• Puerto Rico's power was restored after a New Year's Eve blackout sent the island into darkness.
• Still, the island's power company warned that there could be more electricity outages.
• Local business owners in San Juan told BI about their struggles to recover.

Small business owners and workers in Puerto Rico say they're struggling to recover from a massive power outage earlier this week that left the entire island without electricity.

Puerto Rico's electricity has mostly been restored after the blackout on New Year's Eve cut the power for more than 1.2 million customers. But the local energy company warned that it may need to schedule more rolling outages because the power grid is so fragile.

One business owner told BI that they'd tried their best to recover from the New Year's Eve outage, only to be hit with another outage on Friday

"It's very, very surreal because we were about to have the whole system online today — and the technicians were already working before we opened the lunch service — and all of a sudden the system went out again," Gabriel Hernandez, the chef and co-owner of Verde Mesa restaurant in San Juan, told Business Insider.

The restaurant had already had to cancel its New Year's Eve dinner service because even though power was restored on Tuesday afternoon, it was too late to scramble to open.

"Once the power's restored, there's another layer of work that has to be done, which is to check our produce, check if our refrigerators are working, check our antenna and WiFi," Hernandez said.

And in the days since, he's also had to reduce the restaurant's seating capacity to below 50% of normal, he said. The blackout caused the restaurant's WiFi antenna to go out, downing its point-of-sale system, which Hernandez said he hasn't been able to get fixed.

Operating at less than half capacity has been especially difficult during one of the busiest weeks of the year, he said. He estimated the restaurant's losses are already in the thousands of dollars.

And, he said, the restaurant will never be able to make that back. "Unless we have somebody inject money that we lost, we don't recuperate money," Hernandez said.

Puerto Rico's power company warns of more outages

Luma Energy, the private company that transmits and distributes power in the territory, said in an X post on Thursday morning that 99% of its 1.4 million customers were back in service. It didn't respond to multiple inquiries from Business Insider.

The company urged customers to limit their energy consumption and use backup energy wherever possible as the electric system gets back up to speed. Luma initially attributed the blackout to the failure of an underground cable, but said on Thursday the cause was still under investigation.

The island-wide blackout, which happened around dawn on Tuesday, threw the New Year's Eve plans of the territory's more than 3 million residents into disarray.

The owner of another restaurant in San Juan, who didn't want to be named, told BI that she lost about a thousand dollars worth of refrigerated items — mostly produce and fish — when the power went out on Tuesday.

Luckily, she said, the restaurant was already closed that day, but because she doesn't have backup generators, she couldn't save her perishable inventory. And her restaurant's margins are already very slim, she said, so it won't be easy to make back that lost money.

Hotels, too, lost money during this week's power outage. Jose Lopez told Business Insider that the small eight-room hotel Villa Herencia, where he works in San Juan, had to refund a few guests who left early during Tuesday's outage.

But, he said, power service has been good since it was restored, and the hotel hasn't experienced any smaller outages.

One café worker in San Juan, who didn't want to be named, said that while his café suffered some losses this week, it was able to continue operating through the blackout thanks to its generator. People from around the neighborhood were able to come in and get food during the outage, he said.

Though some businesses and residences had their power restored by Tuesday afternoon or evening, others had to wait longer. Ryan Pamplin, a 36-year-old business owner, told BI that the power at his house in Dorado took 23 hours to come back on. Once it did, it went out again a few hours later and remained out for most of New Year's Day.

The island's power system has been an issue for a long time

Puerto Rico has for years dealt with a sometimes rickety power system, highlighted in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017 and Hurricane Fiona in 2022.

Tuesday's widespread outage came as the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA, has been trying to restructure its debt, which The Associated Press said stood at more than $9 billion.

Puerto Rico's new governor, Jenniffer González Colón, who was sworn in on Thursday, has called out the territory's ailing power grid and promised that stabilizing it will be her top priority.

• Ryan Pamplin moved to Puerto Rico four years ago for the entrepreneurial scene.
• He and his family love the island, but he's frustrated with its ailing power infrastructure.
• A massive blackout plunged the island into darkness on Tuesday, and it could take days to restore.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ryan Pamplin, a 36-year-old who moved to Puerto Rico from the mainland US four years ago. Pamplin is the founder and CEO of BlendJet, a brand of portable blenders sold online and in more than 30,000 retail stores in 40 countries. He lives in Dorado with his wife and infant.

Pamplin was affected by Tuesday's near-total blackout in Puerto Rico, which left millions of residents across the island without power. Officials have said it could take days to restore service.

In recent years, Puerto Rico has seen a rise in entrepreneurs moving there. Government incentives like tax breaks — combined with the draw of an island lifestyle — have made it an attractive place for startups and new businesses.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm originally from Santa Monica, California, and then I moved a couple different times. I lived in New York, I lived in Florida, and most recently in the San Francisco Bay area.

And then about four years ago, a good friend of mine who's a really successful entrepreneur just said, "Hey, you got to check out Puerto Rico. There's something really interesting happening here. There's a lot of entrepreneurs moving there."

And I ended up talking to 30 different people — on Zoom, during COVID — who have moved here. Then I planned a whole trip to Puerto Rico with my cofounder and our wives, and we fell in love with it.

We met locals, we met people who had relocated here, and we just felt like, "Wow, what a cool place to go during Covid." And then we just never left. We ended up having our son here and built a house here.

We are in Dorado, which is about 30 minutes to the west of San Juan, and there's a really big community of people who have relocated from the mainland, a lot of entrepreneurs. It's a good mixture of us and locals all mixed together. I have a son who's 19 months old, and there are just tons of other kids to play with all the time. You see kids ride around on bikes by themselves. It's really safe.

The community is amazing and it's a great place to live — aside from the infrastructure.

I've never been anywhere in the world where people are so passionate about electricity that they protest in the streets about it.

When we moved here, there would be people driving tons of cars, just like a parade, with all kinds of megaphones and noisemakers and honking to protest the power company because it's really unreliable and it's expensive. That's happened many times since we've lived here.

People are mad because they keep increasing the rates but the service doesn't improve.

Backup power is a necessity — if you can swing it

You need backup energy in Puerto Rico because we have outages constantly, so I have four portable power stations and two backup batteries. In a two-week period recently, we experienced 14 outages. Most of the time it's an entire city or multiple cities. Sometimes the outages are short, but generally they last five-plus hours, and sometimes they last 18 to 24 hours.

That's a problem for so many people, and for restaurants and local businesses, because the food in their fridge goes bad. And ice sells out super quickly.

And it's not just power loss. Sometimes you get weird voltage drops, so then it fries all your electronics. You might not even be able to get it fixed, you just have to buy a new one. That happens so frequently. It's happened to me. It's happened to all my friends.

And then the gas generators break too. These generators are terrible environmentally — they're burning all this fuel, and they're super inefficient. It's terrible for the air quality surrounding your home.

The really difficult thing is it's really hot here all the time so not having AC could be deadly.

I don't have enough battery backup for the ACs, so when the power goes off, I usually wake up in the middle of the night because I get hot. And then I put a fan next to our bed. Then we sneak into the baby's room, trying not wake him up, and put a fan next to his bed. If we don't, he can't sleep at all without a fan.

Tuesday's power outage is definitely the worst that I've seen in four years of living here. That's because it's not isolated to one city or one area. It's the entire island.

I don't know a single person that has power right now. The only people that have power are people that have generators or they have powerwalls.

I've also never seen the water pressure drop so low. Right now, my water pressure is so bad, not just because my pump is off, but whatever pumps happen at the water company, those pumps aren't working. So if I turn on my faucet, no water comes out.

It's crazy to live in a place that's part of the United States that just has an unbelievably unreliable grid.

You have a lot of really talented people who come here, or are born here, or live here that are just incredibly frustrated because of such a basic thing as not having reliable power. And then they leave, and that hurts the economy.

Making the most of a New Year's Eve with no power

As for New Year's Eve on Tuesday, the power outage will probably inspire everyone to go stand in the street at midnight instead of standing in their homes. People are probably more likely to turn it into a block party and have a really good time.

I'm sure we're going to see all the stars and we're going to see the fireworks.

It'll be beautiful.

(Luma, the privately owned power provider, hasn't responded to a request for comment from Business Insider. The company earlier said in a statement that it's working to track down the source of the outage. "We understand the deep frustration that the power outage situation on a day like today is causing our customers and families in the country," the company said in a translated statement on X.)

• A massive blackout in Puerto Rico left more than 1.3 million power-company customers in the dark.
• The power company, Luma Energy, said restoring power could take up to 48 hours.
• It said the outage appeared to have been caused by the failure of an underground power line.

A massive blackout hit Puerto Rico early Tuesday — and it could take days to restore power.

The outage, which happened around dawn, initially left nearly 90% of the private power company Luma Energy's 1.47 million customers without power, the company told The Associated Press.

Luma, in a statement, called the blackout island-wide. It said the issue appeared to have stemmed from the failure of an underground cable, though it also said the cause was still under investigation. The utility said that fully restoring power could take 24 to 48 hours.

