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Boeing's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year

Boeing sign
Boeing has faced a near-constant string of hurdles in 2024.

PATRICK T. FALLON/Getty Images

  • Boeing is having a rough year.
  • The company has faced mechanical problems, lawsuits, a leadership shake-up, and layoffs.
  • Here's a breakdown of how Boeing's year has gone from bad to worse.

Boeing has been going through it this year.

From losing a door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight, causing a side panel to blow out in midair, to an exodus of corporate executives, the company has faced a litany of crises in 2024. The company's stock has fallen about 35% this year.

In a message to employees during the company's third-quarter earnings call, Boeing CEO Kely Ortberg said the company was at a "crossroads."

"My mission here is pretty straightforward," she said. "Turn this big ship in the right direction and restore Boeing to the leadership position that we all know and want."

Here's how Boeing's year went from bad to worse.

Emergency on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282
The fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX, which was forced to make an emergency landing with a gap in the fuselage, is seen during its investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Portland, Oregon
The fuselage plug section of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.

NTSB via Reuters

The problems began almost immediately this year when, on January 5, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 lost a door plug midair, blowing a hole in the side of the plane. While no one died in the incident, several passengers were injured, and the pilots were forced to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon.

In the aftermath of the incident, the FAA temporarily grounded over 170 of Boeing's 737 Max 9 planes until they could complete safety inspections.

The Justice Department opened an investigation into Boeing shortly after, and the FBI told passengers aboard the flight that they might have been victims of a crime.

Ongoing litigation
Boeing building set against the clouds.
Shareholders filed a lawsuit against Boeing following the Alaska Airlines incident.

Richard Baker/ Getty Images

Boeing was hit with multiple lawsuits this year.

Passengers from the Alaska Airlines flight filed a class action suit against the company just days after the incident.

"Passengers were shocked and confused, thrust into a waking nightmare unsure if these were their last seconds alive," the lawsuit said.

Boeing's shareholders filed a separate class action suit against the company in January, stating that it had prioritized profit over safety, Reuters reported.

Separately, in July, Boeing struck a plea deal related to two 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. If a judge had approved the deal, it would have allowed Boeing to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud, avoid a trial, pay a fine of about $244 million, and invest at least $455 million in safety and compliance measures.

Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion in 2021 in a deal with the federal government to avoid prosecution for the crashes, but Justice Department officials said in May that Boeing had violated portions of the deal, putting a trial back on the table. Relatives of the deceased passengers asked a Texas judge in October to throw out the agreement, which they called a "sweetheart" deal. The families have previously called for the company to pay a fine amounting to nearly $25 billion.

In December, the judge rejected the deal. A lawyer representing families who lost people in the 2019 crash told BI that they "anticipate a significant renegotiation of the plea deal that incorporates terms truly commensurate with the gravity of Boeing's crimes."

FAA audit of Boeing's safety procedures
A Boeing factory
A Boeing factory based in Washington, DC.

China News Service/Getty Images

The Federal Aviation Administration commissioned a report into Boeing following the fatal 2018 and 2019 crashes — and the results published in February weren't good news for the company.

The FAA report found 27 insufficient areas in Boeing's safety procedures, including no clear system for employees to report safety concerns, confusing management structures, and poor communication with employees about safety procedures.

The latest statement from the FAA about Boeing's compliance to remedy the safety issues was published in August. It said the agency continues "actively monitoring Boeing's progress in a variety of ways," including regular reviews by FAA experts of Boeing's safety procedures and issuing airworthiness certificates for every newly produced Boeing 737 Max. 

The FAA itself has faced scrutiny for its oversight of Boeing. A report from the Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General in October found the agency's checks were insufficient.

Exodus of Boeing executives
Dave Calhoun surrounded by reporters.
Former Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

In March, Boeing announced a leadership shake-up.

CEO Dan Calhoun said he would step down. Stan Deal, the CEO of the company's commercial airplanes division, said he would retire. In the same announcement, board chair Larry Kellner announced his plan not to seek reelection.

Stephanie Pope, the company's COO, was promoted to replace Deal shortly after his departure. At the end of July, Kelly Ortberg was named the company's new CEO.

Ted Colbert, who headed Boeing's defense, space, and security division, became the first prominent executive to leave the company after Ortberg took over. Colbert's departure was announced in September.

Stranded astronauts
smiling butch wilmore and suni williams floating laying in a white circular tunnel around a port in the space station
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams flew to space on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.

NASA

The aerospace company faced another high-profile problem in June when NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams traveled to the International Space Station on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spaceship. It marked the first time Boeing flew astronauts to space.

The astronauts left Earth on June 5 and were supposed to return after eight days, but issues with Starliner's thrusters and helium leaks caused delays. NASA and Boeing began troubleshooting the problems to bring Wilmore and Williams back home. However, in late July, the two astronauts were still stuck at the International Space Station.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager, Steve Stich, said in a press briefing that month that Elon Musk's SpaceX could bring home the astronauts if needed. After working with Boeing to determine whether the two astronauts could safely return to Earth on Starliner, NASA announced in August that it chose SpaceX to do the job instead.

"Spaceflight is risky," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a press conference. "Even at its safest. Even at its most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine. So, the decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station, and bring the Boeing Starliner home un-crewed, is a result of a commitment to safety."

The decision was a major blow to Boeing, which spent $4.2 billion developing Starliner. Wilmore and Williams' flight was the final step Boeing needed to clear for NASA to certify Starliner for human spaceflight. It highlighted just how far Boeing lags behind its competitor, SpaceX.

Wilmore and Williams are now expected to return to Earth in 2025 on SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship, which launched for the International Space Station in September. The astronauts were initially set to return home in February, but NASA announced they would be delayed until March as SpaceX readies its spaceship.

Union strike
A worker holding up two signs that say "Machinists union on strike against Boeing."
Thousands of Boeing union members have been on strike since September 13.

Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Thousands of unionized Boeing employees walked out in September after contract negotiations broke down.

The strike began despite a promising pay package proposal, which would have raised wages by more than 25% over the contract period for more than 32,000 employees in the Pacific Northwest.

Ultimately, union workers denied the proposal and voted to initiate a strike, which is costing the company about $50 million a day.

Negotiations stalled, with both sides filing National Labor Relations Board violations accusing the other of negotiating in bad faith.

Boeing and union leaders reached a tentative deal on October 19 that included a 35% general wage increase spread over four years and a one-time ratification bonus of $7,000.

However, striking Boeing employees rejected the deal on October 24.

"After 10 years of sacrifice, we still have ground to make up. We hope to resume negotiations promptly," the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said on X.

The 53-day strike ended in early November when workers approved a new contract.

Layoffs
Boeing employees install a cargo door on a 777 aircraft under production in June 2024.
Boeing cut 10% of its staff in October.

Jennifer Buchanan/POOL/AFP/Getty Images

Boeing began furloughs of white-collar workers in mid-September after the strike began. Select employees were required to take one week off every four weeks on a rolling basis.

Ortberg, in a staff memo, also announced that executive leadership would take a "commensurate pay reduction for the duration of the strike," though details of the pay reduction remain unclear.

Layoffs began several weeks later. In mid-October, Boeing announced plans to lay off about 10% of its 170,000-member workforce.

In a memo to employees, Ortberg said Boeing was in a "difficult position" and that "restoring our company requires tough decisions."

The company also delayed production of its 777X twin-engine jet and discontinued production of its 767 cargo plane, the memo noted.

Production delays with the Boeing 777X plane
A Boeing 777-X aircraft flies during the 2023 Dubai Airshow at Dubai World Central - Al-Maktoum International Airport in Dubai on November 13, 2023.
A Boeing 777X in flight.

GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images

The experimental 777X is Boeing's newest widebody plane, banking 481 orders from more than a dozen global carriers even though regulators have not yet approved it to fly passengers.

But the aircraft has been riddled with production problems — like supply chain issues, design troubles, and now the ongoing strike — which have already put it five years behind schedule and set Boeing back $1.5 billion.

That hole will likely deepen with the latest entry delay to 2026, further eroding the industry's trust in Boeing's 777X program. It could also push carriers to choose Boeing's European rival Airbus and its already-in-service Airbus A350.

The aircraft is still uncertified but started certification flight testing in July. Testing was halted in August due to a problem with a key part that connects the engine to the aircraft, CNBC reported.

Production troubles with Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft
A Boeing 737 tail fin and a Boeing 737 Max winglet.
Boeing is struggling with 737 MAX production.

JULIEN DE ROSA/Getty Images

The FAA announced in January that it would not grant any production expansions of Boeing's MAX aircraft, including the 737 MAX 9, following the emergency on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.

"The Jan. 5 Boeing 737-9 MAX incident must never happen again," the FAA said in a press release said.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said Boeing would not be cleared to expand production or add additional production lines for the 737 MAX "until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved," according to the press release.

Boeing held a three-hour meeting with the FAA in June to address safety and quality concerns. Afterward, Whitaker spoke at a press conference, where he told a reporter that expanding production of 737 MAX planes was still up in the air.

The FAA told Business Insider, "This is about systemic change, and there's a lot of work to be done. Boeing must meet milestones, and the timing of our decisions will be driven by their ability to do so."

The agency added: "Boeing has delivered a roadmap to change its safety culture, and the FAA will make sure Boeing implements the changes they have outlined. We will not approve production increases beyond the current cap until we're satisfied they've followed through on implementing corrective actions and transforming their safety culture."

Boeing restarted production of the 737 Max in December following the strike's conclusion.

Whistleblowers report problems at Boeing
Boeing Employees Renton Washington
Whistleblowers have called out Boeing in 2024.

Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Sam Salehpour, a Boeing engineer, testified at an April Senate hearing that the company ignored his reports on safety concerns, that his boss retaliated against him, and that he received threats against his physical safety.

The Senate subcommittee investigating Boeing's safety and quality practices released a 204-page report in June. The report included accounts from several whistleblowers.

Sam Mohawk, a Boeing quality assurance inspector, said the company lost track of hundreds of bad 737 parts and instructed employees to conceal improperly stored plane parts from FAA inspectors.

Another whistleblower, Richard Cuevas, wrote in a June complaint to the FAA that holes were being incorrectly drilled on Boeing's 787 Dreamliner planes.

Money woes
Asia-aerospace-Singapore-aviation,ADVANCER by Martin Abbugao A Boeing 787 dreamliner is seen on the tarmac at the Singapore Airshow in Singapore on February 12, 2012
A Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images

In a sign of how Boeing's problems have hurt its bottom line, the company said in a regulatory filing to the SEC in October that it had entered a $10 billion credit agreement with four major banks: JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Citibank.

The company also filed a prospectus saying it might sell up to $25 billion in securities.

"These are two prudent steps to support the company's access to liquidity," Boeing said in a statement.

While workers were on strike, Bank of America analysts estimated that the work stoppage cost Boeing $50 million a day.

To save money, Ortberg, the company's CEO, instructed top executives to stop flying private jets and instead fly economy on commercial flights.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Tony Buzbee accuses Jay-Z's Roc Nation of using 'shadowy operatives' and 'fake badges' to pressure his clients to sue his firm

Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter.
Attorney Tony Buzbee accused Jay-Z's Roc Nation of solicitation and conspiracy.

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

  • Attorney Tony Buzbee accused Jay-Z's Roc Nation of trying to flip his clients to sue his firm.
  • Buzbee is representing a woman who accused Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and Sean "Diddy" Combs of rape.
  • Roc Nation said Buzbee's lawsuit is a distraction and a "sham."

The legal fight between Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, and attorney Tony Buzbee is heating up.

In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday, Buzbee, the attorney representing a woman who accused Carter and Sean "Diddy" Combs of rape, accused Carter's Roc Nation of using "shadowy operatives" to solicit Buzbee's former clients to flip and sue him.

"These folks have stooped to a new low to try to intimidate the lawyers of the Buzbee Law Firm from doing their important work. This conduct was specifically targeted at our firm so we would not pursue cases related to the Diddy litigation," Buzbee said in a statement to Business Insider. "But, we will not be bullied or intimidated."

Buzbee's lawsuit — which was filed in Harris County, Texas, on behalf of a former client of Buzbee's firm and includes allegations of barratry and conspiracy — accused Roc Nation of financing the scheme, and other defendants, including two legal firms, an attorney, and an investigator, of orchestrating and executing it.

"Unfortunately for the Defendants, their agents are not very smart, or careful," Buzbee's lawsuit said.

Buzbee's lawsuit said the defendants impersonated Texas state officials and "flashed fake badges."

In one case, he said they "offered as much as $10,000 to a former client of the Buzbee Law Firm to sue the firm."

A spokesperson for Roc Nation said in a statement that Buzbee's suit was merely a distraction.

"Tony Buzbee's baloney lawsuit against ROCNATION is nothing but another sham. It's a pathetic attempt to distract and deflect attention. This sideshow won't change the ultimate outcome and true justice will be served soon," the spokesperson said.

Buzbee's accusations come after a woman identified in court papers only as Jane Doe filed a civil case against Carter and Sean "Diddy" Combs, accusing the two of raping her at a party following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards when she was 13 years old. Buzbee is representing her.

Carter vehemently denied Doe's allegations, which come while Combs faces sex trafficking and racketeering charges, along with lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct. Combs remains in jail while he awaits his trial.

In Carter's denial, he called Buzbee a "deplorable human."

"I promise you I have seen your kind many times over. I'm more than prepared to deal with your type," Carter wrote in a statement on his company Roc Nation's X account, addressing Buzbee directly.

The initial lawsuit didn't name Carter, referring to him instead as "Celebrity A."

Before naming Carter, Buzbee reached out to him to propose Doe and Carter mediate the case, the lawyer previously told Business Insider. Buzbee said Carter responded with "an utterly frivolous lawsuit" and by "orchestrating a conspiracy of harassment, bullying and intimidation" against Buzbee and his legal team.

Since Doe's lawsuit was filed, critical questions have emerged about some of her allegations. Following an interview with the woman and her father, who she said drove her home on the night of her alleged assault, NBC News reported inconsistencies in the story.

Her father, for example, told the outlet that he didn't remember picking her up that night.

When asked about other inconsistencies, she told the outlet she had made "mistakes" but stood by the brunt of her allegations.

In a court filing Wednesday, an attorney for Carter argued that the "allegations are baseless and fatally contradicted" by the woman and her father's statements to NBC. Carter's attorney is seeking an order to show cause — which seeks an explanation as to why the inconsistencies aren't enough for Carter to be "dismissed" from the lawsuit accusing him of rape.

If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline (1-800-656-4673) or visit its website to receive confidential support.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Former OpenAI employee who died by suicide was named in a court case that could decide the future of the internet

A phone showing the ChatGPT app download screen.
Former OpenAI employee Suchir Balaji died by suicide late last month. He was part of a key copyright lawsuit that could have far-reaching implications for AI models like ChatGPT.

Jaque Silva/NurPhoto

  • Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI researcher, died by suicide late last month.
  • After he left the company, Balaji raised questions about OpenAI possibly violating copyright law.
  • His name appears in a New York Times lawsuit against OpenAI that could have far-reaching implications.

Eight days before the former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji was found dead in a San Francisco apartment, the 26-year-old's name appeared in a lawsuit against his former employer that could have significant implications for the future of AI and the internet.

The lawsuit — filed by The New York Times last December — accused OpenAI and Microsoft of using "millions" of articles published by the newspaper without permission to train the AI startup's popular ChatGPT model. The companies have denied that they violated copyright law.

On November 18, the Times' attorneys asked a judge to add Balaji as a "custodian" in the lawsuit, according to court documents viewed by Business Insider. The attorneys' letter described Balaji as someone with "unique and relevant documents" that could support their copyright infringement case against OpenAI and Microsoft.

Other custodians proposed by the Times include former OpenAI employees such as cofounder Ilya Sutskever. Sutskever's potential contribution to the lawsuit is redacted in the court documents.

The Times' legal case is one of several copyright lawsuits filed against the AI startup after ChatGPT was released in 2022.

If the courts were to side with the Times or other news outlets and authors who have filed a lawsuit, the result could be costly for AI companies and limit the already finite data used to train models.

The Times' lawsuit doesn't demand an exact monetary figure but says OpenAI and Microsoft are responsible for "billions of dollars" in damages.

Spokespeople for OpenAI, Microsoft, and The New York Times did not respond to requests for comment.

Balaji raised concerns over OpenAI's use of copyrighted data

Balaji joined OpenAI in 2020 and worked on training the ChatGPT and GPT-4 models, court documents and reporting from The New York Times show. The researcher, who said OpenAI's work violated copyright law, left the company in August "because he no longer wanted to contribute to technologies that he believed would bring society more harm than benefit," the Times reported.

On October 23, he published an essay on his personal website raising questions about whether OpenAI's use of copyrighted data could be considered fair use.

"While generative models rarely produce outputs that are substantially similar to any of their training inputs, the process of training a generative model involves making copies of copyrighted data," Balaji wrote. "If these copies are unauthorized, this could potentially be considered copyright infringement, depending on whether or not the specific use of the model qualifies as 'fair use.' Because fair use is determined on a case-by-case basis, no broad statement can be made about when generative AI qualifies for fair use."

That same day, the Times published a profile of the former OpenAI researcher.

"If you believe what I believe, you have to just leave the company," he told the Times.

On November 26, eight days after Balaji's name appeared in the Times' attorney's letter, officers from the San Francisco Police Department responded to a welfare check at a Lower Haight-area apartment around 1:15 p.m.

"Officers and medics arrived on scene and located a deceased adult male from what appeared to be a suicide," an SFPD spokesperson told BI. "No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation."

The office of the city's chief medical examiner later identified the deceased male as Balaji.

"The manner of death has been determined to be suicide," David Serrano Sewell, executive director of the city's office of the chief medical examiner, told BI. He did not provide further comment.

"We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news today and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," an OpenAI spokesperson told BI when reached for comment on Friday.

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Billionaire founder of clothing brand Mango falls to death exploring Barcelona caves

Isak Andic, seen during an awards ceremony in Barcelona.
Mango founder Isak Andic died unexpectedly in an accident in Barcelona.

Lorena Sopena/Europa Press via Getty Images

  • Isak Andic, the founder of the fashion brand Mango, has died in an accident, the company said.
  • Andic fell into a ravine while hiking in caves near Barcelona, according to reports.
  • Andic and his family have an estimated net worth of $4.5 billion, according to Forbes.

Isak Andic, the billionaire founder of the European fashion company Mango, died on Saturday. He was 71.

Andic, who served as the company's non-executive chairman, died after an accident, Mango CEO Toni Ruiz said in a press release.

"Isak has been an example for all of us. He dedicated his life to Mango, leaving an indelible mark thanks to his strategic vision, his inspiring leadership and his unwavering commitment to values that he himself imbued in our company," Ruiz said in the press release.

Ruiz praised Andic's "care and affection that he always had" for the company.

Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain, said in a post on X that Andic died in an accident in the caves of Salnitre in Collbató, which is just outside of Barcelona.

According to multiple reports, Andic fell into a ravine while hiking through caves with his family. The ravine was over 320 feet deep, CNN reported, citing local police.

On Sunday, Mango's website featured a tribute to Andic on its home page, and photos show the flags at the company's headquarters in Barcelona flying at half-mast.

Andic started the company in Barcelona in 1984. According to Mango's website, it's now in over 120 markets and has a thriving online presence. Forbes reported that Andic and his family are worth $4.5 billion.

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Man arrested in the UAE after leaving negative Google review of his former employer set to spend Christmas in Dubai

Northern Irishman Craig Ballentine could be spending Christmas in Dubai instead of back home after being detained for a negative Google review.
 

