BLAME GAME: Microsoft carbon fails, Booking.com hack, Amazon + OpenAI love, Sheriff and Feeler

What this episode covers

DAMION Booking.com warns customers of hack that exposed their data: WHO DO YOU BLAME? CEO Glenn D. Fogel (2017-); no background in tech Cybersecurity Subcommittee (Chair) Larry Quinlan MM Global Chief Information Officer (2010 - 2021) Deloitte; but what was 2021 like Covid and masks? DEI hire Cybersecurity Subcommittee member Nicholas J. Read (2018-): Technology not listed as qualification. Cybersecurity Subcommittee member Vanessa Wittman: most recently (until 2022) CFO at Glossier, an online beauty product company; director at AIG but does not serve on Technology Committee Woke coffee chain slammed by liberal California customers for removing pride flags from cafes: 'Bound to backfire' Philz CEO Mahesh Sadarangani: “Our longstanding support of the LGBTQIA+ community is unchanged. We are working toward creating a more consistent, inclusive experience across all our stores, including removing a variety of flags and other decor. This is a change in how our stores look, not in who we are.” In 2025, the company drew headlines when private equity firm Freeman Spogli & Co. acquired it for $145M. One customer said: 'Yeah their coffee sucks but this banning pride flags will not go over well - boycott incoming - maybe they need to look up what happened to Target.' Founded in 2003 in San Francisco's Mission District by Phil Jaber and his son Jacob WHO DO YOU BLAME? CEO Mahesh Sadarangani How I Philz: Ether straight up. Came from Wingstop, which just inherently feels homophobic. I mean it sells the wings of birds. That doesn’t feel right. Freeman Spogli & Co. Team: 31: 5F And 6 Industry Executives: 0F Partners 10: 1F Last filing from 1/2025 lists 10 executive officers: 0F founded by Richard Riordan, Bradford M. Freeman, and Ronald P. Spogli OG greenwashy: first page is all women Phil Jaber and his son Jacob I’m trying here, people The San Francisco Bay, where the vast majority of Philz cafes are located: a notoriously homophobic region Anthropic's Claude for Word is another challenge to Microsoft's software empire Chevron and Microsoft Team Up for Giant Texas Gas Power Plant OpenAI rips Anthropic, distances itself from Microsoft WHO DO YOU BLAME? Satya Nadella Reid Hoffman: Epstein Island said what? Charles Scharf (2014-): in 2020: "The unfortunate reality is that there is a very limited pool of Black talent to recruit from." Charles Scharf again: in 2025: settled a lawsuit for $85m after whistleblowers revealed that Wells Fargo managers were reportedly conducting "fake" interviews with minority and female candidates for positions that had already been filled or promised to someone else to "check a box" and meet internal diversity guidelines. Charles Scharf and Reid Hoffman as a duo: Scharf publicly called for the firing of Lina Khan, the Chair of the FTC. He characterized her regulatory approach as a "trauma" to the economy. Hoffman said Kahn was “waging war on American business” Hugh Johnston: does it get any more pointless than Disney and Pepsi? (CFO at those places) Teri List: the boring company queen: (since 2014; The Gap/Dick’s/Kraft/Procter&Gamble/Visa/Danaher) Catherine MacGregor: she’s a woman and she’s French! Lead Independent Director Sandra E. Peterson (2015-): fake LD Penny Pritzker: nepobaby Dame Emma Walmsley: she’s a woman, and a Dame, and not American and has a degree in Classics!! Mark Mason: he’s black! Trump’s SEC Is Going After Fewer Wall Street Crimes The agency released long-delayed data that confirmed a steep drop in enforcement. That contradicts statements that the SEC’s head, Paul Atkins, made to Congress in February, disputing reports that suggested his agency was prosecuting fewer crimes, and assuring lawmakers that SEC enforcement work had not seen a steep decline. In its release of case numbers this week, the agency framed its enforcement drop as an effort to focus more on cases where investors saw direct harm and to better use agency resources: “Regrettably, such resources have been misapplied in prior years to pursue media headlines and run up numbers, and in turn, led to misguided expectations on what constitutes effective enforcement.” 784 in 2023 … 456 in 2025. WHO DO YOU BLAME? Trump, duh Paul Atkins, duh SEC re-tread: served as an SEC Commissioner from 2002 to 2008 under George W. Bush Private Sector Influence: founded Patomak Global Partners om 2009, a powerful consulting firm that advised major financial institutions (like Goldman Sachs) and crypto giants (like FTX and Coinbase) on how to navigate the very regulations he now oversees. the wealthiest SEC Chair in history: $330M net worth Upon being confirmed as Chair in 2025, Atkins sold his stake in Patomak Global Partners but refused to disclose the identity of the buyer, leading critics like Senator Elizabeth Warren to call the payout a "pre-bribe" from industry players. Shortly after taking office, Atkins oversaw the dismissal of high-profile "regulation by enforcement" cases against Coinbase and Binance, effectively handing the keys of the financial system to the crypto industry that funded his firm In 2006, Atkins infamously argued that granting executives stock options right before good news was released shouldn't be considered insider trading: "It is cheaper to pay a person with well-timed options than with cash." During his first stint as Commissioner (2002–2008), Atkins was a staunch opponent of increased oversight for investment banks. He is frequently blamed for ignoring the systemic risks that eventually led to the subprime mortgage collapse. Elon Musk (DOGE): Under directives from DOGE, the SEC was required to submit plans for "large-scale reductions in force" (RIFs). This resulted in the termination of many probationary employees (those with