• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. This week, BI's Polly Thompson took an inside look at how artificial intelligence is set to upend a pillar of the white-collar world: the Big Four.

On the agenda today:

• Many millennials face a cursed inheritance with their parents' homes.
• Internal memos reveal how an ex-Facebook exec leads Microsoft's new AI unit.
• Losing faith in the ROI of college, Gen Z is pivoting to blue-collar jobs.
• Wall Street bigwigs are questioning the safety of government bonds. Now what?

But first: Tesla's robotaxis are taking the wheel.

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This week's dispatch

Tesla's big bet

I remain in awe of self-driving cars.

I took my first Waymo earlier this year in San Francisco. Like any newbie, I immediately pulled out my phone, recorded the ride, and then gleefully shared videos with friends and family.

The market for robotaxis is well beyond the shock and awe phase. For Tesla, the stakes are high to get it right.

The EV maker's long-awaited autonomous ride-hailing service is expected to debut next month in Austin. It will join Waymo, owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, which is already entrenched in San Francisco and expanding into other cities.

My BI colleagues Lloyd Lee and Alistair Barr tried to see which company offers the better self-driving experience: Tesla or Waymo. They test drove both, expecting the results of their not-so-scientific test to come down to minute details. (They couldn't compare the robotaxi services because Tesla hasn't launched its yet).

The results surprised them.

While the rides were mostly similar, the differentiator was Tesla running a red light at a complex intersection. It was an error too big to overlook. Waymo won the test.

Lloyd and Alistair's story ricocheted around the internet and social media. On Tuesday, CNBC's David Faber pressed Tesla CEO Elon Musk about it, particularly the Tesla running a red light.

Musk didn't address specific details in BI's reporting. Instead, he said Tesla's robotaxis will be "geo-fenced" — meaning they will avoid some intersections and certain parts of Austin.

Waymo already uses geo-fencing. Its car avoided the intersection where the Tesla ran the red light, instead taking a route that was farther away and less time-efficient but perhaps safer to navigate, according to the BI story.

Tesla's robotaxi plans come at a critical time for a brand that's taken a hit from Musk's work with the Trump administration. Overseas competition is also ramping up, and prices for used Teslas, including Cybertrucks, are falling.

The excitement around the robotaxis is helping, though. Tesla's stock has risen about 40% since Musk talked up the robotaxi last month and signaled he was re-committing to Tesla and stepping back from DOGE.

We'll stay all over this coverage for you, including the big debut.

The new millennial home dilemma

Millennials are set to benefit from a massive wealth transfer from their boomer parents, most of which is held up in real estate.

But because boomers tend to stay in their homes for decades, many children will inherit properties in need of some serious TLC.

There's an entire industry designed to help.

Microsoft's "age of AI agents"

CEO Satya Nadella recently tapped Jay Parikh, formerly Facebook's global head of engineering, to spearhead Microsoft's new AI unit, CoreAI. BI viewed internal memos to get a glimpse of Parikh's vision and progress.

Parikh is focusing on cultural shifts, operational improvements, and customer experience as he leads Microsoft into a new era.

He has plans for an AI "agent factory."

From PowerPoint to plumbing

AI is decimating jobs, and the cost of college is ever-rising. Gen Zers are losing faith in the ROI of a degree, but they've got another option: the trades.

White-collar jobs are stagnating, but fields like plumbing, construction, and electrical work are projected to grow. Blue-collar jobs offer a work-life balance and a path to becoming your own boss.

Plus, some of them pay six figures.

The shaky bond market

Bonds have always been viewed as a safe haven, especially ones backed by the US government. But concerns over the growing deficit are changing investors' perspective on the asset.

KKR has cast doubt over bonds, and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has been vocal about US credit being a "bad risk." Here's what investors have to think about amid the turmoil.

Not so safe and sound.

Also read:

• Return of the "bond vigilantes": Spiking yields show investors are getting worried about government debt
• Forget "Sell America": Morgan Stanley makes the case for US stocks and bonds to dominate global markets

This week's quote:

"But if you want one of these jobs, you've got to play the game."

— A recent graduate who moved to New York City early to be in a good position for the private-equity recruiting process.

More of this week's top reads:

• Duolingo drama underscores the new corporate balancing act on AI hype.
• Elon Musk went on a media blitz. Here are five takeaways from his interviews.
• See inside the luxurious Boeing 747 Qatar is giving to Trump to serve as Air Force One.
• Instagram head Adam Mosseri on the "paradigm shift" from posting in public to sharing in private.
• Four reasons Walmart is raising prices and Home Depot isn't.
• Please, Jony Ive, I beg you not to make a voice device.
• Meet the Yale student and hacker moonlighting as a cybersecurity watchdog.
• Inside the little-known perks that come from a stock exchange "bake-off."

• Why these Americans agree with the DOGE firings: "Welcome to the real world."

