Denny’s “Alma Mater” Billionaire

“I was probably Denny’s best dish washer … I washed the living daylights out of the dishes.” — NVIDIA founder Jen-Hsun Huang referring his “Alma Mater,” Denny’s

“No task is beneath me. I used to be a dishwasher. I used to clean toilets. I cleaned a lot of toilets. I’ve cleaned more toilets than all of you combined. And some of them you just can’t unsee.” — Huang speaking to the Stanford Graduate School of Business

“Billionaires should not exist.” — Millionaire (e.g., $3 million) U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont)

Trust Almost DailyBrett: Paris Hilton never washed dishes at Denny’s. The hotel chain heiress never cleaned a toilet in her life.

There are some — even those who graduated from Yale Law School … who believe all serious wealth is either inherited or a product of a scam (and said as much on social media).

Which of Robert Reich’s five ways to accumulate a billion or more apply to NVIDIA founder Jen-Hsun Huang?

Doesn’t Mr. Reich and his sycophants ostensibly celebrate immigrants — even those who came from Taiwan to America not speaking a word of English and working menial labor jobs at Denny’s — looking for opportunity and yearning to be free?

What’s ironic is that NVIDIA was founded at an East San Jose Denny’s, presumably over its Lumberjack Slam Breakfast (i.e., buttermilk pancakes, grilled ham, bacon strips, sausage links, hashed browns, bread), and all-you-can-drink, coffee.

Jen-Hsun as he tells the story envisioned a company that solves problems that a normal computer, powered by general purpose computing, just can’t. That became NVIDIA’s mission.

The results were GPUs (graphic processor units of silicon + software) for computational drug design, weather simulations, materials design, robotics, self-driving cars, video games and of course … artificial intelligence (AI).

Your author needs to acknowledge that he served for a decade as the director of corporate public relations at Jen-Hsun’s predecessor company, LSI Logic. He is a very happy NVIDIA shareholder, buying a tranche here and selling a tranche there.

NVIDIA debuted in 1999 at $12 per share. Today (NVDA: NASDAQ) stands at $903 per share with a total market capitalization of $2.30 trillion … give or take.

All Good Deeds Must Be Punished?

“I propose a minimum tax for billionaires of 25 percent, just 25 percent. You know what that would raise? That would raise (and immediately spend) $500 billion over the next 10 years.” — President Joe Biden State of the Union, March 8, 2024

Starting NVIDIA “was a million times harder than expected. No one in their right mind would do it.” — Huang on founding his company in 1993, and taking it public six years later

Pardon for the interruption: Almost DailyBrett loves this off-the-boat to $75.4 billion (give or shekel or two) rags-to-riches story. Does Jen-Hsun deserve to be punished for his hard work, tenacity and good deeds by the IRS and Franchise Tax Board?

Has Jen-Hsun paid his “fair share?” Yep, and then some.

Let’s see, NVIDIA designs GPUs for a wide range of applications for customers around the world. The company employs 26,000 in 35 countries. It generated $60.9 billion on the top line last fiscal year, up 126 percent year-over-year, $29.7 billion on the bottom line, an increase of 581 percent Y/Y.

NVIDIA shares are up 82 percent YTD and the company’s market capitalization is $2.30 trillion. Almost DailyBrett recognizes this story is more — much more — than clever innovation and impressive execution.

Similar to other billionaires who have given back to their academic alma maters (e.g., Uncle Phil Knight, Oregon and Stanford), Jen-Hsun provided $50 million to OSU for the Oregon State Research Center and $30 million more for the Jen-Hsun Huang Engineering Center at Stanford.

He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the former in 1984 and his master’s in the same difficult subject from Stanford eight years later. He also met his wife, Lori, an engineering school classmate in Corvallis. They learned more than just timing closure.

Almost DailyBrett knows our world is getting more complex. Data is the new oil. Machines are teaching machines.

We need smart people to make sense of it all, and give back to society as well. Our government should be rewarding and facilitating achieving, not looking for new ways extract even more punitive revenues from those who make the world a better place.

https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-boss-jensen-huang

https://fortune.com/2023/06/01/nvidia-started-dennys-now-worth-trillion

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1369574/nvidia-number-of-employees

https://investor.nvidia.com/news/press-release-details/2024/NVIDIA-Announces-Financial-Results-for-Fourth-Quarter-and-Fiscal-2024

https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/50-million-gift-nvidia-founder-and-spouse-helps-launch-oregon-state-university-research-center

https://engineering.stanford.edu/magazine/huang-center-dedicated-lauded-stanfords-engineering-anchor

https://money.usnews.com/investing/articles/nvidia-corp-nvda-stock-investment-worth-today

https://nypost.com/2024/02/29/business/nvidias-jensen-huang-spoke-no-english-and-worked-at-dennys

The Lonely Guy Standing In Line For A Burger

When Oprah Made Her First Billion, Did Society Fail?

Punishing Achievement, Innovation and Job Creation

Taxing Uncle Phil to Death?

The Greatest Oregonian Of All Time: Phil Knight

Farewell LSI Logic

NVIDIA 4 FAANG

Buying Three Fright-Night Stocks?

“Investors are worrying there is nothing to worry about.” – CNBC senior markets commentator Michael Santoli

At one time or another, Almost DailyBrett owned shares of Boeing, Berkshire Hathaway and TSMC. It’s time to worry about all of them.

