Nasdaq Pushes Diversity Rule
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P2JW337000-6-A00100-17FFFF5178F ****** WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER 2, 2020 ~VOL. CCLXXVI NO.130 WSJ.com HHHH $4.00 DJIA 29823.92 À 185.28 0.6% NASDAQ 12355.11 À 1.3% STOXX 600 391.90 À 0.7% 10-YR. TREAS. g 27/32 , yield 0.933% OIL $44.55 g $0.79 GOLD $1,814.10 À $38.40 EURO $1.2072 YEN 104.33 Transition Moves Apace Despite President-Elect’s Injury Salesforce What’s Sets Deal News For Slack, Business&Finance With Big alesforce agreed to buy Smessaging company Premium Slack in a$27.7 billion deal that shows howthe big- Business-software firm gest players in cloud com- puting are racing to add to pay$27.7 billion for muscle amid the pandemic’s officemessaging app, remote-work boom. A1 challenging Microsoft Nasdaq is pushing to re- quirefirms listed on itsstock BY AARON TILLEY exchangetoinclude women, racial minorities and LGBT Salesforce.com Inc. agreed individuals on their boards, to buy messaging company aiming to bring morediver- S SlackTechnologies Inc.ina sity to U.S. corporations. A1 $27.7 billion deal that shows PRES TheECB’s chief economist howthe biggest players in made privatecalls to banks TED cloud computing areracing to OCIA and investorsafter policy SS add muscle amid the pan- meetingsthis year,breaking /A demic’s remote-work boom. with the bank’susual practice Thecash-and-stock deal, of delivering information to HARNIK made public Tuesday, is the everyone at the same time. A1 biggest moveyet by Salesforce ANDREW Chief Executive Marc Benioff, TheS&P 500 and Nasdaq ON THE MEND: Joe Biden sported a medical boot in Wilmington, Del., on Tuesday. The president-elect twisted his ankle a pioneer in selling subscrip- hit records, gaining 1.1% and over the weekend while playing with his dog Major, his aides said, and was diagnosed with a fractured foot. tions to software runonre- 1.3%, as investor optimism moteservers, to turn the com- extended intoanew month. panyheco-founded 21 years TheDow advanced 0.6%. B11 agointoabroad-reaching Morethan half of U.S. ad powerhouse in tech tools for spending is forthe firsttime businesses.The deal is almost set to go to digital platforms, Nasdaq Pushes DiversityRule twice as large as Salesforce’s the world’slargest ad buyer largest acquisition so far, and said, as marketers’ strategy would turn the combined com- shifts amid the pandemic. B1 BY ALEXANDER OSIPOVICH listed companies to have at andmale boardrooms of U.S. thediversity requirements, a panyintoamoreformidable AND AKANE OTANI least one woman on their companies.Nasdaq’smove person familiar with the review competitor to MicrosoftCorp. HPE is moving its head- boards,inaddition to adirec- could have greater impact be- said, adding it wasdifficult to and Google parent Alphabet quarterstothe Houston Nasdaq Inc.ispushing to re- torwho is aracial minority or cause of itsability to set rules measurebecause of inconsis- Inc. TheWall Street Journal area, the latest sign of how quirethe thousands of compa- one who self-identifies as les- for the nearly 3,000 corpora- tencies in the way companies previouslyreported Salesforce the pandemic is reshaping nies listed on itsstock ex- bian, gay, bisexual, transgen- tions listed on its exchange. report such data. and Slack were in advanced the way Silicon Valley changetoinclude women, der or queer. In areview carried out over Nasdaq defined underrepre- deal talks. companies operate. B1 racial minorities and LGBTindi- Companies that don’t meet the past six months,Nasdaq sented minorities as individu- Thecombination also U.S. shoppers spent viduals on their boards,inwhat the standardwould be re- found that morethan three- als self-identifying as Black, bringstogether two of the significantly lessthan last would be one of the most force- quired to justifytheir decision quartersofits listed companies Hispanic,Asian, NativeAmeri- tech industry’shighest-profile year over afive-dayholi- fulmoves yettobring greater in order to remain listed on would fall short of the pro- canorbelonging to two or CEOs—people who have made day-weekend stretch that diversity to U.S. corporations. Nasdaq. posedrequirements. Around more races or ethnicities. acareer of taking on Silicon included Black Fridayand Theexchangeoperator filed Banks, asset managers and 80% or 90% of companies had Thereview found smaller Valley icons.Mr. Benioff has Cyber Monday. B1 aproposal with the Securities lawmakers in California have at least one female director, companies tended to have less positioned himself as apromi- and ExchangeCommission on takenvarious steps to diver- but only about aquarter had a diverse boards and would nent voiceinU.S.business, us- Airbnb said it plans to Tuesdaythat would require sify the predominantly white second one who would meet