  ---

  The BI Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. If you're lucky enough to receive a lump sum of cash, it might be tempting to take the trip that's been on your bucket list. But if you want to take the responsible route, BI broke down how to manage a windfall that includes age, risk factors, and financial goals.

On the agenda today:

• Why Microsoft is flattening its management layers.
• HBO Max is mocking itself with memes as it rebrands … again.
• The Seed 100: Here are the best early-stage investors of 2025.
• Goldman Sachs is leaning into AI. Here's what we know about five of its tools.

But first: Let's talk tariffs.

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This week's dispatch

'A lose-lose situation'

There are a few ways to think about President Donald Trump's trade deal with China.

For one, Wall Street loves it. Stocks recovered their "Liberation Day" losses. Fears of an imminent recession, at least viewed through the lens of the betting markets, have already started to subside.

But the real-world ripple effects of the current tariff situation are far less clear-cut. Friday's downbeat consumer sentiment data, the second-worst reading on record, showed just how gloomy people feel right now.

Consider how a range of businesses — big and small — reacted in the aftermath of the 90-day pause on higher tariffs with China.

• Retail titan Walmart said it will raise prices in light of Trump's tariffs. John David Rainey, Walmart's chief financial officer, told CNBC, "the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb."

• Toy maker Hasbro abruptly reversed course on its decision to raise prices and halt some production following Monday's deal, but the future isn't clear. Gina Goetter, Hasbro's chief financial officer, said at a conference, "every day is a new adventure."

• And for small businesses, planning ahead during this rapidly changing global landscape is proving to be particularly difficult.

One small-business owner quantified the tariff impact. Jamey Stegmaier told BI he worries they could put his board game company, Stonemaier Games, out of business.

If the full 145% tariffs had remained in effect, he'd need to raise the price of his Wingspan game, which sells for $65, to close to $200.

"No one would buy it," he said.

He'd love to move production to the US to avoid tariffs. However, the US doesn't have the infrastructure or expertise he said he needs.

The current US-China trade agreement also isn't a complete relief. The 30% tariffs are "still painful," Stegmaier added.

Ultimately, the unpredictability surrounding Trump's tariff policy means customers could start seeing higher prices across the board.

"There's no math that makes it work," Stegmaier said. "There's no silver lining. It's a lose-lose-lose situation for everyone involved."

Microsoft's bid to flatten management

Microsoft is axing 6,000 jobs to increase "span of control," or the number of employees reporting to each manager. The cuts come as the tech giant reduces costs and invests heavily in AI.

The half-dozen Microsoft insiders whom BI spoke to about the cuts see the effort as a good thing.

Microsoft isn't the only company to do so.

Also read:

• Internal Microsoft memo reveals plans for a new "Tenant Copilot" and an "Agent Factory" concept

Max is roasting its own rebrand

The streamer is tacking "HBO" back onto its name after abandoning it in 2023. That may seem a bit ridiculous, and Max is well aware. Instead of being laughed at, Max is opting to laugh with the internet.

The social team at Warner Bros. Discovery cooked up a host of memes for the occasion. BI's Dan Whateley broke down why silliness, rather than sincerity, could be the right move.

Need a good laugh?

Also read:

• Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos explains why he thinks the HBO Max rebrand "makes sense"
• Max is going to be HBO Max. Again. Here's what that really means.
• Here's why HBO Max has rebranded so many times

The top 100 early-stage investors of 2025

Seed-stage investors reach for their checkbooks after hearing merely the kernel of an idea. They may have the hardest job in VC.

Back for its fifth year, BI's Seed 100 list uses Termina's data analysis to identify and honor these dealmakers. Their interests span tech, from defense to consumer.

Some names may sound familiar.

Also read:

• The Seed 40: The best women early-stage investors of 2025

Five tools in Goldman's AI arsenal

The bank's tech chief once said AI would be as ubiquitous as email, with 100% of the workforce relying on it. With Goldman Sachs' up-and-coming slate of AI tools, the bank appears to be on track.

BI kept tabs on the rollout of these resources, ranging from an AI assistant to a translation tool.

How to make an investment banker's job easier.

This week's quote:

"These days Gates looks like a sage compared to Musk and compared to the administration."

— Michael Morris, a professor at the Columbia Business School, on both Elon Musk's and Bill Gates' approach to efficiency.

More of this week's top reads:

• How to get a job in the booming business of secondaries.
• We found 200 "podcasts" peddling opioids. Now Spotify is taking them down.
• Meet the CEOs behind YouTube's biggest stars.
• Please, kids: Do not set your Chromebook on fire.
• Hulk Hogan's beer brand is eyeing a takeover of the Hooters name.
• Why Citadel Securities is training its developers on a coding language that hasn't even been released yet.
• Meta's Llama has reached a turning point with developers as delays and disappointment mount.
• Brevan Howard hires longtime JPMorgan dealmaker Carlos Hernandez as its first executive chair.

• In a chilly funding market, a VC explains why legal tech is "as hot as you can humanly imagine."

