• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
MPWBroadsheet

Milk Bar, Uber Lawsuit, DeVos Disclosures: Broadsheet for Nov. 9

By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
Down Arrow Button Icon
November 9, 2017, 7:40 AM ET

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Milk Bar bakery is expanding, Marissa Mayer blames Moscow for the Yahoo data breach, and we get a good look at Betsy DeVos’s finances. Have a sweet Thursday.

EVERYONE'S TALKING

•Meet the next Martha Stewart. Yesterday, Milk Bar—the whimsical bakery founded by Christina Tosi—announced that it has closed its first-ever round of funding, a Series A in which RSE Ventures was the sole investor. In an exclusive interview with my Fortune colleague Beth Kowitt, Tosi says she wants to use the funding to bring her desserts to more people, which speaks to one of the reasons she got out of fine dining in the first place.

But Milk Bar’s expansion is about more than new stores. “It’s about finding more thoughtful, meaningful ways to reach people,” Tosi tells Beth. That includes growing e-commerce and launching more cooking classes. The funding will also allow Tosi to hire employees with specific expertise rather than only utility players. “It gives us a greater opportunity to make decisions based on a strategy and not feel like we’re chasing after something,” she says.

Tosi earned a cult following for her products—which include crack pie, compost cookies, and cereal milk soft serve—and opened 14 locations without taking any outside investment. And she's profitable.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for Milk Bar to evolve into a lifestyle brand, to take the brick and mortar and extend it,” says RSE Ventures co-founder and CEO Matt Higgins. “I see Christina as perhaps the next incarnation of Martha Stewart for this generation.”

Read more of Beth's story here: Fortune

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

•Mayer blames Moscow. During her testimony to Senate yesterday about the data breaches at her former employer, one-time Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer blamed Russia: “Unfortunately, while all our measures helped Yahoo successfully defend against the barrage of attacks by both private and state-sponsored hackers, Russian agents intruded on our systems and stole our users’ data," she told the Commerce Committee. Fortune

•At least he's honest? At the same Senate hearing, Paulino Barros, Equifax's interim CEO (the company was also the victim of a massive cyber attack) refused to guarantee that the company would not force consumers into arbitration to resolve disputes. As FastCo notes, "the frustrating exchange highlights the extent to which companies have come to rely on forced arbitration—and the fact that they’re unlikely to give up the practice without legislation forcing them to." Recall that arbitration agreements are a major factor in why sexual harassment cases in major corporations so rarely come to light. Fast Company

•Another Uber suit! Roxana Del Toro Lopez, a former engineer at Uber, is suing the company for using "stack ranking" to evaluate employees. The process forces managers to measure their employees against one another—so even if two people are performing identically, they can’t be rated equally. Lopez alleges that women lost out because of the system, resulting in lower pay and fewer promotions. Though the ride-hailing company recently abandoned stack ranking, nearly one-third of Fortune 1000 still use it. Bloomberg

•Weinstein's list. Actress Asia Argento—one of Harvey Weinstein's accusers—tweeted out a Google document of the women who have accused the movie producer of sexual harassment or assault on Tuesday afternoon. The current tally, according to the document: 18 women allegedly raped, nearly 100 allegedly harassed. (Weinstein has denied all accusations.) Twitter

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

•DeVos disclosures. Want to know how billionaires invest their money? Thanks to Betsy DeVos being appointed U.S. education secretary, you now can. In this neat interactive graphic, WSJ illustrates the investment structure used by the DeVos family office, as well as reveals lots of details about the family's assets (which include at least 10 boats, four planes, and two helicopters).  Wall Street Journal

•Space race (to parity). A new collaboration between Russian and American space agencies began on Nov. 7. The crew, which consists of three male and three female astronauts, is sealed in a 430-sq-ft simulated spacecraft in Moscow for a little over two weeks. They are laying the groundwork for future moon voyages—and one of the things being tested is the optimal male-female ratio for trips. Quartz

•Today in TV land.Julianna Margulies has been cast in the upcoming AMC drama Dietland, where she will play "a wildly ambitious magazine editor whose world is thrown into chaos when a feminist terrorist organization starts targeting people in her orbit," reports Variety. Meanwhile, Apple has struck a deal for a new TV-news focused drama starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston.

•West says it best. In another *insert fire emoji* op-ed, feminist writer Lindy West explains why it "it took me two decades to become brave enough to be angry." She goes on: "Feminism is the collective manifestation of female anger. They suppress our anger for a reason. Let’s prove them right." New York Times

Share today's Broadsheet with a friend.
Looking for previous Broadsheets? Click here.

ON MY RADAR

Hillary Clinton guest edits Teen Vogue Volume IV Teen Vogue

5 ways women won big on the first Trump-era election night Fortune

Benjamin Genocchio, director of international art fairs, accused of sexual harassment New York Times

From the Islamic State to suburban Texas The Atlantic

QUOTE

You can’t test yourself in safety.
Uma Thurman, who debuted on Broadway last night
About the Author
By Valentina Zarya
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in MPW

Workplace CultureSports
Exclusive: Billionaire Michele Kang launches $25 million U.S. Soccer institute that promises to transform the future of women’s sports
By Emma HinchliffeDecember 2, 2025
11 days ago
C-SuiteLeadership Next
Ulta Beauty CEO Kecia Steelman says she has the best job ever: ‘My job is to help make people feel really good about themselves’
By Fortune EditorsNovember 5, 2025
1 month ago
ConferencesMPW Summit
Executives at DoorDash, Airbnb, Sephora and ServiceNow agree: leaders need to be agile—and be a ‘swan’ on the pond
By Preston ForeOctober 21, 2025
2 months ago
Jessica Wu, co-founder and CEO of Sola, at Fortune MPW 2025
MPW
Experts say the high failure rate in AI adoption isn’t a bug, but a feature: ‘Has anybody ever started to ride a bike on the first try?’
By Dave SmithOctober 21, 2025
2 months ago
Jamie Dimon with his hand up at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit
SuccessProductivity
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says if you check your email in meetings, he’ll tell you to close it: ’it’s disrespectful’
By Preston ForeOctober 17, 2025
2 months ago
Pam Catlett
ConferencesMPW Summit
This exec says resisting FOMO is a major challenge in the AI age: ‘Stay focused on the human being’
By Preston ForeOctober 16, 2025
2 months ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
Tariffs are taxes and they were used to finance the federal government until the 1913 income tax. A top economist breaks it down
By Kent JonesDecember 12, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Apple cofounder Ronald Wayne sold his 10% stake for $800 in 1976—today it’d be worth up to $400 billion
By Preston ForeDecember 12, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
40% of Stanford undergrads receive disability accommodations—but it’s become a college-wide phenomenon as Gen Z try to succeed in the current climate
By Preston ForeDecember 12, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
The Fed just ‘Trump-proofed’ itself with a unanimous move to preempt a potential leadership shake-up
By Jason MaDecember 12, 2025
23 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
For the first time since Trump’s tariff rollout, import tax revenue has fallen, threatening his lofty plans to slash the $38 trillion national debt
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 12, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Apple CEO Tim Cook out-earns the average American’s salary in just 7 hours—to put that into context, he could buy a new $439,000 home in just 2 days
By Emma BurleighDecember 12, 2025
1 day ago
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.