Is billionaire investor Ray Dalio a finance luminary, or would advice from your retired grandpa who spent 20 years working at Fidelity be just as sage? It’s the latter, based on characterizations of Dalio by journalist Rob Copeland in his new book The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend.

Copeland claims to lift the veil on Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund founded and—until recently—run by the self-promoting thought leader Dalio. Thanks to Bridgewater’s consistently positive returns, even amid the 2008 financial crisis, Dalio earned guru clout, which he parlayed into a best-selling book, Principles, that lays out his philosophy of life and work.

But Copeland says Dalio’s maverick management dogma was just a facade for a toxic work environment and centralized decision making with mediocre results.

The principles in action

While Bridgewater’s investment strategy was famously opaque, Dalio boasted that decisions were made algorithmically using what he called “timeless and universal” rules. And he said it was run based on his central principle of radical transparency.

• Employees were encouraged to pitch investment ideas, which would be collectively scrutinized against deep research.
• All meetings were recorded, and everyone would rank their colleagues based on their adherence to Dalio’s principles.

Despite that, Copeland maintains that Dalio’s only real principle was that he called all the shots.

Are the principles hot air?

Some former Bridgewater employees told Copeland that its corporate culture was as pleasant as that of McCarthyism-era Hollywood.

• The company had a China-inspired Politburo tasked with quashing dissenting opinions, and employed future FBI director James Comey, who once investigated a woman who complained about a colleague breaking a promise to bring bagels to work.
• In one instance, an edited recording of Dalio screaming at a pregnant subordinate was allegedly played to colleagues.
• And sexual harassment was reportedly brushed under the rug.

Meanwhile, an alleged internal review of Dalio’s financial calls found that he was wrong as often as he was right over the last decade (Bridgewater denies this ever happened).

Dalio says baloney…in a LinkedIn post, he called Copeland’s work a “tabloid book,” claiming that it was based on distorted accounts from disgruntled former employees and noting that the author himself once unsuccessfully applied to work at Bridgewater.—SK

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Democrats had a great night campaigning on abortion rights. Ohio residents voted to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution by a double digit margin, the latest win in a string of victories for reproductive rights advocates following the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year. In ruby-red Kentucky, incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear was re-elected. And Democrats held onto their majority in Virginia’s state Senate and flipped the state House. For Democrats, last night was a literal vote of confidence after a recent poll showed President Biden trailing former President Trump in most battleground states for the 2024 presidential election.

The Supreme Court is likely to rule that domestic abusers shouldn’t have guns. After justices heard arguments for United States v. Rahimi yesterday, they appeared ready to uphold a federal law that allows the government to disarm people under restraining orders for domestic violence. Even some of the conservative judges, who all voted last year to expand people’s right to carry firearms in public, signaled they’re open to preventing abusers from owning guns. The arguments came just days after the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, once again renewed calls for gun control. An official ruling is not expected until June.

Shein wants to be valued at $90 billion. The Chinese fast-fashion retailer told potential investors that it’s targeting that valuation in its eventual US initial public offering, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Though Shein is one of the most valuable startups in the world, a $90 billion valuation is much higher than the $66 billion at which it was valued in a funding round earlier this year. After its e-commerce sales skyrocketed during the pandemic, Shein has since faced competition from other Chinese retailers and scrutiny over its supply chain practices.

Following YouTube’s global crackdown on ad blockers, users are uninstalling the programs like they’re the Splitwise app after a particularly harrowing bachelorette party.

The company started restricting ad blockers earlier this year as a “small experiment.” It later confirmed to The Verge that it’s expanding the initiative, hoping to motivate users to watch ads or cough up $14 monthly for YouTube Premium. That led users to delete their ad-blocking apps faster than MrBeast got trolled for making a video of himself building wells in Africa.

• A Wired report found users are installing and uninstalling different ad blockers at a record rate as they try to find one that YouTube can’t detect.
• AdGuard, one of the biggest players in the ad-blocking market, told Wired that it typically sees 6,000 daily uninstalls. But since the crackdown, it’s seen 11,000 on average, with a one-day high of 52,000 on October 18.

Meanwhile…privacy advocates are arguing that YouTube can’t block you from blocking it. Expert Alexander Hanff filed a complaint last month with the Irish Data Protection Commission, alleging that YouTube’s detection of ad blockers flouts EU digital privacy law. YouTube argues that using ad blockers on the site violates its terms of service, and creators rely on ad views to monetize their content.—CC

A new champion is rising through the ranks of beverages that make you feel ready to run through a brick wall.

Energy drink-maker Celsius posted its third straight quarter of triple-digit earnings growth yesterday, making it one of the world’s fastest-growing businesses. The company, known for its white cans of “essential energy” and conceptualized flavors like “Tropical Vibe,” has exploded from a valuation of $280 million in 2018 to $13.4 billion today, according to GQ.

David vs. Goliaths: Celsius has chipped away at Red Bull and Monster’s energy drink oligopoly to account for almost one-tenth of the US market, per The Motley Fool. According to Celsius’s Q3 earnings release, it’s now...

• The top-selling energy drink on Amazon, boasting a 21.4% share of the category to Monster’s 18.6% and Redbull’s 13%.
• The third-highest-selling energy drink at US outlets/convenience stores/bodegas.

How’d Celsius do it? The company resurrected itself from a flopped 2008 IPO in part by rebranding as a healthy, athlete-endorsed energy booster for anyone, like your coworker at 2pm or a diligent college student.—ML

Stat: Tell your grandparents to pack up their jet skis and buy some Middleswarth Chips, because Florida isn’t the best place to retire—Pennsylvania is. That’s according to US News & World Report, which ranked the state capital, Harrisburg, No. 1 for its access to the outdoors and a buffet of nearby festivals. Pennsylvania accounts for seven of the top 10 towns on the list, while Florida has just one (Daytona Beach). Only three Florida cities were top 20, down from eight last year. A USNWR expert suggested that’s because of the state’s expensive housing and, you know, all the hurricanes.

Quote: “The president has told us to pick up the pace.”

Colombian Minister of Culture Juan David Correa says that President Gustavo Petro would really like officials to hurry up and recover sunken treasure off the Caribbean seafloor before his term ends in 2026. And who can blame him? The gold and silver booty, trapped inside a Spanish galleon sunk by the British in 1708, is estimated to be worth as much as $20 billion. While Colombia works to salvage the riches, US treasure hunters are suing for half its value after they claimed to have found the shipwreck and handed over the coordinates in 1981.

Read: Elon Musk’s brain implant startup is ready to start surgery. (Bloomberg)

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Woof: The most popular dog names in each state include Bella, Luna, and Charlie.

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