Connect with us

Published

on

A new “anti-woke” investment fund is eyeing an activist raid on Starbucks — with executives reportedly set to unveil their blueprint for taking on the java giant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Thursday.

The fledgling startup’s fund, named the Azoria Meritocracy ETF, will invest in companies in the S&P 500 with the exception of a few dozen that its managers conclude employ quantitative commitments to diversity when recruiting employees, its CEO James Fishback said in an interview.

Fishback and his Azoria Partners co-founder Asaf Abramovich have drummed up a list of some three dozen companies it will blacklist over their alleged “wokery.”

The Financial Times reported on Thursday that one of Azoria’s targets is Starbucks.

Starbucks has denied that it has “targets or quotas at any stage of the hiring process,” according to the FT.

The company told the FT that a supposed goal to reach racial and ethnic diversity of at least 30% among its staff was merely an aspiration.

Starbucks shares were down less than 1% Thursday, at just under $100.

Fishback, who previously worked for David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital as a trader until an acrimonious split in the summer of 2023, aims to raise $1 billion by the end of 2025.

Americans, whether they voted for President Trump or not, do not want to invest in companies running woke science experiments, Fishback told the Financial Times.

“We are representing shareholders here, and human capital hiring quotas that hurts all shareholders,” he added. Cut that crap out. Hire the best and brightest. Dont apologize for it, make money, give it to shareholders, and do the right thing.

The incoming Trump administration has vowed to crack down on the controversial DEI initiatives across the entire federal government and some companies fear that they too could be targeted.

The event at the president-elect’s private members resort will feature speeches from Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, a prominent right-wing think tank, and Cathie Wood, founder of Ark Investment Management.

Starbucks stock has spiked roughly 20% since August after the company appointed ex-Chipotle boss Brian Nicol as its new CEO to turn around the floundering business.

Elliott Management, the activist fund owned by Wall Street titan Paul Singer, built a stake in the coffee giant that eventually led to the ouster of ex-chief executive Laxman Narasimhan.

Self-styled woke capitalists have irked Republicans and their allies on Wall Street in recent years, with former presidential candidates Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy taking aim at so-called ESG policies.

Environmental, social and governance strategies focus on elements such as racial justice and climate change, but conservatives say they harm investments made by ordinary Americans.

Two industry analysts who declined to be named were skeptical of whether it is possible to demonstrate a correlation between any underperformance and a company’s recruiting policies.

Others questioned whether the ETF would gain traction and said ESG-focused funds may not be out of favor.

“Investors may turn further to ESG ETFs because they believe the government will not fully support their personal objectives,” said Todd Rosenbluth, head of ETF research at VettaFi.

He declined to comment on the Azoria ETF.

Bryan Armour, ETF analyst at Morningstar, said a small ETF may struggle to exert leverage on corporate America.

“It will be really hard to gain power and influence,” Armour said.

Continue Reading

Politics

Banking Committee chair sets September goal for market structure bill

Published

on

By

Banking Committee chair sets September goal for market structure bill

Banking Committee chair sets September goal for market structure bill

After passing the GENIUS stablecoin bill, Republican leadership on the Senate Banking Committee has turned its sights to digital asset market structure.

Continue Reading

Environment

Podcast: Xiaomi shocks with YU7, Tesla Robotaxi launch, Rivian brings back tank mode, and more

Published

on

By

Podcast: Xiaomi shocks with YU7, Tesla Robotaxi launch, Rivian brings back tank mode, and more

In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Xiaomi shocking the industry with YU7, Tesla’s Robotaxi launch, Rivian bringing back tank mode, and more.

The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.

Today, the episode is live at 12:15 a.m instead due to Fred’s travels in China and Seth’s in.

As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.

Advertisement – scroll for more content

After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:

We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.

Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:

Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 12:15 a.m. ET (or the video after 1 a.m. ET):

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

World

Japan executes ‘Twitter killer’ who murdered and dismembered nine people

Published

on

By

Japan executes 'Twitter killer' who murdered and dismembered nine people

A man guilty of murdering nine people, most of whom had posted suicidal thoughts on social media, has been executed in Japan.

Takahiro Shiraishi, known as the “Twitter killer”, was sentenced to death in 2020 for the 2017 killings of the nine victims, who he also dismembered in his apartment near Tokyo.

His execution was the first use of capital punishment in the country in nearly three years and it was carried out as calls grow to abolish the measure in Japan since the acquittal of the world’s longest-serving death-row inmate Iwao Hakamada last year.

He was freed after 56 years on death row, following a retrial which heard police had falsified and planted evidence against him over the 1966 murders of his boss, wife and two children.

Eight of Shiraishi’s victims were women, including teenagers, who he killed after raping them. He also killed a boyfriend of one of the women to silence him.

Follow The World
Follow The World

Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday

Tap to follow

Police arrested him in 2017 after finding the bodies of eight females and one male in cold-storage cases in his apartment.

Investigators said Shiraishi approached the victims via Twitter, offering to assist them with their suicidal wishes.

More on Japan

Read more from Sky News:
Vietnam veteran executed after almost 50 years on death row
‘Great progress’ made in Gaza ceasefire talks, says Trump

Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, who authorised Shiraishi’s hanging, said he made the decision after careful examination, taking into account the convict’s “extremely selfish” motive for crimes that “caused great shock and unrest to society”.

“It is not appropriate to abolish the death penalty while these violent crimes are still being committed,” Mr Suzuki said.

There are currently 105 death row inmates in Japan, he added.

Continue Reading

Trending