,” Joshua Wong, a prominent pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong, wrote on Twitter on Friday.
Whether the boycott movement discourages streamers and moviegoers from seeing the film remains to be seen. The campaign is likely to gain the most traction in Hong Kong, where Mulan debuts in theaters on Sept. 17. But the box office in Hong Kong is small; revenue totaled $247 million in 2019. For Disney executives weighing the success of the $200 million project, mainland China’s $9.2 billion box office is a far bigger prize.


fortune--2020-09-04--Jittery investors eye today’s big jobs report as markets rebound from an epic sell-off

This is the web version of the Bull Sheet, Fortune’s no-BS daily newsletter on the markets. Sign up to receive it in your inbox here.
Happy Friday, everyone. Well, it’s not such a happy day for those of you had to unwind your Tesla or Apple call options over the past 24 hours. Today, some calm has returned to the markets ahead of the big payrolls report, with U.S. futures and European stocks rebounding.
Let’s check in on the action.
Markets update
Asia
The major indexes are in the red with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng leading the way, down 1.3% .
leading the way, down . Chinese tech stocks were falling this morning following news that President Trump is looking to ban even more Chinese apps . That’s as a potential sale of the TikTok U.S. arm remains in limbo.
is looking to even more . That’s as a potential sale of the TikTok U.S. arm remains in limbo. Malaysia on Friday dropped its criminal case against Goldman Sachs and 17 current and former Goldman directors, a key piece to the earlier $3.9 billion settlement agreement stemming from the 1MDB scandal.
Europe
The European bourses bounced higher after a rough start. Spain’s IBEX was the stand-out as investors cheer a potential $17 billion tie-up between CaixaBank and Bankia.
bounced higher after a rough start. Spain’s IBEX was the stand-out as investors cheer a potential tie-up between CaixaBank and Bankia. The European Commission on Thursday unveiled a new plan to diversify its raw materials supply chain, so vital for its green-new-deal-like ambitions. A big plank is to mine the rare-earth minerals that go into electric car and wind turbine components locally, in the EU.
on Thursday unveiled a new plan to diversify its raw materials supply chain, so vital for its green-new-deal-like ambitions. A big plank is to mine the that go into electric car and wind turbine components locally, in the EU. The European Central Bank’s seemingly boundless bond-buying program, which includes acquiring debt issued by Europe’s energy giants Royal Dutch Shell and Total, is “feeding a natural gas frenzy,” activists warn.
U.S.
S&P and Dow futures are in the green, but tech futures are still in negative territory, at one point off 2% . All eyes are on today’s big jobs report, due out before the opening bell.
are in the green, but tech futures are still in negative territory, at one point off . All eyes are on today’s big jobs report, due out before the opening bell. Yesterday’s sell-off, the worst since June, saw Apple fall 8% on Thursday. Tesla plunged 9% . They’re both lower in pre-market trading as well.
on Thursday. Tesla plunged . They’re both lower in pre-market trading as well. Will the payrolls report deliver good news? Economists forecast that the U.S. economy added 1.32 million new jobs in August and that the unemployment rate fell to 9.8%. But the estimates are all over the place as economists debate the economic impact of the late-July expiration of the $600 weekly unemployment supplement.
Elsewhere
Gold is flat, trading near $1,940/ounce .
is flat, trading near . The dollar is losing its gains as equities rebound.
is losing its gains as equities rebound. Crude is up with Brent trading above $44/barrel.
By the Numbers
10%. With 60 days to go before Election Day, the Trump Administration needs a big jobs number today to show voters the labor market is bouncing back. The consensus forecast shows the unemployment rate will have dropped below 10%, but there is great uncertainty over how much of an improvement we may see. According to UBS’s Paul Donavan, the range between low end and high is a staggering 2.5 million jobs. The whisper number, for example, calls for just 670,000 new jobs, about half of what economists expect. Others say the gains will be even less than that. Anything on the low end would be really bad news for the president. Why such a discrepancy between worst-case and consensus estimates? Washington’s inability to strike a deal on a new stimulus spending plan, market observers agree, has blunted the economic recovery. It’s only a matter of time before that shows up in the jobs reports.
5%. The Nasdaq fell 5% on Thursday, its worst one-day rout since March. That’s the bad news. The good news: the tech-heavy index is up 27.7% year-to-date. But, as Bull Sheet noted yesterday, there’s increasing concern over tech stock valuations, particularly after the August rally. As tech stocks were in meltdown yesterday, I got an investor note worth sharing. In it, Peter Essele, Head of Portfolio Management for Commonwealth Financial Network, writes: “The tech-heavy Nasdaq experienced its largest decline since March, after a run-up over the last few months that seemed to be fed more by emotion than fundamentals. Some of the darlings as of late, including AAPL and TSLA, were down almost 10 percent. It’s possible that today’s market is an indication of things to come, where fundamentals play a larger part in valuations, as opposed to the irrational exuberance that has persisted in recent months within tech. The lack of a broad selloff across all sectors shows that there’s a good deal of “hot money” chasing the large tech names, which can exit as quickly as it entered. Today’s rout was a rush to the exit for many of the momentum buyers.”
>-20%. Tesla Bulls got a huge scare yesterday when shares dipped by more than 20%. Plenty of commentators were quick to point out: that’s bear market territory!
Yes, a 20% drop in a trading session is a huge deal, but the stock is still up 386% in 2020. That’s probably of little comfort though to the retail army that poured into the stock ahead of its five-for-one stock split, and now sees its call-options coming due. As Bloomberg noted yesterday, “a bullish wager for Tesla Inc. to reach $500 by Friday’s expiry lost 90% as the stock dropped 9% to $407.”
That’s a rough lesson about how puts and calls work.
***
Bernhard Warner
@BernhardWarner
Bernhard.Warner@Fortune.com
***
Have a nice weekend, everyone. I’ll see you here on Tuesday. Bull Sheet is off on Sept. 7 for the Labor Day holiday.
Today's reads
Putting yesterday's sell-off in perspective. The Nasdaq rout was "not that remarkable when compared with what has been happening in other market segments," writes Mohamed A. El-Erian in Bloomberg. "The recent stock records contrast with the more cautious, if not contradictory, traditional signals sent by declining government debt yields, steady high-yield risk spreads and a rising VIX." In other words, we should've seen this coming. Still, don't dwell too much on yesterday. Prepare for the coming days, he advises.
Strap-hanging. When I lived in Manhattan, my first-floor apartment sat right above the B and C subway lines. I could feel the trains rumbling in and out of the station whenever I spent time in that awful tiny kitchen. I mention that in light of yesterday's news that Metropolitan Transit Authority officials are warning they're in a $12 billion COVID-sized hole. Without a federal bailout, MTA CEO Patrick Foye warns, the entire U.S. economy will take a hit.
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Market candy
$44 billion
That's how much the ten wealthiest tech titans lost in yesterday's stock market plunge, leading with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who saw his net worth shrink by $9 billion. Don't feel too bad for them. "Even after Thursday’s rout, the 500 richest people have together added $830 billion in wealth this year," Bloomberg reports, citing the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.


