• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a charitable organization with a $75.2-billion endowment.
• The nonprofit was created by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his now ex-wife, Melinda French Gates.
• The foundation supports causes related to global health issues, poverty, and inequity.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a nonprofit charitable organization founded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his then-wife, Melinda French Gates. The foundation has donated tens of billions of dollars to issues like global health, gender equality, water sanitation programs, nutrition education and support, and more.

The Gates Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) organization, partners with groups that can do impactful work on specific issues in specific areas — medical researchers studying mosquito-borne illness in Tanzania, for example — and helps ensure there is proper funding for the work.

The Gates Foundation is one of the largest such organizations, second only to Denmark's medical research-focused Novo Nordisk Foundation. Its size and scope noted, there is still much people wonder about the BMGF, so let's take a closer look at who it supports, who runs it, and just how much money we're talking about here.

The history, ownership, and wealth of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was formed in 2000 as an offshoot of the William H. Gates Foundation, which the Microsoft founder created six years earlier. Bill Gates stepped down as Microsoft CEO in 2008 to devote more of his time to the foundation.

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates divorced in August of 2021, and she resigned from her position as co-chair and trustee of the foundation in the spring of 2024. However, despite the couple's divorce, the Gates Foundation is still very active and is even growing the scope of its operations and its endowment. The foundation has about 2,000 employees, and has offices all over the world, including several in Africa, Europe, and Asia.

The former power couple aren't actually the owners of the organization. The Gates Foundation is owned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust.

The Gates Foundation is best known for funding efforts to eradicate diseases like polio and malaria worldwide and addressing global poverty and malnutrition. It works closely with global health organizations like the World Health Organization and UNICEF. The foundation has backed efforts like developing and delivering vaccines to poverty-stricken countries, supporting agriculture and reducing food insecurity in developing nations, and committed more than $2 billion to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the foundation has also received criticism from global health and development experts, who have accused the organization of lacking transparency and accountability. Despite being a private, unelected entity, the foundation has had major effects and implications on public policy around the world, and its critics say it makes decisions based on the whims of its billionaire trustees rather than voters.

For instance, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into agricultural development in Africa over the years via a "green revolution" emphasizing technological innovations in farming. Instead, multiple organizations have called the efforts a failure and urged the foundation to instead listen to the needs of African farmers.

Bill and Melinda Gates have also acknowledged shortcomings in the foundation's strategies. For instance, despite spending billions on improving the US education system, with the goal of boosting high school graduation rates, the couple acknowledged that the foundation's efforts to improve American public schools were "still falling short" and said the foundation hadn't accomplished as much as they would like.

How much money does the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have?

The foundation is well-endowed, largely thanks to donations directly from the Gates themselves and billionaire Warren Buffett. BMGF has also made some excellent investments over the years.

According to its website, the foundation has an endowment of $75.2 billion. Bill and Melinda Gates have given $59.5 billion to the foundation since its inception, and Buffet has given $39.3 billion since 2006.

The foundation has billions of dollars of Microsoft stock, which is little surprise given that the software company is the provenance of Bill Gates' wealth. Bill Gates' net worth fluctuates with the stock market, but it is well over $100 billion — and that's after subtracting the $76 billion Melinda Gates gained when the couple separated.

Notably, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does not give money to individuals, its website states, nor does it donate to "projects addressing health problems in developed countries," "political campaigns and legislative lobbying efforts," "building or capital campaigns," or "projects that exclusively serve religious purposes."

• Founding partner Alex Witt shared three venture capital predictions for the next decade.
• Witt says that managers who've launched less than three funds will get more attention.
• He also says that five key technologies and the African market will see more investments.

Since venture capital funds plummeted from 2021 to 2023, VCs are looking for ways to stop the pain and regain a sense of control over their future. Still, many VCs predict the industry will significantly decline in 2025 due to high interest rates.

Alex Witt, general partner at Verda Ventures and cofounder of the payment platform SWFT Blockchain agrees with recent predictions. Based on his 14 years of experience in finance and technology, Witt also gave Business Insider three more core predictions for the VC industry's next decade.

He believes technological opportunity combined with changing demographics will shape the VC experience over the next 10 years, creating more investment space for emerging managers, five key technologies, and Africa.

1. Emerging managers will drive the highest returns in the next decade

As limited partners recognize that successful Fund 1s don't necessarily translate into successful Fund 2s or 3s, the VC landscape will see a greater focus on new managers who've launched less than three funds.

"Emerging managers have been traditionally underfunded despite their success," Witt explained.

For context, Witt explained that larger funds have a track record of underperforming: only 17% of funds larger than $750 million return over 2.5 times of capital. Yet smaller funds have been proven to consistently outperform.

"Funds under $249 million are disproportionately represented in the top decile and quartile of performers," he said. Witt explained that targeting smaller, high-performing funds will be critical for future success.

2. VCs have an unprecedented chance to back five transformative technologies

According to Witt, we're entering a new "industrial renaissance" fueled by breakthroughs in five key technologies he believes have massive VC potential.

