fortune--2020-01-23--The U.S. doesn’t mandate diverse boardrooms—but now Goldman Sachs does

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said on Thursday that the bank would refuse to take a company public unless it had at least one “diverse” board member.
The initiative will start in July in the U.S. and Europe, Solomon said at the Global Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The initial requirement will be one board member, but the bank will move toward two in 2021.
“IPOs are a pivotal moment for firms,” Solomon told Fortune in Davos. Diversity in the boardroom “matters for performance,” he said, citing the four women who currently sit on the bank’s own 11-member board.
WeWork was a high-profile culprit of the all-male board trend; its initial IPO filing listed a board made up of seven men. It should be noted that Goldman was one of the investment banks that would’ve led WeWork’s IPO, had it not been pulled amid questions about the co-working space’s valuation and governance. On Tuesday, Solomon said WeWork’s cancelled IPO was an example of the listing process working as it should.
In an earlier interview with CNBC, Solomon said that in the past four years, the public offerings of U.S. companies with at least one female director performed “significantly better” than those without.
Going public with an all-male board is not all that uncommon. In August, Fortune reported that roughly 40% of the 100 companies that IPOed between January 2019 and mid-August had done so with only male board members, according to Pitchbook data. That stat was on par with slightly older research from Equilar that looked at IPOs dating back to 2015 and found that just 60.5% of companies had at least one female director. On Thursday, Solomon said 60 companies in the U.S. and Europe had recently IPOed with all-male boards that were also all-white.
Solomon said Goldman wouldn’t just issue this edict; it would use its resources and global reach to help firms identify female board candidates. He said the initiative overall is aimed at “accelerating” a trend toward more diverse boards that is developing too slowly on its own.
Goldman’s announcement came against the backdrop of the World Economic Forum, where an earlier panel discussion on Thursday had touched on the merits of gender quotas for corporate boards. The U.S. is a notable holdout from the trend that’s seen laws mandate women’s representation on boards in countries like Italy, Germany, and France.
At the event on Thursday, France’s Minister of Labor Muriel Pénicaud touted the progress her country has made since introducing a quota in 2011. At that time, women made up 10% of board members. That share has now hit 43%, meaning it has surpassed the 40% goal. France has also introduced an equal pay law. Pénicaud said such measures are “tools of action.”
“If it’s not moving enough, we will move another way,” she said. “We are very practical.”
To be fair, the U.S. has tiptoed into the quota trend, but not via Washington. California this year enacted a law that requires public companies to have at least one female director. But amid the lack of federal action, some influential players in the private sector—a group that now includes Goldman—have introduced measures to nudge companies toward more diversity. Investors BlackRock and Vanguard, for instance, are using their voting power to pressure companies with all-male boards to add women.
At the World Economic Forum on Thursday, Finland’s new 34-year-old Prime Minister Sanna Marin was asked why gender quotas are needed if the business case for diversity has already been made. “There are people behind businesses,” she said. Therefore, “businesses don’t always work in a logical way.”
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—U.S. brands think they understand China’s market, but they don’t
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fortune--2020-01-23--Major insurers are teaming up with a nonprofit to cut the price of generic drugs

Exclusive : American Well ’ s next act is turning your bedroom into a hospital

A major coalition of health insurers is committing $55 million to partner with an upstart nonprofit with the goal of lowering generic drug prices.
On Thursday, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) announced that 18 of its member Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurance companies (which cover about 40 million Americans) has struck a partnership with Civica Rx with the express goal of lowering the cost of certain generic drugs. The partnership will create a separate subsidiary that other players in the medical industry, including health plans and employers, could join at a later date.
“Through this partnership, we will push toward the vital objective of providing greater access to much-needed medications,” said BCBSA president and CEO Scott P. Serota in a statement. “As BCBS companies and Civica embark on this important work, we hope others will join us to achieve the change Americans want to see in the health care system.”
Civica Rx was formed in 2018 with an intriguing mission and structure: Tired of high generic drug prices inside of the hospital setting, Intermountain Healthcare and massive hospital chains like Ascension, Trinity Health, HCA Healthcare, the Mayo Clinic, and others, set up Civica as a nonprofit to create and distribute certain generic drugs, focusing on treatments that face shortages or have experienced major price hikes.
Generics are still far cheaper than their branded counterparts, but research from the AARP found that 23% of 390 generic treatments commonly used by elderly Americans experienced a price increase in 2017, the latest year for which comprehensive data is available.
“Numerous studies confirm that medication costs can dictate whether individuals fill or ration their generic prescriptions,” said Civica president and CEO Martin VanTrieste in a statement on Thursday.
The Blue Cross partnership now extends that project beyond the hospital setting. BCBSA and Civica have not specified which treatments will be targeted first, although high-cost generic drugs will be the focus. While branded drug price hikes tend to capture most of the media spotlight, generic drugs make up the lion’s share of the U.S. drug market, making up nearly 90% of all prescriptions, according to pharmacy benefit giant Optum.
The new subsidiary’s strategy involves snatching up and developing its own generic drug applications; once these treatments get a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) green light, they’d be sold in bulk volume at prices lower than what’s currently available in high-cost markets.
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—Industry standouts: The companies most admired by the business world
—The forces behind Boeing’s long descent
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fortune--2020-01-23--Apple inks deals with fitness chains to give rewards to Apple Watch users

Apple made a splash on Thursday, announcing a new partnership with four fitness chains to promote the use of Apple Watch, as well as its Apple Pay mobile payments service.
Basecamp Fitness, Orange Theory, the YMCA Twin Cities, and Crunch Fitness are all a part of the “Apple Watch Connected” program, each agreeing to meet three Apple requirements (and getting a nice publicity boost from the announcement in return). To partner with Apple, the fitness chains must each have an Apple Watch app that lets members login, track their fitness, and see class schedules. They also must offer a rewards program for Apple Watch users. And finally, their facilities also need to accept Apple Pay.
None of the chains participating in the Apple Watch Connected program rank among the 10 largest fitness chains in the U.S. Crunch is the most significant gym of the four, ranking 12th by revenue in the 2019 listings of market tracker Club Industry. Orange ranks 13th, and Basecamp is a small piece of 16th-ranked Anytime Fitness. The Minnesota-area YMCA, doesn’t appear in the rankings, since it’s a non-profit organization.
The three largest fitness chains in the U.S.—LA Fitness, Life Time, and 24 Hour Fitness—were notably missing from Apple’s announcement. LA Fitness and Life Time didn’t respond to Fortune‘s request for comment, and 24 Hour Fitness could not be reached.
The gyms participating in the Apple Watch Connected program should benefit by enhancing the workout experience of their Apple Watch-owning members. “Gyms get people to stay loyal and regular users of their services, limiting the chance of people letting their gym memberships expire,” says Ramon Llamas, research director at IDC. In addition, Apple benefits by convincing more gyms to join its ecosystem, particularly for Apple Pay, which works with iPhones and watches, Llamas adds.
“We’re helping motivate our members using the technology they love from the moment a member walks in the studio until their last drop of sweat falls,” said Basecamp CEO Jedidiah Schmidt in a statement.
Members of the four gyms who wear an Apple Watch will also benefit, though only at a few locations at first. Crunch and Orange Theory, for example, are both offering Apple Watch Connected benefits in just two New York City locations to start, with plans for much wider deployments down the road. The YMCA Twin Cities is starting the program at its St. Paul Midway location, and promises to roll out to 21 more locations soon. Basecamp, meanwhile, is integrating the Apple Watch at all six of its locations.
There’s another way the gyms will likely please Apple Watch wearers. Participants in the program are generally required to offer workout machines that are compatible with Apple’s GymKit data standard (with exceptions in the case of studio workouts). Running on a GymKit-enabled treadmill, for example, allows an Apple Watch user to monitor and collect an assortment of data directly from the machine. Brands that integrate GymKit, first introduced in 2017, include Cybex, StairMaster, and Nautilus.
Analyst Carolina Milanesi at Creative Strategies says the direct data link from GymKit is what gym rats crave. “Wearables give you a better reading than the machines at the gym, so hopefully this means you will have more of an incentive to get in there,” she says.
Apple’s program also may give it a competitive boost versus rivals like Fitbit, which is being acquired by Google, and Garmin. Apple already ranks at the top of the wearable market, capturing almost half of smartwatch sales.
Some of the larger chains left out of Thursday’s announcement do support Apple’s ecosystem somewhat already. LA Fitness has iPhone and Apple Watch apps, while 24 Hour Fitness and Life Time have full-featured iPhone apps. But they also support rival systems. 24 Hour has a Fitbit app and an Android phone app, for instance.
But analysts say Apple Watch has an attractive user base that the gyms want to keep pulling in. Milanesi expects to see many more fitness chains signing on with Apple. “It’s a natural fit for wearables and Apple Watch,” she says.
Correction, January 24, 2020: An earlier version of this story misstated the requirements for gyms that join Apple’s Connected program. The gyms are required to offer GymKit compatible workout machines.
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fortune--2020-01-23--Tinder rolls out verification service to curb catfishing—blue checkmark included

