Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba

Jessica Alba, actor and founder of The Honest Co., stars in the "risk factors" section of the natural beauty products company's S-1 filing for its initial public offering.

The company admits it's all about Alba.

Its very ability to compete against major players in the beauty products market "is largely dependent" on Alba, chief creative officer and chair.

"Jessica Alba is a globally recognized Latina business leader, entrepreneur, advocate, actress, and New York Times bestselling author," says THC in the S-1. "We believe that the success of our brand depends in part on our ongoing affiliation with Jessica Alba."

THC has a "likeness agreement" with Alba, which she may terminate at any time upon written notice, or if the company becomes insolvent.

Termination of that pact would result in THC losing its ability to associate its brand with the actor and cause "reputational damage."

The company also relies on Alba's social media reach and influence to connect with consumers and provide insight on current trends.

The loss of the services of "could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects."

THC also counts on the positive image and public popularity of Alba to maintain and increase brand recognition. "Ms. Alba’s social media presence and approximately 39 million followers across all of her social media channels combined represent a large social following and potential audience for our social media reach."

Consumers buy THC products because of Alba, according to the filing. "If Ms. Alba’s image, reputation or popularity is materially and adversely affected, this could negatively affect the marketability and sales of our products and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects."

THC lost $14.5M on $300M revenues during 2020. Perhaps Alba needs to step up her promotional activity.

The company's S-1 risk factors section runs a healthy 46 pages.

No more political chatter around the corporate water cooler, is the edict passed down to staffers by Basecamp CEO & founder Jason Fried.

There will be no more societal and political discussions on the company Basecamp account, he blogged on April 25.

"Today's social and political waters are especially choppy. Sensitivities are at 11, and every discussion remotely related to politics, advocacy, or society at large quickly spins away from pleasant.

"You shouldn't have to wonder if staying out of it means you're complicit, or wading into it means you're a target. These are difficult enough waters to navigate in life, but significantly more so at work.

"It's become too much. It's a major distraction. It saps our energy, and redirects our dialog towards dark places. It's not healthy, it hasn't served us well. And we're done with it on our company Basecamp account where the work happens."

Basecamp partner David Heinemeier Hansson extended the political chatter ban companywide.

He wrote that the software productivity company is no longer going to weigh in publicly on societal political affairs, outside those that directly connect to the business.

Basecamp will restrict comments to topics directly related to its business. Those topics are antitrust, privacy, and employee surveillance issues.

Tough love from JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who plans to begin welcoming staffers back to their workstations on May 17 so they can begin to get comfortable being back in an office setting.

He expects the whole JPMorgan Chase gang to be back on the job in early July on a consistent rotational schedule.

JPMorgan Chase concedes that not everybody is juiced about returning to the office. Its message: work it out.

"We know that many of you are excited to come back, but we also know that for some, the idea of coming in on a regular basis is a change through which you'll need to manage," said the employee memo.

COVID-19 vaccinations are not required for returning to the office.