Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson
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Semafor's CEO Editor. Formerly @FT. Writing in a personal (but not too personal) capacity. www.semafor.com/author/andrew-edgecliffe-johnson
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Articles by Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson
With a weak board and no successor, Nvidia confronts a governance crisis Original
The News Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s spy scandal shines a spotlight on thin corporate governance and opaque succession planning at what has become the world’s most important company. Huang’s chances of remaining as CEO, after admitting to an affair with a woman suspected of spying for Chinese intelligence services, are now in the hands of a board of directors that lacks the experience and stature typically found at companies of Nvidia’s size and importance.
View / Nvidia’s $4.5 trillion test of founder immunity Original
There’s little precedent in US corporate history for the crisis facing Nvidia after reports that Jensen Huang was targeted by a Chinese “honeytrap” operation. The national security implications of the allegation, the chipmaker’s founder-CEO’s centrality to his company’s growth story, and Nvidia’s pivotal place in the AI ecosystem all mean the fallout is likely to stretch further than other cases of executive infidelity.
View: Nvidia’s $4.5 trillion test of founder immunity
Nvidia 7 hours ago Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says he was 'unfaithful' to his wife: Read his note to staff Business Insider - Lauren Edmonds • 7h Nvidia CEO and founder Jensen Huang apologized for being "unfaithful" to his wife in a note to staff on Sunday.
Chris Kempczinski’s new value menu for McDonald’s Original
The Signal Interview An 11-item menu board from the 1950s still hangs in McDonald’s Chicago headquarters, recalling the era when Ray Kroc struck his franchise agreement with the McDonald brothers and began building the world’s best known fast-food chain. The 10-cent root beers are long gone, but Chris Kempczinski, who marked his seventh anniversary as CEO this week, is having to pay new attention to its value proposition.
‘Will business stand up?’: Ken Chenault on CEO courage and the US midterms
The CEO Signal Any interference in next week’s US midterm elections should be a “red line” that prompts business leaders to rally behind American democratic norms, Ken Chenault is warning his peers. But the influential chairman of venture capital firm General Catalyst worries that some leaders have lost sight of where to draw such lines, as they’ve retreated from a social responsibility agenda they espoused just a few years ago.
Brian Chesky’s new blueprint for Airbnb — and Silicon Valley Original
The Signal Interview “When I came to Silicon Valley, we thought we were all making the world a better place,” Brian Chesky recalls, 19 years after he co-founded Airbnb. Now, he tells The CEO Signal, “Silicon Valley’s in a bubble, and society feels like AI is happening to them, not for them.” Chesky is an unusual figure in California’s tech heartland.
The $22B startup co-founder working to make chatbots talk back
The Signal Insight When Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni moved to trademark her voice last week, she highlighted growing fears about AI deepfakes sounding ever more convincingly like the people they impersonate, from politicians to CEOs. But she also shone a spotlight on the fast-developing business of helping prominent individuals secure rights to their voice likenesses — and on the companies that say “voice AI” will soon become how many people handle customer service and corporate...
Why Suntory’s CEO is still investing in a sobered-up spirits market
The Signal Interview Nobuhiro “Nobu” Torii’s appointment as CEO of Suntory last September returned the leadership of the group behind Yamazaki whisky to its founding family, 126 years after his great-grandfather, Shinjiro Torii, set up shop as a wine importer in Osaka. But the younger Torii’s succession was an abrupt and unplanned one. Takeshi “Tak” Niinami, Suntory’s first non-family CEO, quit after police searched his home for suspected illegal supplements.
Inside the Breakup of an American Industrial Giant
After nearly four decades at Honeywell, Vimal Kapur reached the top — and then took on the task of breaking the 140-year-old industrial conglomerate into three companies. Kapur tells Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson how he managed that separation while simultaneously building Honeywell Technologies into a focused automation company, reshaping its portfolio and deciding where the new business should compete.