Tinder is a remarkably popular dating app, but you don’t always end up with who you expect when you go on a date. Now the service is looking to crack down on that issue.
Tinder is rolling out a photo verification service, which it says will help ensure every match is who they say they are. (Heavy use of filters, photo alteration software and just plain inaccurate photos by some users mean the person who shows up for a meeting looks nothing like their picture on the app.)
Verified members will receive a blue checkmark, similar to the one used by Twitter, to show their status. The feature is being tested in select markets now and will be expanded through the year.
Members will self-authenticate, taking a series of guided selfies that are compared to existing profile pictures using “human assisted AI technology.” Tinder didn’t address whether people would have to update their verifications regularly to account for changes in weight, age and hairstyles.
Tinder is introducing a photo verification service. Courtesy of Tinder
The updates were part of a series of upcoming changes for the app meant to increase user safety. Tinder also introduced an integration with Noonlight, letting members share details about an upcoming date and easily (and covertly) alert authorities if they feel threatened. In addition, it will debut a safety center that makes users aware of new security features and helps them make smart decisions regarding online dating.
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—Inside big tech’s quest for human-level A.I.
—Medicine by machine: Is A.I. the cure for the world’s ailing drug industry?
—A.I. breakthroughs in natural-language processing are big for business
—A.I. is transforming the job interview—and everything after
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fortune--2020-01-23--‘Zombi Child’ auteur Bertrand Bonello on colonialism, French trap music, and a ‘cinema of fear’

Abstract and unsettling, Bertrand Bonello’s Zombi Child is a true requiem for the undead, reaching back through Haitian history to that point at which it gyres into myth, in an attempt to return the zombie to its original meaning.
Before George A. Romero’s politically charged Night of the Living Dead (1968) reinterpreted zombies as reanimated, brain-devouring cannibals—the Western world eating itself—the Creole word “zombi” referred to a permanent trance feared by plantation workers in sugarcane fields. The idea that not even death could free slaves from their shackles, that one might be resurrected to perform manual labor for eternity, reflects the cultural psychology of a country disfigured by colonialism.
But Bonello’s film (which opens in New York this Friday) is more peculiar and provocative than a mere history lesson. In his eighth feature, the French writer-director moves back and forth between two settings, interweaving them as if to suggest larger forces, unmoored from time, that move within both. In 1962 Haiti, plantation worker Clairvius Narcisse (Mackenson Bijou) becomes the victim of a voodoo curse, rising from the dead as a soulless corpse. And in present-day Paris, a coterie of French schoolgirls—one a Haitian refugee descended from Clairvius—dabble in voodoo as a means of remedying issues in their love lives. It’s a film structured to raise tough questions, of cultural appropriation and cosmic justice, inherited trauma and forgotten histories.
For Bonello, Narcisse was both the impetus for Zombi Child and its most overt link to real history. In 1962 Haiti, an urban legend alleges that a man by that name died then came back to life, shambling off into the night. “I had in my mind this image of a man walking for 40 years with his head down,” said Bonello, speaking in a hotel room last fall during the New York Film Festival. “For me, it was a strong and simple image. That was my starting point.”
But Bonello knew he couldn’t simply tell Narcisse’s story, at least not without engaging in some minor form of the very exploitation Zombi Child critiques. “A white French man coming into Haiti and saying, ‘I’m going to make a movie about voodoo,’ that doesn’t work,” he explained. “I had to find a point-of-view that was mine, which is to say one that was French and contemporary.”
Bonello speaks about “Zombi Child” at the 57th New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center on Oct. 1, 2019 in New York City. “I discovered cinema through horror films, a long time ago,” he tells Fortune. John Lamparski—Getty Images for Film at Lincoln Center
Correspondingly, Bonello invented the character of Clairvius’s granddaughter, Mélissa (Wislanda Louimat), attending an all-girls boarding school in Paris. In his research, the writer-director uncovered one such school that had been founded by Napoleon Bonaparte, whose relationship to slavery in Haiti was significant. When Mélissa befriends the wealthy, white Fanny (Louise Labeque), it’s because the two 15-year-olds bond over their love of horror fiction. But when Mélissa’s heritage comes to light, the lovelorn Fanny is keen to experiment with voodoo, despite understanding little of its roots in colonial oppression.
“You have one simple story, of Clairvius, and another simple story, the love sorrow of Fanny,” explained Bonello. “When you put them together it makes things much more complex. It opens many doors.”
Bonello has explored the quixotic nature of youth before, most forcefully in 2016’s Nocturama, about teens who camp out in a shopping mall after setting off bombs around Paris. That film and Zombi Child share an interest in young people who commit to radical courses of action, not out of malice so much as a desire to change their own circumstances.
“It’s very naïve,” he said, describing Fanny’s efforts to exploit voodoo, which involve pushing Mélissa’s aunt to perform a ritual to heal her heart. “She’s 15. That’s why I accept it. Because in fact, what does she do? She tries to appropriate a culture she does not know.”
Bonello describes Fanny (Labeque) and her efforts to exploit voodoo in “Zombi Child” as naïve. Film Movement
That appropriation carries over to the music of Zombi Child, too. In one standout scene, the schoolgirls chant a French trap song, the Belgian rapper Damso’s “N. J Respect R,” in its entirety, as if partaking in some ancient ceremony.
“That song has strong, complicated lyrics, but it’s true to what young girls in Paris are listening to,” said Bonello. “When I did casting for the main roles, I saw maybe 100 girls, and they all knew the lyrics by heart.” The girls’ fixation with Rihanna, and her use of Jamaican dancehall music with tropical beats, subtly heightens the film’s perspective on how pop music represents a globalization of cultures, but also a lingering form of appropriation that was at one point rooted in exploitation. Those song choices stand in sharp contrast to the Clairvius scenes, which include an ambient synth score and are shot through a more surreal, phantasmal lens.
In crafting Zombi Child, Bonello was interested in featuring younger protagonists so as to also reflect upon his own experiences discovering horror as a teen.
“I discovered cinema through horror films, a long time ago,” he said. “In the late ’70s and early ’80s, when I was young, I watched all those films—and I still like them. David Cronenberg, William Friedkin with The Exorcist, Lucio Fulci, George Romero. When I was watching them as a kid, they were entertainment. When I saw them later, around age 25, I realized three things: first, that they were good films; second, that they had good directors; and third, that they had something to say.”
It was by studying Romero’s treatment of race in Night of the Living Dead, for one, that Bonello grew to understand horror as a cover for filmmakers to smuggle into theaters sharp, often radical comments on society.
“They were political, all of them,” he said. “It was a way for these directors to express their anxiety of the world, to go through the cinema of fear. It was something we lost for a couple of decades after that, but that is perhaps coming back now, with Jordan Peele’s films, Get Out and Us. We need to go through the cinema of fear to express our own.”
That said, which terrors in Zombi Child keep Bonello up at night? It’s not that simple, he said, laughing. Abstraction is an aesthetic choice in Bonello’s films, but it also permits him freedom to “build images” while entrusting that their greater meaning will at some point become clear, both to him and the audience.
“It’s not very intellectual,” he said. “It’s more instinctive.” Toward the interview’s end, Bonello mentions David Lynch as one of his heroes mostly for this reason.
“That guy’s doing horror movies all the time, to express his feelings toward the world,” said Bonello. “He’s not inventing anything; instead, he starts with a very simple situation and twists it until it’s a nightmare. This is what I mean by a fear of the world. I started with a very simple idea, and when I finished editing the film, I realized many more complex things came out of it. But I didn’t start with that.”
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fortune--2020-01-23--How the air travel industry is dealing with the deadly Wuhan coronavirus

