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100 MOST POWERFUL WOMEN
THE 52
ELECTION C O M PA N I E S
T H AT B R O K E T H AT W I L L
SILICON CHANGE THE
VA LLE Y WORLD
“We’re not going to wait

to be disrupted”
GM CEO MARY BARRA IS TRANSFORMING THE 116-YEAR-OLD
AUTO GIANT FOR THE EV ERA—AND RAKING IN REVENUE
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2024 FORTUNE .COM

O C TO B E R / N OV E M B E R 2 0 24 VO LU M E 19 0 • N U M B ER 2
FEATURES
85
FORTUNE MOST POWERFUL WOMEN 2024 PLUS
53 66 BRAND INITIATIVE 98
Fortune Most Kamalanomics: Levi’s aims to register The Shipwrecked
500,000 voters among
Powerful Women Harris’s Road community college Legacy of
Our annual list ranks 100 Map for Business students by 2028. Mike Lynch
honorees worldwide from Vice President Kamala The U.K. tech mogul
14 industries, reflecting Harris hasn’t done much fought fraud charges for
the global nature of exec- to woo Big Business. SPECIAL REPORT years. His shocking death
utive work and proving Many executives would has left many unanswered
there is no one-size- still rather take their 85 questions about his life.
fits-all in reaching the
pinnacle of business.
chances with her than Change the BY MICHAEL DEL CASTILLO
the alternative.
BY GEOFF COLVIN
World 2024 WITH LILA MACLELLAN &
RYAN HOGG
The 10th edition of our list
56
72 showcases 52 businesses 106
MPW No. 1: Can Cathy that are harnessing the KKR’s $1 Trillion
Mary Barra Engelbert Handle creative impulses of
Gamble
capitalism to address
The CEO has led the Pressure? social problems, and The co-CEOs of KKR
COURTESY OF LEVI STR AUSS
General Motors to
The WNBA commissioner generating revenue while have a radical strategy to
its strongest financial
is leading the league doing so. supercharge growth—
position in decades—
through a season of and chart a path far
and this year, she
historic highs, but is her different from that of
reclaims our top spot.
game plan good enough their mentors.
BY MICHAL LEV-RAM O N T H E C OV E R
to seize the moment? BY SHAWN TULLY
P H OTO G R A P H BY
BY EMMA HINCHLIFFE M AC K E N Z I E S T R O H
4 FORTUNE
DEPARTMENTS
FOREWORD
10 Lessons in
Transformation:
Taking a Page From
the Playbooks of
Resilient Leaders WHAT’S
BY ALYSON SHONTELL NEW AT
FORTUNE
Global Forum 2024

THE BRIEF Fortune convenes
CEOs from some of the
13 How the world’s largest and most
Election Broke innovative companies,
Silicon Valley including members
BY ALEXEI ORESKOVIC of the Global 500, to
discuss critical trends,
18 In Focus: Strategist technologies, and
Jotaka Eaddy and strategies.
Her Zoom Network (Nov. 11–12, NYC)
18
of Powerful Black
Women Leaders
BY RUTH UMOH
Brainstorm Design
JOTAKA EADDY, ON HOW TO WIN Macau
Participants will share
25 Meet Your New their insights on how
Coworker, the “We’re going to take ourselves to immersive environments
Humanoid
BY JASON DEL REY
the polls … We’re going to speak out and experiential designs
are revolutionizing an
against sexism and racism … array of industries.
29 A Wounded Intel We’re seeing Black women leaning (Dec. 5, Macau)
Battles for Survival
in the AI Era
into their power—and we’re like the
BY JEREMY KAHN Avengers coming together.” Brainstorm AI 2024
The top minds in AI—those
34 Ask Andy: Should at startups and Fortune 500
You Launch a Startup companies, as well as
With a Friend? investors, policymakers,
BY ANDY DUNN 43 How to Take THE CARTOGRAPHER and academics—discuss
Advantage of the this pivotal moment for
37 For Gen Z at Work, Fed’s Big Rate Cut 120 America’s Debt: the industry.
the Generation Gap Is BY ALICIA ADAMCZYK Sky-High and Rising (Dec. 9–10, San Francisco)
a Wellness Gap. Here’s BY NICOLAS RAPP &
How to Bridge It 48 Who Has Time for MATT HEIMER FOR MORE INFO, GO TO
BY BETH GREENFIELD a Power Lunch? The FORTUNE.COM
Real Business Happens
at “Power Hour”
BY JANE THIER
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P H OTO G R A P H BY J A R E D S OA R E S
8 FORTUNE • MASTHEAD
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Anastasia Nyrkovskaya

EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AND CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER Alyson Shontell
MANAGING EDITOR Benjamin Snyder EXECUTIVE EDITORS Lee Clifford, Jim Edwards, Matthew Heimer, Ashley Lutz
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR Peter Herbert DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGR APHY Mia J. Diehl
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SENIOR EDITORS Verne Kopytoff, Massimo Marioni, Indrani Sen, Rachel Ventresca, Claire Zillman
EDITORS Mohamed El Aassar, Amanda Gerut, Azure Gilman, Irina Ivanova, Jeremy Kahn, Jack Long, Jason Ma, Steve Mollman
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SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Vivienne Walt
SOCIAL Alice Barlow, Cheyann Harris, Mahnoor Khan

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VP, BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Owen O’Brien SVP, GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS Patrick Reilly DIRECTOR, PUBLIC RELATIONS Chelsea Hudson
SALES AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS, SALES Julia Keefe, Sarah Williams
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Brian Ernst VP, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Ron Moss
SENIOR DIRECTOR, DIGITAL REVENUE AND ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT Austin Kopplin SENIOR DIRECTOR, ADVERTISING TECHNOLOGY Terry Guyton-Bradley
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LEGAL DEPUT Y GENER AL COUNSEL Stacey B. Keller ASSISTANT GENER AL COUNSEL Faiza Javaid
FINANCE CONTROLLER Melissa Goldman SENIOR DIRECTOR Albert Amorizzo DIRECTOR, ASIA Alan Wong
FORTUNE ASIA EXECUTIVE EDITOR Clay Chandler EDITOR Nicholas Gordon LISTS DIRECTOR Ashleigh Nghiem WRITER Lionel Lim HUMAN RESOURCES Doris Lee
VP, GROW TH AND PARTNERSHIPS Eric Cheung DIRECTORS, GROW TH AND PARTNERSHIPS Imran Abdul, Fiona Xu
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10 FORTUNE
FOREWORD
LESSONS IN TRANSFORMATION
WHEN AN industry is no playbook a leader can few years on the list in the
facing disruption, implement to build trust 2010s as Deloitte’s U.S.
which company has the faster. CEO. In 2019, she left
If you’re not better chance of ultimate There are, of course, lots that job to revitalize the
prepared survival: a startup or an of ways to blow transfor- WNBA, which has been
to lead your incumbent? mations, whether they’re around since 1996—and
Three years ago, I made digital, cultural, or struc- has often struggled to gain
company a career bet. I was offered a tural. But those failures traction. Engelbert de-
through dream job as the editor of are more the result of poor tailed to Fortune’s Emma
constant Fortune. But I already had leadership decisions than Hinchliffe (page 72) how
change, a good job as the editor of a of the company’s circum- she’s trying to capitalize
media upstart that boasted stances or history. on the momentum new
you’re not a larger newsroom, more Today, if you’re not stars like Caitlin Clark and
going to be a readership, and higher prepared to lead your Angel Reese are bringing
CEO for long. revenue than my potential company through constant to women’s sports, while
new employer. change, you’re not going overcoming historic busi-
The upstart had adapted to be a CEO for long. This ness challenges that have
quickly to an onslaught of issue of Fortune is full of held the league back.
disruptive digital forces transformation lessons In private equity, one of
like mobile and social me- from leaders who have suc- the top shops is getting a
dia. Fortune, meanwhile, ceeded across industries. new mandate from a new
didn’t even have its own Mary Barra, who is on set of leaders. Scott Nuttall
website until 2014. our cover and ranks No. 1 and Joe Bae joined KKR
Despite the upstart’s on our 27th annual Most as young recruits 28 years
momentum, I bet on the Powerful Women in Busi- ago; they rose to become
incumbent. I believed it ness list, has spent a decade co-CEOs, succeeding KKR
would be easier to lead the at the helm of General Mo- founders Henry Kravis and
digital transformation of a tors, determined not to let George Roberts, in 2021.
trusted brand than to try to the 116-year-old auto giant While it can be tempting
build a brand as trusted as get disrupted by automa- to follow in a founder’s
Fortune from scratch. tion and the rise of electric footsteps, Bae and Nut-
After all, Fortune earned vehicles. Under her watch, tall are implementing a
its reputation over 95 GM has navigated difficult new playbook in an effort
years, with a relentless circumstances like union to increase assets under
commitment to high-qual- battles and recalls, and has management by at least
ity journalism. Our report- overhauled its culture. It’s two-thirds—to over $1 tril-
ers and editors created the now gaining EV market lion—by 2030 (page 106).
Fortune 500, coined the share and growing earnings We hope you’ll find
term “hedge fund,” and even as its rivals struggle these leaders’ transforma-
took down Enron. That with the electric transition tion playbooks inspiring,
MACKENZIE STROH
sort of trust with custom- (see page 56). and that you’ll borrow tac-
ers (or, in our case, readers Cathy Engelbert, mean- tics you can use to future-
ALYSON SHONTELL and advertisers) can’t be while, rejoins the MPW proof your own businesses.
Editor-in-Chief, Fortune • @ajs manufactured; there’s this year, having spent a Thanks for reading.
M U S K : S T E V E G R A N I T Z— F I L M M A G I C / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; K H O S L A : D AV I D PA U L M O R R I S — B L O O M B E R G / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; T H I E L : TA S O S K AT O P O D I S — W I R E I M A G E / G E T T Y I M A G E S ;
H O F F M A N : D AV I D PA U L M O R R I S — B L O O M B E R G / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; A N D R E E S S E N : D AV I D PA U L M O R R I S — B L O O M B E R G / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; D O N K E Y A N D E L E P H A N T F R O M G E T T Y I M A G E S
BUSINESS. DISTILLED.
14 FORTUNE • THE BRIEF
THE RICH AND FAMOUS are just like us, celebrity on social media centers innovations. Years of
gossip magazines love to tell you. When it comes on culture-war red meat controversies over privacy,
to Silicon Valley’s billionaires, though, they are acting and jubilant provoca- online misinformation,
a lot more like your politics-obsessed uncle. tion. Scroll through Elon and crypto fraud have left
With a blizzard of tweets, blog posts, public com- Musk’s feed on X and a stain on tech.
ments, and podcasts, the tech industry’s most powerful you’ll read about “far-left Federal regulators
business leaders are delivering a running commentary fascists” and conspiracy such as the Securities and
on this year’s presidential campaign cycle that’s hard theories about illegal Exchange Commission’s
to tune out. Bolstered by hubris and net worth, these immigration and voter Gary Gensler, the Federal
billionaires have loudly aligned themselves with their fraud, along with the Trade Commission’s Lina
preferred candidate, taken potshots at the opposition, occasional AI-generated Khan, and the Department
and flogged their personal policy prescriptions—often image depicting Kamala of Justice’s antitrust chief
in feisty social media spats with one another. Harris in a Soviet-era Jonathan Kanter have
One day it’s Vinod Khosla, the Sun Microsystems co- Communist uniform. taken a hard line on crypto
founder and venture capitalist, sparring with Tesla CEO How did it come to and corporate mergers.
Elon Musk about Trump’s views on NATO and climate this? Musk’s particu- Generative AI, which
change. The next, it’s LinkedIn cofounder and venture lar case is perhaps best triggered tech’s latest gold
capitalist Reid Hoffman publishing a lengthy post pick- left to a trained profes- rush, is set to bring more
ing apart the rationale espoused by his fellow member sional with insight into scrutiny and rules, many of
of the “PayPal mafia,” venture investor David Sacks, for the inner workings of the which are already moving
supporting Trump. Even Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg got Tesla CEO’s psyche. On a through state legislatures.
his toes wet, cheering Trump’s “badass” fist pump after broader level, it’s clear that “I think there’s a fear of
the former president survived an assassination attempt. speaking out about politics, ‘What’s the government
unfiltered, on social media, going to do next that’s go-
is no longer taboo among ing to cost us something?’ ”
Enormous political “VCs for Kamala” Zoom a segment of the business says Floyd Kvamme, a
contributions from Silicon fundraiser in August drew elite. And the ones normal- former partner at VC firm
Valley have meant that 600 people. izing this behavior are the Kleiner Perkins Caufield
Washington is increas- It’s all a rather enter- tech gurus who created and & Byers, and a founder
ingly beholden to these taining spectacle. But run these platforms. of TechNet, a bipartisan
outspoken techies: Since aren’t the business lead- The growing influence lobbying group for senior
2022, Hoffman has shelled ers steering America’s of Silicon Valley tycoons executives in the tech
out $42.8 million to economy, and some of its on American politics is industry.
Democratic PACs and state most valuable companies, arguably inevitable, given Even Hoffman, the
and federal candidates; supposed to rise above the the massive growth of the staunch Democrat, has
Keith Rabois, another fray? Isn’t picking sides industry. Tech now repre- publicly expressed his
VC, has put $9.3 million in partisan politics bad sents 10% of the coun- hope that if Kamala Harris
to work for Republican for business? Corporate try’s GDP and roughly a wins the presidency, she’ll
PACs and candidates; and influence is hardly new to third of the value of the replace FTC Chair Khan,
Peter Thiel of Palantir the policy sausage-making S&P 500. In other words, who Hoffman described
Technologies and Founders process, of course, but the workings of tech com- to CNN as “waging war on
Fund gave $15 million to whatever the rulebook is panies are no longer just American business.”
Republican PACs in Ohio for this sort of thing, the Silicon Valley’s business;
and Arizona (and though tech industry’s honchos they’re America’s business. EVOLVING VIEWS
he says he’s sitting out have decided it’s time to And that means politics
the 2024 election, he was throw it out the window. are inextricably woven in. In his 1,000-word tweet
a major influence in the Big Tech is a political endorsing Trump this
ascension of his protégé A NEW KIND OF campaign issue in its own summer, former PayPal
JD Vance to be Trump’s DISCOURSE right, and not necessarily president and Facebook
running mate). In June, in a way that looks kindly executive David Marcus,
Donald Trump attended Any call for restraint upon the entrepreneurs a self-described longtime
a fundraiser at Sacks’ San seems quaint today, when and corporations pump- Democrat, recounted a
Francisco home. And a so much of what’s said ing out the nation’s latest gradual political conver-
sion caused by every-
thing from “weaponized Where Silicon Valley puts its political dollars
DEI” and suppression of As in many industries, business leaders in Big Tech give to a variety of campaigns, candidates, and
online discussions about groups across the political spectrum. Here are some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent figures,
color-coded based on the overall political leaning of their individual donations.
COVID’s origin to U.S.
policy in Russia and in the
INDIVIDUAL DONATIONS TO POLITICAL PARTIES, CANDIDATES, AND PACS SINCE 2020
Middle East. “It has been
an eye-opening process of
disenchantment, zero- CIRCLE SIZE
CORRESPONDS TO
basing lifelong beliefs, and THE AMOUNT DONATED
rebuilding from there,”
Marcus wrote.
For some of those who Sheryl Sam Marissa
Sandberg Altman Mayer
have found a new, loud $1.53 M $178,500
Elon Musk* David Marcus
political voice, the recep- $52,800 Tyler Cameron $271,100
Winklevoss Winklevoss
tion has been mixed. $5.79 M
John Doerr
$5.74 M $5.58 M
Marc Andreessen and Ben
Horowitz, two of the indus-
try’s most powerful venture Palmer
Luckey
capitalists, saw swift blow- $5.13 M
back after they endorsed Eric Schmidt
Trump in July, with many Ben Horowitz $19.49 M
$25.90 M
liberal techies vowing to Marc Andreessen
cut ties with their firm, $25.9 M
Andreessen Horowitz.
Doug Leone
“I’m going to have a $10.09 M
lot of friends who are
probably pissed off at me
for saying anything nice
about President Trump,”
Horowitz acknowledged at Reid Hoffman
Dustin Moskovitz
the start of their 90-minute $59.78 MILLION $55.50 MILLION
endorsement video. “The
Paul Sciarra
last thing I wanted for the $1.70 M
firm, for our employees,
the companies we invest
in, and so forth, was us to Keith Rabois
Vinod Khosla
be involved in this, because $8.07 M
$9.39 M
it gets very emotional, and
it’s tough.”
Peter Thiel Ron Conway
Politics has of course $35.26 M $15.00 M
always had a presence
Michael Moritz
in Silicon Valley. When $15.85 M
Andreessen’s seminal Bill Gates
web browser company Shaun $1.69 M
Maguire
Netscape went public in $1.11 M
1995, CEO Jim Barksdale Joe Anne
Laurene Lonsdale Wojcicki
made no secret of his Powell $1.84 M
$1.02 M
political leanings. A silver- Reed Hastings Jobs
$12.62 M $3.84 M Melinda
haired business hotshot
French Gates
with a Mississippi drawl, $2.09 M
David Sacks
Barksdale was a prominent $2.23 M
fundraiser and advisor
*MUSK'S PRO-TRUMP AMERICA PAC RAISED $8.75M, BUT HIS PERSONAL CONTRIBUTION WON'T BE CLEAR UNTIL THE NEXT FEC QUARTERLY REPORT.
CHART: NICOLAS RAPP; RESEARCH: JENN BRICE SOURCE: FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION DATABASE, AS OF SEPT. 20, 2024
to Republican George W. the world. Does that mean

Bush’s presidential cam- “CARNEGIE NEVER SAID he has the answers to all
paign. He was rumored to
be in line for “high-tech
HE WAS A GENIUS. America’s problems?
This attitude is a big
czar” in the Bush admin- ROCKEFELLER NEVER SAID change from that of the
istration, and ultimately
was tapped to be on Bush’s
HE WAS A GENIUS. THEY business titans of the past.
Even the all-powerful
Foreign Intelligence ALL SAID THAT THEY WERE “robber baron” industrial-
Advisory Board.
But the tone of the na-
GOOD BUSINESSMEN.” ists of the late 19th cen-
tury, Andrew Carnegie and
scent tech industry in that DAVID NASAW, HISTORIAN AND BIOGRAPHER John Rockefeller, tended
era was less dogmatic and to stay in their lanes,
maximalist. During the explained David Nasaw, a
2000 presidential elec- historian at City University
tion campaign, Barksdale of New York’s Graduate
spoke on a panel and was bluntness, and combative- of fanaticism: Some in to- Center who authored a
asked how the Republican ness, qualities that they day’s tech elite have come biography of Carnegie.
Party could use the inter- often can’t suppress. (It’s to believe that their mis- “Carnegie never said he
net to win over techies. the reason every business sion is so important that was a genius,” Nasaw notes.
Figure out the “hooks” to reporter knows they’ll get it trumps everything else. “Rockefeller never said
go viral, he counseled. a much better interview And in many cases they he was a genius. They all
Then he offered a word from the CEO who started seem to have lost the abil- said that they were good
of caution, pointing to their own company, rather ity to distinguish between businessmen, that they un-
GOP positions on the en- than the risk-averse hired things that fall within derstood markets.” Today’s
vironment and “family val- suit in the C-suite.) their area of expertise and Silicon Valley moguls have
ues” that didn’t play well That passion and ideal- other spheres of public more “chutzpah”: “They’ve
with the tech set: “Lighten ism offers one potential life, from geopolitics to been convinced that
up on some of these other counterpoint to criticism criminal justice. they’re gods.”
things that these people that the political fervor of Case in point: VC One notable excep-
respond negatively to.” Big Tech bigwigs is moti- Ben Horowitz opened tion from history is the
vated only by commercial his Trump endorsement newspaper magnate
A CULTURE OF self-interest: Commitment video by asserting that “the William Randolph Hearst,
ICONOCLASTS is inherent to the Silicon future of our business, the the subject of another
Valley ethos—it’s what future of technology … and Nasaw biography. Hearst
Republican or Democrat, compels founders to per- the future of America is hated President Franklin
a common thread among severe when everyone tells literally at stake.” Roosevelt with a passion,
tech’s new breed of political them their idea is dumb or and published scathing
warriors is that they tend crazy, to devote themselves THE CULT OF signed editorials on the
to be founders and venture so completely to the task THE FOUNDER front pages of his newspa-
capital investors, rather that it risks destroying pers—the most powerful
than professional manag- their personal finances, That’s the downside of platform of his era.
ers at corporations. As marriage, and health. If a Silicon Valley’s reverence But Hearst’s political
former coders and tech founder truly believes their for tech innovators, which activism cost him dearly,
innovators, their back- purpose in life is to make treats startup founders causing readership of his
grounds may better qualify their company, platform, or as not just hardworking newspapers to decline.
them to discuss Moore’s widget happen, then they and passionate entrepre- “Working-class readers
law on microprocessors will fight to make it a real- neurs, but as enlightened felt they had to make a
than the intricacies of taxes ity, pushing back against beings endowed with a choice,” Nasaw says. “They
and regulation, but found- any obstacles—whether kind of superpower. Marc abandoned Hearst.”
ers tend to speak their it’s an incumbent in the Andreessen’s web browser, Techies, take note.
minds. They have succeed- market or a regulator in a Netscape, was a revolu-
ed, often astronomically, by government agency. tionary product in its time, Additional reporting by
approaching life with zeal, This can become a kind one that arguably changed Jenn Brice
FORTUNE • THE BRIEF
19
IN FOCUS
HOW A WEEKLY ZOOM CALL

OF POWERFUL BLACK WOMEN
CREATED THE MOST POTENT
CAMPAIGN TOOL OF 2024
BY RUTH UMOH
THE GLITZY OPRAH WINFREY–HOSTED “Unite for tent under-the-radar net- what Black women have al-
America” Zoom event Sept. 19 featured the corps work of influential Black ways done,” she explained,
d’elite of entertainment, government, and business, as female leaders pulling invoking women of earlier
well as the woman being feted herself: Democratic strings in American public generations who are not
presidential nominee Kamala Harris. life and business. Most here to see one of their own
The event brought together the 140 “unity groups” weeks, the call draws a on the path to the nation’s
that have held Zoom calls to fundraise for Harris, includ- couple hundred attendees. highest office.
ing White Women: Answer the Call, White Dudes for But in the heady first few “It is an honor for all of
Harris, Cat Ladies for Harris, and Tech4Kamala. hours of Harris’s campaign us to usher in this mo-
“The grassroots people-powered movement behind on July 21, some 44,000 ment,” Eaddy continued,
Kamala Harris has unleashed a unifying force unlike any- participants swamped “knowing that those who
thing we’ve seen in politics in a very long time,” Winfrey Eaddy’s Zoom, with watered this mighty field
almost sung to the crowd. Then the media mogul pivoted another 50,000 tuning in are now allowing us to eat
to face a woman wearing a deep-violet dress in the front on other platforms. That of the fruit of the trees.”
row: Jotaka Eaddy, who started this movement with her call raised $1.6 million for
weekly Zoom call for powerful Black women. the Harris campaign in THE DIZZYING ascent of
“I know y’all been doing this a long time,” Winfrey told one evening, and it set off Win With Black Women
Eaddy. “I was on a lot of calls with y’all in 2020. But we a wave of Zoom gatherings into the political sphere
ain’t never seen nothing like this before!” that have raised many mil- isn’t serendipitous—at least
That’s no understatement. Featuring stars from Tracee lions more, and made the not in the typical sense.
Ellis Ross to Chris Rock to Michigan Gov. Gretchen teleconference platform Instead, it’s the culmina-
Whitmer, the YouTube livestreams of Winfrey’s event had such a valuable fundrais- tion of years of planning,
more than 2 million views by the following afternoon. The ing tool that some have strategizing, and organiz-
event was also aired in part on CNN and MSNBC. dubbed 2024 the year of ing to harness the financial
All this was more than Eaddy, a 45-year-old social im- the “Zoom election.” and social capital of Black
pact consultant in politics and tech, could have dreamed There’s nothing new women. “It’s about using
of four years ago when she started her group, Win With about Black women lead- our collective economic
Black Women (WWBW), while quarantining in her fam- ing the charge, Eaddy told power to demand that
ily home at the end of a dirt road in South Carolina. Winfrey. “It was a moment we’re given a seat at the
The Sunday evening Zoom call has evolved into a po- in our country to show table,” says Shannon Nash,
P H OTO G R A P H BY J A R E D S OA R E S
STAR POWER
Media mogul Oprah
Winfrey has made
several visits to Eaddy’s
weekly Zoom.
the former CFO of the

