Posted on 06/06/2023 9:09:14 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
We’ve seen Target take a huge stock dive with about $14 billion in market cap lost as of Tuesday, since the middle of May. We reported how they faced two downgrades — from JP Morgan and KeyBanc — and had been on the worst losing streak that they’ve had in 23 years. JP Morgan cited as the basis for their downgrade “too many concerns rising.”
That’s a massive change in such a short period. Now, Elon Musk and Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary are warning about what might be the next shoe to drop for the company under siege.
O’Leary, on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” said that Target seems to have lost its way in terms of what its job is and how this was sending a warning sign to other companies about the dangers of going down the woke road.
On one hand, companies want to show their support of diversity in all the mandates that society is discussing openly. On the other hand, the job of a business — particularly from the perspective of an investor — and those that are retired, for example, that own the S&P 500 or own Target stock – are concerned that maybe they’re losing their way in terms of what the prime objective is: your customers, your employees, and your shareholders.
And so if you start to get too distant or too far away from the primary mandate, the market has proven itself to really, really punish you. And it’s woken up all kinds of boards.
They spoke about Target’s non-profit foundation funding an organization that wants to shut down Mount Rushmore because they claim it’s a symbol of “white supremacy.” The group also attacks the U.S. military.
O’Leary said that many companies still don’t understand the nature of social media and how such a reaction to them doing something the public doesn’t like can spread. He noted how Bud Light managed to do themselves in — after building the top-selling beer brand — in about “32 hours” after they endorsed Dylan Mulvaney’s “365 Days of Being a Girl.”
But he said, “There’re a lot of unhappy cowboys out there. They’re called your investors.”
Elon Musk even went further than that when he predicted how the shareholders might react.
Won’t be long before there are class-action lawsuits by shareholders against the company and board of directors for destruction of shareholder value
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023
“Won’t be long before there are class-action lawsuits by shareholders against the company and board of directors for destruction of shareholder value,” Musk declared.
If that happens, then the companies will get the message. They may not be fully cognizant of social media’s influence, but they will understand shareholders screaming at them as their shares plunge, and that could have a very significant impact on their actions.
It’s also not just a lesson for Target, but for other companies as well. They’ll see what Target and Bud Light have done, and the hit they’ve taken. They wouldn’t want to lose billions or have to face the ire of their shareholders. This could have a positive effect on moving the companies away from pushing political positions in the future.
“Won’t be long before there are class-action lawsuits by shareholders against the company and board of directors for destruction of shareholder value”
Yes, and that will once again prove the value of the free market over communism and socialism.
Companies may lose billions in shareholder value now but judge it preferable to losing access to capital for not going woke.
Black Rock owns a solid percentage of the stock and provides the financing for operations and capital for improvement. Black rock orders the company to go Woke or face a very constricted future. It won’t stop. Black Rock effectively controls the decisions of most major corporations. Black Rock’s CEO would rather crash the economy than relent in its efforts to destroy he culture. Mr. Fink has his pile already and is using his power to make over the nation into his own dream of Utopia which, as usual is a desire to depopulate and transform the world into a garden for the enjoyment of a small number of the Elite who will be served entirely by machines and AI.
Suing a company for destruction of shareholder value is a self-defeating proposition. It will only further reduce shareholder value.
Lawsuits should be filed against the members of the Board of Directors individually...and even individual officers if possible.
Target EXPOSED funding several anti-American groups! WORSE than Bud Light!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzgvlYSOYdY&ab_channel=YellowFlash2
“If Target goes out of business, where will I go for my Satanic and Transgender kiddie supplies?”
Easy! Go to Bed, Bath.... Oh... never mind.
the prime objective is: your customers, your employees, and your shareholders..
Wrong. The prime objective is your SHAREHOLDERS!!!
Because that is the one and only prime objective, you focus on your customers.
....positive effect on moving the companies away from pushing political positions in the future...
Personally, I do not believe you can stop a wealthy woke wiener from spending his money to push Marxism
And, Congress should be able to stop woke Blackrock, and others, from using the power of consolidated pension funds, to force Companies to do stupid things
I married the right kind of girl. She doesn’t like to shop. A few months ago, someone gave her a Target gift card. She didn’t like any of the clothes they had and bought food instead.
Target is literally a block from my house and we never go there.
They hate liberty. Our liberty.
Their objective is compulsive fealty through drugs, poverty, starvation and persecution.
They are slavers.
In large-scale, class-action-type litigation, plaintiff-lawyer groups and third-party investors often fund the expenses, which can be high and can scare away lawyers from taking the cases - i.e., law firms may otherwise be willing to take the case on a contingency fee and risk the value of their time if they loses the case, but not also be willing to risk the large out-of-pocket expenses needed to run the case, such as expert witnesses, depositions, and mass mailings. If Elon really wants to do some good, he should take a couple million and start funding shareholder suits against woke boards. Talk about asymmetrical warfare - would cost him pocket change, but would terrify corporate America
I did gillette many years ago too...
The company is considerably smaller (about 25%) then before this started.
We did not drive them out of business, but we did make them much smaller, and gave a boost to some companies that both desire and deserve our business.
That is winning
Bud Lite is virtually dead as a brand and is dragging down other AB products and bolstering the competition all in a few months after engaging Dylan Mulvaney as brand influencer. I find it interesting that Mulvaney never appeared on any TV advertising, his image on a Bud Lite can never was in the market and his endorsement of Bud Lite was purely on social media. That should say something about what the market thinks of Mulvaney.
Good riddance to Target 🎯
RE: Good riddance to Target
I am ANGRY because my mutual fund has Target as one of its holdings (⸅⸟⸄)
Oh no!!🎯🎯🎯🎯
And vindicate the OP's claim that elite Boards don't understand the power of social media. Just look at Tucker's first Twitter broadcast cleaning Fox's clock by a multiple of viewers:
.....• his top-rated Fox show's avg audience – 3.444 million.
.....• his first Twitter show – more than 70 million views .
People can watch Twitter anywhere they want, anytime they want, without being tied to a location or schedule.
There’s at least one state that has a bill to somehow forbid ESG and DEI, I guess on fiduciary grounds.
I don’t know if or how that would work in practice, maybe it could limit what companies their state pension funds invest in. Maybe it’s just supposed to be a warning shot to companies that blowback is coming.
It’s going to take somebody with muscle to get their attention, as you suggest.
I wish Jeremy well. Too expensive for my blood.
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