The CEO who put Canary Wharf back on the map
The Signal Interview “Everybody wrote this place off,” Shobi Khan says as he walks a visitor around Canary Wharf, the 130-acre estate he has overseen since 2019. After the UK’s banker-scaring vote to leave the European Union, and an office-emptying pandemic, the refrain he kept hearing was: “It’s over. Bad experiment.
‘It’s not about the champagne:’ Why VistaJet thinks the private flights boom can last
The Signal Insight Swiss billionaire Thomas Flohr is a World Endurance Championship racing driver who has spent 22 years building VistaJet into a $2.9 billion revenue private aviation business with global reach. He is now weighing a possible market listing that could value his holding company at $10 billion, even as war in the Middle East sends jet fuel prices higher and economists debate how much longer the boom in global luxury spending can continue.
How Greg Jackson runs Octopus Energy with no HR, no bonuses, and no succession plan
The Signal Interview In a little more than a decade, Octopus Energy has grown from an outlandish idea into Britain’s largest energy provider. It now powers 12 million homes in eight countries, manages wind and solar farms from Scotland to South Korea, manufactures heat pumps, installs smart meters, leases out 50,000 electric vehicles, and supplies technology to utilities around the world.
‘Relief or regret’: The rule that guides Greg Brown’s biggest calls at Motorola Solutions
The Scene Greg Brown became chief executive of what was then Motorola in 2008. But it’s only in the last decade that he thinks he has become “a reasonably good CEO.” And he credits a series of career-threatening encounters with activist and private equity investors for getting him there. Motorola invented the mobile phone, but by the time Brown was handed the reins, its cellphone business had been outpaced by Nokia and Samsung.
How splitting from GSK taught Haleon a spin-off is not a finish line
The Signal Insight Brian McNamara spent six years running the group behind Advil, Centrum, and Sensodyne before GSK spun off its consumer health division in 2022. Perhaps a fifth of that job is comparable to what his role is now, as CEO of Haleon, he estimates, such was the difference in responsibilities.
How Harvard Business School’s former dean thinks AI will test today’s CEOs
The Signal Insight Nitin Nohria spent a decade as dean of Harvard Business School, and taught his first workshop there for new CEOs in 1997. Many of today’s business leaders think of that era as an easier one to navigate, but he rejects the idea that today’s technological and geopolitical upheavals have changed what companies need from their leaders.
Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown on the ‘Relief or Regret’ Rule
“Relief or regret?” That is the question Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown uses to test consequential decisions. In a candid conversation with Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Brown explains how nearly two decades of reinvention, activist pressure and private-equity involvement changed the way he leads.
How Atlassian built a $45 billion software company far from Silicon Valley’s ‘froth and bubbles’ Original
The Signal Insight The combination of an Australian headquarters, a Nasdaq listing, and customers around the world means that Mike Cannon-Brookes usually has his first coffee of the day before he opens his laptop at 5 am. But Atlassian’s co-founder and CEO sees his location as one of the reasons why his enterprise software company has grown to a $48 billion valuation, making him one of Australia’s wealthiest entrepreneurs.
Why Kai-Fu Lee thinks companies need an AI boss Original
The Signal Interview Kai-Fu Lee’s AI Superpowers, an influential book published in 2018, largely predicted the current tech battle between the US and China. Now, Lee’s forecasting that AI will unleash more radical changes inside the world’s companies than most CEOs expect — and this could reshape the competition between those two economies once again.
The logic behind Scott Kirby’s long-odds bet on a United Airlines deal
The Scene “Every senior executive should have to go play high-stakes poker with their own money,” Scott Kirby says, explaining how a lifetime of gambling has informed how he balances risks and rewards. United Airlines’ card-counting CEO was a good enough blackjack player to get banned by casinos from Las Vegas to the Caribbean, and he still believes in a calculated bet.
How the billionaire Bayeux Tapestry backer gets ‘impact per dollar’
The Scene The Bayeux Tapestry, which went on display in the British Museum this week, is one of the wonders of the medieval world.