These three companies all have a long-term track record of being extremely good at what they do. They know exactly how they make money. They clearly understand their raison d’etre. They appreciate their value-add to global society.

What could go wrong with any of these blue chips? Another Boeing plane crashes to earth. Warren Buffett departs for the Omaha in the Sky. China invades Taiwan.

The first reason to invest in Boeing (BA: NYSE) is the legendary aircraft manufacturer and defense contractor is part of the exclusive duopoly with Airbus, jointly owned by the Dutch, French and German governments. The barriers to entry into Boeing-Airbus total addressable market (TAM) are virtually impossible to break with capital expenditure and R&D requirements in the zillions.

For the longest time one of Boeing’s leading customers, Southwest Airlines even included its supplier’s 737 in its logo. That was then, this is now.

Almost DailyBrett knows that public relations/marketing/corporate communications/investor relations pros working for Boeing, the airlines (e.g., Alaska Airlines) and airports (e.g., PDX) never sleep well. There is always a chance something can go horribly wrong with a Boeing plane, even having a door blown out at 16,000-feet shortly after taking off from Portland. Yikes!

Boeing’s reputation for trust and reliability is broken. Repair will be difficult. Time can heal (e.g., Tylenol cyanide poisoning, 1982). Boeing needs to be boring, real boring for a long time.

Would Almost DailyBrett buy Boeing at this point of time? Sleep is really important to your author.

Succession Planning?

How do you succeed Warren Buffett, 93?

Conceptually it’s possible. Consider how well supply-chain savant Tim Cook has masterminded Apple in the aftermath of the dearly departed Leonardo da Vinci of this time, Steve Jobs?

Also weigh how Disney completely botched the transfer of power from legacy of success under the masterful direction Bob Iger to “incompetent” Bob Chapek. Iger was forced back into the CEO role for the Mickey Mouse company. Will Disney get succession right in the second try?

Earlier this year, Buffett’s long-time co-pilot Charlie Munger passed away at 99-years-young. The image of the two being driven around in a golf cart speaks more than a 1,000 words.

Buffett has forgotten more about Wall Street investing than what most people, including Almost DailyBrett, will ever know. He seems more robust than the leader of the free world (e.g., POTUS), but does that statement mean anything?

Let’s cut to the chase: How does Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A and BRK.B: NYSE) approaching $1 trillion in total market capitalization reassure investors, there is a future beyond the inevitable ultimate demise of Warren Buffett?

A clear line of succession needs to be communicated well in advance of the departure of the revered chief Sage of Omaha. Apple did it right, Disney not-so-right.

“The Great Illusion”

“The economic cost of war was so great that no one could possibly hope to gain by starting a war the consequences of which would be so disastrous.” — Thesis of Nobel Peace Prize winner Sir Norman Angell’s “The Great Illusion,” first published just five years before the 1914 start of World War I

More than a decade ago, Almost DailyBrett provided PR counsel to the San Jose headquarters of Taiwan Semiconductor Corporation (TSMC). It’s founder Morris Chang pioneered the “foundry” business, making the chips for virtually every semiconductor company on the planet.

Not only is TSMC (TSM: NYSE) incredibly successful, it’s as close to indispensable as any company on the planet (no hyperbole). And there lies the potential nightmare.

Let’s start with the undeniable geographic fact that nine TSMC’s fabs are located right on the seismic Ring of Fire. It’s not question of if Mother Nature packs a wallop, but when. The majority of these operations sit in Hsinchu on the west coast of Taiwan facing toward the Taiwan Strait and … you guessed it … the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Just as Mein Kampf accurately outlined plans for conquest, China has made no secret for 75 years its plans for recovering — if necessary by force — the “lost province,” namely Taiwan. Time is not a prevailing consideration in Chinese culture.

When asked about the prospect of an invasion, the company pointed to its two fabs in Mainland China and robust cross Taiwan Strait trade. Surely no one would want to disrupt the free flow of commerce? Hope they are right.

When one considers the greatest fabless semiconductor companies on earth (e.g., ARM: NASDAQ) and (e.g., NVDA: NASDAQ) are virtually 100 percent dependent on TSMC, a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would not be a good thing.

Is pretending it will never happen, a 21st Century version of “The Great Illusion?”

Almost DailyBrett Editor’s Note: In the interest of full disclosure, your author presently owns Berkshire Hathaway, the B shares. No intention of selling two Ferraris to purchase one “A” share of Berkshire Hathaway. Yours truly worked directly with TSMC as a customer corporate PR director (LSI Logic), and then later as a PR counselor from 2006-2009.

Farewell LSI Logic

Never Get Giddy, Never Get Depressed

Women Are Leading America’s Investor Class

The Joy Of Discretionary Income

Is An Adult Back In Charge At Disney?

NVIDIA 4 FAANG

It Takes A Tech Company To Raise A Child

Out-Of-Sight, Out-The-Door?

“If you don’t come in on Saturday, don’t bother coming in on Sunday.” — New York Post reporter Lydia Moynihan, repeating an oft-heard Wall Street mantra on CNBC Squawk Box, August 8, 2023

“It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure why take the chance?” — President Ronald Reagan, March 31, 1987

Almost DailyBrett didn’t miss the irony of Covid pandemic darling Zoom Video Communications requiring its employees to come into the office at least two days a week.

