fortune--2020-11-12--What my day on conservative social network Parler was like

Gary Collins, a guru of off-the-grid living, asked his fans on Parler, the fast-rising Twitter copycat for conservatives, why they had joined the service.
“Because I was sick of the truth being ‘fact checked’ on Facebook,” said one user going by the handle NicoYazawa.
Another user, Katherine Strange, gave an anti-liberal answer: “I joined Parler because I don’t want to be a part of BIG TECH leftists any longer. I will not be censored.”
The presidential election and associated anger it has sparked has given Parler a huge lift. The two-year-old service has skyrocketed in popularity as conservatives seek a home far away from Twitter and Facebook, where they feel unwelcome and unfairly treated.
The vibe on Parler is decidedly Fox News, with Trump routinely cast by users as a hero who has had an election stolen from him. The service, which touts its free speech credentials, on Tuesday featured posts with links to unsubstantiated claims of flaws in voting machines, accusations of widespread voter fraud, and conspiracy theories about COVID-19.
Users also lashed out at mainstream media and social media services like Facebook and Twitter for allegedly helping liberals get away with election theft and being part of a cover-up, despite the lack of evidence.
“Why isn’t Twitter putting warnings on Biden’s tweets claiming he’ll be president from January 20th,” a user going by Avi Yemeni posted. “It’s just as ‘disputed’ as Trump’s tweets.”
On Tuesday, Parler, already home to a raft of well-known conservative commentators, landed yet another: Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. Within the first two hours of joining, he had gained about 170,000 followers. His first post was a video of his Monday show, in which he cast doubt on the election results. The post received more than 14,000 echoes, similar to retweets on Twitter, and more than 37,000 upvotes, similar to Facebook’s likes.
Meanwhile, Ben Stein, best known for his game show Win Ben Stein’s Money and his role in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, stewed about Democrats. “Have you ever noticed that all dictatorships begin with cries for social justice?” Stein said in a post that was seen by more than 753,000 users. “Here at the Stein household, we’re not going to give up now…#maga2020 #election2020 #parlerusa #trump.”
Though the chatter on Parler Tuesday focused on the election, the news section also included articles discussing “mask propaganda,” how a $15 minimum wage may kill millions of jobs, and how New Jersey’s recent bill to legalize marijuana could impact the cannabis industry.
And not all of the posts were serious. One user, for example, shared a clip of the moment when NBC News reporter Ken Dilanian cursed to himself on live TV, not realizing he was on air. Another shared a Christian news satire site’s article poking fun at Joe Biden and the Democrats, comparing them to Thanos, a Marvel Comics villain whose goal is to kill half the population to create global stability.
Parler CEO John Matze has boasted about his service’s growth. In a statement on Tuesday posted on the site, he said the service’s popularity has “exploded,” noting that more than 4.5 million users have created accounts since Friday. He added that more than 5 million users were active on the service on Monday, eight times as many as there were a week earlier.
Matze suggested that Parler will continue to “defy authoritarian content curation,” a dig at social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, which have tightened their rules on misinformation as the election neared. Over the past couple of years, both services have created new warning labels for misinformation and, in some cases, for violence. Twitter has also obscured posts from Trump to prevent election misinformation from spreading.
“Facebook and Twitter’s suppression of election information was a catalyst, causing many people to lose their trust,” Matze said in his post. “But the movement away from these platforms was already well underway.”
Matze is also getting a taste of the mundane complications of operating a quickly growing social media site—something that Parler’s more established rivals overcame years ago.
In his statement on Tuesday, Matze acknowledged that the service’s growth had “strained” the site’s capacity and caused “some glitches and delays.” The company has fixed some of the problems and is working on the others, as well as introducing new features to help users better choose what they see based on their interests, and to more easily find family and friends on the service.
In recent months, Parler, like the social networks it’s intended to counter, has had its own run-ins with users. Although a self-described haven for free speech, the service decided it had gone too far and created rules, adding volunteer moderators to rein in the dark side of human nature, including obscenity and photos of human feces.
Free speech is complicated.


fortune--2020-11-12--Flat rounds creep up

Flat rounds creep up

Will another $ 1,200 stimulus check ever come ?
Here ’ s what we know

This is the web version of Term Sheet, a daily newsletter on the biggest deals and dealmakers. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.
Anxieties that the pandemic would shutter vulnerable startups haven’t quite seemed to materialize at scale: Funding in the third quarter surged to a seven-quarter high.
Still, under the covers, the story has not been so simple. Some startups have hit warp-speed, while others are struggling even as they raise new funding. In the last quarter, law firm Cooley found that funding rounds that resulted in an uptick in valuations fell to their lowest level since the first quarter of 2017, when fears of a tech bubble soared but never quite found a cliff.
In other words: A total of 20% of startups in the third quarter either lowered or kept the same valuation despite raising new funding. The figure has risen steadily since the start of the pandemic, according to Cooley’s findings, which are based on 303 deals representing $13.1 billion in capital. Down rounds represented about 12% of all funding events, while flat rounds ticked up to 8%.
Cooley also noticed an uptick in pay-to-play provision—which requires investors to participate fully in the financing of future rounds or risk losing some of their rights. While the pay-to-play provision itself is not something founders avoid, its implications—that the company may have struggled to find ideal outside investors—are often undesirable.
“It is a bit of a barbell where companies at the very top end are naming their own terms and big, price-insensitive investors are willing to write big checks,” says Peter Werner, Cooley’s co-chair of global emerging companies and venture capital practice group. “And there are companies at the low end and are unable to raise a full healthy up round.”
While the funding atmosphere is significantly better than in ’08, he says, the data could be a mere blip—or become a trend.
VENTURE CAPITAL IN BIDEN’S EAR: President-elect Joe Biden has picked Ron Klain—executive vice president and general counsel at VC firm Revolution—as his White House Chief of Staff. One of Biden’s closest confidants, Klain led the Obama administration’s response to the Ebola crisis in 2014, and has been highly critical of President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus. Read more.
Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: lucinda.shen@fortune.com
VENTURE DEALS
- Full Truck Alliance, a Chinese startup with Uber-like service for the trucking industry, is seeking to raise $1.7 billion, per the WSJ. SoftBank and Alphabet back the firm. Read more.
- Menlo Security, a Mountain View, Calif.-based cloud security firm, raised $100 million in Series E funding, valuing the company at $800 million. Vista Equity Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Neuberger Berman funds, General Catalyst, and JPMorgan.
- Kate Farms, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based maker plant-based nutrition, raised $51 million in Series B funding. Goldman Sachs led the round and was joined by investors including Kaiser Permanente Ventures.
- Railsbank, a London-based open banking platform, raised $37 million. MiddleGame Ventures and Ventura Capital co-led the round and were joined by Anthos Capital, Global Brains, Clocktower Technology Ventures, Moneta VC, Mitsui Fudosan and Firestartr.
- Inipharm, a Seattle and San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company focused on severe liver diseases, raised $35 million in Series A funding. Investors include 5AM Ventures and Wu Capital. Read more.
- Fishtown Analytics, Philadelphia-based maker of engineering tools, raised $29.5 million in Series B funding. Sequoia Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Amplify Partners. Read more.
- Livestorm, a Paris-based online events platform, raised $30 millionin Series B funding. Aglaé Ventures and Bpifrance Digital Venture led the round and was joined by investors including Raise Ventures and IDInvest.
- Truebill, a Silver Spring, Md.-based startup for cancelling subscriptions and negotiating bills, raised $17 million in Series C funding. Bessemer Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Day One Ventures, Eldridge Industries, Cota Capital, and Firebolt Ventures.
- So Good So You, a Minneapolis-based maker of a refrigerated health shot, raised $14.5 million in growth funding. Prelude Growth Partners led the round.
- Envoy Technologies, a Culver City, Calif.-based, provider of electric vehicle-sharing services, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Shell Ventures and Building Ventures led the round.
- Spruce, an Austin-based house care and amenities platform, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Mercury Fund led the round and was joined by investors including Sweat Equity Partners.
- Zero Egg, a San Francisco, Calif.-based maker of a plant-based egg alternative, raised $5 million in Series A funding. Powerplant Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Unovis Asset Management-New Crop Capital and Strauss Group-The Kitchen Hub.
- Paid, a U.K.-based platform for supplier onboarding and procurement, raised £2.2 million ($2.9 million) in seed funding. Crane led the round and was joined by investors including Seedcamp, Techstars, Jens Lapinski, Chris Adelsbach, and Charles Songhurst.
- Sote, an African supply chain focused company, raised $3 million in seed funding. MaC Venture Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Acceleprise, Backstage Capital, Future Africa, and Rob Solomon.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Vista Equity Partners made a majority investment in Pipedrive, an Estonia-based content management platform for sales and marketing teams. The deal values the firm at $1.5 billion, per a source. Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Atomico, DTCP, and Rembrandt Venture Partners, will continue as minority investors.
- DPIS Builder Services, backed by Saw Mill Capital, acquired Ei Companies, a Las Vegas-based provider of energy inspections. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Eventus WholeHealth, backed by Enhanced Healthcare Partners, acquired Doctors Making Housecalls, a Durham, N.C.-based home-based primary care firm. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Top Echelon Software, backed by SageLink Capital, acquired CATS Software, a Minneapolis-based applicant tracking system for professional recruiters. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe agreed to acquire TrueCommerce, a Pittsburgh-based provider of trading partner connectivity and integration solutions. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
EXITS
- Snap agreed to acquire Voca.ai, an Israel-based maker of A.I.-based voice assistance for customer support services. Voca.ai’s investors included American Express Ventures, Flint Capital, and Iool Ventures. Read more.
- Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) plans to acquire Expanse, a San Francisco-based maker of cybersecurity software, for $670 million in cash and stock and $130 million in replacement equity awards. Expanse was backed by investors including Knoll Ventures and NEA. Read more.
- Talkspace acquired Lasting, a New York-based relationship counseling app incubated out of Praxis. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OTHERS
- Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) asked India’s market regulator to investigate Future Retail for insider trading in a bid to prevent the company from joining rival Reliance. Read more.
IPO
- Mytheresa.com, a Germany-based luxury online retailer, is preparing for an IPO in the U.S. listing in early 2021, per Bloomberg citing sources. The deal could value it at $1 billion. Ares Private Equity and CPPIB back the firm. Read more.
- Puppet, a Portland, Ore.-based IT automation software company, says it is looking to an IPO in 2021. Its investors include Kleiner Perkins, VMWare, GV, and Cisco Investments.
SPAC
- Cano Health, a Miami-based healthcare provider for seniors, will go public via merger with Jaws Acquisition Corp, a SPAC, valuing the firm at $4.4 billion deal including debt. Cano Health will also receive a $50 million PIPE investment from Barry Sternlicht (Chairman of Jaws), Fidelity Management & Research Company, BlackRock, Third Point, and Maverick Capital.
F+FS
- Bentley Systems (Nasdaq: BSY) established a $100 million corporate venture capital fund seeking solutions for roadways, railways, waterways, bridges, utilities, industrial facilities, and other infrastructure assets.
- Intrinsic Capital Partners, a private equity firm, closed a $102 million growth equity fund.
PEOPLE
- Investcorp named Nicholas McGrane as a managing director in the North American Private Equity group.
- IVP named Ajay Vashee, former Dropbox CFO, as a general partner.
- HKW named Rick Ammar as vice president.


