Noel joined the company in 2007 and was most recently the head of its Medicare and retirement unit, per a Thursday announcement.
UnitedHealthcare is the largest health insurer in the US and provides services to over 50 million Americans, the company said. The Medicare and retirement arm contributed nearly half of the company's $74.1 billion in revenue for the three months ending in December.
Noel "brings unparalleled experience to this role with a proven track record and strong commitment to improving how health care works for consumers, physicians, employers, governments and our other partners," the company said in a statement on Thursday.
A spokesperson declined further comment.
The company's shares rose nearly 2% on Thursday.
Noel replaces Thompson, who was shot and killed outside a hotel in central Manhattan on December 4. A five-day manhunt led to the arrest of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione in a McDonald's restaurant in Pennsylvania after a worker called police.
Mangione pleaded not guilty to New York state murder and terrorism charges and to federal stalking and murder charges.
Prosecutors said two shell casings for the bullets that killed Thompson had the words "DENY" and "DEPOSE" written on them. The word "DELAY" was written on a bullet found at the crime scene.
The killing ignited a national debate about the state of the US healthcare and health insurance system and led to a flood of pro-Mangione content on social media platforms.
Since the shooting, healthcare companies including UnitedHealthcare have taken down web pages that share details about their leadership. Two days after the shooting, UnitedHealthcare's "Our leadership" page was no longer accessible.
Noel's LinkedIn and Facebook pages also appear to have been taken down.
Chinese firms that are setting up operations in countries outside China could face more scrutiny.
Governments could start focusing on the ownership of companies rather than where goods come from.
This means that Chinese firms working outside China to avoid tariffs would not be spared from levies.
America could lock out Chinese companies that use other countries to circumvent tariffs, said a top think tank chief.
Companies โ including Chinese ones โ have been shifting some production out of China. They're trying to diversify their supply chains, which have been under more pressure in recent years thanks to the first Trump administration's tariffs and Beijing's disruptive pandemic lockdowns.
"I think there will be a lot of focus on if China's using other countries for transshipment or if it's Chinese companies that are going into another country, you're going to see a new form of protectionism where we focus on rules of ownership, not rules of origin," Michael Froman, the president of the US-based Council on Foreign Relations, said at a panel on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Trade is traditionally viewed based on the rules of origin, or which country a product came from. This is also how tariffs are generally applied.
However, governments could soon start to look at trade in a new way: through the lens of company ownership, said Froman, who served as the US Trade Representative from June 2013 to January 2017 under the Obama administration. This change would hit Chinese companies that are using transshipment hubs to avoid punitive measures.
"So it doesn't matter that it's coming from Mexico or Indonesia. If it's a Chinese company and they're violating rules, or they're trying to circumvent the tariffs, they may well find themselves blocked from the United States," said Froman.
In his first week in office, President Donald Trump said a 10% tariff on Chinese goods could come as soon as next month. While on the campaign trail, he threatened to put much higher tariffs โ 60% โ on Chinese goods.
Mexico, an auto hub, is becoming a prime location for Chinese manufacturers to relocate because the US is a key market for vehicles and parts.
In 2023, Chinese companies announced $2.7 billion worth of investments in Mexico's auto sector, according to an analysis from research provider Rhodium Group. This is nearly three-quarters of Chinese investment into Mexico and is dominated by vehicle parts manufacturers.
The West is concerned about Chinese overcapacity
The West has slammed China's overproduction of goods that have poured into global markets and hurt their economies.
"China is flooding strategic sectors with supply that's well beyond what global demand can plausibly absorb, and therefore wiping out the competition," said Daleep Singh, then the deputy national security advisor at the White House, in October.
Meanwhile, China is framing the West's concerns about overcapacity as protectionism and as moves to curtail the country's economic development.
"The US and Europe basically maintained an open rules-based system, but the rest of the world greatly benefited from including China," said Froman.
"But all throughout that period, that benign international environment, we were warning China that if they continue to engage in protectionism, close their market to foreign investment, subsidize their industries at the expense of other countries, that benign international environment would disappear โ and that's exactly what's happened," he said.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on AI development on Thursday.
Trump's AI and crypto czar, David Sacks, said the US wants to become the world's AI capital.
Earlier this week, Trump announced Stargate, a $500 billion AI infrastructure investment project.
President Donald Trump wants his administration to have an action plan for artificial intelligence ready within 180 days.
On Thursday, the president signed an executive order calling for the US "to sustain and enhance America's global AI dominance." Since returning to the White House on Monday, Trump has signed multiple executive orders on areas including energy, trade, and immigration.
"We're basically announcing the administration's policy to make America the world capital in artificial intelligence and to dominate and to lead the world in AI," Trump's AI and cryptocurrency czar, David Sacks, told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday.
Trump appointed Sacks, a venture capitalist and former PayPal COO, to the newly created position last month. When announcing his appointment, Trump said Sacks would also lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology.
Sacks is a member of a group known as the "PayPal Mafia" โ a group of PayPal employees who went on to become big names in the world of tech and venture capital. Besides Sacks, the group counts Tesla CEO Elon Musk and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
"David is one of the greatest in the world at AI, most respected probably there is," Trump told reporters on Thursday while signing the order.
Trump has ordered that "certain existing AI policies and directives that act as barriers to American AI innovation" be revoked โ though the document did not specify which policies would be rolled back.
Trump's order also requests that existing regulations on AI be reviewed. Policies inconsistent with Trump's latest directive will be suspended or revised per the order.
In October 2023, then-President Joe Biden signed an expansive executive order on AI. The order, which Trump revoked on Monday, demanded greater transparency from companies developing AI tools.
Representatives for Trump did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
AI has figured prominently in Trump's first week in office.
On Tuesday, Trump announced Stargate, a $500 billion AI infrastructure investment project. The new company is a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank.
The president said that Stargate would create "over 100,000 American jobs almost immediately."
"What we want to do is we want to keep it in this country. China is a competitor, others are competitors. We want it to be in this country, and we are making it available," Trump said while announcing Stargate on Tuesday.
"I am gonna help a lot through emergency declarations, because we have an emergency, we have to get this stuff built," he added.
North Korea is set to send another tranche of artillery systems to Russia, Kyrylo Budanov said.
The Ukrainian intel chief said Pyongyang already has about 240 artillery systems in Russia.
These are chiefly homegrown self-propelled howitzers and multiple-launch rocket systems.
North Korea looks like it's ready to double down on Russia's war, per Ukraine's military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov.