fortune--2020-09-04--Octavia E. Butler makes the New York Times Best Sellers list

An abbreviated raceAhead today, it has been a long year this week and we all need to reward ourselves for our labor. A little inspiration below; we will return to the news next week.
But first, here’s your poetic week in review, in Haiku.
I have eaten the
plums that were in the ice box.
Yeah, they were cold; too
bad for you. I did
not eat the soup that was in
the pantry. I thought
I would throw the cans,
maybe the bags? Of the soup?
at all the people.
I needed them: Bricks
are too heavy to throw, I
should have saved the soup
for my family.
Forgive me about the plum
thing. I threw them, too.
Have a sensibly nutritious long weekend.
Ellen McGirt
@ellmcgirt
Ellen.McGirt@fortune.com
In Brief
Nearly fifty years after she began publishing and 14 years after her death, a novel written by the science fiction titan Octavia E. Butler has finally made it to the New York Times Best Seller List.
And not just any novel.
Parable of the Sower, first published in 1993, is the eerily prescient and dystopian tale of California in 2024, beset by climate change upheaval and with a deeply divided populace in a desperate fight over scarce resources. Oh, and private armies protect corporate interests, and there is a troubling presidential candidate. For starters.
Butler’s agent, Merrilee Heifetz, tweeted the news. “This was one of her life goals. Thank you all for making it happen!"
Butler has always deserved — and believed she would find — this sort of validation. She made inclusive worlds that challenged racism, gender stereotypes, and power, and sought to stoke a moral imagination in her readers. She was the first science fiction author to be awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant and has attracted loyal fans and other extraordinary Black women to the genre. Parable has even been turned into an opera by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon.
But it looks like now, we need her more than ever.
In a lovely essay, Cella Sum, a designer and a Masters in Human-Computer Interaction and Design student at UC Irvine, describes some of the ways she’s thinking about the future she plans to help make, and how Butler’s approach to science fiction can play an essential role.
“Octavia Butler had long understood how our past and present connect with our imagined futures. She saw science fiction as a method ‘for looking ahead’ in such a way that is not about ‘what our future will be,' but how we think about it, foresee it,” she writes. “In other words, science fiction can help us think critically about our past and present in order to be better equipped to shape the future.”
It is poignant, then, that so many are returning to her work to reflect and perhaps inspire their own critical thinking — necessary to fix a world coming undone by overlapping crises and structural cruelty.
But I also find comfort in the idea that the labor Butler performed so long ago is being rewarded with a renewed audience and an overdue accolade. I have to believe she knew she was playing a long, long game. Inspiration can take some time.
It feels like a sign for everyone.
For those who labor, for those do the work, the seed is planted. Know hope and rest up.
“Embrace diversity. Unite— Or be divided, robbed, ruled, killed by those who see you as prey. Embrace diversity or be destroyed.” Parable of the Sower
Today's mood board
"During her life, @OctaviaEButler set the goal to be on the NYT bestseller list (as seen in her journal below). We are thrilled to say that today her novel PARABLE OF THE SOWER achieved that goal! What an amazing day and an incredible thing to add to her legacy! CONGRATS OCTAVIA!" @GrandCentralPub


