Sustainable Finance Newsletter - Box Inc CEO Levie makes business case for Kamala Harris
By Ross Kerber
Oct 23 (Reuters) -Generally CEOs hate talking politics for fear of alienating customers, investors or employees with different views.
This year various business executives are backing U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic party's candidate for the White House against former President Donald Trump. Business leaders have traditionally leaned Republican and Trump, the Republican nominee, doeshave some CEOs in his camp.
So far the largest industry trade groups have stayed neutral at least in their public rhetoric. To get a sense of things I spoke with Box CEO Aaron Levie, a Harris supporter. You can find my interview from Monday linked below.
You will also find links to stories like one by my colleague who visitedthe Three Mile Island nuclear plant ahead of its planned revival, and another abouta plan by New York City's comptroller to end certainfund investments in pipelines and LNG terminals over climate concerns.
Please send news tips, comments, etc via LinkedIn. You can also reach me at ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com
Box Inc CEO Levie makes the business case for KamalaHarris
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has won support from business leaders including Yelp YELP.N CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, Evercore EVR.N founder Roger Altman, and kind of, probably, maybe JPMorgan JPM.N CEO Jamie Dimon.
Yet it's still hard to parse out exactly where the largest company CEOs stand from their public statements and those of top trade groups, which avoid picking sides.
To make sense of things I spoke with Harris supporter Aaron Levie, CEO of cloud content management platform Box Inc BOX.N, on Monday. You can read the interview inthis week's column here.
Chamber of Commerce urges patience for election results
After I locked up the Levie interview, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce late on Tuesday counseled Americans to have patience while votes are counted in the Nov. 5 election, citing the likely closeness of the contest and the variety of voting and vote-counting procedures.
In a message on its website the top U.S. business trade group said that "we may not know the outcome as quickly as we would like. That’s cause for preparation and patience – but not concern."
Separately a Chamber spokesperson told me it would continue its tradition of not endorsing a presidential candidate. "Our role is to help the election winner in implementing policies that will grow the economy and create opportunities for all Americans," said the spokesperson.
The Chamber's comments didn't fulfill the wishes of some Harris supporters who have called on business leaders to endorse her or oppose Trump .
But the Chamber did warn of the risks of online disinformation such as reports of ballot fraud. In an "election primer" document accompanying the statement, the Chamber noted various delays in finalizing the results of prior U.S. elections.
It warned that "Those wishing to undermine our nation and our electoral system, including foreign governments, often attempt to spread disinformation online. This can include reports of voter suppression, cyber breaches of voting systems, ballot fraud, and other problems."
"These disinformation campaigns are designed to undermine trust in our election system and the final election results," the primer states.
Company News
Mike Jeffries, the former longtime chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch,ANF.N has been criminally charged with sex trafficking and prostitution involving dozens of men.
The top U.S. consumer finance watchdog on Tuesday unveiled long-awaited rules that would make it easier for consumers to switch between financial services providers, a move the agency said was aimed at boosting competition.
HSBC HSBA.L, 0005.HK merged some operations and split its geographic footprint into East and West in a sweeping restructuring under new CEO Georges Elhedery that also included the appointment of the bank's first female finance chief.
On my radar
As a followup to last week's look at nuclear waste, don't miss this story by my colleague Laila Kearney about her visit to Constellation Energy's CEG.O Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.
A new annual survey by nonprofit researcher Just Capital found growing numbers of respondents, across political ideologies, agreed that CEOs should speak out on social issues if the matter relates to their business - 52% overall this year, up from 32% in 2020. In contrast, 48% said CEOs should take a stand on all social issues, down from 68% in 2020.
Citing climate concerns, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander outlined plans to end future private market investments by pension funds in things like pipelines and LNG terminals.
Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by David Gregorio
Aset Terkait
Berita Terbaru
Pengungkapan: Entitas XM Group menyediakan layanan khusus eksekusi dan akses ke Fasilitas Trading Online kami, yang memungkinkan Anda untuk melihat dan/atau menggunakan konten yang tersedia pada atau melalui situs, yang tidak untuk mengubah atau memperluas, serta tidak mengubah atau memperluas hal tersebut. Akses dan penggunaan ini selalu sesuai dengan: (i) Syarat dan Ketentuan; (ii) Peringatan Risiko; dan (iii) Pengungkapan Penuh. Oleh karena itu, konten disediakan hanya sebagai informasi umum. Anda juga harus ketahui bahwa konten Fasilitas Trading Online kami bukan sebagai ajakan atau tawaran untuk untuk melakukan transaksi apa pun di pasar finansial. Trading di pasar finansial mana pun melibatkan tingkat risiko yang signifikan pada modal Anda.
Semua materi yang diterbitkan di Fasilitas Trading Online kami hanya untuk tujuan edukasi/informasi dan tidak boleh mengandung nasihat dan rekomendasi finansial, pajak investasi atau trading, catatan harga trading kami, penawaran, permintaan, transaksi dalam instrumen finansial apa pun atau promo finansial untuk Anda yang tidak diminta.
Konten pihak ketiga apa pun, serta konten yang disiapkan oleh XM, seperti opini, berita, riset, analisis, harga, informasi lain atau link ke situs pihak ketiga yang tersedia "sebagaimana adanya", sebagai komentar pasar umum dan bukan menjadi nasihat investasi. Sejauh konten apa pun ditafsirkan sebagai penelitian investasi, Anda harus memperhatikan dan menerima bahwa konten tersebut tidak dimaksudkan dan belum disiapkan sesuai dengan persyaratan hukum yang dirancang untuk mempromosikan kemandirian riset investasi dan dengan demikian akan dianggap sebagai komunikasi pemasaran di bawah hukum dan peraturan yang relevan. Mohon dipastikan bahwa Anda telah membaca dan memahami Notifikasi pada Riset Investasi Non-Independen dan Peringatan Risiko kami mengenai informasi di atas, yang dapat diakses disini.
