fortune--2020-02-11--‘American Dirt,’ la sequela

‘American Dirt,’ la sequela

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It’s clear that the swirl around Jeanine Cummins’ novel American Dirt isn’t going to end anytime soon.
The highly anticipated novel about the Mexican migrant experience was denounced almost immediately by Mexican, Mexican American, and a variety of writers of Latinx heritage for its inaccuracies, embarrassing stereotypes, and cultural appropriation.
The outcry also raised important questions about how the overwhelmingly white book industry operates, and who decides what stories are worth telling.
Earlier this month, members of #DignidadLiteraria, a movement created by critics of the novel, held a meeting with Dirt publisher Flatiron Books, an imprint of Macmillan. According to author and Dignidad co-founder David Bowles, they came away with promises to “build in greater representation in Macmillan, both in terms of titles and in terms of the actual editorial staff.”
The critics are making the most of the moment. Last week, some Dignidad members hosted “action forums” in several cities, including a discussion about the Latinx community and publishing at Antioch University in Culver City featuring Roxane Gay, Myriam Gurba, Wendy C. Ortiz, and Romeo Guzman.
And Bowles, citing conversations with fellow writers Gurba, David Schmidt, and Geoff Cordner, has proposed a collective review of the book, chapter-by-chapter, in response to the charge that Dignidad concerns are overblown. “If you’re Mexican, Mexican American, or otherwise intimately familiar with Mexico, I’m hoping you’ll ‘sign up’ below to look closely and critically at a single chapter.”
While this kind of group critique is not new, they can be instrumental in helping mainstream audiences understand how harmful poorly informed literature can be.
In 2010, readers, writers, and cultural experts began contributing to a blog called “A Critical Review of the Novel The Help,” about the best-selling book turned blockbuster film that centered the experience of wealthy white women in a feel-good version of the segregation experience in the Jim Crow South.
One post correctly predicted that unchecked, the “happy slave” narrative would continue to spread.
“After the success of The Help, I figured it was only a matter of time before some other enterprising author wanted their own happy slave, happy domestic narrative,” wrote Kimberly Klaus. “The end result seems to be that…other recent publications sought to find their very own ‘Happy Darkie,’ only this time it’s in children’s literature.”
Sho’ nuff . The best example she cited was the appalling A Birthday Cake for George Washington, a 2016 picture book featuring a good-natured enslaved chef and his young daughter scrambling around—shenanigans!—after they run low on sugar for Washington’s special cake. “Lest you think that this should have been a heart-warming ‘it’s take your daughter to work day!’ tale, it’s important to remember that the book was based on real people who were slaves,” says Klaus. And on real racist ideas that should never have been amplified by an influential publisher in the marketplace.
Amid a broad outcry, Scholastic, the publisher of A Birthday Cake for George Washington , was forced to pull the book.
While we wait for the American Dirt critique blog to populate, it’s worth noting that one part of their site already has.
The Death Threat Quilt is a sobering collection of the online threats and racist attacks that members of the Dignidad have experienced. (By contrast, there were no death threats against Cummins, Dignidad members confirmed at their meeting at Macmillan.)
This should come as no surprise.
“Marginalized writers endure constant threats of violence for speaking truth to power. Such threats are also laced with racist and misogynist hatred,” the introduction to the Quilt begins. “Flatiron books admitted during a meeting with Dignidad Literaria that Jeanine Cummins received no death threats. Meanwhile, critics of her work have been told they should be executed. Scroll through this death threat quilt to learn about this very ugly truth.”
Ellen McGirt
@ellmcgirt
Ellen.McGirt@fortune.com
On Point
Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union are exceptional parents Wade was on The Ellen DeGeneres Show recently to promote a new ESPN documentary called D Wade: Life Unexpected. But he took the opportunity to share that the couple’s teenaged child, who had switched to she/her pronouns last December, had also announced that her new name was Zaya. “First of all, me and my wife, Gabrielle Union, we are proud parents of a child in the LGBTQ+ community and we’re proud allies as well,” he told DeGeneres. For grounding, they reached out to experts for information, including friends on the cast of the television series Pose. “I looked at [Zaya] and said you are a leader,” Wade said. “It’s our opportunity to allow you to be a voice.”
Out.com
The “scrappy” indie startup studio behind Parasite David v. Goliath stories are always fun, and anything that gives industry titans a run for their money gives creative business-thinkers hope. Such is the story of Neon, the 28-person company started by film veteran Tom Quinn and Tom League of Alamo Draft House fame who backed Parasite, I, Tonya, and Three Identical Strangers, among others. Their strategy focuses on the ends of a demographic horseshoe: Pick edgy films that will appeal to under-25 year olds and older folks who turn out for the high tone art house stuff. Then they start in just a handful of theaters and open in more as buzz spreads. “Parasite is reaching an audience that has never seen a foreign-language film,” Quinn said. “Parents are seeing it because their children are saying, ‘You’ve got to go see Parasite.’” And Quinn recognized a unique talent in Parasite director Bong Joon Ho early.
Los Angeles Times
You can’t reduce bias in A.I. without diversity in tech Speaking at an event organized by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Charlton McIlwain, a vice provost and a professor of media, culture, and communication at NYU, called bullshit on the tech industry’s effort to diversify. He named the problem precisely: “[W]e’re still at the same place, if not a little bit behind,” he said. “Because there’s not a commitment to the long [process], from beginning to end about what has to be done to produce that kind of diverse workforce that [extends] from the bottom all the way up to the top, which is necessary.”
Wall Street Journal
Maryland unveils statues of Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass in the State House It’s been a four-year push to get the statues of the two abolitionists approved and installed in Maryland’s State House in Annapolis, a long overdue honor, and an important counter-measure to the more controversial memorials that had been on the site. A statue of Roger B. Taney, the U.S. Supreme Court justice who wrote the 1857 Dred Scott decision that upheld slavery was removed in 2017 just days after Heather Heyer was killed in Charlottesville, V.A., as white nationalists protested the planned removal of a monument to Robert E. Lee.
Baltimore Sun
On Background
The other man in the famous Woolworth counter sit-in photo The photo associated with the Greensboro, North Carolina protest on February 1, 1960, is now iconic: Four young Black men sitting at a “whites-only” counter, looking unflinchingly into the camera. But there was another young Black man in the picture. His name is Charles Bess, and he was the busboy. In this wonderful dispatch from The Bitter Southerner, he talks about what it was like to work in the Jim Crow South. “Woolworth was kind of a hard place to work because sometimes the manager would get on you a lot, but she didn’t bother me too much because I did my job,” he says. But because he did his job so well, he was allowed out of the kitchen to be seen by white customers. And that’s the only reason he became a witness to history. Eventually, when the lunch counter was integrated, that same manager made sure that Black employees were the first people they served. “I love meatloaf,” Bess says. “I also had some green beans, maybe a potato salad with it.”
The Bitter Southerner
Tyquan Brehon was stopped-and-frisked by the police in Brooklyn 60 times before he was 18 Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s presidential bid has resurrected important questions about his stop-and-frisk policing policy, and in particular, why it was implemented. This short opinion documentary piece published by the New York Times,explains how it scarred individuals and communities. In 2011, NYPD stopped people 685,724 times. “When you’re you’re and you’re Black, no matter how you look, you fit the description.” If you ask why, they take you in and let you stew in the precinct for hours. “I needed a break from cops,” he said. “I felt like there was nothing nobody could do.”
New York Times Opinion
Quote
"Almost a better question is, have I ever done roles that I’ve regretted? I have, and The Help is on that list. But not in terms of the experience and the people involved because they were all great. The friendships that I formed are ones that I’m going to have for the rest of my life. I had a great experience with these other actresses, who are extraordinary human beings. And I could not ask for a better collaborator than Tate Taylor. I just felt that at the end of the day that it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard. I know Aibileen. I know Minny [played by Octavia Spencer, who won a best-supporting-actress Oscar]. They’re my grandma. They’re my mom. And I know that if you do a movie where the whole premise is, I want to know what it feels like to work for white people and to bring up children in 1963, I want to hear how you really feel about it. I never heard that in the course of the movie."
—Viola Davis, in an interview with the New York Times.


fortune--2020-02-11--Energy emissions plateaued in 2019, as advanced economies gave up coal

