Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The police find no evidence of rape in the UVA case, Taylor Swift is buying up Internet domains and Ted Cruz doesn’t have much to say about his wife’s career. Read on to learn how GoDaddy is attempting to rehab its sexist image. Have a great Tuesday.
EVERYONE'S TALKING
• No evidence. The Charlottesville, Virginia Police Department says it has found no evidence that a woman was gang raped at a University of Virginia frat house in 2012. It is suspending its investigation, but says that the inquiry is not closed. The announcement comes four months after a now-discredited Rolling Stone story. Fortune's Pattie Sellers notes that the police report should provide some reprieve for UVA president Teresa Sullivan, who has been criticized for her handling of campus sexual assaults, among other things.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
• Bread beats banks? Goldman Sachs managing director Heidi Cruz will take an unpaid leave to help with husband Ted's presidential campaign. The candidate praised his wife's career in business from the stage on Monday, but he didn't mention anything about Goldman. So what did he talk about? Her grade-school bakery business. Bloomberg
• Davis goes to bat. Mo'Ne Davis, the 13-year-old pitching phenom who blew us away at the Little League World Series, is standing up for a player who was kicked off his college team after insulting her on Twitter. Davis wrote a letter asking Bloomsburg University to reconsider its decision to cut Joey Casselberry, who called Davis a "slut" and ridiculed an upcoming Disney film about her accomplishments. Fox News
• Mistress of her domains. Once again, Taylor Swift reminds us just how savvy a businesswoman she really is. She's already trademarked a handful of key phrases, used Instagram to undercut the paparazzi and pulled her music from streaming service Spotify. Now the pop star is getting ahead of online pornographers by buying up all the adult-sounding Internet domains that include her name. Fortune
• A 50% solution? American Underground says it hopes to become the country's most diverse startup incubator by 2017. The Durham, N.C.-based group says it's aiming to make women- and minority-owned firms a full 50% of its startups by the end of next year. Right now these companies account for 36% of American Underground's 225 startups, up from just 6% in 2013. CNNMoney
• Preventative measures. Actor Angelina Jolie Pitt writes about her decision to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes preventatively removed after a cancer scare. Will this op-ed trigger as many passionate responses as the one she wrote about her double mastectomy? We'll see. New York Times
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: eBay has appointed Gail McGovern, CEO of the American Red Cross, to its board of directors. Helene Gayle will become the inaugural CEO of the McKinsey Social Initiative, a new nonprofit arm of consultancy McKinsey & Co. Previously, Gayle served as CEO of humanitarian group CARE.
BROADVIEW
GoDaddy's latest attempt to escape its sexist reputation
When you hear "GoDaddy," what comes to mind? Blake Irving, the company's CEO, really hopes it is not the image of a scantily-clad woman.
Late last week, the web hosting company announced that Irving is acting as an executive producer of “CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap," a feature-length documentary that looks at why more women and minorities aren't going into tech. The film, directed and produced by Robin Hauser Reynolds, is slated to premiere at New York's Tribeca Film Festival on April 19. The announcement coincides with news that GoDaddy's upcoming IPO could raise as much as $418 million, bringing the company's market value to nearly $3 billion.
Irving has been trying to repair GoDaddy's sexist image since he took over as CEO in January of 2013. (See our story in Fortune magazine last year: "Finally gave a damn 'bout a bad reputation.") But based on how many news reports on the IPO referenced the company's infamous ad campaigns, he still has a way to go. Starting in 2005, GoDaddy ran a series of racy Super Bowl commercials featuring women such as race car driver Danica Patrick and supermodel Bar Rafaeli—usually in some state of undress. The ads infuriated some consumers and gave rise to Breakupwithgodaddy.com, a movement to boycott the company. Irving told the New York Times that they also caused some female business owners to pressure Etsy, an online marketplace, to stop doing business with GoDaddy.
Irving was not available to comment for this story.
While those ads got a lot of attention, Irving told the Times, they were also "on the edge of inappropriate." Under his leadership, the company has ditched the sexually provocative commercials. (It's worth noting that the company had another Super Bowl fail this year, though this time the objections came largely from animal rights advocates.) GoDaddy has also made some women-centric marketing moves lately, including putting a giant "#STEM" on the back of Patrick’s pink, GoDaddy-sponsored Breast Cancer Awareness car. The acronym, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math, is meant to bring awareness to the lack of women in these technical fields.
To read my full story, click here.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• Can Wynn win? The New York Times does a deep dive into Elaine P. Wynn's fight to retain a seat on the board of Wynn Resorts. Wynn is arguing that her status as a co-founder, the third-largest shareholder--and the only director who is not a white man--should ensure her seat. The board’s governance committee says that Wynn's desire to sell her stock could mean that she and ex-husband Stephen Wynn may lose their controlling interest in the company, and shows her to be acting against the interest of Wynn Resorts. The board will vote on the matter on April 24.
• Decoding the Doodle. Did you Google yesterday? If so, you probably saw the doodle celebrating the 133rd birthday of mathematician Emmy Noether. Noether's work made groundbreaking contributions to algebra and physics, and earned a praise from another mathematician you might know: Albert Einstein. He once called Noether "the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced." Time
• Kind of a big deal. Gretchen Perkins, a partner at private equity firm Huron Capital Partners, was named Dealmaker of the Year at Mergers & Acquisitions' 8th Annual M&A Mid-Market Awards. Perkins originated the majority of deals closed by her firm in 2014. Mergers & Acquisitions
• Back to the boards. Former Broadsheet editor Caroline Fairchild weighs in on Sheryl Sandberg and Marc Andreessen's plan to send women to boot camps dedicated to helping prepare them to serve on company boards. Her take? To really make a difference, the focus should be on educating the boards themselves. As long as they don't prioritize diversity, little will change. LinkedIn
• Leveling up. Platforms like eBay and Etsy are helping female entrepreneurs turn tiny businesses into a multi-million enterprises. Of course, scaling up can be tricky. In this Fast Company story, successful female entrepreneurs share their tips for taking your business to the next level.
• Another one checks out. Janet Dhillon, EVP and general counsel at J.C. Penney, is leaving the company. She's the second senior executive to leave the retailer in the last week. Biz Women
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ON MY RADAR
A revisionist history of America's oldest women's prison—written by current prisoners. Slate
Check out the Hillary Clinton "Emoji" cover of this week's New Yorker The New Yorker
Which badass woman leader are you? Fusion
A globetrotting Yelp exec shares her business travel tips Biz Journals
10 Women on their female bosses New York Magazine
QUOTE
I don’t feel like I’ve really earned the right. I want to respect all the moms out there.
Actor Eva Mendes, on why she refuses to give parenting advice after being a mom for just a few months.
