• Steve Ballmer said letting go of Microsoft emotionally took a year but was the right move.
• He nearly sold all his Microsoft stocks to detach, but stayed loyal after a colleague's advice.
• Ballmer said he's now found balance — loyal, detached, and focused on philanthropy.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the best move he made after stepping down from the tech giant in 2014 was emotionally detaching from the company — though he admits it wasn't easy and took nearly a year to fully let go.

In an interview on the "Acquired" podcast published Monday, Ballmer opened up about the emotional challenge of walking away from the company he helped build over three decades.

"It was my baby," said Balmer, who replaced cofounder Bill Gates as CEO in 2000 and led the company until 2014. "I was there so early, and I hired basically everybody."

Ballmer, known for his now-iconic, sweat-drenched "Developers! Developers! Developers!" chant at an early 2000s conference, said he initially tried to stay involved, not operationally but as an ultra-engaged investor.

He said he read everything, attended conferences and even went to a shareholder meeting where, by his own account, he was "kind of a dick."

"I was too emotionally attached," he said. "You can't control anything anymore, so it's hard. You don't want to stay quite that emotionally attached because it's like, 'Oh, I got to get back in and fix everything.'"

Over the next year, Ballmer said he slowly worked on letting go. But his emotional attachment deepened when he and his wife, philanthropist Connie Snyder, began ramping up their philanthropy, eventually prompting him to consider selling all his Microsoft stocks.

"It was nothing to do with money," he said. "My only thought process was emotional detachment."

But just before he could hit the sell button, he said a former Microsoft colleague working with him in finance stopped him.

"She said, 'You can't sell. This is going to be worth a lot more'," he said. "And I said, 'Look, my loyalty trumps my emotional attachment," and he held on to his stocks.

Now, Ballmer said he's found balance.

"I'm just going to be loyal and emotionally detached enough for this to be okay," he said.

He said he no longer obsesses over the stock's highs or lows and has peace of mind knowing the foundation his wife and he built is thriving regardless.

• Mark Cuban said tariff uncertainty is forcing firms to stockpile and freeze prices.
• Inflation cooled as businesses are delaying price hikes amid trade policy confusion.
• Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent said there's no price hikes yet, but firms are adapting differently.

Mark Cuban says there's a simple explanation for why inflation hasn't risen as much as economists predicted in recent months — and it all comes down to President Donald Trump's tariffs and the trade uncertainty they've triggered.

In an X post on Sunday, the billionaire entrepreneur said businesses are playing a high-stakes guessing game with tariffs, which is stopping them from raising prices.

"They borrow money or use their available cash to front-run the tariffs and buy as much inventory as they can. 3, 6 months or longer," Cuban wrote.

This kind of stockpiling is intended to lock in better prices ahead of potential tariff hikes — but it comes at a cost, Cuban said: using cash that could earn interest or taking on loans with high rates, sometimes between 10% and 20%.

Cuban argued that this preemptive buying isn't a growth move but rather risk management. Companies are sacrificing financial flexibility just to stay ahead of unpredictable trade policy.

And because they don't know whether tariffs will rise, stay in place, or be rolled back, they're reluctant to pass on costs to consumers.

"In fact, they may even discount some as a way to clear out inventory and replenish cash or pay down expensive loans," Cuban said.

This strategy, he said, isn't limited to startups or small businesses.

"This is all companies facing this," Cuban added, noting that even Walmart has said price increases are more likely in the future, reflecting the wait-and-see posture of many major firms.

As a result, prices stay flatter than expected, even as other costs rise.

The Federal Reserve's favorite inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures index, cooled in April, rising just 0.2%, down from a 0.7% jump in March. This brought the annual inflation rate to 2.1% in April — the lowest since March 2021 and below consensus estimates of 2.2%.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed parts of Cuban's analysis in his Sunday appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," but framed it more optimistically.

"Thus far, there have been no price increases," Bessent said. "Everything has been alarmist. The inflation numbers are actually dropping."

He pointed to falling gas and food prices and noted that consumer earnings rose 0.8% last month, calling the trend "pro-consumer."

Still, he acknowledged uneven outcomes among major brands.

"Different companies are doing different things; they're making decisions based on their customers, what they think they're able to pass along to their customers, what they want to do to keep their customers," he said, citing Amazon and Home Depot as examples of firms holding prices steady.

Cuban, however, remained skeptical of any stability.

"The variance in tariffs has made it impossible to know how to manage costs," he wrote.

That unpredictability, not just raw input costs, is what's preventing companies from planning, investing, and ultimately, raising prices with confidence, he added.

• Travel companies said European trips to the US dipped in early 2025 but are starting to rebound.
• Price reductions and deposit incentives are driving travel back to the US ahead of the summer.
• Trump's tariffs sparked boycotts of US brands, but travel firms see no structural collapse.

Despite political tensions and growing anti-American sentiment, US travel is holding steady among European tourists — especially when prices drop.

From January to April, several major travel platforms observed a slowdown in European bookings to the US.

Thomas Cook reported a dip that exceeded typical seasonal fluctuations.

"We did observe a softening in bookings to the US between January and April this year — a dip that goes beyond the usual seasonal adjustments," Nicholas Smith, holidays digital director at Thomas Cook and eSky Group, told Business Insider.

However, by May, things began to shift. Smith said aggressive pricing strategies, including hotel rate cuts of around 25% and deposits of just over $1, triggered an uptick in bookings.

"This has, in turn, helped stimulate demand, particularly among UK travelers adept at spotting good deals," he said. "We expect this rebound to continue into the summer months."

Other travel firms echoed that optimism.

TravelPerk, which serves business and corporate travelers, said bookings to the US from Europe rose 1% year over year in April, while US to Europe bookings climbed by 14%. Cancellation rates remained stable at 7 to 9%.

Etraveli Group, which analyzed bookings through April, found that while demand for flights from the EU to the US declined by 7%, overall trip orders to the US from Europe jumped 19.5% year over year.

However, bookings to other intercontinental destinations grew even faster, up 24.3% overall, 29% for Africa, and 25% for Asia. Shorter intra-European trips surged by 29%.

