Good morning
Seven years ago, wealth published the first “Change the World” list, dedicated to the notion that profitable companies – if managed with purpose – could be best placed to solve the problems of people and the planet.
Our goal was to identify companies that had made measurable progress in addressing significant social needs at scale. We didn’t say these are good companies…or bad. Businesses, like humans, are imperfect organisms that do not lend themselves to such neat categorization. But what we wanted to say is that by adding, as Abraham Lincoln put it, “the fuel of interest to the fire of genius,” these companies helped tackle some of the world’s toughest problems.
This morning we’re releasing the eighth part of that list… continued proof of business at its best. These include big companies like Walmart (#3), which developed an innovative program to make insulin affordable for struggling diabetics, and CVS Health (#11), which introduced mental health screening questions at insurer Aetna that suicide attempts led to a significant reduction in insulin. And it includes innovative startups like Zipline (No. 28), which drone-delivers essential medicines to isolated patients in Africa, and Infarm and AeroFarms (they share No. 32), which are pioneering large-scale vertical farming to to reduce the carbon footprint of agriculture.
Take some time today to read through the entire list. It will give you a better sense of the world. And spoiler alert: Number 1 on the list this year is PayPal, which, among other things, channeled almost $1 billion to displaced Ukrainians.
More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
[email protected]
TOP NEWS
bridge reprisals
Russian missiles this morning exploded in cities across Ukraine, including Kyiv, for the first time in months, hours after President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of “terrorism” for allegedly being behind the weekend blast on the bridge that crosses the Kerch Strait between Crimea and Russia stuck. Ukraine has not formally claimed responsibility for this attack. (Bonus text: Yale’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Ro Khanna on what the US should do about Saudi Arabia’s embrace of Putin.) Reuters
Export Controls
The US has expanded export controls in an apparent effort to cripple China’s ability to develop advanced chips. Companies using US chipmaking equipment will not be able to sell chips for use in Chinese supercomputers, nor will Chinese factories be able to use advanced American chipmaking equipment. wealth
Whistleblower Claims
Whistleblowers accuse the Swiss investment company Leonteq of money laundering and tax evasion as well as insufficient information from the auditors EY. “Anyone who turns a blind eye to possible money laundering is making themselves complicit,” said a whistleblower. Leonteq insists it “is committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and compliance.” financial times
ALL AROUND THE WATER COOLER
A small fund bet Elon Musk would be forced to buy Twitter – and made a killing by betting against the crowd, by Shawn Tully
Kanye West’s anti-Semitic rants go a step too far for Instagram and Twitter, from Associated Press
The Rise and Fall of the Grand Piano: How a Popular Women’s Co-Working Startup Failed Despite Billionaire Backers, a $365 Million Valuation, and a Waitlist of 35,000, by Paige McGlauflin
Why Olympus sold its decades-old camera and microscope business to focus on medical technology: “We had to move before it was too late,” by Phil Wahba
A demographic crisis looms over Hong Kong and its reopening: The city is losing people fast, by Nicholas Gordon
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.
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