The U.S. is having its worst year for measles spread in more than three decades, and the year is only half over.

The national case count reached 1,288 on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though public health experts say the true figure may be higher.

The CDC’s count is 14 more than 2019, when America almost lost its status of having eliminated the vaccine-preventable illness — something that could happen this year if the virus spreads without stopping for 12 months. But the U.S. is far from 1991, when there were 9,643 confirmed cases.

In a short statement, the federal government said that the CDC “continues to recommend (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines as the best way to protect against measles.” It also said it is “supporting community efforts” to tamp down ongoing outbreaks as requested.

Fourteen states have active outbreaks; four other states’ outbreaks have ended. The largest outbreak started five months ago in undervaccinated communities in West Texas. Three people have died — two children in Texas and an adult in New Mexico — and dozens of people have been hospitalized across the U.S.

But there are signs that transmission is slowing, especially in Texas. Lubbock County’s hospitals treated most of the sickest patients in the region, but the county hasn’t seen a new case in 50 days, public health director Katherine Wells said.

“What concerned me early on in this outbreak was is it spreading to other parts of the United States, and that’s definitely what’s happening now,” she said.

In 2000, the World Health Organization and CDC said measles had been eliminated from the U.S. The closer a disease gets to eradication, the harder it can seem to stamp it out, said Dr. Jonathan Temte, a family physician in Wisconsin who helped certify that distinction 25 years ago.

It’s hard to see measles cases break records despite the widespread availability of a vaccine, he added. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is safe and is 97% effective at preventing measles after two doses.

“When we have tools that can be really helpful and see that they’re discarded for no good reason, it’s met with a little bit of melancholy on our part,” Temte said of public health officials and primary care providers.

Wells said she is concerned about continuing vaccine hesitancy. A recent study found childhood vaccination rates against measles fell after the COVID-19 pandemic in nearly 80% of the more than 2,000 U.S. counties with available data, including in states that are battling outbreaks this year. And CDC data showed that only 92.7% of kindergarteners in the U.S. had the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in the 2023-2024 school year, below the 95% needed to prevent outbreaks.

State and federal leaders have for years kept funding stagnant for local public health departments’ vaccination programs that are tasked with reversing the trend. Wells said she talks with local public health leaders nationwide about how to prepare for an outbreak, but also says the system needs more investment.

“What we’re seeing with measles is a little bit of a ‘canary in a coal mine,’” said Lauren Gardner, leader of Johns Hopkins University’s independent measles and COVID-19 tracking databases. “It’s indicative of a problem that we know exists with vaccination attitudes in this county and just, I think, likely to get worse.”

Currently, North America has three other major measles outbreaks: 2,966 cases in Chihuahua state, Mexico, 2,223 cases in Ontario, Canada and 1,246 in Alberta, Canada. The Ontario, Chihuahua and Texas outbreaks stem from large Mennonite communities in the regions. Mennonite churches do not formally discourage vaccination, though more conservative Mennonite communities historically have low vaccination rates and a distrust of government.

In 2019, the CDC identified 22 outbreaks with the largest in two separate clusters in New York — 412 in New York state and 702 in New York City. These were linked because measles was spreading through close-knit Orthodox Jewish communities, the CDC said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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The Trump administration has resumed sending some weapons to Ukraine, a week after the Pentagon had directed that some deliveries be paused, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The weapons heading into Ukraine include 155 mm munitions and precision-guided rockets known as GMLRS, two officials told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to provide details that had not been announced publicly. It’s unclear exactly when the weapons started moving.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the pause on some shipments last week to allow the Pentagon to assess its weapons stockpiles, in a move that caught the White House by surprise.

A White House official speaking Wednesday on the condition of anonymity said there was never a “pause” in shipments, but a review to ensure U.S. military support aligns with its defense strategy. The official said the Pentagon never announced a pause.

In a press briefing with reporters last week, though, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said he could not “go into detail about what weapons were paused and when and what we’re providing and when. Ultimately, the president and the secretary will make those decisions about what happens with those weapon systems.”

The pause affected Patriot missiles, the precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles, Howitzer rounds and more, taking not only Ukrainian officials and other allies by surprise but also U.S. lawmakers and other parts of the Trump administration, including the State Department.

It was not clear if a pause on Patriot missiles would hold. The $4 million munition is in high demand and was key to defending a major U.S. air base in Qatar last month as Iran launched a ballistic missile attack in response to the U.S. targeting its nuclear facilities.

