Canva's cofounder said creatives should embrace AI, and it'd be foolish not to do so.
Cliff Obrecht said designers are reacting to AI as they did to Canva in its early days.
But Canva helped free designers' time for more "high-value work," he said.
Canva's cofounder and chief operating officer says it's foolish for creatives not to embrace AI.
Cliff Obrecht, who cofounded the design software company with his wife Melanie Perkins, said designers are reacting to AI like they did to Canva in its early days.
"So at Canva, when we launched, a lot of designers said, 'Canva, we hate you. You are ruining our industry. You are like letting everyone design,'" Obrecht said on a Tuesday podcast episode of Masters of Scale.
"And so over time, it didn't take long, within four years, designers didn't feel threatened by Canva," he said, adding that Canva's tools helped designers free up time for "high-value work."
He said he sees "AI as just another step in that evolution," and that it's time for creatives to embrace the new technology.
"Not embracing AI as a creative is, you can see where it's going. It seems folly," he said to the podcast's host, Bob Safian.
Canva first launched AI-powered tools in 2023, with its "Magic" branded tools, which assisted in copywriting and designing. In April, it launched its Visual Suite 2.0, which integrated tools for design, writing, coding, and data visualization.
This comes as creatives from various industries have raised concerns over the last few years about AI killing their jobs.
In 2023, Adobe employees slammed the company after it launched Firefly, an extensive suite of generative AI tools. Adobe employees, whose customer base consists of creatives, said the tool would kill the jobs of some of its customers.
There were also concerns that Adobe could use creators' content to train its AI models, something the company denied in a blog post in 2024.
The AI debate has reached Hollywood. In 2023, more than 11,000 Hollywood film and TV screenwriters went on strike to criticize the use of AI in the film industry and demand more regulation in the field.
However, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the cofounder of DreamWorks, said in an AI conference in December that top Hollywood showrunners and creators are embracing AI and seeing it as a useful resource to their creative processes.
GUR uploaded a video of a UJ-26 Bober drone being launched via catapult near Crimea.
Ukraine Main Defense Intelligence Directorate via YouTube/Screenshot
Ukraine's GUR has released a video of a fixed-wing drone being catapulted into action near Crimea.
It said its special forces used UJ-26 Bober drones to strike at faraway Russian defenses.
The $110,000 fixed-wing drones appear to be equipped with thermal cameras and FPV controls.
Ukraine's intelligence directorate (GUR) has released footage of Kyiv's UJ-26 "Bober" drone being launched via catapult to attack Russian air defenses.
The video, published on Tuesday, shows the locally manufactured 8-foot-long loitering munition being slung into the air from a fixed ramp. GUR said its special forces launched the drones to attack targets in Russian-occupied Crimea.
The new launch method allows the fixed-wing Bober to enter combat without landing gear, which would likely improve its range or maneuverability. Traditionally, the Bobers take off from airstrips like traditional aircraft.
Given that the ramp would likely have to be set up in Ukrainian-held territory west of the Dnieper River, the drone would have to travel a minimum of roughly 60 miles to reach Russian targets in Crimea.
The drones also seem to be equipped with thermal cameras in several first-person view clips uploaded by the defense intelligence agency.
One montage appears to show a drone evading a missile and then flying into a $15 million Pantsir S-1 point air defense system. A second drone is also shown flying into the ground next to a Pantsir S-1 as the vehicle crew scrambles for cover.
GUR described the attack as the "successful defeat" of the Pantsir, but did not show footage of the results.
The intelligence agency also said it conducted similar successful attacks on three Russian radar systems β The Niobium-SV, the Pechora-3, and the Provotnik GE β as well as a fourth-generation Su-30 fighter.
It uploaded several first-person view clips of drones approaching these systems with thermal cameras, though many of them can only be seen flying close to their target.
Business Insider could not independently verify the damage caused.
Ukrainian media regularly describe the Niobium-SV as a $100 million system. Earlier Russian estimates from before the full-scale invasion indicated that the Kremlin was acquiring the Niobium-SV in 2016 for about $40 million per unit. However, these may have since been fitted with more expensive upgrades.
Meanwhile, one Bober, which translates to "beaver" in Ukrainian, reportedly costs around $110,000 to manufacture. The propeller drone is meant for long-range attacks and is known to carry the KZ-6 charge, a 6.6-pound demolition explosive designed to break through concrete or armor.
It's yet another example of how the war has increasingly featured cheaper systems being used to attack and, at times, destroy expensive high-end equipment, posing difficult questions for the traditional defense procurement model that heavily prioritized advanced technology.
For example, one of Ukraine's biggest community drone funds, run by activist Serhii Sternenko, reported to donors that its crowdfunded drones have damaged at least 11 Buk surface-to-air missile systems in 2025. The fund often publishes footage of such strikes.
Depending on whether they have the latest upgrades, these defenses can cost Russia between $10 and $100 million each. By comparison, Sternenko's fund said it receives roughly $6 million in donations a month for its entire budget.
A meeting chaired by Chinese leader Xi Jinping addressed businesses' hot price competition.
Ken Ishii - Pool/Getty Images
China has pledged to curb aggressive price-cutting to stabilize its economy.
China's marquee industries, like electric vehicles, are threatened by price wars.
A senior BYD executive said last month that the EV price war is "not sustainable."
It looks like China has finally recognized how a relentless price war is backfiring on its economy.
At a high-level meeting chaired by Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday, China's top leadership pledged to curb "low-price and disorderly competition among enterprises" and create a "unified national market," according to Xinhua state news agency.
China's acknowledgment of unhealthy competition among its local firms comes amid the West's criticisms over the country's industry overcapacity and cheap exports. These products have undercut domestic industries and have led to factory closures and job losses from the US to Europe.
While Beijing has consistently pushed back against those accusations, the price war is likely taking a toll on its own economy, too. The country remains stuck in a prolonged slump marked by persistent deflationary pressure and depressed consumer confidence.
Beijing has rolled out consumer-focused measures like subsidies for small appliances in an effort to stimulate demand, but it's not enough. Businesses are still cutting prices aggressively to boost sales, fueling a deflationary spiral that depresses wages and threatens broader economic stability.
Now, the Chinese government is stepping in to address challenges on the supply side, Zhiwei Zhang, the president and chief economist of Hong Kong-based Pinpoint Asset Management, wrote in a Tuesday note.
Tuesday'smeeting follows a sharply worded editorial in the Communist Party-owned People's Daily on Sunday, which railed against the "involution" of excessive competition that has "distorted" the market and caused "adverse effects on high-quality development."
There were no specific details on how the Chinese government plans to address over-competition. Zhang said he expects measures to be announced in the next few months.
'Not sustainable'
China's moves to stem excessive price wars in its economy came as recent data shows renewed stresses in the world's second-largest economy that has been struggling to recover from an epic property crisis.
An official survey released Monday showed manufacturing activity continued to contract in June, with smaller firms facing "stiff pressure." US tariffs were affecting smaller companies the most, according to a Bank of America analysis on the same day.
"Going forward, with low expectations of further policy support, domestic demand may fail to compensate for the fading external demand," wrote the analysts.
Excessive competition "directly affects employee wage levels, government tax revenue, and future investment confidence, thereby affecting the overall economic development," People's Daily wrote in its editorial.
The editorial pointed to the solar cell industry, highlighting what the paper called a"temporary oversupply." China has been flooding the market with solar cells for years, driving prices so low that some Europeans even started using them as garden fencing.
Tuesday's editorial also singled out the electric vehicle industry, where profit margins declined last year.
Electric vehicle giant BYD has acknowledged the stiff competition that has led to price wars and driven down profits in the industry.
"It's very extreme, tough competition," Stella Li, BYD's executive vice president, told Bloomberg last month. "No, it's not sustainable," she added.
Idris Elba says he stays motivated by remembering the struggles he faced before fame.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Idris Elba credits the struggles he faced before Hollywood for shaping his relentless work ethic.
He says he grew up without much and once worked a "grim" Ford factory job before becoming famous.
He now considers his career in Hollywood a privilege: "Actually, it's not that hard."
At 52, Idris Elba has made a name for himself as an actor, a producer, and even a DJ who played at Coachella this year. He says he gets his drive from not forgetting what his pre-Hollywood life was like.
During an interview on the "Good Hang with Amy Poehler" podcast published on Tuesday, "The Wire" actor spoke about his career and how the challenges he faced before fame continue to motivate him.
Elba told host Amy Poehler that he didn't find success until he was around 35 and that life before that was often difficult. "There were some very tough times," he said.
Coming from a working-class family, Elba said he grew up without having much "at all," adding that he had spent more of his life being poorthan he has been famous or successful.
