• Trump suggested on Thursday that diversity initiatives at the FAA led to a plane crash near DC.
• The president said he was offering a series of "very strong opinions and ideas" on what happened.
• He also criticized former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Thursday offered heated criticism of diversity initiatives at the Federal Aviation Administration following a deadly plane crash near Washington, DC.

After calling for a moment of silence, Trump spent the bulk of his remarks in the White House briefing room laying out a series of diversity initiatives within the FAA that he suggested could have contributed to the crash, which happened Wednesday evening.

At the same time, Trump repeatedly acknowledged that he did not have direct evidence of a causal link between those initiatives and the crash.

"We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas," Trump told reporters.

During his remarks, Trump also criticized former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, suggesting that the department's policies under him contributed to the crash.

"You know how badly everything's run since he's run the Department of Transportation?" Trump said of Buttigieg.

Buttigieg later hit back via X: "As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying."

Pressed by a reporter on why he thought diversity initiatives might be behind the crash, Trump said: "Because I have common sense."

Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP, said in a statement that his organization was "disgusted by this display of unpresidential, divisive behavior."

"We're proud to see thousands of first responders in the DMV region unify to support the enormous recovery efforts taking place on the Potomac," Johnson said. "The President has made his decision to put politics over people abundantly clear as he uses the highest office in the land to sow hatred rooted in falsehoods instead of providing us with the leadership we need and deserve."

Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Senate commerce committee's Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations, and Innovation, pushed back strongly on Trump's comments in a call with reporters.

"I have seen zero evidence at this point that's to suggest that this collision had anything to do with DEI," Duckworth said. "Speculation at this time is highly irresponsible, and we need to get to the facts."

Vance also criticized diversity initiatives, saying: "If you go back to just some of the headlines over the past 10 years, you have many hundreds of people suing the government because they would like to be air traffic controllers, but they were turned away because of the color of their skin. That policy ends under Donald Trump's leadership."

Since Trump reassumed the presidency last week, he's taken a series of actions aimed at ending diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across the federal government, including one dealing specifically with the FAA. As a result, DEI-related offices in various agencies have shuttered.

Trump has directed agencies to compile lists of private companies to investigate over their DEI efforts, which could lead to a cascade effect in the private sector.

Many companies, including Meta, McDonald's, and Walmart, have decided in recent months to roll back or end their DEI programs.

"The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing," Meta wrote in a memo to employees. "The Supreme Court of the United States has recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI."

Target also recently said it was ending multiple DEI programs to stay "in step with the evolving external landscape."

Others, like Costco, have publicly supported DEI amid pressures from conservative activists. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon recently defended the bank's diversity initiatives in response to activist investors.

• Executives are increasingly fielding analyst questions about the business impact of DeepSeek.
• In spite of the market disruption, the early outlook is generally optimistic about the tech.
• Business Insider will keep this story updated as more companies report earnings.

Stock market surprises have a way of echoing through subsequent earnings calls, and the impact of DeepSeek is reverberating on Wall Street.

On analyst calls this week, executives have increasingly been fielding questions about the Chinese AI and what it means for their businesses.

The name DeepSeek was mentioned in at least nine earnings calls this week, according to an AlphaSense search, with only a single mention before Monday's bombshell announcement.

But in spite of the market disruption that saw wild swings in Big Tech share prices, the early outlook is generally optimistic about the tech.

On Monday, AT&T CEO John Stankey said the newer, lower-cost AI "is going to open up and facilitate new applications and business models."

Here's what business leaders are telling analysts:

AT&T

"This is a seminal technology cycle," CEO John Stankey said Monday of generative AI. "It's going to be every bit as big as the founding of the Internet when it's all said and done."

Stankey added that new breakthroughs like DeepSeek that use less processing capacity, consume less power, work more effectively in particular domains, or can be run on local devices instead of in the cloud will ultimately lead to new applications and business models.

"We're all going to have to stay on our game to make sure we use it effectively so none of us are in a disadvantaged position relative to our competitors on cost-structure effectiveness," he said.

Flex

Revathi Advaithi, CEO of mid-cap datacenter company Flex, acknowledged "a lot of noise this week," but said DeepSeek itself doesn't represent anything new in terms of demand for AI infrastructure.

"At the end of the day, compute density is still a big deal," she said. "We think lower cost in applications like DeepSeek is a good thing for the industry as a whole because it's going to drive a stronger growth in terms of the market itself."

In addition, Advaithi said lower barriers to entry could spur more widespread innovation in AI, driving additional demand for infrastructure providers like Flex.

"We haven't seen enough growth from non-Mag Seven companies and we'll start to see a lot more of that," she said. "It actually accelerates the move towards AI."

Corning

Wendell Weeks, CEO of glassmaker Corning, which produces fiber optics that are increasingly critical in high-speed networking, said the technical community has been watching DeepSeek for the last few months.

"What's super important to understand is that we need dramatic improvement in training and inference cost to make GenAI into a highly sustainable business model, and more importantly, the productivity driver that we all hope it will be," he said.

"All of us in the space are counting on many more innovations to come," he continued, adding that AI models of the future will continue to need improvements in computation and communication technologies.

Microsoft

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella mentioned DeepSeek twice in his prepared remarks during an earnings call on Wednesday.

He said that the Copilot+ PC laptops, which Microsoft has called the "fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever built," would soon be able to run DeepSeek's R1 distilled models locally.

When asked about DeepSeek by an investor, he said, "I think DeepSeek has had some real innovations. And that is some of the things that even OpenAI found in o1."

Meta

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged DeepSeek as a "new competitor" during an earnings call on Wednesday. An investor asked him about the competitive dynamic in the open-source field.

"In light of some of the recent news, you know, the new competitor, DeepSeek from China, I think it's also one of the things that we're talking about, is there's going to be an open-source standard globally, and I think for our own national advantage, it's important that it's an American standard," Zuckerberg said to investors.

He added that the emergence of DeepSeek has "only strengthened our conviction that this is the right thing for us to be focused on."

Later in the call, he said that DeepSeek did "a number of novel things" to train its model fast and cheaply, which Meta was "still digesting." He added that DeepSeek has made advances that Meta hopes to implement in its systems.