• Generative AI: Witt predicts that key players in this arena will be companies with unique datasets, such as Google with YouTube data and xAI with X and Tesla data. Generative AI will even affect the finance and pharmaceutical industries.

  "Some impacts of generative AI to watch for include drug discovery with even faster trials and finance with real-time, data-driven trading.

• Robotics: Witt pointed to innovations like generative AI-driven physical AI — for example, Nvidia — and referenced Tesla. "Market leader Tesla is positioned to dominate this area with its 'robots on wheels' approach to manufacturing."
• Autonomous electric vehicles: Witt said Chinese carmaker BYD stands out as a global leader in data access and scalable manufacturing. "In terms of cost impact, more than 70% of Uber ride costs are labor-related, and autonomous transport will significantly reduce expenses," he said.
• Blockchain: Accessibility is an area to watch in blockchain. Witt said blockchain enables low-cost, borderless transactions, and more markets are using it. "For example, MiniPay, the #1 app in Kenya, surpassed Facebook and Instagram in downloads."
• Biotech: As an emerging technology, Witt explained that gene-based therapies offer precision treatments for inherited or environmental genetic abnormalities. "As examples, Moderna's mRNA success foreshadows the broader potential of CRISPR and similar technologies," he said.

"This era is reminiscent of the early 20th century's transformative, broad-based innovations like electricity and the internal combustion engine," Witt said. For VCs, Witt believes the coming decade marks a rare chance to back category-defining companies in emerging industries — but he emphasized that success won't come easy.

"VCs will face the challenge of identifying category-defining winners," Witt said. "As history shows, industries tend to consolidate around one or two dominant players, with only a small fraction of companies emerging as leaders — think Amazon and Google among the dot-com era's 500 IPOs."

3. Africa and the Global South will lead in VC-backed innovation

Beyond technology, Witt stressed that demographics are a critical and often overlooked factor shaping VC trends. He projects that population dynamics will increasingly determine the locations where innovation thrives.

"Demographics are destiny," Witt said.

He predicts that VCs will increasingly allocate capital to the Global South, particularly Africa, due to its "explosive" consumer and market growth potential.

"This shift will redefine traditional portfolio strategies, emphasizing demographic-driven investments," Witt said.

As support for his prediction, Witt noted that Africa leads global population growth, and that all of the top 20 fastest-growing populations are in the Global South.

He added that countries with aging populations and declining birth rates, such as Korea, with a fertility rate of 0.68, face a shrinking workforce and reduced appetite for risk and technological adoption.

In contrast, he believes that regions like Africa, with a fertility rate of 4.18, offer a young, growing population and expanding market potential.

"This is why some VCs are betting on the Global South as the next frontier for innovation and growth," Witt concluded. "Large populations equal large markets, and big markets mean that one or two successful companies can offset eight or nine failures, which is critical for VC success."

If you're a VC who would like to share your thoughts on the industry, please email Manseen Logan at [email protected].

The President-elect pledged to "build an Iron Dome" over the U.S. to make sure "nothing can come and harm our people." A new report shows how it might look.

Recent breakthroughs in HIV research could mean better treatment options as early as 2025.

AccuWeather forecast that the state's "RealFeel" temperature could be as cold as between 10-20 degrees from January 8-10.

California's population is set to reach 41 million by 2030 and remain the largest state.

• The personal trainer Ben Carpenter said it's a mistake to rely on willpower to make healthy changes stick.
• For lasting fat loss, Carpenter advises making habits that can be kept long-term.
• Work with, not against, your existing preferences, he said.

If you want to lose weight successfully — and for good — it helps to make it as easy as possible.

By making healthy habits effortless, you won't have to rely on willpower and are more likely to stick to them, Ben Carpenter, a personal trainer and fat loss coach, told Business Insider.

Carpenter's new book, "Fat Loss Habits," is designed to help people set themselves up for sustainable fat loss.

"When it comes to weight loss, a lot of people view obesity traditionally as a lack of willpower," Carpenter said.

But willpower is a finite resource, and at some point, it will run out, he said.

By choosing a form of exercise you enjoy, rather than what's optimal, you're more likely to develop a habit that becomes so ingrained in your routine that you don't have to think about it.

"Over time it becomes second nature," Carpenter said.

Think long-term

Changing your mindset about fat loss could be the key to getting off the yo-yo diet cycle.

Carpenter said that instead of asking yourself how you can lose as much weight as possible as quickly as possible, ask what you could still be doing in a year's time.

"What could you be doing so well a year from now that next January you aren't asking yourself again, 'What diet should I go on?' I think that's a fundamental mindset shift that would help most people," Carpenter said.

People go on and off restrictive diets like they're switching lights on and off, Carpenter said: "If someone can adopt health-promoting behaviors that they can adhere to for long periods of time, arguably the need for dieting diminishes."

For your weight loss to be long-term, you need to think about long-term habits, Carpenter said: "Most people are trying to achieve long-term goals, but they're doing it via short-term behaviors."

Dietitians have previously told BI that diets promising rapid, drastic weight loss are unsustainable and best avoided.

