• X CEO Linda Yaccarino lasted two years at her job before announcing her departure.
• That's much longer than some observers had speculated she would last.
• That's because running an ad business for Elon Musk — a man with no interest in the ad business — is an impossible job.

Linda Yaccarino took an impossible job. And she failed at it.

That's my tweet-length summary of Yaccarino's two-year run at Twitter/X, which she announced via her own Twitter post Wednesday.

The longer version of my analysis isn't much longer.

In 2023, Elon Musk brought on Linda Yaccarino to fix his ad business, which he himself had broken after buying Twitter in 2022. And as long as Elon Musk owns Twitter, no one can fix his ad business: It's not big enough to be a must-buy for most advertisers, and his ownership generates potential headaches for any advertiser who thinks about investing money there. It's easier to ignore it, which is what most advertisers do.

Rather than enumerate all of Musk's erratic approaches to advertising sales — No. 1 on the list, of course, remains his famous "go fuck yourself" pitch back in 2023 — let me sum it up this way: For years, Elon Musk was told that if he just toned down his behavior on his platform, he might have an easier time getting reputation-conscious brands to spend money with him. Instead, he sued them.

But earlier this year, faced with the prospect that his behavior was tanking sales at Tesla — the company that's made him the richest man in the world — he at least made gestures to respond, telling anyone who would listen that he was going to spend less time on politics and more time running the automaker. (Whether he'll follow through is another matter.)

That is: If Musk really wanted to make Twitter an ad business, he could have tried. Instead, he kept on doing what he was doing and hoped Yaccarino could clean up his mess.

"Elon found the requests and requirements to get advertisers back to be tedious," says Lou Paskalis, an ad industry veteran who now works as a consultant via his AJL Advisory business. "But if he wants to understand why advertisers haven't returned, he should look in the mirror."

I asked X for comment, but haven't heard back.

Whether Yaccarino could have done better is a different question. At times, she seemed to channel her new bosses' penchant for fighting with enemies real and imagined — like her bizarre onstage appearance at the Code Conference in 2023. At other times, she seemed committed to using her Rolodex to work with big brands that would still do business with Twitter, like the NFL.

You can also debate whether she should have taken the job at all. Remember that Musk essentially announced her hire while she was still at her old job, running ad sales at NBCUniversal, which forced her out right before a crucial sales event. If that's how your new boss treats you before you start your new gig, imagine what it's going to be like when you're actually employed there?

In retrospect, it seems clear that Musk himself has grown tired of even pretending that Twitter will make real money from advertising. While Yaccarino described her tenure there as a "historic business turnaround," documents the company sent to investors this year suggest that, at best, the company was generating operating profits similar to what it had earned before Musk's takeover — but that ad revenue was still way down since his purchase.

But the people who gave Musk money this year didn't really care about its ad business, either — they were interested in Twitter's relationship with xAI, Musk's OpenAI competitor.

That became even clearer in March, when Musk announced that xAI had "bought" Twitter. From an investor's perspective, it's a no-brainer: Who cares about the fortunes of a subscale social media platform, compared to the upside of a Musk-owned AI company during an AI boom?

That deal may also explain why Musk had almost nothing to say in response to Yaccarino's departure post, beyond a pro forma "thank you for your contributions" response. He's moved on. Now she has, too.

• A US Navy nuclear-powered submarine arrived in Iceland for the first time on Wednesday.
• A top admiral told BI that USS Newport News' visit sends a message to America's adversaries.
• It comes as the US looks to the Arctic with concern amid growing Russia and Chinese activity.

A US Navy nuclear-powered attack submarine stopped in Iceland for the first time on Wednesday. A top admiral told Business Insider that the unprecedented port call sent a message to American foes.

The first-of-its-kind visit to the Nordic island nation by the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Newport News comes as the US and NATO allies look with increasing concern at the growing Russian military activity across the Arctic and High North.

Adm. Stuart Munsch, the commander of US Naval Forces Europe-Africa, said there is value in having different options throughout the region where American submarines can make port visits.

Speaking to BI in a phone interview from the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, Munsch said the submarine port call is "also important for the strategic signal it sends to adversaries about our presence in the area" and for the reassurance it provides to US allies.

The US views Iceland as a centerpiece within its Arctic strategy due to its strategic location. The country joined NATO as a founding member in 1949, but unlike other members of the alliance, it does not have a military. It, however, hosted Western troops during the Cold War, including a major American presence.

"The US, for many decades, maintained a naval air base here," the admiral said of Iceland, and relied on assets stationed in the country "to track Soviet submarine operations, then Russian submarine operations."

Munsch said "it's important to us to have additional options for where we can make strong port calls" and maintain a strong presence in the region that stretches from Greenland to Iceland and the United Kingdom. That's a key point made in the Pentagon's 2024 Arctic Strategy.

While the strategy outlines Russia's increasing military and economic interest in the Arctic, it also draws attention to China's efforts to expand its influence in the region. The US sees Iceland as a key element of its security and deterrence efforts, as these two US rivals seek to project power into the strategic area.

Erin Sawyer, chargé d'affaires at the US Embassy in Iceland, said in a statement Wednesday that Washington and Reykjavik "maintain the shared goal of low tension in the Arctic, with full awareness of Russia's efforts to build its military presence in the region."

The Navy has been working with the Icelandic government for years, but mainly from a distance. For instance, an American vessel would pull up off the coast and maybe change out personnel or bring aboard supplies.

In 2023, Iceland welcomed the first US nuclear-powered sub into its territorial waters. But Newport News' arrival in port this week — tied up to a pier and sending crew members ashore — marks a new moment in the relationship, Munsch said.

Just over 40 Los Angeles-class submarines are in active service, making up a significant portion of the Navy's fast-attack submarine fleet. Newer Virginia-class vessels have, however, taken on an increasingly central role. USS Newport News, a late-1980s Los Angeles-class sub, is armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles and torpedoes and has conducted missions around the globe.

US undersea capabilities are considered a cornerstone of American naval power. "The submarine force has been operating globally for many decades now," Munsch said, "and there's really no region that we have ever ceded to anyone else."

• I live in India and have traveled all over the country — but it took me a while to visit Varanasi.
• The city has a rich, spiritual history, but for me, it was just a spot on my bucket list.
• Then, the first time I visited, I fell in love with the city's beauty, street food, and history.

I've spent years traveling across India — from getting stuck in Mumbai traffic to beach-hopping in Goa, road-tripping through the Himalayas, exploring Rajasthan's palaces, eating my way through Old Delhi, and chasing waterfalls in Meghalaya's misty hills.

Yet somehow, I'd never been to Varanasi.

When I finally visited last summer, it felt strange to admit I was a first-timer. One of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, Varanasi is hardly a secret. For many Hindus, it's a sacred place to wash away sins in the Ganges (India's holiest of rivers) or seek moksha, freedom from the cycle of rebirth.

I wasn't chasing either. I went out of curiosity, expecting to check a few sights off my list and move on.

Instead, the city got under my skin in the best way.

I've been all over India, but Varanasi still felt like a completely new place.

I live in India, so I'm not easily fazed by crowds or chaos. Somehow, though, Varanasi felt like another dimension.

I checked into a hotel near Assi Ghat, toward the south of the city, and set out on foot.

The gullies, or lanes, twisted like a maze. One moment, I was dodging scooters and cows; the next, I was sidestepping puddles and flower petals, while monkeys leaped over tin roofs.

Then, at the end of a lane, I saw the Ganges. It was wide and still, and something about it caught me off guard. I just stood there for a minute, taking it in — calm and quiet, even though everything else around me felt loud and intense.

I visited the city's sacred cremation grounds and was surprised that I didn't feel at all uneasy.

Later that day, I walked to Manikarnika Ghat, the city's main cremation site and one of more than 80 ghats (or riverfront steps) lining the Ganges. I'd heard about it, but being there in person was something else.

I watched a body burning on a wooden pyre. Just steps away, a chai vendor was serving tea, kids were playing, and men were bathing in the river.

It didn't feel morbid. It felt deeply human, like life and death weren't opposites, but part of the same cycle that shaped the city.

I expected spirituality, but I found something else.

That evening, I joined a group on a small boat to watch the Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat, near Kashi Vishwanath Temple. It's a devotional ritual that uses fire as an offering to the river.

The banks were packed. Priests in saffron robes waved multi-tiered lamps and incense sticks in synchrony, as cymbals clanged and chants filled the air. Phone screens glowed across the crowd.

To me, it felt less like a religious ritual and more like a well-rehearsed performance. The ceremony itself was powerful, but because of the mix of people watching it — pilgrims, locals, foreign tourists — was even more moving.

The street food was some of the best I've had in India.

Varanasi is a street food haven, and a few dishes stood out enough that I'd go back just to eat them.

One of my favorite meals involved tamatar chaat (mashed tomato mix topped with crispy lentils, chutneys, and house spices) and palak patta chaat (deep-fried spinach leaves topped with yogurt and tamarind sauce) at Deena Chaat Bhandar, a legendary stall that's served locals for over five decades.

