Elon Musk and Donald Trump chat, Melinda Gates donates, Nelson Peltz sells: Leadership news roundup

Melinda French Gates has a plan for how she plans to spend her next $1 billion. Writing in the New York Times, she says that she will be using the money to “on behalf of women and families around the world, including on reproductive rights in the United States,” and that she expects to spend that much money towards the effort over the next two years through her philanthropy Pivotal.

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Legendary short-seller Jim Chanos is best known for making a fortune after spotting fraud at Enron and for his bearish bets against Tesla. Now, he’s being accused of misappropriating company funds for his personal use and making his girlfriend richer.

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Elon Musk has been talking with Donald Trump “several times a month,” about a wide range of topics, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. And while Musk has denied rumors that he might donate money to the former president, the new reporting indicates Musk is working behind the scenes to make sure his businesses benefit if Trump is elected again in November.

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Activist investor Nelson Peltz is throwing in the towel when it comes to his Disney ambitions — for good this time.

CNBC, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter, reports that Peltz, who has launched two unsuccessful bids for a seat on Disney’s board of directors in recent years, sold off his remaining stake in the entertainment giant. The sale netted the 81-year-old investor $1 billion, with shares valued at about $120 apiece at the time of the sale, CNBC reports. Peltz’s asset management firm Trian Partners owned a roughly $3.5 billion stake in Disney as of January, at the height of the proxy contest. Disney stock closed Wednesday at $100.88 per share.

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Commercial real estate (CRE) is showing “early signs of recovery” as market activity continues to pick up, according to Blackstone chief operating officer Jonathan Gray.

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Wall Street chiefs have always been paid handsomely — but last year took the cake.

The stock market finished the year strong, with the S&P 500 index up 24% to close out 2023, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 14%, and the Nasdaq Composite gaining 43%. This healthy performance, combined with cost-cutting and dividend-boosting efforts across some of the top banks, resulted in a banner year for the industry.

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Adam Neumann is going to end his effort to buy WeWork. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company’s once-jettisoned founder has changed his mind about trying to regain control of it.

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Jurors found Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts in the former President’s hush money trial in New York on Thursday, according to The New York Times. He is the first American president to become a felon. The 12 Manhattan residents who sit on the jury reached a verdict after their second day of deliberations.

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