#corporate-governance

#corporate-governance

Two press freedom groups are accusing Paramount Skydance owner Larry Ellison of promising favors to the Trump administration to win regulatory approval in its bid to take over CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. Those favors allegedly include making sweeping staff changes at CNN, a network that President Donald Trump often bashes as fake news. The groups, Freedom of the Press Foundation and Reporters Without Borders, own shares in Paramount Skydance, and sent a letter to the company's chief legal officer Thursday demanding to see internal documents that could be related to Ellison's alleged attempt to curry favor with the White House.

When the father of your babies starts a competitive effort and will recruit out of OpenAI, there is nothing to be done.

Our culture begins with a partnership attitude. Our shareholders are our partners whose trust we have earned and must work to keep. Their interests are at the center of our decision-making.

The round was led by existing backer SoftBank, with significant participation from Microsoft (which has already committed over $13 billion in cumulative investment), Thrive Capital, and a roster of sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors. According to reporting from the Financial Times, the deal includes a provision requiring OpenAI to complete its transition from a capped-profit structure to a full for-profit corporation by a set deadline, or face consequences including returning some of the capital raised.

I believe now is the right moment for the Forum to continue its important work without distractions. Brende, who led the organisation behind the annual Davos conference for over 8 years, made this statement upon announcing his resignation.

Goldman Sachs got some unwanted attention yesterday for its reported plans to scrap DEI criteria for its board, about a year after erasing diversity goals for its workforce. Many other companies have done the same amid a federal crackdown and several state lawsuits over corporate DEI efforts. ( Starbucks won a dismissal last week after Missouri challenged its DEI initiatives, freeing up time to battle a recent suit in Florida.)

DP World is one of the world's largest logistics companies. It runs the Jebel Ali port in Dubai, where it has long been a pillar of the city's economy, and operates terminals in other ports around the world. The emails referenced pornography, sexual massages and escorts, among other things. A person's name being mentioned in the Epstein files does not necessarily imply any wrongdoing, however the nature of the correspondence has raised a number of questions.

Disney has named its parks chief Josh D'Amaro to succeed Bob Iger as the entertainment giant's top executive. D'Amaro will become the 9th CEO in the more than 100-year-old company's history. He has overseen the company's theme parks, cruises and resorts since 2020. The Experiences division has been a substantial moneymaker for Disney, with $36 billion in annual revenue in fiscal 2025 and 185,000 employees worldwide.

The payments giant announced on Tuesday that CEO Alex Chriss is stepping down after two and a half years. Enrique Lores, CEO of HP Inc., is set to take over on March 1. PayPal's chief financial and operating officer, Jamie Miller, will serve as interim CEO. The move follows continued shareholder frustration. PayPal's stock is down roughly 80% from five years ago, and the company on Tuesday projected lower earnings for 2026, Fortune reported.

ADM announced on Tuesday that it has entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to resolve its investigation into ADM's prior reporting of inter-segment sales, without admitting or denying any wrongdoing. As part of the settlement, ADM agreed to pay a $40 million penalty. According to the SEC, ADM engaged in years of profit-shifting that made its star nutrition segment appear to meet ambitious growth targets, even as demand softened and margins declined.

As audit committees confront a rapidly expanding risk landscape, their role in corporate governance is being reshaped. Boards have often turned to current and former CFOs as independent directors, particularly for audit committees, because of their ability to translate complex operational and financial realities into effective oversight.For example, this month, J. Michael Hansen, former EVP and CFO of Cintas Corporation, was appointed to the audit committee at Paychex.