I also enjoyed eating aloo kachori (a fried bread ball typically stuffed with potato) and jalebis (coiled, deep-fried sweets soaked in sugar syrup) at the iconic Ram Bhandar.

Blue Lassi, a tiny, photo-plastered shop in the old city, served the best saffron lassi (yogurt drink) I've ever had. I'd often end the day with a paan (a betel leaf packed with areca nuts, rose jam, and slivers of coconut) from a roadside stall.

I also loved taking a quick visit to Sarnath, about 30 minutes away.

On my second day, I took a quick trip to Sarnath, a nearby town where the Buddha gave his first sermon.

I visited the Wat Thai temple, where I saw an 80-foot Buddha statue. On the way back, I stopped at the Sarnath Art Gallery, where I watched a man give a live demo of how Banarasi saris are made.

"Banaras is known for two things — paan and saris," he said, grinning. "The paan's in my mouth. The sari's on the loom."

I'd always seen saris just as wedding wear. Watching how much time and skill went into every thread gave me a new appreciation for them as pieces of artwork.

I visited Varanasi just to check it off my list — but now, I can't wait to return.

I was touched by the city's beauty, delicious food, and contrasts — fire and water, ritual and routine, life and death. Varanasi was only meant to be a quick stop, but it has stayed with me long after my visit.

• Linda Yaccarino announced that she's stepping down as the CEO of X after two years.
• Yaccarino has had a long career in advertising, from her early days as an intern at NBCU.
• Her career includes a stint working for both the Trump and Biden administrations.

Linda Yaccarino made waves when she announced she was stepping down as the CEO of X on July 9, 2025, but her career didn't start in the tech space.

From decades at Turner Broadcasting, to climbing the ladder at NBCUniversal, to becoming chief executive of X, Yaccarino has climbed the advertising ladder.

Here's a quick breakdown on her path to — and now away from — X.

Yaccarino is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University.

According to her LinkedIn, Yaccarino was a liberal arts student who studied telecommunications between 1981 and 1985.

She had an early internship at NBCU, where she eventually worked decades later.

Yaccarino told Salesforce in an interview that she arrived on her first day as a "bright cheery new intern," but soon learned that the company didn't have a record of her in its system and she ended up on the media planning team.

"That's where the love affair was born," Yaccarino said of her interest in working in the media industry.

Yaccarino spent nearly 20 years at Turner Broadcasting System.

She spent nearly 20 years at Turner, formerly known as Turner Broadcasting System, eventually rising up to the role of executive vice president/chief operating officer of advertising sales, marketing and acquisitions.

Yaccarino worked there until late 2011.

Yaccarino worked at NBCU for 11 years.

An NBCU "boomerang" return hire, Yaccarino once again worked at NBCU after leaving Turner.

She began her second chapter at the company as its president of cable entertainment and digital advertising sales.

She eventually became the company's advertising chief.

Throughout her time at NBCU, Yaccarino rose to become the company's chairperson of global advertising and partnerships. She oversaw around 2,000 employees who produced more than $100 billion in ad sales, according to her old company profile page.

At NBCU, Yaccarino was key to the company's push into digital streaming.

Yaccarino was a strong advocate for NBCU's foray into streaming television through the service Peacock.

She also worked to keep NBCU competitive with Big Tech companies like Meta and Google.

In May 2023, Yaccarino announced that she had resigned from NBCU "effective immediately."

In a statement at the time, Yaccarino said that "it has been an absolute honor to be part of Comcast NBCUniversal and lead the most incredible team."

Elon Musk announced Yaccarino's role at Twitter the same day she announced her resignation.

Musk made the announcement on what was still Twitter at the time: "@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology."

He called her "smart, fair and reasonable" in a separate post after some conservatives on Twitter had criticized her ties to the World Economic Forum, an annual event for executives and influential figures in Davos, Switzerland.

Yaccarino also worked with President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden's administrations.

She served on a sports fitness and nutrition council for two years after Trump appointed her to the role in 2018.

In 2021, she worked with the Biden administration on an educational COVID-19 ad campaign.

She was CEO of X during a chaotic two years.

Musk renamed Twitter to X one month into Yaccarino's tenure, and she led the company during a tumultuous time.

She oversaw the platform during an advertiser exodus, working to convince advertisers to return. Advertisers began to return under her leadership, but Musk's changes to X — including loosening content moderation — continue to pose potential challenges.

Yaccarino announced she's stepping down as CEO of X on July 9, 2025.

Yaccarino made the announcement in a post on X: "I'm incredibly proud of the X team - the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable."

She hasn't indicated what she plans to do next.

Grace Kay contributed to reporting.

• Harry Stebbings said a seven-day workweek is essential to building a $10 billion business.
• His post ignited discussion on 996 culture, which has been criticized for poor work-life balance.
• Stebbings said that intense work is crucial for early-career momentum and success in the AI race.

Harry Stebbings, the 29-year-old founder of 20VC, sparked an online debate when he posted on LinkedIn last month that "7 days a week is the required velocity to win right now."

That's if "you want to build a $10 billion business," Stebbings added in an interview with Business Insider.

"If you want to build a great business, fantastic. You don't need to work seven days a week. You don't need to absolutely burn the midnight oil," Stebbings said, adding that if you do want to build a $10 billion business, "my lord, you have to give it everything."

The founder's post ended up fueling an online conversation about the comeback of China's controversial 996 culture. Despite being deemed illegal by the Chinese government in 2021, it's a practice of working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week that appears to still be happening at certain companies. Some have criticized the schedule, which has previously been attributed to worker deaths.

Stebbings said most of the backlash to his LinkedIn post came from European workers. Many American respondents, on the other hand, said a seven-day workweek was an obvious conclusion, Stebbings said.

Promoting a 7-day workweek

Stebbings, who has a 20-person firm, said there's nuance to what a seven-day workweek should look like. The founder said he's aware of his own limits and what it takes to maintain his energy. He urges his team to do the same by prioritizing stress relief, including working out during their lunch break.

In addition to an hour in the gym in the morning and an hour of walking after work, Stebbings said he spends 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. having business meeting while walking in London's Hyde Park. He said he hits 30,000 steps every day, and walks a marathon with his mother every weekend.

While Stebbings said he supports people taking time off, in the last 11 years, he's only taken two vacations, both within the United Kingdom, where he's based. He typically works until around 1 a.m. each day, he said, with a break to walk and eat sushi — his first meal of the day — between 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.

"When your brain is starved, you're much more alert because as an animal, we're like trained to be a lot more active and looking for food," Stebbings said. "And so, I find my alertness goes up a lot."

His employees seem to share a similar mindset of prioritizing work. When Stebbings leaves the office at 8 p.m., he said the office is still full.

"They get paid really well and they do the most meaningful work of their lives, right?" Stebbings said about his staff. "So they seem pretty happy."

Stebbings said he believes that people feel happy when work is going well and they have momentum. He added that "winning" is one of the biggest ways to contribute to society, and harder work leads to a higher likelihood of winning.

A short-term hustle

While Stebbings prioritizes work and expects his employees to do the same, he doesn't necessarily promote living this lifestyle long-term.

"You cannot work in this manner for more than three to five years," Stebbings said. "The most important thing to understand is when you are in your first three years, speed is your single biggest competitive advantage."

Stebbings said his decision to work at this pace for over a decade is a personal choice. However, once someone is five or six years into a job, they've built efficiency processes and playbooks so that they can have more downtime and less intensity in their day-to-day, he said.

Until then, Stebbings promotes working relentlessly for those who want to build a $10 billion business.

"I think this is what everyone, especially in Europe, forgets. We are in a global war for efficiency and data," Stebbings said.

• Zach Posner, who correctly called the legal tech boom, says a new breed of legal services is coming.
• "Law Firm 2.0" is a small, nimble business, fueled by AI, that handles specific legal matters.
• Posner's venture fund is launching an accelerator geared toward companies rethinking legal services.

It's becoming clear that artificial intelligence can automate much of legal work. That has recovering lawyers and software engineers racing to sell tech solutions to law firms and in-house legal teams.

But the less obvious, and more challenging, move may be to build companies that compete head-on with law firms.

This idea lies at the heart of the LegalTech Lab, a new accelerator geared toward businesses rethinking how legal services are delivered and scaled. It's an extension of The LegalTech Fund, whose founder, Zach Posner, correctly predicted the legal tech boom in 2019, then raised a fund.

Legal tech is thriving, raising over $1 billion in venture capital in the first half of this year, according to Crunchbase data and Business Insider's estimate based on recent financings. Though the boom is buoyed by fears of a bubble in legal tech, platforms like Harvey and Hebbia are gaining traction with the largest law firms by revenue, while Eudia, GC AI, and others duke it out for corporate America's time and money.

The LegalTech Lab's first cohort will consist of 10 companies. Some of the perks for participants will be access to the fund's network of tech leaders, general counsels, and other strategic advisors from cutting-edge law firms and tech giants. The LegalTech Fund will also invest up to $250,000 in each startup in exchange for equity. The terms will vary by company.

"Law Firm 2.0," Posner said, represents a small, nimble company fueled by AI, like large language models, that aims to help clients with routine legal matters. It typically targets specific use cases, like drafting wills or reviewing limited partner agreements, and charges clients a fixed fee rather than billing by the hour.

