Good morning.
If you have any doubt about the dominant role health plays in the U.S. economy, consider this: Four of the top 10 Fortune 500 companies are now health care companies: CVS (No. 4), UnitedHealth (No. 5), McKesson (No. 9), and AmerisourceBergen (No. 10). And four others have made massive investments in the field—Walmart (No. 1), Amazon (No. 2), Apple (No. 3), and Alphabet (No. 8). Oh, yeah, and Berkshire Hathaway (No. 7) has one of its largest investments in DaVita, which is the leader in kidney dialysis. You may think the iPhone is Apple’s pièce de résistance, but CEO Tim Cook insists health will be his company’s “greatest contribution to mankind.” It seems every company is a now a health care company.
Meanwhile, the very definition of health care keeps expanding. That’s what makes Fortune Brainstorm Health such a fascinating gathering each year. This year’s event—being held in Marina del Rey, Calif., April 25 and 26—proves the point.
The conversation will include giants in the field, like CVS CEO Karen Lynch and Elevance CEO Gail Boudreaux; as well innovators in mental health, like Wile CEO Gwendolyn Floyd; innovators in wellness, like Headspace Health CEO Russell Glass; and innovators in diet, like Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown and Noom cofounder Saeju Jeong. Also on hand will be pathbreaking investors including Annie Lamont of Oak HC/FT; top policymakers including U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and former White House adviser Deborah Birx; and leading philanthropists including Chelsea Clinton of the Clinton Foundation. Javier Rodriguez, CEO of Berkshire-backed DaVita, will also be there. You can find a full list of speakers here.
It’s always been our view that if you get a diverse group of thinkers like this in one place for two days, interesting things happen. The conference is by invitation only, but we still have room for a few CEO Daily subscribers. If you are interested, apply here, or shoot me a note. And I’ll be covering the action in this newsletter.
And for a treat today, listen to the interview Ellen McGirt and I did with Kickstarter CEO Everette Taylor on Leadership Next. Kickstarter helped launch Peloton and Allbirds, as well as many other creative products. If you are wondering what it takes to be a success on Kickstarter, Taylor gave us the secret: a good idea, a good audience, and a lot of hustle. “If you don’t have that hustler spirit,” he says, “Kickstarter might not be the right place for you.”
Listen to the podcast on Apple or Spotify. Other news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Snap’s chatbot
Snap Inc. has launched a chatbot called My AI, powered by OpenAI’s GPT technology, that can be used to recommend gift ideas, write haiku, and more. The bot is pinned to the top of Snapchat’s chat tab and is currently available only to Snapchat Plus members. The company plans to roll it out to all 750 million monthly users eventually. Bloomberg
Carlyle retiree
Peter Clare, chief investment officer of Carlyle Group’s $105 billion private equity division and a board member, is retiring after more than three decades at the group. Clare helped build Carlyle’s investment business in Asia and led many successful deals, including those involving aerospace companies and consultancy firms. His departure comes after he was passed over as a candidate to lead the U.S. buyout group earlier this month, with former Goldman Sachs executive Harvey Schwartz being appointed instead. Financial Times
TD’s Ponzi dilemma
TD Bank has agreed to pay more than $1.2 billion to settle a lawsuit claiming it aided R. Allen Stanford’s Ponzi scheme more than a decade ago. HSBC Holdings and Independent Bank Group are also part of the settlement, with HSBC paying $40 million and Independent Bank Group paying $100 million. Bloomberg
AROUND THE WATERCOOLER
Thousands of Google contractors just got a raise after union protested against low pay and benefits, by Bloomberg
CFOs at creative companies learn to balance innovation with fiscal responsibility, by Chris Morris
Sacked Twitter exec who went viral for sleeping on office floor defends going ‘all in’ for Elon Musk, by Christiaan Hetzner
Airlines and airports are so desperate for workers they’re offering free iPhones and childcare so workers will take ‘crazy shifts,’ by Prarthana Prakash
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by Jackson Fordyce.
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