fortune--2020-11-12--Ghosted by the government?

Ghosted by the government?

TikTok once again finds itself in uncharted territory.
The ByteDance-owned company was awaiting a response from the Treasury Department’s Committee of Foreign Investment in the United States, which was reviewing TikTok’s proposed deal with Oracle and Walmart. The deal, which falls short of a sale, was TikTok’s response to President Donald Trump, who tried to shut down the company’s U.S. operations citing security concerns.
But on Tuesday, TikTok said it hadn’t received any guidance from CFIUS despite the committee setting a deadline that would require the company to either address the concerns or halt its U.S. operations by Nov. 12.
TikTok turned to a U.S. Court of Appeals for relief, asking for a review of CFIUS’s actions thus far. But some legal experts say that despite what the court decides, the government will likely to continue to meticulously review the issue and that it won’t magically vanish with the entrance of a new administration.
“All of those issues that bubbled up through CFIUS were national security implications,” said Chris Griner, chair of the national security and compliance group at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP. “So that’s the thing—it’s not going to go away.”
Aimen Mir, partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, formerly worked for CFIUS and twice saw what happens when administrations change. “There’s not a substantial difference,” he said. “There’s relative continuity in CFIUS.”
I spoke with Wall Street analysts who expect TikTok to emerge relatively unscathed once all is said and done. They expect the court to allow TikTok to continue its U.S. operations, possibly until President-elect Joe Biden takes over. Meanwhile, the Trump administration likely has put the issue on the back burner, they said. After all, Trump’s camp is currently preoccupied with challenging the results of the presidential election.
“Biden’s [administration] is going to be a lot softer when it comes to China,” said Dan Ives, analyst at investment banking firm Wedbush Securities. “That’s why TikTok is just going to continue to delay this.”
Mark Shmulik, analyst at brokerage firm AB Bernstein, agrees that TikTok may fare better with the Biden administration, and so it will keep arguing that it doesn’t need to be fully separated from ByteDance to address any security concerns. “They’ll do everything they can to keep it one company or retain ownership,” he said.
Whatever happens, most agree that TikTok’s saga with the U.S. government is one for the history books. And once Biden is sworn into office, the public nature of these dealings may be history as well.
Danielle Abril
@DanielleDigest
danielle.abril@fortune.com
***
In September, McDonald’s reported the best month it’s had in a decade; in this episode of Fortune’s Reinvent podcast, host Beth Kowitt speaks with CEO Chris Kempczinski about how McDonald’s finds itself in a surprisingly good spot in the pandemic, thanks to the premium customers are now placing on speed, efficiency, drive-thru, and delivery. Listen to the episode here.
NEWSWORTHY
Political ad bans persist. Facebook and Google have extended their bans on political ads as they attempt to curb election misinformation on their services. Facebook said its ban will continue for another month, Meanwhile Google said its ban could last through the end of the year, according to The Wall Street Journal. But that move has created an unintended consequence: Two Georgia Senate runoffs that will determine whether Republicans retain the majority are now unable to target potential voters and donors through ads.
More food delivery. As the ride-hailing business continues to suffer in the U.S. amid the pandemic, Lyft is taking a note from rival Uber. The company recently said it is developing a food-delivery service to help cushion the losses it’s sustaining from its rides business. But unlike Uber, Lyft said its delivery service won’t be consumer-facing, but rather directed solely at bolstering capabilities for restaurants.
Limits on free photo storage. Google Photos plans to start charging users to store more than 15 gigabytes on its service beginning June 1, according to The Verge. Google also plans to implement the same storage cap on Google Workspace documents and spreadsheets. Documents and photos uploaded before June 1 will not count against the new cap.
Getting vocal. Snapchat is reportedly acquiring startup that builds voice assistants for customer support, according to TechCrunch. Voca.ai employs about 40 people, all of whom are expected to join Snapchat’s team, and has raised about $6 million in funding since it was founded in 2017. The deal is reportedly expected to be worth $70 million.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
In a study released on Wednesday, researchers from universities across the nation explored whether recent statements made by President Donald Trump on social media to discredit the results of the 2020 election have changed democratic norms within the U.S. The group surveyed about 3,000 people, asking them how active they are on social media, their views on politics, and their reactions to 20 tweets from Trump.
“We find that no evidence that support for political violence or belief in democracy changes after repeated exposure to these statements. However, exposure to these norm violations has pernicious effects among Trump’s supporters. Among people who approve of his performance in office, repeated exposure to norm-violating rhetoric about electoral fraud erodes trust and confidence in elections and increases belief that elections are rigged.”
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
'Technology is the new toilet paper' for seniors facing the pandemic By Jeff John Roberts
Biden presidential win seen as a ‘good thing’ for cryptocurrency By Jen Wieczner
The U.K. will follow the U.S. and Europe in getting tougher on ‘hostile’ foreign investment By David Meyer
BEFORE YOU GO
In case you missed one of the most important announcements related to the election, a history-making resident will soon be living in the White House.
Major, Joe Biden's two-year-old German shepherd, will be the first shelter dog to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Animal shelters across the nation hope Major will help put a spotlight on adopting dogs in need of good homes.
And in more good pup news, George H.W. Bush's former service dog Sully was honored with his own bronze statue for Veteran's Day. The nonprofit America's VetDogs, which trained and matched him with Bush, unveiled the work created by renowned sculptor Susan Bahary in Smithtown, New York.


fortune--2020-11-12--How a 54-year-old started her own bank

How a 54-year-old started her own bank

This is the web version of the Broadsheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. To get it delivered daily to your in-box, sign up here.
Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Kamala Harris’s move to VP leaves the Senate with zero Black women, Australia debates the ‘manterruption,’ and Anne Boden is not your average fintech entrepreneur. Have a thoughtful Thursday.
– ‘I was prepared to fail.’ Anne Boden knows she is not who you imagine when you think of a fintech entrepreneur.
“I’m a woman. I’m 5ft tall. I’m Welsh. I’m middle-aged. I’m from a very ordinary background and I’m the sort of person who’ll chat to somebody in the ladies [room]!” she says.
But that didn’t stop her. “I’d reached the stage where I was prepared to fail,” she says. “I was 54 and confident enough not to care if somebody said I was stupid.”
Boden founded Starling, the branchless U.K. bank that now has 1.8 million customer accounts and a staff of more than 1,000. She recently talked to the Guardian about her startup journey, and it’s the sort of second-act story that will stick with you.
She started her corporate career at Lloyds in London and later became COO of Allied Irish Banks. The 2008 financial crisis changed her perspective on banking. Even with the Great Recession and technological advances, banks kept operating in the same way; it was business as usual.
She left her job in 2014 to launch a new kind of bank; one without bureaucracy, where opening an account was easy, notifications were instant, and customer service was always available. She spent months trying to drum up support for her vision. She found a business partner, but later lost him and other members of their fledgling team. Her breakthrough came in late 2015 when she convinced billionaire Harald McPike to invest 48 million pounds in her business. Starling got its banking license in 2016.
Boden admits that the bank is her whole life and embraces the fact that she’s bucked the expectations society set for her. “I’ve had a great career. I’ve done lots of stuff. I’m proud of what we’ve built,” she says. “I wish I could help more women understand that you don’t have to conform to the stereotype to be happy, to be successful.”
You can read the entire story here.
Claire Zillman
claire.zillman@fortune.com
@clairezillman
Today’s Broadsheet was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Step back for the Senate. Kamala Harris's ascension to the White House comes with an unfortunate side effect: there will now be zero Black women in the Senate. Experts in this story explain why parties have failed to help elect women of color to statewide office and what the prospects are to change that: Fortune
- Manterrupting moment. The concept of "manterrupting" is having a moment in Australia after Prime Minister Scott Morrison talked over Anne Ruston, the minister for families and social services, after she was asked what it was like to be a woman in Parliament. The video is going viral. New York Times
- Speed up, s'il vous plaît. In France, asset managers are demanding that the country's biggest companies appoint women to top positions. The investors want businesses to ensure women make up 30% of their executive teams by 2025. Financial Times
- Don't bank on it. Christine Lagarde offers a dose of reality: a vaccine won't mean the end of the global economic crisis. The European Central Bank president says that the economic impact of an immunization will likely take much longer to appear than the vaccine itself. CNBC
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Kate Spade hired former Tinder CMO Jenny Campbell in the same role.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Selling a stake. For the first time in the Louis-Dreyfus Company's 169-year history, the business has sold a significant stake to a non-family shareholder. Abu Dhabi state-owned holding company ADQ will hold a 45% stake, agreed heiress Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, who bought out her other family members. Financial Times
- End period poverty. In China, students and teachers are handing out menstrual pads at school as part of a grassroots campaign to "stop period shaming." Activists are trying to end period poverty and make menstrual products accessible to low-income girls. New York Times
- Deportations in Georgia. Some of the migrant women who suffered gynecological procedures, like hysterectomies, that they didn't need or consent to at a Georgia Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility are now being deported. NBC News
ON MY RADAR
What will Jill Biden wear in the White House? Vogue
H&M taps Diane Von Furstenberg for home wares collection WWD
Elizabeth Warren: What a Biden-Harris administration should prioritize on its first day Washington Post
PARTING WORDS
"I’m going thrift shopping tomorrow. Should I do a fashion show?"
- Newly elected Congresswoman Cori Bush on how her plans for assembling a Capitol Hill wardrobe. Other Congresswomen chimed in with affordable fashion tips.