"This is not your Walmart. This is as small of a corner store as you can imagine," said Posner, "They're going to use technology to be the best in the world at that one specific challenge."

Some of these companies hope to bite into law firms' business, as with Crosby, which has Sequoia backing to sell contract review services, largely to startups. Or HelloPrenup, which says it's helped over 50,000 couples create their prenuptial agreements online over the course of seven years.

Eudia, which supports in-house legal teams, revealed this week that it had acquired an alternative legal service provider, adding several hundred legal professionals to its team. Founder Omar Haroun told Business Insider that its ultimate goal is to help clients reduce their reliance on outside counsel.

Posner believes the bigger opportunity for Law Firm 2.0 is meeting the unmet demand for legal services. He says many more small and midsize businesses experience legal problems but do not receive the necessary legal help to solve them, either due to a lack of access, cost, or awareness.

"This stuff is not necessarily the enemy of the law firm," Posner said.

The LegalTech Lab's launch comes amid some unease in the legal tech market. The influx of funding has triggered a wave of new startups, making the space increasingly crowded. While law firms and in-house teams are piloting a wide array of tools, boosting revenue for many companies, some analysts and investors warn that revenue could dry up as customers choose long-term vendors.

If Posner manages to build the "Y Combinator of legal tech," he may find that title has already been claimed by Y Combinator itself. The storied startup accelerator has produced a major exit with legal research tool Casetext and rising platforms like Legora for legal research and drafting, Parley for visa services, and PointOne for timekeeping and bill review.

Y Combinator, too, is focused on the future of legal services. Each year, as applications open, it publishes a wish list of ideas for founders. This year, Law Firm 2.0 topped the list: "Start your own law firm, staff it with AI agents, and compete with the existing firms," partner Jared Friedman wrote.

Have a tip? Contact the reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal at @MeliaRussell.01. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• We let our friend propose to his girlfriend at our wedding — he really wanted her to be surprised.
• I liked sharing the attention and didn't feel their proposal took away from our big day.
• Their engagement added to the fun, especially since we have a lot of the same social network.

In the middle of my wedding reception, one of our friends got down on one knee and pulled out an engagement ring.

Most of our guests were shocked — but my new husband, Anthony, and I shared a gleeful smile. We knew this "surprise" proposal was going to happen.

In fact, we'd even helped him plan it.

We didn't want our wedding day to be only about us

Toward the end of our wedding-planning process, our friend Jeff asked if he could propose to his girlfriend, Krystina, at our reception because she wouldn't expect it.

She knew they'd be getting engaged soon, and he thought she'd suspect a proposal done in any other way. Anthony and I were immediately on board.

I also checked with my parents since they were paying for our wedding, but they didn't care one way or another. Their priority was seeing us get married and enjoying time with their friends.

So, the plan moved forward. As a bride, I was excited to cater to someone else's wishes instead of my own for once.

Planning a lavish event for myself felt a little selfish, especially since my professional life, doing nonprofit work, has been devoted to raising up other people.

Sharing the day was a way to mitigate those feelings. It was also a relief to know that the spotlight would be off of me for at least a few minutes that day.

Plus, Anthony and I's top priority was for all of our guests to have a good time.

In some ways, a surprise engagement would make our wedding even better. It'd be a chance to spread more joy and be extra entertainment that none of our guests would anticipate.

Guests were shocked, and the proposal seemed to be a hit

For the proposal, I stood with my back to the handful of single women on the dance floor as the emcee narrated the bouquet toss.

When it came time to "toss" the bouquet, I turned around and handed it to Krystina instead. Then, Jeff tapped her on the shoulder and got down on one knee.

Cheers erupted throughout the reception hall. As I saw how happy everyone was, I knew we'd made the right decision.

This moment was reminiscent of my own engagement. My husband had proposed to me in front of our friends, most of whom were attendees at the wedding.

The proposal felt extra special, since most of the same social network knew Jeff and Krystina already (and would later attend their nuptials).

Getting to spotlight someone else's love is still a highlight of our wedding day

After our wedding, one of my friends, who wasn't friends with Jeff and Krystina, told me she would never let someone get engaged at her wedding because it's supposed to be "her" moment.

I let the comment pass because I understood her perspective and respected it. However, the ultimate goal of a wedding is to end up married, and we accomplished that.

Letting someone else get engaged at our wedding didn't interfere with that at all. The rest of our guests seemed delighted. Krystina was, too.

When I asked her later, she said she was shocked and overjoyed by the proposal. She said it meant a lot that I shared "my" day with her, too.

And each year when we review our wedding photos, that moment remains one of our favorites.

There are two versions of Tony Hawk, but you wouldn't know it by looking at his home office.

The shelves behind him on our video call are stacked with various knickknacks befitting of the icon of youth culture, like a coffee table book about the iconic '80s British punk band The Clash. And there's a sky blue skateboard propped up beside the wooden office door.

For those who watched Hawk make his name (and tens of millions of dollars) as the first truly famous skateboarder, he is crystallized as forever young in their memories. Creating one of the most successful and best-loved video game series of all time, "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater," solidified that. ("Pro Skater 3+4," a remake of the 2001-2002 games where your character wheels around various skate spots, completing tricks and missions, drops Friday).

The fact that he's pushing 60 is such a strange concept that it's an inside joke between him and fans who pretend not to recognize him. How could Tony Hawk — the kid at the skatepark who was imaginative, dogged, and dumb enough to pull off the types of tricks that helped skating go mainstream in the '80s and '90s — get old?

The 2022 documentary "Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off" explores this tension. His friends say they hope he'll soon slow down over footage of him repeatedly smashing to the ground as he tries to recreate what's known as the 900. In 1999, Hawk landed the trick — which involves spinning 900 degrees midair — after trying for a decade. Before that, skaters had only dreamed of it.

But when he recalls seriously breaking his leg in 2022 during our call, it's clear there are two Tonys: pre-and post-break Tony.

He's no stranger to injuries, but snapping your femur in half at 53 is as bad as it sounds, and it took him 12 months to recover. Becoming a grandad was another profound change. (His son, Riley Hawk, and Frances Bean Cobain have a 10-month-old son. Yes, that Frances Bean Cobain).

Now, for the first time ever, Hawk works out daily, diligently takes supplements, and, without a sliver of regret in his voice, tells me he is at peace with retiring skating moves that he pioneered — including the 900. All this, he says, means he can still skate at the iconic action sports competition, the X Games, starting that evening.

I get the sense that now, at 57 years old, he applies the same blinkered focus that made his career to a new passion: aging well and having fun.

For the latest installment of Business Insider's 5-9 series, Hawk shared how the post-break Tony spends his free time, as part of his partnership with CarGurus' "Big Deal" campaign, which celebrates life's biggest moments behind the wheel and beyond.

Skating and supplements

You live in Encinitas with your wife and daughter. How do you spend your mornings?

If I'm at home, we're up pretty early, usually by 6 or 6:30 a.m. Our daughter is turning 17 soon, and we make sure she gets out the door.

I work for at least an hour and try to find time to skate, usually around 11 a.m. I have a ramp in my office that's about a 15-minute drive from here, so that's my happy place.

Then just taking whatever comes — we are grandparents now, so maybe half the days he's here for a little while, and I try to work around that.

It's just been so much fun having him. As soon as he comes into our door, he knows that it's all about him.

You mentioned skating. Considering all the injuries you've had, how much do you think about longevity and aging? Do you set yourself up for the day by taking supplements, for instance?

I do. I take some supplements including CoQ 10, a statin, multivitamins, and creatine, stuff like that.

Honestly, a workout routine is something new to me. That's something I never did because I kind of prided myself on not being an athlete, so to speak. But at my age, I need something else to stay fit, to stay loose, to stay in motion.

That's the one thing that has kept me at this level at my age. I'm literally flying to X Games in a couple hours, and I'll be on the ramp this evening.

So that's kind of the state of things, and I love it. It's a blast.

That's incredible. I watched the 2022 documentary "Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off," and your friend said that you are not slowing down, just doing more gnarly stuff. Is that how you approach aging?

I have definitely slowed down since then. I broke my leg three years ago, after that documentary, and that changed everything for me in terms of assessing risk, my approach, my carelessness. My cavalier attitude to skating definitely changed in that recovery process. And for the better: I have a healthier relationship with skateboarding and risk.

Would you say your attitude has also changed since you've had a grandchild?

That helped to reiterate why I need to take it a little easier. I'm not breaking new ground necessarily, and I've let some techniques go.

It's just more fun now. I value it more because of the injury and the recovery I went through. Every opportunity is a gift. Every ollie [a fundamental move where the skater and the board become airborne] is a thing to be cherished. That's how I feel now.

Testing 'Pro Skater' and takeouts with the kids

I love that. Tell me about what part of the day you come up with your best ideas, like creating "Pro Skater" or the insane feats you do, like skating over a Mini Cooper?

It's usually when I'm falling asleep. Sometimes I have to wake up and write things down.

When your brain is finally slowing down, I imagine. When it comes to the evenings, is dinner time family time for you?

