Corporate Governance

Kakao's labor talks with its union resumed in June 2026 but were clouded by a persistent leadership vacuum at the South Korean tech conglomerate, with workers at multiple Kakao subsidiaries (including Kakao Pay and Kakao Mobility) raising strike threats over stagnant wages, opaque restructuring, and management's failure to commit to negotiated terms. The dispute extended a multi-year pattern of governance turmoil at Kakao following the criminal probe into founder Brian Kim and continued operational instability across the group.

On June 5, 2026 Microsoft published the conclusion of its internal investigation into the Israeli military's use of Azure cloud and other Microsoft products. The review acknowledged prior gaps and committed to strengthening human rights governance procedures, expanding internal escalation paths for misuse allegations, and tightening contract language. Human-rights advocates and Microsoft employees criticized the review as insufficient because it did not commit to terminating identified contracts or publish the underlying findings. The review followed sustained internal organizing and external reporting on mass surveillance of Palestinians via Azure.

On May 18, 2026, after a three-week trial, a jury dismissed all of Musk's claims against OpenAI and Sam Altman on statute of limitations grounds. Musk had sought up to $150 billion in damages, alleging betrayal of OpenAI's nonprofit mission. Musk called it a 'calendar technicality' and vowed to appeal. The verdict resolved a major legal overhang for OpenAI's for-profit conversion.

A securities class action against Globant alleged the company failed to disclose wage freezes imposed on engineering staff in Argentina and Mexico in late 2023, resulting in widespread employee dissatisfaction, service-quality decline, and client losses that were not communicated to investors. The complaint claims investors suffered damages when the underlying Latin American workforce conditions became public.

In May 2026, Byju's founder Byju Raveendran was sentenced to 6 months in jail by a Singapore court. Court filings revealed $533M (44% of a $1.2B loan) went missing from the company, with a judge ruling that Raveendran's brother transferred funds 'with fraudulent intent' to outside accounts. The Indian Supreme Court rejected Byju's attempts to bypass insolvency proceedings. The company's valuation collapsed from $22B to near zero.

On April 26, 2026, Elon Musk filed suit against OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Greg Brockman in U.S. District Court (Northern District of California, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers) alleging OpenAI betrayed its 2015 founding mission as a nonprofit. Musk claims the shift to a for-profit model in 2019 was unjustified and that Altman and Brockman 'looted' the nonprofit. Musk's original donation was approximately $44 million; he seeks $134-150 billion to be returned to OpenAI's nonprofit arm. The filing states the 'perfidy and deceit are of Shakespearean proportions.' Hearing scheduled for May 15, 2026.

On March 12, 2026, Adobe announced that CEO Shantanu Narayen will step down after 18 years leading the company. Narayen will remain until a successor is found, then transition to board chairman. The departure came amid deep skepticism about Adobe's ability to compete in the AI era. Adobe stock fell more than 8% despite the company reporting record Q1 revenue of $6.4 billion (12% YoY growth). Lead Independent Director Frank Calderoni chairs the successor search committee.

On March 3, 2026, Sam Altman publicly admitted that OpenAI's Pentagon deal announced February 28 was 'opportunistic and sloppy' and announced renegotiations to add explicit prohibitions on domestic surveillance and lethal autonomy without human authorization. Altman also publicly stated that Anthropic should not have been designated a supply chain risk, saying competitors setting ethical limits on military AI 'makes the whole industry better.'

On February 25, 2026, eBay settled a lawsuit filed by David and Ina Steiner, who operated EcommerceBytes newsletter. In 2019, eBay executives allegedly directed employees to harass the couple after critical coverage, telling staff 'I want to see ashes. As long as it takes. Whatever it takes.' Employees sent live cockroaches, fly larvae, a bloody Halloween pig mask, and a funeral wreath to the couple's home. Several workers traveled from California to Massachusetts to surveil them and attempt to install a GPS tracker on their car. Former CEO Devin Wenig was named as a defendant. Seven employees pleaded guilty to conspiracy and cyberstalking charges.