Airports and airlines are stepping up efforts to protect staff and passengers from a deadly virus originating in Wuhan, with Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and China Airlines Ltd. going as far as canceling flights in and out of the Chinese city until the end of February.
The airlines’ announcements followed a decision by the Chinese government to limit travel from Wuhan, effectively putting the city of 11 million people into lockdown. Boats and buses have also been told to divert to avoid the city, which sits on the Yangtze River. At least 17 people have died and hundreds of people have been infected by the coronavirus, which has spread to other parts of Asia and the U.S.
China said it will conduct nationwide screening and improve monitoring of transportation links for the Lunar New Year holiday, which starts Friday and is expected to see almost 80 million people take flights. Major hubs elsewhere like London Heathrow increased monitoring of passengers disembarking planes from Wuhan, the capital of central China’s Hubei province, when concern about the spread of the illness mounted Wednesday.
Here’s a look at how airports and airlines around the world are reacting:
Asia
Hong Kong: In response to complaints from its cabin crew union about risk of “catastrophic” infection, flag carrier Cathay Pacific on Wednesday said staff could wear protective face masks on flights to China if they wanted. The airline’s unit Cathay Dragon is suspending flights to Wuhan from Friday until Feb. 29 and contacting passengers about refunds and postponed travel plans.
Taiwan: China Airlines and Mandarin Airlines Co., both operated by CAL Group, are also suspending flights to Wuhan until the end of February and assisting passengers with rebookings. Crew on the two airlines along with Tigerair Taiwan are wearing face masks while on duty, CAL said in a statement Thursday. There’s also an “appropriate quantity” of masks for passengers, it said.
South Korea: Korean Air Lines Co. provided hazardous-materials suits for crew, while Tway Air delayed plans to launch a new route from Incheon to Wuhan. The country confirmed its first infection on Monday.
North Korea: The country temporarily closed its borders to foreign tourists as a precaution against the virus, according to travel agent Young Pioneer Tours.
Singapore: Changi Airport, which receives more than 430 flights a week from China, is increasing surveillance on all passengers arriving from the country. Low-cost carrier Scoot said disinfectants, hand sanitizers and surgical masks are being supplied on all China flights. Scoot said it has an aircraft disinfection protocol in place for flights where suspected cases have been reported.
Japan: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the country will step up quarantine and testing, while Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said Tuesday that health questionnaires were given to passengers arriving from Wuhan by plane and that people should inform authorities if they’re not feeling well. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs set the risk of infection in Wuhan to “Level 2” and recommended avoiding unnecessary travel there.
Macau: The government canceled Lunar New Year celebrations and said it will ban people with fevers from leaving.
India: Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport has increased surveillance measures. Delhi Airport staff are checking inbound passengers from affected areas, according to a statement.
Malaysia: AirAsia is offering customers refunds for bookings on flights to and from Wuhan before Feb. 15, or the option to retain the value of their booking in flight credits for trips before Feb. 29, according to a statement on its website.
Indonesia: Airports and airlines have been asked to take precautionary measures such as screening international passengers with thermal scanners. Airlines must provide health documents and manifests after landing, Director General of Civil Aviation Polana Pramesti said in a statement.
Vietnam: Equipment to measure body temperature is in place to screen passengers at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport, according to a statement on the government website, which said monitoring will be increased during the Lunar New Year holidays as there’ll be a greater number of flights.
Europe
U.K.: Teams including a doctor and medical inspector were deployed Wednesday to Heathrow airport to greet passengers from Wuhan to monitor for signs of the virus and provide information to passengers about symptoms, the Department for Health said. The checks concern three flights a week operated by China Southern Airlines Co. The risk to Britons was raised to “low” from “very low.”
Italy: The Health Ministry said procedures are in force at Rome Fiumicino airport, which has direct flights to Wuhan, to check arrivals from the Chinese city. Surveillance of passengers is being strengthened and people will be subject to body temperature checks at the airport, it said.
Africa
Nigeria: The country’s center for disease control advised travelers coming from Wuhan to report to a medical facility if they feel ill and said that surveillance has been intensified at all points of entry.
South Africa: The National Institute for Communicable Diseases recommended testing anyone who has recently visited Wuhan and is displaying symptoms such as fever and a cough.
Americas
U.S.: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention implemented screening for arrivals at airports in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles on Jan. 17, and is expanding that to Atlanta and Chicago. CDC said it’s closely monitoring the outbreak and there are ongoing investigations into the “rapidly evolving situation.” United Airlines is most exposed to the China market, according to a report from Stifel analyst Joseph DeNardi.
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fortune--2020-01-23--Bored and weary senators openly flout basic guidelines during impeachment trial

So much for the Senate’s quaint rules and tradition.
Almost immediately after Chief Justice John Roberts gaveled in Wednesday’s session of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, bored and weary senators started openly flouting some basic guidelines in a chamber that prizes decorum.
A Democrat in the back row leaned on his right arm, covered his eyes and stayed that way for nearly a half-hour. Some openly snickered when lead prosecutor Adam Schiff said he’d only speak for 10 minutes. And when one of the freshman House prosecutors stood to speak, many of the senator-jurors bolted for the cloak rooms, where their phones are stored.
“I do see the members moving and taking a break,” observed freshman Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, one of the House prosecutors, in mid-speech at the center podium. “I probably have another 15 minutes.”
The agony of the senator-jurors had begun to show the night before, with widespread but more subtle struggles to pay attention to opening arguments. Gum-chewing, snacking, yawning and alleged napping could be seen throughout the cramped chamber.
Around midnight, things got looser. Senators paced and chatted near the wall. Then the prosecutors and Trump’s defense team got into a back-and-forth over who was lying and making false allegations about Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to help him politically.
Roberts admonished everyone to tone it down. The Senate, he reminded those gathered, is the “world’s greatest deliberative body,” functioning, for now, as a court of impeachment. It has a tradition of civility — and for grave and rare impeachment trials, specific rules: No coffee or snacking on the floor. No pacing, note-passing, working on other matters or chit-chat. Technically, only water is allowed in the Senate chamber, but there have been exceptions in years past for milk and even eggnog.
“There’s coffee, but it’s miserable coffee” in the cloakrooms, according to Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. “I mean you would wish it on a Democrat, no one else,” he said, adding, “Just joking.”
It’s all designed to focus the senator-jurors on the issues at hand. So napping is not, in theory, part of the plan.
But for many, Wednesday hurt. Roberts had gaveled Tuesday’s session closed at 1:50 a.m.
Fewer than 12 hours later, the senators were back, with little sleep, for more of the same impeachment story, told by Schiff and his team in exhaustive detail. Even with Roberts’ scolding still fresh, many senators were in no mood for rules or traditions.
Well into Schiff’s second hour of opening arguments, he moved on from discussing the first of two charges against Trump.
“Now let me turn to the second article,” Schiff said. That prompted several senators to shift in their seats and smile at each other in apparent bemusement. It also sparked a small exodus for the cloakroom, especially on the Republican side, including Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri and Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
Within the first hour, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia could be seen at his desk in the back row, leaning on his right arm with a hand covering his eyes. He stayed that way for around 20 minutes, then shifted to rest his chin in the same hand, eyes closed, for about five more minutes. Despite the late-night votes, Warner’s day had started as scheduled at a 10 a.m. Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.
Crow, a military veteran speaking on the impact of Trump’s holdup of military aid to Ukraine, had trouble holding the Senate’s attention. Some senators left their seats and headed to cloakrooms, stood in the back or openly yawned as he spoke. At one point during his address, more than 10 senators’ seats were empty.
Crow wondered aloud if the Senate wanted to take a recess.
No dice. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said there would be no break until dinner, more than an hour later.
The water-only practice seemed to be one guideline the senators could get around by tradition.
Cotton, R-Ark., for example, was seen drinking a glass of milk early in the day. Spokeswoman Caroline Tabler said Cotton was drinking skim milk — a nice complement to the chocolate snacks he and other senators were getting in their cloakroom and from one lawmaker’s desk.
Like so much about the fusty Senate, even the beverage exceptions are rooted in history. Cassidy told reporters that milk joined water as the officially permitted drinks in the Senate chamber in the 1950s. Cassidy, a doctor, said that at the time, milk was believed to be a treatment for stomach ulcers.
According to the Senate Historical Office, Sen. Robert LaFollette, R-Wis., drank eggnog during a 1908 filibuster, and Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, while still a Democrat in 1957, drank orange juice during his record 24-hour filibuster against the Civil Rights Act.
Factoids aside, the novelty of the impeachment trial had clearly worn off Wednesday. Senators had heard the Trump-Ukraine story before, many times. Their boredom, one Republican senator suggested, had become a challenge to the prolific House managers’ strategy. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said the less wordy president’s legal team had “read the Senate” better.
“It was a long day and the House managers did a lot of repeating the same material,” Rounds told reporters. “I’ve got 20 pages of notes, and towards the end, we were basically hearing the same thing over again. It was a diatribe.”
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—The Chief Justice and impeachment: John Roberts’ role in the Trump trial
—How impeachment hearings in the Senate will work
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—The World’s Most Admired Companies in 2020
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fortune--2020-01-23--FedEx text scam: These fake personalized ‘alerts’ could result in identity theft

Law enforcement officials and FedEx are warning people about a new, very convincing scam that appears to be a text notification from the shipping service.
People have been getting personalized text alerts (using their name) about an incoming package. Rather than listing an estimated delivery time, though, it tells the would-be recipient the company is waiting for them to set delivery preferences.
The link takes people to a page that appears to be an Amazon listing, then asks them to take a customer satisfaction survey, where it then probes for personal information and credit card numbers in order to send a “free gift.”
There is, of course, no free gift and no package on the way. But identity theft could be.
The texts, part of what’s called a smishing campaign, are convincing, since they correctly use the recipient’s name, but authorities are urging people to be cautious – and always go directly to a company’s Website to search for shipping status.
SCAM 🚨 There is a new scam where you get a text with your name from Fedex (or another delivery service)and a tracking number. Do not click on the link. When in doubt about a tracking number go to the main website of the shipping company and search the tracking number yourself pic.twitter.com/EoG1C07OLf — Duxbury Police (@Duxbury_Police) January 21, 2020
Have you received a suspicious text or e-mail that appears to be from us? Suspicious messages should be deleted without being opened and reported to abuse@fedex.com.
Here are more tips to protect your safety: https://t.co/sgedEYSNfF pic.twitter.com/fMnR5Pgn7K — FedEx (@FedEx) January 22, 2020
FedEx reiterated it would never send a text asking for personal or credit card information. And it notes that customers should be especially wary of notifications in its name that have a high sense of urgency. And there’s the telltale sign of any scam – bad grammar and misspelled words, along with URLs that are close to, but not the same, as the company’s (Fedx vs FedEx).
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fortune--2020-01-23--Actress Annabella Sciorra confronts Harvey Weinstein from witness stand