Tariff backlash

These shifts are unfolding against a politically charged backdrop.

President Donald Trump's escalating trade war, with tariffs on EU imports swinging from 20% to 10% and now potentially rising to 50%, has triggered grassroots consumer backlash across Europe.

Apps like Brandsnap in the Netherlands and Detrumpify in France are helping Europeans identify US brands to avoid in supermarkets and online.

In Denmark, major retailer Salling Group labelled European-made products with black star labels, while Norway's largest oil bunkering operation company, Haltbakk Bunkers, made headlines for briefly refusing to refuel US Navy ships.

Meanwhile, high-profile American brands like Tesla and Coca-Cola are already seeing a fallout.

Tesla's sales in Europe dropped by 46% between January and April, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, and McDonald's reported a global sales dip linked to "anti-American sentiment," especially in Northern Europe.

This behavior may reflect more than a passing political reaction. In its March Consumer Expectations survey, the European Central Bank found that 44% of about 19,000 respondents preferred to switch away from US brands, regardless of tariff levels.

The bank warned that this suggested a "possible long-term structural shift in consumer preferences away from US products and brands."

It may not be a long-term shift

French hotel giant Accor added to the concerns last month. CEO Sébastien Bazin told Bloomberg that summer bookings to the US from Europe were down 25%.

Yet, travel industry analysts cautioned against assuming this signals a long-term shift.

"While there is evidence of a temporary slowdown at this stage, the combination of price adjustments and strong interest in iconic US destinations suggests the market is poised to recover momentum," said Smith of Thomas Cook.

Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy, told BI that politics isn't the only factor deterring travelers.

"Some of it is a genuine disinclination against spending your holidays in the US," he said, "but much of it is the fear of harassment at the border."

• Notable speakers have taken the stage at college graduation ceremonies in recent weeks.
• They've given new grads advice on taking risks, building community, and navigating AI at work.
• Here are some highlights.

High-profile writers, doctors, entrepreneurs, and actors are making their annual rounds through college commencement ceremonies.

They're dispensing some of their best advice to new grads preparing to take on the challenges that lie ahead, talking about everything from taking chances, surrounding yourself with the right people, and understanding your place in an AI-enabled workplace.

Here are some standout pieces of advice to the Class of 2025 from 10 commencement speakers.

Tech journalist Steven Levy

"You do have a great future ahead of you, no matter how smart and capable ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Llama get," author and tech journalist Steven Levy told graduates at the Temple University College of Liberal Arts on May 7.

"And here is the reason: You have something that no computer can ever have. It's a superpower, and every one of you has it in abundance," he said, according to Wired.

"The lords of AI are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to make their models think like accomplished humans. You have just spent four years at Temple University learning to think as accomplished humans. The difference is immeasurable," he said.

"Everything you have learned in the liberal arts — the humanities — depends on that connection. You bring your superpower to it."

Actor Jennifer Coolidge

"When you find the thing that you want to do, I really want to highly recommend — just friggin' go for it," Jennifer Coolidge, the star of HBO's White Lotus, told graduates at Emerson College on May 12.

"You really have to psych yourself up into bleeding absurd possibilities, and you have to believe that they are not absurd because there's nothing foolish or accidental about expecting things that are unattainable for yourself."

Kermit the Frog

Everyone's favorite Muppet shared "a little advice — if you're willing to listen to a frog" at the University of Maryland's commencement ceremony on May 22.

"Rather than jumping over someone to get what you want, consider reaching out your hand and taking the leap side by side. Because life is better when we leap together."

Actor Elizabeth Banks

"You're about to enter the incredibly competitive job market, so I can understand why you believe that life is a zero-sum game, that there's only so much opportunity to go around," actor Elizabeth Banks told graduates of the University of Pennsylvania on May 19.

"And if one person takes a bigger slice, everyone else has to make a smaller slice, and the total size of the pie remains the same. And that is true with actual pie," she said.

"But not with life, not with opportunity. So my advice to you is, as much as possible from here on out, take yourself out of that mindset."

Physician and author Abraham Verghese

Physician and author Abraham Verghese told Harvard graduates on May 29 to "make your decisions worthy of those who supported, nurtured, and sacrificed for you."

"The decisions you will make in the future under pressure will say something about your character, while they also shape and transform you in unexpected ways," he said.

Verghese also encouraged the Class of 2025 to read fiction.

"To paraphrase Camus, fiction is the great lie that tells the truth about how the world lives," he said. "And if you don't read fiction, my considered medical opinion is that a part of your brain responsible for active imagination atrophies."

Actor Henry Winkler

Actor Henry Winkler spoke about the power of positive thinking in his May 17 address to graduates of the Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences.

"A negative thought comes into your mind, you say out loud — you say out loud — 'I am sorry, I have no time for you now,'" he said. "Yes, people will look at you very strangely. But it doesn't matter. Because it becomes your habit."

Instead, when faced with doubts and negative thoughts about your goals, "you move it out; you move a positive in," he said.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told graduates of Princeton University on May 25 that "the combination of luck, the courage to make mistakes, and a little initiative can lead to much success."

"We risk failure, awkwardness, embarrassment, and rejection," he said. "But that's how we create the career opportunities, the great friendships, and the loves that make life worth living."

He reminded graduates that "each of us is a work in progress" and "the possibilities for self-improvement are limitless."

"The vast majority of what you need to know about work, about relationships, about yourself, about life, you have yet to learn," Powell said. "And that itself is a tremendous gift."

Y Combinator cofounder Jessica Livingston

Jessica Livingston, cofounder of startup accelerator Y Combinator, told Bucknell University graduates to "find the interesting people."

"Talk to people. Get introduced to new people. Find the people that you think are interesting, and then ask what they're working on. And if you find yourself working at a place where you don't like the people, get out," she said in her May 18 speech.

She also advised the Class of 2025 that "you can reinvent yourself" at any time.

"If you want to, you can just decide to shift gears at this point, and no one's going to tell you you can't," she said. "You can just decide to be more curious, or more responsible, or more energetic, and no one's going to look up your college grades and say, 'Hey, wait a minute. This person's supposed to be a slacker!'"