Your author also noted that Zoom laid off 1,300 workers or 15 percent of its workforce this past February. What percentage of let-go employees were remote Zoomers? Would they still be employed today, if they were not out-of-sight, out-of-mind?

Wasn’t Zoom Video (NASDAQ: ZM) supposed to liberate employees to move from its Silicon Valley headquarters in God-awful San Jose to bucolic BigBisonButt, Montana?

These fortunate souls were leaving behind maddening rush-hour traffic, desultory three-hour staff meetings, dismal cafeteria food, and needy colleagues asking, ‘Do you have minute’ (make that 20 minutes)?

When it comes to working in the office or at home or a hybrid version of both, there has always been a Yin (e.g., show up in the office) and a Yang (e.g., work from home) since the beginning of capitalism.

It all seemingly began: ‘Why not work from home on casual Friday?’ ‘Why not video conference in pajama bottoms and slippers?’

And now it’s coming full circle with yet another Silicon Valley acronym, RTO or Return to Office. Many remote workers are pissed about of the change of heart by their employers, but shouldn’t they be reminded: Beware of what you want, you may get it?

Have they ever heard of the acronym, AI? Do they use ChatGPT to do their work? Will generative AI eventually replace their job?

The list of once-cool companies requiring their own employees to return to work at least on a hybrid basis is growing, seemingly with each passing week: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Salesforce, Snap, Tesla, Uber, Zoom and many more.

Zoom was widely celebrated for facilitating happy employees to live where they want, telecommuting to work with its video conferencing software. The only problem was the Covid scare ended, the necessity of remote meetings ebbed, and ZM shares declined 84 percent from their zenith point to now.

Then there is the question of effectiveness: Are remote workers more productive than counterparts remaining in the office? And when the inevitable time for a “Riff” (Reduction in Force), who has a better chance of survival?

Would you rather be the visible employee down the hall or the invisible remote worker in Big Sky Country? How about being Ms. or Mr. Reliable or the digital remote worker using TikTok to brag about doing everything from home, other than actual work?

What’s the difference between quiet quitting and loud quitting? Nothing, they both deserve to be Riffed.

Serving As A Pleasure Appointee

“Eighty percent of success is showing up.” — American filmmaker Woody Allen

Almost DailyBrett is totally unimpressed with dreary civil service.

Once the freshly minted civil servant passes the requisite exam and probation period, that stellar human being can never be terminated. They are preordained to receive a predictable COLA (cost of living adjustment) year-in, year-out.

Boring.

During the course of your author’s career, the terms of employment has always been at the pleasure of a governor or a Fortune 500 chief executive officer. Besides better-than-satisfactory performance, an unstated but vital part of the aide de camp duty was being reliable and accountable yesterday, today and tomorrow — every day.

Almost DailyBrett coordinated from a public relations standpoint seven separate Riffs at LSI Logic, reducing company headcount over time from 7,700 to 3,900 (49 percent). The survivors were generally those who demonstrated capacity to perform two or more tasks effectivity (not just a one-trick pony), and were seen in the office on a regular basis.

Before purchasing the lovely pad in snowy-and-icy BigBisonButt, working (1,200 miles or 18 hours away depending on snowy weather) for a volatile Silicon Valley publicly traded company, the question needs to be asked: ‘What happens if it all goes wrong?’

Can you replace your income stream in Montana? Will you be stranded? Will you be forced to sell your new Haus at a huge discount?

No one owes you a source of income. If you want to sustain your six-figure salary, full-benefits, ESPP (Employee Stock Purchase Plan) and stock options, it behooves the smart employee to stop complaining and be mindful of the wisdom of Woody Allen:

“Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

Be there.

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/08/08/the-death-of-remote-work-zoom-orders-workers-to-return-to-office-at-least-twice-a-week.html

Laying Off Quiet Quitters

Generative AI Cheating Is Still, Cheating

The Work-From-Home Trap

Farewell LSI Logic

The Perils Of Corporate Virtue Signaling

“When Bud happened, I can’t believe the board didn’t wake up to that decimation market cap … Budweiser was the American beer. It took decades to build that brand, and they blew it up in 30 hours.” — CNBC Shark Tank investor “Mr. Wonderful” Kevin O’Leary

Want to piss off everyone left and right?

The Los Angeles Dodgers first invited the anti-Catholic Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to a special Pride Month celebration June 16. Next, the club uninvited the drag group mocking nuns, only to reinvite them again. When all was said and done the Dodgers managed to offend everyone (even their star pitcher Clayton Kershaw), but most of all their loyal Hispanic fan base.

Comprende?

And what is the predominant religion of this growing demographic? How about Roman Catholicism? You want a group on your home field making cruel “fun” of 1.5 billion Catholics?

As a decade-long director of Corporate Public Relations for LSI Logic and later as an assistant professor of public relations, corporate communications and investor relations, Almost DailyBrett provided C-suite counsel and taught students to appreciate the distinct difference between fiduciary responsibility (doing well) and corporate social responsibility (doing good).

Self-congratulatory Corporate Virtue Signaling is not Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Corporate Virtue Signaling has absolutely zero connection with legally mandated Fiduciary Responsibility, driving the top and bottom lines. Corporate Virtue Signalers by their well-documented mistakes obviously do not understand the premise of Buy Low Sell High.

Is Corporate Virtue Signaling the latest iteration of Green Washing (‘we’re doing great for the environment’) or Pink Washing (‘we’re attune of breast cancer awareness month’)? If you don’t believe us, just ask.

