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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.

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Ohtani’s blast caps 6-run 9th in wild Dodgers rally

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Ohtani's blast caps 6-run 9th in wild Dodgers rally

PHOENIX — Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer to cap a six-run ninth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for a wild 14-11 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.

The Dodgers trailed 11-8 entering the ninth inning after blowing an early five-run lead.

Andy Pages and Enrique Hernandez hit consecutive run-scoring doubles to open the ninth inning against Kevin Ginkel (0-1). Max Muncy tied it at 11-11 with a run-scoring single and Ryan Thompson replaced Ginkel to face Ohtani.

It didn’t go well for Arizona.

Ohtani, who doubled twice, fell into a 1-2 hole before launching his 12th homer near the pool deck in right to put the Dodgers up 14-11. He finished with four RBIs.

Tanner Scott worked a perfect ninth save in 11 chances.

The Dodgers roughed up Eduardo Rodriguez to take an 8-3 lead through three innings, but couldn’t hold it.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a tying grand slam in the fifth inning, then Ketel Marte and Randal Grichuk hit solo shots off Alex Vesia (1-0) in the eighth to put Arizona up 11-8.

Pages finished with three RBIs and Hernández extended the Dodgers’ homer streak to 13 straight games with a solo shot in the second inning.

Marte homered twice for the Diamondbacks. Rodriguez allowed eight runs on nine hits in 2⅔ innings.

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Marchand’s OT score cuts Panthers’ deficit to 2-1

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Marchand's OT score cuts Panthers' deficit to 2-1

SUNRISE, Fla. — Brad Marchand scored on a deflected shot at 15:27 of overtime and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Friday night to cut their deficit in the Eastern Conference semifinal series to 2-1.

Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe and Jonah Gadjovich scored for Florida, which got 27 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Evan Rodrigues had two assists for the Panthers. They 13-2 in their last 15 playoff overtime games.

John Tavares scored twice, and Matthew Knies and Morgan Rielly also scored for the Maple Leafs. Joseph Woll stopped 32 shots.

Game 4 will be in Sunrise on Sunday night.

Florida erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-1, and that’s been almost impossible to do against Toronto this season.

By the numbers, it was all looking good for the Maple Leafs.

  • They were 30-3-0 when leading after the first period, including playoffs, the second-best record in the league.

  • They were 38-8-2, the league’s third-best record when scoring first.

  • They had blown only 11 leads all season, none in the playoffs.

  • They were 44-3-1 in games where they led by two goals or more.

Combine all that with Toronto having won all 11 of its previous best-of-seven series when taking a 2-0 lead at home, Florida being 0-5 in series where it dropped both Games 1 and 2, and leaguewide, teams facing 0-2 deficits come back to win those series only about 14% of the time.

But Marchand — a longtime Toronto playoff nemesis from his days in Boston — got the biggest goal of Florida’s season, rendering all those numbers moot for now.

The Leafs got two goals that deflected in off of Panthers defensemen: Tavares’ second goal nicked the glove of Gustav Forsling on its way past Bobrovsky for a 3-1 lead, and Rielly’s goal redirected off Seth Jones’ leg to tie it with 9:04 left in the third.

Knies scored 23 seconds into the game, the second time Toronto had a 1-0 lead in the first minute of this series. Tavares made it 2-0 at 5:57 and just like that, the Panthers were in trouble.

A diving Barkov threw the puck at the night and saw it carom in off a Toronto stick to get Florida on the board — only for Tavares to score again early in the second for a 3-1 Leafs lead.

Florida needed a break. It came.

Reinhart was credited with a goal after Woll thought he covered up the puck following a scrum in front of the net. But after review, it was determined the puck had crossed the line. Florida had life, the building was loud again and about a minute later, Verhaeghe tied it at 3-3.

Gadjovich made it 4-3 late in the second, before Rielly tied it midway through the third.

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Vegas’ Roy dodges suspension for G2 cross-check

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Vegas' Roy dodges suspension for G2 cross-check

NEW YORK — Vegas Golden Knights forward Nicolas Roy was fined but not suspended Friday for cross-checking the Edmonton OilersTrent Frederic in the face in overtime of Game 2 of the teams’ second-round playoff series.

The NHL Department of Player Safety announced the fine of $7,813, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement, after a disciplinary hearing with him.

Roy attempted to play the puck while it was airborne but made contact with Frederic’s head instead, resulting in a laceration for the Oilers forward.

Frederic briefly exited the game before making a quick return to the ice. Edmonton, however, failed to capitalize on the ensuing five-minute power play but won not long after on a goal by Leon Draisaitl from Connor McDavid.

Vegas trails the best-of-seven series 2-0 with Game 3 on Saturday night at Edmonton.

Information from The Associated Press and Field Level Media was used in this report.

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