fortune--2020-11-13--He’s worried A.I. may destroy humanity. Just don’t confuse him with Elon Musk

The Jeopardy! question for “eccentric genius plutocrat best known for his concerns about artificial intelligence destroying the human race” is, without question, “Who is Tesla CEO Elon Musk?” But the technology investor who has arguably done the most to address this potential—if theoretical—threat is much more obscure: His name is Jaan Tallinn.
Jaan who? Like Musk, Tallinn is an engineer of a certain age—Musk is 49, Tallinn is 48—who made his money on one of the early 2000s’ greatest dotcom success stories. For Musk, it was PayPal. For Tallinn, it was Skype.
An Estonian computer programmer who was one of the pioneers of peer-to-peer file-sharing technology, Tallinn cofounded Kazaa and later used similar technology to help build Skype, where he was a cofounder and one of the first engineering hires. He then took the money he made from Skype and became a prominent investor in other European tech startups. Although he’s not been as financially successful as Musk, Tallinn’s not done badly. (A rival business publication estimated his net worth at $900 million in 2019.)
Like Musk, it was Tallinn’s experience as an early investor in London A.I. company DeepMind, now part of Google parent Alphabet, that first ignited his concerns about the potential that superhuman artificial intelligence may destroy the human race.
Tallinn cofounded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at Cambridge University as well as the Future of Life Institute in the other Cambridge—Massachusetts, that is. He is also a prominent donor to the Future of Humanity Institute, the University of Oxford think tank devoted to existential risk founded by philosopher Nick Bostrom, whose views on the potential dangers of superintelligent machines also influenced Musk, another of the institute’s funders. Tallinn has also given money to the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, a Berkeley organization dedicated to ensuring “smarter-than-human artificial intelligence has a positive impact.” And, again like Musk, he was an early backer of OpenAI, the San Francisco A.I. research company initially established as a kind of counterweight to Google and DeepMind.
Now Tallinn has made an unusual donation to one of the technology companies he has previously backed. It’s unusual for three reasons: First, the money is a gift, not an investment. Secondly, the money will fund a program that is not focused on the existential threat of superhuman intelligence, but on the more mundane risks of today’s A.I., such as algorithmic bias, lack of transparency, and concerns about data privacy. Finally, the donation was made entirely in cryptocurrency.
The Estonian investor gave Faculty AI, a fast-growing London-based company that helps create machine-learning systems for companies and governments, 350 units of Ether, the coin associated with the Ethereum blockchain, in January 2018, worth about $434,000 at the time, and 50 Bitcoins in March 2020, worth about $316,000, according to Faculty’s financial filings at the U.K. business registry Companies House, which are being made public this month. Tallinn had previously been a seed investor—using more conventional fiat currency—in Faculty. His investment company Metaplanet Holdings holds just under 9% of the company’s total shares, according to Companies House filings.
In recent months, Faculty, which has often drawn comparisons in the press to U.S. data analysis company Palantir, has been in the news for its work helping the U.K. government forecast the availability of ventilators and other medical equipment needed to address the COVID-19 pandemic. The contract, one of seven government contracts the company has recently received, was controversial because Faculty was awarded it outside the normal bidding process, and the government has refused to reveal the exact terms. Under a previous name, ASI Data Science, the company had helped the “Vote Leave” campaign in its successful push for Britain to leave the European Union and worked with Vote Leave’s director Dominic Cummings, who had been serving as a close aide to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. (Johnson abruptly dismissed Cummings Friday, according to U.K. news accounts.) Faculty also won an $800,000 contract from the U.K. Home Office to build an A.I. system that could detect terrorist propaganda on social media platforms.
The reason for donating the money to Faculty in cryptocurrency, Tallinn says, is that he keeps most of his personal wealth in that form, and converting it into cash would have resulted in an unnecessary capital gains tax bill, reducing the amount he could give.
The rationale for backing Faculty’s efforts to address the risk of today’s A.I. systems—instead of the existential risks from some future superintelligence—is that many of the considerations for making today’s A.I. less prone to bias and easier to understand could also reduce the risk of someone creating an A.I. that one day destroys the human race, Tallinn says. “Transparency and explainability are useful in current commercial settings, like, medical settings,” he tells Fortune. “However, it also might make it much safer to deploy something that is smarter than us.” For instance, such techniques might make it much easier to understand the intentions behind the actions of a smarter-than-human system.
Tallinn’s donation has helped Faculty to hire several experts in A.I. safety, company founder and chief executive Marc Warner says. The company’s safety research is organized around four pillars. “We believe that A.I. has to be fair, private, robust, and explainable,” he says.
Warner says that the public has been presented with a false choice between the safety and performance of A.I. systems, with some researchers and companies selling A.I. systems claiming that more transparent A.I. methods don’t work as well as more opaque techniques. “It’s just not true,” Warner says. He notes that cars have become both safer—with innovations such as headlights, windscreen wipers, seat belts, and airbags—as well as offering superior performance, and that the same thing can happen with A.I.
The company was commissioned by the U.K.’s Center for Data Ethics and Innovation to assess the latest approaches to A.I. fairness. It has built tools that help users understand how complex A.I. systems arrive at decisions that have been presented at prestigious A.I. conferences. It has also researched ways to create machine-learning systems that are better at figuring out causal relationships in data, not just correlations. That’s an important safety consideration, especially when using A.I. in medical and financial settings, Warner says. And the company has researched mathematical techniques to reveal and guard against bias in A.I. algorithms.
As for the safety of holding cryptocurrency on its books, that’s another matter. Warner admits that accepting Tallinn’s donation created a bookkeeping headache for Faculty. “Our accountants had to go and find someone else who was working on crypto and how to do accounting for crypto,” he tells Fortune.
Ultimately, the company listed the cryptocurrency on its book as an intangible asset. That means its value will be amortized over time, and any significant fall in the value of Ether or Bitcoin will result in Faculty taking an impairment charge. But if either cryptocurrency soars in value, that won’t be reflected on Faculty’s books. While this is the current consensus among accountants about how to handle cryptocurrency assets, it remains controversial, with some experts arguing cryptocurrency should be treated like any other financial instrument.
Faculty did sell about $144,000 worth of Ether between March 2019 and March 2020, according to its annual accounts. But given how cryptocurrency has been appreciating—the value of Bitcoin is up 300% so far this year, and Ether is up 144% year to date—the company seems happy to let most of Tallinn’s cryptocurrency donation remain on its books for a rainy day. After all, it might come in handy if A.I. safety efforts fail and our robot overlords arrive unexpectedly.
This story has been updated to include news of Dominic Cummings leaving his position as a senior aide to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson.


fortune--2020-11-13--The 2020 election was the ‘most secure in American history’

State and federal election officials, along with experts in the private sector, said they had “utmost confidence in the security and integrity” of the Nov. 3 vote, as President Donald Trump continues to make unfounded claims of fraud and key security officials involved in protecting elections leave the administration or expect to be fired.
“The Nov. 3rd election was the most secure in American history,” the officials said in a statement Thursday. “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”
The statement acknowledged the “many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections” and urged Americans to turn to election administrators and officials for accurate information.
The statement was signed by officials from the Elections Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council, which shares information among state, local and federal officials, and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council, which includes election infrastructure owners and operators.
Among the 10 signatories were Benjamin Hovland, who chairs the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and Bob Kolasky, the assistant director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security.
Key officials at the cybersecurity agency, including its head, Christopher Krebs, are stepping down or expecting to get fired as Trump refuses to concede.
Krebs, who has enjoyed bipartisan support for his role in helping run secure U.S. elections in 2018 and 2020, has told associates he expects to be dismissed, according to three people familiar with internal discussions.
His departure would follow the resignation of Bryan Ware, assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, who resigned on Thursday morning after about two years at the agency. In addition, Valerie Boyd, the assistant secretary for international affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CISA, has also left, according to two other people.
Krebs and Ware are both Trump appointees.
“I commend CISA on remaining steadfast in its commitment to providing accurate information to the public, including its statement today that there is no evidence that any election system was compromised last week,” Representative Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and a Mississippi Democrat, said in a statement on Thursday night.
Thompson added, however, that “there are rumors the president may be cleaning house at CISA, with one high-level official reportedly asked to resign already. This is dangerous.”


fortune--2020-11-13--Boris Johnson’s top aide was a key architect of Brexit. But as the split looms, he’s quitting govern

Boris Johnson’s top aide was a key architect of Brexit. But as the split looms, he’s quitting government