Budanov, head of the intelligence agency GUR, told The Warzone that Pyongyang has already given Russia at least 120 M1989 "Koksan" self-propelled howitzers and 120 M1991 multiple-launch rocket systems. The M1989 uses a 170-mm caliber gun, and the M1991 is a 240-mm system.
Per The Warzone, Budanov said the artillery deliveries were made over the last three months, and that Pyongyang will likely send another tranche of about the same number.
Both guns are systems developed by North Korea, and their names โ designated by the US โ correspond to the year when Western intelligence first discovered them.
Pyongyang maintains deep reserves of artillery systems and ammunition, built and stockpiled mainly to defend against or threaten its rival, South Korea.
Its systems often use some elements of Soviet or Chinese weaponry. The M1989, for example, is believed to use a modified Soviet artillery tractor to get around.
Speaking to The Warzone, Budanov said both guns are being used by Russia against Ukrainian troops, and that North Korea is helping to train Russian operators to use the systems.
"The 170mm weapons have powerful ammunition and good capability," Budanov said. "The 240mm MLRS are like any other heavy systems. They make more problems on the front line."
Additionally, Budanov said North Korea is expected to send another 150 short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, after sending about 148 in 2024.
Intelligence agencies from the West and South Korea also say that Pyongyang has also sent Russia about 12,000 troops from its elite "Storm Corps" units.
Western estimates say they've taken heavy casualties since arriving in late 2024 to Kursk. One of the latest tallies, reported by the BBC this week, cites anonymous Western officials saying that 4,000 of the North Koreans were killed or wounded. Business Insider could not independently verify the authenticity of this figure.
Pyongyang's losses in Kursk pale in comparison to the scope of the entire war, with some Western estimates saying that Russia has suffered more than 600,000 men wounded or killed.
However, recurring North Korean support would provide Russia with a valuable source of manpower and weapons. While relatively small compared to Russia's total war consumption, that aid could stand a chance to frustrate Western hopes that Moscow's reliance on defense spending will become unsustainable for its economy.
Claire Volkman, 39, tried online dating after her marriage ended.
She was traveling for work and went on dates in cities around the world.
She met her second husband after a year of dating across multiple apps.
A few months after I left my husband, I downloaded multiple dating apps. It felt like foreign territory, as I'd met my ex-husband in college before dating apps existed โ a time when "swiping right on Tinder" held no meaning.
I had lost 40 pounds, which made it difficult to find the right photo to use on my profile, and I had no idea what to write about myself. Should I be coy? Or blunt? Silly or serious? After hours of deliberating, I created my first account on Bumble and started finding matches.
My goals for the year were to travel the world, go on as many dates as possible, and attempt to find my soulmate in between airport delays and missed connections. As a travel writer, I loaded my schedule up with assignments that would take me around the world.
I traveled to over 20 countries that year. The further I went, the harder online dating got. My 20+-hour flights to countries like Myanmar and Australia made the journeys to cities in Colombia and Spain seem short.
But the red-headed Brit I dubbed Prince Harry in Hong Kong, and the Aussie I fell for as we hiked up volcanoes in Bali did help fill temporary voids of loneliness.
I didn't find love abroad
As I traveled from the beaches of Sardinia to the craggy mountains of Patagonia, I found myself swiping, texting, and occasionally questioning my life choices. I created dating app profiles and swiped through candidates on Tinder, Bumble, and Coffee Meets Bagel.
Was I destined to end up with a guy who explained life's meaning over tapas in Madrid or a tour guide in Macedonia who I later found out had a wife and kids at home? I started to wonder if my life was going to play out as one bad date after the next.
After months of swiping and bumbling abroad, online dating paid off, and I matched with someone back in the US who felt different. We spent hours talking virtually. We'd text at 3 a.m. about everything from childhood trauma to which "Friends" character we compared ourselves to.
He was based in Chicago, two hours away from my temporary base in Indiana. The distance didn't bother me. We were falling for each other even though we hadn't met face-to-face.
I suggested a date on a day when I would be in Chicago just long enough for a coffee before catching a flight to China As I took the train from Indiana, we chatted about where to meet and agreed on a bakery.
I got there first, disheveled after schlepping down Michigan Avenue with a suitcase and a backpack, and sat down. I noticed him when he walked in, and even though we only had a few minutes to talk, it felt like we'd known each other for years.
Online dating paid off
We spent the following weeks texting and Facetiming whenever we could. He became a constant in my life when nothing else was. While I struggled with an eating disorder, broken body image, heartbreak, and the rather desperate life of a freelance writer, he was there to offer support and love โ crazy time differences and all.
We met again one month later, on a chilly night in October, and it all clicked into place. He looked almost boyish, with a worn baseball cap and hoodie, and I looked at him and realized that this was it.
The adventure I'd been chasing โ across continents, through a series of questionable decisions and awkward dates in Asia, Australia, and Iceland โ had somehow brought me here, to this small corner of Chicago, to this guy who made me believe that love doesn't need to be complicated and that online dating can help.
So, in the end, after swiping through countless profiles on the dating app Coffee Meets Bagel, I met the love of my life. First online, then in Chicago โ not in a foreign country or on a remote mountaintop, but in a corner bakery.
Talk of AI agents is everywhere in Davos. AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio warned against them.
Bengio said that agents with the power of AGI could lead to "catastrophic scenarios."
Bengio is researching how to build non-agentic systems to keep the agents in check.
Artificial intelligence pioneer Yoshua Bengio has been at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week with a message: AI agents could end badly.
The topic of AI agents โ artificial intelligence that can act independently of human input โ has been one of the buzziest at this year's gathering in snowy Switzerland. The event has drawn a collection of pioneering AI researchers to debate where AI goes next, how it should be governed, and when we may see signs of machines that can reason as well as humans โ a milestone known as artificial general intelligence (AGI).
"All of the catastrophic scenarios with AGI or superintelligence happen if we have agents," Bengio told BI in an interview. He said he believes it's possible to achieve AGI without building agentic systems.
"All of the AI for science and medicine, all the things people care about, is not agentic," Bengio said. "And we can continue building more powerful systems that are non-agentic."
The problem Bengio sees is that people will keep building agents no matter what, especially as competing companies and countries worry that others will get to agentic AI before them.
"The good news is that if we build non-agentic systems, they can be used to control agentic systems," he told BI.
One way would be to build more sophisticated "monitors" that can do that, although this would require significant investment, said Bengio.
He also called for national regulation that would prevent AI companies from building agentic models without first proving that the system would be safe.