  ---

  The BI Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. If you've been daydreaming about making a life change, a former consultant told us why she left her six-figure job to hike for five months.

On the agenda today:

• Private equity's recruiting cyclone is fast approaching.
• I ate at the world's northernmost McDonald's. I'm not sure it was worth the trek.
• One sign we're about to enter a recession: frozen pizzas.
• An internal email shows new policies Microsoft is using to cull low performers.

But first: It's a gold rush.

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This week's dispatch

Going for gold

It's been an ugly year for markets. Stocks are down. The bond market is swinging wildly. The dollar is near a multi-year low.

One big outlier: gold.

The precious metal has surged this year, repeatedly hitting record highs and smashing over $3,500 an ounce last week for the first time. Investors often turn to gold as a place to hide when uncertainty mounts. With tariffs, trade wars, recession worries, and inflation concerns top of mind, there has been no shortage of uncertainty this year.

That means gold is sparkling more than ever, further solidifying its worth as the ultimate safe haven for investors. Even billionaire investor and known gold bull John Paulson is doubling down.

Gold's rally has far-reaching implications beyond markets and billionaires. It's also affecting everyday people.

I sat down with BI reporter Dominick Reuter, who has been chronicling the real-world impact of gold's latest surge.

Dom, gold bugs are having a moment as the price soars to dizzying heights. What are gold enthusiasts telling you about the metal's big rally this year?

The run-up in gold prices has been going on for a while now, largely because of the metal's value as a hedge against inflation and as a financial safe haven in uncertain times. Avid collectors are typically distrustful of large institutions like governments and banks, and see gold as a way to maintain control over their wealth.

People can now purchase gold bars at Costco. One buyer told you he sees Costco as "the gateway drug to gold investing." Why has Costco become such a hotbed for gold buyers?

People like buying gold from Costco for the same reason they buy other stuff there: high trust and low markups. Members really trust Costco, and its gold prices are often within a few percentage points of the spot price.

Some collectors have even figured out hacks that maximize the company's rewards and credit card points to actually make some money in the transaction. The main challenges are the availability of supply and shipping times. Still, if you have the cash, it could be worth it.

Gold has surged while many other financial markets have tumbled this year. These moves have real-world implications. How is gold's rally playing out in everyday life?

Part of why gold is surging is because other markets are tumbling. Yes, gold is increasing in value, but the dollar is also sliding, so that's why we're seeing eye-popping numbers. The bigger shifts are driven by central banks shifting their reserves from currencies to gold.

Of course, gold is also used to make actual stuff that people buy. One jewelry maker told me the acceleration in gold prices (coupled with new tariffs on gemstones) will likely soon make engagement rings about 10% more expensive.

Prepping for private equity's recruiting whirlwind

You just graduated, have an investment banking job lined up, and are enjoying your last weeks of freedom before your start date. But then you get an email from a private-equity recruiter: On-cycle recruiting has begun — for a job that won't start for two years.

Not much of PE's talent comes from this early recruiting process, but it may still be worth participating. BI spoke with recruiters to understand how the process works.

Are you ready for it?

Eating at the world's northernmost McDonald's

Tromsø, Norway, may be known for its reindeer burgers and elk salami, but its McDonald's has also garnered some tourist fanfare.

BI's Noah Sheidlower stopped by but found most of the menu and decor weren't much different than any other McDonald's restaurant. However, that may be a good thing, considering the trek.

One McFlurry stood out.

A recession indicator for dinner

Have you been craving pizza lately? Not a slice from the corner pizzeria, and not what you get at a sit-down restaurant — but the kind you pick up from the grocery store freezer aisle?

If so, you're not alone. When the economy's down, frozen pizza sales go up, as people replace going out to eat with comfort food. That's the gist of the Pepperoni Price Index.

A delicious sign of economic decline.

Microsoft goes harder on low performers

The tech giant is instituting new policies aimed at culling low performers amid a broader, industry-wide shift toward tougher management.

BI viewed an internal email from Microsoft's chief people officer, which shows that the new policies include a two-year rehire ban on low performers and a new exit option for them.

Read the full email.

Also read:

• Microsoft pivots toward Amazon's way of handling low performers — by paying them to leave

This week's quote:

"What we are witnessing today is not normal, and it must not be normalized."

— New York City Bar Association president Muhammad U. Faridi told 350 lawyers during its "Defending Justice" program.

More of this week's top reads:

• "Project Greenland": How Amazon overcame a GPU crunch.
• Tech is turning its back on Gen Z.
• How Tesla is quietly rebranding the Cybertruck.
• Less money and less security — why making partner at EY, Deloitte, PwC, and KPMG isn't what it used to be.
• Burned out on dating apps? This startup founder says AI can help.
• Instagram's new feature finally shows your friends what a weird little gremlin you are.

• Nvidia is the original hardcore tech company. Alums say CEO Jensen Huang's demanding pace reigns.

  ---

  The BI Today team: Steve Russolillo, chief news editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York (on parental leave). Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. Have you ever paid attention to the luxury watches "The White Lotus" characters wear? It turns out they might be able to provide some clues into tonight's season finale.

