Across the Board
U.S. Moves to Break Up Google’s Ad Business in Major Antitrust Showdown
The Justice Department argued that the best way to address the company’s unfair advantage was to force it to sell off portions of its business
“The Justice Department said on Monday that Google should be broken up to address its monopoly in advertising technology, kicking off a hearing that could reshape the technology giant’s power online. Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled in April that Google had built a monopoly over tools that websites use to sell ad space…. On Monday, she began hearing arguments from the government and the company over how to best fix Google’s monopoly…. Google’s lawyers countered that the government’s proposals were extreme and offered more modest changes to the company’s advertising software that would benefit publishers, among other smaller fixes.” NEW YORK TIMES
How Boards Are Rewiring for Geopolitical Risk
As global instability reshapes risk, governance practices are shifting from reactive to proactive in boardrooms
“Given today’s constant state of change, leading boards are stepping up their oversight of geostrategy, embedding the strategic implications of new legislation, regulations and international events in their conversations, including their assessment of how geopolitical developments may factor into the company’s strategic success. In fact, this year, 84% of boards said they regularly assess the impact of political risk on the company’s existing strategy — more than double the 40% that did in 2021, according to an EY report.” CORPORATE COMPLIANCE INSIGHTS
U.S., ByteDance Strike Boardroom Deal to Avert TikTok Ban
In the unfolding agreement, ByteDance will retain one seat among seven on the new U.S. TikTok board as part of efforts to defuse national security concerns
“A U.S.-China agreement on TikTok's U.S. operations includes China's ByteDance choosing one of seven board members for the new entity, with Americans holding the six other seats, a senior White House official said on Saturday. President Donald Trump is trying to keep the short video app with 170 million U.S. users from being banned after Congress passed a law in 2024 that ordered it shut down by January 2025 if its U.S. assets were not sold by owner ByteDance. Trump has delayed enforcement of the law… amid efforts to extract TkTok’s U.S. assets from the global platform, lime up American investors and ensure the new ownership qualifies as a full divestiture…. TikTok's U.S. assets would be majority-owned by American investors and operated in the United States by a board of directors with national security and cybersecurity credentials, the official added.” REUTERS
Nvidia Eyes $100 Billion Bet on OpenAI, Signaling AI’s New Financial Frontier
The chipmaker’s potential mega-investment underscores the staggering capital now flowing into AI, and the growing power struggle over who will shape its future
“Nvidia and OpenAI, two U.S. giants powering America’s race for AI superintelligence, outlined an expansive partnership Monday, including plans for an enormous data center buildout and a $100 billion investment by the chip maker into the startup. The deal announced Monday will allow OpenAI to build and deploy at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia systems for its artificial-intelligence data centers to train and run its next generation of models. That amount of electricity is roughly comparable to what is produced by more than four Hoover Dams or the power consumed by eight million homes…. OpenAI will use the cash from Nvidia’s investments to help pay for new chips produced by Nvidia, a circular arrangement that allows the chip company to turn its balance sheet cash into new revenue. Such circular arrangements are common in the AI world and have raised questions about the extent to which new sales reflect genuine market demand versus capital recycled within the industry.” WALL STREET JOURNAL
Oracle Taps Co-CEOs to Steer Growth in AI-Fueled Cloud Market
With demand for AI infrastructure soaring, Oracle is reshaping its leadership to seize the moment and capitalize on its growing alliance with Nvidia
“Oracle is promoting its presidents of cloud infrastructure, Clay Magouyrk, and industries, Mike Sicilia, to co-CEOs, the company announced Monday. Safra Catz, the software giant’s current CEO, will serve as executive vice chair on the company board. Larry Ellison will remain Oracle’s board chairman and chief technology officer…. Oracle has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence boom thanks to its cloud infrastructure business and its access to Nvidia’s graphics processing units, or GPUs, which are both needed to run large workloads.” CNBC
AI Is on the Agenda, But Are Boards Ready to Govern It?