Giuseppe CACACE / AFP

  • A man from Northern Ireland looks set to spend Christmas in the UAE following his arrest.
  • Authorities in Abu Dhabi arrested Craig Ballentine after he posted a negative Google review about his former UAE employer.
  • Ballentine's family said the situation is "a living nightmare."

A man from Northern Ireland who was arrested after posting a negative review about his former employer in Dubai looks set to spend Christmas in the United Arab Emirates.

Craig Ballentine was arrested in Abu Dhabi's airport in October over a negative Google review he posted about his former workplace — a dog grooming salon in Dubai, according to Radha Stirling, an advocate who helps foreigners navigate legal trouble in the UAE.

Ballentine spent about six months working at the salon in 2023. He said he needed time off due to illness and presented his employer with medical certificates as proof of his condition.

But the employer reported him as "absconded" with UAE authorities after he missed work, and he was hit with a travel ban.

After getting the ban lifted, Ballentine returned to Northern Ireland, where he wrote a Google review detailing the issues with his former employer.

He was arrested after returning to the UAE for a holiday and now faces charges of slander.

Ballentine, who said he had paid a fine and was given a one-month social media ban, had hoped to get his travel ban lifted and return to Northern Ireland ahead of Christmas.

But he told the BBC that while on the way to a police station to get the ban lifted, he was told authorities wanted to appeal his case and had set a court date for February.

"While I was in the middle of the transit going there, I got the email that the court was not happy and they wanted to appeal again," he said. "I called friends and family and couldn't stop crying, because you're holding on to those emotions, you're just trying to focus on 'let's get out of here.'"

A GoFundMe set up by Ballentine's family has raised nearly $2,500 to help with his legal fees.

"What started out as a holiday to catch up with friends for Craig has turned out to be a living nightmare," the family says on the page.

"At present legal fees are crippling and any money raised will go to help clearing these costs," they added.

Ballentine has also appealed to politicians to support his case with the help of Radha Stirling, a representative from the campaign group "Detained in Dubai."

"The amount of support Craig has is quite incredible," Stirling said. "Charging someone for an online review is something everyone can imagine happening to them. We've received an influx of worried tourists contacting us to check their police status in Dubai and it's certainly a good idea."

Stirling has helped several tourists held up in the country on exaggerated charges and forced to pay costly fees as a resolution. She previously told Business Insider that it's relatively easy to file a complaint that can prevent someone from leaving the country.

"There's been a lot of cases in the past where people have been accused of road rage or flipping the middle finger and that kind of thing, even when they haven't," Stirling previously told BI. "Then someone goes down to the police station, and whatever they say is automatically believed. They don't need evidence."

In one case Stirling worked on, a female college student lightly nudged an airport security officer during a security screening search. They accused her of assault, and she was unable to leave the nation for months.

In another case, a woman was detained after she was accused of screaming, which her accusers said violated a vague law criminalizing "offensive behavior" like rudeness or swearing. She paid $1,000 to have the travel ban that prevented her from leaving lifted, though her accusers initially demanded $10,000.

"It's actually culturally widespread, and the police haven't done anything to clamp down on that sort of extortion," Stirling previously told BI.

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Mark Zuckerberg sets aside his feud with Elon Musk to go after Sam Altman's OpenAI

A split photo of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have feuded over the years but agree on at least one thing: OpenAI should remain a nonprofit.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images. Allison Robbert-Pool/Getty Images.

  • Mark Zuckerberg's Meta urged California to halt OpenAI's transition to a for-profit company.
  • In doing so, Zuckerberg sided with his occasional nemesis, Elon Musk, who also wants to stop OpenAI.
  • It seems the two tech billionaires have finally found some common ground.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and X owner Elon Musk have long-standing beef about everything from artificial intelligence to how they run their respective social media platforms.

While that feud has lasted for the better part of a decade — and has even threatened to get physical — the two tech billionaires now agree on at least one thing: their competitor, OpenAI, should remain a nonprofit.

Zuckerberg's Meta asked the California attorney general on Friday to stop OpenAI from becoming a for-profit company. Meta accused Sam Altman's company of "taking advantage" of its status as a nonprofit to raise billions.

"OpenAI wants to change its status while retaining all of the benefits that enabled it to reach the point it has today. That is wrong. OpenAI should not be allowed to flout the law by taking and reappropriating assets it built as a charity and using them for potentially enormous private gains," Meta said in the letter to California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

OpenAI is one of Meta's biggest competitors in the AI tech race.

"Failing to hold OpenAI accountable for its choice to form as a nonprofit could lead to a proliferation of similar startup ventures that are notionally charitable until they are potentially profitable," Meta wrote in the letter.

With that, Zuckerberg sided with Musk, who is engaged in an ongoing legal fight to prevent OpenAI from becoming a for-profit.

Musk, one of 11 OpenAI cofounders who split from the company early on, launched a second bid in November to stop OpenAI from making the transition, asking a court for an injunction against the company.

The injunction request also argues that OpenAI and Microsoft, the largest corporate investor in the AI startup, have worked together to build a "for-profit monopoly," engaging in anti-competitive behavior that also targets xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence venture.

OpenAI has fought back. On Friday, it published a blog post titled "Elon Musk wanted an OpenAI for-profit." The post includes a series of emails and messages between Musk and other cofounders, including Altman, going back as far as November 2015, a month before the company was founded.

In one of those emails, Musk responded to Altman's proposal to start a Delaware-based nonprofit: "Also, the structure doesn't seem optimal," Musk wrote.

Musk left the organization in 2018 in part because he believed OpenAI's "probability of success was 0," according to an OpenAI blog post from March. Musk has accused OpenAI of straying from its original mission to develop an artificial general intelligence that is safe and benefits humanity.

Almost a decade after its founding as a nonprofit, OpenAI is now eyeing the switch to a for-profit venture to generate more investor capital. In October, the company announced a $6.6 billion funding round, raising OpenAI's valuation to $157 billion. That investment, however, comes with a stipulation that OpenAI become a for-profit within two years.

Meanwhile, Meta said it plans to pour as much as $37 billion on infrastructure costs alone this year, largely related to AI. Musk's xAI told investors last month that it secured $5 billion in funding.

Musk and spokespeople for Meta and OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment.

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Alexander brothers charged with sex-trafficking conspiracy dating back over a decade

Oren and Tal Alexander
Oren (left) and Tal Alexander.

courtesy of Douglas Elliman

  • The Alexander brothers have been hit with federal sex-trafficking charges.
  • Oren and Tal Alexander are top real-estate agents. Police also arrested a third brother.
  • The brothers earlier denied the accusations through an attorney.

The Alexander brothers were arrested on Wednesday on federal charges of sex trafficking. Prosecutors accused the siblings of operating a "long-running sex trafficking scheme," according to an unsealed indictment.

The New York prosecutors said in the indictment that Tal and Oren — who are among the nation's top luxury real-estate agents — and their brother, Alon, collaborated for more than a decade with others both "known and unknown" to "repeatedly and violently drug, sexually assault, and rape dozens of victims."

The indictment said the brothers used their wealth and prominent positions "to create opportunities to rape and sexually assault women" in Manhattan and Miami in a scheme that began in 2010 and lasted more than 10 years.

At times, prosecutors said the brothers planned out the sexual assaults in advance "using the promise of luxury experiences, travel, and accommodations to lure and entice women to locations where they were forcibly raped or sexually assaulted, sometimes by multiple men, including one or more of the Alexander brothers."

Other times, the Alexander brothers chose their victims by chance, prosecutors said.

The real-estate duo, in particular, the indictment said, "used their prominent positions in the industry to induce other women to attend events and parties, and to meet other women at those events and parties, whom one or more of the defendants later sexually assaulted."

Prosecutors alleged the Alexander brothers worked together and with other men to arrange events and both domestic and international trips that they used as "bait" to "recruit, entice, harbor, transport, and maintain multiple women."

Ahead of events and trips, the Alexander brothers would secure drugs, including hallucinogenic mushrooms, cocaine, and GHB, which they agreed to provide women, the indictment says.

On multiple occasions, they and others would "surreptitiously" drug women's drinks, prosecutors said.

"At times, the defendants physically restrained and held down their victims during the rapes and sexual assaults and ignored screams and explicit requests to stop," the indictment said.

Oren Alexander, Alon Alexander, and their cousin, Ohad Fisherman, were also separately charged in Florida with sexual battery in three incidents in Miami involving three different women in 2016, 2017, and 2021.

Katherine Fernandez Rundle, the state attorney for Miami-Dade County in Florida, announced the charges in a joint news conference with the Miami Beach police department on Wednesday.

Florida prosecutors charged Oren Alexander with three counts of sexual battery, with one of the charges involving multiple perpetrators and classified as a second-degree felony. Alon Alexander was charged with one count of sexual battery involving multiple perpetrators, a second-degree felony. Fisherman was charged with one count of sexual battery by multiple perpetrators.

In the first incident in 2016, Oren and Alon took turns raping a woman at Alon's Miami Beach apartment while Fisherman held her down, the state attorney said. The woman told police that after the assault, Oren asked her to shower and Alon told her not to tell anybody what had happened. The woman told her two sisters and a friend about the assault but did not contact police at the time because she feared retribution from the men, the state attorney said.

Prosecutors said the second incident, which involved only Oren, took place after a woman attended a real-estate event with him in 2017. After the event, Oren invited her to his apartment, where he gave her a glass of wine, after which she said she felt weak and out of control of her body. She found herself on Oren's bed with Oren on top of her; she could not move or speak or push him off. He then raped her, she said.

In the third incident in 2021, a woman met Oren at a dinner she attended with a friend, the state attorney said. Oren invited the woman and her friend to his house on Flamingo Drive. At his house, Oren brought the woman to a couch next to his bedroom, removed her shoes, and started kissing her. The woman said she felt uncomfortable as Oren became aggressive. When she tried to pull away from him, he ripped off the top of her dress, leaving her naked on top. She went to his bedroom to grab a T-shirt from his closet and tried to leave the house. But when she got downstairs, she realized she could not leave because the doors were remote-controlled. She went back upstairs to ask Oren to let her out. There, Oren pushed her onto his bed, held her down with his knees, and assaulted her as she told him no, prosecutors said.

Rundle, the state attorney, thanked the "brave women" for disclosing what happened to them.

"These women are strong and they're resilient," she said. "They are an example to anyone else out there who has experienced sex violence."

Local news footage showed Oren and Alon being escorted into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami on Wednesday. Tal, who was not mentioned in the Florida news conference, was being held at a separate jail, Local 10 News reported.

The brothers' arrest follows years of sexual-assault allegations by multiple women.

Deanna Paul, a New York attorney for Tal Alexander, confirmed to Business Insider that police arrested the brothers in Miami on Wednesday morning but declined to comment further.

The brothers have "strongly" denied any wrongdoing, James Cinque, a New York-based attorney, told Business Insider in September.

"We have asked them not to comment while these matters work their way through the legal system," Cinque said, "but are comfortable that they will ultimately be vindicated."

The FBI began investigating the Alexander brothers after The Real Deal first reported in June that two women had filed civil lawsuits against Oren and Alon earlier this year.

The women, Kate Whiteman and Rebecca Mandel, said the brothers took turns raping them in two separate incidents in 2010 and 2012, respectively. About 10 days after The Real Deal's article was published, another woman, Angelica Parker, filed a lawsuit accusing Alon and Tal of raping her in their New York City apartment in 2012 while Oren watched. In July, a fourth woman, the actor and comedian Renée Willett, filed a lawsuit against Oren, accusing him of drugging and raping her, also in his SoHo apartment in 2015.

"We are glad to hear that there will finally be some measure of accountability for the Alexander brothers and justice for their many victims," David E. Gottlieb, a partner at Wigdor, the law firm representing Parker, said in a statement to BI. "We applaud all the survivors who have had the strength and courage to speak up about their unimaginable experiences after years of pain and suffering."

A day after the criminal indictments, another woman, going by "Jane Doe," filed a lawsuit in New York against Alon and Oren, accusing them both of raping her in 2016.

The lawsuit said Alon invited the plaintiff to a barbecue and pool party in Miami on New Year's Eve but that when she arrived she realized she was the only guest. She said Fisherman held her down while Oren raped her with Alon watching. Alon then raped her, the lawsuit said.

Lawyers for Alon, Oren, and Fisherman did not respond to a request for comment from BI on the new lawsuit.

Alon and Oren also appeared in court in Miami on Thursday, where a judge ordered they be held without bond, The New York Times reported. Alon had told the judge his wife was expected to give birth to their first child "any day now" and that she was counting on him to be with her. The next hearing is set for Friday.

At a press conference on Wednesday announcing the indictment, Damian Williams, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, called on additional victims to speak out.

"Our investigation is far from over," Williams said. "If you have been a victim of the alleged sexual violence perpetrated by Alon Alexander, Oren Alexander, or Tal Alexander — or if you know anything about their alleged crimes — we urge you to come forward."

Since June, more than a dozen women have said they were raped or assaulted by the three brothers, sometimes in tandem. Business Insider spoke to four women who described being assaulted or feeling coerced into sexual encounters, including one who said Tal, now 38, raped her in Las Vegas in 2017.

Business Insider's investigation found that it was an open secret in wealthy social circles for years that the Alexander twins, 37, and their older brother Tal, mistreated women.

Oren and Tal started their real-estate careers at Douglas Elliman before launching their own brokerage, Official, in 2022. Alon works for the family's security company in Florida.

December 12, 2024: This story has been updated to include a new lawsuit that was filed a day after the criminal indictments as well as Alon and Oren's court appearance on Thursday.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Google DeepMind says its new AI weather prediction tool outperforms top forecasters

Hurricane Milton, as seen from the International Space Station.
Google DeepMind said GenCast, its new weather forecaster, can make better predictions.

NASA/Getty Images

  • Google DeepMind unveiled GenCast, its AI tool for weather forecasts.
  • GenCast outperformed existing forecasting systems in trials, Google DeepMind said.
  • Better forecasting will allow for better preparation in extreme weather events, the company said.

Google DeepMind announced its new artificial intelligence weather prediction tool called GenCast on Wednesday.

Google DeepMind said GenCast differs from other models because it has "adapted to the spherical geometry of the Earth and learns to accurately generate the complex probability distribution of future weather scenarios when given the most recent state of the weather as input."

As a result, Google DeepMind said GenCast provides better forecasts than the "top operating system," referencing the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and its model — known as ENS — that makes predictions up to 15 days in advance. GenCast, which was trained on the European center's data, "consistently outperformed ENS" when it predicted extreme heat, extreme cold, and high wind speeds.

"Now consider tropical cyclones, also known as hurricanes and typhoons. Getting better and more advanced warnings of where they'll strike land is invaluable. GenCast delivers superior predictions of the tracks of these deadly storms," the company said.

In an article in Nature published on Wednesday, Google DeepMind researchers wrote that GenCast had "greater skill than ENS on 97.2% of 1,320 targets we evaluated."

"Better predictions of extreme weather enable better decisions," DeepMind said in its press release. The company also said it would share real-time and historic forecasts from GenCast.

"We are eager to engage with the wider weather community, including academic researchers, meteorologists, data scientists, renewable energy companies, and organizations focused on food security and disaster response," the company said.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Burger King and Popeyes franchises fined for child labor law violations

A Burger King sign outside of a store.
Burger King franchise owners were fined in Massachusetts.

Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

  • The owners of Burger King and Popeyes franchises in Massachusetts have been fined for child labor violations.
  • The office of the Massachusetts AG said it issued more than $2 million in citations against one operator.
  • The US has seen a rise in child labor violations in recent years.

The Massachusetts attorney general has fined the owners of multiple Burger King and Popeyes franchises for violating child labor laws and other labor laws.

The office of Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said this week that it issued more than $2 million in citations against Northeast Foods LLC, which operates dozens of Burger King franchises across the state.

That fine includes penalties against the company as well as restitution for unpaid wages, the AG's office said in a press release.

Campbell's office alleged that the franchise operator assigned minors to work outside of legally permitted hours and more than the nine-hour daily limit that 16 and 17 year olds can work under state law.

The AG also accused Northeast Foods of failing to pay workers on time, pay minimum wage, or pay workers at all.

The AG's office said it launched an investigation into the matter after receiving a complaint from a worker at a Burger King location over a nonpayment of wages. The investigation revealed that nearly 2,000 employees at Burger King locations operated by Northeast Foods across Massachusetts were impacted by the alleged violations, the AG's office said.

Representatives for Northeast Foods did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Business Insider.

Burger King's press representative said in a statement that the company "contacted the Franchisee facing these violations immediately upon learning of them, and they have informed us they are looking into the findings of the investigation, have implemented measures such as re-training their management teams related to the work hours of minors and putting ongoing audits in place, and are working on additional actions based on the investigation."

Additionally, Campbell's office said in the same press release that it reached a settlement with two owners of 19 Popeyes locations across Massachusetts. As part of that settlement, the AG's office issued $212,516 in citations against the operators, which included restitution for impacted workers and penalties.

The AG's office said the New Jersey-based franchise operators scheduled minors for work during prohibited hours and had them work beyond the daily and weekly hour limits. They also didn't allow some workers to use their accrued sick time, the AG's office said.

Those franchise operators could not be immediately reached for comment.

Popeyes' corporate representatives said the franchisee "fully cooperated in the investigation" and has since retrained its team and is enforcing a payroll system that will alert team members when it is time to clock out.

Meanwhile, the United States has seen an increase in child labor violations in recent years.

In federal fiscal year 2023, the Department of Labor found nearly 5,800 kids employed in violation of the law, which the agency said was an 88% increase in the number of children employed in violation since 2019.

The Labor Department found just over 4,000 minors employed in violation of the law in federal fiscal year 2024.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Putin has 2 daughters he barely ever talks about, and is rumored to have at least 1 more

Lyudmila Putina
Russian President Vladimir and his now ex-wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva.

Sergey Ponomarev/AP

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin has at least two daughters he rarely talks about.
  • He has two daughters with his ex-wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva: Maria and Katerina, both in their 30s.
  • Various unconfirmed reports say he has at least three other children, who he fiercely guards from the limelight.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is famously secretive about his personal life.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Easter service in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, April 24, 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Orthodox Easter service in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia.

AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File

Putin has long tried to shield his personal life from the spotlight.

He has rarely publicly acknowledged his children, though media outlets have for years reported that he has two daughters with his ex-wife.

Putin is also rumored to have had relationships that may have produced other, secret children, including two boys by one mistress and a girl from a later rumored affair.

Putin's family affairs are so secretive that reports of exactly how many children he may have fathered have varied over the years, as have their names.

Most recently, in November 2024, Ukrainian media reportedly tracked down one of Putin's alleged daughters, who was living in Paris and working as a DJ.

Putin had two daughters with his first wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva, a former flight attendant
Vladimir Putin Lyudmilla Wife

AP

Their daughters' names are Maria and Katerina. Maria was born in St. Petersburg in 1985, and Katerina was born in Germany in 1986.
Vladimir Putin daughters
Maria and Katerina Putin, from their father's personal archive.

Reuters

Both girls are named after their grandmothers. Maria's nickname is Masha, and Katerina's nickname is Katya.
vladimir putin parents
Putin's father, Vladimir Spiridonovich Putin, and his mother, Maria Ivanovna Shelomova.

Kremlin

Masha and Katya are common Russian shortenings for Maria and Katerina.

Sources: Vladimir PutinReutersNewsweek

When the family moved to Moscow in 1996, the girls attended a German-language school. The children were reportedly removed from school when Putin became acting president, and teachers educated them at home.
vladimir putin wife acting president 2000 Lyudmila
Then-acting President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila applaud during a concert after an award ceremony in Gudermes on January 1, 2000.

