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The annual shareholder meetings of Exxon Mobil and Chevron, scheduled for Wednesday, are set to be largely sedate, as they will be held virtually. But their European rivals had raucous meetings last week, with environmental protesters storming the stage at Shell\u2019s gathering and clashing with tear-gas-wielding police outside Total\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Despite the drama, however, climate-focused shareholder activists are being forced to rethink their approach, two years after the tiny hedge fund Engine No. 1 won a stunning victory over Exxon, Vivienne Walt writes for DealBook.<\/p>\n
Activists have failed to win more than 50 percent in many key proxy votes since then.<\/strong> That string of disappointing results is forcing a reckoning at some of the sector\u2019s biggest players: \u201cIn June, we\u2019re going to revisit our strategy, and think about what\u2019s next for the coming years,\u201d Mark van Baal, the founder of the shareholder activist group Follow This, told DealBook.<\/p>\n And it comes despite major investors backing shareholder activists\u2019 efforts: Norway\u2019s $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund, for instance, has pledged to side with them on climate issues on the ballot at Exxon and Chevron.<\/p>\n The conundrum:<\/strong> how to convince investors to prioritize long-term climate risks over booming oil profits. Last year was \u201cthe year the empire struck back,\u201d according to Mr. van Baal, as oil giants successfully argued that energy crises during a time of inflation, war and a post-pandemic travel boom trumped the climate crisis.<\/p>\n So far, many demands from climate groups for the industry to decarbonize have only garnered about 20 percent approval from shareholders.<\/p>\n Activists are weighing changes to their playbook.<\/strong> Mr. Van Baal outlined the following strategy:<\/p>\n Stay invested in the oil giants, to keep voting for climate resolutions. <\/p>\n Widen impact by putting pressure on investment banks and insurers that enable oil and gas projects.<\/p>\n Take more legal actions, building on a landmark 2021 ruling in the Netherlands, where a judge instructed Shell to accelerate its energy transition, and include tougher emissions standards in its targets. (That has drawbacks: The strategy is expensive and could take years to play out in the courts. It\u2019s also less likely to succeed in the United States, where conservatives are pushing back against so-called environmental, social and corporate governance measures.)<\/p>\n Frustrations are boiling over in the activist camp, <\/strong>and many say change is needed. \u201cI\u2019ve been in the climate movement for 15 years, and I get a sense of desperation,\u201d said Mark Raven of 350.org, an international climate activist group, some of whose members participated in last week\u2019s protests. In particular, he added, \u201cYounger activists are unhappy with things that have gone before.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, DealBook will examine why activists have felt so dejected since Engine No. 1\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Holmes is expected to report to prison on Tuesday.<\/strong> The disgraced founder of the blood-testing start-up Theranos is scheduled to begin a 135-month sentence for defrauding investors. She is expected to report to a minimum-security prison in Texas that accommodates family visits.<\/p>\n Tech leaders plan to warn of artificial intelligence\u2019s \u201cexistential\u201d threat to humanity.<\/strong> More than 350 executives, researchers and engineers working in A.I. signed onto a one-sentence statement set for release on Tuesday calling for mitigating the risks of A.I., which they say are on par with nuclear war and pandemics. Signatories include Sam Altman of OpenAI and Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind.<\/p>\n Turkey\u2019s currency falls after Recep Tayyip Erdogan wins re-election.<\/strong> The lira hit a record low after the incumbent president prevailed in a runoff, extending his rule into a third decade. Among investors\u2019 worries is that Turkey will maintain a monetary policy that focuses on growth and exports instead of reducing inflation, with Erdogan arguing that raising interest rates increases inflation.<\/p>\n British grocery chains reportedly weigh capping prices.<\/strong> Retailers are in talks with government ministers on voluntary limits for staple items, according to The Guardian, in response to the soaring inflation in food prices that has plagued Europe. Meanwhile, here\u2019s an argument for why a lack of competition in the grocery industry is behind rising prices in the United States.<\/p>\n The debt-ceiling deal reached over the holiday weekend must still survive a gauntlet of congressional votes. But investors are already declaring \u201cmission accomplished\u201d as S&P 500 futures and Treasury bills advance on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The House could vote on the agreement as soon as Wednesday, though it must first get through the chamber\u2019s powerful Rules Committee.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what\u2019s in the deal,<\/strong> which economists gave a decent grade:<\/p>\n Two years of federal spending limits in exchange for pushing future debt-ceiling discussions beyond the 2024 elections.<\/p>\n An end to the Biden administration\u2019s freeze on student loan payments.<\/p>\n Stricter work requirements for public assistance programs, including food stamps, though Medicaid won\u2019t be affected. (The requirements drew opposition from both sides of the aisle.)<\/p>\n A streamlined approval process for energy projects \u2014 known as permitting \u2014 through the creation of a single agency to oversee the matter. The deal also includes approval for a multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline through West Virginia, a win for Senator Joe Manchin.