• UPS is cutting its business with Amazon in half by mid-2026, it said Thursday.
• While big, Amazon's business with UPS was becoming less profitable, CEO Carol Tomé said.
• Amazon has been building out its own logistics infrastructure in recent years.

UPS is reducing the number of Amazon packages it handles as profit from those shipments shrink, its CEO said Thursday.

"This was not their ask," CEO Carol Tomé said on an investor call. "This was us. This was UPS taking control of our destiny."

Shares plunged as much as 18%.

The shipping giant said it would cut its business with its largest customer in half by June 2026. Amazon shipments make up about 20% of UPS's volume in the US, CFO Brian Dykes said on the call. The company had reported fourth-quarter results before the stock market opened.

"Amazon is our largest customer, but it's not our most profitable customer," CEO Tomé said on the call. "Its margin is very dilutive to the US domestic business."

UPS used recent contract negotiations with Amazon to reach an agreement on the drawdown, Tomé said. Keeping the same amount of business with the retail giant "will likely result in diminishing returns," she added.

"Due to their operational needs, UPS requested a reduction in volume, and we certainly respect their decision," an Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider. "We'll continue to partner with them and many other carriers to serve our customers."

While the move away from Amazon will cost UPS business in the short run, the company could use it to "focus in on higher-yielding, margin-enhancing volumes," analysts at Goldman Sachs wrote on Thursday.

Tomé said that the remaining 50% of UPS's business with the e-commerce giant includes handling some returns for Amazon — something that UPS does "very, very well" for them and is unlikely to go away anytime soon.

"We have 5,200 UPS store locations that make it very convenient for customers of Amazon to return their Amazon packages," she said on Thursday's call.

Amazon has spent years building its logistics services, from warehouses to its aircraft fleet.

The company has used those resources to offer its own shipping options. Late last year, Amazon launched a new option for sellers on its website that can deliver products from source factories to customers, for instance.

Amazon also offers shipping options to sellers who don't even sell on its website.

• Blackstone has been investing billions in the AI revolution, including billions in data centers.
• Chinese AI model DeepSeek is raising questions about whether these investments will pay off.
• The stock declined more than 4% Thursday despite the company's stellar earnings report.

A top Blackstone executive on Thursday addressed the threat that AI model DeepSeek could pose to the company's multibillion-dollar bet on AI infrastructure, saying the firm is watching the situation closely.

"We've obviously been spending a lot of time the last week looking at the impact of DeepSeek," president and COO Jon Gray said in a fourth-quarter earnings call, adding: "The real question is what is demand going forward?"

Blackstone, which calls itself the largest data-center provider in the world, has $80 billion in existing data center assets — and has touted more than $100 billion in the pipeline. Gray didn't address the firm's pipeline but acknowledged that "the cost of computing is coming down pretty dramatically," which could change demand for future investments in how AI is powered.

"So we still think it's a very important segment, and there's a way to run, but obviously, we're watching what's happening very closely," he said.

Blackstone is the latest company to react to concerns that DeepSeek, an AI model from China, is 20 to 40 times more efficient than OpenAI, according to an analysis by Bernstein. This has called into question both Silicon Valley valuations and trillions in AI infrastructure investment.

Blackstone's share price, which had opened up nearly 1.5%, dropped at the market open and recently traded down more than 4% to $177.50 a share. Blackstone's earnings handily beat expectations, with the firm setting a record for fee-related earnings in the fourth quarter.

Gray suggested that lower costs could drive more adoption and, therefore, more demand for infrastructure, echoing statements from tech CEOs like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Gray's comments reflect Silicon Valley's new favorite economic theory, the Jevons Paradox, which posits that usage will increase as the price of a resource declines.

Citing Mark Zuckerberg's comments on Wednesday, he said that data centers might need to be more "fungible" than before, which may mean "less training" of AI models but potentially more "inference," the practice of using AI to come to predictions or conclusions, as well as increased demand for cloud or enterprise usage.