Dominic Cummings quit as Boris Johnson’s most powerful aide and will leave the U.K. government by the end of the year, throwing the future direction of the prime minister’s entire political project into doubt.
The resignation, confirmed by a person familiar with the matter, brings to an end 17 months of combative and often controversial influence of a small group of pro-Brexit officials over the British government.
Cummings is the second key adviser to Johnson to go in the space of a day, after tensions blew up over the way the prime minister’s inner circle operates. Late on Wednesday, Communications Director Lee Cain — who worked with Cummings and Johnson to deliver the 2016 Brexit referendum vote — announced he was standing down.
U.K. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps downplayed the departure of Cummings. “Advisors come and go,” he said in an interview with Sky News. The government will stay focused on the big issues, including the handling of the pandemic, rather than “who happens to be in and out,” Shapps added.
Cummings has been at the premier’s side since he took power in July 2019, and was the mastermind of the successful Brexit referendum campaign that catapulted Johnson into the front rank of British politics three years earlier. His departure will deprive the premier of his most important adviser and strategist, who has wielded huge influence over all aspects of government policy, from its pandemic response to Brexit and economic reform.
Cain and Cummings were the two closest aides to Johnson in his political team and he will feel their absence. It’s a critical time for the U.K.: with the country in a second national lockdown and the pandemic death rate rising again, Johnson has just a few days left to finalize a Brexit trade deal with the European Union before it’s too late.
With Cain already gone, Cummings’s departure at year end will dovetail with the U.K.’s departure from its post-Brexit transition arrangements.
Divisive Figure
His presence alongside Johnson at the top of government has always been controversial. In the first turbulent months of Johnson’s premiership in 2019, Cummings waged a campaign against anti-Brexit sympathizers inside the governing Conservative Party, forcing some rebels out for good and ripping up political conventions.
Then Cummings helped steer the prime minister toward a historic election victory last December, winning the biggest Tory majority in more than 30 years on his platform to “level up” economically neglected regions of the U.K.
But when the pandemic hit at the start of the year, the Cummings project ran into a wall. All government focus was turned to combating coronavirus and Cummings himself inevitably became part of the story.
In May Johnson put his own authority on the line to defend Cummings, who was accused of breaking lockdown rules by driving more than 250 miles to seek childcare help when the public were being ordered to stay at home.
The premier was so determined to keep Cummings that he appeared in public at press conferences and in parliament to answer questions and repeatedly defend his adviser’s actions.
Cain Connection
Cain announced he was standing down as Johnson’s director of communications in a statement on Wednesday evening. “It was an honor to be asked to serve as the prime minister’s chief of staff,” Cain said, following reports that he had been lined up for the role by Johnson.
It is not clear why Cain did not take up that role. According to one version of events, Cain and Cummings lobbied the prime minister to give Cain that coveted position. But Johnson was unhappy that the appointment was made public in Wednesday’s newspapers before he had reached a final decision, people familiar with the matter said.
It remained unclear throughout Thursday if Cummings would follow Cain out the door. The answer came, in staggered fashion, late on Thursday night.


fortune--2020-11-13--As COVID cases spike, all eyes are on this streaming giant

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 the 13th, Bull Sheeters. Global stocks are faltering as we close out the week, with energy weighing on overseas markets. U.S. futures, however, are gaining ground this morning with Disney shares surging in pre-market trading after the entertainment giant posted impressive streaming numbers after the bell.
Meanwhile, investors are warily eyeing a brutal second wave of COVID cases on both sides of the Atlantic.
Let’s check in on the action.
Markets update
Asia
The major Asia indexes are down in afternoon trading with Japan’s Nikkei off 0.5% .
are down in afternoon trading with off . Here’s a juicy detail about how the mysterious last-minute cancelation of Ant Group’s IPO went down. It was ordered by none other than President Xi Jinping , the Wall Street Journal reports.
went down. It was ordered by none other than , the Wall Street Journal reports. President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday barring American investment firms and pension funds “from buying and selling shares of 20 Chinese companies,” Bloomberg reports, hitting shares in China.
Europe
The European bourses were lower at the open, with the Europe Stoxx 600 down 0.1% in mid-morning trading.
were lower at the open, with the down in mid-morning trading. Here’s a revenue-raising suggestion many of you will object to: a 5% tax on those who work from home . Deutsche Bank calculates it would raise $48 billion a year in the U.S. for the Treasury and €15.9 billion in Germany.
on those who . Deutsche Bank calculates it would raise a year in the U.S. for the Treasury and in Germany. The G20 meets today. High on the agenda: getting China to go along with debt relief for the world’s poorest, and COVID-battered, economies.
U.S.
U.S. futures are off their lows and gaining this morning. On Thursday, the three major indexes slipped again, leaving the benchmark S&P 500 up a mere 0.8% for the week.
are off their lows and gaining this morning. On Thursday, the slipped again, leaving the benchmark S&P 500 up a mere for the week. Shares in Walt Disney Co. were up 3.3% in pre-market trading after delivering a beat on Disney+ subscriber growth .
in pre-market trading after delivering a beat on . After Texas topped the 7-figure milestone earlier this week, California has now reported more than 1 million COVID cases and New York City is introducing new restrictions, including early closures of bars and restaurants, starting today. This second wave is not to be messed with.
Elsewhere
Gold is up, but trading in a tight range around $1,880/ounce .
is up, but trading in a tight range around . The dollar is flat.
is flat. Crude is down with Brent trading around $43/barrel. The rally from earlier in the week has truly faded.
is down with trading around The rally from earlier in the week has truly faded. Bitcoin has topped $16,200, up more than 2% in the past 24 hours.
***
By the numbers
13
It’s Friday, the 13th… Of course, bulls, by our nature, are not a superstitious bunch. But if we were, a chart like this one below might give us pause. Going back 92 years, Friday the 13ths that fall in November have not been good days for investor portfolios. As LPL Research notes, “in fact, it has the worst average return and lowest % chance of being positive. As if we needed something else to worry about in 2020, now we have it.” As the chart shows, the average daily return for this day over the past 92 years is -0.64%.
“But don’t forget,” LPL adds, “the last time we had a Friday the 13th was in March and the S&P 500 gained 9.3%, for the best gain ever on this frightful day in history.”
27.57
Last week, the S&P 500 rallied for its best week since April as it became clear that the Biden election victory was a definitive one, removing the uncertainty of a contested result at the polls. Then, on Monday, we got a jolt of good vaccine news from Pfizer, sending value stocks higher. That’s all come crashing down in recent days as the COVID numbers worsen, and new modified lockdown measures are introduced. The benchmark S&P is up 27.57 points over the past five trading sessions. That’s a rise of just 0.8% in that period.
881
Bitcoin is one of the big post-Election Day winners. Crypto bulls have driven up the value of Bitcoin by 881 bucks, or 5.7%, in the past week. In the same period, gold is down 3.2%. The divergence is notable if you believe the line that Bitcoin is “a gold play” for the younger generation. For much of 2020, gold has been the hotter bet. But that’s begun to change in recent weeks, as The Market Ear notes in this post.
***
Postscript
A reader, M.M., yesterday sent me the kind of note I love: an article featuring a bunch of tips on new indie films to check out.
She sent me the link, she said, because one of the films on the list is about Italians, their dogs and the mighty white truffle. It’s called The Truffle Hunters. Here’s the trailer. The pooch on the movie poster appears to be a scruffy lagotto romagnolo. It sits on the table of some vecchio tartufaio (old-time truffle hunter).
Lockdown rules permitting, at the end of the month I’m hoping to take our truffle pup out to the woods behind our place in Amandola to root around for some of these potent wonders. She’s a rookie, so I’m not expecting much.
In the meantime, here she is trying to get a seat at the kitchen table. She’s a champion at that.
***
Have a nice weekend, everyone. I’ll see you here on Monday… But first, there’s more news below.
Bernhard Warner
@BernhardWarner
Bernhard.Warner@Fortune.com
As always, you can write to bullsheet@fortune.com or reply to this email with suggestions and feedback.
Today's reads
The paradox of thrift. You may recall this term from Econ 101—the theory that an elevated savings rate is bad for the economy. If you're not saving, you're not spending. If you're not spending, an economy is not growing, the thinking goes. Savings watchdogs won't like this detail: savings deposits in the U.S. have now surged to $15.9 trillion, up from the pre-pandemic level of $13.2 trillion. What's most puzzling is that deposits are going up even as the interest banks pay on deposits has collapsed to near-zero, the Wall Street Journal notes.
Fries with that? McDonald’s recently reported its best month in a decade—no surprise that the stock is up more than 7% YTD. CEO Chris Kempczinski spoke to Beth Kowitt in the latest episode of Fortune’s Reinvent podcast about how the fast-food giant finds itself in a surprisingly good spot in the pandemic. You can listen to the episode here.
Some of these stories require a subscription to access. There is a discount offer for our loyal readers if you use this link to sign up. Thank you for supporting our journalism.
Market candy
$559,000
That's the price tag of Ferrari's new SF90 Spider (in Italy, at least). The speed-demon is a hybrid plug-in that packs 986 horsepower, according to Bloomberg. It begins shipping in Q2 2021, and orders are said to be brisk. If you pick one up at the factory just outside Modena, drop me a line. I can be there in a few hours. I know a bunch of great places to eat, and will insist on a tasting of balsamic vinegar.