On social media, Luma said it had begun restoring power in phases. The utility said that by 11 a.m. local time it had restored power to the Municipal Hospital of San Juan, among other locations. It said that as of 1 p.m., it had restored power to 44,700 customers, or about 3% of its customers without power. And by 3 p.m., it said it had restored power to more than 73,000 customers.

As of Tuesday afternoon, at least 1.1 million customers remained without power throughout the US island territory.

"Luma teams remain focused on the complex process of restoring service to all affected customers," the company said in a translated statement.

Puerto Rico has for years dealt with a sometimes rickety power system, highlighted in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017 and Hurricane Fiona in 2022.

Luma is in charge of distributing energy across the island, while a company called Genera PR provides the power. The New York Times said both had been under scrutiny because of the territory's frequent outages.

Ryan Pamplin, the CEO and cofounder of BlendJet who's based in Dorado, Puerto Rico, told Business Insider that Tuesday's blackout was "definitely the worst that I've seen in four years of living here."

"I've never seen — even during a hurricane — I've never seen the entire island lose power," he said.

Pamplin said power wasn't the only problem during a blackout. He said water pressure in Puerto Rico is typically low, and pumps are used to help increase it — but when the power goes out, so do the pumps. He said he'd never seen the water pressure in Dorado drop so low.

He said that there was no water coming out of his faucets on Tuesday and that only one of his toilets was sort of flushing.

In a statement posted on Facebook, translated by the Times, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said, "We are demanding answers."

He said the two power companies "must expedite the restart of the generating units outside the fault area and keep the people duly informed about the measures they are taking to restore service throughout the island."

The widespread outage comes as the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA, has been trying to restructure its debt, which the AP said stood at more than $9 billion.

Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York, argued on X that the federal government needed to step up and "end this cycle of insanity" as the island grapples with its unreliable electric grid.

A report from the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies at the City University of New York said more than 1.1 million Puerto Ricans lived in the New York metropolitan area in 2022.

Pablo José Hernández Rivera, the incoming resident commissioner of Puerto Rico — the territory's nonvoting member of the House of Representatives — said in a statement that he'd alerted federal officials to the urgency of Tuesday's situation.

"Once sworn in, I will collaborate closely with Congressional leaders and the incoming administrations in Puerto Rico and the United States to deliver real, lasting solutions," he said. "Our people deserve reliable energy and a brighter future — we will not settle for less."

The governor-elect of Puerto Rico, Jenniffer González, who's set to be sworn in on Thursday, also highlighted the territory's ailing power grid on social media.

"We can't keep relying on an energy system that fails our people," González said on X. "Today's blackout and the uncertainty around restoration continue to impact our economy and quality of life."

She said that stabilizing Puerto Rico's energy grid would be her top priority when she takes office.

• Home prices across the US kept climbing in 2024, and luxury home prices were no exception.
• The cost of the top 5% of luxury homes rose nearly 9% from 2023 to 2024, Redfin found.
• A $210 million Malibu mansion and $108 million Aspen property were among the priciest sold in 2024.

By some measures, all home prices reached record highs in 2024.

It's not just more affordably priced homes that have gotten more expensive: Luxury real estate has also boomed this year.

The price of luxury homes — defined as those with a market value in the top 5% for their area — rose nearly 9% year-over-year as of the second quarter of 2024, according to the most recent data available from real-estate site Redfin. That jump was twice as fast as the increase for non-luxury homes, Redfin found.

Here's a look at five of the most expensive homes sold across the US this year.

A $210 million Malibu mansion broke California's record for priciest property ever sold

In June, Oakley sunglasses founder James Jannard sold his Malibu mansion for $210 million.

It edged out Beyoncé and Jay-Z's $200 million compound, also in Malibu, to break the record for the most expensive home ever sold in California.

Jannard bought the estate 12 years ago for $75 million, but the new owner's name is shrouded behind an anonymous LLC, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The mansion has eight bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, and a tennis court spread over 9.5 acres and was pared down by previous owners who found the original main home "too grandiose," according to San Francisco outlet SFGate.

Its renovation was handled by Michael S. Smith, who also redesigned the White House's Oval Office for then-President Barack Obama in 2010.

A home on Palm Beach's only private island sold for $152 million

In May, a 28,600-square-foot home on Tarpon Island in Palm Beach, Florida, sold for $152 million, a real-estate agent behind the sale confirmed to Business Insider.

The property — situated on Palm Beach's only private island — includes two private decks, multiple pools, a wine room, a waterfront gym, a tennis court, and a wellness facility complete with a massage room and a nail salon, according to Mansion Global.

The home's buyer was Australian investor Michael Dorrell, who founded infrastructure investment firm Stonepeak Partners and formerly served as a senior managing director at Blackstone, The Wall Street Journal first reported, citing people familiar with the deal.

Another Palm Beach home sold for $148 million to a collector of trophy properties

A nearly 23,000-square-foot house with 225 feet fronting the Atlantic Ocean in Palm Beach sold for $148 million to billionaire investor Daren Metropoulos earlier this year, Mansion Global reported.

Metropoulos — a principal at private-equity firm Metropoulos & Co. and former co-CEO of Pabst Brewing Company — is a collector of trophy properties. He purchased the former Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills, California, in 2016 for $100 million, according to The New York Times.

The landmarked Mediterranean Revival-style house in Palm Beach, designed by architect Addison Mizner in 1919, is called Casa Amado and sits on 3.2 acres, according to Mansion Global.

A $135 million penthouse was New York City's most expensive sale of the year

Real-estate developer Vlad Doronin's highest-profile project of late is the hotel and condos at Aman New York, located in the landmarked Beaux-Arts-style Crown Building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Doronin himself purchased a five-story penthouse in the building this year for $135 million, Bloomberg reported.

The penthouse is one of just 22 residences above the hotel, which has more than 80 rooms, according to Bloomberg.

The home, which fetched more than $10,000 per square foot, was sold as an unfinished space that the owner can build out, Bloomberg reported, citing a spokesperson for developer OKO Group.

Doronin, who the Wall Street Journal called a "Russian James Bond" earlier this year, founded OKO Group and serves as Aman's owner, chairman, and CEO.

An Aspen home with 11 bedrooms broke a Colorado record

Former casino tycoon Steve Wynn partnered with billionaire financier Thomas Peterffy to purchase Colorado's most expensive home ever sold, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Looking out over Aspen at the base of Red Mountain, the 22,405-square-foot mansion — which includes 11 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, an outdoor pool, and a guest house — sold to the pair in April for $108 million, The Denver Post reported.

Aspen's first nine-figure sale elevates it to the ranks of other places that have hit that milestone: New York, Los Angeles, and Palm Beach, according to the Journal.

• Generative AI is becoming increasingly omnipresent  — and is a growing hot topic.
• Chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT are changing the way we find information, generate images, and more.
• Here are the people, companies, and words you need to know to understand AI. 

It's becoming increasingly impossible to ignore AI in our everyday lives.

Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022, people have gotten used to using the chatbot in many ways. Workers are turning to AI to automate tasks, while others are using the technology to improve their personal lives.

And as AI continues to advance, there may be a greater need for everyone to understand what it is and how it may affect us.

Here's a list of the people, companies, and terms you need to know to talk about AI, in alphabetical order.

The top AI leaders and companies

Sam Altman: The cofounder and CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. In 2023, Altman was ousted by OpenAI's board before returning to the company as CEO days later.

Dario Amodei: The CEO and cofounder of Anthropic, a major rival to OpenAI, where he previously worked. The AI startup is behind an AI chatbot called Claude 2. Google and Amazon are investors in Anthropic.

Demis Hassabis: The cofounder of DeepMind and now CEO of Google DeepMind, Hassabis leads its AI efforts at Alphabet.

Jensen Huang: The CEO and cofounder of Nvidia, the tech giant behind the specialized chips companies use to power their AI technology.

Elon Musk: The Tesla and SpaceX CEO founded artificial intelligence startup xAI in 2023. The valuation of this new venture has risen dramatically in just 16 months — it now has an estimated valuation of $50 billion, according to recent reports. Musk also cofounded OpenAI, and after leaving the company in 2018, he has maintained a feud with Altman.

Satya Nadella: The CEO of Microsoft, the software giant behind the Bing AI-powered search engine and Copilot, a suite of generative AI tools. Microsoft is also an investor in OpenAI.

Mustafa Suleyman: The cofounder of DeepMind, Google's AI division, who left the company in 2022. He cofounded Inflection AI, before he joined Microsoft as its chief of AI in March 2024.

Mark Zuckerberg: The Facebook founder and Meta CEO who has been spending big to advance Meta's AI capabilities, including training its own models and integrating the technology into its platforms.

The AI terms you need to know

Agentic: A type of artificial intelligence that can make proactive, autonomous decisions with limited human input. Unlike generative AI models like ChatGPT, agentic AI does not need a human prompt to take action — for example, it can perform complex tasks and adapt when objectives change. Google's Gemini 2.0 focuses on agentic AI that can solve multi-step problems on its own.

AGI: "Artificial general intelligence," or the ability of artificial intelligence to perform complex cognitive tasks such as displaying self-awareness and critical thinking the way humans do.