President Donald Trump announced Monday that the U.S. would continue to deliver defensive weapons to Ukraine. He has sidestepped questions about who ordered the pause in exchanges with reporters this week.

“I would know if a decision is made. I will know,” Trump said Wednesday. “I will be the first to know. In fact, most likely I’d give the order, but I haven’t done that yet.”

Asked a day earlier who ordered the pause, he said: “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”

Trump has privately expressed frustration with Pentagon officials for announcing the pause — a move that he felt wasn’t properly coordinated with the White House, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The Pentagon has denied that Hegseth acted without consulting the president, saying: “Secretary Hegseth provided a framework for the President to evaluate military aid shipments and assess existing stockpiles. This effort was coordinated across government.”

It comes as Russia has fired escalating air attacks on Ukraine, with a barrage that the largest number of drones fired in a single night in the three-year-old war, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday.

Trump has become increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he wasn’t happy with him.

“Putin is not, he’s not treating human beings right,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, explaining the pause’s reversal. “It’s killing too many people. So we’re sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine, and I’ve approved that.”

The 155 mm artillery rounds have become some of the most used munitions of the war. Each round is about 2 feet (60 centimeters) long, weighs about 100 pounds (45 kilograms) and is 155 mm, or 6.1 inches, in diameter. They are used in Howitzer systems, which are towed large guns identified by the range of the angle of fire that their barrels can be set to.

Howitzer fires can strike targets up to 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 kilometers) away, depending on what type of round and firing system is used, which makes them highly valued by ground forces to take out enemy targets from a protected distance.

The U.S. has provided more than 3 million 155 mm rounds to Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. It has sent more than $67 billion in overall weapons and military assistance to Ukraine in that period.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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A Liberian-flagged cargo ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels sank Wednesday in the Red Sea, and a European naval force in the Mideast said only six of the 25 people who were on board have been rescued.

The attack on the Eternity C, which also killed at least three of the crew, represents the most serious assault carried out by the Houthis in the crucial maritime trade route where $1 trillion in cargo once passed through annually.

From November 2023 to December 2024, the Houthis targeted more than 100 ships with missiles and drones in a campaign the rebels describe as supporting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war. The Iranian-backed rebels stopped their attacks during a brief ceasefire in the war. They later became the target of an intense weekslong campaign of airstrikes ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The attack on the Eternity C, as well as the sinking of the bulk carrier Magic Seas in another attack Sunday, raise new questions about the Red Sea’s safety as ships had slowly begun returning to its waters. Meanwhile, a new possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war — as well as the future of talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s battered nuclear program — remain in the balance.

“We are now with grave concern seeing an escalation in the Red Sea with attacks on two commercial ships earlier this week by Ansar Allah, resulting in civilian loss of life and casualties as well as the potential for environmental damage,” warned United Nations special envoy Hans Grundberg, using another name for the rebels.

6 of 25 on board have been rescued

A statement from the European Union naval mission in the Red Sea said the crew of the ship included 22 sailors, among them 21 Filipinos and one Russian, as well as a three-member security team. Those rescued were five Filipinos and one Indian.

Three people also were killed during the hourslong attack on the ship, the EU force said, and their nationalities were not immediately known.

The armed rebels had attacked the ship with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, later using two drones and two drone boats carrying bombs to strike the vessel, the EU force said. The Eternity C sank at 7:50 a.m. Wednesday, it added.

The ship, flagged out of Liberia but owned by a Greek firm, likely had been targeted like the Magic Seas over its firm doing business with Israel. Neither vessel apparently requested an escort from the EU force.

The U.S. military has two aircraft carriers in the Mideast, the USS Nimitz and the USS Carl Vinson, but both likely are in the Arabian Sea, far from the site of the attacks. There are two American destroyers believed to be operating in the Red Sea. However, the ships attacked had no U.S. ties and a ceasefire between the Houthis and America announced after the bombing campaign earlier this year still appears to be holding.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, claimed the attack in a prerecorded message Wednesday night as the EU force acknowledged it was still searching for those onboard with private industry rescuers.

The Houthis later released footage of them launching missiles at the Eternity C. The bridge appeared heavily damaged by the attack and oil leaked from the vessel. The ship took on water from holes along its waterline before sinking beneath the waves, the rebels chanting: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”

The Houthis released a similar video after their attack on the tanker Sounion in August 2024 and on Tuesday from their attack on the Magic Seas.