IBM

IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna fielded a DeepSeek question during an earnings call on Wednesday.

When asked about what implications DeepSeek could have for IBM or the industry at large, Krishna said, "Look, DeepSeek, I think, was a point of validation."

"We have been very vocal for about a year that smaller models and more reasonable training times are going to be essential for enterprise deployment of large language models," he said.

The tech giant's chief added that IBM has been going "down that journey" itself "for more than a year" and that it has seen "as much as 30 times reduction in inference costs" with those approaches.

"As other people begin to follow that route, we think that this is incredibly good for our enterprise clients," Krishna said.

Apple

An analyst asked Apple CEO Tim Cook for his perspective on the "DeepSeek situation" during the company's quarterly earnings call on Thursday.

"In general, I think innovation that drives efficiency is a good thing," Cook said. "That's what you see in that model."

The CEO said he thought the company's "tight integration of silicon and software" would continue to serve them well.

"From a CapEx point of view, we've always taken a very prudent, deliberative approach to our expenditure, and we continue to leverage a hybrid model, which I think continues to serve as well," Cook said, referring to Apple's AI strategy.

• Costco's commitment to diversity and inclusion is facing fresh scrutiny from Republicans.
• In a letter to CEO Ron Vachris, 19 attorneys general urged the company to end its DEI programs.
• Costco shareholders last week overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to report on potential DEI risks.

Costco appears to have a target on its back.

The wholesale club's commitment to DEI is facing fresh scrutiny from 19 Republican attorneys general who say the retailer is "clinging" to "divisive and discriminatory DEI practices."

Led by Iowa's Brenna Bird and Kansas' Kris Kobach, the group sent a letter to Costco CEO Ron Vachris urging him to "end all unlawful discrimination imposed by the company through diversity, equity, and inclusion" policies.

The letter also cites President Donald Trump's executive order from last week that encouraged private companies to end DEI-related initiatives while moving to end the programs at federal agencies.

"Costco should not have policies that discriminate in hiring based on race or gender," the letter said.

The attorneys general did not identify in their letter any specific allegations of discrimination that had occurred at Costco as a result of its diversity-related policies. However, they said that several companies had faced lawsuits related to DEI policies and that ending them would reduce Costco's legal exposure.

Last week, 98% of Costco shareholders rejected a proposal from a conservative think tank to report on any legal and financial risks arising from DEI policies.

"The overwhelming support of our shareholders' vote really puts an answer to that question," Vachris said following the news.

The attorneys general said Costco had 30 days to either notify them that it had ended its DEI policies or explain why it had not.

Many companies, including Meta, McDonald's, and Walmart, have decided in recent months to roll back or end their DEI programs. Target said on Friday that it was ending multiple DEI programs in an effort to stay "in step with the evolving external landscape."

Others, like Costco, have publicly supported DEI. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon recently defended the bank's diversity initiatives.

"We are going to continue to reach out to the Black community, the Hispanic community, the LGBT community, the veterans community," Dimon said.

If you are a Costco worker who wants to share your perspective, please contact Dominick via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Business Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a nonwork device when reaching out.

• Walmart-owned Sam's Club saw a huge jump in this year's customer satisfaction rankings.
• Meanwhile, longtime leader Costco's score remained flat.
• The report credits Sam's Club's spiffy new checkout tech with helping improve the shopper experience.

It appears Sam's Club has had enough of waiting in line.

The Walmart-owned wholesale club jumped ahead of rivals to place first in this year's customer satisfaction rankings for general merchandise retailers, scoring a whopping 85 points.

Sam's Club posted the biggest improvement of any major general merchandise retailer, and it also managed to unseat its chief rival and longtime category leader, Costco, in the top spot.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index, which publishes the annual rankings, cited Sam's Club's popular Scan & Go app feature and its new AI-powered exit tech as driving a big share of the company's appeal to shoppers.

"We're seeing a clear divide emerge between brands that are meeting the needs and expectations of younger consumers versus those that are falling behind," ACSI Director of Research Emeritus Forrest Morgeson said in a statement, adding that digital features continue to have a significant impact on younger generations' satisfaction ratings.

Costco's score of 82 remained flat for a third year, while BJ's Wholesale Club's score fell by two points from last year to 78.

Costco and BJ's did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the rankings.

The report, which is based on nearly 42,000 completed customer surveys, doesn't suggest Costco did anything wrong — it was at the top of the heap for years with its very respectable 82 points, but Sam's Club is showing that the ceiling can be higher than it has been.

Beyond Sam's Club's app and receipt-free exit, which makes it easy to shop in the warehouse without waiting in slow lines, the report also notes that the company has outperformed its peers when it comes to the speed and accuracy of online order fulfillment — especially at curbside.

For its part, Costco has dipped its toe into the digital water in recent months with a few updates like ID scanning and inventory availability, but it has nothing yet to match Sam's Club's tech, as embodied by the AI-powered exit gateways.

These rankings suggest that Costco is doing quite well with its customers — Sam's Club is just raising the bar.

Sam's Club CEO Chris Nicholas told Business Insider back in October that he wants shopping at Sam's Club to be a "delightful" experience.

"My hope is that Sam's Club, when you shop, feels like what it's like to shop in the future," he said. "This is a glimpse of that."

If you are a Costco or Sam's Club worker who wants to share your perspective, please contact Dominick via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Business Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a non-work device when reaching out

• Costco's CEO Ron Vachris said crowded parking lots are a key concern for the wholesale club.
• In some cases, busy locations are a sign that the company needs to open a new warehouse nearby.
• One recent opening in the Bay Area is situated near three existing high-volume locations.

Costco's popularity comes at a notable cost: parking at some warehouses can be downright nightmarish.

One shareholder even put the question directly to CEO Ron Vachris this week at the company's annual meeting: "What is your plan to address lack of adequate parking in your warehouses?"

Vachris said that some options include buying nearby land to add space or building upper-level parking on top of some locations.

But full parking lots generally mean busy warehouses, and that's where a more recent trend has been emerging for the company: just add a whole new warehouse nearby.

Vachris said the company refers to the move as "cannibalizing these buildings to take some pressure off."

One of Costco's most recent openings — in Pleasanton, California — is exactly this sort of play.