Twitter aims to curb misinformation about the U.S. census with new tool

Was 2019 the year we finally saw what giving up coal can do?
That was the message from the International Energy Agency on Tuesday, which announced that energy-related emissions from last year had unexpectedly flatlined, despite the expansion of the global economy.
That plateau—with emissions steady at 33 gigatonnes on the year—could serve as a potent symbol that emissions can successfully be decoupled from economic growth, largely by advanced countries switching away from coal, the most emitting source of power.
The shift effectively cancelled out another trend: Emissions are rising in emerging countries, particularly from the expansion of power generation from coal in Asian economies, the IEA added.
“This welcome halt in emissions growth is grounds for optimism that we can tackle the climate challenge this decade,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director. “It is evidence that clean energy transitions are underway—and it’s also a signal that we have the opportunity to meaningfully move the needle on emissions through more ambitious policies and investments.”
In advanced economies, coal-fired power generation fell by 15%, the Paris-based agency said, instead switching to gas, nuclear, and renewables. (Milder winters and lower electricity demand also helped.) That pushed emissions from power generation down to their lowest levels since the 1980s, when demand was one third lower, the IEA said.
The U.S., despite a rollback of national environmental policies, was the largest absolute contributor as a country to the decline: emissions fell by 140 million tons, putting country-wide energy-related CO2 emissions 1 gigatonne lower than at their 2000 peak. This was a decrease of 2.9% from the previous year.
The EU and Japan also contributed, with emissions falling 5% and 4% respectively. In Europe, that was largely due to a switch in power generation: gas overtook coal, and even wind power was nearly drawing alongside coal as a source of power. Emissions from the U.K., for example, have fallen back to their lowest level since the 1800s, largely due to the decline in coal.
In Japan, that equated to its largest fall since 2009, and was largely due to nuclear reactors restarting once again, coming out under the long shadow of the Fukushima disaster.
Energy-related emissions cover emissions from fuels for transport, construction, and power generation, but do not include emissions released as a result of agriculture, for example, which is also a major contributor to climate change.
In a statement on Tuesday, Birol added that the challenge now was to remember 2019 as the “definitive peak” in emissions, rather than another pause in growth. He also added that, when it comes to utilizing energy technology to transition, “we have to make use of them all.”
The IEA has frequently advocated that nuclear power must be one of the energy sources used in the switch to clean energy, particularly to provide the scale and the base load that renewable sources still struggle to offer consistently. More must-read stories from Fortune: —Making green energy more trusted with the same tech that keeps cryptocurrency safe
—Retailers reuse and recycle the way to increased growth
—The race to solve lithium-ion battery recycling before it’s too late
—How airlines (and you) can fly more efficiently
—WATCH: iPod/iPhone designer on kicking plastic addiction


fortune--2020-02-11--Defense rests without Weinstein testifying at rape trial

The defense rested its case Tuesday in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial, relying on just a few witnesses to supplement aggressive cross-examination as they aimed to undercut his accusers, all while keeping the disgraced Hollywood producer off the witness stand.
As expected, Weinstein chose not to tell his own story at the risk of having prosecutors grill him on cross-examination about disturbing allegations that six of his accusers detailed for a Manhattan jury of seven men and five women.
The decision came a day after the defense got a boost from two witnesses who cast doubt on the accounts of two women who say they were sexually assaulted by Weinstein.
Weinstein, 67, is charged with raping a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex in 2006 on a different woman: film and TV production assistant Mimi Haley.
Prosecutors called other accusers as witnesses as part of an effort to show he has used the same tactics to victimize many women over the years.
Weinstein has maintained any sexual encounters were consensual.
The Associated Press has a policy of not publishing the names of people who allege sexual assault without their consent. It is withholding the name of the woman accusing Weinstein of raping her in 2013 because it isn’t clear if she wishes to be identified publicly.
The judge is expected to instruct jurors not to view Weinstein’s decision not to testify as a sign of guilt.
“I am not a fan of blowing the lead if I feel like we are already on a road to victory,” said Brian McMonagle, a defense lawyer not involved in the case who helped secure a mistrial in Bill Cosby’s first sexual assault trial in 2017.
“In some cases, it is an easy decision because the client either can’t provide a credible explanation or you simply do not believe your client could survive cross examination because of any number or reasons.”
Weinstein has been increasingly upbeat coming and going from court as the trial has worn on, though in front of jurors he has mostly been sitting quietly at the defense table, munching on mints, jotting notes and occasionally dozing off.
On Monday, after strong testimony from a defense witness who repudiated the account of one of Weinstein’s accusers, his lawyer Arthur Aidala declared: “It was a great day for the defense today.”
Claudia Salinas, a Mexican model and actress, took the stand to defend herself against accuser Lauren Marie Young’s claim that she stood by and did nothing while Weinstein sexually assaulted Young at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2013.
“Never happened,” Salinas told jurors.
Young, a model, testified last week that Salinas closed the door behind her and Weinstein as they went into the bathroom, where she alleges he stripped off his clothes, grabbed her breast and masturbated.
Once it was over, Young said she found Salinas standing outside the bathroom and shot her an evil look before leaving as quickly as she could.
“If I had done that, I would remember that,” Salinas testified. “I would never close the door on anybody.”
Salinas took the witness stand as the defense called witnesses for a third day after more than two weeks of prosecution testimony.
In some other high-profile sex crimes cases, defendants have skipped testifying.
For example, Cosby did not take the witness stand either time he was tried for drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home. The second trial, in 2018, resulted in the comedian’s conviction.
In another high-profile case, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was eager to testify at his 2012 child sexual abuse. But that was before his adopted son lodged allegations of abuse against him as the trial was going on. If Sandusky had testified, prosecutors could’ve then called the son as a rebuttal witness.
“I tell my clients once you take the stand you have lost your shield, which is me, and you are on your own,” said McMonagle, who was not involved in Sandusky case.
“In my experience as a prosecutor and defense attorney it is rare to see a client take the stand. The problem is, some jurors do hold that against you.”
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—How Randy Newman’s family built a film-scoring dynasty
—How much is an Oscar worth?
—Charlize Theron and John Lithgow reflect on Bombshell’s indelible impact
—HBO’s “McMillion$” shows how cheaters scammed McDonald’s Monopoly
—Content is king: Inside Netflix’s streaming wars strategy
Follow Fortune on Flipboard to stay up-to-date on the latest news and analysis.


fortune--2020-02-11--FTC to probe Google, Facebook, and Apple over their acquisitions

U.S. technology giants face a new wave of scrutiny from antitrust officials, as the Federal Trade Commission demanded information about their acquisitions of startups that may have eliminated emerging competitors.
The FTC issued orders to Alphabet’s Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon.com and Microsoft for information on the terms and purposes of transactions they closed from the beginning of 2010 through 2019, the agency said Tuesday.
“Digital technology companies are a big part of the economy and our daily lives,” FTC Chairman Joe Simons said in a statement. “This initiative will enable the Commission to take a closer look at acquisitions in this important sector, and also to evaluate whether the federal agencies are getting adequate notice of transactions that might harm competition.”
The FTC’s move comes amid widespread criticism that antitrust officials have been too permissive in allowing tech giants to buy rivals and strengthen their dominance. The agency’s orders take aim not at big deals, but those that were too small to be reported to regulators but may have targeted nascent competitors.
The FTC has authority under a measure known as Section 6(b) of the FTC Act to collect non-public information from companies. The agency then publishes a “special report” that can lead to understanding of markets, enforcement strategies and voluntary industry guidelines and best practices. The studies can also be used in antitrust investigations, though don’t always have a law enforcement purpose, according to the FTC’s website.
The agency is studying past tech deals as it conducts an antitrust investigation of Facebook. The probe is among several inquiries that target large tech companies. The Justice Department is investigating Facebook as well as Google, while state attorneys general are also probing both companies.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—The strange tale of Jeff Bezos’s $16,840 parking ticket bill
—Post-Brexit U.K.’s surveillance practices could spell problems for business
—Governments deploy surveillance tech to track coronavirus victims
—How marketers are increasingly using A.I. to persuade you to buy
—Predicting the biggest tech headlines of 2020
Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.


fortune--2020-02-11--5 companies now make up 18% of the S&P 500. Is that a recipe for a crash?

Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook have collectively added $4.4 trillion in market cap gains since 2013 and are now the 5 largest stocks in the S&P 500.
This spectacular growth means these 5 companies alone now make up more than 18% of the S&P 500. This massive growth also means these companies now have an outsized impact on the performance of the market itself. According to S&P Dow Jones Indices, these 5 tech stocks were responsible for more than 20% of the S&P 500’s 31% return in 2019.
When you see a handful of stocks dominate in such a way it can make some investors nervous. What happens to the stock market if these companies begin to sell off? Is the rest of the market participating in this rally or is it all being driven by just a small number of stocks?
It’s important to remember that concentration in stock market gains in the S&P 500 is a feature, not a bug. In a market-cap-weighted index, the majority of the gains will invariably come from the largest names. This doesn’t mean smaller stocks aren’t participating in the rally, just that they don’t move the needle for the overall market.
Market breadth is a way to gauge the number of stocks rising versus the number that are falling to understand how much of the market is participating in a rally or downturn. In the late-1990s dot-com bubble, there was a noticeable divergence between the stock market and the NYSE advance-decline line, which simply measures the ratio of the number of stocks rising over the number of stocks falling.
Source: stockcharts.com
The fact that the advance-decline line was crashing while the market kept rising was a good sign only a handful of big stocks were propping up the market. This was a good warning sign for the bear market that would follow.
Now here’s the same measure since 2013:
Source: stockcharts.com
There have been some minor divergences but for the most part the advance-decline line has tracked the upward move in the market. What this tells us is smaller and medium stocks are also rising. This one measure doesn’t tell you exactly when to get in or get out but it can help us understand the underlying health of the stock market.
This is nothing new
The concentration at the top of the S&P 500 has been increasing in recent years but when we look at these numbers historically this is nothing new. Here are the 10 biggest stocks in the S&P 500 at the outset of every decade going back to the 1980s:
One of the things that jumps out from this list is how high the turnover at the top can be. Every decade there were at least five to six new names at the top of the list. While technology firms dominate the top slots today, in the early-1980s it was energy companies.
There have also been some brutal corrections in a number of the stocks that populated the top 10 lists of the past. General Electric is down more than 50% in total since it held the top slot in the year 2000. Citi and AIG also populated the list of biggest stocks at the turn of the century. They are down 73% and 95%, respectively, since then. Exxon was the largest stock in the S&P 500 in 2010. Since then the stock has underperformed the index by nearly 250%.
While the 25% concentration in the top 10 names today feels high, that’s right where it was in 1980. And the market was even more concentrated if we take things further back. In 1965, AT&T made up nearly 8% of the index. General Motors was another 7%. The top 10 holdings were 34% of the S&P 500. In the early 1960s the top 10 holdings at one time made up over 50% of the S&P!
The average lifespan of a company in the S&P back in the 1960s was around 60 years. Today that number is closer to 20 years. This comes from a combination of mergers, disruption and companies going bust.
The behemoth tech stocks have taken advantage of these trends but it was not preordained that these companies would be where they are today. Apple was rescued by Microsoft with a $150 million loan in 1997 which was one year before Google was founded. Jeff Bezos started Amazon in a garage in 1994. Facebook was founded in a dorm room in just 2004 and just went public in 2012. It feels like these companies can do no wrong right now and maybe they’ve all built up impenetrable barriers to entry and lasting brands but history says not all of them will remain at the top in the decades to come.
Concentration has always been a part of the stock market’s structure. Today is no different than the past in that respect. The biggest surprise would be if every one of these stocks remains in the top 10 by 2030.
Ben Carlson, CFA is the Director of Institutional Asset Management at Ritholtz Wealth Management. He may own securities or assets discussed in this piece.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—The strange tale of Jeff Bezos’s $16,840 parking ticket bill
—Stock scammers are using coronavirus to dupe investors, SEC warns
—Credit Suisse braces for an awkward earnings call
—Stock scammers are using coronavirus to dupe investors, SEC warns
—WATCH: Biggest investing opportunities and risks for 2020
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fortune--2020-02-11--Trump’s architectural vision for Washington, D.C. looks like Ancient Rome