The larger picture, that "our lives are migrating online" has not changed, Gray said. He also said the firm's $80 billion in data center assets is tied to existing demand via leases to large, well-capitalized companies.

"We're not doing things speculatively," Gray said. "It's based on the demand signals from our tenants.

Blackstone's investment in data centers began in earnest when the firm took data center REIT QTS Realty Trust private in 2021 for $10 billion. It's continued to make big bets like its $16 billion-plus take-private last year of AirTrunk, the largest data center transaction of all time.

During an earnings call last year, CEO and cofounder Steve Schwarzman announced his ambitions for the firm to be the world's largest investor in AI infrastructure.

He projected $2 trillion in global investment to build and facilitate data centers over the next five years and that the AI revolution would contribute to a 40% increase in electricity demand in the US over the next decade.

This has already spurred the firm to invest in adjacent sectors, like its recent $1 billion purchase of a Virginia power plant in a data center hot spot.

Blackstone has been ahead of the curve in this strategy, and other investors are now jumping in. A KPMG survey found that 40% of US asset manager respondents told KPMG that it's their top real estate investment priority over the next two years, up from 27% just six months ago.

Although DeepSeek could threaten demand for data centers, China isn't turning away from investing in AI infrastructure either. China recently announced a roughly $140 billion investment in data centers.

• I took my kids to Dubai, and our first trip to the city was amazing.
• However, I should've budgeted more time and money because we didn't get to do everything.
• I also wish we'd spent more time in the desert and had a little more downtime.

Dubai boasts the tallest building, the biggest mall, and the water park with the most water slides in the world. Despite these claims to fame, I still considered it a stopover city, not a full vacation destination.

When I booked my family's flights to India, which included a stop in Abu Dhabi (less than an hour from Dubai), I decided to extend the layover so we could explore for three days.

My kids and I had a great time, but now that we've seen all the city has to offer, I wish I'd done some things differently.

I should've booked a longer trip.

Once I started looking into how to spend our time in Dubai, I realized that the three days I planned were not nearly enough.

If I had to plan the trip over again, I'd schedule at least four or five days in Dubai.

Even though I am not a big shopper, I surprisingly wish I had more time to explore the Dubai Mall. In particular, I wanted to try the indoor skating rink and ski slopes and explore more of the impressive indoor Chinatown.

I also should've planned further in advance.

Since this was just a stop on the way to our larger vacation, I didn't do much advanced planning.

Unfortunately, that meant we weren't able to do everything we had originally hoped.

I discovered too late that tickets to Dubai's Museum of the Future, which I'd wanted to visit, sell out months in advance.

We definitely needed more downtime throughout the trip.

Since our time was limited, I felt pressure to be constantly on the go. Nevertheless, I wish I'd squeezed in a couple of hours of downtime to relax.

That also probably would've helped us acclimate to the time difference from the East Coast.

I carefully selected a beautiful hotel, Andaz Dubai The Palm, that's right on the beach and has a gorgeous infinity pool. However, it would've been nicer if we'd had a little more time to actually enjoy its relaxing amenities.

The city was even more expensive than I'd budgeted for.

I knew Dubai was expensive, but I didn't realize how pricey it was until I started looking into activities.

I originally planned on taking my kids to the top of the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, and visiting its observatory. However, once I saw the price of the tickets, I abandoned the idea.

I couldn't imagine shelling out nearly $200 for the three of us to have what would probably be an hourlong experience.

Even though we skipped it, my kids and I posed for plenty of photos in front of the Burj Khalifa and appreciated its height from afar.

Other activities were more expensive than I expected as well, including the Dubai Mall Aquarium. Tickets started at about $50 a person.

I didn't realize how far apart some of our must-visit stops would be.

The Burj Kalifa is right next to the Dubai Mall, but the city's famous mosque, markets, Global Village shopping area, and local cultural center are all fairly spread out.

The distances between sites made getting around time-consuming and expensive. I wish I'd paid more attention before booking activities to make better use of my time and cut down on transportation costs.