How the billionaire Bayeux Tapestry backer gets ‘impact per dollar’
The Bayeux Tapestry, which went on display in the British Museum this week, is one of the wonders of the medieval world.
The logic behind Scott Kirby’s long-odds bet on a United Airlines deal
"Every senior executive should have to go play high-stakes poker with their own money," Scott Kirby says, explaining how a lifetime of gambling has informed how he balances risks and rewards. United Airlines' card-counting CEO was a good enough blackjack player to get banned by casinos from Las Vegas to the Caribbean, and he still believes in a calculated bet.
How a ‘China-for-China’ strategy rebooted Logitech Original
The Signal Interview “Hardware is hard,” Hanneke Faber says, repeating the Silicon Valley truism about how much more difficult it is to design, make, and sell physical products than software. It’s harder still when you’re pitching computer mice, keyboards, and webcams to office workers and video gamers — the kind of mid-priced consumer electronics that low-cost Chinese manufacturers have mastered. That challenge defined the task Faber took on when she became CEO of Logitech in December 2023.
‘We go big’: Jon Gray on how Blackstone places its AI bets Original
The Scene What differentiates Blackstone from other investors is that “when we identify something, we go big,” Jon Gray says. The firm Steve Schwarzman co-founded and still leads had just $750 million of capital when Gray joined it at the age of 22. Now, as its president and chief operating officer, he has more than $1.3 trillion to put behind its strongest convictions.
The Canadian founder telling CEOs to rethink AI resilience Original
The Signal Insight Cohere’s valuation shot up from $7 billion a year ago to $20 billion after the Canadian builder of AI models for enterprises and governments combined with Germany’s Aleph Alpha this April. That still makes it a minnow compared to the lavishly funded giants of Silicon Valley or leading Chinese model makers like DeepSeek and Moonshot. But Cohere Co-Founder and CEO Aidan Gomez believes he can compete on the global stage without outspending them.
Blackstone President and COO Jon Gray on AI, private credit, and big bets Original
Jon Gray, chief operating officer of the $1.3 trillion asset manager Blackstone, says one of the firm’s distinguishing habits is to “go big” when it finds a theme it believes in. But he also says successful convictions need to be challenged, particularly as Blackstone invests heavily around artificial intelligence. “You keep pressing against what you’re doing to confirm that you haven’t just sort of fallen in love,” he says.
Spencer Stuart’s CEO on trust and tension in the boardroom Original
The Signal Insight Companies are 60% more likely to hit or beat their growth goals if their board works in close partnership with their chief executive, according to Spencer Stuart.
‘I’m staring into the abyss’: How Toto Wolff drives Mercedes’ F1 team Original
The Signal Interview It’s best not to bad-mouth your colleagues if you work for Toto Wolff. The CEO, principal, and part-owner of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team has no time for back-biting or office politics. “If I get an email from someone saying something about another person, I’m just forwarding it to everyone,” he says. “I don’t accept arrogance. I don’t accept being untruthful. I value humility, loyalty, and integrity.
‘It’s an unbundling’: ADP’s Maria Black on how AI is changing the workforce Original
The Signal Insight Maria Black, only the seventh CEO in ADP’s 77-year history, often lingers before her predecessors’ portraits on the walk to her office. They’re a reminder of how ADP’s former leaders navigated previous moments of disruption, from financial crises to the dot-com bust.
Reed Hastings on life after Netflix and the next wave of AI
Netflix co-founder and former CEO Reed Hastings says AI could unleash a new wave of “creative destruction” as companies use rapidly improving technology not just to cut costs, but to challenge competitors and build new businesses. In this episode of The CEO Signal, Hastings notes that AI has been getting “roughly twice as good every year” and says CEOs should think of it as the equivalent of doubling their workforce.
Max Levchin on why Affirm wants to be your smarter older sister
Affirm founder and CEO Max Levchin built his company to behave like your “smarter older sister”: helping customers make better decisions rather than profiting from their mistakes. In this episode of The CEO Signal, he explains how that philosophy shaped Affirm and why it may become even more important as AI transforms consumer finance. The conversation explores how Levchin has translated that philosophy into Affirm’s products, culture, and decision-making as the company has grown.