Attacks draw condemnation and support for sailors

In the Philippines, Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac said he has been leading an effort to reach out to the families of the missing Filipino sailors to update them on the search and rescue efforts.

“It’s human nature that one should be terribly worried and distraught about the situation,” Cacdac told The Associated Press by telephone. “It’s our role in government to be there for them in their utmost hour of need to ensure that not just government services but throughout this hand-holding process, we will provide the necessary support.”

The attacks on the ships drew international condemnation.

“These attacks demonstrate the ongoing threat that Iran-backed Houthi rebels pose to freedom of navigation and to regional economic and maritime security,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said. “The United States has been clear: We will continue to take necessary action to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping from Houthi terrorist attacks.”

The EU force earlier said one of the wounded crew lost his leg.

Grundberg, the U.N. envoy, also decried the targeting of civilian infrastructure after Israel bombed three Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen over the weekend and hit a power station.

“Yemen must not be drawn deeper into regional crises that threaten to unravel the already extremely fragile situation in the country,” he warned during an address to the Security Council.

Satellite photos show damage from an Israeli strike

Satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press showed new damage at Yemen’s rebel-controlled port at Hodeida after it was targeted by the Israeli airstrikes. The images from Planet Labs PBC showed new portions of the pier at the port torn away by Israeli bombing, likely to affect the unloading of cargo there.

In conducting the strikes, Israel said the Houthis used the port to smuggle military equipment into the country, a growing worry of analysts and Yemen watchers in recent years. Hodeida is the main entry point for food and other humanitarian aid for millions of Yemenis.

Jamal Amer, a Houthi official, reportedly said Wednesday that shipments continue to arrive “smoothly” to Hodeida. In comments published by the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite channel, Amer also said that damage at the port ”directly affects civilians and is a disgrace to the United Nations, which is complicit in these crimes through its suspicious silence.”

Yemen’s war began when the Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014. A Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s exiled government considered trying to retake Hodeida by force in 2018, but ultimately decided against it as international criticism and worries about the port being destroyed grew.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s revenue rose a better-than-anticipated 39% in the June quarter, buoying expectations for a sustained post-ChatGPT boom in AI spending.

Sales for the chipmaker to Nvidia Corp. and Apple Inc. climbed to NT$934 billion ($32 billion) for the three months, based on its reported monthly revenue. That beat the average analyst projection for about NT$928 billion.

Investors have piled back into AI-linked companies, shaking off a funk that settled in after China’s DeepSeek cast doubt on whether the likes of Meta Platforms Inc. and Google needed to spend that much money on data centers. This week, Nvidia became the first company in history to hit a $4 trillion valuation, underscoring investors’ renewed enthusiasm for companies like TSMC key to building the infrastructure for AI.

TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei reassured shareholders in June that AI chip demand still outstripped supply, and reaffirmed an outlook for 2025 sales to grow in the mid-20% range in US dollar terms. His company has pledged to spend another $100 billion ramping up manufacturing in Arizona, in addition to an expansion in Japan, Germany and back home.

As the world’s largest contract chipmaker, TSMC sits at the heart of the global technology supply chain, producing cutting-edge chips for iPhones and Nvidia’s AI offerings. 

While Nvidia is fueling its growth, TSMC remains reliant on Apple and smartphone makers for most of its business.

For 2025, investors remain wary about the impact of tariffs on the global economy and the electronics sector. 

The Trump administration’s trade war is prompting economists to scale back their forecasts for gross domestic product growth worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives said Apple needs to acquire the $14 billion startup Perplexity in order to catch up and ultimately prevail in the AI race. While the company has an advantage because of the popularity of its iPhone and other iOS devices, it ultimately needs to look outside instead of building out an AI product in-house, Ives wrote in a Wednesday note. 

Apple is falling behind in the AI race, and the only way it can catch up is by buying the AI startup Perplexity, according to a top analyst.

Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities said it’s clear Apple is incapable of producing its own AI in-house, despite a company culture that strives to build superior products internally. In recent days, some of Apple’s top AI talent has also been poached by increasingly aggressive AI talent recruiter Meta, Bloomberg reported.

Meanwhile, competitors are increasingly outdoing the company.

