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Good morning. I called several sources at crisis communications firms yesterday, wondering how their clients in tech, crypto, manufacturing, health care, law, and other policy-sensitive sectors might be reacting to the Democratic sweep of Congress. Are they rejoicing? Lawyering up? Trying to stay off camera during presidential press conferences that reference ballrooms and meme coins?<\/p>\n
Astute business leaders have long understood the need to stay neutral amid demands for political loyalty and largesse because no party lasts forever. One communications leader said they\u2019re telling clients to \u201cstart talking about 530A accounts,\u201d as Trump Accounts are also known. Another said their health care client is \u201cbreathing easier\u201d in the hope that insurance subsidies might be restored. But the election also revealed the depth of concern around issues that business has to deal with head-on.<\/p>\n
First is the data center debate. Tech companies have poured billions into building out AI infrastructure in once reliably red states like Texas and Ohio. Voters on Tuesday supported efforts to block data center development in all but one of the 38 local ballot contests with completed counts. That will affect the amount of planned capacity that comes online, potentially slowing down AI adoption and development. Business leaders need to address the real and perceived costs of data centers, but such facilities are also a surrogate for fears about AI job losses. A lot of CEOs say the goal is augmentation over elimination, but that\u2019s a hard case to make when companies like Microsoft offer buyouts to 60,000 employees.<\/p>\n
When it comes to the affordability questions, CEOs need to examine real wages, which have largely stagnated in recent months as prices have climbed. They might want to take a cue from Jason Buechel, CEO of Whole Foods and vice president of Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores, who recently made a $230 million pledge to offer higher pay, benefits, and college perks to more than 100,000 Whole Foods workers.<\/p>\n
The bigger lesson here is to pay attention to what really matters. I spoke yesterday with Tim Gerend, the CEO of Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual, who turned out to be the perfect antidote to getting in the weeds of who won where and why.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yes, he\u2019s thinking about AI and a changing policy environment, but he\u2019s more focused on opportunities to help people build financial security in an era in which the government seems less able to meet those needs, regardless of who\u2019s in power. \u201cYounger folks\u2026really feel like no one is looking out for them,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are more responsible for their own retirement security than they\u2019ve ever been \u2026 and they\u2019re not going to find that in crypto or the prediction markets or leveraged ETFs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Running a 170-year-old mutual company might seem to give him the luxury of taking the long view, but, Gerend said, \u201cwe don\u2019t have the luxury of being slow \u2026 in an AI world, the shot clock on everything is shorter.\u201d As for how to build trust? \u201cIn order to be trusted, you\u2019ve got to do things that are trustworthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com<\/p>\n
Top leadership news<\/p>\n
Elon Musk’s big spending yielded few results in the midterms<\/p>\n
Elon Musk spent at least $474 million backing Republican candidates in the midterms\u2014nearly twice what he donated during the 2024 presidential election. About $200 million went to election efforts in Texas alone, but the spending yielded little at the ballot box: Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott both lost to Democratic opponents.<\/p>\n
DoorDash\u2019s $17 billion Instacart deal comes with an awkward rule: No LinkedIn networking<\/p>\n
DoorDash has agreed to buy Instacart for $17 billion. But until the deal closes\u2014sometime between late 2027 and the first half of 2028\u2014DoorDash employees have been instructed not to send or accept new LinkedIn connection requests involving Instacart staff, even if they already know one another.<\/p>\n
Appeals court reverses ruling in challenge to Mamdani\u2019s pied-\u00e0-terre tax rollout<\/p>\n
A New York appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit challenging the rollout of Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s pied-\u00e0-terre tax, ruling that the homeowners who sued had not shown they were harmed. The decision reverses a September judgment by Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi, who had granted the homeowners injunctive and declaratory relief.<\/p>\n
The markets<\/p>\n
S&P 500 futures are up 0.09% this morning. The last session closed up 1.58%. The STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.58% in early trading. The U.K.\u2019s FTSE 100 was up 0.79% in early trading. Japan\u2019s Nikkei 225 was down 1.79%. South Korea\u2019s KOSPI was down 5.28%. China\u2019s CSI 300 was up 0.29%. Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng was up 3.67%. India\u2019s NIFTY 50 was up 2.43%. Bitcoin is up at $80k.<\/p>\n
Around the watercooler<\/p>\n
How Abdul El-Sayed would build Medicare for All, from a wealth tax to a Fed-style governing board by James LaForge<\/p>\n
\u2018Seismic\u2019 blue wave triggers the sinking of oil prices, energy stocks, and the chances of power permitting reform by Jordan Blum\u00a0<\/p>\n
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says \u2018founder mode\u2019 cost him almost his entire executive team: \u2018They left or they didn\u2019t want to work for me\u2019 by Tatiana Sataua<\/p>\n
Democrat wins will slow data center construction and force tech to the negotiating table after even Republican stronghold of Texas flips by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez<\/p>\n
\u2018The opportunity outweighs the challenge\u2019: Bahrain leads drive to restore tourism in the Gulf after eight months of conflict and collapsing visitor numbers by Inzamam Rashid<\/p>\n
CEO Daily is curated and edited by Joseph Abrams, Jason Ma, Claire Zillman, and Lee Clifford.<\/p>\n
#CEOs #Democrats #midterm #sweep<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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