REUTERS

Source: Newsweek

"Not all fathers are as loving with their children as he is," Lyudmila said in an undated quote on Putin's government website. "And he has always spoiled them, while I was the one who had to discipline them."
Vladimir Putin Lyudmilla Wife

Vesti.ru screengrab

But as Putin gained political power, his children saw him less and less, according to one of his early biographers.
Then-Acting Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaking to the media, with ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky in the background, in Moscow, 12 August 1999
Then-Acting Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks to the media after a meeting in the Duma, Russian parliament's lower house, in Moscow, 12 August 1999.

STR/AP POOL/AFP via Getty Images

His first official biographer, Natalya Gevorkyan, interviewed him and his family in 1999.

The family was soon isolated and surrounded by security after Putin became prime minister for the first time, she said.

His daughters told her that they admired their father and were proud of him, but it appeared they didn't get to see him much, she said.

Source: BBC Sounds

Putin's marriage may also have been loveless. Lyudmila "was not a happy woman" and Putin wouldn't "hold" her, his biographer said.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila (R) pray during an Orthodox Easter service in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral on April 24, 2011 in Moscow. Russia
Then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila pray during an Orthodox Easter service in Moscow in 2011 in Moscow.

Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images

"I understood that [Lyudmila] was not a happy woman. She was not," the biographer Gevorkyan said, speaking of her interviews conducted in 1999.

Gevorkyan said she had the impression Putin did not love her. She recalled Lyudmila as saying: "There are women who are admired by men, I think I am not that kind of woman. He will not hold me in his hands."

Gevorkyan said Lyudmila's tone was "more with respect" to her husband.

"I had the feeling that she really loved him," she added. "And I had a feeling that she was not that much loved back. I didn't have the feeling that it was a successful marriage for her."

Source: BBC Sounds

Putin and Lyudmila announced their divorce in 2013, although they were likely living separate lives long before that.
Head-and-shoulder shot of President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila walking through the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, on June 6, 2013, the day they announced their divorce.
Putin and Lyudmila walking through the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, on June 6, 2013, the day they announced their divorce.

Mikhail Klimentyev/AFP via Getty Images

Lyudmila had become "almost invisible" in Putin's public life, according to Nina Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at New York's New School. 

Putin was rumored to be seeing Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, while Luydmila was believed to have begun dating businessman and triathlete Arthur Ocheretny by around 2010. 

Sources: BBC, Proekt, Politico.

Meanwhile, the daughters were growing up. Maria studied biology before medical school, while Katerina majored in Asian Studies in college. Both girls attended university under false identities.
A composite image showing headshot video stills of Maria Vorontsova, left, in 2022, and Katerina Tikhonova, right, in 2021.
As adults: Maria Vorontsova, left, in 2022, and Katerina Tikhonova, right, in 2021.

Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters / The World Russian People's Council / Insider

Sources: ReutersNewsweek

There are no official current photos of the women. For Katerina, we found the slightly varying first names of "Katerina," "Katya," and "Yekaterina," and the last names "Putina," "Tikhonova," and "Shamalov."
Katerina Tikhonova putina vladimir putin daughter
Katerina Tikhonova, daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, dances with Ivan Klimov during the World Cup Rock'n'Roll Acrobatic Competition in Krakow, Poland, on April 12, 2014.

REUTERS/Jakub Dabrowski

Sources: ReutersNewsweek

Maria is a medical researcher. According to reports, she married Dutch businessman Jorrit Faassen, although it's unclear exactly when.
A screenshot from a video presentation for the 5th Hippocratic Forum by Maria Vorontsova in 2022, showing a head and shoulders image on her on screen.
A screenshot from a video presentation for the 5th Hippocratic Forum by Maria Vorontsova in 2022.

The World Russian People's Council/YouTube

Maria appears to have a lower public profile than Katerina. Here, she is seen presenting at a 2022 pediatrics conference. 

An investigation found that between 2019 and 2022, she earned $10.7 million from her role at New Medical Company (NOMEKO). 

Sources: Current Time, ReutersNewsweekBloomberg

Maria and Faassen reportedly have a child — Putin told filmmaker Oliver Stone in 2017 that he was a grandfather. When Stone asked if he played with his grandchild, Putin replied: "Very seldom, unfortunately."
vladimir putin oliver stone the putin interviews
"The Putin Interviews" was a four-part series that premiered on Showtime in May 2017.

Showtime

Katerina, an accomplished acrobatic dancer, is a tech executive.
Katerina Putin
Katerina Tikhonova, daughter of Vladimir Putin, dancing.

Jakub Dabrowski/Reuters

She has been reported to head up Innopraktika, one of Moscow State University's initiatives to foster young scientists, as well as being deputy director of a mathematical institute there.  

In 2022 she was given a role overseeing Russian import substitutions.

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN, The Moscow Times.

Here she is in her dancing days at the 2013 Rock 'n' Roll World Championship in Winterthur, Switzerland, representing Russia.

 

She took fifth place at that year's final. 

Source: WRRC

Katerina married Russian billionaire Kirill Shamalov in 2013, though they are reportedly no longer together. Their wedding was a lavish affair at the Igora resort in St. Petersburg.
Kirill Shamalov
Kirill Shamalov, the former husband of Putin's daughter Katerina

Reuters/Kommersant Photo/Dmitry Dukhanin

The wedding was highly secure and included a laser show, an ice-skating display, and a mock Russian village, according to Reuters. 

A 2023 investigation found that the couple, though married by a priest in an elaborate ceremony, never formalized their vows at the registry office, as required by the Russian Orthodox Church. The report suggested this was connected to the structure of the family's vast and secretive property holdings. 

By 2018, the pair had split, according to Bloomberg

Sources: ReutersThe Guardian, Proekt   

Shamalov prospered during the marriage, racking up lucrative business interests. By the time he and Katerina split in 2018, the divorce papers revealed they were worth $2 billion.
President Vladimir Putin at the center of a group of businessmen in "Voronezhsintezkauchuk" plant, part of the SIBUR company, in Voronezh. Kirill Shamalov walks to the far right.
Russian President Putin visits "Voronezhsintezkauchuk" plant, part of the SIBUR company, in Voronezh. Shamalov is pictured at the right of the group.

Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin via Reuters

As early as 2016, the couple were hardly corresponding, and Shamalov had seen lucrative shares in energy company Sibur returned to Putin's friends, a 2023 investigation reported. 

Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, Proekt

Katerina made her debut on Russian state TV as a biotechnology expert in December 2018.
putin daughter yekaterina katerina
Katerina Tikhonova (R) on Rossiya 1 on December 7, 2018.

Rossiya 1

Her appearance did not include comments on her being related to Putin. The link was briefly made public in the course of a dance competition, but later retracted.

Source: Business Insider, Reuters

She has at least twice joined an event known as Russia's answer to Davos, and in 2024, Maria was also there. Both were rare appearances.
Katerina Tikhonova attends the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) virtually.
Katerina Tikhonova attended the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) virtually.

OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images

In June 2021, Katerina addressed the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum — but nobody called her Putin's daughter, apparently out of fear of reprisal from the Kremlin.

At the same event in 2024, Katerina appeared virtually, commenting on the "technological sovereignty" of the nation's military.

The following day, Maria spoke in person on a panel about biotech innovations. Programming listed her as a member of the Russian Association for the Promotion of Science, according to CNN.

Source: CNN

In 2022, it emerged that Katerina had begun a clandestine relationship with German ballet star Igor Zelensky and had a daughter with him.
German ballet star Igor Zelensky, pictured in front of a chandelier, in 2014.
Igor Zelensky, the father of Katerina's child, in 2014. In 2016 he became director of the Bavarian State Ballet.

Tobias Hase/picture alliance via Getty Images

Zelensky — no relation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — has served as the director of the Bavarian State Ballet and the Munich State Ballet. 

The relationship was revealed by a 2022 investigation that examined Katerina's flight records, showing that she traveled with members of Putin's presidential secret service.

Per the report, Katerina secretly flew to Munich more than 50 times to see Zelensky between 2017 and 2019, with their daughter in tow.

Sources: Important Stories, Der Spiegel

Meanwhile, Maria Vorontsova split with Faassen and had a child with businessman Evgeny Nagorny, independent Russian media reported.

A post shared by Barkli_rus (@barkli_rus)

 

Nagorny — who formerly showed an interest in opposition politics — has been flying around the world with Vorontsova since at least 2016, according to a joint investigation by Russian outlets Meduza and Current Time.

They had a child together, and Nagorny became the manager of major gas company Novatek, the outlets reported. 

In 2020, per the outlets, Nagorny bought a luxury Moscow apartment in the building pictured above.  

Sources: Meduza, Current Time.

There are rumors that Putin has other children with ex-girlfriend and former Russian rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva.
Alina Kabayeva Vladimir Putin
Putin greets Alina Kabaeva during a meeting with candidates to the Russian Olympic team for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

REUTERS/Pool AS

It's unclear exactly when Putin began dating the famed gymnast, but rumors were swirling long before he and Lyudmila announced their divorce. 

In a 2008 news conference in Italy, a reporter asked him about the chatter, which Putin dismissed, adding: "I always disliked people who go around with their erotic fantasies, sticking their snot-ridden noses into another person's life."

Reports have varied over the years on what children they have, with tabloid reports of the birth of a daughter in 2015.

More recently, however, an investigation reported that they have two sons. 

Neither the relationship nor the reported children have been confirmed by Russia. 

Source: New York Post, Proekt, NPR

A bombshell investigation in 2024 said that Putin and Kabaeva have 2 sons who live in seclusion and extreme luxury.

The boys are named as Ivan, born in 2015, and Vladimir Jr, born in 2019.

Business Insider could not independently verify the report. 

At Ivan's birth, according to the investigation, Putin was so happy that he shouted: 'Hurray! Finally! A boy!'

Extreme secrecy surrounds them — per the investigation, they have used "cover documents since infancy, which are mostly made for intelligence officers and people under state protection."

Source: Dossier Center

 

 

 

No publicly available images exist of Ivan and Vladimir Jr.
Alina Kabaeva vladimir putin girlfriend
Putin smiles next to Russian gymnast Alina Kabaeva during a meeting with the Russian Olympic team at the Kremlin on November 4, 2004.

REUTERS/ITAR-TASS/PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE

In its investigation, the Dossier Centre declined to publish images of the boys, both of whom are still children. 

The boys live at Putin's heavily protected lakeside palace at Valdai, in western Russia, according to the report. 

Source: Dossier Centre

In 2024, Ukrainian armed forces said they had flown a drone over Valdai palace, where Kabaeva and the children reportedly live.
A composite image showing a Google Earth view of Lake Valdai, western Russia, with Putin's palace compound marked with an arrow. An inset image shows a zoomed-in view of what is reportedly a Pantsir-S1 air defense system located on an island nearby, with an arrow marking its location.
Pantsir-S1 air defense marked around 3.3 miles from the Valdai Palace compound, as of July 2024.

Google Earth/Business Insider

The drone was on its way to attack a St Petersburg oil terminal as part of a spate of attacks on Russian energy facilities, Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine's minister of strategic industries, said. 

An unnamed special services official said that it had managed to evade the extensive defenses at Valdai

A few months later, it emerged that Russia's armed forces had moved much-needed air defenses closer to the palace to protect it. 

Source: Kyiv Independent, RBC Ukraine, Radio Liberty

 

Reports have also claimed that a former cleaning lady, Svetlana Krivonogikh, once had an affair with Putin and moved into one of St. Petersburg's wealthiest neighborhoods.
An aerial view of St Petersburg's prestigious Birch Alley, where one of Putin's rumored mistresses was reported to live.
An aerial view of St. Petersburg's prestigious Birch Alley, where one of Putin's rumored mistresses was reported to live.

Google Earth

Independent investigations have reported that the pair had a close friendship between the late 1990s and the end of the 2010s, which resulted in a daughter.

In that time, Krivonogikh went from a former cleaning lady to the billionaire owner of one of Putin's favorite ski resorts.

Sources: ProektOrganized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

Krivonogikh's daughter, who was born in 2003, is named Elizaveta Vladimirovna Rozova and goes by Luisa. Identity papers do not indicate a father, but her middle name means "daughter of Vladimir." She has not confirmed any relationship.
A Google Earth image of St Petersburg's elite Birch Alley complex.
A Google Earth image of St Petersburg's elite Birch Alley complex.

Google Earth

A Proekt investigation remarked on Elizaveta's "phenomenal resemblance" to Putin and many connections between the president and her mother. Images reportedly from her social profiles show a striking resemblance to Putin. But no relationship has been proven.

In a 2021 magazine interview, Elizaveta's face was not depicted. 

Asked about the resemblance, she agreed, but said "there are a lot of people similar to Vladimir Vladimirovich," using an alternative, respectful name for Putin.

Sources: Proekt, Russian GQ

Elizaveta appears to have led a vibrant life as a DJ and fashion businesswoman in Moscow and Paris.

In a bizarre turn of events, Andrey Zakharov, the journalist who first reported on Elizaveta, got added to a Clubhouse chat with her in 2021.

"I live in my own bubble," she reportedly said, adding that she doesn't pay attention to the news.

"I watch fashion shows, I buy copies of Vogue, and I love to go to the nearby restaurant and eat tasty pasta, dishing with friends about the latest gossip and investigations."

Source: TSN, Meduza

But at the start of the invasion of Ukraine, commenters reportedly mobbed her social media — which she then deleted.
Paris
Elizaveta has reportedly studied in Paris. Image for illustration purposes only.

Alexander Spatari/Getty Images

An investigation published in 2024 reported that she went suddenly off-grid, changing her name to Elizaveta Olegovna Rudnova. 

An Elizaveta Rudnova was registered to study at a private art and culture management school in Paris between 2020 and 2024, the report said. 

In November 2024, Ukrainian media reportedly tracked down Rudnova, who was living in Paris and working as a DJ.

Business Insider was unable to independently verify the report. 

Source: TSN, The Telegraph

 

In late 2020, Putin announced Russia had finalized its COVID-19 vaccine. He said he gave the shot to one of his daughters, but wouldn't specify which one.
Vladimir Putin coronavirus vaccine
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a remote meeting with members of the government on August 11, 2020.

Sputnik/Aleksey Nikolskyi/Kremlin via REUTERS

In February 2022, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. No statement came from Katerina or Maria, but scrutiny of their families ramped up.
Putin villa biaritz
An image showing an activist flying a Ukrainian flag from the balcony of a villa linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Biarritz, France.

Russia Today

In March 2022, an activist broke into a property owned by Katerina's ex-husband Kirill Shamalov in Biarritz, France, saying he was going to use it to host Ukrainian refugees.

More than a year later, as the war dragged on, Dutch authorities seized land belonging to Maria's ex-husband Jorrit Faassen, who was under suspicion of evading sanctions. 

Sources: Insider, The Insider, The Guardian

In April 2022, the US sanctioned Maria and Katerina, saying that they had "enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people."
Vladimir Putin Katerina Tikhonova

Getty/Reuters

A White House statement said: "This action cuts them off from the US financial system and freezes any assets they hold in the United States."

The UK quickly followed suit, saying it was targeting Maria and Katerina's "lavish lifestyles." 

The announcement also contained more details about their work.

Tikhonova's work supports Russia's government and defense industry, while Vorontsova's genetics research programs are personally overseen by Putin, the White House said.

Source: White House, ABC News

 

 

The US said it believed the women were hiding assets for Putin, which was its rationale for sanctioning them. The Kremlin suggested the move was anti-Russian.
Vladimir Putin

Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

"We believe that many of Putin's assets are hidden with family members and that's why we're targeting them," a senior Biden administration official said, according to ABC News.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin's top spokesperson, said the Kremlin found the decision "difficult to understand" and framed it as part of a "rabid" Western animosity toward Russia.

Since 2022, the list of countries that have slapped sanctions on Maria and Katerina has only grown.

The US, UK, European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan have all imposed sanctions on them.

Sources: ABC News, Reuters, Associated Press, Reuters, Reuters, Japan Times, New Zealand Herald

 

In July 2022, as sanctions began to bite in Russia, Katerina was given a top post overseeing import substitutions.
Putin meets with the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin in Moscow, Russia March 2, 2022
Putin meeting with the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin, in March 2022.

Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via Reuters

Tikhonova was appointed to a position at the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, known as RSPP.

Putin critics speculated that the shakeup at RSPP, a key Russian business lobby, was done to help bolster the country's lagging economy, which remains heavily dependent on foreign imports and has suffered from the bevy of international sanctions imposed due to the war in Ukraine. 

State media reporting on Tikhonova's appointment didn't mention her relationship to Putin.

Sources: RBC, Fortune

In the summer of 2022, the US added Kabaeva to its sanctions list, citing her "close relationship" with Putin.
Alina Kabaeva, smiling and wearing a sequinned dress, at Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia, July,14,2018.
Alina Kabaeva pictured in Moscow in July 2018.

Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

The US government had initially held off sanctioning Kabaeva on the basis that it would be too personal a provocation to Putin — a reservation that suggests the White House, at least, is in no doubt about their relationship.

But Kabaeva was finally sanctioned in August 2022 over her ties to the Russian government. 

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, US Treasury

Svetlana Krivonogikh was the last woman connected to Putin to feel the weight of sanctions.
Drone footage of the Lake Valdai property.
Drone footage of the Lake Valdai property.

Navalny.com

In February 2023, the UK sanctioned Krivonogikh. 

The UK government made no specific reference to a personal connection to Putin, although it did say she was one of five people "connected to Putin's luxury residences," including his luxury compound at Valdai.

It also said that she is "a shareholder in Bank Rossiya and the National Media Group, that consistently promotes the Russian assault in Ukraine."

Source: UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

 

In early February 2023, Kabaeva made a rare speech, where she said Russia's media is as powerful as a Kalashnikov rifle in war.
A screenshot from CNN coverage of a speech by Alina Kabaeva in early February 2023. Kabaeva talks in front of a blue background. The chyron reads: "Putin's reputed girlfriens likens propaganda to a Kalashnnnikov."
A screenshot from CNN coverage of a speech by Alina Kabaeva in early February 2023.

CNN

Kabaeva made the speech to the National Media Group.

Her praise of "war correspondents" came just a couple of weeks ahead of the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

Sources: Insider, Newsweek

 

In March 2023, the Innopraktika Institute, headed up by Katerina, scolded Russian youth for not being patriotic enough online.
Katerina Tikhonova's face on a large screen above a spotlighted round table at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2021
Katerina Tikhonova on screen at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2021

Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters

The report, which examined young people's social media activity, likened the drop in patriotism to a hybrid special military operation waged against Russia by foreign countries — using language more associated with how Putin characterizes his own invasion of Ukraine. 

Sources: The Moscow Times, Rozkomnadzor

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Photos that offer a glimpse of what life is like for workers in notoriously isolated North Korea

Song Un Pyol, manager at the upscale Potonggang department store in Pyongyang, North Korea, stands in the snacks aisle while being interviewed by The Associated Press on June 19, 2017. Three generations into the ruling dynasty begun by Kim Il Sung, markets have blossomed and a consumer culture is taking root.
Song Un Pyol, manager at an upscale department store in Pyongyang, North Korea, stands in the snacks aisle while being interviewed by The Associated Press.

AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File

  • North Korea is home to about 26 million people who are taught to worship their leaders as gods.
  • The country is culturally and economically isolated as many suffer from malnutrition and poverty.
  • Many North Koreans go to work every day on farms, in factories, and in the capital of Pyongyang.

There's limited information available about the daily lives of people living in North Korea, one of the world's most isolated nations.

The country is home to about 26 million people. Kim Jong Un, the current Great Leader, has near-total control of the country and leads a repressive regime that is willing to do away with political dissidents.

While Kim boasts his great military and nuclear might to the rest of the world, many North Korean citizens quietly struggle, suffering from malnutrition and poor living conditions. Most citizens have little idea of what's going on in the outside world due to government restrictions on travel and electricity.