On the agenda today:

• Entrepreneurial young people flock to "mini private equity" as the job market stagnates.
• First came tech layoffs. Now there's DOGE. What's a Gen Zer to do?
• Floyd Mayweather Jr. bragged about a $400 million property deal. There's just one problem.
• "I begin spying for Deel": An ex-Rippling employee details his days of corporate espionage in Ireland court filing.

But first: Stay calm.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Business Insider's app here.

This week's dispatch

How to navigate the chaos

The headlines are scary.

Stocks are cratering. The trade war is intensifying. Odds of a recession are jumping. Opening your 401(k) is disorienting.

But here's the thing: Most market pros say panicking is just about the worst thing you can do right now.

Think back to March 2020. The world was shutting down at the onset of the pandemic. Stocks plunged rapidly. Yet, as terrifying as that sell-off was, it proved to be short-lived. Five years later, the S&P 500 is sharply higher than it was back then (even including this year's drop).

Vanguard sent a note to customers this week advising them to "resist the urge to deviate from your financial plan" amid rising uncertainty. It noted the market's best- and worst-performing days tend to occur in close succession.

"Investors who have stayed the course during downturns have been able to take advantage of market recoveries and have typically come out ahead of those who moved to the sidelines," the fund manager said.

Still, the impulse to take drastic measures is strong.

It's human nature. My BI colleague Max Adams outlines three things investors can consider to weather the worst of the downturn: don't overreact, consider defensive stocks, and don't try to time the market.

If last week taught us anything, it's that the market is not a place to park cash you might need soon. Having some investments in cash or cash equivalents, like a money market fund, is important.

Things could get worse before they get better. The S&P 500 is squarely in correction territory. The Nasdaq is already in a bear market.

Michael Antonelli, a market strategist for Baird Private Wealth Management, offered a viewpoint that stuck with me. He told clients not to let fear take over during these tumultuous times.

"When uncertainty reigns, your reaction to it determines your success or failure," he wrote to clients. "Hunkering down and waiting for a storm to pass is sometimes the correct course of action."

How are you navigating the markets? I'd love to hear from you, drop me a line at [email protected].

The young entrepreneurs flocking to 'mini private equity'

Well, it's not exactly private equity. MBAs and young professionals are setting their sights on search funds — which seek to buy and grow small businesses — amid white-collar job insecurity.

But the model isn't always glamorous, and the memes are rampant.

How search funds work.

I graduated. Now what?

As DOGE layoffs set in, Gen Z is entering a shaky postgrad landscape. Students who hoped to work in public service — or fields relying on federal funding and contracts — are starting to reconsider.

How about graduate school or even the private sector? Those aren't so easy, either.

Gen Z gets a reality check.

Also read:

• Getting into law school just got harder. Here's how you can stand out.

Unwrapping a boxer's bold claims

Retired boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. has sought to refashion himself as a budding business mogul. In February, he talked a big game about a $400 million purchase of 62 Manhattan apartment buildings.

In the month since his announcement, however, there's been no evidence that any of those buildings have changed hands. It's not his only real-estate claim that doesn't appear to match reality.

A boast with no receipts.

An accused corporate spy comes forward

An ex-employee of Rippling, an HR software company, detailed his days of corporate espionage on behalf of rival Deel in an Ireland court filing. Some memorable moments: hiding in a bathroom, getting an offer to move to Dubai, and smashing a phone with an ax.

The accused also said Deel's CEO was directly involved.

He says the CEO even brought up James Bond.

This week's quote:

"I've been saying this for two years. Tesla needs to be Tesla."

— Early Tesla investor Ross Gerber, who thinks the carmaker's issues go beyond Elon Musk's DOGE involvement.

More of this week's top reads:

• Deloitte is the biggest loser so far in DOGE's consulting crackdown.
• Cheating on technical interviews is soaring. Managers don't know what to do.
• BI's reviews team selects the best tax software of 2025.
• Here are the 20 highest-paying jobs in America.
• Adobe's HR chief tells staff: We're done with DEI hiring goals.
• Meet the two twenty-somethings running Palantir's healthcare AI business.
• YouTube is about to eclipse Disney as the biggest media company in the world.
• Building more high-density apartment buildings can lower home prices across a city. The home of Harvard is doing just that.
• I quit my Big 4 accounting career to fry chicken. I'll never go back to corporate life.
• Gen Z and millennials are creating a recession-resistant corner of the market.

• Meet the tiny investment bank behind Newsmax's rip-roaring stock debut.

  ---

  The BI Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. With "Signalgate" dominating headlines, BI's Katie Notopoulos wants to know: Which high-ranking official's group chat texting style most matches yours? Let her know here for an upcoming story!

On the agenda today:

• Tesla has flirted with disaster before, but can it overcome Musk's politics?
• Alpha-male energy is taking over the workplace. Women are fighting back.
• The golden age of private equity is over. Here is what it means for your career.
• Is it still shoplifting if you're stealing from Jeff Bezos?