Yeah, we eat at home for the most part. If the kids are home for the weekend or whatever, we'll try to make sure that we do something at home. Generally, I'm ordering food if it's a big crew. If they're home, that means they're with their friends, and so it kind of keeps growing.

One of our sons drove home late last night and got in at like 2 a.m. So they come and go, and we try to capture those moments.

What's your go-to order?

Oh, that's opening a can of worms.

It's controversial?

There's a really good Peruvian place here in Encinitas. That's one of our favorites. We're all over the place though. You name it: Mexican, Thai, Japanese.

You have a very unique family: Kurt Cobain was your daughter-in-law's father. When you go out as a family, do people recognize you and talk to you?

They're mostly respectful and friendly, or they're confused. They see my face and they'd know it from somewhere, or they didn't imagine that I could have grown old. And so there's a lot of confusion in that. It happens all the time.

But I never aspired to fame. To have it is strange, but I've learned to live with it, and it's amazing. I mean, just the fact that people will tell me that a video game changed their interests and their musical tastes. I'm hugely proud of those kinds of things.

In the evening are you on the go, even before bed? I just can't imagine you taking a day off.

It's pretty rare, but they do happen. And when they happen, we're usually planning stuff with our kids.

How often do you have a day off where you just do nothing?

Well, I could tell you right now, I'm looking at my calendar. There were four this month.

OK. Wow, that's pretty intense. Do you play "Pro Skater" to wind down?

[laughs] Yes and no. I usually find time to play that during the day. That still is kind of a job in terms of R and D, but it's close to release, so it's not like we're making any changes. My job is kind of done there.

My wife and I just try to unwind and watch something, catch up on a show or a documentary, something like that.

• A Delta flight diverted to a mid-Atlantic island after an indication of an engine problem.
• Passengers were stuck on Terceira, part of the Portuguese island chain, the Azores for more than a day.
• The airline sent another A330 from New York to pick up the passengers.

Delta Air Lines had to send a plane to rescue passengers after their flight diverted to a small island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Flight 127 departed Madrid around 1 p.m. local time on Sunday and was supposed to land in New York seven hours later.

However, data from Flightradar24 shows how four hours into the journey, the Airbus A330 turned around over the ocean.

Roughly an hour later, it landed at Lajes Airport on the Portuguese island of Terceira. It's part of the Azores, a remote archipelago that's nearly 1,000 miles away from the country's mainland.

The airport shares its runway with a military base, and only serves about a dozen destinations commercially.

"As safety comes before all else at Delta, the flight crew followed procedures to divert to Lajes, Azores, after indication of a mechanical issue with an engine," said an airline spokesperson.

The 21-year-old A330, registered as N805NW, is still parked at the airport as of Wednesday.

To get the passengers back on their way, Delta had to send another plane from New York.

About five hours after Flight 127 landed in the Azores, flight-tracking data shows another A330 left JFK Airport.

It arrived at Lajes shortly after 2 a.m. local time, before leaving around 9 p.m. on Monday.

Flight 9927 then landed in New York at 10:22 p.m. ET — roughly 31 hours after passengers expected to touch down on US soil.

"We sincerely apologize to our customers for their experience and delay in their travels," the Delta spokesperson said.

While it isn't clear how many people were on board, a Delta A330-300 can carry up to 282 passengers.

This isn't the first time a Delta plane has been forced to divert to Lajes Airport. In 2023, a flight from Ghana landed there due to a "mechanical issue with a backup oxygen system."

In that incident, passengers spent 12 hours on the island and some complained about a lack of communication from Delta before another plane arrived to take them on to New York.

Airlines typically try to divert flights back to their origins or hub airports when possible, because this makes it easier to reroute passengers and repair any problems with the aircraft. However, in cases like these, concerns about safety can require landing at the closest available airport.

In a similar case last year, Air France had to cancel a flight so the plane could be used to rescue passengers who were diverted to a remote town in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut.

• The new "Superman" is the first live-action movie of James Gunn's new DC Universe.
• David Corenswet plays Clark Kent/Superman opposite Nicholas Hoult's villain, Lex Luthor.
• Here's how "Superman" fits into the Universe alongside shows like "Peacemaker" and "Creature Commandos."

Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a new "Superman" movie!

Yes, the Man of Steel is returning to the big screen on Friday, with his first solo adventure for over a decade.

However, because Warner Bros. and DC Studios have experienced plenty of shake-ups in recent years, casual viewers might be confused by why this DC Universe is completely different to the one in previous movies like "Black Adam," "The Flash," and "Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom."

The short answer? Its director, James Gunn, is completely rebooting the DC Universe by telling the stories of DC's most famous superheroes, starting with Superman/Clark Kent (David Corenswet) in "Superman."

The 2025 movie deals with Superman's conflict with tech billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), his relationship with the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Lois Lane, (Rachel Brosnahan), and his place in the wider DC Universe.

Its lighter tone is a departure from Zack Snyder's gloomier take on the character, who was played by Henry Cavill in movies including "Man of Steel," "Batman v Superman," and "Justice League."

'Superman' takes place after 'Creature Commandos' and before 'Peacemaker' season 2

In June, Gunn told Rolling Stone that by the time the film takes place in the DC Universe, Superman has been saving the world for three years, and that metahumans (people with superpowers) have existed for 300 years.

It's also worth noting that the events of "Superman" happen after the animated "Creature Commandos" TV series, which aired on HBO Max in 2024. In that show, Frank Grillo voiced Rick Flag Sr., the leader of Task Force M, and he reprises the role in live action in "Superman."

The movie also takes place before "Peacemaker" season two, because Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) will appear in the coming TV series after having supporting roles in "Superman."

The 2025 movie will firmly open the door to the wider DC Universe by featuring characters like Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan).

• Linda Yaccarino announced she is stepping down as CEO of X.
• She spent two years leading the Elon Musk-owned social platform, which included a challenging advertiser exodus.
• Yaccarino, previously an executive at NBCUniversal, hasn't announced what she plans to do next.

The CEO of Elon Musk's social network is stepping down.

Linda Yaccarino announced on Wednesday morning that she is exiting the top job at X.

"I'm incredibly proud of the X team - the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable," Yaccarino wrote on X.

Musk later thanked Yaccarino "for your contributions" in a reply to her announcement. Musk has yet to name her replacement.

Yaccarino spent two years leading X, formerly named Twitter, and was appointed to the position after Musk said he would step back from leading the social network.

Musk's hiring of Yaccarino was widely heralded at the time by the advertising industry as a smart move. Yaccarino had built up a solid reputation in the business during her time at NBCUniversal for her charismatic-yet-tough sales tactics, and for holding Big Tech platforms' feet to the fire over issues like ad measurement.

Ad industry insiders were hopeful she could bring calm to the chaos that ensued after Musk's takeover of Twitter, which saw a series of rapid-fire changes to the platform, including renaming it to X one month after she joined.

The CEO quickly found herself navigating multiple controversies as she looked to win over advertisers — and keep them from trimming or stopping their spending.

After Musk loosened moderation rules on the platform, major companies from IBM to Apple to Disney pulled ads from X following reports they were being displayed next to pro-Nazi posts as well as Musk responding in agreement to a post that said Jewish people were pushing "hatred against whites."

In November 2023, Musk defiantly told advertisers leaving the platform "to go f— yourself" if they thought "blackmailing" him would change his views.

Yaccarino later said Musk's comments were an "explicit point of view about our position."

In March, Elon Musk announced that his AI startup, xAI, had acquired X in an all-stock deal at $33 billion.

"xAI and X's futures are intertwined," the Tesla CEO wrote at the time.

Yaccarino looked to convince advertisers to get back to spending on X

Under Yaccarino's leadership, advertisers were beginning to return to the platform.

A Mediaradar analysis found that while X's revenues declined in 2024, the number of advertisers on the platform increased by 15%. Apple bought ads in February, its first since 2023.

During her tenure, X also went on the offensive against some advertisers who had slowed or stopped their spending on the platform.

Last summer, X sued several major advertisers, including Mars and Lego, alleging their participation in an ad industry initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media had amounted to an illegal boycott, which contravened US antitrust laws. The defendants denied the allegations and said the lawsuit was instead "an attempt to use the courthouse to win back the business X lost in the free market when it disrupted its own business and alienated many of its customers." The case is ongoing.

X has also stepped up its focus on original video. Tennis superstars Serena and Venus Williams are set to launch a video podcast on the platform in August.

It remains to be seen how Musk will direct the platform going forward. Tesla, the biggest prize of his sprawling empire, has faced back-to-back quarters of declining vehicle sales amid backlash over Musk's political activities. Some analysts are increasingly worried about Musk's focus after his apparent launch of the America Party, a third-party that he formed after his public falling out with President Donald Trump.

Musk's changes to the platform continue to pose potential challenges for X's relationship with advertisers.

Hours before Yaccarino announced her exit, Grok, X's AI chatbot, was posting antisemitic rants after a "politically incorrect" update was applied to the AI at the direction of Musk. Grok later said its posts were an "epic sarcasm fail."

Later, Grok's X account posted a more official statement.

"We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts," Grok's account posted late Tuesday night. "Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X."

