🚨 Pub day for THE MAN WHO BROKE CAPITALISM 🚨
It's about how Jack Welch, the legendary CEO of GE, screwed up our economy, and what we can do to fix it.
Order here:
🚨EXCLUSIVE: Yvon Chouinard, who founded the outdoor apparel maker Patagonia and became a reluctant billionaire with his unconventional spin on capitalism, has given away the company. All Patagonia’s profits will now be used to fight climate change.🧵
My mom has been really sick and hasn’t seen her grandchildren in over a year. On Wednesday my daughter and I flew to surprise her for her 75th birthday . . . sound on.
“Hopefully this will influence a new form of capitalism that doesn’t end up with a few rich people and a bunch of poor people,” Yvon told me. “We are going to give away the maximum amount of money to people who are actively working on saving this planet.”
In a move with no precedent in the business world, Chouinard, along with his family, have forfeited all their shares in Patagonia, a company valued at about $3 billion, renouncing their status as one of the wealthiest families in the US.
🌎🔥 Today I asked World Bank president
@DavidMalpassWBG
if he believed in the scientific consensus that the man made burning of fossil fuels is rapidly and dangerously warming the planet.
“I’m not a scientist,” he said.
Here’s a thread about the remarkable exchange. 🧵 1/
Details of the years-long process, interviews with the board, other executives and more in the exclusive inside story of how Yvon Chouinard decided to give away the store.
Malpass went on to talk about the Bank’s climate work.
But if anyone was looking for the president of the World Bank to acknowledge the scientific consensus on climate change, keep looking. END/
Then this morning at our
@nytclimate
event, former VP
@algore
said of Malpass:
“We need to get a new head of the World Bank. This is ridiculous to have a climate denier as the head of the World Bank.” 3/
I wrote the first real profile of Robert Smith back in 2014. He was barely known then, but with today's announcement that he's paying off the student debt for this year's Morehouse class, he's getting harder and harder to ignore.
NEW: Pilots facing a malfunctioning MCAS system on a 737 Max would have had less than a minute to intervene before the plane was unrecoverable. Terrifying new details w
@jacknicas
and
@jamesglanz
The context: Under Malpass, who was appointed by Trump, the World Bank has come under intense criticism - from the UN, Biden admin, experts - for failing to act urgently enough on climate.
For example, the Bank is still funding fossil fuel projects. 2/
MacKenzie Scott is giving away money faster than anyone, and she still keeps getting richer. She just announced another $2.7 billion in grants. w
@nkulish
I tried again.
“Let me just be as clear as I can,” I said. “Do you accept the scientific consensus that the man-made burning of fossil fuels is rapidly and dangerously warming the planet?”
By this point the mood was tense and the crowd was chirping… 5/
He tried filibustering again.
“Will you answer the question?” I said.
“We have a mission of a World Bank that's powerful, Malpass said.
“Will you answer the question?” I said.
By this point the crowd was jeering and some people were calling out “Answer tue question!” 6/
🚨 SCOOP: California just sued Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips and the API over climate change.
BIG lawsuit seeking multi billion $$$ damages that is likely to bring other states off the sidelines.
My mom has been really sick and hasn’t seen her grandchildren in over a year. On Wednesday my daughter and I flew to surprise her for her 75th birthday . . . sound on.
Finally Malpass said: “I don't even know - I'm not a scientist and that is not a question so - Al Gore can put, I don't know why it stays on the stage. What we need to do is move forward with impactful projects.” 7/
I said as much and offered Malpass the opportunity to respond to Gore.
He filibustered for a few minutes, talking about the Bank’s climate work.
Then I asked him again to directly respond to Gore and answer my question.
“So very odd,” Malpass said. “I've never met him.” 4/
HUGE NEWS: A Boeing pilot working on the 737 Max said in messages from 2016 that a new automated system was making the plane difficult to control in flight simulators, more than two years before it was grounded following two deadly crashes. w
@Nataliekitro
NEW: Republican treasurers are working with dark money conservative groups to promote fossil fuels and slow efforts to combat climate change.
I reviewed +10,000 pages of emails and documents that revealed their tactics, and ties to the oil industry.
WE STAND FOR DEMOCRACY -- 100s of companies and exec sign this letter opposing "any discriminatory legislation." Ad appeared in the NYT and
@washingtonpost
today. w /
@andrewrsorkin
🚨 PERSONAL NEWS: Thrilled to announce that I’m taking on a new role at the New York Times covering climate change, and specifically the nexus between government and the private sector. It’s the biggest story in the world. 🌎
🌎 NEW: The Montana Constitution guarantees residents "a clean and healthful environment."
So 16 youth have sued the state, arguing its support for fossil fuels is unconstitutional. A trial is set for June.
I spoke with
@rcbregman
, whose remarks at Davos went viral last year. His verdict:
“They want to hear about how individuals can change their lives, rather than how structural reform can affect inequality or climate change.”