Alignment: A field of AI safety research that aims to ensure that the goals, decisions, and behaviors of AI systems are consistent with human values and intentions. In July 2023 OpenAI announced a "Superalignment" to focus on making its AI safe. That team was later disbanded and in May the company set up a safety and security committee to advise the board on "critical safety and security decisions."

Biden's executive order on AI: Biden signed this landmark executive order, officially called the "Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence," in 2023. It does a number of things to try to regulate the development of AI, including demanding greater transparency from tech companies producing AI, setting new standards for AI safety and security, and taking steps to ensure the US stays competitive in AI research and development. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to rescind this order.

Compute: The AI computing resources needed to train models and carry out tasks, including processing data. This can include GPUs, servers, and cloud services.

Deepfake: An AI-generated image, video, or voice meant to appear real which tends to be used to deceive viewers or listeners. Deepfakes have been used to create non-consensual pornography and extort people for money.

Effective altruists: Broadly speaking, this is a social movement that stakes its claim in the idea that all lives are equally valuable and those with resources should allocate them to helping as many as possible. And in the context of AI, effective altruists, or EAs, are interested in how AI can be safely deployed to reduce suffering caused by social ills like climate change and poverty. Figures including Elon Musk, Sam Bankman-Fried, and Peter Thiel identify as effective altruists. (See also: e/accs and decels).

Frontier models: Refers to the most advanced examples of AI technology. The Frontier Model Forum — an industry nonprofit launched by Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic in 2023 — defines frontier models as "large-scale machine-learning models that exceed the capabilities currently present in the most advanced existing models, and can perform a wide variety of tasks."

GPU: A computer chip, short for graphic processing unit, that companies use to train and deploy their AI models. Nvidia's GPUs are used by Microsoft and Meta to run their AI models.

Hallucinations: A phenomenon where a large language model (see below) generates inaccurate information that it presents as a fact. For example, during an early demo, Google's AI chatbot Bard hallucinated by generating a factual error about the James Webb Space Telescope.

Large language model: A complex computer program designed to understand and generate human-like text. The model is trained on large amounts of data and produces answers by scraping information across the web. Examples of LLMs include OpenAI's GPT-4, Meta's Llama 2, and Google's Gemini.

Machine learning: Also known as deep learning, machine learning refers to AI systems that can adapt and learn on their own, without following human instructions or explicit programming.

Multimodal: The ability for AI models to process text, images, and audio to generate an output. Users of ChatGPT, for instance, can now write, speak, and upload images to the AI chatbot.

Natural language processing: The umbrella term encompasses a variety of methods for interpreting and understanding human language. LLMs are one tool for interpreting language within the field of NLP.

Neural network: A machine learning program designed to think and learn like a human brain. Facial recognition systems, for instance, are designed using neural networks in order to identify a person by analyzing their facial features.

Open-source: A trait used to describe a computer program that anyone can freely access, use, and modify without asking for permission. Some AI experts have called for models behind AI, like ChatGPT, to be open-source so the public knows how exactly they are trained.

Optical character recognition: OCR is technology that can recognize text within images — like scanned documents, text in photos, and read-only PDFs — and extract it into text-only format that machines can read.

Prompt engineering: The process of asking AI chatbots questions that can produce desired responses. As a profession, prompt engineers are experts in fine tuning AI models on the backend to improve outputs.

Rationalists: People who believe that the most effective way to understand the world is through logic, reason, and scientific evidence. They draw conclusions by gathering evidence and critical thinking rather than following their personal feelings.

When it comes to AI, rationalists seek to answer questions like how AI can be smarter, how AI can solve complex problems, and how AI can better process information around risk. That stands in opposition to empiricists, who in the context of AI, may favor advancements in AI backed by observational data.

Responsible scaling policies: Guidelines for AI developers to follow that are designed to mitigate safety risks and ensure the responsible development of AI systems, their impact on society, and the resources they will consume, such as energy and data. Such policies help ensure that AI is ethical, beneficial, and sustainable as systems become more powerful.

Singularity: A hypothetical moment where artificial intelligence becomes so advanced that the technology surpasses human intelligence. Think of a science fiction scenario where an AI robot develops agency and takes over the world.

• Ahead of its shift to an all-EV future, Jaguar unveiled a new brand identity this year.
• The rebrand was roasted by many online. But some advertising vets have said it was a smart strategy.
• Jaguar's first new EV model is expected in 2025 — and industry watchers said it has to deliver.

Jaguar gambled big this year on a total brand transformation. And in 2025, the British luxury carmaker will need to prove all the fuss was worth it.

It's set next year to debut the first EV in its new all-electric lineup: After setting up global audiences to expect something big — this year's Jaguar advertising controversy was the talk of the industry and beyond — now it's got to deliver something that matches the moment its rebrand has created, industry watchers said.

A space-age concept car — presented in pink and blue — with swooping lines and curious interior features stoked some excitement for the brand, whose leaders have said it intends to go much more upmarket.

Sometime next year, if the company stays on its own timeline, we'll see the result.

"I think the biggest risk for them now is making sure the production model lives up to the promise and doesn't suffer death by a thousand cuts," Greg Andersen, the CEO of the Omaha, Nebraska, creative agency Bailey Lauerman, told BI recently. "Rolling out an unapologetic, future-facing brand along with a marginally better car might not go so well."

Here's how Jaguar — a favored vehicle of the British royal family, UK prime ministers, and James Bond villains — got to this point:

Jaguar's slumping sales call for a reset

Jag's sales had been slumping globally for years. In 2021, Jaguar first announced that it would ditch internal combustion engines and go all-in on EVs.

And in 2024, the nearly century-old Jaguar made major moves to ramp up that transition. Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India-based Tata Motors, said it would phase out production of all its current models by the end of this year.

In their place will come the new fully electric models, the first of which the company said would be unveiled in 2025 — and are expected to go on sale to the public in 2026.

A new Jaguar is born

In November of this year, soon after stopping new vehicle sales in the UK, Jaguar released the controversial new vision and brand identity.

The public reaction to the debut of Jaguar's new rebranding campaign wasn't quite as positive as the company may have hoped.

In particular, a promotional video Jag unveiled as part of the campaign — which also included an updated typeface for Jaguar's iconic logo, a redesigned leaping-jaguar mark, and a new creative philosophy to "copy nothing" — raised some eyebrows.

The video shows models clad in colorful, ultra-modern outfits doing things like exiting an elevator, painting a wall, and swinging a sledgehammer before they all sit down on a rock in a pink desert landscape.

Phrases like "create exuberant," "live vivid," and "delete ordinary," flashed across the screen. And notably, for a car company, there were no cars in the ad.

Social media users, late-night TV hosts, and some in the media roasted Jaguar over its decision not to include cars in the video, which was a viral sensation.

Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk weighed in, posting on X: "Do you sell cars?"

"The Late Show's" Stephen Colbert said on his program: "Where are the cars? Does Jaguar sell ketamine now?"

It wasn't just the lack of cars in the initial video that got people talking. A rash of criticism cropped up online and elsewhere, with some right-leaning personalities accusing the company of abandoning its traditional history and pushing into "woke" politics.

In response to the backlash, Jaguar's managing director Rawdon Glover told the Financial Times he was disappointed by "the level of vile hatred and intolerance" that he said the video garnered online, particularly against the models it featured. But he also said the campaign had drummed up positive buzz.

Marketing and rebranding professionals gave mixed reviews to Business Insider at the time — one called the campaign "bonkers," and another said it was a relatively successful rollout.

The ad industry vets all agreed that, at the very least, the rebrand sparked conversation.

Jaguar released a concept car to match its new image

A few weeks after its rebrand launch, at the beginning of December, Jaguar unveiled a design concept for its next generation of electric vehicles — finally pairing an image of a car with its "exuberant modernism" rebranding campaign.

The pastel-colored concept car — dubbed "Type 00" for zero tailpipe emissions and its status as car zero in the brand's new lineage — featured several novel design elements, like a glassless rear tailgate, a brass divider running through the middle of the cabin, and pedestals of travertine stone to support the floating seats.

When the concept car was released, several advertising veterans applauded it for continuing Jag's rebrand strategy.

"This is a master class in what rebranding can accomplish for a company — a new forward-facing product and brand, clearly designed for its new customer persona, that everyone is talking about," Jim Heininger, the founder and principal of the Chicago firm The Rebranding Experts, previously told Business Insider.

Others were less convinced.

Christos Joannides, the founder and creative director of the luxury branding agency Flat 6 Concepts in Los Angeles, said the concept car didn't do enough to ground Jaguar's new ethos in reality.

"By showcasing a production model with more realistic features, Jaguar could have conveyed its vision more effectively and provided tangible evidence of its direction," Joannides said. "As it stands, the concept car feels superficial and gimmicky, like a desperate attempt to be different without any real substance or coherent strategy."

Jaguar needs to deliver in 2025

For better or worse, Jaguar had a big year. And even bigger is the company's need to follow through next year.

The first model of Jaguar's new lineup — the electric four-door GT — will be unveiled in late 2025, the company has said.

