Hello,
New York. Atlanta. Los Angeles. Denver. Dallas. Detroit. Washington, DC. Seattle. Miami. Chicago.
Thousands marched in cities across the US last night, with many of the protests turning violent.
The protests first broke out in Minneapolis after a black man, George Floyd, was killed after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes during an arrest, and as Floyd said he couldn’t breathe. The arrest was caught on video, and the Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck has since been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
As Tati Bellamy Walker and Shana Lebowitz report, a memo from medical-device-manufacturing firm Boston Scientific on the killing of George Floyd is a case study in how leaders should address the events in Minnesota with their employees.
From their story:
The medical-device-manufacturing firm Boston Scientific released an open letter denouncing the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis last week after a white officer handcuffed and pinned him on the ground.
CEO Michael Mahoney’s open letter to the company shows the value of employee resource groups and listening to workers from marginalized backgrounds — especially after major incidents tied to systemic racism.
The letter explains the need for companies to stand in solidarity with marginalized workers, create a space for processing these traumatic situations, and challenging racial discrimination in the workplace.
You can read their story here:
The Warren Buffett of tech
Private-equity firm Silver Lake is best known for doing leveraged buyouts of big-name, mature technology companies. Then the pandemic hit.
As Dakin Campbell and Casey Sullivan report, the company plowed money into Google’s self-driving car unit Waymo and Twitter as the coronavirus pandemic gathered steam in the US. In April and May it followed with investments in Airbnb, Expedia, and India broadband startup Reliance Jio. The big question across Wall Street and Silicon Valley now, per Dakin and Casey, is what exactly is Silver Lake up to?
From their story:
Silver Lake saw its opportunity when valuations plunged earlier this year and solid companies with iconic founders and seemingly durable business models suddenly needed financing. Silver Lake quickly showed itself to be, as one banker put it, “validation capital.”
“If you’re raising money and you have one key investor and you have one phone call to make, these are the guys we call,” another banker said. “It’s the tech version of Warren Buffett.”
You can read their story here:
Top healthcare startups
Blake Dodge and Tyler Sonnemaker asked 13 top venture capital investors which healthcare startups they think will thrive despite the coronavirus pandemic, and why.
From their story:
Some healthcare startups are well positioned to help as the novel coronavirus upends the way healthcare is provided in the US. Lockdowns have propelled telehealth companies to new heights and put mental health services front and center for employers. The pandemic is also boosting innovation in areas like how we deliver care, make drugs, and conduct research.
You can read the full story here:
Below are headlines on some of the stories you might have missed from the past week. Enjoy!
— Matt
Leaked documents show what WPP’s PR firm Hill + Knowlton Strategies is charging clients for 2020
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