fortune--2020-09-04--Pentagon reaffirms Microsoft’s $10 billion JEDI cloud contract amid Amazon’s challenge

The Defense Department reaffirmed its decision to award Microsoft a $10 billion cloud-computing contract after a re-evaluation.
The department said in a statement Friday that it “determined that Microsoft’s proposal continues to represent the best value to the government.”
The Pentagon previously said it wanted to reconsider “certain aspects” of the procurement, including elements of the bidders’ price proposals and online marketplaces, after a legal challenge of the award by market leader Amazon.com.
The contract, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, is valued at as much as $10 billion over a decade.
A Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement that the Pentagon confirmed that the company “offered the right technology and the best value. We’re ready to get to work and make sure that those who serve our country have access to this much needed technology.”
Amazon said in a blog post that the Pentagon’s re-evaluation was “nothing more than an attempt to validate a flawed, biased and politically corrupted decision.”
The Pentagon made its request to revisit the cloud award after Federal Claims Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith wrote in March that the Defense Department might have misjudged part of Microsoft’s pricing proposal.
Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud unit, filed a lawsuit in November alleging that political interference by President Donald Trump cost the company the deal. Amazon said in the suit that the Defense Department failed to fairly judge its bid because Trump viewed Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos as his “political enemy.”
As part of that lawsuit, Amazon argued that Microsoft’s bid failed to comply with a government requirement that the winner’s data storage be “highly-accessible” under one of six possible price scenarios. The government argued that Amazon was elevating “superficial labels over technical performance.”
Campbell-Smith said it was likely Amazon’s “chances of receiving the award would have increased” if it weren’t for the Pentagon’s errors in evaluating the pricing proposals. After the ruling, the government requested to revisit the contract and allow bidders to revise the problematic part of that pricing scenario.
Amazon had sought a broader review of the bidding process by the Pentagon.
Judge Campbell-Smith has yet to rule on most of the merits of Amazon’s legal challenge. The court had paused proceedings in the case while the Pentagon revisited its decision to award the deal to Microsoft.
Earlier this week, a U.S. appeals court rejected Corp.’s legal challenge fighting its exclusion from seeking the cloud-computing deal.


fortune--2020-09-04--Tesla’s largest outside shareholder sold at a very good time