Part of what drives him is the fear of losing the success he's worked so hard to achieve: "There's part of it which is like, 'I don't want to let this go, so I just keep chucking for it,'" Elba said.
But the main thing that keeps him going is the memory of his pre-Hollywood job, he said. He used to work the "night shift" at the Ford Motor Company in Dagenham, East London.
"That is grim. It's a grim job, all right," Elba said. "Nothing compares to doing that, so when I get an opportunity to come and work with you, to come and work on a set, it doesn't even feel like work."
While it may seem to others that he's working incredibly hard now that he's famous, he doesn't see it that way. "Actually, it's not that hard," he said.
Moreover, his Hollywood career allows him to try his hand at many different things, unlike his factory job.
"You know, in a job like that, I did the same thing every night. Every night for two straight years. My dad did the same job for 25 years, so I consider this a privilege. This ain't work," Elba said.
In a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter promoting his then-partnership with the automobile manufacturer, Elba said he worked at Ford in the '80s because of his dad.
"My dad didn't want me to be a broke actor," Elba told The Hollywood Reporter.
In a 2022 SiriusXM interview, the actor said he also used to work as a security guard at a comedy club in New York City, and even sold weed to some comedians, including Dave Chappelle.
In a 2023 podcast, Elba said that he started going to therapy because he was "an absolute workaholic."
"It's just because I have some unhealthy habits that have really formed. And I work in an industry that I'm rewarded for those unhealthy habits," he said.
Elba isn't the only actor who has spoken about their less-than-glamorous jobs before becoming famous. Christopher Walken used to work in a circus when he was a child, while Nicole Kidman used to be a massage therapist, and Hugh Jackman was a physical education teacher at a high school before getting his big acting break.
Representatives for Elba and Ford did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.
Corona's parent company said beer sales have declined because Hispanic customers are not leaving their homes as often.
Tim Boyle/Getty Images
Corona's parent company said beer sales have dipped because Hispanic customers are cutting back.
Constellation Brands said its top sales states, with large Hispanic populations, saw subdued spending.
Customers, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic, had cut back on going out and gathering in groups.
Corona's parent company said its sales have fallen, in part because Hispanic customers aren't buying as much beer.
New York-based Constellation Brands posted its first quarter earnings on Tuesday, reporting $2.23 billion in beer sales in the quarter β a 2% decline from the year before.
The company said its top sales states, particularly "zip codes with larger Hispanic populations," saw subdued spending. Hispanic customers make up about 50% of the company's beer consumer base, Constellation Brands' CEO, Bill Newlands, said in April's earnings call.
Newlands and the company's CFO said in a joint commentary on Tuesday that the company had surveyed a group of its customers, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic. The execs wrote that survey results showed "over 80% of the surveyed Hispanic and non-Hispanic consumers expressed concerns about the socioeconomic environment in the U.S."
The survey results also showed that customers were reducing their group gatherings, both in public and at home, and avoiding shopping at convenience stores and gas stations.
Newlands said in the earlier April earnings call that over half of their Hispanic customers were concerned about immigration changes.
Since the start of President Donald Trump's second term in January, he has cracked down on illegal immigration. In his campaign rally last November, he promised to carry out the "largest deportation program" in American history.
Business owners in neighborhoods with large immigrant populations previously told BI that they saw lower footfall because customers feared Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
Constellation Brands, which also owns the beer brand Modelo and the wine brand Kim Crawford, saw an overall 6% decline in sales in the latest quarter compared to the year before, with a total revenue of $2.52 billion.
The company's wines and spirits category performed worse than its beer category, with a 28% decrease in net sales in the quarter.
Representatives for Constellation Brands did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Elon Musk waved a chainsaw around at CPAC in February.
Nathan Howard/REUTERS
Elon Musk said that wielding a chainsaw at CPAC "lacked empathy."
"Milei gave me the chainsaw backstage and I ran with it," he wrote on X.
Musk is now in a deadlock with Trump over the president's big spending bill.
Elon Musk said that brandishing a chainsaw onstage in February probably wasn't such a good idea.
Musk β who's been on a tear criticizing President Donald Trump's spending bill β was posting on X about the debt ceiling on Tuesday. That got a response from an X user who criticized Musk for his actions in February.
"Maybe you shouldn't have taken the chainsaw on stage and acted a fool. Maybe you could have gotten more done if you weren't so worried about looking cool," the X user, Jim Spradlin, wrote, responding to one of Musk's Tuesday tweets on government spending.
"Valid point. Milei gave me the chainsaw backstage and I ran with it, but, in retrospect, it lacked empathy," Musk replied, referring to Javier Milei, Argentina's president.
That moment at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February has become an iconic image of Musk's time helming the Department of Government Efficiency.
"President Milei has a gift for me," Musk said onstage at CPAC.
Milei then walked out from backstage and handed the chainsaw to Musk, who lifted it over his head and brandished it briefly while growling.
"This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy," Musk said, chainsaw aloft.
Now, things are different with Trump and Musk. Musk has become one of the most vocal opponents of Trump's "big, beautiful bill."
Musk started criticizing the bill in June, leading to an ugly, public fallout with Trump that seemed to clear up. But he reignited his criticism on Saturday, posting on X that the president's signature tax bill β which would cut an electric vehicle tax credit that has helped Musk's Tesla β "will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country."
"Utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future," he wrote.
He also threatened to form a new political party and fund primary opponents to any lawmakers who help pass the spending bill.
"I don't know. We'll have to take a look. We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? The monster that might have to go back and eat Elon," Trump said at the White House on Tuesday. "Wouldn't that be terrible? He gets a lot of subsidies."
Musk then wrote on X: "So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now."
Musk and representatives for Milei did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
TikTok plans to announce personnel changes on Wednesday morning, per a leaked memo.
TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images
TikTok employees are preparing for possible layoffs on Wednesday morning.
The company told global e-commerce staff it would announce "organizational and personnel changes."
The TikTok Shop team has had several rounds of layoffs this year.
TikTok and ByteDance employees are bracing for possible layoffs after the company informed staff it would announce "organizational and personnel changes" early Wednesday morning, according to a memo viewed by Business Insider.
The changes would impact workers in the company's global e-commerce business, TikTok Shop, which has had severalrounds of layoffs this year.
"Over the past month, we have assessed how we can best support our evolving Global E-commerce business in alignment with our mission and evolving goals in the market," the company wrote in the memo.
These changes come from "careful analysis of how to create more efficient operating models for the team's long-term growth," the company wrote.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
TikTok's US e-commerce team has been under scrutiny from leadership at its parent company, ByteDance, this year. The division's top executive told staff in a February all-hands call that the country failed to meet its performance goals in 2024. The division has faced new obstacles in 2025 after Trump hiked tariffs on China, where many of TikTok's global sellers are based. Weekly US order volume fell in mid-May compared to mid-April after tariffs went into effect, BI previously reported.
The company has trimmed staff this year through a mix of layoffs and performance reviews, during which TikTok hasoffered some people a choice between performance-improvement plans or exits with severance. As US team members have left the company, leaders from China and Singapore with experience on TikTok's Chinese sister app, Douyin, have taken their place, staffers previously told BI.
The organizational changes come amid broader uncertainty for TikTok's US team members. The company is negotiating with the Trump administration over a 2024 law that required ByteDance to divest from TikTok's US assets or face a potential ban. Trump has repeatedly delayed enforcement of the law through executive orders amid discussions.
The uncertainty is taking its toll on one staffer who received the message Tuesday evening that their team would be impacted by the organizational changes. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to speak about the company, and their identity is known to BI.
"I think for many of us, we just want clarity," the employee said."These eternal extensions make no sense for anyone who works here. How can we plan our jobs and lives if every 90 days we might get banned or sold?"
After their very public fallout over President Donald Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill in early June, Elon Musk, the former face of DOGE, softened his tone on the president. Musk deleted several posts on X, and Trump also simmered the war of words.
The Tesla CEO restarted his posting spree on X, however, after the Senate narrowly cleared a procedural vote onthe spending bill over the weekend. By Tuesday, when the Senate ultimately passed its version of the Big, Beautiful Bill, the feud was back in full swing.
From the president saying that DOGE may need to be unleashed on Musk, to the world's richest man's vow to establish a new political party, here are the key quotes to understand how the past 24 hours (and counting) unfolded.
