Lyft investors seek more safety

A group of Lyft shareholders is calling on the company to establish stronger safety protections for drivers, change its shareholder voting structure and subject directors to annual elections.

SOC Investment Group – which represents pension funds that hold shares in the ride-hailing company – urged the company to publish an annual report on the safety of drivers, whom the group said are subject to significant “verbal abuse, physical assault, and robbery.”

In a March 31 letter to Sean Aggarwal, Lyft’s former chairman, SOC said the company needs pay practices that encourage safe rides and to establish a due process in which drivers feel entitled to turn down unsafe rides.

The pension funds that SOC represents hold less than a 1% stake in Lyft, but the group has taken aim at several high-profile companies with some success.

It recently targeted JPMorgan Chase, pushing the company to conduct a racial equity audit and then criticizing the resulting report.

Walmart selling Bonobos line

Walmart agreed to sell its Bonobos menswear line to WHP Global and Express for $75 million – $235 million less than what the retail giant paid for the business in 2017.

WHP, owner of such brands as Anne Klein and Joseph Abboud, will pay $50 million for the Bonobos brand, according to a statement Thursday.

Express, which is partly owned by WHP, will acquire the Bonobos operating assets and related liabilities for $25 million.

The deal adds to a list of fashion flops for Walmart, which has a record of acquiring apparel businesses only to offload or shutter them later.

From wire reports