Why don’t we connect transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney to Bud Light beer cans? Oh, that’s already been done. How did that work out with your suds drinking audience — Anglo, Male, Younger, Lower Income — Anheuser Busch?

Why don’t we offer tuck-it-away women’s bathing suits to cover up naughty hombre bits that are product of birth? Whattayathink le Target’?

Should Virtue Signaling Corporations Enter The Abortion Fight?

“I’ve never seen a case where one item, that tuck swimsuit, that’s really what made the difference versus the competitors. That’s where the big mistake [was] made.” — former Target Vice Chairman Gerald Storch

“Do you ever hear a CEO that represents a company ever talking about abortion. Never. Because that is an issue that will never be resolved. It’s a personal issue. It’s a family issue. It’s a religious issue. It’s partisan forever. You don’t touch it. Same thing with politics. Same thing with gender identity. Everybody has a personal opinion about it. When you actually get involved in a fight like that, you lose 50 percent of your constituency.” — Kevin O’Leary on the compelling need for corporations to stay away from social issues

Almost DailyBrett served as a vice president and director of two industry trade associations, including the Semiconductor Industry Association. The SIA serves as the political lobbying arm for America’s chip designers/manufacturers.

Our primary purpose in the 1990s was to open Japan’s protectionist semiconductor market to foreign suppliers (U.S., European, Korean etc.). The association took the political slings and arrows and as a result, helped our members (i.e., Intel, AMD, Micron, Texas Instruments, LSI Logic, Motorola …) protect their own hard-earned corporate brands and reputations.

Why mix brands with combative politics and religion? Didn’t mom say to never discuss politics and religion?

What happens when a company foolishly decides to put its hard-earned brand and reputation at risk, dividing and offending its customer base in order to please a minority of its employees? Anheuser-Busch, Disney, Kohl’s, Target and the Los Angeles Dodgers are present-day champions of Corporate Virtue Signaling.

Who’s next?

There is a silent majority in America, who will quietly decide to not buy the product, not attend the theme park, not buy tickets to the game, not stream the video and even boycott the brand. The results will be a massive loss of market capitalization, declines in the top line revenues and bottom line results.

For what purpose? Corporations are not bestowers of civil rights, never have been never will be. Don’t ask, don’t tell.

Next up for corporate virtue signalers will be securities lawsuits, analyst downgrades (e.g., Anheuser-Busch, Target), fired chief executives (e.g., Bob Chapek of Disney), divided employees, PR nightmares and enduring hits on corporate reputation and brand, some of them permanent.

Worse yet? It all could have been avoided by just saying ‘no’ to self-serving Corporate Virtue Signaling.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/03/anti-pride-backlash-what-target-anheuser-busch-and-others-should-expect-next-.html

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/dodgers-apologize-drag-nuns-sisters-perpetual-indulgence-1235498144/

https://www.foxnews.com/media/kevin-oleary-target-pride-merch-decision-huge-mistake-losing-billions-market-value

https://www.foxnews.com/media/former-target-exec-reveals-one-item-that-sparked-consumer-firestorm

Is An Adult Back In Charge At Disney?

Disney’s Roe v Wade Silence?

Fiduciary Responsibility vs. Corporate Social Responsibility

When Boy Meets Girl

The Desperate Need For A DeSantis-Iger Summit

“They’re (Disney) going to criticize the fact that we don’t want transgenderism in kindergarten and first grade classrooms – if that’s the hill that they’re going to die on. — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

“Do I like the company being embroiled in controversy? Of course not. It can be distracting, and it can have a negative impact on the company. And to the extent that I can work to kind of quiet things down, I’m going to do that.” — Returning Disney CEO Bob Iger holding a Monday Town Hall with company employees

Almost DailyBrett has the distinction of serving both a Republican big-state governor (California’s George Deukmejian) and later a Fortune 500 CEO (LSI Logic founder Wilf Corrigan).

And what does a mega-state governor and industry legend CEO have in common? Huge egos.

In this case the GOP governor is Ron DeSantis of Florida, and the CEO is Bob Iger of Disney Corporation.

Would it be easy for an aide de camp to either chief executive to make a convincing argument to bury the hatchets, put emotions and perceived self-worth aside in the interest of future peace and harmony? Of course not. Check your ego at the door and make your case. It’s your job.

The spiraling out-of-control feud (putting it mildly) between perceived woke Disney and increasingly red Florida is now in the past and the present.

What about the future?

Can this issue be solved? Almost DailyBrett believes it’s in the best interest of investors’ “dead money” Disney and wanna-be president DeSantis to put this fight behind them.

Would Iger be a modern-day Neville Chamberlain “groveling” to bully DeSantis? Would the governor be selling out Florida’s before-the-age-of-reason school children? There has to be better questions and more importantly, more acceptable answers.

Iger signaled last month his readiness toward a meeting with the governor, maybe even hosting the session at thec ompany’s most successful theme park in Orlando? He should push harder.

Can Ron DeSantis hold a polite, respectful and hopefully productive meeting with one of America’s most important CEOs with eye toward compromise and moving forward?

How would this summit be conducted? Where should it be held? Who should serve as the intermediary?

Could a meeting with Bob Iger be seen as DeSantis’ “Nixon goes to China” moment?

“Quiet Things Down?”