Elon Musk
Chesnot/Getty Images
"It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country β the PORKY PIG PARTY!!"Elon Musk on X at 3:08 p.m. ET, June 30
How can you call yourself the Freedom Caucus if you vote for a DEBT SLAVERY bill with the biggest debt ceiling increase in history?Elon Musk on X at 3:36 p.m. ET, June 30
Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.Elon Musk on X at 4:02 p.m. ET, June 30
If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day.Musk in another post on X at 6:02 p.m. ET, June 30
They just pretend to be two parties. It's just one uniparty in reality.Musk in a post on X at 6:58 p.m. ET, June 30
President Donald Trump
Getty Images
Republicans, the One Big Beautiful Bill, perhaps the greatest and most important of its kind in history, gives the largest Tax Cuts and Border Security ever, Jobs by the Millions, Military/Vets increases, and so much more. The failure to pass means a whopping 68% Tax increase, the largest in history!!!Trump on Truth Social at 12:01 a.m. ET, July 1
Elon Musk
Chesnot/Getty Images
VOX POPULI VOX DEI 80% voted for a new partyMusk on X at 12:14 a.m. ET, July 1
President Donald Trump
Getty Images
Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa.Trump on Truth Social at 12:44 a.m. ET, July 1
Elon Musk
Chesnot/Getty Images
All I'm asking is that we don't bankrupt AmericaMusk on X at 1:04 a.m. ET, July 1
What's the point of a debt ceiling if we keep raising it?Musk in a followup post on X at 1:06 a.m. ET, July 1
President Donald Trump
Getty Images
I don't know. We'll have to take a look.Trump to a reporter who asked if he would deport Musk at 8:18 a.m. ET, July 1
We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.Trump during a press appearance at 8:18 a.m. ET, July 1
Elon Musk
Chesnot/Getty Images
So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now.Musk on X in response to a video of Trump's press conference at 8:30 a.m. ET, July 1
Physics sees through all lies perfectlyMusk on X at 8:45 a.m. ET, July 1
Removal of funding for enforcement of federal contempt of court orders is the actual crux of this spending bill.Musk on X at 9:31 a.m. ET, July 1
President Donald Trump
Getty Images
We can have all of this right now, but only if the House GOP UNITES, ignores its occasional "GRANDSTANDERS" (You know who you are!), and does the right thing, which is sending this Bill to my desk.Trump on Truth Social at 2:29 p.m. ET, July 1
Elon Musk
Chesnot/Getty Images
Credit where credit is due. @realDonaldTrump has successfully resolved several serious conflicts around the world.Musk on X at 1.24 a.m. ET, July 2, in response to Trump's Truth Social post saying Isreal had agreed to a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
The Champagne will keep flowing at two of Trump's New Jersey golf clubs, at least for now. There are some strings attached.
Mike Stobe/Getty Images
Liquor licenses for two of Trump's NJ golf courses remain under review due to his felony conviction.
On Tuesday, state officials said they have extended the two licenses for another six months.
Trump can't touch any liquor-sale proceeds for the clubs at Colts Neck and Bedminster β for now.
The Champagne will keep flowing for another six months at two of President Donald Trump's New Jersey golf courses, despite his felony conviction. For now, though, the Trump Organization is barred from touching the proceeds.
Officials with the New Jersey Attorney General's Office said Tuesday that they have issued temporary, half-year extensions for the liquor licenses at the Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck and the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster.
The last-minute extensions were necessary to keep the drinks flowing while state officials continue to review Trump's application to renew the licenses for the coming year.
Without the extension, the licenses at the Colts Neck and Bedminster clubs would have expired outright on Monday, June 30.
But the extensions come with heavy strings attached β including that Trump, as a convicted felon, and any other corporate members of the clubs' LLCs must keep their hands out of the bar tills at the two clubs indefinitely.
The attorney general's Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control is requiring that proceeds from the two clubs' liquor licenses be held in untouched accounts kept separate from those for the clubs' other income.
It's a constraint that Peter Rhodes β a lawyer who's specialized for 30 years in New Jersey liquor licensing β says he's never seen imposed.
Usually, when a license owner or beneficiary becomes a felon, they are simply given time to walk away from the license, Rhodes said, usually by selling or transferring their interest to a non-felon.
"One might infer that the ABC is struggling with how to handle this issue β with how to deprive a felon of the proceeds of their license," he told BI.
"In short, I find it peculiar," said Rhodes, whose Haddonfield-based firm, Cahill, Wilinski, Rhodes & Joyce, has served for 50 years as counsel to the New Jersey Licensed Beverage Association.
"What they don't say is what happens to that money if, in fact, they find that he is disqualified," Rhodes added. "They can't just confiscate it."
A spokesperson for New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin told Business Insider that the special conditions "are consistent with the division's obligation to ensure that all liquor licensees comply with the law."
"New Jersey statutes state that profiting from a liquor license is a privilege, not a right granted by law," the spokesperson said in a statement.
Both the Bedminster and Colts Neck licenses are in the name of Donald Trump, Jr., the president's son, but the state AG's office ruled at the time that Trump himself is the primary beneficiary of the clubs' liquor sales.
A license-revocation hearing β at which Trump would bear the burden of proving he was qualified to be a license beneficiary β was initially set for July 2024, only to be repeatedly canceled. A new hearing date has yet to be announced.
New Jersey law requires liquor licenses be revoked if their owner or primary beneficiary is sentenced for a crime of moral turpitude, a category which includes felony falsifying business records. That's the state charge Trump was sentenced to in Manhattan in January, nine days before his inauguration.
This week's license extension further requires that by September 30, the Trump Organization provide the alcoholic beverage control officials with details of "the corporate structure, ownership, and beneficiary interests" behind the licenses.
Trump's third New Jersey golf club is the Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia, which is 45 minutes from that city in Pine Hill. The town, not the state, regulates that license, which was also due to expire June 30.
Officials in Pine Hill and a food and beverage manager at the golf club there did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The chief legal officer of the Trump Organization also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the license renewals and the required special conditions.
Four tech executives were commissioned as lieutenant colonels in a June 13 ceremony in northern Virginia.
Leroy Council/US Army
A watchdog is urging the DoD to probe tech execs joining the Army Reserve.
Concerns have arisen over these executives' potential conflicts of interest.
Their private employers hold lucrative AI contracts with the Department of Defense.
A watchdog group has called on the Defense Department's Inspector General office to probe whether the recent commissioning of four tech executives as part-time Army officers is in keeping with laws and practices against self-dealing.
The Democracy Defenders Fund sent the letter on Tuesday, requesting that investigators determine "whether the assignment of these officials to the Army Reserve is consistent with the Federal conflict of interest laws" and whether their appointments qualify as "misuse of position and nonpublic information."
The executives β Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer of Palantir; Andrew Bosworth, chief technology officer of Meta; Kevin Weil, chief product officer at OpenAI; and Bob McGrew, an advisor at Thinking Machines Lab who was the chief research officer for OpenAI β joined the Army Reserve just weeks ago. The men will forgo traditional three-month boot camp for a two-week crash course on Army history and basic military knowledge.
These executives may be in a position to influence Army and Defense Department contracts as newly minted lieutenant colonels or share vital inside information to benefit their companies, which could increase the value of compensation like stock options.
It is not unusual for civilians with expertise to bypass the most junior officer ranks for mid-level appointments. Historically that has most often included chaplains, veterinarians, and medical providers, career fields that require advanced degrees to join. The Army has made efforts to recruit more Americans with cyber and tech experience, though the four executives are the highest-profile enlistments to date.
The Democracy Defenders Fund outlined special concerns regarding ongoing contract work Palantir and OpenAI have undertaken with the DoD recently.
It's common for military reservists to have civilian careers in the DoD. The problem with these tech execs, the group says, is the profound amounts of lucrative government contracts at stake for their companies.
The direct-commissioned tech executives got to skip Army basic training, designed to prepare soldiers for combat and service in uniform.
Sgt. Dustin D. Biven/US Army
"Some of these individuals have significant personal financial stakes in their outside employers, including stock, stock options, restricted stock units, and performance-based bonuses, which they seem unlikely to divest for a part-time government position," the letter read.
"Given the ongoing and clear financial interest these appointees have in the adoption of Artificial Intelligence by the Department of Defense, there is a real risk that these individuals may engage in self-dealing or use their positions or nonpublic government information to benefit their outside employers in violation of federal law," it continued.
The executives' commissions are part of a larger Army effort to rapidly modernize to better harness Silicon Valley's tech for future battlefields. Some experts have previously noted that the expertise such executives have is likely to be an imperative for future peer-level conflicts.
Business Insider asked Army officials if concerns regarding executives' potential conflicts of interest have already been addressed, but did not receive a response before Tuesday afternoon. Officials have previously said the executives will be held to the same ethical standard as other service members.
"Palantir, Meta, OpenAI, and Thinking Machines each have a significant financial interest in DoD adopting AI," the fund letter read, adding that the DoD has already awarded over $1 billion worth of contracts to Palantir and its subsidiaries while OpenAI has a $200 million AI contract with the military.
For Hollywood, that's both an annoyance and an opportunity.
Just under half of American adults younger than 30 are borrowing a streaming service log-in from someone living outside of their house, a new survey from Pew Research Center shows. That 47% figure doesn't include those passwords within their house (or those who are lying).