S&P Global CEO Martina L. Cheung

"Don't collect promotions. Collect experiences," S&P Global President and CEO Martina L. Cheung told graduates of George Mason University.

In her May 15 address, Cheung shared how lateral moves in her own career later prepared her for promotions.

"Most people think of their careers as a ladder," she said. "They see the goal as climbing the ladder with promotions or leaving one job to take a bigger one elsewhere. The truth is, moving up is not the only direction. It's not even always the best direction. Sometimes it's the lateral move."

YouTuber Hank Green

Writer and science YouTuber Hank Green reminded MIT graduates in his May 29 speech to stay curious.

"Your curiosity is not out of your control," he said. "You decide how you orient it, and that orientation is going to affect the entire rest of your life. It may be the single most important factor in your career."

Green also emphasized the importance of taking chances on your ideas.

"Ideas do not belong in your head," he said. "They can't help anyone in there. I sometimes see people become addicted to their good idea. They love it so much, they can't bring themselves to expose it to the imperfection of reality. Stop waiting. Get the ideas out. You may fail, but while you fail, you will build new tools."

He closed his speech on this inspiring note: "Do not forget how special and bizarre it is to get to live a human life. It took 3 billion years for the Earth to go from single-celled life forms to you. That's more than a quarter of the life of the entire universe. Something very special and strange is happening on this planet and it is you."

• Tesla sales in Québec plunged 85% in the first quarter, mirroring sharp declines seen in Europe.
• Canada has frozen $43 million in Tesla EV rebates due to Trump's tariffs and fraud concerns.
• Musk's DOGE work sparked backlash, boycotts, and dealership vandalism across the US and Europe.

Tesla's sales woes have reached Canada.

Data from the vehicle registration authority in the province of Québec shows a dramatic decline in Tesla registrations in the first quarter of 2025.

Only 524 new Tesla vehicles were registered in Québec between January and March 2025, down over 85% from the 5,097 units logged in the final months of 2024.

The company's top-selling Model Y saw the steepest drop in terms of pure numbers, falling from 3,274 units in the final quarter of 2024 to 360 in the first quarter of 2025. The Model 3, Tesla's cheapest car, plunged from 1,786 to just 96 units over the same period, a fall of 94%.

While the drop is precipitous, it should be noted that auto sales are generally lower in the first quarter of the year than later in the year.

Though confined to one region of Canada, the collapse mirrors similar issues in Europe, where Tesla sales fell by nearly 50% in April despite overall EV demand continuing to grow.

In Québec, as in Europe, demand for electric vehicles remains strong, suggesting that Tesla's slump is less about market conditions and more about the brand itself.

Rebate freeze and trade tensions

Several factors appear to be converging.

Tesla has been excluded from Canada's federal EV rebate program, with $43 million in rebates frozen and each individual claim now under review.

Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland ordered the freeze in March following a last-minute surge in Tesla rebate applications — from 300 a day to nearly 5,800 — which triggered a probe into possible abuse.

Freeland also said that Tesla would remain ineligible for future incentives as long as President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on Canadian goods are in place.

In parallel, provinces, including British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and Manitoba, have removed Tesla from their rebate programs.

Political backlash

Tesla's registration drop in Québec also comes amid a broader global backlash, especially in Europe, against CEO Elon Musk, who has endorsed a number of European political parties, including Germany's far-right AfD party and Britain's populist Reform UK party.

In North America, Musk's role leading the Department of Government Efficiency has led to protests, boycotts, and vandalism of Tesla dealerships across at least a dozen states.

Musk said this week he was stepping away from DOGE after months of involvement as a "special government employee." Federal law stipulates that those with this title cannot serve for more than 130 days in a 365-day period.

Tesla's shares, which had come under pressure during Musk's DOGE stint, began rebounding in April after he announced he would step back from government work and "spend 24/7 at work" on his companies.

In a Q&A published by Ars Technica on Tuesday, he said he'd been too involved in politics since wading into the 2024 presidential race last year — a campaign he heavily financed to the tune of nearly $300 million.

In a sit-down with Bloomberg at the Qatar Economic Forum last week, he said he's no longer going to be spending big on politics, like he did in the 2024 election.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Reid Hoffman says AI can't be your friend, and pretending it can is "harming the person."
• Hoffman warned on a podcast that AI "friendships" erode human connections.
• His comments come as Mark Zuckerberg publicly pushes to embed AI companions across Meta's apps.

LinkedIn cofounder and AI investor Reid Hoffman is sounding the alarm on a growing trend in the tech world: AI systems being marketed as your new best friend.

"I don't think any AI tool today is capable of being a friend," Hoffman said in a Wednesday episode of the Possible podcast. "And I think if it's pretending to be a friend, you're actually harming the person in so doing."

His comments came amid Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's push to embed AI companions across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and even Ray-Ban smart glasses.

Last month, Zuckerberg told podcaster Dwarkesh Patel he sees AI chatbots as part of the solution to America's so-called loneliness epidemic. He cited statistics suggesting that the average American has "fewer than three friends" but has the capacity for 15.

According to a 2021 report from the Survey Center on American Life, 49% of Americans report having three or fewer friends.

But Hoffman drew a sharp distinction between companions and friends, saying that blurring that line erodes what it means to be human.

"Friendship is a two-directional relationship," he said. "Companionship and many other kinds of interactions are not necessarily two-directional. And I think that's extremely important because it's the kind of subtle erosion of humanity."

He said his theory of friendship was "two people agree to help each other become the best versions of themselves," a dynamic that involves not just emotional support, but also accountability — something no chatbot can reciprocate.

"It's not only, 'Are you there for me?', but I am here for you."

Hoffman praised design choices like Inflection AI's Pi assistant, which explicitly tells users, "I'm your companion," and encourages people to spend time with actual human friends.

"Helping you go out into your world of friends is, I think, an extremely important thing for a companion to do," he said.

As tech companies race to deploy more emotionally intelligent bots, Hoffman argued for more transparency and regulation.

"We as a market should demand it, we as an industry, all MPAs, should standardize around it," he said. "And if there's confusion around this, I think we as government should say, 'Hey, look, if you're not stepping up to this, we should.'"