Alphabet subsidiary Wing.
“And, more importantly,
building our own table.”
WWBW has grown
mainly from member
introductions as an if-you-
know-you-know grassroots
movement. Meghan,
Duchess of Sussex, attend-
ed the call in 2022 to dis- At the University of which opened them up to to her network that was
cuss the press’s treatment South Carolina, she was “abominable sexist and part rant, part call-to-
of Black women. Winfrey the first Black woman to racist attacks,” Eaddy says. action titled, “Not On Our
likes to drop in. Other be elected student body “I just remember think- Watch.”
guests have included the president. She went on to ing to myself, If we allow That night, 90 Black
singer Dionne Warwick, work for a group seeking to this to happen to these women from a range of
the late Hollywood star abolish the death penalty. Black women, then what industries gathered on a
Cicely Tyson, and the film- After stints at the NAACP is happening to Black Zoom call and drafted an
maker Ava DuVernay. and with then-Sen. Barack women that don’t have open letter denouncing the
It’s a power-player-filled Obama’s presidential those platforms, that attacks on VP candidates.
world far removed from campaign, she headed to aren’t famous, [and] are “That was the very begin-
Eaddy’s upbringing, in a Silicon Valley, where she not at a level of vice presi- ning of Win With Black
“humble” home on an un- did civic engagement at dential nominee poten- Women,” says Eaddy.
paved road in Johnsonville, tech startups. tial?” Eaddy says. “What is
S.C. She learned public In 2019, she launched happening to the ‘Tamikas’ ON ITS ZOOM CALLS,
speaking giving Easter the social impact con- in the workplace?” WWBW has hosted nearly
speeches at church. In high sulting firm Full Circle Eaddy called Minyon every Black woman candi-
school, her debating prow- Strategies, specializing in Moore, a former White date running for a major
ess won her a nomination public affairs and com- House political director office, including Harris
to attend a conference for munity engagement. That and more recently the chair herself. Says Eaddy: “On
aspiring lawyers. remains her “day job,” even of the 2024 Democratic the spot, we will fundraise
But at a cost of $3,000, as WWBW has taken on a National Convention, to for those Black women.”
her parents couldn’t afford life of its own. ask what was being done to But politics isn’t the
to send her, Eaddy tells address the abuse and how only arena where WWBW
Fortune. That was the first IN AUGUST 2020, Joe she could assist. has flexed its power. “When
time she saw the power of Biden, then the pre- “Put me in,” she re- there’s a need, we will
a network: “Black women sumptive Democratic calls telling Moore, and galvanize,” Eaddy explains.
in my church and in my presidential nominee, explains: “You always wait And each participant
community sold chicken had said he was consider- for the political aunties to brings her own assets.
JO SHUA ANDERSON—HARP O, INC.
dinners and held bake ing several Black women lead you.” “I’m a businessperson,
sales to raise money to as his vice presidential But Moore turned the and my lane is to help raise
send me to that confer- pick. The names of then- question around on Eaddy: money, write checks, and
ence and to put me on an Senator Harris and the “What are you all planning strategize,” says former
airplane that many of them Georgia voting rights to do?” she asked. Half an Amex executive Susan
have still never been on,” activist Stacey Abrams hour after ending the call, Chapman-Hughes, who
recalls Eaddy. were floated in the media, Eaddy sent out an email sits on the boards of Toast
and the J.M. Smucker Co. Keisha Lance Bottoms, the THE ZOOM BOOM women leaders began
“The beauty of Win With former senior advisor to “popping off,” she recalls.
Black Women is that peo- President Biden, describes Identity-based Zoom “We were like, ‘Okay,
ple are like, ‘This is what I Eaddy as “the woman who calls have raised mil- this thing is going down.
bring to the table in terms brought Brittney Griner lions for Kamala Harris. We can’t believe this is
of skills and capabilities, home.” (Eaddy demurs, happening.’ ” On a typical
$1.6 M
and from there, we’re going pointing out that the net- Sunday, about 200 women
to follow your lead—what- work’s efforts were part of a attend the 8:30 p.m. Zoom
ever it is you need.’ ” larger push.) meeting. But by 5 p.m., a
After Disney released WWBW has often de- few hundred were already
The Little Mermaid in ployed this three-pronged in the waiting room.
RAISED BY
2023, featuring a Black strategy: a social media WIN WITH BLACK WOMEN As the evening wore
ON ITS JULY 21 ZOOM
Ariel and prompting a campaign; open letters to on, Eaddy’s phone was
racist backlash, WWBW policymakers and govern- flooded. “I had about 600
bought out over 100 the- ment officials; and tapping missed calls that night
aters on opening weekend.
“It was important for
us to support and to send
Hollywood a signal that
Black women are paying
well-connected insiders
to press the case in their
respective fields.
After Biden nominated
Ketanji Brown Jackson
$1.3 M RAISED BY
from people asking how to
get on the evening call.”
By 8 p.m., Nash and
several other regular
attendees were unable
attention to the images to the Supreme Court WIN WITH BLACK MEN to join the Zoom. Even
ON ITS JULY 22 ZOOM
that they create,” says in February 2022, the Eaddy was locked out.
Eaddy. The group has also network mobilized to fight “This person had told
rallied behind Black female attempts to discredit her. this person who had told
authors to help get them
on bestseller lists. And it
has strategized to support
Black female athletes.
“Black women have
It offered press training to
Black women deans and
professors at law schools
to help them articulate
Jackson’s legal chops.
$8.5 M
RAISED BY WHITE WOMEN:
that person,” Nash says.
“Someone had to put their
phone on speaker for me
to tune in.”
Eaddy switched to a
ANSWER THE CALL
always been powerful, Members called their ON ITS JULY 25 ZOOM
Zoom webinar, which al-
but behind the scenes, senators and attended lowed for up to 3,000 par-
SOURCE: MEDIA REPORTS
stage directing,” says Ulili Jackson’s in-person confir- ticipants. “We hit 3,000
Onovakpuri, a managing mation hearings. immediately,” she says. At
partner at Kapor Capital. “We wanted those around 9 p.m., a member
“Now we’re saying, ‘No, we senators to clearly see us,” with a connection at Zoom
want to be center stage— says Eaddy. “And to see a splashy social media reached out to higher-ups
the main character.’ ” that if they chose to ask campaign and calling to expand their dial-in
The group is in its some of the ugly questions lawmakers. On May 10, capacity to 50,000.
element when going to that they did, contort her 2022, Cook became the An hour into the call,
battle on behalf of Black record, or misrepresent first Black woman to sit on television personality and
women facing seismic chal- the truth, we were ready to the Federal Reserve Board attorney Star Jones cre-
lenges—as Harris is now. push back and make clear in its 108-year history. ated a fundraising link to
The network was one of her qualifications.” On funnel donations directly
several hounding the Biden June 30, 2022, Jackson ON THE JULY afternoon to the Harris Victory
administration to negotiate became the first Black when Biden withdrew Fund. WWBW has so far
for the release of WNBA woman to serve on the na- from the 2024 election raised $2.6 million for
player Brittney Griner from tion’s highest court. and backed Harris, Eaddy the cause.
a Russian prison, penning Similarly, WWBW told Winfrey, “We wanted It’s a wondrous thing,
an open letter, launching a mobilized behind the to gather in our joy—and says Eaddy: “We’re seeing
social media blitz, and ar- economist Lisa Cook when we knew that we needed Black women leaning into
ranging meetings between she was nominated to the to get to work.”’ their power—and we’re
Griner’s wife, Cherelle, and Federal Reserve’s Board That afternoon, Eaddy’s like the Avengers coming
the Biden administration. of Governors, launching group chat with Black together.”
25
MACHINE HEAD The new Figure 02 robot can walk, talk, and see what’s going on with AI-enabled vision.
TECH MEET YOUR

NEW COWORKER,
THE HUMANOID house systems, as well as is already raising worries
BY JASON DEL REY how the company’s human about job loss, however,
workers feel about their the rise of the humanoids
robotic colleagues. is likely to bring further
For most of modern urgency to public con-
history, robots that looked cerns about automation
like us and walked like us and employment.
have largely been rel- The new machines look
INSIDE MANY AMAZON warehouses are workers egated to movie and TV like something straight
known as “water spiders,” who pick up and move screens, while the robots out of science fiction.
the numerous plastic storage bins used to shuttle goods in factories and other Figure, a Sunnyvale,
around the facility, and who restock worker stations real-world settings have Calif., startup backed by
with merchandise, boxes, and other material. At a taken the less-sexy form OpenAI, recently unveiled
warehouse in Sumner, Wash., recently, a special crew of of mechanical arms or its 02 model, a sleek
workers stepped in to help the people moving the plastic oversize Roombas. That’s matte-gray-and-black
bins—humanoid robots. starting to change as a robot with six cameras
The droids, made by Agility Robotics, are about the new crop of startups make for eyes and onboard AI
size of a person and can walk around the warehouse floor humanoid robots a reality to help it see and interact
COURTESY OF FIGURE
as well as squeeze into tight spaces thanks to their back- and promise corporate with humans. Carmaker
ward knees. Amazon, which has invested in the startup managers increased pro- BMW has tested a Figure
through its Industrial Innovation Fund, is testing a hand- ductivity and a solution robot at a South Carolina
ful of Digits (as the Agility robots are called), observing to labor shortages. At a facility. Tesla CEO Musk,
how well the droids communicate with its other ware- time when generative AI meanwhile, predicts his
company’s Optimus robots ponents of the humanoid battery recharge. And not humanoid robots present a
will be in production for form factor say that costs everyone is convinced that whole new set of risks.
internal use by the end of will only come down, and the human physique is the “If ChatGPT throws an
2025, and the following they talk of the technol- ideal form for a robot. Am- off-color joke every once
year for other companies. ogy’s game-changing azon spokesperson Xavier in a while, it’s not really a
Even if Musk’s timeline potential in ways that can Van Chau told Fortune problem, right?” he says
proves fanciful (as his sound utopian. “We’re that while the e-commerce rhetorically. “But if a robot
often do), the billionaire’s basically going to live in a giant sees promise in the throws an off-color middle
impact on the robotics world where any physi- humanoid form factor, it finger or drops something,
sector is undeniable, says cal labor is a choice,” says hasn’t yet determined if it or glitches while it’s in an
Carnegie Mellon University Brett Adcock, the founder will use them long-term elevator with someone—
Robotics Institute profes- and CEO of Figure. and also wants to test those things can’t happen.”
sor Chris Atkeson. “When Porter isn’t exactly
Elon Musk says he is going a neutral observer. His
to create a new industry, startup Cobot is develop-
people pay attention,” ing robots that use wheels
Atkeson tells Fortune. “IF A ROBOT DROPS instead of legs—a design he
Equally important have
been advances in robotic
SOMETHING OR GLITCHES says is less costly and more
practical for many tasks. A
hardware and artificial IN AN ELEVATOR WITH “swerve drive” allows the
intelligence. Nvidia, for ex-
ample, recently announced
SOMEONE—THOSE robot to move in any direc-
tion, while “multifunction-
a large AI model called THINGS CAN’T HAPPEN.” al” arms can lift and grasp
Project GR00T, aimed at everything from boxes to
training humanoids, while BRAD PORTER, COFOUNDER, COBOT trays. The company hasn’t
OpenAI has launched an announced any customers,
initiative to develop mod- but says its robots should
els for robotics. be able to eventually work
In September, invest- in settings ranging from
ment management firm Adcock’s company other types of robots, per- manufacturing and fulfill-
ARK published a bullish has raised more than haps those that move with ment facilities to hospitals
report about humanoid $700 million since its wheels instead of legs. and stadiums. Among
robots that put the po- 2022 founding and counts One humanoid skeptic its investors is Amazon
tential market at trillions Microsoft, Nvidia, Intel is Brad Porter, the former founder Bezos.
of dollars. Although the Capital, and Jeff Bezos, via vice president of robotics Whatever shape these
report did not provide his investment firm, among at Amazon. According to robots ultimately take, the
any specific timeline, it its backers. Agility, led by Porter, there’s a fundamen- question remains of what
posited that if the cost of former Microsoft executive tal problem with creating a happens to human jobs
a humanoid robot were Peggy Johnson, has raised robot capable of operating as robot use increases.
to be $16,000, the droid $180 million and is seeking autonomously in differ- Agility’s Johnson says
would need to deliver only more. Johnson expects ent settings: There’s not Digit is taking on tasks
5% more efficiency than to produce hundreds of enough data to train AI humans don’t want or that
a human worker to be humanoids in 2025 at models to safely control an aging workforce can’t
economically efficient. a facility in Salem, Ore., the robots. or shouldn’t be doing.
How close we are to ramping up to thousands “We don’t have the Figure’s Adcock is more
that day depends on who and eventually a maximum equivalent of the inter- fatalistic. Technological
you talk to. Humanoids of 10,000 annually. net where everyone just advancements, whether
can cost around $150,000 For all their promise, pumped all text onto the it’s the creation of a
each to produce according humanoids still have their internet over the last 20 dishwasher or a human-
to a January report from limits. Many of the cur- years,” he says, referring mimicking robot, are
Goldman Sachs (the com- rent robots can operate to the data that generative inevitable: “It’s basically
panies declined to provide for only about four to five AI products like ChatGPT what’s been happening for
pricing to Fortune). Pro- hours before needing a have been trained on. And two centuries.”
29
units (CPUs), in which it

was once the unrivaled
king. Production delays
TECH A WOUNDED INTEL BATTLES FOR and problems in its own
SURVIVAL IN THE AI ERA BY JEREMY KAHN fab facilities have let rival
AMD steal significant
market share.
Distracted while trying
to fix these issues, Intel
failed to see the extent
HENRY V had cial intelligence. as a player in the market to which graphics chips
Agincourt. Gen. Rob- Intel rival Nvidia took a for AI chips. Many are would come to dominate
ert E. Lee had Gettysburg. type of chip originally de- skeptical he can pull it off the market for AI. Instead,
And Intel CEO Pat signed for the demands of and fear the company may it thought AI would be run
Gelsinger has Chandler. video games, the graphics be in permanent decline. on systems that still had
That would be Chandler, processing unit (or GPU), Meanwhile, chipmaker CPUs at their heart.
Ariz., outside Phoenix, and turned it into the Qualcomm has report- “The strategy has been
where Intel is investing workhorse for training and edly expressed interest in to fix the core business
nearly $30 billion to build running AI models. Now acquiring Intel in what and don’t worry about the
two state-of-the-art the generative-AI boom would be among the big- ancillary stuff,” says Alan
semiconductor plants, or has made Nvidia one of gest tech takeovers ever. At Priestley, a Gartner vice
fabs, that will be the first the world’s most valuable press time, it was unclear president analyst. “GPUs
to use the company’s companies, worth more if a deal would happen or were the ancillary stuff.”
newest chipmaking than $3 trillion, compared whether Intel would in- Even after Intel belat-
process. It’s here, in with Intel’s relatively pal- stead partner with another edly recognized the
Chandler, where Gelsing- try $84 billion. company for a cash infu- fast-growing market
er’s fate—and likely that of Gelsinger is racing to sion that doesn’t involve a for AI-specific chips, it
the company he leads— reverse Intel’s slide by buyout. bungled its efforts to get
will be decided. repositioning the company Intel wound up in such into the AI game. In 2019,
Gelsinger, who was around manufacturing dire straits owing to mis- it announced its own GPU
named CEO in 2021, has excellence, while also steps in its core business design for AI called Ponte
essentially bet the comp t i t t bli h I t l f t l i V hi B t th d i
on 18A, a new chipmak
process. He hopes it wi
position Intel as a viabl
alternative to Taiwan S
conductor Manufacturi
Co. (TSMC), the world’
leading contract manuf
turer of chips.
The reason for Intel
struggles is clear: It fel
victim to a classic inno
tor’s dilemma—not onc
but twice. First, early i
the 21st century, its pre
cupation with producin
chips for PCs and data
centers led it to miss th
smartphone revolution
Then, in the past decad
it missed the emergenc
chips designed for artif
I L LU S T R AT I O N BY D O U G C H AY K A
was complicated, requir- singer or other executives Arizona fabs and two more pended Intel’s dividend.
ing three different fab available to comment for in Ohio have soared past Then, in September, he
processes to make, and this article. But Gelsinger initial projections. The announced more radical
expensive. Worse, its per- publicly acknowledges the Arizona plants, which action: Intel’s foundry
formance couldn’t match impossibility of displac- Intel is counting on having business will be formally
that of Nvidia’s chips. This ing Nvidia’s dominance online in 2025, have been spun off as a separate sub-
year, Gelsinger shelved in chips for training large hit by construction delays. sidiary. The hope is that
Ponte Vecchio in favor of a AI models anytime soon. And in September, Reuters this will reassure potential
new design due in 2025. “In that race, you know, reported that Broadcom, foundry customers that
Intel also bought AI chip [Nvidia] are so far ahead,” which makes networking their design secrets won’t
startups but struggled to the CEO said at a technol- and radio chips, had tested leak to Intel’s product divi-
turn their products into ogy conference in August. Intel’s process and con- sion and that Intel won’t
hits. In 2016, it acquired Instead, Gelsinger thinks cluded it was not yet ready prioritize its own produc-
Nervana for $350 million, Intel can compete in the for full production. tion needs over theirs.
but took years to roll out market for AI inference— Amid this bad news, Critically, it will also let
chips based on its technol- running AI models that Intel’s foundry busi- the foundry business raise
ogy. When it did, they had have already been trained. ness has notched a few capital from outside inves-
already been eclipsed by He also says another new precious wins: In Sep- tors, possibly alleviating
Nvidia. Then in 2019, Intel Intel chip will be a hit for tember, Amazon’s AWS Intel’s cash woes. Gelsinger
bought Habana Labs for use in laptops and PCs that agreed to manufacture a also shelved plans for a
$2 billion. Intel says Ha- run AI applications. next-generation AI chip new $32 billion fab in
bana’s chips beat Nvidia’s. Gelsinger’s immediate at Intel’s 18A fabs. Intel Germany, as well as new
But these claims have not problem is that Intel is previously struck a similar facilities in Poland.
been independently veri- hemorrhaging cash. The deal with Microsoft. The company has
fied, and Intel expects only 18A gamble is expensive. Finding the money to turned to the U.S. govern-
$500 million in sales from The company has commit- pay for 18A, though, is ment for help, too. Intel
Habana’s latest chips this ted $185 billion to build rapidly becoming an exis- has been counting on mon-
year. new fabs and upgrade tential crisis. Intel’s annual ey from the U.S. CHIPS
Intel did not respond to existing ones. sales have flagged—down Act, signed by President
a request to make Gel- Costs for Intel’s planned $24 billion, or 30%, since Biden to boost domestic
Gelsinger took over. In chip production, to assist
2022, the company’s free in paying for some of its
cash flow turned negative. new 18A fabs. In March it
Crushed chips It has worsened since then. was awarded $8.5 billion in
Intel’s stock has slumped during the AI boom while the As of late June, Intel was direct CHIPS funding and
shares of its rivals have soared. burning through $12.6 bil- $11 billion in loans. But
lion more cash than it was the money is tied to Intel
DIVERGENT PATHS taking in on an annual ba- hitting certain construction
sis. Investors have reacted milestones, and it has yet
800% AS OF
SEPT. 20, to the cascade of troubles to receive any funds.
2024 by punishing Intel’s stock, At some point Gelsinger
693.8%
driving its shares down may be forced to choose
600
53% so far this year. between preserving Intel’s
To reassure Wall Street, core chip-design divi-
400
NVIDIA Gelsinger has been forced sion—and selling off the
into painful decisions. In foundry business entirely,
August, he announced an admission that his 18A
AMD $10 billion in cost cutting strategy has failed. What-
200
that included laying off ever Intel ultimately does,
140.8%
15,000 employees—15% of drastic measures are likely
INTEL Intel’s workforce. He also necessary if Gelsinger still
0
–17.3% reduced capital spending hopes to snatch victory
JAN. 2023 JULY JAN. 2024 JULY by $5 billion and sus- from the jaws of defeat.
SOURCE: S&P GLOBAL
ASK ANDY
SHOULD YOU LAUNCH A
STARTUP WITH A FRIEND?
BY ANDY DUNN
WHEN MY BONOBOS cofounder, Brian Spaly, and I

had a falling-out in 2009, two years after starting
the company, we made a strange decision. We decided
that we would share the details of how our partnership
fell apart with the community where our friendship and
our company were forged: Stanford Business School.
Brian and I were not on speaking terms at the time, in
part due to my cowardice in not picking up the phone.
But we still held great affinity for each other, and we
felt in some ways let down by what we had learned—or
should I say, not learned—in school. Andy Dunn, the founding
Most of the case-study protagonists who come CEO of Bonobos and Pie,
offers advice on leading teams,
through Stanford reflect the survivorship bias of entre- building things, and surviving prosper. I later came to
preneurs who have made it. But what about the lessons the startup life. Got a wonder if I had been the
question for Andy? Send it to
from those who failed? And where were the stories of [email protected].
“bigger problem” in the
the cofounders who got divorced? Brian and I felt that relationship with Brian.
we would have benefited if someone had talked to us That was true in part be-
about the dark side of partnering with friends. cause I wasn’t able to have
The story of how things went down for us—complete the difficult conversations
with an appendix including a manipulative email I sent ship to the business required to build an “anti-
to Brian and a description of the one-sided coup that I partnership. The laissez- fragile” partnership—one
led—is now the subject of a business-school case that faire dynamics that govern that could not only survive
I’ve gone back to teach a few dozen times over 15 years. friendship—a relationship but also thrive under pres-
(And by “teach,” I mean “serve as whipping boy for the relatively free from duty sure—and in part because
benefit of others.”) At the end of the case, I make a joke: and obligation—turn into of a mood disorder I had,
“When it comes to partnering with friends, don’t. Just something more like a which at the time went
ask your grandmother. Grandmothers know.” Everyone marriage. unacknowledged, unmedi-
laughs. But for a few folks, it’s nervous laughter—be- If you want that mar- cated, and untreated (see
cause they are already teaming up with classmates to riage to succeed, I’d look my memoir, Burn Rate).
start companies. for three things: align- Meanwhile, Brian
When I say, “Don’t do it,” I mean it, and I don’t. If I ment on core values like picked himself up and
could go back, I’d do Bonobos the exact same way, and empathy, courage, self- built Trunk Club into a
Brian—with whom I’m now on much better terms—has awareness, and resilience; formidable enterprise,
told me the same. We wouldn’t have gotten it off the mutual passion for the later acquired by Nord-
COURTESY OF ANDY DUNN
ground if we hadn’t done it together. Brian was the prod- mission; and diverging strom. He proved it was
uct genius, the innovator of better-fitting men’s pants. I experience and interest in possible that Bonobos
was the guy who was trying to sell them on the internet, what your roles should be had parted ways with the
building a new way of creating brands: digitally. at the company. wrong cofounder.
But I do want everyone to know that once you start a Bonobos survived the Wins and learnings, for
business with a friend, you are sublimating the friend- divorce, and went on to both of us.
QUESTIONS ARE EDITED FOR CLARITY AND BREVITY. ANONYMOUS QUESTIONS ARE WELCOME. THIS ISSUE’S QUESTION COMES FROM NICOLE.
37
Deloitte research from