Password sharing is less rampant among older generations. Only 26% of 30- to 49-year-olds say they freeload for streamers. And 15% of those over 50 said they're using someone else's password to watch shows and movies.
Pew Research Center
Netflix pioneered the clampdown on freeloaders to great success. After rolling out "paid sharing," it boasted a banner year of subscriber growth in 2024 that was capped off by its best-ever quarter.
Media giants like Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery followed in Netflix's footsteps with Disney+ and HBO Max, though they're taking a gradual approach, likely to avoid generating mass outrage. Disney CEO Bob Iger said in early May that nudging moochers into paying has paid off by jumpstarting streaming subscriber growth.
NBCU may do the same with Peacock, based on warnings it sent freeloaders, but Paramount and Apple haven't hopped on board yet.
Pew's survey suggests there's still much more room for streamers to crack down.
And while some in the younger cohort could refuse to pay, either out of spite or because they don't watch enough to justify their own subscription, password sharers who do pay up could gravitate toward the cheaper ad-tier. That would be a win for streamers, considering that young people are the most valuable for advertisers, since their buying habits aren't set in stone.
So, for those who are still streaming on someone else's account, beware β because Hollywood's password-sharing crackdown likely won't end anytime soon.
Sean "Diddy" Combs' jury is in the midst of deliberations.
Jane Rosenberg/REUTERS
The jury in Sean "Diddy" Combs' trial says it has reached a verdict on all but one charge.
Jurors said that they've reached a verdict on all charges except for racketeering conspiracy.
The judge told the jury to keep deliberating. They're set to return Wednesday morning.
The Manhattan federal jury in Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex-trafficking and racketeering trial said it has reached a verdict on all but one charge.
In a note to US District Judge Arun Subramanian at 4:05 p.m. on Tuesday, the jurors said they have agreed on a verdict on all charges except the first count, racketeering conspiracy. They did not disclose the verdict.
The other four counts are related to the sex trafficking of the prosecution's key witness, R&B singer Cassie Ventura, as well as another one of Combs' exes who testified under the pseudonym "Jane."
"As to count one, we have jurors with unpersuadable opinions on both sides," Subramanian said, reading aloud from the jury note.
It was the second day of jury deliberations.
Prosecutors asked the judge to give the jurors a version of the Allen charge β standard instructions for a deadlocked jury. Combs' defense attorneys said it was too early for the charge, and that the judge should just ask the jurors to keep deliberating.
Combs' defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said that because the jury had already reached verdicts on four counts, the judge didn't need to give them elaborate instructions.
"I don't think that this is akin to the other situations where other trial juries have been deliberating for longer or as long and haven't reached any verdicts," Agnifilo said in court. "I think the dispositive difference is this jury has already reached four verdicts, so I don't think that we need to do anything to move them along."
Before jurors left for the day, to return Wednesday morning, the judge urged them to continue deliberating.
"It is your duty as jurors to consult with each other and to deliberate with a view to reaching an agreement," Subramanian said. "Each of you must decide the case for himself or herself, but you should do so only after a consideration of the case with your fellow jurors, and you should not hesitate to change an opinion when convinced that it is erroneous."
As his lawyers stood and packed their bags at the end of the trial day, Combs, wearing a beige sweater over a white button-down shirt, sat slumped in his chair. He stared ahead and tapped his fingers on his lap.
Combs at one point turned from his seat at the defense table and gave a quick, confident nod to his mother, three daughters, and three sons, two rows behind him.
Former federal prosecutor Mark Chutkow, who is not involved in the case, told Business Insider that the jury's note "suggests that the jury has likely voted to convict on most if not all of the other charges."
"The racketeering conspiracy charge is the most complex charge for the prosecution," said Chutkow. "The fact that at least some of the jurors would vote to convict on that charge would suggest that the jurors were willing to convict on the other, more straightforward charges.
The eight-man, four-woman panel, which is in its second day of deliberations, appeared to home in on testimony given by Ventura earlier Tuesday.
Combs' jury sent a note to the judge asking for testimony transcripts relating to four specific parts about Ventura's alleged sex trafficking.
It asked for copies of Ventura's testimony regarding the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles, about an event at Cannes, and about a "freak off" with Daniel Phillip, a dancer who testified that he was recruited multiple times for Combs' sex performances.
The jurors also requested Phillip's own testimony about an encounter with Ventura in New York's Essex hotel, where Phillip said he believed Combs had physically beaten her.
Prosecutors, defense attorneys, and Subramanian quickly determined which portions of the transcript they should send to the jury regarding Phillip and Cannes, where Ventura testified Combs threatened to publish videos of them having sex.
But they spent much of the morning arguing over the scope of testimony regarding the InterContinental hotel, which sprawled over hundreds of pages of the trial transcript. Combs was infamously caught on the hotel's security camera beating Ventura in a hallway, in 2016, following a freak off sex performance with her.
The jury officially got the case on Monday at around 11:30 am ET.
And just 70 minutes into the panelists weighing the charges against the hip-hop mogul, the jury sent the judge a note complaining about one particular juror.
"We have a juror," read the note, "who we are concerned cannot follow your honor's instructions."
The note identified the juror as the one sitting in seat number three, a 51-year-old Manhattan man and self-described scientist.
The judge ultimately instructed the jurors of their duty to follow his instructions and continue deliberations.
Any kind of jury chaos is typically considered a good sign for the defense, Chutkow previously told BI.
"As a general matter, the more conflict and the more chaos occurs in a jury deliberation that spills out so that the court and the counsel know about it tends to be better for the defense because it could mean that a mistrial is looming," said Chutkow.
Chutkow added that in high-profile, complex cases such as Combs' "you're going to get a lot of differences of opinion and things get very hot in the jury room."
"People have very strongly felt feelings, and there can be circumstances where a juror folds up their arms, turns away from the others, and says 'I don't want to talk with you guys anymore,'" he said.
"That is just one of the processes that it's sort of up to the jury to self-regulate and to figure out," said Chutkow.
If the jury convicts Combs, 55, on the top charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, the music tycoon could face up to life in prison.
B-2 bombers, like the ones used to strike Iran, are getting upgrades for future missions.
U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Russ Scalf
The Air Force's B-2 Spirit bombers are undergoing several modernization efforts.
Those include better stealth, communications technologies, and maintenance schedules.
B-2s, like the ones used to bomb three nuclear facilities in Iran, will eventually be replaced by B-21 Raiders.
The US Air Force's B-2 Spirit bomber is a highly effective strategic bomber built to penetrate tough battlespaces, but it's been flying for roughly three decades. Time takes a toll, meaning upgrades are needed to keep it lethal.
The Air Force is working on making the B-2 harder to see and available more often as part of ongoing modernization efforts. Over the weekend, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Public Affairs released details on how they are tinkering with the bomber's software and hardware to keep at the top of its game.
Key efforts are focused on improving maintenance speed, better stealth, and improved communications.
"A lot of people talk about the B-2 as a legacy platform and that is incorrect: It is an operational platform conducting strikes today and if the flag goes up tomorrow, it will be one of the first platforms to conduct strikes," said Lt. Col Robert Allen, materiel leader for the B-2 Advanced Programs Branch.
The B-2, made by Northrop Grumman,is an expensive $2 billion bomber that was controversial in its development, in part due to the high costs.It entered service with the Air Force in 1997 and first saw combat in the Kosovo War as part of Operation Allied Force.
B-2 bombers are also capable of carrying nuclear payloads and are an important element of the US nuclear triad, which also includes intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched missiles. This flexibility in payload type and capacity makes the B-2 instrumental to the larger US military's strike options β and prompts continual investments in keeping it ahead of the curve.
Quicker maintenance
The Air Force said its implementing changes to keep B-2s out of maintenance for longer.
US Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Sadie Colbert
A bomber is only useful if it's ready to fly. The Air Force is working to ensure that the aircraft is ready when it needs to be by reducing downtime and increasing availability for what has traditionally been a maintenance-intensive aircraft. The service currently has 20 B-2s in active service, having lost one in a crash back in 2008.
The B-2's significant maintenance overhaul, called program depot maintenance or PDM, that's done every nine years typically takes 470 days. It is "an exhaustive inspection, overhaul, and repair of the bomber, with much of the work focused on restoration of the bomber's Low Observable (LO) or stealth materials," the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Public Affairs said in a statement last fall.
But last October, the work was done in 379 days.
The improvements to the maintenance process included doing the fuel inspection earlier to avoid duplicate work and conducting pre-inspections to identify issues ahead of time.
"As any aircraft continues to age, you're going to see more and more issues that need to be repaired on a PDM line," said Col. Francis Marino, the B-2 system program manager within the Bombers Directorate, in a statement. He said that "the pre-inspection is great because it reduces the number of surprises at PDM."
