Friday, 13 July 2018

The Fortune 500 Is Set to Get Another Female CEO

The Fortune 500 will soon add another female CEO.

Northrop Grumman chairman and CEO Wes Bush announced plans to step down as CEO on Thursday, effective Jan. 1. He plans to stay on as chairman through July of next year.

Northop President and COO Kathy Warden has been named his successor. She has also been elected to serve as a member of the board, effective immediately.

Warden has worked at Northrop Grumman since 2008, starting as a vice president and general manager of the company's cybersecurity business, and working her way up to president of the mission systems sector.

"I am delighted that Kathy will become our company's next CEO," said Bush in a statement. "She has demonstrated exceptional leadership in her roles leading the operations of our company, and she brings the vision and values to lead Northrop Grumman into the future."

As a female exec heading a Fortune 500 company--Northrop is No. 114 on this year’s list with revenue of $24.5 billion--Warden will join a group that, as of late May, stood at 24, following the sudden retirement of Campbell Soup CEO Denise Morrison and the appointment of Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass. That figure represented a 25% one-year drop in the total number of female CEOs appearing on the Fortune 500 list--it’d reached a record high of 32 in 2017.

With Warden joining the far too exclusive club, just 5% of the highest grossing firms in the U.S. will be led by women.

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All Floating Lightning Bolt Locations in Fortnite

Season 5 of Fortnite is off to an explosive start as the cracks above the Battle Royale map bring new worlds to conquer and floating lightning bolts to collect. Players who have purchased the Season 5 Battle Pass will need to find all the locations of the floating lightning bolts and collect them in order to gain some impressive rewards.

Floating Lightning Bolt Locations

Littered across the Battle Royale map in Fortnite are dozens of floating lightning bolts. In order to collect them for the Battle Pass weekly challenge, players will need to find them on the map, and then build their way up to search them. Finding a lightning bolt is as simple as looking out for a golden beam of light. There are several locations where the floating lightning bolts can be found, but to complete the challenge only 7 are required.

  1. A lightning bolt can be found at Junk Junction
  2. Northeast of Pleasant Park, between the plateau and the building is a lightning bolt
  3. Head to Haunted Hills to find this floating lightning bolt
  4. Snobby Shores’ villain hideout contains a floating lightning bolt
  5. Head to Loot Lake’s west dock to locate another lightning bolt
  6. Another lightning bolt is located in the middle of Titled Towers
  7. This lightning bolt can be found near the Durr Burger joint in Greasy Grove
  8. Northeast of Lazy Links, on the north of the map, is another lightning bolt
  9. Look for a floating lightning bolt west of Tomato Town
  10. A lightning bolt can be found above Dusty Divot’s new trees
  11. Head north of Salty Springs to find another lightning bolt
  12. Look south of Shifty Shafts to find this lightning bolt
  13. Another lightning bolt can be spotted northeast of Flush Factory, in the nameless town
  14. Northeast of Tomato Town is a lightning bolt near the cliff
  15. Go to Retail Row to find another lightning bolt
  16. A lightning bolt can be found to the east of Salty Springs
  17. Northeast of Lucky Landing is another floating lightning bolt
  18. Go north of Wailing Woods to find this lightning bolt
  19. Lonely Lodge hides a lightning bolt in the west
  20. This lightning bolt is found on the west of Paradise Palms

With all the floating lightning bolt locations in mind, begin collecting resources and build a ramp to reach these shiny beacons (or use another player’s building). Remember, only seven lightning bolts are required to complete the first weekly challenge of the Fortnite Battle Pass. This should help players get one step closer to unlocking all the new emotes, skins, and outfits! Be sure to check out the Fortnite Season 5 Patch Notes for the latest changes, fixes, and new skins!

Featured image credit: Eurogamer

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Trump Diplomacy, Wilbur Ross, China Surplus: CEO Daily for July 13, 2018

Good morning.

