Good morning.
Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list is out this morning, and the top five are (drumroll please):
1) Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Lockheed Martin
2) Mary Barra, CEO of GM
3) Abigail Johnson, CEO of Fidelity Investments
4) Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM
5) Gail Boudreaux, CEO of Anthem
Okay, we didn’t really need the drumroll, because those are the same top five as last year. But it’s hard to argue those powerhouse players don’t deserve to be on top. And there are some other interesting movers (and shakers) on this year’s list. Among them:
- Julie Sweet, whose promotion to global CEO of Accenture bumped her to #9 from #32 last year;
- Shari Redstone, vice-chair of CBS and Viacom, who has shown her clout over both companies in the last year, earning her a place on the list for the first time, at #14;
- Corie Barry became CEO of Best Buy, a job that earned her #18 on the list;
- And three other CEOs who are new to the list, Lisa Su of AMD, Penny Pennington of Edward Jones, and Christine Leahy of CDW, clocked in at #44, #45 and #46, respectively.
You can find the full list here. More news below.
Alan Murray
alan.murray@fortune.com
@alansmurray
TOP NEWS
Climate Crisis
Bill Gates has called for large-scale public and private investment in the transition to a green economy—even if that means raising taxes on the wealthy. That's according to a Washington Post interview, in which the Microsoft co-founder said it was "unfortunate" the issue of climate change was not a bipartisan cause in the U.S. Friday saw millions of people around the world take to the streets to protest political inaction over the crisis, and a new scientific report says the pace of climate change is accelerating even faster than feared. Washington Post
WeWork Turmoil
The storm of negative attention surrounding WeWork CEO Adam Neumann, thanks to abortive IPO plans that saw the firm's valuation plummet from a nominal $47 billion to as low as $10 billion, may result in his ouster. SoftBank, the startup's big backer, has reportedly turned against Neumann, and WeWork board members are looking into ways to replace him. Reuters
737 Max
The Indonesian government's first formal finding on the crash of a Lion Air flight almost a year ago will reportedly place blame on Boeing design flaws and U.S. oversight lapses, as well as pilot errors and maintenance mistakes. Wall Street Journal
Thomas Cook
The British government is having to repatriate around 160,000 people after their tour operator and flight provider, Thomas Cook, collapsed while they were on holiday. That's just the travellers who are supposed to go home to the U.K.—hundreds of thousands more, whose end destinations lie elsewhere, are still stranded. CNN
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Trump and Ukraine
President Trump has confirmed discussing Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter in a July call with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky. This was the call that prompted an intelligence community whistleblower to speak up, and it reportedly included an attempt to get the Ukranians to launch corruption investigations against the Bidens, possibly with the threat of withholding military aid if they did not cooperate. The revelation seems to be pushing senior Democrats towards launching impeachment proceedings. BBC
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank may be furiously cutting back on most fronts, but one division has big hiring plans: wealth management, which is at the heart of CEO Christian Sewing's revival plans. Division chief Fabrizio Campelli: "We are well under way with the process of hiring 300 people by 2020, all revenue-generating, client-facing individuals, in addition to the 600 we already have." Financial Times
Bitcoin Futures
NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange has launched its bitcoin futures contracts, with the first trade taking place shortly after 8 p.m. yesterday. Whereas CME Group's bitcoin futures contracts, launched in 2017, pay out in cash, ICE's pay out in bitcoin. CNBC
Women to Watch
Want to know more about 10 executives who could soon join (or return to) Fortune's Most Powerful Women List? Here's the article to read, featuring names such as Rite Aid CEO Heyward Donigan, Chase Consumer Banking CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett and Netflix original content chief Cindy Holland. Fortune
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer. Find previous editions here, and sign up for other Fortune newsletters here.
