Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Uber picks a controversial investor, Gabby Giffords sounds the alarm, and Donald Trump says something maddeningly sexist—yes, again. Have a relaxing weekend.
EVERYONE'S TALKING
• Uber bad move. Fortune's Dan Primack weighs in on Uber's announcement that it's taking a $3.5 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, boiling the decision down to a simple fact: The company is accepting billions from a government that requires women to have male guardians and effectively prohibits women from driving—let alone driving for Uber. He then goes on to convincingly dismantle the company's likely defenses. If you, like me, believe that Uber's attempts to ensure the safety of female passengers and drivers have been lackluster at best, this may give you yet another reason to get a ride from someone else. Fortune
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
• Survivors speak. Vogue marked yesterday's Gun Violence Awareness Day with a package of moving first-person stories from women who have been touched by shootings. The lead essay is by former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who writes that gun violence is a "full-blown national crisis." Vogue
• Donald danger. Just when you thought Donald Trump couldn't get any more misogynistic... CNN unearthed a 1994 interview in which the presumptive GOP nominee attributed the failure of his marriage to Ivana Trump to his decision to give her a management position at one of his Atlantic City casinos. “I think that putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing,” he said. I'd say the real dangerous thing is giving a man who believes this a shot a the White House. Fortune
• Billionaire BS. Dan Primack also took on Forbes' revision of Elizabeth Holmes' wealth, which the publication estimated at $4.5 billion last year and is now putting at zilch. The problem, he writes, is that their 2015 number was never accurate since she holds no liquid securities in her company, rendering the value of her holdings purely theoretical. Fortune
• Sheryl shuts it down. Speaking at the Recode tech conference, Sheryl Sandberg tried to shut down rumors that she may be next in line for the CEO job at Walt Disney Co. Sandberg, who is a Disney board member, responded to a question about the gig, saying simply, “I don’t want another job." Fortune
• A red alert. Speaking of Sandberg's conference appearance, did you happen to notice the towering red stilettos she wore on stage? HuffPost's Emily Peck did, noting how sharply the Facebook COO's polished outfits differ from those of her famously t-shirted boss. "Their case highlights the fact that even in the tech world, where the concept of dressing down was invented...women and men don’t quite play by the same rules," writes Peck. Huffington Post
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Fitbit added two retail vets, Williams-Sonoma president and CEO Laura Alber and Whole Foods EVP and CFO Glenda Flanagan, to its board. They are Fitbit's first female directors. Sports merchandise licensing company Fanatics named Robin Eletto chief people officer. She most recently was EVP and chief people officer at Millennial Media. Accenture appointed Debra Polishook group chief executive. She is currently group operating officer for Accenture Operations.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• Hot air millionaire. Drybar, the blowout chain founded by Alli Webb, is on track to do $100 million in sales this year, and Buzzfeed pinpoints the "secret sauce" that has helped the company stay ahead of its many competitors. Buzzfeed
• Sharkey gets stealthy. Tina Sharkey, the founder of iVillage, talks to Fortune's Leena Rao about her current gig as an investor with Sherpa Capital and drops some hints about her secretive e-commerce startup, Dhosi. Fortune
• The girl stays in the picture. If you thought Hollywood was dismal for female directors, consider the plight of women cinematographers, who accounted for less than 2% of cinematographers on top films from 1994 to 2013. Now, a growing number of professional groups are trying to improve that percentage. New York Times
• Getting her fix. Katrina Lake, founder of Stitch Fix, talks about being inspired by Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, looking for funding, and dropping out of business school to launch her company. Cosmo
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ON MY RADAR
Let's get real about supporting women in tech Recode
Read Hillary Clinton’s speech on Donald Trump and national security Time
The "Avon ladies" of Pakistan, selling contraception door-to-door The Guardian
Julie Andrews to star in new Netflix children's program EW
QUOTE
I think women are better than men. They are stronger. More evolved.
Actor Ryan Gosling