This is the web version of Business x Design, a newsletter on the power of design. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.
This space is dedicated to design’s relationship to business, but this week’s strangest design story involves government and politics.
According to Architectural Record, President Trump is considering an executive order to rewrite the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture, mandating that “the classical architectural style shall be the preferred and default style” for all major federal buildings.
A draft of the order, obtained by the Record, extolls the architectural styles employed in “democratic Athens” and “republican Rome,” and cites the White House, the Supreme Court, and the Lincoln Memorial as “beautiful” examples of architecture. It deplores modernist approaches like Brutalism and Deconstructionism, and refers to the modern buildings housing the departments of Labor, Health, and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development as “undistinguished,” “uninspiring,” and “just plain ugly.”
The proposed “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again” order calls for enforcing classical design standards for federal buildings in and around D.C., as well as any federal courthouses and public buildings with construction costs over $50 million. The presidential commission it envisions would be granted sweeping powers that appear to challenge those of the Commission on Fine Arts, the independent federal agency that currently oversees the design of the nation’s capital. A second provision bars artists, architects, designers, engineers, and art critics from participating in public hearings about federal design projects.
In response, the American Institute of Architects says it “strongly opposes uniform style mandates for federal architecture.” Washington Post architecture critic Philip Kennicott called the proposal “the architectural equivalent of making every federal contractor use a hammer and nails exclusively; no other tools allowed.” An editorial in The New York Times asks, “What’s So Great About Fake Roman Temples?”
Technically, the order defines the classical style more broadly than columns. A footnote in the seven-page document approves of Renaissance architects Michelangelo and Palladio, as well as some Enlightenment-era and 19th-century architects. In what reads like an overture to the proprietor of Mar-a-Lago, the order also expresses tolerance for Gothic, Romanesque, Spanish colonial, and “other Mediterranean styles generally found in Florida and the American Southwest.”
The proposal asserts that America’s founders, some of whom were amateur architects themselves, consciously chose the styles of ancient Athens and Rome to reflect new nation’s democratic ideals. Traditional styles fell out of fashion in the 1950s. The order faults the Guiding Principles, drafted by Daniel Patrick Moynihan during the Kennedy administration, for opening the gates to modernism by eschewing an official federal style in favor of design that flows “from the architectural profession to the government, and not vice versa.”
So far the White House hasn’t commented on the proposal. Trump hasn’t demonstrated much appreciation for classical ideals in his own properties. On the other hand, he’s been famously critical of the Brutalist-influenced Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters. And it’s not hard to imagine how he’ll feel about a proposal that presupposes the president knows more about architecture and design than architects and designers.
More design news below.
Clay Chandler
@ClayChandler
Clay.Chandler@Fortune.com
VISION, EMPATHY, SCALE
This edition of Business By Design was curated by Margaret Rhodes.
Brick by brick. A hospital was built in Wuhan, China, in 10 days, and a second one is already underway. In a hurried effort to contain the coronavirus, authorities are taking architectural cues from emergency hospitals that went up during the Ebola crisis. Features like negative air pressure, which controls the direction of ventilation, and wings for “cohorting,” which separates patients by level of contagiousness, are designed to curb the virus’s spread. [CNN]
Breakfast salads. Renowned for its free workplace lunches, Google is now getting credit for its experiments in choice engineering when it comes to meals. By redesigning micro-kitchens, hiding sugary and sodium-rich snacks, and establishing a plant-based cooking curriculum, the tech giant has found ways to nudge many of its thousands of employees towards healthier diets. [OneZero]
Giorgos Georgiou—NurPhoto via Getty Images
Foam forever. Foam bans, like the ones imposed by New York, Maine, and Maryland, prohibit the use of non-recyclable polystyrene foam containers. Dart Container, the family-run company that’s been making polystyrene foam cups (colloquially called Styrofoam, even though that’s trademarked and different) since the 1950s, is fighting to stay in business. It’s got a two-part plan: Challenge the conversation around single-use containers for now, and design more sustainable products for later. [The New York Times]
What users want. In good news for compulsive binge-viewers, Netflix has made autoplay previews an optional feature. The user-experience adjustment follows a tweet from one irked customer, and Netflix is earning praise for listening to its users. Given the intensity of the streaming wars (Disney Plus already reports more than 28 million subscribers), merging your customer support team with your design team sounds like a smart strategy. [Mashable]
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
ARM unveils two new A.I. computer chip designs by Jeremy Kahn
Apple hit with $27 million fine for slowing down French iPhones by Chris Morris
What Glossier’s grandiose plans for expansion mean for its brand identity by Polina Marinova
Uber still isn’t a business built to last by Adam Lashinsky and Aaron Pressman
The case for a national primary by Clifton Leaf
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—AROUND THE WEB
Inside the big, messy business of empathy from Fast Company
How Your Laptop Ruined Your Life from The Atlantic
Calm Technology is Staging a Comeback—Can Good Design Make it Stick? from AIGA Eye on Design
The New Analytics of Culture from Harvard Business Review
USABILITY LESSONS FROM THE IOWA CAUCUS APP
Why prioritizing user-first design matters in elections.
In one week, the Iowa caucus app debacle has evolved from a spectacular embarrassment of flawed coding into a full-blown conspiracy theory about an attempt to tamper with results. (Actually, there are several conspiracy theories.) At the center of those spiraling accusations is Acronym, the digital consultancy (helmed by a former Obama staffer) that created Shadow, the company that developed the caucus app.
Media outlets have looked at the app from every possible angle, asking, What went wrong? The New Yorker describes Acronym as a company with disconnected, Zuckerberg-ian ideas about technology’s ability to solve problems; The Atlantic speculates that the Iowa Democratic Party mistook well-connected strategists for experienced engineers. Both might be true, but Recode journalist Sara Morrison most deftly explains what went wrong by looking back in time to the 2016 Iowa caucus.
Four years ago, a company called InterKnowlogy partnered with Microsoft to build an app that precinct chairs would use to tally and report results. InterKnowlogy had one year to design the app, “the first three months of which were spent on product design, meeting with both parties, and doing usability studies to anticipate precinct chairs’ needs—down to the size of the digital buttons they’d have to tap,” Morrison writes.
“The extra months InterKnowlogy had gave its engineers time to properly build and test the app. It also gave the product side time to properly prepare and train the precinct chairs who would be using it. [InterKnowlogy co-CEO Rodney] Guzman and his team took into account that chairs may not own or use smartphones and had little experience with apps, let alone any familiarity with necessary security measures like two-factor authentication.”
On caucus day, the app worked so smoothly that no one even talked about it. By contrast, Shadow reportedly had three months to develop this year’s app.
“The 2020 app’s main problem, according to the IDP, was a ‘coding issue’ that caused partial results to be reported to the IDP headquarters. But there were widespread reports that the precinct chairs weren’t adequately prepared or instructed on how to use the app, and that they found it difficult to impossible to download, install, and boot on their smartphones.”
An adherence to a fundamental set of design principles could have easily prevented this. Mantras like “know your user” headline the manifestos of just about any technology company, so it’s hard to see why Shadow wouldn’t know that its primary users would have trouble even downloading its app. A rushed timeline surely didn’t help, although it’s not clear why the IDP didn’t hire Shadow or another firm earlier than they did. (Again: Conspiracy theories abound.) But as elections get messier, and other startups advocate for complicated election tech such as blockchain-enabled voting systems, it’s critical that these systems get the thoughtful design they deserve.


fortune--2020-02-11--More than a travel inconvenience: New York State braces for the economic impact of Trump’s Trusted T

More than a travel inconvenience: New York State braces for the economic impact of Trump’s Trusted Traveler bans