Actress Annabella Sciorra confronted Harvey Weinstein in court Thursday after keeping her rape accusation against the former Hollywood honcho largely hidden for decades.
For more than a quarter-century, she told only few friends that the once-revered producer had pinned her to a bed and violated her, until she came forward publicly in 2017.
Now, Sciorra has become the first of Weinstein’s accusers to testify at his New York City rape trial.
Sciorra, best known for her work in “The Sopranos,” stands to be a key witness in a watershed trial for the #MeToo movement.
Sciorra, 59, started acting in the late 1980s and soon drew acclaim for her leading part in Spike Lee’s 1991 film “Jungle Fever” and her role as a pregnant woman molested by her doctor in 1992’s “The Hand That Rocks The Cradle” the next year.
The New York trial involves just a pair of the dozens of allegations that surfaced against Weinstein in recent years. He is charged with forcibly performing oral sex on former “Project Runway” production assistant Mimi Haleyi in his apartment in 2006 and raping an aspiring actress in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013.
Weinstein has insisted any sexual encounters were consensual. As he left court on Wednesday, he told reporters he felt “very confident” about the case.
A guilty verdict could put the 67-year-old disgraced movie mogul in prison for the rest of his life.
Sciorra’s allegations date back too long to be prosecuted on their own, but her testimony could be a factor as prosecutors look to show that Weinstein has engaged in a pattern of predatory behavior.
Her testimony about events in the mid-to-late 1990s could give the jury of seven men and five women a sense of the breadth of Weinstein’s alleged wrongdoing and insight into the power dynamics at play in his interactions with young actresses.
Prosecutors previewed Sciorra’s testimony in a lengthy, at-times graphic opening statement Wednesday that painted Weinstein as a sexual predator who used his film industry clout to abuse women for decades.
She’s one of four other accusers that prosecutors plan to call as witnesses during the monthlong trial.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they have been victims of sexual assault, unless they come forward publicly.
Sciorra alleges Weinstein showed up at her Manhattan apartment after dropping her off from a dinner, forced himself inside and raped her sometime in late 1993 or early 1994.
“The evidence will show that despite her protests, despite her fight, despite her body revolting, Harvey Weinstein felt he was entitled to take what he wanted from Annabella , forcing her to live in terror of him for decades,” prosecutor Meghan Hast told jurors in her opening statement.
That touched off several years of Weinstein tormenting Sciorra, Hast said, culminating in an incident at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 in which he arrived at her hotel door in his underwear, with a bottle of baby oil in hand.
A petrified Sciorra ran to the back of the room and started hitting call buttons, at which point Weinstein left, Hast said.
Sciorra did not go to authorities because she feared reprisal from Weinstein, prosecutors said. She went public in The New Yorker in October 2017, telling the magazine that for years she had been “so ashamed of what happened.”
“I fought. I fought. But still I was like, ‘Why did I open that door? Who opens the door at that time of night?’” Sciorra said. “I was definitely embarrassed by it. I felt disgusting.”
Weinstein lawyer Damon Cheronis, in his opening statement, made clear the defense intends to go on the offensive.
He questioned the validity of Sciorra’s account, saying she once told a friend that she “did a crazy thing and had sex with Harvey Weinstein” and that she had a consensual encounter with him.
“She didn’t describe it as rape because it wasn’t,” Cheronis said.
Update, January 23, 2020: This story was updated to include Anabelle Sciorra’s testimony.
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—5 tips for women who want a corporate board seat
Keep up with the world’s most powerful women with The Broadsheet newsletter.


fortune--2020-01-24--Minding the GAAP: companies are using a wider range of accounting metrics to inform investors—and so

Minding the GAAP: companies are using a wider range of accounting metrics to inform investors—and sometimes mislead them

After 5 years of negative interest rates , Europe has no idea how to climb back to zero

If you were going to invest in a stock, which sounds like the better bet: a company where earnings per share went up 17 cents or a company where they went down $1.10? How about both at the same time?
The third quarter earnings of energy company Entergy in October 2019 showed exactly that. By one measure—standard generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP—there was a big loss. Filtering out the contribution of a business line the company sold off and presenting non-GAAP, often called pro forma, results showed the improvement and how the remaining ongoing operations were doing.
Both ways of framing the data were valuable—that time. But, often, management teams use non-GAAP accounting in addition to GAAP to make their results look better. Just before WeWork gave up on its IPO, the company was at odds with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as the Wall Street Journal reported, over such things as how a novel metric, called “contribution margin,” tried to manage perception of heavy losses. (WeWork said it would “politely decline” to comment.)
The use of non-standard reporting—sometimes for a good reason and other times for marketing—has grown so much that all investors must keep a clear eye out.
“[Companies] use non-GAAP numbers to avoid reporting a loss or they want to avoid missing an analyst forecast,” says Carol Marquardt, a professor of accountancy and department chair at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College. “It is a mix of two motivations: to better inform investors and sometimes to mislead investors. And it’s difficult to tell which one predominates.”
Non-GAAP’s popularity
The practice of offering non-GAAP results has grown, according to data from Audit Analytics. In 1996, only 59% of examined companies showed non-GAAP metrics in their earnings reports. By 2018, that grew to 97%.
All financial reporting in the U.S. must be done using the standard generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, so investors can understand a company’s performance. However, companies can provide non-GAAP results, also called pro-forma, in addition.
“The biggest reason companies give for non-GAAP metrics is it’s more of what management sees as important to the company in the financial statement,” says Derryck Coleman, Audit Analytics research manager. Because GAAP accounting must apply to all companies, it often lacks specificity in a given industry.
For example, “gross revenues” (a measure included in GAAP) for hotels leaves much to be desired. “Occupancy [alone] doesn’t tell me much,” says David Larsen, fellow at the Duff & Phelps Institute, a think tank focused transparency and ethics. “I need to know the average revenue. If I say I’m running 80% occupancy but the reason I am is because I’m only charging $10 per room, [there is a problem].”
“There are some times when the GAAP accounting doesn’t make the most sense, like the amortization of goodwill,” adds Sandy Peters, a CPA and head of financial reporting policy at CFA Institute, an association of investment professionals. Goodwill accounts for the value of a company’s intangible property, including customer loyalty, patents and trademarks, brand, and employee relations. Amortization is the process of regularly reducing the value of property over its useful life.
Amortizing goodwill shows the lower value it has over time. But what is the lifespan of a brand? Should “Coca-Cola” be worthless now? Does a patent granted for 20 years still have significance when superseded by a newer technology?
“I think the accounting profession is lagging in many respects for business models that are coming out these days, like monetizing data,” says George Calhoun, an industry professor in the School of Business at Stevens Institute of Technology and director of the Hanlon Financial Systems Center. “I think there are legitimate moments when company can say the GAAP number is not showing the most accurate picture.”
Trying to follow the money
Multiple factors have contributed to perceived growth of non-GAAP reporting, according to Coleman. Mergers and acquisitions have expanded, complicating the view of how the continuing parts of a company are performing. Increased regulation around non-GAAP may also have just made such reporting more obvious to investors, even if many companies already used it.
Non-GAAP is perhaps most widely used to back out one-time expenses or revenues that aren’t representative of the company’s ongoing performance. This is where huge shifts in results can occur.
Johnson & Johnson, in its 2018 annual earnings report, showed nearly $15.3 billion net income under GAAP numbers but also offered a non-GAAP treatment that said net income was $22.3 billion after backing out a number of expenses, according to the company’s reconciliation document. Many of the categories—billions in total—also happened the previous three years as well to different degrees. (The company did not respond to a Fortune request for comment.)
Financial data company Calcbench ran an analysis on the S&P 500 in 2018 for Fortune. While there are many types of non-GAAP numbers companies can report, an important one is non-GAAP net income, which 256 firms used last year.
“The average non-GAAP net income for the S&P 500 is $2.46 billion,” says Calcbench CEO Pranav Ghai. That compares to an average GAAP net income across all the 500 of $2.38 billion, so not a large difference. However, compare the GAAP and non-GAAP figures for the companies that report both, and the results are dramatic. The average GAAP net income is now $2.06 billion. “The [change] is almost 20%,” Ghai says.
“According to research, on average, people tend to window dress [with non-GAAP] for the better and not for the worse,” says Gans Narayanamoorthy, associate professor of accounting at Tulane University’s A. B. Freeman School of Business. “This was very big during the dot com era. If you go back to 2001, the difference between pro forma earnings and GAAP earnings was huge.”
One study out of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Georgia, and the University of Arizona suggested that managers “exclude higher levels of both recurring and nonrecurring expenses in calculating the pro forma earnings number.” That would make earnings look higher. Also, managers “emphasize the pro forma figure by placing it more prominently within the earnings press release.”
There are clues to when the corporate intent is to sell more than inform. For example, a company might exclude what is a recurring item or the non-GAAP results are significantly higher than earnings estimates according to the Institutional Brokers’ Estimate System (IBES), an earnings estimates database owned by Thompson Reuters. “It tends to suggest that managers are reporting opportunistically,”
Which might be a sign that, at least for investors, they should mind the GAAP.
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fortune--2020-01-24--Seattle area election puts mobile, online voting to its first big test in the U.S.