"We could advance our science of safe and capable AI, but we need to acknowledge the risks, understand scientifically where it's coming from, and then do the technological investment to make it happen before it's too late, and we build things that can destroy us," Bengio said.
'I want to raise a red flag'
Before speaking with BI, Bengio spoke on a panel about AI safety with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis.
"I want to raise a red flag. This is the most dangerous path," Bengio told the audience when asked about AI agents. He pointed to ways AI can be used for scientific discovery, such as DeepMind's breakthrough in protein folding, as examples of how it can still be profound without being agentic. Bengio said he believes it's possible to get to AGI without giving AI agency.
"It's a bet, I agree," he said, "but I think it's a worthwhile bet."
Hassabis agreed with Bengio that measures should be taken to mitigate risks, such as cybersecurity protections or experimenting with agents in simulations before releasing them. This would only work if everyone agreed to build them the same way, he added.
"Unfortunately I do think there's an economic gradient, beyond science and workers, that people want for their systems to be agentic," Hassabis said. "When you say 'recommend me a restaurant,' why would you not want the next step, which is, book the table."
The Office of Personnel Management said mostly empty federal offices are "a national embarrassment."
Its acting director said in a memo that unrestricted telework led to "poorer government services" and hurt the D.C. economy.
The memo said agencies must complete three tasks by 5 p.m. on Friday in line with Trump's return-to-office order.
The White House's US Office of Personnel Management did not mince words when addressing agency heads in a memo outlining the next steps for federal workers' return to office.
"Federal office buildings sit mostly empty, particularly Washington, D.C.-area agency headquarters offices, devastating the local economy and serving as a national embarrassment," Charles Ezell, the acting director of the OPM, said in the Wednesday memo.
Ezell added that "virtually unrestricted telework" has led to "poorer government services" and also impacted the ability to train and supervise workers.
The OPM defines telework as an arrangement in which employees are expected to report to an agency office on a regular basis for each pay period, in addition to working from an alternative location, like their home. Remote workers, according to the OPM, are those who have not been previously required to report to an agency office.
The memo comes in the wake of Trump's executive order mandating the return of in-person office work for executive branch employees.
Ezell said that the pandemic has been over for years and "the vast majority" of federal workers did not return to the office.
In addition to criticizing remote work, Ezell detailed three tasks that federal agencies must complete by Friday at 5 p.m.
The first requires each agency head to revise its telework policy to state that eligible employees must work full time at their designated site unless granted an exemption due to a disability, medical condition, or otherwise approved reason "certified by the agency head and the employee's supervisor."
The second task requires that the agency head send an email notification to all employees about Trump's in-person work mandate and their intent to comply with it. The email should also include a copy of the mandate, the memo said.
The third directive calls for agencies to let OPM know who is the agency's telework managing officer, and to give the officer the responsibility of complying with the new guidelines.
The memo states that agencies are required to tell OPM when they plan to fully implement the new policy, with the suggestion of reaching "full compliance" within 30 days "subject to any exclusions granted by the agency and any collective bargaining obligations."
"If an employee's official duty station is more than 50 miles from any existing agency office, the agency should take steps to move the employee's duty station to the most appropriate agency office based on the employee's duties and job function," the memo said.
In an effort to streamline the federal workforce, the Trump administration has also moved to revoke federal job offers that were accepted before January 20 with an undefined start date or one that comes after February 8. President Trump has also taken steps to end federal DEI programs.
Are you a federal employee impacted by the changes? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work email and device at aaltchek@businessinsider.com
President Donald Trump spoke virtually at the World Economic Forum on Thursday.
During his speech, he accused banks like Bank of America of discriminating against conservatives.
Bank of America responded, saying it has no "political litmus test." JPMorgan Chase said it "would never close an account for political reasons."
Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase denied President Donald Trump's claim that the bank discriminated against conservatives.
In a virtual appearance Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump called out Bank of America and other banks, including JPMorgan Chase, for refusing to serve conservatives.
"Many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America," Trump said without including any specific instances of discrimination.
"You, Jamie, and everybody, I hope you're going to open your banks to conservatives because what you're doing is wrong," he said, referring to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.
In a statement, Bank of America said it welcomes conservatives among its 70 million clients.
"We would never close accounts for political reasons and don't have a political litmus test," Bank of America wrote.
A JPMorgan spokesperson wrote in an email to Business Insider, "We have never and would never close an account for political reasons, full stop. We follow the law and guidance from our regulators and have long said there are problems with the current framework Washington must address."
Trump responded that his executive orders would do just that while encouraging companies to move in. He said he would work to bring the corporate tax rate down to 15% from 21%, provided companies manufacture their products in the US.
Trump's pushback comes after debates have accelerated surrounding debanking, or closing the accounts of people who are thought to pose a risk to the bank, such as money laundering or corruption. Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott is leading organization efforts on an upcoming debanking hearing.
The debanking debate goes back to the Obama administration, during which the so-called "Operation Choke Point" discouraged banks from engaging with payday lenders and gun sellers. In 2022, a banking regulator asked banks to pause "crypto asset-related activity."
State attorneys general in 2024 alleged major banks canceled accounts of people with conservative views. Last April, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach accused Bank of America of canceling accounts of gun manufacturers, Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractors, and Christian ministry groups.
"Bank of America's practice of cancelling the bank accounts of conservatives and even turning over information about customer's purchases to federal law enforcement undermines free speech, religious freedom and the right to privacy," Kobach said in the letter. "It's discriminatory and likely illegal. As state attorneys general, we will vigorously defend the constitutional rights of all Americans when they are threatened by big business."
Bank of America responded at the time that de-banking accounts sometimes happens when they fail to verify some documents or change an account's stated purpose.
"We would like to provide clarity around a very straightforward matter: Religious beliefs or political view-based beliefs are never a factor in any decisions related to our client's accounts," the bank wrote at the time.
Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen also said on Joe Rogan's podcast that 30 tech and crypto founders have said their companies were cut off by banking regulators during the Biden administration.
On JPMorgan Chase's "The Unshakeables" podcast released on January 21, chair and CEO Jamie Dimon said of debanking, "There should be far cleaner lines about what we have to do, and we don't have to do." He added, "We need to fix it."
The UK is sending submarine-hunting aircraft to participate in a new NATO operation in the Baltic Sea.
The operation is a response to recent incidents in which several undersea cables were damaged.
The damage came amid an increase in threats to critical underwater infrastructure.