fortune--2020-11-13--Friday feedback: Defending democracy, finding purpose

This is the web version of CEO Daily. To get it delivered to your inbox, sign up here.
Good morning.
Since it is Friday, some feedback. M.H. wrote in:
“It’s time for business leaders to intervene on behalf of democracy… supporting American tradition and visibly and vocally rejecting this deranged, selfish attempt to steal an open election….Your column today speaks to the relationship between profit and purpose. That rings rather hollow if these leaders are not willing to take positions in support of the very system that has allowed them to become big wheels.”
M.G. had a different take on the election, responding to my post that the Business Roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers all congratulated President-elect Biden on his victory last Saturday:
“If the business leaders are glad for the presidential results, then they deserve the tax, regulatory and legal quagmire that will result.”
Yesterday, I mentioned an exercise our Fortune CONNECT Fellows were doing to identify their personal purpose, prompting this moving response from T.H.:
“I have been feeling trapped in a job that I once loved because it ticked all my personal purpose boxes. Today, the company is just a shadow of its former self and a wholly unfulfilling experience.
“Daily I ask myself ‘What do I want to do? Where do I go from here?’ Life’s stresses cloud my thinking and I spiral into a downward circle of frustration, fear and doubt. But your email reminded me that I need to get realigned with my personal purpose and that will help chart the course for the future.”
And finally, my favorite response of the week from D.L., who reminded me of my own purpose in writing this daily note:
“I cannot say enough how these notes inspire me every day. Thank you.”
More news below. And a special read: Geoff Colvin’s story on why the pandemic has been a field day for fraudsters.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Chinese congratulations
Beijing has belatedly congratulated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their big win, days after the victory became clear. "We have been following the reaction on this U.S. presidential election from both within the United States and from the international community,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in a briefing today. “We respect the American people’s choice and extend congratulations to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris.” Fortune
TikTok reprieve
TikTok wanted to know if its cancellation in the U.S. was still on, and now it has its answer: no—at least not for now. The Commerce Department yesterday bowed to a preliminary injunction against the ban, saying the shutdown order would not go into effect "pending further legal developments." It also launched an appeal against that injunction. Wall Street Journal
Investment ban
American investors are now banned from putting money into Chinese companies that are owned or controlled by the military, per an order from President Trump. China Mobile Communications Group and China Telecoms Corp are both on the list, so shares in China's biggest networks have taken a dive. Also on the list: Huawei, Hikvision, Norinco Group, and China Railway Construction Corp. Fortune
Jones Day
Jones Day, the venerable law firm that is assisting President Trump in his challenges to the election results—challenges that few legal experts see as holding water—is catching a lot of flak for it. The firm has stressed that its client is the Pennsylvania Republican Party, rather than Trump, but many lawyers remain highly critical of its decision to press ahead with what they see as frivolous suits. Fortune
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Scuttling Ant
President Xi Jinping personally ordered the suspension of Ant Group's planned enormo-IPO, according to Chinese officials who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. Xi was reportedly furious at controlling shareholder Jack Ma's decision to criticize the government's financial regulation, days before the flotation was set to go ahead. WSJ
Defending pollsters
Cornell political scientist Baobao Zhang reckons everyone's being too harsh on pollsters, following President Trump's unexpectedly strong showing at last week's election. In a piece for Fortune, she highlights pollsters' challenge of declining response rates, which can bias results: "This can become a vicious cycle of inaccuracy and distrust. Nonresponse bias makes it harder for survey researchers to get accurate data, and when researchers—or pollsters—fail, the trust in the process dwindles, exacerbating levels of nonresponse." Fortune
BioNTech founders
The Washington Post has a nice profile of Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci the co-founders of German biotech firm and Pfizer partner BioNTech. From the piece: "The husband-and-wife team behind one of the world’s top coronavirus vaccine candidates are the sort of people who don’t own a car and who took the morning off for their wedding day in 2002 before returning to the lab. Half a day was 'sufficient,' Türeci explained." WaPo
Cummings going
Dominic Cummings, Brexit architect and top Boris-Johnson-whisperer, is to leave his role as the prime minister's chief adviser just as the Brexit transition period ends on December 31—in other words, as the proverbial potentially hits the fan (there's still no agreement between the U.K. and EU as to their subsequent trading and regulatory relationship.) News of Cummings' departure comes just after the resignation of communications director Lee Cain, one of his key allies, due to a reported power struggle. Sky News
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.


fortune--2020-11-13--A 6-year-old Chinese electric vehicle startup is now more valuable than GM

Chinese electric vehicle makers are on a tear.
On Thursday, after reporting a strong third quarter, the New York–listed shares of Guangzhou-based Xpeng jumped 33%. Nasdaq-listed Li Auto’s share price leaped 27% the same day, ahead of its own earnings report on Friday. Meanwhile, NYSE-listed Nio—the only one of the three carmakers with more than a year’s trading history—surged 12%.
That 12% jump is the latest in a yearlong rally that has boosted Nio’s share over 1,000% since January, when its shares traded at below $4. With a market cap now over $65 billion, loss-making Nio is close to $10 billion more valuable than U.S. auto industry stalwart General Motors.
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But it’s likely that investors are just hedging their bets on any Chinese automaker rather than backing Nio specifically. Beijing has set a target for EV sales to account for half the market in 2035, and China’s domestic manufacturers are all seeking to lead the pack.
U-turn
Nio’s soaring stock marks a significant change in investor appetite for the six-year-old automaker. Since going public in September 2018, the company had mostly traded below its debut price, and in 2019 it received what amounted to a $1 billion government bailout.
The company has made some changes to its business model that appear to have improved sales, but Nio’s runaway stock gains are more indicative of a broader trend, with U.S. investors casting a wide net to catch the next leader in electric vehicles.
“There is a spillover of investors searching for the next big thing,” Bill Russo, founder and CEO of Shanghai-based investment advisory Automobility, told Fortune in August, shortly after Nio rival Xpeng went public in New York and barely a month after another competitor Li Auto raised over $1 billion through its Nasdaq listing.
In the first half of the year, Tesla had emerged as China’s No. 1 EV seller, signifying a “turning point” in the market, Russo said. Prior to that, industrial or fleet buyers, such as public transport and taxi firms, were responsible for most of China’s EV sales. Tesla’s rise indicated an advancing market for consumer EVs.
Buoyed by Tesla’s strong performance, Xpeng’s shares rallied 40% on their first day of trading. Compare that with Nio’s debut in 2018, when shares fell immediately and were trading at 80% below their IPO value 12 months later.
Gear change
Investor confidence in China’s EV industry seemed to be flagging when Nio debuted two years ago. Government EV subsidies that had enabled EV startups like Nio to enter the market by bolstering demand were set to expire just two years later in 2020. Nio’s financials were bleak, too. At the time it filed its prospectus, the Shanghai-based company had only shipped 500 units and was $500 million in debt.
The automaker still isn’t profitable. Last year, as Nio’s cash flow entered dire straits, it signed a $1 billion joint venture agreement with a state-owned enterprise to produce down-market cars. The partnership provided Nio with a much-needed cash injection but broke the company’s premium-focused business model.
Recent changes to Beijing’s subsidy scheme might further benefit Nio. In April, Beijing decided to extend its subsidy program until 2022 for cheaper passenger vehicles, and the government said it would provide subsidy support for EV firms that manufacture cars with swappable batteries, regardless of price. That policy gives Nio, which is pioneering battery-swapping services, greater flexibility on how it prices its models.
The subsidy extension comes as Beijing sets a target for new energy vehicles (NEVs)—meaning electric, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen-powered cars—to account for 20% of China’s auto sales by 2025.
By 2035, all new auto sales have to be “eco-friendly,” Beijing decreed, with 50% being NEVs and the remaining half filled by regular hybrids. NEVs currently occupy around 5% of China’s market, which still makes China the world’s No. 1 market for electric vehicles.


fortune--2020-11-13--‘We respect the choice of the American people:’ Beijing finally congratulates Biden on beating Trump

China on Friday sent its congratulations to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden for his 2020 election victory over outgoing President Donald Trump.
“We respect the choice of the American people. We extend congratulations to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris,” Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a press conference on Friday. “We understand the results of the U.S. election will be determined according to U.S. laws and procedures.”
With China’s well-wishes, there are just a few notable world leaders who have not yet acknowledged Biden’s victory as Trump continues to baselessly claim victory and dispute the results of the election. Russia, Brazil, and Mexico are now the biggest holdouts.
China had been reluctant to congratulate Biden after the first rash of foreign leaders recognized Biden’s victory after major U.S. media outlets declared him the winner based on vote count last Saturday. China’s hesitancy likely stemmed from not wanting to engage in American partisan politics at a time when U.S.-China relations are so fragile.
It’s unclear why China decided to embrace Biden on Friday, but Biden’s grip on the presidency has only tightened in recent days as vote tallies continue to roll in. Media outlets on Friday said Biden had won Arizona, a state the outlets had previously deemed too close to call. With Biden’s margin of victory growing, it’s possible Beijing didn’t want to delay its overtures to the incoming administration.
In a break from tradition, the Trump administration has not provided Biden’s team with a direct line to talk to foreign leaders. But in recent days Biden has begun fielding calls with leaders from countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and South Korea.
Beijing’s message to Biden also comes one day after Biden signaled his first major foreign policy measure regarding China. On Thursday, Biden spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and said that the U.S. would guarantee military support to Japan’s territorial claims over the Senkaku Islands in the South China Sea. China has competing claims over the uninhabited islands, which it calls the Diaoyu Islands, and the issue has been a flash point in Sino-Japanese relations.


fortune--2020-11-13--Trump bans Americans from investing in firms controlled by China’s military

