• In his new book, Palantir CEO Alex Karp will explore how "Silicon Valley has lost its way."
• Big Tech needs to realign with the US government to address pressing issues like AI, he says.
• Karp says the progressive left has impeded this work in recent years.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp said Silicon Valley has lost its way under the spell of the progressive left — and has spent its time on inconsequential things like social media instead of collaborating with the US government on game-changing advancements.

It's time for that to change, Karp will argue in his coming book, "The Technological Republic." He sat down in an interview this week to unpack his thoughts on the incoming Trump administration — and what needs to change in Big Tech.

Speaking with investor Stanley Druckenmiller to promote the book, Karp recounted how, in 2018, Google employees protested the tech giant's involvement with Project Maven, which was a collaboration with the Department of Defense.

Amid outcry, Google opted not to renew its contract. (Palantir is among the companies now working on the project.)

It's become unpopular in some quarters of the tech world for companies to support the US government in recent years, Karp contended. But a shift may be afoot, he said.

"The Valley has realized you just cannot placate the anti-intellectual left" — a trend that's accelerated in the wake of October 7, he said. "They'll destroy your business."

Karp's book will argue that the tech sector must work with the government to address pressing issues — namely, prevailing in the AI arms race.

At the same time, Karp expressed optimism about "the level of talent that is coming in to fix our government," nodding to the incoming Trump administration.

He said American society is at a crisis point, with many feeling certain "instruments of measurement" — schools, borders, and intergovernmental government organizations like the United Nations — "have been corroded." On the other side of the aisle, Karp said, people are "worn out."

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

In the interview, Karp joked that Palantir was "a rare cult with no sex and very little drugs — and we're not poisoning anyone."

• Palantir CEO Alex Karp joked the software giant was like a "cult" — minus the sex and drugs.
• He says Palantirians tend to be "snobby" about their intellect and aren't easily persuaded by orders.
• "My success has been getting Palantirians to believe that my ideas are theirs," Karp says.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp acknowledged that working at the company can feel a bit like a "cult. Employees share a like-minded drive that can occasionally raise eyebrows from those outside, he said.

"It's a rare cult with no sex and very little drugs — and we're not poisoning anyone," he joked during an interview with investor Stanley Druckenmiller. Karp spoke about his coming book, "The Technological Republic."

Cofounder Peter Thiel is an "artist" when it comes to appointing leaders, Karp said, and attracting top engineering talent has always been the company's strong suit.

The founding team started by calling their smartest friends, and the talent pool quickly compounded. Early employees tended to be "very high-mission, very high rigor, very low pay, very high-equity — we lived together," Karp said. "It just was a really cool vibe, and there was nothing like it."

The company was "hated" by the outside venture capital world, Karp said — but it was a welcome dynamic that reminded him of his childhood. Karp's parents were unusual, but it was a happy home. (He's previously described them as hippies who took him to protests.) And if outsiders considered his parents "freaks," Karp said, that just made them "even happier."

Today, Palantirians are "snobby" when it comes to intellect — though not about where they went to school, Karp said. They're also "not convinced by orders." The culture is one of low authority that prizes self-starters.

"My success has been getting Palantirians to believe that my ideas are theirs," Karp said, adding that lateral hiring can be difficult at the company, where respect is hard-earned.

It's also a relatively small team of 3,600 employees, and Karp doesn't harbor ambitions of massively scaling the head count — thanks in no small part to AI, which has meant "you can power whole industries with 100 people," he said.

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

Palantir has had an explosive year, with its stock up around 350% so far this year. In a recent earnings call, Karp attributed the company's growth to an AI revolution and said its success had silenced longtime critics.

• Business Insider spoke to up-and-coming filmmakers and professors as OpenAI's Sora debuted.
• AI video generation could open the door for indie filmmakers — and more blockbusters.
• Fear of job losses looms, but one professor called AI text tools a bigger threat.

Up-and-coming filmmakers and professors at some of the nation's top film schools say the arrival of OpenAI video generators like Sora signals a democratization of the industry may be afoot, even though the tech is still limited.

Sora rolled out widely on Monday following a February pilot program. The tool generates short video clips — 20 seconds max — from users' text prompts. Sora can also modify existing clips.

For example, say a user wants to create a scene with green monsters in a thunderstorm. To do that, she'd type a prompt, and Sora would spit out a file.

While bold-faced creators are already bracing for impact, early Sora testers told Business Insider it gave them new ways to think about their work — even as others also complained the platform appeared to regurgitate content from a limited database.

Michaela Ternasky-Holland was one of the first directors to create and premiere a short film using Sora. It screened at Tribeca in 2024. She said she's excited about Sora's potential to cut filmmaking's development costs by creating things like sizzle reels, but she's aware of its limitations.

These things are giving you an illusion of control. And no matter how good the generations are, there's still someone behind them prompting it," she said. "Just because someone has a 4K camera, it doesn't make them a Steven Spielberg."

Dana Polan, a professor of cinema studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, said AI image generators aren't stoking the same fears as their text-based counterparts.

That's because many in Hollywood see the screenplay as "the first act of creativity," said Polan, who noted that other people in the filmmaking process, including cinematographers, are already seen as "adapters into images of words."

While he remains optimistic about AI in film, George Huang, a professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television — who has experimented with AI tools in his own moviemaking — concedes the technology has a bad rap in Hollywood, which has made countless movies on the topic.

"We think AI is now coming to destroy all of us, and that's a narrative that Hollywood created," he said. "It's embedded in our culture."

Sora's not quite ready for prime time — yet

Industry watchers told Business Insider that they don't foresee Sora or AI image generation appearing widely in finished films just yet given that the image quality still exists in something of an "uncanny valley."

Sora's pace of improvement has slowed down with later versions, Ternasky-Holland said. For example, it still struggles to put multiple characters in a scene no matter how many times it's prompted, she said.

But Polan told BI the tech could come in handy for the previsualization process — or animated storyboards to check pacing and flow. Huang also said he could see it being used as a "pitch reel" for screenwriters.

That said, other AI startups like Runway have created tools already used across the industry to expedite editing, with clients that include "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and the effects team behind "Everything Everywhere All At Once."

Michael Gilkison, a Lexington, Kentucky-based filmmaker whose latest project, "The Finish Line," is on Amazon's Prime Video, said a free AI app helped create a scene where a car was crushed. "That would have cost a lot more 20 years ago," he said over email. Using AI technology could also create cheaper ways to film period pieces. But it also can negate the need to hire extras, which can deprive a film of its spirit.

"As a producer, I would use it to keep the cost down, but it is all about balance," Gilkison said.

Tahsis Fairley, a creative producing student at Chapman University, said via email he envisions using Sora to expedite storyboarding and illustrate ideas to his team.

"We will be able to test out new visual ideas without investing significant amounts of money," Fairley said.

That said, Huang doesn't believe we're far off from full implementation, saying AI could appear within completed films "by the end of the next year easily."

Cost savings could boost indies and blockbusters alike

The expenses associated with filmmaking can put a damper on artistic vision, Huang said. But students are generally receptive to new technology, Polan said.

ChatGPT Plus subscribers, who pay $20 a month, get up to 50 Sora generations a month that are five seconds maximum. ChatGPT Pro users, who pay $200 a month, get unlimited generations up to 20 seconds in length.