“Why won’t our leaders work to accommodate each other, employing civility as they cooperate to accomplish goals in the country’s best interests? What in our national character, in the ways we choose to deal with one another and respect different viewpoints, has changed so much since the days of Reagan and O’Neill? How can we win back the faith that our republic is working?” – Chris Matthews, staffer to former House Speaker Tip O’Neill

“I do not view this as a going-to-mattresses situation for us. If the governor of Florida wants to meet with me to discuss all of this, of course, I would be glad to do that.” — Bob Iger to Time Magazine, April 14, 2023

Almost DailyBrett believes at this late point that someone must light the match, and quietly serve as an instigator and an intermediary. Your author believes Florida Senator Marco Rubio can do the job.

Iger has made the offer. DeSantis should take the meeting.

Assume both men give a final nod to a brokered meeting. Where should the meeting be held? The governor’s office in Tallahassee? Disney World in Orlando? Mar-a-Lago?

The meeting could be held at a secure beautiful Miami resort with the wind-swept Atlantic in the background. The honorable senator would serve as the officiant. Besides Rubio, present would be Governor DeSantis and one aide and CEO Iger and one aide.

There is zero chance the meeting will stay quiet. A post-summit news conference featuring the two Vorsitzenden would be built into the schedule. Will America’s partisan media — CNN, MSNBC, NBC News, New York Times, Washington Post — be particularly tough on DeSantis in particular? Will they contend that Iger is selling out his alternative lifestyle employees?

Is the Pope, Jesuit?

The objective is simple: Find a way for Governor DeSantis to cease the woke rhetoric against Disney, and for Walt Disney Corporation to drop its lawsuit against the State of Florida. The ultimate goal should be to restore normalcy between the Sunshine State’s largest private sector employer and the state that should be rightfully proud to host the happiest place on earth.

Almost DailyBrett is traditionally more inclined to be a hawk. In this case, your author is ready to flap his dove’s wings.

https://nypost.com/2023/05/24/disney-popularity-falls-in-light-of-row-with-ron-desantis-poll/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/05/12/bob-iger-vs-ron-desantis-who-is-winning/70212329007/

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/3950688-bob-iger-offers-sit-down-with-ron-desantis-over-disney-dispute/

Is An Adult Back In Charge At Disney?

Woke Mickey Mouse?

Showing The Virtual Door To “Legacy Mindsets”

“As shared in January, transforming how we work through Accelerating the Organization (AtO) is a long-term strategy, requiring us to shift from legacy mindsets to new behaviors.” — McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski memoranda to employees announcing layoffs

“Don’t tell me it can’t be done. Show me how it can.” – Plaque outside the Capitol Hill office of former House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Texas)

Communicating layoffs or reductions in force — internally and externally — does not get better with age.

Almost DailyBrett was directly involved in the communications choreography for seven reductions in force (RIF) at LSI Logic Corporation. The most important audience during and following layoffs? The shaken survivors. They are demoralized and easy prey for head hunters.

Wonder how the survivors at McDonald’s corporate are viewing their company and the world this week? One thing is certain: Their faith in management has been tested.

McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) feeds 1 percent of the planet every day. The most successful fast-food provider of all time with 150,000 employees operates 38,000 stores in 100 countries around the world. The plan is to open 1,900 more restaurants this year.

Your author owns shares in the company and is a frequent customer. Even though volatility rules the the past year as the Federal Reserve fights excessive government spending induced inflation, MCD is up 14.50 percent during the past year.

What’s fascinating about McDonald’s RIF is the company has made clear, it’s not economic. This targeted change — hundreds not thousands of employees — is about clearing out those constipated in their own mindsets, and replacing them with people amenable to change.

Is the company guilty of age discrimination? That question certainly resulted in McDonald’s corporate attorneys getting their collective knickers in a twist. It can be safely predicted that some, if not all of these lawyer types, expressed concerns about the term, “legacy mindsets.”

Will McDonald’s be sued? Yes, most likely in a class-action setting. Will plaintiffs be able to prove age discrimination? Probably not, but keep in mind your author is not an attorney.

Why? McDonald’s similar to other employers has its share of quiet quitters, they are not limited to one generation or another. Some may be rated as “Requires Development” (RD), translated the RDs are not cutting it.

People who will not change when the world is shifting have no place at McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Chicago, regardless of age. Trust your author as a retired university professor, Millennials can be just as stubborn/resolute as Baby Boomers.

“Shaping Our Change Journey”?

“Thank you for asking important questions and contributing to the discussion over the past few months as we start to shape our change journey.” — McDonald’s management to the company’s 150,000 employees

As a former director of employee communications among other responsibilities, Almost DailyBrett is acutely aware of the specter of employees being frog-marched out the door with their box of personals (see Stanley Tucci above in Margin Call).

From an employee communications standpoint, McDonald’s took a novel approach. Several HR experts (oxymoron?) scolded McDonald’s for its virtual process, making a layoff almost antiseptic and painless for supervisors. The alternative was the public spectacle of the let-go employee gathering his or her gear, and being unceremoniously escorted out of the building.

McDonald’s corporate offices were closed Monday thru Wednesday this week. Employees were asked to work from home. Presumably, the company notified Riffed employees when to come into their quiet office, sign their severance package (and related Non-Disclosure Agreement or NDA) and clean-out their office or cubicle. This smart approach avoids public humiliation.

If a laid-off employee wants to make a scene, and there is no one around to hear them (other than sadistic low-life HR folks), did they make any sound?

