Sustainable Finance Newsletter - Box Inc CEO Levie makes business case for Kamala Harris

Box

23/10/2024 17:15

By Ross Kerber
       Oct 23 (Reuters) - Generally CEOs hate talking politics
for fear of alienating   customers, investors or employees with
different views.
    
This year various business executives are backing U.S. Vice
President Kamala Harris, the Democratic party's candidate for
the White House against former President Donald Trump. Business
leaders have traditionally leaned Republican and Trump, the
Republican nominee, does have some CEOs in his camp. 
    
So far the largest industry trade groups have stayed neutral at
least in their public rhetoric. To get a sense of things I spoke
with Box CEO Aaron Levie, a Harris supporter. You can find my
interview from Monday linked below.
    
You will also find links to stories like one by my colleague who
visited the Three Mile Island nuclear plant ahead of its planned
revival, and another about a plan by New York City's comptroller
to end certain fund investments in pipelines and LNG terminals
over climate concerns.
       
Please send news tips, comments, etc via LinkedIn. You can also
reach me at    
    
Box Inc CEO Levie makes the business case for Kamala Harris
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has won support from business
leaders including Yelp  YELP.N  CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, Evercore
 EVR.N  founder Roger Altman, and kind of, probably, maybe
JPMorgan  JPM.N  CEO Jamie Dimon. 
    
Yet it's still hard to parse out exactly where the largest
company CEOs stand from their public statements and those of top
trade groups, which avoid picking sides. 
    
To make sense of things I spoke with Harris supporter Aaron
Levie, CEO of cloud content management platform Box Inc  BOX.N ,
on Monday. You can read the interview in this week's column
here.
        
    Chamber of Commerce urges patience for election results
  
    After I locked up the Levie interview, the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce late on Tuesday counseled Americans to have 
    patience while votes are counted
     in the Nov. 5 election, citing the likely closeness of the
contest and the variety of voting and vote-counting procedures.
  
     
  
    In a message on its website the top U.S. business trade
group said that "we may not know the outcome as quickly as we
would like. That’s cause for preparation and patience – but not
concern."
  
        
  
    Separately a Chamber spokesperson told me it would continue
its tradition of not endorsing a presidential candidate. "Our
role is to help the election winner in implementing policies
that will grow the economy and create opportunities for all
Americans," said the spokesperson.
  
        
  
    The Chamber's comments didn't fulfill the wishes of some
Harris supporters who have called on business leaders to endorse
her or 
    oppose Trump
    . 
  
        
  
    But the Chamber did warn of the risks of online
disinformation such as reports of ballot fraud. In an "election
primer" document accompanying the statement, the Chamber noted
various delays in finalizing the results of prior U.S.
elections.  
  
        
  
    It warned that "Those wishing to undermine our nation and
our electoral system, including foreign governments, often
attempt to spread disinformation online. This can include
reports of voter suppression, cyber breaches of voting systems,
ballot fraud, and other problems."
  
        
  
    "These disinformation campaigns are designed to undermine
trust in our election system and the final election results,"
the primer states.
  
    
Company News    
Mike Jeffries, the former longtime chief executive of
Abercrombie & Fitch, ANF.N  has been criminally charged with sex
trafficking and prostitution involving dozens of men.
     
The top U.S. consumer finance watchdog on Tuesday unveiled
long-awaited rules that would make it easier for consumers to
switch between financial services providers, a move the agency
said was aimed at boosting competition.
     
HSBC  HSBA.L ,  0005.HK  merged some operations and split its
geographic footprint into East and West in a sweeping
restructuring under new CEO Georges Elhedery that also included
the appointment of the bank's first female finance chief.
        
On my radar 
As a followup to last week's look at nuclear waste, don't miss
this story by my colleague Laila Kearney about her visit to
Constellation Energy's  CEG.O  Three Mile Island nuclear plant
in Pennsylvania. 
    
A new annual survey by nonprofit researcher Just Capital found
growing numbers of respondents, across political ideologies,
agreed that CEOs should speak out on social issues if the matter
relates to their business - 52% overall this year, up from 32%
in 2020. In contrast, 48% said CEOs should take a stand on all
social issues, down from 68% in 2020. 
    
Citing climate concerns, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander 
outlined plans to end future private market investments by
pension funds in things like pipelines and LNG terminals.

 (Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by David Gregorio)
 ((ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com; (617) 412 0093;))