It said the model would use dedicated Jaguar Electric Architecture, have a projected driving range of up to 430 miles on a single charge, and be able to add up to 200 miles of range after 15 minutes of rapid charging.

But with a price tag that could near $200,000, Jaguar's new models will really need to be incredible, EV news outlet Electrek argued.

With so much competition, it could still be a tough sell.

"Unless Jaguar's expectations for its upcoming line of EVs is tempered with a dose of reality, the company will be planning to produce far more vehicles than there will be buyers willing to take them home," analyst Sam Fiorani, vice president of global forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, told Car and Driver.

Jaguar has said updating its brand for the future is the right move.

"We have forged a fearlessly creative new character for Jaguar that is true to the DNA of the brand but future-facing, relevant, and one that really stands out," managing director Glover said at the time the concept car was revealed.

We'll see next year whether it was right.

• Apple exec Eddy Cue explained why the company has not built its own search engine.
• Google has a deal with Apple to be its default search engine, and Apple wants to keep it that way.
• The exec explained Apple's reasoning in a filing related to the DOJ's antitrust case against Google.

Apple says it plans to stick to what it knows best, and that doesn't include building its own search engine.

In court papers filed this week in Washington, DC, Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of services, listed the reasons the iPhone maker does not want to create its own search engine.

The filing was made in connection to the Department of Justice's antitrust case against Google, which argues that Google has an illegal monopoly over the search engine market. One of the DOJ's key pieces of evidence in the trial is a revenue-sharing deal between Google and Apple that makes Google the default search engine on Apple's Safari browser on all its devices. Google has been paying Apple for this default search engine status since 2002. Google's payout has increased dramatically over the years, rising to around $20 billion in 2022.

Apple had asked to participate in the trial to defend its partnership with Google, Reuters reported. And in this week's filing, Cue explained the motivation behind the deal, including why Apple uses Google's search engine instead of creating its own.

He gave three main reasons:

1. Developing a search engine would "cost billions of dollars and take many years," Cue said in the filing. He added that it would divert employees and capital investment away from the company's other areas of growth.
2. Search is "rapidly evolving" alongside artificial intelligence, and investing in it now would be "economically risky," Cue said.
3. Search engines require a platform to sell targeted advertising, and that is not a core part of Apple's business, Cue said. He said Apple also does not have the staff or operational infrastructure to build out a successful search advertising business. And he said it could conflict with Apple's "longstanding privacy commitments."

Cue said the DOJ is wrongly assuming that, without a deal with Google, Apple would create its own search engine. Cue said that's not likely, regardless of the case's outcome. And he warned that if the DOJ blocks Google's revenue-sharing deal with Apple, then "it would hamstring Apple's ability to continue delivering products that best serve its users' needs."

Cue also highlighted Apple's revenue-sharing agreements with other search engines. These include deals that give Yahoo!, Microsoft Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia access to Apple users' Safari search queries, he said.

In 2018, Apple considered buying Microsoft's Bing search engine or investing in a multibillion-dollar deal to allow Bing to supplement some of Google's dominance on Apple devices, CNBC reported in 2023. But the deal, which could have tarnished Apple's relationship with Google, ultimately did not go through, according to the report.

• Uber is continuing to expand its ride options, and some might surprise you.
• The ride-hailing company launched Uber Shikara in India and Uber Shuttle in the US this year.
• It plans to bring more boat and flight options in 2025.

You might be hopping into an Uber at some point this holiday season — and depending on where you live, that ride could take many different forms.

Uber's ride-hailing services are currently available in more than 10,000 cities in over 70 countries on six continents, a company spokesperson said. And in many of those places, the company offers more than just car rides.

In some some parts of the world, you can take rides on an Uber Boat, Uber Shuttle, Uber rickshaw, or Uber Shikara, and in the past, the company has also offered more novel travel options like Uber Yacht and Uber Sleigh.

Even more options are coming in 2025.

Uber by air

Uber has been looking to the skies for years, and the US-based tech company has some big aerial plans for 2025.

In 2017, Uber offered helicopter rides, dubbed UberCHOPPER, in the United Arab Emirates, between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, for one day only to visitors of that year's Formula 1 Grand Prix race. The less-than 30-minute trip, which could accommodate up to six people, cost about $544 per person in today's dollars.

In 2019, Uber launched an ongoing helicopter ride-hailing service in New York City called Uber Copter. The offering allowed riders to request a copter ride from Manhattan, below 110th Street, to John F. Kennedy International Airport between the hours of 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For around $200, the service included a ride from your pickup location to the heliport, an 8-minute helicopter flight, and a ride from the heliport to your destination.

The service was short-lived, however, as the company discontinued it in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Uber isn't done with air travel just yet.

By late 2025, Uber plans to launch electric commercial "air taxis" in New York City and Los Angeles in partnership with Joby Aviation, which manufactures electric takeoff and landing vehicles, or eVTOLs.

Earlier this year, Business Insider's Taylor Rains toured one of the sleek new eVTOLs, which are much quieter and more eco-friendly than traditional aircraft.

"We're excited to continue exploring electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) partnerships in the Advanced Air Mobility space," an Uber spokesperson told BI. "This transformational technology will require connected mobility solutions on the ground and in the air to make this future a reality, especially for trips up to 100 miles."

Uber by boat

Uber offers a few different ways to glide across the water via river, sea, and lake.

One popular Uber Boat option is a water shuttle service on the River Thames in London, which launched in 2020 in partnership with boat operator Thames Clippers.

Riders can purchase a one- or two-day hop-on, hop-off pass for about $27 or buy Point A to Point B tickets, which can range in price depending on where you're going. An end-to-end single adult trip costs around $21, while shorter distances can be around $6.

Business Insider took a ride on an Uber Boat in 2021 and reported that it was much more fun than a traditional taxi ride.

And in 2025, Uber is expanding London's Uber Boat with the UK's first fully-electric cross-river passenger ferry, which will have capacity for 150 people and 100 bikes.

But if you're looking for a more upscale way to hit the waves, Uber launched a few higher-end European water transport services over the summer.

In August, travelers could book an Uber Yacht in Ibiza, Spain, to take up to eight passengers on an 8-hour private ride around the island, complete with Champagne, artisanal snacks, and land transportation to and from the skipper. The luxury adventure cost around $1,650.

Uber also started an on-demand "Limo Boat" service in Venice, Italy, in July for up to six people at about $124 per trip. The company also expanded its Uber Boat service in Greece from Mykonos to Athens, Corfu, and Santorini.

Though these higher-end options were seasonal offerings for the summer of 2024, Uber plans to announce more boat options in 2025, a company spokesperson told BI.

In December, the ride-hailing company launched Uber Shikara on Dal Lake in Srinagar, India.

Riders can book a one-hour ride on one of the traditional wooden boats, which are typically canopied and ornately painted, for up to four passengers. Uber says it will not collect any fees on the ride, and the entire amount of the fare will go directly to the Shikara driver.

Uber by land

Uber has also expanded on its original mode of transportation.

Aside from the traditional car options of UberX, UberXL, Uber Share, Uber Black, and others, the company now offers services like Uber Shuttle and Uber Auto.

In October, Uber announced its first-ever airport shuttle, which takes riders in New York City from Midtown Manhattan to LaGuardia Airport in Queens for $18.

Uber Shuttle also operates in cities throughout India, Brazil, Mexico, and Egypt.

You can also catch a ride on an Uber Auto, a three-wheeled motorized rickshaw, in over 60 cities in India. The service is so popular that Uber has expanded it into Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Tanzania, a company spokesperson said.

One of Uber's newest seasonal offerings is Uber Safari, available through the end of January, which takes up to four passengers on a day trip through the Aquila Private Game Reserve in Cape Town, South Africa for $200.

Or, if you want to take driving into your own hands, the Uber app also lets you book electric Lime bikes and scooters, or get a rental car from a local agency delivered to your doorstep.

In one of its most novel offerings, the company offered free Uber Sleigh rides — yes, on an actual reindeer-pulled sleigh in the snow — in Lapland, Finland for a week in December 2022.

What's next for Uber

Uber is continually expanding its offerings. And, in addition to bringing more flight and boat services to the app in 2025, Uber is also planning to push into the world of autonomous driving.

The company, which announced its first-ever full-year operating profit in February, is reviving its robotaxi dreams.

And on the business side of things, in 2024, the company's stock had gained around 6% by late-December, trailing the benchmark S&P 500 index, which had gained more than 27% over the same timeframe. (Main competitor Lyft was up only around 0.8%.)

• Alexis Ohanian predicts AI will drive demand for more raw human experiences.
• In 10 years, live theater will be more popular than ever, the Reddit cofounder contends.
• He says no matter what jobs are replaced by AI, humans will always have an advantage in empathy.

Alexis Ohanian predicted that in a future oversaturated with artificial intelligence, people will seek out more raw, emotive human experiences.

And in 10 years, he said, live theater will be more popular than ever.

The 41-year-old, who co-founded social media platform Reddit in 2005, told the "On Purpose with Jay Shetty" podcast this week that AI will soon have an undeniable impact on nearly every aspect of society, including the entertainment sector.