But first: Googlers have questions.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Business Insider's app here.

This week's dispatch

Google grilled over comp

We've written a lot about the tech industry's hardcore moment. Talk of efficiency and intensity has replaced perks and pampering. Rolling layoffs have become the norm. Management layers are thinning. AI can help companies do more with less.

Now, at least at Google, some employees aren't pleased about their recent compensation packages. And they're speaking out about it.

Some Google employees received smaller pay bumps in their 2025 compensation packages than they anticipated, according to an exclusive report from my BI colleague Hugh Langley. Googlers raised the issue at a recent company all-hands, per a meeting transcript that Hugh obtained, where they wondered why some employees had seen a decrease in their refreshed stock grants and overall comp.

A Google exec at the all-hands said some employees in less technical roles received smaller equity packages this year to calibrate pay to local markets.

But the story got me thinking about how Google's lower comp fits into the changing tech industry. I spoke with Hugh about his reporting and what it means for Google.

Steve: What's the reaction to your scoop?

Hugh: Whenever I write about compensation, I get a lot of feedback from employees across Big Tech. I know some of these stories can have a "world's smallest violin" feeling to them — Googlers, on the whole, are still paid very well! But in the battle for talent, this stuff really matters.

What impact do you see this having on Google's workforce?

The fact it got raised during the company's all-hands means it's on a lot of employees' minds. The biggest possible impact is a hit to morale, especially for employees in non-technical roles that have been dinged hardest.

As the tech industry becomes more hardcore about work, how do you see Google fitting into that overall trend?

Google is certainly going hardcore, but in typical Google fashion, it's doing it less dramatically, less publicly, and without any of the political chest-thumping we've seen from the likes of Meta. Googlers once felt they were the only ones safe from layoffs, but now rolling job cuts have become the new norm. It's also chopped away at management layers and in some cases set a higher bar for performance.

Of course, there are plenty of employees who see this all as a good thing, but there's a feeling among many staff that the era of mollycoddling at Alphabet is well and truly over.

Tesla's tipping point

Many assumed Elon Musk's proximity to President Donald Trump would be a net positive — but the opposite has proven to be true. Musk's involvement with DOGE has triggered an identity crisis within Tesla.

Over the years, Tesla and its CEO have faced dire predictions, but each time they seem to have emerged stronger. However, for some employees, analysts, and investors, Musk's political entanglements represent a new challenge.

Why this time feels different.

Also read:

• Tech is turning on Trump

Navigating the private equity slump

The business of buying and selling companies is slowing down. Buyout funds recently underperformed the stock market for the first time in decades.

But that doesn't mean PE vets and newcomers have to fret. Certain opportunities are in demand, and — if you're more junior — there's good news for you, too.

What to know about PE careers.

Bucking the billionaire bros

Since CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg started calling for more "masculine energy" in the workplace, a small group of their female colleagues has been organizing their resistance.

Some female executives worry that big business's latest testosterone injection could push them out of leadership roles. Others see it as galvanizing, a sign that women are making serious progress.

"The masks and the gloves are off."

Anti-Amazon avengers, assemble!

"If a billionaire can steal from me, I can scrape a little off the top, too." That's how one person justifies stealing little treats from Whole Foods.

Middle-class shoplifters and thieves of opportunity are fudging Amazon returns and sneaking Whole Foods goods to stick it to The Man — whose name, in this case, is Jeff Bezos. The problem is that small-time swiping doesn't actually effect the change these anti-Amazon avengers want to see.

Worse, it could be causing unintended harm.

This week's quote:

"We are catching a lot of balls, with very little people. Eventually one of them is probably going to fall."

— A NOAA employee concerned about how DOGE's job cuts at the agency will affect extreme weather alerts and air travel forecasts.

More of this week's top reads:

• Elon Musk says xAI acquired X in an all-stock deal.
• Tech has a new power base in DC.
• Warren Buffett is totally crushing it this year.
• TikTok insiders say Chinese leadership is cracking down on its US e-commerce team after missing goals.
• How OpenAI's Ghibli frenzy took a dark turn real fast.
• Secret home listings are about to skyrocket.
• Trump tariffs: 39 imported cars and trucks that are likely to see price hikes.
• Florida may abolish property taxes. Here's what they are in every state.
• The fight against Trump's 'unprecedented' attack on Big Law is on.

• VCs are in a 'frenzy' to invest in Anduril, but good luck getting ahold of shares.

  ---

  The BI Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. What would you do if you won $10 million? The winner of MrBeast's "Beast Games" told us he immediately started estate planning and exploring tax strategies.

On the agenda today:

• 11 Amazon employees told us how they're doing after ten weeks of RTO.
• Recession fears are percolating. Here's how you can prepare.
• The surprising truth about low performers.
• What 12 private equity firms, including Blackstone and Apollo, pay employees.