In slashing costs, Huang said platforms like Sora are bound to "almost democratize the filmmaking process, sort of lower those barriers to entry." In addition to more tools for indie filmmakers working in the margins, this could also mean more blockbusters produced at a relative discount by major studios, he said.

Fairley, for his part, sees AI as a "double-edged sword."

While he cheered its efficiency gains, he expressed concern about job losses across the industry — particularly in fields like animation, pointing to a Coca-Cola Chrismas ad created entirely with AI.

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

• Bill Belichick's departure from the NFL to coach at the University of North Carolina is a big move.
• Belichick's deal highlights college sports' further shift toward professionalization.
• Name-image-likeness opportunities are reshaping college sports and changing the jobs of coaches.

Revered football coach Bill Belichick's departure from the NFL says a lot about the ascendance of college football amid lucrative sponsorships in the era of the transfer portal, fast-growing NIL opportunities, and revenue sharing within the NCAA.

Word on Wednesday that the eight-time Super Bowl champ signed a five-year agreement to serve as head coach of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels rocked the sports industry.

"We are embarking on an entirely new football operation," UNC Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham said at a press conference Thursday. He said Belichick's pro experience played a factor in his hire. "The future of college athletics is changing, and we want to be in the forefront of that."

The Athletic reported Belichick will be pocketing $10 million a year. UNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

Of course, college sports — and especially football — have always been big business. But recent changes underline the move toward allowing more money to flow into programs and athletes, and further professionalize what is still considered amateur athletics.

Scott Fuess, Jr., a professor of business at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who studies the economics of college sports, told BI that Belichick's hire is "a very obvious, public-facing signal" of how college football is becoming more like the pros.

"What we're doing is we're NFL-izing collegiate football," he said.

Another indicator of the shift in college sports? More schools are hiring general managers for their football programs, Fuess said. Their focus is on bringing in talent and financing it, something that's all the more important in the name, image, and likeness — or NIL — era. NIL allows players to be paid by brands and other sponsors for the use of their name, image, or likeness.

Fuess said that in the upper ranks of collegiate football — specifically within the power conferences — "you're going to see arrangements that look more like NFL programs."

Belichick's move is part of a bigger trend

Belichick's hire isn't the only signal that managing a college sports team is looking a lot more like managing a pro team.

In September, longtime ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski left the outlet to become general manager of the men's basketball program at St. Bonaventure University — where he went to school — to work on NIL deals and recruiting.

And Belichick will be getting some help at UNC from Michael Lombardi — a sports host and former NFL exec who said Wednesday night that he'll serve as the general manager of the Tar Heels program.

For Belichick, there are family ties to UNC. His father was an assistant football coach for the Tar Heels in the '50s. And The Guardian's Ollie Connolly, citing anonymous sources, reported last week that as part of his deal, Belichick sought a guarantee that his son would succeed him as head coach — which he reported that UNC is open to.

Patrick Rishe, executive director of the Sports Business Program at Washington University in St. Louis, told BI that Belichick's move doesn't necessarily portend an exodus of NFL coaches to college towns because Belichick's situation was unique.

"I don't think Alabama or Ohio State are going to be recruiting Andy Reid away from the Chiefs," he said, referring to Kansas City's head coach.

Still, Rishe said, his move is a reminder that coaches are free agents just as players are.

Rishe said one of the biggest forces animating college football's bulk-up is money flowing from NIL collectives. He said collective money, already used to recruit players, could also be directed toward bringing on coaches.

The collectives gather money from donors and distribute it to players. For example, at Fuess's University of Nebraska, the 1890 Initiative — its resident, independent NIL collective — raises money for athletes in exchange for donor perks like merch and invites to membership events. Its website says it partners with athletes "to help them build personal brands through athletic endorsements, brand partnerships, and NIL compliance protocols."

An expanded job

Fuess said that until recently, college athletes were limited in transferring to other programs. Now, that's no longer true because of the transfer portal window, which in October was reduced for Division I football and basketball players to 30 days. Because of that, he said, college coaches must work harder than ever to keep players happy.

"Their free agency is freer than in professional sports right now," he said, referring to college players.

Fuess, who also serves as his campus's faculty representative to its athletic department, said college coaches increasingly have to know how to spot talent, how to pay for it, and how to keep it.

That means there could be more people who come from the NFL, though they could also come from elsewhere in college athletics, he said, because the cultures of the NFL and college football are different. Plus, there's also NCAA revenue sharing in the wings, where, beginning next academic year, schools are expected to be able to share athletic department revenues with student-athletes.

"Collegiate sports is a little bit more of a wild wild west than the very buttoned-down world of the NFL," Fuess said.

He said that some college football programs seeking to ascend to the top or remain there are likely to do so by demonstrating big funding commitments or making high-profile hires.

Fuess pointed to a statement days ago by Purdue University President Mung Chiang introducing the Boilermakers' new football coach, Barry Odom, that the university would "invest more than ever before in athletics."

A hire like Belichick represents a similar move, Fuess said.

"Everybody knows his name. Everybody knows his coaching success. Everybody knows about him," he said.

If you want to remain a high-profile program, Fuess said, "you're going to want to demonstrate as best you can that you are committed to doing this."

• Warner Bros. Discovery is splitting its linear TV business from streaming and studios.
• Comcast last month also spun off its cable networks — except Bravo — into a stand-alone company.
• The moves illustrate a cable business in decline, with both repositioning for M&A opportunities.

Warner Bros. Discovery is separating its linear television business from its streaming business and film studios.

It follows a similar move by Comcast, which announced in November it would spin off all of its NBCUniversal cable networks except Bravo into a stand-alone company.

The new corporate structure will be complete by the middle of next year, WBD said. Unlike Comcast, WBD won't spin its assets off into a separate company.

A new Global Linear Networks division will house TV properties like the Discovery Channel and CNN, while the Streaming & Studios side will be the home of Max and movie studio Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group.

"Our Global Linear Networks business is well positioned to continue to drive free cash flow, while our Streaming & Studios business focuses on driving growth," WBD president and CEO David Zaslav said in a statement.

A source with direct knowledge of the matter said the move was meant to clean up the company's structure, which was formed in 2022 from the combination of WarnerMedia and Discovery. (Discovery itself was the product of its acquisition of Scripps Networks in 2017.)

This person said the company is still determining how the specific business units will be divided, and no leadership changes were planned.

The moves by both Comcast and WBD illuminate a cable business increasingly in decline. Their repositioning of properties could help them participate in potential mergers and acquisitions expected to reshape the media and entertainment industry in 2025.

Warner Bros. Discovery was supposed to create scale and value and help compete with Big Tech by mashing WarnerMedia's prestige networks like HBO and CNN with Discovery's lifestyle properties like HGTV. But its stock has sunk to about a third of its value at the time of its creation in 2022. (It was up about 14% Thursday morning on the news of the new organization.)

Industry observers say a Comcast-like spin wouldn't be favorable for WBD because it needs the cash from its linear channels to pay down the heavy debt it took on to form the company.

Still, they see WBD bulking up or shedding channels, with Paramount Global or Comcast seen as the most likely merger partners.