Keep a food diary for a couple days

Carpenter recommends people self-audit before trying to lose weight.

This could be as simple as keeping a food diary for a couple of days to help you identify tweaks. For example, swapping cream in your coffee for milk.

"I prefer to ask people what they're doing at the moment, their own preferences, and then try and find things that take as little effort and cause as little pain as possible," Carpenter said.

He added: "If you can get better results doing 99% of everything you are already doing, it takes a lot less effort and willpower than someone going, 'Here is your new diet plan, good luck.'"

Overhauling your diet can seem doable at the start but motivation often dwindles.

"From a motivation perspective, it could be really exciting to make substantial changes to your eating and watch the scale drop quickly. It might even motivate you to keep going," registered dietitian Alix Turoff previously told BI. "But when your plan is very rigid, this motivation typically lasts only a few weeks before you're burnt out and wanting to quit."

• Justin Baldoni sued The New York Times over its coverage of Blake Lively's harassment complaints against him.
• The suit is a strong PR defense that shows he's serious about protecting his reputation, a PR expert said.
• Industry pros told BI both stars' personal and professional lives will likely be damaged as the battle continues.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's reputations are likely to face even more damage as their legal battle intensifies, crisis PR and legal experts say.

Baldoni, the director and star of the romantic drama "It Ends with Us," sued The New York Times on Tuesday for libel, false light invasion of privacy, promissory fraud, and breach of implied-in-fact contract over its December 2024 story about his costar Lively's accusations that he sexually harassed her and damaged her reputation in the press.

Baldoni's 87-page lawsuit rebuts Lively's claims in detail, offering a different perspective on the Times' bombshell story. It also accuses Lively of attempting to salvage her public image at Baldoni's expense and engaging in a "hostile takeover" of the production of "It Ends With Us."

The Times told BI in a statement that their story was "meticulously and responsibly reported."

Baldoni's team's decision to sue a newspaper for hundreds of millions of dollars isn't just a legal tactic. It's a major PR statement, too.

"To know that the Baldoni team is so strongly standing in their truth shows that there's a lot more to the story than what initially came out in that Lively complaint," Mike Fahey, the founder and CEO of the PR agency Fahey Communications, told Business Insider.

Baldoni's suit does not name Lively, but her attorneys told BI in a statement that the filing doesn't change anything about the initial claims made in her complaint, and they look forward to addressing Baldoni's claims in court.

Whether the case goes to trial or settles out of court, Fahey said the story is far from over. "It's an onion, and there are a lot of layers to peel back," he said.

Erik Bernstein, the president of Bernstein Crisis Management, agreed. He cautioned that it might get ugly: "I think we're going to see two people's personal and professional lives dragged through the mud."

The text messages included in Baldoni's lawsuit cast Lively's claims in a different light

The timing of Baldoni's lawsuit against the Times, which was filed 10 days after Lively filed her initial complaint against him, was a strategic move to strike back quickly before public interest waned, Fahey said.

"The shelf life on a story like this is very short," Fahey said.

Evan Nierman, the CEO of PR firm Red Banyan, added that the tone of Baldoni's lawsuit suggests that the actor-director is "concerned that The New York Times piece could define him for years to come."

"He is taking a very aggressive stance to defend his reputation and prevent a negative perception of him from hardening into the public consciousness," he added.

Part of that stance included providing additional context on text messages in Lively's complaint to make the case that the Times' reporting leaned on "'cherry-picked' and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead."

The PR and legal experts who spoke to BI said that, if real and undoctored, the text message screenshots included in Baldoni's lawsuit strengthen his case and make for a strong defense.

"I thought it was a necessary move to show the full context of the text messages and the full context of some of the events that Blake Lively is alleging to paint a different type of picture, a different type of narrative," said Camron Dowlatshahi, a partner at MSD Lawyers, a Los Angeles law firm that specializes in entertainment and employment law.

"This is a full-on legal battle, but this is more of a public relations battle at this point," he added. "And so Baldoni had to come forward and do something."

Baldoni's lengthy lawsuit addresses various points made in Lively's initial complaint. With pages and pages of details to pore through, the general public may no longer know what to believe. Nierman said that's likely also by design.

"I think that's probably part of their strategy, is to muddy the waters," Nierman said. "And part of the way that you do that is by launching a full frontal assault on the outlet that broke the story and has so far framed the narrative."

Nierman added that Baldoni and his team probably hope that undermining the Times' credibility will "cast doubt into people's minds that Baldoni is this negative actor that the story portrayed."

Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, doubled down on his team's intention to unveil more messages between Lively and Baldoni during a Friday interview on NBC's "Today" show.

"We plan to release every single text message between the two of them," Freedman said. "There is nothing that in any way is a concern about this entire situation from our perspective, and we want the truth to be out there."

Bernstein said that Baldoni and his team likely view this lawsuit "as a must-win."

"He has to be thinking that he needs to win, or he'll be seen as untouchable by Hollywood in our, let's say, post-Weinstein era," he said.