Max Levchin on why Affirm wants to be your smarter older sister
Affirm founder and CEO Max Levchin built his company to behave like your "smarter older sister": helping customers make better decisions rather than profiting from their mistakes. In this episode of The CEO Signal, he explains how that philosophy shaped Affirm and why it may become even more important as AI transforms consumer finance. The conversation explores how Levchin has translated that philosophy into Affirm's products, culture, and decision-making as the company has grown.
How Bruce Van Saun united Citizens against America’s biggest banks Original
The Signal Interview When Bruce Van Saun was asked in 2013 to become CEO of Citizens Financial Group, he recalls, the US super-regional bank was “a little orphan runt” with returns on equity that were roughly half those of its peers. Citizens at the time was an offshoot of Royal Bank of Scotland, where Van Saun served as finance director through a turbulent few years after the global financial crisis.
The German founders bringing a Silicon Valley ethos to America’s Greyhound buses Original
The Signal Insight You rarely get paid $100 to work on your laptop and then take a nap, André Schwämmlein says, but that’s essentially what his company offers people who take its Greyhound buses between Boston and New York. A plane or train might cut 45 minutes off the journey, he says, but bus tickets are notably cheaper. Schwämmlein, Daniel Krauss, and Jochen Engert founded Flix in 2011 to do for bus travel something akin to what Uber and Lyft have done to taxis.
Why Coherent’s CEO believes in giving people room to fail Original
The Signal Insight The AI-powered surge in demand for data centers has transformed the fortunes of a 55-year-old optical technologies company from Saxonburg, Pennsylvania. Coherent’s stock has risen 350% since it named Jim Anderson as its CEO in June 2024, taking its market value above $60 billion. Without the photonics technology that Coherent specializes in, scaling AI would not be possible, Anderson says.
Why the CEO of an elite law firm sees AI driving more deals Original
The Signal Insight Earlier this month, Hogan Lovells completed what it called the legal industry’s largest-ever merger: a combination with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft that created a top-five global law firm with 3,000 lawyers and $3.6 billion in annual revenue. The architect of that deal was Hogan Lovells CEO Miguel Zaldivar.
Ralph Lauren CEO Patrice Louvet on magic, logic, and saying no Original
Patrice Louvet says Ralph Lauren left about $1 billion in revenue on the table as it pulled back from places where, “frankly, we weren’t proud of being.” When he became CEO in 2017, the company had stretched its brand too far. His challenge was to restore the brand without compromising the creative “magic” that made Ralph Lauren distinctive. After nearly three decades at Procter & Gamble, Louvet came from a world of data, structure and business logic.
Why Edward Jones thinks AI can defuse a demographic time bomb
The Signal Interview There were 326,000 Americans working as financial advisers at last count, and at least a third of them are expected to retire in the next decade. Those two numbers add up to a challenge for Penny Pennington, the managing partner of Edward Jones Investments, one of the largest wealth management firms in the US.
Why Edward Jones thinks AI can defuse a demographic time bomb
There were 326,000 Americans working as financial advisers at last count, and at least a third of them are expected to retire in the next decade. Those two numbers add up to a challenge for Penny Pennington, the managing partner of Edward Jones Investments, one of the largest wealth management firms in the US. Nine million clients have entrusted $2.4 trillion of assets to her St. Louis-based group, and there is already "a prevailing scarcity" of the kind of advice they need, she says.
How Allianz’s CEO prepares for the risk of ‘huge havoc’ Original
The Signal Interview The rare disruptions that insurance companies struggle to factor into their calculations aren’t so rare anymore, Oliver Bäte observes.