The announcement was met with mixed reactions from analysts. BofA Securities, which has long argued that WBD should sell assets or merge with another company, said in a note that it saw WBD's linear assets as a logical partner for the Comcast SpinCo, while its streaming and studio assets could be an attractive takeover target for multiple suitors.

Longtime ad industry advisor Brian Wieser said that as with the Comcast SpinCo, a WBD separation weakens the company on a few fronts, though. Without being tethered to the cable channels, he said, it'll be harder for WBD's streamer Max to grow its ads business, which is becoming increasingly important. The linear networks will lose leverage in distribution negotiations without Max and have trouble attracting talent if they're seen as a declining business, among other issues, he said.

In July, WBD reportedly floated the idea to investors of essentially undoing the 2022 merger to create the two separate divisions. And in August, the company said its TV assets were worth $9 billion less than it had anticipated just two years ago.

• Retail sites like Amazon are taking action against Luigi Mangione-inspired merchandise.
• eBay prohibits items that glorify violence, but it doesn't ban the phrase "Deny. Defend. Depose."
• Mangione has emerged as a folk hero of sorts in certain corners of the internet.

Retail platforms like Amazon, Etsy, and eBay are slapping down merch listings that glorify Luigi Mangione — the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

In the wake of Thompson's murder, some people on social media were unsympathetic, given their grievances with the American healthcare system. And after Mangione was arrested, he emerged as something of a folk hero — and heartthrob — in certain corners of the internet.

That sentiment soon made its way into the merch space. On Etsy, products were being offered with Mangione's likeness and the phrase "Deny, Defend, Depose," BI sister site Morning Brew reported.

Those words were etched onto bullet shell casings found at the scene of the killing, police said — and are similar to a 2010 book scrutinizing the insurance industry titled "Delay Deny Defend."

Many of the Mangione-themed items offered for sale came from drop shippers, Morning Brew reported — or sellers who print products on-demand after they're ordered. Some of the items included cups, sweatshirts, and hats, The Washington Post said.

Morning Brew reported that similar items were for sale on sites like RedBubble and TikTok Shop, while Amazon and Etsy were taking down many listings that referenced Mangione or the shooting.

An Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider that the products in question were removed because they violated Amazon's rules against offensive and controversial items.

An eBay spokesperson told BI that items that "glorify or incite violence" are prohibited from its marketplace. That includes items that celebrate the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, the eBay spokesperson said. The company doesn't prohibit the sale of items with the phrase "Deny, Defend, Depose," the spokesperson said.

It appeared some of the platforms were playing a game of cat and mouse with sellers — with various listings still live as of Wednesday.

The eBay spokesperson said the company is "continuing to sweep the marketplace for other prohibited items," including one listing that was still live as of Wednesday — which the spokesperson said was being removed because it featured an image of a gun.

A Redbubble spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement that its "strict community guidelines prohibit, among other things, the glorification or promotion of violence, while still allowing legitimate discussion of current events."

Every design includes a reporting function so that potential violations can be flagged by the community, the spokesperson added.

Etsy and TikTok Shop didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from BI.

• A bankruptcy judge ruled that The Onion cannot buy Alex Jones' Infowars.
• The judge said the auction was flawed and may have "left a lot of money on the table."
• The Onion said it will continue trying to buy Infowars.

A Texas bankruptcy judge ruled that The Onion's bid for Alex Jones's Infowars cannot go forward.

Last month, after the purchase was announced, Judge Christopher Lopez of the Southern District of Texas' US Bankruptcy Court voiced discomfort about the auction for the site, including the fact that offers weren't shared between rival bidders.

"Nobody should feel comfortable with the results of the auction," Lopez said at the time, after designated backup bidder First American United Companies — a company affiliated with Jones's supplement business — requested a hearing.

After the sale was put on hold, Lopez heard testimony at a hearing Monday. He ruled on Tuesday night that while all parties acted in good faith, the closed auction for Infowars did not bring the highest possible bids for the website.

"I don't really care who wins," Lopez said.

A lower purchase price for Infowars means less money to Jones' creditors, including families from Sandy Hook, Connecticut, who won a significant defamation lawsuit against him.

The process "simply did not maximize value in any way, based upon the record before me," Lopez said during his judgment on Tuesday.

He later added, "It's clear the trustee left a lot of money on the table, or the potential for a lot of money on the table."

The Onion initially prevailed at auction despite the fact that its cash bid was less than First American United Companies' bid $3.5 million for Infowars.

However, as part of The Onion's bid — which it tendered in partnership with some Sandy Hook families — the families opted to give up their profits from the sale to make money on the reimagined website under The Onion, according to Reuters. This made it a better offer than First American United's in the eyes of bankruptcy trustee Christopher Murray because it would mean more money for Jones's other creditors.

The judge sent the sale process back to Murray. "I'm not asking for your answers today," he told Murray.

Leila Brillson, The Onion's chief marketing officer, said in a statement after the ruling that the company will continue trying to buy Infowars.

"We appreciate that the court repeatedly recognized The Onion acted in good faith, but are disappointed that everyone was sent back to the drawing board with no winner, and no clear path forward for any bidder," Brillson said.

Jones was forced to liquidate his assets after losing a roughly $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School for repeatedly claiming the mass shooting was a government hoax.

Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Connecticut families, said in a statement that the group is disappointed by the judge's verdict.

"These families, who have already persevered through countless delays and roadblocks, remain resilient and determined as ever to hold Alex Jones and his corrupt businesses accountable for the harm he has caused," Mattei said.

As the Jones-affiliated company contested the auction, Elon Musk's X also became a part of Monday's proceedings, with lawyers for the social network asking the judge to block the transfer of Jones's and Infowars' X accounts to The Onion, arguing they were owned by X, according to Bloomberg.

The Onion CEO Ben Collins previously said he intended to turn Infowars into an "alt-media" parody hub.

• Officials reportedly found bullet casings with the words "deny," "defend," and "depose" on them at Brian Thompson's murder scene.
• The words are similar to the title of a 2010 book about the insurance industry, "Delay Deny Defend."
• Police have not yet shared a motive for the shooting.

The gunman who shot Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, reportedly left behind a cryptic message at the crime scene.

Update: A "person of interest," 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, was arrested in connection with Thompson's death in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday.

Multiple news outlets said that the shell cases found at the scene were inscribed with the words "deny," "defend," and "depose." These words are similar to the title of Jay M. Feinman's 2010 book "Delay Deny Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It," causing speculation that the shooter may have been referring to it.

The phrase "delay, deny, defend" is also common among lawyers who say that insurance companies delay the claims process with paperwork, deny claims that should be covered, and then defend themselves in court if a claimant pursues legal action.

The suspect of Thompson's shooting was still on the run as of Friday afternoon. Police haven't shared a motive behind the killing, which took place Wednesday morning.

Feinman, an author and professor emeritus at Rutgers, wrote about the insurance industry's evolution and shared advice for consumers on handling disputed claims in his book "Delay Deny Defend."

An NYPD spokesperson declined to comment when asked if police were investigating any link between the book and the shooting. The author also declined a request for comment.

Here are some of the key takeaways from Feinman's book.

There's only one mention of UnitedHealthcare by name.

While Feinman mentioned several top insurance companies by name throughout the book — State Farm and Allstate in particular — UnitedHealthcare only appeared once.