But first: 25 years since the bubble burst.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Business Insider's app here.

This week's dispatch

Dot-com déjà vu

The sheer timing of the market's recent sell-off has an eerie precedent.

As my colleague Matthew Fox reports, this month marks the 25th anniversary of the peak of the dot-com bubble. Back then, a burgeoning technology called the World Wide Web lit a fire under the markets. Stock valuations soared to dizzying levels.

The boom times eventually gave way to an epic bust. In March 2000, the party stopped. The tech-heavy Nasdaq would lose nearly 80% of its value over the next few years.

There are parallels between then and now. Today's AI mania looks much like the internet excitement of the late 1990s.

Yet few expect a similar decline this time around. The IPO market is dormant and deal activity hasn't picked up. Brian Belski, chief investment strategist at BMO, told BI's Fox that the stock market is nowhere near a bubble. "In a bubble, everybody makes money," Belski said.

Regardless, the market's high-fliers have been hit hard. Tesla has lost roughly half its value and warned the Trump administration that it could suffer from increased costs due to a trade war. Shares of Nvidia and Apple are teetering and the so-called Magnificent 7 suddenly doesn't look so magnificent anymore.

While Trump's trade policies have fueled much of the market's recent declines, the Trump administration doesn't seem too perturbed. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Thursday that the White House is unconcerned about "a little" market volatility. That isn't a ringing endorsement of things turning around anytime soon.

Friday's rally alleviated some concerns and pulled the S&P 500 out of correction territory. But it is still in the red for the year.

Here's to hoping we're not headed for dot-com déjà vu.

Has the market sell-off gone too far? Or do you expect it to go down even more? Let me know your thoughts: [email protected].

Read the full story.

How's Amazon's RTO going?

Amazon's five-day return-to-office hit some speedbumps early on, with reports of office theft, a shortage of desks, and overflowing parking lots.

Ten weeks into the rollout, we're checking in with Amazon employees across corporate departments and the country to see how they've adjusted. Eleven people told us their experiences, which ranged from energized and connected to depressed and demoralized.

Plus, two employees explained why they left.

How to prep for a possible recession

Even before the stock market's whirlwind week, recession fears had been gripping Wall Street. BI spoke to financial planners who shared what you can do now to prepare for a possible recession.

Their biggest advice? Do not panic. Fear can be a powerful motivator to take drastic measures. And if you haven't already, now is the time to build your emergency fund.

Actions you can take now.

Cutting low performers? Not so fast.

Layoffs are the new normal in Big Tech, but is turning up the heat on "low performers" really the best strategy? Research says otherwise.

Demanding versus demeaning — BI's Aki Ito doesn't think every tech exec is getting it right.

Why firing them doesn't "raise the bar."

What private equity firms pay employees

Private equity is one of the most sought-after careers in the finance industry. These firms are increasingly driving the world of corporate dealmaking as investors flock to the sector.

BI pulled publicly available data for 12 firms, including Blackstone, Apollo, and KKR. Salaries for entry-level analysts start at $100,000, and for partners and managing directors, those salaries can soar up to $500,000.

How much those in PE make.

This week's quote:

"No one in America should feel threatened or targeted simply for driving a vehicle."

— A Cybertruck owner spoke to BI about facing growing hostility and verbal harassment.

More of this week's top reads:

• JPMorgan staff are using a private chat to vent about the incoming RTO mandate — and share intel.
• M&A and IPOs slump under Trump: 'It's almost as bad as Covid.'
• Inside xAI's organizational chart: Who's in charge at Elon Musk's company.
• It's Peter Thiel's world now. We just live in it.
• Streaming movies and music is more expensive — and uneven— than ever.
• She took down Intel. Now AMD's CEO has a new miracle to perform.
• Inside Harvard's risky plan to 'play by Trump's rules.'
• Meta is trying to silence a former executive. In an interview, she tells BI why.
• 'Klarnageddon': Employees in limbo as fintech startup preps for IPO.
• Inside Larry Page's secret bet to 3D-print the future of air travel.
• Airlines were having a banner year — then it all went wrong. Here's how.
• Target was the cool place to shop. Now it's everyone's favorite target.
• Big Tech is striking secret deals to make you foot its electricity bill, Harvard researchers say.

• A photographer took a shot of Trump's notes — and they read like a Tesla sales pitch.

  ---

  The BI Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. I'm Steve Russolillo, BI's chief news editor, filling in for Jamie Heller these next couple of weeks.

I've got Katie Notopoulos' impassioned argument about daylight-saving time on my mind. She says the Monday after it starts should be a federal holiday. Where do you stand? Let me know: [email protected].

On the agenda today:

• The four biggest multistrategy firms' dominance has made it harder for under-the-radar funds to compete.
• Meet the PR maverick Bari Weiss and Sam Altman can't get enough of.
• Elon Musk is wielding a chainsaw at DOGE. Management experts call it 'comically clumsy.'
• Millennials have a terrifying new role: being full-time adults.