For Hoffman, the stakes are high. "I think that's a degradation of the quality of elevation of human life," he said. "And that should not be what it's doing."

Hoffman isn't alone in raising the alarm on AI companions.

During a Senate testimony earlier this month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman voiced similar concerns about AI forming personal bonds with children.

When asked whether he'd want his own child to form a best-friend bond with an AI bot, he said, "I do not."

He said that while adults might seek emotionally supportive relationships with AI, children require a "much higher level of protection" in how these systems interact with them.

"These AI systems will get to know you over the course of your life so well. That presents a new challenge and level of importance for how we think about privacy in the world of AI," said Altman, who became a father in February.

• Denmark will raise its retirement age to 70 by 2040, the highest in Europe.
• The move ties pension age to life expectancy, sparking union backlash over fairness.
• Other countries may make similar moves as aging populations put a strain on public finances.

Denmark has officially raised its retirement age to 70 — and other countries may make similar moves.

The Danish Parliament passed legislation on Thursday that will gradually raise the retirement age to 70 by 2040.

The change applies to anyone born after December 31, 1970.

The bill, which passed with 81 votes in favor and 21 against, marks one of the most significant changes to the state pension age in Europe. It also signals a broader shift in how developed economies are preparing for aging populations and mounting fiscal pressures.

The move stems from a 2006 welfare agreement that ties the pension age eligibility to life expectancy. With people living longer, the government argues that raising the retirement age was needed to keep the pension system financially sustainable.

"In 2040, we will raise the retirement age from 69 to 70 years, among other things, to afford proper welfare for future generations," Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen, Denmark's employment minister, said in a statement following the vote.

She said it would be the last time her party voted for an increase under the current system, citing the need for a fairer model that reflected differences in career length and job type.

The decision has sparked anger from unions and workers in physically demanding sectors such as construction and agriculture.

Denmark's largest trade union, 3F, has argued that the policy will disproportionately burden lower-income workers. It said surveys had found three-quarters of their members doubted they could keep working into their 70s.

Pension changes have become a flash point across Europe. Just two years ago, France was rocked by months of mass protests and strikes after President Emmanuel Macron's government raised the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Nonetheless, as demographic pressure mounts globally, Denmark's move may be a bellwether.

Countries including Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK have already scheduled retirement age increases to 67 by 2031, 2028, and 2028, respectively.

With life expectancy continuing to rise, birth rates falling, and the need for a sustainable ratio of workers to retirees, economists and researchers say retirement ages will probably need to be pushed back further.

A 2024 report from the UK's International Longevity Centre projected that Britain would have to raise the retirement age to 71 by 2050 to maintain the ratio of workers to retirees.

Similarly, in the US, the retirement age for full Social Security benefits has already been raised from 65 to 67.

While Republicans have proposed a further increase, President Donald Trump said on the campaign trail in June 2024 that he would "not raise the retirement age by one day."

• President Donald Trump said tariffs of at least 25% would apply to iPhones not made in the US.
• Apple stock fell more than 3% in premarket trading on Friday.
• Trump told Apple CEO Tim Cook that iPhones should be made "in the United States, not India, or anyplace else."

Apple dipped premarket on Friday after President Donald Trump said iPhones manufactured outside the US would face a tariff of at least 25%.

"I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone's that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday.

He warned that if Apple failed to comply, the company must pay the US a tariff of "at least" 25%.

Apple stock was down more than 3% just before 8 a.m ET.

Trump also threatened new tariffs against the European Union on Friday.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

• President Donald Trump's $5 million "gold card" visa could generate limited interest.
• One analyst said even the wealthy may be reluctant to pay that much as a fee rather than an investment.
• The move appears to have boosted interest in the EB-5 visa program, Henley & Partners said.

In February, President Donald Trump announced plans for a $5 million "gold card" visa that would offer green card privileges and a "route to citizenship."

He's suggested that as many as 1 million people might want to buy one, while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said 250,000 people were "waiting in line" and "willing to pay the $5 million" fee.

This week, Lutnick told Axios that a website where potential applicants could register their interest would go live within weeks and that further details would follow.

Dominic Volek, the head of private clients at Henley & Partners, an investment migration consultancy, said the plan was unlikely to generate a rush of applications.

"Their estimations are just simply way off," he told Business Insider. "As a general rule of thumb for wealthy people, they won't spend more than 10% of their liquid net worth on a single discretionary purchase" — whether that's a yacht, a watch, or the right to live in a country.

Volek said that an individual would need at least $50 million in liquid net worth to comfortably part with $5 million.

"Globally, there's probably only 100,000 to 150,000 people who have that kind of net worth, and the majority are already in the US. And so that leaves you with less than 100,000 people as a potential market," he said.

Even if you're quite wealthy, the idea of handing over $5 million rather than investing it may be a tough sell. Many other countries with citizenship or residence-by-investment programs offer tangible returns, not pure capital outflows.

New Zealand offers residency in exchange for a $2.95 million investment, while Singapore requires a $7.8 million investment.

Tax trouble

"Those were all investments," Volek said. "That's money I put into the stock market, into a business, into a bond, and I get a return."

The potential tax burden could also discourage applicants. Unlike many countries, the US taxes citizens — and even green card holders living abroad — on their worldwide income.

"It's not a good place to be from a tax perspective," Volek said. "If the tax treatment is not adjusted, then it will be a massive failure."

Trump's plan has triggered a ripple effect by boosting interest in the more affordable EB-5 immigrant investor visa, which offers green cards for a $1.05 million investment.

"Probably 80% of the prospects we were speaking to immediately called and said, 'Let's start the process. Let's get our petition in,'" Volek said.

A recent report from Henley & Partners and the global wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth found that EB-5 visa inquiries jumped 168% in the first quarter of this year compared to the last quarter of 2024.

The firm said that by April, inquiries about the EB-5 program had already reached nearly 50% of 2024's total.

Lutnick has suggested that the gold card visa could replace the EB-5 program.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• BMW and Mercedes were outsold at the top of China's car market last year by a domestic brand.
• Aito sold 151,000 vehicles, with its M9 SUV proving popular.
• The brand is owned by Seres, which has tripled sales in three years with its pivot to EVs.