In the introduction, Feinman described how, in 2009, UnitedHealth, Aetna, Guardian, and other companies agreed to stop using certain databases to calculate fees for out-of-network treatment after being accused by then-New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of systematically lowballing patients.

Feinman says the insurance industry changed in the early 1990s.

In the intro to his book, Feinman wrote that insurance companies began to significantly reconsider the claims process in the 1990s when they "became a profit center rather than the place that kept the company's promise."

A major part of this shift occurred when insurance companies, including Allstate in 1992, hired consulting giant McKinsey & Company, he said.

McKinsey developed new strategies for handling claims and saw it as a "zero-sum game," Feinman writes. The insurance companies started using computer systems to estimate the amounts to be paid and deterring claimants from hiring lawyers, he said.

McKinsey declined Business Insider's request for comment.

Insurance companies aren't friends — but they're also not the enemy, he wrote.

Feinman said in the book that insurance companies aren't our friends — but they're not our enemies, either.

That's because companies must pay claims "pretty well most of the time" to stay in business.

"The point of view in this book is pro-consumer but it is not anti-insurance," Feinman writes. "Insurance is essential to our economic security." However, to serve as "the great protector of the standard of living of the American middle class, prompt and fair claim handling has to be the rule," he wrote.

'Understand your coverage. Understand the claims system. Get help if you need it.'

In Chapter 11, Feinman outlined what consumers can do to protect themselves while also seeking ways to cooperate with insurance companies.

He wrote that the responsibility to fix the system shouldn't fall to consumers alone. Legislators, regulators, and the courts must also step in, he wrote.

Feinman's advice boiled down to three key tenets: consumers should research the reputation of their agencies and policies carefully, understand the claims system, and seek legal recourse when necessary.

• Connor Franta is suing his Heard Well business partners. He says they used the company as a "piggy bank."
• Franta accuses them of embezzlement to the tune of more than $1 million.
• Lawyers for all three defendants denied the allegations to Business Insider.

YouTube star Connor Franta is suing his business partners, alleging in a lawsuit that they embezzled more than $1 million from the company they cofounded in 2015.

In the suit, filed in California Superior Court this week, Franta — a 32-year-old YouTuber with 4.8 million subscribers — is suing his cofounders in Heard Well, a music label that works with influencers. He also names the company's business manager — who is the father of one of the cofounders — as a defendant, accusing him of turning a blind eye to the alleged theft.

The business partners and manager all denied the allegations in statements to Business Insider.

The suit alleges Heard Well cofounder Jeremy Wineberg used an American Express Black Card obtained in the company's name for personal expenses, including international travel, concert tickets, tattoos, groceries, and plastic surgery. The suit says Wineberg "systematically looted the company of essentially every penny," using Heard Well funds to pay the Amex balances.

Another cofounder, Franta's former CAA agent Andrew Graham, also "converted thousands of Heard Well dollars" for personal use, the suit alleges. The suit says Graham was not "the principal bad actor."

CAA is a leading Hollywood talent agency with a digital arm that represents influencers on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. The agency works with creators to monetize their followings through brand partnerships, consumer products, and other business ventures. CAA is not named as a defendant in the suit.

Wineberg, and to a lesser extent Graham, used the company's earnings as "a de facto personal piggy bank," the suit alleges.

Meanwhile, Franta, in the lawsuit, said Lindsay Wineberg & Associates — Heard Well's business manager and accountant, led by Jeremy Wineberg's father — acted negligently by turning the other cheek, "and in doing so negligently facilitated the draining of over $1 million of company monies into the personal pockets of Wineberg (and Graham)."

Bryan Sullivan, a lawyer for Jeremy Wineberg and Lindsay Wineberg & Associates, said the allegations aren't true.

"The lawsuit filed by Connor Franta is without merit," Sullivan told Business Insider in a statement. Sullivan said his clients never "engaged in any misconduct."

"We intend to pursue all of our rights and expect to be vindicated in Court," Sullivan said.

John Shenk, a lawyer for Graham, told BI in a statement that his client "denies the allegations of the complaint and looks forward to defending this case in court."

Graham told BI that he no longer represents Franta, nor does CAA.

Franta has been on YouTube for more than a decade and is also the author of the memoir "A Work in Progress." He cofounded Heard Well in 2015, with each of the cofounders contributing $2,000 to capitalize the startup, according to an operating agreement that was filed as part of the lawsuit.

Heard Well published dozens of albums, but Franta "hardly saw a dime of profit directed his way throughout the company's nearly 10-year lifespan," the suit says.

This spring, the suit says, Franta learned Heard Well had fallen behind on royalty payments after a YouTube video accused the company of scamming.

Heard Well's Instagram account was active as of Thursday, though Franta said in the suit that he's been blocked from the company's social media accounts.

"Acting with integrity and respect in all my professional endeavors — especially with fellow creators — has always been a top priority for me," Franta told BI in a statement.

He said that while the matter had only recently come to his attention, he'd taken action this week "to protect the company and to facilitate its pursuit of all necessary and appropriate legal remedies."

• Leaders in the healthcare industry were shocked by the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
• Healthcare leaders shared their condolences in the hours after he was killed.
• "The country lost a leader committed to improving patient care," one CEO wrote.

The killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson sent shockwaves through the healthcare industry.

Thompson, a 20-year veteran of the company, was fatally shot Wednesday morning on his way to an investor conference for the UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare. The meeting was called off as attendees grappled with the tragic news.

Update: Police have arrested a person of interest in Thompson's killing, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione.

UnitedHealth Group is the largest healthcare carrier in the US, but its competitors came together Wednesday, along with countless peers of Thompson's, to reflect on the industry leader.

"I find myself at a loss for words to appropriately articulate the depth of our feelings for the loss of Brian," Antonio Toft, UnitedHealth Group's vice president of people, culture, experience, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, said in a LinkedIn post. "He was not only a remarkable leader but also a cherished friend and mentor to many of us."

Toft added: "Brian was a true champion for our people and the community, and his impact will continue to inspire us all."

Here's what other health companies and their leaders said about Thompson.

Michael J. Alkire, president and CEO of Premier

"When UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's life was tragically taken in Manhattan this morning, the country lost a leader committed to improving patient care," Michael J. Alkire wrote in a LinkedIn post. "Even more tragic, Brian's family lost a father, a son and a brother. I can't imagine their anguish.

"The entire Premier Inc. team and I offer our deepest, most heartfelt condolences to Brian's loved ones and colleagues.

"To honor Brian's memory, we must continue to come together and innovate to improve patient care. That's the legacy he created over two decades in healthcare."

Maria Ghazal, president and CEO of Healthcare Leadership Council

"As a dedicated leader in our industry for over two decades, Brian worked tirelessly to advance healthcare delivery and access for millions of Americans," Maria Ghazal wrote in a LinkedIn post. "His sudden and senseless death is felt deeply by us all."

Rob Davis, CEO of Merck & Co.

"I am saddened to hear about the tragic loss of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare. His leadership and dedication made a meaningful impact on the health care community. My thoughts are with the Thompson family and all those who worked alongside him," Rob Davis wrote in a LinkedIn post.