The new location sits between three older high-volume warehouses in the Bay Area and still managed to do the highest-ever US opening day sales for the company, with a whopping $2.9 million.

These so-called in-fill locations are an increasingly important piece of Costco's growth strategy, execs have said on earnings calls.

Last May, Vachris said eight locations were opening that year that initially cannibalized existing Costco warehouses. That accounts for about a third of the total number of new locations Costco typically opens in a year worldwide.

"We had one in Toronto that cannibalized four buildings around it, but they've built back their sales within six months," he said.

In addition, when customers spend less time trying to find a parking spot (and less time waiting in lines in the warehouse), Vachris said they're much more likely to come back more often and spend more money.

"Frequency improves significantly because members can get back into a high-volume club," he said. "And so it's strategic cannibalization."

So the next time you find yourself sitting in your car waiting for someone to Tetris a super-sized pack of toilet paper into an overstuffed Toyota Prius, it could be the first sign that Costco is dreaming up plans for a new warehouse nearby.

• Target said Friday that it is ending multiple diversity-related programs.
• A memo said the moves help the company remain "in step with the evolving external landscape."
• The reversal follows moves by several major retailers, including Walmart and Tractor Supply Co.

Target is the latest major retailer to reverse course on its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

In a Friday memo to staff, Target's chief community impact and equity officer, Kiera Fernandez, said the company is ending multiple diversity-related programs, including the planned conclusion of a racial equity initiative and the end of all external diversity surveys.

Fernandez said the strategy was based on "many years of data, insights, listening and learning" to help the company remain "in step with the evolving external landscape."

In addition, the memo said Target is renaming its "Supplier Diversity" team as "Supplier Engagement" and will evaluate its corporate partnerships.

The reversal follows moves by several major retailers in recent months, including Walmart and Tractor Supply Co., as well as this week's sweeping new rules from President Donald Trump ordering the end of DEI programs at federal agencies.

Not all companies are bowing to the mounting anti-DEI pressure. On Thursday, Costco shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a proposal from a conservative think tank to evaluate the potential legal and financial risks of the wholesale club's DEI-related policies after the company recommended investors vote against it.

In finance, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon affirmed his company's commitment to DEI and dismissed a conservative shareholder group's criticisms. "Bring them on," he said.

Target has faced pressure from conservative groups over the years in response to issues ranging from what shelves toys are sold on to the company's offering of LGBTQ+ merchandise during Pride month.

CEO Brian Cornell previously defended DEI as "good business decisions, and it's the right thing for society, and it's the great thing for our brand."

Read the memo sent to Target employees:

From: Kiera Fernandez
Subject line: Belonging at the Bullseye

Hi team,

As we close the fiscal year and welcome 2025, I want to share how my team and I have been planning for the year ahead and beyond, ensuring even closer connections to our enterprise roadmap for growth.

For more than 20 years, Target has fueled our business by building teams with diverse perspectives and experiences, creating inclusive work and guest environments that welcome all, and developing strategies that represent the U.S. consumers we serve.

We've also deepened our understanding of how building a sense of belonging for every member of our team, guests and communities can help drive our business and strengthen our culture. So, as
we kick off the new year, we will further our commitment to growth and opportunity for all through our strategy, Belonging at the Bullseye.

Many years of data, insights, listening and learning have been shaping this next chapter in our strategy. And as a retailer that serves millions of consumers every day, we understand the importance of staying in step with the evolving external landscape, now and in the future — all in service of driving Target's growth and winning together.

You can find more here, including details on the actions we're taking, with the goal of driving growth. In the coming weeks and months, you'll see me and my team continue to guide and partner across the enterprise to bring this strategy to life.

In my 23 years as a team member, there are so many things I have loved about Target and our culture. At the top of the list is our conviction to always move forward — listening, learning, growing and setting standards of excellence. I am excited about this next chapter, and confident that our business and culture will continue to be strengthened through the power of belonging.

Onward,
Kiera

If you are a Target worker who wants to share your perspective, please contact Dominick via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Business Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a non-work device when reaching out

• Costco CEO Ron Vachris confirmed rumors that Coca-Cola products are coming back to the food court.
• The decision to switch to Pepsi in 2013 caused a stir among some members.
• It's another victory for Coke, which holds around double the market share of Pepsi.

Costco members will soon be able to have their $1.50 hot dog and soda combo the way it was enjoyed more than a decade ago: with an ice-cold Coke.

On Thursday a question-and-answer portion of the company's annual shareholder meeting, CEO Ron Vachris confirmed recent rumors that Coca-Cola products are returning to the food court.

"Is the food court truly switching back to Coke products?" a questioner asked.

"Yes, that is accurate," Vachris responded. "This summer, we will be converting our food court fountain business back over to Coca-Cola."

The change reverses a move from 2013 when the warehouse club pulled Coke products in favor of Pepsi at its food courts — a move that caused a bit of a stir among some members at the time.

"You're not going to be able to please everybody," then-VP of food services Alan Bubitz told BevNET. "It's our job to preserve the integrity of the price point."

The key price point in this case being the all-important $1.50, which founder Jim Sinegal famously warned his successor Craig Jelinek not to raise under any circumstances.

The social media response to last month's rumors was mixed, but at least one Reddit user was thrilled: "If they put Cherry Coke in the mix, I'm stopping at the food court EVERY. SINGLE. TRIP."

It's yet another victory for long-dominant Coca-Cola, which holds more than double the market share of Pepsi, according to a ranking from Beverage Digest last year. Coke Classic garnered an estimated 19.2% share of the US carbonated soft drink market, while Pepsi notched 8.31%, down from its 1995 peak of 15%.

A Business Insider tally of major quick-serve brands in 2023 found that roughly half as many fast-food restaurants serve Pepsi as serve Coke.

If you are a Costco worker who wants to share your perspective, please contact Dominick via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Business Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a non-work device when reaching out

• Costco shareholders rejected a proposal to report on the risks of the company's DEI efforts.
• While several companies have walked back diversity programs, Costco's board unanimously supported theirs.
• The result comes just days after President Trump issued sweeping rules to end DEI initiatives at federal agencies.

Costco shareholders on Thursday roundly rejected a proposal from a conservative think tank to report on the potential risks of the company's DEI efforts.