Maintaining the B-2's equipment and repair line is also critical. In May 2024, Northrop Grumman was awarded a substantial $7 billion contract for sustainment and support work, as well as planned upgrades.
Better stealth and communications
B-2 Spirit bombers boast several design elements that keep them stealthy.
U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Hailey Farrell
In order to keep the bombers hidden from potential countermeasures and threats, the Air Force has been at work on several important upgrades to its stealth, as well as its comms.
Allen said that as part of a new program, the service is providing the B-2 with upgraded beyond-line-of-sight satellite communications capability, which "significantly improves the transfer time for real time mission planning data" and "will allow the operator to simultaneously receive and transmit voice communications and data which is an upgrade from what the aircraft currently has."
The B-2's stealth capabilities, including its low-observable, radar-absorbent materials, are also being enhanced, which is set to further reduce its radar cross section, which refers to how the bomber appears to radar operators.
The B-2 features a unique flying-wing airframe, edge alignment, and other technologies that dramatically reduce its signature across multiple frequency bands, making it difficult for enemy air-defense radars to detect, track, and target the aircraft.
"Upgrading its avionics, sensors and communication systems are essential so that we stay ahead of emerging threats and enhance our payload and versatility," Lt. Col. Benjamin Elton, material leader, B-2 Integrated Capabilities Branch, said.
Keeping B-2s in the fight
B-2s will be replaced by B-21 Raiders in the coming decade.
US Air Force photo by Sheila deVera
B-2s will continue to be upgraded into the 2030s, when the Air Force plans to replace the aircraft with the new B-21 Raider, which is currently in initial production and testing after the plane took its first flight in late 2023. The B-21, also made by Northrop Grumman, will also replace the B-1 Lancer. Developments on the new bomber began in 2015.
Many of the details on the B-21's abilities are classified, but it's expected that the aircraft will boast better stealth, payload capacity, communications, and sensors than its predecessor. That includes carrying weapons that haven't been invented yet.
The costs and delivery dates of the B-21 program have shifted over the years, but it's expected to enter service this decade, and the aim is to produce at least 100 of them.
Donald Trump continues to hawk branded merchandise while in office.
In June, Trump touted a line of branded fragrances.
Trump's made millions off of Bibles, books, shoes, and even guitars bearing his name.
After a profitable post-presidency, Donald Trump continues to hawk branded merchandise after returning to the White House.
Trump has reaped millions from the Bibles, fragrances, shoes, NFTs, and other products that use his name, image, and likeness β $600 million last year, per his most recent financial disclosure. Many of the products have been updated to reflect Trump's status as the 47th President of the United States.
In late June, Trump took time away from pressing negotiations on Capitol Hill to promote a branded fragrance.
"Enjoy, have fun, and keep winning!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Here are all of the companies and products Trump owns.
Truth Social
Former President Donald Trump could reap billions if Truth Social's parent company's long-delayed merger finally goes through.
Chip Somodevilla; Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
While not a product, Truth Social, Trump's social media platform, is among the biggest pieces of his portfolio.
Trump Media has struggled since its early bonanza when it was trading near $70 a share. As of July, it's hovering around $18. β meaning Trump's stake is now worth roughly $2 billion.
Before retaking office, Trump transferred all of his 14,750,000 shares to a trust. Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, is the sole trustee and holds voting power.
Trump's use of Truth continues to show how he blends official and private interests. As president, Trump has made US foreign policy announcements (including a cease-fire between Israel and Iran), personnel appointments, and other news via posts on the social media platform.
He's also promoted products like his fragrances.
Crypto
TrumpCoin cryptocurrency price on Binance's website in January 2025.
Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Getty
Trump and his family have launched multiple cryptocurrency ventures, including the president's official $Trump coin, which he launched in January 2025.
We likely won't know the full extent of Trump's earnings from his memecoin until next year. According to an estimate by Chainalysis, a blockchain data platform, Trump's family and another business entity have earned more than $350 million in trading fees for hisΒ meme coinΒ alone.
Trump's coin spiked in value in April after the coin's site announced that the top holders would be treated to an exclusive dinner with the president.
First lady Melania Trump has a coin, too.
Trump Mobile (and a gold phone)
An image of the T1 phone from Trump Mobile
TrumpMobile.com
Trump's sons led the Trump Organization into a new area: mobile phone service.
Trump Mobile offers $47.45 plan, a reference to the president's two terms in office. Their flagship smartphone, the T1, costs $499. The company has softened its initial claims that the T1 would be made in the US.
Per his ethics agreement, President Trump does not have day-to-day control over his namesake company. However, he is likely to benefit from the mobile phone venture. DTTM Operations, LLC, which oversees Trump's trademarks, sought to register the Trump name for a mobile phone service.
Books
President Donald Trump has made millions in royalties from his most recent book, "Save America."
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Before he was a reality TV star, Trump was an author (on paper, at least).
White House staffers and Trump allies continue to refer to 1987's "Art of the Deal." Since it was published decades ago, the president's royalty payments have declined substantially. In 2024, Trump reported between $50,000 to $100,000 in payments related to his first book.
Trump has continued to publish books. His latest books, published by a conservative company co-founded by Donald Trump Jr., have brought in significantly more money.
Trump's "Save America," which features the famous photo taken after his first assassination attempt, is available for $99.
Last year, Trump made $3 million in royalties from the book, per his disclosure.
Shoes
Trump holds a pair of his Trump-branded shoes.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
CIC Ventures, which produces a Trump sneaker line, has over 20 offerings, including high tops and women's shoes.
The company made editions that feature the numbers 45 and 47, Trump's respective terms in office.
At $499, the most expensive pairs are golden low-top sneakers, two editions come emblazoned either with "TRUMP WON 45-47" or "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT," the latter are the words Trump yelled to the crowd after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024.
In 2024, Trump attended SneakerCon, a shoe-focused convention in Philadelphia, to promote the shoe line.
Cologne and perfume
Trump has lent his name to multiple signature scents.
Joe Raedle via Getty Images
The same company that sells Trump shoes also sells cologne and perfume. The "Victory 47" bottles are each listed for $249. The bottle topper is a golden Trump mini-statue.
"*Victory 47* blends rich, masculine notes with a refined, lasting finish," the description reads. An accompanying perfume is also $249.
Other fragrances are available for $199.
According to his recent financial disclosure, Trump made $2.5 million in royalty payments from the shoes and fragrances in 2024. CIC Ventures was valued at $1 million to $5 million on the president's recent disclosure.
Bibles
Trump holds up a Bible outside of St John's Episcopal church across Lafayette Park during unrest in 2020. (This is not the BIble that is for sale)
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
Trump is selling a copy of what he says is his favorite book: The Bible.
For $59.99, Trump's edition of the religious text includes "a "handwritten chorus to 'God Bless The USA' by Lee Greenwood.'" The former president frequently features the Greenwood patriotic anthem at his rallies.
The Trump Bible also includes a copy of the US Constitution, Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights.
There are 11 other editions available, including a Trump signature version (which retails for $1,000) and Inauguration Day commemorative editions for Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and first lady Melania Trump.
According to Trump's recent financial disclosure, he made $1,306,035 in bible-related royalty payments last year.
Guitars
You can think of Trump while strumming the notes to his favorite songs.
There are nine different Trump-branded guitars available for sale, ranging from $1,000 all the way up to $11,500.
The most expensive Trump guitar, is a Trump American Eagle electric guitar that is autographed by the president.
"Only 275 of these are available," the site reads.
Trump made $1,055,100 in guitar-related royalty payments last year, per his disclosure.
Watches
"It's Trump Time," Trump says in a promotional video for branded watches.
Trump-branded watches start at $499, but a few limited-editions are the most expensive Trump-branded products on the market.
"The Victory Tourbillion" watch are available for preorder at $100,000 in either black, gold, or rose gold dials. Only 147 watches will be made.
"Almost entirely made out of 18 Karat Gold (approximately 200 grams across the band, case, and buckle) and decorated with 122 VS1 Diamonds, you will stand out for all the right reasons," the description reads.
Cryptobillionaire Justin Sun said he was gifted one of the rare watches for being the top holder of Trump's memcoin before the exclusive gala.
Trump made $2.8 million in watch-related royalty payments in 2024, per his financial disclosure.
Last year, the MRC's deployment to Philippines angered China, who demanded it be removed.
US Army photo by Captain Ryan DeBooy
A new report highlights how US soldiers deployed in the Pacific made changes to a new missile system in the field.
It was the new Mid-Range Capability, also known as Typhon.
The system's presence in the region deeply annoyed Beijing.
Troops deployed to the Pacific tinkered with and reworked a missile system in the field, showing the value of soldier-driven design input during a deployment that irritated China, a recent report noted.