Dario Amodei, along with all six other Anthropic cofounders, pledged to donate 80% of their wealth, citing concerns about wealth concentration from the AI boom. In an essay titled 'The Adolescence of Technology,' Amodei wrote: 'The thing to worry about is a level of wealth concentration that will break society. Wealthy individuals have an obligation to help solve this problem.' Each cofounder's net worth is estimated at ~$3.7B, potentially directing tens of billions to philanthropy. The pledge is not legally binding and no donations have been made yet - equity is 'set aside' pending implementation.

Anthropic announced it will match employee donations after employees individually pledged billions of dollars worth of Anthropic shares to charities. The matching program was announced alongside the cofounders' 80% wealth pledge as part of efforts to address wealth inequality from the AI boom.

At Intuit's January 22, 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, a proposal submitted by the conservative National Center for Public Policy Research -- requesting the board report on the financial return and legal/reputational risk of Intuit's diversity, equity and inclusion programs -- was decisively rejected by shareholders. Per Intuit's SEC 8-K vote-results filing, 228,853,804 votes were cast against the proposal versus 1,753,458 for (~99.2% against). Intuit's board had recommended stockholders vote against the proposal, calling it 'unnecessary and wasteful' and affirming that employees are one of the company's four key 'True North' stakeholders. The rejection came amid a wave of similar anti-DEI shareholder proposals and corporate DEI rollbacks across the tech and broader corporate sector in 2025-2026, making Intuit's active defense of its programs a notable outlier.

In January 2026, Shopify cut approximately 100 people (~33%) from its Partnerships division, followed by at least 30 more from Revenue Operations in April/May 2026. CEO Tobi Lutke's April 2025 'AI-before-headcount' memo continues to guide the company's hiring decisions. (Note: an earlier, unrelated internal sales-fraud investigation at Shopify, originally bundled into this incident, was split out as its own incident — see the separate 2025 sales-fraud/exec-departure record.)

In January 2026, Andreessen Horowitz hired Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran acquitted in the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless street performer. The hire was widely seen as a political statement. Andreessen himself framed the firm's controversies as providing 'this incredible competitive advantage' for attracting founders who want to work with investors who are 'brave.'

Germany's BaFin imposed new restrictions on N26 in December 2025 after a 2024 special audit found serious deficiencies in risk management, complaint handling, and lending. Restrictions include a ban on new mortgages in the Netherlands, higher capital requirements, and a second special monitor appointment since 2021. The company's funding process was suspended.

In December 2025 TIME interview, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan revealed that his three children do not have unlimited access to YouTube or other digital platforms, with their screen time carefully managed. Mohan stated 'We do limit their time on YouTube and other platforms and other forms of social media.' This personal practice contrasts with YouTube's business model of maximizing watch time and has drawn criticism given ongoing concerns about platform addiction and youth mental health impacts.

In December 2025, the Spanish government imposed a €64 million fine on Airbnb for breaches of consumer laws, including operating over 65,000 unlicensed listings. Fine reflects growing regulatory pressure over Airbnb's impact on housing markets across Europe.

Klarna faced a securities class action lawsuit (Nayak v. Klarna Group) alleging the company's September 2025 IPO documents were misleading by understating credit risks from lending to financially unsophisticated customers at high interest rates. When Q3 2025 results showed a 102% year-over-year increase in credit loss provisions, shares fell about 20% below IPO price.

Larry Summers resigned from OpenAI's board on November 19, 2025, after Congress released documents revealing frequent email communications with Jeffrey Epstein in 2017, 2018, and 2019. In emails, Summers sought Epstein's advice on personal matters, with Epstein describing himself as a 'wing man.' Summers also resigned from Harvard, The New York Times, Bloomberg, and Santander's advisory board. He stated he was 'deeply ashamed' of his actions.

In November 2025, former partner Michelle Ritter filed a lawsuit against Eric Schmidt alleging sexual assault, physical abuse, and digital surveillance. The lawsuit claims Schmidt raped her on a yacht in November 2021 and at Burning Man 2023, photographed her without consent while nude, physically shoved her leaving bruises, and used a 'backdoor' to spy on employees. Ritter is seeking at least $100 million in damages. Schmidt's attorney called the claims 'false and defamatory' and part of a business dispute. The case follows a December 2024 domestic violence restraining order that was withdrawn after a financial settlement.