Trump is still contesting the election results, but the world - including corporate America - is moving on. Boeing, CVS, McDonald's and more all recognize President-elect Biden and believe the election was free and fair. w/
@shearm
@SangerNYT
@MarkLandler
🚨NEW: A Boeing whistleblower steps forward. Ed Pierson was a senior manager at the 737 Max factory in 2018, when the two planes that crashed were built, and describes chaos, fatigue, mistakes and pressure. He will testify before Congress on Weds.
NEW: Amazon, Buffett and 100s more unite in the biggest show of solidarity to date, as the business community rallies against Republican efforts to pass restrictive new voting laws. w
@andrewrsorkin
In 2014, GoPro founder Nicholas Woodman donated $500 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Four years on, there is almost no trace of the Woodman Foundation, or that $500 million.
Ken Griffin's $238 million apartment sale isn't just the priciest ever American home sale. It's a parable of our times.
@kitastew
and I get into it here. 1/
NEW: Weeks after the Lion Air crash, pilots from American Airlines pressed Boeing executives to take an emergency measure that would have likely resulted in the grounding of the Max. The Boeing executives resisted. w/
@Nataliekitro
-
🔥🌎 NEW: Opposing offshore wind. Promoting coal. Crafting so-called 'energy boycott' laws. The Texas Public Policy Foundation, which has received $$ from Big Oil and the Koch network, is a potent force obstructing the national transition to clean energy.
Coca-Cola CEO comes out against GA law, 6 days after its passage.
“I want to be crystal clear,” says James Quincey. “The Coca-Cola Company does not support this legislation, as it makes it harder for people to vote, not easier.”
Scoop: Merck CEO Ken Frazier breaks his silence after quitting Trump's business advisory council last year. “As a matter of my own personal conscience, I could not remain.”
#NYTcorneroffice
A Walmart employee earning the company’s median salary of $19,177 would have to work for more than a thousand years to earn the $22.2 million that Doug McMillon, the company’s chief executive, was awarded in 2017.
SCOOP: Elon Musk opens up in an emotional hour-long interview. “This past year has been the most difficult and painful year of my career,” he tells us, going on to discuss his efforts to take Tesla private and the meaning of $420.
🚨 David Malpass, the embattled president of the World Bank, is stepping down a year early. The move comes 6 months after he declined to say whether he accepted the science of climate change during a live interview with me.
Story here. Will be updating.
NEW: The Oregon county that includes Portland just filed a lawsuit against Exxon, Chevron and other fossil fuel companies for $1.5 billion over the 2021 Heat Dome.
NEW INVESTIGATION: Boeing's 787 factory in Charleston is plagued by haphazard production, weak oversight and worker claims of retaliation. Major new deep dive with
@nataliekitro
“We are all frustrated with these companies that claim that they are standing with the Black community around racial justice and racial equality,” said
@MsLaToshaBrown
. “This shows that they lack a real commitment to racial equity."
NEWS: Last month a Times investigation detailed shoddy production and weak oversight at Boeing's 787 Dreamliner factory in North Charleston, S.C. Today Boeing announced the head of the factory was leaving the company.
🌎NEW: I've been reporting on this story for six months and it just pubbed.
It's about a massive climate lawsuit in Puerto Rico, how fossil fuel companies deceived the public, and the TikTok lawyer who talks to God at the center of it all.
Gift link:
Big business struck a Faustian bargain with President Trump.
Condemn his most flagrant offenses, but show up for the photo op when he was cutting taxes.
Now, the reckoning.
I love the
@nytimes
. Wanted to work here since I was a kid. But this is getting old.
The company is pressuring us to return to the office while
@NYTimesGuild
STILL doesn’t have new contract. Well past time for management to fairly negotiate on wages + RTO and get this done.
My first Climate Forwards newsletter just dropped.
It's about my flooded home, the terrifying reality of climate change and the incredible opportunity we have to remake the world.
Please read, share and subscribe.
One year ago, a Boeing 737 Max crashed in Ethiopia.
Today, the families of the 157 victims press on in memory of their loved ones.
A story about those lost and those still here.
JUST NOW: Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun emailed senior leaders at the company for remarks he made our interview from yesterday.
“I am both embarrassed and regretful about the article."
🚨🌎🔥NEW: The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is a HUGE deal for the climate space.
#SVB
was a major holder of climate tech deposits and a ginormous lender to community solar. 🧵
EXCLUSIVE: The inside story of how MCAS — the system that brought down the 737 Max — was created. Major new revelations below, including that MCAS originally relied on two sensors, and was initially in the pilots training manual. We are naming names.
Corner Office is coming back!
I'll be interviewing CEOs about leadership, values and personal histories for the
@nytimes
, and bringing YOU into the conversation. Read more:
And a big big thx to
@AdamBBryant
, who had the vision.
#NYTcorneroffice
NEW: Insiders at companies rushing to make vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 have walked away with more than $1 billion after well timed stock sales.