“Apple is at a highway rest stop on a bench watching this 4th Industrial Revolution race go by at 100 miles an hour,” wrote Ives in a Wednesday note.

Apple did not immediately respond to Fortune‘s request for comment.

Ives was more hopeful about Apple’s AI prospects in January, despite writing that the company was facing a “fork in the road” year on the technology. At the time, he highlighted Apple’s clearest advantage in the AI arms race: its existing base of 1.5 billion iPhones and 2.3 billion iOS devices used by people around the world. 

In his Wednesday note, Ives struck a more apprehensive tone, adding Apple still retained the advantage of its widespread devices and could eventually win the AI race, but that its “window is narrowing.” Apple’s most recent WWDC, its annual event for showcasing new tech, also “was a snoozer,” Ives wrote, and barely mentioned AI.

“Apple is way too behind and does not have the AI technology to compete. The clock has struck 12, they need to acquire Perplexity or risk getting further behind,” Ives told Fortune in an email.

Even if Apple has to pay around double what it is currently worth, it should acquire Perplexity, he wrote. The San Francisco-based startup, reportedly worth $14 billion, has made strides among AI enthusiasts for citing links to articles and other information when its AI responds to queries. Perplexity on Tuesday also launched Comet, an AI-based web browser, for select subscribers, in its latest effort to compete with tech giants Google and Microsoft. 

Yet, Tomasz Tunguz, the founder of Theory Ventures, which invests in early-stage enterprise AI startups, said acquiring Perplexity would come with myriad privacy considerations for Apple. The company is used to providing end-to-end encryption for products like iMessage and FaceTime, and would need to find a solution for how Perplexity would run, either locally or on a secure cloud architecture.

“They would need to have a lot of confidence they could build an architecture from end to end that had that privacy component,” Tunguz told Fortune.

Kevin Novak, founder and managing partner of early-stage AI investment firm Rackhouse Ventures, said it’s unclear whether a large acquisition would work for Apple. The company has tried to maintain the pro-building ethos of Steve Jobs for much of its history, and has been shy to acquire. Among its largest acquisitions was its $3 billion purchase of Beats electronics in 2014.

“This would be challenging for any company, but especially given Apple’s sort-of corporate ethos around perfectionism, may be especially challenging for Apple,” Novak told Fortune.

Still, Ives, for his part, said he believes Perplexity could be a natural fit for Apple and could especially help level up Siri to make it many people’s most frequent exposure to AI. 

“If Apple acquires Perplexity, the combined forces of Cupertino with Perplexity would be a game changer on the AI front and rival ChatGPT given the scale and scope of Apple’s ecosystem,” wrote Ives in the note.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• Oak View Group co-founder Timothy Leiweke is facing 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for allegedly reaching a secret backroom deal with the CEO of a competitor to land a sports arena contract for the University of Texas at Austin, authorities said on Wednesday. He has stepped down as CEO of Oak View, the company announced. A spokesperson for Leiweke said the executive has “done nothing wrong and will vigorously defend himself and his reputation for fairness and integrity.”

Timothy Leiweke, co-founder mogul of entertainment venue developer Oak View Group (OVG), is facing a decade in prison following an indictment returned on Wednesday. Leiweke is accused of allegedly conspiring with the CEO of competitor Legends Hospitality to make sure Oak View Group was the only bidder on a project to develop the 15,000-seat, $338 million Moody Center, which hosts the University of Texas’ mens and women’s basketball games and musicians such as Leon Bridges, Willie Nelson, George Strait, and Kali Uchis. 

According to the Department of Justice, Leiweke allegedly told colleagues back in 2017 he wanted to figure out a way to get OVG’s competitor to “back down” in bidding for the arena project. In February 2018, Leiweke allegedly struck a deal in which the competitor CEO at Legends Hospitality agreed to stand down on bidding for the project. In exchange, Leiweke allegedly told the Legends CEO, unnamed by the DOJ, that OVG would give them some of the business through subcontracts. That left OVG as the only bidder for the development contract. 

Officials called the alleged deal “bid rigging” and said it allowed the company to land a highly lucrative contract without an arm’s-length competitive process. The arena opened in 2022, and authorities said OVG continues to receive “significant revenues” from the project to date. OVG has agreed to pay $15 million in penalties while Legends Hospitality will pay $1.5 million, both “in connection with the conduct alleged in the indictment against Leiweke,” DOJ announced. 