The Trump administration dealt an economic blow to New York State last week when it prohibited residents from enrolling in or renewing their access to Global Entry and other Trusted Traveler Programs.
The ban, issued through the Department of Homeland Security following New York’s recently implemented Green Light Law—which allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, is expected to negatively impact between 150,000 and 200,000 state residents.
Most of that impact will be felt through the Global Entry program, which allows international air travelers expedited clearance upon arriving back in the United States.
But two other programs that fall under the ban are considered major economic drivers for the state: the NEXUS program allows for expedited ground travel between Canada and New York; and the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program allows quick access across the border for commercial truck drivers.
While the changes have been floated as a minor inconvenience to global travelers, those who depend on Canada to keep their businesses running are sounding alarm bells.
Trade at the border
Canada is New York’s largest export market with $16.8 billion in goods crossing the border in 2018 alone. The vast majority of those exports are delivered by commercial trucks via one of the state’s 119 ground entry points.
A study by the Eastern Border Transportation Coalition, which represents the interests of transportation agencies in Michigan, New York, Vermont, and Maine, found that these ground ports handled 62% of the total $583 billion in U.S.-Canada trade in 2017.
The high level of trade also trickles down to other industries. At least 700,000 jobs in New York State depend on trade with Canada, the agency found.
Without access to these expeditive programs, truck drivers will see wait times at the New York-Canada border increase exponentially, says Dottie Gallagher, president and CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.
“This is very devastating to the local economy and to the state economy,” she tells Fortune. “It’s going to affect agricultural markets, it’s going to affect any kind of truck driver that’s licensed in New York State. It’s really going to have a wide-ranging impact.”
Similarly, residents of border areas who travel to and from Canada for work will find it nearly impossible to commute on a daily basis without access to the NEXUS program.
Gallagher says her office has been fielding calls all week from Buffalo residents and business owners worried that they would no longer be able to continue working. Just less than half of her organization’s 1,500 business members have supply chain relationships with Canada.
The Peace Bridge between New York and Canada, which Gallagher’s office represents, was crossed more than 5 million times in 2019. About 40% of all drivers had FAST access and an additional 25% of car traffic had NEXUS passes, her office found.
Gallagher, who calls the response to the Green Light law “draconian,” says her office is still trying to figure out whether the ban is politically motivated.
While New York City tends to swing left, President Donald Trump has a lot of supporters in Western New York, she points out, “folks who work in manufacturing and agriculture, who are going to be directly impacted by this.”
“This is equally painful for everyone,” Gallagher says.
But while Gallagher isn’t yet sure about the political implications of the ban, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has made up his mind.
Cuomo announced last week his intent to sue the federal government in a case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The Department of Homeland Security, they’ll argue, violated New York’s sovereign immunity, stripped residents of equal protection, and acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner.
Twelve other states have laws that also allow undocumented immigrants to receive driver’s licenses, but none have been subject to retribution from the DHS.
“The Department of Homeland Security’s decision to ban New Yorkers from the Trusted Traveler Program is yet another example of this administration’s disrespect of the rule of law, hyper-partisan politics and use of extortion,” Cuomo said in a statement on Friday. “There is no rational basis for this politically motivated ban, and we are taking legal action to stop the federal government from inconveniencing New Yorkers to score political points.”
Gallagher, meanwhile, argues that the action goes beyond inconveniencing New Yorkers.
“I think within a year we’re going to start to see an economic impact, we’re going to see increases in bridge wait time, we’re going to start to see people diverting business out of New York State to avoid this issue,” she says. “It’s going to have an impact, and the uncertainty it creates is going to have an immediate impact. We have to come to a better solution, this is not tenable.”
Taking business elsewhere
About 75,000 New Yorkers will be unable to renew their Trusted Traveler status this year alone, acting director of the DHS’s Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli told reporters Thursday.
Companies will soon begin to divert their business out of New York and to other states’ points of entry, agrees Lawrence J. White, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
“There are alternatives, like Vermont,” he says. “Certainly the trucking companies will become quickly aware if they aren’t already, and so they’ll divert to another state. They will explore alternatives because that’s what profit-seeking enterprises do.”
White calls the ban “petty and vindictive,” and says the changes will likely impose hardship on individuals who need to cross the border for work. The fuel being burnt up while idling on long lines will also add to costs for both businesses and individuals, he says.
Gallagher remembers a time where emissions from idling cars and trucks presented a significant problem to her border community. Pollution has improved rapidly since the installation of the NEXUS and FAST programs, and she fears things will once again revert back to where they were in the years immediately following the September 11th attacks, when security at the border increased along with wait times.
The case for security
Governor Cuomo signed the Green Light Law last year, and the rule change went into effect in December. Last week, Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf informed state officials of the suspension of Trusted Traveler programs through a letter to the Department of Motor Vehicles and a subsequent appearance on Fox News.
Wolf said that the law prevented the DHS from accessing information that only the New York State DMV has, data he claims the agency needs to perform proper security checks on those applying to the Trusted Entry programs.
“New York is the only state, that bears repeating, the only state that restricts CBP access to their DMV data across the board, not only for immigration purposes, but for law enforcement purposes, for customs purposes, but also for trade and travel facilitation purposes,” he said in a statement.
The move, however, came just one day after Trump called out New York’s sanctuary policies during his State of the Union speech. Trump reentered the battle via Twitter on Saturday.
“Governor Cuomo wanted to see me this weekend. He just canceled,” Trump wrote. “Very hard to work with New York – So stupid. All they do is sue me all the time!”
Still, the DHS continued to claim that the ban was not political in nature.
“Here we have one of the targets of 9/11 walking backwards quite intentionally to bar information from DHS,” said Cuccinelli. “As a result of this, the DHS has decided that New York residents will no longer be allowed to participate in any of our Trusted Traveler programs.”
Applications to these programs require extensive background checks, in-person interviews, and passport checks. It is unclear what essential information the DMV has that the DHS would need access to.
Gallagher, meanwhile, is trying to stay away from the political back and forth and instead focus on the very real impact this fight will soon have on her community.
“This is death by 1,000 cuts,” she says.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—2020 candidates’ positions, and records, on economic issues that affect women
—How a company with 120 Facebook likes ended up at the center of the Iowa caucus firestorm
—Europe’s refugee crisis is getting worse—for these children
—Fortune Explains: The debt ceiling
—America’s young voters could sway 2020 results. What will it take to get them to the polls?
Get up to speed on your morning commute with Fortune’s CEO Daily newsletter.


fortune--2020-02-11--Nintendo opens pop-up gameplay lounges at major airports

Nintendo’s aiming to make travel a bit more uplifting this spring.
The video game company plans to open pop-up gaming lounges at four major airports, allowing passengers to pass the time before boarding playing some of the biggest games on Nintendo Switch.
The kiosks, which will have several Switches available, will be open at Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C., Seattle – Tacoma International Airport, and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport from Feb. 13 through March 29. A fourth location at Dallas’ Love Field will be open from Feb. 13 through March 26.
Included among the games will be The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Party and Tetris 99.
Travelers who take the time to play will receive a free Nintendo Switch luggage handle wrap and a $10 coupon from Target for Nintendo purchases over $75. Players will also be able to order a Switch, select software and Nintendo merchandise at the lounges. (Those will be shipped to buyers within two days, rather than give them something more to fit into the carry-on bins.)
“We hope travelers discover that Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite make great companions for their trips,” said Nick Chavez, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of sales and marketing in a statement. “Spending time with Nintendo games at our On The Go lounges will give people the opportunity to begin or end their journeys with a smile.”
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—The strange tale of Jeff Bezos’s $16,840 parking ticket bill
—Post-Brexit U.K.’s surveillance practices could spell problems for business
—Governments deploy surveillance tech to track coronavirus victims
—How marketers are increasingly using A.I. to persuade you to buy
—Predicting the biggest tech headlines of 2020
Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.


fortune--2020-02-11--Home Depot launches annual hunt for 80,000 employees

As people emerge from their self-imposed winter hiatus, things get real busy at home improvement stores. And The Home Depot is gearing up to meet that rush.
The retailer has kicked off its annual hunt for 80,000 seasonal workers. The positions are a mix of full- and part-time jobs. (The company launches a hiring blitz annually around this time of year.)
Spring at Home Depot is akin to the holidays at UPS. Stores are packed as people who have been cramped inside their homes all winter look for an excuse to get outside, generally lawn care, landscaping and projects.
Indeed, most of the part-time positions will be staffed to the chain’s garden centers. To apply for the jobs, either go to the Home Depot careers website or text HOMEDEPOT to 52270 for a link to apply locally.
While many of the jobs are seasonal, the company notes that it’s the surest path to a permanent position at Home Depot.
“More than 90 percent of our store leaders began their careers here as hourly associates, which is a testament to our commitment to growing the careers of our people,” said Tim Hourigan, executive vice president of human resources.
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—Why China is still so susceptible to disease outbreaks
—The rich own stocks, the middle class own homes. How betting it all on real estate is a wealth gap problem
—14,000 recalled baby carriers could drop infants on ground
—Stock scammers are using the coronavirus outbreak to dupe investors, SEC warns
—WATCH: Why CEOs are pessimistic about 2020 business outlook
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fortune--2020-02-11--T-Mobile-Sprint merger gets court approval: What you need to know