For the first time ever in the U.S., all eligible voters were able to cast their ballots via smartphone Wednesday, having their say via mobile in a King County, Wash. local election in that runs until February 11. The election, which is open to 1.2 million voters in the area that includes Seattle, is being watched closely, since it could help inform how other jurisdictions potentially roll out mobile voting in future elections.
King County’s decision to try mobile voting was motivated by cost and the desire to boost voter turnout in an election that historically has a turnout rate of less than 1%. The election is for the King County Conservation District board of supervisors, which is a volunteer position.
State law requires the conservation district hold an election in the first quarter of the year. Sending out 1.2 million paper ballots to voters is cost prohibitive, so in previous elections, voters who wanted to participate had to go online to request a ballot, print it out, and then mail it in, turning voting into a cumbersome process.
Bradley Tusk, founder and CEO of Tusk Philanthropies, the nonprofit that is partnering with King County to deploy mobile voting, says the smartphone election is an experiment that could help chart the future of mobile voting in other jurisdictions.
“There are two big tests of mobile voting here: security and turnout,” Tusk tells Fortune. “There were abut 3,400 votes last year, so my hope is to at least triple that and get to 10,000.”
“If everything goes smoothly and a lot more people vote, this should give other municipalities and jurisdictions the confidence to move forward,” he adds.
The process to cast a ballot in this election is simple: Voters visit the election’s online voting portal, run by Seattle-based Democracy Live, and log in using their name and date of birth. They then receive a ballot that must be completed using a touch screen device. They sign their ballot using the touchscreen, and their signature is compared to one on file with the county. (It’s unclear how closely signatures would be matched, since signing with an index finger on a smartphone doesn’t always mirror the way a person signs their name using a pen and paper.)
Counties in Utah, West Virginia, and Colorado have previously offered mobile voting, but only to residents who are disabled or are members of the military stationed away from home.
While voting via mobile phone is being hailed by some as the way to save democracy by boosting voter turnout, others have expressed concern about hackers interfering with an election.
Washington State Secretary of State Kim Wyman doesn’t oversee the conservation district’s elections, but said she would be watching the voting process closely.
“Cyber experts I have worked with, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Washington National Guard, overwhelmingly have identified electronic transmission as too risky for voting and could leave voter information and election infrastructure impaired,” Wyman said in a statement Wednesday. “As the chief election officer for the state of Washington, I’m not willing to take that risk.”
Andre McGregor, a former special cyber agent with the FBI and manager for the security practice at ShiftState, the outside security company auditing this election, says his team tried to hack Democracy Live.
“Each mobile voting technology undergoes a lengthy application review and network penetration test, where each line of code is reviewed for vulnerabilities and a team is deployed to attempt to carry out both internal and external hacking of the system,” he tells Fortune.
Based on ShiftState’s review, McGregor says Democracy Live added alerts on key events in the system, such as detecting if someone attempted to submit multiple ballots.
Tusk, who wants to champion mobile voting in more jurisdictions, acknowledges there will always be questions about security, but says he is confident mobile voting will be a net positive that could help boost voter turnaround around the U.S.
“I don’t see how we survive as a country if we can’t fix this underlying problem [of low voter turnout],” he says. “Since we already have the technology in our pockets, it’s worth a try.”
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fortune--2020-01-24--After 5 years of negative interest rates, Europe has no idea how to climb back to zero

Minding the GAAP : companies are using a wider range of accounting metrics to inform investors—and sometimes mislead them

This is the web version of the Bull Sheet, Fortune’s no-BS daily newsletter on the markets. Sign up to receive it in your inbox here.
Happy Friday, Bull Sheeters. Today, we’re heading to the Old World. Europe.
The eurozone may seem like a basket case of an economic bloc that resembles few other global trading giants. But the symptoms you see here can be found in much of the developed world. It’s hobbled by an aging population, slowing productivity, political instability and stalled growth. Throw big fat risks like climate change into the discussion, and the problems of Europe start to look painfully familiar.
Europe though has one thing that’s hard to find (outside of Japan) elsewhere: negative interest rates. Negative interest rates are supposed to incentivize spending. And spending is supposed to spur domestic investment, and, hopefully, inflation.
It’s not going to script. Not that there’s much of a script. It’s such a new and bizarro phenomenon that there’s no mention of negative rates in any of those microeconomics textbooks sitting on your shelf.
Negative rates are killing the bottom line at most European banks. (And American banks are seeing something similar; a topic I will discuss in an upcoming Bull Sheet.) Meanwhile, eurozone inflation and GDP growth are still too low for anyone’s liking. Not surprisingly, investors are not happy.
And they’re getting impatient with Christine Lagarde, the new European Central Bank president. The European bourses took a nosedive during her press conference on Thursday (they’ve rebounded since) as she stuck with the status quo monetary policy. Those who wanted to hear how Europe plans to extricate itself from the trap of negative interest rates were disappointed.
So why should we all look at Europe with concern? Because growth among the trading majors is weak, if not in decline, as the chart here shows.
***
And that’s despite the cut-cut-cut policy position of the ECB and the Fed. (China cut rates in November so it’s not exactly hawkish either).
As a Friday bonus, you get two charts today:
It’s becoming abundantly clear that stimulating growth through creative monetary policy has real limitations, and that reality is going to increasingly hamstring central bankers in the future.
Cue more unhappy investors.
Bernhard Warner
@BernhardWarner
Bernhard.Warner@Fortune.com
Today's reads
What to watch this weekend. Italians go to the polls this weekend in a regional election in Emilia Romagna, a longtime stronghold of the left. But the far right is making a huge surge across the country and this part of Italy now looks particularly vulnerable. A big showing by Matteo Salvini's League party could spell the end of the government in Rome, a prospect that could mess with European bourses and bonds on Monday.
Not okay, boomer. By 2030, the entire Baby Boomer population will be of retirement age, and that will have profound consequences on the economy. "The surge of baby boomer retirees will also present challenges for the financial markets," Ben Carlson explains in Fortune. They own the most stocks. What if they were to sell en masse to fund their golden years?
Banned for life. Regulators came down hard on Wells Fargo’s former chief executive John G. Stumpf yesterday, fining him $17.5 million and banning him for life from ever holding another banking job for his role in the sham bank accounts scandal. But don't feel too bad for Stumpf. Just before the scandal drew national attention in 2016, Stumpf exercised a boatload of his vested options, giving him "an enviable fortune."
Market candy
More precious than gold. The startling run-up in the price of rhodium, a precious metal key to cutting emissions from automobile engines, has caught the attention of everyone from commodities trader to thieves. It's up 61% so far this year, and demand is strong as automakers seek to build fleets of greener cars. But beware. Supply is notoriously thin and unpredictable, and so too could be demand as electric cars don't have much need for rhodium.
One last thing
We recently made changes to improve our publishing tools that may cause temporary formatting bugs. Thank you for your patience during this transition.
Correction
In an earlier version of Bull Sheet the headline of the chart referred to the economies as shrinking. That's not the case. They are still growing, but that growth is slowing. The headline has been corrected to reflect this.


fortune--2020-01-24--Satya Nadella explains Microsoft’s climate responsibilities

This is the web version of CEO Daily. To get it delivered to your inbox, sign up here.
Good morning.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke at Fortune’s CEO dinner in Davos last night, and expanded on his company’s multi-billion commitment to offset all the carbon it has ever put into the atmosphere.
“As we make these commitments, call them obligations, why are we doing it? I think we are doing it out of enlightened self interest. How do we as a company succeed? The world has to do well.
“I love Colin Mayer’s definition of a corporation. It’s a social enterprise, and a social enterprise’s value is that it ‘profitably solves the problem of people and the planet.’ That definition is what it’s all about for me. The fundamental source of all value in capitalism still comes from the planet and the people who live on the planet, and if the planet is in danger, what happens to capitalism?
“The best system we’ve ever developed to allocate resources is capitalism. So if we want to keep the party going, we need to think of all the unintended consequences, whether it is the inclusiveness of growth or sustainability.”
And since it is Friday, some feedback. My post on shareholders vs. stakeholders provoked some skepticism:
“Whenever the stakeholder capitalism debate is mentioned I recommend The Who’s ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ is playing at high volume!” —JL
“The debate (on shareholder value vs. stakeholder value) will rage on as long as there is a short-term and a long-term, and as long as shareholders, customers, employees, unions, suppliers, governments, citizens—and anybody else you can think of as a so-called ‘stakeholder’—all want more ‘value’ from their companies.” —KF
Finally this morning, how many direct reports does Sundar Pichai have? “About 16,” he tells Adam Lashinsky in this interesting interview. More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Soros vs Zuckerberg
George Soros has suggested that Facebook and President Trump are in cahoots, much to the social network's chagrin. "Facebook will work together to re-elect Trump, and Trump will work to protest Facebook so that this situation cannot be changed and it makes me very concerned about the outcome for 2020," he said in Davos. Bloomberg
Stumpf ban
Former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf has agreed to a lifetime ban from the banking industry, as part of a settlement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency over the firm's fake-accounts scandal. Stumpf will also pay a $17.5 million fine. The scale of these penalties is unusual—look at the lack of hard censure that followed the financial crisis. Wall Street Journal
Dimon compensation
JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon picked up $31.5 million in compensation for last year, up 1.6% on the year before. That includes his $1.5 million base salary, $25 million in performance-linked restricted stock, and $5 million as a cash bonus. JPMorgan's corporate and investment bank head Daniel Pinto, and its consumer bank boss Gordon Smith, each got $22.5 million. Bloomberg
Xerox and HP
Xerox is not taking HP's rejection well. After the PC manufacturer refused to engage in takeover talks, Xerox said it would nominate 11 directors to HP's board in order to push the merger through. HP continues to argue that Xerox's proposed price undervalues the company. Fortune
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Coronavirus latest
China has now suspended public transport in 10 cities, as it scrambles to contain the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus in the context of the Lunar New Year and all the travel it usually entails. Temples will also be shut over the weekend, and Shanghai Disneyland is closed until further notice. Meanwhile, the city of Wuhan will construct a 1,000-bed hospital over the weekend in order to treat victims—yes really; the building is prefabricated. Reuters
Post-Brexit deals
With Brexit one week away—the law is passed and the agreement signed as of this morning—the U.K. is getting ready to start negotiating trade deals on its own. First up, reportedly, will be a deal with Japan, which London hopes will be wrapped up by the end of the year. Also in the top tier of prospective partners are the U.S., Australia and New Zealand (and obviously the EU). Then, Canada. Sun
Uber deal
Uber, which is still allowed to operate in London while it appeals a ban there, has struck a deal with Nissan allowing it to offer 2,000 of the Japanese automaker's electric vehicles to its drivers at a discount. It's part of a wider Uber electric-car push that's designed to combat urban air pollution. CNBC
Dos Santos probe
A banker who managed the account of Sonangol, the oil firm that was chaired by Isabel dos Santos, has been found dead by apparent suicide. Nuno Ribeiro da Cunha was named alongside dos Santos—Africa's richest woman and daughter of Angola's former president—as a suspect in an Angolan corruption probe following leaks about how dos Santos accumulated her fortune. BBC
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.