Talk about good timing.
On Wednesday, Tesla’s largest outside shareholder, Scotland-based firm Baillie Gifford, announced it had some portfolio rebalancing to do, and as a result was selling some of its Tesla stake. Tesla closed at $447 a piece on Wednesday.
“We remain very optimistic about the future of the company,” Baillie Gifford’s James Anderson said in a statement early on Wednesday. “The substantial increase in Tesla’s share price means that we needed to reduce our holding in order to reflect concentration guidelines which restrict the weight of a single stock in clients’ portfolios. However, we intend to remain significant shareholders for many years ahead,” he said.
The firm, which has held Tesla stock since 2013, added that “Tesla no longer faces any difficulty in raising capital at scale from outside sources, but should there be serious setbacks in the share price we would welcome the opportunity to once again increase our shareholding,” Anderson said.
It looks like that moment may have come sooner than expected.
In trading between Tuesday’s close and Friday, Tesla shares fell 12% to close Friday at $418, having tumbled over 16% from Monday.
The outlook for the electric-vehicle maker has always been contentious, and bears have long argued that Tesla has a business model problem—namely that its main business will never make enough money to justify the lofty stock price.
Indeed, Tesla’s stock has seen a meteoric rise over the past few months—up nearly 560% since March to Tuesday’s peak. To put that in perspective, Tesla’s stock rose roughly 33% in all of 2019. And it has left many on the Street wondering if the electric-vehicle maker is worth its current multiple (even after its stock split).
But many Tesla believers, including Baillie Gifford, remain optimistic. And for longtime bulls like Wedbush’s Dan Ives, Tesla’s recent moves, including a 5-for-1 stock split and a capital raise of up to $5 billion, “just puts further credence in the longer-term bullish thesis for Tesla,” Ives recently told Fortune. “I think it really takes the lingering bear thesis around the balance sheet and debt situation and throws it out the window.” That’s why Ives, for one, is still optimistic the stock can go even higher. His bull case for the stock is $700 per share, which would represent a further gain of 40% from Friday’s close.
Meanwhile, many are predicting that having reported a profit in its second quarter (its fourth in a row), Tesla may soon be added to the S&P 500 index. Inclusion would be “important institutionally speaking,” Ives recently told Fortune, as institutional investors have shown increasing interest in the stock in recent months, he says. However, Tesla investors will have to continue waiting, as the Elon Musk–led company was not among those added to the S&P 500 on Friday.
Wherever you stand on Tesla, one thing’s for sure: Just like financial advisers always recommend, this week’s swings surely show the power of regularly rebalancing your portfolio.


fortune--2020-09-04--Voting twice, as President Trump suggested, is rare—but it does happen

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President Donald Trump’s suggestion for North Carolina voters to cast their ballots twice in the upcoming presidential election stirred fears of voter fraud, with critics quick to point out the illegality of double voting.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic almost certainly will prompt a number of voters across the country to submit absentee ballots by mail. But the president, looking to solidify his chances in key battleground states like North Carolina, said voters should also show up in-person on Election Day come Nov. 3.
“They are going to have to check their vote by going to the poll and voting that way because if it tabulates, then they won’t be able to do that,” Trump said to reporters on Wednesday. “So let them send it in, and let them go vote. And if their system is as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote. If it isn’t tabulated, they will be able to vote.”
The president doubled down on his claims, without evidence, at a rally in Latrobe, Penn. the following day. “You have to make sure your vote counts, because the only way they’re gonna beat us is by doing that kind of stuff,” he told the crowd.
In the wake of Trump’s comments in North Carolina, the state’s Attorney General Josh Stein tweeted that the president “outrageously encouraged [North Carolinians] to break the law in order to help him sow chaos in our election.”
It is a federal crime to vote twice in the same election, in addition to being outlawed in 31 states and Washington, D.C. Experts say so-called “double voting” in rare in modern elections in the United States, but it still can happen.
A recent analysis of state records by the Cincinnati Enquirer found that 2,177 Ohioans total attempted to vote twice in the past three presidential elections. The number, however, represented just 0.013% of the more than 17 million ballots cast, illustrating the move’s rarity. The paper added that each one of these extra votes were flagged by election officials and eventually discarded.
A March 2020 study by researchers from Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and Microsoft, noted that despite double voting being “one of the most common assertions of voter fraud,” it’s difficult to identify instances due to public restriction of voter information, such as social security numbers.
Ultimately, the study concluded that double voting “is not currently carried out in such a systematic way that it presents a threat to the integrity of American elections.” The researchers estimated that, at most, one in every 4,000 votes cast in 2012 were double votes.
Still, it’s important to note that the study was published before the scope of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the election became clear, and the likely record numbers of mail-in votes that will occur as a result. Seeking to limit the spread of misinformation, both Facebook and Twitter posted warning labels over Trump’s posts urging his supporters to vote by mail and then follow up in person. “Voting by mail has a long history of trustworthiness in the US and the same is predicted this year,” said a message accompanying Trump’s post on Facebook.
As for the Democrats, they accused Trump of attempting to undermine the legitimacy of the election.
“Let’s be clear,” said Reyna Walters-Morgan, the Democratic National Committee’s director of voter protection, “voting by mail is a safe and secure way for Americans to participate in our democracy—and Trump should be working to make it easier to vote, not harder.”


fortune--2020-09-04--Coronavirus positivity rates reach ‘red zone’ territory in 13 states

