We get the whole don’t beat a dead horse thing, but what if said horse is like one of those movie super villains who just keeps coming back from the dead that one last time?
That’s how we’re feeling about both billionaire money manager Ken Fisher and WeWork these days. Fine, neither was ever actually dead (well, $3.9 billion in lost investments and one dead IPO is not great) but both are badly, if not mortally, wounded and yet continue to rear their heads nearly daily.
"You heard their stories, now hear ours." So reads the big headline in a full-page ad for Fisher Investments that ran in the Wall Street Journal featuring seven female employees who were asked to participate, e.g. clean up their male boss’ big mess. Fisher’s fund has been bleeding billions since his sexist remarks at a financial conference last month and is now trying to staunch the outflow with this campaign as well as with a website about women at Fisher Investments, which touts stats including that females make up 60 percent of executives. However, the five executives making the investment decisions for the firm — including Fisher — are all white men, as are all of the top execs who have full bios on the company website.
Before we get to the industry briefs, here are a few not-so-fun new stats to keep your feminism-in-the-workplace fires burning (h/t Axios): 13 percent of startup founders are female but women own just 7 percent of founder equity; 31 percent of all equity owners are women but women have just 6 percent of total startup equity; and women make up only 20 percent of equity holders worth $1 million and over.
NEWS JUST FOR YOU... IN FINANCE...Good on Goldman Sachs! The investment bank is setting a new Wall Street gold standard for paid parental leave with 20 weeks for all employees regardless of gender and caregiver status. That’s more paid time than any other major U.S. bank offers. The company also increased compensation for adoption and surrogacy. Dive in folks, the water’s warm in the good benefits pool and if you want to attract and retain employees, it’s time to do right by them...READ ALL
AND ELSEWHERE IN BIG BUSINESS... IN ADVERTISING & MEDIA...Former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll, who alleged that President Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the ’90s, filed a defamation lawsuit against him...Did you know that BBDO partnered with Monica Lewinsky on her anti-bullying campaigns?...It will be interesting to see if "The Morning Show" maintains the competitive but not catty or backstab-y relationship between Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon's characters, which breaks with harmful stereotypes...Vice Media’s $400 million deal to acquire Refinery29 is finalized. "You’ve undoubtedly all been thinking a lot about the trajectory of the media industry over the last year, as well as our companies and your careers … We are on a mission, in a sea of formulaic media, to remain genuinely authentic," Vice Media Group CEO Nancy Dubuc wrote to staff. We shall see...READ ALL
IN LAW...Roberta Kaplan, a co-founder of the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund and founding partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink, filed a defamation lawsuit against President Trump on behalf of former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll...The former general counsel and CEO at the once-hip, now non-existent American Apparel chain, Chelsea Grayson, talks about the career path that led her from Jones Day and Loeb & Loeb to the clothing retailer...Hogan Lovells has a new crisis leadership practice, led by Washington-based partner Lillian Hardy. The unit will tackle "modern problems" (which sounds so absolutely un-modern it hurts) like "environmental disasters, data breaches, and #metoo issues." Hmn...READ ALL
IN MANUFACTURING & RETAIL...McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook is out after he took the “Lovin’ It” campaign to the next level in a consensual relationship with an employee, a violation of company policy...And following Sunday’s announcement of Easterbrook’s departure, now the burger chain’s Chief People Officer David Fairhurst is out, effective immediately...Columbia Sportswear Chairwoman Gert Boyle died this weekend at age 95. Boyle, who had no prior business experience, began running the small outdoor apparel retailer in 1970 following the death of her husband, who ran the company...Julie Wainwright’s The RealReal, which IPOed this summer, reported a 55 percent year-over-year revenue increase but is still bleeding money...READ ALL
IN REAL ESTATE...The female co-working company The Wing got an unwelcome surprise after realizing a member of its board of directors, WeWork’s Chief Legal Officer and President Jennifer Berrent, was named in a pregnancy discrimination claim filed against the office-sharing company. Berrent is the only woman in WeWork’s c-suite and, if these allegations are true, that would be bad news indeed for the company and very sad news for all women in business who depend upon their female leaders to fight for equality in the workplace...READ ALL
IN TECH & ENGINEERING...A group of more than 8,000 female engineers and information technology professionals is hoping that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will reinstate a nationwide class action gender discrimination suit against Microsoft alleging that the company is biased against women when it comes to both pay and promotions...It’s been a year since the mass Google employee walkout prompted by its handling of workplace harassment issues — and employees are still actively dissenting, together. It’s pretty awesome...READ ALL
We get the whole don’t beat a dead horse thing, but what if said horse is like one of those movie super villains who just keeps coming back from the dead that one last time? 
asked to participate, e.g. clean up their male boss’ big mess. Fisher’s fund has been bleeding billions since his 
Before we get to the industry briefs, here are a few 