PleaseturntopageA2 PleaseturntopageA6 sell 50 million shares in an IPO that could give the company a valuation of as much as $35 billion. B3 Big CitiesFaceSetbacks Biden’sEconomic World-Wide As OfficeReturns Fall Off Team Seeks TheJusticeDepartment hasn’t found evidenceof widespread voterfraud that BY PETER GRANT 100% Percentage of returned to work as of Nov.18. Global Reset could reverseBiden’selec- U.S. workersreturning That rate is up sharply from tion victory, Barrsaid, deal- U.S. employees started to the office an April lowoflessthan 15%, ing ablowtoTrump,who heading back to the officeiN which largely consisted of launched fresh legal claims greater numbersafter Labor 80 building-maintenanceand es- to contest the results. A5 Daybut that paceisstalling sential workers. Theofficere- President-elect’sadvisory picksare Barr named Durham a now, delivering another blow turn rate climbed steadily dur- circumspect about pitfalls Trump highlighted special counsel, giving him to economic-recoveryhopes in 60 ing the summer and early fall, protection to continue into many cities. butithas flattened out after the Biden administration his Therecent surge in Covid-19 reaching ahigh point of 27% in BY JON HILSENRATH though the incoming admin- Nov. 25 investigation of the origins of cases acrossthe countryhas mid-October,Kastle said. The AND NICK TIMIRAOS istration is trying to alter 40 the FBI’s2016 Russia probe. A5 led to an uptick in people re- 17.6% rate forlast week wasdowN important parts of it. suming work at home after even more sharply than in pre- Joe Biden’s economic Formanyyears, peaking in AU.S.panel recommended that health-careworkersand some momentum had been vious weeks but likely reflected team is taking shape with the 1990s,mainstream Demo- building forreturning to the 20 the Thanksgiving Dayholiday. plans to remake the Trump cratsand Republicans cham- residentsoflong-term-care workplace, property analysts “There’sahugeheadwind administration’s approach to pioned globalization and facilities be the firsttoreceive said. Floor afterfloor of empty against companyexecutives to economic relations overseas, trade agreementswith China, any Covid-19 vaccine doses officespaceisasource of strongly push their employee with a distinction: agree- Mexicoand othersasdevel- from the limited supply that 0 great frustration forlandlords bases to come back to work,” ment with President Trump’s opmentsthat would make will be available initially. A6 and companies,which have in- Feb. 2020 Nov. said Douglas Linde, president assertion that globalization Americans betteroff.Econo- Lawmakersreleased a vested millions of dollarsiN Source:Kastle Systems of big officeowner Boston has been hard on many mistssaid that therewould blitz of competing coronavi- adapting building plans and Properties Inc. Americans but differences on be winnersand losersasthe rus-relief proposals,reignit- developing newhealth proto- cess-cardswipes in morethan Despitethe success of work how to address it. U.S. imported and exported ing stalled talks but with no cols to makeemployees com- 2,500 officebuildingsin10of PleaseturntopageA4 The distinction shows Mr. PleaseturntopageA10 clear signs that Democratic fortable with ashared location. the largest U.S. cities,said Trump likely will have a last- and Republican leaders Kastle Systems,anational that aboutaquarter of em- Panel advises thathealth ing impact on the direction BlackRock alumni tapped for would reach aconsensus. A3 security firm that tracks ac- ployees in those buildingshad workers get firstvaccines... A6 of U.S. economic policy, even newadministration................ A10 TheTreasury’sdecision not to renewasuiteofemer- gencyFed lending programs Soccer Fans spurred apartisan fight over ECB Economist Broke whether and howthe Biden administration should be al- Rate Players Salesforce. lowedtouse the programs. A3 With PracticeonCalls TheSBA released detailed For Wrinkles loan information for mil- #1 CRM. lions of borrowers under iii BY TOM FAIRLESS ileging big investorswith sen- the Paycheck Protection AND PAUl J. DAVIES sitiveinformation. Public Program, amid signs of Stars of the 1980s diaries show that neither Ms. Ranked #1 for CRM Applications basedon fraud in the relief effort. A3 FRANKFURT—The Euro- Lagarde’s predecessor, Mario IDC 2020H1 Revenue Market ShareWorldwide. pean Central Bank’schief Draghi,nor his chief econo- 19.8% Trump threatened to compete for title economist made dozens of pri- mist, PeterPraet,made similar veto adefense-policybill if it doesn’t include language of oldest-looking vate calls to banks and inves- calls during their last two overturning aprovision that tors afterpolicymeetingsthis years in office. gives social-media compa- BY JAMES HOOKWAY year,breaking with the bank’s In 2015, the ECB tightened usual practiceofdelivering in-