Almost DailyBrett strongly believes that inertia bound employees looking for a reason to not do anything or not change, they will always discover that justification.

“We tried that, but it didn’t work.”

If a McDonald’s corporate executive with a six-figure position demonstrates a “legacy mindset” and will never change, can you blame the corporation for using a companywide layoff to part ways? Why keep throwing good money after bad to someone who simply will not get with the program?

Sometimes an employee just needs a new start, and maybe even a kick in the keester as well.

https://news.yahoo.com/read-full-memo-mcdonalds-outlines-133349184.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2023/04/03/mcdonalds-closes-offices-layoffs/11592380002/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/04/03/mcdonalds-closes-offices-before-layoffs/

https://www.barrons.com/articles/mcdonalds-virtual-layoffs-hr-experts-9799c59c

Laying Off Quiet Quitters

Looking For A Reason To Do Nothing?

“Economically Illiterate Silver-Tongued Demagogues”?

“When you are told that all repurchases are harmful to shareholders or to the country, or particularly beneficial to CEOs, you are listening to either an economic illiterate or a silver-tongued demagogue (characters that are not mutually exclusive).” — Warren Buffett, The Oracle of Omaha, Berkshire Hathaway Annual Investor Letter, February 25, 2023

“Corporations ought to do the right thing. That’s why I propose we quadruple the tax on corporate stock buybacks and encourage long-term investments. They’ll still make considerable profit.” — President Joe Biden, State of the Union Address, February 7, 2023

Silver-tongued demagogue? Nope. Economically illiterate? If the shoe fits …

How does POTUS know that publicly traded American corporations will make a “considerable profit?”

He has proudly proclaimed he doesn’t own stocks in US companies. He doesn’t even maintain a savings account. Can he read an income statement or a balance sheet? Can he forecast the future when it comes to the bottom line? Does Mr. President know where to find the bottom line on an income statement?

The so-called Inflation Reduction Act imposes a precedent setting 1 percent excise tax on stock repurchases. How applying new taxes on corporate share buybacks fights inflation is way beyond the pay grade of Almost DailyBrett.

If the increased revenues from these taxes were directed to reduce the nation’s unsustainable and untenable $31.58 trillion debt (120 percent of the nation’s annual productivity), financed by spending $537 billion in debt service, the leader of the free world would have an argument about inflation reduction.

Alas, all the money will be spent. All the money is always spent, and then some.

Maybe Corporations Should Apply For Student Loan Relief?

“The most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” — President Ronald Reagan

Why do the economically illiterate/silver-tongued demagogues have a collective hard-on, when it comes to corporate buybacks?

Is it because it leads to profiteering (new Beltway verb)?

When somethings seems to be too good to be true, don’t you know that is indeed the case?

As a way to stimulate American semiconductor innovation and manufacturing, Congress passed the $52 billion bill (CHIPS Act) as an incentive for US microcircuits innovators.

Alas, Senator Elizabeth Warren and others of her ilk want to prevent microchip companies from using federal monies for capital expenditure and research and development (R&D), so they can in turn can free up corporate capital for — you guessed it — corporate buybacks.

As a former director of corporate public relations for a Silicon Valley based publicly traded semiconductor innovator (LSI Logic) for a decade, Almost DailyBrett understands why companies periodically buy back their own shares for the benefit of their employees and their shareholders.

When markets and stock prices are lower, a company can reduce the float, thus increasing the value of each remaining share. This practice does not come at the expense of employee compensation, capital expansion and/or research and development.

In fact, a large percentage of employees participate in Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPP) and/or stock options. Senator Warren and her flock somehow doesn’t think increasing the value of each share doesn’t help these workers fight inflation?

How about public employees in STRS (State Teachers Retirement System and PERS (Public Employees Retirement System)? Don’t these daddies and mommies benefit when their pension or 401k retirement systems increase in value? What about America’s Investor Class, the 56 percent of Americans who own company shares or stock-based mutual funds?

Think of it this way: Warren Buffett — even the pseudo-Andy Warhol version — has forgotten more about economics than Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren will ever know.

The real question is what the hell is wrong with corporate buybacks? American publicly traded companies have been floating shares ever since the founding of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1792. Investors bought pieces of companies, providing valuable seed money to hire, build and research.

It’s a beautiful thing. Government intervention is not required. Really.

Warren Buffett, 92, knows a thing-or-two about the vagaries of public markets. He also can identify “economic illiterate silver-tongued demagogues,” when he sees them.

Does the shoe fit?

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/25/warren-buffett-annual-letter-berkshire-hathaway-stock-buybacks.html

https://news.yahoo.com/president-biden-calls-out-stock-buybacks-in-state-of-the-union-address-104810205.html?

https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-lawmakers-to-commerce-dept-prevent-stock-buybacks-by-corporations-that-receive-chips-act-funds

https://www.nyse.com/history-of-nyse

https://www.usdebtclock.org/

Killing America’s Investor Class?

Throwing Even More Money At Inflation?

Stop Dissing America’s Investor Class

Fiduciary Responsibility vs. Corporate Social Responsibility

The Work-From-Home Trap

Almost DailyBrett knows when something sounds too good to be true — more times than naught — it’s too good to be true.

The Covid pandemic changed the world. Having said that, when some things change many others remain the same. One of those is the strategic advantage of coming back to the office.