2023 found that while
86% of bosses feel that
work is a significant part
of their identity, only 61%
of Gen Z employees agree.
Generations have
always clashed over work-
place norms. But Gen Z
is bringing something
new to the conversation:
a highly acute awareness
of the importance, and
the potential fragility, of
mental health. Because
while younger millenni-
als ushered in the idea of
work-life balance, Beal
says, “Gen Z has taken the
baton, expanding work-
life balance to include a
greater focus on mental
health and mental well-
WELL FOR GEN Z AT WORK, ness, and now bringing
THE GENERATION GAP IS that into the workplace.”
A WELLNESS GAP. HERE’S Some companies are
HOW TO BRIDGE IT BY to older managers who responding, he notes, by
BETH GREENFIELD spoke to Fortune: ques- providing more employee
tioning how tasks fit into mental health benefits—
the big picture, never even free on-site therapy
putting work first, expect- in some cases.
ing immediate raises and Often, though, the
promotions, and bristling response is one of mis-
at honest feedback— understanding and even
FOR ONE nonprofit executive director, it was a prompting labels ranging resentment.
2022 New York City subway shooting that from “entitled” and “hyper- Here’s how to better
highlighted the stark differences between how he, a sensitive” to “fragile” and understand Gen Z’s push
55-year-old, and his Gen Z staffers show up to work. “narcissistic.” for workplace wellness—
“We had an employee who lived a mile from where it Much of the conflict and work with it, not
happened and was traumatized by it—and further upset comes down to a very against it.
about the fact that we didn’t create space in our weekly basic difference, accord-
staff meeting to address that trauma,” the leader, who ing to Mark Beal, Rut- Ask how Gen Z’s
asked not to be identified because he continues to man- gers University public approach could
age Gen Zers, tells Fortune. relations professor and benefit everyone
“The staff meeting is not an emotional support group. author of Decoding Gen Z. Something that Gen Z
Go to your therapist for that,” he recalls thinking, but “Gen Xers, boomers, even workers realized very
not expressing, because in his experience, “you can’t older millennials, they live quickly, according to
challenge or criticize” young employees. to work. Work is driv- Roberta Katz, former
That clashing of workplace expectations is just one ing them. It’s energizing research scholar with the
example of how today’s twentysomething employees— them,” he says. Center for Advanced Study
the older end of Gen Z, born between 1996 and 2010— On the other hand, he in the Behavioral Sciences
are making a powerful, and oftentimes discordant, notes, “Gen Z works to at Stanford University
impact at work. Other irritating tendencies, according live.” and coauthor of Gen Z,
I L LU S T R AT I O N BY A L L I E S U L L B E R G
Explained, “is that we ers may feel resentful over notes, because Gen Z is Let Gen Z help
don’t have a nine-to-five young folks seemingly accustomed to getting set the tone
workday anymore, because having an “easier” time feedback quickly in other “The best thing is to talk
the blending of online and finding support, the shift areas of life. to your Gen Z employees
offline lives is the norm around the topic “is ben- “Our feedback happens about how they work
now. And so if you don’t efiting everyone,” he says. instantaneously,” he says, best,” suggests Seemiller.
prioritize well-being you “Productivity isn’t neces- whether through online “They might not even
could end up working sarily down, and having a tests that are instantly know yet, because they’re
24/7, literally.” workforce with stronger graded or social media so … new to the work-
Combine that with the mental health is powerful posts that immediately re- force.” But be open to
fact that Gen Z has grown for all generations.” ceive likes and comments. hearing them out.
up at a time when discus- As the nonprofit execu- “And then we show up at “It’s really just saying,
sion of mental health isn’t ‘How can I do a better job
stigmatized—and when of motivating you? How
being open about their do you want to be held
own anxiety or other di- accountable?’ It might
agnoses has been fostered “GEN XERS, BOOMERS, mean that you supervise
by adults and amplified
on social media—and it’s
EVEN OLDER MILLENNIALS, different people slightly
differently based on what
no wonder workplace THEY LIVE TO WORK ... they need. I think this is
wellness is such a priority,
Katz says. She notes that
GEN Z WORKS TO LIVE.” just good advice across all
generations.”
this perspective may be MARK BEAL, AUTHOR OF DECODING GEN Z
worth listening to. Give Gen Zers
“The fact that there’s a the big picture
generation that’s creating For young people at the
boundaries and saying, start of their careers,
‘I’m not going to do that,’ tive director admits, the the job, and our feedback there is often a desire to
is irking older genera- boundaries set by his happens once a year, have a full concept of their
tions, because they’re like, younger workforce have theoretically, at an annual place in the company.
‘But I had to do that!’ ” in turn made him “better review,” he says, which “You have to remember
explains Corey Seemiller, at shutting off,” he says. “I feels “foreign.” that Gen Zers grew up
generational researcher, don’t feel that pressure to That can especially be being able to get informa-
leadership educator, and respond to every email on true if work is being done tion for themselves very
coauthor of Generation Z: a Saturday.” remotely or in a hybrid readily,” says Katz.
A Century in the Mak- model—which could lead That might mean
ing. Still, she adds, “the Reconsider how you to a lack of real, in-person “overexplaining,” as one
fact that they’re drawing deliver feedback relationships at work. longtime CFO calls it,
attention to this is helping “We have to be able to “If it’s a situation when asked by a young
everybody, because it’s give feedback to people where you’re having on- employee why they’ve
making work-life balance so they can do their jobs going conversations with been given a certain task.
a priority for older genera- better,” says Seemiller, your manager, feedback But understand that a
tions like mine.” calling it “an issue” if likely feels less threaten- little explanation can go
Jonah Stillman, the young employees are— ing versus if you’re fully a long way, says Seemiller.
25-year-old cofounder of as many bosses perceive— remote and you’re being “They don’t want to be
consulting firm GenGuru unable to take it in. But handed task-based work, just an indiscriminate cog
and coauthor of Gen Z @ how it’s given matters. and then out of the blue, in the wheel. They want
Work, calls it an “upside” Stillman suggests you join this meeting and to have an idea of how
that his generation is delivering it honestly, get critical feedback,” they fit,” she says. “That
comfortable talking about kindly—and with regular says Stillman. “I think sometimes takes time—but
the issue of mental health. frequency, as part of an that would be threaten- it also creates a lot more
And while he’s sensitive to ongoing relationship. ing to a lot of people buy-in than you would ever
the idea that older manag- That’s important, he early in their career.” imagine.”
43
ber’s rate cut a sign that

higher interest rates have
gone too far and made the
economy too weak?
The bad news is that in
recent years, declining in-
terest rates and recessions
have often gone hand in
hand as the Fed tries to
backstop Wall Street and
Main Street: Seven out of
11 periods of sustained rate
cutting since 1980 have
coincided with recessions,
according to research by
Hartford Funds.
The good news is that
even a recession isn’t
necessarily terrible for in-
vestors. Tracie McMillion,
head of global asset alloca-
tion strategy at the Wells
Fargo Investment Institute
(WFII), notes that there
are a few asset classes that
tend to pop after a cut, U.S.
stocks being one of them.
tility, especially if the Fed Studying historical stock
embarks on a sequence of market data, WFII found
rate changes, says Chester that the S&P 500 rises
INVEST HOW TO TAKE Spatt, finance professor at steadily in the 18 months
ADVANTAGE OF THE Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper following a rate cut when
FED’S BIG RATE CUT School of Business. That those cuts don’t correspond
BY ALICIA ADAMCZYK will be doubly so con- with a recession. But even
sidering that the timing when there is a recession—
of the first cut coincides which WFII considers
with the home stretch of unlikely—performance is
a presidential race, when “essentially flat.”
investors tend to overreact Indeed, some sectors
to political plot twists. actually perform better
THE WAIT IS OVER. After more than a year of “These periods where the when rate cuts correspond
will-they-or-won’t-they, the Federal Reserve on direction of rates is chang- with a recession than
Sept. 18 announced the first cut to its benchmark ing tend to be periods of they do when it doesn’t.
Federal funds rate since the early days of the COVID-19 uncertainty,” says Spatt. Financials, health care,
pandemic, a 50-basis-point drop that Chairman Jerome Driving that uncer- consumer staples, and
Powell signaled is likely the first of many. tainty, of course, is the tech fall into that category
With inflation at its lowest level since early 2021, an question that’s been (see our chart).
uptick in the unemployment rate, and growing worries ricocheting around inves- With or without a reces-
about softening consumer spending, the cut was any- tors’ minds for months: sion, lower interest rates
thing but a surprise. But it does signal the start of a pivot Has the Fed nailed a “soft make it worth taking a sec-
in how the average investor should position her portfo- landing,” slowing infla- ond look at some categories
lio, as wealth planners and other experts tell Fortune. tion without causing a that have been out of favor.
For starters, investors should expect short-term vola- recession? Or is Septem- Small-cap stocks, which
I L LU S T R AT I O N BY C H R I S GA S H
have underperformed for good news for high-quality Moving some excess cash become more compel-
years, in particular could growth stocks like Nvidia, into equities could also be ling. Exiting equities
see a boost, says McMil- which also rely on low-cost an answer, notes McMil- altogether is almost never
lion. These companies financing to expand. lion, particularly for any a good idea. But Ornstein
tend to rely on borrowing savings that investors suggests that investors
to fuel growth to a greater WATCHFUL know they won’t need review their portfolios and
degree than big companies WAITING near-term. consider whether they’re
do, meaning they have Investment-grade cor- overweighted on stocks, af-
more to gain from better Outside of their stock porate bond funds can also ter two great years for the
lending rates. portfolios, investors could pay higher rates to savers market, given their goals,
Commercial real estate see a mixed bag if rates looking for a cash alterna- risk tolerance, and time
presents another oppor- keep falling. Rates on tive. “Bonds have been the horizon. “Investors who
tunity. Though the sector auto loans, credit cards, ugly duckling in the port- haven’t rebalanced may
has been sorely wounded and potentially mortgages folio for the past few years, be out of alignment with
since COVID sent work- could follow the Fed’s lead, but now they’re looking those targets,” he says.
ers home—where many making it a better time to more attractive again,” How many times the
remain—lower rates could refinance and even make says Sandi Bragar, chief Fed will cut rates and by
encourage developers to big purchases. client officer at Aspiriant, how much are, of course,
take on conversions of For those recently revel- which oversees $13 bil- questions that can’t be an-
offices that have sat empty ing in the higher rates on lion in client assets. “They swered at the moment. By
post-pandemic, says deposits, however, this should see more popping its November meeting, the
Doug Ornstein, director could be a disappoint- in return opportunities, Fed will have more jobs re-
of TIAA’s wealth manage- ing time, as banks lower and they should be more ports and inflation data to
ment team. the yields they offer on stable than stocks.” analyze for a clearer view
That said, you don’t accounts and CDs. Some Of course, if the Fed of the overall health of the
necessarily have to sell off insurance or annuity hasn’t stuck the land- economy. Spatt suggests
the stocks that were win- products could provide ing, and recession looms, sticking with a wait-and-
ners before the Fed’s re- fixed rates that are more U.S. bonds become a see mindset. “In some
cent action: Falling rates, attractive than the market favored defensive play, and medical contexts, they call
Ornstein argues, are also alternatives, says Spatt. commodities could also that watchful waiting—
where the doctors don’t
want to intervene too ag-
gressively,” he says.
Rate-cut winners and losers Above all, nothing
Most stock market sectors benefit when the Fed cuts interest rates, but the fates of different the market does should
industries can vary more widely when falling rates and a recession coincide. prompt a complete change
in an investor’s strategy,
STOCK ANNUALIZED TOTAL RETURNS 12 MONTHS AFTER THE FIRST RATE CUT says Ornstein. Investors
should already have a well-
SECTOR ALL RATE-CUTTING PERIODS* RECESSIONS* diversified portfolio that
CONSUMER DISCRETIONARY 6.2% 10.4% aligns with their goals, and
TECH 5.9% 6.4% recession or no, they should
HEALTH CARE 5.7% 8.5% stay the course regardless
CONSUMER STAPLES 5.5% 9.1%
of what the Fed plans for
the rest of the year.
REITS 3.5% 11.8%
“Let’s lean one direction
COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES 3.1% 1.2% or the other; let’s add a
INDUSTRIALS 3.1% −6.6% little bit of dressing to the
FINANCIALS 1.3% 13.8% salad, not decide we’re nev-
−1.3% 0.7%
er eating salad again,” says
UTILITIES
Ornstein. “We still want a
MATERIALS −1.3% −18.4%
meal with all the different
ENERGY −8.5% −12.2% food groups in it.”
*SINCE 1980 NOTES: RECESSIONS OCCURRED IN 7 OUT OF THE 11 RATE-CUTTING PERIODS SOURCES: HARTFORD FUNDS; LSEG; SCHRODERS ECONOMIC GROUP
PASSIONS
WHO HAS TIME FOR A
POWER LUNCH? THE
REAL BUSINESS HAPPENS
AT 4 P.M. ‘POWER HOUR.’
BY JANE THIER
THE SUN is pouring opening the venue earlier

in through the to accommodate this high-
floor-to-ceiling windows powered afternoon bar
when the bar begins to fill rush—which, he says, is
with bespoke suits on a more than making up for
Tuesday in August at Four the decline of the Mad
Twenty Five. The new Men–style booze-soaked
restaurant from Jean- power lunch.
Georges Vongerichten is “It’s all about creat-
on the first floor of a ing a buzz—a scene with
Midtown Manhattan delicious cocktails and
skyscraper, beneath the snacks,” Vongerichten says.
offices of financial giant That buzz is more like a
Citadel Securities. And the roar at Four Twenty Five,
traders are thirsty. where it’s hard to find a
This might sound like a seat at the bar after the
familiar ritual: happy hour. markets close at 4 p.m.
But the trappings of that A similar scene unfolds
timeworn American work- pre-5 p.m. at Le Pavil-
place tradition—5-to-7 p.m. lon, chef Daniel Boulud’s
drink specials, plates of airy outpost across the
chicken wings, and an “ev- street from Grand Central
eryone’s welcome” vibe— Terminal, and beneath
are nowhere to be found the offices of real estate
at Four Twenty Five. Here, giant SL Green, the Carlyle
the mostly male finance- Group, and TD Securities.
industry crowd quaffs $25 Anthony Diamandakis,
olive-oil-washed martinis the co-head of Citi’s global
and munches on sea urchin asset managers franchise,
crostini with yuzu and takes a $27 bite of jamón
serrano chilies. There are Iberico and gestures with
no two-for-one drink deals his glass of wine across the
or discounted bar snacks. crowded sun-drenched M&A banker at Citi.” by 4:30 p.m. “Drinks defi-
Also: It’s only 4:15. atrium at Le Pav (as its The after-work drink nitely start earlier and end
This is not happy hour, regulars call it). “He runs rush has shifted in the Fi- earlier since COVID,” notes
Vongerichten tells Fortune. a private equity group,” he nancial District, too, where bartender Pape Konte.
This is Power Hour. says, pointing at one friend, the ritzy Bar Room at the Before the pandemic,
Vongerichten has started and then another: “He’s an Beekman Hotel is packed happy hour was an institu-
P H OTO G R A P H BY A L E X F R A D K I N
tion in decline. Buckling likely to go the way of the some subtle differences. POWER HOUR
under the pressures of three-martini lunch. But to Across the country, The bar scene is in
full swing after 4 p.m.
#MeToo and calls for a the relief of downtown bars weekday early-evening
at Daniel Boulud’s
clearer division between and restaurants, week- drinking is actually up Le Pavillon.
work and personal life, the day drinking seems to be since pre-pandemic times,
after-work tipple looked making a comeback—with while the weekday lunch
spend is down, according clubs frequented by bank- “The truth of the matter Leaving the office at
to data from point-of-sale ers and traders, the spirits is: The drinks are great, 4 p.m. might be frowned
system Square. That push- and wine start flowing and they’re expensive for upon by some, but the
and-pull is “more pro- soon after 4 p.m. a reason,” he says. “You’re culture of performative
nounced in cities highly That’s true whether dealing with people who presenteeism that kept
indexed to office workers the mood is happy or not, have expense accounts, or many in the office until the
and knowledge-economy Matthew Niles, a bartender are within a certain strata late evening pre-pandemic
workers—people working at Four Twenty Five, tells of whatever their indus- has waned somewhat in
from home more often,” Fortune: “Sometimes it’s try is—which is kind of a the hybrid-work era.
Ara Kharazian, a research just been a bad day on the natural filter.” And for those with the
lead at Square, says. That markets—or a really good Upstairs from Le Pav is freedom to do so, a tight
makes some sense, he day.” At either extreme, the the Centurion New York, hour of booze-lubricated
says: “If you’re at home all bar is packed, so one of the one of a slew of new private chitchat before hopping
day, you might actually be bartenders usually checks clubs where well-heeled on the train back to the
very eager to leave your the Dow to predict foot members can unwind suburbs can be a rather
house at 5 p.m. and get a traffic, he explains. “That after work. The exclusiv- efficient way to do some
drink somewhere.” does seem to affect us.” ity—whether enforced by high-level networking.
The same seems to be However the markets a door policy or the high Bazeli expenses his bar
true of hybrid workers have performed, Power prices of cocktails—is part tab, which he sees as a
going into offices two or good investment. After
three days a week. Many all, it’s not just the drinks
are finding that those that are premium at Power
limited in-person hours
are quickly gobbled up by
“THE DRINKS ARE GREAT, Hour—it’s also the people
you meet. Bazeli recalls, for
meetings and collabora- AND THEY’RE EXPENSIVE example, chatting with the
tive work, making power
lunch—or sometimes
FOR A REASON … CEO of an AI company at
Le Pav. “We talked about
any lunch—impossible. WHICH IS KIND OF A how AI is changing how
real estate is marketed,” he
“After COVID, my days
got so packed,” says Peter
NATURAL FILTER.” says. “I just love that.”
Bazeli, a managing direc- PETER BAZELI, A REGULAR AT LE PAVILLON To be sure, not every-
tor at a real estate firm one is eager for a return
who goes to Le Pav for to business networking in
afternoon drinks several bars. More than a third
times a month. “The most of the U.S. adult popula-
protected time I found was Hour is generally a civilized of the draw for today’s tion doesn’t drink for one
at the very end of the day affair, nothing like the hard time-strapped Masters of reason or another, and
before I commuted home partying depicted in The the Universe, says Eugene millennials and Gen Z are
on the Metro-North.” Wolf of Wall Street or the Remm, the cofounder of increasingly choosing par-
When diners do come sweaty dance floors and Catch Hospitality Group, tial or complete sobriety.
into his restaurants for pill-popping of the young which owns the Manhat- But those in the teetotal-
lunch, Vongerichten says, traders on HBO’s Industry. tan restaurants Catch and ing crowd still looking to
many these days opt for “The finance guys moder- Catch Steak. At traditional partake in Power Hour
a turmeric tonic, green ate themselves much more happy hours, young em- might find some succor
juice, or kombucha instead than the stereotype sug- ployees would follow their in the rise of another
of a martini. “It’s rare to gests,” Niles says. “They’ve bosses to a local haunt high-end bar trend: the
see someone with a glass got to go home to their wife for a pint, jostling for a nonalcoholic cocktail list.
of wine at lunch at Four and kids.” bit of informal face time. At the Beekman, for
Twenty Five,” he says. “In Still, Bazeli, the Le Pav Nowadays, Remm says, example, abstainers can
1986, it was a bottle of wine regular, says his Power that executive is “going to enjoy a $16 zero-proof
at every table at lunch.” Hour bill is “comfortably a members’ club that the rum, passion fruit, aqua-
But in fine dining estab- over $100” per visit, with a young twentysomething faba, and lemon concoc-
lishments and exclusive generous tip on top. can’t get into.” tion—any time of day.
MOST
POWERFUL
WOMEN
2024
WRITTEN BY
ALICIA ADAMCZYK
NINA AJEMIAN
ELLIE AUSTIN
JENN BRICE
EMMA BURLEIGH
SHERYL ESTRADA
EMMA HINCHLIFFE
LIONEL LIM
ORIANNA ROSA ROYLE
INDRANI SEN
PHIL WAHBA
VIVIENNE WALT
CLAIRE ZILLMAN
MOST
POWERFUL
WOMEN
others are stalwarts who as the “godmother” of the sional men with skills in
have retained power far technology—largely from AI engineering is twice
beyond the average tenure her seat as a researcher and as large (at 0.41%) as
of Fortune 500 male CEOs academic. But this year the the share of professional
W (7.2 years) and female

CEOs (4.5 years). Our new
No. 1, General Motors
chair and CEO Mary Barra,
is one of those mainstays;
Stanford professor mone-
tized that influence, raising
$230 million from An-
dreessen Horowitz, AMD,
and Nvidia for her own
women (0.2%) with the
same skills—although both
have doubled since 2016.
AI leaders’ inclusion
reflects how the MPW list
she’s led the automaker for startup, reportedly valued doesn’t just consider who
10 years and landed on our at over $1 billion. Her new leads the corporate giants
WHEN FORTUNE launched MPW list 13 times. unicorn, World Labs, seeks of today, but who may
its Most Powerful Women Using the format that to endow AI with “spatial lead the world’s biggest
list in 1998, women were we introduced last year, the intelligence,” or an under- businesses in the decades
just starting to trickle into 2024 MPW list ranks the standing of the 3D world. to come.
the C-suite in significant 100 Most Powerful Women Li is surely among the most Alongside the newcom-
numbers. “[Now] is the globally, reflecting corpora- respected founders to ever ers are some of the women
right time to bring you tions’ global scope and the launch a startup, and she’s who have appeared on
Fortune’s first-ever list nature of executives’ work, doing so with the kind of the MPW list the most
of the 50 Most Powerful which spans the planet. established influence most times. Fidelity Investments
Women … because women, The list features women early-stage founders could CEO Abigail Johnson, a
at last, are achieving pro- from six continents, 18 only dream of. third-generation CEO who
found power in the most countries and territories, Also part of the AI oversees $28.2 billion in
important and influential and 14 different indus- contingent are Anthropic revenue at a privately held
industries,” Fortune wrote tries, proving there is no president and cofounder company, has appeared on
at the time. Women in one-size-fits-all approach Daniela Amodei (No. 94), this list 24 times—more
business have certainly to reaching the pinnacle of whose Amazon-backed than any other executive in
come a long way since business. startup is valued at $18 bil- the 27-year history of the
then. No stat proves that The 2024 ranking lion; OpenAI chief technol- list. Johnson (No. 13) took
better than the share of includes 26 newcomers ogy officer Mira Murati over the company in 2014,
CEOs on the list. That first in total, several of whom (No. 57); and CFOs at tech but was on track for the job
year, 15 CEOs made the in- amassed their power giants that are dominant for more than a decade be-
augural ranking of 50. This somewhat recently amid players in the AI race, fore it became official. She’s
year, women with that title the generative AI frenzy. including Nvidia’s Colette followed by No. 7, Oracle
represent well over half Fei-Fei Li (No. 93), for Kress (No. 16) and Micro- CEO Safra Catz (19 times);
of the larger list of 100. instance, has long been soft’s Amy Hood (No. 20). and No. 15, Spanish bank-
Fifteen of the CEOs on among the most influ- These leaders stand ing leader Ana Botín of
this year’s list are brand- ential figures in artificial out in a male-dominated Santander (17 times).
new to the ranking, while intelligence—she’s known industry. According to the While CEOs dominate
World Economic Forum’s this year’s MPW ranking, a
2024 global gender gap group of nine high-profile
HEADCOUNT BY INDUSTRY report, the share of profes- CFOs represent a growing
HEALTH FOOD & AEROSPACE

FINANCIALS TECHNOLOGY ENERGY RETAILING CARE TRANSPORTATION MEDIA BEVERAGES & DEFENSE
26 21 8 8 7 7 5 4 3
FORTUNE • MOST POWERFUL WOMEN
55
MPW 2024 BY REGION MPWs WHO ARE CEOs MPWs WHO SPENT THEIR just one company, down
CAREER AT ONE COMPANY from more than 20% 10
80%
years ago, according to an
65% analysis of all MPW lists
NORTH 30%
54% AMERICA 60 by Fortune’s intelligence
partner McKinsey. One of
20 the outliers is No. 1 Barra,
21% EUROPE 40
who’s a GM lifer. Most top
14% female executives today
18% ASIA 20
10 job-hop on their way into
LATIN the C-suite. In fact, a 2022
3% AMERICA study by McKinsey and
0 0
3% OCEANIA LeanIn.org found that
1% AFRICA 1998 2010 2024 2014 2019 2024 women were switching
SOURCES: FORTUNE; MCKINSEY
employers at record rates,
in part because of the
share of the list. Fortune than $1 trillion in 2024. CEO Sundar Pichai mul- headwinds they faced in at-
gives an edge to CEOs in Notably, Li is only 38 years tiple options when seeking taining senior-level roles.
vetting for the MPW list, old—meaning that she still financial counsel. All of the women on the
but CFOs yield unique has decades to go in an Executives from the 2024 list are outliers in an-
influence in the C-suite already soaring career. Asia-Pacific region rep- other sense, in that they’ve
as trusted executives, Then consider Anat resent another growing advanced in a business
especially when they’re Ashkenazi (No. 22), the delegation on this year’s world that’s still dominated
managing the financial new CFO at Alphabet, list. There are 20 such by men. The most recent
health of some of the most which earned more than women on the ranking, up McKinsey and LeanIn
valuable companies on $300 billion in revenue from 16 last year, including study found that women
earth. Kress, a Microsoft last year and has a market several “firsts.” JAL Group’s have made gains in repre-
alumna, has been key to valuation of nearly $2 tril- Mitsuko Tottori (No. 42) sentation at the senior vice
Nvidia’s soaring stock lion. She succeeds Ruth Po- started as a flight attendant president level—29% in
price, turning most of the rat in the CFO job, which and became the first female 2024 versus 23% in 2015—
company’s workforce into landed Porat in the No. 8 CEO of the Japan Airlines and in the C-suite—29%
multimillionaires as its spot in 2023. Ashkenazi parent this year. Bonnie versus 17%—but that those
market cap routinely hov- ranks lower, at No. 22, Chan (No. 45), meanwhile, gains are more fragile
ers around $3 trillion. since she is untested in is the first-ever female CEO than they may seem.
At Meta, CFO Susan Li the role, recently arriving of Hong Kong Exchanges They result, in part, from
(No. 21) continues to draw from Eli Lilly. And her and Clearing, which companies adding to the
attention as a key architect predecessor is still around: operates the Hong Kong C-suite “staff ”-level roles
of the social media giant’s Alphabet promoted Porat stock exchange. The 20 that women typically fill.
stunning turnaround, from to president and chief Asia-Pacific women on the Staff roles, including those
a market cap of $250 bil- investment officer, earning global MPW list will also overseeing departments
lion upon Li’s promotion Porat the No. 6 spot this appear on Fortune’s MPW like human resources and
in November 2022 to more year and giving Alphabet Asia list, which publishes legal, have no profit-and-
for the first time this year. loss responsibility and
Chan’s background is are usually not stepping
typical of this year’s Most stones to becoming chief
Powerful Women in that executive. But in that way,
she worked elsewhere too, Barra defies conven-
before becoming HKEX tional wisdom: Three
CEO, including at Morgan years before she became
Stanley and law firm Davis GM CEO, Barra was the
HOTELS, MOTOR Polk & Wardwell. Only automaker’s global head
BUSINESS RESTAURANTS VEHICLES
APPAREL TELECOM SERVICES & LEISURE & PARTS 14% of women on this of HR. —Claire Zillman
3 3 2 2 1 year’s list have worked for & Emma Hinchliffe
MOST
POWERFUL
WOMEN
FORTUNE • MOST POWERFUL WOMEN
57
1 Mary Barra
The CEO of General Motors accelerates into our top spot. By Michal Lev-Ram
reform GM’s culture and that ended contentious straight line. The CEO
reorganize it to prepare for contract negotiations and a remains committed to her
an electric-vehicle revolu- costly, historic strike. Even stated goal of zero crashes,
M
tion; it also helped her with the strike’s drag on zero emissions, and zero
earn the No. 1 position on productivity, GM raked in congestion. It just might
our MPW list from 2015 profits of $10.1 billion, and take a while to get there.
through 2017. Since then, its stock is up nearly 35% Fortune caught up with
she’s led GM to its stron- so far in 2024—a testa- Barra—interviewing her
gest financial position ment to Barra’s leadership. while she was in a car,
since its 2009 bankruptcy, That said, Barra’s big- naturally—to ask about the
when the government gest mark on the company last 10 years, today’s chal-
MARY BARRA’S first year was compelled to provide remains, well, a ques- lenges, and the road ahead.
on the job as the first the automaker a financial tion mark. The CEO has
woman ever to lead a global lifeline. And this year, she committed GM to the What’s the secret to
automaker was about as reclaims our top spot. ambitious goal of going your longevity?
rough as a CEO’s first year Along the way, Barra all-electric by 2035—and Part of it is having a
can be. Barra, a General joined an elite group. its efforts have sputtered great team. But also it’s
Motors lifer, took the helm Hitting the decade mark a bit of late. (The com- being agile and continu-
at GM in January 2014. is a rarity for any public- pany recently backed away ing to understand how the
Just a few weeks into the company CEO, and even from a previous target environment is changing,
gig, she found herself navi- more so for female lead- of having the capacity to not waiting and letting
gating a catastrophic recall ers: The average tenure of produce 1 million EVs in things happen to you, but
of millions of GM-made a Fortune 500 CEO is 7.2 North America by 2025; being proactive. You know,
cars due to faulty ignition years for men and just 4.5 it delivered only 38,355 when I took this role, we
switches, some of which years for women. Among EVs in the region in the were still a company in
had caused fatal accidents. the 55 women who cur- first half of 2024.) GM has transition and moving to-
Barra spent much of her rently lead Fortune 500 also run into challenges in ward becoming a modern
debut year on Capitol companies, Barra is one of autonomous-vehicle devel- company in an industry
Hill, testifying in front of only nine who have been opment, another priority that was transforming,
lawmakers who grilled her CEO for a decade or more. of Barra’s. Its self-driving and frankly, that transfor-
about why the defects had To earn longevity, of subsidiary, Cruise, had to mation has only acceler-
gone unfixed for so long. course, you have to deliver pause operations after one ated over this 10-year pe-
It was the kind of ex- results. GM brought in of its vehicles was involved riod. I would also say that
perience that might make $171.8 billion last year, a in a serious accident with I have a really wonderful
you want to quit before nearly 10% increase year a pedestrian in San Fran- board, and I leverage my
year two—but this Janu- over year, and its best cisco in late 2023; Cruise board and really get their
ary, Barra celebrated year performance in 17 years. only recently resumed its best thinking.
10. Leading the company Late last year it reached robo-taxi efforts.
through the recall crisis an agreement with the But as Barra says herself, You came into the CEO
gave her momentum to United Auto Workers transformation is not a role at a tough time in the
P H OTO G R A P H BY M AC K E N Z I E S T R O H
MOST
POWERFUL
WOMEN
company’s trajectory. How CEO, going into this The foundational thing,
did that first year inform current era? I think, is our behav-
your leadership? Well, when we got to 2015 iors. Early on, when
[The crisis] was an op- it was very clear to us that The best people were writing about
portunity to demonstrate the industry was changing. General Motors’ culture,
that we’re going to do the It was changing in the way time to solve and how it’s a problem,
right thing for our custom- vehicles were propelled, I asked myself, “What is
ers, be transparent, and do and the information in a problem is a culture?” It’s a collec-
everything in our power
to make sure this doesn’t
the vehicle—the fact that
at the heart of the vehicle,
the minute you tion of stories of the way
people feel every day. Do
happen again. We lived
the values. We put policies
there’s so much software
and there’s so much you
know you have they come home every day
and say, “I had a great day
in place saying we want
people to speak up—if you
can do with it. And of
course autonomy. As a
one. Because working on this; I’m really
excited and getting the
see an issue, you need to leadership team, together problems don’t resources I need”? Or do
say something. I always say with our board, we de- they say, “I’m completely
to employees that the best cided we’re not going to usually get frustrated. I’m trying to do
time to solve a problem wait to be disrupted. We’re this really cool thing, and
is the minute you know going to transform. smaller. I can’t get it done for all
you have one. Because So, in 2018 we started kinds of other reasons”?
problems don’t usually get working on a global EV Focusing on behaviors is
smaller, they get bigger. production platform that something that we consis-
would allow us to do tently pushed for, and we
One of the things you something as small as an very proud of all of our continue to work on: How
said back then is that you Equinox all the way up to work getting more afford- do we really demonstrate
didn’t want the company a supertruck like a Hum- able vehicles out there. behaviors that are going
to forget, to put the past mer or a delivery van like Once people feel like to allow our people to do
behind it. How do you do the Chevrolet BrightDrop. they can afford the vehicle, their best work and feel
that today, especially with We purchased Cruise, and they don’t have range valued? I think that’s a
newer employees? but also started intense anxiety, the next thing is common element.
It’s interesting that we’re efforts in working on our [charging-station] anxiety,
talking this week, because autonomous software, and so we’ve been work- One last question for you:
this is our Global Safety which continues to be ing on charging. Frankly, What are you driving
Week, which we have once heralded as one of the best I think [progress with] these days?
a year. And often I say we driver-assistance technolo- charging has happened a That’s one of the best
never want to forget be- gies. Then every year we little slow, but every quar- parts of my job, because
cause 40% of our technical just continue to adjust the ter it gets better. I drive so many differ-
talent and most of our sala- strategy and look at: How I’ve always said that ent things, but right now
ried employees have only do we go through this the customer is extremely I have a Hummer SUV
been with the company transformation? rational. This is a very ex- [electric version]. I love
for five years or less. So we pensive purchase. It’s also the four-wheel steer of
need to make sure they un- Internally, how do you a bit of a fashion state- the vehicle; I love sitting
derstand the importance of speak about and view ment. Why do people pick up high. I’ve also got an
and commitment to safety. the current slowdown their cars? It’s an integral internal-combustion-
It’s not just once a year and in the growth of demand part of their lives. Many engine Blazer that I spend
done, but once a year we for EVs? of our customers still time in. But the Hummer
really bring it to a head. Well, we never thought name their vehicles. So SUV is the main one I’m
this would be a straight they want it to be there for driving now. I think it’s
Your first year is pretty line, a linear transforma- them when they need it. pretty cool.
easy to define: You had to tion. There’s 283 million
focus on righting the ship. vehicles in the U.S. alone, Is it easier to transform Can I guess what color
How do you think about so it’s going to take a while during a time of crisis or it is?
your subsequent years as to change them out. I’m one of comfort? It’s black.
FORTUNE • THE MPW LIST
59
THE MPW LIST 1–10 30