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order barring American investments in Chinese firms owned or controlled by the military, the latest White House bid to pressure Beijing over what it views as abusive business practices.
China is “increasingly exploiting” American capital for “the development and modernization of its military, intelligence, and other security apparatuses,” posing a threat to the U.S., according to the executive order signed Thursday. The order prohibits investment firms and pension funds from buying and selling shares of 20 Chinese companies designated by the Pentagon as having military ties in June, as well as an additional 11 companies added in August.
Relations between the U.S. and China are expected to remain rocky despite Trump’s defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential election last week. The Trump administration has continued to follow through on vows to punish Beijing over the coronavirus pandemic, its treatment of Muslim minorities and the crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong.
Shares of top Chinese firms — including China Mobile Ltd. and China Telecom Corp Ltd. — tumbled. China Mobile, whose controlling shareholder China Mobile Communications Group is on the list, dropped 6.3% in Hong Kong, the biggest intraday loss in almost eight months. China Telecom slumped 10.4%, its biggest drop in 12 years.
Chinese officials have threatened to respond to previous Trump administration actions with their own blacklist of U.S. companies. Dongshu Liu, an associate professor of Chinese politics at the City University of Hong Kong, said Beijing would likely shrug off such “symbolic” provocations while it waits to see what kind of policy the Biden administration will put into place.
“For those who are clearly owned by the military, they don’t have a lot to do with the U.S.,” Liu said. “China is waiting for Trump to step down. It will avoid being too sensitive — be calm and don’t overreact — to any of Trump’s actions towards China as his term winds down.”
The latest prohibition will go into effect on Jan. 11, and allows U.S. investment firms and pension funds to divest their holdings in companies linked to the Chinese military over the next year. If the U.S. determines additional companies have military ties in the future, American investors will be given 60 days from that determination to divest.
U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said in a statement that many of the companies at issue were traded on exchanges around the world. American investors could unknowingly provide funds through passive investments such as mutual funds and retirement plans, he added.
The order “serves to protect American investors from unintentionally providing capital that goes to enhancing the capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army and People’s Republic of China intelligence services,” O’Brien said.
In a move earlier this year to restrict the flow of money, the administration sent a letter to Michael Kennedy, then chairman of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, telling him to “halt all steps” associated with putting government employees’ savings in a fund that includes stakes in Chinese companies.
Separately, O’Brien said Wednesday that China’s latest clampdown in Hong Kong showed that the “one country, two systems” arrangement designed to ensure the city’s autonomy amounted to a “fig leaf” for dictatorship, and signaled new sanctions.
The warning came after China’s top legislative body on Wednesday passed a resolution allowing for the disqualification of any Hong Kong lawmakers who were not deemed sufficiently loyal. Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s government immediately banished four legislators, prompting the remaining 15 in the 70-seat Legislative Council to resign en masse hours later.
While the U.S. has imposed sanctions against Lam and some officials in Beijing, it has so far held off punishing the country’s senior hierarchy. Such a move would infuriate Beijing and accelerate a deterioration in relations between the two nations on a variety of issues.


fortune--2020-11-13--Nearly 50% of new Disney+ customers are in India and Indonesia—and they pay far less than U.S. users

The growth of Walt Disney Co.’s streaming service in India and Indonesia has been staggering, with the countries now accounting for more than a quarter of its 73.7 million customers globally.
What’s less staggering is the price most of the subscribers pay: Even the premium plan is just $20 a year. That’s a fraction of the $70 that U.S. customers shell out and illustrates the challenge the company faces as it takes its streaming platform to more countries.
The growth of Disney+, which launched a year ago, has far exceeded the expectations of both Wall Street and the company itself. It was a bright spot in Disney’s latest quarterly results, released Thursday. But keeping up its pace will mean tapping markets with less spending power.
“If you get enough sheer volume, you can make it work even at a relatively low price per subscriber,” said David Heger, an analyst at Edward Jones.
The company serves India and Indonesia with a product called Disney+ Hotstar, a rebranded platform born out of a business acquired from Fox last year. Those two developing countries now represent 18.4 million Disney+ subscribers.
Hotstar was rechristened with the Disney+ name on April 3 in India. The product launched in Indonesia in September. Since the streaming platform had 33.5 million subscribers globally at the end of March, that means the two countries accounted for almost half of new customers over the past six months.
India, with its massive population, has the potential to become the biggest market for Disney+, Heger said.
“When you look at a country with 1.3 billion people, your potential is significant,” he said. An additional 270 million people live in Indonesia.
Hotstar originally launched in 2015 as an ad-supported service and later added a subscription component. It features movies, TV shows and sports. The company described itself before the launch earlier this year as having over 300 million monthly active users.
In April, Disney introduced three levels of service: free, VIP and premium. The VIP version, which includes live sports, Indian movies and Disney films dubbed in local languages, costs 399 rupees per year, or about $5.40. The premium version, which features Disney+ originals and English-language content, costs $4 a month or $20 per year.
Disney said its average revenue from Disney+ subscribers is $4.52 per month. Take out the cheaper Disney+ Hotstar plans, and the average jumps to $5.30 per month.
Unlike in the U.S., cricket matches are a big draw for Disney+ in India. The latest season for the India Premier League helped drive subscriptions last quarter, Disney said Thursday.
Paying for those rights has presented its own pricing challenge. In last year’s third quarter, Disney’s Indian media business posted a $60 million loss due to rising costs for cricket.


fortune--2020-11-14--Tom Siebel’s C3.ai files for IPO

Tom Siebel’s C3.ai files for IPO

C3.ai, the software maker founded by former Oracle executive Tom Siebel, filed Friday for an initial public offering.
The company in its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission listed the size of the IPO as $100 million, a placeholder that will likely change.
C3.ai last month formed a partnership with Microsoft and Adobe for a new customer-relationship management software seeking to combat Salesforce.com.
Siebel founded Siebel Systems, which was acquired by Oracle in 2006. He then held executive roles at Oracle. Siebel and the private equity firm TPG are the biggest owners of C3.ai, according to its prospectus.
C3.ai reported a net loss of $69 million for the year ended in April 30, compared with $33 million the previous year. It said its revenue rose about 71% over the same period.
Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are leading the offering. C3.ai is planning to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AI.


fortune--2020-11-14--Charles Koch looks back on his political legacy: “Boy, did we screw up!”

Billionaire businessman and Republican political mega-donor Charles Koch has regrets.
Charles and his late brother, David, used their collective wealth and connections to wield incredible political influence over the past few decades, donating hundreds of millions of dollars to reshape the American political landscape, push the Republican agenda towards their Libreterian, free-market bend, and give rise to the Tea Party movement. Together, the brothers founded the conservative powerhouse Americans for Prosperity in 2004.
“Boy, did we screw up!,” wrote Koch, now 85, in his new book, Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World. “What a mess!”
Koch and his brother were also largely involved in shaping the country’s response to climate change. Through Americans for Prosperity, they got over 400 members of Congress to sign a pledge to vote against climate change legislation that does not include equivalent tax cuts. In California, they were influential in rolling back emission regulations, and between 1997 and 2018 they spent $145,555,197 financing nearly 100 groups that attacked climate change science.
Following the 2011 Supreme Court Citizens United decision, the Kochs spent nearly $200 million to elect Republicans who said that they would not pass any new environmental regulations.
“We did not create the tea party. We shared their concern about unsustainable government spending, and we supported some tea-party groups on that issue,” Koch wrote in an email to Wall Street Journal reporter Douglas Belkin on Friday. “But it seems to me the tea party was largely unsuccessful long-term, given that we’re coming off a Republican administration with the largest government spending in history.”
He also congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris and said he’d like to collaborate with the new White House on “finding ways to work with them to break down the barriers holding people back.” Those barriers, he said, include criminal justice and immigration reform.
“At the same time,” Koch wrote in his email, “I hope we all use this post-election period to find a better way forward. Because of partisanship, we’ve come to expect too much of politics and too little of ourselves and one another.”
Though the Kochs did not support Trump, they poured about $750 million into the 2016 election. In 2018, they pledged to spend another $400 million to back conservative candidates.


fortune--2020-11-14--Parler is a haven for extremists, anti-hate group says

Conservative social media service Parler has become a haven for hate groups, extremists, and conspiracy theorists, anti-racism watchdog Anti-Defamation League warned on Friday.
The site, which has gained a large following in recent months, partly because of its free-speech ethos, is increasingly home to Holocaust denial, antisemitism, and racism, the ADL said.
High-profile Parler users include former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, Alex Jones’ conspiracy website Infowars, and anti-immigration site VDARE.
“These are the kinds of individuals and organizations whose toxicity is well-known and whose racism and anti-Semitism isn’t very well disguised,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO.
Parler did not respond to a request by Fortune for comment.
While giving a home to extremism isn’t Parler deliberate strategy, the ADL said, its lax policing gives a megaphone to extremists to spew hate without consequence. That commentary exacerbates the nation’s already existing political polarization.
Amid that tumult, Parler has become one of the most downloaded apps for mobile devices. Many users have flocked to the service because of what they consider to be unfair crackdowns by Facebook and Twitter over hate speech and misinformation.
Following the presidential election, Twitter and Facebook slapped warning labels on some of President Trump’s posts that included unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. As a result, Republican heavyweights like Sen. Ted Cruz, Fox News political commentator Sean Hannity, and Trump’s son, Eric, have encouraged their social media followers to join Parler.
Because Parler relies on users to police its service, Greenblatt is worried about unchecked hate speech. The ADL cited a recent post on Parler by fringe website BiChute that called the Holocaust gassings a “profitable hoax.” Conservatives and extremists are currently using Parler to promote pro-Trump events like the Million MAGA March and #StopTheSteal rallies.
For years, the ADL has worked with Twitter and Facebook to help them better understand how their services contribute to hate. The ADL contacted Parler’s chief policy officer, Amy Peikoff, on Wednesday, but it did not receive a response, the organization said.
In the meantime, the ADL said it would continue to monitor Parler and will “call out hate when we see it.”
“Ultimately, that’s the goal—to make sure these digital spaces are safe and secure,” Greenblatt said. The services should “allow for diversity of ideas but that they don’t do it while degrading Jews, African-Americans, or other minorities—that they don’t demonize people for how they pray or who they love.”