Experts say Baldoni seeking $250 million in damages from the Times is a deliberate move to fuel headlines

Baldoni's suit is lengthy and asks for a hefty $250 million in damages. The experts who spoke to BI said that's another PR strategy that will draw more attention to Baldoni's narrative.

"Big numbers get printed, right? Your story is a lot more interesting if it's $250 million than if it's $20,000," Bernstein said.

"The exorbitant number is meant to drive headlines, not to result in collection,'" Nierman added. "It is a PR play to get attention and to ensure that his side of the story does get reported. So I actually think it's a very savvy move to attach such an astronomical figure to it."

Dowlatshahi, the lawyer, said that it's not typical for an amount in damages to be listed in the lawsuit, though he said that this situation is anything but typical.

"This is a high-profile celebrity battle, and so I think that amount was needed to be a show of force."

The PR battle will continue in public, and neither star will emerge unscathed

The same day Baldoni filed his lawsuit against the Times, Lively formally filed a lawsuit against Baldoni, his production company Wayfarer, and his PR team in New York federal court.

The lawsuit, obtained by BI, stems from the complaint Lively previously filed with the California Civil Rights Department. It accuses Baldoni and his PR team of engaging in a campaign to retaliate against Lively for speaking out about Baldoni's alleged sexual misconduct on the set of "It Ends With Us."

It's unclear how long it will take for this to play out — it could be months or even years if it goes to a jury trial — but the experts BI spoke with agreed that this is just the beginning of a long and messy road ahead.

And the hits will keep coming: Though Lively was not named in Baldoni's suit against the Times, Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman told NBC's "Today" show that they "absolutely" plan to sue Lively, too.

Though both stars' reputations have already been damaged, they'll likely worsen as the case unfolds publicly.

"There's going to be some skeletons in the closet coming out," Bernstein said. "It's just going to be a long dragged-out thing where there's maybe no real winner."

• China's new Type 055 cruiser is its most modern and powerful surface combatant.
• The ship China labels as a destroyer is so large it compares more to US cruisers.
• China is building these ships fast while the US sunsets most of its aging cruisers.

China's navy has a menacing new addition to its naval fleet: the Type 055 class guided missile destroyer.

The destroyer is the most modern and potent surface combatant in China's navy, officially known as the People's Liberation Army Navy. Designed for multiple missions and fitted with a massive arsenal and advanced electronics, it is an apex predator in the PLAN's growing fleet meant to protect China's carriers from harm.

The class is so daunting and capable that the US Department of Defense classifies it as a cruiser. Many observers compare it to the US Navy's own cruisers, which have performed a similar role.

"Depending on your criteria, the Type 055 is the best or second-best surface combatant in the world," Chris Carlson, a retired US Navy captain and naval analyst told Business Insider.

And while the US Navy seeks to divest from its aging cruiser fleet, China is expanding its fleet at a breakneck pace.

Type 055 'Renhai'

China's desire for a massive surface combatant dates back to the 1960s. China initiated an "055" program in the mid-1970s, then canceled it in 1983 due to weaknesses in its industrial base and technological know-how.

Three decades later, however, China's booming economy enabled its shipbuilding industry to become the largest in the world. It emphasized modernizing the navy and building or acquiring fleet oilers, nuclear submarines, guided missile warships, aircraft carriers, and more.

The keel of the first Type 055, Nanchang, was laid in December 2014, just three months before the keel of China's first domestically built carrier, Shandong, was laid.

When Nanchang was commissioned in 2020, it made the class a force to be reckoned with. Measuring 590 feet long and displacing 12,000-13,000 tons, it is the largest class of surface combatant China has ever built.

Each Type 055, which NATO classifies as the Renhai-class, is fitted with 112 vertical launch system (VLS) cells, which launch missiles. Sixty-four cells are positioned forward of the bridge in an 8x8 configuration and 48 are located aft in a 6x8 configuration. These VLS cells have both cold and hot launch capability, enabling them to field a more diverse missile arsenal; in a cold launch, a missile is ejected from the cell via pressurized gas before its engine fires.

That arsenal includes YJ-18 anti-ship cruise missiles, CJ-10 land-attack cruise missiles, and HHQ-9 surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), which have ranges of around 335 miles, 497 miles, and 124 miles, respectively. The class may also be able to carry Yu-8 anti-submarine missiles.

In 2022, China tested a cold launch of a YJ-21 hypersonic missile from a Type 055's VLS cells. The missile reportedly has an approximate range of 932 miles, a cruising speed of Mach 6, and a terminal speed of Mach 10, which makes it challenging to intercept.

The Type 055 also features a single box launcher with 25 HHQ-10 short-range SAMs, four Type 726 defensive launchers capable of launching chaff, flares, and decoys, 2 triple-tubed torpedo launchers with Yu-7 torpedoes, a single 11-barelled H/PJ-11 Close-in weapon system (CIWS), and a H/PJ-38 130 mm naval gun.

At the stern, a helicopter deck and hangar can house two helicopters capable of tracking submarines and helping with logistics.