North Korean citizens are active in the workforce, though sometimes against their will. Most North Koreans don't have a say in their professions and are assigned a job. Tens of thousands are being held in political prison camps where many are used for forced labor.

Below, take a look into the mostly hidden world of the work-life of North Korea. 

Many in the country suffer from food scarcity.
A farmer carries a fully grown cabbage after plucking it out from the main crop that will be harvested early next month and used to make Kimchi, at the Chilgol vegetable farm on the outskirts of Pyongyang, North Korea, on Oct. 24, 2014. After suffering a near cataclysmic famine in the 1990s, North Korea has since managed to increase its agricultural production to what international organizations believe is closer to the self-sufficiency level than the country has seen in years.
A farmer carries a fully grown cabbage after harvesting it.

AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File

Following a catastrophic famine in the 1990s, North Korea pushed to increase its agricultural production. Still, food insecurity in the region is alarmingly high.

The country was receiving food aid until 2009, and in recent years, corn and rice production has improved.

Many North Koreans work in agriculture.
Men plow fields along the Pyongyang-Wonsan highway in Sangwon, North Korea, near Pyongyang, on July 20, 2017.
Men plow fields along the Pyongyang-Wonsan highway in Sangwon, North Korea, near Pyongyang.

AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File

North Korea's disdain for modern technological intervention is, in part, a way to add more laborers to the workforce. More machines would mean fewer workers. 

Some farmers rely on relatively primitive methods to farm the land. The nation has historically struggled to produce the amount of fertilizer it needs.

This noodle restaurant was built at the request of the late leader Kim Il Sung.
People dine at the Ongnyugwan, a popular noodle restaurant in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Sept. 1, 2014. The restaurant, built in 1960 at the instructions of the late leader Kim Il Sung, claims to serve 10,000 lunches a day.
People dine at the Ongnyugwan, a popular noodle restaurant in Pyongyang.

AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File

Workers at Ongnyugwan, a popular noodle restaurant in Pyongyang, claim to serve 10,000 lunches a day.

The restaurant was built in 1960 at the request of the late leader Kim Il Sung.

The Pothonggang Department Store is in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital.
Song Un Pyol, manager at the upscale Potonggang department store in Pyongyang, North Korea, stands in the snacks aisle while being interviewed by The Associated Press on June 19, 2017. Three generations into the ruling dynasty begun by Kim Il Sung, markets have blossomed and a consumer culture is taking root.
Song Un Pyol, manager at the upscale Potonggang department store in Pyongyang.

AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File

Kim Jong Il opened the Pothonggang Department Store in December 2010 in what officials said was an attempt to improve living conditions in Pyongyang. The store sells electronics, cosmetics, food, housing goods, and more.

While comparatively wealthy citizens shop at the upscale store, poorer city residents buy goods via an extensive black market — often trading American dollars for products.

Workers at the 326 Electric Wire Factory make cables.
A factory worker takes off his gloves at the Pyongyang 326 Electric Wire Factory in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Jan. 10, 2017.
A factory worker removes his gloves at the Pyongyang 326 Electric Wire Factory.

AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File

The 326 Electric Wire Factory in Pyongyang says it has 1,000 workers on any given day. When the Los Angeles Times visited in 2016, only 100 were on duty.

North Korea's major trading partner is China, to whom they sell minerals, metals, guns, textiles, and agricultural and fishery products. Russia has also started importing from North Korea. 

Images of the Great Leaders are found throughout the country.
A staff member sweeps the floor in a hotel lobby in front of a picture featuring portraits of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il on June 19, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea.
A staff member sweeps the floor in a hotel lobby, which features a portrait of the Great Leaders.

AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File

Portraits of the Kims — first Great Leader, Kim Il-Sung, his son, Kim Jong Il, and now, Kim Jong Un — can be found throughout the country.

Citizens are taught from a young age to worship their leaders as gods. 

North Korea is a major producer of textiles like silk.
A woman works at the Kim Jong Suk Pyongyang textile factory in Pyongyang, North Korea, on July 31, 2014.
A woman works at the Kim Jong Suk Pyongyang textile factory in Pyongyang, North Korea.

AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File

The Kim Jong Suk Pyongyang textile factory, named after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's grandmother, claims to employ 1,600 workers, primarily women.

To manufacture silk, workers sort and process silkworms to produce silk threads. Officials have said they produce 200 tons of silk annually. 

 

Some products are modeled after foreign ones.
A North Korean woman works at Ryuwon Shoe Factory that specializes in sports footwear, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, Feb. 1, 2019.
A North Korean woman works at Ryuwon Shoe Factory.

Dita Alangkara/AP

The Ryuwon Shoe Factory in Pyongyang specializes in sports footwear.

One worker, Kim Kyong Hui, told CBS News in 2019 that "the respected leader Kim Jong Un has instructed us to closely study shoes from all over the world and learn from their example."

The Chollima Steel Complex in Nampo says it employs more than 8,000 workers.
A worker with a shovel stands near a furnace at the Chollima Steel Complex in Nampo, North Korea, on Jan. 7, 2017. Built by the Mitsubishi company during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, the steel plant was destroyed and then rebuilt. Production resumed soon after an armistice halted the Korean War in 1953.
A worker stands near a furnace at the Chollima Steel Complex in Nampo.

AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File

The Chollima Steel Complex is one of several North Korean steel complexes.

It was built by Mitsubishi when Japan ruled over the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Production briefly stopped after World War II but resumed in 1953.

People work in rice fields in North Korea's Kangwon Province.
Men and women work in a rice field in Kangwon province, eastern North Korea, on June 23, 2016. The capital of Kangwon province is Wonsan, which is located along the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula and was one of the cities chosen to be developed into a summer destination for locals and tourists.
Men and women work in a rice field in Kangwon province in eastern North Korea.

AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File

Wonsan, the capital of the Kangwon province, is a major port city. It is being developed into a tourist site with several attractions, though tourism is highly limited. 

North Korea allowed some Russian visitors earlier in 2024 amid the growing relationship between North Korea and Russia. It has also historically allowed Chinese tourists. 

The prices of corn and rice products increased amid the pandemic.
An employee of the Pyongyang Corn Processing Factory watches corn noodles being made Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Pyongyang, North Korea.
An employee of the Pyongyang Corn Processing Factory watches corn noodles being made in December 2020, in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Jon Chol Jin/AP

Food scarcity was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The nation has strict internal and external security.
A traffic policeman directs pedestrians leaving an anti-U.S. rally that marked the 66th anniversary of the start of the Korean War at Kim Il Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on June 25, 2016.
A traffic policeman directs pedestrians leaving an anti-U.S. rally that marked the 66th anniversary of the start of the Korean War at Kim Il Square in Pyongyang, North Korea.

AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File

North Korea has a robust internal security administration that monitors its citizens. Officers in the Ministry of Public Security, the nation's law enforcement agency, function as a national constabulary.

Reports from the US Department of State indicate that North Koreans live under threat of human rights violations such as arbitrary arrests and punishments for alleged transgressions by family members. The government permits secret and unlawful killings of accused dissidents. 

North Koreans lived under severe restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, a doctor checks a resident's temperature to curb the spread of coronavirus infection, in Pyongyang, North Korea on May 17, 2022.
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, a doctor checks a resident's temperature to curb the spread of coronavirus infection, in Pyongyang.

Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File

During the COVID-19 pandemic, North Koreans lived under strict rules and restrictions, some of which may still be in place.

In May 2022, Kim Jong Un blamed his own officials and their "irresponsible work attitude" for a surge in COVID-19 infections.

The nation said it would reopen some travel in December 2024.
Staff members of the Tongan Primary School conduct an anti-epidemic work in the central district of Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, June 22, 2023.
Staff members of the Tongan Primary School conduct anti-epidemic work in Pyongyang in 2023.

Jon Chol Jin/AP

North Korean officials announced that some tourism activity could resume in December 2024, years after the COVID-19 pandemic first hit.

Though most other countries have reopened and resumed life as normal, North Korea has used the pandemic as an excuse to maintain harsh restrictions. Reports indicated that citizens were executed for violating pandemic rules. 

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A timeline of Elon Musk's political views and donations

Donald Trump and Elon Musk look on as they watch the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket
Tesla CEO Elon Musk once voted for Obama. Now, he's one of the closest members of President-elect Donald Trump's circle.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

  • Elon Musk's politics may seem to be all over the place, but he's demonstrated a consistent pattern.
  • He once split his political donations, but now he's one of the largest GOP megadonors.
  • Musk is set to have major influence in President-elect Donald Trump's second administration.

Elon Musk has completed his political evolution. Now, he's hoping to leverage his newfound power to disrupt the federal government. 

Musk is now virtually inseparable from President-elect Donald Trump, though he hasn't always been the typical right-wing billionaire.

The Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI CEO's rightward lean is actually the culmination of an evolution that's been playing out over decades.

As the richest man in the world, Musk's stances carry great weight. His power has been on full display since he endorsed Trump shortly after the former president survived his first assassination attempt in July. Musk, unlike some of the uber-wealthy men before him, became one of the biggest megadonors of the 2024 cycle. The Tesla CEO shelled out roughly $119 million to boost Trump, mainly through America PAC, an allied super PAC. Musk even held a series of rallies in Pennsylvania, the biggest swing state of the 2024 race.

Before encouraging others to "take the red pill," Musk cut checks for Democrats ranging from Eric Garcetti (then just a Los Angeles City councilor) to John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. Like others in business, Musk curried favor by balancing his support between both parties, as his donation history shows on Open Secrets, a nonprofit organization that tracks money in politics. 

Musk would occasionally weigh into politics when it could affect his businesses. But ever since Trump left the White House, the billionaire has increasingly inserted himself into debates over hot-button topics, waged a largely one-way feud with President Joe Biden, and cozied up to Trump in time to help the former president complete his political comeback.

Here's how Musk got here.

The early years: From apartheid-era South Africa to Tesla takeover

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, stands beside a rocket in Los Angeles in 2004.
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, stands beside a rocket in Los Angeles in 2004.

Paul Harris/Getty Images

Musk, 53, has said very little publicly about apartheid, the system of racial segregation that became the defining issue of his childhood in the Republic of South Africa.

His father, Errol — who inherited wealth from half of an emerald mine he used to own — was elected to Pretoria City Council in 1972, running under the anti-apartheid Progressive Party. The apartheid system was a major motivation behind the younger Musk's decision to leave South Africa for Canada in 1989, according to Ashlee Vance's 2015 biography of the billionaire. 

Growing up in the primarily white suburbs outside of Johannesburg, Musk was also surrounded by censorship and disinformation about the government's treatment of Black people, The New York Times previously reported. His mandatory government service was what first exposed him to the reality of the situation, according to the Times, which spoke to a high school classmate of Musk's about the insulated experience.

"People, at some point, realize that they've been fed a whole lot of crap," Andrew Panzera, who was in Musk's German class, told the Times. "At some point you go, 'Jeepers, we really were indoctrinated to a large extent.'"

Musk's political coming of age during the pre-social media era remains much of a mystery. But then his profile rose with the sale of his company X.com, a competitor to PayPal co-founded by Musk, and his subsequent takeover of Tesla as owner after joining founders Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning with a $6.5 million investment in 2004.

Musk's politics pre-Trump

Elon and Trump
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump, who have met multiple times over the years. Musk said in 2024 that Trump calls him "out of the blue."

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Musk has long argued for small government and advocated for laissez-faire economic policy, calling the US government the "ultimate corporation" at a CEO summit in December 2020. In terms of donations, he's been in a relative holding pattern from his early years in Silicon Valley up to the present, donating moderate sums of money to politicians from both parties. 

"I get involved in politics as little as possible," Musk said at a 2015 Vanity Fair event, adding that, "There's some amount I have to get involved in," due to his business interests. 

He donated $2,000 each to former President George W. Bush and his 2004 Democratic challenger, former Secretary of State John Kerry. Musk also donated to California Democrats up and down the ballot, but still gave the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) $25,000 ahead of the 2006 midterms.

Another example of Musk hedging his donations came in the buildup to the 2008 presidential primaries, where he contributed to both Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in their contentious race.

Musk didn't donate to either Clinton or Trump during the 2016 cycle.

The billionaire also started out as a heavy Trump skeptic, saying in October 2015 that it would be "embarrassing" if Trump won the GOP nomination, much less the presidency.

"I don't really have strong feelings except that hopefully Trump doesn't get the nomination of the Republican party, because I think that's, yeah … that wouldn't be good," Musk said at the Vanity Fair event. "I think at most he would get the Republican nomination, but I think that would still be a bit embarrassing."

But more recently, Musk has taken a different approach to the Trump-dominated GOP. His latest donations have all been to Republican candidates and causes, with Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware being the last Democrat to receive any Musk donations back in 2020.

Musk's politics during Trump's term

Elon Musk/Twitter
The Twitter logo seen displayed on a smartphone with Elon Musk's account in the background.

Getty Images

Starting in 2017, Musk's donations began to skew Republican, with the billionaire spending nearly seven times more on GOP campaigns than Democratic ones. He also accepted positions on two of Trump's White House councils and tweeted his support of Rex Tillerson's ultimately successful nomination as Secretary of State.

While Musk previously said he supported Hillary Clinton's campaign promises on the environment and climate change, he defended his decision to attend Trump's business council meetings so he could raise the issue along with the January 2017 travel ban affecting Muslim-majority countries. He then stepped down from the councils in June 2017, citing Trump's decision to leave the Paris Climate Accord.

"Climate change is real," Musk tweeted. "Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world."

Musk largely stopped mentioning Trump from that point until much later in his presidency, when Trump attended a SpaceX launch for NASA in May 2020.

Musk during Biden's presidency

close-up of Elon Musk scratching his chin
Elon Musk at the Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity on June 19, 2024.

Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

In the last few years, Musk's flirtations with the Trump-led GOP have been ramping up.

In mid-2022, Musk said he voted for a Republican candidate for the first time in a Texas special election, adding that he expected to see a "massive red wave" in the year's midterms. Musk's Texas voter registration did not show party affiliation, but he's argued on X that the Democratic Party has drifted further from the center than the GOP.

Musk tweeted in June 2022 that he was leaning toward supporting Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president. DeSantis joked that he welcomed support from "African Americans," referencing Musk being South African.

Musk also said in July 2022 that Trump shouldn't run for president again and instead just "sail into the sunset."

But the billionaire has since changed his tune. 

After taking control of Twitter, now X, at the end of 2022, Musk reinstated Trump's account on the platform. Musk called Trump's expulsion from the platform following the January 6 riots a "morally bad decision" and "foolish to the extreme."

Musk repeatedly criticized Biden, calling the president a "damp sock puppet" last year and hosting an "anti-Biden brain trust" meeting with Republican billionaires this April. 

And, after Trump's felony conviction in May, Musk went to bat for the MAGA leader

"Indeed, great damage was done today to the public's faith in the American legal system," Musk wrote in a post on X.

"If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter — motivated by politics, rather than justice — then anyone is at risk of a similar fate," Musk added, echoing Trump's own narrative that the conviction was an act of political persecution.

Even before Musk offered his formal endorsement, Trump had talked about including Musk in his administration. 

While Musk has been more bullish lately about support for the GOP, his history of donations and past comments show that he has tended to position himself wherever he thinks power and influence are heading.

Musk endorsed Trump after the former president survived an assassination attempt 

Elon Musk.
Musk endorsed Donald Trump after the former president survived an assassination attempt.

Omar Marques/Getty Images

Musk offered his "full endorsement" of Trump after the former president was shot during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He and other big names in tech connected with the defiant image of a wounded Trump thrusting his fist in the air while Secret Service officers rushed him off stage.

Before the endorsement, Musk had been more cagey about his plans. He hadn't said much about the 2024 election after DeSantis' primary campaign flopped. In March, Musk had said he wasn't donating money to either major presidential candidate. At the time, it looked like Biden and Trump were headed to an all but certain rematch.

Musk's ambivalence didn't last long. According to The Wall Street Journal, in April, the billionaire began working with Texas real estate mogul Richard Weekley on setting up a pro-Trump super PAC.  The Tesla CEO's support did not become public until July.

"It's not meant to be sort of a hyperpartisan PAC," Musk recently told the controversial Canadian professor Jordan Peterson. "The intent is to promote the principles that made America great in the first place."

 Musk gave roughly $119 million to America PAC. In total, he donated more than $132 million to Republican causes ahead of the election, making him one of the biggest megadonors of the cycle.

Musk rallied for Trump across Pennsylvania 

Elon Musk embraces former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds.
Elon Musk embraces former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds. This is the first time that Trump has returned to Butler since he was injured during an attempted assassination on July 13.

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

On October 5, Trump returned to Butler for a rally at the scene where he was nearly assassinated in July. The guest list included family members of other victims of the shooting, along with Musk, who wore a black MAGA hat.

"As you can see, I'm not just MAGA," Musk said. "I'm dark MAGA."

He lauded Trump's strength after surviving the assassination attempt. He said President Joe Biden "couldn't climb a flight of stairs" while Trump "was fist pumping after getting shot." Trump sustained an injury to his ear in the July shooting.

"So who do you want representing America?" Musk asked an enthusiastic crowd.

Musk later held a series of town hall-style events across Pennsylvania, the biggest swing state in the race. His super PAC helped Trump's campaign in the state, which he ultimately won.

Trump has named Musk to a major new advisory organization

Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk
Vivek Ramaswamy and Musk were tapped to lead DOGE.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images, Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Trump wasted little time finding a new role for Musk. On November 12, the president-elect named Musk and conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to the "Department of Government Efficiency" or DOGE. Only Congress can create departments, and by design, DOGE will operate mostly outside the federal government.

Musk has ambitious targets for the panel, which is tasked with cutting federal spending by $2 trillion.

Republicans in Congress are lining up to help. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa are leading their respective chambers' coordination with DOGE. 

Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that their outside panel would wrap up its work by July 4, 2026.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Why some women say learning poker is the key to career success

A close-up of a woman's hand holding cards at a poker table.
Women are turning to poker to help their careers.

John Lamb/Getty Images

  • Women are using the game of poker to grow their risk-taking skills and help their careers.
  • The game trains women to be comfortable negotiating in uncertain situations.
  • Practice can help a person have better outcomes in poker and in the office.

Some women are building their confidence and career success at a surprising locale: a poker table.

With its (at times) high-stakes, high-reward nature, the game of poker has helped train some women to be more comfortable negotiating and taking financial risks in their careers.

It's a clever way to address a longtime problem: Women who work full-time, year-round are paid 84% of what men are paid, according to the most recent statistics from the US Department of Labor. The gap differs state by state, and it might not be closed until 2056.

Jenny Just founded Poker Power, a company that teaches the game to women to build up their risk-taking skills.

"The poker table was like every money table I had sat at," Just previously told Business Insider. "It was an opportunity to learn skills. Skills like capital allocation, taking risks, and learning how to strategize."

Playing the game repeatedly helps women become more comfortable taking risks in a variety of scenarios, Erin Lydon, formerly the president of Poker Power, previously told BI.

"We want women to feel like something is at risk, and they have to make a decision. They may win. They may lose," Lydon said. "And they are going to do it repetitively, so it starts to feel less uncomfortable to take those risks — at the poker table, asking for the raise, asking for the promotion."

Author and professional poker player Maria Konnikova said playing poker helped her identify internalized risk-averse behaviors that may have been hampering her career as a journalist and author. Over time, it helped her be a "much more confident and assertive version" of herself, she recently wrote in The Wall Street Journal.

"In the half decade I've been playing, I have become better at taking strategic risks not only on the felt but also in life. I've raised my speaking fees, negotiated better pay for my writing and have extricated myself from unappealing situations with less concern about being 'nice,'" Konnikova said.