Almost two years after it was announced, T-Mobile and Sprint are poised to complete their $26.5 billion merger to create a third mega-sized player in the U.S. wireless market. On Tuesday, District Judge Victor Marrero ruled that the combination would not harm competition, rejecting a challenge from about a dozen state attorneys general.
“Our eye is on the prize: finally bringing this long-awaited merger and all the goodness it will deliver to a close as early as April 1, 2020,” T-Mobile president Mike Sievert, who is scheduled to become CEO in a few months, said in a statement.
Shares of Sprint jumped 78% to $8.52 on Tuesday, while share of T-Mobile gained 12% to $94.49.
Under the original merger agreement, each Sprint share would be worth 0.10256 shares of T-Mobile, or about $9.70 at current prices. But after some provisions of the agreement expired last year and Sprint’s business deteriorated while the deal was on hold, the two sides said they might renegotiate the price ratio or other terms. Last week, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said such changes would be completed after the court ruled.
The two carriers have promised the merger will bring faster 5G technology to the entire country without raising prices. But the AGs and some consumer groups feared the combination, which reduces the number of major wireless carriers from four to three, would eventually lead to higher prices. Judge Marrero rejected that view, as T-Mobile and Sprint had already made concessions to gain approval from the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission last year. The carriers still need approval from California’s Public Utilities Commission.
Here’s how it could impact consumers:
T-Mobile gets a lot bigger
The combined company, which will keep T-Mobile’s brand name and be run by T-Mobile’s CEO, will have about 66 million regular monthly phone customers, comparable to rivals AT&T and Verizon. That should give the company greater economies of scale. Just as important, the carriers aim to quickly combine their wireless networks and airwave spectrum, particularly for 5G. All told, the combination could put enormous pressure on AT&T and Verizon, analyst Craig Moffett at MoffettNathanson Research wrote on Tuesday.
Combining networks “will allow the New T-Mobile to mount the most credible threat either Verizon’s or AT&T’s network supremacy has ever faced,” Moffett writes. “And one can expect a massive advertising campaign to announce the new T-Mobile. That will buoy net subscriber growth for New T-Mobile, and pressure subscriber growth at Verizon and AT&T.”
A new carrier in town
The previous two times the wireless industry tried to shrink to three major carriers (when AT&T tried to buy T-Mobile in 2011 and when T-Mobile and Sprint tried to merge in 2014), Justice Department lawyers objected and killed the deals because of antitrust concerns. That almost happened again with the current deal—until satellite TV service Dish Network entered the fray and offered to buy some wireless airwave licenses from Sprint plus Sprint’s popular prepaid wireless brand, Boost Mobile, which has about 9 million subscribers, for $5 billion.
Dish will use these assets to build a new, fourth major wireless carrier to help generate the same amount of competition as before the merger. However, Dish, which doesn’t currently offer wireless phone service, will be starting with far fewer total customer connections than Sprint’s 54 million today.
“Dish won’t have difficulty finding customers for its future network, and the Boost acquisition will help fund the build-out of the network,” analyst Jonathan Chapin at New Street Research noted on Tuesday. “We see more upside in Dish than in any other stock in our coverage universe.”
Faster 5G wireless service–and in more places
One major promise that T-Mobile and Sprint used to win court and regulatory approval for the merger was that they would be able to offer new, super-fast 5G wireless services in more places, more quickly. Even after selling some airwaves to Dish, Sprint would still have a huge amount of spectrum licensed in the 2.5 GHz band that is perfect for 5G. On its own, Sprint lacked the resources to expand its currently small 5G network in much of the country.
But combined with the resources of T-Mobile, a planned nationwide 5G network should be finished much sooner. Sprint and T-Mobile promised 5G service to 97% of the U.S. population within three years and 99% after six years. They agreed to a series of annual, escalating penalties of as much as $2.4 billion if they fail to meet the commitment. And Dish must now offer a 5G network covering 70% of people in the country by mid-2023 or face similar financial penalties. The quicker 5G expansions could also pressure AT&T and Verizon to expand their 5G networks at a faster pace.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—The strange tale of Jeff Bezos’s $16,840 parking ticket bill
—Post-Brexit U.K.’s surveillance practices could spell problems for business
—Governments deploy surveillance tech to track coronavirus victims
—How marketers are increasingly using A.I. to persuade you to buy
—Predicting the biggest tech headlines of 2020
Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.


fortune--2020-02-11--Ava DuVernay on the ‘radical act’ of black love in OWN’s ‘Cherish the Day’

After nearly a decade spent making period- and world-specific films and TV series, including Selma, A Wrinkle in Time, Queen Sugar, and When They See Us, Ava DuVernay’s biggest challenge to date could be telling a modern love story in her hometown of Los Angeles.
And Cherish the Day, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s second effort for the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), is as ambitious in its conceit as its narrative structure: The series’ eight-episode first season, premiering over two nights starting Feb. 11, chronicles five years in the relationship of an L.A. couple (Xosha Roquemore and Alano Miller), with each episode spanning one milestone day in their lives.
DuVernay, who created Cherish and serves as its lead writer and executive producer, sat down with Fortune in Pasadena, Calif. in January to discuss the challenges and joys of depicting romance in black Los Angeles, how it felt to achieve gender parity on the Cherish set, and why her friend and mentor, Oprah Winfrey, is a “master” at giving notes.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Cherish is your first TV project set in L.A. How much of a relief was this for you after spending years navigating history-specific and larger-scale productions?
It was so nice. I always embed myself so deeply in research. This time I was like, “Oh, I’ve lived this stuff!”
In “Cherish,” Xosha Roquemore (“The Mindy Project”) and Alano Miller (“Underground”) play Gently and Evan, a couple whose time-lapsed ups and downs unfold over the course of the series’ eight-episode first season. Steven Baffo—Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
“I know what love is.“
Yeah, I think so. (Laughs) And I can support that in the writing as opposed speaking with 10,000 people or going to the Library of Congress to pore through microfiche in order to get it right. There was none of that this time.
And there’s no mistaking that the series is about modern relationships as the opening montage features—via a split-screen—two different male/female couples making love. Depicting people of color in the throes of pleasure still feels like a revolutionary act. Did it feel that way to you too? And was that the point?
That’s a fantastic question and really observant. As a black woman who loves movies and TV… I am fluent in white love. I’ve seen it all. Every story! And I love it because I love romance and love stories. But I prefer dramas. I’m more Notebook than rom-coms. I want something to go wrong, then see them get back together. (Laughs) But yes, it’s a radical act seeing black bodies like that, unencumbered. I needed to open with something that showed that, wherever the series goes from here, it’s about blackness, love, physicality, emotion… it’s all on the table.
It’s also about black people enjoying their sexual freedom, which we don’t often see on TV.
Yes. And trying to find pleasure— and maybe not necessarily with each other. The whole journey. And actually, that opening montage wasn’t in the pilot script. It was during editing that I realized, “I want to say something more here because it’s a series opener, not just a season opener.”
It definitely sets a specific tone. “It’s sexy time on OWN!“
(Laughs) Yes. “Sexy time.” I like that.
DuVernay (right) on the “Cherish” set with legendary actress Cicely Tyson, who plays Gently’s friend and mentor Miss Luma Lee Langston. Ser Baffo © 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.—Courtesy of OWN
The series feels very rooted in reality in that you aren’t shooting on sets; rather, on the streets of Los Angeles. How important was that to telling this story?
Yes, there are no built locations—everything is practical. We’re out on the streets or in people’s homes, which is so different from Queen Sugar, where we’re either working on stages or on the farm.
And that series is very expansive by comparison.
Yeah, a lot of moving parts. But the intimacy of this story was more challenging for me as a writer—as was helping to run the writers room—because there’s no B-story. In editing there’s literally nothing else to cut to! We stay on these characters for an entire hour. So we thought “Let’s at least make it all look pretty.” And I’m not just from Los Angeles, I love Los Angeles. I’ve been around the world and I still love L.A. And black L.A. That’s why I love [HBO’s] Insecure; we get to see and explore all the neighborhoods.
Like Insecure, your show also humanizes neighborhoods that have long been depicted as war zones overrun by gangs. For many, our only points of reference for “black Los Angeles” were films by the late John Singleton, who chronicled the heartbreaking violence suffered by so many in the 1990s.
Yes. I think this show is going deeper. His films were an introduction, and he was saying a lot.
And at a time when no one was telling those stories.
Yes. It was important. Growing up in Compton, I experienced the Boyz in the Hood and the Straight Outta Compton stories. But I’ve also experienced Cherish the Day. It’s about a balance now. There are black people everywhere! So much is informed not just by where you grow up, but also what you’re seeing onscreen. Even if your environment is isolated, when you see something on TV or in movies that tells you “Oh, that exists too,” then you know there’s a bigger world out there. For many, to never see it onscreen means it doesn’t exist.
“Cherish” marks the first time DuVernay (seated, in orange) has achieved full gender parity among the crew in one of her productions. Ser Baffo © 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.—Courtesy of OWN
Another milestone you’ve achieved with Cherish the Day is total gender parity on set, including in the crew. Was this a deliberate goal from the beginning?
It’s definitely a first for me and not at all usual. Even with Queen Sugar, which has all female directors, we’ve never had gender parity in the crew, largely because we shoot in New Orleans. So this was an experiment. It’s my first L.A. show so I said, “I think we can do it here. And let’s make sure we do.”
How does it feel to walk around the set and see women doing traditionally male job—essentially those that require tool belts?
It feels great. I had women grips on A Wrinkle in Time, too. One of my favorite things is seeing a woman on a ladder with a tool belt. “Yes girl, do it!” (Laughs) Scenic painters, grips, dolly grips—women do all those types of jobs now.
To what degree is Oprah still giving you notes, now more than five years into your OWN partnership?
She always gives me notes. On this one, she loved the concept and was more hands-off, though she did read the first script. It’s been fewer notes than on Sugar when I got noted to death by her. (Laughs) But hers aren’t line notes; they’re more general. “This doesn’t work” or “This is boring.” She’s been a prolific producer for so long—and an actor. And actors know how to break story. Also, every episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show was a contained story with a beginning, middle, and end. She was a news person, so she knows how to craft a story arc—how to ramp it up, how to end it. She is the master.
You famously worked as a publicist for many years before devoting your life to filmmaking. How has that training taken on a new value for you?
A lot filmmakers I know are afraid of publicity and PR. They are challenged by how to best communicate their visions to marketing and PR departments, and to the public; about knowing the right language. I get calls probably six or seven times a year from people saying, “I’m going into my marketing meeting, can we talk?” Sometimes from major filmmakers I don’t even know! “Someone told me to call you” or “My publicist can’t really tell me how to do this.” Also, I think a lot of people on the other side of the camera are afraid of “getting got” by the media. They’re afraid of the setup, which is something you have to keep your guard up for. You learn who you can talk to, and who you can trust.
“The intimacy of this story was more challenging for me as a writer because there’s no B-story,” says DuVernay of crafting the evolving relationship between Evan and Gently (played by Roquemore, pictured). Steven Baffo—Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
On the rare occasion you have free time to relax, what is your favorite thing to watch?
I don’t have a TV in my bedroom, but I have a little place to sit outside of the room—that’s where the TV is. I actually don’t think you should have a TV in your bedroom, especially if you’re like me and would end up watching TV all night. (Laughs) There’s this Netflix documentary series with a female chef who makes me smile called Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat that I put on all the time when I’m getting dressed.
Samin Nosrat’s series.
Yes! I’ve seen it maybe 100 times. It’s on in the background. I love seeing her smiling, eating, and traveling. The colors are so vibrant; the cinematography is gorgeous. That’s my comfort. Her joy makes me happy. I love that show. I hope to meet her one day.
You’re now equally prolific as a writer, director, and producer. If you meet someone for the first time now who doesn’t know you, how do you introduce yourself?
I say, “I’m a filmmaker.” It actually happens a lot in Ubers and on planes. On a flight a woman asked me, “Have you made anything I’d know?” Then I have to figure out, “Hmmm, what might she know?” I always end up saying “I made a film about Dr. King called Selma.” Then it’s, “I saw that! or ‘I’ve heard about that.” That’s usually my way in.
Then you say “And by the way, Oprah’s my best friend.”
(Laughs) No. But it’s nice to have those moments where you get to introduce yourself. I just feel so lucky to be able to work in film and TV.
It’s almost hard to remember there was a time when working in TV meant you were slumming it in Hollywood.
It’s not even a question anymore. Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts…the last frontier is Denzel Washington. (Laughs) But TV and film… it’s all the same now— just different forms of storytelling. It’s a really nice time to be working in both.
It’s a good time to be Ava.
It’s a good time for us all!
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—How history-making wins for Parasite and The Farewell can shift Hollywood’s diversity narrative
—Summertime director and cast on crafting a “love letter” to Los Angeles
—The best movies that came out of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival
—HBO’s McMillion$ shows how cheaters scammed McDonald’s Monopoly game
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fortune--2020-02-11--Brandless is the first SoftBank-backed startup to close its doors for good