AI experts have previously said that Grok is a solid contender in the AI race, though it has lagged behind OpenAI.

• Superman is one of the most beloved characters of all time.
• Over the years, 12 actors have played him on TV or in movies.
• Here's where David Corenswet, the newest Superman, fits into our ranking.

Superman hasn't had a solo movie for over a decade, but the Man of Steel is flying back into theaters on Friday with James Gunn's "Superman." This time, he's played by "Twisters" star David Corenswet.

The 32-year-old actor joins a pantheon of icons who have all donned the hero's cape and tights since he was first portrayed in live action back in 1948.

Gunn's film takes a fresh stab at the character by jumping past his over-told origin story and instead drops audiences right into a fully-formed DC Universe.

Here's how Corenswet stacks up against other Superman actors.

12. Brandon Routh ('Superman Returns,' 2006)

Routh had the deck stacked against him from the moment he put that "S" on his chest.

Playing the first Superman on the big screen since Christopher Reeve played the character in the 1980s, audiences suddenly had to adapt to a new actor.

With a par-for-the-course movie, plus Routh's performance hardly giving audiences a "wow" factor, his Superman is pretty forgettable.

It also didn't help that Routh was one-and-done with the character.

11. Dean Cain ('Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman' TV show, 1993)

Playing the character for four seasons, Cain certainly had the look and great chemistry with Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane.

What doesn't help his case is the show's corny TV sitcom vibe, which made him feel more like a TV dad than a superhero.

 

10. Channing Tatum ('The Lego Movie,' 2014)

Tatum's overexaggerated and ego-filled portrayal of the superhero is fun and perfect for "The Lego Movie" franchise, including "The Lego Batman Movie."

9. Kirk Alyn ('Superman' TV show, 1948)

Having the distinction as the first actor to ever portray Superman in a live-action work, Alyn was so synonymous with the character that when the serial first came out in theaters, his name didn't even appear on the screen when the serial first came out in theaters.

The 15 episodes, which played in theaters before the main feature — a sequel serial, "Atom Man vs. Superman," followed in 1950 — laid the foundation of how we would see the character on-screen for the decades to follow: a beefy actor with striking looks and a proper attitude.

8. George Reeves ('Adventures of Superman' TV show, 1952)

Reeves' TV portrayal leaned heavily on the "American way" vibe of the character, which led to major popularity for the show and for the actor.

7. Bud Collyer ('The New Adventures of Superman' animated TV show, 1966)

Collyer was the voice of Clark Kent and Superman in the 1940s for the radio series "The Adventures of Superman." Thanks to the popularity of Alyn and Reeves in the role, Collyer was called upon to take on the character again, this time in animated form.

The Sunday-morning cartoon was a fixture at family houses for four seasons. Collyer would portray Superman differently from Kent by making his voice deeper when he was the superhero.

6. Nicolas Cage ('The Flash,' 2023)

OK, we know that Cage never really got to play Superman, as his casting as the Man of Steel in Tim Burton's "Superman Lives" got only as far as photos of the actor in the iconic suit during preproduction before Warner Bros. scrapped the whole thing.

In "The Flash," we get a glimpse of Cage as Superman while Barry Allen races through the multiverse.

So somewhere, we guess, "Superman Lives" is a reality, which means producer Jon Peters' vision of Superman battling a giant spider also came to fruition. And we also have to assume that the combination of Cage and Burton on the project was magic.

It's hard to imagine Cage as Superman not being memorable.

5. Tyler Hoechlin ('Superman & Lois,' 2021)

Hoechlin has the distinction of being the actor who's played Superman in more projects than anyone else on this list, thanks to appearing throughout The CW's superhero universe in "Supergirl," "Arrow," and "The Flash." So he certainly knows how to play the part.

He also did a more than worthy job on his own series, "Superman & Lois," which ended in 2024.

4. Tom Welling ("Smallville" TV show, 2001)

Playing a young Clark Kent for 10 seasons, Welling became a fixture for Superman fans and was perfect in portraying perfectly portrayed a young man trying to figure out who he really is.

3. Henry Cavill ('Man of Steel,' 2013)

Love or hate the movies he was in throughout Zack Snyder's DC Extended Universe, you can't argue that Cavill had the look and right performance to play the character convincingly in the world we live in.

2. David Corenswet ('Superman,' 2025)

Strapping on the red cape in 2025 is no easy feat, given how familiar audiences are with the character. But Corenswet brilliantly portrays Superman as an imperfect person with godlike abilities, who strives to do his best in a chaotic world.

Add his palpable chemistry with every actor in the cast, and Corenswet delivers one of the best, three-dimensional performances of both Superman and Clark Kent.

1. Christopher Reeve ('Superman,' 1978)

From that smile to the bumbling way he played Clark, and, of course, how he flew, Reeve was born to play Superman.

It also helped that the first two movies in the franchise he was a part of are up there as the best superhero movies ever made.

In many ways, Reeve's performance is the high bar that every subsequent actor is measured against to see if they can fully embody the Superman character on screen the way he did.

• The ad giant WPP issued a profit warning Wednesday, sending its shares crashing as much as 18%.
• Other ad company stocks fell, too.
• The ad industry faces challenges from AI, affecting its traditional business models.

It's just turned July, but there are all the signs that the advertising industry could be on the cusp of an AI winter.

An unexpected profit warning from WPP sent the advertising agency's shares down as much as 18% on Wednesday. Shares of rival ad groups, including Omnicom, Publicis, IPG, and Havas, were also down.

WPP said a combination of client losses, a slowdown in new business pitches, and pressured marketer caution amid economic uncertainty meant that its performance since the start of the year had been worse than expected. It forecast that its annual 2025 revenue would decline between 3% and 5%.

While some of WPP's woes are specific to the company, analysts and other industry insiders told Business Insider the ad group faces challenges that apply to the broader ad agency market.

Madison Avenue is grappling with the advent of AI. The technology can offer agencies opportunities as they help clients figure out how to apply it to their businesses, but it also threatens to streamline many of the services they offer, including the creation and placing of ads. These productivity gains also threaten to upend the traditional agency business model of charging hourly rates.

On Wednesday's trading update, Mark Read, WPP's outgoing chief executive, quoted data from the research company COMvergence stating new business pitches so far in 2025 were at a third of the level they were at during the same period last year. Read said this reflected a lower level of marketer confidence, given the prolonged macroeconomic uncertainty. He added that the latest business opportunities tended to be smaller than usual. COMvergence didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The independent media analyst Alex DeGroote told BI that the sharp decline in new business pitches could be a sign of corporate clients replacing some agency services with AI solutions they could use in-house.

"The impact of AI on net new business is hard to quantify, but it is a clear downside risk in our view," DeGroote said.

Last month, Barclays analysts downgraded the stocks of WPP, IPG, and Omnicom, citing the immediate risks to the agency business posed by artificial intelligence.

WPP's CEO is leaving, and his successor will inherit a raft of challenges

Ad agencies haven't been letting AI wash over them without a fight. The largest agency groups, like Publicis and Omnicom, have pledged to invest hundreds of millions in AI over the next few years as they adapt their businesses to harness the technology.

"Agencies and adtech companies thrive on complexity and fragmentation. If advertising is seen as hard to do well, they can charge a premium, whether direct or baked into proprietary products," said Brian O'Kelley, who cofounded the sustainability-focused adtech company Scope3 and whose previous adtech company AppNexus received investment from WPP.

AI interfaces "just work," and that's a problem for advertising companies, O'Kelley added. He added that the rise of AI search was reducing traffic to publishers and brand websites alike, presenting a challenge to brands looking to get their messages across through online advertising.

For its part, the UK-headquartered WPP said it planned to invest £300 million, about $407 million, annually in AI and other technologies. It recently announced an investment in Stability AI, the developer of the AI image generator Stable Diffusion. And it's prioritizing WPP Open, an AI-powered platform that helps its employees do market research, spin up media plans, and create assets for campaigns using generative AI.

"WPP has the most advanced strategy of any holding company, but clients and investors aren't waiting for them to finish their transformation," O'Kelley said.

WPP has lost key clients during its recent slump, including Pfizer and Coca-Cola's North America account. The company has undergone waves of restructuring in a bid to become more competitive — like the recent merging of its media agency brands to become WPP Media — but the changes and resulting layoffs have "come with some distraction to the business," Read said on Wednesday.

That's not to mention the distraction of Read himself announcing in June his exit from WPP this year after more than 30 years with the company. A successor has not yet been named.

Meanwhile, Publicis Groupe is flying high, having topped ad agency new business leagues; the Barclays analysts that recently downgraded the other agency groups, maintained their rating on Publicis, citing its recent strong performance.

Elsewhere, the rivals Omnicom and IPG are due to merge to create the world's largest advertising group — two seismic industry moves that have resulted in WPP dropping down the pecking order.

"It's clear that more needs to be done to turn WPP's future around, and while the hunt for a new CEO continues, it's unlikely that WPP will regain its crown as the world's biggest advertising agency," said Aarin Chiekrie, an equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, in a note to clients Wednesday.

