Fortune

▸ IS IT TIME FOR A “MAXIMUM WAGE”? Fortune recently posed that question to our 1.8 million LinkedIn followers. Over 10,000 responses poured in, with the overwhelming majority—65%—saying yes. That sentiment—the strong sense that some corporate leaders get paid too much—has been around for as long as we’ve had corporate leaders. A 1982 Fortune cover story called executive compensation at the time “madness.” A 2003 cover called it out again: “Their performance stank last year, yet most CEOs got paid more than ever.” Over time, the outcry has gotten louder, but CEO pay keeps pushing higher. From the late 1970s through 2020, realized compensation for chief executives rose 1,322%, according to the Economic Policy Institute. That’s a far bigger bump than investors got from the S&P 500 over that period (817%), and…

THIS EDITED Q&A HAS BEEN CONDENSED FOR SPACE AND CLARITY. “We’re all competing for the same talent. If Tech Company A lowers your pay and we don’t, then you are going to come work for us.” MAN ON THE MOVE You’re actually living in Airbnbs full-time right now. What has that experience been like? CHESKY: I started living on Airbnb in January. I’ve lived in about a dozen places: Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, Miami, Boston, Chicago, a couple of places in Colorado, Vancouver. Right now I’m in New York. [I stay at each] a little under a week. Moving can be difficult, but I’ve just embraced it. I pack pretty light. It’s really just [golden retriever puppy] Sophie; she’s my primary accessory. There are two things I’ve learned. One, you can run a company the size…

BUSINESS. DISTILLED. ▸ What in the world—the business world, that is—went wrong last New Year’s Eve? Apparently some cranky cosmic bureaucrat in charge of business conditions woke up the next morning with a truly epic hangover. On the first day back to work, Jan. 3, the S&P 500 closed at an all-time high—and has traveled along a jagged downward path since. Four days later, interest rates jumped to their highest level since before the pandemic. Three days after that, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that inflation had cracked 7% for the first time since 1982. By mid-month, COVID’s Omicron variant had pushed average daily U.S. cases to a towering all-time high over 800,000. That was just January. Since then, Russia has invaded Ukraine; supply chains, which expert consensus agreed would be fixed…

▸ BEFORE ALEXIS MCGILL Johnson became the CEO of Planned Parenthood, she was the cofounder of Perception Institute, an organization that advises C-suite executives and other leaders on issues of bias and discrimination. It’s a background that’s serving her well today. Since the May leak of the Supreme Court draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade, her phone has been ringing nonstop. On the line: CEOs seeking her counsel as they face not only an end to the constitutional protection of abortion rights, but also the growing expectation that they do something about it. “Businesses have a strategic imperative here,” she says. That imperative? Take action. While companies may have once considered the issue outside their purview, the end of Roe v. Wade will have profound financial consequences, as Treasury Secretary Janet…

▸ IT WAS MAY 5—day 71 of Europe’s biggest military conflict since the Second World War. At a flash point on the front line in eastern Ukraine, “the enemy was really close,” recalls Oleksandr, a Ukrainian Special Forces lieutenant whose last name and exact location are being withheld for security reasons. Oleksandr’s fighters urgently needed to relay details about Russian troop numbers and weapons back to their base. Then their comms line cut out. Russian forces had launched a barrage of missiles along the front, and the strike had severed a strategically vital mobile network. But the line wasn’t down for long. Oleksandr’s unit scrambled to rig up gear that they had carried to the front: a portable Starlink satellite receiver and transmitter, not much bigger than a desktop computer monitor. “We…

▸ CARVANA, THE NATION’S largest online used auto dealer, has spent most of its 10-year journey with its accelerator punched to the floor. The company capitalized on strong demand for an Amazon-like car shopping experience, helping customers avoid the inconveniences of visiting vehicle lots and haggling with pushy salespeople. Then the COVID pandemic hit, and despite initial fears, Carvana’s business surged as buyers struggled to find new vehicles amid a global chip shortage that slowed production. But starting in late 2021, Carvana’s joyride came to an abrupt halt. With the pandemic ebbing, many shoppers once again felt comfortable visiting local auto dealers. Meanwhile sky-high used car prices, rising interest rates on auto loans, and pinched pocketbooks caused by inflation across the broader economy made many people reconsider splurging on a new ride. Suddenly Carvana’s…