Financial Daily Dose 1.27.2021 | Top Story: Walgreens Taps Starbucks Exec Roz Brewer as Next CEO

Walgreens has named Starbucks exec Roz Brewer as its new CEO. The move sets up Brewer to be “the only Black female leading a Fortune 500 company” - WSJ and CNBC and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

Microsoft announced strong Q4 results on Tuesday, with sales hitting “$43.1 billion, up 17 percent from a year earlier,” while “profits rose 33 percent to $15.5 billion.” The figures “far surpassed analyst expectations” for the computing and gaming giant, which is continuing to benefit from the pandemic-induced shift to remote technologies - NYTimes and WSJ and MarketWatch

Even as the U.S. copes with the Covid-induced financial mess, remnants of the last one still lurk, reminding us of the shelf-life of such events. Case in point: Monday’s ruling from a New York state court that Credit Suisse owes a bond insurer $604 million over claims it had to pay out  “during the 2008 financial crisis after the Swiss bank lied to get it to insure risky mortgage-backed securities that ultimately imploded” – Law360

Facing a heavy  regulatory hand in Beijing, especially after comments critical of authorities from founder Jack Ma last fall, Ant Group is restructuring in order to “turn itself into a financial holding company overseen by China’s central bank”—a sharp departure from future plans announced just months ago - WSJ

More details are emerging on the death of Zappos visionary Tony Hsieh, who perished last November after he “deliberately locked himself in a shed moments before it was consumed by the fire that would kill him” - NYTimes and WSJ

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon will see $10 million slashed from his 2020 salary—roughly 1/3 of his annual pay—as punishment for Goldman’s “admission last year that it broke U.S. laws in its dealings with an investment fund at the heart of a global corruption ring” in Malaysia - WSJ and Bloomberg

Here's what to expect when the FOMC breaks today - WSJ and Bloomberg

Pepsi is the latest Big Food company to partner with Beyond Meat, with the companies announcing a newly formed “joint venture called The PLANeT [sic] Partnership to produce a line of plant-based protein snack and beverage options.” Beyond Meat has previously “teamed up with restaurant chains like McDonald’s, Subway and Pizza Hut to test or supple plant-based burgers, meatballs and other products in the U.S. and abroad” - NYTimes  and MarketWatch and TechCrunch

VW, in an effort to “overturn a lower-court ruling that could open the car industry to oversight from municipalities,” is seeking Supreme Court intervention after a 9th Circuit ruling in June that “two counties have authority alongside the federal Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the updates that car manufacturers make to emissions systems in vehicles after they are sold” - WSJ

Cosmetics company L’Occitane Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 in New Jersey, “outlining plans to shutter nearly two dozen locations as the retailer grapples with roughly $161 million in liabilities” – Law360

Because why call it a day at GameStop, here the other companies finding seemingly inexplicable market success recently thanks to the YOLO set - WSJ

Presented with Lizzo, not even the [fake] royals could keep a stiff upper lip. Those moves, though . . . - LateNight

Stay safe,
MDR