Les Moonves, who’s not going to talk about that thing you want him to talk about.
getty 545161920
Last Friday, The New Yorker published a story in which six women accused CBS chief Les Moonves of sexual harassment spanning decades. So when the company announced that he would be participating in Thursday’s earnings call, many wondered whether he would take the time to address the claims, or allow analysts to pepper him with questions about being an alleged monster who, Ronan Farrow reported, retaliated against women who rebuffed his advances. (Moonves apologized in a statement for making “some women uncomfortable,” but said he “always understood and respected—and abided by the principle—that ‘no’ means ‘no.’”) At 4:30 P.M., analysts on the conference call got their answer:
Leslie Moonves, the chief executive of CBS, did not address misconduct allegations against him during the company’s earnings call on Thursday, his first opportunity to speak publicly since the allegations were first made public . . . Moonves did speak on the call but concentrated on the financials of the company and its new projects during his opening statements. Analysts on the call asked questions about the company’s financials and future but did not touch on the allegations.
At the start of the call, Adam Townsend, head of investor relations, told listeners: “In light of pending litigation and other matters, and on the advice of counsel, the scope of today’s call and any questions will be limited to the quarterly results of the company.” Moonves was, on the other hand, happy to discuss Sacha Baron Cohen’s new satire mockumentary series, and all the money CBS is going to make off of legalized gambling.
Paul Manafort spent millions of dollars on hideous clothes, Trump-esque landscaping
It’s day three of the Paul Manafort trial, and thanks to the fact that the former Trump campaign manager spent a large chunk of his allegedly ill-gotten gains on sartorial pursuits, prosecutors are still talking about his clothes. And amazingly, his $15,000 ostrich jacket and 80s-era double-breasted suits aren’t the most objectionable items in his closet. Instead, that honor goes to this $18,500 python jacket, which Paulie Walnuts apparently just had to have.
Elsewhere, jurors learned on Thursday that Manafort spent roughly half a million dollars on landscaping for his Hamptons home, which included a man-made waterfall and a “red flower bed in the shape of an ‘M,’” an idea we assume Trump is going to force the Rose Garden caretaker to implement ASAP.
China suggests the U.S. realize how f–king crazy it sounds
“We hope that those directly involved in the United States’ trade policies can calm down, carefully listen to the voices of U.S. consumers . . . and hear the collective call of the international community,” Wang Yi, the Chinese government’s top diplomat, said in Singapore a day after reports surfaced that the White House is considering upping tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports from 10 percent to 25 percent, a move that would significantly ratchet up trade tensions between two of the world’s largest economies. Speaking of which . . .
Agricultural businesses across the U.S. are reeling from retaliatory tariffs sparked by President Donald Trump’s global trade offensive—levies imposed on a wide range of American goods from soybeans and pork to ginseng and cranberries. The duties from trading partners including China, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union have deepened a downturn that was already sapping incomes in the U.S. Farm Belt.
“If the tariffs hold, the near-term impact will be devastating to small businesses both in the U.S. and the E.U.,” Randy Fairman, an agricultural consultant, told The Wall Street Journal. “There is no place in the supply chain where a 25-percent tariff could be absorbed.”
Trump administration unveils plan to (further) destroy the environment
Somewhere in Oklahoma, Scott Pruitt is shedding a silent tear because he couldn’t be there to celebrate this joyous occasion:
The Trump administration on Thursday put forth its long-awaited proposal to freeze anti-pollution and fuel-efficiency standards, significantly weakening one of President Barack Obama’s signature policies to combat global warming . . . The plan, jointly published by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department, would roll back a 2012 rule that required automakers to nearly double the fuel economy of passenger vehicles to an average of about 54 miles per gallon by 2025. It would halt requirements that automakers build cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars including hybrids and electric vehicles.
Hilariously, the administration is trying to sell its move to accelerate climate change as an attempt to save lives, claiming that scrapping the Obama-era rules will prevent more than 12,700 deaths over a decade.
To support this claim, the proposal makes three main arguments. First, people who buy fuel-efficient vehicles will end up driving more, increasing the odds that they will get into a crash. Second, the fuel-efficient vehicles will themselves be more expensive, slowing the rate at which people buy newer vehicles with advanced safety features. Third, automakers will have to make their cars lighter in response to rising standards, slightly hurting safety.
Experts say they’re full of s–t. “I don’t know how they are going to defend this analysis,” Antonio M. Bento, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Southern California, told The New York Times. “I just don’t think it’s correct.”
Elsewhere!
Apple wins race to be first trillion-dollar company (Financial Times)
Top Trump Donor Agreed to Pay Michael Cohen $10 Million for Nuclear Project Push (W.S.J.)
Ross Signals More Tariff Pain Ahead in China Trade Battle (Bloomberg)
Trump’s Madman Theory of Trade Negotiations Won’t Win (Bloomberg)
Sonos Soars on Debut (W.S.J.)
Steve Bannon says he owns bitcoin and is working on his own cryptocurrency (CNBC)
The Trump administration is headed for a gigantic debt headache (CNBC)
Scotts Miracle-Gro C.E.O. lays into cannabis unit over quarterly results: ‘Those bastards are gun-shy as s— right now’ (CNBC)
