Good Morning. This is the Investor Lookout with the daily digest.

Here’s what we got today:

• 🦆 A Duck Finds Its Way Into a Layoff Email

• 🇺🇸 Why You Started Following President Trump on Instagram

• 💨 Wind Energy Unfazed by Trump's Executive Order

A Duck Finds Its Way Into a Layoff Email

Layoffs are no laughing matter, unless there’s a cartoon duck waddling around your termination notice. The online payments giant is letting go of 300 employees, but the real talking point is a quirky “US-Non-California Duck” cartoon that slipped into some termination emails by mistake. According to Stripe, the layoffs mainly impact product, engineering, and operations teams, while hiring plans for 2025 remain unchanged. Chief People Officer Rob McIntosh confirmed the email slip-up and noted the company’s performance is strong. Affected employees have been informed, with severance packages and earned bonuses on the table. The cuts reflect about 3% of Stripe’s workforce.

• In 2022, Stripe reduced around 1,000 roles, followed by further recruiting cuts in 2023.

• Tech peers like Meta and Microsoft have made similar moves amid ongoing industry headwinds.

Why You Started Following President Trump on Instagram

Ever wake up to find your Insta feed magically following the new President? You’re not alone. Some Instagram users discovered they were suddenly fans of President Trump’s official accounts, a result of Meta’s ($META) process that hands over @POTUS and others when administrations switch. According to Meta, it’s been standard practice since 2017, so if you followed White House accounts in the past, you’ll keep following them—regardless of who’s sitting in the Oval Office. Former content from previous administrations gets moved to separate archive accounts so the timeline for @POTUS stays squeaky clean. Meta’s spokesperson explains there’s no forced following—just a routine digital baton pass. Meanwhile, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been making some high-profile decisions at Meta, though the company hasn’t explicitly linked them to this latest social media handoff.

• Previous admin posts reside on pages like @potus46archive and @vp46archive for public viewing.

• Barack Obama’s team first set this transition process in motion back in 2016.

Wind Energy Unfazed by Trump's Executive Order

Never mind that ‘big ugly windmills’ remark—some renewable giants seem unruffled by Trump’s new anti-wind policy. The president suspended new or renewed leases for offshore and onshore wind projects, but leaders like Siemens Energy ($ENR) and Iberdrola ($IBE) maintain the shift toward electrification continues. Siemens Energy’s Joe Kaeser says around 80% of its wind market is in Europe, reducing direct exposure to U.S. actions. Shares jumped more than 8% as Kaeser views the policy as a “slight plus.” Iberdrola’s chief, meanwhile, calls the transition to electricity “absolutely unstoppable.” Orsted ($ORSTED) stock dipped after announcing a sizable impairment charge on U.S. projects, but Rystad Energy says at least 2.4 gigawatts of advanced-stage offshore wind builds won’t be impacted by the executive order.

• Onshore and offshore wind projects are reportedly on hold unless previously leased.

• The U.S. has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement under Trump’s orders.

#1

Layoffs can indicate a company is focusing on cost control or restructuring. For investors, observing how effectively the company manages expenses could signal its financial priorities and stability.

#2

Handing over official White House accounts is standard, dating back to 2017. This underscores Meta’s focus on compliance with governmental processes—an area that can affect tech companies’ regulatory risk profile.

#3

Siemens Energy and Iberdrola note most of their wind market exposure is outside the U.S. This could buffer them from specific U.S. policy shifts. Investors sometimes view geographic diversity as a way for companies to mitigate country-specific risks.

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