The Type 055 is also brimming with modern radars, sensors, and other electronics. This includes four Type 346B Dragon Eye S-band active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars mounted on the superstructure and four X-band radars housed in an integrated mast, making it the first Chinese warship with dual-band planar radar arrays. Its hull-mounted sonar can be enhanced by towed active array sonars.

With its arsenal and sensor/electronic suite, the Type 055 can take on an anti-ship, anti-submarine, anti-air, or land-attack role, making it the best candidate for a carrier escort. It's also capable of operating as a command flagship for any PLAN surface action group without a carrier.

The US Department of Defense has speculated that China wants to incorporate ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems on the Type 055, which could enable it to serve in a BMD/anti-satellite role similar to Japan's BMD destroyers.

Eight Type 055s are in service. At least three more are reportedly in varying stages of construction. China may build as many as 16 Type 055s in total.

Despite its young age, the class has already gained a reputation as one of the best surface combatants in the world.

"I'd say the Type 055 is the most capable in anti-surface warfare, but not as capable in the air defense and BMD role as a US [Arleigh] Burke DDG," Carlson, the retired US Navy captain, said. He said the Type 055's strike and ASW capabilities are about the same as its American counterpart.

Ticonderoga-class

The size, armament, and mission of the Type 055 are often compared to the US Navy's Ticonderoga-class cruiser. Measuring 567 feet long, displacing around 10,000 tons, and first entering service in 1983, the ships of the class are considerably older and smaller than the Type 055s.

But the Ticonderogas are no less potent and have a larger missile arsenal, with two sets of 61 Mk 41 VLS cells able to carry 122 missiles and two quad-tubed Mk-141 launchers at the stern.

Two Mark 45 5-inch guns are present at the stem and stern, as well as two Phalanx CIWS' and two triple-tubed Mark 32 torpedo tubes capable of firing Mk 46 or Mk 50 torpedoes. A helicopter hangar capable of housing two MH-60R Seahawk helicopters provides additional ASW capability.

The exact makeup of each Ticonderoga's missile arsenal is dependent on its mission, as it is capable of carrying a host of different missiles. These include Tomahawk cruise missiles for ground targets, Harpoon anti-ship missiles for hostile ships, and RUM-139 VL-ASROC anti-submarine missiles for enemy subs.

The missiles have ranges of up to 1,500 miles, 149 miles, and 10 miles respectively.

The Ticonderoga's main role, however, is air defense. It can carry a wide range of anti-air missiles, including Evolved Sea Sparrow SAMs, and all active variants of the Standard Missile family; the SM-2 Blocks III, IIIA, IIIB, and IV; the SM-3, and the SM-6.

Those missiles, which can intercept targets ranging from 35 miles to over 200, enable the Ticonderoga to provide an effective air defense umbrella against low- and high-altitude threats, including helicopters, drones, jets, and missiles.

In 2008, an SM-3 fired from the cruiser USS Lake Erie destroyed a defunct satellite at an altitude of some 150 miles, demonstrating its ability to perform anti-satellite missions.

Another defining asset of the Ticonderogas is the AN/SPY-1 passive phased array radar — a vital component of the AEGIS Combat System, an advanced and integrated naval defense system that combines command, detecting, tracking, and weapons control for comprehensive management of air, surface, and submarine threats, and which the Ticonderogas were the first ships to employ.

Twenty-seven Ticonderoga-class cruisers were built between 1980 and 1994, but only nine are in active service today.

Cruiser gap?

The importance of the Ticonderoga and the Type 055 to their respective fleets is hard to overstate. Their displacement, arsenal size, and ability to perform multiple missions and operate as flagships puts them at the top of the list of most important surface combatants — second, perhaps, only to the carriers.

In an acknowledgment of their capability, the US Department of Defense officially designates the Type 055 as a cruiser, despite China's own designation of destroyer, which is likely a PR move intended to make the PLAN seem less aggressive. (Destroyers typically have smaller displacements and arsenals than cruisers and play a less prominent role in the fleet.)

Consequently, their deployments are carefully monitored, with their standalone voyages seen as intentional shows of strength.

Type 055s have sailed in the waters off Alaska in 2021, 2022, and 2024, including as part of joint Chinese-Russian patrols. Recently, a Type 055 visited the island nation of Vanuatu, signaling to some that China was trying to increase its presence in the South Pacific.

The Ticonderogas have also been on the move. In 2022, the cruiser USS Port Royal sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a sign to China. More recently, in June, USS Normandy participated in a show of strength off Norway, and in September, USS Bunker Hill took part in a massive five-nation drill in the South China Sea.

Though both navies currently have nine cruisers in active service, this will not be the case for long. While China has only just entered the cruiser game, the US Navy has been seeking to decommission its cruisers for years.

The Navy argues that the cruisers have approached, passed, or will soon pass their expected service lives and that the cost of keeping the ships up and running is draining the service of funds and shipyard space.

In 2021, for instance, USS Vella Gulf lasted just one week into a deployment before leaks in a fuel tank required it to return to port. More mechanical problems were soon uncovered, and the ship spent two months undergoing repairs before it could rejoin its carrier strike group.

