🏢 Across the Board

Image: Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images

The SEC approved new Nasdaq rules on Friday requiring the more than 3,000 companies listing shares on its exchanges to have at least one board member who identifies as female and another as an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ – or provide a written report on why they do not.

• The rules are slightly different for small companies. For example, companies with five or fewer directors meet the Nasdaq’s target with just one board member from a designated diverse background, rather than two.

⏩ Driving the move… The exchange’s CEO, Adena Friedman, said the proposal would ultimately benefit investors. “There are many studies that indicate that having a more diverse board…improves the financial performance of a company as well as lowers the risk profile of companies.”

• Nasdaq found in a study conducted in 2020 that more than 75% of its listed companies wouldn’t have met its proposed requirements.

✋ Pushback… “Corporate board rooms, like all organizations, can benefit from a diversity of perspectives, but NASDAQ’s one-size-fits-all quota misses the mark,” Sen. Pat Toomey, top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, told CNBC. “By defining diversity by race, gender, and sexual orientation, NASDAQ’s mandate will inevitably pressure companies to subordinate crucial factors such as knowledge, experience, and expertise when selecting board members.”

• “A serious concern is that the SEC—without any doubt, a state actor—may need to take future action in which the agency must consider disclosure of the racial, ethnic, gender, or LGTBQ+ status of individual directors,” SEC Commissioner Mr. Roisman wrote. “After all, the Commission is the adjudicating body for exchange delisting decisions.”

🔭 Zoom out… The move is the latest push for increased diversity from the private sector.

• Asset managers such as BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors have pushed their portfolio companies to appoint more women as directors.
• Goldman Sachs no longer underwrites IPOs of companies in the U.S. and Europe unless they have at least one “diverse” board member. The bank recently raised that target to two diverse directors.
• Nearly 75% of new independent directors at companies in the S&P 500 are women or belong to a racial or ethnic minority, up from about 60% last year and 31% a decade ago, according to an analysis by board and executive recruiting firm Spencer Stuart.

From the Left: CNBC

From the Right: WSJ

The "Tribute in Light" on the 18th anniversary of 9/11 in NYC; Drew Angerer/Getty Images

In a statement published Friday, nearly 1,800 survivors, firefighters, and victims' family members called on Biden to forego participating in three planned 20-year anniversary events unless he follows through on his campaign pledge to release the documents.

• The group seeks evidence to support a nearly two-decade-old civil lawsuit accusing the Saudi Arabian government of being complicit.

Each administration since George W. Bush has repeatedly denied victims' requests for information on Saudi Arabia's alleged links to 9/11, citing national security concerns.

🇸🇦 Why Saudi Arabia?... There is no conclusive proof that one of America's closest allies in the Middle East was directly connected to the attacks – a claim its government continues to deny.

• But the issue has gained traction over the years due to the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals - as was al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden - combined with "suspicions they must have had help navigating Western society given their minimal experience in the U.S.," writes the AP.

📅 A brief timeline... 

• August 2002: The victims first filed a civil lawsuit targeting the individuals, banks, corporations, and charities historically implicated in sponsoring al-Qaeda’s terrorist activities.
• July 2004: The 9/11 Commission released its final report detailing the run-up to the attacks. It found no evidence the Saudi government or senior Saudi officials had funded al-Qaeda, though it said Saudi-linked charities could have diverted money to the group.
• July 2016: The final chapter of a 2002 congressional report on the attacks was declassified. It said FBI sources suggested at least two people who assisted the hijackers may have been Saudi intelligence officers, but it fell short of reaching a conclusion on complicity.
• March 2017: The 9/11 victims added the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the lawsuit after Congress passed a law allowing for civil suits against foreign states supporting international terrorism against Americans or their property (overriding a veto from then-President Obama).

👁️ Looking ahead... After Friday's statement from the victims was published, the Biden administration indicated it will begin reviewing the relevant documents to determine whether any can be released (but said it likely won't finish by September 11).

• Lawyers for the victims said previous administrations had also promised reviews, only to use them as "delay tactics to protect the Saudi government and keep the American people in the dark."

🧠 Thnks fr th Mmrs

Image: Bruce Rolff/Getty Images

While computer processing power comes at a high energy cost, arguably the best computer to date - the human brain - is incredibly efficient, requiring less power than a lightbulb.

• The brain relies on ions to produce electricity, but the exact reason for the organ’s energy efficiency has yet to be understood.

Scientists at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris developed a computer model of artificial neurons that can produce the same electrical signals neurons in the brain use to transfer information.

• The system mimics the spikes in electrical activity that are the basis of brain activity, creating worm-like structures of ions lasting long enough to leave a “memory” in the synthetic membrane.

The researchers say the study could help reimagine computer processing systems in the image of the human brain.

Keep reading.

Images: CBS8

Mary and Benjamin are neighbors in Minneapolis, MN, who never really got to know each other outside of the occasional run-in that comes from living next door.

• When the pandemic forced both of them to stay home last year, the neighbors started to forge a friendship through their shared backyard fence. Soon enough, the two grew to look forward to their meetings, which were often the highlights of their respective days.

Mary, who lives alone, is preparing to celebrate her 100th birthday next year, and was extremely isolated during quarantine. Benjamin, on the other hand, just celebrated his second birthday.

• That hasn’t stopped them from forming a best-friendship too cute for words.

Keep reading.

What color eyes will you not find in cats?

A) Blue
B) Yellow
C) Green
D) Purple

(keep scrolling for the answer)

Access exclusive rewards and even an all-expenses-paid round trip to Austin, TX, just for sharing this newsletter.

Simply: 

1. Copy your unique referral link.👇
2. Post said link on social media, drop it in your group chat, tattoo it on your body, etc.
3. Watch the rewards roll in.

No link found!

D) Purple

There is no known evidence of cats with purple eyes. The most common eye colors in cats are yellow and blue, with green eyes appearing on the rarer side.