fortune--2020-01-24--China expands travel lockdown to 40 million people as deadly virus spreads

China is struggling to contain rising public anger over its response to a spreading coronavirus even as it took unprecedented steps to slow the outbreak, restricting travel for 40 million people on the eve of Lunar New Year.
The turmoil comes as the virus is proving more difficult to contain than other pandemics, stymieing efforts to track infected patients before they travel. While the death toll continues to rise — and now includes someone as young as 36 — some infected patients aren’t showing a fever, a symptom governments around the world have been using to screen for the pathogen.
The pressure is rising on China as it tries to come to grips with a disease that some fear could rival SARS, which 17 years ago claimed almost 800 lives. While global experts have mostly praised efforts to contain the virus, Chinese citizens are increasingly critical and anxious as travel restrictions grow to encompass a population bigger than Australia.
Beyond the restricted area at the epicenter of the outbreak, major closures took place across the country amid the health fears. Public events to mark the new year were canceled, Shanghai Disneyland announced that it was closing indefinitely, and cinema chains canceled movie screenings. The halt to activity comes during what is usually a peak period for spending, putting China’s economic stabilization at risk.
“This is unprecedented in China, and maybe even in the history of modern health,” said Yanzhong Huang, director of the center for Global Health Studies at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, of the widening travel restrictions. “It’s a tremendous legal, institutional, not to mention logistical challenge.”
The death toll rose to 25, even as the World Health Organization stopped short of calling the virus a global health emergency. The number of confirmed cases in mainland China rose to more than 800 as of Jan. 23, the National Health Commission said in a statement. At least one patient is as young as 10 years old.
Patients with the infection have been found in countries across Asia, including Singapore, Japan and South Korea. Outside the region, the U.S. has reported one case.
In China, what should have been a day of celebration and reunion was colored by growing panic and anger. Local media issued sharp criticisms of the slow response from officials in Hubei province, whose capital city is Wuhan, the center of the outbreak. Rumors have spread rapidly on social media, encompassing everything from a shortage of hospital beds to the spraying of disinfectant from planes.
Chinese officials led by President Xi Jinping pledged “all-out” efforts to contain the outbreak this week. The government on Friday vowed to punish officials who delay virus information, with the State Council setting up an online platform to allow the public to report disclosure problems.
A monitor displays information on the Wuhan coronavirus at SRT train terminal on Jan. 24, 2020 in Seoul, South Korea. As the virus expands outside China, cases have been reported in countries including the U.S.,Thailand, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Chung Sung-Jun—Getty Images
For now, China appears willing to let local officials take the brunt of public anger. The country’s powerful internet censors have allowed criticism to fall heaviest on lower-level officials, such as Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang, who has faced calls to resign after he acknowledged on Tuesday that the city “didn’t have sufficient warnings” about the risk.
China’s state-controlled media have also weighed in. A commentary posted by the Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper on Tuesday said Wuhan’s statements had “caused panic” while its affiliated Global Times tabloid said the city’s “failed” to contain the virus early on.
The ruling Communist Party is anxious to avoid a repeat of SARS, during which it was criticized for initially covering up the scale of the problem. Back then, China fired more than 100 officials, including the health minister and the mayor of Beijing, amid allegations that local governments suppressed information about the disease.
Outside of China, the feedback has been more positive. Germany’s health minister said Friday that China is doing a better job and the world community is more prepared than during SARS.
“There’s a big difference to SARS. We have a much more transparent China,” Jens Spahn told Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. “The action of China is much more effective in the first days already.”
At the same time, questions are being raised about China’s ability to effectively screen for the disease. Details of those who have died after contracting the virus, which now includes someone as young as 36 years old, showed that several didn’t have a fever, potentially complicating global efforts to check for infected travelers as they arrive at airports and other travel hubs.
The lack of fever as a symptom means that temperature screening — the main method now being deployed at airports and transport hubs to control the outbreak — would fail to pick up on at least some cases.
“The whole airport screening exercise is to simply give people comfort that there is some government action to protect the public,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy in Washington, D.C. “It has no real public health utility in the case of coronaviruses. What really matters is surveillance, infection control and isolation.”
While the virus is moving from human to human, a situation that worries public health officials, it appears that close exposure is critical. Most cases have moved from patients to their close family members or to health-care workers who were caring for them.
Most of those who have died had other health conditions, including diabetes and heart disease, that weakened their immune systems. Symptoms include fever, cough or chest tightness, and difficulty breathing.
The WHO said in a statement after its briefing that “amplification” — presumably a super spreader event in which an infected person passes on the disease to many others — occurred at one health facility. It also said a single patient on average can ignite as many as 2.5 additional infections.
Furthermore, WHO has detected transmission from patient to patient across a chain of as many as four people. Such a pattern explains the case of a 56-year-old in Tianjin, who was confirmed to have the coronavirus despite having no work history in Wuhan.
Public health experts gathered by the United Nations agency to review the situation were split over whether they should recommend declaring a public health crisis of international concern and instead opted to continue monitoring the outbreak. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, said he would reconvene the committee within 10 days, or at a moment’s notice should the situation take a turn for the worse.
“Make no mistake, this is an emergency in China, but it has not yet become a global health emergency,” Tedros said at a briefing in Geneva Thursday. “It may yet become one.”
Over ten cities in Hubei province, including Wuhan, have restricted the use of public transportation to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, according to the People’s Daily. The other cities include Huanggang, Xianning, Qianjiang, Xiantao, Ezhou, Chibi, Huangshi, Enshi and Zhijiang.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—The World’s Most Admired Companies in 2020
—A.I. in China: TikTok is just the beginning
—China braces for a deadly new virus as millions travel for Lunar New Year
—CEOs more pessimistic about global economy than they’ve been in 8 years
—U.S. brands think they understand China’s market, but they don’t
Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.


fortune--2020-01-24--Are cashless stores and restaurants fair? New York City Council says no

New York City lawmakers voted Thursday to require stores and restaurants to accept cash for payment, saying businesses that accept only credit and debit cards are discriminating against New Yorkers who lack bank accounts and credit cards.
“This practice punishes the underbanked,” City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said before the council’s 43-3 vote in favor of the bill.
Under the bill, businesses that refuse cash will be fined $1,000 for the first violation and $1,500 after that. The measure, which is expected to go into effect by the end of the year, also prohibits stores from charging higher prices for paying in cash.
Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to sign the legislation. A spokeswoman for the mayor said that he supports the intent of the bill but that his administration will review it.
Backers of the cashless model say the benefits include greater efficiency and eliminating the risk of theft, but opponents say millions of Americans still rely on cash.
In adopting the ban on cashless businesses, New York City joins a growing backlash against the digital-only economy.
Philadelphia became the first U.S. city to ban cashless stores last year, despite opposition by retail giant Amazon. San Francisco and New Jersey passed similar measures soon after. Only one jurisdiction required businesses to accept cash before 2019: Massachusetts, which passed a law nearly 40 years ago.
Backers of the New York City bill said that hundreds of thousands of city residents don’t have bank accounts or credit cards and that others simply prefer to use cash.
“Whatever your reasons, consumers should have the power to choose their preferred method of payment,” City Councilman Ritchie Torres, the Bronx Democrat who sponsored the legislation, said before the council’s 43-3 vote in favor of the bill.
Councilman Kalman Yeger, a Brooklyn Democrat, said that businesses should accept cash but that the local government shouldn’t force them to.
“We’re inserting ourselves into the business of business in a way that we don’t have a right to do in my opinion,” he said in explaining his “no” vote.
But some businesses that will be affected by the no-cash ban said they will follow the law when it is enacted.
“We are proud to do business in NYC and will of course comply with all NYC laws and statutes,” Nick Marsh, CEO of Founders Table, parent company of the Chopt Creative Salad Co. and Dos Toros Taqueria chains, said in a statement.
A company spokeswoman said six of New York City’s 18 Chopt locations and all of its 17 Dos Toros locations are currently cashless.
Mary LeSage, waiting to buy lunch at a Chopt counter in Manhattan earlier Thursday, said the cashless policy is efficient but she agrees that it might be discriminatory.
“It’s an ease of use sort of thing, to make it go faster,” LeSage said. “I’ve seen this line go all the way around there. But on the other hand, I do think it’s wrong to bar people from food because they don’t have the necessary resources. If it takes me five minutes longer to get lunch, that’s fine if it means everyone can get food.”
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fortune--2020-01-23--Sonos apologizes after backlash over updates for aging speakers

