Good morning.
It’s October, and Fortune this month is returning to live events… not a minute too soon. We’re all learning the limits of video conferencing, and eager to get back to real human interaction. More than 300 top female executives will join us for the Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C. Oct. 11-13. Brainstorm A.I. will be held for the first time in Boston Nov. 8-9. The CEO Initiative, which has convened on dozens of Zoom calls in the last year and a half, will be back in person in D.C. Nov. 15-16. And Brainstorm Tech, which in pre-pandemic days was an Aspen summer event, will be held this year at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay Nov. 30-Dec. 1.
An early peek at the Brainstorm Tech agenda shows a hefty list of CEOs planning to attend: Pat Gelsinger of Intel, Hans Vestberg of Verizon, Lisa Dyson of Air Protein, Kevin Mandia of FireEye, Tekedra Mawakana of Waymo, Anousheh Ansari of XPRIZE, Jehiel Oliver of Hello Tractor, Adi Tatarko of Houzz and more. Guest co-chairs for the event: GV Partner Terri Burns and Qualtrics Founder Ryan Smith. And among the non-CEO attendees: NBA legend Dwyane Wade. Apply to attend here.
Also this morning, we’re publishing Grady McGregor’s fascinating story on Xi Jinping’s effort to crack down on video game playing by teens. I’ll bet a lot of parents wish they had his chutzpah! But the move also opens a new front in Beijing’s effort to counterbalance the power of China’s tech giants.
News below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Infrastructure bill
With Democrat centrists Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema still holding out against the White House's $3.5 trillion social-policy package, the party last night cancelled a vote on its separate, $1 trillion infrastructure bill. Expect negotiations to continue today. Wall Street Journal
Boo Origin
A group of current and former Blue Origin employees have publicly accused Jeff Bezos's space outfit of having a "toxic" culture of sexism and safety concerns. “If this company’s culture and work environment are a template for the future Jeff Bezos envisions, we are headed in a direction that reflects the worst of the world we live in now,” their letter states. Fortune
Inflation inflates
Euro zone inflation hit 3.4% last month (a 13-year record) and German consumer prices rose by 4.1% last month (a 30-year record). Central bankers think these inflationary spikes are transitory, although energy price pressures—one of the main drivers—won't be going away anytime soon due to the energy transition. The European Central Bank will give an update on its monetary policy stance in December. CNBC
French energy
The French government is responding to Europe's soaring energy costs by blocking gas and electricity price hikes—at least, after today's scheduled 12.6% hike on gas prices. The "price shield" will remain in place until April. Previous energy-price spikes fueled massive protests against the government. Financial Times
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Crypto taxes
The not-yet-voted-on $1 trillion infrastructure bill would "expand the definition of a 'broker' to include any entity that effectuates 'transfers of digital assets'—like Bitcoin—'on behalf of another person,'" notes Fortune's Robert Hackett in his latest Ledger essay. The crypto scene finds that language overly broad, to put it mildly, but, as Hackett points out: "The crypto set can at least rejoice over the government's clumsiness on another matter. The government hasn’t yet gotten around to closing a crypto tax loophole that lets crypto traders dodge capital gains taxes." Fortune
ScarJo settlement
Scarlett Johansson and Disney have settled their fight over the studio's decision to stream Black Widow at the same time as it ran in theaters—she sued, claiming the move deprived her of her maximum, theatrical-revenue-pegged bonuses. The terms of the settlement have not been revealed. Washington Post
Evergrande exposure
Which funds are most exposed to the China Evergrande Group collapse? Fortune's Jessica Mathews breaks it down here, while sounding a note of reassurance: "Even funds with comparatively outsized portions of Evergrande equity or debt have limited exposure to the real estate giant itself. No U.S. bond fund has more than 5.18% of its assets in Evergrande bonds, and no equity fund has more than 0.80%." Fortune
Supreme Court
A new U.S. Supreme Court terms starts Monday, promising what could be explosive decisions on everything from abortion and the Second Amendment to religious rights and the power of regulatory agencies. Fortune
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.
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