• Ukraine's defense tech innovation is reshaping military strategy amid the ongoing war.
• Ukraine's domestic production now supplies 40% of its weapons, in large part driven by necessity.
• Western militaries are taking note of Ukraine's rapid defense adaptation and innovation.

In Ukraine, a defense tech revolution is helping to redefine military supply playbooks in real time.

While Russia leans on the brute force of its military-industrial complex — nearly 695,000 troops, relentless missile barrages, and escalating drone strikes — Ukraine has turned necessity into invention.

Its growing defense sector is producing drones, robotic land vehicles, and other advanced systems on timelines and budgets that would be unthinkable for most Western militaries.

"The ability of Ukraine's industry to build drones at scale and adapt them in response to changing battlefield conditions creates a model that other militaries are striving now to follow," Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told Business Insider.

He added: "Although the small FPV drones used by both sides may not have utility in a war against China, the approach of building systems on demand using modular components is beginning to emerge in the US industrial base as well."

This transformation has been made possible by Ukraine upending traditional military procurement models.

"Necessity and urgency breed true innovation," Emily Harding, vice president of the defense and security department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told BI.

"Ukraine has found a way to upend normal cycles of development and procurement to get troops updated equipment within weeks," she added.

One key aspect has been to directly connect defense startups with soldiers on the ground.

"Linking companies directly with units in the field turns the innovation cycle into a flywheel — rapid feedback, adaptation, sales, and deployment to the front lines," Harding said.

Doug Klain, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, argues that Ukraine isn't just catching up — it's pointing the way forward for other countries.

"Where American defense producers take years to iterate and update systems based on testing before redeploying, Ukrainians are making significant updates within weeks to overcome Russian countermeasures," he said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's shift toward indigenous production is accelerating.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that roughly 40% of Ukraine's weapons now come from domestic sources — an impressive figure for a country under attack.

Klain said that Ukraine is also becoming more than just the frontline of Europe's defense.

"Far from being a recipient of assistance, Ukraine is a value-add," he told BI. "There is no more experienced army in resisting Russian aggression today, and its defense industry is increasingly tailored to the scale and specialties required for defending Europe."

Ukrainian defense startups like TenCore — founded in early 2024 with five employees — highlight this shift. With 175 employees and projecting $80 million in revenue this year, the company has delivered more than 2,000 battlefield systems and turned down acquisition offers to remain independent.

Western militaries are taking notice.

Ukraine's innovative use of drones and other AI-enabled autonomous systems has "revolutionized the role these technologies play in modern warfare — from logistics to long-range strikes," Lauren Speranza, a fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, told BI.

"Modern war between peer competitors is clearly a war of defense industrial bases as much as of men and maneuver," added Harding. "A country that cannot adapt to developments on the battlefield and sustain the warfighters is sure to lose."

Even so, military experts caution against wholesale replication in the West.

"Western militaries can't over-index on what Ukraine is doing in terms of specific systems because the conditions are unique," Hudson Institute's Clark said.

However, he added that leveraging militarily relevant commercial technology "will be essential for gaining an advantage in the 21st century."

Lessons may also extend to how future wars are conceptualized.

"Ukraine has effectively replaced artillery with drones for entrenched warfare," said Michael O'Hanlon, director of research in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution.

"That doesn't change everything about modern combat, but it changes a lot," he added, "and points the way to future close-in fights where drone swarms may dominate."

Still, Ukraine's ability to scale remains limited by one major factor: money. With a $12 billion defense budget, officials estimate that the country's production capacity is a third of its true potential.

Kyiv is now pushing to attract more Western investment and is eyeing initiatives like the EU's proposed SAFE project — a $150 billion fund designed to strengthen European defense manufacturing.

"Ukraine is integral in any future European security architecture," Klain said. "It has genuine lessons to offer as we all figure out how to revitalize defense industries that just aren't up to the needs of modern warfare."

• Last summer, I planned a last-minute trip to Malta and had an amazing time.
• Some of the things on my itinerary were absolutely worth it, but there are a few I'd skip next time.
• I'm glad I stayed in multiple hotels and explored a lot, but I wouldn't rent a moped again.

Last summer, just two weeks before my trip to Italy, I decided to add another country to my itinerary — Malta.

The island country is only a 45-minute flight from Catania, Sicily, and was an option that honestly never crossed my mind when planning European trips in the past.

However, I was excited to slow down, wander aimlessly through villages and back streets, taste new foods, and most importantly, soak in a new culture.

After experiencing a lot of what the island has to offer, these are three of the best things I did, and the two I'd skip next time.

Staying in multiple hotels throughout my trip was the right move.

Staying in multiple hotels on one trip can be a hassle, but it also makes it easier to explore different parts of the country.

I'm glad I decided to do this on my trip to Malta, as I quickly realized it would become time-consuming to travel to multiple towns on the same day.

I booked three hotels, my favorite of which was Domus Zamittello in Valletta. Staying at this 16th-century restored palazzo really stood out as a highlight of the trip. I loved learning about the family-run hotel's rich history and admiring its beautiful design.

I loved dining at Bahia, an upscale restaurant in Balzan.

One of the highlights of my trip was visiting Bahia, an upscale restaurant at the Corinthia Palace Hotel in Balzan.

Here, diners can choose from the à la carte or tasting menus (plant-based or classic). I opted for the classic tasting menu, which took me on a culinary journey through dishes inspired by different villages in Malta.

The tasting menus are seasonal, and I had dishes ranging from baked carrots to fresh sea bass. Since I'm a pescetarian, the chef was able to swap out meat-based dishes for seafood versions.

Each dish I received came with a little card that described the village where the dish originated, which I thought was a nice touch. The food was beautifully presented, and each dish had its own unique flavor.

I'm glad I explored as much as possible.

I'm all about exploration, and I truly believe seeing as much as I can without an agenda creates the best memories.

For example, after sitting down for a fresh-tasting seafood lunch in Marsaxlokk, a local fishing village, I decided to visit the nearby St. Peter's Pool. This small bay was created by a natural limestone rock formation and is ideal for swimming and snorkeling.

Then, during my hourlong drive from the pool to Golden Bay Beach, I popped into the Mosta Rotunda, a gorgeous basilica with a massive dome. The church was built in 1833 and even served as a shelter during World War II.

After lounging at Golden Bay, I drove about 20 minutes to roam the historic streets of towns like Mdina and Rabat.

Although the island is spread out and it can be time-consuming to drive from one attraction to the other, I felt like I left Malta having experienced and seen so much of what the country has to offer.

However, I wouldn't explore the island on a moped again.

The locals I spoke to advised me not to rent a moped, but since I've done it in other countries, I figured I'd be fine. However, looking back, I wish I'd just rented a car instead.

In my experience, the roads in Malta were quite busy and had constant traffic, so I didn't feel safe navigating these busy streets on a bike.

Next time, I'd skip staying in St. Julian's.

I spent one night in St. Julian's, a seaside town known for its nightlife. Although I recommend exploring this neighborhood, it's packed with tourists, chain hotels, bars, and clubs.

It's a fun area to go out in, but in my opinion, it doesn't give you a true sense of the country or its culture. Next time, I'd stay in a different town and taxi to St. Julian's if I wanted to barhop.

• Video game modding has been a way for aspiring developers to land professional industry jobs.
• The creator economy has made it possible for modders to monetize the hobby independently as well.
• This article is part of "Trends to Bet Your Career On," a series about trending professional opportunities.

Ironically, the more popular a video game is, the more effort fans invest in changing it.

The International Trade Administration valued the video game industry at $184 billion globally in 2023. As it continues to grow, user-created game modifications — more often called mods — are rising in popularity, too.

Mods are files or code inserted into a game to add new features, alter the graphics, or improve performance. Nexus Mods, one of the web's most popular mod-sharing platforms, told Business Insider that the website has added about 40 million users since 2020, and now hosts mods for nearly 4,000 different games.

While mods are traditionally released for free and created solely out of passion, many players use their modding projects and skills to get jobs in the video gaming industry. And with the rise of the creator economy — a $250 billion industry based around independent creators who deliver content directly to their audiences — a growing number of modders are turning their hobby from a career starting point into a lucrative stand-alone business as well.

Modding can build skills for game development jobs

Modding requires skills, like coding and project management, that can be vital for professional programming and game design jobs.

Liam Esler, managing director and cofounder of Summerfall Studios, started modding the simulation game "Creatures" when he was 10 years old, creating new biomes with unique plants and animals. By age 15, he was managing modding teams across the world.

Modding taught Esler how to code and let him practice skills, such as 3D modeling, art, and sound design. "It was a really incredible introduction to the world of making video games," he said.

Around this time, he also began modding the role-playing game "Baldur's Gate II," which later led him to apply for a volunteer quality assurance role helping to test the 2012 remaster of the original "Baldur's Gate" before release. He then turned this gig into a full-time developer job for the sequel, "Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition."

Modding "Baldur's Gate II" helped Esler master the Infinity Engine scripting language, which the "Baldur's Gate" games were built with. It was a niche skill, but one that paid off. "I basically sent them an email saying, 'Look, I'm an expert in these things. I suspect you're going to need those skill sets.' And they sent me a contract two days later. I had the skills and all of that thanks to modding."