Nearly 97% of players in poker tournaments are men, but that didn't stop Abby Merk, a 24-year-old professional poker player.

"When I sat down at the poker table, I was instantaneously stereotyped," Merk previously told BI. "I was supposed to be tight, so I was not supposed to play a lot of hands, and I was supposed to be passive when I played them because I was a female."

With practice, Merk said she went from being a "losing player" to winning tens of thousands of dollars playing in tournaments.

"That mindset and the game itself are helpful in any workplace environment," she said. "Women existing in or striving for positions of power is sometimes an uncomfortable feeling for men, and the only way to get around that — and the only way to go against that — is to keep doing it."

Read the original article on Business Insider

What an extra $500 to $1,000 a month did for 8 families

Does basic income work? We spoke to 8 families who got it.
What an extra $500 to $1,000 a month did for 8 families
Basic income recipients share how the no-strings-attached cash changed their lives

Noah Sheidlower and Katie Balevic

November 25, 2024
A selection of photos of UBI participants

Tim Evans for BI, Brittany Greeson for BI, Helynn Ospina for BI, Andre Chung for BI, Libby March for BI; Rebecca Zisser/BI

O

ver the past five years, pilot programs in 150 cities have been handing out cash — no strings attached — to low-income Americans. The money, known as a Guaranteed Basic Income, is generally awarded for a year or two in monthly payments of $500 to $1,000. The goal has been to test a simple but controversial proposition: that supplementing America’s existing safety net with direct payments to individuals can help lift people out of poverty, strengthen families, and close the racial and gender gaps.

To see how the programs are working, we interviewed dozens of participants from a wide range of backgrounds and circumstances. Some were working multiple jobs to keep their families afloat. Others were transitioning to a new career, or getting out of an abusive relationship, or reuniting with their children after overcoming addiction.

What we found is that a guaranteed income — even a small one — can have a profound impact on people’s lives. The money not only helps recipients pay for basic necessities — heat, groceries, gas, car repairs — it also provides them with a greater degree of financial flexibility and autonomy, enabling them to make choices they otherwise couldn’t have afforded.

A new mother extended her maternity leave to six months. An ex-convict signed up for health insurance and started therapy. A dad was able to spend less time on side hustles and took up camping with his kids. Little things that make a world of difference.

To be sure, the guaranteed income isn’t enough to guarantee a better life. Jessica Nairns, who was receiving $1,000 a month, lost her job with a mutual aid group in Austin mid-way through the program and ended up living in a homeless encampment. “I think the program is intended to give a little bit of a leg up to people who are already in a stable situation,” she says. “I needed a whole leg up.”

But most recipients found the monthly support incredibly valuable, even if it didn’t immediately end their financial struggles. “It’s like when you take a Tylenol,” says Raven Smith, a mother in Portland who put some of the $500 a month she received toward earning her associate’s degree in mental health, social service, and addiction counseling. “The income makes the pain a little bit more tolerable, but it doesn’t take it completely away. When you don’t have much, anything is better than nothing.”

Stephanie Bartella , 48, is an administrator at Pierce College and a divorced mother of four in Tacoma, Washington. She received $500 a month for 13 months.

Stephanie Bartella

Total funding: $6,500

B

Before the program, I felt like I was drowning. I worked my butt off, and I was barely making it.

I had come out of an unhealthy marriage, moved back to Washington to be closer to my family, got my degree. I was able to get a mortgage on a home. I felt like a very fortunate person, and everyone was telling me I was making the right choices. But I was putting my utility bills on a credit card pretty regularly. I was buying the cheap, cheap groceries. It was really defeating.

Where I felt it the most was always having to say no to my kids. They felt the strain of Mom doesn’t have enough money to do fun stuff. Every little outing, like the movies or the state fair — if you want to enjoy it, it’s a big expense. It takes money to participate in society, and you really get left out of a lot of things if you don’t have it.

I used the guaranteed income to pay down some credit-card bills. I buy a little bit more meat and prepared food items that help save time making dinner. I had a dead tree in my yard, and thank goodness I was able to pay to get it cut down. My neighbors came by and said, “Oh, your yard looks so nice.”

I gave my family one splurge. My nephew was getting married, and me and my boys got to stay at the same hotel with the rest of the family and enjoy the wedding.

By the end of the program, I had a few hundred dollars tucked away. It’s not a lot, but it’s a little bit of a lifeline. It reminds me: “Hey, we can get you through this.”

MK Xiong , 34, is a partnered mother in Plymouth, Minnesota, who serves as the primary caregiver to her daughter, who has autism. She received $500 monthly for a year.

MK Xiong

Total funding: $6,000

I

got the call that I’d been selected not long after my baby, Vera, was born. I almost dropped the phone. I was like, “There’s a catch, right?” And they’re like, “No. No strings attached.”

I was hit by a car toward the end of college, and I have issues with my heart and lungs to this day. I was just walking and the next thing I knew I was in a hospital bed and the doctors were telling me, “You were in a coma. You were done for.” When COVID-19 hit, I was a successful sports massage therapist, but I had to pause. My doctors were worried about my lungs. I had to be very cautious.

Vera is our miracle. My partner and I found out we were pregnant in late 2021. I knew it was going to be a big risk to have a kiddo given my health, but we really wanted to fight for it. We were under so much financial stress. I was on bed rest for the entire third trimester. We were down to one income, and it was just me and my boyfriend living in a $600-a-month studio and going to the food pantry.

When Vera was born, the guaranteed income sustained us. We used it for diapers and groceries. It was still COVID, so we couldn’t have a baby shower. When we moved to Minnesota, it helped us with the U-Haul.

As a postpartum mom, I really respected that the money came with “no strings attached.” Our baby girl was born prematurely by C-section, so my body took on more of a toll. I was able to get a massage for my muscle recovery, and then get my toenails done to actually feel like a woman again. If I’m the caregiver, how am I supposed to take care of another if I’m falling apart? I needed self-care so bad at that point.

Kandace Creel Falcón , 42, is a visual artist and feminist scholar living in rural Minnesota with their wife. They’re receiving $500 a month for five years.

Kandace Creel Falcón

Total funding: $30,000

I

n 2019, after close to a decade of teaching, I decided that the tenured professor lifestyle was not for me. I left to pursue a career as a full-time artist and writer.

The number one thing that artists need is time. If you’re spending your time chasing and hustling, cobbling together lots of different income streams, that’s less time for you to actually make the work.

I bring in about $52,000 a year. My wife, Natalie, and I live on 20 acres, and we’ve been tending to this property since 2017. I have a pretty tight budget. The guaranteed income allowed me to take risks with my artistic business. I rented gallery space in the Twin Cities for $400 per month to get more exposure for my artwork. That was only possible because I had a consistent source of funds coming in.

Partway through the program, the government unfroze repayments of student loans. I paid that $549.28 a month out of my main income. The $500 in guaranteed income was my buffer. When that happened, I couldn’t afford a whole wall at the gallery, so I downgraded to a shelf for $25 a month. I also used the money to help cover the cost of groceries when my food budget was depleted and to put gas in my tank.

The intangible part of guaranteed income was feeling like my work matters in my community, and feeling like I’m being supported to do this important creative work. I feel a little bit more confident that I can make it as an independent artist. And in September, the guaranteed income program was extended to five years from the original 18 months, so I may end up paying off my student loan debt. I wish all artists who are struggling to make a career from their work could experience this amazing gift.

Tomas Vargas Jr. , 40, is a father of two in Stockton, California. He received $500 a month for two years. He now works as an administrative assistant for Mayors for a Guaranteed Income. In his free time, he speaks frequently about how the support helped him.

Tomas Vargas Jr.

Total funding: $12,000

B

efore the money came, I didn’t really have the opportunity to bond with my kids. I made $36,000 at most, working part-time for UPS and doing side jobs. I was always so busy working. I didn’t want my kids ever to feel like they had to wake up with the lights off or the water off — situations that I had growing up with a single mom. I wanted to change that generational cycle.

With the $500, I could relax. I paid at least two bills down to zero every month. With whatever was left, I could buy fresh food. I also used the money to make sure the Chromebook my daughter used for school was insured.

My family noticed I was happier. I was around more. One of the biggest things we did was go camping for the first time. When you get one-on-one time outside the house, it just broadens your experience with your kids. You get to know them a lot more. And now we go camping on the regular, because we all enjoy it.

I stopped looking at things like they were always problems and started looking at them as opportunities. I was able to get a job with better hours and better pay. It changed my mental health and the way I carried myself.

I had the opportunity to speak with Mayor Michael Tubbs on a panel about guaranteed income here in Stockton. My kids were watching me up on stage. After I was done, my son told me, “Dad, I want to do that.” At first, I didn't understand. Afterwards, he ran for student council and I got it. That was very impactful for me, to see my child see his father and be inspired.

Magdelina Spencer , 32, is a receptionist for the Tulalip Tribes government and a widowed mother of four in Tulalip, Washington. She’s receiving $1,250 a month for three years.

Magdelina Spencer

Total funding: $45,000

I

gave birth to my son, Amelio, on Christmas Day 2023. I initially planned on going back to work after three months. After being approved for the guaranteed income program in January, I could afford to stay out for six months and be OK financially.

It had been a difficult couple of years. After my daughter passed away in 2020 at 10 months old, I fell into addiction really bad. I signed my three kids over to family members. I got sober in 2022 and was in treatment. At first, I only got visitation with my children. Then I had to adjust to having my kids back after not having them for two years.

My kids moved home with nothing. I used those first payments to buy diapers, groceries, new clothes, new bedding. I buy so much, and then they grow.

I try to put $100 or $200 to the side and not touch it. When my last vehicle started having mechanical problems, I used that savings to get a new vehicle for $5,000. So we’re starting over on our savings.

At the end of the month, I have that little bit of extra money to take my kids out. Last time, we went to the movies and saw “Inside Out 2.” My two oldest have birthdays a few days apart in May, and I used the money for a birthday party.

As a single mom, you have to do it all on your own. I feel like I’m very lucky to have this time at home with my children. I’m able to drive the three oldest to school every day. We stop for breakfast. I don’t have to rush like I do when I’m working. So we get more bonding time. I’m able to stop and pause in moments with my kids, to sit down and either correct their behavior or talk with them.

Zaaear Pack , 27, is a nonprofit grant coordinator and a mother of two in Baltimore, Maryland. She received $1,000 per month for two years.

Zaaear Pack

Total funding: $24,000

W

hen I got picked for the program, I remember feeling so relieved and thinking: I’m going to be OK for two years. But it’s been so much more than that. Being part of this program made me want to get up and do something.

When it started, I was in a horrible place in my life. I’d spend the whole day doing deliveries for Gopuff. I was basically working for tips since I got paid $3 per order. A lot of the time I wasn't even eating. I was falling behind on my rent and my truck payments. A lot of my struggles with anxiety and depression came from concerns about providing for my children and myself.

The guaranteed income helped me keep up with my bills. I left a domestic violence relationship that was just horrible. I could buy my children things I couldn’t get before, like a pair of shoes or hair products. Being able to get whatever you or your children want to eat for dinner, that’s a luxury to me.

I knew that extra income wasn’t going to be there forever. That motivated me. It got me out of my comfort zone. I went back to school, and I graduated with my bachelor's degree in business from Strayer University. I just started my master’s in October.

I quit Gopuff and I’m now a grant coordinator at Araminta, which works to stop child sex trafficking. I’m a survivor myself, and it’s something I’m very passionate about. I also started my own program called Rise and Thrive to help human trafficking survivors learn to be entrepreneurs. One day it might turn into my own nonprofit.

My last guaranteed income check came in July. Everything really turned out well. I’m caught up on all my payments this year. The program changed my life in more ways than the providers could ever imagine.

Tatiana Lopez , 39, is a patient representative at a hospital in Flint, Michigan, and a married mother of three. She received a one-time payment of $1,500, followed by $500 a month for one year.

Tatiana Lopez

Total funding: $7,500

M

y husband and I have our own home, and in June we made our last payment on the 10-year mortgage. But ever since COVID, things weren’t so great financially. My husband ended up going part time. My paycheck is $1,200 a month, and everything has been going up. I used to spend $100 a week on groceries, but now it seems more like $200. I was on a program for our power bill where they lower the total you pay and your electricity doesn’t get shut off.

I knew I was going on maternity leave for 12 weeks, so I was trying to save a little bit here and there. With the guaranteed income, I paid bills that were past due. I got my car fixed. It was about to be winter here, and I’d been thinking, How am I going to get new tires? I also spent money on my baby. Just the necessary items like diapers, and I ended up getting him a car seat and a stroller.

My two older boys really love sports, so I make sure they get what they need. My oldest son, who’s 13, is on the basketball team and getting into baseball. My 7-year-old is into basketball. You need a certain type of shoes for different sports.

I always put myself last, so the one thing I got for myself was a haircut. I’m trying to save some of the money so my kids will have something when they’re older. Like hopefully for college, or money they could use for their future.

I wish the payments would last a little bit longer. This program helps women who are struggling to make ends meet. Sometimes, you’re so drained with bills that it’s hard to catch up.

Evans Buntley , 59, works at a hospital in Rochester, New York. He’s divorced. He’s receiving $500 a month for a year.

Evans Buntley

Total funding: $6,000

T

hat extra $500 came right on time.

I was in the process of moving from my cousin’s house to a new place. The rent was $1,200, and the security deposit was $1,200. I asked my fiancée to move in with me, so we could share rent together and be a team. But as we were getting ready to move, she got injured. She hurt her back, and her job took her out of work for a while. I’m thinking, How am I going to get this security deposit?

A very special angel came through for me: Just before the move, I heard I got the guaranteed income. It helped me tremendously. And it helped with my fiancée’s medical bills that she had to pay out of pocket.

I’ve been working in the medical field for years. I’m gonna say I bring in $24,000 a year. With guaranteed income, it helps you to feel more confident, because every 15th of the month that $500 is going to hit your account. I was able to eat out more, for sure, and do little outings, like go to the movies or a concert — enjoy a little bit of comfort. If my mom, who’s 79 years old, or my sister ran short of groceries, I could help them out.

When you're stuck without money and you're trying to figure out how you're going to pay for this and that, it gets frustrating. That extra $500 is awesome. It gave me a big cushion for 12 months. I wish it would continue for another 12 months. Now I’m so used to it, I’ve got to get another job. I think that’s the push it gives people.

I proposed to my fiancée last year on Valentine’s Day. I’m saving and I want to give her a nice little ring right before Christmas. I want to do something wonderful for a beautiful lady I love, something I wasn’t able to get before.

Credits


Reporting: Noah Sheidlower, Katie Balevic

Editing: Edith Honan, Sophie Kleeman

Design and development: Kim Nguyen, Rebecca Zisser, Isabel Fernandez-Pujol

Photography: Jovelle Tamayo, Tim Evans, Helynn Ospina, Andre Chung , Brittany Greeson, Libby March

Read the original article on Business Insider

Joni Ernst, head of the Senate's new DOGE caucus, wants to make the federal establishment 'squeal' through trillions in cuts

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, talks after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hil in Washington.
Sen. Joni Ernst will lead the Senate's DOGE caucus.

Mariam Zuhaib/AP

  • GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa is set to lead the new DOGE caucus in the US Senate.
  • She said on Fox News on Sunday that her goal is to make the federal establishment "squeal."
  • It remains unclear how the new Department of Government Efficiency and Senate caucus will function.

Republican Joni Ernst, a senator from Iowa, is set to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) caucus in the US Senate.

Ernst said on Fox News on Sunday that her goal is to make the federal establishment "squeal" through massive spending cuts.

"When I went into the United States Senate 10 years ago, my promise was to make 'em squeal. We are doing just that with the Department of Government Efficiency," Ernst said, adding that she has spent the last decade working to reduce government waste and that her office publishes a monthly memo — called the "Squeal Awards" — listing different examples of "waste, fraud, and abuse within the federal government."

She pointed to federal allocations to infrastructure projects, such as California's high-speed rail project, which has faced obstacles and delays, as examples of waste. The California high-speed rail project is over a decade behind schedule and $100 billion over budget despite receiving billions of dollars of federal funding, The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year.

Ernst also accused federal workers of favoring remote work because they only work "maybe 10 hours a week." Business Insider has reported that return-to-office mandates do not make businesses more productive or valuable.

"I sat down with Vivek Ramaswamy this last week and provided him with a blueprint of $2 trillion of savings nearly immediately," Ernst said. "We can take all of the research that has been done in my office over the last decade and provide them a very clear blueprint for success."

The federal government's spending in the 2024 fiscal year was $6.75 trillion. Nine-tenths of the government's budget each year goes to federal programs, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Nearly a quarter of the budget — 24%, or $1.6 trillion — goes to health insurance programs, while 21%, or $1.4 trillion, goes to Social Security. Another 13%, equal to $820 billion, of the budget is spent on defense initiatives.

Federal budget experts have expressed doubt that DOGE, which will be co-led by Elon Musk and Ramaswamy, will have the authority to make such drastic cuts. As a newly formed department under Donald Trump's second administration, it remains unclear how DOGE or the Senate caucus will function or what powers it will be granted.

Trump has said that the department will focus on reducing bureaucracy and making massive spending cuts to increase government efficiency. Musk wants to hire "small-government revolutionaries" to staff the department, and Ramaswamy said earlier this month that the non-governmental department intends to "delete" entire federal agencies.

Ernst's office announced the creation of the DOGE Senate caucus on Friday to "serve as the 'bite' to partner with the 'bark' of Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency," according to a press release. The caucus will include Senators John Cornyn of Texas, Ted Budd of North Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Eric Schmitt of Missouri, and James Lankford of Oklahoma.

Representatives for Ernst declined to comment when reached by Business Insider.

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All the many ways brothers Travis and Jason Kelce are expanding their brand

Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce embrace after playing each other at Arrowhead Stadium on November 20, 2023 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Jason Kelce and his brother, Travis Kelce, have each expanded their celebrity footprint with new ventures.

Ryan Kang/Getty Images

  • Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce have been expanding their brands off the field.
  • Travis Kelce's relationship with Taylor Swift has boosted their business allure and media interest.
  • The Kelce brothers' ventures reflect a strategic growth in their celebrity footprint.

Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce have been busy growing their brands — on and off the field.

The brothers have dominated NFL headlines, enjoying a boost of star power and media interest thanks to Travis's relationship with Taylor Swift, whose business acumen might be rubbing off on the brothers.

Here's how they've been expanding their empire.

The "New Heights" podcast has lived up to its name
Jason and Travis Kelce speak on an episode of their podcast.
Jason and Travis Kelce speak on an episode of their podcast.

New Heights / YouTube

The brothers continue to host their "New Heights" podcast, discussing the latest football news and anecdotes from their personal lives.

In August, they inked a three-year deal with Amazon's Wondery worth over $100 million.

"We love this show, and the fanbase that has grown with us over the last two seasons. Wondery understands the shared vision and will offer a wealth of experiences and resources to take us to 'New Heights,'" the brothers said at the time.

Jason Kelce joined ESPN as an analyst after he retired from the Eagles
Former professional football player and ESPN broadcaster Jason Kelce looks on before the game  in Kansas City, Missouri on November 4, 2024.
Jason Kelce signed a contract as an ESPN analyst.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Jason Kelce played 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles as a starting center before he retired in early 2024.

In a March retirement speech, Jason said there was "no chance" he could have made it as far as he did without his younger brother.

The retirement was short-lived.

Jason rejoined the football ecosystem as an analyst on ESPN's "Monday Night Countdown" and later, "Monday Night Football."

"ESPN was a consistent presence in our household growing up and the network helped shape who I am and my love of all sports. To now appear on that same screen is a full circle moment," Jason said in a press release at the time.