An "overwhelming margin" of 98% of shares voted against the measure in the preliminary results, Costco said.

While several companies, including retailers like Walmart and Tractor Supply Co., have walked back diversity programs, Costco's board unanimously supported theirs and called for it to be voted down.

In pre-recorded messages to the meeting, a representative for the National Center for Public Policy Research called DEI programs "illegal, immoral and detrimental to shareholder value," saying that the term is "concealing a radical Marxist agenda."

In response, Costco's board chairman, Tony James, said its programs are "consistent with the company's values and code of ethics."

"We have always been purposefully non-political and a welcoming workforce has been integral to the company's culture and values since its founding," he added.

The result comes just days after President Donald Trump issued sweeping rules to end DEI initiatives for federal agencies, which could cause new challenges for private-sector vendors and contractors that do business with the government.

Research from the Conference Board last year found that less than 1% of public companies saw shareholder proposals on DEI matters, with anti-DEI proposals receiving less than 2% support.

Costco was vocal in its support of its DEI initiatives.

In its proxy statement last month, Costco criticized the NCPPR as being concerned not with real financial or legal risks to shareholder value, but instead focused on a misleading and partisan agenda.

"We believe that the proponent's request for a study reflects a policy bias with which we disagree and that further study and reporting would not be an efficient use of Company resources," the famously frugal company said.

• Walmart said it will increase compensation for around 440 market managers starting this year.
• Top earners could see total compensation of $620,000 in salary, stock grants, and bonus pay.
• The job is one step up the ladder from store manager, a position that saw big pay bumps last year.

Walmart continues to be a place where a person can earn a hefty annual pay package — without a college degree.

The retail giant said Thursday that, starting this year, it will increase compensation for around 440 market managers, each of whom are responsible for multiple stores in a given area. Walmart has roughly 4,600 US locations.

Under the plan, top earners could see total compensation of more than $600,000 in salary, stock grant, and bonus pay, a spokesperson told BI.

While the salary floor for the job is increasing from $130,000 to $160,000, the spokesperson said the broader impact on compensation for many in the position will be the increased stock grant from $75,000 to $100,000, distributed in April.

In addition, the potential maximum bonus is increasing from 90% to 100% of base pay.

All told, a market manager earning the maximum $260,000 base salary could earn $620,000 starting this year. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news.

The job is one step up the ladder from store manager, a position that saw big pay bumps last year.

Store manager base salaries now range from $90,000 to $170,000, while the total possible bonus is 200% of base pay, and is contingent on store profitability as well as top-line sales.

That role is also eligible for a stock grant of up to $20,000, bringing the total compensation for top-earning store managers to $530,000.

Walmart is also big on hiring from within. The company says three-quarters of its salaried field management team started off in hourly roles.

If you are a Walmart worker who wants to share your perspective, please contact Dominick via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Business Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a non-work device when reaching out

• Donald Trump took the stage virtually at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.
• He made a series of promises and threats about corporate tax rates, tariffs, and more.
• He also criticized Europe over its lawsuits against Meta and Google.

President Donald Trump is back, and he's making sure the whole world knows it.

Trump's virtual appearance at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was full of promises, along with threats directed at CEOs, banks, and Europe more broadly.

Trump said his message to businesses worldwide was simple: Build in America or pay up.

"If you don't make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply, you will have to pay a tariff," he said.

The president has threatened to impose a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico, which he said could begin as early as February 1. Trump had proposed a 60% tariff on China during his presidential campaign, but he said earlier this week he was considering a 10% tariff on goods from the country.

Trump said he hopes the tariffs will incentivize both domestic and foreign companies to manufacture goods in the United States because "other nations take advantage of the US." He also sees tariffs as a means to pay down the national debt, lower inflation, and create jobs.

"Under the Trump administration, there will be no better place on earth to create jobs or build factories than right here in the USA," Trump said.

Still, some economists have told BI that tariffs on goods like cars, food products, and medicine could force companies to raise prices for Americans.

For those companies that do end up moving production to US shores, Trump offered a bottom-dollar tax deal of 15%, which he described as the lowest rate of any large country.

"My message to every business in the world is very simple: Make your product in America," Trump said. "We will do the low taxes. We're bringing them down very substantially even from the original Trump tax cuts."

In renegotiating trade deals with China and the EU, Trump said he's not looking for "phenomenal," just "fair."

He also criticized the EU's regulatory enforcement actions against tech giants like Apple, Google, and Meta (who were major donors to his inauguration and whose CEOs were prominent guests), saying the fines are a form of unfair taxation.

"Whether you like them or not, they're American companies, and they shouldn't be doing that," he said.

Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America, asked about how his administration would balance his many executive orders with continuing GDP growth and bringing inflation down.

"I think it's going to actually bring down inflation. It's going to bring up jobs," Trump responded, adding he would work to bring down the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15% if companies make their products in the United States.

"The 15% is about as low as it gets and by far the lowest of a large country," Trump said, adding it would "create a tremendous buzz." He added that he brought the corporate tax rate down from 40% to 21% in his first term. (The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 cut corporate taxes from 35% to 21%.)

The president also called out big banks, accusing them of discriminating against conservatives.

"Many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America," he said. "I hope you're going to open your banks to conservatives because what you're doing is wrong."

In a public statement, Bank of America said it "welcomes conservatives" and would "never close accounts for political reasons and don't have a political litmus test."

The president also thanked Saudi Arabia after it announced it would invest $600 billion in the US, but Trump added he would ask for more.

"It's also reported today in the papers that Saudi Arabia will be investing at least $600 billion in America. But I'll be asking the crown prince, who's a fantastic guy, to round it out to around $1 trillion," Trump said, referring to Saudi Arabia's ruler, Mohammed bin Salman. "I think they'll do that because we've been very good to them."

"I'm also going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil."

He said that Saudi Arabia didn't "show a lot of love" by not lowering the price of oil already, which he said would have the added benefit of ending the Russia-Ukraine war "immediately."

"You got to bring down the oil price. You got to end that war," he said. "With oil prices going down, I'll demand that interest rates drop immediately. And likewise, they should be dropping all over the world. Interest rates should follow us."

At that, Steve Schwarzman, the CEO of Blackstone Group, said: "I'm sure the crown prince of Saudi Arabia will be really glad you gave this speech today."

• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said he was looking at tariffs as an economic tool.
• Speaking in Davos, he said they could help address trade imbalances and boost national security.
• "National security trumps a little bit more inflation," he said.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Wednesday that while tariffs may lead to consumer price increases, they have other potential benefits.

"They're an economic weapon, you know, depending how you use it," he told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

President Donald Trump has said he intends to hit Mexico and Canada with 25% tariffs and China with an additional 10% tariff starting February 1.

Many economists and critics have argued that US consumers ultimately bear the costs of tariffs and that the strategy is at odds with Trump's promise to bring prices down.

Dimon acknowledged the debate over the policy's contribution to inflation but said there were important considerations aside from keeping costs as low as possible.

"If it's a little inflationary but it's good for national security, so be it," he said, adding, "National security trumps a little bit more inflation."

Dimon previously said he was "cautiously pessimistic" about the economy as a second Trump presidency begins, even against a backdrop of geopolitical uncertainties.

Tariffs, he said on Wednesday, can be a way to "bring people to the table" to address complex issues like unfair trade balances and state subsidies.

"We'll see how it gets played out," he said. "We're going to find out."

• Google's investment chief said there's a "tremendous" opportunity in working with Donald Trump.
• Ruth Porat, formerly Google's CFO, was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
• Her remarks come a day after Google CEO Sundar Pichai was seated onstage at Trump's inauguration.

President Donald Trump is back, and Google's chief investment officer says the tech giant is ready to work with the returning administration.

"I think the president and his team have been clear that they see technology as an asset for the country," said Ruth Porat, speaking Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "They see the economic upside that comes with executing the right way. They want to clear away some of the impediments to investing."

Porat, who served as Google's CFO for nearly a decade before shifting into a new role as its president and chief investment officer in 2024, added that she expects the administration to act quickly on issues like permitting that are key to powering investment and growth.

"I think that there's a tremendous amount of opportunity to keep working with him as we did in Trump 1.0," she said.

Porat's remarks come a day after her boss, CEO Sundar Pichai, was seated on the dais at the US Capitol for Trump's inauguration — a row behind Trump's family members and ahead of several of his cabinet nominees.

As Trump begins his second term, Google is also embroiled in multiple antitrust lawsuits with the US Justice Department related to its search and advertising businesses.

Prosecutors under the Biden administration asked a federal judge to force Google to sell off its Chrome business following a ruling in August that said the company illegally acted as a monopoly in its search business.

In October, responding to a question about a potential breakup, Trump said that Google has "a lot of power" and that he would "do something" about it.

"How they became a power is, you know, really the discussion," he said. "At the same time, it's a very dangerous thing because want to have great companies — we don't want China to have these companies. Right now, China is afraid of Google."

Since then, Google's CEO Pichai has met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Trump called Pichai "a great guy" during a podcast interview with Joe Rogan, saying they had also spoken on the phone.

Earlier this month, Google more than tripled its 2017 donation to Trump's inauguration fund with a million-dollar donation, joining other tech giants in making seven-figure gifts.

In Davos, Porat said that "nothing is easy."

"It requires each of us to constructively engage — as I expect they will — as we most certainly want to make sure things get landed in the most productive way," she said.

• President Trump took aim at federal DEI policies in his inaugural address on Monday.
• He pledged to reverse executive orders from Biden, in favor of a "merit-based" society.
• On Tuesday, the White House issued a presidential action ending DEI-based hiring in the FAA.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the federal government.

Federal agencies and departments have 60 days from the signing of the order to end DEI-related practices.

The executive order will be carried out by the US Office of Personnel Management and the Attorney General, who will review all existing federal employment practices, union contracts, and training policies to ensure compliance with the DEI termination order.

"Federal employment practices, including Federal employee performance reviews, shall reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work and shall not under any circumstances consider DEI or DEIA factors, goals, policies, mandates, or requirements," the order read.

A separate order for the FAA

On Tuesday, Trump issued a separate presidential action ending DEI-based hiring in the Federal Aviation Agency.

All DEI initiatives in the FAA, the order said, will be replaced with practices of "hiring, promoting, and otherwise treating employees on the basis of individual capability, competence, achievement, and dedication."

As of Tuesday night, the contents of at least two web pages detailing DEI initiatives and DEI hiring at the FAA have been taken down.

The FAA and its overseeing body, the Department of Transportation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Targeting DEI

Trump also used his inaugural address Monday to target DEI initiatives in the federal government.

"This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life," he said Monday. "We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based."

He said it will be official US policy that "there are only two genders: male and female."

The remarks echoed his statements during a rally a day earlier when he pledged to end DEI mandates in government and the private sector.

Like many orders Trump signed on his first day, the move aims to undo several orders issued by Joe Biden during his presidency.

In one executive action from June 2021, Biden said the federal government is the largest employer in the nation and, thus, "must be a model for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, where all employees are treated with dignity and respect."

In response, the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Talent Sourcing for America initiative was launched in September of 2022.

A 2022 report from the Office of Personnel Management said the government-wide DEIA initiative included a plan to prioritize equity for LGBTQI+ employees by "expanding the usage of gender markers and pronouns that respect transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary employees; and working to create a more inclusive workplace."

The report showed minimal changes in the federal workforce's demographics between fiscal years 2017 and 2021, which encompassed most of Trump's first term. This included "minor" changes in the shares of the federal workforce by race and gender.

A 2024 report from OPM found minor increases in federal staffing diversity under the Biden administration after the DEIA objectives were announced, but indicated the office's targets for diversity and equity initiatives were not met.

Though there had been only slight workforce demographic changes under the Biden administration, the Trump administration's first official statement released Monday reiterated his plans to "freeze bureaucrat hiring except in essential areas to end the onslaught of useless and overpaid DEI activists buried into the federal workforce," and "establish male and female as biological reality and protect women from radical gender ideology."

Meanwhile, several companies — including the nation's largest private employer, Walmart — have been reversing course on DEI initiatives in the weeks following Trump's election in November.

• Trump said Monday that the US is in an energy emergency, pushing his agenda of higher output.
• He signed executive orders that would make it easier to produce oil and gas in the United States.
• The US is already producing and exporting record amounts of oil and gas.