1 MARY BARRA, CHAIR AND CEO, GM • 2 KAREN LYNCH, PRESIDENT AND
CEO, CVS HEALTH • 3 JANE FRASER, CEO, CITIGROUP • 4 JULIE SWEET, CHAIR
AND CEO, ACCENTURE • 5 EMMA WALMSLEY, CEO, GSK • 6 RUTH PORAT, President and co-CEO,
PRESIDENT AND CIO, ALPHABET AND GOOGLE • 7 SAFRA CATZ, CEO, ORACLE Ariel Investments
• 8 LISA SU, CHAIR AND CEO, AMD • 9 KATHRYN MCLAY, PRESIDENT AND
CEO, WALMART INTERNATIONAL • 10 GRACE WANG, CHAIRWOMAN AND CEO, U.S.
LUXSHARE PRECISION INDUSTRY >>>
10 16 22
Chairwoman and CFO, Nvidia CFO, Alphabet
CEO, Luxshare and Google
Precision Industry U.S.
U.S.
China
Grace Wang co- Colette Kress, Anat Ashkenazi con-

founded Shenzhen- Nvidia’s finance cluded her 23-year
based manufacturer chief since 2013, has career at Eli Lilly and
Luxshare with her played a strategic Co. on a high note.
brother in 2004 after role in positioning the She served as the
spending 10 years tech company as an pharmaceutical firm’s
working for Foxconn, innovator in micro- CFO as it earned
a major Apple sup- processors, chip de- record revenue of
plier. Twenty years sign, and data center $34 billion in 2023
later, Wang’s leader- computing design. amid booming sales
ship and focus on in- Analysts consider of its blockbuster dia-
novation have pushed Kress, who previously betes and weight-loss
Luxshare up the list of worked at Cisco and drugs Mounjaro and
Apple suppliers, as it Microsoft, instrumen- Zepbound; its market
churns out AirPods, tal in Nvidia’s success cap neared $800 bil-
Apple Watches, on Wall Street—its lion. There are few
Vision Pros, and market cap routinely other CFO jobs that
iPhones, snatching flirts with $3 trillion— would top that, but
market share away and a key strategic Ashkenazi found
from Wang’s former partner to CEO Jen- one at Alphabet.
employer. Luxshare sen Huang. As AI con- The Google parent,
has expanded its tinues to revolutionize with 2023 revenue of
production capacity industries, Nvidia is $307.4 billion and a
through acquisitions at the center of the market cap close to
and investment: It re- boom as the domi- $2 trillion, announced
portedly took over an nant maker of highly her as its new finance
iPhone plant outside sought-after graphics chief in June. She re-
Shanghai from Tai- processing unit chips placed longtime CFO
wanese rival Pegatron that power AI-related Ruth Porat, who’s now
and poured $330 mil- computing tasks. Alphabet president
lion into a northern Demand for GPUs has and chief investment
TAY L O R H I L L— G E T T Y I M A G E S
Vietnam plant late skyrocketed since the officer (and is No. 6

last year. Luxshare AI supercycle in mid- on this list). As the
debuted on the For- 2023. For its fiscal tech giant contin-
tune Global 500 in year 2024, Nvidia’s ues to prioritize AI,
2023 and retained a revenue hit $60.9 bil- Ashkenazi will play a
spot at No. 488 this lion, an increase of strategic role in steer-
year, with revenue of 126% from the previ- ing the company’s
$32.8 billion. ous year. ambitions.
MOST
POWERFUL
WOMEN
11–40
11 GAIL BOUDREAUX,
PRESIDENT AND CEO, ELEVANCE
HEALTH • 12 CAROL TOMÉ, CEO,
UPS • 13 ABIGAIL JOHNSON,
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, FIDELITY
INVESTMENTS • 14 THASUNDA
BROWN DUCKETT, PRESIDENT
AND CEO, TIAA • 15 ANA BOTÍN,
EXECUTIVE CHAIR, BANCO
SANTANDER • 16 COLETTE
KRESS, CFO, NVIDIA • 17 HELEN
WONG, GROUP CEO, OVERSEA-
CHINESE BANKING CORP. • 18
JENNIFER PIEPSZAK, CO-CEO,
COMMERCIAL AND INVEST-
MENT BANK, JPMORGAN CHASE
• 19 MARIANNE LAKE, CEO,
42 CONSUMER AND COMMU-
NITY BANKING, JPMORGAN
CHASE • 20 AMY HOOD,
CFO, MICROSOFT • 21 SUSAN
President and Group LI, CFO, META • 22 ANAT
CEO, JAL Group ASHKENAZI, CFO, ALPHABET
AND GOOGLE • 23 CATHERINE
Japan MACGREGOR, CEO, ENGIE • 24
HEATHER CIANFROCCO, CEO,
OPTUM • 25 KATHY WARDEN,
Mitsuko Tottori’s
CHAIR, PRESIDENT, AND CEO,
journey to the top of
Japan Airlines’ parent NORTHROP GRUMMAN • 26
company was long PHEBE NOVAKOVIC, CHAIRMAN
and unconventional. AND CEO, GENERAL DYNAMICS •
She started as a flight 27 TRICIA GRIFFITH, PRESI-
attendant in 1985. DENT AND CEO, PROGRESSIVE
Over the next 40 • 28 MAKIKO ONO, PRESIDENT
years, she scaled the AND CEO, SUNTORY BEVERAGE
organization, becom-
AND FOOD • 29 SHEMARA
ing senior director of
cabin attendants and WIKRAMANAYAKE, CEO AND
later chief customer MANAGING DIRECTOR, MAC-
officer. In April, the QUARIE • 30 MELLODY HOB-
company appointed SON, PRESIDENT AND CO-CEO,
her president and ARIEL INVESTMENTS • 31 LYNN
CEO, making her its GOOD, CHAIR AND CEO, DUKE
first female chief: a ENERGY • 32 MARTA ORTEGA,
rare feat in Japan,
CHAIR, INDITEX • 33 BELÉN
which ranks No. 118
on the World Eco- GARIJO, CHAIR OF EXECUTIVE
nomic Forum’s Global BOARD AND CEO, MERCK KGAA
Gender Gap report, • 34 DANA WALDEN, CO-
behind Bahrain and CHAIRMAN, DISNEY ENTERTAIN-
Nepal. Japan Airlines MENT, THE WALT DISNEY CO.
is reaping the rewards • 35 BETH FORD, PRESIDENT
of Japan’s post- AND CEO, LAND O’LAKES • 36
COVID tourism boom.
AMANDA BLANC, GROUP CEO,
Still, as CEO, Tottori
must contend with a AVIVA • 37 MARGHERITA DEL-
weak yen, Boeing’s LA VALLE, GROUP CEO, VODA-
manufacturing mis- FONE • 38 REVATHI ADVAITHI,
haps, and the fallout CEO, FLEX • 39 DELPHINE
from a runway col- ARNAULT, CHAIRMAN AND CEO,
lision that occurred CHRISTIAN DIOR COUTURE • 40
two weeks before she VICKI HOLLUB, PRESIDENT AND
was announced as
CEO, OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM
chief executive.
>>>
61
45
BOARD REFORMER
HKEX CEO Bonnie Chan
is aiming to make
62
all-male boards a thing
of the past.
CEO, Decathlon
France
Bonnie Chan
CEO, Hong Kong Exchanges and
Clearing
Hong Kong
2 2
T O T T O R I : T H E Y O M I U R I S H I M B U N /A P I M A G E S ; C H A N : C O U R T E S Y O F H K E X ;
M A R T I N C O P P O L A : C O U R T E S Y O F D E C AT H L O N
MOST
POWERFUL
WOMEN
76
RETAIL REVIVALIST
66 A&F CEO Fran Horowitz
has proved that a dying
mall-based clothing
brand can find new life.
Founder and CEO, Ardian
France
Fran Horowitz
CEO, Abercrombie & Fitch Co.
U.S.
S E N E Q U I E R : C O U R T E S Y O F A R D I A N ; H O R O W I T Z : M A D D I E M C G A R V E Y; C H A M B R I A R D : T O N M O L I N A — N U R P H O T O / G E T T Y I M A G E S
63
41–70
41 CHRISTEL HEYDEMANN,
CEO, ORANGE • 42 MITSUKO
TOTTORI, PRESIDENT AND
GROUP CEO, JAL GROUP •
43 MENG WANZHOU, DEPUTY
CHAIRWOMAN, ROTATING
CHAIRWOMAN, CFO, HUAWEI
• 44 KATHRYN MIKELLS, CFO,
EXXON MOBIL • 45 BONNIE
CHAN, CEO, HONG KONG
EXCHANGES AND CLEARING
• 46 SANDY RAN XU, CEO AND
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JD.COM
• 47 NICKE WIDYAWATI,
PRESIDENT DIRECTOR AND CEO,
PERTAMINA • 48 ANNE RIGAIL,
CEO, AIR FRANCE • 49 BELA
82
BAJARIA, CHIEF CONTENT
OFFICER, NETFLIX • 50 ANN-
MARIE CAMPBELL, SENIOR
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT,
CEO, Petrobras
HOME DEPOT • 51 MARJAN
RINTEL, CEO, KLM • 52 NIC-
Brazil
OLA MENDELSOHN, HEAD OF
GLOBAL BUSINESS GROUP, META
• 53 SINEAD GORMAN, CFO, When Magda Cham-
SHELL • 54 ADENA FRIEDMAN, briard took over as
the head of Brazil’s
CHAIR AND CEO, NASDAQ • 55 state-run oil giant
LYNN MARTIN, PRESIDENT, NYSE in May, it was a sort
GROUP • 56 BETH GALETTI, SVP, of homecoming:
PEOPLE EXPERIENCE AND TECH- She started her ca-
NOLOGY, AMAZON • 57 MIRA reer as a Petrobras
MURATI, CTO, OPENAI • engineer in 1980.
In between, she
58 CORIE BARRY, CEO, BEST
ran Brazilian oil and
BUY • 59 DEIRDRE O’BRIEN, gas regulator ANP.
SVP, RETAIL, APPLE • 60 SARAH She took over Latin
LONDON, CEO, CENTENE America’s largest oil
• 61 TARCIANA PAULA GOMES producer at a rocky
MEDEIROS, CEO, BANCO DO time, becoming its
sixth CEO in five
BRASIL • 62 BARBARA MARTIN
years. Revenue is
COPPOLA, CEO, DECATHLON down 17.7% year on
• 63 JOEY WAT, CEO, YUM year to $102.5 bil-
CHINA • 64 ISABEL GE MAHE, lion, a drop at-
VICE PRESIDENT AND MANAG- tributed in part to
ING DIRECTOR, GREATER CHINA, falling oil prices
and a decrease in
APPLE • 65 DEBRA CREW, CEO,
exported crude oil
DIAGEO • 66 DOMINIQUE revenues. Chambri-
SENEQUIER, FOUNDER AND ard’s controversial
CEO, ARDIAN • 67 PENNY turnaround plan in-
PENNINGTON, MANAGING cludes drilling near
PARTNER, EDWARD JONES the Amazon River to
accelerate explora-
• 68 LEENA NAIR, CEO, CHANEL
tion and produc-
• 69 KIM POSNETT, GLOBAL tion; reviving Bra-
HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY, MEDIA, zil’s fertilizer plants,
AND TELECOM IN GLOBAL refineries, and gas
BANKING AND MARKETS, GOLD- lines; and stepping
MAN SACHS • 70 JENNIFER up sustainability ef-
forts with the goal
TAUBERT, EXECUTIVE VICE
of reaching net-zero
PRESIDENT, WORLDWIDE CHAIR- carbon emissions
MAN, INNOVATIVE MEDICINE, by 2050.
JOHNSON & JOHNSON >>>
MOST
POWERFUL
WOMEN
71–100
71 HANA AL ROSTAMANI, 94
GROUP CEO, FIRST ABU
DHABI BANK • 72 RESHMA
KEWALRAMANI, PRESIDENT
AND CEO, VERTEX PHARMA-
CEUTICALS • 73 MELANIE
President and
KREIS, CFO, DHL GROUP •
cofounder, Anthropic
74 PRISCILLA ALMODOVAR,
PRESIDENT AND CEO, FANNIE
U.S.
MAE • 75 GWYNNE SHOTWELL,
PRESIDENT AND COO, SPACEX
• 76 FRAN HOROWITZ, CEO,
ABERCROMBIE & FITCH CO. •
77 JANET TRUNCALE,
GLOBAL CHAIR AND CEO, EY •
86 78 MELANIE PERKINS,
COFOUNDER AND CEO, CANVA
• 79 MPUMI MADISA, CEO,
BIDVEST • 80 PANSY HO,
Head of
International, CHAIRPERSON AND EXECUTIVE
BlackRock DIRECTOR, MGM CHINA HOLD-
INGS • 81 MALINA NGAI, GROUP
U.K. CEO, AS WATSON • 82 MAGDA
CHAMBRIARD, CEO, PETROBRAS
• 83 ESTELLE BRACHLIANOFF,
Rachel Lord has
hopped around the CEO, VEOLIA • 84 ISABELLE
globe on BlackRock’s FERRAND, CEO, CRÉDIT MUTUEL
behalf. The Morgan • 85 ALLISON KIRKBY, CEO, BT
Stanley and Citigroup GROUP • 86 RACHEL LORD,
alum joined the HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL,
world’s largest money
BLACKROCK • 87 JOANNA
manager in 2013
and led its Europe, GERAGHTY, CEO, JETBLUE •
Middle East, and Af- 88 DONNA LANGLEY, CHAIR-
rica business before MAN, NBCUNIVERSAL STUDIO
moving to Hong Kong GROUP, CHIEF CONTENT
to oversee its Asia-
L O R D : C O U R T E S Y O F B L A C K R O C K ; A M O D E I : D AV I D PA U L M O R R I S — B L O O M B E R G / G E T T Y I M A G E S ;
OFFICER, NBCUNIVERSAL •
Pacific operations. In
89 TAN SU SHAN, DEPUTY CEO
that latter role, she
appointed leaders AND GROUP HEAD OF INSTITU-
who had grown up in TIONAL BANKING, DBS • 90
local markets to top VANESSA HUDSON, CEO, QAN-
roles and launched TAS GROUP • 91 ROSHNI NADAR
climate-action ETFs MALHOTRA, CHAIRPERSON,
in Japan and Singa-
HCL TECHNOLOGIES • 92 MER-
pore. Her new job as
head of international, EDITH KOPIT LEVIEN, PRESIDENT
which Lord started AND CEO, THE NEW YORK TIMES
in January, sent her CO. • 93 FEI-FEI LI, COFOUNDER
back to her native AND CEO, WORLD LABS • 94
U.K. and taps into her DANIELA AMODEI, PRESIDENT
years of global experi- AND COFOUNDER, ANTHROPIC
ence. She leads all of
BlackRock’s 10,000 • 95 TONI TOWNES-WHITLEY,
T O W N E S - W H I T L E Y: C O U R T E S Y O F S A I C
international em- CEO, SAIC • 96 CHOI SOO-

ployees who manage YEON, PRESIDENT AND CEO,
$3.3 trillion in assets NAVER • 97 MIKI TSUSAKA,
across 75 countries. PRESIDENT, MICROSOFT JAPAN
In the 2023 fiscal • 98 PNG CHIN YEE, CFO,
year, BlackRock’s
TEMASEK • 99 PAULA SANTILLI,
international business
earned revenue of CEO, PEPSICO LATIN AMERICA
$5.96 billion and net • 100 CATHY ENGELBERT,
profit of $2.15 billion. COMMISSIONER, WNBA
65
95
Toni Townes-
Whitley
CEO, SAIC
U.S.
HISTORY MAKER
Toni Townes-Whitley is
the fourth Black female
CEO to ever lead a
Fortune 500 company.
MOST
POWERFUL
WOMEN
Kamalanomics:
Harris’s Road Map
for Business
Vice President Kamala Harris hasn’t done much to woo
Big Business. Many executives would still rather take their
chances with her than the alternative. By Geoff Colvin
Additional reporting by Alena Botros
“crack down” on unscrupu-

lous corporate landlords.
In that speech and many
K
to follow, “big banks,” “Wall
Street,” “corporations,”
and “middlemen” were
the liberal version of red
meat—dirty words thrown
out to elicit loud boos.
Yet while Harris’s public
rhetoric does little to win
KAMALA HARRIS’S FIRST over businesspeople, she
speech outlining her is attracting the support
economic policies did not of many of them. The
bode well for business. language in an endorse-
In Raleigh, N.C., a week ment letter signed by 90
before the convention prominent business figures
where she officially became shows clearly why: her pre-
the Democrats’ nominee dictability, compared with
for president, her language her erratic opponent.
sounded bellicose: She The letter oozes with
boasted that as California’s implied disdain of Donald
attorney general she “took Trump and asserts that
on insurance companies electing Harris is the best
way to support “reliabil-
A P P H O T O — PA U L S A N C YA
and Big Pharma,” that she

“went after companies that ity” and “stability.” The
illegally increased prices,” signatories, which in-
and that as president she cluded tech founders and
would “attack” the high media moguls, as well
cost of health care and as executives from the
FORTUNE • KAMALANOMICS
67
IT’S STILL THE