A Chinese electric vehicle brand has overtaken longtime market leaders BMW and Mercedes-Benz at the top of the world's biggest auto market.

Aito, an EV brand launched by Seres Group and tech giant Huawei, topped China's high-end car sales last year with 151,000 units delivered — surpassing BMW's 145,000 and Mercedes-Benz's 127,000, according to data from Shanghai-based consultancy ThinkerCar.

Aito's rise is largely due to the success of its flagship M9, a luxury SUV that went on sale in late 2023.

The M9 quickly proved popular with Chinese drivers thanks to its tech-heavy features, including Huawei's HarmonyOS operating system, a triple-screen dashboard, and premium interior options.

Seres, previously known for low-cost minivans under its DFSK Motor brand, repositioned itself with the Aito brand after forming a strategic partnership with Huawei in 2021.

Since then, rapid growth has resulted. Vehicle sales tripled over three years to about 427,000 units last year, and its stock rose by 120% on the Shanghai exchange over the same period.

Aito's success reflects a major shift in China's premium auto segment, which was once dominated by foreign brands. In 2020, Mercedes-Benz was top with 259,000 sales, followed by BMW on 235,000 and Porsche on 79,000, per ThinkerCar data.

By 2024, Chinese EV makers such as Aito and NIO had broken into the rankings, disrupting what ThinkerCar described as a BMW, Benz, and Audi "monopoly."

Sales of Chinese EVs are also rising outside their home market.

BYD outsold Tesla in Europe for the first time in April, according to JATO Dynamics data released on Thursday.

BYD also outsold Tesla globally in the first three months of the year, selling about 416,000 EVs, compared with Tesla's 336,700 EVs.

• Target reported sliding sales in its first quarter to May 3.
• CEO Brian Cornell said sales "fell short of our expectations" in a "highly challenging environment."
• Cornell also said post-tariff price increases would be a "last resort."

Target sales fell sharply in the three months to May 3, in a period marked by its decision to roll back DEI initiatives in January.

In an earnings call Wednesday, Target CEO Brian Cornell said the reaction to the DEI changes was one of several "additional headwinds" that had an adverse impact on sales, but the company could not quantify the amount.

Business Insider reported in March that the consumer analytics firm Numerator found customer foot traffic and market share had shifted from Target to Costco, particularly among shoppers who value DEI.

With respect to tariffs, Rick Gomez, Target's chief commercial officer, said on the earnings call that "adjusting prices" was one of several steps the company was taking to manage new import costs.

Comparable sales fell by 3.8%, store traffic was down 2.4%, and the average transaction size decreased by 1.4%.

Store-originated sales declined 5.7%, but were partially offset by a 4.7% growth in digital sales, led by a 36% surge in same-day delivery via Target Circle 360.

"We have many levers to use in mitigating the impact of tariffs and price is the very last resort," Cornell said.

Some alternatives to price hikes include sourcing more products from the US rather than China, negotiating with suppliers, adjusting the timing of deliveries, and eliminating products from the retail assortment, Gomez said.

Bullseye's Playground vow

Gomez also said that about half of the products Target sells are sourced in the US, and that it's on track to reduce its share of imports from China to 25% from the 60% share it imported in 2017.

In addition, he highlighted the low-price section at the front of the store, known as Bullseye's Playground.

"We have made a commitment to keep those at $1, $3, and $5," Gomez said. "It's important to the brand, and it's important to the guests."

Looking ahead, Target said it expects a low-single-digit decline in sales for the full year.

Stock fell more than 6% in premarket trading and was down 28% this year at Tuesday's close.

It also announced an "acceleration office" led by Michael Fiddelke, the company's former CFO and current COO, aimed at speeding up strategic execution and reversing recent declines.

Amy Tu, the chief legal and compliance officer, and Christina Henningon, the chief strategy and growth officer, are both leaving the company.

Net income rose by $62 million to $1.04 billion for the period.

• Home Depot said it would maintain pricing levels despite the impact of tariffs.
• The CFO cited strong supplier ties and productivity for the move.
• The retailer posted a rise in first-quarter sales, while earnings dipped.

Home Depot said it had no plans to pass on the cost of tariffs to consumers despite their financial impact.

"We intend to generally maintain pricing across our portfolio," the home improvement retailer's head of merchandising, Billy Bastek, said during Tuesday's earnings call. "We don't see broad-based price increases for our customers at all going forward."

Executives said on the call that half of Home Depot's inventory was sourced from within the US, and that no single country will represent more than 10% of its supply base by this time next year.

"We have a number of different levers," Bastek added.

Speaking earlier to CNBC, CFO Richard McPhail cited the retailer's scale, close partnerships with suppliers, and supply chain productivity as key factors enabling it to absorb rising costs.

Bastek said on the earnings call that maintaining prices could help Home Depot (and its supplier brands) take market share from competitors that end up charging more.

The comments follow Walmart's announcement that it would raise prices in the coming weeks in response to the financial impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Retail analysts told Business Insider that Walmart's move gave other retailers air cover to follow suit, if they so choose.

McPhail's comments come as Home Depot posted a 9.4% rise in first-quarter sales to $39.9 billion, although comparable sales fell by 0.6% due to the impact of foreign exchange rates.

Net earnings fell $200 million to $3.4 billion compared with the same period last year.

CEO Ted Decker said in a statement that the first-quarter results were in line with expectations.

"We feel great about our store readiness and product assortment as spring continues to break across the country," he said.

Home Depot maintained its full-year guidance of a 2.8% rise in total sales and an approximately 1% increase for comparable sales.

The stock rose 0.3% in afternoon trading and is down 2% this year.

• Honda plans to reduce EV investment by $20 billion to focus on hybrids amid a global sales slowdown.
• Its CEO cited regulatory changes and slowing EV growth as key reasons for a strategic shift.
• The abandoned merger with Nissan adds pressure on Honda to safeguard its future.

Honda is dialing back its ambitious EV push and doubling down on hybrids amid slowing demand.