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro has even testified to Congress that some of the ships were unsafe. A modernization effort for seven cruisers, meanwhile, went as much as 200% over budget and fell years behind schedule.

The Navy wants to divest from ships it says it doesn't need and invest in new vessels that it argues can adequately fill in for the role of the Ticonderogas in the 21st century, like the new Flight III variant of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

But Congress has so far rejected the Navy's plans to retire all of its remaining cruisers due to fears that they play too important a role in countering China, whose increasing might could be a means to try to seize the island of Taiwan by force.

Four Ticonderogas — Vicksburg, Cowpens, Leyte Gulf, and Antietam — were decommissioned in the last year. On November 4, Del Toro announced that the Navy would operate three cruisers planned to be decommissioned in 2026 into 2029, effectively extending their service lives. The rest are planned to be decommissioned before then.

China, meanwhile, will continue building Type 055s at rates virtually unthinkable to US shipyards.

Benjamin Brimelow is a freelance journalist covering international military and defense issues. He holds a master's degree in Global Affairs with a concentration in international security from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. His work has appeared in Business Insider and the Modern War Institute at West Point.

• Elon Musk is funding a new private preschool in Texas called Ad Astra.
• It's set to open its doors this year for children aged three to nine.
• The school is focused on STEM-based learning and has long-term goals to expand into a university.

Elon Musk is expanding his reach as he launches his newest venture: early childhood education.

Located in Bastrop, Texas, Ad Astra is a private preschool that is accepting applications for children aged three to nine. The school's website said that Ad Astra will subsidize tuition for its opening year, after which costs will be set in line with local private schools.

"Ad Astra's approach to education is centered around hands-on, project-based learning, where children are encouraged to explore, experiment, and discover solutions to real-world problems," the website said, adding that its curriculum will be centered on integrating STEM subjects into the classrooms.

A notice from the Texas Health and Human Services Department said the preschool obtained its initial permit on November 14, officially allowing the school to open in 2025. Per the permit, the preschool can admit up to 21 students in its first year of operation. The school's application materials first obtained by Bloomberg said that the school's long-term goal is expanding into a university focused on STEM learning.

While Musk's name does not appear in any of the school's application materials to the state, his foundation donated $100 million to get the preschool up and running, according to tax filings.

As the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and the owner of the social media website Twitter turned X, Musk is not primarily known for his influence on education. However, this isn't his first investment into the field — in 2014, Musk opened a school also named Ad Astra that he created for his kids and the kids of his SpaceX employees, which stopped its in-person operations after Musk's kids graduated.

It's not uncommon for billionaires to donate to schools and universities. Ad Astra's opening, however, comes at a time when President-elect Donald Trump is taking office for his second term. Musk is a close ally of Trump, tasked with leading a new cost-cutting commission called the Department of Government Efficiency. Amid calls to eliminate the Education Department and give states more control over classrooms, Musk could play a key role in shaping education policy by offering advice to Trump and lawmakers. DOGE does not have the power to make any changes on its own.

"I do think we need significant reform in education," Musk said during a Trump campaign event in October.

"The Department of Education seems to regard as its primary duty foisting propaganda on our children as opposed to getting them a good education. It's insane," Musk said. "The priority should be to teach kids skills that they will find useful later in life and leave any sort of social propaganda out of the classroom."

Ad Astra and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

New priorities for education

Ad Astra's website said it is not a Montessori school, but it operates like one, focusing on child-centered education and individualized lessons. The application form to the school also encourages parental involvement, saying that Ad Astra wants "parents and guardians to be actively involved and share their gifts with the community."

The school's website does not directly reference politics, but Musk, Trump, and other Republican lawmakers' past comments indicate how the GOP would like to shape education under Trump's administration. When Trump announced former wrestling executive Linda McMahon as his education secretary, he wrote in a statement that she would "fight tirelessly to expand 'Choice' to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families."

Reducing the federal Education Department's influence over education has long been a priority for Republican lawmakers. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a series of bills aimed at increasing parents' involvement in classroom curricula and ending "woke" lessons in classrooms.

Trump and Musk's DOGE partner Vivek Ramaswamy have also proposed shutting down the Education Department altogether. Ramaswamy recently blamed the department for kids' poor reading literacy scores.

The emphasis on STEM education at Ad Astra reflects Musk's priorities for hands-on learning that would equip children with the skills he has said they'll need to enter the workforce. McMahon has previously expressed support for workforce education programs, suggesting a focus on teaching kids practical skills could be a priority over the next four years.

Are you a parent interested in enrolling your child at Ad Astra? What priorities do you have for education in the US? Share your thoughts with this reporter at [email protected].

The polar vortex will deliver colder and snowier weather for the Eastern U.S. in early January.

The man told Newsweek that he wants to give the human figurines he found on the street "a good home after being cooped up like that."

Companies including Starbucks are improving their paid parental leave policies, while some states have passed laws to support new parents.

One historian described Trump's proposals to Newsweek as a "throwback to the 19th century."

"I began to look everywhere I could, on her phone, on her email and in old texts, for things I could use to keep her memory alive."