Brandless, a San Francisco-based e-commerce site selling unbranded household products, is shuttering operations. The company has been in hot water for about a year, undergoing layoffs, facing quality problems, and losing money from high shipping costs.
Brandless was SoftBank’s second e-commerce investment in the U.S. The Japanese tech behemoth pledged $240 million into the company in 2018 with hopes that it could go head-to-head with Amazon. The funding valued Brandless at $500 million. SoftBank had set up its investment as a number of installments so that it would provide cash only when the company hit specific financial targets.
Brandless couldn’t deliver. Its board ultimately decided to shut down the company and use the remaining capital to pay employee severance, according to Protocol. Only 10 employees will remain to fulfill outstanding orders and handle customer service.
The company has had a rough ride ever since it laid off 13% of its staff in 2019 and CEO Tina Sharkey resigned as a result of a rocky relationship with SoftBank.
This is the first SoftBank-backed startup to completely shutter. And it’s a good reminder that a sizable portion of a venture firm’s portfolio companies can go bust. But when that firm’s minimum check size is $100 million, things get hairy. If several more of SoftBank’s portfolio companies shut their doors, the ripple effects of the implosions will be much wider and much more severe than we’ve seen before.
THIS JUST IN: A U.S. District judge ruled in favor of T-Mobile and Sprint’s merger in an all-stock deal of $26 billion. In his ruling, Judge Victor Marrero disagreed with a group of state attorneys general who had argued that a merger of two of the largest U.S. wireless companies should be blocked because it would lead to higher prices for consumers.
This deal was blocked four years ago by regulators in the Obama administration. But company officials have since spent quite an effort wooing the Trump administration with its 5G network promises at a time when the White House views the wireless network crucial for the country’s economic and national security.
Polina Marinova
Twitter: @polina_marinova
Email: polina.marinova@fortune.com
VENTURE DEALS
- Sanity Group, a Germany-based medical cannabis and wellness brand, raised $22 million in Series A funding. Calyx led the round, and was joined by investors including HV Holtzbrinck Ventures.
- Impala, a London-based platform that provides real-time data about hotel rooms, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Lakestar led the round, and was joined by investors including Latitude Ventures.
- Unmind, a London-based workplace mental health platform, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Project A led the round, and was joined by investors including Felix Capital.
- EquityBee, a Los Angeles-based startup that helps employees with stock options funding, raised $6.6 million in funding. Group11 led the round, and was joined by investors including Battery Ventures and LocalGlobe.
PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
- Sycamore Partners is nearing a deal to acquire Victoria's Secret, an Ohio-based retailer of apparel, lingerie, and personal care products for women, from L Brands. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Read more.
- Smith System Driver Improvement Institute, a portfolio company of Levine Leichtman Capital Partners acquired Driver’s Alert, a provider of fleet safety management solutions. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Route 2 Capital Partners and Alturus Strategic Capital Partners made an investment in Reliance Aircraft International, an Austin, Texas-based aftermarket commercial and military airframe/engine spare parts supply company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Nili Capital Partners recapitalized eScribers, a New Rochelle, N.Y.-based provider of legal transcription services. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Gryphon Investors agreed to invest in Pacur, LLC, an Oshkosh, Wisc.-based supplier of specialty plastic packaging materials for the medical device industry. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- The W.W. Williams Company, a portfolio company of One Equity Partners acquired CP Company, which does business as CT Power, Inc. and Iceberg Enterprises. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
IPOs
- Banco Daycoval, a Brazilian lender, filed for a IPO that could raise up to 4 billion reais ($925 million), Reuters reports. Read more.
- Revolution Medicines, a Redwood City, Calif.-based biotech developing targeted cancer therapies, says it plans to raise $231 million in an offering of 14 million shares priced between $16 to $17 apiece, a larger offering in an increased priced range. The firm posted revenue of $20.2 million and losses of $48.8 million in 2018. Third Rock Ventures (29% pre-IPO), The Column Group (19%), and Sanofi Research Invest (8%) back the firm. It plans to list on the Nasdaq as “RVMD.” Read more.
- TFI International, a Canadian transportation and logistics company in North America, filed for an $199 million U.S. IPO. It plans to offer 6 million shares priced at $33.15 apiece, based on its last closing price trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The firm posted revenue of CAD$5.2 billion ($3.9 billion) and income of CAD$310.3 million ($232.9 million) in 2019. It plans to list on the NYSE as “TFII.”
- SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space travel company, plans to spin out its space-internet business Starlink, via an IPO, Bloomberg reports. Read more.
EXITS
- mCloud Technologies acquired AirFusion, a Boston-based provider of AI-based drone inspection of wind turbines and other energy facilities. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- The PharmaLex Group acquired Arbour Group, an Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based provider of regulatory compliance technology and services, from Keystone Capital, Inc. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Infosys (NYSE: INFY) agreed to acquire Simplus, a Sandy, Utah-based provider of software as a service products and support services that streamline and simplify global enterprise work management processes. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Communication Technology Services, a Marlborough, Mass.-based provider of wireless infrastructure services, has received an equity investment, from Astra Partners I. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
FIRMS + FUNDS
- Equal Ventures, a New York-based venture capital firm, raised $56 million for its first fund, Equal Ventures Fund I.
PEOPLE
- B Capital named Rashmi Gopinath as a general partner.
- Silicon Road Ventures named Ross Kimbel as a managing director and partner.
- Greenbriar Equity Group promoted Michael Weiss and Niall McComiskey to managing partner.
- Prelude Ventures promoted Victoria Beasley to partner.
- Sapphire Ventures promoted Abigail Johnson to managing director, general counsel and chief operating officer and Shruti Tournatory to vice president of business development.


fortune--2020-02-11--Amazon tries to hold Trump to account, but nothing will come of it