President Donald Trump on Monday started to fulfill his promise to "drill, baby, drill" to boost US oil and gas production.

On his first day in office, Trump signed a declaration of a national energy emergency, an executive order that will allow the returning president to accelerate permitting for energy projects including pipelines and power plants. One of the Trump administration's priorities is to "use all necessary resources" to build energy infrastructure.

Another part of Trump's energy plan is to open up Alaska — which is rich in natural resources — for energy exploration and extraction. On Monday night, the president signed an executive order reversing Biden's restrictions on oil and gas exploration in the state.

"We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it," he said in his inaugural address.

The US, Trump said Monday, is home to "the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it," promising to lower prices and "export American energy all over the world."

Trump said on the campaign trail that "unleashing American energy" — specifically oil and gas — and reversing the Biden administration's climate rules would lower prices at the pump and be an economic boon. For many Americans concerned about inflation, the message resonated.

On Monday, flanked by CEOs of the country's largest tech companies, Trump said he would end the Green New Deal and cancel the electric vehicles mandate.

In a statement, the White House said Trump would end leases to wind farms and withdraw once again from the Paris Climate Accord.

Still, delivering on those promises may prove difficult. Economists and energy analysts told Business Insider that oil and gas prices are largely dictated by global factors outside a president's control. Proponents of President Joe Biden's signature climate law also warned that unraveling it would undercut a manufacturing boom, predominantly in Republican states, where new factories are churning out solar panels, electric vehicles, and batteries that can reduce planet-warming emissions from fossil fuels.

In addition to fossil fuel production, administration officials said in a statement the orders will aim to boost supplies of non-fuel minerals and that the actions will increase consumer choice for a range of manufactured products.

In the US, about 24% of oil and 11% of natural gas are produced on federal lands and waters, per industry estimates. The vast majority comes from private land owned by individuals and companies. The Biden administration has limited drilling in federal areas like the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska and paused new permits for terminals to export gas overseas.

Groups representing the fossil fuel industry, including the American Petroleum Institute, said those moves cost jobs at home and threaten global energy security. The industry also argues the US needs more oil and gas to meet AI's skyrocketing demand for around-the-clock power.

US oil and gas production are already at record levels

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods suggested in November press interviews that the Trump administration would have little effect on production. The industry is already producing plenty of oil and gas, and there isn't an opportunity to unleash a lot of production in the near term, he said.

"Certainly we wouldn't see a change based on a political change but more on an economic environment," Woods told CNBC.

Trump's nominees to two key Cabinet positions said they would restore America's "energy dominance" during Senate confirmation hearings last week."

Chris Wright, Trump's nominee to lead the Energy Department, said he would back all forms of energy, including fossil fuels, nuclear power, and renewables. He said he believed climate change is a "global challenge" that needed to be solved — a shift from some of his past comments denying there was a crisis and criticizing renewables as "unreliable and costly." Doug Burgum, Trump's pick to lead the Interior Department, promised to expand oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters.

Energy analysts told BI that oil majors have been more focused on returning money to shareholders than investing in new projects to boost production, in part because China is experiencing an economic downturn. For decades, China has driven global oil demand as it built new factories and real estate and the country's wealthier population bought cars. However, the housing market is now in disarray due to millions of unsold apartments and consumers are driving more EVs, crimping demand for oil.

Biden's climate law is creating jobs

China has managed to rapidly become a leader in renewable energy technology and controls the vast majority of the critical minerals needed for it. The Biden administration sought to catch up, in part by enacting the Inflation Reduction Act. University of Pennsylvania researchers estimated that the law would invest about $1 trillion over the next decade in developing and manufacturing technology like solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars, batteries, and nuclear power.

Since the IRA was enacted in 2022, more than 1,000 manufacturing facilities and 350,000 jobs have been announced. Millions of Americans have also claimed more than $8 billion in tax breaks for solar panels, EVs, and heat pumps, which could lower their energy costs over the long term.

Trump has called the law the "green new scam" and promised to terminate it.

• Costco workers affiliated with the Teamsters union have voted in favor of going on strike.
• The strike will start if no deal is reached by the January 31 deadline.
• Teamsters president Sean O'Brien has pledged to win "the strongest contract in Costco's history."

Costco workers are ready to strike.

Unionized warehouse employees affiliated with the Teamsters union have voted "overwhelmingly" in favor of going on strike, the union told Business Insider.

The vote came ahead of a January 31 contract expiration deadline. The contract covers over 18,000 workers across the United States, including the recently unionized warehouse in Norfolk, Virginia. Costco employs over 300,000 people worldwide, over 200,000 of which work in the United States.

"Costco's greedy executives have less than two weeks to do the right thing," Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien said in a statement. "If they refuse, they'll have no one to blame but themselves when our members go on strike."

Representatives for Costco did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI on the vote. Costco CEO Ron Vachris addressed the negotiations during a quarterly earnings call in December, saying that the company is focused on a "fair and timely process" to reach an agreement.

"We have a 40-year track record of dealing fairly with the Teamsters union," he added. "And we're going to do everything we can to take care of those employees as we do all of our employees."

Last week, local chapters in New York, California, and Costco's home state of Washington held practice picket activities, carrying signs reading "Just Sampling" and "A taste of what's to come."

Of those who participated in the strike authorization vote, 85% voted in favor. The vote empowers the Teamsters bargaining committee to call for a strike once the contract has expired.

"We are the backbone of Costco," Bryan Fields, a Costco worker in Baltimore and member of Teamsters Local 570, said in a statement. "We drive its success and generate its profits."

O'Brien has pledged to win "the strongest contract in Costco's history," with a raft of proposals, including higher wages and expanded benefits.

Bargaining is set to resume on Monday.

If you are a Costco worker who wants to share your perspective, please contact Dominick via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Business Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a non-work device when reaching out.

• At least six retail brands have said they're closing US stores this year, totaling over 2,000 locations.
• Twice-bankrupt Party City is the largest chain on the list, with 700 stores facing closure.

A Business Insider tally of disclosures from six retail chains found more than 2,000 stores have closed or are set to close across the US in 2025.

The number is up slightly from last year's total but down from 2023, when the collapse of Bed Bath & Beyond contributed to the shuttering of more than 2,800 locations.