At Vaxart, the story is particularly crazy... THREAD
w
@JesseDrucker
@everywhereist
So
@everywhereist
, we don't know each other, but I need you to know that this is my 9 year old daughter's single favorite piece of writing. I just left for a reporting trip and she asked me to read it to her before I went to the airport.
"A brand strong enough to compete with Levi’s and Miller and Kraft and all of these other brands that have been around for hundreds of years. That’s what I want the Snoop Dogg brand to be."
"Let me tell you a story I’ve never shared publicly before..." Our publisher, AG Sulzberger, writes in powerful, personal and deeply troubling detail about the grave state of press freedom today. Please read.
When I started reporting this story, folks in Bristol were cautiously optimistic. The big factory was up and running and most thought they would pull through ok. In a matter of days, the outlook worsened.
This is the story of one town in New Hampshire.
@Nataliekitro
The pilot, Mark Forkner, complained that the system, known as MCAS, was causing him trouble. “It’s running rampant in the sim,” he said in a message to a colleague, referring to the simulator. (WE HAVE THE MESSAGES)
🌎 Personal news!
Very very excited to be taking over the Climate Forward newsletter from the great
@SominiSengupta
!
I’ll also take a bigger role in programming and hosting our live climate events, and will continue to write for the main report.
Some companies are hiring, but the process has changed.
“They get to keep the pen that they filled out their application with. We don’t want it back.”
A labor market transforming by the day, w
@mcorkery5
Ok, well, this is disturbing. You know those cotton totes we have all been accumulating because they are better for the environment? Maybe not so much actually -
EXCLUSIVE: As Boeing works to get the 737 Max plane back in the air after two deadly crashes, new safety issues have emerged that go beyond faulty software. w
@Nataliekitro
As companies rushed to support
#BlackLivesMatter
, their words often rang hollow.
Bottom line: big business has exacerbated inequality, targeted minorities, and failed to hire, promote and fairly compensate black men and women.
My Sunday Biz cover. 1/
Some notable omissions on the new big business voting statement. Not on the list: the big Atlanta companies including Delta, Coca-Cola, Home Depot and UPS. Also absent: JPMorgan, Nike and Walmart. w
@andrewrsorkin
NEW: How the 737 Max came to be... In 2011, American Airlines almost went with Airbus. Boeing scrambled to respond. Frenetic work at the factory... a Sunday read with
@Nataliekitro
@jacknicas
@RebeccaRuiz
It’s never been cheaper or easier to produce electricity from the sun.
But the solar supply chain is still lousy with materials produced with forced labor and totally dominated by China, an authoritarian regime engaged in a trade war with the U.S.
"I just don’t understand ...how they can create these systems without Black people up top, while Black people are the ones generating the most money from these systems through the music."
@SnoopDogg
on streaming economics.
@Nataliekitro
“Granted, I suck at flying, but even this was egregious,” he went on to say, according to a transcript of the exchange reviewed by The New York Times. (THIS FROM THE 737 MAX CHIEF TECHNICAL PILOT!!!)
🚨NEW: The story of how one chemicals factory in North Carolina contaminated a community for decades. And how DuPont and Chemours, the companies behind the mess, got away with it. FOLLOW ALONG. w/
@emilysteel
This issue is DEEPLY personal for Ken, the grandson of a man born into slavery, who early in his career won acquittal for a Black man on death row, and taught law in Apartheid South Africa.
Wife, in kitchen, fretting about the day’s schedule.
6 year old boy, seemingly in his own world with cereal, chimes in: “Everybody’s a slave to routine.”
🚨MY NEW BOOK IS COMING MAY 31🚨
THE MAN WHO BROKE CAPITALISM
It's about Jack Welch, his disastrous legacy, the noxious rise of shareholder primacy, and how to fix it.
Pre-order now!
AMZ:
Bookshop:
S&S:
YOUR BOSS WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOU NOW. CEOs are eager to get workers back in the office, but terrified of upsetting their employees. I spoke with the CEOs of Google, PwC, IBM + more about the future of work, and what they miss about the office (whiteboards).
One wanted to “elevate the world’s consciousness.”
Another aspired to “make a bigger difference around the world.”
A third said, “We owe it to our children to find the right answers.”
Ultimately, their idealism counted for little.
NEW: It can be hard to grasp during what seems like an apocalyptic summer, but renewables are rapidly displacing fossil fuels around the globe.
Part one of our huge package on the energy transition. 🌍
“These are not political issues,” says Ken Frazier, CEO of Merck and the first to step down from Trump's biz councils after Charlottesville. “These are the issues that we were taught in civics.” w
@andrewrsorkin
NEW INVESTIGATION: The inside story of how the F.A.A.'s flawed regulatory process gave Boeing significant oversight authority, compromising the safety of the 737 Max. With
@Nataliekitro
+
@jacknicas