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What is Amazon thinking?
The company’s online software rental unit, Amazon Web Services, has filed suit against the U.S. government (and Microsoft), charging bias by a certain mendacious ex-real estate developer and asking for permission to depose him.
Clearly, Amazon doesn’t understand a few things. It thinks that simply because it asks for Donald Trump, whose behavior would get any CEO of a Fortune 500 company fired, to answer a few questions that he will? It thinks it can openly challenge Trump while the rest of the business world cowers in his presence?
Silly, arrogant tech company.
Much has been made of the circumstantial evidence Amazon presented in its complaint over having lost the famed JEDI cloud computing contract to Microsoft (a potentially $10-billion boo-boo). Yet the document has a certain pot-boiler quality to it. Amazon details other instances of alleged presidential mischief-making, including a wall-building award to Fisher Industries and a change of plans to move the FBI headquarters, a move that would have opened a parcel near Trump’s Washington hotel for redevelopment by a competitor.
Amazon even tosses in the ultimate red meat to antagonize Trump and his Fox News viewers and anchors. It cites Trump’s public interference in the case against Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, a debacle that anyone with common sense knows changed directions when Trump piped up.
It seems pretty obvious to me that nothing will come of all this because nothing ever does. At the end of the day, the Pentagon will be able to say it awarded the deal to an outstandingly well-qualified company and that it is shocked, shocked by the suggestion of presidential interference.
It’s pretty amazing, though, to see one of America’s biggest companies even attempting to speak truth to power.
***
In honor of today’s New Hampshire primary, Fortune Editor in Chief Clifton Leaf has a modest proposal: Ditch the primary system as we know it. He wonders why we stick to the antiquated practice of letting Iowa and New Hampshire have an outsized role in winnowing out our presidential candidates. It’s an argument worth having.
Adam Lashinsky
Twitter: @adamlashinsky
Email: adam.lashinsky@fortune.com
This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Aaron Pressman.
NEWSWORTHY
Lead me to your door. The long and winding road for T-Mobile and Sprint appears to finally have reached an end. A federal judge on Tuesday morning ruled that the companies' $26.5 billion merger may go forward. The deal was first announced almost two years ago and could reshape the wireless market by reducing the number of major players from four to three. Sprint's stock price, previously down 8% this year, jumped 65% in pre-market trading on Tuesday. T-Mobile's stock, up 8% in 2020, added another 8%.
Many times I've been alone. Speaking of long waits, fintech startup Varo Money on Monday said it received permission to insure deposits with backing from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and will receive a bank charter soon. Rivals have partnered with traditional banks to provide FDIC insurance for customers.
And many times I've cried. The massive hack of credit bureau Equifax in 2017 was carried out by Chinese intelligence officers, the Justice Department revealed on Monday in an indictment of four of them. But Wu Zhiyong, Wang Qian, Xu Ke, and Liu Lei are unlikely to return to the United States to face the charges.
Left a pool of tears. Organizers of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, scheduled to start in about two weeks, say they will decide whether to cancel the show by Friday. The announcement came after two more major attendees, chip giant Intel and Chinese phonemaker Vivo, said they would not have employees in attendance, joining Amazon, Sony, and Ericsson among the missing.
It always leads me here. Congratulations, Alexa, you're still number one. Amazon's digital assistant captured 70% of the smart speaker market, according to a new report from eMarketer, versus 32% for the Google Assistant. Poor old Siri from Apple was lumped into the 18% "other" category along with such hitmakers as Invoke and Harmon Kardon (some users, including the Pressman household, use more than one brand of speaker, which is why the numbers add up to more than 100%).
(The headline reference explainer that none of you need.)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Jeff Bezos and a few of his top lieutenants, like AWS boss CEO Andy Jassy, are well-known. But Amazon has a large senior leadership team comprised of 22 people who regularly meet with Bezos. Seattle Times reporter Benjamin Romano takes a deep dive into who is on the "S Team" and what they're about. Most of Amazon's major business efforts are represented by at least one member, but not all of them.
Analysts searching for potential areas of meaningful growth for a company the size of Amazon focus on trillion-dollar markets. One such major market with no dedicated executive on the S Team is health care. “They probably want to be bigger in that market, and the question is what do they want to do there,” said [Jefferies analyst Brent] Thill.
ON THE MOVE
Google’s head of human resources, Eileen Naughton, will step down later this year amid rising tensions between the company's top executives and rank and file employees, Fortune reported...fintech startup Tally hired Twitter senior director of engineering Jan Chong as its first-ever VP of engineering...the head of Apple's News service, Liz Schimel, who joined Apple less than two years ago from Conde Nast, has left...Mike Hopkins, chair of Sony Pictures Television, is joining Amazon to run Amazon Studios and Prime Video. Longtime Amazon veteran Jeff Blackburn, who had overseen those efforts, has left on a sabbatical...former Goldman Sachs banker Michael Ronen is stepping down as managing partner of the SoftBank Vision Fund's U.S. investments.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
ARM unveils two new A.I. computer chip designs By Jeremy Kahn
Indeed shuts offices in three cities over coronavirus fears By Alyssa Newcomb
Trump is proposing nearly $3 billion in additional funds for a 2024 moon landing. Will it be enough? By Morgan Enos
Can you catch the coronavirus twice? Answers to 5 pressing questions about the worldwide outbreak By Naomi Xu Elegant
Michael Pollan and ‘How Caffeine Created the Modern World’ By Rachel King
BEFORE YOU GO
Board games have been a popular pursuit in our house for many years (though we've had to cut back on Monopoly when it got a bit too competitive). It's a pastime that's been in culture for thousands of years. Smithsonian Magazine has a fascinating piece on the best board games of the ancient world. I think we should revive Tafl or Ludus Latrunculorum. What do you think?
Aaron Pressman
On Twitter: @ampressman
Email: aaron.pressman@fortune.com


fortune--2020-02-11--EU official rejects Johnson’s idea of loose UK trade deal

The European Union will only offer Britain unique access to its vast single market if the U.K. agrees to stick to the bloc’s standards, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday, dismissing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s idea of brokering a loose trade deal with the EU.
Von der Leyen said she was surprised Johnson even raised the possibility that Britain would accept Australia-style trade arrangements, including quotas and tariffs, if his government can’t reach a comprehensive agreement with the EU. She criticized Johnson’s plan Tuesday in front of a small audience at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
“Australia is a strong and like-minded partner, but the European Union does not have a trade agreement with Australia,” said von der Leyen, the head of the bloc’s powerful executive arm. “We are currently trading on World Trade Organization terms.”
Von der Leyen added: “If this is the British choice, we are fine with that. We can decide to settle for less, but I personally believe we should be more ambitious.”
Britain left the EU on Jan. 31 — the first nation ever to do so — but it is continuing to follow EU regulations at least until the end of the year. During the transition period, the British government and EU leaders will try to negotiate a free trade deal and agreements covering other areas like security cooperation.
Britain wants the trade agreement to cover goods and services and exclude almost all tariffs. However, Johnson has been adamant that the U.K. won’t keep following all of the EU’s regulations. To strike deals with other countries, Johnson wants the flexibility to subscribe to varying standards for areas such as competition, state aid or even the environment.
Some British businesses have expressed alarm that the government is watering down its commitment to keeping trade with the EU as frictionless as possible.
Andrew Opie of the British Retail Consortium said that unless the government acted fast to set up border infrastructure, U.K. customers could see shortages of fresh fruit and vegetables.
“It is not enough to announce checks will take place, we must see plans now as to how this will be possible in practice, or it will be consumers who suffer on January 1,” he said.
Von der Leyen insisted that the 27-nation EU is offering Britain “something we have never offered before to anybody else” on the condition that the former EU nation guarantees fair competition and protections for workers and the environment.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief chief negotiator, warned that business between the U.K. and the EU won’t be status quo after the transition period ends if the parties have not reached a trade accord; tariffs and quotas would be immediately implemented on all British products.
“The opening of our markets, access to data and equivalence for financial services will be proportional to the commitments made to respect a true level playing field, regulatory coherence, protection of citizens and financial stability,” Barnier said.
He added that Britain should not be under the illusion the City of London’s financial services will have preferential access.
“Brexit can’t be business as usual, there will be changes in every domain,” Barnier said. “This negotiation will be difficult, very difficult. I recommend that we stay ready for every option, including the one without a basic deal before Dec. 31.”
The British government has warned U.K. businesses to prepare for customs declarations and checks on goods coming from the EU next year.
“The U.K, will be outside the single market and outside the customs union, so we will have to be ready for the customs procedures and regulatory checks that will inevitably follow,” Michael Gove, the Cabinet minister in charge of Brexit preparations, said Monday.
On Monday, the leader of Scotland’s government warned that Britain would pay a “heavy cost” if it abandons EU rules and standards. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also reiterated her desire for a referendum to win Scotland’s independence from the U.K. and the possibility to join the EU as a member country.
“As the EU continually makes clear, the more we diverge from EU standards, the less access we will have to the single market,” she said. “The right to diverge will come at a cost, a very heavy cost.”


fortune--2020-02-11--‘Panic situation:’ As coronavirus idles China’s factories, desperation grows for workers, clients an

‘Panic situation:’ As coronavirus idles China’s factories, desperation grows for workers, clients and owners