The UK will be deploying submarine-hunting aircraft in support of a new NATO operation. The aircraft will fly patrols above the Baltic Sea and monitor threats to underwater infrastructure.
Last week, NATO announced the start of a mission called Baltic Sentry to boost its military presence in the Baltic Sea. The operation came in response to a suspected hybrid attack in late December that ultimately damaged several underwater cables.
Britain's defense ministry said on Wednesday that the UK will provide P-8 Poseidon and RC-135 Rivet Joint maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft to the Baltic Sentry initiative.
The P-8 is a multi-mission patrol aircraft made by Boeing that can be equipped with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles and perform maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine missions.
The highly capable sub-hunter, a derivative of the civilian 737, was developed for the US Navy but is also in service with NATO allies. The UK operates nine of these planes at Lossiemouth, a Royal Air Force base in Scotland.
The British aircraft will complement other maritime assets deployed in support of Baltic Sentry, such as frigates and a small fleet of naval drones, to protect critical undersea infrastructure, which NATO officials, military leaders, and expert observers say is very vulnerable to sabotage.
In late December, Finland accused a commercial vessel believed to be part of Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" of dragging its anchor for miles along the seabed, damaging a Finnish-Estonian power line and four telecom cables.
There have been other instances of suspected sabotage linked to Russia, which has been actively engaged in hybrid warfare attacks against NATO, especially since the start of the Ukraine war.
Earlier this month, the British government said that it deployed a UK-led reaction system to track potential threats to undersea infrastructure and monitor the shadow fleet. NATO followed up these efforts with the launch of Baltic Sentry.
US Army General Christopher Cavoli, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said last week that "Baltic Sentry will deliver focused deterrence throughout the Baltic Sea and counter destabilizing acts like those observed last month."
Critical underwater infrastructure can be easily damaged by crude and sophisticated means.
Russia has a fleet of spy ships, special-mission submarines, and naval drones capable of targeting underwater infrastructure, and NATO has expressed concern about their activities, particularly those tied to the General Staff Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research, or GUGI.
In recent years, NATO has detected an uptick in threats and warned that Moscow is developing capabilities for underwater combat. The range of threats demands NATO keep an eye on both surface vessels and undersea assets.
On Wednesday, UK Defense Secretary John Healey revealed that British forces had caught a Russian spy ship hanging around critical undersea infrastructure twice in recent months. It previously surfaced a sub next to it to send a message.
Donald Trump isn't angry about Elon Musk criticizing his Stargate venture for AI infrastructure.
Trump said Thursday that he had spoken with Musk after Musk claimed that Stargate lacked funding.
Musk is in a legal fight with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is involved in the Stargate venture.
President Donald Trump said he doesn't mind Elon Musk, one of his key advisors, casting doubt on the recently announced Stargate deal for AI infrastructure.
Musk had called into question how much money OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank had raised for Stargate. The joint venture is supposed to invest $500 billion, but Musk tweeted that SoftBank had "well under $10B secured." At a press conference on Thursday, a reporter asked Trump whether Musk's criticism bothered him.
"No, it doesn't," Trump replied to the reporter.
"He hates one of the people in the deal," he added, presumably referring to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, with whom Musk has been sparring online.
Musk was one of the people who founded OpenAI in 2015 with Altman. Since then, he has left the company, started a legal battle with OpenAI, and founded xAI, a competing AI startup.
In response to a follow-up question on Thursday, Trump said that the parties involved in Stargate are "very, very smart people."
"But Elon, one of the people he happens to hate, but I have certain hatreds of people, too," the president said. Trump confirmed that he had spoken to Musk since he posted his tweets.
Stargate, which Trump and representatives from the three companies announced on Tuesday at the White House, is supposed to make AGI possible in the US and create new jobs, Trump said.
The privately funded joint venture is one of Trump's first major technology initiatives since taking office on Monday. The president appears to have warmer relationships with many Big Tech leaders now than during his first term.
Costco shareholders rejected a proposal to report on the risks of the company's DEI efforts.
While several companies have walked back diversity programs, Costco's board unanimously supported theirs.
The result comes just days after President Trump issued sweeping rules to end DEI initiatives at federal agencies.
Costco shareholders on Thursday roundly rejected a proposal from a conservative think tank to report on the potential risks of the company's DEI efforts.
An "overwhelming margin" of 98% of shares voted against the measure in the preliminary results, Costco said.
While several companies, including retailers like Walmart and Tractor Supply Co., have walked back diversity programs, Costco's board unanimously supported theirs and called for it to be voted down.
In pre-recorded messages to the meeting, a representative for the National Center for Public Policy Research called DEI programs "illegal, immoral and detrimental to shareholder value," saying that the term is "concealing a radical Marxist agenda."
In response, Costco's board chairman, Tony James, said its programs are "consistent with the company's values and code of ethics."
"We have always been purposefully non-political and a welcoming workforce has been integral to the company's culture and values since its founding," he added.
The result comes just days after President Donald Trump issued sweeping rules to end DEI initiatives for federal agencies, which could cause new challenges for private-sector vendors and contractors that do business with the government.
Research from the Conference Board last year found that less than 1% of public companies saw shareholder proposals on DEI matters, with anti-DEI proposals receiving less than 2% support.
Costco was vocal in its support of its DEI initiatives.
In its proxy statement last month, Costco criticized the NCPPR as being concerned not with real financial or legal risks to shareholder value, but instead focused on a misleading and partisan agenda.
"We believe that the proponent's request for a study reflects a policy bias with which we disagree and that further study and reporting would not be an efficient use of Company resources," the famously frugal company said.
Once on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list, Charlie Javice is nearing trial on a $175M JPMorgan Chase fraud.
The feds say she tricked the world's largest bank into buying her financial aid tech startup, Frank.
On Thursday, she lost her bid to be tried separately from an ex-colleague who plans to attack her.
Once on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list, former tech entrepreneur Charlie Javice is awaiting trial next month on charges that she tricked JPMorgan Chase into paying $175 million for her college financial aid startup, Frank.
Jurors may be in for a wild ride.
Javice's former No. 2 at Frank, codefendant Olivier Amar, intends to base his defense on attacking her, it was revealed at a pretrial hearing in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday.
"We learned this only on January 8, that the defense was going to be antagonistic," Javice's attorney Ronald Sullivan told the judge in asking that she and Amar be tried separately.
"The defense will be the derogation of Miss Javice," the lawyer said.
US District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein quickly denied the request for separate trials. Javice and Amar are charged with "a common plan or scheme," the judge explained.
