Hello everyone! Welcome to this weekly roundup of Business Insider stories from co-Editor in Chief Matt Turner. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every Sunday.

Read on for more on Salesforce insiders saying diversity progress has been slow, former employers claiming a "boys' club" culture at elite law firm Jones Day, and Pfizer's vaccine feat.

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I led this email last week with the words: "The nation has decided."

A week on, Donald Trump for the first time seemingly admitted he lost the presidential election, tweeting that Joe Biden "won because the election was rigged," as my colleague John L. Dorman reported. Hours later, Trump added: "I concede NOTHING!"

The tweets came about a day after Georgia was called for Biden, the first Democratic presidential victory in the state since 1992, taking Biden to 306 electoral college votes.

Meanwhile, the US is shattering daily records for COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. In a sobering story, Aria Bendix broke down why this fall surge is poised to become the longest and deadliest one. You can read that story here:

• This isn't a third coronavirus wave — it's a tsunami. Three charts show how much worse the fall surge is than any before.

Joseph Zeballos-Roig reported that the lack of a new stimulus bill may have contributed to surging virus cases amid reopening pressures, according to experts. You can read that story here.

Salesforce insiders say diversity progress has been slow

From Paayal Zaveri and Joe Williams:

When employees arrive at Salesforce's imposing 61-story tower in San Francisco's South of Market district, it's not uncommon to be greeted by Tony Prophet. The 58-year old executive, impeccably-dressed, regularly works the lobby like a proud owner of a new home, eagerly introducing himself to some of the enterprise software giant's roughly 54,000 workers.

Prophet is Salesforce's Chief Equality Officer, and his passion and trademark pizzazz are visible in everything his group does, from sophisticated Twitter campaigns to high-wattage events with celebrity guests like Janelle Monáe and Mila Kunis.

The prominent emphasis on diversity is in character with the company's reputation as the tech industry's moral compass for social justice and progressive ideals.

But behind the high-profile diversity push is an inconvenient truth: Four years after Prophet was hired by Benioff to launch the new group, Salesforce's employee diversity numbers have barely budged.

Read the full story here:

• Four years ago, Salesforce hired a rock star executive to show the world how to fix workplace diversity. Insiders are disappointed with the slow progress.

Also read:

• Leaked documents show Microsoft is pegging some employee bonuses to helping the Teams chat app 'win against Zoom and WebEx in meetings'
• A top Adobe exec explains how the $1.5 billion acquisition of Utah-based Workfront will fill a 'critical piece' in its mission to help businesses digitally transform
  

Former employees at Jones Day claim there is a 'boys' club' culture

From Casey Sullivan and Jack Newsham:

Jones Day, the major law firm that made headlines this week when attorneys complained to The New York Times about their employer's role in election-related litigation, is facing accusations of sexism in the workplace that, lawsuits say, led to unfair advantages for men.

Three federal lawsuits filed between 2016 and 2019 have contained claims of gender and pregnancy discrimination against the firm.

Business Insider found separate allegations that have not been previously reported or filed in a suit. The findings are a result of interviews with dozens of people who have worked at the firm. The people who shared allegations did so on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions, though their identities are known to us.

Read the full story here:

• Former employees at Jones Day claim there is a 'boys' club' culture and sexual discrimination at the powerhouse law firm representing Trump's campaign

Also read:

• Documents reveal Trump is building his own 'deep state' by leaving political appointees behind in government for the Biden administration
• Meet Ron Klain, Joe Biden's pick for White House chief of staff. He's the guy Democrats call to fix things and will soon be one of the most important people in Washington.

Inside Pfizer's vaccine feat

From Andrew Dunn:

After three decades in the drug industry, Mikael Dolsten, a Pfizer executive, knew better than to be overconfident about what had become one of the most closely watched experiments in history.

He was with other top executives of the pharma giant on Sunday at an office in Connecticut for one of the biggest moments in his career. Results were available for the final-stage clinical study of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, and Dolsten, sitting next to CEO Albert Bourla, was about to learn on a Webex call whether it worked.

"On one hand, you had cautious optimism," Dolsten told Business Insider. "On the other hand, you have respect for that you can never be certain on the outcome of a clinical trial."

Two senior research leaders popped up on the screen to relay what they had just heard from the independent board of experts overseeing the trial: The trial was a success.

You can read the full story here:

• How the pharma giant Pfizer teamed up with a little-known biotech to develop an effective coronavirus vaccine in record time

Also read:

• Pfizer's top scientist tells us the pharma giant is already thinking about a new version of its coronavirus vaccine for 2021 that can overcome one of its biggest limitations
• How a tiny biotech rebounded from bankruptcy and Martin Shkreli at the helm to convince the NIH to bet on its unproven coronavirus drug

ICYMI: Goldman Sachs dropped the names of its 2020 partner class

From Reed Alexander and Dakin Campbell:

Goldman Sachs announced a new class of partners for 2020 on Thursday afternoon, awarding partner status to 60 people worldwide. Seven out of the 19 new partners in the investment-banking division came from the TMT (technology, media, and telecommunications) group, representing a big year for executives in that sector.

You can check out the full list of 60 here. Reed and Dakin talked to four of the new Goldman Sachs partners, who told them what it's like to get a call from CEO David Solomon inviting them to one of Wall Street's most exclusive groups. You can also read up on Jane Dunlevie, one of Goldman Sachs' youngest new partners and a Silicon Valley native who leads deals with red-hot companies like Shopify and Pinterest, right here.

Also read:

• Vista Equity Partners lost a $100 million pension-fund investment after Robert Smith's tax-evasion investigation came to light
• Inside Wall Street's war on WhatsApp: Why traders just won't quit messaging apps, even as heads roll
  

Here are some headlines from the past week that you might have missed.

— Matt

100 rising-star VCs who represent the future of venture capital

Capital One has abandoned its last data center, making the $40 billion financial titan the first US bank to go all in on the cloud

Rents in top NYC shopping districts are crashing and dark storefronts are multiplying. A firesale sublease by Ralph Lauren on Fifth Avenue highlights the carnage.

Larry Ellison's wacky TikTok plan exposes Oracle's glaring problem

Inside WarnerMedia as huge layoffs hit the company and speculation swirls around the futures of CNN and HBO Max

Knotel plans to scale back its global portfolio by 60% over the next 6 months as the pandemic and financial problems have quashed its once grand ambitions to dominate the flex workspace sector

The world's biggest cannabis companies are jockeying to dominate the $61 billion US market after marijuana legalization swept 5 states

Morgan Stanley says to load up on these 10 stocks featured on the firm's 'buy list,' which has dominated the broader market this year