UBS analysts last year estimated US retail closures could reach 45,000 stores by 2029, led largely by smaller stores going out of business.

Meanwhile, larger firms such as Walmart, Costco, Target, and Home Depot continue to expand.

Topping this year's list is the twice-bankrupt Party City, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in late December with 700 stores facing closure.

See the list of major closures below.

Party City: 700 stores

Party City filed for Chapter 11 protection in late December, after CNN reported that the company was closing all of its stores.

Big Lots: 480 stores

Big Lots received a last-minute lifeline to remain in operation after bankruptcy, but its new owners are selling the leases to 480 stores.

Walgreens: 450 stores

Walgreens said it is on track to close 450 locations through the end of 2025 as part of its multi-year effort to reduce its store fleet.

Family Dollar: 370 stores

Dollar Tree said it will close 370 locations as leases expire, following last year's closure of 600 stores as it leans away from the Family Dollar brand and expands the Dollar Tree footprint.

Macy's: 66 stores

Macy's has identified 66 stores across 22 states that will close this year, the first of 150 locations that the retailer plans to shutter through 2026. Following the closings, there will be about 350 Macy's left.

Kohl's: 27 stores

Kohl's said it will close 27 locations across 15 states, which represent a small fraction of the overall 1,150-plus store fleet the company says is healthy, strong, and profitable. The closures are expected to be completed by April.

• Walmart has a shiny new 350-acre headquarters in its hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas.
• The sprawling corporate campus features bike trails, a food hall, and childcare facilities.
• Here's an inside look at the multibillion-dollar project.

Walmart has come a long way since 1962.

The world's largest retailer just officially opened a new 350-acre headquarters in its hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas.

Friday marks the start of a phased opening, with two office buildings open now and 10 more to follow.

Elsewhere on the sprawling campus, employees and visitors can access bike trails, a food hall, childcare facilities, and a massive fitness center.

"Our founder, Sam Walton, knew that when we all work together, ideas flourish," CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement. "This campus will allow us to keep making a positive difference in our customers' lives for generations to come."

Here's an inside look at the multibillion-dollar project.

Sam Walton Hall sits at the heart of campus.

The building features conference and educational facilities to host gatherings of corporate workers and field employees.

Inside the hall is a two-story, 200,000-square-foot auditorium.

The hall hosts the campus' official grand opening on Friday.

Outside Walton Hall is an amphitheater named for Sam's wife, Helen.

Terraced seating and a tree-lined lawn will be available for company and community gatherings, Walmart said. More broadly, there are 750,000 native plants, including 5,000 trees that are indigenous to the Ozarks.

A network of bike paths connects the various buildings.

The 350-acre campus has seven miles of paths and more than 1,000 bike spaces.

Employees and visitors can also rent bikes to get around.

Walmart says green spaces represent half of the total campus.

One of the first office buildings to open is named "Cheer."

Many stores start the day with a cheer that spells out the letters of the name Walmart.

Walmart has made a big push to get employees back to in-person work.

Last year, the company required many workers to relocate to Bentonville from other areas of the country.

Walmart says its campus represents the largest application of mass timber construction technology in the US.

The buildings are designed for LEED Platinum environmental certification, and feature a slew of eco-friendly tech, such as dynamic glass and LED lighting.

8th & Plate is a "dynamic food hall" that offers food from around the world.

The food hall features seven coffee shops, spaces for food trucks, grab-and-go options, street-front retail, and a rooftop lounge.

Childcare is provided at the Little Squiggles Enrichment Center.

The center opened last May and offers services for children from infancy to pre-K.

Affordable, on-site childcare was one of the most-requested amenities by employees.

The 73,000-square-foot facility accommodates 500 children and is the largest childcare center in northwest Arkansas, Walmart says.

Early last year, the company unveiled the Walton Family fitness center.

The massive 360,000-square-foot center features a yoga studio, pools, a nutrition center, and more, serving more than 31,000 employees and family members.

True-blue Walmart fans can stop by the welcome center to pick up company gear.

Earlier in the week, Walmart unveiled its first brand refresh in 17 years, with tweaks to its colors, font, and logos.

• Kohl's plans to close 27 underperforming stores by April.
• The retailer operates more than 1,150 locations across the US.
• Here's the full list of locations that will shutter in the coming months.

Kohl's has announced the closure of more than two dozen stores it deemed underperforming.

The Wisconsin-based retailer has struggled in recent quarters with "frankly disappointing" sales, in the words of then-CEO Tom Kingsbury last quarter. Kingsbury stepped down from the job on January 15.

The 27 locations spread across 15 states that are shuttering represent a small fraction of the overall 1,150-plus store fleet the company says is healthy, strong, and profitable. The closures are expected to be completed by April.

"As we continue to build on our long-term growth strategy, it is important that we also take difficult but necessary actions to support the health and future of our business for our customers and our teams," Kingsbury said in a statement last week.

In addition to the closing stores, the company said it will shutter an e-commerce fulfillment center in San Bernardino, California, as newer centers and fulfill-from-store capabilities have made the 15-year-old facility unnecessary.

Kohl's said employees at affected locations have the option of applying to another open role or taking a "competitive" severance package.

Here is the list of closing Kohl's locations

Alabama

• Spanish Fort
  21000 Town Center Ave.

Arkansas

• Little Rock West
  13909 Chenal Pkwy.

California

• Balboa (San Diego)
  5505 Balboa Ave.
• Encinitas
  134 N El Camino Real
• Fremont
  43782 Christy St.
• Mountain View
  350 Showers Dr.
• Napa
  1116 1st St.
• Pleasanton
  4525 Rosewood Dr.
• Point West (Sacramento)
  1896 Arden Way
• San Rafael
  5010 Northgate Dr.
• San Luis Obispo
  205 Madonna Rd.
• Westchester
  8739 S Sepulveda Blvd.

Colorado

• Arapahoe Crossing (Aurora)
  6584 S Parker Rd.

Georgia

• Duluth
  2050 W Liddell Rd.

Idaho

• Boise
  400 N Milwaukee St.

Illinois

• Plainfield
  11860 S Route 59
• Spring Hill (West Dundee)
  3000 Spring Hill Ring Rd.