Ohanian, who also founded venture capital firm Seven Seven Six in 2020, said that the industry will see a big shift when AI makes on-screen entertainment better, faster, cheaper, and more dynamic — which he said is happening.

Every screen we look at will become so programmed to show us "what we want, when we want it, how we want it," he said, that "a part of our humanity will miss, you know, thousands of years ago when we were sitting around a campfire and that great storyteller was doing the voices and the impressions.'"

"That's ingrained in our species," he said.

And that kind of raw, in-person magic will feel novel, he suggested.

"I actually bet 10 years from now live theater will be more popular than ever," Ohanian said. "Because, again, we'll look at all these screens with all these AI-polished images, and we'll actually want to sit in a room with other humans to be captivated for a couple hours in a dark room to feel the goosebumps of seeing live human performances."

The same is true for sports, he told Shetty. "We need humans doing that. We need to feel their pain and their success and their triumphs," he said. "Those are the areas that get me most hopeful."

AI can't replace genuine human empathy, Ohanian suggested.

No matter what jobs robots take over from us in the future, fields of work where empathy is a core component of the job will have an advantage, he said. And that's why one of the most important, marketable skills he's teaching his kids is empathy, he said.

• Nima Momeni was found guilty of second-degree murder in Cash App founder Bob Lee's stabbing death.
• Momeni killed Lee after a dispute about Momeni's sister, prosecutors argued.
• Momeni, who was acquitted of first-degree murder, faces 16 years to life in prison, the DA said.

A San Francisco jury found Nima Momeni guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of 43-year-old Bob Lee, the creator of Cash App.

Momeni, a 40-year-old tech consultant, was accused of killing Lee in the early morning hours of April 4, 2023. Police had discovered Lee bleeding heavily from multiple stab wounds on an empty street in downtown San Francisco after he had called 911 for help. Lee later died of his injuries.

Prosecutors successfully argued to the jury that Momeni stabbed Lee three times with a knife he took from his sister's kitchen set.

Prosecutors said Momeni planned the killing after learning Lee introduced his sister to a drug dealer who drugged and sexually assaulted her, Fox News reported.

Momeni had confronted the Cash App founder about his sister, who had been drinking with Lee and a group of friends. Momeni asked Lee if she "was doing drugs or anything inappropriate," according to court documents. Prosecutors said a witness saw Lee reassuring Momeni that his sister had not taken any substances and that "nothing inappropriate had happened."

Later, Momeni lured Lee to a secluded area where prosecutors said he stabbed Lee before fleeing.

Momeni testified in court that he had been acting in self-defense. Momeni said he and Lee were driving together but pulled over because Momeni thought Lee was going to vomit, NBC News reported. Momeni said Lee then attacked him after he had joked that Lee cared more about strip clubs than his family, the outlet reported. Momeni told the court Lee pulled out the knife, and the pair struggled over it before Momeni walked away not realizing Lee had been stabbed.

But Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai argued that Lee was "stabbed through his heart and left to die," NBC News reported.

"In a world where the powerful and well-connected sometimes act as though they are immune to consequences, it is heartening to see a jury of ordinary San Franciscans demonstrate that if you break the law, you will be held accountable," Talai and Assistant District Attorney Dane Reinstedt said in a press release.

Momeni, whose attorneys didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI, was acquitted of first-degree murder charges. He faces 16 years to life in prison, the district attorney's office said.

• UnitedHealth Group's CEO eulogized his slain colleague, Brian Thompson, in a New York Times op-ed.
• Thompson's shooting sparked a nationwide debate about the state of the health insurance industry.
• Witty's op-ed faced fierce online criticism from people who said it didn't offer solutions.

The head of UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, is responding to the "vitriol" that's been lodged — both on- and offline — against the health insurance industry and its workers.

In an op-ed published in The New York Times on Friday, UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty expressed his grief over the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week, as well as his appreciation for the "outpouring of support" for Thompson. He then condemned the mounting rhetoric that he said has glorified violence against health insurance workers.

"We also are struggling to make sense of this unconscionable act and the vitriol that has been directed at our colleagues who have been barraged by threats," Witty wrote.

"No employees — be they the people who answer customer calls or nurses who visit patients in their homes — should have to fear for their and their loved ones' safety," he wrote.

Witty acknowledged growing criticism that the healthcare industry is flawed and defended his company's place within it.

"We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people's frustrations with it," Witty wrote, adding that his company's mission is to build a system that works better for everyone.

And Thompson, he added, advocated for ideas "aimed at making health care more affordable, more transparent, more intuitive, more compassionate — and more human."

The fatal shooting of Thompson outside a midtown Manhattan hotel last week sparked a nationwide conversation about the state of the US health insurance industry, with many criticizing the system's ability to provide lifesaving care.

Social media has been inundated with memes mocking Thompson's death, praising the shooting suspect, and calling out other healthcare CEOs. Some executives have sought out greater security over fears for their safety, though the suspect has been arrested and charged in connection with Thompson's murder.

Witty's op-ed in the Times had received more than 2,400 comments as of Friday afternoon, many of which ridiculed his statement and condemned what they said were UnitedHealth Group's practices of denying insurance claims.

A number of commenters called out Witty for saying the system is flawed without providing any tangible solutions to fix it. Others criticized the for-profit health insurance system as a whole, with some acknowledging that businesses are meant to make a profit and others advocating for nonprofit healthcare.

UnitedHealth didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Executive security is getting a closer look after the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare's CEO.
• Private security companies say they've gotten an influx of calls.
• Executive security spending at S&P 500 companies has been on the rise — doubling from 2021 to 2023.

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

Following the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson this week, some high-level executives are ramping up their own security.

The host of a series of national and international executive leadership summits told Business Insider that a surge of corporate leaders has been reaching out to him this week to inquire about security at the events.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld — a professor and senior associate dean for Leadership Studies at Yale who also heads Yale's Chief Executive Leadership Institute — has been hosting summits for top company executives for decades.

He said that over the last few years the institute has significantly increased the security it provides executives at its events in the US. But things have shifted this week ahead of the institute's coming CEO Summit in Manhattan in December.

"What's really different for us, this coming one, is so many people inquiring to make sure we have it" Sonnenfeld said, in reference to event security. "We never used to get inquiries about it."

Sonnenfeld said the institute had increased security at its events long before Thompson's fatal shooting because company leaders have increasingly faced threats and general hostility from the public.

"Sadly, CEOs have been made into foils or scapegoats for the far-left and the far-right," he said, "so that the political grandstanding has looked to make excuses for whatever unhappiness people have."

This year marks the first time the December CEO Summit will have armed and uniformed NYPD officers all around it, Sonnenfeld said. But, he added, the CEOs are thrilled to get together to compare notes with other CEOs on what they're doing about security.

Meanwhile, the fatal shooting has led to a surge of interest in beefed-up security for company leaders, people at private security firms said.

Michael Kozhar, the vice president of operations at International Security Services, Inc., of Brooklyn told BI that in the past few days, his company has seen a rise in calls from executives and companies looking to upgrade their security.

Still, because the attack on the healthcare executive appears to have been targeted, Kozhar said there hasn't been a lot of action so far in terms of companies actually engaging in more security services beyond inquiries. "If these incidents become more frequent, the atmosphere surrounding the purchase of security services will change drastically," he cautioned.

Matthew Dumpert, managing director at Kroll Enterprise Security Risk Management, told CNBC on Thursday, that he'd also received calls.

"We had CEOs and other executive-level and board members reaching out to us all throughout yesterday and today to increase their own executive protection, their own personal security around the clock, 24/7," he said.

Because executives are the face of an organization, they can receive the brunt of the blame for their customers' frustrations, Dumpert told the outlet. And for organizations that deal in life and death matters — like health insurance companies — that ire can be even more potent.

Allied Universal, which provides a range of security and protection services to Fortune 500 companies, saw a surge of potential clients reaching out on Wednesday following the attack on Thompson, company leaders told The New York Times.

But it's not just the events of this week that are giving executives cause for concern.

Targeted attacks — both online and offline — on executives and their families have risen dramatically in the last five years, Chris Pierson, the CEO of digital executive protection agency BlackCloak, told the Times. The firm's data shows that the most frequently targeted executives work in the health care, biomedical, and pharmaceutical industries, according to the outlet.

In the last few years, companies have been increasing the amount they spend on security for their top executives.

Between 2021 and 2023, the median total value of security benefits provided to named executive officers at S&P 500 companies doubled, according to data shared with Business Insider from executive compensation research firm Equilar.

The prevalence of companies offering security benefits also increased modestly — by around 4% over the same timeframe, according to Equilar.

The shooting of Thompson, who didn't appear to have security protection when he was killed in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning, sparked a dayslong manhunt for the suspect. As of Friday afternoon, the suspect is still at large, though authorities believe he has fled the city.

On Thursday, United Health Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, issued a statement: "Our priorities are, first and foremost, supporting Brian's family; ensuring the safety of our employees; and working with law enforcement to bring the perpetrator to justice."

• 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."

• Jaguar's rebrand has been controversial — but its rollout might also be a genius move.
• Advertising veterans told Business Insider the strategy could help mark a new era for the brand.
• Still, not everyone was convinced: Other marketing experts said Jag's final product might disappoint.