While many may believe the days of pandemics are behind us, a new bird flu epidemic could threaten that assumption, leading to more economic turbulence.

• Business Insider health writer Rachel Hosie struggled to decide whether to get Botox for her wedding.
• She said the decision was made harder by the rise of "undetectable" beauty treatments.
• People increasingly look inexplicably ageless, setting what she sees as even less attainable beauty standards.

Getting engaged a year ago was one of the most special and exciting moments of my life.

But wedding planning has come with some tricky decisions: Should I change my name? Is "Mr Brightside" an acceptable first dance song? And should I get Botox for the first time?

I've changed my mind endlessly: perhaps I'll get just a little something to smooth out the lines that, as a 32-year-old woman, have appeared on my forehead in recent years. "No, actually, I won't," I think.

For every sister-in-law warning against the "weird, shiny texture" Botox can give skin, a gym-mate encourages me to do it because I "won't look back."

I worry that Botox will become yet another expense alongside the mani-pedis, hair coloring, and waxing that are quietly expected of women to live up to patriarchal beauty standards, but my feminist principles are what are really causing me to hesitate.

While some men increasingly feel the pressure to look young, the scrutiny women — particularly those in the public eye — face is unrivaled. By erasing those signs of life, would I be part of the problem in a society that, as Anne-Mette Hermans, who studies the sociology of cosmetic procedures, told me, puts on women "a penalty on looking older"?

Deciding whether to get antiaging treatments like Botox isn't a new problem. Still, it feels harder to avoid as aesthetic treatments and surgeries become more subtle and less detectable and, in turn, make everyone look inexplicably ageless — setting even less attainable beauty standards.

I know that women are valued for looking young

Christine Hall, an aesthetic doctor at London's Taktouk Clinic, told me that since the COVID pandemic, skincare has replaced makeup as the aesthetic focus for many women and girls. This reflects a shift from the heavily made-up look of the mid-2010s — with many celebrities revealing they've had filler removed — toward looking "natural" and effortless.

Of course, by "natural," we mean young.

I've never worn a lot of makeup and am happy to go out and about bare-faced, so I was pleased that societal expectations changed. But the focus shifting from makeup to antiaging just as my first wrinkles appeared made me feel uneasy.

Antiaging has been big business for centuries, as Western cultures traditionally value women for beauty and fertility, which are seen as synonymous with youth. These ideals followed women when they entered the workforce in greater numbers.

"A beautiful appearance, especially for women, can definitely lead to advantages on the relationship market, but also in terms of jobs, in terms of promotions, in terms of so many different things," Hermans, an assistant professor studying cosmetic procedures at the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, said.

Psychologists point to a phenomenon called the "halo effect," where people unconsciously assume an attractive person has positive traits, such as trustworthiness and intelligence. A 2021 study from researchers at the University of Buffalo found that people perceived as attractive "are more likely to get hired, receive better evaluations, and get paid more."

So wanting to cling to our youth makes sense, and I don't shame anyone for having treatments like Botox.

After the FDA approved Botox for cosmetic use in 2002, Gen X started the trend of facial "tweakments" in earnest. It was taken to new heights by millennials amid the rise of social media and filters that made them appear wrinkle-free. The Kardashian-esque "Instagram face" quickly became ubiquitous.

Now, increasing numbers of Gen Zers are getting "baby Botox" in their 20s in the hope of preventing wrinkles. (Some practitioners, however, won't administer Botox to line-free faces as it can actually make people look older and, if done incorrectly, lead to muscle atrophy and sagging).

While the US has tighter regulations around cosmetic treatments than some countries, it's remarkably easy in the UK, where I'm from, to find someone who will administer Botox — whether at a "home salon" or your dentist.

"The idea of tweaking things in your own body and especially the face, it's become far, far more normalized," Hermans said.

Gen Alpha, children born after 2010, is seemingly set to continue down the same path, with the emergence of "Sephora kids" who are as young as 10 and save their pocket money to buy expensive antiaging products they don't need.

"When I was 16 or 17, it was all about blue eyeshadow and putting on as much foundation as possible. And now obviously the trend is kids wanting Drunk Elephant products and acids on their skin," Hall told me.

Commenting more widely on beauty trends, Hall added: "Nobody wants to wear makeup. Everyone wants to have natural, glowing skin." At the same time, aesthetic treatments are "much more acceptable now," she said.

This combination has in part ushered in what's dubbed the "undetectable" era of beauty. In recent months, the faces of Lindsay Lohan, 38, and Christina Aguilera, 44, have been the subjects of online fascination because they suddenly looked dramatically younger without the tell-tale signs of cosmetic treatments.

For the average person who doesn't have the same resources as celebrities, this presents a paradox between wanting the result of treatments to look natural while also making enough of a difference to justify the price tag.

Earlier this year, I tried what I had hoped would be the holy grail of antiaging treatments: "microtox," for a hefty cost of £495 ($657).

Popular in Korea but relatively new in the West, diluted Botox is injected into the skin's surface rather than muscles, preventing a frozen-looking face.