Massachusetts

• Stoughton
  501 Technology Center Dr.

New Jersey

• East Windsor
  72 Princeton Hightstown Rd.

Ohio

• Blue Ash
  4150 Hunt Rd.
• Forest Park (Cincinnati)
  100 Cincinnati Mills Dr.

Oregon

• Portland Gateway
  10010 NE Halsey St.

Pennsylvania

• Pottstown
  351 W Schuylkill Rd.

Texas

• North Dallas
  18224 Preston Rd.

Utah

• Riverton
  13319 S 3600 W Ste 13LOT

Virginia

• Herndon
  2100 Centreville Rd.
• Williamsburg
  100 Gristmill Plz

• Viral imitations of Hermès' Birkin bag have boosted awareness of Walmart's e-commerce marketplace.
• The positive attention is a tailwind as Walmart aims to take on Amazon's online dominance.
• Dupes like the so-called "Wirkin" can also pose a challenge for the retailer's brand relationships.

For all of the fanfare they received last month, the internet-famous dupes of the ultra-luxe Birkin handbags have been disappearing from Walmart's e-commerce marketplace.

Walmart itself has been fairly quiet about the trend.

"In some instances, products may no longer be available," a Walmart spokesperson told Business Insider, declining to comment on the items specifically. The spokesperson added that the company encourages shoppers to explore its website for "exciting alternatives."

The frenzy around these imitation luxury accessories, available for a fraction of the price of the designer versions, highlights how such an increase in attention can be a somewhat mixed bag for online platforms like Walmart. An imitation bag going viral on TikTok can bring publicity to an online marketplace while also posing legal and reputational risks for brand owners.

"The Birkin dupes on Walmart's site have attracted such attention because of the juxtaposition of a very price-focused brand and a very aspirational product," GlobalData retail analyst Neil Saunders told BI. "It underlines how much its marketplace has evolved over recent years. Walmart has been actively expanding the offer to attract more consumers, especially younger and more affluent ones."

Walmart executives have touted the massive assortment of products available via third-party sellers in its online marketplace, which launched in 2009. Last quarter, CEO Doug McMillon said the SKU count is approaching 700 million items — a figure that dwarfs the 120,000 SKUs typically carried in a Walmart Supercenter.

McMillon has spoken at length about how important a huge selection of products is for Walmart to become the first place shoppers think of when they need anything from a dozen eggs sold by Walmart to a pair of sneakers from a third-party seller.

"When somebody thinks about buying anything and they want to go search or they want to go find a specific item, we want to be in that consideration set and that requires 1P and 3P," he said in a September 2023 earnings call, referring to first-party and third-party goods.

Amazon largely achieved this place in American consumers' minds by offering more than 600 million products on its site, of which 588 million are sold by third-party vendors, according to Capital One.

But what happens when sellers offer — and shoppers want — products that might infringe on another company's intellectual property rights?

Neither Walmart nor Hermès have said publicly whether an official complaint was filed, but McMillon has often said the company prizes its brand partnerships and wants to keep suppliers happy.

A Walmart employee who works in the Marketplace division told BI the company takes a cautious approach with potentially risky listings.

"We sure block a lot of stuff I could just get on Amazon," he said.

While many of the listings for the imitation Birkin bags are no longer available on Walmart's website, similar bags were available on Amazon as of Wednesday morning.

One third-party seller on Amazon was offering a $100 "Wirkin welmes" leather handbag, using keywords that were popularized in reference to the delisted dupes on Walmart.com. The listing was taken down after BI contacted Amazon for comment.

Amazon told BI it automatically scans every product listing for potential IP infringement, and said there is a difference between IP-infringing products and products that otherwise resemble brand-name products. The company also said several bags have been removed for violating marketplace policies, including the listing mentioned above.

Balancing new customer awareness with protecting brands could help explain Walmart's relatively low-key handling of the Wirkin trend publicly. However, this likely won't be the last time the company will have to thread this needle.

The Walmart employee said the Marketplace team regularly writes new rules to address new situations, and that AI image recognition is increasingly being trained to flag listings for review by human staffers.

Opening the marketplace to an ever-larger number of sellers means there will be no shortage of listings that will go on to be deleted. Those future listings will likely come and go with less attention as more people realize Walmart's offering goes well beyond its physical stores.

If anything, the kerfuffle over the Wirkin shows that Walmart's marketplace ambitions have reached a key milestone, attracting a level of viral attention in league with existing titans like Amazon and eBay.

• Walmart just unveiled its latest brand refresh — the first major change in 17 years.
• The new logo draws retro inspiration from one of founder Sam Walton's iconic trucker hats.
• Walmart said blue and yellow evoke the retail giant's past and look forward to a more digital future.

What's old is new again.

With Walmart's latest brand refresh — the first major change in 17 years — the company is harkening back to the styling of its founder Sam Walton.

The company said its new logo draws retro inspiration from one of Walton's iconic trucker hats, which is featured in his portrait for the cover of his autobiography "Made in America."

"Walton was known for preferring baseball caps to staid business clothes, exemplified in this trucker-style hat he wore," says the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, where another design is exhibited.

Walton's hats also served a practical function as he famously flew his small airplane around the country, sometimes dropping in unannounced from the sky on stores to check on their operations.

"This update, rooted in the legacy of our founder, Sam Walton, demonstrates our evolving capabilities and longstanding commitment to serve our customers of today and tomorrow," Walmart's US chief marketing officer, William White, said in a statement.

"While the look and feel of our brand is more contemporary, our refreshed brand identity reflects Walmart's enduring commitment to both Sam's principles and serving our customers however they need us," he added.

The new font is bolder and blockier than its predecessor, and the blue is a deeper hue than the slightly teal version of before.

The company says the "True Blue" and "Spark Yellow" evoke its past and look forward to a more digital future as the company aims to push beyond traditional brick-and-mortar retail and take a bigger bite of the e-commerce market.

The last time Walmart rebranded was in 2008, when it dropped the punctuation between "Wal" and "Mart," which it had for 44 years.

That year also saw the arrival of the yellow spark, an icon that the company says represents six key facets of its commitment to customers and associates.

If you are a Walmart worker who wants to share your perspective, please contact Dominick via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Business Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a non-work device when reaching out