Don Antonucci, president and CEO of Providence Health Plan

"Violence has no place in our society, and its presence in our healthcare community is particularly devastating," Don Antonucci wrote in a LinkedIn post. "To our colleagues at UnitedHealthcare — our entire Providence Health Plan family stands with you during this unimaginably difficult time. Our hearts are with Brian's family, friends, and the entire UnitedHealthcare team."

Justin Lake, healthcare analyst with Wolfe Research

"I can literally say that not only myself but my family is better off for having known Brian Thompson and I know from the outpouring of emotion and profound loss today from colleagues across the Wall Street and healthcare communities that there are many, many more who feel exactly the same way," a note from Justin Lake said, according to Bloomberg.

"Most of us sit in jobs where we are fortunate to work with intelligent and thoughtful colleagues on a daily basis, but the relationships we all value and treasure most are with those where the business or investing acumen is combined with character, integrity, kindness and good humor," he also said. "These are the people you feel fortunate to simply interact with much less count as a friend and while I can say my little corner of HC Services certainly has a long list of these types, Brian sat at or near the top for everyone that knew him."

Kaiser Permanente

"Many of us have worked with and known Brian well over the years, and this devastating loss will be felt by all who knew him," a spokesperson for Kaiser Permanente told Business Insider.

Health Care Service Corp.

The company told BI in a statement that Thompson "was a respected leader focused on expanding access to critical health care."

Elevance Health

In a statement to BI, Gail Boudreaux, the president and CEO of Elevance Health, called Thompson's killing a "senseless act of violence," adding: "Leadership in healthcare is marked by dedication, compassion, and a profound commitment to improving lives, and Brian embodied these qualities and more."

David Ricks, chair and CEO of Eli Lilly and Co.

David Ricks was asked about Thompson's death during Wednesday's DealBook Summit. He later shared a LinkedIn post saying that Thompson "was an industry leader and a good partner to Lilly. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and the entire UnitedHealthcare team."

Humana

"We are shocked and saddened by the tragic death of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare," Mark Taylor, director of corporate communications at Humana, said in a statement given to BI. "Brian was a visionary leader in our industry, and his loss will be felt for years to come. Our thoughts and sincerest condolences are with his family, friends, and colleagues at this difficult time."

• With his presidency approaching, tech leaders are seeking Donald Trump's good graces.
• Mark Zuckerberg dined with him at Mar-a-Lago. TikTok's Shou Chew is reportedly chatting with Elon Musk.
• From AI regulation to antitrust suits, there is a lot at stake.

From threatening to jail Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg to accusing Google of rigging search results against him, President-elect Donald Trump tangled with Big Tech throughout his 2024 presidential campaign.

But with victory clenched — and tech luminary Elon Musk emerging as a key confidant — leaders throughout the industry have sought meetings and phone calls with the president-elect and those in his orbit in recent weeks.

There's a lot at stake. Trump's presidency could affect everything from budding AI regulation to a bevy of antitrust actions that target Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon.

"President Trump is surrounding himself with industry leaders like Elon Musk as he works to restore innovation, reduce regulation, and celebrate free speech in his second term," Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Brian Hughes told Business Insider in a statement.

With his second term approaching, these are some of the big-name tech executives who've been seeking the president-elect's ear.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Despite their thorny past, Zuckerberg — who didn't endorse a candidate in the 2024 election — met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago for dinner on the evening before Thanksgiving, a Meta spokesperson previously confirmed to BI.

"It's an important time for the future of American Innovation," the spokesperson said.

Meta President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said Tuesday that Zuckerberg wants to play "an active role" in future discussions with the Trump administration about US tech leadership, including in the "pivotal" field of artificial intelligence.

Clegg also said that Meta "overdid it" when moderating pandemic-related content in the past, for which the social network garnered heat on both sides of the political aisle.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai

In addition to his public congratulations, Google chief Sundar Pichai called the president-elect to congratulate him on his victory — with Musk joining the call, The Information reported.

Trump had previously accused Google of manipulating search results against him and said he'd called Pichai to complain. Google has denied the claims.

When asked about Google's antitrust challenges earlier this year, Trump acknowledged the search giant "has a lot of power," but didn't say he favored a breakup.

"We want to have great companies," Trump said at the time. "We don't want China to have these companies."

TikTok CEO Shou Chew

With a potential TikTok ban looming, CEO Shou Chew has sought counsel from Musk, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Chew has known Musk for years and inquired broadly about the next administration's tech policies, the Journal reported.

Although he did not directly broach how to contend with a prospective TikTok ban, the Jounal reported that ByteDance execs are cautiously optimistic about TikTok's future in the US.

During his first term, Trump tried to ban TikTok, but has since about-faced, saying he would try to save the app once assuming office — though such a pledge could be difficult to fulfill.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

OpenAI chief Sam Altman could be in a precarious position with Trump given his increasingly turbulent relationship with Musk.

Altman has also sought indirect counsel from certain members of Trump's inner circle, according to The Wall Street Journal, including Jared and Josh Kushner. The latter's Thrive Capital is a key OpenAI investor.

That said, the Journal reported that some intermediaries have been reluctant to pass on Altman's messages, given his tense relationship with Musk.

In addition to publicly congratulating the president-elect on X, Altman met with transition team co-chair Howard Lutnick in Palm Beach, according to the Journal, where he discussed how OpenAI would invest in US data centers and jobs. As Commerce Secretary, Lutnick would oversee the department charged with AI regulation.

• Brian Chesky and Nvidia's Jensen Huang avoid one-on-one meetings with subordinates.
• "You become like their therapist," Chesky told Fortune.
• Yet one person who studies meetings said making an employee feel heard can have "amazing" outcomes.

Meetings are the main way Airbnb's Brian Chesky gets work done. Yet he says the one-on-one format with a direct report is fundamentally flawed.

"Almost no great CEO in history has ever done them," the Airbnb chief said in a recent interview.

That's because when an employee "owns the agenda," they bring up subjects managers don't want to discuss — and "you become like their therapist," Chesky said. Topics can also arise that would benefit other people at the company to hear, but instead, they're sequestered in a one-on-one.

Of course, there are certain times when a one-on-one makes sense, Chesky told Fortune in the interview — such as when an employee is having a difficult time personally and needs to confide to a boss privately.

But generally, he said, they're just not productive on a regular basis.

Chesky isn't alone. Although he has many direct reports, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also prefers to skip one-on-one meetings.

"I don't really believe there's any information that I operate on that somehow only one or two people should hear about," Huang said at Stripe Sessions earlier this year.

Making employees feel heard can have 'amazing' outcomes

While some leaders are cracking down, one expert previously told Business Insider that, when conducted correctly, one-on-ones can boost employee engagement, productivity, and overall happiness.

"The outcomes associated with effective one-on-ones are amazing," said Steven G. Rogelberg, an organizational psychologist who's also a professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the author of "Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings."

Rogelberg previously told BI that one-on-ones are more successful when the worker leads the conversation. He said managers should dedicate roughly 25 minutes a week and focus on the personal needs of employees as well as the practical aspects of the job.

Many managers avoid that first component, Rogelberg said, because it takes more effort.

But at the same time, workers need to do their due diligence, he said — showing up prepared to talk more than half the time. Some fruitful topics include: challenges, how a manager can better support a worker, and what's going well and what could be improved.