But first: Blocked.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Business Insider's app here.

This week's dispatch

Meta has these lists

Getting rehired at Meta could be more challenging than you might think.

In a bombshell report this week, BI's Meta correspondent Pranav Dixit uncovered how Mark Zuckerberg's company maintains internal "block" lists that can prevent some former employees from being rehired.

Pranav has delivered scoop after scoop since joining BI a few months ago. I sat down with him this week to learn more about his latest exclusive and what it all means for Meta's future.

Q: What's the reaction been to your coverage of Meta's "block" lists?

A: We've had a wave of outreach since publishing. More former employees, both from Meta and other tech companies, have come forward to share similar experiences of being blocked from rehire. Their initial accounts suggest that this practice may be more widespread than initially thought. The story really took off when Laszlo Bock, Google's first HR head, shared it on LinkedIn. That sparked a robust debate.

Q: What's the most important thing you learned from your reporting?

A: I was struck by the remarkable lack of transparency in corporate hiring practices. While we have laws designed to prevent discrimination and retaliation, those protections only extend so far. There's a vast gray area where companies have near-complete discretion.

I was particularly surprised by how much influence middle managers seem to have in this process. In some cases, a simple form or classification from a single manager can profoundly impact someone's future employment prospects.

Q: Meta has undergone a pretty big transformation in the past few months. How does the story fit into what's next for the company?

A: This story captures a key tension in Meta's evolution. The company is still in what CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls the "Year of Efficiency," making aggressive cuts while simultaneously competing fiercely for AI talent. These "block" lists represent the collision of those two imperatives.

Hedge funds' growing divide

Smaller hedge funds used to outperform their larger rivals. Now, the tide has turned, and the Big Four — Millennium, Citadel, Point72, and Balyasny — have taken over.

BI heard from over a dozen fund founders, allocators, and industry experts about how difficult it's gotten for under-the-radar names to compete. The key for smaller firms is doing something bigger multistrats can't: recreate the same returns but with fewer people.

David faces four Goliaths.

The book of Lulu Cheng Meservey

Silicon Valley's highly sought-after comms guru won the hearts of startup founders with her edgy, direct, and nontraditional style. Bari Weiss loves her. Sam Altman's in her corner.

Less enchanted with the PR maverick are her peers. "She does not have a thriving business. What she has is a thriving Twitter following," one sniped. That doesn't change the fact Cheng Meservey's style is effective — even if she ruffles some feathers in the process.

PR's fiercest pitbull.

DOGE's report card

When Trump announced the Department of Government Efficiency under Elon Musk's leadership, management and policy experts told BI they were cautiously optimistic about its efforts to cut governmental waste. But six weeks in, they've got serious concerns.

Tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, Musk has challenged the limits of the law by dismantling USAID, and his engineers have infiltrated government IT systems. Those same experts now describe DOGE's tactics as "clumsy," "wrongheaded," and full of "political recklessness."

A case study in bad management.

Also read:

• We found a DOGE guy at NASA because his Google Calendar was public

Millennials are in charge now

The generation once known for being young is coming to terms with the fact that's no longer the case. Millennials are buying homes, starting families, and getting promoted at work. They're moving up the ladder in their personal and professional lives — and it's a bit daunting.

In addition to the exhaustion that comes with this new phase of life, millennials are losing the automatic cool factor bestowed by youth. Their jeans and side parts are out of style. But the good news is they're so wrapped up in the trappings of "adulting" that they probably don't have the time to care.

The new grown-ups.

This week's quote:

"It takes too long to performance-manage folks out."

— A Microsoft executive describing the tech giant's performance review process, which the company is currently reevaluating.

More of this week's top reads:

• 'Bond King' Bill Gross says he's scared to wake up and check the news each morning. He shares 4 stock picks with BI.
• I worked at Amazon during its early years. Jeff Bezos didn't seem to care about anything but his mission — but it was hard not to like him.
• Millennial moms want more kids — they just can't afford them.
• TV networks like Fox, NBC, and ABC finally figured out how to boost ratings — and it took them forever.
• Young Americans are finally buying homes. It may not pay off.
• A new DOGE staffer at the Department of Labor has helped run a fertility clinic and has pronatalist ties.
• This chart shows just how bad things have gotten for software engineers.
• We sent our reporter to Kyiv. Here's what he learned from a top Zelenskyy advisor just days after the disastrous Trump meeting.
• Shopify was cutting resources for diversity groups before it was trendy.
• Post-Roaring Kitty: Meet the new class of day-traders attracting swaths of followers online.

• Pulse check: 6 months of Brian Niccol's 'Back to Starbucks' plan.

  ---

  The BI Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.

Sarah Guo always knew she wanted to make it in Silicon Valley. Now, she has advice for others who want to do the same.

On a recent trip to San Francisco, we sat down over breakfast with Guo, a Goldman Sachs and Greylock Partners alum who now runs her own AI-focused VC fund, Conviction. Guo and her team have made early investments in a number of buzzworthy AI startups, including legal AI startup Harvey, which was just valued at $3 billion in a recent funding round, and French generative AI company Mistral, which was last valued at over $6 billion.

