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Good morning.
The next CEO of Citi, Jane Fraser—who will become the first woman to head a big Wall Street bank—was interviewed by Fortune’s Claire Zillman on the virtual stage at the Most Powerful Women Summit yesterday, and provided an early look at her priorities for when she assumes the top job in February.
“The priorities will be fairly simple ones. We will be, as you say, in quite challenging times. The critical piece will be saying: What has changed in the world? What is the new normal? What is the future of work? Where will people be working? Digital transformation has been supercharged. What does that mean for business models of the future? There will be quite a lot on the plate.”
Add to that the main course, which will be figuring out how banks make money in an environment of insanely low interest rates and sluggish growth. Reflecting that concern, Citi’s stock has dropped close to 50% since the first of the year. Fraser has broken the glass ceiling, but still faces a challenge in avoiding the glass cliff.
Also on the MPW stage yesterday was the NYSE’s Stacey Cunningham, who said September is now set to be the biggest month for IPOs that “literally, we have ever had.” Topping the list are Palantir and Asana, which both began trading yesterday. Palantir, the government-friendly data mining firm, opened at $10 a share, giving it an amazing $22 billion valuation. Asana, a collaboration software firm founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, began trading at $27, for a $4.1 billion valuation.
Separately, thanks to MO, PA and SG, who all correctly wrote in to take me to task for missing the most inflammatory quote from Tuesday’s presidential debate: President Trump’s “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” I hadn’t fully heard that in the chaos of the debate, and I didn’t immediately recognize its significance. On Wednesday, the President said: “I don’t know who the Proud Boys are. Whoever they are, they need to stand down.” But by that time, the extremist group had been celebrating the President’s acknowledgement on social media for hours.
More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Airline cuts
American Airlines and United will tentatively move ahead with plans to shed a whopping 32,000 jobs in total, due to lawmakers' inability to agree to a broad coronavirus relief package. "We implore our elected leaders to reach a compromise, get a deal done now, and save jobs," said United, which will put 13,400 people out of work as of today. American has given the government a few days to approve aid, otherwise it won't bring back 19,000 workers. Wall Street Journal
Rolls-Royce cash
The aviation downturn has hit engine maker Rolls-Royce, which now says it will need to raise £5 billion ($6.5 billion) to shore up its finances. Two billion pounds will come via a rights issue—which may unlock more cash from the British government—and the remainder from the issuance of new bonds. Reminder: Rolls-Royce has a market cap of just £2.5 billion. Reuters
Tokyo glitch
The Tokyo Stock Exchange halted trading today because of a "system glitch," in the words of Japan Exchange Group, which isn't sure when trading can resume. It's the exchange's worst-ever breakdown, and the first to stop trading for a whole day. New York Times
WFH rights
The German government will push ahead with plans to introduce a legal right to work from home, when possible, and to limit home-working hours. Labor minister Hubertus Heil says the move will reinforce workers' rights and work-life balance. Critics say the idea could weaken workers' ability to engage in collective bargaining. Heil: "The question is how we can turn technological progress, new business models and higher productivity into progress not only for a few, but for many people. How do we turn technological progress into social progress?" Fortune
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Election package
Fortune has put together an in-depth package of articles examining what next month's election means for a wide range of industries, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, and for the American people, whether they be small business owners, unemployed, working parents, or union members. Fortune
Brexit fallout
EY reports that financial services companies operating in the U.K. have so far shifted $1.6 trillion in assets, plus around 7,500 workers, to the European Union ahead of the end-of-year implementation of Brexit. As there is no trade deal with the EU yet, there's a good chance that financial services firms in London will lose their ability to serve customers in the EU. Fortune
Palantir concerns
Amnesty International USA's Denise Bell and Michael Kleinman write for Fortune that prospective investors in newly-listed Palantir (see above) should take into account the fact that the company is likely contributing to human rights violations by clients such as ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. They write: "ICE used Palantir technology in operations resulting in family separation and raids, in turn leading to detention in harmful conditions and oftentimes deportation. This happened so much that Palantir’s own employees have protested its activities." Fortune
Subway ruling
Whatever Subway uses to encase its sandwich fillings, it ain't bread. That's according to no less an authority than the Irish Supreme Court, which ruled on the bread-or-not issue in a tax dispute. The court said the substance didn't even count as a staple food—which would have exempted it from sales tax—because it had five times the mandated sugar limit. Guardian
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.