<\/p>\n Not<\/em> included in the bill are any major commitments to reduce the $31.4 trillion national debt. But The Times calculates that nondiscretionary spending cuts could save $860 billion over the next decade, and the reductions aren\u2019t expected to inflict much pain on the economy.<\/p>\n The House could vote on the deal as soon as Wednesday. <\/strong>But some Republican members of the Rules Committee have already come out against the bill. (One, Representative Chip Roy of Texas, has argued that all nine of the committee\u2019s Republicans must sign off on all legislation before the panel.)<\/p>\n There are hurdles in the Senate as well, with Republicans including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah objecting to the bill and threatening delays.<\/p>\n The clock is ticking.<\/strong> As of last Thursday, the Treasury Department\u2019s cash balance was at a six-year low of less than $39 billion. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen now reckons that the government will run out of money on June 5.<\/p>\n Private gigs \u2014 \u201cprivates,\u201d in music industry lingo \u2014 are seemingly popping up everywhere, from charity galas in Manhattan to luxury hotel openings in the Persian Gulf. Bankrolled by the ultrarich and companies, these intimate star-studded performances are off-limits to the general public.<\/p>\n The private has become a reliable moneymaker for both chart-toppers and performers well past their prime, Evan Osnos writes in an entertaining, f-bomb-filled article in The New Yorker that opens with Flo Rida, the rapper, playing a bar mitzvah in Lincolnshire, an affluent Chicago suburb.<\/p>\n For years, the world of privates was dominated by aging crooners, a category known delicately as \u201cnostalgia performers.\u201d Jacqueline Sabec, an entertainment lawyer in San Francisco, who has negotiated many private-gig contracts, told me, \u201cArtists used to say no to these all the time, because they just weren\u2019t cool.\u201d<\/p>\n But misgivings have receded dramatically. In January, Beyonc\u00e9 did her first show in more than four years \u2014 not in a stadium of screaming fans but at a new hotel in Dubai, earning a reported $24 million for an hourlong set.<\/p>\n Few turn down the money from doing a private nowadays,<\/strong> with Jennifer Lopez, Maroon 5 and Eric Clapton all agreeing to them. Even younger artists don\u2019t fear any stigma from what one agent said is ultimately a situation where \u201cit\u2019s a convention or a party, and you just happen to be making noise at one end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n But some continue to resist, Mr. Osnos writes, including Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift and, \u201cfor reasons that nobody can quite clarify,\u201d AC\/DC.<\/p>\n \u2014 The record amount of gambling revenues racked up by <\/em>Las Vegas casinos<\/em> last year. Pricier hotel rooms and concert tickets, and smaller winnings at the blackjack table, are part of the new economics of the Las Vegas Strip.<\/em><\/p>\n It isn\u2019t just about the debt-ceiling deal: Markets will be looking at jobs, inflation data and corporate earnings. Here\u2019s what to watch.<\/p>\n Wednesday: <\/strong>Consumer price index data for Germany, Italy and France, important gauges for inflation in the European Union, is scheduled for release. Salesforce, Crowdstrike and C3.ai report quarterly results.<\/p>\n Thursday:<\/strong> Earnings from Dollar General, Macy\u2019s and Lululemon will provide a snapshot of consumer buying power.<\/p>\n Friday:<\/strong> It\u2019s jobs day. The Labor Department is set to publish the final nonfarm payrolls report before the Fed\u2019s June rate-setting meeting. Economists polled by Reuters estimate that employers added 193,000 jobs last month.<\/p>\n Deals<\/strong><\/p>\n The investment firms Francisco Partners and TPG have reportedly ended talks to buy New Relic, a business software company. (Reuters)<\/p>\n Richard Branson and the Nikola founder Trevor Milton were among the company insiders and early investors in SPACs who profited from well-timed sales before their companies\u2019 stock prices tumbled. (WSJ)<\/p>\n Inside the legal fight roiling Centerview Partners, one of Wall Street\u2019s most successful independent investment banks. (FT)<\/p>\n \u201cWhy Are Markets So Calm? It\u2019s Revenge of the Quant Funds.\u201d (WSJ)<\/p>\n Policy<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s not just gamers: Antitrust regulators considering Microsoft\u2019s merger with Activision are also obsessed with Call of Duty. (WSJ)<\/p>\n The U.S. reached a supply chain agreement with 13 other countries in the Indo-Pacific region in an effort to limit their dependence on China. (NYT)<\/p>\n Pandemic-era policies helped shrink the income gap, but that reduction in inequality now appears in danger as the threat from the coronavirus recedes. (Politico)<\/p>\n \u201cBusiness leaders search for alternatives to Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis\u201d (FT)<\/p>\n Best of the rest<\/strong><\/p>\n How to navigate the evolving tipping culture. (WSJ)<\/p>\n The advertising giant WPP has teamed with Nvidia to use generative artificial intelligence to speed up the creation of ad campaigns for its clients. (FT)<\/p>\n Speaking of Nvidia: The chip maker is on the verge of joining the trillion-dollar-valuation club. (Reuters)<\/p>\n We\u2019d like your feedback! Please email thoughts and suggestions to dealbook@nytimes.com.<\/p>\n Andrew Ross Sorkin is a columnist and the founder and editor at large of DealBook. He is a co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and the author of “Too Big to Fail.” He is also a co-creator of the Showtime drama series “Billions.” @<\/span>andrewrsorkin \u2022<\/span> Facebook <\/span><\/p>\n Bernhard Warner joined the The Times in 2022 as a senior editor for DealBook. Previously he was a senior writer and editor at Fortune focusing on business, the economy and the markets. @<\/span>bernhardwarner <\/span><\/p>\nHERE\u2019S WHAT\u2019S HAPPENING <\/span><\/h3>\n
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