The antitrust division charged Leiweke with violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act, which outlaws bid rigging. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine, although it could be increased to twice the gain from the alleged crime or twice the losses suffered by victims if either is greater than the statutory maximum, authorities said. The criminal penalty for a corporation is up to $100 million, according to the Federal Trade Commission. OVG was not charged.

“Timothy Leiweke allegedly led a scheme designed to steer the contract for entertainment services at a public university’s arena to his company. Public contracts are subject to laws requiring an open and competitive bid process to ensure a level playing field,” said assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office Christopher G. Raia in a statement. “The FBI is determined to ensure that those who disregard fair competition principles do not benefit from a rigged bidding process targeting our communities and public institutions.”

On Wednesday, OVG announced Leiweke would relinquish the CEO role and transition into a vice chairman role on the board. The company is the largest developer of sports and live entertainment venues worldwide and was founded in 2015 by Leiweke and Irving Azoff. The latter is former CEO of Ticketmaster Entertainment and executive chairman of Live Nation Entertainment. OVG has 30,000 employees across hundreds of venues and has committed more than $5 billion to developing new arenas in the next three years. 

A spokesperson for Leiweke said the veteran exec had “done nothing wrong and will vigorously defend himself and his well-deserved reputation for fairness and integrity.”

“The Antitrust Division’s allegations are wrong on the law and the facts, and the case should never have been brought,” Leiweke’s spokesperson said. “The law is clear: vertical, complementary business partnerships, like the one contemplated between OVG and Legends, are legal. These allegations blatantly ignore established legal precedent and seek to criminalize common teaming efforts that are proven to enhance competition and benefit the public.”

In another statement, Leiweke said he was pleased the company resolved the DOJ’s inquiry without any charges or admission of wrongdoing. 

“[T]he last thing I want to do is distract from the accomplishments of the team or draw focus away from executing for our partners, so the Board and I decided that now is the right time to implement the succession plan that was already underway and transition out of the CEO role,” Leiweke said. “ In my new role as Vice Chairman of the Board and as an OVG shareholder, I remain as committed as ever to the long-term success of the company, and I know OVG, our valued partners and our customers are in great hands with Chris and the rest of our stellar leaders.”

Oak View Group said in a statement it cooperated fully with the DOJ’s inquiry and is pleased the matter has been resolved with no charges against OVG.  

“We support all efforts to ensure a fair and competitive environment in our industry and are committed to upholding industry-leading compliance and disclosure practices,” OVG’s stated.

Legends did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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President Donald Trump singled out Brazil for import taxes of 50% on Wednesday for its treatment of its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, showing that personal grudges rather than simple economics are a driving force in the U.S. leader’s use of tariffs.

Trump avoided his standard form letter with Brazil, specifically tying his tariffs to the trial of Bolsonaro, who is charged with trying to overturn his 2022 election loss. Trump has described Bolsonaro as a friend and hosted the former Brazilian president at his Mar-a-Lago resort when both were in power in 2020.

“This Trial should not be taking place,” Trump wrote in the letter posted on Truth Social. “It is a Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!”

There is a sense of kinship as Trump was indicted in 2023 for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The U.S. president addressed his tariff letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who bested Bolsonaro in 2022.

Bolsonaro testified before the country’s Supreme Court in June over the alleged plot to remain in power after his 2022 election loss. Judges will hear from 26 other defendants in coming months. A decision could come as early as September, legal analysts say. Bolsonaro has already been ruled ineligible until 2030 by the country’s electoral authorities.

Brazil’s vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, said he sees “no reason” for the U.S. to hike tariffs on the South American nation.

“I think he has been misinformed,” he said. “President Lula was jailed for almost two years. No one questioned the judiciary. No one questioned what the country had done. This is a matter for our judiciary branch.”

For Trump, the tariffs are personal

Trump also objected to Brazil’s Supreme Court fining of social media companies, saying the temporary blocking last year amounted to “SECRET and UNLAWFUL Censorship Orders.” Trump said he is launching an investigation as a result under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which applies to companies with trade practices that are deemed unfair to U.S. companies.

Among the companies the Supreme Court fined was X, which was not mentioned specifically in Trump’s letter. X is owned by Elon Musk, Trump’s multibillionaire backer in the 2024 election whose time leading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency recently ended and led to a public feud over the U.S. president’s deficit-increasing budget plan. Trump also owns a social media company, Truth Social.