Confirmed coronavirus infections in the U.S. topped 6 million this week, and while case numbers nationally have recently trended downward, the positivity rate—the percentage of new COVID tests that are positive—in a majority of states is still worryingly high headed into the Labor Day weekend, according to a Fortune analysis of state data aggregated by the COVID Tracking Project.
The seven-day average positivity rate tops 10% in 13 states, including Alabama (24.5%), South Dakota (23.3%), North Dakota (18.9%), Iowa (17.8%), and Kansas (17.1%). The White House Coronavirus Task Force considers a positivity rate above 10% as one of the two factors that determine whether a state is a “red zone.” (The other is a case rate that is greater than 100 per 100,000 residents.) In general, these states have seen COVID infections spike with students returning to their college campuses.
The World Health Organization and other experts, meanwhile, consider a positivity rate of 5% as too high. (The WHO recommended governments not reopen until positivity rates were below that threshold for two weeks.) Another 21 U.S. states have experienced an average positivity rate between 5% and 10% for the past seven days. The CDC has suggested that it is safe to reopen schools when the positivity rate is below 5%.
Positivity rates are lowest in the Northeast. Vermont (0.3%), Maine (0.6%), Connecticut (0.8%), and New York (0.8%) all have seven-day averages below 1%.


fortune--2020-09-04--The downside of a strong jobs report? Less urgency for stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment ben

The downside of a strong jobs report? Less urgency for stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment benefits

Call it a good news/bad news situation.
When the Senate passed the $2.2 trillion CARES Act stimulus package by a 96-0 vote on March 25, the economy was in free fall. The S&P 500 stood at 2,475 points, and a record 6.9 million jobless claims were filed that week. Economists were talking about Great Depression 2.0.
But this time around, stimulus negations are happening with the backdrop of an improving economy. And that is reducing the political pressure for Republican and Democratic leaders to comprise.
On Friday we learned the unemployment rate dropped from 10.2% in July to 8.4% in August. That soundly beat Goldman Sachs’ estimate of 9.8%. And the U.S. added—or we should say regained—1.4 million jobs in August. That’s 10.7 million jobs added since the end of April.
And it’s not just employment that is improving better than expected: We’re seeing strong improvement in everything from housing, manufacturing, to auto sales. And while the stock market is pulling back this week, the S&P 500 opened at 3,453 on Friday, that’s 39.5% above where it was when the CARES Act was signed.
Last week Democratic and Republican restarted negations: Democrats offered to come down from a $3.4 trillion ask to $2.2 trillion, meanwhile, the White House offered to come up from $1 trillion to $1.3 trillion. Nevertheless, both offers were quickly rejected.
The party leaders have yet to negotiate this week. And Republican leaders appear to be putting talks on hold again: Senate Republicans plan to vote next week on their own $500 billion stimulus bill, which has strong Democratic opposition. Democratic leaders say they won’t sign anything below $2 trillion.
The consensus on Capitol Hill is nothing will get signed before the end of September—when U.S. lawmakers are required to approve more federal funding to stave off a government shutdown.
Both parties would like such a broad stimulus bill to include items like a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment benefits, and another round of Paycheck Protection Program loans.
Meanwhile, the parties are in disagreement on items including a steep increase in federal aid to state and local governments, which Democrats support, and COVID-19 lawsuit immunity for businesses, which Republicans support.


fortune--2020-09-04--What to watch this Labor Day weekend on Disney+, Netflix, and more

Between traditional television, video-on-demand releases, and a growing number of streaming services, it can be hard to keep up with what one should watch week to week. Fortune is here to help you keep track of new releases as well as the occasional older title worth checking out. Take a look at the long weekend’s notable arrivals, a couple you may have missed earlier in the week, and what else is coming soon:
Disney+
Yifei Liu stars as the title character in Disney’s “Mulan,” available for streaming on Sept. 4. Jasin Boland—Disney
Mulan: After its release was delayed multiple times owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the live-action remake of Mulan will finally be available to viewers on Disney+. Keep in mind, even if you’re a subscriber, it will cost $29.99 to watch the movie upon its initial release—perhaps a bit pricey for one or two viewers, but potentially worth it for a family.
Netflix
Jessie Buckley (far left) in “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.” Mary Cybulskia—Netflix
I’m Thinking of Ending Things: Charlie Kaufman’s psychological horror flick—based on the novel by Iain Reid and starring Jesse Plemons, Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette, and David Thewlis—arrives on the streamer Sept. 4.
Away: The first season of this sci-fi series starring Hilary Swank is available to stream starting Sept. 4.
If you’re seeking a throwback, ’90s sitcom Sister Sister arrived on the streamer earlier this week. Plus, the entire Back to the Future trilogy also became available to stream on Netflix. Great Scott!
Amazon Prime Video
“The Boys” sees its second season debut on Amazon Prime Sept. 4. James Minchin
The Boys: The second season of this popular Amazon original will debut on the streamer Sept. 4, but with a slightly different release schedule: The first three episodes of the season will drop on that date, with the rest released on a weekly basis through Oct. 9.
Here’s something kid-friendly: Dino Dana: The Movie, about a 10-year-old “who sees dinosaurs in the real world,” will also be available to stream Sept. 4.
Earlier in the week, both Sex and the City movies also became available to watch on the streaming service. Some classics added to the service include Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Graduate, and Kramer vs. Kramer.
Peacock
A Most Beautiful Thing: The documentary, narrated by Common, tells the story of the first African-American high school rowing team in the U.S. It arrives on Peacock Sept. 4.
Earlier in the week, the third season of A.P. Bio—originally canceled by NBC the broadcaster and revived for Peacock—became available to stream.
Hulu
There isn’t a ton of new stuff on the streaming service this weekend, but some notable older titles that were added as of Sept. 1 include The Birdcage, Evil Dead II, The Terminator, Top Gun, as well as the Twilight films for those craving a sparkly vampire fix.