Apple is now requiring its corporate employees — starting right after Labor Day — to report to its Cupertino campus Tuesdays and Thursdays and at least one other week day with the approval of their individual managers.

At least 700 employees (out of Apple’s estimated 154,000-person workforce) are pushing back — signing a petition to protest the return to the office — but is that stance in their best individual interest?

Will they someday be real sorry they affixed their John Hancock to this silly document? If they are laid-off, will they be secretly cursing themselves? Must suck to actually have to commute to work.

Apple has already intimated it’s slowing hiring and most likely there will be reduction in force (RIF). The nation is entering into a deepening recession, the inflation genie is out of the box, interest rates are rising, the age of cheap money is long gone. Days of “pain” are in the offing.

Besides the fact that Apple is the most widely held and best managed company of the planet. The No. 1 S&P 500 company in the world is not going to be organized.

Employees are lucky and should be appreciative they have a job at Apple with a competitive salary, awesome benefits, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) and for thousands and thousands, stock options.

Apple shares (NASDAQ: AAPL) have advanced 312 percent in the last five years. The company’s market cap is $2.63 trillion, essentially the same as No. 7 France’s gross domestic product (GDP).

What a deal.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind?

Having headed employee communications among other public relations responsibilities at LSI Logic for a decade, Almost DailyBrett is very familiar with the deadly saying: “Out of sight, out of mind.”

Your author’s modest cubicle with a nearby Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper refrigerator was about 50 feet away from the office/board room of our founder, chairman and CEO Wilf Corrigan. Wilf was a serial wanderer, and almost every day he came over to talk about the news of the world.

Please allow Almost DailyBrett make an ex-cathedra statement: Being seen every day by the C-Suite team and being regarded as an asset constitutes the best job security on the planet. Even though LSI Logic carried out seven reductions in force when the Internet Bubble burst, your author never really worried about being laid off.

After all, a publicly traded company is required to report and issue news releases under SEC rules. Yours truly played a hand in all of these communications.

If you are working for Apple in these troubled times (or any other publicly traded company with a fiduciary responsibility), wouldn’t it be nice to bump into the boss Tim Cook in the hallway? Wouldn’t it be better if key executives knew your name?

What if you buy a bucolic residence in Bozeman, Montana, working for Apple from more than 1,000 miles and one-time zone away? You can grab a cup of coffee, work in your PJs and participate in Zoom Video calls.

What happens, if Apple (or any other of thousands of publicly traded companies) decide in favor of a reduction in force? Would you rather be down the hall or out of sight, out of mind? You are one name among thousands and thousands on a spread sheet.

You are anonymous. The mission is to reduce costs in the face of a difficult global economy.

And if you are cashiered, is there another job for you in Bozeman? Can you sell your house? What about kids in school? Want to watch the snow in your PJs?

Commutes are bad enough. Being laid-off because you are not in the corporate consciousness can be an absolute nightmare.

Be there or be square.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-15/apple-sets-return-to-office-deadline-of-sept-5-after-delays

https://www.deseret.com/2022/8/23/23318117/apple-employees-push-back-against-ending-remote-work

https://www.statista.com/statistics/273439/number-of-employees-of-apple-since-2005/

Farewell LSI Logic

Always Control Your Environment

The entertainment media had a field day last March when Will Smith slapped comedian host Chris Rock on stage at the Academy Awards.

The Mother of All Desultory Award Shows for once wasn’t so dismal.

All kidding aside, what happened shouldn’t have been allowed to happen. Smith (or anybody else) should have been barred from the stage regardless of the optics.

The event was already marred. Don’t worry about the video and still photographs. Protect the presenter.

Almost DailyBrett and the rest of the world just learned that author Salman Rushdie was repeatedly stabbed Friday immediately before a literary panel discussion. Before that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot and killed July 8 at a public appearance.

All of these events and countless others (e.g., political assassinations), regardless of the severity of the violence, beg the same question: ‘Where’s the security?’

As a press secretary/campaign press director for eight years for the most well know Armenian public official on the planet, former California Governor George Deukmejian, everyone on our staff never forgot/never had to be reminded about the always broiling Turkish-Armenian dispute over the 1915 genocide.

Joining the Deukmejian Campaign Committee in early 1982, your author distinctly remembers reporters asking then-Attorney General Deukmejian, if he “understood” the sentiments behind the murder of Turkish Consul General Kemel Arikan by the Justice Commandos for the Armenian Genocide.

It was a trap question.

Deukmejian declared forcefully and categorically there was zero justification for cold-blooded murder. Almost DailyBrett never needed to be reminded of the sensitivity of this issue considering that Turkey — unlike Germany — to this day has never admitted its responsibility for the genocide against 1 million Armenians.

Tears were shed in the governor’s office each April 24, the Armenian Day of Remembrance.

Against this backdrop, your author naturally left it to the California State Police to provide for the governor’s safety, but was always ready to advise and help. One of the jobs of the press secretary and our advance team was to ensure and guarantee the environment for the governor was always under our control.

Accredited members of the media were encouraged to report the governor’s news conferences, briefings and public events. Ersatz reporters were shown to the door. News conferences were well covered, but not by people who had zero business being there.

Outside of 1982 direct debates (Deukmejian vs Mike Curb and Deukmejian vs Tom Bradley), other voices did not participate in our carefully controlled events. They had their pontification and bloviation opportunities, and that’s the way it should be.