The MSCI boss helping Elon Musk get closer to Mars Original
The Signal Insight From his 49th floor office in lower Manhattan, Henry Fernandez just helped Elon Musk get a little closer to Mars. MSCI, the index provider the onetime Nicaraguan diplomat has led since 1998, confirmed last month that it would include SpaceX in its indices 10 days after Musk’s rocket launcher went public, all but guaranteeing that large, passively managed investment funds would buy the stock.
How Antonio Neri turned HPE into an unlikely AI stock Original
The Signal Interview AI fever has created many new stock market heroes, from data center-owning hyperscalers to the chipmakers and power suppliers on which they depend. In recent months, it has also transformed perceptions of one of the tech industry’s oldest names: Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which investors once dismissed as a mature provider of prosaic servers, storage, and networking equipment, has doubled in value since April.
How a marathon-running CEO set the pace for Cigna Original
The Signal Interview When David Cordani hands over the title of Cigna CEO to Brian Evanko on July 1, the triathlete will be ending the longest leadership run of any of his industry peers. In his 17 years in charge, the US health insurer’s annual revenues expanded from $18 billion to $275 billion, as its customer base grew from 40 million people to 180 million.
Honeywell’s CEO on ‘the brutal truth’ about breaking up an industrial giant Original
The Signal Interview Honeywell CEO Vimal Kapur read Elliott Investment Management’s public letter calling for a breakup of the industrial conglomerate just before he was about to address 200 of his top executives. Many of them had flown to Charlotte, North Carolina, in October 2024 from around the world for his speech, Kapur recalls.
Deepak Nath applies pressure at Smith and Nephew Original
The Signal Interview Six months ago, Deepak Nath unveiled his second three-year plan as CEO of Smith & Nephew, the UK-listed medical supplies group that makes replacement hips, wound dressings, and cartilage implants. Its pledges of stronger growth and profits followed a familiar pattern, but for Nath, the announcement itself felt like an achievement. “It was not a given, when we started the journey in 2022, that we’d be in a position to actually talk about the next three years,” he says.
How Cisco’s Chuck Robbins gets his team to ‘disagree and commit’ Original
The News The presence of AI luminaries like Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Sam Altman of OpenAI at a Cisco event earlier this year symbolized how one of Silicon Valley’s most established but staid companies has repositioned itself. The network hardware pioneer missed the shift to the cloud, but has recast itself under Chuck Robbins as a pivotal player in AI infrastructure, and it now counts Huang and Altman’s companies among its partners.
How Cisco’s Chuck Robbins gets his team to ‘disagree and commit’
3 hours ago Supercomputers from the 1990s – one of which originally cost $39m (£29m) - are going up for auction. The machines, which weigh between three and four tonnes, were made by Cray, which still makes supercomputers for the Met Office and GCHQ. The three being put up for sale by RWB Auctions, Wiltshire, …
How syringe-maker BD is infusing AI into its medical devices
The CEO Signal A low-key museum in Becton Dickinson’s rural New Jersey campus highlights the early inventions that made it one of the world’s largest medical devices companies. Display cases feature the glass syringes that founders Maxwell Becton and Fairleigh Dickinson pioneered 129 years ago, alongside the first vacutainers, the vacuum-sealed tubes that transformed blood collection in the 1940s.
Why an anxious AI romantic now drives Match Group’s dating apps Original
The Signal Insight When Spencer Rascoff wanted to know how Tinder customers would react to a new feature on the dating app that makes recommendations based on musical tastes, he asked Abby, a bookish 19-year-old from Indiana. Instantly, she replied with an emoji-laced stream of consciousness. “So, music? Wait, okay, I have two completely different reactions at the same time,” the introverted student wrote. “What exactly would it show?
How syringe-maker BD is using AI to stay sharp
The CEO Signal A low-key museum in Becton Dickinson’s rural New Jersey campus highlights the early inventions that made it one of the world’s largest medical devices companies. Display cases feature the glass syringes that founders Maxwell Becton and Fairleigh Dickinson pioneered 129 years ago, alongside the first vacutainers, the vacuum-sealed tubes that transformed blood collection in the 1940s.
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