Several of his employees at Summerfall Studios are former modders as well. "A lot of them have seen 'behind the curtain' as gamers," he said. "I find, as someone who hires, it's such a critically underappreciated skillset."

For modders applying to game studios, he recommended building a varied portfolio of both mods and short games, and emphasizing to hiring managers "that you can learn new engines, you can learn new skills, and you can practice all the things you've learned in a different context. That's the thing that's going to get you hired."

Websites like Patreon let modders monetize their work

Some modders prefer to be their own boss, and monetization platforms like Patreon have given them ways to accept donations directly from players to support their craft. In return, modders can offer their patrons perks, including early access to new mods. Asking for donations instead of mandatory payments lets modders profit without violating most games' end-user license agreements, giving them the freedom to focus on the hobby they love.

Ilja Jusupov, the third biggest creator on Patreon, started out by modding the shooting game "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl," adding texture packs and menus to configure other mods. He already had some programming experience, but modding is what turned it into a career.

A few years later, after he started making mods for the racing game "Assetto Corsa," he put his projects on Patreon, where he's since found success. Jusupov's Patreon brings in nearly $50,000 a month, which he attributes to the passionate fan base for "Assetto Corsa" and the consistency of his work.

Jusupov said the most challenging parts of running a successful Patreon as a modder are consistently preparing new updates to satisfy subscribers and responding to the feedback those subscribers give without sacrificing independence. "We wouldn't want to create an impression that we're not addressing our patrons' demands, but also still want to pursue new horizons and bring something new on a semi-regular basis," he said.

For other modders looking to find independent success, he recommended targeting "niche" games and taking on projects that you're passionate about. "A modification for 'GTA 5' would guarantee a large user base, but I imagine something smaller could have a lot more unsolved demands users would love to find a solution to."

Viktor "NSGolova" Radulov, a Ukrainian modder for the virtual reality rhythm game "Beat Saber," similarly said creators should "focus on helping players first and monetize later. If people are happy with your mods, they'll be happy to donate."

Radulov's Patreon projects, which include mods to add cosmetics and a leaderboard to the game, earn him over $4,500 a month. He began his programming career developing add-ons for Mac and iOS, and his interest in "Beat Saber" led him to take on modding as a hobby. While modding is currently a side hustle for him, he hopes to eventually turn modding into his sole career.

Other monetization platforms include Ko-fi and Nexus Mods. The latter lets modders earn "Donation Points" that can be redeemed for gifts or cash. Nexus Mods told BI that it has paid out over $12 million to its top creators since 2018. Some modders, like Dream and DougDoug, create content as well, using platforms like YouTube and Twitch to upload videos showcasing their mods, which can also earn them money.

"Modding forces you to learn a huge variety of skill sets, but the most important of these is 'just work it out,'" Esler said. "You don't have the virtue of an engineering team who can make new features or update existing ones, so you have to work out how to work within the confines of what's already there to make something new."

• Fanny Deroubaix left her job as a freelance art director to pursue modding The Sims 4 full-time.
• Learning to modify video games was challenging at first, but she enjoys the creative freedom.
• This article is part of "Trends to Bet Your Career On," a series about trending professional opportunities.

This as-told-to essay is based on an interview with Fanny Deroubaix, a 38-year-old self-employed video game modder known online as Syboulette and based in France. It has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider verified the source's income with documentation.

I didn't even know my job was a possibility before I changed careers. Becoming a full-time modder who makes custom content, such as furniture and decor assets, for The Sims 4 was a happy mistake.

I used to be a freelance art director in commercial advertising. Because all my commercial shoots were canceled during the pandemic, I played a lot of video games.

One day, I decided to build a bakery in The Sims 4, which I had not played in a long time. I wanted a kitchen set in a different color than was available, so I thought if I searched for tutorials, I could recolor it myself.

I spent maybe a week recoloring the items, and I was so proud of myself that I posted them on The Sims Resources, a website unaffiliated with The Sims 4 that lets artists share custom content for free.

Since I posted it, the set has been downloaded more than 33,000 times. Now, I do this full-time.

I expanded from recoloring to creating original items

Because I had fun recoloring the set, I learned more about 3D modeling and texturing, and I began creating original items. After a couple of months, I opened a Patreon just to help me pay for the modding software, which costs about €80 a month. My subscriptions grew, and after six months, I was earning enough money to stop freelancing.

Even though it was less money at first, I was completely free. I didn't have any clients, deadlines, or anyone to tell me what to do. I kept a few freelance jobs during the transition, but after a year or so, I was earning more than I did in my advertising job, so I thought, I'm never going back. I now make more than I did in advertising.

My work schedule

I've been doing this for four years now. Every month on my Patreon, I post a set, which includes 20 to 30 items inspired by a theme or room. All of my subscribers get early access to my sets.

I start by making a mood board and looking on Pinterest and Google for anything that inspires me. Once I've gathered references, I'll pick a number of items to create.

I try to spread my work throughout the month. I can create one item in five to eight hours, so I usually make one per day. Then, I test every item in the game and take screenshots to show my subscribers.

How I make money as a modder

Not all games endorse monetized mods. The Sims 4 modders are not allowed to officially sell their creations, but The Sims allows modders to release content for free with monetized early access. This means people who subscribe to my Patreon get my items three weeks in advance, and then my custom content becomes free for everyone.

When I started, I only had Patreon and The Sims Resource, which pays featured artists. After a year, I created my own website with ads, which also created some income. Patreon is still my biggest source of income.

Occasionally, I'll have an opportunity from an outside company, like the collaboration I did last year with The Sims for my official Creator Kit. The Sims also collaborated with CurseForge to create an official platform for custom content, and I earn income from that website as well.

The challenges and rewards of modding

The learning curve to modding was very steep in the beginning. I taught myself using online courses for design software like Blender and Adobe Substance 3D. Over time, I tried to modify more difficult items, but it required a lot of patience.

I also became a more public figure as a Sims 4 modder by sharing on social media and streaming on Twitch. Some players have negative opinions about my job, and some pirate my creations, but this comes with any creative career.

Still, it's the perfect job because I don't rely on anyone. Even though I have a suggestion channel on my Discord so fans can suggest ideas, I can do whatever I want. It's full creative liberty.

I've always wanted to do something more creative than what I was doing in advertising. It's so nice to have people playing with your creations and sending you screenshots, like "Look what I made with your set."

My advice to aspiring modders

Just making a beautiful thing is not enough. Communication is very important. Be on every social media and try to reach content creators on YouTube and Twitch, because they'll show your work to the players.

You should make what you like, not what you think people will want. Everyone's trying to create stylish interiors, but sometimes we don't want what we see everywhere on Pinterest.

Also, start small. Some new creators are very gifted but start with a €5 donation subscription. That assumes people trust you, but trust needs to be earned. When I started my Patreon, my subscription was €1, and I gradually raised the price to €5.

If you've never modded before, don't create one of the most difficult items first, either. Maybe start with a table.

• Riskified's Adaptive Checkout tool uses AI to reduce fraud and false declines for merchants.
• The AI tool helped TickPick, an online marketplace, approve more orders and increase revenue.
• This article is part of "CXO AI Playbook" — straight talk from business leaders on how they're testing and using AI.

Riskified is a software company based in New York City that provides fraud management, risk intelligence, transaction reversal support, and prevention technology to online merchants. Its clients include Mastercard, Shopify, and TickPick.

TickPick is an online marketplace where users can buy and sell tickets for concerts, sports games, and other live events. The company is also based in New York City.

Situation analysis

Traditionally, fraud-prevention systems have relied on binary yes-or-no decisions to conclude whether a transaction is real. The goal is to approve authentic orders and decline fraudulent ones.

But Jeff Otto, Riskified's chief marketing officer, told Business Insider that this system has limitations and is often too rigid to keep up with the evolving fraud landscape.

"Sometimes these old yes-no answers get it right, and it's fraud," Otto said. But sometimes the system gets it wrong, and legitimate orders are falsely declined, he added.

Otto said that when transactions are falsely declined, it can be frustrating for customers. Each time it happens, companies lose the sale, which can cost them millions of dollars a year. False declines can also tarnish their service reputation when customers don't return, or they review their poor experiences.

In an effort to move away from the traditional fraud-detection model, Riskified launched Adaptive Checkout, an artificial intelligence-powered tool that analyzes orders in real time. While the tool formally launched in March 2025, some of Riskified's clients tested the product beforehand.

TickPick, for instance, began using the tool in the testing phase in November 2024 to reduce its fraud risk and improve false decline rates. The company often deals with "very large-priced tickets," such as $20,000 Super Bowl passes, Otto said.

"They've got to get that order right, but they also have to be very careful because somebody that's buying a $20,000 ticket is not someone you want to upset — and you want that customer back," he said.

Otto said Adaptive Checkout is an advancement of the company's existing fraud-detection products, with extra features designed to lower false decline rates, increase merchants' revenue, and reduce fraud.

Key staff and partners

Riskified's data science team built Adaptive Checkout in-house. Otto said the company also works closely with its clients to help design tools to help them solve their most pressing problems, including accurate transaction approvals and fraud detection.