Soldiers were in the Philippines and working with the US Army's new Mid-Range Capability, or Typhon, missile system.
The Government Accountability Office, a watchdog agency, reported last month on the Army's modernization efforts for its artillery, rocket, and missile systems. Citing conversations with the program's officials, the GAO said that there were "multiple design changes" made "during development based on user input provided during new equipment training and other exercises."
The improvements made included reducing the reload time and stress on the system's components, and they were made by soldiers on the ground during those exercises. "For example, because of the orientation of the launcher, soldiers suggested moving certain access points and panel connections on the trailer to make it easier to reload, operate, and maintain," the office said.
User input on the system was collected during and after its deployment to the Philippines last year as part of a joint US-Philippine exercise.
In a statement at the time, US Army Pacific called it a "landmark deployment" marking "a significant milestone for the new capability while enhancing interoperability, readiness, and defense capabilities in coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines." It marked the system's first overseas deployment.
MRC has been test-fired in the US and is one of the Army's new systems designed to fill capability gaps.
Courtesy photo of the Mid-Range Capability Project Office
The MRC is one of the Army's newest missile systems. It's a versatile ground-based missile system capable of firing both the Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) and Tomahawk Land Attack Missile and designed to fill a key gap in the US arsenal in terms of range and flexibility. While it wasn't fired during the trainings, its presence angered China, which demanded it be removed.
In September 2024, Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, said that China had made its opposition to the deployment clear more than once.
"The deployment is a move to turn back the wheel of history," he said, adding that "it gravely threatens regional countries' security, incites geopolitical confrontation, and has aroused high vigilance and concerns of countries in the region." China notably maintains a large arsenal of ballistic missiles.
China has also expressed its frustrations to the Philippines. In August last year, Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, had expressed concerns the weapon could destabilize the security and relations of the region, and that when they discussed it, China "made it very dramatic."
Beijing has said the Philippines, a key US ally, is serving American interests ot the detriment of its own,and China has kept up its complaints amid reports of a coming second MRC deployment to the Philippines, which has expressed great interest in the system's capabilities.
The MRC's development came after the 2019 US withdrawal from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which banned nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.
American and Japanese officials have also discussed deploying an MRC system to Japan.
Darrell Ames/Executive Office Missiles and Space
That withdrawal, which the first Trump administration said was driven by Moscow's violation of the treaty with its SSC-8/9M729, has opened new doors for the US arsenal.
In the GAO report, the office noted that the effort underway for the MRC has "reflected several attributes of an iterative product development approach as it established a business case with flexible requirements focused on a minimum viable product," including adapting new capabilities and requesting user feedback on the system.
Iterative, or staged, development with key soldier feedback has been of growing interest for US Army's transformation and innovation projects. The Army has called these soldier touchpoints, but there are many names for this process within the military. US special operations forces have also been really involved in this approach.
The value of this kind of work in the field has also been seen in the war in Ukraine, where Ukrainian soldiers are often in close contact with and providing feedback to weapons makers, fueling rapid growth in experimental and emerging combat technologies. The Army's first iteration of the Mid-Range Capability experienced that during the Philippines deployment.
Military leaders have said that companies should be testing their tech on the front lines. Short of that, they'd ideally be getting their systems in the hands of deployed troops in training.
I thought living alone was the pinnacle of freedom, but getting a roommate is one of the best choices I made in my 30s.
Ivana Robinson
For most of my life, I loved living alone and prioritized having my own space over everything else.
In my 30s, my best friend convinced me to move in with her. I was surprised by how much I like it.
It changed my perspective on living alone and I love splitting bills and household responsibilities.
As the youngest child and only girl in my family, I rarely had to share anything β not my toys, not my clothes, and definitely not my room.
That early autonomy shaped my idea of what defined a perfect living situation: I love being able to move through my space however I want without compromise.
Over the years, I prioritized living alone and thankfully escaped college without any roommate horror stories.
When I moved to Mexico City at 30, I continued this independent lifestyle until one day, my best friend here, Adalia, floated the idea of living together.
Amid a rising cost of living, she said, it'd be nice to split bills with someone. Plus, we already spent so much time together β this arrangement could make leaning on each other that much simpler.
Since I work remotely, I also felt isolated at times and could go days without interacting with another human in real life. Spending more time with my friend didn't sound so bad.
Eventually, I agreed β and, so far, it's been pretty great.
I was worried about sharing my space, but it's been surprisingly comforting
Living alone was blissful β but at times, it could be isolating.
Ivana Robinson
I thought having a roommate in my 30s, even one I love dearly, might feel suffocating. I like the freedom of having my own space, and I was worried our differences could be a recipe for disaster.
She's up at sunrise, but I come alive after dark. We approach tasks in very different ways and are 16 years apart in age.
However, we fell into a groove pretty naturally because we communicate well and often.
Turns out, 34-year-old me knows how to speak up for herself, how to listen, and how not to take things personally way better than I did at 19.
Beyond splitting expenses, one of the biggest benefits of living together is the simple relief of not having to do everything around the house myself.
From taking out the trash to managing bills to restocking toilet paper, Adalia and I share the household responsibilities. Some weeks it's an even split, and other times one of us steps up a little more, depending on what life's throwing our way.
When I caught COVID-19, I tried to pull my weight by doing the dishes. Adalia practically snatched the sponge out of my hand and demanded I rest. I got to return the favor when she was hit with food poisoning a few weeks later.
Having a roommate also means having a built-in emergency-response partner through earthquakes and other disasters. Now, there's a strange comfort in knowing that if our building starts shaking, I've got someone to yell, "Grab the go bag!"
It turns out getting a roommate in your 30s doesn't have to feel like a step back
Having a roommate who's also a friend is great.
Ivana Robinson
What's been most surprising isn't that we can live together well β it's how much I actually enjoy having a roommate.
Some days we're like ships passing in the night. Others, we spend hours doubled over in laughter on our couch.
We just passed the one-year mark of living together, and I can certainly say that this arrangement has made my life more joyful and sustainable. I'm no longer navigating this city, its earthquakes, or even my to-do list by myself.
I used to think living alone was the pinnacle of freedom, but this kind of shared life has expanded my perspective.
Living alone taught me how to take care of myself, but sharing a home with my best friend taught me how to share the mental load of living and let someone else take care of me, too.
Several arts, sciences, and computer majors had high unemployment rates in 2023.
Barry Winiker/Getty Images
Recent grads in anthropology, physics, and computer engineering had high unemployment rates in 2023.
Newer data suggests graduates can have issues finding a job.
Economist Daniel Zhao advises grads to leverage their networks and research where there's hiring demand.
Anthropology, physics, and computer engineering grads have had a rough time in the job market.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York analyzed the unemployment rates of recent college graduates, defined as 22- to 27-year-olds with a bachelor's degree or higher, by major. The analysis used data from the Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey covering 73 majors and subject groups.
Twenty-eight majors had unemploymentrates above the overall 3.6% rate for recent grads. The kinds of majors with the highest unemployment rates were mixed, with several related to arts, technology, or science. Recent anthropology graduates had a rate of 9.4%, the highest rate, followed by physics at 7.8%.
Recent computer engineering and computer science graduates also had high unemployment. Still, employed graduates in the two computer-related majors were more likely to beworking in jobs that typically require a degree, especially compared to anthropology. They also tied with the highest median wage for early-career graduates, alongside chemical engineering, at $80,000, and had six-figure medians for mid-career graduates.
Daniel Zhao, lead economist at job platform Glassdoor, told Business Insider that computer science and engineering are still appealing because of the high pay they could lead to.
"When you look at the higher unemployment rate but the lower underemployment rate, new grads in computing fields are likely holding out, waiting for that first job in the field, because they know how rewarding it can be," Zhao said.
Jaison Abel, the head of microeconomics at the New York Fed, told BI the tech sector tends to hire many recent college graduates and showed some overall weakness from mid-2022 into the following year, after higher demand for workers following the pandemic recession. He said that the tech sector does tend to hire grads who studied physics, computer engineering, and computer science β three of the majors with relatively high unemployment rates in 2023.
Abel said he thinks "a good chunk of the elevated unemployment at that time for recent grads" in those three majors was because they "just happened to be a part of the economy that was experiencing a bit more weakness than other parts, even though the economy overall was still quite strong."
The job outlook for science graduates was mixed. While physics and chemistry both had relatively high unemployment rates, earth sciences had an unemployment rate of just 1.5%. Biology had an unemployment rate of 3%, below the overall rate.
"For the pure sciences, the types of jobs you can get do tend to be a little bit more constrained than some of the engineering fields," Zhao said.