ECONOMY, STUPID
Kamala Harris has been
getting mixed reviews for
her economic plans.
MOST
POWERFUL
WOMEN
banking, investment, in- line separating optimism panies, and big companies. $400,000 a year, could
surance, and pharmaceu- from pessimism. Small- At least one key element, be extended with broad
tical industries, offered a business owners are even the tax reduction for the bipartisan support. “That
bottom-line rationale for less upbeat: The National 97% of American house- would sail through with an
Harris in the White House: Federation of Independent holds earning less than enormous supermajority
“The business community Business reports that op-
can be confident that it timism is “in the dumps.”
will have a President who Meanwhile, 63% of Amer-
The U.S. economy is relatively strong...
wants American industries icans say the economy is ANNUAL GDP GROWTH
to thrive.” on the wrong track. 8%
Those tycoons can’t be Against that backdrop,
thrilled by Harris’s robus- Harris’s first economic 6
tious promotion of higher promise—exempting tips
taxes for richly paid indi- from taxation—was canny. 4
viduals like themselves. It copied a Trump promise
Her lack of private-sector that appeals to America’s 2 U.S.
employment in her career 2.3 million waitstaff and
may worry them. But as also to restaurant owners. OTHER G7
0 COUNTRIES
one signatory—a high- Her other early high-
level Wall Street execu- profile promise, to pursue 2021 2022 2023 2024
tive—tells Fortune, “Even “the first-ever federal ban
those whose tax bills may on price-gouging on food,” Stocks are near all-time highs...
be increased [in a Harris backfired. Economists, STOCK INDEXES’ CUMULATIVE CHANGE
administration] recognize including economic advis-
50%
the impact on the Ameri- ers from the Clinton and S&P 500
can economy is going to Obama administrations, 40
be materially negative in a quickly denounced the MSCI
30 WORLD
Trump scenario.” proposal because price INDEX
For the Harris cam- restrictions would likely 20
paign, being less objection- make shortages worse. 10
able than the alternative Harris has rarely men-
may be enough to put her tioned the price-gouging 0
over the top in November. ban in recent weeks. –10
But if she is elected and Harris now seems to
finds herself steering the be gaining her footing on 2021 2022 2023 2024
government’s relationship economic policy. But many
with business, she may find Americans are still left with And yet economic pessimism prevails.
that being the lesser of two a simple, vital question: RESPONDENTS’ OPINION ON THE U.S. ECONOMY
evils is not a particularly What would President THE ECONOMY IS ON THE WRONG TRACK
strong position. Kamala Harris do?
63%
Harris praises the
“Bidenomics” of the ad- KAMALA HARRIS ON TAXES THE ECONOMY IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK
ministration she’s now a The most consequential 30%
part of, and has often said fight over economic policy
OPINION ON THEIR PERSONAL FINANCIAL SITUATION
that “by virtually every in 2025 will center on the
GETTING WORSE
measure, our economy Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
is the strongest in the 48%
(TCJA), which expires at
world.” But CEOs can be a year-end. This massive law, SAME
tough audience—and they enacted under Trump in 26%
certainly aren’t cheering. 2017 with no Democratic
IMPROVING
In the Conference Board’s votes in the House or Sen-
26% 26%
latest survey, big-company ate, rewrote the tax rules
CEOs are barely above the for individuals, small com- SOURCES: IMF; S&P GLOBAL; CENTER FOR AMERICAN POLITICAL STUDIES; THE HARRIS POLL
FORTUNE
69
READY TO REGULATE
FTC Chair Lina Khan has
critics on the left as well
as the right.
This hasn’t just frustrated

business leaders who sup-
port Trump; major Harris
donors, including media
executive Barry Diller and
LinkedIn cofounder Reid
Hoffman, want Harris to
fire Khan.
But whether or not
Khan remains in a Harris
of both parties,” says Brian timates the tax hike would latest version, 188 pages, administration, the FTC
Riedl of the Manhattan increase federal revenue would increase taxes by would likely continue on
Institute, a right-leaning by $1 trillion over 10 years, $5 trillion over the next a similar track, says Heidi
public policy think tank fo- but mustering the political decade, growing slightly Shierholz, president of
cused on economic policy. will to enact her full corpo- faster than predicted GDP. the left-leaning Economic
“The debate is what to do rate tax program could be Policy Institute. Har-
about those earning over difficult, even if she has a KAMALA HARRIS ON ris may even widen the
$400,000.” Democrats Democratic Congress. REGULATION FTC’s remit. With voters
have campaigned heavily Harris also endorses By the calculations of the still experiencing sticker
on the claim that “Trump President Biden’s pro- American Action Forum, shock at the grocery store,
cut taxes for billionaires,” posed tax on unrealized a center-right think tank Shierholz says, “I think
so it’s hard to imagine a capital gains for individu- that has tallied the costs one of the ways she will
President Harris sign- als with a net worth of of federal regulations for address price increases
ing an extension of the over $100 million, which each year since 2005, the is through the antitrust
cut—even though many the CRFB estimates Biden administration route”—by blocking the
businesspeople earning would bring in $500 bil- has set a record. “It has Kroger-Albertsons merger,
$400,000 to $700,000 lion over a decade, and imposed $1.7 trillion of for example.
don’t feel like plutocrats. Biden’s proposal to hike regulatory costs on the pri-
Harris has endorsed the the tax on corporate stock vate sector,” says Douglas KAMALA HARRIS ON
Biden proposal to raise the buybacks from 1% to 4%, Holtz-Eakin, AAF’s founder TARIFFS
corporate tax rate from which the CRFB estimates and a former director of During the September
21% to 28%. That would would bring in $150 bil- the Congressional Budget Harris-Trump debate,
still be much lower than lion over a decade. She Office. By comparison, Harris said, “My opponent
the 35% rate before the breaks with Biden on his “Obama did $870 billion has a plan that I call the
TCJA, but “when includ- proposed 39.6% tax on in two terms.” ‘Trump sales tax,’ which
ing state taxes, it would realized capital gains for The most vigorous regu- would be a 20% tax on
be the second highest cor- households with taxable lator of the past four years everyday goods that you
porate tax in the OECD,” income over $1 million; has been the Federal Trade rely on.” Few viewers would
MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO—GET T Y IMAGES
Riedl says, and because of Harris favors a 28% rate. Commission and its polar- have guessed she was talk-
other changes in tax rules, (The current rate is 20%.) izing chair, Lina Khan, ing about Trump’s proposal
companies would face “a Those taxes also would be who is trying to break up to impose a tariff as high as
significantly higher overall tough to enact in full. Amazon and wants to 20% on all U.S. imports.
corporate tax burden than More broadly, Harris block the merger of grocery Indeed, tariffs rarely
before the 2017 tax cuts.” has endorsed Biden’s Bud- giants Kroger and Alb- play a role in retail poli-
The nonpartisan Com- get of the U.S. Government, ertsons. At least 19 deals tics—until they do. That’s
mittee for a Responsible which the president must have been abandoned after what happened when
Federal Budget (CRFB) es- propose every year. The the FTC filed challenges. President Trump launched
70 FORTUNE • KAMALANOMICS
a trade war by imposing skeptics. As well as offer- do improve lives and have
tariffs on several major ing builders a tax break to bipartisan support, and
countries, notably China. build starter homes, her they may pay off in long-
Harris described this ac- plan includes a $25,000 If elected, term economic outcomes:
curately: Tariffs are indeed tax break to help first-time Children may eventually
a tax on the people and homebuyers with the down Harris could get better jobs than they
businesses of the import-
ing country, in this case
payment on a new home.
Economists have quickly be the first otherwise would have,
for example. But increas-
the U.S.—but she made
no mention of the Trump
noted that the subsidy
would increase demand
president to ing spending on most
programs does not pay for
tariffs the Biden admin-
istration kept. In fact, the
and could push home pric-
es up. In addition, three
confront debt itself in any sense the U.S.
Treasury would recognize.
Biden administration has
kept nearly all of Trump’s
days after she introduced
her affordable-housing
doomsday. The looming debt crisis
would be a massive prob-
tariffs, increasing some program, the Biden admin- lem in a Harris presidency.
and adding more, mostly istration nearly doubled If she wins two terms,
on Chinese imports. tariffs on imported Cana- she could be the first
Harris has said little dian lumber, pushing up candidate wants to talk president to confront debt
more than this about construction costs. about. Profligate over- doomsday. On the current
tariffs. But de-escalating Her supporters point spending is a bipartisan trajectory, Social Security
a trade war isn’t easy, and out that the incentives for habit. The national debt will be unable to pay full
she has shown no particu- homebuilders would in- held by the public was benefits starting in 2033,
lar intention to do so. A crease supply, countering $14.4 trillion at Trump’s when her second term
spokesman for the Harris- the program’s stimulus to inauguration and $22 tril- would end. The political
Walz campaign has said demand—“a nice kind of lion at Biden’s inaugura- conflagration, with Harris
she will “employ targeted one-two punch,” says EPI’s tion. It’s $28 trillion now, at its center, would be well
and strategic tariffs to sup- Shierholz. But Riedl and and Biden’s latest 10-year underway by then, unless
port American workers, others point out that in budget predicts it will both parties mend their
strengthen our economy, many localities the main reach $45 trillion in 2034. ways now—which they
and hold our adversaries impediments to low-cost Interest payments have show no signs of doing.
accountable.” housing are ordinances reached $1 trillion a year. Harris can’t be criticized
and zoning codes, “which That’s why the U.S. Gov- on this issue more than
KAMALA HARRIS ON are unlikely to be fixed by ernment Accountability any other presidential
HOUSING federal policy.” He worries Office warns that the grow- candidate. With all the
Millions of Americans can’t that “we’ll get the higher ing debt is unsustainable. talk of tax cuts and gener-
afford the home they would demand without increased Harris often says her ous government programs,
like, in large part because supply,” which would push proposed programs would they all skip over the debt
so few homes are for sale, home prices upward. “pay for themselves.” (So crisis—and voters aren’t
and scarcity has driven up Harris’s running mate, does Trump.) For example, demanding answers. The
their prices. That’s why Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, she said in August that if nonpartisan Penn Whar-
Harris has made hous- has supported several the government increases ton Budget Model esti-
ing one of her key issues. changes, including revised the Earned Income Tax mates that Harris’s policy
It’s the problem she aims local building codes and Credit and the Child Tax proposals would increase
to solve with one of her zoning, that have in- Credit, as she proposes, the primary deficit, which
boldest promises: “By the creased housing supply “The return on that invest- excludes interest pay-
end of my first term, we and slowed rent increases ment, in terms of what it ments, by $2 trillion over
will end America’s housing in his state. will do and what it will pay 10 years; Trump’s policy
shortage by building 3 mil- for, will be tremendous. proposals would increase
lion new homes and rentals KAMALA HARRIS ON THE We’ve already seen it when it by $4.1 trillion.
that are affordable for the FEDERAL DEBT we did it in the first year of A smaller increase is
middle class.” This will be the No. 1 issue our administration, and it better, but either approach
Like her price-gouging facing the next president, reduced child poverty by is pushing the country
proposal, this one has its but it’s also the issue no over 50%.” Those credits ever closer to a crisis.
MOST
POWERFUL
WOMEN
SUBBING IN
Engelbert became WNBA
commissioner in 2019,
leaving 100,000-person
Deloitte for a team of 12.
F O R T U N E • C AT H Y E N G E L B E R T U N D E R P R E S S U R E
73
Can Cathy Engelbert

Handle the Pressure?
The WNBA commissioner and ex–Deloitte CEO is leading the league through
a season of historic highs, but critics wonder if her game plan is good enough
to seize the moment. By Emma Hinchliffe
month; and 21 games gar- growth for the league. It exposure to professional
nered more than 1 million has also unleashed a ca- basketball. The Detroit
viewers each—18 of which cophony of opinions that Pistons drafted her
I
featured the Indiana Fever clang around the sports 6-foot-6 father in 1957,
and their No. 1 draft pick, world. For Engelbert, it’s but there was little money
Caitlin Clark. raised the stakes on what in the game then, and he
These stats seemed un- was already a balancing quickly moved on. One
attainable five years ago, act between serving play- of eight kids, she and
when Engelbert arrived. ers, owners, fans, and the her five brothers grew
She left a job overseeing WNBA’s main behind- up playing three sports
$20 billion in revenue and the-scenes stakeholder: each, practicing jumpers
IN JULY, Cathy Engelbert 100,000 employees as U.S. the NBA. on a half-court in their
walked onto the court CEO of consulting firm WNBA players have New Jersey backyard.
at Phoenix’s Footprint Deloitte, and inherited a always been exceptional— Engelbert followed in
Center, beaming before staff of 12 and, months they have to be, in a league her father’s footsteps
the crowd of 18,000 later, a pandemic-induced with only 144 roster spots. as a lacrosse recruit to
that watched the WNBA existential crisis at a But historically, the team Lehigh. She walked onto
All-Star Game. The league with little financial and league infrastruc- the Division I basketball
WNBA commissioner was cushion to save it from ture hasn’t met the same team as a guard, played
not-so-secretly thrilled missing a season. standard. With bare-bones for future Hall of Famer
that Team WNBA— Former Iowa star staffing, an underdog men- Muffet McGraw, and won
which bore her league’s Clark, with her record- tality, and the NBA calling an Eastern Conference
name—notched a 117–109 setting passing skills and the biggest shots, the basketball title.
upset over Olympic-bound logo threes, and Chicago WNBA wasn’t built to in- Engelbert credits sports
Team USA, also made up Sky rookie Angel Reese filtrate pop culture. But as with launching her career:
of WNBA players. “This is pulled off a feat no one in the league’s fandom grows, “I was the shyest person
going to get great reviews,” the WNBA had cracked some players, agents, when I got to Lehigh, and
says Engelbert, 59. over 27 seasons: They and owners question emerged after playing two
The All-Star Game brought fans of women’s whether the foundation sports there as a very con-
was just one in a string college basketball with Engelbert laid is enough fident young professional
of resounding successes them to the pro league, to fully capitalize on this in a male-dominated busi-
for the league in 2024. thanks to a combination history-making moment ness world,” she says. She
Fan numbers have been of star power and a world in women’s sports. cites stats that indicate
swelling. ESPN viewership finally ready to respect the sports is a form of leader-
climbed 170% to 1.2 mil- women’s game. The arrival WELL BEFORE the WNBA ship development. An EY
lion per game; teams sold of generational talent has came calling, Engelbert study says 94% of women
400,000 tickets in one stoked a period of hyper had already had unique in C-suites played sports,
P H OTO G R A P H BY M AC K E N Z I E S T R O H
MOST
POWERFUL
WOMEN
52% at the collegiate level.

She tells Arizona Girl
Scouts troops in a speech
during All-Star Weekend
that sports will help them
become future CEOs and
government leaders. She
seems to forget to men-
tion that they could also
become WNBA stars, later
adding it in one-on-ones
with girls who tell her they
play basketball.
After Lehigh, she joined
Deloitte where she spent
33 years and developed
an expertise in derivative
financial instruments. In
2015, she became its first
female U.S. CEO—a first in
the Big Four. As CEO, she
grew Deloitte’s business
by 30% and invested in
the cloud, a decision that
influenced how she would
invest at her next job.
Engelbert landed on
the NBA’s radar when a
Deloitte colleague became ROOKIE MOVE important responsibility. owners also entered the
the league’s head of opera- The rivalry between first-year Those decisions were easy mix. Some NBA owners
stars Angel Reese (shooting)
tions. NBA commissioner when she arrived at the fled the responsibility, and
and Caitlin Clark (No. 22) is
Adam Silver put Engelbert creating buzz and luring fans. WNBA: “We had no capi- not all independent own-
on a short list of potential tal,” she says. ers could afford top-tier
buyers for the WNBA’s The league had started treatment and facilities.
New York Liberty. Those shock” to partners—and on decent financial footing Five teams folded between
ties would end up shaping was eyeing a next act in in 1996, when then–NBA 2002 and 2009 (two oth-
Engelbert’s career—and women’s leadership. She commissioner David Stern ers launched). The 2003
the WNBA’s future. thought she might become founded it to great fanfare. collective bargaining deal
Engelbert’s former col- a university president. But Attendance hit a high of gave rookies a minimum
league called her in 2019 WNBA commissioner was 2.3 million in 2002. Seattle salary of $30,000.
when Silver was looking too good to pass up. After Storm star Sue Bird was The league hit a low in
for a “proven executive” initial self-doubt—“I knew drafted No. 1 that year with 2017 when average regular
who knew the game to nothing about running a a $57,500 salary, she re- season viewership sunk
serve as the WNBA’s first sports league”—Engelbert calls, and her team stayed to 171,000 and its last
commissioner. (Until then accepted. After all, she at Ritz-Carltons. remaining original owner,
RON HOSKINS—NBAE/GET T Y IMAGES
it had only a president.) figured, it was a relatively That same year, the the New York Knicks’
Engelbert was facing the small league of 12 teams. NBA restructured the James Dolan, put the Lib-
end of her CEO term— And after a couple of rough league, transferring WNBA erty up for sale. He moved
the Deloitte board had decades, the league had ownership from the NBA the team to a 2,300-seat
declined to nominate her nowhere to go but up. itself to the owners of venue in Westchester, N.Y.,
for a second term, which NBA teams with sibling far from its fan base. It was
the Wall Street Journal ENGELBERT SAYS allocat- WNBA franchises. A few a near death sentence for
reported was a “complete ing capital is a CEO’s most less-wealthy independent the struggling franchise
75
that had sold out Madison to rise fivefold to hit pay turnaround strategy were them to make money for
Square Garden years ear- equity with men by share forces, many outside her the first time without
lier. (Brooklyn Nets owners of revenue, he says. control, that thrust the losing their NCAA status.
Joe Tsai and Clara Wu The WNBA also WNBA into the public Building followings came
Tsai eventually bought the struggled to get media consciousness for arguably naturally to them, says
Liberty for an estimated coverage in a chicken- the first time. Wasserman superagent
$10 million to $14 million. and-egg-type quandary: The WNBA’s Lindsay Kagawa Colas,
“It was a distressed asset,” Did the WNBA need more COVID-era season in who represents projected
Wu Tsai says.) viewers to merit primetime 2020 drew new view- No. 1 2025 draft pick Paige
The NBA has helped treatment, or did it need ers as ESPN doubled the Bueckers. “They grew up
the WNBA outlast all primetime treatment to number of games it aired in the highlight genera-
other women’s leagues, grab fans’ attention? ESPN and sports fans, starved tion,” Kagawa Colas says.
but that comes with some anchor Elle Duncan recalls for content, finally tuned Their personal brands and
downsides. Bird calls the pushing for a WNBA seg- in. The WNBA bubble, social media followings
NBA “a gift and a curse.” ment on SportsCenter and or “wubble,” demanded a translated into even more
The NBA still owns 42% hearing from producers rigorous schedule, daily interest in their sport:
of the WNBA—with NBA who tracked ratings that COVID tests, and up to The 2024 women’s Final
team owners’ stakes, that viewers weren’t interested. 92 days of isolation, all Four viewership beat the
share reaches as high as “It was like confirmation at the emotional height men’s for the first time, an
70%—and NBA own- bias,” she says. of the Black Lives Matter average of 19 million to
ers vote on the WNBA’s Engelbert’s rehab of the movement. But without 14 million.
biggest decisions, even if league started with the that season, Engelbert All these forces co-
they don’t own a women’s addition of “changemaker” estimates, five to six teams alesced this spring at the
team. Dolan’s Knicks, for sponsors. (Deloitte was would have folded. “It was WNBA draft, which sold
instance, cast the only an inaugural change- pretty Herculean what we out its 1,800 fan tickets in
vote against the WNBA’s maker alongside AT&T did that year,” she says. nine minutes. The season
Toronto expansion amid and Nike.) “She’s the one In March 2021, Uni- opener between Clark’s
a Knicks lawsuit against who actually transformed versity of Oregon player Se- Fever and the Connecticut
the Toronto Raptors and our corporate economic dona Prince posted a video Sun peaked at 2.34 million
objections to the NBA’s model,” says Seattle Storm comparing the women’s viewers, then a record. For
financial transparency. co-owner Ginny Gilder. “weight room” at the NCAA the first time this year, the
David Berri, a sports Engelbert negotiated with tournament—a single stack WNBA was part of the A-
economist at Southern the players’ union to add of dumbbells—to the men’s block on SportsCenter.
Utah University, calculates a Commissioner’s Cup, a state-of-the-art facility. The Engelbert says she knew
that NBA players receive tentpole event that brings stark disparity reignited she was preparing for
about 50% of the NBA’s in additional sponsorship the debate about gender something big but didn’t
basketball-related income, revenue and pays players equity in sports and re- realize it would happen so
while WNBA players get from a new prize pool. She sulted in an overhaul that, soon. “I thought it would
10%, a share the leagues learned what would help among other changes, let come in two to three more
dispute (but decline to cor- the league grow: rival- the women’s tournament years,” she says. Instead,
rect). Executives point to ries—like the burgeoning use the phrase “March Clark, Reese, and other
the NBA’s 77-year history— ones between Clark and Madness” for the first time. rookies burst onto the
and its revenue that’s 60 Reese or the Liberty and The next year, Russia court this season with
times the reported size of Las Vegas Aces—and detained Phoenix Mer- the full power of their
the WNBA’s—as justifica- games of consequence, cury star Brittney Griner, personal brands behind
tion for the arrangement, supported by a new free highlighting how WNBA them. Clark signed a
but “the men of the NBA agency system that created players compete overseas reported $28 million deal
have never in its history more off-season buzz. She to supplement their pay. with Nike, plus ones with
been paid as badly as the tapped Deloitte for a digi- Meanwhile, a new gen- State Farm, Gatorade, and
women of the WNBA tal transformation, mainly eration of college players sports-equipment maker
right now,” Berri says. redoing the league’s app. was experimenting with Wilson. Prada dressed her
The average WNBA salary But what really su- name-image-likeness, or for the draft, and league
of $135,000 would have percharged Engelbert’s NIL, deals that allowed beauty partner Glossier
MOST
POWERFUL
WOMEN
did her makeup. Reese start until the 2026 A GROWING GAME
attended the Met Gala, season, and collectively
launched her own podcast, bargained salaries won’t Booming interest is gen-
and inked a deal with change until that year at erating megadeals for
candy brand Reese’s. the earliest. Galer says the WNBA and its stars.
The historic 2024 season players are “realists” and
$28 M
has benefited brands too. “know the time is coming.”
Aces sponsor Ally Finan- But patience is hard when
cial, which pledged to split an athlete’s playing days
its sports media dollars are always numbered.
50/50 between men’s and Some argue that the
REPORTED VALUE
women’s sports, says its league under Engelbert OF CAITLIN CLARK’S
brand value is up 31% year isn’t fully capitalizing on DEAL WITH NIKE
over year with 91% positive growth opportunities in

sentiment from consumers. the meantime—whether
$200 M
WNBA chief marketing because of strategy or
officer Phil Cook argues bandwidth, they’re not
that the league has the sure. “For any company,
most “culturally relevant” when there’s exponential
athletes in any sport. Still, growth, it’s hard to keep
AMOUNT THE WNBA
just 6% of the Fortune 500 up with that. It’s hard WILL EARN PER YEAR
to staff up, to figure out FROM A NEW MEDIA DEAL
sponsors women’s sports
versus 20% for comparable distribution,” says Erin SOURCES: MEDIA REPORTS; WNBA
men’s sports (the NFL is Kane, the Excel Sports

excluded), according to Management agent who
consultancy Gather. represents Clark.
The boom, however, In some ways, the league enthusiasm and by name.
has triggered frustrations. can’t seem to believe its (With her tall stature and
“Every metric is up—ex- good fortune. It’s hard, for blonde hair, they always
cept player compensa- example, to let go of old spot her.) When she first
tion,” says agent Allison worries like filling seats meets someone, she says
Galer, who represents the when choosing a draft their name three times in
Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell venue. “We have to forget conversation to prepare
and the Liberty’s Betnijah about the scar tissue,” says for situations like these. In
Laney-Hamilton. Com- Washington Mystics owner 111-degree heat, her energy
bined league and team Ted Leonsis. never flags. She doesn’t
revenue was last reported Engelbert quickly even drink coffee. THE PUSHBACK against
at $200 million in 2023, learned that the “hardest At Deloitte, Engelbert Engelbert started with
a sum that is soon to be part of this job” is manag- was used to dealing with airplanes. The WNBA’s
out-of-date with a surge ing “multidimensional unhappy partners and collective bargaining
in sponsorships and a new stakeholder groups.” The clients. “We had 3,000 agreement doesn’t allow
media deal that will bring league’s billionaire owners, partners with 4,000 opin- charter travel; the league
in that much per year, up celebrity players, agents, ions, and they’d all march determined it would give
from $60 million annually. coaches, team executives, into my office complaining an unfair advantage to
(Ticket sales go to teams.) advertisers, network execs, about something,” she says. teams willing to fund it.
But there’s a lag between the players’ union, and the But consulting executives Instead, 6-foot-7 play-
climbing viewership and NBA are all used to being usually follow a rule of ers for years squeezed
attendance and money the most important person business: politick behind into economy seats and
getting to players (or to in the room. closed doors but present a endured long delays before
the league; the league and During All-Star week- unified front in public. In games, sometimes sleep-
teams are projected to lose end, she can’t walk two feet sports, she soon found out, ing at the airport.
$40 million this year). The without being stopped by people say what they think After a rough four days
new media deal doesn’t someone she greets with out loud and on TV. in 2021, Liberty owner
FORTUNE • SECTIONTK
77
Wu Tsai had had enough. penalty in WNBA history. the WNBA finalized a GOING ON OFFENSE
Back-to-back delays total- The Tsais considered the charter flight deal with Liberty owner Clara
Wu Tsai challenged the
ing almost 24 hours had charter flights a matter of Delta. Engelbert’s priority
WNBA’s ban on charter
turned into back-to-back health and wellness, part was to grow the league in flights, earning a big fine.
losses. The next time the of their vow to treat play- ways it could fund itself.
team faced a serious delay, ers like elite professional There are also typi-
“we had no choice but to athletes. The Tsais say they cal sports complaints mixed reviews. The 11-year
charter a flight,” Wu Tsai offered to figure out how that rankle fans, exac- pact, negotiated with net-
says. It was a no-brainer to pay for charter travel erbated by historical works alongside the NBA,
to the Tsais, who earned for every team, a $25 mil- under-resourcing: issues values the WNBA rights
their $6.89 billion fortune lion cost; the league says with referees, tight game at $2.2 billion over that
from Chinese e-commerce it never saw a proposal. scheduling, teams’ desire time frame to the NBA’s
giant Alibaba. But the Instead, Engelbert began for more roster spots, $76 billion—a split desig-
league was outraged introducing charter flights impatience for details of an nated by the leagues. The
and, following additional for select major games like upcoming expansion draft. deal is the top factor in
violations, fined the Lib- the finals. This season, as Even the league’s new, how much players get paid
erty $500,000, the largest league finances improved, historic media deal drew and how the league can
P H OTO G R A P H BY A A R O N R I C H T E R
MOST
POWERFUL
WOMEN
grow. WNBA chief growth another tranche of media wars. Clark, who is white later posted that “there
officer Colie Edison called deals coming, too, that and posts photos with is absolutely no place for
the deal a “dream come could generate as much as her boyfriend, has at- hate or racism” and sent
true” that will allow for $100 million a year. tracted some fans who an apology to players.
unprecedented levels of Then there’s expansion. attack her competitors in Before what she now
investment. Others, like With talent rising at high racist and homophobic calls an experience of
players’ association execu- schools and colleges, fans terms on social media. “humility,” Engelbert
tive director Terri Jackson, are eager for more teams In September, Engelbert sometimes had a knee-jerk
questioned whether the and roster spots. The com- faced blowback for not reaction to harsh feedback.
233% increase in the missioner is more worried denouncing such abuse. When asked, she admits
value of WNBA rights was about problems that could CNBC asked Engelbert she sometimes feels unap-
enough—and whether arise by bringing on the if the league should step preciated. “In a public-
an 11-year timeline was wrong team; she looks for in when fans’ commen- facing role like this, you’re
smart amid high growth. “long-term, committed tary gets nasty. Engelbert going to be misunderstood.
“The NBA controls the owners,” with high-quality compared the Clark-Reese People don’t understand
destiny of the WNBA,” facilities in cities likely to rivalry to Magic Johnson the strategy,” she says. Of
Jackson said. League execs foster a strong fan base. and Larry Bird, noting that criticism of the media deal,
and owners argue that 11 More teams are good for iconic rivalries fuel sports. she says, “Most people who
years is an advantage in a business, too; Engelbert She didn’t address the rac- are saying that have never
turbulent media environ- cites a Fortune 100 retailer ism and homophobia. run a public company,
ment, and, with a short that declined to partner That response didn’t never run a company of
four-month season (the with the WNBA because pass muster in a league 100,000 people like I
NBA’s is twice as long), its teams represent only 12 that’s 81% people of color have.” She doesn’t spare
the WNBA wouldn’t have markets tò the retailer’s and significantly made players, who “don’t take
been as attractive on its 100. That number is on its up of queer women. On the time to understand the
own. “There’s a part of me way to 15: Golden State behalf of the players’ as- business, quite frankly”
that hopes we were wrong” Valkyries will begin play sociation, Jackson issued and “have no idea what it’s
and the rights are worth in 2025, and Toronto and a statement “the commis- taken to get here.”
more, Silver says. The deal Portland will join in 2026. sioner should have pro- The league and teams
includes an option to raise The newfound success vided” that rejected “vile have offered “business
the price for the WNBA’s has also pulled the league hate,” racism, homopho- of basketball” seminars,
rights in 2028; there’s deeper into the culture bia, and misogyny. “This Engelbert says, but some
is not about rivalries or players don’t recall at-
iconic personalities fueling tending. If players haven’t
EYES ON THE BALL a business model,” Jackson
said. Players liked and re-
engaged with the busi-
ness, it’s because they
After initial growth, WNBA television viewership
shared the statement—in- had other priorities, like
dipped in the mid-2000s. A pandemic boost and the
arrival of a star-studded rookie class powered the cluding Reese, who wrote, playing overseas, Sue Bird
viewership comeback in the 2020s. “thank you.” Engelbert says. Engelbert concedes
as much; running the
business—“that’s our job.”
NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO TURNED ON THEIR TVs TO WATCH A WNBA GAME The league ran TV ads
during the Final Four and
2017
the Olympics for the first
2020 time this year as well as a
tongue-in-cheek “Wel-
2021 30.84 M come to the W” campaign
2022 to greet rookies’ fans.
Engelbert upped the
2023 league’s marketing budget
to 12 times what it was
2024
four years ago. For years,
NOTE: REGULAR SEASON WNBA GAMES SOURCE: NIELSEN the WNBA only marketed
79
itself. Now it’s pushing when Engelbert oversaw under a microscope.