I've never been a huge fan of the AT&T-Time Warner deal. The potential synergies that could come from merging a mobile phone company and a content provider are intriguing. But the track record of giant companies successfully achieving such synergies is dismal. AT&T’s Randall Stephenson is an impressive CEO, but has his work cut out for him.

Having said that, the Justice Department's decision to appeal its lost case against the merger feels like a waste of government time and money. By all accounts, the government got a fair and thoughtful hearing from Judge Richard Leon. And it lost, conclusively. As Judge Leon himself put it: "It has been a herculean task for all the parties and the Court. Each side has had its proverbial day in Court. The Court has now spoken and the defendants have won." Not sure what public interest is served by refighting the battle on appeal.

If the Justice Department is interested in advancing case law on vertical mergers, it might better use its resources looking at the more pressing problem of how to regulate the tech giants in today's winner-take-most economy. AT&T and Time Warner are yesterday's story.

More news below.

Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com

Top News

Trump Diplomacy

President Donald Trump marked his arrival in the U.K. yesterday by knifing Prime Minister Theresa May in the front. He gave an interview in which he said May's soft Brexit strategy would make a free trade deal with the U.S. unlikely. Trump also said May's political rival, Boris Johnson--who resigned as foreign secretary on Monday in protest of the soft Brexit plans--would make "a great prime minister." Even some of May's political enemies are appalled at Trump's conduct. Fortune

Wilbur Ross

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has admitted that he should have sold some of his holdings under ethics agreements, and will now sell all of his equity investments, investing the proceeds in Treasury bonds. "Your failure to divest created the potential for a serious criminal violation on your part and undermined public confidence," read a letter from the Office of Government Ethics. Wall Street Journal

China Surplus

China's trade surplus with the U.S. rose to a record-breaking $28.97 billion last month, with exports also reaching a record high of $42.62 billion. This may be down to a rush from manufacturers to sell their products before President Trump's tariffs kicked in, but either way, it does demonstrate what has so infuriated him. And, thanks to a slowing Chinese economy, the imbalance could get heavier. Bloomberg

J&J Damages

Johnson & Johnson has been hit with its biggest-yet penalty over the alleged link between its talc-based products and cancer, after a Missouri jury awarded 22 women $4.69 billion--$550 million in compensatory damages and $4.14 billion in punitive damages. J&J, which has previously had success overturning such rulings, will appeal. There are around 9,000 of these cases. Fortune

Around the Water Cooler

Northrop Grumman

Wes Bush is stepping down as CEO of arms trader Northrop Grumman, to be replaced by the company's president and COO, Kathy Warden. Bush has been CEO since 2010 and chairman since the following year--he will relinquish the former role at the start of next year, and the latter in July 2019. CNBC

Fossil Fuels

Irish lawmakers have advanced a bill that would make the country the first to completely divest from fossil fuels. If the bill passes into law, as expected, Ireland's $10 billion national investment fund will "as soon as practicable" rid itself of its stakes in coal, oil, gas and peat. NPR

Clutching at Straws

Plastic and Styrofoam bans could actually harm the environment, claim Utah State University grad student Camille Harmer and professor William F. Shughart II. They write for Fortune that manufacturing paper alternatives uses more fossil fuels and power, with the products being less recyclable. They also argue that small businesses would find the added costs burdensome, and that private recycling options are the best. Fortune

Vaping Pilot

On Tuesday, an Air China flight suddenly started an emergency descent, with oxygen masks released to terrified passengers. Why? Investigators think it was the co-pilot, who was trying to hide the fact that he was smoking an e-cigarette and accidentally turned off the plane's air-conditioning. BBC

This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer. Find previous editions here, and sign up for other Fortune newsletters here.

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China Can Hit U.S. Tech Firms Where It Hurts in Tariff Response

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Meghan Markle Is Being Credited With Boosting Aritzia’s Earnings. But Is the ‘Meghan Effect’ Real?

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