On Tuesday, CEO Toshihiro Mibe said the automaker would cut its EV investment by 30% from $69 billion (10 trillion yen) to $48.4 billion (7 trillion yen) through the 2031 fiscal year. The move is aimed at stabilizing Honda's future in a slowing EV market.

The Japanese company will focus on ramping up its hybrid lineup, citing "changes in environmental regulations" and "a slowdown in EV market expansion" as key drivers.

"Due to the recent market slowdown, our EV sales ratio in 2030 is now expected to fall below the previously announced target of 30%," Mibe said.

The shift comes amid broader turbulence in the auto industry.

In the first four months of 2025, EV sales in North America — the US, China, and Mexico — rose by just 5% compared to 25% in Europe and 35% in China, according to data from EV research firm Rho Motion.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency said in its Global EV Outlook 2025 that higher tariffs could further raise EV prices and slow down sales growth.

In response, Honda plans to launch 13 new hybrid models globally starting in 2027, with the aim of selling 2.2 million hybrids annually by 2030. Despite the pivot, Honda said it remains committed to reaching 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2040.

The announcement follows the collapse of a proposed $50 billion merger with Nissan that would have created the world's third-largest automaker. Nissan rejected the deal over concerns about being treated as a subsidiary.

Honda is also ordering US employees back to the office at least 80% of the time by October, saying in-person work is key to "facing a rapidly changing business environment and increasingly competitive market conditions."

• Incat launched the world's largest electric ship — the biggest EV ever built — this month.
• Electric vessels are only suited to routes of less than 200 miles, Incat's founder told Business Insider.
• Demand is rising, but scaling up production poses a major challenge for Incat, Robert Clifford said.

Electric shipping has reached a major milestone, but long-haul routes remain a distant dream.

This month Australian shipbuilder Incat launched Hull 096, a 427-foot fully electric ferry built for South American operator Buquebus.

The vessel, now docked in Hobart, Tasmania, is the largest electric vehicle ever built. It is designed to carry 2,100 passengers and 225 vehicles across the Río de la Plata between Buenos Aires and Uruguay and is powered by about 275 tons of batteries.

Incat's chairman and founder, Robert Clifford, said ships like Hull 096 are still best suited for short distances — not the open ocean.

Density dilemma

"There's not the slightest doubt that under 50 miles, electric will be virtually 100%," Clifford told Business Insider. "When you're talking 200 miles, it might only be 50%. Over that, it'd be zero at the moment."

He said the main issue was the limited energy density of batteries, which still don't offer the same storage capacity per weight and volume as fossil fuels.

That's why Incat is focusing on ferries for high-density, relatively short routes like those in the English Channel or the Baltic Sea instead of oceangoing ships.

"We're ferry boat builders," Clifford said. "Even a very large ferry for most routes would not go over about 160 meters."

Still, Clifford believes Hull 096 marks a turning point for clean maritime transport.

"The ship changes the game," he said in a press release earlier this month. "We've been building world-leading vessels here in Tasmania for more than four decades, and Hull 096 is the most ambitious, most complex, and most important project we've ever delivered."

The ferry boasts a 40 megawatt-hour battery — the largest installed on a ship — feeding eight waterjets designed by Finnish firm Wärtsilä.

The interior, which includes a 2,300-square-meter duty-free shopping deck, is set to be completed this year ahead of trials on Tasmania's Derwent River.

Buquebus had originally commissioned Hull 096 as a liquid natural gas-powered ferry, but Incat convinced the company to go electric.

And while Clifford is bullish on the tech, he said real-world adoption depends on port infrastructure and customer readiness. "We simply need the shipowner to do their sums."

He said there's been strong demand since Hull 096's launch and was in talks with a dozen "serious" clients from Europe and South America.

"I've been in this entrepreneurial business for 30-odd years, and we've never had so many serious potential orders," he said.

Growth challenge

Still, scaling production in Tasmania is a massive leap. "We've been building one or two boats a year," Clifford said. "Building four or more large boats a year is a massive increase in the size of the company," which would require going from 500 to 3,000 staff, he said.

"That's today's challenge — how do we transition to a significant shipbuilder?"

Whether Tasmania becomes a global hub for electric shipbuilding remains to be seen.

William "Boeing, for instance, had a small shipyard in Seattle," Clifford said. "It probably wasn't the best place in the world to start building airplanes. But he did, and then he sold 100 to the US Army.

"He suddenly went from a small boat builder to a leading aircraft manufacturer all in a period of about a year or two. That sort of challenge is ahead of us."

• Global EV sales surged 29% in the first four months of the year, led by China and Europe.
• North America posted growth of just 5% according to data from Rho Motion.
• China's 35% sales boost was driven by trade-in schemes, while EV sales jumped in Europe too.

EV sales are booming globally — but growth in North America lags the rest of the world.

Global EV sales jumped 29% to 5.6 million in the first four months of the year compared with the same period in 2024, according to data released Wednesday by EV research firm Rho Motion.

In April alone, 1.5 million EVs were sold worldwide.

However, EV sales in North America — the US, China, and Mexico — rose by just 5%, or 600,000 vehicles. Battery electric vehicle sales in the region rose 7%, while plug-in hybrid sales increased only 1%.

Tesla sold 128,100 vehicles in the US in the first quarter of the year, down 8.6% from the same time last year and 21% lower than 2023, per Cox Automotive data.

It remains the biggest EV brand despite its market share falling from 51% to 44% over the past year.

Mexico, meanwhile, was a bright spot, with EV sales nearly doubling. Unlike their American counterparts, Mexican drivers can buy Chinese-made vehicles.

In Europe, stricter emissions targets pushed sales up 25%, with growth of more than 40% in countries including Italy, Spain, and Germany.

"The EU is certainly the success story for EV sales in 2025 so far," said Charles Lester, data manager at Rho Motion.

"In China, that year-on-year sales increase is even greater at 35%, spurred on by the vehicle trade-in scheme."

• Some European consumers appear to be avoiding US brands amid tariffs and rising anti-American sentiment.
• Apps and labels now help shoppers avoid American products in supermarkets and online stores.
• One commentator said boycotts in Europe rarely gain enough traction to significantly affect sales.