fortune--2020-11-13--Reflecting an election without end

Reflecting an election without end

RaceAhead is back after a brief hiatus and will return to a normal schedule next week. But first, here’s your post-U.S. Election week in review, in Haiku.
If votes fall softly
one by one, like trees in the
woods, do you still win?
Do years of effort
to persuade, inspire, teach
pay off over time?
When the voices of
The marginalized are heard,
what song will they sing?
If politics is
power, division, and pain,
what is governing?
If needs are ignored
one by one and pushed aside
Will we know justice?
Have a safe and joyful weekend. Get outside if you can. Maybe even sing!
Ellen McGirt
@ellmcgirt
Ellen.McGirt@fortune.com
Today's mood board
The race has officially been called by CNN and the New York Times.


fortune--2020-11-13--Top CEOs secretly met to plan collective response to Trump’s denial of election results

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Two dozen of America’s top CEOs convened last Friday, as it appeared that Joe Biden would become the country’s 46th President, to discuss the possibility of current President Donald Trump’s refusing to leave office, according to sources who were present for the hour-plus video call. The exchange is surprising, given that the voice of business leadership has largely been missing from the conversation around the outcome of last week’s presidential election and the President’s unproven claims of massive voter fraud and “illegal” votes.
The CEOs discussed how to collectively handle a President who refused to leave office, as Trump has indicated he may do this January, while remaining neutral with the party currently in charge, according to Yale management professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who led the meeting.
The CEOs agreed, said Sonnenfeld, that the President had a right to pursue legal action around the election. “They said if that makes people feel better, it doesn’t hurt anything to let that grind through,” he said.
But, if the President’s actions began to hurt the peaceful transition of power, the group said they may take public action collectively and privately put pressure on their Republican congresspeople to speak out.
The group is set to convene again next Friday to discuss whether further action is necessary.
Sonnenfeld did not reveal the names of the CEOs but said they were from Fortune 500 companies in various fields.
CEO lobbying group Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Manufacturers have also reportedly held video meetings this week to discuss how to move forward with the election results.
In a statement last Thursday, the National Association of Manufacturers urged that every vote be counted and that Americans have faith in their governmental institutions. The Business Roundtable released a statement acknowledging and congratulating Biden and Vice President–elect Kamala Harris in their new roles. They said that the President had the right to legally challenge any results but that “there is no indication that any of these would change the outcome.”
Still, very few CEOs and business leaders have spoken out individually. On Saturday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said that “we must respect the results of the U.S. presidential election and, as we have with every election, honor the decision of the voters and support a peaceful transition of power.”
Others who have been critical of the President, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, congratulated Biden. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who is known for his very contentious relationship with Trump, wrote that “by voting in record numbers, the American people proved again that our democracy is strong.”
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon also publicly acknowledged the results. “Congratulations to President-elect Biden and Vice President–elect Harris on their victory,” Solomon said in a statement. “We are ready to engage as they confront the important challenges of tackling the pandemic and rebuilding the economy.”
Meanwhile, Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg avoided making any decisive statements.


fortune--2020-11-13--GM recalls Chevy Bolt electric cars for battery-fire risk

General Motors is recalling about 70,000 of its Chevrolet Bolt battery-powered cars due to a fire risk, the latest in a series of safety-related automaker callbacks stemming from problems with electric-vehicle batteries.
The Detroit-based company said Friday it is recalling 68,667 2017-2019 model year Bolt hatchbacks delivered globally, including almost 51,000 sold in the U.S., with high-voltage batteries made by LG Chem that may catch fire when charged above 90%.
“We’re working around the clock together to come up with the root cause of this issue,” said Dan Flores, a GM spokesman.
The recall involves cars with South Korean-made batteries used in Bolts for its debut 2017 model year and also the 2018 model year, as well as some for 2019. The remainder and all 2020 model-year cars use batteries made in the U.S.
The voluntary action follows the launch of a U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation into the vehicle’s fire risk. It’s similar to recalls announced last month by Hyundai, Ford Motor and BMW.
GM is asking Bolt owners to take their cars to dealerships for a software upgrade that will limit recharging to 90% of full battery capacity as a short-term fix as it works to find a permanent remedy.
NHTSA issued a statement Friday urging owners of the vehicles to park outside and away from their homes as a precautionary measure. The Department of Transportation agency said it is aware of five incidents involving Bolt fires and two injuries. “At least one of the fires spread from the vehicle and ignited a home,” it said.
The U.S. is the largest market for the Bolt, followed by South Korea and Canada. It is also sold in a handful of other countries, including Mexico, Ecuador and the United Arab Emirates.


fortune--2020-11-13--1 in 5 Amazon Prime members are considering moving to Walmart+

In September Walmart debuted its $98 annual subscription service that offers unlimited same-day delivery and discounts at gas stations. The service, called Walmart+, is a direct competitor to Amazon Prime, which cost $119 per year.
Fortune and SurveyMonkey conducted a poll in July prior to the Walmart+ launch and found 27% of Americans were likely to subscribe.
But are those subscribers starting to materialize? To find out, Fortune and SurveyMonkey polled 2,098 U.S. adults between November 9 and 10.*
In the months since it launched, 3% of U.S. households have signed up for Walmart+. So it’s still far off before it can seriously threaten Amazon Prime, which has subscribers in 66% of U.S. households.
But more sign-ups are on the way. Among U.S. adults, 21% say they’re likely to subscribe to Walmart+, while 19% of Amazon Prime subscribers say they’re likely to sign-up for Walmart’s offering. That could cost Prime memberships. After-all why would someone pay for two free shipping services?
The Fortune-SurveyMonkey poll finds that the more often Americans shop in-store at Walmart, the more likely they are to sign up for Walmart+. Among U.S. adults who shop at Walmart every week, 42% have either subscribed to Walmart+ (7%) or are likely to (35%). If Walmart can continue to convert these frequent in-store shoppers into subscribers, it could grow a user base well into the tens of millions.
Walmart has poured billions into building its global e-commerce business: From its $3.3 billion purchase of Jet.com in 2016 to acquiring a stake in Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart for $16 billion in 2018. And those investments—especially in the U.S.—are starting to pay dividends. Since the start of the pandemic, 41% of U.S. adults say they’ve ordered online from Walmart. Only Amazon, at 79%, has more Americans ordering from it during the crisis.


fortune--2020-11-13--Elon Musk’s rapid COVID test tweets raise more questions than answers

Tesla’s Elon Musk could have Covid-19. He could also be a high-profile example of accuracy concerns that have emerged around a new type of rapid tests that are starting to be used more widely.
That’s the early assessment of experts who have studied the rapid antigen tests that detect a protein on the surface of SARS-CoV-2. They caution that more information is needed, including how and why the tests were performed on Musk.
The controversy arose Friday, when Musk tweeted that he had been tested four times using Becton, Dickinson and Co.’s rapid antigen test, receiving two negative results and two positive findings. Musk, who traveled to Berlin last week on his private jet, said he had been experiencing cold-like symptoms.
Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2020
“Something extremely bogus is going on,” Musk wrote. He went on to suggest without evidence in a subsequent tweet that such problems could account for the surge in virus cases that has been building in the U.S. since September.
Rapid tests have become more widely used in the fight against Covid-19, expanding access to testing because they provide results quickly and cheaply, and don’t need to be sent out to a laboratory. But the tests are also known to be less accurate than the more common, gold-standard polymerase chain reaction tests.
Musk’s contradictory test results could mean the Tesla leader is at the start or end of an infection, with a just barely detectable amount of virus in his system for the test to pick up, said Andy Pekosz, a professor of microbiology at Johns Hopkins University. Pekosz last month co-authored a study, paid for by the company, that reported Becton Dickinson’s test was very good at detecting infectious individuals, though the sample size was small.
If Musk is at the start or end of an infection, the scenario could be similar to what happened at the White House this fall, when President Donald Trump and other officials and guests fell ill with Covid-19 despite being screened with a rapid antigen test made by another manufacturer.
But it’s also possible that the assays used returned false positives for Musk, something known to occur with antigen tests. This can happen for a variety of reasons, including when they’re used in populations with low virus prevalence and when a test is improperly performed, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned earlier this month.
‘Very concerning’
“That would be the scenario of most concern,” according to Pekosz. With false positives, “one would be of concern,” he said. “To have two is very concerning.”
Becton Dickinson said in a statement it was reaching out to learn more but that it stood behind its product, noting that the scientific community agrees no diagnostic test is perfect.
“There are many factors that could lead to a discordant result, including a low viral load,” the company said in its statement. “As we clearly state in our instructions for use, negative results should be considered in the context of a patient’s specific situation and confirmed with a molecular PCR assay if necessary for patient management.”
Musk said in a tweet that he is awaiting results of a PCR test.
There are also unanswered questions about why Musk received four of the tests in one day. Because the rapid tests are still in relatively short supply, it’s unlikely that someone who is not a celebrity businessman would have received that kind of treatment. Pekosz said he imagined Musk received a positive result initially and then had other tests done to try and confirm the result.
Correctly used
It’s also unclear whether the swab was taken correctly and the sequence of the tests, said Michael Mina, a Harvard epidemiologist who has advocated for wide use of antigen tests.
“Did he get two positives and then ‘use up’ the virus in his nose but continue swabbing?” Mina said in an email. “Point is, he didn’t give enough information to know if the test results are real or how to interpret it.”
There are major differences between the performance of different antigen tests, Mina said, which is why he’s been calling on the FDA to provide ratings for them and describe the best way each should be used.
Even the best-performing antigen tests will return false positives, according to Mina. One way to combat that, he said, is to sell antigen tests in a pack that also includes a few highly reliable rapid tests from another company, which can be used to double-check results.


fortune--2020-11-13--The biggest errors the Trump administration made in response to COVID

