Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Rent the Runway will sell its inventory on Amazon, the Oscars best actress race causes controversy, and Occidental Petroleum makes a return to the ranks of the World’s Most Admired Companies. Have a productive Wednesday.
– Most admired. For a quarter-century, Fortune has ranked the World’s Most Admired Companies. These are businesses that are admired by others in the wider business community as well as in their own industries. As editors Matt Heimer and Scott DeCarlo explain, this measure of corporate reputation encompasses “the impression you make on casual observers by producing strong results” as well as “the more intimate esteem you earn from customers, employees, and collaborators,” and the reluctant respect of competitors.
This year’s edition of the World’s Most Admired Companies list, in partnership with Korn Ferry, is out this morning; at the top is Apple for the 16th year in a row. Twenty-six women-led businesses appear on this list of 320 companies, a reflection of how rare it still is, despite some progress, for a woman to helm a major business. Accenture, led by CEO Julie Sweet, tops the ranking for the IT services industry for the 10th straight year.
One story worth paying attention to is the resurgence of Occidental Petroleum. The oil and gas business fell off this ranking for two years, a stretch that coincided with the challenging fallout of a $38-billion acquisition for CEO Vicki Hollub. Activist investors, including Carl Icahn, have gone after the business. Some criticized the $36 billion-in-revenue business for its green tech strategies.
But Hollub’s steady leadership has earned her and her company admirers despite the business’s challenges. Seven years ago, she became the first woman to run a major oil and gas company. She’s now one of the Fortune 500’s longest-tenured female CEOs. Occidental’s shares are up 500% since November 2020.
To Hollub’s peers in global business, who voted on which companies would make this list, that record was enough to boost her company back among this cohort. Warren Buffett has been a longtime backer of Hollub and Occidental, and Berkshire Hathaway is the business’s largest shareholder. Fittingly enough, Berkshire has appeared on this list every year since its debut. As Heimer and DeCarlo write, “Evidently, some admired companies really admire each other.”
See the full World’s Most Admired Companies list here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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- Proposed pathways. The Biden administration has proposed new rules to expand access to birth control by bolstering the Affordable Care Act mandate to cover contraception as preventative women's health. In addition to reversing the Trump-era exemption for employers with moral objections, the new rule would also create workarounds for students and employees of organizations with religious exemptions. CNN
- Driving profit. General Motors, led by CEO Mary Barra, announced higher-than-expected profits for Q4. The company overcame supply chain issues and held strong, despite falling prices of used cars and competitors' electric vehicles. Wall Street Journal
- Runway to Amazon. In the latest move to recover losses from the pandemic, Rent the Runway has partnered with Amazon. The fashion rental service will have a virtual storefront on Amazon where shoppers can buy secondhand clothing. This is the third retail partnership the company, led by Jenn Hyman, has attempted. TechCrunch
- Stained reputation. Unilever-owned laundry brand The Laundress escalated a recall to a full product withdrawal late last year when low levels of a carcinogen were found in addition to harmful bacteria in some of its products. But the brand loyalty that founders Lindsey Boyd and Gwen Whiting have garnered for their products since 2004 persists; some customers are willing to risk itchy skin and deadly side effects to keep using the products. The Cut
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Madeline McIntosh is stepping down from her role as CEO of Penguin Random House U.S. Jenifer Mallory has been promoted to president at Columbia Records. Former Meta and PayPal exec Malvina Goldfeld joined Podimo as chief product officer. Mihal Nahari and Celeste Warren are now board members at Paradigm for Parity. Ossa Fisher is now president at Aurora, the self-driving car technology company. Modern Health brought on Sarah Martino as chief product officer. Tina Garrett-Ragland is now the chief people officer of Save the Children U.S. Hinge Health has added Deborah Conrad to the team as their first chief marketing officer. Tue Le is now CEO at Remote Year.
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- Riseborough's rise. Andrea Riseborough, the lead in indie film To Leslie, is now facing a heated controversy for her surprise Academy Award nomination for best actress. Celebrities waged an informal grassroots support campaign that may have pushed the boundaries of the Academy's ethics rules. Critics say that Riseborough, a white woman, may have taken the spot that could have gone to leading Black actresses. New York Times
- Trouble in Graceland. Priscilla Presley is contesting the will of her daughter Lisa Marie Presley, who died last month at 54. Priscilla is disputing a 2016 amendment that cut her and her former business manager out. CNN
- 'Just Like That.' Bonnie Raitt has won 10 Grammy Awards, but for the first time in her career, she is being nominated as a songwriter. "Just Like That" tells the story of a man who received a heart transplant. New York Times
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