"This trial is a complicated trial. It will take weeks of the court's and the jury's time, and it would just be unnecessarily duplicative to have two trials when there can be one," the judge said.
"This is merely an antagonistic defense โ certainly nothing that would rise to something that is unfair to either defendant."
A young entrepreneur, and the world's largest bank
According to the indictment against them, Javice and Amar together conned the nation's largest bank into paying a small fortune for Frank, a for-profit tech company she launched at age 24 that featured software to help students apply for college financial aid.
Javice began wooing JPMorgan Chase in the summer of 2021. Then 28, Javice was something of a media darling, giving interviews to major news publications and making not only the Forbes list, but the Crain's New York's 40 under 40 list as well.
"Don't wait for the time to move up the ranks in the traditional sense" during a negotiation, Javice told Business Insider in July 2021. That was the same month that prosecutors say she gave JPMorgan Chase with two Power Point presentations alleging Frank had more than 4 million users.
"If you see an opportunity, don't be afraid to jump," she told BI then.
It was these claims of a massive user base that lured JPMorgan Chase in. The bank acquired Frank, in large part, to gain access to these users, hoping that these up-and-coming college students would become new customers for Chase products, federal prosecutors say in court documents.
When the bank asked to verify Frank's user database before committing to the acquisition, Javice and Amar called up their director of software engineering. They asked the engineer to create synthetic data that would make it look like they had millions of users, prosecutors allege.
"Yes, it's legal," Amar allegedly told the engineer in a message cited by prosecutors. "We don't want to end up in orange jumpsuits."
Their engineer balked. So the pair paid $18,000 to an outside data scientist who generated what prosecutors say were 4 million rows of utterly fabricated names, emails, home addresses, and phone numbers.
"The defendants created a fake dataset," Assistant US Attorney Micah Festa Fergenson said at Amar's arraignment in July. "It was essentially a giant Excel spreadsheet that had over 4 million rows and lots of purported data. But it was all fake."
The sale went through in September 2021, with JPMorgan Chase keeping Javice and Amar on as Frank's No. 1 and No. 2. As JPMorgan Chase's new head of student solutions, Javice was paid a $300,000 annual salary and pocketed $21 million in stock proceeds plus a $20 million retention bonus, prosecutors allege.
Knowing the bank would soon try to use the data to pitch savings accounts, credit cards, and the like, the pair then purchased, for $100,000 on the open market, the data for more than four million college students, prosecutors allege.
"When Chase eventually went and asked them, "Okay, send your student data list," they sent this student list that they had bought on the open market," Fergenson alleged at Amar's arraignment.
Only a year after the sale did JPMorgan Chase realize that Frank had no more than 300,000 legitimate user contacts โ and that the remainder of the 4 million contacts were essentially worthless.
"Chase did a test run of a marketing campaign," the prosecutor said at Amar's arraignment. "A lot of the emails were old and didn't work. Almost nobody clicked through to it. And it was completely unexpected."
The bank shut Frank down, firing and suing Javice. She was arrested in April 2023, he was arrested three months later. Both have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit securities, wire, and bank fraud.
Javice is free on $2 million bail, which was secured by her home in Miami Beach. Amar is out on $1 million bail.
Javice's lawyers have argued that the materials sent to JPMorgan Chase during the 2021 sale negotiations were legally obtained and did not constitute fraud โ and that the government's case simply piggybacks on the bank's December 2022 lawsuit.
Amar's lawyers have said that he was at arm's length from the sale itself and that he did not knowingly participate in any scheme.
A last-minute evidence dump
On Thursday, the original date for jury selection โ the second Monday in February โ was pushed forward a week to February 18. The judge moved the date to give the defendants more time to process an emergency, last-minute evidence dump from the government.
Describing the snafu to the judge, prosecutors said that 14 months ago, back in October 2023, they received two large caches of data in response to a subpoena to Google: all of Javice's Google Drive documents and all of Amar's Google Drive documents.
Prosecutors immediately shared Javice's drive documents to her defense team, and all of Amar's drive documents to his team โ a total of 13,000 documents โ as required under federal rules of evidence. But they neglected to give Javice's documents to Amar, and vice-versa.
"How would you like to get 13,000 documents two weeks before trial?" the judge demanded angrily. "How did that happen?"
Javice, meanwhile, remains in the dark on what Amar's "derogation" defense will involve once the case does go to trial, her lawyers complained on Thursday.
Will it be mere "finger-pointing?" Sullivan asked in court.
"Or will Miss Javice not only be prosecuted by the government but also by Mr. Amar?" he asked. "At least we know what the government is going to say. We have no idea what Mr. Amar is going to say."
Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE lost a second key staffer, William McGinley, this week.
McGinley, a Republican lawyer, was DOGE's legal counsel and served in Trump's first term.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who was set to lead the agency with Musk, is also leaving.
President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, lost a second high-profile staffer during his first week back in the White House.
William McGinley, a Republican lawyer who Trump appointed to be DOGE's legal counsel in December, told The Wall Street Journal he was leaving the agency and looking for opportunities in the private sector.
"I support President Trump, Vice President Vance, and the great teams in the White House and across the administration 100%," he told the outlet.
McGinley and the White House did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
McGinley served in the first Trump administration as White House cabinet secretary. He also previously served as counsel to the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
McGinley's departure comes as DOGE faces lawsuits that started pouring in moments after Trump was sworn in. Three lawsuits alleged DOGE, which is led by Elon Musk, violates transparency requirements of a 1972 law.
It also comes after the highly hyped agency lost one of its co-leaders earlier this week. Vivek Ramaswamy, who was set to lead DOGE alongside Musk, said he was stepping down just over two months after the department was announced.
"It was my honor to help support the creation of DOGE," Ramaswamy said on X on Monday. "I'm confident that Elon & team will succeed in streamlining government."
Ramaswamy also reiterated his support for Trump in his departure announcement. Several media reports have said Ramaswamy is expected to announce a run for governor of Ohio.
Walmart said it will increase compensation for around 440 market managers starting this year.
Top earners could see total compensation of $620,000 in salary, stock grants, and bonus pay.
The job is one step up the ladder from store manager, a position that saw big pay bumps last year.
Walmart continues to be a place where a person can earn a hefty annual pay package โ without a college degree.
The retail giant said Thursday that, starting this year, it will increase compensation for around 440 market managers, each of whom are responsible for multiple stores in a given area. Walmart has roughly 4,600 US locations.