fandom for its teams and a $75 million capital A big question is wheth-
its players. raise that sold 16% of er the WNBA should
When Engelbert talks
about the league’s stars,
The men league equity to a group
of investors, including
remain part of the NBA.
And while stakeholders
she names Clark, Reese, of the NBA several NBA and WNBA argue in favor of both sce-
A’ja Wilson, and Breanna team owners, who staked narios—Engelbert wants
“Stewie” Stewart. She talks have never yet another claim to the to stick with her NBA
up other players: “De-
Wanna Bonner is my son’s been paid league. It provided a
much-needed capital
bosses—the conversa-
tions often ignore a factor
favorite,” she says during
All-Star weekend as the
as badly as infusion that set the stage
for today’s growth. But
beyond whether WNBA
owners could afford to
Connecticut Sun forward
walks by. She urges brands
the women some argued the reported
$1 billion valuation it
buy out the NBA’s stake.
The league is named the
to work with “amazing
personalities that aren’t the
of the WNBA gave the WNBA and all its
teams would soon seem
“women’s NBA”—and the
NBA brand may not be for
stars.” Agents like Galer, are right impossibly low. sale, Silver says. “It’s a bit
meanwhile, are asking, Minnesota Lynx star like asking if [Diet Coke]
“How do we take stars and now. Napheesa Collier says could be sold off from
make superstars?” the WNBA is ready to Coke. It’s the essence.”
Players are already stand on its own: “We can Engelbert expects one
preparing for their next write our own narrative,” team to become a $1 bil-
collective bargaining DAVID BERRI, she says. Sue Bird sees lion franchise, though
agreement. The current sports economist, signs that’s happening. she won’t say which one.
deal runs until 2027, Southern Utah When athletes’ names (It’s likely the Liberty
University
but players or the league were called at this year’s or the Aces, which she
can opt out two years draft, they said entering calls “super-teams.”) She
early by a November 2024 the league was a “dream predicts that $500 million
deadline. With advisers development league. come true,” she notes. “It will become the average
including Nobel Prize win- Engelbert’s original team was something they had team valuation, up from
ner Claudia Goldin, who of 12 staffers is now 60, worked for.” That wasn’t $96 million, according to
studies women’s labor, compared to the NBA’s always the case during her Sportico. She’s committed
they’re evaluating all op- 2,000. The leagues share 20-year playing career. to expanding to 16 teams
tions. Nneka Ogwumike, back-office functions, like That’s because build- but predicts the league
president of the players’ finance and HR, and some ing a successful sports will reach 20. She sees an
association, wants retire- more consequential ones. league takes time. “You’re opportunity to capture
ment plans, improved Only NBA employees, for asking someone to make the global market like the
health care plans, and pen- instance, service AT&T’s a huge emotional com- NBA has.
sions. In 2020, players got title sponsorship across mitment to your product If she were still at
parental leave and fertility both leagues. The WNBA in a way that they think Deloitte, Engelbert would
benefits. “I would love to sales force focuses on about it every day of their hit the mandatory retire-
see more former play- WNBA-exclusive deals lives,” Berri explains. True ment age in three years,
ers working in the league like those with dating app fandom is almost impos- but she says she’ll stay on
office,” she adds. That’s Bumble and hair care sible to achieve until a at the WNBA for at least
something fans want too, brand Mielle. generation of childhood that long. Her legacy may
often calling Ogwumike The WNBA’s compli- fans grows up. be turning around the
“commish” online. cated corporate struc- It seems three decades league’s business in a high-
ture—42% owned by is finally enough time. stakes moment—and pre-
IN THE WNBA AND NBA’S the NBA and otherwise Engelbert’s problem is no paring it for what comes
shared New York City of- split between owners af- longer that no one cares after her. “If you’re making
fice, the WNBA seems to filiated with NBA teams about the WNBA; it’s that everyone happy, you’re not
occupy as much space as and independent own- everyone cares so much— making hard decisions,”
the G League, the NBA’s ers—got more so in 2022 and her decisions are she says.
FORTUNE • CHANGE THE WORLD
85
HEAD WRITER
Matt Heimer
CONTRIBUTORS
Nina Ajemian
Diane Brady
Jenn Brice
Emma Burleigh
Will Daniel
Michael del Castillo
Ani Freedman
CHANGE
Beth Greenfield
Lionel Lim
Lila MacLellan
THE
Greg McKenna
Imani Racine
Sasha Rogelberg
Kristin Stoller
WORLD Phil Wahba
HOW WE CHOOSE
T H E C O M PA N I E S
The Change the World list

recognizes companies
that have had a positive
THESE COMPANIES BUILD BUSINESSES social impact through
activities that are part of
AROUND SOLVING SOCIAL PROBLEMS— their core business strate-
gy. As we assess nominees,
AND THEY DO WELL BY DOING GOOD. among the factors that
matter most are:
WHEN THE FORTUNE CHANGE THE WORLD LIST made its debut in 2015, MEASURABLE
S O C I A L I M PA C T
the business world was beginning an unprecedented pivot—publicly
embracing social responsibility. Widening income inequality, the Global We consider the reach,
nature, and durability of
Financial Crisis of 2008–09, and a growing awareness of climate change the company’s impact
had made the public increasingly skeptical of businesses’ motives. CEOs on one or more specific
societal problems.
responded with commitments to do better for people and the planet.
“Stakeholder capitalism” was in; pure profit-seeking was out. B U S I N E S S R E S U LT S
Since then, as society has become more polarized, it’s gotten harder
We consider the benefit
for business leaders to highlight efforts like these; some critics dis- the socially impactful work
miss them as lip service, while others deride them as “woke.” But our brings to the company.
list has spotlighted hundreds of companies that let their actions speak Profitability and contribu-
tion to shareholder value
for them—harnessing the creative impulses of capitalism to address outweigh benefits to the
social problems, and generating revenue while doing so. This year’s company’s reputation.
edition, our 10th, showcases 52 businesses that continue that legacy,
D E G R E E O F I N N OVAT I O N
selected by our reporters and editors from a short list of about 250.
With 2024 on track to be the warmest year on record, environmental We consider how innova-
tive the company’s effort
impact remains a central focus of our list. And companies that are cre- is relative to that of others
atively deploying AI make a major mark on this year’s roster—as do the in its industry and whether
other companies have
companies training young people, by the hundreds of thousands, to use it followed its example or
well. You’ll find these innovators and many more on the following pages. partnered with it.
SHORTCUT TO SPACE
A Rocket Lab technician
prepares a reusable
Electron launch vehicle
for a 2023 mission.
87
1 2
SATELLITES FOR Grab

A BETTER PLANET Helping entrepreneurs and the self-employed
Fighting climate change and democratizing information, get funds and build credit histories.
from miles above the earth’s surface. S I N GA P O R E
G H G S AT / R O C K E T L A B / S P A C E X
H
UMANITY HAS FILLED THE SKY with artificial
stars. Sometime this June, according to
astronomers, we reached the milestone of
10,000 active satellites in orbit. Most of those
satellites are pointed back at earth, and some
have the potential to do a world of good.
Satellites can help businesses sharply curb emis-
sions of gases linked to climate change; indeed, they
can spot leaks of carbon dioxide and methane that can
only be recognized from high above the earth’s surface.
Montreal-based GHGSat (“GHG” stands for “greenhouse
gas”) developed some of the first sensors designed to 28x
measure such emissions; its images offer far higher reso- Degree
lution than those from most government-run climate sat- by which
ellites. The company launched its first satellite in 2016, methane is
and now operates a “constellation” of a dozen. In recent more potent
years, GHGSat has helped authorities stop massive than carbon
methane leaks from oil pipelines in Turkmenistan and a dioxide at
landfill in Madrid. In 2023, the company performed over
trapping
heat in the
3 million observations of industrial facilities and other atmosphere
sites, helping prevent about 6 million metric tons of CO2 GRAB MAY BE BEST KNOWN in the U.S.
emissions from reaching the atmosphere (the equivalent
of taking 1.4 million cars off the road). By 2026, GHGSat
as the ride-hailing service that pushed
570
hopes to have at least 40 satellites in orbit, enough to million Uber out of Southeast Asia. But
monitor every major industrial site worldwide, every day. Metric tons it’s also a super app that connects
Launching a do-gooder satellite can be prohibitively of methane hundreds of thousands of gig workers
expensive, but private-sector entrepreneurs have done a released
into the and merchants in Singapore, Malay-
lot to bring those costs down. Long Beach, Calif.–based
Rocket Lab is one of only two companies that regularly atmosphere sia, Indonesia, and other markets.
annually And more recently, Grab’s financial
launch reusable payload vehicles (the other is Elon Musk’s from landfills
SpaceX). Rocket Lab’s Electron is designed to carry services division has been helping
the smaller satellites that scientists, companies, and more of those people build greater
governments increasingly rely on, and its prices are cor- 50% economic stability.
respondingly low: The average launch costs $8.2 million. Share of
(A launch of SpaceX’s much bigger Falcon 9 rocket costs
Since 2019, the division has is-
food-related
about $67 million.) NASA relied on the Electron to deploy greenhouse sued loans to drivers and small and
its Tropics satellites, which help meteorologists track gas medium-size vendors whose variable
COURTESY OF TREVOR MAHLMANN/ROCKET L AB; COURTESY OF GR AB
hurricanes more accurately—enabling more people to get emissions income would make them unlikely to
an early warning and reach safety. Rocket Lab has helped generated
by discarded get financing from banks and other
launch 190 satellites, many involved in environmental
or rotting traditional lenders. Grab judges the
monitoring, and it now boasts a $1 billion order backlog. food
By sheer numbers, the world’s satellite Goliath is Star- borrowers’ creditworthiness based
link: Of those 10,000 satellites, about two-thirds belong on data from transactions on the
to SpaceX’s internet service. Starlink now has more than app. It says one in three of its active
3 million customers, and analysts estimate it will generate driver partners uses its credit service,
$6.6 billion in revenue in 2024. Starlink has kept commu-
nication lines open when war and conflict have isolated
to meet funding needs as varied as
people—supporting civilians in Ukraine and Sudan, and phone or motorcycle replacements,
helping dissidents in some countries access censored weddings, or their children’s educa-
media. But its far greater impact has come in extending tion. Merchants, meanwhile, take
broadband internet to huge swaths of the world where ac- it up to ease cash flow needs. Grab
cess was previously wildly expensive or physically impos-
sible, including much of South America and sub-Saharan
disbursed $1.5 billion in loans in
Africa. That makes Starlink one of the most important 2023, up 57% from the previous year.
bridges across the digital divide. —Matt Heimer —Lionel Lim
88 FORTUNE
3
Viettel Group
HANOI, VIETNAM
In 2008, only about 24%

of Vietnam’s popula-
tion had access to the
internet—and schools,
in particular, were suf-
fering from its absence.
Telecom conglomerate
Viettel has since then
provided fiber-optic
service to over 46,000
educational institutions
across Vietnam, and in
10 other countries as
well, and over 25 million
students, pupils, and
teachers have benefited.
Ello
DIGITAL STORY TIME
Using AI to tackle America’s troubling
A child gets a tutoring
childhood literacy gap. session with the Ello
SAN FRANCISCO
reading instruction app.
INTERNET HUB
Engineers work on
one of Viettel’s 32.1% 6
cellular base stations. Share of
U.S. fourth- Globant
graders
who scored BUENOS AIRES
proficient
4 or above Wood fires have helped
on a 2022 humanity cook and keep
Maven Clinic national warm for millennia. But
reading test today they’re a twofold
N E W YO R K C I T Y ecological threat,
contributing to both CO2
The U.S. trails most 51.4% emissions and deforesta-
other wealthy nations in Turnout tion. Globant, an IT com-
maternal health metrics; among 18- to pany that works exten-
Maven aims to close 24-year-olds sively with agribusiness,
the gap. The company in 2020 U.S. is developing alternatives
partners with employ- elections that meet rural com-
C OURT ESY OF VIE T T EL GROUP; C OURT ESY OF ELLO
ers and health plans to (the lowest munities’ needs while

help members get faster, of any age doing less harm. In Peru’s
on-demand access to group) highlands, the company,
specialists whose fields in collaboration with the
include maternal care, Qori Q’oncha project,
fertility treatments, and 45% helped install thousands
abortion care. Maven Average of efficient cookstoves
now has more than pay gap that have slashed wood
2,000 corporate clients. between a consumption. And in
The company’s meno- job requiring India’s Maharashtra state,
pause care program three “digital Globant has helped train
reached more than skills” farmers to grow and sell
1 million people at 150 and one napier grass, which can
companies within weeks requiring be easily converted into
of its launch. none a smokeless biofuel.
89
7 8 11 12
THE TECH Alibaba Group Walmart HB Antwerp

EDUCATORS H A N GZ H O U, C H I N A BENTONVILLE , ARK. A N T W E R P, B E L G I U M
Training young people, Having honed its AI In 2017, Walmart This diamond startup
chops in e-commerce, launched Project Giga- uses Microsoft
at scale, for world-changing Alibaba is deploying ton. Over 5,900 of its blockchain-based tech
and well-paying tech jobs. them in the fight against suppliers signed up with to track stones from
CISCO / COGNIZANT pancreatic cancer. Its the initial aim of mitigat- mines in Botswana to
Damo Panda AI tool can ing 1 billion metric tons retailers. The upshot:
T
HE POTENTIAL ID cancerous lesions on of CO2 emissions by The home country gets a
of new tech CT scans that are too 2030. They just hit the fairer share of the value
can be wasted small for doctors to see. goal—six years early. of the finished gems.
if not enough
people know
how to use it.
That’s why network-
equipment giant Cisco has 9 13
for decades helped young
Commercial
talent get into the tech
International Bank Levi Strauss
space. The company
partners with nonprofit G I Z A , E GY P T
Getting more young voters to the polls.
Code.org to teach digital SAN FRANCISCO
literacy among K–12 CIB focuses on the un-
students: To date, 13.3 mil- derbanked, particularly VOTER TURNOUT EFFORTS have a long legacy at this ap-
lion kids have completed a farmers. In 2023 it issued parel maker and retailer. Its eponymous founder first
computer science funda- bonds worth $123 million gave his employees days off to cast votes in the fed-
mentals course through this for sustainability-orient-
ed ventures: Over 40% eral elections of 1864. More recently, Levi’s launched
initiative. And through the
Cisco Networking Academy,
are run by people under Time to Vote, a nonpartisan campaign that now helps
35; half are women-led. workers at more than 2,000 companies vote without
which has reached
24 million learners in losing paid hours. Its latest push aims to register
191 countries since 1997, 500,000 voters by 2028 among community-college
students can earn industry- students—a population that voted in the 2020 elec-
recognized certifications on 10
topics including data tions at a rate 10 percentage points lower than those
science, cybersecurity, Honeywell at four-year colleges. The push is paying off in brand
operations, and Linux.
C H A R LOT T E , N .C.
awareness and employee engagement, says CEO
Consultancy Cognizant Michelle Gass. The civic benefits are even bigger, she
has also become a major This industrial giant
“upskiller” in workplace
adds: “The more people can participate in a democ-
makes much of the tech-
tech—most notably nology that makes other racy, the stronger it gets.” —M.H.
through its Synapse initia- companies run. And CEO
tive, which launched in Vimal Kapur has focused
2023. The program aims its portfolio on automa- PATCHING UP DEMOCRACY
to provide tech training to tion, aviation, and the en- The Community College Commitment aims to
1 million people worldwide ergy transition. The goal register a half-million voters nationwide by 2028.
is to address not just the
(including as many as
technology behind that
200,000 of its own workers
transition but the cost,
and contractors) by 2026— making it feasible for
with an emphasis on mar- enterprise customers to
ginalized groups and under- turn a profit while doing
served communities whose the right thing. On one
access to formalized tech urgent front, Honeywell
education is limited. Skills is creating greener ways
training spans from digital to store energy, such as
literacy to generative AI. through low-carbon hy-
drogen and food waste.
COURTESY OF LEVI STR AUSS
Cognizant’s partners
include India’s Nasscom It’s a leader in tech that
produces sustainable
tech trade association and
aviation fuel (SAF) from
Google’s cloud division; to such waste. At least
date, 10 months in, Synapse for now, as Kapur told
has already reached almost Fortune, “you can’t run a
250,000 workers. plane on electricity.”
—Emma Burleigh —Diane Brady
90 FORTUNE
14
Banco Santander
MADRID
The bank granted almost

$1.3 billion in microloans
to 1.2 million under-
banked entrepreneurs in
Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, 16
and Peru in 2023—part of
a global push to expand
financial access to 15 mil-
lion people by 2025.
Gogoro
Building a generation of EV easy riders. TA I P E I 17
EssilorLuxottica
15 C H A R E N T O N - L E - P O N T,
FRANCE
Henry Schein
Since 2013, the French
M E LV I L L E , N .Y. eyewear company has
established 30,000
The health care distribu- primary vision “care
tor has routed medical were either made by Gogoro or belonged to the Powered by Gogoro points” in 133 countries,
and dental supplies to Network. Gogoro plans to bring its tech overseas, and is expanding concentrated in commu-
disaster-stricken areas into the Philippines, Singapore, and India. —L.L. nities where eye doctors
since 1998. It works are hard or impossible to
with NGOs to equip the find. Those services have
regions in advance—so helped create 79 million
supplies are there even if BIKER NATION About 62% of Taiwan residents new wearers of correc-
roads become unusable. ride scooters, mopeds, or motorcycles. tive lenses.
COMPANY
LOCATIONS
SHOWN BY LIST NUMBER
33 43 40 1 20 26 8
27 38 37 32 18 3 18
31 39
35
14
39
5 7 13 4 7 15
16
21 22 23 22 29 12
39
25 34
10
1 19 28
COURTESY OF GOGORO
41 36 17 30
42 44
24
11
6 9 18 2
NOTE: FOR GLOBANT AND RENEW ENERGY GLOBAL, THE
LOCATIONS SHOWN REPRESENT THE CITIES WHERE THE
COMPANIES HAVE THEIR OPERATIONAL HEADQUARTERS,
RATHER THAN WHERE THEY ARE INCORPORATED.
POWER ON THE PLAINS
This Ørsted wind farm
in Scurry County, Texas,
sells most of its power to
tech giant Amazon.
18
Accelerating the global adoption of wind,

solar, and green hydrogen power.
Ø R ST E D / E N V I S I O N E N E R GY / R E N E W
19 Wind and
T
HE NUMBER OF energy compa-
nies committed to a green- GoodRx solar power
power transition continues to
grow; these pioneers remain at
S A N TA M O N I C A
generated
the leading edge. Denmark’s
Ørsted, which built the world’s
GoodRx’s website and 13.7% of global
app help consumers com-
first offshore wind farm in 1991, now parison-shop for prescrip- electricity
generates enough wind and solar energy to tions; the company also
power about 29 million homes worldwide; its 3 million partners with insurers in 2023—up
Hornsea 3, in the North Sea off Yorkshire,
England, will be the world’s largest wind farm
Number of
American
and pharmacies to offer
discounts. The result:
from 0.2%
when it’s completed in 2027. adults
who owe
It says it saved patients
$15 billion in 2023.
in 2000.
Envision Energy is a top maker of wind
turbines and energy storage systems in $10,000
China. One of its latest marquee projects: or more in
medical debt
a massive energy facility in Inner Mongolia
designed both to run on renewable energy 20 21
and to manufacture green fuels. The plant 500,000
in Chifeng City aims by the end of 2024 to
Estimated Medtronic eBay
produce 300,000 metric tons of ammonia— number
a fuel that can be burned without creating G A L WAY, I R E L A N D SAN JOSE
of annual
carbon emissions—using only green electric- U.S. deaths
About 50% of U.S. adults Reselling keeps clothes
ity to create it. In India (which, like China, is related to
high blood suffer from high blood and other items out of
a coal-dependent nation), ReNew provides
pressure. Medtronic’s landfills—and eBay is
COURTESY OF ORSTED
6 million homes with wind and solar power; it pressure

