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June 29, 2023

Personality-driven business capsules you can only get here. Our weekly dispatch gets you ready for what people are thinking before they talk about it— the hitters you know and want to know across Wall Street, Washington, and Silicon Valley.

Amazon hires FTC insiders ahead of antitrust showdown

Amazon is poaching a slew of staffers from the Federal Trade Commission as it gears up for an epic antitrust battle with the US agency, sources told On The Money.

The Seattle-based web giant – which most recently is facing accusations it's been strong-arming third-party sellers into using its logistics network – has already hired around a dozen former FTC officials, sources close to the situation said.

"If you're preparing for war, hiring people who used to work for the opposing army is a good way to gather intelligence," Jeff Hauser, founder of the Revolving Door Project, told On The Money.

Some of the officials Amazon poached include former FTC attorney Brian Huseman who manages Amazon's policy shop, former FTC attorney in the Competition Bureau Amy Posner who is senior corporate counsel, and former FTC attorney Sean Pugh who is now a senior manager in public policy.

On the one hand, insiders say Amazon's hiring spree has been made easier by FTC Chair Lina Khan. As previously reported by The Post, there has been a mass exodus of disgruntled staffers who allege she is a "tyrant" with an "abusive" management style.

Tom Montag's return to Goldman a 'big slap in the face' to staff: insiders

As David Solomon's tenure as CEO of Goldman Sachs hits a rough patch, reports of a new addition to the bank's board are provoking fresh chatter.

On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the Wall Street giant had tapped Tom Montag, a controversial, hard-charging banker who is the former No. 2 executive at Bank of America. The story cast the move as Solomon "shoring up support" for his leadership, but multiple sources couldn't figure out how.

On the face of it, for Solomon to tap a director who is viewed as friendly is generally considered a "weak move," since it looks like a tacit admission that he doesn't have the full support of the board, one Goldman insider told On The Money.

"If you're at the point you need allies on the board, you're admitting your board has lost confidence in you," one Goldman insider told On The Money. "Appointing an ally means David thinks he needs more people to dilute those who dislike him."

Indeed, sources said the report of Montag's return to Goldman sparked "outrage" inside the bank's headquarters on 200 West St. in lower Manhattan. That's because Montag is seen by many as emblematic of the old-school Wall Street image the bank has worked to shake off.

Psychedelics becoming legit mental health treatment – thanks to billionaires

Psychedelic drugs that have long fueled the party circuit are now poised to become a legit treatment for mental health – and you can partly thank free-thinking billionaires from Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

Currently, only ketamine – known on the club scene since the 1990s as "special K" – is legal for medicinal use among psychedelics. But MDMA – also known as ecstasy and molly – has recently finished phase 3 clinical trials for mental health treatment.

That tees up MDMA to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration as "breakthrough therapy" as soon as the first quarter of 2024.

If that sounds mind-blowing, consider that Elon Musk regularly microdoses on ketamine to treat depression and that he takes a full dose at parties, according to a Wall Street Journal report this week. Musk chimed in on Twitter and said taking ketamine beats "zombifying people with SSRIs."

Goldman Sachs workers grumble over $7 yogurt as cafeteria prices surge

Goldman Sachs economists may recognize that inflation is easing nationally, but you wouldn't know it from the prices at the bank's cafeteria.

The Wall Street giant's rank and file grumble that, as they schlep into headquarters at 200 West St. in lower Manhattan five days a week, they're greeted with stratospherically priced breakfast options that include a $7 cup of yogurt.

That's up from $5 before the bank's return-to-office mandate last year, according to one sticker-shocked banker. Breakfast sandwiches likewise have jumped to $7 versus $4.50 previously.

"Prices have changed over the years in slow increases but most dramatically in the past few months," one insider told On The Money.

"The cafeteria has now become a running joke across the firm," another added.