Jaguar has generated a lot of buzz since unveiling its rebranding campaign, culminating this week with the release of a conceptual design for its next generation of electric vehicles.

When the luxury British carmaker debuted its redesigned logo, brand philosophy, and promotional video last month, it stirred up controversy on social media. Some conservative personalities argued that the new aesthetic abandoned Jaguar's heritage and pushed into "woke" politics, while others questioned why the promo video didn't feature any cars.

That first phase of Jaguar's rebrand had some advertising veterans divided on whether the strategy was a smart move for the iconic brand.

And that division carried through to Jag's latest update on Monday, which finally paired images of cars with its "exuberant modernism" vision. Now that concept cars are connected to the initial rebranding video, some marketing professionals are praising Jaguar's "brilliant" strategy — while others remain less convinced.

"Jaguar's paced unveiling is a brilliant strategy to keep people talking and interested in a highly competitive auto marketplace," Jim Heininger, the founder and principal of the Chicago firm The Rebranding Experts, told Business Insider after seeing the conceptual car rollout.

"This is a master class in what rebranding can accomplish for a company — a new forward-facing product and brand, clearly designed for its new customer persona, that everyone is talking about," he said.

Heininger — whose 30-year career includes work for P&G, McDonald's, and Anheuser-Busch — argued that Jaguar set high expectations when it debuted its controversial rebrand last month.

He said the concept car unveiling delivered on those expectations. The car effectively signals the company's "boldly modernistic" vision and "departure from the past," he said. The colors, design shapes, and new logo "feel right when you see it on the concept car."

Greg Andersen, the CEO of the Omaha, Nebraska, creative agency Bailey Lauerman, also lauded Jag's marketing strategy.

"What exceeds expectations is the breadth and depth of the Jaguar brand vision," said Anderson, who's worked for brands such as Google, Levi's, Burberry, and Axe before joining Bailey Lauerman.

"They have revealed much more than a concept car," he said. "It seems it is the beginning of the story of the Jaguar brand vision, which they can easily chapter out and stretch to the production model reveal."

But looking to the future, Andersen said the company's strategy has to remain well-executed when it comes time to reveal its new EV, which the company has said it expects to happen in late 2025 before hitting showrooms in 2026.

"I think the biggest risk for them now is making sure the production model lives up to the promise and doesn't suffer death by a thousand cuts," Andersen told BI. "Rolling out an unapologetic, future-facing brand along with a marginally better car might not go so well."

The proof of success will be in the production model

Still, not all of the ad veterans who spoke to BI had so much praise for Jaguar and its rebranding rollout.

Christos Joannides, the founder and creative director of the luxury branding agency Flat 6 Concepts in Los Angeles, told Business Insider that Jaguar's initial rebranding announcement did too much all at once, "overwhelming and confusing" the carmaker's long-standing audience.

And, in releasing its concept car this week, Jaguar didn't do enough to ground its new ethos in reality, Joannides said.

Joannides, who's worked with Jaguar competitors like Maserati and Lotus, argued that the concept car's features, like the rear with no window and the brass-toned divider running through the middle of the cabin, are impractical and bizarre.

"By showcasing a production model with more realistic features, Jaguar could have conveyed its vision more effectively and provided tangible evidence of its direction," Joannides said. "As it stands, the concept car feels superficial and gimmicky, like a desperate attempt to be different without any real substance or coherent strategy."

Joannides said that while Jaguar's initial teaser video was "certainly audacious," the final product would be what matters.

Richard Brandon Taylor, the founder and CEO of the UK-based brand consultancy firm Brandon, told BI that while Jaguar's rebrand was a smart play in some ways because it got everyone talking, there's still a significant period of time before the first production model comes out to try to maintain that buzz.

"Why they've left a year between concept and car is beyond me — that is a dangerous strategy to play," said Taylor, who's worked with brands like Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz, and Kimberly-Clark.

Sunny Bonnell, the cofounder and CEO of the strategic branding firm Motto, said that to hold the audience's attention until the new cars hit the market, Jaguar needs to dive deeper into the "why" behind the rebrand.

"What does 'Copy Nothing' mean in practice?" said Bonnell, who's worked with brands like Google and Virgin. "How will it shape the driving experience, not just the look?" To do that, Jaguar needs a storytelling narrative, she said.

Jaguar's next steps in its rebranding rollout

It's unclear which specific design elements of the new concept will be implemented in Jaguar's forthcoming electric-vehicle models. Jaguar said its concept car was "an indicator of design philosophy and intent for the coming new vehicles," which are expected to be available for purchase sometime in 2026.

The new EV model will use dedicated Jaguar Electric Architecture, have a projected driving range of up to 430 miles on a single charge, and be able to add up to 200 miles of range after 15 minutes of rapid charging, the company said.

And the new EVs are expected to be much more upscale than previous Jags. Though Jaguar has not confirmed a price range, Wired reported, without citing a source, that the new Jag could cost at least $127,000 — a significant increase from current average price of around $70,000.

"We have forged a fearlessly creative new character for Jaguar that is true to the DNA of the brand but future-facing, relevant, and one that really stands out," Rawdon Glover, Jaguar's managing director, said of Monday's concept debut.

Update: December 5, 2024 — This story has been updated with comments from two additional marketing veterans.

• Jaguar has unveiled a concept car as part of its newly rebranded identity.
• Its rebrand stirred controversy for not including any cars — and some argued it was "woke."
• Jaguar said it would reveal a new electric model in late 2025 as part of its all-electric future.

Jaguar unveiled a design concept on Monday for its next generation of electric vehicles — finally pairing an image of a car with its "exuberant modernism" rebranding campaign.

Jaguar's rebrand had drawn fierce criticism over the past few weeks from some who said it was "woke" for featuring diverse models and bright colors. The campaign also didn't feature any cars.

Now, the luxury British carmaker has filled in some of the blanks regarding its new identity by revealing a concept car at Miami Art Week.

The exterior of the concept car — dubbed "Type 00" for zero tailpipe emissions and its status as car zero in the brand's new lineage — features butterfly doors, a glassless rear tailgate, and a panoramic roof.

It's conceptualized in two colors — "Miami Pink," honoring the pastel art deco architecture of the city in which it was unveiled, and "London Blue," inspired by the Opalescent Silver Blue of the 1960s and in honor of the company's British roots, Jaguar said in a statement.

"Type 00 commands attention, like all the best Jaguars of the past," Jaguar's chief exterior designer, Constantino Segui Gilabert, said in the statement. "It is a dramatic presence, channeling a unique spirit of British creativity and originality. It celebrates art and embodies the essence of Exuberant Modernism."

The Jag's exterior design also showcases the redesigned Jaguar "leaper" mark laser-etched into brass ingots that open up to reveal rear-facing cameras when needed.

On the inside, three brass lines run the length of the interior — one on each door and one straight down the middle of the cabin.

Floating instrument panels mark either side of the middle brass line, which is supported by a pedestal of travertine stone, as are the floating seats.

A woven wool-blend fabric surrounds the two seats, sound bar, and cabin floor.

"Just as on the outside, deployable technologies are a hallmark of the interior," Jaguar's chief interior designer, Tom Holden, said in the statement. "Screens glide silently and theatrically from the dashboard, while powered stowage areas slide open softly on demand, revealing hidden splashes of exuberant color."

It's not clear which specific design elements of the new concept will end up being implemented in Jaguar's forthcoming electric vehicle models. Jaguar said Type 00 was meant as "an indicator of design philosophy and intent for the coming new vehicles."

The brand announced in 2021 that it would be moving to all-electric vehicles. The first model of its new lineup — an electric four-door — will be unveiled in late 2025, the company said Monday.

It said the model would use dedicated Jaguar Electric Architecture, have a projected driving range of up to 430 miles on a single charge, and be able to add up to 200 miles of range after 15 minutes of rapid charging.

With the new vehicles expected to become available in 2026, the company is already phasing out production of its internal-combustion-engine cars, converting its Halewood, England, factory to all-electric production and ceasing sales of new cars in the UK.

In preparation for its EV lineup launch, Jaguar debuted its rebranding campaign in November. It included an updated typeface for its "Jaguar" logo, a redesign of the leaping jaguar mark, and a colorful new video advertisement that showed models clad in high fashion and had no cars in sight.

The promo video caught a lot of flak on social media, on late-night TV, and in the media for not featuring any cars, while some conservative personalities accused the company of abandoning its history and pushing into "woke" politics. Elon Musk even weighed in.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Jaguar's managing director, Rawdon Glover, defended the rebrand, saying that the campaign's intended message was lost "in a blaze of intolerance" and that the controversial promo video wasn't meant to be a "woke" statement.

The revamp of the iconic brand — and chosen vehicle of Britain's royal family and prime ministers — also included an introduction to its new design philosophy of "exuberant modernism," which the company defined as "imaginative, bold, and artistic at every touchpoint."

Some marketing and rebranding experts have heavily criticized Jaguar's new identity.

One told Business Insider the rebrand was "bonkers," and another said he wasn't convinced the company was making the right statement.

