The Weekly Wrap for Saturday, 17 June 2017

Welcome back to the Wrap. We start this week with the changing-of-the-guard as several notable business leaders move up, sideways, or out. Then we head to south-eastern Bangladesh where the poor Rohingya refugees just can't catch a break. After that, a quick look at the worsening situation in Yemen, a return to DC for Trumpeter, and to finish - a quick look at the best and the worst that the world had to offer this week. Let's go.   DEEP DIVE Where have all the CEO's gone? The passing of the leadership baton at most companies is, normally, a rather dour affair. Protocol is observed and decorum is maintained. And a veneer of stability and continuity is presented to investors and the outside world.  But this week we've had a wide array of departures that have certainly not gone unnoticed. The rise and temporary fall of Travis Kalanick. Uber's embattled CEO Travis Kalanick took an indefinite leave of absence from the ride-sharing startup he cofounded. While no specific reason was given, is it widely believed that a confluence of professional and personal reasons contributed to the decision - Uber has been struggling to cope with accusations of sexual misconduct, senior executive departures, growing competition, and accusations of theft against executives in its self-driving-car unit. And on the personal front Kalanick lost his mother to a boating mishap in late May. His father too was seriously injured in the accident. So, for now Uber is operating without a CEO, a president, a COO, a CFO, a CMO, a CDO or a general counsel. Meanwhile, former US Attorney General Eric Holder completed his investigation of Uber. The investigation had been initiated after a string of highly-publicised sexual harassment claims. Following Holder's report Uber's board fired 20 staff and agreed to implement all of his recommendations. But the board itself came under fire the very next day when board member David Bonderman made a sexist joke and was forced to step down. Since Uber is still a privately traded company it's unclear how much impact the scandals and departures have had on its value, but some outlets have reported that as much as $10b may have been wiped off the company's net worth. This week we also saw one of the brightest lights of Web 1.0 go out. US internet giant Verizon completed its purchase of Yahoo and began the process of merging it with AOL. The buyout ended the five-year tenure of Yahoo's CEO Marissa Mayer, a tech wunderkind who it had been hoped would turn the fabled venture around but instead ended up overseeing a drastic decline in the company's fortunes. This week she quipped that she's glad to be able to use gmail again. Mayer is certainly not the only one to be moved on; at least 15% of Yahoo's workforce will be cut (around 500 staff). The new business will be known as Oath and will be headed up by former AOL chief Tim Armstrong. Verizon's move is yet another fascinating (and potentially unsuccessful) tie-up between companies that own internet infrastructure and those that create and distribute content. Also this week, Jeff Immelt stepped down as the head of General Electric - an American conglomerate with a market capitalisation of nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars. Immelt's 16 years at the helm were characterised by concerted shifts in strategy and interests, something that helped the company Thomas Edison founded transition into the modern era. But investors had grown restive of late and upon news of his departure, GE's stock jumped up 4%. And last but certainly not least is the fiery end to Wu Xiaohui's stewardship of China's Anbang Insurance Group. With nothing but a terse statement to the press, Wu disappeared on Wednesday, stepping down as Chairman. Rumours abounded as to his sudden and mysterious departure until it was later revealed that special investigators pursuing opaque 'economic crimes' had detained Wu. To make matters worse, Beijing has instructed Chinese banks to cut ties with Anbang. Needless to say the insurer-turned-conglomerate is under immense pressure. Anbang arrived in the corporate zeitgest with a bang in 2014 when it bought the luxurious New York Waldorf Astoria for a sum just shy of $2bn. Wu then led an aggressive overseas investment strategy with the motto "we must win the first battle and every battle thereafter". The coming months will reveal whether Anbang's meteoric rise was less than legal.   WORLDLYWISE Bangladesh inundated - Rescue operations continue around the clock in the southeast of the country after its worst-recorded landslides claimed as many as 150 lives. Heavy monsoonal rain has fallen unabated on the Rangmathi, Chittagong and Bandarban districts since Cyclone Mora swept through three weeks ago. Several villages were completely submerged overnight as an astonishing 343mm came down in the space of just 24 hours. The death toll is expected to rise amidst the endeavour to sift through the debris for survivors, bodies and belongings, and the shortage of food, potable drinking water and power. This latest tragedy comes on the back of widespread damage inflicted by Mora upon Rohingya refugee camps just two weeks ago. A destitute people persecuted in their traditional home (neighbouring Myanmar), the Rohingya's plight continues to worsen everyday. A mother carries her malnourished eight-year-old. Cholera ravages Yemen - The civil war in the Arab world's poorest country is now two years old and it has just revealed yet another threat: cholera. In the last fortnight the death toll from the water-borne disease has doubled to nearly 1,000. A child contracts cholera every 35 seconds. So complete is the collapse of Yemen's civil society that doctors have gone without pay for months. The situation on the ground is a pitiful one. Hospitals are regularly flattened by Saudi airstrikes and medicine does not make it through the Coalition's blockade. In an remarkable move, UNICEF has stepped in to pay salaries to the thousands of under-resourced medical professionals. As always, women, children, the poor and the old are disproportionately affected by the affliction. The war shows no sign of stopping, leading a senior UN official to say this week, "humanity is losing out to politics". Those who would like to contribute to UNICEF's Yemen appeal can do so here. TRUMPETER - WEEK 21 This week Trump lashed out at the Russia probe and Mike Pence hired a lawyer. A congressman was one of four people shot in Virginia. Sessions offered contentious testimony to the Senate Committee. Mueller's probe now includes Trump for possible obstruction. The Senate voted to impose more sanctions on Russia. Puerto Rico voted to become a US state. DC and Maryland sued Trump for emoluments clause breaches. The 9th Circuit Court also ruled against Trump's travel ban. Trump held his first cabinet meeting. Melania and Barron moved into the White House. Lawmakers began a bipartisan effort to stop Trump's EPA cuts.   THE BEST OF TIMES... A move to ameliorate the damage of overfishing. Under the sea - Hopefully that where some more fish will live now thanks to a new agreement between nine of the world's biggest fishing companies. Given the irreversible nature of critical overfishing, it's a positive sign that the people charged with taking sea creatures out of the ocean have agreed to strive for balance. The other side of the coin - After all the tumultuous stories of executive departures above, we thought we'd share Tony Prophet's story. The Salesforce 'CEO' (Chief Equality Officer) is turning heads across Silicon Valley with a radical education campaign on sexuality, gender, diversity and discrimination.    THE WORST OF TIMES... What's left of the apartment tower. Towering inferno - Smoke had barely stopped rising from the burned-out Grenfell public housing building before recriminations began. Theresa May has launched a full public inquiry into the matter, as have Scotland Yard and London's Mayor Sadiq Khan. Suggestions are already being aired that the 17 deaths may have been avoidable if a warning about a dangerous cladding material had been heeded.  Civilian toll - An independent report from the Untied Nations has revealed the staggering number of innocents killed by the US-led coalitions bombing campaign over Raqqa. Hundreds have died and at least 160,000 people have been displaced by the bloodshed as Western aircraft soften up ISIS targets ahead of the ground advance.   P.S. Your weekend long read... An entire generation grew up with the understanding that diesel would be the future. It wasn't to be so. The efficiency dividend materialised, but diesel never lived up to its greener (than oil) reputation. This article asks, why not, and whether it's the end of the road for diesel.