For example, since we visited the Dubai Mall during the day, we weren't able to see its spectacular evening fountain show. I thought we'd be able to dash over one night, but we always found ourselves too far to make the trip worthwhile.

We didn't spend nearly enough time in the desert.

Some of my favorite travel experiences have involved being in the desert, so a desert safari was at the top of my list for our Dubai trip.

I booked the least expensive option with the luxury tour company Platinum Heritage.

Although I enjoyed everything I did in Dubai, this was the most fun and unique. My family spent a fantastic evening climbing sand dunes, spotting wildlife, getting henna tattoos, riding camels, enjoying a traditional Arabian feast, stargazing, and more.

When it was over, I wished I'd booked more time in the desert — or at least had us spend the night.

• Like some other federal employees, Tony Ruiz received a deferred resignation email this week.
• The email offers what appears to be a buyout if he quits his job.
• Ruiz says he feels doubly targeted as a Latino and as a federal worker. But he has no plans to resign.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tony Ruiz, a 47-year-old Army veteran who works as a Veterans Service Representative at the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Like many federal employees, Ruiz received an email this week from the US Office of Personnel Management offering buyouts to federal workers who want to resign rather than work under the new administration. Ruiz's employment has been verified by Business Insider.

Ruiz, who is Latino, says he feels like he's been hit by a double whammy: the resignation offer, and, before that, a letter from higher-ups asking workers to root out any examples of efforts to promote DEI, or diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The following has been edited for length and clarity:

I was hired in February of last year to be a veteran service representative at the US Department of Veterans Affairs, which is a role based out of Los Angeles.

I work for the part of the VA that's in charge of all veteran benefits, and my job is really to assist veterans in all kinds of things. For example, if a veteran is trying to add dependents, needs to add a disability to his award, is going back to active duty, or is asking for help when it comes to homelessness, they put in a claim and it gets routed to an adjudicator like me.

It's a chance for us to really help the veterans.

I'm also a veteran of the US military myself. I served in the Army, with an honorable discharge in 2001. (I graduated from Basic Training in 1998.)

When I was in the military, I had a dream to work for the federal government, and so to finally join this role a year ago, I was so excited to be serving my veterans.

But in the last two weeks, things have been difficult.

First, we got an email last week from the Acting Secretary at the US Office of Personnel Management, which said they're taking steps to close federal DEI initiatives because, they said, it's wasteful in government, it's shameful discrimination, and it's dividing Americans by race.

Then it asks us to tell on our friends who are still doing DEI work and threatens us with adverse consequences if we don't.

This first email caught all of us by surprise, and it really upset me.

Then, this week, we got an email from OPM asking us if we wanted to resign by February 6.

What really upset me was the fact that this email pretty much says to all of us, "We want you gone." It feels like they don't appreciate the value that we bring to the table.

How can it be that I finally got my dream job after so many years, and yet now I have this situation where they want to get rid of me in a sense — not just as a federal employee, but also as a Latino, born from Mexican immigrants, who are legal, and as an Army veteran who's serving my country proudly?

They're telling me I'm no good in the sense that they're telling me I'm not wanted. And the people in the streets that are getting kicked out of the country, I feel like them, like I'm being deported from the federal government.

With the emails that we've gotten, I can tell you people are afraid, people are nervous. Morale has been terrible — to the point where people have been sick a lot in the last couple of weeks. And ever since the election, morale has been different. People are less talkative. It's palpable.

But I'm not afraid. And I have no intention of resigning.

In the military, we learned about bravery, about courage, and about service to our country. But one thing I learned as well — that I think a lot of politicians and a lot of Americans forget — is in the military, we had a rule and it was very clear: If you're given an order that's unlawful, like murder or whatever it is, it doesn't matter who it's from, you are to question that order and bring it up to the higher-ups. That's a very important thing.

In other words, we're soldiers, we're not robots.

Even though you're a military member, you love your country enough to be able to say, "No, this is not right." And so now that I'm serving my country here as a VA employee, that still stands to me.

And that's why I'm not afraid.