'Nitpicking sessions'

Chesky isn't the only boss who's over the one-on-one. In May, Aditya Agarwal, a former Facebook director, wrote in a post on X that after more than a decade of conducting such meetings with those who report to him, he determined they did more harm than good.

"They condition people to do spot checks on happiness and constantly be critical about things that aren't ideal. In practice, 1:1s descend into nitpicking sessions," Agarwal wrote as part of a thread.

Agarwal added that bosses should give feedback every three to six months rather than weekly. That approach, he said, could drive managers to pick up on patterns and give "holistic" guidance rather than weekly spot checks.

• Netflix emerged as the winner of the streaming wars this year.
• It's forecasting billions of dollars in profit, and its stock is rocketing.
• From vast ad ambitions to zeitgeisty true crime fare, here are five of its biggest achievements.

The year 2024 has been one to remember for Netflix.

Crowned the winner of the streaming wars, the streamer solidified its already huge lead in subscribers — with more than 280 million paying users around the world as of the third quarter, generating billions of dollars in profit annually and sending its stock price soaring.

Meanwhile, Netflix continued to flex its first-mover advantage over cash-hungry rivals, who retrenched and returned to licensing their shows back to Netflix, which will likely fuel its continued dominance.

Netflix continues to put out hits that keep people watching and subscribing. Lately, it's been leaning into popular fare like true crime and live events that have big advertiser — and water-cooler — appeal.

It's continued to capitalize on its password-sharing crackdown and is ramping up ad tech and measurement deals to entice more advertisers to buy on the platform.

Netflix faces questions about how much more it can grow its audience without sacrificing profits, whether it can compete for ad dollars with the likes of Amazon's Prime Video, and how it can capture younger viewers who grew up on YouTube.

But for now, here's a look back at the biggest swings Netflix took this past year:

A massive push into live sports

Netflix swung big into live programming in 2024, a format that's key to its burgeoning ad business.

The streamer hosted its most-watched live event to date in November, a glitch-ridden boxing bout between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson that drew 60 million households as live viewers. And it'll close the year with another spectacle: its first Christmas Day NFL game, which will include Beyoncé performing at half-time.

Stellar advertising growth amid an executive shake-up

Netflix has undergone leadership changes across multiple teams this year. In advertising, where the company harbors vast ambitions, Ampersand's Nicolle Pangis replaced Peter Naylor as VP of advertising.

The move came as Netflix reported stellar growth for ad-supported subscribers in 2024 — to the tune of 70 million, up from 40 million in May.

Next up for ads? Netflix is building its own ad technology to further open the spigot, which it said will roll out next year.

A leadership and strategy overhaul in film

At the beginning of the year, Netflix parted ways with longtime movie chief Scott Stuber.

The New York Times reported in April that Stuber clashed with higher-ups over what kind of movies to make. Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria told staff in a meeting that quality needed to improve as the company shifted strategy.

Incoming film boss Dan Lin entered with a streamlined vision.

Rather than big-budget action films and big-name stars, he sought to diversify the company's offering, prioritizing in-house producers and skipping theatrical releases. Lin also ended the massive upfront checks the company had been writing to movie stars.

True crime hits with real-world consequences

Netflix continued to focus on true crime this year. But while its series were enormously popular, some plunged the streamer into controversy.

The stalker saga "Baby Reindeer" and the scammer series "Inventing Anna" drew defamation suits, which Netflix said it would defend. And Netflix's two projects about the Menendez brothers — a Ryan Murphy-produced drama and an accompanying documentary — were also ensconced in controversy.

The brothers' families criticized the show, though Murphy has said the brothers should be grateful given the attention the project received. In October, Los Angeles's top prosecutor recommended the brothers be resentenced with the option of parole.

A password crackdown continued to fuel growth

Subscribers initially balked at Netflix's bid to ban password sharing, but in the end, the streamer prevailed.

The move helped to fuel impressive earnings reports this year, with subscriber growth that repeatedly surpassed expectations — and caused its stock to soar.

While Netflix has emerged as the clear victor of the streaming wars, that wasn't always a foregone conclusion given the loads of debt it previously accrued to fund its production war chest. Today, the streamer is forecasting billions of dollars in profit while competitors struggle to break even.

That said, analysts expect the effects of Netflix's password crackdown to diminish in the future.

Correction: December 3, 2024 — The Paul-Tyson fight drew 60 million households, not people, as live viewers, Netflix said. An earlier version of this story misstated that figure.

• Disney brought the magic in 2024, but it isn't out of the woods just yet.
• Streaming turned a profit for the first time, and it righted the ship at the box office.
• While CEO Bob Iger won a proxy battle, Trump's second term now looms.

After a string of challenges, Disney brought the magic in 2024.

It wasn't long ago that CEO Bob Iger was battling an expensive proxy fight, creative challenges, and streaming business losses.

Iger has put many of those concerns behind him. Disney fended off activist shareholder Nelson Peltz. And he addressed two areas that have been a big concern for Wall Street: returning the film division to profits with "Inside Out 2" and "Deadpool & Wolverine," and turning the corner in its streaming business.

On a fourth-quarter earnings call in November, a confident Iger projected rosy earnings all the way out to 2027 and was rewarded with a 9% surge in Disney's stock price.

Perhaps most important, after a botched succession in 2020, the company reassured critics that it's on track to name Iger's replacement in early 2026.

Disney isn't out of the woods just yet. It still faces the ongoing decline of its linear TV business. With another ESPN streamer in the works, its streaming offerings are multiplying, which risks consumer confusion. And some insiders have worried that a returning President Donald Trump could lead to retribution — or a chilling effect on the company's creative output and journalism — after Iger and Trump publicly sparred during Trump's first term.

Meanwhile, here's a look back at Disney's biggest wins of the past year:

For the first time, its streaming business became profitable

Disney turned a crucial corner with its streaming business in 2024.

Services like Hulu and Disney+ generated a small but noteworthy profit — to the tune of $47 million — for the first time in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, that figure grew to $321 million.

Subscription price hikes were key. The basic price for Disney+ is now $16 a month, compared to $7 when it launched in 2019. Iger said on a call with investors this month that in raising prices, the company sought to move users toward ad-supported subscription options.

Edging forward on succession

Disney has given itself a self-imposed deadline of 2026 to name Iger's successor — which is when the executive's contract expires and is longer than some had anticipated.

After Iger's last succession plan fell flat, resulting in his return to the company in 2022, this time the effort is being spearheaded by Morgan Stanley's James Gorman.

Four internal candidates have been floated: Disney Entertainment cochair Dana Walden, movie head Alan Bergman, Disney Experiences chair Josh D'Amaro, and ESPN chair Jimmy Pitaro. Disney is also considering outsiders, though no frontrunner has emerged.

Getting back on track with box office hits

Iger acknowledged last year that Disney movies weren't what they used to be in terms of quality following box office disappointments like "Elemental," "The Little Mermaid," and "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania."

But in 2024, Disney righted the ship. "Inside Out 2" broke the record for an animated movie opening, while "Deadpool & Wolverine" — the only film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe it released this year after the company decided to slow its roll — was an irrefutable smash, signaling a possible antidote to superhero fatigue.