As the director of Corporate Public Relations for publicly traded LSI Logic, Almost DailyBrett still insisted upon control of the environment in which our founder/CEO Wilf Corrigan was speaking and presenting.

Regardless of the job — politics, trade association, corporate, agency, university — your author has always insisted on control, and more importantly security for any public appearance.

The World Is A Dangerous Place

The 1988 author of “The Satanic Verses,” Salman Rushdie, recently made the decision to live a normal life.

He is now in intensive care, fighting for his life after multiple knife wounds. Where was security?

After decades of hiding because of Iran’s fatwa and the offering of a $3 million bounty for the death of Rushdie, the author concluded the coast was clear. There were no bag searches or magnetometers Friday. He was not accompanied by security.

Iran apparently doesn’t forget.

Can we provide 100 percent guarantees when it comes to control, and more importantly personal safety? No one thought one of the movie legends sitting in the audience at the Academy Awards would attack a presenter on stage. Why would someone do that?

Chris Rock ended up with a smarting cheek from a hard hand slap. Next time could be worse unless and until The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gets more serious about security and yes, controls its environment.

The same applies to every other organization.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/01/29/turkish-consul-slain-in-los-angeles/792a6eeb-ad2c-4d40-9c4b-f8ac72866b5e/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62532200

Celebrating A Time When Civility Reigned

Secret Service Protection For A Press Secretary?

Time To Bury Tired Techs?

“I don’t care about a stock’s past, I only care about its future.” — CNBC Mad Money host Jim Cramer

Did Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook — err Meta Platforms — just join the ranks of publicly traded Tired Techs?

There was a time Almost DailyBrett invested in (“The Chip Giant”) Intel and all things routers-and-switches Cisco. They were the high fliers in the 1990s, but they have been dead money for decades. Your author sold these dogs with fleas years ago.

The same is true for boring and tedious woofers including GE, IBM, AT&T and HP and many, many others.

Your author can only come up with only two former Tired Techs, which crafted credible new narratives backed by real sustained results exhibiting a new freshness and vibrancy to Wall Street: Apple (e.g., Steve Jobs and Tim Cook) and Microsoft (e.g, Satya Nadella).

Almost DailyBrett never thought he would see the day that once-bully Intel would decisively fall behind microprocessor competitor, AMD.

The most important semiconductor company in the world is now graphics processors champ, Jen-Hsun Huang’s NVIDIA with a $650 billion market cap, approaching two times higher valuation than Intel and AMD combined.

17 Mar 2015 — Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of Nvidia Corp., gives a keynote presentation during the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California. — Image by © Kim Kulish/Corbis

As a former Silicon Valley director of corporate public relations for 10 years for dearly departed LSI Logic, your author can appreciate the communication challenges facing PR and marketing pros struggling to get any traction for the Bruce Springsteen “Glory Days” Tired Techs.

The stories about Moore’s Law, IBM’s Watson, Jack Welch and the Hewlett-Packard inventor’s Palo Alto garage became langweilig years ago. If stocks are forward-looking indicators as Jim Cramer correctly surmises, where is tomorrow’s narrative? Can these dogs learn new tricks?

Why should overwhelmed anchors, correspondents, editors, reporters, sell-side and buy-side analysts, institutional and even retail investors care about these companies with zero new to say? If you want dead money just head over to your neighborhood bank. Galloping 7.25 percent inflation will swallow any of your gains.

What Happens When The Music Stops?

For the first time Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) lost daily users sequentially, dropping 500,000 and missing analyst estimates for bottom line results and growth going forward. Company shares are off more than $100 or almost 32 percent year-to-date.

Arrogant Zuckerberg, who magically unified woefully divided Democrats and Republicans in their collective revulsion against his once legendary (“The Social Network”) company, has to appreciate the tyranny of numbers. The social media pioneer topped out at 2.91 billion monthly active users (MAU) and 1.93 billion daily active users (DAU), both below analyst estimates.

How much further can Facebook grow or not? Just as the PC market reached saturation, the same is true with Facebook. That may explain the poorly communicated and rationalized name change to Meta Platforms Inc., focusing on the nebulous metaverse. Zuckerberg similar to Jobs, Cook and Nadella recognizes his business has stalled, and is attempting to change the narrative.

Keep in mind what the late great John Madden once said: “You can’t put frosting on manure.”

Almost DailyBrett has seen this movie before. Your author’s former employer, LSI Logic, was a high flyer with its storied design wins to produce the processor for the first two iterations (great Silicon Valley word) for the Sony PlayStation. There were zero American design wins with a major Japanese firm until the LSI Logic breakthrough.

Eventually the predictable question came a calling: ‘What else is new?’

The narrative eventually stagnates and grows stale.

Steve Jobs innovated with the first smart Apple iPhone in 2007. Satya Nadella turned the Microsoft air craft carrier around in 2014. Today the company is a worldwide leader in the cloud.

Are there any rays of hope for Tired Tech champions Intel, Cisco GE, IBM, AT&T and HP? Almost DailyBrett is not betting his retirement on these dinosaurs. Will Zuckerberg sell the world on the metaverse?

Don’t bet on him, don’t bet against him.

https://www.investopedia.com/facebook-meta-q4-fy2021-earnings-report-recap-5217818

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/02/facebook-parent-meta-fb-q4-2021-earnings.html

NVIDIA 4 FAANG

Farewell LSI Logic

In Search of Another Suite H33, Kirkland House