Symplicity Spyral uses a a dominant hub for it.
hopes to double that by 2028. ReNew is also minimally invasive radio- “Re-commerce” now
training hundreds of women for renewable- frequency treatment to accounts for about 40%
energy jobs—a meaningful effort in a country alleviate hypertension; of the value of goods
where only 11% of that industry’s workforce is it’s been used to treat sold on the site, or about
female, about half the global average. —M.H. 25,000 people to date. $7.4 billion in Q1 of 2024.
92 FORTUNE
22
BEE BOOSTERS
Protecting pollinators to help sustain
the global food supply.
BEEWISE / UBEES
B
EES ARE THE invaluable helpers
that pollinate much of the world’s
crops—but 40% of bee colonies
collapse every year, putting bee
species’ existence and the global
food supply at risk. Beewise, a
24
startup based in California, has been tackling
the problem since 2018—most recently Cemex
with the robotics-powered BeeHome 4 hive.
The BeeHome has a heat chamber that kills Tackling water pollution while
predatory varroa mites that try to enter the reducing the carbon footprint of
hive. Its sensors also provide beekeepers 23 a high-impact industry.
with vital information on the health of their NUEVO LEÓN, MEXICO
Samsara
colonies, and the hive can automatically
supply nutrients when the bees’ food chain SAN FRANCISCO
is compromised. Beewise says its products
have lowered bee mortality by 70%, saving Samsara’s AI dashcams
more than 150 million bees. Bees that live in help commercial-vehicle
its hives now pollinate more than 250,000 drivers by sending real-
acres annually. time alerts about risks on
Ubees, a regenerative agriculture com- the road (and their own
risky behavior). Samsara
pany, is also working to safeguard harvests—
estimates that the tech
in part by encouraging more small farmers
helps avert more than
to rely on beehives and pollination to boost 200,000 crashes a year.
their crop yields. (It works with food giants
like Dole and Nestlé as well.) The company’s
proprietary AI and sensors enable farmers to
remotely monitor the health of their bees and
the pollination status of their crops, making
the beekeeping itself far less labor-intensive. Bees
Ubees first launched in the U.S., with clients
in South Dakota and California. The com- pollinate
pany’s services now extend to France, Latin
more than
J A C K G U E Z— A F P/ G E T T Y I M A G E S
America, Africa, and Asia, and to crops that

include coffee and avocados, among many 75% of
others. —E.B.
the crops
that humans
HOME SWEET HOME
A beekeeper works with a Beewise hive at
rely on
Kibbutz Beit HaEmek in northern Israel. for food.
93
26 29
Philips Amalgamated
A M ST E R DA M
Bank
N E W YO R K C I T Y
This electronics
conglomerate, whose
product line ranges As the financial services
from toothbrushes to air industry struggles to
fryers, is aggressively balance environmental
“greening” its supply priorities with the profit
chain—an influential motive, Amalgamated
act given its many thou- Bank is proving that fi-
sands of suppliers. nancial institutions don’t
have to choose between
green and growth.
Founded in 1923 by
the Amalgamated Cloth-
27 ing and Textiles union,
the bank expanded its
GreenShield focus in the 2000s to
include protecting the
1,675 environment. In 2015,
W I N D S O R , O N TA R I O
Gallons it became the first
of water GreenShield is tackling North American firm
required to Canada’s gender gap to join the Partnership
TRASH TO TREASURE produce one
in mental health care for Carbon Account-
Local workers collect pound of
access. Its free matching ing Financials, which
plastic waste from beef now helps institutions
tool pairs women with
the Nile River to be representing $88.5 tril-
health care pros based
converted to fuel. on their background and lion in assets track
231 billion care needs; it has helped their greenhouse gas
Pounds of 90,000 women so far. emissions. And in 2018
methane it became the first U.S.
generated bank to sign the UN’s
annually by Principles for Respon-
livestock sible Banking, which
25 worldwide 28 commits banks to align
their lending with emis-
Zūm Services Beyond Meat sions reduction goals.
80% (Tellingly, few other
R E D W O O D C I T Y, C A L I F. Share of E L S E G U N D O , C A L I F. American banks have
global taken this plunge.)
In the U.S. alone, more than 25 million children agricultural Eco-conscious diners Also in 2018, Amal-
rely on school buses, most of which run on land devoted have turned plant-based gamated purchased
high-polluting diesel fuel. Zūm aims to replace to grazing meat into an $8.8 billion renewable-energy
those dinosaurs with a 100%-electric fleet—one and animal- market. Beyond Meat, financing specialist
that runs more reliably on time, as well. feed crops founded in 2009, is a New Resource Bank
Zūm started as a ride-sharing service that of- for meat “meatless meat” pioneer: for $58.5 million in an
fered parents a more reliable alternative to school and dairy Its products racked up all-stock deal. The bank
buses. CEO Ritu Narayan and her team soon real- livestock $343 million in sales in has gone on to nearly
ized that bus systems themselves could benefit 60 countries in 2023. double its total assets
from Zūm’s scheduling, student-tracking, and to $8.3 billion. Among
route-mapping tech. The company now serves its $792 million in
about 4,000 schools, including the school “mission-aligned” com-
districts of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Omaha, mercial and industrial
C O U R T E S Y O F C E M E X ; C O U R T E S Y O F B E Y O N D M E AT
and Kansas City, Mo.; typically, Zūm supplies the loans: The bank this July
tech and trains the district’s drivers on how to closed on financing for
use it. The company says commute times have the Finance Authority
fallen by up to 20% for its customers, which in of Washington, D.C., to
turn cuts fuel usage and other costs. build solar panels bring-
Electrifying more buses is the next big step. ing electricity to 1,000
Oakland now boasts the nation’s first all-electric households. Since the
fleet, operated by Zūm. When they’re not on the bank’s decision to focus
road, the district’s 74 vehicles get plugged back on sustainable invest-
into the grid, where their stored energy can ing, it has more than
produce about 2.1 gigawatt-hours of electricity PATENTED PATTIES tripled its average re-
per year, enough to power hundreds of homes. Beyond Meat burgers turn on assets—increas-
Zūm hopes to eventually deploy 10,000 such on a conveyor belt at ing profit by 1,500% to
bidirectional buses, supplying 300 gigawatt- a processing plant in $88 million.
hours of energy. —M.H. the Netherlands. —Michael del Castillo
94 FORTUNE • CHANGE THE WORLD
30 32 35
Kayrros Virgin Atlantic
Puma
PA R I S C R A W L E Y, U . K . 80%–90%
Creating new sportswear that’s made
Amount
Kayrros, which special- Late last year, the airline by which from older sportswear—and doubling
izes in environmental flew the first transatlantic sustainable its revenue while doing so.
monitoring, launched flight (London to JFK) aviation fuel H E R ZO G E N AU R AC H , G E R M A N Y
its Wildfire Risk Monitor 100% powered by sus- (SAF) can
after record-large forest tainable aviation fuel—a reduce CO2 It has long lived in the shadows of Nike and
fires burned through key step toward reducing emissions Adidas, but the world’s third-largest sportswear
more than 150,000 acres the carbon footprint of from plane maker is forging a new reputation as a sustain-
in France in 2022. The an industry that creates travel, ability leader, partly by tilting toward “circular
tool, relying on a partner- 2% of CO2 emissions. compared consumption,” where old products get recycled
ship with multinational with into new ones.
insurance company AXA, traditional This year, Puma celebrated making more
processes satellite data jet fuel than a million replica soccer club jerseys—up
with AI to map wildfire from 46,000 shirts in 2023—made from 100%
patterns, provide risk 33 recycled material, with at least 75% coming from
models, and alert fire- 13% recycled polyester. Recently, it also hit several
fighters and insurers to TerraPower Percentage of its emissions, energy, and water-focused
the status of fires in real of clothing sustainability goals years ahead of schedule;
time. More than 350,000 B E L L E V U E , WA S H .
and minimized its use of air freight; and success-
of AXA’s commercial footwear fully created a biodegradable sneaker. (For now,
clients at 30 million Scientists have long that gets customers can return the limited-edition suede
locations are using the hoped to revive nuclear recycled shoes to Puma, which will forward the products
Kayrros technology to power as a commercially each year to composting partners.) This progress has not
assess and mitigate viable clean-energy
had an obvious negative impact on the bottom
wildfire threats. source—ideally without
line: Since 2017, even as Puma has slashed its
having to build huge, 1% carbon footprint by nearly a third, it doubled its
hard-to-maintain power Percentage annual revenue to $9.3 billion. —Lila MacLellan
plants. TerraPower, of clothing
cofounded in 2008 by and
Bill Gates, hopes to ac- footwear KIT, RETROFITTED
complish that mission. that gets A replica Czech Republic team soccer
The startup has devel- converted jersey, made from 75% recycled polyester.
oped smaller, safer, into new
more efficient nuclear apparel each
reactors—including year
depleted-uranium-
powered “traveling
wave” reactors, molten
HIGH ALERT chloride fast reactors,
Kayrros’s risk monitor and sodium-cooled Na-
tracks wildfires and trium reactors. In June it
offers near-real-time broke ground on its first
damage assessments. commercial Natrium
plant in Kemmerer,
Wyo., which should gen-
erate power for 250,000
to 400,000 homes onc
31 fully operational.
Cotopaxi
S A LT L A K E C I T Y
34
Davis Smith founded this
outdoor gear brand in Cloudflare
2014 with sustainability
as a top priority—guided SAN FRANCISCO
by the belief that envi-
ronmental damage am- Some 2,600 public-
plifies and exacerbates interest groups world-
poverty. With that in wide are protected by
mind, 97% of Cotopaxi’s free cybersecurity ser-
products are made from vices from Cloudflare’s
repurposed, recycled, Project Galileo. The com-
or responsibly sourced pany estimates it blocks
materials; the goal is to more than 95 million
hit 100% in 2025. cyberattacks a day.
36 38 39
LanzaTech
S KO K I E , I L L .
Lineage FRIENDS OF FARMERS
Deploying high-end tech Disseminating tools, data, and expertise that foster
LanzaTech deploys a to chill climate change. earth-friendly agriculture.
biorecycling process, NOVI, MICH. C A R G I L L / E A S T- W E S T S E E D / I C L G R O U P – A G M AT I X
capturing carbon emis-
T
sions at factories and Keeping food cold can HERE ARE 8.2 BILLION people on earth, and
landfills before they be very energy-intensive: feeding them all without throwing the planet
enter the atmosphere Lineage, a real estate invest- further out of balance gets more complicated
and then using them ment trust that specializes
to make chemicals and by the day. Cargill, the U.S. food conglomer-
in temperature-controlled
fuels. In all, LanzaTech ate, is doing its part by training livestock
warehouses, is striving to
says it reduces emis- farmers to dodge infectious diseases
reduce the climate impact of
sions by 500,000 that “cold chain.” With over without relying heavily on antibiotics that can prompt the
metric tons of CO2 each 480 temperature-controlled rise of drug-resistant “superbugs.” It is also conducting
year—the same impact warehouses serving more than nutrition research designed to help cattle and poultry stay
as taking 110,000 cars 13,000 customers, Lineage healthy without being pumped full of drugs. Its program
off the road. partners with some of the has helped train 82,000 farmers in Kenya and India: 96%
world’s largest food and bever- of them reported reduced mortality among their animals.
age producers, retailers, and Thailand-based East-West Seed focuses on the vegeta-
distributors. To reduce its facili- ble world. Over the past decade it has helped smallholder
ties’ carbon footprint, the com- farmers buy seeds they might otherwise struggle to ob-
37 pany has done a green-energy
tain or afford. Through its Knowledge Transfer initiative,
full-court press, including
Biogen installing on-site solar panels, it also teaches farming techniques that help preserve soil
running generators on alterna- health and reduce water use. Since 2015, East-West Seed
CAMBRIDGE , MASS. tive, lower-carbon fuels, and has trained more than 840,000 farmers, predominantly in
C O U R T E S Y O F K AY R R O S ; C O U R T E S Y O F P U M A ;
deploying systems that use AI Southeast Asia; it’s now reaching people at a faster pace
Biogen has recently to manage and reduce energy thanks in part to its GrowHow digital-instruction platform.
won approval for several use. In all, it has spent more ICL, an Israeli maker of fertilizer, is organizing infor-
drugs aimed at neuro- than $725 million on energy ef- mation about agriculture to help farmers adopt best
logical conditions that ficiency in the past five years. practices more quickly. Its Agmatix division has built an
previously lacked phar-
AI-driven data platform designed to help big food and
COURTESY OF LINEAGE
maceutical treatments.
Among them: the first beverage companies coach their suppliers on the most
oral drug to treat post- environmentally friendly “regenerative” crop strate-
partum depression, and CLIMATE, CONTROLLED gies. Agmatix users oversee some 15 million acres of
a treatment for a genetic Lineage has invested in land worldwide. The company’s new RegenIQ platform,
mutation linked to ALS leading-edge tech to cut its unveiled in early September, will allow those users to get
(Lou Gehrig’s disease). warehouses’ energy use. real-time data about what is and isn’t working. —M.H.
96 FORTUNE AN AI WEED
ASSASSIN
The LaserWeeder
relies on a mix
of AI, image
recognition, and
40 (yes) lasers to
Tru Earth kill weeds.
VA N C O U V E R , B R I T I S H
COLUMBIA
For almost as long

as humans have had
washing machines,
we’ve grappled with the
impact of laundry on the
environment. Packaging
is part of that struggle:
Each year about 1 billion
plastic laundry jugs get
sold in the U.S., and only
about 30% are recycled.
Tru Earth, which de-
buted in 2019, packages
its detergent as a sheet
called an “eco-strip”
rather than as a liquid,
so it can be sold and
distributed in recyclable
envelopes instead of
jugs. So far the results
are promising: Tru Earth
estimates it has prevent-
ed more than 185 million
detergent bottles from
winding up in landfills
and oceans.
43
41
Carbon Robotics
Killing weeds with precision—and without
Worldwide
Grindr the side effects of herbicides. youth
W E S T H O L LY W O O D ,
C A L I F.
S E AT T L E
unemployment
In 2023, Grindr launched
was at 13%
Together TakeMeHome,
which allows users to
in 2023—a
anonymously order 15-year low.
free HIV self-test kits.
In the program’s first
year, 444,000 kits were Carbon Robotics is combating this co-
distributed—70% of them nundrum with the LaserWeeder, a robotic
ordered through the app. 1.7 million farm implement it introduced in 2022.
Metric tons
of chemical Designed to be pulled behind a trac-
herbicides tor, the weeder looks like a sci-fi vacuum
used cleaner but deploys far more sophisticated
42 annually, 44
worldwide technology: AI-guided computer vision
Greenly distinguishes “good” vegetation from L’Oréal
bad (it can identify 120 crop types), and
PA R I S 31,800 C L I C H Y, F R A N C E
precision lasers then zap only the weeds.
COURTESY OF CARBON ROBOTIC S
Estimated
Greenly’s carbon ac- number of Farmers ultimately spend much less time The annual L’Oréal
counting software helps new HIV and money on weeding. And by decreasing Brandstorm competition
roughly 2,000 compa- infections is a first stop in many
nies track and reduce in the U.S. in
or even zeroing out exposure to chemicals, people’s careers: The
CO2 emissions. Its tech 2022, a 12% the LaserWeeder aids in the preservation contest has provided
provides customers with decrease of soil health and productivity—helping coaching and training
decarbonization road from 2018 to more than 700,000
maps to speed up their food producers protect future crops as well people under age 30
green conversions. as current ones. —Imani Racine since its launch in 1992.
98 F O R T U N E • M I K E LY N C H
THE SHIPWRECKED LEGACY

THE BRITISH TECH MOGUL SOLD HIS COMPANY FOR $11 BILLION, THEN SPENT YEARS FIGHTING FRAUD
A WIN, THEN A MASSIVE LOSS

Lynch was acquitted of fraud in June; he, his daughter, and five others drowned in August when the Bayesian sank.
FORTUNE
99
OF MIKE LYNCH
CHARGES. HIS SHOCKING DEATH HAS LEFT MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS LIFE.
I
T WAS A SUNNY AUGUST MORNING when soft- “British Bill Gates.” While
ware entrepreneur Mike Lynch, 59, gathered the Bayesian excursion
nine of his closest friends, along with his wife was meant to celebrate
and daughter, on the dock of Porto di Milazzo, Lynch’s acquittal in the
on the northern coast of Sicily. They had come U.S.—where he had spent
to celebrate his freedom. Only months before, months under house ar-
several of the guests played crucial roles in per- rest—in reality his legal
suading a San Francisco jury to acquit Lynch of troubles were far from over.
federal charges related to the $11 billion sale of In a January 2022 civil
his software firm, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard (HP). trial, the U.K.’s High Court
Five days after the yacht left port, Lynch, his daugh- found that Hewlett Pack-
ter, four guests, and a hired chef were dead in the ard Enterprise (HPE), the
Mediterranean Sea after a storm flooded the ship. The IT and software company
drowned included the chairman of Morgan Stanley spun off from HP, had
International, a star witness at Lynch’s trial, as well “substantially succeeded”
as one of Lynch’s lead defense attorneys. Among the in proving that Autonomy
survivors were a former Autonomy exec who went on leaders had fraudulently
to become a partner at Lynch’s venture capital firm, a made it look like the com-
second member of his defense team, and Lynch’s wife. pany was earning more rev-
As news broke of the drowning, U.K. media reported enue than it was. (In 2018
that Lynch’s codefendant in the fraud trial, Stephen Autonomy’s former CFO,
Chamberlain, also acquitted, had been fatally struck Sushovan Hussain, had
by a car as he was out jogging near his home outside been convicted of 16 counts
Cambridge, England—a shocking coincidence. of fraud and sentenced to
Several weeks after the tragedy, there remain far five years in prison.) The
more questions than answers. Did the yacht named U.K. case is grinding ahead
Bayesian—an homage to a statistical theorem for as the court determines
predicting future outcomes—simply fall victim to a ter- what damages are owed;
rible storm? How did most of the crew and a few pas- HPE is seeking $4 billion,
sengers escape, and why couldn’t they reach Lynch and far more than Lynch netted
the others who did not make it out? (Italian officials from the deal. And while
are investigating three crew members for manslaugh- HPE has expressed sym-
ter; no charges had been filed as of late September.) pathy for Lynch’s surviv-
There are also huge questions swirling around the ing family, it still plans to
business ventures of a man sometimes described as the pursue its claim.
BYMICHAEL DEL CASTILLO

WITH LILA MACLELLAN AND RYAN HOGG
P H OTO I L LU S T R AT I O N BY V I CTO R I A K . E L L I S
Lynch’s passing also

looms over the busi-
nesses he built after selling
Autonomy. One is Invoke
Capital, whose managing
partner, Charlotte Golun-
ski, survived the yacht di-
saster and saved her 1-year-
old baby. One of Invoke’s
biggest bets was a 2013
seed-stage investment in
Darktrace, a cybersecurity
P R E V I O U S S P R E A D , P H O T O S B Y: C H R I S R AT C L I F F E — B L O O M B E R G V I A G E T T Y I M A G E S ; A L B E R T O L O B I A N C O — A N A D O L U / G E T T Y I M A G E S : I S T O C K P H O T O / G E T T Y I M A G E S ; A N S A V I A Z U M A P R E S S .
firm on whose board Lynch and his wife; Chamberlain ty, but the Bayesian was BEFORE THE FALL
sat until 2018. Darktrace and his wife; the attor- one of the biggest yachts of Lynch (second from left)
launched Autonomy in 1996,
has developed a reputation ney Chris Morvillo—who its kind. Its first stop was a
building a business around
as a sleek AI startup with later drowned on the cluster of small islands off an early version of AI.
ties to spy agencies like Bayesian—and 20 other the coast of Sicily. Then it
MI5 and the U.S. National lawyers gathered at a hotel jetted to the Sicilian town
Security Agency. But more restaurant near the San of Cefalù, before putting Another holds that the
recently it became the Francisco courthouse. down anchor for the final Bayesian’s 246-foot-tall
target of short-sellers who Brian Heberlig, an time off Palermo, a favor- aluminum mast—one of
expressed doubt over its attorney at international ite getaway for the rich the tallest in the world—
financial filings—allega- law firm Steptoe who gave and famous, and a former broke in the wind and took
tions similar to those that the closing argument in haunt of the Mafia. the boat down with it.
plagued Autonomy. Lynch’s trial, recalls that Lynch’s wife, Angela During those fate-
Darktrace insists that Morvillo gave a moving Bacares, was jolted awake ful moments, a far
those allegations were toast, telling those as- on Aug. 18 as the boat older yacht, the Sir Robert
baseless, and in April it sembled that the trial was began to tilt. Glass from Baden Powell, built in
received a $5.3 billion ac- not just a job, but one of a shattered window 1957, was drifting nearby;
quisition offer from private their life’s great works. “He exploded across the deck, it not only survived, but
equity giant Thoma Bravo. really was a brilliant man,” cutting her feet as she ran came to help. Some on
The deal is slated to close Heberlig told Fortune, to investigate, she later board saw a red flare
on Oct. 1. But it will do so fighting back tears as he told the Italian newspaper shooting across the rainy
without Poppy Gustafsson, remembered Lynch. “And La Repubblica. sky—an emergency signal
Darktrace’s longtime CEO he ran his legal defense Black-and-white se- from those who had fled
and a former controller at the same way I imagine he curity footage, shot from the doomed Bayesian,
Autonomy, who resigned ran Autonomy. He let the shore, appears to show drawing attention to a life
in early September. Invoke experts do their jobs, while the outline of the 184- raft carrying 15 of the 22
Capital did not respond still having a strong grasp foot sailing yacht slowly passengers.
to multiple requests for on the material. As he disappearing behind a Golunski, the Invoke
comment, and Darktrace used to say, ‘Let the brain thicker and thicker veil Capital partner, described
declined to comment. surgeons do the surgery.’ ” of rain. Nearby villagers holding her daughter,
Lynch had begun That night was the last and fishermen say they Sophia, as she screamed
celebrating his U.S. ac- time Heberlig saw Lynch saw a sea tornado called for help. Bacares was
quittal weeks before the or Morvillo. a waterspout. Soon after, also in the life raft, along
yacht party. “I am looking the Bayesian lay on the with Ayla Ronald, 36, a
forward to returning to ocean floor. lawyer at the prestigious
the U.K. and getting back AN ILL-FATED JOURNEY Theories are swirl- firm Clifford Chance, who
to what I love most: my ing about why the yacht had texted to her father:
T H I S PA G E : S W N S /A P
family and innovating in THE SAILING PARTY sank. One holds that a bay “There are deaths.”
my field,” Lynch said im- departed Aug. 14 and com- door was left open in the The life-raft survivors
mediately after the verdict. prised 12 guests and 10 storm, causing the ship to were soon plucked from
A few days later, Lynch crew members—a big par- flood and sink in minutes. the sea while the Bayesian
FORTUNE
10 1
came to rest 50 meters Lynch was born to a CORPORATE COUSINS

below the surface. Over the nurse and a firefighter,
next 72 hours, scuba divers Irish immigrants, in a
from the Guardia Costiera suburb of London. He TWO COMPANIES, INTERTWINED
and specially trained cave had stressed his modest Lynch’s two best-known businesses shared
divers from the local fire upbringing during his corporate DNA—and similar problems.
department used boats and trial testimony, talking
a helicopter to triangulate about picking up shifts at a JUNE 1996
the yacht’s position. The hospital where his mother Mike Lynch and two cofounders launch Autonomy, an enterprise
divers, working in bursts got him a job. The young software firm specializing in data analytics, with Lynch as CEO.
of eight to 12 minutes, Lynch would end his shifts FEBRUARY 2011

searched the Bayesian’s six in the geriatric ward, he After a number of acquisitions over the previous decade,
Autonomy reports 2010 revenue of $870 million.
guest suites, master suite, said, talking with patients
multiple living areas, and that the nurses didn’t have OCTOBER 2011
dining room. time for, and listening to HP acquires Autonomy for more than $11 billion, or a bit over $42
per share. With his proceeds from the sale, estimated at $800 mil-
The body of the yacht’s their life stories. lion, Lynch later launches the venture fund Invoke Capital.
chef, Recaldo Thomas, was “There’s also the day
the first to be found, float- that you turn the corner
ing on the water’s surface. with your trolley and you AUTONOMY DARKTRACE
Five more bodies were look down the ward and
found on Wednesday and the bed’s empty,” Lynch NOVEMBER 2012 JUNE 2013
Thursday. Among them said. “And what that led HP writes off $8.8 billion of Cybersecurity firm Darktrace
were Lynch, and Morvillo to me doing was realizing, the purchase of Autonomy, is founded, with Invoke as its
accusing Lynch’s manage- biggest investor and Lynch
of Clifford Chance, who you know, get on with it. ment team of “serious ac- and his wife, Angela Bacares,
had made the contro- Do stuff. Whatever it is counting improprieties.” as substantial sharehold-
ers. By 2020, six of its eight
versial decision to have you want to do, just do it.” APRIL 2018 top executives are former
Lynch testify, questioning The defendant offered Former Autonomy CFO Autonomy staffers.
him right before he was his thoughts on class Sushovan Hussain is con-
victed of fraud in the U.S.; he APRIL 2021
acquitted. The others were too. Lynch reminded his serves five years in prison. Darktrace goes public on the
Morvillo’s wife, Neda, as U.S. audience that in the London Stock Exchange, at
well as the Morgan Stanley U.K., where health care NOVEMBER 2018 a valuation of $2.4 billion; by
A U.S. grand jury indicts September, its valuation has
banker and key witness is universal, hospitals are Lynch for fraud; the U.K. tripled.
Jonathan Bloomer, who filled with people from agrees to extradite him to
stand trial. JANUARY 2023
had been a former execu- every walk of life, “and you Quintessential Capital
tive director at Autonomy, learn that you could never JANUARY 2022 Management, a short-selling
and his wife, Judy. The judge people from afar. A U.K. court rules that investment firm, accuses
Autonomy is liable to HPE, Darktrace of questionable ac-
body of Lynch’s 18-year- Very wealthy people would HP’s successor company, for counting and sales practices.
old daughter, Hannah, was sometimes treat you with disseminating misleading Darktrace denies the allega-
the last to be pulled from great kindness or could information before the actions, and an outside audit
quisition, and that Lynch was supports its position.
the sea, on Friday, Aug. 23. be awful, and people who likely aware the information
probably had a similar job was misleading. APRIL 2024
U.S. private equity firm
to your one could be won- JUNE 2024 Thoma Bravo agrees to buy
MORE QUESTIONS derful and kind or they A federal jury in San Fran- Darktrace for $5.3 billion.
THAN ANSWERS could be awful.” cisco acquits Lynch of fraud
charges.
The deal was slated to be
completed on Oct. 1.
From an early age,
EVEN AS LOVED ONES Lynch showed a proclivity
and the survivors begin toward technology and a AUGUST 2024
to come to terms with the fiery determination, and Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, four guests, and a hired
chef die when Lynch’s yacht, the Bayesian, sinks in a storm off
human toll of the tragedy, class barriers didn’t keep the coast of Sicily.
the business world has him from ascending the
begun assessing Lynch’s top educational ranks. A SEPTEMBER 2024
HPE, citing its fiduciary duty to shareholders, says that it will
complicated past and his scholarship to a presti- continue to pursue civil damages of as much as $4 billion from
many business dealings. gious private school paved Bacares and Lynch’s family.
his way to Cambridge. He restaurant analogy to put of its eight top executives hicle for a splashy second
studied natural sciences his gloss on the evidence were Autonomy veterans. act for Lynch. In early
there, then returned for presented by prosecutors One of those veterans 2021, near the height of
a PhD in artificial neural of Autonomy’s alleged was Stephen Chamberlain, the pandemic tech boom,
networks, the building fraud. “One thing to bear who joined Darktrace as Darktrace went public on
blocks of artificial intel- in mind is if you take a CFO in 2016 and later the London Stock Ex-
ligence. When he was still microscope into even the became COO. Darktrace change (LSE). It soared
studying for his PhD, he most spotless kitchen, you was one of the few places to a $7.5 billion valua-
started his first venture, will find bacteria,” he said. where the ongoing and tion, some 40% above its
Cambridge Neurodynam- “That’s real, and if it wasn’t public legal crisis was not private market value, in
ics, monetizing comput- there, there would be a barrier to employment September 2021.
erized fingerprint recog- something very abnormal. for a former Autonomy But the victory lap
nition—a company that So I don’t think Autonomy hand. But as the fed- was brief. In September
eventually evolved into was any different.” eral criminal case gained 2022, an acquisition talk
Autonomy. momentum, prosecu- between the private equity
Founded in 1996, tors looked unfavorably firm Thoma Bravo and
Autonomy used an early AN INCOMPLETE upon Darktrace’s hiring Darktrace fell through,
version of AI to quickly COMEBACK of Chamberlain. In a sending share prices tum-
scan what’s known as “un- superseding indictment, bling. Soon afterward, the
structured data,” especially DESPITE THE BAGGAGE prosecutors alleged that short-selling firm Quintes-
including language. With around Autonomy, Lynch employing Chamberlain sential Capital Manage-
Lynch as CEO, Autonomy continued to ride high in was a form of obstruc- ment published a 70-page
quickly became a darling the tech world through tion of justice because of report accusing Darktrace
of the U.K.’s fledgling tech Invoke Capital, which he Lynch’s connections to the of the kind of misconduct
scene, and it was seen as founded in 2012, using cybersecurity company. that had sunk Autonomy.
a crowning achievement some of his reported (Lynch also paid Cham- “We are deeply skepti-
when, in 2011, the com- $800 million proceeds berlain’s legal fees in the cal about the validity of
pany struck an $11 billion from the HP deal. Lynch U.S. case, public docu- Darktrace’s financial state-
deal to be purchased by told TechCrunch in 2016 ments show, as Chamber- ments,” the report read.
HP. The deal, however, that he’d raised a billion lain didn’t have the means Darktrace’s shares
was quickly engulfed in dollars to invest in start- to cover the costs, as his plunged as much as 17%
scandal when a year later ups, and that Darktrace lawyer explained.) Cham- after the report was pub-
the new owner alleged ac- was worth $500 million. berlain eventually took a lished, though the com-
counting fraud and wrote He also enjoyed the trap- leave of absence to defend pany said at the time that
down its investment by pings of a mogul. By 2016, himself in the legal battle the management team
$8.8 billion—and years of he was sailing the Bayes- he would go on to win. and board had “rigorous
legal wrangling ensued. ian, worth an estimated With its ties to the intel- controls in place.” Dark-
The controversy would $25 million. He reportedly ligence community and its trace hired EY to perform
cost one HP CEO his job, also owned a $6 million, AI-infused tech, Darktrace an audit, which stabilized
and hastened the once- 69-acre Georgian manor. seemed like a perfect ve- its share price after the
mighty Hewlett-Packard’s One of Invoke’s most accounting firm found the
tumble from the top profitable investments was company’s earlier finan-
ranks of the tech industry. Darktrace, which Lynch cial results did not need
Lynch and his Autonomy backed in 2013 and joined to be restated. Darktrace
colleagues, meanwhile, as a board member. Au- “One thing to never publicly released
consistently denied tonomy staff were heavily bear in mind the report, however, with
wrongdoing, arguing that
HP was making them the
involved in launching the
company, among them
is if you take a spokesperson saying at
the time that it contained
scapegoats for their own Hussain, the former Au- a microscope “commercially sensitive
mismanagement and lack tonomy CFO who would into even the information.”
of due diligence.
In his testimony at trial
later be convicted of fraud.
By early 2020, half of
most spotless More recently, the dust
around Darktrace seemed
this spring, Lynch used a Darktrace’s board and six kitchen, you will to have settled—and at
find bacteria.”
FORTUNE
103
considerably less than the of what happened does not