Betting big on experiences

Experiences are key to Disney's future, with Chairman Josh D'Amaro overseeing a $60 billion investment over the next decade into park expansion — and the company's most ambitious foray yet into gaming, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

New attractions and lands inspired by hit films like "Avatar" and "Monsters, Inc." will arrive at parks worldwide, according to THR, and four new cruise ships will roughly double its fleet by the end of the decade.

Disney also placed its biggest bet to date on gaming earlier this year with a $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games. Disney will work with the "Fortnite" studio to develop an interactive space inspired by its IP.

Iger triumphed in the Peltz proxy battle (but now must face Trump)

Iger won a lengthy and expensive proxy battle against activist investor Nelson Peltz in April after shareholders voted to keep the CEO and Disney management's board over two new members nominated by Peltz's firm.

Peltz has criticized Disney's succession planning, streaming losses, and stock performance.

But looking ahead, Iger could be facing another threat when Trump takes office again — with its ABC News division having already drawn the president-elect's ire. While Iger criticized Trump during his first term, he appears to be remaining on the political sidelines this time around.

• Donald Trump's new DOGE commission, tasked with cutting spending, has floated laying off federal workers.
• Government employees said they were preparing by networking and freshening their résumés.
• Amid the concerns with DOGE, some employees said there could be benefits to its aims.

Federal employees are reporting mixed feelings about President-elect Donald Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency and its ideas to cut costs by laying off workers and enforcing return-to-office mandates.

Some are worried, some are optimistic, and most are considering their other career options, 10 people who spoke with Business Insider said. Most asked for anonymity for fear of professional repercussions.

"We're just workers. We work in a nonpartisan way," one Department of Health and Human Services employee said, adding that they were nervous, especially because they recently bought a home. "It kind of feels like we're being villainized."

On the other hand, Jesus Soriano, who's been a program director at the National Science Foundation for 13 years and is president of the agency's American Federation of Government Employees union, said that while employees were scared, there were "reasons for optimism with DOGE."

Trump said his picks to lead the unofficial commission, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, "are technologists."

"They have — both of them in their own fields — translated science into products that have tremendous impact on the public and that contribute to America being a preeminent powerhouse," he said.

Musk is the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and other various companies, and Ramaswamy started a tech-focused pharmaceutical company called Roivant Sciences.

In the wake of the DOGE Commission, many government workers said they were updating their résumés, networking more, or assessing new career options — regardless of their political beliefs.

"Everyone is putting their ducks in a row," a Department of Housing and Urban Development administrative worker of 10 years who worked under Trump's first term told BI. "You can't be lackadaisical, regardless that the government may take forever to do something. You better be one step ahead at all times."

While it's still unclear how exactly DOGE would cut government spending, Musk and Ramaswamy have pledged to eliminate some government agencies, which could mean laying off thousands of federal workers, and compel others who have been working from home to return to the office.

The federal government is the largest employer in the US, paying more than 2 million civilian workers. The Departments of Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, and Defense are among the top employers, with workers earning average salaries near $100,000. Just under half of all workers across 24 agencies were telework-eligible as of May 2024, according to an Office of Management and Budget report.

"Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don't want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn't pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home," Musk and Ramaswamy wrote about their cost-cutting plans in a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal.

Brian Hughes, a Trump-Vance transition spokesperson, told BI the administration "will have a place for people serving in government who are committed to defending the rights of the American people, putting America first, and ensuring the best use of working men and women's tax dollars." He didn't offer any details on cuts.

Soriano, the National Science Foundation program director, said government workers were "still scared." He said five colleagues he'd talked to were actively seeking new jobs or opting to retire.

Increased efficiency is a welcomed idea. In-office mandates, not so much.

Trimming government spending and improving efficiency is an idea often discussed on both sides of the political spectrum.

President Ronald Reagan pursued a similar goal with the Grace Commission, a team of 160 private-sector executives who proposed more than 2,000 cost-cutting measures. President Bill Clinton also attempted to reduce federal spending and improve government efficiency with the National Performance Review, led by federal employees.

The efforts had mixed results. Many proposals from the Grace Commission that relied on congressional acts didn't end up happening, while executive orders were successful in reducing the head count of federal workers. Clinton's panel similarly succeeded in cutting 300,000 federal workers but managed to get only a quarter of proposals that required legislative action through Congress.

An operations manager at the US Postal Service who has worked in the department for 27 years told BI every company had inefficiencies, and "that's what we all strive to decrease."

He has concerns, however, about people stepping in to make suggestions for the Postal Service without having "tribal knowledge" of the department.

"If you're just going to be appointed to this type of commission or committee with no knowledge of what exactly the Postal Service does, then that could potentially be a problem," he said.

DOGE's intent to eliminate remote work is also a concern for some workers. The HUD employee, who'd been working remotely, said return-to-office enforcement would "absolutely" be enough to cause them to resign. They're preparing for layoffs under DOGE by looking at other employment opportunities, and they said their colleagues at HUD were taking similar steps.

Joyce Howell, an attorney at the Environmental Protection Agency — who's been at the agency for more than 31 years and serves as executive vice president of its AFGE union — said the incoming administration had stoked concern about layoffs at the EPA and fears that its mission could be compromised.

"We have town halls once a month, and we've actually broken our Zoom account in terms of the number of people attending," she said of union meetings.

Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in the Journal op-ed that the commission would target more than $500 billion in what they called unauthorized government spending. They said federal employees who were laid off would be offered early retirement. At a town hall in October, Musk said he would consider giving laid-off workers up to two years' severance.

An employee at the Food and Drug Administration said it wasn't that easy: "We're here to support a mission. We have families to feed, and it's not as easy as just quitting our jobs," the FDA employee said.

"We're just normal, everyday people — we're being portrayed as inefficient, lazy people," they added. "It feels like they're coming for us just for their own agenda, not realizing that we're the backbone of the federal government."

Another federal-government lifer said many workers like them — people who'd been there for years — were nervous they might be the first to go. The career tenure of a median federal government worker was 6.5 years in 2024, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, well above the median 3.5 years private workers have spent in their roles.

One senior official at the Commerce Department said they anticipated a civil-servant brain drain. "The scientists are the most concerned," the official said, with those in climate, meteorology, and environmental science particularly worried.

The Department of Education has meanwhile been singled out as an entire agency that could be on the chopping block.

Sheria Smith, the president of the AFGE union at the Department of Education and a civil rights attorney at the agency, said department elimination was "on the lower end of concerns" because it would take time and need to go through Congress.

Rather, being turned into a "Schedule F" workforce, which allows government agencies to reclassify workers and remove certain protections that make them easier to fire, could mean employees who aren't "aligned with the executive wholly" could be laid off based on performance.

And given the widespread denigration of the Education Department and return-to-office threats, people are most likely looking for other work. "I'd be surprised if they weren't," Smith said.

Are you a federal worker willing to share your story? Contact these reporters at [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected].

• 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

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

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.

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

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

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 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

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

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

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 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 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.

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 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

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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

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 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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

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 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

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

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

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 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

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 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

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

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, 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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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, 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 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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."