Under the plan, top earners could see total compensation of more than $600,000 in salary, stock grant, and bonus pay, a spokesperson told BI.
While the salary floor for the job is increasing from $130,000 to $160,000, the spokesperson said the broader impact on compensation for many in the position will be the increased stock grant from $75,000 to $100,000, distributed in April.
In addition, the potential maximum bonus is increasing from 90% to 100% of base pay.
All told, a market manager earning the maximum $260,000 base salary could earn $620,000 starting this year. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news.
The job is one step up the ladder from store manager, a position that saw big pay bumps last year.
Store manager base salaries now range from $90,000 to $170,000, while the total possible bonus is 200% of base pay, and is contingent on store profitability as well as top-line sales.
That role is also eligible for a stock grant of up to $20,000, bringing the total compensation for top-earning store managers to $530,000.
Walmart is also big on hiring from within. The company says three-quarters of its salaried field management team started off in hourly roles.
If you are a Walmart worker who wants to share your perspective, please contact Dominick via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Business Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a non-work device when reaching out
JPMorgan Chase on Thursday said it raised CEO Jamie Dimon's pay for 2024.
Dimon earned $39 million following a year of record profitability, compared to $36 million in 2023.
The disclosure comes as the CEO navigates questions around how long he'll remain at the helm.
JPMorgan Chase on Thursday said it raised CEO Jamie Dimon's 2024 compensation following a record year of profitability.
In a regulatory filing, America's biggest bank by assets said it paid its longstanding CEO $39 million for 2024, up 8.3% versus last year. Dimon earned $36 million in 2023 and $34.5 million in 2022.
The bank awarded him a base salary of $1.5 million plus $37.5 million in "performance-based variable income." Of that much greater share of the total, $5 million will be awarded in cash, with the rest โ $32.5 million โ in a form of equity known as performance share units, or "PSUs."
"PSUs tie 100% of Mr. Dimon's annual equity-based compensation to ongoing performance metrics, representing 87% of his total variable incentive compensation," the company said in the filing.
Earlier this month, the bank reported record financial results for 2024, with net income rising to $59 billion, an increase of 18% from the almost $50 billion it generated the year prior. Over the past 12 months since late January 2024, the company's stock price has climbed around 57% to about $265 per share.
Last week, Goldman Sachs said it awarded its CEO, David Solomon, $39 million for 2024. Separately, the bank gave Solomon and his deputy, Goldman President and COO John Waldron, $80 million in stock that will vest over five years.
Dimon's pay disclosure comes amid questions about his tenure. He is the longest-serving CEO of a major bank, having taken the top role in 2006, but made headlines last year when he said his time as JPMorgan's CEO was waning.
"The timetable is not five years anymore," he told investors and analysts, referring to a running joke about how often he's said five years when asked how long he might remain at the helm.
In 2021, the bank's board of directors offered Dimon a more than $50 million retention bonus to remain in the CEO role through at least 2026. On the firm's January earnings call, Dimon suggested he has another four to five years as CEO. He has also left open the door to staying on as executive chairman.
"Now you're talking potentially four, five years or more. I'll be 69 in March. I think it's the rational thing to do," he said.
Reed Alexander is a correspondent at Business Insider. He can be reached via email at ralexander@businessinsider.com, or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at (561) 247-5758.
Donald Trump Jr. has reportedly broken up with Kimberly Guilfoyle and is dating Bettina Anderson.
Anderson attended the RNC in July but was first linked to Trump Jr. in September.
Anderson hosted a Trump campaign fundraiser in October and attended the inauguration with Trump Jr.
Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson appeared to make their public debut as a couple at President Donald Trump's inauguration following months of speculation about the nature of their relationship.
Trump Jr., who is Trump's oldest son, was previously engaged to Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host and campaign advisor whom Trump chose to serve as his administration's ambassador to Greece.
Anderson, a Palm Beach socialite, model, and founder and executive director of the wildlife conservation nonprofit Project Paradise, was first spotted in the Trump family's orbit at the Republican National Convention in July.
Representatives for Trump Jr., Guilfoyle, and Anderson did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
Here's a timeline of their relationship.
July 2024: Bettina Anderson was seated behind Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle at the Republican National Convention.
Anderson was photographed sitting behind Trump Jr., Guilfoyle, and other members of the Trump family on the third and fourth days of the Republican National Convention.
Guilfoyle was still wearing her engagement ring.
September 2024: The Daily Mail reported that Anderson and Trump Jr. were seen kissing and eating brunch together in Palm Beach.
Anderson and Trump Jr. were photographed dining together at The Honor Bar, a restaurant located around 4 miles from Mar-a-Lago, The Daily Mail reported.
Neither responded to a request for comment in September about the nature of their relationship.
October 2024: Anderson cohosted a Trump campaign fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago featuring Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Tickets to the fundraising dinner cost $100,000 per couple, and admission to a fireside chat cost $30,000 per couple, the Palm Beach Daily News reported. Serving on the hosting committee of the event required a $250,000 contribution.
December 2024: Anderson and Trump Jr. were photographed holding hands in Palm Beach, and Anderson tagged him in her Instagram story.
Anderson and Trump Jr. were photographed holding hands as they left Buccan, a restaurant in Palm Beach, on Anderson's 38th birthday, the Daily Mail reported.
Anderson also shared a photo on her Instagram story of a bouquet of flowers and a card reading, "Many have said you're aging out but I think you're perfect...happy birthday!" She tagged Trump Jr. in the post, appearing to indicate that he was the sender.
Later that month, Anderson joined Trump Jr. at the Trump family's New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago.
December 2024: Trump Jr. told Page Six that he and Guilfoyle "will never stop caring for each other."
While Trump Jr. did not officially confirm that he and Guilfoyle had broken off their engagement, he said in a statement to Page Six that they "will always keep a special bond" and that he "could not be more proud of her and the important role she'll continue to play in my father's administration" as ambassador to Greece.
January 2024: Anderson and Trump Jr. attended inauguration events together in what appeared to mark their public debut as a couple.
Anderson and Trump Jr. attended an inaugural reception at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, DC, on January 18. On January 19, they held hands and danced to "YMCA" with The Village People at the Turning Point USA Inaugural-Eve Ball.
Anderson and Trump Jr. traveled to the Capitol Rotunda together on Inauguration Day but sat separately for the ceremony. Trump Jr. sat with his family members on the inaugural platform, while Anderson took her seat in the crowd.
Guilfoyle was also seated in the audience for the inauguration, not with the Trump family as she had been at the RNC.