$4 billion HPE sought. change what happened
The total value of Lynch’s in the past decade or so,
estate is unknown, but it where we believe wrong-
isn’t likely to be anywhere doing was done.”
near $4 billion. Last year, The prospect of pursu-
the U.K.’s Sunday Times ing a defendant’s fam-
Rich List estimated his ily after he dies may be
and Bacares’s net worth at macabre, but legally, it’s
$1.1 billion; other outlets straightforward, explains
have reported that all of Oliver Embley, a partner
that was held in Bacares’s at law firm Wedlake Bell.
name, to shield it from “Following Mike Lynch’s
legal judgments against tragic death, his execu-
Lynch. The couple held a tors step into his shoes,”
stake of a little over 3% in Embley says. “In the U.K.,
DARKTRACE DEPARTURE Darktrace, with stints at Darktrace; that would be all legal actions against
Poppy Gustafsson, Snap and Accenture on her worth about $170 million a person survive against
Darktrace’s longtime
CEO, resigned shortly
résumé—but no Autonomy if the Thoma Bravo deal is their estate.”
after Lynch’s death. experience. “Jill is the completed. Before his death, Lynch
perfect leader to build on Immediately after the clearly knew there was
Poppy’s tremendous legacy Bayesian wreck, there more wrangling to come.
the same time, Darktrace at Darktrace as it embarks was speculation that HPE After Lynch’s acquittal, but
had sought to distance on this next phase of its would opt not to pursue before his death, former
itself from Lynch and his life,” Andrew Almeida, a Lynch’s family for dam- U.K. Secretary of State
VC firm. Last December, partner at Thoma Bravo, ages owing to the negative David Davis told British
shareholders passed a announced at the time. publicity such a move media that he was work-
resolution that rejected could create. But in early ing with Lynch to scrap
the reappointment to its September, the company the U.S./U.K. extradition
board of Patrick Jacob, ‘WE BELIEVE dispelled such talk. “It is agreements that allowed
a non-executive director WRONGDOING HPE’s intention to follow Lynch’s trial to happen in
backed by Invoke. This WAS DONE’ the proceedings through the first place.
April, Invoke lost the right to their conclusion,” a Lynch’s desire to extend
to that same board seat WHILE ITALIAN authori- company spokesperson the fight reflects the
when it was discovered its ties continue to investigate told Fortune. scrappiness he displayed
shares had fallen below the crash site, one thing is CEO Antonio Neri throughout his life. This
the required 10% thresh- certain: The swirl of legal elaborated further in helped the former founder
old; not long afterward, and business battles that an interview with the ascend to the highest
Thoma Bravo announced surrounded Lynch during Financial Times, fram- rungs of business and
its new acquisition bid. his lifetime are likely to ing the issue in terms of moguldom—but the end-
The acquittal seemed to continue after his death. fiduciary duty to its inves- less questions about his
have changed the equation; And his widow, Angela Ba- tors. “These are difficult business dealings meant
C H R I S J . R AT C L I F F E — B L O O M B E R G / G E T T Y I M A G E S
so, of course, did Lynch’s cares, who is grieving both decisions,” Neri said. “But that the success also came
death. In a memorial to Lynch and their daughter in the end, we are making with a tenuous quality.
Lynch, Gustafsson wrote: Hannah, will likely be at decisions in the best inter- The not-guilty verdict and
“Without Mike, there the crux of those battles. est of shareholders. the pending Darktrace
would be no Darktrace. (A representative of the “Obviously what we sale meant Lynch was in
We owe him so much.” Lynch and Bacares family saw three weeks ago is a position to finally cast off
Barely two weeks after declined to comment.) sad story,” he continued. that shadow. But now his
Lynch’s body was found, After ruling in HPE’s “The loss of so many lives, ultimate legacy is poised
Gustafsson resigned and favor in the U.K. civil including Dr. Lynch. And to be tied forever to a mys-
was succeeded by COO Jill trial, the judge indicated obviously our thoughts are terious and tragic hour on
Popelka, a recent hire at that damages would be with them. But the reality the Mediterranean Sea.
DOUBLING DOWN
KKR co-CEOs Scott
Nuttall (left) and Joe Bae
are betting big on a
new game plan for the
storied firm.
FORTUNE • KKR’S $1 TRILLION GAMBLE
107
KKR’S
$1 TRILLION
GAMBLE
The co-CEOs of KKR have a radical strategy to supercharge growth—
and chart a path far different from that of their mentors, Henry Kravis and George Roberts. By Shawn Tully
P H OTO G R A P H S BY PAT R I C K J A M E S M I L L E R
NEXT GEN
Scott Nuttall (left) and Joe Bae met as
24-year-old analysts at KKR. “It was an
apprenticeship culture,” says Nuttall.
Instead, the firm that’s dreaming

bigger than any outfit on Wall Street
is embarking on a remarkable journey
that few could have seen coming.
N NOVEMBER 1996, Joe Bae had been working at buyout shop Bucking the famously “capital-light”
I
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for six weeks as an analyst doing approach their industry was built on,
spadework on deals when Scott Nuttall, another recruit, moved they’re aiming to fashion the next
into the office next door. Both Bae and Nuttall, who had each Berkshire Hathaway—in other words,
worked at big Wall Street firms, soon relished the freewheeling channeling the cash flows from alter-
small-group vibe over, as Bae puts it, “feeling like a cog in a large, native money-spinning franchises to
sophisticated machine.” KKR had just two dozen employees and acquire a roster of strong, stable busi-
lacked even an HR department. Their bosses were already legends, nesses they own outright for a long
courtesy of their epic purchase of RJR Nabisco. “Back then, Henry period of time.
Kravis and George Roberts were the de facto investment commit- That unorthodox “ownership”
tee,” says Bae. The process was that after studying the transactions, approach, they claim, will drive the
“you walk into Henry’s office, then you call George, and then you firm’s valuation to levels never before
talk about the deal.” Recalls Nuttall, “We’d have lunch every day witnessed in asset management. Bae
with Henry at the end of the table. He’d walk around handing out and Nuttall unveiled their daring
checks to the assistants when we sold a company, because everyone predictions at KKR’s investor day in
owned a piece of everything.” April. The plan calls for raising assets
“It was an apprenticeship culture,” adds Nuttall. “The place was under management (AUM) in five
so tiny that whichever one of us was less busy that week would get staffed on years by at least two-thirds to over
the deal. I was the mini M&A department, trying to sell different pieces of $1 trillion, and posting an almost
Borden, such as Cracker Jack and Elmer’s Glue.” fivefold gain in earnings per share
Bae and Nuttall, both 24 and recently married, became inseparable. Every from $3.42 to $15 in 10 years or less.
evening, they would walk to the nearest McDonald’s for takeout and unpack The co-CEOs say the pieces are in
their Big Macs in a conference room while watching the TV news. One place for KKR to double its market
summer, the two couples rented a weekend house in Woodstock, N.Y. Since capitalization in a first phase to over
the down-market place came sans trash pickup, they would schlep the refuse $200 billion, followed by a further
to Manhattan on Sunday nights for disposal. doubling to $400 billion. Although
Today, Bae and Nuttall are still locking arms. Only now they have a slightly they don’t give a timeline, the earn-
loftier perch: They are co-CEOs of KKR, the world’s third-largest alternative ings target and the kinds of returns
asset manager that boasts the industry’s hottest stock and biggest ambitions. they’re now seeing, by Fortune’s
They’re perpetuating the “two-parent household” model that Kravis and Roberts estimate, suggest a path to $200 bil-
followed for 45 years. During most of that span, their predecessors ran a narrowly lion by 2030. The $400 billion goal
focused private equity (PE) purveyor that famously leveraged up troubled enter- is almost four times KKR’s current
prises, hammered costs, streamlined operations, and sold its targets in whole or valuation of $117 billion, and over
in parts a few years later, pocketing big fees and a fat slice of the profits on exit. two times the cap of today’s leader,
But Bae, 52, and Nuttall, 51, in the three years since they ascended, and before- Blackstone (at $189 billion). If Bae
hand as co-COOs, have radically reshaped the machine that Henry and George and Nuttall hit the mark, KKR would
built. In the rearview mirror are the slash-and-burn leveraged-buyout (LBO) be worth one-third more than Bank
days immortalized in the famous book Barbarians at the Gate. They’ve expanded of America’s value today, and almost
KKR into every realm of the alts universe, from financing housing projects in 70% that of JPMorgan Chase.
Ireland to owning wireless networks in Chile and cell phone towers across To be sure, their strategy entails
America. That type of work, though it greatly augments traditional PE, simply huge risks, including the threat that a
can’t grow fast enough at highly profitable rates to get where they want to go. recession could delay or hammer the
capital gains from sales of portfolio
PE companies that are still a KKR
FORTUNE • KKR’S $1 TRILLION GAMBLE
109
staple; the risk that its leaders don’t 12 months, KKR’s stock has doubled. Yards headquarters on this June
prove nearly as good at picking win- Notes Ted Pick, CEO of Morgan afternoon, the co-CEOs are smoothly
ners as the Oracle of Omaha (a pretty Stanley and longtime friend of both describing their plans. Framing
high bar); and that expansion will generations of co-CEOs: “In some the twosome are floor-to-ceiling
undermine its famously cooperative ways the job’s an even steeper climb windows offering panoramic views
culture. But skeptical investors seem for Joe and Scott … The paradox or so- encompassing the Freedom Tower
to be gaining confidence. The evi- lution is that they’re keeping the ethos and the Statue of Liberty. They’re
dence? Over the past five years KKR and trust of a partnership yet running both attired in what’s practically the
provided annual shareholder returns a global financial services firm.” KKR uniform: blue suits and open-
of 36.5%, beating Apollo (32.7%), collared white shirts.
Blackstone (29.0%), and Carlyle THE KKR CULTURE “Philosophically, the firm’s culture
(18.2%), as well as TPG (25.2%, Seated side by side in a 79th-floor is to under-promise and over-deliver,”
from January 2022). In the past conference room at their Hudson says Bae. “We wouldn’t put out those
long-term targets if we didn’t have a
hell of a lot of confidence we could get
there and exceed them over time.”
Nuttall and Bae each grew up
in hardworking first-generation
KKR vs. the Competition middle-class families, and were born
The world’s third-largest alternative asset manager boasts the industry’s hottest stock. abroad. A New Zealander, Nuttall’s
father met his mom as a high school
exchange student in a Pennsylva-
GLOBAL INVESTMENT FIRM STOCK PERFORMANCES nia farming town. They wed in his
CUMULATIVE STOCK PRICE CHANGES, JAN. 1, 2023, TO SEPT. 6, 2024
KKR
dad’s picturesque homeland after he
160% 150.4% returned to finish college, and they
welcomed Scott as an infant Kiwi.
140 The Nuttalls settled in the Chicago
suburbs, where Scott’s dad worked
120 at a real estate finance boutique; his
mom enjoyed a long career at Bell
100 BLACKSTONE
84.8%
Labs. “The deal excitement was part
of the household,” he recalls. His
80
TPG
early affection for finance guided him
75.1% to the Wharton School, where he
60
graduated in 1994.
APOLLO
69.3% Bae’s parents were child refugees
40
who fled during the Korean War
20
from North Korea to South Korea,
where his father went on to become a
CARLYLE
0 24.8% chemistry professor. After the family
moved Stateside, eventually making
JAN. 2023 MAY SEPT. JAN. 2024 MAY SEPT. 2024
their home in New Jersey, his dad
SOURCE: S&P GLOBAL
worked his way up from lab assistant
to specialist in developing automotive
INVESTMENT COMPANIES’ ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT plastics for large chemical compa-
nies. His mother became an ordained
BLACKSTONE $1,076 BILLION
Presbyterian minister who counseled
APOLLO $696 BILLION victims of domestic abuse. “You heard
no deal talk in my household,” Bae
KKR $601 BILLION
declares. The music of Chopin and
ARES $447 BILLION Mendelssohn filled the Bae residence:
Young Joe was a piano prodigy who
CARLYLE $435 BILLION
practiced long hours after school on
TPG $229 BILLION SOURCE: S&P GLOBAL, AS OF Q2 OF FY 2024 the family’s baby grand.
110 FORTUNE • KKR’S $1 TRILLION GAMBLE
Bae had spent two years at Gold- want KKR to think big and aim at For Bae, it was the coup of fashion-
man Sachs and was unpacking his candidates offering huge possibilities, ing an entirely new business from
dorm room at Harvard Business and fire from a classic list of ques- scratch in Asia that propelled him
School in September 1996 when a tions: “What can this become? Why toward the summit. In 2005, Kravis
headhunter called to say that Kravis should we own this business versus a took Bae on a three-week tour of the
wanted to interview him in New competitor buying it? What are the region to decide if KKR should launch
York. Bae drove the next day to KKR’s angles we can use to make it better?” an Asia-Pacific arm. Kravis found the
Manhattan offices, and flew that night One wrinkle with the handoff: In opportunity irresistible; Bae relocated
to meet with Roberts in Palo Alto. Bae early August, Kravis and Roberts got to Hong Kong as KKR’s only employ-
was two weeks away from starting a blast of negative headlines when ee in Asia. “I was living in my wife’s
classes, but Kravis went into a comedy the pension fund for a local of the family’s house for the first six months
routine about needing Bae at KKR steamfitters’ union sued KKR for under crowded conditions, which
ASAP, even if it meant sacrificing his illegally granting the pair a “wind- made it even harder,” he remembers.
deposit at Harvard. fall” of $650 million when they Guided by the founders, Bae took
The Bae and Nuttall personal and passed the reins to Bae and Nuttall an original route in assembling a
professional kinship echoes that in 2021. The action alleges that team. “I talked to Henry and George
of their mentors. Kravis and Rob- KKR deployed a complex transac- every night at 10 or 11 p.m. Hong
erts are first cousins who grew up tion that handed the cofounders a Kong time,” recalls Bae. “They were
together. In the early 1970s, Kravis tax benefit that should have gone to so relationship-driven and focused.
and Roberts worked at Bear Stearns, the company. Plaintiffs have brought So they wanted people who were
where they detested the system that similar suits against Apollo, Carlyle, super-networked in these markets—
paid employees on the profits they and GoDaddy, and in the latter two local but had great reputations,
generated individually. Convinced cases, judges have allowed the ac- great Rolodexes. Who could get to
that a culture fostering trust and co- tions to proceed. (KKR has said the the right families, the right people,
operation would prove far more prof- deal offered substantial benefits to versus some financial wizard.” Dur-
itable in the long run, they, alongside shareholders and that it expects to ing his decade in Hong Kong, Bae
Jerome Kohlberg—who departed in move to dismiss the suit.) mounted what one colleague calls
1987—famously launched KKR on For Mass of Goldman Sachs, who’s “a dogged, blood-sweat-and-tears
$120,000 in capital. presented potential transactions offensive” that put all the pieces in
Kravis and Roberts huddle with to Nuttall, he’s anything but a Wall place to make KKR the largest, most
Bae and Nuttall every other Monday Street pirate for whom price is all. In diverse alts firm in the Asia-Pacific.
afternoon at 4 p.m. ET for what’s assessing acquisition candidates, his Today, the firm’s AUM in the region
known as the G-4 meeting, and are priority is finding a like-minded team, stands at almost $70 billion, over
present at the private equity invest- say colleagues and M&A bankers. three times the figure in 2018.
ment committee conclaves, chaired “Scott has always been focused on Interestingly, what most impressed
by Bae and Nuttall, where the preserving KKR’s culture,” she says. Kravis and Roberts about Nuttall
firm makes the final decisions on was how he performed when deals
whether to make or reject transac- HOW NUTTALL AND BAE MADE he’d advocated went bad. His biggest
tions under consideration. THEIR MARK AT KKR rescue operation was First Data,
Kravis is renowned as a dealmaker- These co-CEOs and fast friends originally a misbegotten transaction
statesman, and Roberts as a granular rose to the top exhibiting extremely that once stood as a symbol of private
investor famed for his deep under- divergent strengths—and the threads equity gone wrong. Nuttall took the
standing of businesses. In these of KKR’s current strategy started to lead when KKR teamed with coinves-
settings, their divergent approaches emerge years ago as they were work- tors to acquire the payments giant for
are clearly evident, according to KKR ing their way up the ranks. $27 billion just as the market peaked
employees who attend. Quips Alison Kravis and Roberts recall that in 2007. The LBO saddled First Data
Mass, chairman of investment bank- when Bae and Nuttall worked side by with a gigantic debt load just before
ing at Goldman Sachs: “Ask anyone side as junior analysts, “a common the global financial crisis, and the
who takes a deal to the investment trait was that they weren’t afraid to slowdown in the shift from cash to
committee if George is retired!” Rob- throw up ideas, and never feared credit cards pounded its cash flow.
erts tends to press the deal teams on whether we’d say yes or no, like a lot A parade of four CEOs all failed to
financial details; Kravis focuses more of their peers,” notes Kravis. steer First Data back on a profitable
on the big picture, posing such que- course until Nuttall found JPMorgan
ries as “Where’s the romance?” Both executive Frank Bisignano, whom he
FORTUNE
111
moves into three booming areas of

alternatives: real estate, infrastruc-
ture, and credit. The firm is now a
major force in everything from data
centers to student housing to LBO
loans for midsize companies. Though
old-line PE is still growing briskly,
it’s these newer franchises, plus the
Global Atlantic acquisition, that
have turbocharged KKR’s growth in
assets from $218 billion in 2019 to
FOUNDER MODE The first generation: Henry Kravis (left) and George Roberts over $600 billion today. The ever-
at KKR’s offices in 2013. creative Nuttall has also launched
new ventures that build on KKR’s
persuaded to take the job. “Scott and an opportunity for KKR to exploit the strengths by offering services to
Henry put in more of KKR’s money meltdown, transform its model, and, outside firms, including competitors.
to save First Data. No other company over time, rescue the KPE share- A prime example: a capital markets
with $24.5 billion in debt and 10 times holders as well. In October 2009 he group that if independent would
leverage ever survived, let alone made orchestrated a “reverse merger” where rank among America’s top 20 invest-
investors a big profit,” recalls Bisigna- the partnership combined with KPE ment banks, and last year generated
no. Nuttall helped Bisignano negotiate to form today’s KKR. The KPE share- nearly $600 million in fees, the vast
First Data’s sale to Fiserv in 2019 at holders got 30% of the combined preponderance of it profit.
a big premium, and KKR eventually entity’s stock, and the KKR partners The pair believe that the asset
tripled its original investment. received 70%. The deal made KKR management and insurance pieces
But the pair had more in mind than the second of today’s alt giants to are already in place to propel KKR
just performing rescue operations. become a publicly traded enterprise, to clinching the first half of its goal:
after Blackstone. doubling its market cap to $200
INSPIRED BY BUFFETT The genius of that gambit: Instead billion-plus in the years ahead.
“When Scott and I joined KKR, Berk- of just earning fees and capital gains Bae says that all of these businesses
shire’s market cap was $40 billion,” on the holdings in its funds, KKR it- are just starting to hit “escape
notes Bae. “Now it’s $875 billion.” self, the previous private partnership, velocity,” all at the same time.
For years, KKR would pass on now owned 100% of sundry compa- As the capital load expands, KKR
buying just the kind of companies nies, the ones inherited from KPE. will reach its goals only by generat-
Warren Buffett prizes, those in stable And it had effectively purchased ing mid-double-digit returns on each
industries that consistently generate most of KPE when those companies new dollar it invests. And that’s a
strong cash flows. The reason? They were selling at around 20% of the new and daunting challenge. Will
didn’t promise the 20%-plus returns prices KPE bought in at. Over the Bae and Nuttall really succeed in
of the PE fixer-uppers. next several years, KKR unloaded choosing winners on the scale of
It was Nuttall who almost two de- that portfolio, mostly at multiples of Warren Buffett, the genius whose
cades ago put the scaffolding in place what it had effectively paid. “We paid record has never been equaled? So
that enabled KKR to become not just between $500 million and $1 billion far, the “owner” approach is still too
an asset manager, but a major owner for our controlling stake in KPE, new and undersized to show decisive
of businesses. “Scott was always bug- and sold the companies for roughly signs that it will prove the power-
ging us with new ideas,” recalls $15 billion,” exclaims Roberts. house the copilots are promising.
Roberts. In 2006, Nuttall structured To reach their giant goals, Bae Their partnership, however, seems
a freestanding new company called and Nuttall are banking on three built to last. “Henry and George mod-
KPE that raised $5 billion in an IPO growth engines: asset manage- eled how a really good partnership
held on the Euronext exchange in ment, insurance via its purchase can work for 50 years,” says Bae. More
Amsterdam. KPE used the cash to of insurer Global Atlantic, and the than three decades ago, Kravis and
take big stakes alongside the regular “ownership strategy.” On the asset Roberts put private equity on the map
KKR funds in companies like Dollar management side, over the past two as rebels laying siege to an American
General, HCA, and Alliance Boots. decades, KKR has made massive institution. Now these new warriors
Then the financial crisis struck, and are ready to storm Wall Street, but
KPE’s shares tanked. But Nuttall saw the battle plan is all their own.
120
THE CARTOGRAPHER
PUBLIC DEBT AS ANNUAL PUBLIC DEBT
A SHARE OF GDP INTEREST PAYMENTS
PER CAPITA
America’s
Debt: SUDAN
316%
Sky-High 300% $2,500
and Rising U.S.

$2,464
SOONER OR LATER,
government debt will
devastate the economy.
That’s a message we
hear often (especially
250 JAPAN
in election years). But 252% 2,000
the U.S. has mocked the
fiscal scolds, delivering ICELAND
consistent GDP growth $1,933
over the past 10 years
even as total federal
debt has doubled to a
benumbing $35.4 trillion.
One reason for the run
of luck: Treasury bills, 200 ISRAEL
seen as ultrasafe, attract $1,559
1,500
hordes of buyers despite
paying very low interest, SINGAPORE
enabling Uncle Sam to 162% ITALY
$1,386
run huge deficits without
short-term repercus- ARGENTINA GREECE
155% 169%
sions. But economists U.K.
point out that inflation BOLIVIA $1,211
150 148%
can bring that party to an
ugly end—forcing gov-
ernments to pay higher 1,000
ITALY
interest to lenders, and
then to borrow more to U.S. CANADA
pay that interest. Such 122%
cycles have sunk smaller MEXICO
FRANCE FRANCE
economies (think Argen- $795
SPAIN $775
tina or Greece). The U.S.
economy is a far sturdier 100
ship, of course—but the U.K. SPAIN
Titanic was pretty solid BRAZIL
too. —MATT HEIMER INDIA 500
CHINA BRAZ.
84%
CANADA
GERMANY $368
EACH CIRCLE REPRESENTS GER.
THE SIZE OF A COUNTRY’S $270
PUBLIC DEBT.
50 MEX.
INDIA
$30 TRILLION CHINA
ISRAEL $118
JAPAN
0 $41
S. KOREA
$10T
RUSSIA SOUTH
KOREA
$1T
$3T
0
Not shown:
Negative values represent nations that lend more Norway (–$3,972)
money to the world than they borrow from it. and Kuwait (–$6,164)
G R A P H I C BY N I C O L A S R A P P S O U R C E : U N C A LC U L AT I O N S B A S E D O N I M F DATA ; D E BT L E V E L S A S O F 2 0 2 3

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100 MOST POWERFUL WOMEN

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