fortune--2020-09-04--When a venture capital-backed merger goes awry

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America’s second largest grocery chain, Albertsons Co., acquired meal kit startup Plated for about $200 million in 2017. But the integration of the duo was less than perfect—Plated’s co-founders left one after another, and then in 2019, Albertson’s pulled the meal kits from stores, laid off about 10% of Plated’s staff, and eventually ended the online subscription side of the service altogether.
Now former Plated shareholders are suing Albertsons.
They accuse the company of purposely pushing Plated to miss revenue targets following the merger, targets that could’ve resulted in potentially millions more in payouts to investors. One source tells Term Sheet that the so-called earnout, which was dependent on hitting revenue thresholds over the course of three years following the combination, could have been in the nine figures.
Instead, according to the lawsuit, Plated shareholders have not yet earned any of the payout.
“Albertsons lured the Plated shareholders into the sale of their business with promises and representations about its plans to fully support and grow Plated’s existing subscription business,” the lawsuit filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery alleged. Post-closing however, Albertsons “carved out the parts of Plated that it wanted and undercut the e-commerce business at multiple opportunities in order to impair the ability to reach an earnout.”
While the shareholders were unnamed in the complaint and were represented by Shareholder Representative Services in the docket, sources tell Term Sheet that the tally includes 8VC, Kite Ventures, Greycroft, FF Venture Capital, as well as Plated co-founders Nick Taranto and Josh Hix.
Albertsons’ decision to acquire Plated came amid a massive shift in the grocery e-commerce business. Amazon had just acquired Whole Foods a few months earlier in 2017, galvanizing grocery chains to take a harder look at their digital capabilities. But the meal kit industry was beginning to hit a snag, with the IPO of Blue Apron falling flat on Wall Street.
Plated investors allege that after the merger, it became clear that Albertsons executives did not “buy into the idea of e-commerce generally” and were antagonistic to the idea, alleging the company repeatedly failed to act on suggestions made by the startup team and imposed changes that led to customers cancelling their subscriptions.
Albertsons declined to comment. The venture capital firms and co-founders also did not respond to requests for comment.
A SHIFT BACK TO CONSUMER? It’s not secret—enterprise startups have somehow become sexier than consumer-facing ones in recent years—at least when counting the green. In 2019, venture-capital backed companies selling to businesses raised a third more funding than consumer tech firms, in part because the Amazons and Alphabets of the world have such staying power.
But amid calls for Big Tech regulation and a backlash against the firms, could there be more space for green shoots? “I have no doubt that consumer investing will come back,” says Mike Volpi of Index Ventures. “The question is when.” Read more.
CALL TO ACTION: Do you know—or invest in, or run—a startup that is tackling key social or environmental issues as part of its business model? If so, Fortune wants to hear from you. We’re soliciting nominations for the Impact 20, a new Fortune list that recognizes venture-backed and private equity-backed companies that are doing well by doing good.
We’ll be looking for relatively established startups that have already shown that they can solve important problems—and are already generating some revenue doing so. To nominate a company, use this form. Fortune editors will announce the final list in late September.Finally, Term Sheet will be off on Monday in observance of Labor Day! Let’s all hope for fewer (or maybe more?) work-from-home snafus.
Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: lucinda.shen@fortune.com
VENTURE DEALS
- Zomato, an Indian food delivery startup, raised $62 million from Temasek. Read more.
- Nreal, a Beijing-based developer of mixed reality glasses, raised $40 million in Series B funding. Kuaishou Technology led the round and was joined by investors including Sequoia Capital China, GP Capital, GL Ventures and CCEIF Fund.
- Dreame Technology, a Beijing-based maker of smart vacuums and hair dryers, raised $14.6 million in additional Series B funding. IDG Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Xiaomi, Shunwei Capital, Peak Valley Capital, and Edge Ventures. Read more.
- Moteefe, a-London-based on-demand clothing platform, raised $11 million in funding. BGF led the round and was joined by investors including Gresham House Ventures and Force Over Mass Capital. Read more.
- OK Play, a Los Angeles-based maker of an app for young children and their parents, raised $11 million in funding. Investors included Obvious Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Greycroft, Abstract Ventures, Dreamers VC, Collab + Sesame, LEGO Ventures, Muse Capital, Progression Fund, and individual investors including Twitter’s Biz Stone, Thrive Capital’s Josh Kushner, Headspace’s Rich Pierson, FabFitFun’s Michael and Daniel Broukhim, K5 Global’s Michael Kives and Bryan Baum, as well as Tamara Mellon, Kevin Wall, Sue Smalley, and Michael Ovitz.
- Demodesk, a Munich, Germany-based online sales and customer meeting startup, raised $8 million in funding. Balderton Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Target Global and Funders Club.
- ThruWave, a Seattle, Wash.-based developer of 3D millimeter wave imaging for supply chain and logistics, raised $6.4 million in seed funding. E14 Fund and Ubiquity Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including Root Ventures, Blue Sky Capital, WRF Capital, In-Q-Tel, and Tsingyuan Ventures.