He added science jobs tend to rely on federal funding. While the unemployment data is about 2023, Zhao said the dependence on federal funding is "certainly a concern moving forward, as the Trump administration has pulled back on funding for research and science."
The job market can still be hard for new job seekers
US job openings have slowed dramatically since the post-pandemic boom, and there are fewer openings per unemployed person. The unemployment rate for recent 22-to-27-year-oldΒ college graduatesΒ with a bachelor's degree or higher climbed to 5.8% in March, widening the gap with the overall unemployment rate.
"It's hard to say exactly how the individual majors will shake out," Abel said about today's job market. "All else equal, if you've just got a cooler job market with less hiring, that's going to equate to a higher unemployment rate, especially for recent grads, because recent grads are really on the margin of the labor market."
Recent graduates could be having a tougher time getting a job, depending on where they're applying.
"The job market in tech has been soft for entry-level workers, as many tech companies have slowed down hiring or even turned to layoffs," Zhao said.
Job postings in the software development sector on the job search platform Indeed have recently been growing, but they are still far below the opportunities during 2022 and even pre-pandemic February 2020. Job postings for the scientific research and development sector have also slowed from their March 2022 peak.
Zhao's advice for new graduates looking for a job is to connect with their networks, such as alumni and family, and research who is still hiring.
"There is a lot of flexibility with which career path you can pursue because entry-level workers, usually, the skills are more generalizable across industries or across occupations," Zhao said.
Are you a college graduate who is job searching, or did you get a job without a college degree? Reach out to this reporter to share your story at [email protected].
The museum was once the estate of William K. Vanderbilt II, the son of William and Alva Vanderbilt.
Alva is the inspiration behind Bertha Russell, who is played by Carrie Coon on the show.
Can you hear "The Last Great American Dynasty" playing in the distance?
There are many historical mansions on Long Island, but only one was once owned by the legendary Vanderbilt family. The 42-acre estate of William Kissam Vanderbilt II, which included his summer "cottage" of Eagle's Nest, is now a museum that's open to the public.
Eagle's Nest was first built in 1910 as a small cottage, but as William II spent more time there, it expanded until 1936, when a full redesign was finished; it had become a 24-room Spanish Revival mansion.
William II spent time at Eagle's Nest until his death in 1944. His will stipulated that, upon the death of his wife Rosamund, the estate would be left to Suffolk County and would become a museum, which it did after her death in 1947.
The Vanderbilts are one of the best-known (and richest) families in American history β so much so that Bertha Russell, the main character on HBO's "The Gilded Age," is based on Alva Vanderbilt, William II's mother. In fact, a major plot line in season three is based on William II's sister, Consuelo Vanderbilt, marrying the Duke of Marlborough in 1895.
So, as a new fan of "The Gilded Age," I knew I had to check out Eagle's Nest β even if Larry Russell isn't really based on William II, I still needed to see the real mansion that his character might live in.
The museum is open every day except Monday and Thursday, and tours of the mansion are offered on Sunday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday. Tickets for the museum range from $8 to $14, depending on age, while a guided tour of the mansion is an additional $8.
Here's what it was like to set foot in the home of a Vanderbilt.
On the North Shore of Long Island, about 40 miles outside New York City, lies the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum.
The museum on a map.
Google Maps
Inside the grounds are hiking trails, gardens, and a gift shop.
A sign on the property.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
There's also the Charles and Helen Reichert Planetarium, which holds multiple shows daily.
The planetarium.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
The biggest attraction, though, is Eagle's Nest, the 24-room mansion of William K. Vanderbilt II, the great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt.
The front of Eagle's Nest.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
Before I toured the home, I visited the museum grounds.
A pathway that led to the Rose Garden.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
At the entrance stood a pair of stone eagles, which were taken from Grand Central Terminal. Cornelius Vanderbilt himself commissioned the train station.
These statues were once at Grand Central.
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One of the first things I did was head toward the Rose Garden; sadly, most of the roses had already bloomed.
The Rose Garden.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
But the landscaping was still immaculate.
The Rose Garden.
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Even if the roses were already gone, the views of the Long Island Sound were worth it.
The view from the Rose Garden.
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Then it was time to head over to Eagle's Nest.
There were plenty of paths that led to Eagle's Nest.
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Eagle's Nest was originally built in 1910 as a small cottage. It expanded over the next three decades to become this Spanish Revival-style mansion.
A view from inside the courtyard.
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The courtyard was set up for Shakespeare readings, which happen throughout the summer.
The courtyard.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
One side of the mansion is a natural history museum.
The museum entrance.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
The other side is preserved to be just as the Vanderbilts left it in the early 1900s.
The entrance to the living quarters.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
This was unlike any other historical mansion I've seen on Long Island, which are usually modeled on medieval castles or Tudor mansions.
These cobblestones were taken from the streets of Greenwich Village in Manhattan before the streets were paved over.
These cobblestones came from NYC.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
Upon entering the home, the first thing you see is the staircase. It was imported from a Belgian castle.
The entryway and staircase.
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There are portraits of William II's family in the entryway. This is his father, William Kissam Vanderbilt. He ran an arena you may have heard of: Madison Square Garden.
William K. Vanderbilt.
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Pictured top right is William II's mother, Alva Vanderbilt. She inspired Carrie Coon's character, Bertha Russell, on "The Gilded Age."
Portraits of William K. Vanderbilt II and Alva Vanderbilt.
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The first room I saw was the dining room.
The dining room.
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The ceiling is constructed from Florida cedar, or Southern Red cedar.
The ceiling in the dining room.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
In the corner is a beautifully crafted fireplace. The floor tiles were imported from Portugal.
The fireplace.
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Next to the formal dining room is the butler's kitchen. At the height of William II's entertaining, 36 servants worked at Eagle's Nest.
The butler's kitchen.
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With a view as great as Eagle's Nest's, of course there's a screened-in veranda.
One of the porches.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
Off the veranda is the Portuguese sitting room, named for the ornate fireplace imported from Portugal. It was constructed in 1494.
A sitting room.
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Here's one of the guest rooms open for display. Each guest room had its own closet and bathroom.
A guest room.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
Then, it was time to go upstairs and view the rest of the mansion.
The staircase leading to upstairs.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
One upstairs sitting room was almost entirely covered in dark wood. It also housed a giant organ.
The study.
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A portrait of William II's sister Consuelo can be seen in this room, in the bottom left. She coined the term "heir and a spare," which she used to refer to her sons with her first husband.
She was married to Charles Spencer-Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough. If their marriage didn't produce children, his title would've gone to his first cousin, Winston Churchill.
Another guest room.
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Here's one of the guest bathrooms at Eagle's Nest. Note the marbled walls and tub.
A guest bathroom.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
This was William II's bedroom. The room is bright, with beautiful views of the water β he probably had a great view of his 264-foot yacht, the Alva.
William's bedroom.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
In addition to loving the sea, William II was an avid race-car driver, naturalist, and golfer.
Another view of William's bedroom.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
His bed, seen here, was a to-scale replica of the bed of Napoleon Bonaparte.
William's bed.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
These buttons, right by his bed, were connected to the servant's staircase. He could summon his butler, and lock or unlock the servants' stairwell.
This system was complex for the 1930s.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
In his bathroom, nods to his love of the water included a large ship on the floor. He also had a shower, which was somewhat unusual for the time.
William's bathroom.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
To get to his wife's quarters, I had to pass through the breakfast room.
The breakfast room.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
Like the rest of the home, it had a lovely view of the water.
The view from the breakfast room.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
William II had two wives βΒ this is how the bedroom looked when it was occupied by his second wife, Rosamond Lancaster Warburton.
Rosamund's bedroom.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
This is her changing room and bathroom.
Rosamund's bathroom.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
Rosamund's tub is made of rose marble β a nod from William II to his nickname for his wife.
Rosamund's tub.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
As I left the living quarters, I reached one of the entrances to the museum. This room is dedicated to William II's son, William K. Vanderbilt III.
This room was dedicated to William's only son, who died in his 20s.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
Inside were specimens collected by William II's son on a 1931 trip to Africa.
See the crocodile in the bottom left?
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
The scenes reminded me of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, which made sense β the same designer and taxidermist, William Belanske, did both.
One of the exhibits.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
This is a portrait of William III during a safari in 1931. He died two years later in a car crash at 26.
William III on his trip.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
While it was time to exit this wing, there was still the rest of the museum to see.
The staircase.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
The other half of the mansion is filled with specimens the elder William collected on his trips around the world.
William II traveled around the world on his yacht.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
There's also a miniature replica of his yacht, Alva. During World War II, he donated it to the US Navy, and it was renamed the USS Plymouth. It was sunk by U-boats in 1943.
Ironically, the ship was both created and destroyed by Germans.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
There are multiple rooms that are filled with sea creatures. William II himself discovered multiple species during his travels.