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence apologized to customers after a backlash over the company’s plan to halt software updates for older products.
The Santa Barbara, Calif.-based speaker maker earlier this week said it would stop providing updates and new features for speakers launched in the 2000s, including the Connect, ZonePlayer, the original Play:5 and Bridge.
The company warned that even if customers only had one older speaker, their entire Sonos sound systems might lose access to services and functionality would “eventually be disrupted.” It also suggested users buy new speakers with a 30% credit for each legacy device traded in. Sonos devotees quickly went berserk on social media, accusing the company of purposely degrading existing hardware to spur new sales.
“I have over 1000USD of *speakers* that must be retired now? Terrible product life cycle support,” Scott Jenson, a longtime Google executive, wrote on Twitter. “I clearly have no choice to upgrade but I’m certainly NOT going to trust my money with Sonos ever again.”
In a statement Thursday, Sonos didn’t reverse the decision to nix software updates in May, but pledged to keep older speakers “updated with bug fixes and security patches for as long as possible.” The company also said it would “work to offer an alternative solution” to major issues that can’t be addressed.
“We heard you. We did not get this right from the start. My apologies for that and I wanted to personally assure you of the path forward,” Spence wrote in a letter posted on Sonos’s blog. “First, rest assured that come May, when we end new software updates for our legacy products, they will continue to work as they do today. We are not bricking them, we are not forcing them into obsolescence, and we are not taking anything away.”
Sonos’s original announcement suggested that legacy products would eventually stop working with newer speakers. On Thursday, the company said that would no longer be the case. “We are working on a way to split your system so that modern products work together and get the latest features, while legacy products work together and remain in their current state,” Spence wrote. Jenson applauded the response on Twitter
Despite the backlash, it’s common for technology companies to cut off software updates for older devices. Apple Inc.’s latest iOS operating system doesn’t support iPhones sold before 2015 and iPads made before 2014. That spurs millions of people to spend hundreds of dollars buying new handsets.
Sonos is under pressure from larger rivals including Apple, Amazon.com Inc. and Google, which sell internet-connected speakers with digital assistants built in. Sonos sued Google recently, accusing the tech giant of ripping off its designs.
Spence testified at a Congressional antitrust hearing this month and argued that Sonos was different from larger rivals because it supports products for many years. “Our business model is simple — we sell products which people pay for once, and we make them better over time with software updates,” Spence said.
Some users on Twitter quickly contrasted that statement with this week’s decision to end software updates on many speakers.
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—A.I. in China: TikTok is just the beginning
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—A.I. breakthroughs in natural-language processing are big for business
—A.I. is transforming the job interview—and everything after
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fortune--2020-01-24--Clayton Christensen: Debating the innovator’s dilemma

Purdue Pharma bankruptcy is now open to OxyContin-related personal injury claims

It’s been 25 years since Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen came up with a theory he dubbed “disruptive innovation” to explain how new companies used technology to bring down dominant players.
Christensen passed away on Friday at 67, but his theory, introduced in a 1995 business journal article and later expanded into the best-selling book The Innovator’s Dilemma, remains one of the most influential and widely cited explanations for why technology companies rise and fall. Many of the most successful tech executives, from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs to former Intel CEO Andy Grove, credited Christensen’s insights with influencing their strategies.
Though he worked hard in the decades since to enhance and defend the theory, Christensen has said he always had one great regret: In using the word “disruption” as part of his theory, he may have invited misunderstanding and misuse of his work.
“The word disruption has many connotations in the English language,” he told the Boston Globe in 2015. “I just didn’t realize how that would create such a wide misapplication of the word ‘disruption’ into things that I never meant it to be applied to.”
The theory came to Christensen after he had already spent many years of research investigating industries ranging from computer disk drives to steel production.
His fundamental insight was that successful companies would continue improving and optimizing their existing products for their best customers. Examples he cited included the fifth blade in a razor, a clearer TV picture, or better mobile phone reception. “These improvements can be incremental advances or major breakthroughs, but they all enable firms to sell more products to their most profitable customers,” he wrote in an article revisiting the theory on its 20th anniversary.
That focus allowed space for new companies to create radically different products using new technologies and new approaches that, at first, were inferior in performance compared to the dominant products. Early customers were often buyers who couldn’t even afford to buy the dominant player’s products.
That led the dominant companies to ignore the new technology. But because the innovations were cheaper, more convenient, and otherwise more desirable, they sometimes improved enough to win over all of the customers in the market, disrupting the business of the dominant player.
Sometimes, the debate over whether an upstart company actually fit the mold of Christensen’s theory even drew in the professor himself. He argued in one article that Uber was not a disruptive innovator. Uber’s opportunity had not arisen because the taxi industry had been too focused on making its products better for its best customers. And Uber didn’t target neglected customers, but those at the highest-end instead, he argued.
“Uber is clearly transforming the taxi business in the United States,” he wrote. “But is it disrupting the taxi business? According to the theory, the answer is no. Uber’s financial and strategic achievements do not qualify the company as genuinely disruptive—although the company is almost always described that way.”
Sometimes the professor’s own applications of his theory led him astray, most famously when he predicted that the iPhone would fail to win over the mobile phone market. “It’s not (truly) disruptive,” he said. “History speaks pretty loudly on that, that the probability of success is going to be limited.”
It was an uncommon mistake in a long career of explaining the rise and fall of tech companies.
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fortune--2020-01-24--Purdue Pharma bankruptcy is now open to OxyContin-related personal injury claims

How to ease the return to work after maternity leave

State and local governments have been leading the legal fight against the opioid industry, seeking payouts to help them deal with the fallout from the nation’s addiction crisis. Average Americans are about to get their shot.
On Friday, the federal judge overseeing the bankruptcy case of Purdue Pharma set a June 30 deadline to file a claim against the company. That includes governments, entities such as hospitals and, for the first time, individuals who have personal injury claims.
It’s not clear how much money might be at stake. Purdue reached an agreement with some states and local governments that could be worth more than $10 billion over time as part of its bankruptcy filing. But Judge Robert Drain emphasized during the hearing in White Plains, N.Y., that no final settlement is in place.
Once a settlement and restructuring deal for Purdue is approved, the next step will be deciding how to divide the company’s assets. There is no guarantee individuals would receive any money, and the judge emphasized that those claims would be open only to people who believe they were harmed by Purdue’s products, not opioids generally. Lawyers for plaintiffs say people should file claims even if they’re not sure Purdue’s drugs were involved in their injuries.
Dede Yoder of Norwalk, Conn., is among those who plan to file. Her son, Christopher, was prescribed a 30-day supply of painkillers, including OxyContin, during a series of surgeries when he was 13 and 14 years old.
He died in 2017 at age 21 of a heroin overdose after years of rehab and relapses. His mother is now on a committee of victims seeking input in the process.
“I spent my whole retirement. I probably spent almost $200,000 on rehab and doctors,” she said. “I would like to get my retirement back; I’m not looking for this huge payoff.”
In bankruptcy proceedings, notices for claim deadlines are usually made in ads in publications or in letters mailed to people who might be eligible to file. Purdue’s case is different because so many people might be able to assert legal damages against the company.
Prescription and illicit opioids have been linked to more than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000. Perhaps millions of other people have struggled with addiction to them, and an estimated 500,000 children were born in opioid withdrawal.
Purdue, a privately held company based in Stamford, Conn., plans to spend $23.8 million to advertise the claim-filing deadline, an unusually large amount to notify potential creditors in a bankruptcy case.
The ad campaign is intended to reach 95% of U.S. adults, with ads in newspapers, movie theaters, and on Facebook. Billboards will promote the deadline in four hard-hit states: Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The budget also includes hiring a public relations firm to encourage news outlets to report on the deadline and the website to file claims.
The publicity push also is getting help from victims themselves.
Another member of the victims’ committee, 33-year-old Garrett Hade, said he has been sober for nearly five years after a long odyssey through addiction that began with OxyContin when he was a teenager in Florida. He said he would donate any money he receives from Purdue.
Now, as an organizer with the Recovery Advocacy Project, he said he’s telling people that they will be able to make claims.
“People need to know that as a person there is some recourse out there,” said Hade, who now lives in Las Vegas.
Also on Friday, the bankruptcy judge said he would allow Purdue CEO Craig Landau to collect a bonus this year up to $1.3 million, on top of his $2.6 million salary. Landau had previously agreed to reduce his bonus to that amount and delay it. A group of states continued to object to the bonus.
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Subscribe to Fortune’s Bull Sheet for no-nonsense finance news and analysis daily.


fortune--2020-01-24--Telehealth startup Ro partners with Pfizer to give its ED business a boost