• Incoming boss Mark Lazarus addressed the CNBC newsroom Thursday.
• The day before, CNBC anchors had made bleak jokes on-air about Comcast's spinoff plans.
• Three CNBC staffers told BI the mood inside the company seemed upbeat during Lazarus' visit.

In a meeting at CNBC headquarters in New Jersey on Thursday afternoon, incoming boss Mark Lazarus presented a bullish view of the future after the bombshell news that Comcast would spin off the network.

Three CNBC staffers told Business Insider they felt Lazarus' optimistic talk landed well in the newsroom. They asked for anonymity to discuss internal meetings. Their identities are known to BI.

The vibe was a bit of contrast to Wednesday, when Comcast announced plans to spin off most of its NBCUniversal cable TV networks — including CNBC — into a separate public company called SpinCo (for now). On Wednesday, CNBC anchors shared some worries and dark humor on-air, with "Squawk Box" coanchor Joe Kernan quipping, "We're going out into the cold, cruel world."

Lazarus, who will be SpinCo's CEO, addressed a packed newsroom Thursday at CNBC and didn't hold a Q&A, though he mingled with staff and took questions one-on-one afterward. While speaking with staff, Lazarus said the new company would keep the money generated by its properties and pursue other M&A targets, describing it as entrepreneurial and flexible, one CNBC staffer said.

Lazarus said SpinCO "would be a predator, not prey" and examine various targets "like digital businesses and IP," a second CNBC staffer recalled.

A third staffer said Lazarus talked about the SpinCo having the ability to invest in its cable networks, giving the example of the Golf Channel as one that's thrived digitally.

The first staffer said that after the meeting, talks in the hallway seemed upbeat. That said, CNBC has undergone several rounds of layoffs over the past year, they added.

"People felt better than they did when it first started," the third staffer said. "The plan isn't just to dress it up for PE."

In addition to CNBC, Comcast is spinning off MSNBC, E!, and Oxygen — but holding onto Bravo, whose "Real Housewives" shows and other reality fare are inexpensive to produce and integral to its Peacock streaming service.

Before his meeting with CNBC staff on Thursday, Lazarus and MSNBC president Rashida Jones spoke to execs, producers, anchors, and hosts at MSNBC on Wednesday, Vanity Fair reported.

There were also signs of optimism there, with host Rachel Maddow saying it was positive to have Lazarus there on "day one," Vanity Fair reported. Still, reporting from The Ankler described the meeting as "intense."

Comcast is going forward with the spinoff — which it says will take about a year to complete — amid sagging prospects in the cable TV business. And it's not alone. Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger previously floated the idea of spinning off its cable channels, but the company has more recently retreated.

• Milan has dethroned New York City as home to the world's most expensive street in retail.
• Via Monte Napoleone boasts annual rents of $1,959 per square foot, per a new report.
• Luxury giant Kering recently purchased a $1.4 billion building in the elite district.

New York City's Fifth Avenue has been dethroned as the most expensive shopping street in the world, according to a new report from a global real estate firm.

Milan's Via Monte Napoleone has taken the crown — marking the first time a European city has topped a list compiled by property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield.

The report assessed annual rents globally for 138 luxury shopping districts — from Tokyo to Paris to Zurich.

"Despite challenging market conditions and the dynamic development of e-commerce, the demand for physical retail space in the best locations remains unbroken," Cushman's head of retail investment, Andreas Siebert, said in a statement.

Earlier this year, for instance, Gucci and Saint Laurent owner Kering spent $1.4 billion to acquire one of the largest buildings in Via Monte Napoleone from Blackstone.

Luxury giants are placing billion-dollar bets on physical storefronts, Business Insider previously reported, even as online shopping surges.

That said, it's been a challenging season for the luxury sector — though some players, like Hermès, are bucking larger trends.

Here are the 10 most expensive shopping streets worldwide, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

1. Milan: Via Monte Napoleone

Milan's Via Monte Napoleone boasts annual rents of $1,959 per square foot, according to the report, up 11% over last year.

One factor contributing to its ascendance? The street is "very short" compared to others on the list, which has driven up rents, Cushman's head of retail for Italy, Thomas Casolo, told CNN.

Chanel and Gucci both opened new locations in the area within the past year, according to the Financial Times.

2. New York City: Upper Fifth Avenue

While North America posted the strongest rental growth of any continent, according to Cushman, Upper Fifth Avenue came in second this year, with annual rents priced at $1,913 per square foot.

Last month, The New York Times reported city officials are plotting a $350 million overhaul of Fifth Avenue that will make it more walkable — not unlike its European counterparts.

3. London: New Bond Street

London's New Bond Street rose one spot to No. 3 on this year's list — marking a 13% increase over last year, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

The elite shopping district now boasts annual rents of $1,685 per square foot, according to the report.

4. Hong Kong: Tsim Sha Tsui

Hong Kong's Tsim Sha Tsui slipped one spot, according to the report, with annual rents of $1,537 per square foot.

5. Paris: The Avenue des Champs-Élysées

The Avenue des Champs-Élysées remained the fifth most expensive shopping boulevard globally — even as annual rents in the Parisian hot spot rose 10% to $1,226 per square foot.

6. Tokyo: Ginza

Annual rents in the Ginza district of Tokyo are priced at $1,134 per square foot, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

7. Zurich: Bahnhofstrasse

Annual rents in Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse are priced at $939 per square foot, according to the report.

8. Sydney: Pitt Street Mall

Annual rents in Sydney's Pitt Street Mall district are priced at $767 per square foot, according to the report.

9. Seoul: Myeong-dong

Annual rents in the Myeong-dong district of Seoul are priced at $658 per square foot, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

10. Vienna: Kohlmarkt

Kohlmarkt in Vienna maintained its same position as last year, with an annual rent in 2024 of $529 per square foot, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

• Trump has nominated Howard Lutnick for commerce secretary.
• It's a pivotal pick given that economic concerns helped fuel Trump's win.
• Lutnick had been viewed as a frontrunner for the position of treasury secretary.

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated billionaire finance executive Howard Lutnick as his next commerce secretary.

"He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative," Trump said in a statement first posted on Truth Social and later released by his transition team.

"Howard has created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen," Trump said.

Lutnick, who is Trump's transition team cochair alongside the WWE chief Linda McMahon, had been seen as a frontrunner for the treasury secretary position.

Lutnick even garnered the support of Elon Musk for the role. Despite some powerful backing, Lutnick's private jockeying for the role wore on those around Trump, according to multiple reports.

Now, with Lutnick out of the picture, Trump is likely nearing his final decision for his last major Cabinet appointment.

Commerce secretary will be a pivotal role in the Trump administration, given economic concerns played a key role in fueling Trump's victory.

As the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, Lutnick is a New York financial powerhouse. He's known Trump for decades and has hosted fundraisers for the president-elect and appeared on TV as a surrogate.

He spoke onstage at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally, touting the tariffs of yesteryear and Musk's forthcoming DOGE initiative alongside the Tesla billionaire.

Lutnick is known for steering Cantor Fitzgerald through the September 11, 2002, terrorist attacks.

The firm's offices were located at the top of one of the World Trade Center towers, and roughly two-thirds of its workforce was killed that day. It lost more workers on 9/11 than any other company.

Lutnick's brother was killed in the attack, but Lutnick survived because he happened to be taking his son to school that morning.