less than two years of service) and several senior directors at regional offices. To avoid even more aggressive firing, the SEC offered $50,000 buyouts to staffers who agreed to leave voluntarily. This led to a significant "brain drain" of veteran trial lawyers and investigators. Staffers linked to Elon Musk and the DOGE initiative were placed in key administrative roles (like the Office of Personnel Management) to oversee these cuts, effectively bypassing the traditional civil service protections that usually slow down government layoffs. Biden, for allowing so many enforcements MM Hudson Technologies Announces Election of Alan Sheriff and Jeffrey Feeler as Independent Directors. WHO DO YOU BLAME? Top shareholder Ernest Lazarus (9%). Lazarus is primarily a biblical figure from the New Testament known for being raised from the dead by Jesus after four days. The name represents resurrection, returning from the brink of failure, or a person overcoming extreme adversity. I’m thinking he needed a Sheriff in case all that digging up corpses from cemeteries went sour. Director Loan Mansy. Getting a good loan is all about putting out feelers to different banks so Loan needed a Feeler to get shit done. Director Vincent P. Abbatecola.Forgive me, maybe I watch too many episodes of The Sopranos but Vinnie used to be the Chairman of the National Packaged Ice Association and that just sounds a bit scary and a bit made up. Like, put him on Ice, Vinny. Speaking of death, Vinny is also a director on the United Hospice Board. And speaking of God, he also serves on the St. Thomas Aquinas College President’s Council. St. Thomas Aquinas was declared a “Doctor of the Church” and had mystical experiences. Feeler and Sheriff? That is so Tommy Aquinas. Director, CEO, President, Chair, former COO, former CFO and top shareholder (6%) Brian F. Coleman, who has been with the company since 1997 and somehow still sits on the Nomination Committee! Dude, that is soooo cheating and you know he was the one who asked for a Sheriff and a Feeler. DR MATT Microsoft Pauses Carbon Removal Purchases. Satya Nadella Chair and CEO with 27% influence IT WAS HIS TARGET - carbon negative by 2030 One year later on LinkedIn: “As a company, we’ve set ambitious climate goals to be carbon negative, zero waste, and water positive by 2030, and we’re making progress as we work towards a more sustainable future” And last year, MSFT’s chief sustainability officer Melanie Nakagawa: "In 2020, Microsoft leaders referred to our sustainability goals as a 'moonshot', and nearly five years later, we have had to acknowledge that the moon has gotten further away." It’s worth pointing out - any target set by an executive they don’t hit is a failure of leadership - either the target was ill conceived, not ever meant to be attained, or they just failed to actually manage to the target. There aren’t other options - if I set a target at Free Float of $1bn in sales by 2030, invest entirely in crypto, lose it all, and we achieve $45 in parking tickets by 2030, do I blame the changing market environment and just skip the target? Penny Pritzker Head of the Environmental Yada Yada committee Bats .269 on carbon intensity overall, all at MSFT (that’s horrific in case you needed context - .500 is the average peer director) Reid Hoffman The AI evangelist, founder of LinkedIn, heavy investor in AI Reid Hoffman says AI is going to be blamed for ‘just about everything’, except AI is on pace to use as much as 20% of ALL ENERGY in the US this year, up from 4% for data centers in 2024 AI in 2026 will equal all of NYC carbon On the Environmental Yada Yada committee! Catherine MacGregor One of top performers on carbon on the board at 0.632, CEO of Engie SA, a massive French energy company focused on renewable energy On the Environmental Yada Yada committee Energie: MSFT: 4% influence, only 2 year tenure on MSFT The 2020 Microsoft Board: DR Reid Hoffman Hugh Johnston Teri List-Stoll Satya Nadella Sandra Peterson Penny Pritzker Charles Scharf Arne Sorenson John Stanton John Thompson Emma Walmsley Padmasree Warrior IT’S BASICALLY THIS BOARD??? Five years, three gone - and Sorenson died of cancer, so really TWO gone… Thompson fully retired, Warrior is on TWO boards BUT one is in India (Mahindra and Mahindra) and the other is Spotify with zero voting rights Talk about a protected class - this board is one of the worst in its peer group for carbon, is fully of connections (75% connected), has a history of overpaying CEOs… OpenAI touts Amazon alliance in memo, says Microsoft has ‘limited our ability’ to reach clients. So Amazon wants to unleash Sam Altman even after he was written up as a massive sociopath bent on narcissistic control of the doomsday button of AI. WHO DO YOU BLAME AT AMAZON? Uncle Jeffe Exec Chair, WaPo destroyer, megamegayacht owner, who’s wife was profiled in the NY Times as encouraging the uberwealthy to practice conspicuous consumption and flaunt their wealth 68% influence CEO Andy Jassy 14,000 layoffs in October, 16,000 in January, all for AI But seriously, do we think he’s running anything? Board member Andrew Ng: DR AI Fund LP managing partner, DeepLearning.AI LLC founder, LandingAI founder, chairman and co-founder Coursera, Managing Partner AI Aspire If this guy wrote “AI” any more in his bio it would read like ChatGPT wrote it Partnered with OpenAI for AI courses on his shitty companies Ng TAUGHT Altman at Stanford Board member Patricia Stonesifer Ms. Stonesifer has served as a trustee of The Rockefeller Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to promoting the well-being of humanity throughout the world, from 2019 to 2025 Board members Jonathan Rubinstein, Keith Alexander, Wendell Weeks, and Jamie Gorelick Free Float data says they are the only ones with knowledge in Public Safety Combined influence of 10%