- Anvilogic, a San Francisco-based collaborative security operations center content platform, raised $4.4 million. Foundation Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Point72 Ventures, Dan Warmenhoven (former CEO of NetApp) and Nikesh Arora (CEO of Palo Alto Networks).
- Avo, a Walnut, Calif.-based startup for businesses managing data quality across teams, raised $3 million in seed funding. GGV Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Heavybit and Y Combinator.
- Urban Jungle, a London-based startup offering renters insurance, raised an additional £1.6 million in funding from existing investors.
- Mustard, a Los Angeles-based motion analysis app for athletics coaching, raised $1.7 million in funding. Investors included Shasta Ventures and Intersect VC.
- Justpoint, a New York-based startup using artificial intelligence for analysis of individual medical malpractice claims, raised $1 million in seed funding. Vivek Garipalli, founder and CEO of Clover Health, led the round and was joined by investors including Amino Capital, Whoa Ventures, and Harry Langenberg of Optima Tax Relief.
- Teemyco, a Stockholm-based virtual office company, raised $1 million in seed funding. VC Luminar Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Antler and Gazella.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Silver Lake Partners is in talks to invest $1 billion in the retail arm of India’s Reliance Industries, per the Financial Times. The deal could value the unit at about $57 billion. Read more.
- CompuSoft, backed by TA Associates, agreed to acquire Soft Tech, a Virginia-based software provider for makers of windows and doors. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Trinity Hunt Partners acquired MainStreet Family Urgent Care, a Birmingham, Ala.-based provider of clinics in the state. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- ECI Software Solutions, backed by firms including the Apax Group, acquired ThermoGRID, a Dubuque, Iowa-based solution for small to medium residential service companies. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- E.B. Bradley Co., a portfolio company of PSP Partners, acquired Jacknob, a New York-based provider of toilet partition hardware and accessories. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- CORE Business Technologies, a portfolio company of Banneker Partners, acquired two government payments software businesses: Instant Payments and eGov Strategies.
OTHERS
- SoftBank Group is exploring assembling a group of bidders for TikTok’s India assets, per DealStreetAsia. SoftBank is already a shareholder in ByteDance, TikTok’s owner. Read more.
- Yandex is spinning out its self-driving car unit from MLU BV, a ride-hailing and food delivery joint venture operated in partnership with Uber. Yandex and Uber were said to be considering an IPO of the unit last year that could have valued it at $7.7 billion. Read more.
- Yum China (NYSE: YUMC), the operator of KFC and Taco Bell in China, is is set to raise $2.22 billion in its secondary Hong Kong listing, per Reuters. Read more.
- Altice USA Inc (NYSE: ATUS) and Rogers Communications (TO: RCIB) are still pursing deal talks for Cogeco Inc’s (TO: CGO) assets after a C$10.3 billion bid was rejected by the Canadian telecom company’s board. Read more.
BREAKUPS, HANGUPS, AND BANKRUPTCIES
- America Movil (MX: AMXL) agreed to cancel plans to acquire Telefonica Moviles El Salvador, Telefonica’s unit there, due to regulatory hurdles. Read more.
EXITS
- Episerver, backed by Insight Partners, acquired Optimizely, a San Francisco-based experimentation platform, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition values Optimizely at below its last $600 million valuation, per Bloomberg. Firms including Goldman Sachs backed Optimizely. Read more.
- Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) plans to acquire Softex Indonesia, a diaper maker in the region, for $1.2 billion in cash from shareholders including CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific.
- Permira is again considering an exit from Dr Martens, a U.K.-based shoe company. Read more.
IPOS AND SPACS
- The Hut Group, an e-commerce group, plans to list on the London Stock Exchange. The company could raise £920 million ($1.22 billion) valuing it at £4.5 billion. Read more.
- QuantumScape, a San Jose-based battery startup backed by Volkswagen, plans to go public via merger with Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp, a SPAC. The deal gives the combined company an enterprise value of $3.3 billion.
- KnowBe4, a Clearwater, Fla.-based cybersecurity startup, is preparing for an IPO in the U.S. The IPO could value KnowBe4 at over $2 billion, per Reuters. KKR backs the firm. Read more.
- TPG Pace Tech Opportunities, a Fort Worth, Texas-based blank check company formed by TPG Pace Group targeting the tech industry, filed to raise $450 million. Read more.
- PG Pace Beneficial Finance, a Fort Worth, Texas-based blank check company formed by TPG Pace Group targeting a business with an ESG slant, filed to raise up to $350 million. Read more.
- Falcon Capital Acquisition, a blank check company formed by Ariliam Group and Eagle Equity Partners targeting a media business, filed to raise $300 million. Read more.
- Aspirational Consumer Lifestyle Corp., a blank check company formed by executives of LVMH and L Catterton targeting a consumer business, filed to raise $225 million. Read more.
- Mission Produce, a California-based supplier of fresh avocados, filed to raise $100 million. Read more.
- Madewell Group, an apparel brand, withdrew plans for an $100 million IPO. TPG and Leonard Green back the firm.
- Bill Ackman’s SPAC held preliminary discussions with Stripe, the New York-based payments company, about going public. Read more.
F+FS
- Tectonic Ventures plans to raise $75 million for its second flagship fund, per an SEC filing.
- Xfund raised $120 million for its third fund.
PEOPLE
-Columbia University hired Kim Lew as chief executive of its $11 billion endowment.