I hoped my skin would be wrinkle-free while maintaining all movement and expression. While my skin glowed, the effect on my fine lines was negligible and wore off over a couple of months.

So, when I look at photos of myself in the run-up to my wedding and wince at my forehead lines, I think, sure, Botox may be contributing to low self-esteem among women, but we can't change the world overnight.

If everyone else is giving in and walking around with shiny, smooth foreheads, maybe I should, too?

I want to look like myself at my wedding

It's now less than six months until my wedding, and considering most people get Botox every three to six months, I've nearly run out of time to do a trial run.

Hermans told me that a big predictor of whether someone will get any kind of aesthetic treatment is whether those in their social circle have done so. None of my close friends have had Botox — yet.

For now, I've decided not to get Botox.

While I may have crinkles and lines on my face, I also know who I am, which I was still working out a decade ago. My face looks like me, lines included. Just as my muscle definition reflects my love of strength training, my forehead lines reflect that I've embraced life.

I still have moments where I catch my reflection in harsh lighting or an action shot photo and don't like what I see. But perhaps reframing how I think about my looks is the answer, not Botox. After all, trying to "fix" everything you dislike about your appearance is an expensive path to go down.

When I'm smiling at my new husband on our wedding day, I want him and everyone else to be able to see my joy — forehead wrinkles and all.

Newsweek is back to help you with today's "Wordle" by providing some handy hints and useful clues for finding the five-letter word.

Stuck on today's brainteaser? Newsweek has provided all the information you'll need to achieve a win.

• Microsoft holds quarterly earnings calls to discuss the company's financial performance.
• In 2024, earnings calls touched on topics like the Activision Blizzard acquisition, AI, and layoffs.
• Here's what to know about Microsoft's revenues, profits, and more.

Information about Microsoft's earnings is released publicly at the end of each quarter of the fiscal year. For Microsoft, this is done during an earnings call usually hosted by CEO Satya Nadella.

An earnings call consists of company executives laying out the current state of the company's financial situation and explaining how the company performed over the course of the closing quarter. It also involves projections about upcoming fiscal performance. These calls are closely watched by investors, economists, and regulators.

In 2024, some of the major themes on these earnings calls were the advancement of AI tools like Copilot, which was first launched in late 2023, and layoffs at Microsoft, largely in the company's gaming division.

Microsoft Q1 earnings 2025

Things were going well for Microsoft as of the October 2024 earnings call which covered the first quarter of the 2025 fiscal year calendar. Revenues were just over $65.6 billion, a 16% increase year-over-year.

Among the specifics discussed were a 10% increase in revenue for LinkedIn and a 61% increase in revenues for Xbox "content and services."

The company reportedly returned $9 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks. On October 30, Microsoft's stock price was trading at around $432 per share.

Microsoft Q4 earnings 2024

The July 2024 earnings call was mostly filled with good news. Amy Hood, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Microsoft reported that the quarterly revenue was $64.7 billion, which was up 15% over the previous quarter.

Hood also reported that share prices were up $2.95 over the previous quarter. (On July 30, 2024, Microsoft share prices were at $4.22.92 per share at the close of the market.) Q4 was the best quarter of the fiscal year for Microsoft.

Not all the news was good, though: revenues for Xbox video game console hardware fell by 42%, and this drop surely helped account for large round of layoffs in Microsoft's gaming division.

Microsoft Q3 earnings 2024

Microsoft's revenues for the third quarter of the 2024 fiscal year were almost as strong as those of the fourth quarter. In April 2024, the company reported overall revenues of $61.9 billion for the months of January, February, and March of that year, a 17% year-over-year increase.

Revenues increased for platforms like LinkedIn and software suites like Office 365, but decreased for some physical device sales. Share prices increased by $2.94 on average. And Xbox "content and services revenue" increased by 62%, this increase coming only a few months after Microsoft's acquisition of the gaming company Activision Blizzard.

Microsoft Q2 earnings 2024

In the months of October, November, and December of 2023, the second quarter of the 2024 fiscal year, revenue was almost the same as the following Q3. Q2 revenues were $62 billion, a 18% YOY increase.

The massive acquisition of Activision Blizzard concluded during the early days of this quarter, with the software company laying out $69 billion to acquire the gaming company. And artificial intelligence was top-of-mind for Nadella, who said in the earnings call that "we've moved from talking about AI to applying AI at scale. By infusing AI across every layer of our tech stack, we're winning new customers and helping drive new benefits and productivity gains across every sector."

Microsoft earnings history

Like most major tech companies, Microsoft spent 2024 adjusting to the post-pandemic slump in what some are calling a tech industry recession.

At the same time, a fiercely competitive AI arms race has proven challenging, even with Microsoft's 2023 launch of Copilot.

In 2020, the peak year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft's annual revenues were $143 billion. 2021 saw an increase to $168 billion, while 2022 saw another jump to $198 billion in revenues. In 2023, Microsoft revenues were $211 billion, and when you add all those quarters of FY24 up, you'll see its 2024 fiscal year revenues were a healthy $245 billion.