Still, others were more positive, with one advertising expert saying the rebranding rollout had been relatively successful and another saying it was a "significant disruption" that could eventually work for the company.

It's not just the shift in Jaguar's brand identity that has gotten marketers talking — it's also the apparent pivot in the audience base the company is now trying to target.

As part of the brand's positioning, the newly announced Jags are expected to be significantly more upmarket than the ones being phased out. Car and Driver previously reported that the brand, which is owned by India's Tata Motors, was looking toward Range Rover, its corporate cousin, as inspiration for where it wants to be. The magazine cited a Range Rover that costs about $400,000; most Jaguar models for 2024 had list prices of about $50,000 to $80,000.

"We have forged a fearlessly creative new character for Jaguar that is true to the DNA of the brand but future-facing, relevant, and one that really stands out," Glover said of Monday's concept debut.

• Branding experts have mixed reviews on Jaguar's new identity but agree it's a radical change.
• Jaguar's rebranding campaign sparked debate over its new image — and carless promo video.
• Jaguar wants to target a younger, wealthier audience as it transitions to an all-electric future.

Jaguar's controversial new rebranding campaign has stirred a ton of discussion across social media, late-night TV, and in the news.

Some conservative social media users have railed against the company as going "woke." Others have questioned why Jag's new promotional video didn't contain any cars.

But what do marketing and rebranding experts think of Jaguar's transition? Their reviews are mixed, ranging from one who called it a it a "bonkers" strategy to another who said it was a relatively "successful" rollout.

One thing they agree on: It's a radical change for a legacy brand like Jaguar.

The high-end British carmaker — Jaguar has been an icon of elegance and luxury for nearly a century — first unveiled its rebranding campaign in late November. It included a new typeface for its logo, a redesigned leaping jaguar mark, and a colorful promotional video that featured high-fashion models — and no cars.

The rebrand comes as Jaguar prepares to entirely abandon its internal combustion engines in favor of a new all-electric future.

Will Sears, the founder and CEO of Cincinnati-based marketing agency W.Bradford, said the intent behind Jaguar's new branding rollout is unclear. And he said he was confused by the decision not to include any cars in the video.

Sears, who has worked on campaigns for Eli Lilly, L'Oréal, and Vegas.com, told Business Insider that Jaguar changed too many things at once in its rebrand launch. Updating the logo is a "huge change" on its own, he said, but then combined with the conceptual ad that didn't have any cars — it could all be too much for the consumer to take in.

"So now consumers who follow this are completely unfamiliar with what they're looking at," Sears said. "What has made them a solid brand is the beautiful design and performance of their cars: That is not on display at all — in any even cryptic way. So it's very confusing to the market."

Sears added: "I think we are all hoping, or people who follow this are all hoping, that their next steps in this campaign are remedying what is kind of a bonkers rollout."

Getting attention is success on its own

Another marketing expert said the eyeballs the rebranding has attracted could be considered a win for Jag.

Jim Heininger, the founder and principal of Chicago rebranding firm The Rebranding Experts, told Business Insider that Jaguar has clearly received a lot of attention over its rebrand — and that's a kind of success in itself. (The YouTube video of the Jag rollout has more than 160 million views so far.)

"I think what they're doing is just kind of stirring up some emotions and stirring up some creative kind of look and feel of what the new brand is going to look like," said Heininger, whose 30-year career includes work for P&G, McDonald's, and Anheuser-Busch. "It wasn't necessary that they show cars. They're just trying to get our attention at this point in time, and they're doing that successfully."

It's not just the shift in Jaguar's brand identity that has gotten marketers talking — it's also the apparent pivot in what audience base Jaguar is now trying to target.

As part of the brand's positioning, the newly announced Jags are expected to be significantly more upmarket than the ones that are being phased out. Car and Driver previously reported that the brand, which is owned by India's Tata Motors, was looking toward its corporate cousin Range Rover as inspiration for where it wants to be. The magazine cited a Range Rover that costs around $400,000; most Jaguar models for 2024 had list prices of around $50,000 to $80,000.)

Chris Bowers, the founder and CEO of branding agency CMB Automotive Marketing, which has offices outside Detroit and in the UK, said he's "not 100% convinced" Jaguar's rebranding is making the right statement but said the company is clearly trying to define a new audience.

"The only thing I can guess is that they're intentionally alienating their existing customer base," Bowers said, who has decades of experience building brands for major suppliers, manufacturers, and technology companies from the auto industry.

"They want to make a break from their existing customers to attract a younger, wealthier demographic who are more interested in style and individuality," Bowers said. "They're taking a massive gamble on the existence of a market who will be interested in them — and Jaguar know they can't attract them with the old brand."

Reorienting a brand to an entirely new audience is a "massively difficult" endeavor, Heininger said.

Jaguar is signaling a significant disruption

It can also be very risky, one advertising expert said.

"It's a risk to so radically divorce a brand from its inherent equities," Greg Andersen, the CEO of Omaha-based creative agency Bailey Lauerman, told Business Insider. Before joining Bailey Lauerman, Andersen worked for brands, including Google, Levi's, Burberry, and Axe — and also on several automotive campaigns, including Cadillac and Toyota.

"But at the same time," he said, "I think this work could eventually make sense if their vehicles are going to take the brand and the category in a completely different direction from the norms and dogma of the past. It's obviously a signal of significant disruption."

While the relevance and relatability of Jaguar's rebranding campaign have been much debated, each expert concluded that it represents a massive change for the brand — and change can be hard to accept.

But change is exactly what Jaguar said it wants as it heads into its EV-only future.

"Our brand relaunch for Jaguar is a bold and imaginative reinvention and, as expected, it has attracted attention and debate," the company said in a statement to Business Insider. "The brand reveal is only the first step in this exciting new era, and we look forward to sharing more on Jaguar's transformation in the coming days and weeks."

Jaguar said it would announce more details about its new branding strategy in December, though it's not clear whether that will include specifics about any of its forthcoming electric vehicles.

• Jaguar's founder started in the motorcycle sidecar business before building his first Jag in 1935.
• The luxury carmaker is rebranding with a new logo and controversial ad campaign.
• Here's a look back at the British carmaker over the last century.

Luxury British carmaker Jaguar has come a long way from its humble beginnings in the early 20th century.

The company's founder started making motorcycle sidecars in the 1920s before creating the first Jaguar car in 1935. Over the next few decades, Jaguar became synonymous with elegance and power. It's been used in racing, as the preferred vehicle of the British royal family, and by several villains in James Bond movies.

Today, Jaguar is preparing to launch its all-electric vehicle lineup, set to come out some time in 2026. And in preparation for its next generation, Jaguar unveiled a new branding campaign — complete with a new logo, redesigned leaping jaguar mark, and a promotional video that's stirred controversy online.

Here's a look back at the company over the last century, and surprising facts you might not know about its history.

Early days as Swallow Sidecar Company

In 1922, Sir William Lyons — who later became known as "Mr. Jaguar" — co-founded the Swallow Sidecar Company with a man named William Walmsley. Within a few years, Lyons had built his first car, called the SS1.

In 1934, Lyons bought the company out from Walmsley, renamed it SS Cars Limited.

And in 1935, the first Jaguar was born, a model named the SS Jaguar.

Lyons renamed the company Jaguar Cars Limited in 1945 in an effort to build a brand around the luxury sports cars it was making at the time.

Mid-century success

The 1930s through 1950s were marked by a number of innovations for the company, which it touts on in corporate history.

Jaguar introduced its first four-door model in 1937 with the SS Jaguar 2½ Liter Sedan, and by 1948, it had created the world's fastest production car — the Lyons-designed XK120, which could reach speeds up to 133 miles per hour.

In 1951, Jaguar introduced its aerodynamic C-type model, which was 25% lighter than the XK120 and won first place when it debuted at the Le Mans 24-hour race.

Then, in 1954, Jaguar rolled out one of the first cars with a unibody structure, the D-type racecar. Like the C-type before it, the D-type also made history at Le Mans, scoring first place three consecutive years, including in 1957, when the car secured five of the top six places.

All this built up to 1961 when Jaguar unveiled one of the most iconic cars of all time — the E-type.

Italian racing driver and founder of Ferrari, Enzo Ferrari, is frequently cited as declaring the E-type "the most beautiful car in the world," according to classic car auction house RM Sotheby's.

Some of the E-type's most famous owners included Frank Sinatra, Brigitte Bardot, and Steve McQueen, according to lifestyle magazine Gentleman's Journal.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York City acquired and first exhibited an E-type in 1996, becoming just the third car in the museum's design collection.

"Rarely has a car inspired the kind of passion in both car enthusiasts and the general public that the Jaguar E-type has. Even today, the E-type is considered an icon of the postwar British sports car," Christopher Mount, a MoMa curator who organized the Jaguar exhibition, said in a press release at the time.

Jaguars in popular culture

Jaguars have long been a favorite of the British royal family, along with Land Rovers and Range Rovers, which are part of the Jaguar Land Rover brand, owned by India-based Tata Motors.