fortune--2020-09-04--Peloton is lowering the price of its standard bike and releasing new exercise equipment

Peloton Interactive Inc. is preparing to launch a cheaper treadmill and a new high-end bike, while cutting the price of its existing bike to stoke demand as many gyms remain closed, according to people familiar with the matter.
The new treadmill, called Tread, will cost less than $3,000, compared with $4,295 for the current model. It will also be smaller and have a cheaper belt design like most other treadmills on the market versus the current model’s slat design. The existing Peloton treadmill will continue to be sold as the company’s high-end offering and will be renamed the “Tread+,” the people said. They asked not to be identified discussing private product plans.
The new stationary bike will be a premium offering called Bike+, and will likely cost more than the current $2,245 version. Peloton will then drop the price of the existing machine to less than $1,900, the people said. The shares fell almost 4% to $79.05 in early trading in New York.
One of the new features of the cheaper Tread and higher-end bike will be a more adjustable tablet screen. This will help users do different workouts near the machine, not just on it, expanding the variety of classes. Peloton is also preparing bootcamp training classes for its bikes, which are strength training video workouts currently available on the Tread and the Peloton mobile app, according to the people familiar with the matter.
The New York-based fitness and technology company could announce the new products as early as next week, ahead of quarterly results scheduled for Sept. 10, one of the people said. A Peloton spokeswoman declined to comment.
The Covid-19 pandemic has boosted demand for Peloton’s products and services as consumers look for new ways to work out at home. Many gyms across the U.S. remain closed, giving the company a rare opportunity to lure new customers and subscribers. The stock has surged 178% this year.
However, the outbreak has also limited the company’s ability to produce new products and has paused deliveries of the treadmill in most U.S. markets. In May, Peloton Chief Executive Officer John Foley said Covid-19 forced the company to rethink its product launch timing. He also noted a significant backlog of future devices and said eventually releasing a cheaper treadmill was a high priority.
The cheaper treadmill is likely to go on sale later than the new Bike+, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.