The Brazil letter was a reminder that politics and personal relations with Trump matter just as much as any economic fundamentals. And while Trump has said the high tariff rates he’s setting are based on trade imbalances, it was unclear by his Wednesday actions how the countries being targeted would help to reindustrialize America.

The tariffs starting Aug. 1 would be a dramatic increase from the 10% rate that Trump levied on Brazil as part of his April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement. In addition to oil, Brazil sells orange juice, coffee, iron and steel to the U.S., among other products. The U.S. ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year, according to the Census Bureau.

Trump initially announced his broad tariffs by declaring an economic emergency, arguing under a 1977 law that the U.S. was at risk because of persistent trade imbalances. But that rationale becomes problematic in this particular case, as Trump is linking his tariffs to the Bolsonaro trial and the U.S. exports more to Brazil than it imports.

Trump also targeted smaller trade partners

Trump also sent letters Wednesday to the leaders of seven other nations. None of them — the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Sri Lanka — is a major industrial rival to the United States.

Most economic analyses say the tariffs will worsen inflationary pressures and subtract from economic growth, but Trump has used the taxes as a way to assert the diplomatic and financial power of the U.S. on both rivals and allies. His administration is promising that the taxes on imports will lower trade imbalances, offset some of the cost of the tax cuts he signed into law on Friday and cause factory jobs to return to the United States.

Trump, during a White House meeting with African leaders, talked up trade as a diplomatic tool. Trade, he said, “seems to be a foundation” for him to settle disputes between India and Pakistan, as well as Kosovo and Serbia.

“You guys are going to fight, we’re not going to trade,” Trump said. “And we seem to be quite successful in doing that.”

On Monday, Trump placed a 35% tariff on Serbia, one of the countries he was using as an example of how fostering trade can lead to peace.

Trump said the tariff rates in his letters were based on “common sense” and trade imbalances, even though the Brazil letter indicated otherwise. Trump suggested he had not thought of penalizing the countries whose leaders were meeting with him in the Oval Office — Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau — as “these are friends of mine now.”

Countries are not complaining about the rates outlined in his letters, he said, even though those tariffs have been generally close to the ones announced April 2 that rattled financial markets. The S&P 500 stock index rose Wednesday.

“We really haven’t had too many complaints because I’m keeping them at a very low number, very conservative as you would say,” Trump said.

Tariff uncertainty returns with Trump’s letters

Officials for the European Union, a major trade partner and source of Trump’s ire on trade, said Tuesday that they are not expecting to receive a letter from Trump listing tariff rates. The Republican president started the process of announcing tariff rates on Monday by hitting two major U.S. trading partners, Japan and South Korea, with import taxes of 25%.

According to Trump’s Wednesday letters, imports from Libya, Iraq, Algeria and Sri Lanka would be taxed at 30%, those from Moldova and Brunei at 25% and those from the Philippines at 20%. The tariffs would start Aug. 1.

The Census Bureau reported that last year that the U.S. ran a trade imbalance on goods of $1.4 billion with Algeria, $5.9 billion with Iraq, $900 million with Libya, $4.9 billion with the Philippines, $2.6 billion with Sri Lanka, $111 million with Brunei and $85 million with Moldova. The imbalance represents the difference between what the U.S. exported to those countries and what it imported.

Taken together, the trade imbalances with those seven countries are essentially a rounding error in a U.S. economy with a gross domestic product of $30 trillion.

The letters were posted on Truth Social after the expiration of a 90-day negotiating period with a baseline levy of 10%. Trump is giving countries more time to negotiate with his Aug. 1 deadline, but he has insisted there will be no extensions for the countries that receive letters.

The tariff letters are worded aggressively in Trump’s style of writing. He frames the tariffs as an invitation to “participate in the extraordinary Economy of the United States,” adding that the trade imbalances are a “major threat” to America’s economy and national security.

The president threatened additional tariffs on any country that attempts to retaliate. He said he chose to send the letters because it was too complicated for U.S. officials to negotiate with their counterparts in the countries with new tariffs. It can take years to broker trade accords.

___

Associated Press writers Mauricio Savarese in Rio de Janeiro, David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Alan G. Hassenfeld, a renowned philanthropist and former CEO of iconic toy company Hasbro Inc., the maker of G.I. Joe and Play-Doh, has died. He was 76, according to the toy company.