The family's love for the brand dates back at least to 1955, when the Queen Mother Queen Elizabeth acquired the Jaguar Mark VII M Saloon 464 HYV, which was specially made in the royal color, claret, according to historic preservation charity Jaguar Heritage Trust.

Other members of the royal family, including Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth II, also owned and drove Jaguars over the years.

And a number of Jaguar vehicles have been driven by villains in James Bond movies, like the Jaguar XKR driven by henchman Tang Lin Zao in 2002's "Die Another Day," the Jaguar XF featured during a car chase in 2021's "No Time to Die," and the Jaguar C-X75 driven by assassin Mr. Hinx in 2015's "Spectre."

Jaguar's next chapter

Jaguar first announced in 2021 that it would be ditching internal combustion engines to go all-in on EVs.

In November, Jaguar stopped selling new models of its cars in the UK as it prepares for its electric vehicle launch, expected to hit the market sometime in 2026.

As part of this next phase, Jaguar has debuted a new brand identity focused on the creative philosophy of "exuberant modernism," which the company defines as "imaginative, bold, and artistic at every touchpoint."

Jaguar Chief Creative Officer Gerry McGovern said in a statement that the company's new vision was inspired by Lyons' belief that "a Jaguar should be a copy of nothing."

The company's new marketing campaign included a promotional video that featured models clad in colorful high fashion, with no cars in sight.

Some conservative social media users criticized the company as being too "woke" — partly over the look of the models it chose, while others have questioned why the ad didn't show any cars.

Meanwhile, high-profile critics of the rebranding video — which has been viewed more than 160 million times on X — included Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, and the conservative personality Ian Miles Cheong.

In response to the video posted on X by Jaguar, Musk wrote: "Do you sell cars?" And Nick Freitas, a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates, replied to Jaguar on X: "Well … we know where the advertising team for Bud Light went," referring to the backlash to a Bud Light ad in 2023 that featured a transgender influencer.

Jaguar's managing director, Rawdon Glover, defended the British luxury car maker's rebranding campaign to the Financial Times — calling out some of its online critics and characterizing their reaction as "vile hatred" and "intolerance."

Jaguar said it would announce more details about its new branding strategy in December, though it's not clear whether that will include specifics about any of its forthcoming electric vehicles.

As part of the brand's positioning, the newly announced Jags are expected to be significantly more upmarket than the ones that are being phased out, Car and Driver previously reported, citing a Range Rover from the brand's corporate cousin that costs about $400,000 as where the brand wants to be. (Most 2024 Jaguar models have list prices of about $50,000 to $80,000.)

Without commenting specifically on the recent backlash to the new branding campaign, Jaguar previously said in a statement to Business Insider: "The brand reveal is only the first step in this exciting new era, and we look forward to sharing more on Jaguar's transformation in the coming days and weeks."

• Microsoft's Bing search engine has Copilot AI features built into it.
• Copilot, integrated into Bing, can perform tasks like writing poems and making reservations.
• Here's how to use the AI service in Bing.

Microsoft first unveiled a revamped, AI-powered version of its search engine, Bing, last year.

The new Bing, which promised to be "more powerful than ChatGPT," runs on Microsoft's own next-generation language model called "Prometheus." The proprietary technology was developed using elements of OpenAI's most advanced GPT models as part of Microsoft's partnership with the company.

Built into the revamped search engine is Microsoft's AI chatbot, Copilot, which can perform a number of tasks the old Bing never dreamed of, like suggesting recipes, writing poems, conducting image-based search queries, and making restaurant reservations. Copilot was formerly called Bing Chat.

Microsoft's Bing was launched in 2009, more than a decade after Google's launch — and though it's come a long way since then, Bing still holds a fraction of the market share compared to Google.

And though Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella once raved that Copilot would "fundamentally transform our relationship with technology," the AI assistant has struggled to live up to the hype, both inside and outside the company.

Here's a step-by-step walkthrough of how to access and use the new Bing with Copilot.

How to use the new Bing

1. Go to Bing.com/new in your internet browser.

   Note: You don't need to download Microsoft's web browser, Edge, but if you do, Copilot is integrated directly into the browser, with an icon in the top-right corner that lets you chat with the AI companion.

   

2. There are a few ways to use AI in your search experience from the Bing homepage.

3. One option is to click "Try now" underneath the heading "Bing generative search," located directly below the general search bar on the Bing homepage.

   

   • The "Try now" button takes you to a search results page that auto-populates for the query "How can I get started with learning to play the guitar."
   • The page displays several helpful resources related to that query, including a Table of Contents with sections that guide you through the process of learning to play guitar, alongside videos and step-by-step instructions.

   

   • You can also type in your own query, like "How to paint a bathroom," and, depending on the query you search, the results will offer helpful sections including relevant videos, instructions, and, in this case, a section on the side for the best paint to use on bathroom cabinets.

     

4. Another option is to click "Copilot" in the bar at the very top of the Bing homepage.

   

   • This takes you to the Copilot homepage where you can message the chatbot.

   • In the "Message Copilot" text field at the bottom of the page, you can type something you need help with, like, for example, "Write me a poem," or "plants that survive with minimal light." The chatbot will quickly give you a detailed response — for example, it offered 10 options for plants that don't need much light.

     

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's how Musk got here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Musk's politics pre-Trump

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Musk's politics during Trump's term

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

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

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

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

Musk during Biden's presidency

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

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

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

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

But the billionaire has since changed his tune. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Musk endorsed Trump after the former president survived an assassination attempt 

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

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

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

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

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

Musk rallied for Trump across Pennsylvania 

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

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

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

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

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

Trump has named Musk to a major new advisory organization

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

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

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

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

• The last meatpackers in NYC's Meatpacking District are getting ready to close shop.
• Last month, NYC's mayor announced plans to develop the site near Greenwich Village and the High Line.
• Once a meat industry hub, the district now hosts luxury brands and nightlife venues.

The era of New York City's Meatpacking District as a neighborhood where people actually pack meat is coming to an end.

Late last month, New York City Mayor Eric Adams unveiled plans to redevelop the district's last operating meat market after its tenants accepted a deal from the city to move out — and in the market's place could come a 60-story tower.

Once brimming with hundreds of butchers, slaughterhouses, and packing plants, the Manhattan neighborhood now has only a handful of meatpackers left, and they're preparing to close up shop, the Associated Press reported this week in a retrospective looking back at the district.

Under the city's plan, the 66,000-square-foot Gansevoort Market would become Gansevoort Square, which, according to the mayor's office, would feature 600 mixed-income housing units, a new open pavilion, and a culture and arts hub.

And a New York state senator said there's a plan to build a 60-story skyscraper in the area — something a local historic preservation group said was out of scale for a neighborhood with mostly low-rise buildings.

The city hasn't confirmed the plans referenced by State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal in a recent email newsletter he sent to constituents. The community group Village Preservation said Monday that a tower plan would likely be formally announced at an upcoming neighborhood Community Board meeting.

A building that tall would dramatically alter the neighborhood's skyline, where the current tallest structure, The Standard Hotel, is 19 stories tall. The mayor's office didn't immediately return a request for comment on the possible skyscraper development.

Meanwhile, though an eviction date has not yet been set for the building's meatpacking tenants, they're getting ready to say goodbye.

One of them is 68-year-old John Jobbagy, whose connection to the district goes back more than 120 years. His grandfather started butchering there after immigrating from Budapest in 1900, the AP reported.

Back then, the Meatpacking District looked — and smelled — a lot different from today, where high-end retailers like Gucci and Rolex now line the streets alongside cocktail bars, clubs, and luxury apartment buildings. In 2025, high-end French crystal company Baccarat is moving into the neighborhood, Women's Wear Daily first reported this month.

"I'll be here when this building closes, when everybody, you know, moves on to something else," Jobbagy told the AP. "And I'm glad I was part of it, and I didn't leave before."

Jobbagy told the AP that he started working for his father in the area in the late 1960s, at a time when chicken juices dribbled into the streets, and workers relied on whiskey to keep themselves warm in the refrigerated lockers.

Jobbagy later opened his own business there, which he's held onto as the neighborhood changed over the years, the AP reported.

The neighborhood became a gritty nightlife and sex club scene in the 1970s and, by the early 2000s, a hip, up-and-coming area where "Sex and the City's" Samantha Jones chose to live amid sex workers, leather bars, and an incoming Pottery Barn.

In 2009, the railway that once transported millions of tons of meat, dairy, and produce through the district was turned into a public park, the High Line.

But Jobbagy told local outlet amNY he isn't too broken up about leaving the neighborhood that would now be unrecognizable to his father or grandfather.

"It's been a long time coming," Jobbagy told amNY. "The transformations have been taking place for the last 20 years. We're well aware there are far better uses for this property than an aging meat warehouse. I'm not really sad at all."

Change has always been part of the district's DNA, and New York City's.

"It wasn't always a meatpacking district," Andrew Berman, the executive director at historic preservation group Village Preservation, told the AP. "It was a sort of wholesale produce district before that, and it was a shipping district before that." In the early 1800s, it became home to a military fort, built there over fears that the British would invade during the War of 1812.

"So it's had many lives, and it's going to continue to have new lives," Berman told the AP.