He said he runs a customer advisory board with some of Riskified's largest clients, which meets regularly to discuss trends, new fraud cases, and ways to improve customer service.

AI in action

Adaptive Checkout uses AI to automatically identify each order's unique risk profile, which includes the customer's shopping history, actual location, billing address, and other data points from the company's network of global merchants.

Otto said the AI tool adapts an online merchant's checkout process to the transaction's risk level and then decides whether an order is legitimate or fraudulent and should be approved or denied.

Adaptive Checkout's AI helps TickPick make "intelligent decisions" for each purchase, Otto said. Cases of blatant fraud are automatically declined, while safe transactions are approved. For orders that aren't straightforward, such as when there is a problem with the customer's address or payment source, the tool requests additional details.

For example, Otto said the AI might ask the customer for their card verification value, the three- or four-digit code on the back of a credit card, or to set up a one-time password. "When we get that back, the order's approved."

He added that taking an extra step to verify that a customer is legitimate, especially for a high-value purchase, helps protect both merchants and customers.

Did it work, and how did leaders know?

TickPick tracked the transactions that were declined due to fraud risk before and after using Adaptive Checkout. Otto said it found that in the first three months of using the tool, TickPick was able to approve as much as $3 million in incremental revenue from orders that it would have previously declined due to fraud risk.

Otto said about 50 of Riskified's existing clients are using Adaptive Checkout, and Riskified continues to work closely with its clients to get feedback on new AI features and tools. Otto said the company is working on improving and adding new features to the tool later this year.

• I lived abroad and traveled solo until I fell in love with a fellow American in Guatemala.
• When he moved to the Midwest to attend law school, I followed him and tried to settle down.
• I realized I still wanted to travel, and anchoring myself to someone else wasn't the way forward.

When my partner left our life abroad for law school in the Midwest, I followed him and told myself it was all part of a bigger plan.

We'd first met as two single Americans living in Guatemala, and we jumped headfirst into the kind of whirlwind romance that feels almost mythic when you've built your life around solo travel.

We fell in love and traveled across five continents together for a year and a half. I couldn't believe my luck — for the first time, I had someone to share the dream with.

He'd made the decision to go back to school just days into our relationship, long before we knew what we'd become. So when it was finally time for him to leave, I ignored my gut feelings and convinced myself I ought to try something new, too.

I was in my late 20s, and many of my friends were starting to settle down. I figured my resistance to that kind of life was probably just the same sort of fear that I used to have about traveling.

Maybe, like travel, building a life in the Midwest was something I'd grow into if I just gave it a real shot.

I threw myself into creating a life that wasn't mine

When we first moved to St. Louis in 2023, I treated it like another adventure. I joined a gym, went on Bumble BFF dates, and even briefly played on a local rugby team, but nothing really landed.

I found myself clinging to long-distance friendships and far-off travel plans like a life raft, hoping they'd keep me afloat.

Meanwhile, my partner was immersed in the demanding, all-consuming world of law school. He worked hard to make time for us, but I usually felt more like a moon in his orbit than someone charting her own path.

Still, I kept pushing. After a year of feeling restless and lost, I booked a solo trip to Costa Rica.

I thought a month abroad by myself could be the middle ground, a way to travel while staying tethered to my partner.

The beaches were golden, the jungle lush — but I couldn't feel any of it. The trip that was supposed to help heal me didn't. Travel, the one thing that had always made me feel alive, now left me numb.

I started wondering if I'd outgrown solo travel. Maybe I really needed to double down on staying in one place and committing to building something steady with someone else.

Looking back, I realize I had it backward.

It wasn't travel I'd outgrown — it was a life that didn't fit

Over the next year, the cracks widened. The balance of our relationship rested precariously on the idea that his dreams and goals were more important than mine.

He was encouraging of my travel, but only up to a point: We both knew long-term long distance wasn't an option for us. Eventually, we had to face the truth that we were chasing different futures, and there was no map that led to both.

After we broke up, something in me snapped back into place. For the first time in years, I could go anywhere I wanted. I didn't have to contort my dreams to fit into someone else's five-year plan.

Within weeks, I sold my share of our furniture and boarded a one-way flight to New Zealand. I bought a camper van and began writing and exploring again — this time on my own terms.

Immediately, I began to feel like myself again. I learned that you can't box up your values and only take them out on vacation.

After years of traveling alone, I had started to feel adrift, and meeting my ex felt like finding a lighthouse on an island. I thought I could anchor myself to him and that love would be enough to build a home.

When you build a future on someone else's dreams, however, you risk forgetting your own.

These days, I'm working to become my own lighthouse instead of searching for someone else's. I want to be self-lit and rooted in what I need to live a meaningful life.

And if love comes again — which I hope it does — I want it to be drawn to that light, not to a shadow I've cast to fit someone else's future.

• Amazon Flex gig workers don't have as much flexibility as other gig workers, a new report suggests.
• Some workers are locked out of the Flex app after working around five hours a day, according to the report.
• Amazon has grown Flex to deliver many of its packages over the last decade.

Amazon's Flex delivery program bills itself as "a flexible way of earning extra money on your own schedule."

A new report from a union-backed workers' rights non-profit suggests that's not quite the case.

The report, released on Wednesday by the advocacy group National Employment Law Project, points to signs that Amazon Flex workers may not have as much flexibility as Amazon suggests they do.

Flex, which Amazon started in 2015, lets gig workers deliver packages for the company using their own vehicles.

Maya Pinto, senior researcher and policy analyst at NELP, interviewed between September and May eight Amazon Flex drivers in New Jersey who are organizing. The drivers said they sometimes had trouble working as much as they wanted and on the schedules that they preferred.

Two of the Flex workers whom Pinto interviewed said Amazon's app would sometimes prevent them from signing up for more than five hours of work a day, which meant they ended up working less than 40 hours a week, including weekend shifts. The Flex drivers said that they were sometimes locked out of the app after working some shifts.

"The app lockouts are really preventing Flex drivers from being free to choose when they want to work," she said.

Amazon spokesperson Amber Plunkett told Business Insider that the company hadn't reviewed the report and that it appears to be "another attempt by NELP to intentionally leave out important context in order to fit their own narrative."

The group has conducted other worker research and advocacy efforts that have been critical of Amazon and other gig companies.

"The fact is, for nearly a decade, Amazon Flex has empowered delivery partners across the country to deliver Amazon packages on their own schedules with competitive earnings," the spokesperson said.

Amazon said that the shifts it offers to Flex drivers can vary between weeks, and also due to changes in seasonal demand.

Gig workers for apps from Flex to Uber to Instacart often say that the flexibility to work when they want is a major reason that they opt to earn money as independent contractors.

The Flex drivers' experience is one example of how gig work may not be as flexible in practice as some workers expect. Ride-hailing drivers, for instance, tend to find that demand for their services is higher during certain times of the day or days of the week, and those times may or may not align with their own availability. As a result, they may have to work outside their preferred hours or earn less than they anticipated.

One Flex driver in New Jersey, whom Pinto interviewed for the study, told BI that she frequently checks Flex when she's not working to try to claim shifts that pay around $30 an hour. That's good pay in her area, she said: Other shifts pay closer to $20 an hour.

On Reddit, some posters who say that they are Amazon Flex drivers give advice to new drivers on how to claim work. Among their tips: Figure out when shifts drop in your area and be ready to claim them the moment they're available — even if that's early in the morning. Some have also complained about issues with the app.

The driver BI spoke with said that she has sometimes been locked out of the app after working shifts for Flex.

She said that the lockouts weren't consistent, though, and she wasn't sure what caused them. The driver said she was able to claim more than five hours of work a day for this week, when Amazon is offering four days of sales for Prime Day. Amazon allows Flex workers to claim shifts up to a few days in advance.

Amazon Flex is one part of the expanding world of gig work

NELP's report points to other conditions that Flex workers face on the job.

Amazon measures workers' productivity using several metrics, such as the percentage of packages they deliver on a route.

Not all of those performance metrics are always within a Flex driver's control, according to the report. "Long queues and a lack of parking at a delivery station or a glitching Global Positioning System on a driver's smartphone can negatively affect 'on-time arrival,'" the report reads, referring to another metric Amazon uses to evaluate drivers.

Amazon uses metrics like on-time arrival to determine a driver's "standing" grade. The grade can, in turn, affect a driver's pay and access to future shifts, according to the report.

Amazon told BI that standing doesn't affect how much work a Flex driver can sign up for, and that grade accounts for circumstances outside a driver's control.

One of the report's conclusions is that Flex drivers are misclassified as independent contractors. It says they should be considered employees since Amazon's control of their working conditions, such as through metric-based standing, means that they "are not truly in business for themselves like legitimate independent contractors are."

Gig workers are generally classified as independent contractors.

And gig work continues to expand. Retailers like Walmart and Target also have their own gig workforces picking up and delivering customers' orders. Apps that bring gig work to other industries, such as nursing, have also proliferated.

"We're seeing it being used by a lot of different corporations and different industries," Pinto said.

Do you have a story to share about gig work? Contact this reporter at [email protected] or 808-854-4501.