President Donald Trump's children are often at his side, both in business and politics.
All five of them attended his second inauguration, including Donald Trump Jr. and Barron Trump.
Here are 21 photos of the Trump children through the years.
The five children of President Donald Trump have long been a fixture in his business and politics.
Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump, and Barron Trump were all present when he was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, marking the start of his second term.
Here are 21 photos of the Trump children through the years.
1993: Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump.
Eric and Ivanka accompanied their mother, Ivanna Trump, to a fundraiser in 1993, where they met late Italian businessman Riccardo Mazzucchelli and Italian model Fabio.
1995: Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump.
Ivanka Trump held Tiffany Trump while attending an event with their father in 1995.
1996: Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Tiffany Trump and Ivanka Trump.
Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Tiffany Trump gathered at Trump Tower in 1996 to celebrate their father's 50th birthday. President Trump's second wife, Marla Maples, also attended the event.
2005: Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump.
Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump posed with their father in 2005 at the Fashion Group International 22nd annual Night of Stars event in New York City.
2006: Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. posed together during a party at New York City's FAO Schwarz in December 2006.
2006: Tiffany Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump Jr.
A 12-year-old Tiffany posed alongside Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and President Donald Trump at "The Apprentice" season 5 finale party in 2006.
2007: Barron Trump and Tiffany Trump.
First Lady Melania Trump held her son, Barron Trump, while posing for photos with Tiffany Trump in 2007. Members of the Trump family attended an Easter Sunday event at the Mar-a-Lago Club.
2008: Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and Donald Trump Jr.
Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. supported Eric Trump during the Eric Trump Foundation Golf Outing at the Trump National Golf Club in 2008.
2009: Donald Trump Jr., Barron Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump.
Donald Trump Jr., Barron Trump, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and First Lady Melania Trump smiled for photographs in 2009 at a book launch celebration for Ivanka. She released her book, "The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life," that year.
2010: Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump.
Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump sat beside their father, Donald, during the "Celebrity Apprentice" live season finale in May 2010.
2011: Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump.
In 2011, Ivanka Trump launched a footwear collection at Nordstrom Topanga in California. Her sister, Tiffany Trump, attended the event.
2015: The Trump family, including Eric Trump and Lara Trump.
President Donald Trump first announced his candidacy for US president in 2015. Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump, and Barron Trump appeared by his side.
Several other family members, including Lara Trump and Jared Kushner, also appeared beside President Trump.
2017: Barron Trump, Tiffany Trump, Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump Jr.
Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States in 2017. All five of his children were photographed at the inauguration ceremony.
2018: Donald Trump Jr. and Tiffany Trump.
Donald Trump Jr. and Tiffany Trump walked towards Marine One in 2018 as they prepared to depart from the White House South Lawn.
2022: Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump, and Barron Trump.
President Trump's first wife, Ivana Trump, died in 2022.
All five of his children attended the funeral in New York City and were photographed outside of St. Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church.
2023: Eric Trump.
Members of President Donald Trump's family appeared during his civil fraud trial at the New York State Supreme Court in 2023. Eric Trump sat next to his attorneys when he testified that year.
Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump also testified during the trial.
2024: Donald Trump Jr., Tiffany Trump, and Eric Trump.
Donald Trump Jr. spoke during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania just days before the 2024 US presidential election. Members of the Trump family joined him onstage, including President Donald Trump, Eric Trump, and Tiffany Trump.
Eric Trump's wife, Lara Trump, and Tiffany Trump's husband, Michael Boulos, stood nearby.
2024: Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump.
The Trump sisters supported President Donald Trump at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Wisconsin.
2024: Barron Trump, Ivanka Trump, and their siblings.
Members of President Donald Trump's family, including Barron Trump and Ivanka Trump, gathered in West Palm Beach for an election night event in 2024. Trump's other children were also photographed at the event.
They were accompanied by Vice President JD Vance, Second Lady Usha Vance, and Melania Trump's father, Viktor Knavs
2025: Barron Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Tiffany Trump.
An inaugural parade was held inside the Capitol One Arena in Washington, DC on January 20 for President Donald Trump. Barron Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Tiffany Trump were all there.
2025: Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump, and Barron Trump.
All five of President Donald Trump's children hit the dance floor during the Starlight Ball at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center after the inauguration. Vice President JD Vance also danced with his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance.
OpenAI unveiled Operator, its first AI agent, for ChatGPT Pro subscribers in the US.
It can autonomously complete tasks like booking reservations or buying groceries.
The agent is powered by a new model built in GPT-4o called CUA.
Experts predicted that 2025 would be the year AI agents go mainstream, and OpenAI is delivering on that forecast.
On Thursday, OpenAI unveiled Operator, a system that can use a web browser to do things like book travel reservations and buy products.
While chatbots like OpenAI's popular ChatGPT use generative AI to respond to queries, Operator is an agent designed to perform tasks autonomously.
OpenAI said Operator would be available Thursday in the US for users of ChatGPT Pro, a $200 monthly plan that provides access to its latest models, including o1. In the coming months, the company said, it will also be made available to subscribers of ChatGPT Plus, OpenAI's $20 monthly subscription tier, and to users in other countries.
During a livestream announcing Operator on Thursday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called the release an "early research preview," adding that it would be refined over the coming months. He said OpenAI would also have more agents to launch.
The interface is similar to ChatGPT. Users prompt Operator with a request, like "book a dinner reservation at 7 p.m." They can select a specific website through which they want to process the request, such as OpenTable, or send the request through a search engine like Google.
Operator summarizes its reasoning process in a sidebar so users can identify steps where it makes mistakes, which OpenAI says it's still prone to do.
Users can also upload a picture of a handwritten grocery list and prompt Operator to purchase the items on the list.
Users can choose a specific site, such as Instacart, for Operator to purchase the groceries from. If no site is selected, it will default to a search engine.
Reiichiro Nakano, a member of the company's technical staff, said in the livestream that Operator was powered by CUA, a new model built on GPT-4o.
It's "trained to use and control a computer in the same way that humans can, by just looking at the screen and using a mouse and keyboard to control it," he said.
Nakano said the model bypassed the need for APIs, mechanisms that allow software components to communicate with each other, and "unlocks a whole new range of software we can use that was previously inaccessible."
He added that the model removed "one more bottleneck in our path towards AGI," or artificial general intelligence.
Still, Operator has a way to go before it matches humans' ability to navigate the web.