She shared her views on spotting AI opportunities, making it in tech, the future of San Francisco and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Business Insider: How did you get your start in venture capital?

Sarah Guo: Accidentally. I was working at Goldman Sachs for a brief year. I happened to work with both Aneel Bhusri and Reid Hoffman, the founders of Workday, and PayPal, and LinkedIn, and they're wonderful. And when I was intending on going to a startup after Goldman, Aneel said, 'Why don't you come work at Workday?' I said I wanted something that's an earlier stage, higher risk. I think I'm going to start out with a company. And he said, 'Well, I have a night job. You should come hang out at Greylock for a while. And so, you know, a while became 10 years. So I ended up doing venture investing. It took me a number of years to really decide I wanted to do investing, but I love it now.

Business Insider: When you were at Goldman, how were you thinking about the VC world?

Sarah Guo: I came out to Silicon Valley knowing that this is the center of the universe for tech. I thought I would try working at Goldman (in the Bay Area) as a business boot camp. I'm very grateful for that experience. It has a great network and I learned a lot, but I'm an entrepreneur. I was never going to stay. I tried to start a business. It wasn't very good. And this was a way for me to be like, 'What makes a company valuable.' That was the thing I wanted to answer.

Business Insider: If you could talk to your college self today, or someone else in college now, what would be your advice for their first steps to found a company?

Sarah Guo: I'd say, if you already feel like you understand something that other people do not, and you have to do it, then just do it. And then, if you are not obsessed by a particular problem or idea, I would say, go work with the most talented people you can who are doing some sort of early or scaling-stage company.

Business Insider: So you wouldn't go work, say, in banking?

Sarah Guo: No, I'm very grateful for the experience. But I'm from Wisconsin. I needed to be able to afford to live here. I needed to get into the ecosystem. And so it just depends on where people are coming from.

Business Insider: How bullish are you on AI really changing the world?

Sarah Guo: I just committed the next two decades to this being a secular shift, and I think it is changing the world. That doesn't mean people are not going to lose money along the way, in terms of the amount of money spent by a large number of companies on training right now.

Business Insider: Is that a waste of money, or is it just the basic building blocks of an industry?

Sarah Guo: If you have the internet bubble, then you get broadband infrastructure in the end, right? And so some of those ideas are eventually going to work. You have internet grocery, and then you have Instacart. And so it's hard for me to say what's a waste when it is a function of the markets. And I think the exploration is going to be really valuable for end users in the end.

Business Insider: Which industries are most ripe for disruption from AI?

Sarah Guo: One of the ways we look at AI is as a massively democratizing force. You can take a number of skills and tasks and make them cheaper. And that could be anything from lower level legal skills with companies like Harvey and other parts of professional services (Conviction is an investor in Harvey). I think that will happen in tax, in audit, in consulting, etc. But also, when I think about democratization, I think you're going to get more law practiced at a higher level for less money eventually.

But another version of that democratization is in creativity. I think the ability to create writing of high quality, research of high quality, images, audio, songs, video. I'm on the board of a company called HeyGen. Instead of it taking thousands of dollars with a studio and an agency to create a talking head video, it takes like $2 a minute now. You can do it at your home. It takes like 20 minutes to set up. And so I think that the accessibility of the quality of creativity to end users is a really big democratizing function. We're going to keep investing in that. People want to express themselves.

Business Insider: What's it like working in San Francisco now? Is it the place to be if you're entrepreneurial, or can you still be anywhere with remote work?

Sarah Guo: There's a massive advantage to being in real life in San Francisco. I commute four or five days a week. We do a ton of in person work, and a part of it is like the collective tribal knowledge of engineers and researchers and product people in San Francisco is ahead of where the rest of the world is generally. It's clear there are smart scientists in many different areas, including China, but it is not evenly distributed. And so if you want to understand the state of the art, which is more important than ever, I think San Francisco is the place to be.

Business Insider: What's your take on DeepSeek?

Sarah Guo: I think DeepSeek is amazing proof that there's a ton of room and efficiency for AI and people have not focused on it. The availability of frontier-class models that are cheap, small, and broadly available in a competitive market will mean more economic surplus for users and startups, which I'm really excited about. I also think it is a wake-up call. There are a number of policies that we could implement in terms of making sure that the very best talent works here and that our industry is competitive, but limiting network bandwidth on Nvidia GPUs has not been enough.

Business Insider: What other advice would you have for someone mid-career who might be looking to switch and break into AI?

Sarah Guo: Companies say they're looking for AI engineers, people who know how to manipulate these models into useful applications and write evaluations for whether or not they're working. The core workflow of building products today — I think smart engineers can figure this out. This is going to become part of software engineering practice. It is not a different role. And there's huge opportunity for anybody who's willing to invest the time and curiosity to just get good at working with the state of the art.