What began as a backlash in Canada has spread across the Atlantic as US companies face growing consumer resistance following President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs and provocative rhetoric.

While his 20% tariffs on imports from the European Union have been reduced to 10%, the damage to consumer sentiment may already have been done.

European consumers appear increasingly inclined to turn away from US brands, and the data suggests it may not be just a passing trend.

Apps that offer alternatives to US products have gained traction across the continent.

Just over a month ago, Dutch entrepreneurs Xander Kanon and Gerben Houtsma launched Brandsnap, which lets users scan products to check for European origin.

It had been in the works before April, but they told Business Insider that Trump's move "accelerated" the app's release and boosted demand.

"The spikes in growth are closely tied to political actions taken by Trump, particularly around tariffs," Houtsma said. He cited a surge in downloads from Denmark after Trump again floated a takeover of Greenland in an NBC interview earlier this month.

Backed by the Go European movement, a grassroots volunteer network promoting European-made alternatives, Brandsnap has logged more than 14,000 downloads and 60,000 scans as of early May.

"We're not trying to start a trade war," Kanon told BI. "We just want people to know where their money is going."

Similarly, in France, computer engineer Sacha Montel launched "Detrumpify Yourself" — a free, open-source app designed to help consumers identify hidden US ownership behind everyday products.

"Everyone knows Coca-Cola or Heinz are American, but many don't realize Lu, Milka, or Le Petit Marseillais are too," he told BI, naming three widely consumed brands in France.

Montel said the app is a symbolic protest against what he described as Trump's "aggressive economic and geopolitical policies."

Companies respond

European companies are also getting involved. Danish retail giant Salling Group introduced a black star label on electronic price tags to indicate products of European origin.

CEO Anders Hagh said in a March LinkedIn post that the move came after a "number of inquiries" from customers seeking to buy more European products. He stopped short of linking it to Trump's policies.

Some responses have been more dramatic. Haltbakk Bunkers, Norway's largest oil bunkering operation company, said in a since-deleted Facebook post in March that it would no longer refuel US Navy ships after Trump and Vice President JD Vance criticized President Zelenskyy for failing to acknowledge the extent of American support in Ukraine's war effort.

Although Norway's defense minister walked back the decision, the episode underscored rising discomfort with US leadership.

Some US brands are already seeing the fallout.

Tesla, led by Elon Musk, who has voiced support for far-right parties in Europe, recorded a 42% drop in European sales in January and February, as some European showrooms suffered arson attacks.

McDonald's posted a 1% decline in global sales in the first quarter compared to the previous year, with CEO Chris Kempczinski citing an "uptick in general in anti-American sentiment," especially in Northern Europe and Canada.

In Denmark, brewer Carlsberg said sales of Coca-Cola, which it bottles in the country, declined in the first quarter amid what CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen described as a "level of consumer boycott around US brands."

Travel has also been affected, with bookings by Europeans visiting the US this summer down by 25%, hotel giant Accor's CEO Sébastien Bazin said last month.

Support for boycotts and retaliation

Polls suggest that this shift is not isolated.

A March survey by the French Institute of Public Opinion found that 62% of 1,000 French respondents supported calls to boycott US brands.

Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Five Guys, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks ranked among the top 20 US brands most likely to be affected.

A study in March of 1,000 Swedes conducted by Lund University in Sweden found almost 20% of respondents said they had boycotted a US brand.

Meanwhile, a YouGov EuroTrack survey released in April found that 75% of Germans believe US tariffs will significantly impact their economy, the highest figure among seven European countries surveyed.

A structural shift?

Some experts think the backlash could signal a lasting change.

In its March Consumer Expectations survey, the European Central Bank reported that 44% of about 19,000 respondents preferred to switch away from US brands, regardless of tariff levels.

The bank warned that this suggested a "possible long-term structural shift in consumer preferences away from US products and brands."

Lucia Reisch, director of the El-Erian Institute of Behavioral Economics and Policy at Cambridge Judge Business School, echoed that sentiment.

She told BI the trend reflects skepticism of "cold American capitalism," which she said increasingly clashes with European values of sustainability, inclusion, and human rights.

While some US companies may retain market dominance, she warned that long-term backlash could reshape transatlantic trade around contested standards and value-based preferences.

Not all economic analysts are convinced, however. Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy, told BI that boycotts in Europe rarely gain enough traction to significantly dent sales.

"European consumers are much less principled than they claim to be," he said, adding that online protests did not tend to carry over into real-world shopping habits.

He described Tesla's European sales decline as more a product of market dynamics than a political backlash — a reminder that European outrage may be loud but not long-lasting.

• Elon Musk said humanoid robots would unlock "universal high income" and help boost productivity.
• He predicts tens of billions of personal robots, likening them to C-3PO from "Star Wars."
• Musk warned that AI could lead to a "Terminator"-style future if not handled responsibly.

Elon Musk thinks the future belongs to robots.

Speaking on Tuesday at the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh, the Tesla CEO predicted that humanoid robots could eventually number in the tens of billions, transforming the global economy.

"Everyone will want their personal robot," Musk said. "You can think of it like having your own personal C-3PO or R2-D2 — but even better," he said, referring to "Star Wars" characters.

With that scale of automation, Musk said productivity could soar and usher in what he called a "universal high income," where goods and services become so abundant that "no one wants for anything."

Musk has skin in the robot game. He called Tesla's humanoid Optimus potentially the "biggest product ever of any kind" during a launch event for its robotaxi last October.

He said Tesla aimed to make a million robots a year, although the project still faced technical and geopolitical hurdles.

Musk has been making similar predictions about robots for some time. In a February interview at Dubai's World Government Summit, in which he said humanoid robots and deep intelligence will unlock the global economy's potential by providing "quasi-infinite products and services."

He also made a comparable statement at an AI safety summit in the UK in 2023 that AI would eventually do "everything," making jobs optional and turning work into something done purely for "personal satisfaction."

Still, in Riyadh on Tuesday, he acknowledged the risks.

"You can have a James Cameron sort of movie — you know, 'Terminator.' We don't want that one," he said. "But having sort of a 'Star Trek' future would be great."