While 62% of directors now carve out boardroom time for AI, only 23% have assessed its true strategic impact, revealing a growing gap between awareness and action
“AI governance continues to evolve in 2025 for both boards and senior management teams. Recent studies suggest many companies are not achieving the desired return on investment from AI projects, and many boards are devoting time to AI governance without achieving desired outcomes…. Despite $30 to $40 billion in enterprise investment in AI, 95% of organizations are getting zero return. Gartner reports that even with an average spend of $1.9 million on generative AI (GenAI) initiatives last year, less than 30% of AI leaders reported their CEOs are happy with their AI investment returns.” FORBES
Starbucks Tightens Belt: Workforce Cuts and Store Closures Signal Deeper Strategic Shift
In a bid to boost operational efficiency and elevate the in-store experience, Starbucks will eliminate 900 corporate roles and close underperforming locations
“Starbucks is laying off 900 more corporate workers and closing some North American stores, the latest moves to trim costs and plow money into improving its cafes. The Seattle-based coffee company said Thursday that most of the affected positions are located in North America…. The layoffs are the second round that the coffee giant has undertaken since Chief Executive Brian Niccol took the helm roughly a year ago. Niccol has said the reductions are needed to direct more resources toward its stores, where he is boosting labor and training to make cafes more hospitable…. Starbucks is pushing to revive its business after six straight quarters of declining same-store sales…. The chain is also grappling with rising labor costs as it invests more in stores, and it faces surging coffee prices.” WALL STREET JOURNAL
Guide to Risk Oversight for Boards
A memo from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz documents the growing board responsibilities concerning risk
“Public companies and their boards of directors face an increasingly complex array of risks that test the resilience of corporate values, strategies, operations, and enterprise risk management frameworks. Tighter monetary policies, deepening geopolitical tensions, widening domestic political polarization, labor shortages, severe weather events, growing challenges tied to nature and biodiversity loss, and the uncertainties surrounding generative AI are among the varied risks that companies have had to contend with in recent years. These risks are likely to persist and even intensify.... Managing corporate risk is not just the business and operational responsibility of a company’s management team—it is a governance and strategic issue that is squarely within the oversight responsibility of the board. Courts and regulators are increasingly scrutinizing board-level risk oversight mechanisms, as well as the adequacy of public disclosures and the quality of board responses when crises erupt.... This guide identifies critical risk-management issues that merit close attention by directors and management, and surveys the sources of risk oversight obligations borne by boards of directors...” HARVARD LAW SCHOOL FORUM ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
The Rush to Return to the Office is Stalling
Even as companies tighten RTO policies, many workers are resisting the shift, leaving offices emptier than leaders expected
“Big companies from Microsoft to Paramount and NBCUniversal are ordering workers to show up to the office more often. If only their staffs would heed the call. Even as corporate bosses cut back on remote work and ratchet up in-office mandates, average office attendance has barely budged across U.S. workplaces. Companies are struggling to enforce mandates, and many managers tasked with herding folks into the office would rather not be there either. Other executives have made their peace with hybrid work, especially amid cooling consumer confidence and an unpredictable trade war…. In-office mandates prompt some people to quit, and many suspect that is by design. Tighter requirements sometimes precede or follow layoff announcements, including at Amazon, AT&T and Dell.” WALL STREET JOURNAL
Do Women on Boards Drive Greener Outcomes?
Policies designed to address social or governance issues, such as board gender quotas, can have spillover effects on environmental performance
“[In] our recent paper, The Eco-Gender Gap in Boardrooms.… we find a consistent gender gap: female [survey] respondents are more likely than male respondents to prioritize environmental protection over economic growth or energy supply. Male respondents, by contrast, more often emphasize short-run economic or energy benefits. We propose that one way to increase diversity of thought, especially on complex tradeoffs such as environmental investments, is through gender diversity inside the boardroom. … By broadening perspectives and diversifying thought, female directors play an important role in shaping firms’ environmental engagement—an outcome that matters for shareholders, stakeholders and society at large.” HARVARD LAW SCHOOL FORUM ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
