Good morning.
Fortune’s annual World’s Greatest Leaders list is out this morning, and you can find it here. It’s topped by the powerful duo of Bill and Melinda Gates, whose pioneering work in the nonprofit world is profiled by Fortune editor Cliff Leaf here.
For CEO Daily readers, I’ll highlight the business leaders who made the list:
Pony Ma, CEO of Tencent, came in at No. 4 for turning WeChat into the ultimate super-app;
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, earned No. 5 for both seizing new business opportunities and standing firm for using technology to help protect our democracy;
Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart and benefits executive Lisa Woods were at No. 10 for changing the model for employee health benefits;
Aliko Dangote, CEO,of Dangote Industries, No. 11, for combining his business success in Nigeria with powerhouse philanthropy;
Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank, No. 12, for upending the venture capitalism industry;
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, No. 14, for his bold “pivot” to services and subscription revenue;
Chip Bergh, CEO of Levi Strauss, No. 16, for reviving an American icon and leading a campaign against gun violence at the same time;
Tristan Walker, No. 19, for creating both a business—Walker & Co. Brands—and a nonprofit—Code2040—that empower blacks and Hispanics;
Katrina Lake, CEO of Stitch Fix, No. 23, for changing the game for women in corporate America;
Marc Harrison, CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, No. 26, for changing the model for providing low-cost prescription drugs;
Tadashi Yanai, CEO of Fast Retailing, No. 31, for leading the way in sustainable fashion;
Mick Ebeling and Daniel Epstein, No. 32, for creating a pair of startups—Not Impossible Labs and Unreasonable Group—that develop products for the disadvantaged;
Beth Ford, CEO of Land O’Lakes, No. 43, for becoming a role model as the first openly gay women to run a Fortune 500 company;
Tricia Griffith, CEO of Progressive Insurance, No. 46, for her collaborative, creative and successful management style.
What distinguishes these leaders? In his introduction to the list, Fortune’s Geoffrey Colvin pinpoints the role of courage—“a willingness to take action before others do, leading from out front, where risk is often dire and their own future least certain.” We salute them.
More news below.
| Alan Murray | |
| @alansmurray | |
| alan.murray@fortune.com |
Top News
Dimon Succession
Who will succeed Jamie Dimon as JPMorgan Chase CEO one day? His successor is now much more likely to be a woman, after the bank promoted CFO Marianne Lake to head up its consumer-lending businesses, and installed credit-card business chief Jennifer Piepszak as CFO. Wall Street Journal
Lyft Suits
Lyft investors have sued the company for overhyping its market position at last month's IPO. Dual class actions were filed yesterday in San Francisco, saying Lyft's prospectus incorrectly said it had 39% of the U.S. ride-hailing market. Lyft's stock price has fallen by 17% since the listing, partly due to the imminent opportunity of investing in the firm's bigger rival, Uber. Bloomberg
Pinterest IPO
Pinterest's IPO is today. The online scrapbook priced its shares at $19, above the anticipated $15-$17 range. Its IPO prospectus describes a path to profitability (oh hello, ride-hailing firms,) though an ad-spend downturn would be a big problem. The IPO should give Pinterest a $10.1 billion valuation. Fortune
Amazon China
Amazon is all but killing off its Chinese e-commerce operation, which faces stiff competition from Alibaba and JD.com. From mid-July, customers visiting the site will only see a selection of items from Amazon's overseas sites. The firm said it was "working closely with our sellers to ensure a smooth transition and to continue to deliver the best customer experience possible." BBC
Around the Water Cooler
Galaxy Fold
Samsung's attempt to make foldable phone screens a thing (against some people's sage advice) seems to have already hit the skids. Its $2,000 Galaxy Fold devices went out to reviewers, several of whom reported that the screen became unusable within a couple days. This may or may not have something to do with some reviewers removing a thin plastic film on the Fold's screen, which looks like it's meant to be peeled off but apparently really, really isn't. The disaster couldn't be much more high-profile, with affected reviewers writing for publications such as Bloomberg and The Verge. CNET
Facebook Admission
There's a new privacy scandal involving Facebook—shocking, we know—and this time it's about the social network "unintentionally" uploading the email contacts of as many as 1.5 million users, without their permission or knowledge. Facebook says the contacts weren't shared with anyone and it is deleting them. CNBC
North Korea
North Korea has conducted a test of a new "tactical guided weapon" and wants U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo removed from denuclearization talks. The weapon seems to have been of a type that is not banned, which would have swiftly put an end to those talks. Pompeo apparently incurred Pyongyang's wrath by downplaying Kim Jong-un's insistence that the U.S. has until the end of this year to salvage the talks with better terms. Associated Press
Air China
An Air China employee who worked at JFK Airport pleaded guilty yesterday to following Chinese military orders by putting unscreened packages on a New York-Beijing flight. Ying Lin, a naturalized U.S. citizen, faces a sentence of up to a decade. Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers: "Covertly doing the Chinese military’s bidding on U.S. soil is a crime, and Lin and the Chinese military took advantage of a commercial enterprise to evade legitimate U.S. government oversight." Washington Post
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer. Find previous editions here, and sign up for other Fortune newsletters here.