Musk told the All-In podcast last year he estimated there was a 20% risk of "human annihilation" from AI.

The CEO wants to bring Tesla's robotaxis to Saudi Arabia.

"You can think of future cars as being robots on four wheels," Musk said.

He didn't provide a timeline, though the company has said it aims to begin a robotaxi pilot in Austin in June.

Saudi officials have embraced the idea, citing autonomous vehicles as part of their Vision 2030 strategy to diversify the economy away from oil.

Uber is already moving ahead with robotaxi plans in the kingdom, partnering with Chinese firm Pony.AI and signing a new agreement with the kingdom's transport authority.

Uber also owns Careem, the dominant ride-hailing app in the Middle East.

• The US government will require all federal retirement applications to be submitted online starting June 2.
• For decades, it has processed retirement paperwork in a converted salt mine in Pennsylvania.
• Elon Musk has targeted the mine through DOGE, calling the old system "crazy" and inefficient.

The US government said it's finally bringing federal retirement into the digital age and leaving behind one of the strangest government facilities still in operation.

In a major shift announced on Monday, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said that it will begin processing all new federal retirement applications digitally starting June 2.

Paper applications will no longer be accepted from July 15, ending a 50-year bureaucratic tradition.

"Retirement from federal service is finally entering the digital age," said OPM interim director Chuck Ezell. He called the move a "transformative step that honors the service of federal employees" with a retirement process "worthy of the 21st century."

For decades, the federal government has stored and processed retirement paperwork in a converted mine 230 feet below Boyers, Pennsylvania.

With more than 400 million records housed in 26,000 filing cabinets, the process was slow, manual, and reliant on the elevator's shaft — a system that Elon Musk described as "insane."

"The elevator breaks down sometimes, and nobody can retire," Musk said at a White House press conference in February.

Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency, has been one of the loudest critics of the system, calling the paper-based process a symbol of government inefficiency and saying the aim was to "rightsize" federal bureaucracy.

Federal retirement processing has long been a bottleneck, capping out at roughly 10,000 applications a month.

In February, OPM released a promotional video showing that, under a DOGE challenge, it had successfully processed a retirement application digitally in just two days without printing a single page.

Now, with the launch of the Online Retirement Application (ORA) system, OPM says retirement will be faster, more accurate, and less costly to taxpayers.

But the modernization effort may have consequences. The limestone mine, a Cold War-era facility that employs hundreds in rural western Pennsylvania, could face an uncertain future.

In February, a senior OPM source told Business Insider that many employees feared losing their jobs and that shutting down the mine would devastate the local economy.

OPM didn't immediately reply to Business Insider's request for comments made outside working hours.

• President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the cost of prescription drugs.
• Prices will be cut by as much as 80%, and some immediately, he said at a press conference.
• Trump teased the announcement on Sunday as one of the "most consequential" orders in US history.

President Donald Trump announced sweeping action to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the US.

At a White House press conference on Monday, he said an executive order would cut the cost of prescription drugs by between 59% and 80%, or "even 90%."

"The United States will no longer tolerate profiteering and price gouging from Big Pharma," Trump said.

The order mandates that drug prices for US consumers be capped at the lowest price available in any comparable developed country, a price model known as the "most favored nation" rule.

While the White House did not specify which medications would be subject to the new arrangements, the order sets a 30-day deadline for federal agencies to begin communicating pricing targets to pharmaceutical companies.

If drugmakers fail to comply, the administration has laid out a series of escalating actions, including regulatory reforms, antitrust enforcement, and even potential revocations of approvals for drugs found to be "unsafe, ineffective, or improperly marketed."

Trump said Americans paid 70% more for prescription drugs than they did in 2000, and roughly three times as much as people in many developed countries.

A survey by Gallup and West Health published in April found that over one-third of Americans reported being unable to afford quality medical care.

Trump teased the announcement in a Truth Social post on Sunday night, referring to it as one of the "most consequential" executive orders in American history.

The comments prompted a flurry of X posts from Mark Cuban. In 2022, he launched Cost Plug Drugs, an online pharmacy that delivers drugs to consumers at a lower cost than Big Pharma.

"Gotta be honest. The @realDonaldTrump EO on healthcare and in particular, drug pricing could save hundreds of billions," Cuban wrote.

He outlined six ways the executive order could save consumers money, and ended the tweet by writing: "Put me in coach! I'm here to help."

Trump has signed more than 140 executive orders in his second term, with 100 of them coming in his first 100 days in office.

• Elon Musk says Trump's "gold card" immigration program is already in quiet testing.
• The new program offers fast-tracked US residency to foreign investors paying $5 million upfront.
• Trump intends the program to replace the current EB-5 immigrant investor visa.

Elon Musk said on Sunday that President Donald Trump's new "gold card" immigration program is already being tested.

"We're doing a quiet trial to make sure the system works properly," he said in an X post. "Once it is fully tested, it will be rolled out to the public with an announcement by the President."

Trump's gold card program is intended to replace the EB-5 immigrant investor visa, which has allowed foreign nationals to apply for US residency by investing a minimum of $1.05 million — or $800,000 in rural and high-unemployment areas — in a commercial enterprise that creates American jobs.

Trump's version significantly raises the price of admission: $5 million upfront, no job creation requirement, and faster access to work and residency privileges.

"You have a green card, this is a gold card," Trump told reporters in February, adding that wealthy investors would help boost the US economy by "spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes, and employing a lot of people."

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who helped craft the program, said the current EB-5 system is "full of nonsense, make-believe, and fraud," and said the new plan would attract only "world-class global citizens."

Critics have raised concerns about transparency, favoritism, and national security — especially after Trump said he wouldn't rule out selling gold cards to Russian oligarchs, insisting some are "very nice people."

Lutnick pushed back, saying there would be a vetting process to ensure only acceptable applicants are approved.

Programs offering residency or citizenship in exchange for investment aren't new.

Countries like the United Arab Emirates and several Caribbean nations offer so-called "citizenship by investment" options, but Trump's proposal has reignited a debate over whether US immigration policy should cater to the ultrawealthy.