Good morning, CFOs. Reckitt CFO Shannon Eisenhardt on leapfrogging at the consumer-goods giant; the UAW strike may imperil production of GM’s lucrative pickups; plus, Shake Shack cuts guidance.

Reckitt is centralizing its back-office functions, a move to catch up to its competitors and operate more efficiently, reporter Mark Maurer reports. He writes for today’s newsletter:

The U.K. consumer-goods giant, which makes Lysol wipes, Durex condoms and Mucinex cold medicine, plans to roll out a shared service model in more countries in the second half of this year, with the rest occurring over the next two to three years, Chief Financial Officer Shannon Eisenhardt told me. The company has said it set up three central hubs, and piloted the changes in the U.K. and Northern Europe last year.

“We talked internally around how we want to leapfrog,” Eisenhardt said. “If we think we're 15 years behind, we can't spend 15 years trying to get caught up to where everyone else is today, because we'll still be behind.”

For decades, the company culture favored local autonomy, a structure that served them well for a time but became highly inefficient as Reckitt further expanded globally, Eisenhardt said.

Executives handle hundreds of requests from local operations seeking exceptions so they can keep their unique reporting templates and schedules, as the company moves to standardize basic operations like accounts payable and balance-sheet reconciliation, Eisenhardt said.

Downsizing in an AI world: Reckitt is in the middle of a multiyear effort to shrink its operating overhead. In 2023, the company unveiled plans to reduce overhead costs from a starting point of 21.8% of net revenue. It reached 19.4% in 2025, and is pushing to get below 19% by the end of 2027, in part due to AI and its new shared-service model, Eisenhardt said.

The company’s previous cost benchmarks are now obsolete, she said. “We know that our competition is just getting better,” Eisenhardt said. “With AI, if you think of the benchmarking we did back in 2021 and 2022, you could really make the case that that benchmarking was sort of in a pre-AI world.”

—Mark Maurer

📆 Earnings

• Broadcom
• CrowdStrike Holdings
• Five Below
• Macy’s

📈 Economic Indicators

The Institute for Supply Management releases its Services Purchasing Managers’ Index for May.

The Federal Reserve releases the beige book for the fourth of eight times this year.

Trump signs AI executive order. President Trump signed an executive order asking artificial-intelligence companies to give the administration access to powerful models 30 days before public release.

• Investors Weigh AI Fervor Against Mideast Worries

Ripple effects from higher gas prices. Energy prices have remained persistently high in recent months, with varying fallout on consumers and companies. A recent example: Some commercial-truck drivers are slowing down to cut costs at the pump.

The latest UAW strike. Unionized workers at Dauch Corp. in Three Rivers, Mich., went on strike, halting the supply of axles for some General Motors trucks. The move may imperil production of GM’s lucrative Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

Pride organizations are adjusting to operating without some longtime company sponsors after again struggling to secure big brands’ support for their annual events celebrating LGBTQ rights, our colleague Patrick Coffee reports.

Major names like Marriott, L’Oréal and Red Bull continue to serve as top-level backers, and some Pride organizers say they are still in negotiations with potential sponsors ahead of June programming. But other marketers have reduced their commitments or opted out entirely. And most brands that withdrew funding in 2025 haven’t come back at the same level, if at all.

Key quote: “We’re not going to return to 2019, where we had much bigger levels of sponsorship prepandemic,” said Patti Hearn, executive director of Seattle Pride. Starbucks’ Pride Network employee group this year curtailed its investment, for example, though its float will still appear in the parade. Accenture isn’t returning after years of support.

📰 Other headlines

• Exclusive: Coinbase Founder’s Longevity Startup Triples in Value
• SpaceX Eyeing Roughly $1.75 Trillion Valuation in IPO Next Week
• Does the World Need Chinese Rare Earths? Not Necessarily, Say These Companies
• This Crypto-Trading Platform Is Emerging as Wall Street’s Convenience Store
• $3.6 Million an Hour—and Other Ways to Measure Elon Musk’s Fortune
• Streetwise: Alphabet’s Mega Fundraising Shows the Value of Being a Public Company
• Market-Research Firm AlphaSense Clinches $7.5 Billion Valuation in New Funding Round
• Warsh Names Two Conservative Policy Veterans as Interim Fed Advisers
• U.S. Proposes New Duties Over Forced Labor in Push to Rebuild Tariff Wall
• 🎧 Podcast: Robotaxis Are Having a Bumpy Rollout

📈 Earnings wrapup

• Shake Shack Cuts Guidance Due to Uncertainty, Competition
• Philip Morris to Post $500 Million Impairment on Canada Affiliate
• British American Tobacco Cuts Cigarette Outlook but Expects Lift in New-Category Revenue

For more earnings news, click here.

Mastercard, the Purchase, N.Y.-based payment company, said Ling Hai, currently president of Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa, will succeed Sachin Mehra as finance chief. Mehra, who has been CFO since April 2019, is taking on the newly created role of chief business officer, responsible for country operations across the globe, the company said. Linda Kirkpatrick, currently president of the Americas, will become chief services officer, succeeding Craig Vosburg, who has held the post since May 2024 and will become vice chair, serving as a global ambassador for the company, Mastercard noted.

Texas Instruments said its top accountant will succeed the company's retiring CFO. The Dallas-based maker of processing and semiconductor chips said Chief Accounting Officer Julie Knecht will take over on Aug. 1 for Rafael Lizardi, who is leaving after 25 years with the company. Lizardi will step into an advisory role through Aug. 31 to support the transition, the company said.

—Colin Kellaher and Dean Seal contributed to today’s Ledger.

The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics including corporate tax, accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team comprises reporters Kristin Broughton, Mark Maurer and Jennifer Williams, and Bureau Chief Walden Siew.

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