Jason will also host a late-night show on ESPN for a limited time
Jason Kelce looks on before the game between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium on October 14, 2024 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Jason Kelce looks on during a game between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills.

Luke Hales/Getty Images

Expanding his role at ESPN, Jason will also now host a limited late-night show on the network called "They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce," he announced in November.

ESPN said in a press release that the series will last five episodes and run through the end of the NFL regular season and playoffs.

The show begins on January 4 and airs weekly on Saturday mornings at 1 a.m. Eastern Time. The final episode will air at 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time on February 1.

Jason and Kylie Kelce are active investors and philanthropists
Jason Kelce poses for a photo with Kylie Kelce during the Kelce documentary premiere at Suzanne Roberts Theater on September 8, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Jason Kelce stands with his wife, Kylie.

Cooper Neill/Getty Images

Jason and his wife, Kylie Kelce, have an investment management firm called Winnie Capital. It's a private family office in Philadelphia that manages the couple's philanthropic and business ventures.

In October, Winnie Capital invested in HOMAGE Inc., a sports apparel brand specializing in faux vintage products. The brand is a merchandise partner for the "New Heights" podcast. It also has "unique collections that support Jason's charitable efforts, including 'A Philly Special Christmas Special' and 'Jason Kelce Pay HOMAGE' retirement t-shirt," HOMAGE said in a press release.

In collaboration with some of his former teammates, Jason recently released his third annual holiday album called "A Philly Special Christmas Party," the proceeds of which will be donated to charity. It is the third philanthropic holiday album released by The Philly Specials, a group made up of Jason and Eagles' offensive tackles Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata.

Jason founded a brand called Underdog Apparel
Jason Kelce seen during the second practice round at the ACC Celebrity Golf Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course on July 11, 2024 in Stateline, Nevada.
Jason Kelce started Underdog Apparel.

David Calvert/Getty Images for American Century Investments

Jason also founded Underdog Apparel, which provides "inspiring clothing that you can wear with pride, knowing that you're making a difference in your city," he wrote on Underdog's website.

"Every one of our products will be designed and produced right here at home, and 100% of all profits will go through the (Be)Philly Foundation to fund evidence-based programs that directly improve the lives of our city's youth," the website reads, referencing a local nonprofit.

Jason also snagged a deal with Marriott
Jason Kelce reacts after announcing his retirement from the NFL at NovaCare Complex on March 04, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Jason Kelce is an ambassador for Marriott.

Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

In September, the hotel chain Marriott announced that it had snagged Jason as a "Fanbassador" for the football season.

The collaboration allows members of Marriott Bonvoy, the hotel chain's loyalty program, to "bid points for incredible football-related experiences inspired by, and alongside, Kelce."

"As the 'Fanbassador,' this collaboration is about celebrating all of the things that make NFL fans special and providing them opportunities to get closer to the game they love like never before," Jason said in a Marriott press release.

The brothers are also taking on the beer and cereal industry
Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce attend the  ACC Celebrity Golf Championship in July 2024.
Jason and Travis Kelce have pursued joint business ventures.

David Calvert/Getty Images for American Century Investments

A June press release said the pair are going into business with Garage Beer, a brand founded in Cincinnati. Both Jason and Travis played college football at the University of Cincinnati.

"The brothers join Garage as significant investors, partners, owners, and operators," the press release said. "Jason and Travis will be involved in every aspect of the business, including brewing, distribution, sales, marketing, and national expansion efforts."

Travis called the opportunity "exciting" in the press release.

Two months later, General Mills announced a partnership with Jason and Travis to create a limited-edition cereal called Kelce Mix. Kelce Mix combines Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Reese's Puffs, and Lucky Charms into a single bag.

"This is so full circle for us, growing up mixing cereal together at the breakfast table as kids! We can't wait for you to clear the shelves late September!" Travis wrote in an Instagram post.

Travis Kelce has brand partnerships with major companies, including Pepsi and Subway
Travis Kelce.
Travis Kelce has secured several brand deals during his NFL career.

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Travis' star power has helped him snag several brand partnerships, which he often advertises on his Instagram account. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end has worked with companies like Lowe's, Pepsi, Subway, and ZENWTR.

Travis has also appeared in commercials for Bud Light and State Farm.

A February 2024 Forbes report said Travis raked in an estimated $5 million from endorsements.

Travis is also dabbling in Hollywood
Travis Kelce in the Grotesquerie trailer
Travis Kelce appears in the trailer for Ryan Murphy's "Grotesquerie."

FX

Travis isn't a stranger to TV opportunities.

In addition to commercials, he also appeared on a 2016 reality dating series called "Catching Kelce," in which 50 women vied for the football player's affection.

More recently, Travis played Ed Laclan in Ryan Murphy's 2024 thriller series, "Grotesquerie." He's also been tapped to host "Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?" The series, available on Amazon's Prime Video, is a spin-off of the 2007 game show "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" hosted by Jeff Foxworthy.

"I grew up loving game shows, and I'm excited to be following in the footsteps of so many TV icons by hosting my very first one with 'Are you Smarter than a Celebrity?'" Travis said in an October press release.

Travis launched a clothing brand called Tru Kolors
Travis Kelce wearing a powder blue suit over a patterned white button-up shirt.
Travis Kelce created a sportswear brand called Tru Kolors.

Leon Bennett/Getty Images

Travis promoted the sportswear brand in a 2019 Instagram post. The official website said Travis drew inspiration from vintage sporting goods paired with bold features and colors.

"I like to show off who I am through what I wear," Travis said in a statement on the website. "I think colors are a unique way to connect people and an amazing way to express yourself. We're all in this together — be you, stay true. And always rep your Tru Kolors."

The company sells various T-shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, cardigans, and other items.

In addition to Tru Kolors, Travis partnered with Nike in 2023 to create a cleat dubbed The Alpha Menace Elite 3 TK. The sporting apparel company advertised the cleat on Instagram.

Travis hosts a music festival called Kelce Jam
Patrick Mahomes, 2 Chainz and Travis Kelce at 2024 Kelce Jam.
Kansas City Chiefs players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce stand onstage with 2 Chainz at Kelce Jam in May.

Thaddaeus McAdams/WireImage

Travis created a music festival called Kelce Jam, which kicked off in April 2023 at the Azura Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, Kansas.

The first iteration had musical guests like Machine Gun Kelly and Rick Ross.

Travis hosted the music festival for a second time in May 2024. This time, the musical acts included Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, and Diplo.

Read the original article on Business Insider

The full list of major US companies slashing staff this year, including Meta, ExxonMobil, and Boeing

A Cargill meat processing plant in Arkansas.
Cargill is cutting 5% of its workforce.

Spencer Tirey/Getty Images

  • Last year's job cuts weren't the end of layoffs. Further reductions continue in 2024.
  • Companies like Flagstar Bank, Meta, PwC, Tesla, Google, Microsoft, and Nike have all announced cuts.
  • See the list of companies reducing their worker numbers in 2024.

After a brutal year of layoffs in 2023, companies this year have continued to cut jobs across tech, media, finance, manufacturing, and retail.

Tech titans like Meta, IBM, Google, and Microsoft; finance leaders like Goldman Sachs, Citi, and BlackRock; accounting firms like PwC; entertainment behemoths like Pixar and Paramount; and corporate giants like Tesla, Dow, and Nike have all announced layoffs.

A survey in late December said nearly 40% of business leaders had expected layoffs this year, ResumeBuilder said. ResumeBuilder talked to about 900 leaders at organizations with more than 10 employees.

One major factor survey respondents cited was artificial intelligence. Around four in 10 leaders said they would conduct layoffs as they replace workers with AI. Last year, Dropbox, Google, and IBM announced job cuts related to AI.

Here are the dozens of companies with job cuts planned or already underway in 2024.

The US' biggest privately-owned company, Cargill, is cutting thousands of jobs
A Cargill meat processing plant in Arkansas.
Cargill is cutting 5% of its workforce.

Spencer Tirey/Getty Images

Cargill, the largest privately owned company in the US, is slashing 5% of its workforce.

The company, which is the world's largest agricultural commodities trader, will lay off thousands of workers from its 164,000-strong workforce, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing an internal memo it had seen.

"To strengthen Cargill's impact, we must realign our talent and resources to align with our strategy," a Cargill spokesperson told BI.

The cuts would impact workers across all professional levels from countries in Asia, Latin America, North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

The layoffs will not touch its executive team but will impact its "next level senior leaders," Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

"The majority of these reductions will take place this year," Chief Executive Officer Brian Sikes said in the memo, seen by Bloomberg. "They'll focus on streamlining our organizational structure by removing layers, expanding the scope and responsibilities of our managers, and reducing duplication of work."

Microchip Tech is closing an Arizona factory
Semiconductor microchip stock image
Microchip Technology is closing a factory in Arizona, which is expected to cut around 500 jobs.

iStock/Getty Images Plus

Microchip Technology, a chipmaker for a variety of consumer products, on Monday said it was closing a facility in Tempe, Arizona, as it deals with slower-than-anticipated orders.

The closure is expected to affect about 500 jobs from the company's total of 22,300, Microchip said. The closure will progress in stages and end in September 2025.

"While the company has taken steps to right size inventory and reduce expenses— including temporary pay reductions and company-wide and factory shutdowns—these measures have not been enough," a spokesperson for Microchip said in a statement on Tuesday.

Microchip also updated its revenue guidance for the quarter ending in December quarter to $1.025 billion, which is at the lower end of its earlier forecast.

The company's stock fell about 3% in after-hours trading and is down 22% year-to-date.

Publishing giant Hearst Magazines trims staff.
Hearst Tower
Hearst Tower

Rob Kim/Getty Images

The owner of publications including Esquire and Cosmopolitan is conducting a round of layoffs, The Hollywood Reporter said in a November 21 report.

The exact number of positions impacted is not clear.

"After a thorough review of our business, we've decided to reallocate resources to better support our goals and continue our focus on digital innovation while strengthening our best in class print products," Hearst Magazines president Debi Chirichella told staff in a memo obtained by THR. "We will scale back in areas that do not support our core strategy and will eliminate certain positions as we reimagine our team structures to drive long-term growth."

Boeing starts issuing layoff notices to 400 workers amid plans for 10% global cut
A Boeing facility.
Boeing is cutting 10% of its global workforce.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

In October, Boeing said that it would cut 10% of its 170,000-strong global workforce. The reduction plan will include 2,199 employees in Washington and another 50 in Oregon, according to the company's filings.

As part of the cuts, Boeing is laying off more than 400 workers who are part of its professional aerospace labor union. The Seattle Times reported that 438 members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) received pink slips.

These included engineers, scientists, analysts, technicians, and other jobs, the outlet reported.

In a note to employees on October 11, CEO Kelly Ortberg said Boeing was in a "difficult position" and that "restoring our company requires tough decisions."

The layoffs come at a difficult time for Boeing. Its share price has fallen more than 40% since the start of the year as it grapples with the fallout from a seven-week strike and technical faults like a door plug coming off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max midflight in January.

Representatives of Boeing and the SPEEA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Exxon is cutting nearly 400 jobs after Pioneer merger
A sign that reads "Exxon" in red letters.
Exxon Mobil is cutting about 400 employees after Pioneer merger.

Andrew Kelly/Reuters

ExxonMobil is cutting about 400 employees from Pioneer Natural Resources, the oil and gas company it acquired earlier this year.

The cuts will come in seven stages and will be completed in May 2026, Exxon said in a notice to the Texas Workforce Commission.

The cuts represent almost 20% of Pioneer's pre-merger workforce and will mostly affect employees in Pioneer's suburban Dallas offices, the notice said.

AMD is laying off roughly 4% of its workforce.
AMD logo
AMD is reportedly cutting roughly 4% of its global workforce, or around 1,000 employees.

Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images

AMD confirmed it would be reducing its global staff, which numbered around 26,000 total employees as of December 2023.

As a part of aligning our resources with our largest growth opportunities, we are taking a number of targeted steps that will unfortunately result in reducing our global workforce by approximately 4%," an AMD representative said in a statement to Business Insider. "We are committed to treating impacted employees with respect and helping them through this transition."

The cuts are reportedly targeting sales and marketing roles in areas like consumer PC and gaming PC, according to Bloomberg.

The computer chipmaker is focusing efforts on the artificial intelligence industry as it chases rival Nvidia in the GPU market. In October, AMD raised its 2024 GPU sales estimates from its initial $4.5 billion to over $5 billion.

Chegg is cutting 21% of its employees as AI search destroys its business
Chegg logo on orange background
Chegg is letting go of 21% of its staff amid competition from ChatGPT and other AI searchers.

Pavlo Gonchar via Getty Images

Online education site Chegg is laying off staff for the second time this year as generative AI platforms obliterate its business model.

Chegg said it is cutting 319 employees, or 21% of its staff, as it faces strong competition from platforms like ChatGPT. The company slashed global headcount by 23% in June.

"The speed and scale of Google's AIO rollout and student adoption of generative AI products have negatively impacted our industry and our business," Nathan Schultz, Chegg's CEO, said in an earnings release. The company reported a loss of $212.6 million for the third quarter.

Chegg's stock has fallen nearly 85% since the start of this year.

23andMe is cutting 40% of its staff
23andMe sign on a building
23andMe is cutting 40% of its staff and exiting its therapeautics business.

Smith Collection/Gado

Genetic testing company 23andMe is cutting 200 employees, or 40% of its workforce, to reduce costs and refocus its business.

The Bay Area-based company is also discontinuing further development of all its therapeutics programs, it said in a mid-November statement.

Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe's CEO and cofounder, has been trying to take the struggling company private since April.

23andMe debuted on the stock market in 2021 but fallen from its peak valuation of $6 billion — its market cap is now north of $100 million. Financial and strategic missteps, as well as high-profile user data hacks, have dragged the company down.

Beyond Inc. plans to cut 20% of its workforce
Bed, Bath & Beyond logo
Beyond Inc., the parent company of Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock, and Zulily, is the latest to announce layoffs.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

The parent company of Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock, Zulily, and other brands revealed its decision to slash a fifth of its staff in an October SEC filing.

The workplace reduction was taken to create a more "variable, leverageable cost structure" and to help align the company with its "asset-light business that supports an affinity and data monetization model with a strong technology focus," Beyond Inc. said in the filing.

The cuts are estimated to save roughly $20 million annually in fixed costs and are expected to be "substantially implemented" in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The news came shortly after Beyond Inc. and Kirkland announced a partnership that means physical Bed Bath & Beyond stores will return in smaller-format "neighborhood" locations.

Meta added to the 20,000+ people it's laid off since 2022
Meta logo on banner
The newest cuts affect employees at units including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Reality Labs.

Chesnot/Getty

Meta is eliminating some roles on units including Instagram, WhatsApp, and its VR and AR division Reality Labs.

"A few teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy," a Meta spokesperson told BI on October 17. "This includes moving some teams to different locations, and moving some employees to different roles."

It's unclear how many roles will be affected, but Meta has trimmed its staff significantly in the year and a half, with more than 20,000 job cuts since 2022. CEO Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed 2023 a "year of efficiency" at the company, and continued cost-cutting measures this year as the tech giant gets flatter in structure.

TikTok is laying off employees as part of content moderation changes.
TikTok logo
Tiktok is cutting employees in its content-moderation arm.

Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

TikTok is cutting employees in various locations as part of changes to its content-moderation strategy.

A spokesperson for the China-owned company told Reuters in October that 80% of content that violates its policy is now removed through automated technology.

The company did not provide details on the exact number of positions that it eliminated but told Reuters the cuts would affect "several hundred" employees.

PwC is cutting 1,800 employees.
PwC
PwC is laying off about 2.5% of its staff.

Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images

Big Four accounting firm PwC is cutting 1,800 workers, which is about 2.5% of its staff. The cuts will impact staffers ranging from associates to managing directors — half of them offshore. Those affected by the cuts will be informed in October.

In an emailed statement to Business Insider, Tim Grady, PwC's US chief operating officer, said, "To remain competitive and position our business for the future, we are continuing to transform
areas of our firm and are aligning our workforce to better support our strategy, including attracting and moving the right talent and skill sets to the areas where we need them most. Right now, we are focused on running our business well and adapting to meet the needs of our clients and the rapidly changing market."

Nike's up-to-$2 billion cost-cutting plan will involve severances
Nike Customers walk past a Nike store in Shanghai, China
Athletic retailer Nike will be making reductions to staffing as part of a cost-cutting initiative.

CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Nike announced its cost-cutting plans in a December 2023 earnings call, discussing a slow growth in sales. The call subsequently resulted in Nike's stock plunging.

"We are seeing indications of more cautious consumer behavior around the world," Nike Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend said in December.

Google laid off hundreds more workers in 2024
Google CEO Sundar Pichai
Google confirmed the layoffs to Business Insider in an email.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

On January 10, Google laid off hundreds of workers in its central engineering division and members of its hardware teams — including those working on its voice-activated assistant.

In an email to some affected employees, the company encouraged them to consider applying for open positions at Google if they want to remain employed. April 9 was the last day for those unable to secure a new position, the email said.

The tech giant laid off thousands throughout 2023, beginning with a 6% reduction of its global workforce — about 12,000 people — last January.

Discord laid off 170 employees.
Discord logo displayed on a phone screen and Discord website displayed on a screen in the background are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on November 5, 2022.
Jason Citron said rapid growth was to blame for the cuts.

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Discord employees learned about the layoffs in an all-hands meeting and a memo sent by CEO Jason Citron in early January.

"We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020," Citron said in the memo. "As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated."

In August 2023, Discord reduced its headcount by 4%. According to CNBC, the company was valued at $15 billion in 2021.

Citi will cut 20,000 from its staff as part of its corporate overhaul.
jane fraser milken institute panel
CEO Jane Fraser has been vocal about the necessity for restructuring at Citigroup.

Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images

The layoffs announced in January are part of a larger Citigroup initiative to restructure the business and could leave the company with a remaining head count of 180,000 — excluding its Mexico operations.

In an earnings call that month, the bank said that layoffs could save the company up to $2.5 billion after it suffered a "very disappointing" final quarter last year.

Amazon-owned Twitch also announced job cuts.
Twitch is walking back its policy allowing for "artistic nudity" after just two days.
Twitch is cutting more than 500 positions.

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Twitch announced on January 10 that it would cut 500 jobs, affecting over a third of the employees at the live-streaming company.

CEO Dan Clancy announced the layoffs in a memo, telling staff that while the company has tried to cut costs, the operation is "meaningfully" bigger than necessary.

"As you all know, we have worked hard over the last year to run our business as sustainably as possible," Clancy wrote. "Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company and I regret having to share that we are taking the painful step to reduce our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch."

BlackRock is planning to cut 3% of its staff.
BlackRock logo
BlackRock expects to lay off 3% of its workforce.

Leonardo Munoz/VIEWpress

Larry Fink, BlackRock's chief executive, and Rob Kapito, the firm's president, announced in January that the layoffs would affect around 600 people from its workforce of about 20,000.

However, the company has plans to expand in other areas to support growth in its overseas markets.

"As we prepare for 2024 and this very exciting but distinctly different landscape, businesses across the firm have developed plans to reallocate resources," the company leaders said in a memo.

Rent the Runway is slashing 10% of its corporate jobs as part of a restructuring.
Woman walks out the door of Rent the Runway store
Rent the Runway is laying off a few dozen people in its corporate workforce.

Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

In the fashion company's January announcement, COO and president Anushka Salinas said she will also be leaving the firm, Fast Company reported.

Unity Software is eliminating 25% of its workforce.
Sutro combines the best of Unity, Figma, Retool, and GPT-3
Unity Software plans to cut roughly 1,800 jobs.