There are multiple rooms like this.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
Down a final set of stairs was a basement filled with more relics from William II's life.
A piece of the Alva.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
There were also two of his cars parked and awaiting a driver (and probably a tune-up).
His two cars.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
As I exited the home and crossed the courtyard, I was surprised to learn that there was even more to see.
A hallway.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
I followed a sign for even more "habitats."
The museum continued.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't a giant whale shark hanging from the ceiling.
This is reminiscent of the blue whale hanging from the ceiling at the American Museum of Natural History.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
Another room was dedicated to large predators. It had a taxidermied lion and a tiger, but my favorite was the polar bear.
The polar bear.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
The exit brought me to the back of the house. I decided to go back to the central courtyard to see if I had missed anything.
The side of the mansion.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
And I had! There was a small doorway that led to Eagle's Nest's backyard.
The way to the backyard.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
The house was set on a hill, so the yard was multi-level.
The backyard.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
First, I walked to the right.
The right side of the house.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
There was a large reflecting pool.
A reflecting pool.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
Then I walked to the left and came across another fountain and some well-manicured hedges.
The fountain and hedges.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
But the main attraction was, once again, the view.
The Long Island Sound.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
The lawn was open, so I decided to trek down and see what structure at the bottom was.
The saltwater pool.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
To my surprise, it was a filled-in saltwater pool.
The saltwater pool.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
They'd even left the ladder in.
The pool ladder was left behind.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
There were also changing rooms.
Changing rooms.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
With that, I had seen almost everything the Vanderbilt Museum had to offer, with the exception of a few hiking trails.
Another view of Eagle's Nest.
Gabbi Shaw/Business Insider
I left the museum with a greater understanding of the Vanderbilts β and ready to keep watching "The Gilded Age."
The future of the most important partnership in technology depends on Microsoft's access to the artificial intelligence powering ChatGPT.
When OpenAI first demoed a breakthrough feature in May 2024, allowing users to talk to its AI just like a person, it looked as if the company did so in lock-step with its partner and investor, Microsoft. Soon after OpenAI demoed this voice capability for its new GPT-4o model, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella included it in a keynote speech at the company's Build developer conference.
Behind the scenes, Microsoft had little knowledge of the feature until days before the demo, people involved in the matter told Business Insider.
While the agreement between the two companies gives Microsoft access to OpenAI's technology, exactly what OpenAI has to share β and when β is sometimes a gray area.
In this case, Microsoft had access to frequent updates of the core model at the time, but not the voice technology OpenAI built on top of it. Microsoft found out about the demo, and pressured OpenAI executives, including then-technology boss Mira Murati, to get access to the code so Microsoft could do its own announcement, the people said. The company did not want to appear flat-footed to investors, to whom the company has to justify its $13 billion investment in OpenAI, they said.
The example illustrates the ongoing complexity of Microsoft's relationship with OpenAI, and why access to the AI startup's technology is a core issue as the companies renegotiate their agreement.
OpenAI needs Microsoft's blessing for a corporate restructuring. To get that, OpenAI may need to convince Microsoft to change or give up some pretty sweet terms: Microsoft has access to much of OpenAI's technology, exclusive rights to sell it on Azure, first right of refusal to provide computing resources, and a revenue-sharing agreement worth billions of dollars.
In response to those reports, Microsoft and OpenAI released a joint statement saying, "Talks are ongoing and we are optimistic we will continue to build together for years to come."
People close to Microsoft's side of the negotiating talks tell BI the software giant is unlikely to walk away because it is deeply reliant on OpenAI's intellectual property, and the negotiations are an opportunity to improve and expand its access to this technology.
It's all about IP
Microsoft has significantly benefited from its arrangement to access the rights to OpenAI's intellectual property, both by selling it to customers through the Azure OpenAI service and creating its own products using OpenAI's technology, like its AI assistant Copilot. There are limits, however, to what the companies consider "IP."
For example, Microsoft gets access to important aspects of OpenAI's models, like model weights that help determine AI outputs and inference codes that instruct the models on how to use data, the people said. Some things are excluded from what the companies consider IP, like product and user interface information, they said, and the point at which OpenAI must share any technology is up to interpretation.
One person with knowledge of OpenAI's operations said the company doesn't have to share what it's developing until it's finished, which can be subjective.
"You can make sure you share something with Microsoft as late as possible, so they can still simultaneously announce, but make it really difficult to build the same product on top of it," the person said.
Plus, having access to the IP isn't the same as knowing how to use it. This has been harder than expected, several people told BI. OpenAI has grown frustrated with Microsoft's request to spell out the technology to its employees, people with knowledge of both companies said. Sometimes, Microsoft doesn't know what questions to ask of OpenAI.
Microsoft formed a new AI organization two years ago and hired Mustafa Suleyman, the former Inflection CEO who cofounded the AI pioneer DeepMind, to run it. The hiring was meant as a hedge against OpenAI, after NadellaΒ received pressure from Microsoft's board to diversifyΒ following instability at its partner startup and CEO Sam Altman's ouster. However, little has come of that in terms of replacing Microsoft's need for its partnership with OpenAI, the people said.
Suleyman has completely rebuilt Microsoft's Copilot app. That effort has yet to achieve much growth for Copilot. His team is focused on building smaller models and has seen success with post-training existing models for new purposes, one of the people said. Overall, Microsoft isn't trying to build frontier models like those that would compete with GPT, and is instead putting resources toward OpenAI, they said.
Microsoft is less worried about AGI, antitrust, Windsurf, or SoftBank
Other points of contention that have made recent headlines are of less concern to Microsoft, the people with knowledge of Microsoft's position said.
Included in the agreement is a clause that would allow OpenAI to declare what's called artificial general intelligence or "AGI," and cut off Microsoft's access to OpenAI's IP and profits. OpenAI defines AGI as "a highly autonomous system that outperforms humans at most economically valuable works."
While OpenAI could declare AGI, the concept is so open to interpretation that Microsoft could sue and easily tie the company up in a legal battle for years, the people said. There's another version of the clause, "sufficient AGI," that OpenAI could declare when it builds a technology capable of achieving a certain level of profits, but Microsoft has to sign off on that.
Another apparent sticking point in the negotiations has centered on OpenAI's desire to acquire AI coding assistant startup Windsurf. Under the current agreement, that would give Microsoft access to Windsurf's technology. Microsoft has said it would agree to the acquisition, but Windsurf's CEO doesn't want the company's technology to be shared with Microsoft, one of the people said.
While GitHub Copilot faces increasing competition from other AI coding assistants, access to Windsurf's technology is not a big desire for Microsoft, and the company might consider a carve-out of Windsurf IP in a new deal, the person said.
OpenAI executives have reportedly considered accusing Microsoft of anticompetitive behavior. Microsoft is largely unconcerned about this, two of the people said. The existing deal was investigated by antitrust regulators, including the European Union and the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority.
OpenAI's desire to restructure is in part motivated by a deadline from investor SoftBank that risks a percentage of funding if OpenAI can't close such a deal by the end of the year. OpenAI has said it struggled to fundraise due to its peculiar structure. SoftBank has a reputation for taking risks with its funding, and its CEO is keen on OpenAI, so some observers doubt SoftBank will follow through on its deadline to revoke funding if a new deal isn't reached.
Ken Griffin, founder of Citadel, has been critical of the administration's tariff policies.
Jamel Toppin/Forbes
At 2025's halfway point, the biggest hedge funds are, for the most part, on par with the stock market.
Several funds were stung by the volatility earlier this year.
Stocks have since rebounded, and many firms had decent returns in June.
Despite a rollercoaster start to 2025, the biggest hedge funds are positive for the year, tracking close to what stock markets have returned.
Ken Griffin's Citadel and Izzy Englander's Millennium, which both lost money in a hectic March, each returned 1.7% in June in the firms' respective flagship funds, people close to the managers said. Citadel's six-month return now stands at 2.5%, while Millennium's is at 2.2%, lower than many of their smaller multistrategy peers.
For example, according to people close to the two firms, Michael Gelband's ExodusPoint and Dmitry Balyasny's eponymous firm are up 9.3% and 7.3%, respectively, through the first half of the year.
Equity markets surged in June, with the S&P 500 index up 5%. This pushed the index's 2025 gain to more than 5.7%, a stark reversal from the dip experienced in global equities in March and early April, when President Donald Trump's tariff policies were rolled out.
There are still plenty of macro worries that could roil markets, though. Tensions between Israel and Iran remain high after the ceasefire announced last week. Trump's budget proposal, the so-called "big, beautiful bill" that would add trillions in debt, passed the Senate Tuesday and is back in the House of Representatives.
The firms below either declined to comment or did not immediately return requests for comment. Additional figures will be added as they are learned.