Janey Zhang, the owner of an umbrella factory in China’s east coast city of Shangyu, spends her days watching the news for coronavirus updates and fielding calls from cash-strapped employees asking when they can go back to work.
“I don’t know,” says Zhang, whose Zhejiang Xingbao Umbrella Co. employs about 200 workers. “We await government instructions. If it’s just me, I can tighten my belt for a few months. But if the epidemic lasts a long time, China’s economy will slump. That will be horrible.”
Across China’s vast east-coast manufacturing heartland, the story is the same. Thousands of businesses are in limbo, waiting to hear from local authorities on when they can resume operations. Even when they get the all-clear, it might take days for them to climb back to full staff, as many workers who traveled home for the Lunar New Year holidays are stuck there because of travel restrictions. Completed orders would pile up anyway, because the logistics companies that deliver them aren’t working either.
China’s efforts to contain the coronavirus are rippling far beyond Hubei province, the epicenter of the disease. At 4.6 trillion yuan ($660 billion) in 2019, Hubei’s economy is bigger than Poland’s or Sweden’s and accounts for 4.6% of China’s national gross domestic product.
Disruptions there scale up to nationwide impact, which at peak last week saw provinces accounting for almost 69% of China’s GDP closed for business, according to Bloomberg calculations.
And while Hubei is not itself an export powerhouse, the factories along China’s east coast are tightly embedded in global supply chains, so plant closures there could disrupt assembly lines in South Korea and India.
A pedestrian wearing a face mask walks through an empty shopping plaza, in view of a H&M store, in Hangzhou, China, on Feb. 11, 2020. Qilai Shen—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Bloomberg Economics estimates that if the outbreak is successfully contained, the impact on China’s economy will be severe but short-lived — with growth slowing to 4.5% in the first quarter, followed by a recovery and then stabilization in the second half. That trajectory would put full-year growth in 2020 at 5.7%, which is 0.2 percentage point below Bloomberg Economics’ forecast prior to the outbreak and down from 6.1% in 2019. If it takes longer to come under control, the hit to growth would be bigger.
The U.S. Federal Reserve Board has warned that “significant distress” could spill over to U.S. and global markets, which isn’t surprising given that China contributes about 17% of world economic output.
Lost Orders
“We are missing our peak sales season,” laments David Ni, the chief executive of Jiangsu Siborui Import and Export Co. headquartered in the Yangtze port city of Nanjing, the company buys aluminum alloy wheels for cars from Chinese producers and exports them to retail outlets in the U.S.
None of its suppliers have gone back to work yet, and it’s unclear when they will, says Ni, who’s based in Los Angeles. “There’s little factory owners can do except wait. On and off, the epidemic could delay production for at least two months. Most factories this year wouldn’t be able to make any money.”
In India, Vinod Sharma, managing director of Deki Electronics, calls it a “panic situation.” To compensate for the factory closures in China, the New Delhi-based maker of capacitors is leaning more heavily on South Korean suppliers. But their inventories may be quickly exhausted, because they too rely on plants in China for parts. “My problem is how available they will be, because the whole world will be talking to them,” he says. “I don’t know if they can scale up so quickly.”
For factories in China that make lower-end goods such as furniture and cheap phones, the coronavirus is the latest in a series of existential threats. Already operating on paper-thin margins because of rising labor and materials costs, these businesses sustained another blow from the tariffs the Trump administration levied on $360 billion worth of Chinese exports to the U.S.
For others, the coronavirus outbreak is a more severe threat. “The impact of the epidemic is even worse than the trade war,” says Zhou Xinqi, owner of Cixi Jinshengda Bearing Co. in Cixi city. The company gets 60% of its 100 million yuan annual sales from abroad.
“The trade war just decreased our margin, but at least we were still making money,” said Zhou. “Now we are not making money. We are losing more than a million yuan.”
About 90% of the 300 employees at Cixi Jinshengda come from other provinces. Zhou has told them not to come back to the city until the government announces a restart date, and he doesn’t expect to resume production until February 25 at the earliest. Anyone who does return early would have to pay hotel fees to quarantine themselves, he says.
In a survey of 995 small- and medium-size companies by Tsinghua and Peking university professors, 85% said they would be unable to sustain operations for more than three months under current conditions, and 30% expect revenue to plunge by more than half this year because of the virus.
Running Dry
“We’re spending money every day but making none,” says Sun Qiuliang, says Sun Qiuliang, sales manager at his family’s Chaozhou-based Guangdong Chaoan Liyuan Flashlight Works.
He said the local government ordered him not to resume operations before Feb. 21. “Those who start working will be arrested,” he says. “I’m not kidding. We just have to listen to the government.”
Foshan Andun Sanitary Ware Co. near Guangzhou had planned to resume work on Feb. 10. Now it doesn’t expect to reopen before Feb. 20, says sales vice director Yi Chuanfa. That 10-day delay will cost it about 300,000 yuan in salaries, rent, and utility fees.
Some places are getting back to business faster though. In Shanghai, which extended the Lunar New Year holiday until Feb. 9., about 70% of manufacturers have returned to work, the city government said Feb 10., citing a survey. More than 80% of Shanghai’s software and information service providers have resumed operations, and 70% of their employees are working from home, the survey found.
Local governments also are doing what they can to ease the pain. Authorities in Yiwu are offering merchants rent exemptions for one or two months, depending on the severity of the situation, says Yu Guoying, owner of garden gnomes maker Bolus Resin Craft.
She says clients have been very understanding, and some agreed to postpone their deliveries to March or April. “The only thing we can do is stay at home,” Yu says. “What’s the point rushing to make money if we can’t stay safe?”
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—Stock scammers are using coronavirus to dupe investors, SEC warns
—Credit Suisse making a comeback, but spying scandal drags down outlook
—Why China is still so susceptible to disease outbreaks
—A new coronavirus red flag on the horizon—a stronger dollar
—Fortune Explains: Tariffs and trade wars
Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.


fortune--2020-02-11--Amid cultural crisis, Google looks for a new head of HR

This is the web version of the Broadsheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. To get it delivered daily to your in-box, sign up here.
Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Angela Merkel’s succession plan falls apart, Brandless shuts down, and Google is looking for a new head of people. Have a terrific Tuesday.
– A tough gig at Google. It’s not often that an executive’s career trajectory aligns so directly with a fundamental shift in the business world, but that’s what happened with Google head of people operations Eileen Naughton, who will step down later this year, the company said Monday.
Naughton has held the top HR job for four years, a period that saw Google and its Silicon Valley brethren go from the envy of employees everywhere—with pampering and perks and a ‘change the world’ mission—to hotbeds of worker activism, as emboldened staffers demanded that their work be used for what they deem “good.”
Naughton has been on the front lines of the evolution, as Fortune‘s Danielle Abril reports:
“[She] has had to deal with intensifying employee anger over the company’s alleged handling of sexual harassment claims, the firing of employees who organized protests against the company, and the elimination of weekly all-hands meetings at which employees confronted executives about sensitive topics (the meetings are now monthly, and the permitted topics are limited). She’s also had to manage worker complaints about the company’s decision to work on secret projects like a censored search engine for China and a lack of employee diversity.”
Google says Naughton is stepping down to be closer to her family and that she’ll eventually take another role within the company. And she will help Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and CFO Ruth Porat find a replacement.
No doubt her successor will have an enormous job. During Naughton’s tenure, she helped grow Google’s workforce more than 65% to nearly 119,000 globally. Whoever gets the gig will oversee a department with the goal of being “champions of Google’s colorful culture”—a culture that still seems steeped in crisis. As Danielle reports, despite Naughton’s responses to staff grievances, current and former employee activists are still publicly airing their concerns.
Claire Zillman
claire.zillman@fortune.com
@clairezillman
Today’s Broadsheet was produced by Emma Hinchliffe.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Succession chaos. Angela Merkel's carefully considered succession plan is falling apart in Germany. Her anointed heir as Chancellor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, will resign as leader of the Christian Democrats, meaning that she won't be a candidate for Merkel's job. Kramp-Karrenbauer had been at the center of a controversy over a branch of her party working, against her wishes, with a far-right party to choose a state premier. Now the Christian Democrats will need a new leader, and that politician may refuse to accept the job without also becoming Chancellor—which means Merkel may step down sooner than expected. Politico
- Election win. In more global politics, the party Sinn Féin declared victory in Ireland's general election. Sinn Féin was historically associated with the Irish Republican Army and the violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland; the party did especially well with voters under 34, who may not have personal memories of the period. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald called for lawmakers to work with the party, which today favors the reunification of Ireland and Northern Ireland, to form a coalition government. Guardian
- Foundation focus. For the 20th anniversary of their foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates announced that gender equity will officially be a prominent issue in the organization's work going forward. Melinda Gates has already committed $1 billion to causes that support gender equity through her firm Pivotal Ventures, but this work will be through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Fortune
- Bye, Brandless. Brandless, the startup that aimed to sell generic-brand products online, is shutting down. Founded by Tina Sharkey, who vacated the CEO role in 2019, Brandless has faced a year of turmoil since. It's the first SoftBank Vision Fund-backed startup to shutter entirely. Protocol
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: PayPal SVP Leah Sweet joined GoDaddy's board of directors. Former Virgin Money chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia will oversee a cultural overhaul effort at Lloyd's of London following the insurance market's bullying and harassment allegations. Old Navy president and chief creative officer Nancy Green joins the board of Allbirds.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Lagarde's ECB. In her three months in its top job, Christine Lagarde has already reshaped the culture of the European Central Bank. Meetings start hours earlier to leave more time for debate, policymakers have to put their phones away (as does Lagarde—her predecessor was known for being on his iPad during meetings), and proposals are handed out earlier to give more Governing Council members the opportunity to provide input. Her changes are meant to counter some of the dissent the ECB experienced before she took over. Reuters
- Suit, countersuit. Defamation lawsuits brought by men accused of sexual misconduct against the women who made those allegations are growing more and more common. From President Trump's lawsuit against E. Jean Carroll to Dr. Luke's lawsuit against Kesha, Mother Jones looks at the phenomenon here: Mother Jones
- No-go on NDAs. In the U.K., the government agency that has overseen #MeToo claims told companies not to use non-disclosure agreements to "hide a problem or brush it under the carpet." The agency had previously discouraged companies from preventing whistleblowers from talking to the police, but has extended that guidance to interactions with the media or civil courts. The decision comes after the high-profile situation of former London assistant to Harvey Weinstein Zelda Perkins, who broke her NDA and shared how it prevented her from talking about her experience with friends, family, a therapist, or attorneys. Bloomberg
ON MY RADAR
Translating for Bong Joon Ho at the Oscars: Aspiring director Sharon Choi New York Times
Was Jeanne Calment the oldest person who ever lived—or a fraud? The New Yorker
2020 continues to belong to women in their 50s Vogue
Whitechapel mural will celebrate the lives of Jack the Ripper's victims Guardian
PARTING WORDS
"They gave their lives to the union, and made it possible for other women to have this career and be mothers and have our benefits."
-Sara Nelson, president of the world’s largest flight-attendant union Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, on the women who preceded her, who couldn't have families and keep their jobs with airlines