Sutro Software

Around 1,800 jobs at the video game software company will be affected by the layoffs announced, Reuters reported in January.

eBay cut 1,000 jobs
eBay logo sign outside its office
eBay wants to become "more nimble."

ullstein bild Dtl/ Getty

In a January 23 memo, CEO Jamie Iannone told employees that the eBay layoffs will affect about 9% of the company's workforce.

Iannone told employees that layoffs were necessary as the company's "overall headcount and expenses have outpaced the growth of our business."

The company also plans to scale back on contractors.

Microsoft is reportedly cutting 650 more jobs from its Xbox division
Xbox logo on phone with Microsoft logo in the background
Microsoft is reportedly laying off hundreds of employees in Xbox division

SOPA Images/Getty Images

Microsoft will be laying off hundreds of employees in its Xbox gaming division, Bloomberg first reported in September.

The job cuts will mainly affect workers in corporate and support functions, the outlet reported, citing a memo sent by Microsoft Gaming chief Phil Spencer.

However, he reportedly added that the company is not planning to close any studios or remove any games or devices.

This comes after the company also slashed 1,900 workers at Activision, Xbox, and ZeniMax in late January.

Nearly three months after Microsoft acquired video game firm Activision Blizzard, the company announced layoffs in its gaming divisions. The layoffs mostly affect employees at Activision Blizzard.

Xbox in May also reportedly offered some employees voluntary severance packages after shutting three units and absorbing a fourth earlier in the month.

Salesforce is cutting 700 employees across the company, The Wall Street Journal reported
Salesforce Tower in New York.
Salesforce laid off about a tenth of its headcount last year.

Plexi Images/Glasshouse Images/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Salesforce announced a round of layoffs that the company says will affect 1% of its global workforce, The Journal reported in late January.

The cuts followed a wave of cuts at the cloud giant last year. In 2023, Marc Benioff's company laid off about 10% of its total workforce — or roughly 7,000 jobs. The CEO said the company over-hired during the pandemic.

iRobot is laying off around 350 employees and founder Colin Angle will step down as chairman and CEO
iRobot co-founder Colin Angle
iRobot's executive vice president and chief legal officer Glen Weinstein has been appointed interim CEO upon Angle's exit from the company.

Kimberly White/Getty Images

The company behind the Roomba Vacuum announced layoffs in late January around the same time Amazon decided not to go through with its proposed acquisition of the company, the Associated Press reported.

UPS will cut 12,000 jobs in 2024.
UPS Driver in truck
UPS CEO Carol Tomé told investors that the company will reduce its headcount by 12,000 by the end of 2024.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The UPS layoffs will affect 14% of the company's 85,000 managers and could save the company $1 billion in 2024, UPS CEO Carol Tomé said during a January earnings call.

Paypal CEO Alex Chriss announced the company would lay off 9% of its workforce.
PayPal
PayPal announced layoffs at the end of January.

(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Announced in late January, this round of layoffs will affect about 2,500 employees at the payment processing company.

"We are doing this to right-size our business, allowing us to move with the speed needed to deliver for our customers and drive profitable growth," CEO Alex Chriss wrote in a January memo. "At the same time, we will continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth."

Okta is cutting roughly 7% of its workforce.
Okta logo displayed on a phone with bright lights in the background
Okta announced a restructuring plan at the start of February.

SOPA Images/ Getty

The digital-access-management company announced its plans for a "restructuring plan intended to improve operating efficiencies and strengthen the Company's commitment to profitable growth" in an SEC filing in February.

The cuts will impact roughly 400 employees.

Okta CEO Todd McKinnon told staff in a memo that "costs are still too high," CNBC reported.

Snap has announced more layoffs.
Snapchat logo and dollar signs in front of a purple background
Snap has announced another round of job cuts.

Snapchat, Tyler Le/Insider

The company behind Snapchat announced in February that it's reducing its global workforce by 10%, according to an SEC filing.

Estée Lauder said it will eliminate up to 3,100 positions.
Estee Lauder display
Between 1,600 and 3,100 jobs will be eliminated from the company.

Reuters

The cosmetics company announced in February that it would be cutting 3% to 5% of its roles as part of a restructuring plan.

Estee Lauder reportedly employed about 62,000 employees around the world as of June 30, 2023.

DocuSign is eliminating roughly 6% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan.
docusign
The electronic signature company is cutting 6% of its workforce.

Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

The electronic signature company said in an SEC filing in February that most of the cuts will be in its sales and marketing divisions.

Zoom is slashing 150 jobs
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan
Videoconferencing company Zoom laid off 1,300 people in February 2023. The following February it announced 150 layoffs.

Kena Betancur

Zoom announced 150 job losses in February, which amounted to about 2% of its workforce. It had announced it was laying off 1,300 people the previous February.

Paramount Global is laying off 800 employees days after record-breaking Super Bowl
Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish
CEO Bob Bakish sent a note informing employees of layoffs.

Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP

In February, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish sent a memo to employees announcing that 800 jobs — about 3% of its workforce — were being cut.

Deadline obtained the memo less than a month after reporting plans for layoffs at Paramount. The announcement comes on the heels of Super Bowl LVIII reaching record-high viewership across CBS, Paramount+, and Nickelodeon, and Univision.

Morgan Stanley is trimming its wealth management division by hundreds of staffers
morgan stanley phone logo chart
The layoffs mark one of the first major moves by newly-installed CEO Ted Pick.

Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Morgan Stanley is laying off several hundred employees in its wealth-management division, the Wall Street Journal reported in February, representing roughly 1% of the team.

The wealth-management division has seen some slowdown at the start of 2024, with net new assets down by about 8% from a year ago. The layoffs mark the first major move by newly-installed CEO Ted Pick, who took the reins from James Gorman on January 1.

Expedia Group is cutting more than 8% of its workforce
expedia group ceo peter kern stands in front of a large screen that says unprecedented reach with a man throwing a child in the air
Peter Kern, CEO of Expedia Group

Business Wire

An Expedia spokesperson told BI that it was implementing cutbacks, as part of an operational review, that were expected to impact 1,500 roles this year.

The company's product and technology division is set to be the worst hit, a report from GeekWire said, citing an internal memo CEO Peter Kern sent to employees in late February.

"While this review will result in the elimination of some roles, it also allows the company to invest in core strategic areas for growth," the spokesperson said.

"Consultation with local employee representatives, where applicable, will occur before making any final decisions," they added.

Sony is laying off 900 workers
A corner of a PlayStation 5
The tech company is slashing 900 workers from its workforce.

NurPhoto/Getty Images

The cuts at Sony Interactive Entertainment swept through its game-making teams at PlayStation Studios.

Insomniac Games, which developed the hit Spider-Man video game series, as well as Naughty Dog, the developers behind Sony's flagship 'The Last of Us' video games' were hit by the cuts, the company announced on February 27.

All of PlayStation's London studio will be shuttered, according to the proposal.

"Delivering and sustaining social, online experiences – allowing PlayStation gamers to explore our worlds in different ways – as well as launching games on additional devices such as PC and Mobile, requires a different approach and different resources," PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst wrote.

Hulst added that some games in development will be shut down, though he didn't say which ones.

In early February, Sony said it missed its target for selling PlayStation 5 consoles. The earnings report sent shares tumbling and the company's stock lost about $10 billion in value.

Bumble slashed 30% of its workforce
new bumble CEO Lidiane Jones
Lidiane Jones, CEO of Bumble.

Eugene Gologursky/Stringer/Gr

On February 27, the dating app company announced that it would be reducing its staff due to "future strategic priorities" for its business, per a statement.

The cuts will impact about 30% of its about 1,200 person workforce or about 350 roles, a representative for Bumble told BI by email.

"We are taking significant and decisive actions that ensure our customers remain at the center of everything we do as we relaunch Bumble App, transform our organization and accelerate our product roadmap," Bumble Inc CEO Lidiane Jones said in a statement.

Electronic Arts reduced its workforce by 5%
Electronic Arts  logo displayed on a phone screen
Electronic Arts is cutting hundreds of jobs.

Getty Images

Electronic Arts is laying off about 670 workers, equating to 5% of its workforce, Bloomberg reported in late February.

The gaming firm axed two mobile games earlier in February, which it described as a difficult decision in a statement issued to GamesIndustry.biz.

CEO Andrew Wilson reportedly told employees in a memo that it would be "moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry."

Wilson also said in the memo that the cuts came as a result of shifting customer needs and a refocusing of the company, Bloomberg reported.

IBM cut staff in marketing and communications
Arvind Krishna, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IBM addresses the gathering on the first day of the three-day B20 Summit in New Delhi on August 25, 2023
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said last year that he could easily see 30% of the company's staff getting replaced by AI and automation over the coming five years.

Sajjad Hussain/Getty Images

IBM's chief communications officer Jonathan Adashek told employees on March 12 that it would be cutting staff, CNBC reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

An IBM spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement that the cuts follow a broader workforce action the company announced during its earnings call in January.

"In 4Q earnings earlier this year, IBM disclosed a workforce rebalancing charge that would represent a very low single-digit percentage of IBM's global workforce, and we expect to exit 2024 at roughly the same level of employment as we entered with," they said.

IBM has also been clear about the impact of AI on its workforce. In May 2023, IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna said the company expected to pause hiring on roles that could be replaced by AI, especially in areas like human resources and other non-consumer-facing departments.

"I could easily see 30% of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period," Krishna told Bloomberg at the time.

Amazon is laying off hundreds in its cloud division in yet another round of cuts this year
amazon logo in a building lobby
The cuts follow several rounds of layoffs at Amazon last year.

Mark Lennihan/Associated Press

Amazon is cutting hundreds of jobs from its cloud division known as Amazon Web Services, Bloomberg reported on April 3.

The reduction will impact employees on the sales and marketing team and those working on tech for its retail stores, Bloomberg reported.

"We've identified a few targeted areas of the organization we need to streamline in order to continue focusing our efforts on the key strategic areas that we believe will deliver maximum impact," an Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg.

On March 26, Amazon announced another round of job cuts after the company said it was slashing 'several hundred' jobs at its Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions earlier this year to refocus on more profitable products.

"We've identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact," Mike Hopkins, SVP of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, told employees in January.

This year's cuts follow the largest staff layoff in the company's history. In 2023, the tech giant laid off 18,000 workers.

Apple has cut over 700 employees across its self-driving car, displays, and services groups
Tim Cook
The cuts follow Apple's decision to withdraw from two major projects.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Apple slashed its California workforce by more than 600 employees in April.

The cuts came after Apple decided to withdraw from its car and smartwatch display projects.

The tech giant filed a series of notices to comply with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification program. One of the addresses was linked to a new display development office, while the others were for the company's EV effort, Bloomberg reported.

Apple officially shut down its decadelong EV project in February. At the time, Bloomberg reported that some employees would move to generative AI, but others would be laid off.

Bloomberg noted that the layoffs were likely an undercount of the full scope of staff cuts, as Apple had staff working on these projects in other locations.

In late August, Bloomberg reported that Apple was slashing 100 jobs in its services group, citing people familiar with the matter.

The layoffs mainly involved people working on the Apple Books app and the Apple Bookstore, Bloomberg reported. Cuts were also made to other service teams like Apple News, the outlet added.

Representatives for Apple did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside normal business hours.

Tesla laid off over 10% of its workforce
A red Tesla outside a Tesla showroom.
Impacted employees were notified that they were being terminated, effective immediately.

JOHN THYS / Getty

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent a memo to employees on April 14, at nearly midnight in California, informing them of the company's plan to cut over 10% of its global workforce.

In his companywide memo, Musk cited "duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas" as the reason behind the reductions.

An email sent to terminated employees, obtained by BI, read: "Effective now, you will not need to perform any further work and therefore will no longer have access to Tesla systems and physical locations."

On April 29, Musk reportedly sent an email stating the need for more layoffs at Tesla. He also announced the departure of two executives and said that their reports would also be let go. Six known Tesla executives have left the company since layoffs began in April.

Grand Theft Auto 6 publisher Take-Two Interactive is reducing its workforce by 5%
Take-Two Interactive logo next to GTA6 banner
Take-Two Interactive is slated to cut around 600 roles this year.

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, said on April 16 that it would be "eliminating several projects" and reducing its workforce by about 5%.

The move — a part of its larger "cost reduction program" — will cost the video game publisher up to $200 million. It's expected to be completed by December 31.

As of March 2023, the company said it employed approximately 11,580 full-time workers.

Peloton announced it was reducing its staff by 15% as the CEO stepped down
Barry McCarthy
Barry McCarthy served as the CEO of Peloton for just over two years.

Getty/Ilya S. Savenok

Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy is stepping down, the company announced May 2. Along with his departure, the fitness company is also laying off about 400 workers.

McCarthy is leaving his role just two years after replacing John Foley as CEO and president in 2022. Peloton said the changes are expected to reduce annual expenses by over $200 million by the end of fiscal 2025 as part of a larger restructuring plan.

Indeed is cutting 1,000 workers after laying off 2,200 in 2023
Indeed
Indeed draws more than 250 million people from around the world each month, making it the largest job site.

SOPA Images / Getty Images

Careers site Indeed says it will lay off roughly 1,000 employees, or 8% of its workforce, as it looks to simplify its organization.

CEO Chris Hyams took responsibility for "how we got here" in a memo in May but said the company is not yet set up for growth after last year's global hiring slowdown caused multiple quarters of declining sales.

Hyams said the latest cuts will be more concentrated in the US and primarily affect R&D and Go-to-Market teams. It comes after last year's across-the-board reduction of 2,200 workers.

Walmart is axing hundreds of corporate jobs
Walmart storefront
A Walmart storefront in the US.

Kena Betancur/VIEWpress via Getty Images

Retail giant Walmart is cutting hundreds of corporate jobs and asking remote employees to come to work, The Wall Street Journal reported in May, citing people familiar with the matter.

Workers in smaller offices, such as those in Dallas, Atlanta, and Toronto, are also being asked to move to central locations like Walmart's corporate headquarters in Arkansas or those in New Jersey or California, the Journal reported.

Under Armour is slashing an unspecified number of jobs, incurring $22 million in severance costs
Under Armour
An Under Armour retail store.

Alex Tai/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Under Armour confirmed it was conducting layoffs in its quarterly earnings report, which was released May 16.

The company said it will pay out employee severance and benefits expenses of roughly $15 million in cash-related and $7 million in non-cash charges this year related to a restructuring plan, with close to half of that occurring in the current fiscal quarter.

"This is not where I envisaged Under Armour playing at this point in our journey," CEO Kevin Plank told investors on the company's full-year earnings call. "That said, we'll use this turbulence to reconstitute our brand and business, giving athletes, retail customers and shareholders bigger and better reasons to care about and believe in Under Armour's potential."

Pixar cuts about 175 people in pivot back to feature films
Inside Out 2. Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale) and Disgust (Liza Lapira) react to a new emotion in Riley's head called Anxiety (Maya Hawke).
"Inside Out," a 2015 film, is one of Pixar's many hits.

Disney/Pixar

Disney's Pixar Animation Studios is cutting 175 people, about 14% of its staff, Reuters reported.

The cuts started on May 21 as the studio returns to its focus on feature-length movies. Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who was axed in 2022, had increased staff across studios to create more content for the company's streaming service, Disney+.

Pixar cut 75 jobs last year, Reuters previously reported, part of a larger restructuring across Disney.

Lucid Motors is slashing around 400 jobs
A Lucid Air car on display.
Lucid Motors will cut about 6% of its workforce.

John Keeble/Getty Images

In a regulatory filing, Lucid Motors said it would lay off about 400 employees as part of a restructuring plan that should be complete by the end of the third quarter.

"I'm confident Lucid will deliver the world's best SUV and dramatically expand our total addressable market, but we aren't generating revenue from the program yet," CEO Peter Rawlinson said in an email to employees obtained by TechCrunch.

The cuts come ahead of Lucid's launch of its first electric SUV later this year. It comes over a year after the California-based company laid off 1,300 employees, TechCrunch previously reported.

John Deere is laying off over 600 employees
line of green john deere tractors in a dirt lot with snow capped mountains in the background
John Deere tractors for sale at a dealer in Longmont, Colorado.

Rick Wilking/Reuters

John Deere, maker of the iconic green-and-yellow tractors, is laying off over 600 employees at factories in Illinois and Iowa, the AP reported July 1.

In May, John Deere said sales fell for the third consecutive quarter and projected that the declines would continue in the second half of its fiscal year.

Burberry is expected to cut 100s of jobs
Burberry
Burberry is reportedly cutting hundreds of roles.

Anton Novoderezhkin\TASS via Getty Images

London-based luxury retailer Burberry is expected to cut hundreds of jobs in the coming weeks, the Telegraph reported July 6.

Employees learned about the cuts in late June when they were told in a Zoom meeting that their roles could be eliminated or that they would need to apply for other jobs, according to the Telegraph.

Intuit announced cuts on July 10
Intuit logo
Intuit announced it would fire 1,800 employees as the company shifts focus to AI development.

Chris Helgren/Reuters

Intuit announced on July 10 that it's cutting its workforce by 10%. The layoffs will affect 1,800 employees nationwide, but the company plans to hire 1,800 new employees in "key areas" like engineering, InvestorPlace reports.

The refocus on other areas is following a shift in focus on AI within the company, according to the outlet.

Intuit's stock dropped by 4.01% on July 10 after the company announced the layoffs.

Tinder parent Match group plans to cut 6% of jobs
Tinder app
Tinder and Hinge parent company is cutting about 156 jobs globally.

Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Match Group, the parent company of Tinder and Hinge, said on July 30 that it would reduce its global workforce by about 6%, or about 156 employees because it is exiting the livestreaming business.

Match said it would remove the livestreaming service from its app Plenty of Fish and sunset the Hakuna app, which focuses on Korea and Japan.

The reduction in workforce is expected to save the company $13 million in annual costs.

Disney cuts 140 jobs across its TV division
Disney+
Disney Entertainment Television (DET) is eliminating roughly 2% of its workforce.

SOPA Images/Getty Images

Deadline and Bloomberg reported in July that Disney was making cuts across its TV division, to the tune of roughly 140 jobs — or 2% of the staff at Disney Entertainment Television (DET).

Layoffs will impact National Geographic, owned television stations, the marketing and publicity departments, and Freeform, per a source close to the matter, which notes no teams have been eliminated.

While Disney's cable TV business generates billions, it's on the decline, Bloomberg reports, and the company is seeking to cut costs.

Last year, Disney slashed 7,000 jobs across multiple rounds of layoffs as part of a strategy implemented by returning CEO Bob Iger.

Intel plans to eliminate thousands of jobs
Life-size Intel logo.
Intel expected to eliminate thousands of jobs, Bloomberg reported.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Intel plans to cut thousands of jobs in response to a second-quarter earnings slump, Bloomberg reported earlier this week, citing unnamed people familiar with the move.

It was officially announced on August 1, as it posted Q2 earnings. The company intends to reduce its workforce by 15% by the end of 2024.

"Our Q2 financial performance was disappointing, even as we hit key product and process technology milestones," Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a statement. "Second-half trends are more challenging than we previously expected, and we are leveraging our new operating model to take decisive actions that will improve operating and capital efficiencies while accelerating our IDM 2.0 transformation."

Intel's stock was down following the lackluster earnings.

The layoffs come after the chip maker laid off about 5% of its workforce last year, bringing its head count down to around 124,000, Bloomberg reported.

During the last round of layoffs, announced in October 2022, Intel faced a drop in demand for processors for personal computers and estimated the layoffs would save $10 billion in costs by 2025, per Bloomberg.

Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

WW International is cutting jobs in corporate
WeightWatchers logo in a storefront.
WeightWatchers is cutting down its staff.

Eugene Gologursky

Diet program creator WW International, formerly WeightWatchers, plans to lay off employees, it said in an earnings call on August 1.