OpenAI said that in a benchmark measuring how AI agents navigate common operating systems, like the open-source operating system Linux, Operator scored 38.1%, compared with 72.4% for humans. In another benchmark measuring how AI agents navigate common websites, Operator scored 58.1%, compared with 78.2% for humans.
Trump's order may end remote work for many federal employees.
Yet, collective bargaining agreements and other factors may affect the return-to-office timeline.
With only 15% of federal jobs in DC, workers nationwide will be impacted.
If you're a federal employee who works remotely even part of the time, your daily life could soon change.
President Donald Trump's return-to-office order means that the roughly half of federal workers who can sometimes log on from outside the office could spend more time commuting.
Yet how quickly that might play out is unclear, despite Trump's mandate.
Which federal workers will have to go back to the office?
Which federal workers are required back in the office may depend on factors like whether they're covered by a collective bargaining agreement โ a contract between an employer and workers โ or whether they're eligible for an accommodation to maintain a remote setup. In short, the particulars make the situation difficult to parse for many workers.
"It's a mess," Kristin Alden, an employment attorney in Washington, DC, who often works with federal employees, told Business Insider.
The order also states that it will comply with applicable law.
Vanessa Matsis-McCready, an employment attorney at Engage PEO, which provides HR services, told BI that the wording over applicable law could be an acknowledgment of possible conflicts with collective bargaining agreements. RTO orders that appear to run counter to those could result in workers filing grievances, she said.
Alden said it's unlikely that Trump's order would supersede the collective bargaining agreement for federal workers whose roles are covered by that agreement.
Randy Erwin, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, a labor union, told BI that a little over half of federal employees are covered by such agreements.
How will the process work?
For RTO mandates to unfold, she said, agency and department heads will most likely issue an order for workers to come back within a certain period. After that, workers who don't comply will be warned that they're in violation of the policy. They'd then be given time to respond โ at least 30 days โ before they'd be fired, she said.
It's possible that leaders will show some discretion in how and how quickly they enforce the RTO rules, Alden said.
In the meantime, workers are left wondering what their timeline looks like.
The White House and its supporters could make a big push to propel the RTO effort. In a November op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy wrote that making workers return to the office five days a week "would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome." That effort is part of the Department of Government Efficiency advisory group aimed at slashing federal spending and regulations.
RTO orders won't just affect those in the nation's capital. Only about 15% of all federal jobs are in the Washington, DC, area, according to USAJobs, the government job board.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to BI that Trump signed the order to make the federal government more efficient.
"Study after study shows that employees are more productive, more focused, and more collaborative when working in the office rather than at home," she wrote.
DOGE didn't respond to BI's request for comment.
When will federal workers have to return to office?
Only about half of the 2.28 million civilian federal workers can do their jobs from home. Others, including those providing healthcare to veterans, who staff national parks, or who inspect food supplies, can't work remotely, the government's Office of Management and Budget said in an August report.
Federal workers who can do their jobs remotely and who have an office to report to already spend about 61% of their time working there. According to OMB, 10% of federal employees are fully remote.
Because the wording of Trump's executive order walking back remote work includes the phrase "as soon as practicable," there appears to be some wiggle room for how long it might take for agencies to implement those orders, Matsis-McCready said.
"It signals that we know that there's going to be obstacles that will have to be addressed with this directive," she said.
The mandate requires federal employees in the executive branch, including employees for agencies like the Departments of Defense, Justice, and Labor, to return to the office.
Will there be any accommodations?
Erwin from the National Federation of Federal Employees said that telework is one of the most important concerns for many federal workers outside pay and benefits.
Matsis-McCready said telework, either part time or full-time, can be one allowance granted to a worker who's disabled. There's a process, she said, for how workers can seek these types of adjustments.
Trump's executive order contains the phrase, "agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary." That's another signal there could be some discretion, she said.
Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, wrote in a memo Wednesday that all agency leaders should revise their telework policy by 5 p.m. on Friday to require workers to be at their "duty stations" unless they have a disability, qualifying medical condition, or "other compelling reason certified by the agency head and the employee's supervisor."
One group of federal workers who could be in particular peril, Alden, the DC attorney, said, are those who have had an informal OK โ though not an official accommodation โ from higher-ups to work remotely because of, say, a medical need.
"Those are the people that I'm most concerned about," she said.
Federal workers should expect some confusion
Donald Kettl, a professor emeritus and former dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, told BI that for a share of those workers who spend part of the time working from home, the change could be enormous. That's especially true, he said, if they joined the government when remote or hybrid setups were commonplace.
Pew Research reports that slightly more than half of the federal government's civilian workforce has been on the job for less than a decade.
Kettl said younger government officials who might have school-age children, for example, could see their lives disrupted.
"For many people, it's going to be very, very, very messy," he said.
Kettl said even things like commutes could get harder as more workers use the roads and rails.
Do you have something to share about your RTO experience? Business Insider would like to hear from you. Email our workplace team from a nonwork device at thegrind@businessinsider.com with your story, or to ask for one of our reporter's Signal numbers.
Nike is aiming for a retail comeback by reducing discounts and focusing on full-price sales.
CEO Elliott Hill plans to shift away from heavy discounting strategies.
Nike will prioritize running, basketball, training, football, and sportswear categories.
Nike is trying to make a comeback in the retail space. Its new approach involves offering fewer discounts.
Veteran employee Elliott Hill took over as CEO of the sports giant in October 2024. Hill had left in 2020 after over 30 years at the company, and the Nike he returned to was struggling to regain its former dominance in-store. Sales were also falling.
Nike's plans include walking back some previous business strategies, like offering discounts or shifting its attention away from its relationships with wholesalers.
That will mean fewer markdowns on Nike styles, starting this spring, as the company strives to provide an "elevated" experience for shoppers, Hill said during an interview with Fortune.
Hill told Fortune that Nike has become "too promotional," and it's hurting the business. Nike started the fiscal year with a 50-50 split of full-price and discounted items, he said during the second-quarter 2025 earnings call in December.
"Being premium also means full price. We'll focus on promotions during traditional retail moments, not at the consistent levels we are today," Hill said then.
He told Fortune that discounting is "not great for margin; it's not great for the brand; it's not great for our wholesale partners."
In the months since he became CEO โ succeeding John Donahoe โ Nike has also made it clear that it's getting back to its roots as an athletic wear brand.
In the future, Nike will prioritize five categories: running, basketball, training, football, and sportswear. Hill told Fortune he'll work to repair relationships with wholesale retailers after Nike distanced itself from them to focus on its direct-to-consumer business.