Telehealth startup Ro wants to set itself apart in the direct-to-consumer erectile dysfunction (ED) market—and it’s hoping that a new partnership with Pfizer will provide the differentiator it craves.
Ro’s men’s health arm Roman and Pfizer subsidiary Greenstone have struck a deal that will allow the digital health firm to source all of the generic Viagra (or sildenafil citrate) it sells directly from Pfizer. Pfizer currently has the only FDA-approved authorized generic on the market. The goal is to assure quality control and supply chain transparency to Roman’s customers.
While Ro has launched multiple new digital health services over the past few years—including its Rory vertical which focuses on women’s health—its initial focus was on men’s health issues, especially ED. Like many of its competitors such as Hims & Hers, Roman has an online clinic and pharmacy meant to discreetly ship treatments directly to its customers.
Why does the Pfizer collaboration matter? It boils down to a matter of trust and transparency, Ro CEO Zachariah Reitano told Fortune.
“Normally, all drugs of the same active ingredients are perfectly interchangeable,” he said. “I compare it to buying coffee. You can buy coffee at two different places. All the coffee contains caffeine. But so many things go into making that cup of coffee that go into the quality of that product and experience.”
In other words, while sildenafil, the central active ingredient in Viagra, may be present in what many of these telehealth companies ship to their customers, the inactive ingredients and actual manufacturing process may vary significantly. It may also be difficult to track exactly where a consumer’s ED drugs are being made.
The Pfizer partnership, Reitano believes, should give Roman users some assurances on that front.
“By bringing transparency to this process, we’re allowing consumers to show what matters to them,” he said. “We’re also letting manufacturers see this matters.”
The exclusive supply deal also comes as telehealth companies face scrutiny from some in the medical community over direct-to-consumer sales of drugs.
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—Millions have been purged from voter rolls—and may not even realize it
—Mysterious GPS outages are wracking the shipping industry
—Google CEO Sundar Pichai on managing a tech giant’s growing pains
Subscribe to Fortune’s Bull Sheet for no-nonsense finance news and analysis daily.


fortune--2020-01-24--Trump’s health chief touts success of ‘Department of Life’

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) branded itself as “the Department of Life” in an anti-abortion statement released Thursday by HHS Secretary Alex Azar.
“Protecting conscience is our moral obligation as Americans and our legal obligation as faithful stewards of the law,” said Azar. “We are proud to be ‘the Department of Life.'”
The remark came a day before Friday’s March for Life, an anti-abortion rally in Washington, D.C., held each year around the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize abortion with Roe v. Wade in 1973.
While the March for Life protesters have been gathering annually for more than 40 years, President Donald Trump was the first President to address the group. Previous conservative presidents who supported the cause sent video messages or a representative in their place.
Azar’s statement referring to the HHS as “the Department of Life” staunchly aligned the agency with Trump’s anti-abortion agenda.
The HHS houses regulative agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but it’s also in charge of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). After the Trump administration implemented changes to immigration policy last year, the ORR began regularly separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In all, ORR took custody of nearly 70,000 migrant children in 2019. Thus Azar’s claim that “the Department of Life” has demonstrated its dedication to “protecting the dignity of life” has been rejected by those like Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, who tweeted the new label was “really rich for an agency that was a primary architect of putting children in cages on the border. There is no bottom.”
At least for the time being, “the Department of Life” appears to simply be a nickname. Neither Trump nor Azar has indicated they intend to make the name official.
Executive agencies have been renamed in the past, but typically in tandem with structural changes that warrant the retitling. The HHS itself was known as the Department of Health, Education and Welfare until the late ’70s, when President Jimmy Carter created a separate department for education.
Some changes to such agencies can be made through executive action, but reorganization often requires congressional approval. In 2018, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget proposed consolidating food assistance programs within the HHS and renaming it the Department of Health and Public Welfare. This change, however, has yet to come to fruition.
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fortune--2020-01-24--A Haiku tribute to journalist Jim Lehrer

This is the web version of raceAhead, Fortune’s daily newsletter on race, culture, and inclusive leadership. To get it delivered daily to your inbox, sign up here.
Turns out not all white men feel professionally threatened by women and people of color, and a shocking cancer cluster in a Black neighborhood in Houston is raising serious questions. And start your weekend with the most heartwarming TikTok ever!
But first, our Haiku tribute to journalist Jim Lehrer, who died this week at 85. May his vision for journalism be our continued blessing.
“It’s not about us,”
Jim Lehrer used to say, but
losing him feels so
personal: His rules
for journalism and life
made the world better.
“Do nothing I can’t
defend,” was top on his list;
and “assume others
are as smart, caring,
and good as I.” Assuming
noble intent is
a radical act
in a modern age! Let the
good outweigh the risks.
Have a radically wonderful weekend, we are so grateful for you.
Special note: Don’t forget to sign up or share The Broadside, Fortune’s new monthly newsletter on career advancement for women, which includes job listings and networking opportunities.
Ellen McGirt
@ellmcgirt
Ellen.McGirt@fortune.com
Note: We recently made changes to improve our publishing tools that may cause temporary formatting bugs. Thank you for your patience during this transition.
On Point
Not all white men feel threatened by competition, new data shows In "Race, States, and the Mixed Fate of White Men", researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst show that contrary to conventional thinking, not all white men are worried about workplace competition from people of color and women. “Seen through the lens of class stratification and local labor markets, any statement that lumps all white men, or all women or all minorities, together is likely to be wrong,” they write. It's not about enlightenment, however. “What we find is that white men’s advantaged access to middle and upper class jobs is largest in states with large minority populations. In those same states, working class white men face substantial labor market competition from minority men.” It fuels certain grievances. “[I]t is these working class white men who are the racially resentful and most opposed to further immigration and who were particularly receptive to anti-elite, anti-immigrant, and racial political messages.” Interesting. Also, their new data set, which contains demographic diversity data of various occupations among medium and large U.S. companies, is publicly available and searchable.
UMASS Center for Employment Equity
Some 43% of families in Houston’s Fifth Ward have cancer This cancer cluster was identified by the Texas State Department of Health Services last year, but residents have been alarmed for years. The issue is the Englewood Rail Yard, where rail ties had been treated with creosote, a known carcinogen, which then seeped into the groundwater under at least 10 census tracts. The rail yard is owned by Union Pacific, who claims that no toxins are currently in danger of reaching residents. (They did, however, offer $1,000 to any resident willing to sign a promise not to use any groundwater in 2014.) Local activists have been laboring alone (well, check out "Creosote man,") but are now getting some high-powered help from Representative Sheila Jackson Lee and activist Erin Brockovitch. Question: What do you think would happen if 43% of Greenwich, Conn., residents turned up with cancer?
KPRC
Nearly 1 in 3 adolescent girls from the poorest communities around the world have never been to school That’s the stat, and here’s the report from UNICEF, generated ahead of the convening at Davos. “Poverty, discrimination due to gender, disability, ethnic origin or language of instruction, physical distance from schools and poor infrastructure are among the obstacles that continue to prevent the poorest children from accessing quality education,” they write. This sounds like a pretty serious pipeline problem, right?
UNICEF
On Background
Meet the Into The Spider-Verse family in real life! Theo Hendrie, who describes themselves as a writer and social commentary YouTuber, flagged this extraordinary TikTok account and immediately made everybody’s day. “Okay usually when I share TikToks I think are cool they get like five likes so this was unexpected,” they wrote. The star is a TikToker named Jenoah Bush, who describes himself as a “baby faced 20 y.o.” But @ just_jenoah_ has also been expertly recreating scenes from Into the Spider-Verse, with the help of his equally adorable family. Enjoy! And celebrate inclusion in Hollywood: When a family truly sees themselves represented, it’s a joyous thing. (And follow Theo if you’re so inclined. They seem pretty cool.)
Jenoah Bush on TikTok
On being black, successful, affluent, and deeply afraid You know these people. They’re accomplished and busy. He’s Ivy League educated and an attorney, she’s both a Methodist pastor and a consultant. They have three accomplished sons. Their 5,800 square foot home has five bedrooms, tennis courts, and a diving pool. "We did everything America said we should do," says Frances Waters of their perfect sounding life. But once they step out of their familiar circles in tony North Dallas, they’re nothing but suspects—ignored by hospitality staff, regarded with contempt by others. The microaggressions and “racism management” is taking a toll. “We’re unprotected out in the world,” she says.
DallasNews.com
The complicated math of gentrification and tourism in NYC This long read from Skift, the travel and hospitality research company, does a remarkable job exploring the transformation that New York City has undergone to become a beacon of safety and homogenous upscale tourism. It’s a heady post-9/11 mix of real estate development schemes, Airbnb, and savvy marketing. “While millions of New York’s residents live in the outer boroughs, often working in middle-class jobs or service industries, Manhattan and the more expensive parts of Brooklyn have gradually become defined by the kinds of people they exclude and the types of upscale businesses they attract.”
Skift
Quote
“Everyone should get their news however they want to and in whatever form they want. I’m not going to sit back in judgment of other people and the way they do it. If Letterman tells a joke with a piece of information in it that you didn’t know before, that’s fine with me, that doesn’t bother me. I mean, my God, you’ve got to get it off a serious news program or it doesn’t count? I don’t believe that for a second… If we don’t have an informed electorate we don’t have a democracy. So I don’t care how people get the information, as long as they get it. I’m just doing it my particular way and I feel lucky I can do it the way I want to do it.”
—Jim Lehrer, in an interview with Columbia Journalism Review, June 2, 2006.