The company did not specify the number of jobs it will cut. But the layoffs will largely focus on corporate positions, including a 40% cut in roles above and at the vice president level.

The cuts are expected to save the company $60 million, the company's chief financial officer said.

Dell is cutting sales jobs in new focus on AI products
The exterior of a Dell Technologies office building is seen on January 04, 2023 in Round Rock, Texas.
A Dell Technologies office building in Round Rock, Texas.

Brandon Bell/Getty

Dell is cutting jobs on its sales team, Bloomberg reported. It wasn't immediately clear how many jobs Dell planned to eliminate.

In a memo announcing the cuts, company executives said that the choice was part of a restructuring to focus more on selling AI products and data center services, Bloomberg reported.

Dell did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI, but a spokesman told Bloomberg: "Through a reorganization of our go-to-market teams and an ongoing series of actions, we are becoming a leaner company."

Paramount Global announced it plans to slash 15% of its US workforce
Paramount on building
Paramount Global plans to cut 15% of its US workforce.

PATRICK T. FALLON/Getty Images

Paramount Global is planning to cut about 2,000 jobs ahead of its merger with Skydance Media, CNBC reported.

The company identified $500 million in cost savings as it prepared to join forces with Skydance, totalling about 15% of its US workforce, according to the outlet.

The cuts will begin in a few weeks and will mostly be finished by the end of 2024. Paramount employees in marketing and communications, finance, legal, technology, and other support functions have been targeted, the company said on an earnings call.

The cuts come about a month after Paramount agreed to merge with Skydance. Paramount shares jumped more than 5% after hours.

Stellantis is slashing white-collar and factory jobs
The logo of Stellantis is seen on the company's building in Velizy-Villacoublay near Paris, France, March 19, 2024.
Stellantis is cutting 400 jobs.

Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

In August, the owner of Jeep and Dodge announced it is cutting 2,450 factory workers from its Warren Truck assembly plant outside Detroit.

The layoffs come because the company is ending production of the Ram 1500 Classic truck, Stellantis said. These factory cuts came after white-collar jobs were axed earlier this year.

On March 22, the company said it would lay off employees on its engineering, technology, and software teams in an effort to cut costs, CNBC reported.

Stellantis announced plans for another round of layoffs on July 30, according to Bloomberg. The company is offering voluntary buyouts to non-unionized US employees to "assist those interested in pursuing other career options or retirement," Stellantis said in a message seen by Bloomberg.

The job cuts, the total number of which remains unknown, come after a difficult first half of the year, with unit sales sinking by 16% in the US.

Sonos laid off about 6% of its workforce
Sonos Roam, portable speakers
Sonos laid off about 100 workers in August.

Courtesy of Sonos

The audio equipment company said it slashed roughly 100 jobs in August. The layoffs significantly targeted its marketing division, The Verge reported.

CEO Patrick Spence said in a statement to BI that the company is now focusing on departing employees and "ensuring they have the support they need."

"This action was a difficult, but necessary, measure to ensure continued, meaningful investment in Sonos' product roadmap while setting Sonos up for long term success," Spence said.

Sonos is also reducing some of its customer support offices and will close one in Amsterdam later this year, according to The Verge.

The company previously cut around 7% of its workforce in June 2023, a month after it announced a 24% revenue drop in the second quarter compared to the previous year.

Cisco announced two rounds of layoffs this year
cisco
The cuts comprised 5% of the networking company's workforce.

REUTERS/Mike Blake

In February, networking company Cisco announced it was slashing 5% of its workforce, upward of 4,000 jobs, Bloomberg reported.

The company said it was restructuring after an industry-wide pullback in corporate tech spending — which execs said they expect to continue through the first half of the year.

On August 14, in a filing, Cisco said it would further reduce its global workforce by 7% amid sales and revenue declines. Reuters reported earlier that the company was slashing around 4,000 jobs as it shifted attention to cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

Per its latest annual filing, Cisco had about 85,000 employees as of July 2023.

GoPro is laying off nearly 140 employees
GoPro camera on white table
GoPro will go through a second round of layoffs in 2024.

David Becker via Getty Images

Long-troubled GoPro is laying off 15% of its 925 current employees, the company said in a filing.

The action sports camera maker reported a net loss of nearly $48 million in the quarter that ended in June, adding to a streak of consecutive losses.

The company laid off 4% of its staff in March.

Shell is reportedly planning for major cuts in its oil exploration division
Shell logo
Shell plans for major layoffs in its oil and gas exploration division.

INA FASSBENDER/Getty Images

Oil giant Shell will slash its workforce in oil and gas exploration and development by 20%, according to an August 29 report from Reuters. Company sources reportedly cited intentions to cut costs in the highly profitable segments due to "deep cuts in renewables and low-carbon businesses."

Exploration, wells development, and subsurface units will face hundreds of layoffs globally, with offices in Houston, The Hauge, and Britain expected to take the biggest hit, the sources told Reuters.

A Shell spokesperson would not comment directly on the layoffs but told Business Insider that, "Shell aims to create more value with less emissions by focusing on performance, discipline and simplification across the business."

"That includes delivering structural operating cost reductions of $2-3 billion by the end of 2025, as announced at our Capital Markets Day event in June 2023," the spokesperson added.

Goldman Sachs plans to lay off more than 1,300 workers, The Wall Street Journal reported
Goldman Sachs logo
Goldman Sachs has already begun cuts, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The global investment bank is set to cut hundreds of employees during annual reviews this year, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

Goldman Sachs is targeting low performers with the intention of laying off between 3% and 4% of its global workforce, equaling somewhere between 1,300 and 1,800 people, according to the outlet.

The cuts are already underway and will continue in the coming months, one person told the outlet. Goldman typically tries to cut anywhere from 2% to 7% of employees each year, per The Journal.

Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop is cutting 18% of staff
Gwyneth Paltrow speaks at the In goop Health Summit in Los Angeles in 2021.
Gwyneth Paltrow speaks at the In Goop Health Summit in Los Angeles in 2021. The wellness company is laying off 18% of its staff amid a strategy shift.

Rachel Murray/Getty Images for goop

Goop is cutting 18% of its 216-person staff, citing a change to its organization, WWD wrote in September. It will now focus on beauty, fashion, and food — specifically its Goop Beauty and good.clean.goop beauty brands, G.Label clothing line, and Goop Kitchen restaurants.

That means it's moving away from wellness, home, travel, and sexual wellness, some of which are categories that once defined the brand.

Samsung plans to cut jobs globally this year, Reuters reported
Samsung logo displayed on a phone
Samsung is planning global job cuts in 2024.

SOPA Images/Getty Images

Samsung is planning to cut jobs this year, a move that will impact workers in the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa, Reuters reported.

The electronic devices maker will cut up to 30% of staff in some divisions, the report says. It is unclear how many jobs will be impacted.

Samsung told Reuters in a statement that the workforce adjustments would not impact its production staff and that no specific targets for the cuts are in place.

Verizon is laying off 4,800 US employees
People walking by a Verizon location
Verizon will let go of 4,800 US-based management employees by March 2025.

Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Getty Images

Verizon is letting go of 4,800 US-based management employees in a voluntary separation program.

The company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that more than half of these employees would exit in September, while the rest will leave by the end of March 2025.

The telecommunications giant expects severance charges to cost as much as $1.9 billion before tax in the third quarter of this year.

General Motors is laying off about 1,700 employees in Kansas
GM logo at General Motors headquarters
General Motors is laying off about 1,700 employees at its Fairfax plant in Kansas.

Rebecca Cook/Reuters

General Motors is laying off 1,695 employees at its Fairfax plant in Kansas, the company said in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice in mid-September.

The layoffs will begin in mid-November, and a second phase will continue in January, Reuters reported, citing a GM spokesperson. It is unclear which departments will be affected, but about 1,450 of these employees will be laid off temporarily, the spokesperson said.

In August, the carmaker laid off over 1,000 workers, or 1.3% of its workforce.

The August layoffs came primarily from GM's software and services business, which it had bulked up over the past few years. Last year, the company brought on two former Apple executives to run the unit.

Flexport conducts second round of layoffs in 2024
Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen began rescinding job offers on Friday.
Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen returned to the company in September.

Sam Barnes/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images

US logistics startup Flexport is laying off another 2% of its US staff this week as it aims to cut costs and reorganizes its retail delivery business.

The fulfillment center-focused cuts amount to about 40 people and were first reported by The Information, citing an internal memo.

In January, Flexport cut 15% of its staff, or around 400 people. Those cuts came after Flexport founder and CEO Ryan Petersen initiated a 20% reduction of its workforce of an estimated 2,600 employees in October 2023.

Flexport kicked off 2024 with the announcement that it raised $260 million from Shopify and made "massive progress toward returning Flexport to profitability."

NYCB's Flagstar Bank cuts 700 jobs
Flagstar bank branch
NYCB's Flagstar Bank is cutting 700 jobs as part of a business overhaul.

Facebook/Adobe Stock/BI

New York Community Bancorp's Flagstar Bank will cut 8% of its workforce, or 700 jobs, as it aims to revamp its business, the company's CEO, Joseph Otting, said in a statement on October 17.

An additional 1,200 employees will be laid off at the end of the quarter after the company sells its residential mortgage business.

NYCB is also changing its name to Flagstar Financial as part of the turnaround efforts after losses from its commercial real estate portfolio.

Chief, a networking group for female executives, made cuts across the company
Chief cofounders Lindsay Kaplan and Carolyn Childers speak onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022.
Chief, cofounded by Lindsay Kaplan and Carolyn Childers, laid off staff.

Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch.

Chief, which has positioned itself as the nation's largest network of senior executive women, confirmed to Business Insider on October 20 that it has shed roles.

The company told BI that the cuts, which had already been announced internally, mainly impacted "our technology and administrative functions."

"Like many companies, we are balancing growth and profitability," the spokesperson added.

In a June press release, the American company said 40% of its members were C-suite executives and that they represent more than 10,000 companies.

In April 2023, Chief cut 14% of its workforce in what the founders called a "challenging economic environment," TechCrunch reported at the time.

This January, the company said it would close its London offices — opened one year previously — to refocus on the American market.

Visa will reportedly lay off around 1,400 people
Visa card close up
Visa plans to lay off around 1,400 people by the end of the year, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Visa plans to lay off around 1,400 workers this year, The Wall Street Journal reported on October 29.

In a statement provided to BI, a Visa spokesperson said the company expects to grow its workforce for the foreseeable future but that it is continuously evolving to serve clients, innovate, and grow, "which can lead to the elimination of some roles."

"When this happens, we are committed to supporting our employees," the spokesperson added.

Workers affected by layoffs included employees and contractors, with more than 1,000 in technology roles, the Journal reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation. Visa has more than 30,000 employees.

Dropbox is slashing around 20% of its global workforce
Dropbox CEO Drew Houston
Dropbox CEO Drew Houston announced the company is laying off around 20% of its workforce.

Reuters/ Mike Blake

The cloud storage company is laying off 528 employees, targeting "over-invested or underperforming" areas, CEO Drew Houston announced in an email sent to employees.

"As CEO, I take full responsibility for this decision and the circumstances that led to it, and I'm truly sorry to those impacted by this change," Houston wrote.

The Dropbox chief cited diminishing demand and macro headwinds in the company's core business, as well as excessive management levels, as contributing factors.

The layoffs come as the company is undergoing a "transitional period" with its growing File Sync and Share (FSS) business and greater efforts on products like Dash, Dropbox's AI-powered work assistant.

KPMG plans to cut nearly 4% of its US audit workforce.
KPMG logo
KPMG plans to lay off about 330 people in its US audit workforce.

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Consulting giant KPMG informed about 330 people, or less than 4%, in its US audit workforce that they would be laid off within the next couple of weeks, a spokesperson told BI.

"The actions reflect our ongoing focus to align the size, shape and skills of our workforce to the market, while addressing continued low levels of attrition," the spokesperson said in a written statement.

This follows an earlier round of layoffs in March, as well as another one last summer, that also affected the company's audit unit, similarly due to low levels of voluntary exits, the spokesperson said.

Nissan said it will slash 9,000 jobs globally.
The Nissan logo on the rear of a 2024 Nissan Z sports car.
Nissan said it will cute 20% of its staff.

Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider

Japanese automobile giant Nissan said during its November earnings release that it would be cutting 9,000 jobs in an attempt to save money.

The car company reported lower revenue for the period, which it attributed to higher selling and production costs. Nissan said it brought in about 32 million yen, or $208 million, at the end of the first half of the fiscal year — a steep drop from the $1.4 billion it reported for the same time last year.

In addition to a 20% production capacity reduction, CEO Makoto Uchida will give up 50% of his compensation and other executives have taken voluntary pay cuts.

NASA JPL plans to cut about 5% of its workforce.
mars curiosity rover
Mars Curiosity rover at the John Klein site.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California is cutting its workforce for the second time this year.

In November, the agency announced it plans to lay off 325 employees, or about 5% of its workforce. The cuts follow a round of layoffs in February, where JPL cut 530 employees.

"Although we can never have perfect insight into the future, I sincerely believe that after this action we will be at a more stable workforce level moving forward," JPL Director Laurie Leshin wrote in a company-wide memo.

Leshin added that the reductions affect all areas of JPL including technical, project, business, and support areas. The layoffs are the result of "continued funding challenges" Leshin wrote.

JPL is responsible for some of NASA's most daring feats like landing the Curiosity rover on Mars and guiding Voyagers 1 and 2 into interstellar space.

Associated Press will lay off 8% of its global staff.
A man walks out of Associated Press headquarters.
Associated Press will lay off 8% of its staff, the company announced in November.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

The Associated Press in November announced plans to reduce its staff by 8% through a combination of buyouts and layoffs.

"This is about ensuring AP's important role as the only truly independent news organization at scale during a period of transformation in the media industry," The Associated Press said in a statement about the cuts.

The union representing a portion of AP members indicated 121 of its guild members would be offered buyouts before layoffs began, per AP.

Less than half of the expected cuts will involve news employees, the outlet reported, and though the AP has bureaus around the world, a majority of the staff reduction will occur within the United States.

Sotheby's laid off 100 workers.
Sotheby's logo and filled room
Sotheby's laid off 100 workers in its New York offices.

Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Sotheby's cut 100 employees from its New York offices on Tuesday, the company confirmed to multiple publications. The layoffs include back-office workers, junior staffers, and specialists, reports said.

The layoffs come as the auction market has experienced a recent slowdown in sales and earnings. The company also previously cut about 50 employees in its London location, Art News reported.

Sotheby's recently closed a deal in October for Abu Dhabi investment company ADQ to acquire a minority stake in the company. ADQ said in a press release about the deal that the $1 billion investment was meant to support Sotheby's domestic and international expansion plans.

Sotheby's did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

Wells Fargo plans to cut over 700 workers in Oregon.
wells fargo
Wells Fargo plans to cut over 700 workers in Oregon locations.

REUTERS/ Shannon Stapleton

Wells Fargo filed two WARN notices on December 4 sharing plans to lay off over 700 workers in Oregon, including 500 people from its Hillsboro location and 221 employees from its Salem office. It also plans to shut down both offices.

The company said in its filing that it verbally notified employees of the changes on December 3, and plans to deliver formal notices for displacement in the fourth quarter of 2025. Wells Fargo said it will provide more details on impacted roles at a later time.

Those who don't get relocated into other roles within the business are eligible to receive severance based on years of service and their opportunity to use the company health plan at active rates, the filing said.

"We continue to bring the majority of our non-customer facing positions together in locations best suited for our customers and our company," a Wells Fargo spokesperson told BI. "This effort does not impact our commitment to serving customers and clients."

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Planned Parenthood says it's seen a 1,200% spike in vasectomy appointments as Musk's DOGE targets it for cuts

Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood may be on the chopping block again as Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Saul Loeb/Getty Images

  • Planned Parenthood is preparing to fight the Department of Government Efficiency.
  • Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy want to use DOGE to cut federal spending.
  • They named Planned Parenthood as something that could be targeted for cuts.

Planned Parenthood is preparing to face off with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency after it identified the reproductive health provider as fat to be trimmed.

Musk and his co-lead, former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, have been laying out their plans for their federal budget-trimming effort in recent weeks.

Musk and Ramaswamy said in an op-ed this week that they are eying everything from "$1.5 billion for grants to international organizations to nearly $300 million to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood."

In response, Alexis McGill Johnson, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, referred to Musk, Ramaswamy, and others President-election Donald Trump has nominated for leadership positions after his election as "unqualified fanboys and agents of chaos."

"Musk and Ramaswamy are making clear how they intend to use their power: denying people care and wreaking havoc on our public health system, of which Planned Parenthood is an integral part — all in the name of supposed 'government efficiency,'" McGill Johnson said. "We've been here before — we are not new to shutdown and 'defund' fights. We fended off a number of these attacks during Trump's first term — and Planned Parenthood health centers are still there serving millions of patients across the nation."

In a press release, the organization said its health centers saw a surge in appointments following Trump's reelection, including a 1,200% increase in vasectomy appointments and a 760% in IUD appointments.

Wisp, an online provider of reproductive health products and prescriptions, said it has also seen increased demand after the election, including a 1,000% increase in emergency contraception sales.

Planned Parenthood said in the press release that more than half of the patients who go to its health centers rely on Medicaid and other government programs for the uninsured.

"Like any other healthcare provider or hospital, Planned Parenthood affiliates are reimbursed for services provided to patients at health centers. What Musk and Ramaswamy call 'federal overspending' provides critical and necessary sexual and reproductive healthcare to thousands of people every day — care that will disappear if they get their way," McGill Johnson said.

While Musk and Ramaswamy have been busy making plans to cut federal spending, the new department doesn't exist yet and has been given no official power.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former director of the Congressional Budget Office, told Business Insider that, as of now, DOGE has no authority granted to it by Congress or the president.

"It's somebody's idea of a fantasy, but it's not a real thing so far. It has a name, two supposed heads, it has no staff and most importantly, it has no authorities," Holtz-Eakin told BI. "So it's essentially an extremely highly publicized think tank that's going to collect some ideas for the Office of Management and Budget."

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Some community college kids in LA will now get a $1,000 monthly basic income

An aerial view of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles is offering basic income to some community college students pursuing healthcare.

Jae C. Hong/AP

  • Hundreds of Los Angeles Community College District students are getting $1,000 monthly for a year.
  • It's part of a basic income program for LA students pursuing healthcare careers.
  • Los Angeles has embraced guaranteed basic income programs.

Some community college students in Los Angeles are about to get an influx of no-strings-attached payments — just in time for the holidays.

The Los Angeles Community College District is disbursing $3 million in monthly basic income payments to 250 students pursuing health careers. The LACCD said it will provide $1,000 per recipient for 12 months.

The program, called the Building Outstanding Opportunities for Students to Thrive (BOOST) program, will "accelerate and strengthen the credentialing process for young people pursuing careers in the medical field," Gerun Riley, the president of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation — which funded the program — in a press release.

Selected students from four LAACD colleges will get their first payment before Thanksgiving.

Guaranteed basic income programs have popped up all over the country in recent years. They offer specific groups of people, like those with low incomes, new mothers, or, in this case, community college students, a set amount of cash every month for a period of time that they can spend however they want. The programs are the cousin of a universal basic income, which, if ever adopted, would provide all people, regardless of status, a monthly payment.

Los Angeles, in particular, has shown enthusiasm for the programs. The city's Basic Income Guaranteed: Los Angeles Economic Assistance Pilot, or BIG:LEAP, gave over 3,200 households $1,000 in monthly no-strings-attached cash payments for a year. Participants said their employment situations, food security, and home lives all improved thanks to the support.

Following that program, LA officials are looking at a similar program for survivors of domestic violence and those aging out of the foster care system.

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