New research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health details the U.S. government’s egregious mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, identifies a powerful predictor of COVID-19 deaths, and suggests responses that could still alleviate the pandemic’s damage.
The study’s damning conclusion: “The evidence suggests that ineffective national policies and responses, especially as compared to those of other wealthy nations or compared to the intricate preparation and planning by previous administrations of both parties, have been driving the terrible toll of COVID-19 and its inequities in the U.S.”
The costliest errors were committed in the pandemic’s earliest stages, the study finds. The Trump administration’s initial U.S. travel ban on Jan. 31 applied only to non-U.S. travelers and only to travelers coming from China, though the virus was “already known to be present in Italy, Iran, Spain, Germany, Finland, and the United Kingdom.” No symptom screening on arrival was required, nor was quarantining. Later research “found repeatedly” that “the great majority” of the virus introductions to the U.S. came not from China but from European strains.
The U.S. imposed restrictions on travel from Europe in mid-March, but by then it was too late. The virus had already spread so widely in the U.S. that when it arrived in a new state or region, it most likely came from elsewhere in the country. “This shows that any action to prevent introductions would need to be at the national level,” the study finds, “and while the window for effective action was brief, it was missed.”
Several other countries handled the pandemic far more effectively. For example, Australia closed its borders to all non-Australian citizens on March 15, when only 300 cases had been reported, and mandated “14-day, supervised quarantine in a hotel for all international arrivals (including Australian citizens)” plus “aggressive testing and contact tracing.” As of Nov. 12, Australia had recorded 36 COVID-19 deaths per million vs. 773 COVID-19 deaths per million in the U.S., says the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. “This is the difference between establishing effective national border policies and failing to do so,” the researchers say.
Those blunders can’t be corrected, but others can be. The study identifies three workplace policy mistakes that could still be remedied at any time.
Failure to use federal authority and budget to supply PPE. Eight months into the pandemic, over 80% of U.S. nurses report they are still reusing at least one type of single-use PPE, says a recent survey by National Nurses United, the country’s largest registered nurses’ labor union. From the pandemic’s beginning, the Harvard study finds, “supplying PPE was delegated to a variety of actors: state and city governments, large hospital chains, and in some cases small networks of clinics.” Washington could have used its spending power and its authority under the Defense Production Act to secure adequate supplies, if not immediately, then certainly by now.
Failure to require “mandatory universal paid sick leave for those unable to work due to COVID-19.” The Families First Coronavirus Response Act provides for some COVID-related leave, including family and medical leave, but it does not cover most federal employees or apply to employers with more than 500 employees.
Failure to mandate “standards for occupational exposures.” Such standards turn out to be extremely important: The researchers discovered that the volume of worker complaints to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration raising concerns about workplace conditions and exposure to COVID-19 are an excellent predictor of COVID-19 deaths 16 days later. Several states, but not all, have mandated such standards. For example, in July, Virginia issued rules on distancing, face coverings, cleaning, and other factors affecting employee exposure to the virus.
Though the study is discouraging, the researchers find reason for hope: “Despite the understandable dismay at the state of the pandemic in the United States, it is not too late to make a difference, and that difference starts with the implementation of apt policies.”


fortune--2020-11-13--Why business shouldn’t want a divided government under Biden

Search the terms “divided,” “government,” and “business,” and headline after headline will appear, proclaiming that divided (read: dysfunctional) government is an ideal situation for the business community.
While the final tally and balance remain unknown, it’s clear Republicans will hold significant sway in the next Congress. With that reality, and Joe Biden as the next President, the commonly held view is that business and finance leaders are breathing a sigh of relief. They don’t have to worry about a wave of progressive reforms around antitrust or taxes with a divided government. Gridlock is something to be celebrated.
But this is the opposite of what I’ve been hearing from an increasingly loud chorus of business leaders and investors. These leaders have been sounding the alarm about our big societal issues while calling for a more inclusive, sustainable form of capitalism. Instead of embracing stasis, it’s time to have a meaningful conversation about what a healthy, steady relationship between business and government can look like in a Biden administration.
At JUST Capital, we’ve found that the majority of Americans across demographics want stakeholder capitalism to replace shareholder primacy. They want companies to consider value creation for workers, customers, communities, and the environment in addition to shareholders. Americans do not want business to pursue short-term profits above all else.
In the roughly 50-year reign of shareholder primacy, a combative nature between business and government has developed. Let’s imagine instead a productive collaboration where businesses, government, and civil society take on the country’s biggest challenges.
The “what” is quite clear—Americans want leadership, including from business leaders. JUST Capital and our partners at the Harris Poll have found that people want the same things from business regardless of ideology—a good job, leaders with integrity, and fair wages. We’ve also found that 83% of Americans believe that a healthy democracy and healthy market go hand-in-hand. That means creating a system that functions.
So where do we begin? We start with transparency. There has been real movement in the past several years on increasing disclosure and transparency around companies’ commitment to their stakeholders, such as their greenhouse gas emissions, human capital investment, and supply chain policies. By taking such actions, businesses make clear how their operations are influenced by their stakeholders and how their business outcomes are tied to social ones.
There are already some Democrat-sponsored bills on related topics, but even if those go nowhere, there is a strong likelihood that some will come to light under a Biden administration. Instead of reflexively pushing back, corporations should voluntarily embrace transparency now.
Rethinking disclosure can reduce some of the long-standing distrust between government and business. Rather than viewing disclosure as a punishment, corporations would benefit from altering their climate and labor policies based on corporate disclosure data. And they could engage in broader policy conversations underway on related topics, including how to better align incentives with stakeholder policies. This level of cooperation would allow both sides to create a stronger, more resilient economy coming out of the pandemic.
Simultaneously, one-sided government intervention can stifle innovation. We’ve seen this recently with the U.S. Labor Department, for example, which introduced a policy that would keep environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing out of employer-sponsored retirement plans, despite significant pushback from the country’s leading investment firms. When the heat is lowered on the adversarial relationship between government and business, government can recognize advancements the markets embrace, like the more than $1 trillion in assets under management in ESG funds.
The next four years will be monumental for reasons both political and economic. Americans are extremely polarized. The economy is inequitable and leading to more unrest and hardship for millions. And the climate crisis is getting worse.
As we enter a new chapter as a country, it’s time for business to adopt a fundamentally new approach to working with government—not one where gridlock is celebrated, but where business leaders are allies in solving social problems and rebuilding the economy.
Alison Omens is chief strategy officer at JUST Capital.


fortune--2020-11-13--SpaceX, NASA plan second commercial taxi to the space station this weekend

The International Space Station is about to get more crowded.
NASA will launch four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule this weekend in the company’s first regular crew rotation to the orbiting lab. The trip, three months after SpaceX completed a high-profile trial run, will open a new era in human spaceflight for NASA as commercial firms start dominating U.S. missions in low-earth orbit.
“I hope people realize this isn’t just another launch — this is something a lot bigger,” Michael Hopkins, commander of the Crew-1 mission scheduled for Saturday, said in a NASA post on Tumblr. “Hopefully it’s setting the stage, one of those first steps to getting us to the Moon and on to Mars.”
For Space Exploration Technologies and founder Elon Musk, the flight caps almost two decades of efforts to fly people as well as cargo. The Dragon and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket won NASA approval for regular crewed missions this week, making them the first vehicles the U.S. has certified to carry humans since the Space Shuttle, which was retired in 2011.
The Crew-1 launch is scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 7:49 p.m. on Saturday, with docking at the station planned eight and a half hours later. If that attempt is scrapped, a backup launch would be set for 7:27 p.m. on Sunday with docking 27 hours later due to orbital mechanics.
Beyond becoming the U.S. space agency’s first regular commercial launch, the Crew-1 mission is also the first NASA-staffed mission licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration. The regulator is assuming responsibility for public safety because the flight will be conducted by a commercial company.
NASA on Friday was checking on Musk’s recent contacts with agency personnel after he tweeted late Thursday that he might be infected with the new coronavirus. His health isn’t likely to affect the launch, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a news conference. Astronauts self-quarantine for two weeks before liftoff.
Hopkins, 51, an Air Force colonel and test pilot, will make his second sojourn to the space station, seven years after his first. He will be joined by three others on the mission:
Shannon Walker, 55, a physicist and Houston native, will serve her second stint on the orbiting lab.
Victor Glover, 44, a Navy pilot from California, will be taking his first flight to space. He will be the first Black astronaut to stay on the space station for a full six-month rotation, according to NASA.
Soichi Noguchi, 55, a Japanese astronaut and aeronautical engineer, has the most space experience among the crew and will become one of the very few people to leave the Earth on three vehicles: Russia’s Soyuz, the retired NASA Space Shuttle and the SpaceX Dragon.
The four astronauts will push the space station to maximum occupancy when they join the three people already there. That will require changes in how mission controllers schedule the daily exercise regimen for each crew member. There will also be a squeeze on personal quarters where the astronauts sleep and have time to themselves.
The space station currently has a half-dozen crew berths, and NASA is completing work on a seventh. In the meantime, Hopkins will sleep aboard the Dragon capsule.
If that doesn’t work out, a crew member could “camp out” in one of the space station’s modules, David Wiedmeyer, a training officer at Johnson Space Center, wrote Nov. 12 in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session about the mission.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration began its commercial crew program in 2010 to field a replacement for the shuttle. NASA selected SpaceX and Boeing Co. in September 2014. Boeing, which suffered delays in its work following a botched December 2019 test flight, plans a second trial without crew in the first quarter of next year.
SpaceX completed its test-flight program Aug. 2 when astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley returned from a two-month stay aboard the station.
Since then, the company has bolstered parts of the Dragon’s heat shield, made adjustments so that the landing parachutes deploy at a slightly higher altitude and reinforced some areas of the capsule so it can withstand rougher seas.
Three months ago, when Behnken and Hurley splashed down south of Pensacola, Florida, recreational boaters approached the spacecraft. When the crew of the latest mission returns in the spring of 2021, NASA has already announced one major change for the landing site: A larger flotilla of Coast Guard ships to keep pleasure craft away.