Hasbro, the nation’s second largest toy company behind Mattel based on annual sales, declined to offer more details. Hassenfeld’s family foundation, Hassenfeld Family Initiatives, wasn’t immediately available to comment.

Hassenfeld was born in Providence, Rhode Island and graduated from Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. He received an undergraduate arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970. Upon graduation, he joined the Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based family business in 1970. Hasbro was founded in 1923, by Hassenfeld’s grandfather, Henry. Known initially as Hassenfeld Brothers, it sold textile remnants but expanded into school supplies and later toy manufacturing under the Hasbro name in the 1940s, according to Hasbro’s website. It went public in 1968.

Hassenfeld rose quickly in the family business serving as special assistant to the president and worked his way up the ranks. He became one of the key architects of Hasbro’s international operations and spent extensive time traveling overseas. He was named executive vice president in 1980 and became president in September 1984.

Hassenfeld labored for years in the shadow of his older brother Stephen. His brother’s death of pneumonia in June 1989 at age 47, however, moved Hassenfeld into the position of chairman and chief executive officer.

Hassenfeld stepped down as CEO in 2003 and in August 2005, he retired from his chairman position and became emeritus chairman. He stepped away from that role last year. Hassenfeld was the last family member to sit on the board, according to Hasbro.

“All of us who have ever had any connection to Hasbro today are mourning the profound loss of Alan Hassenfeld, our beloved former Chairman & CEO, mentor, and dear friend, ” Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press. “Alan’s enormous heart was, and will remain, the guiding force behind Hasbro — compassionate, imaginative, and dedicated to bringing a smile to the face of every child around the world. His tireless advocacy for philanthropy, children’s welfare, and the toy industry created a legacy that will inspire us always.”

Hassenfeld was involved in many charitable and social causes both nationally and locally in Rhode Island. His concerns ranged from childhood hunger to issues involving refugee settlement in the state. As chairman of the Hassenfeld Family Initiatives, he oversaw the foundation’s mission of globalizing safety and human rights within the area of children’s products; empowering women in developing countries; and enhancing the economy, education and business opportunities in Rhode Island.

Hassenfeld was also founding benefactor of Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, and his family’s contributions helped to establish the Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute at Brown University.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• Traders seem untroubled by the possibility that tariffs’ return to the spotlight could lead to another market crash. As stocks rose, Nvidia became the first company ever to reach a market cap of $4 trillion. 

Stocks rose on Wednesday after two days of declines. Those downturns proved to be little more than blips in the continuous—albeit choppy—march the stock market has had since its recent nadirs in April. Meanwhile, tech juggernaut Nvidia hit a historic new $4 trillion milestone.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.9%. While the Dow Jones ticked up 218 points, good for a 0.5% increase, after taking the worst of the two-day slump. 

Traders seemed to ignore this latest round of tariff news—a stark contrast to their reaction in April when President Donald Trump’s initial burst of tariff policies caused a broad market selloff that hit equities, the U.S. dollar, and the bond market. When tariffs returned to the forefront right before the July Fourth holiday last week, investors had already braced themselves. Markets dipped a little but stayed largely in the range of their recent highs. 

Wednesday, July 9 marked the deadline for a 90-day pause on tariffs. However, Trump has since extended the deadline to Aug. 1. On Wednesday, the president sent “tariff letters” to seven new countries including the Philippines, Moldova, and Brunei. 

Asian markets were mostly down on the news of renewed tariff policies. Shanghai’s SSE Composite dipped 0.13%. Stocks in Hong Kong dropped 1.06% during the session. The ASX 200 and the Nifty 50 slipped 0.61% and 0.18% respectively. A rare bright spot was the Nikkei, which is up 0.33% on the day. 

Nvidia’s historic $4 trillion market cap

Back in the U.S., stock market darling and semiconductor juggernaut Nvidia became the first company with a $4 trillion valuation. 

Shares rose 1.8% on Wednesday hitting a share price of $162.86. Nvidia became the poster child for the AI market rally that led the S&P 500 to back-to-back years of more than 20% growth. 

The company’s shares shot up as soon as markets closed. Investors were eager to scoop up shares after they fell slightly over the past week. After that initial exuberance, the price tailed off before plateauing around 11 a.m. Shares remained stable throughout the rest of the session. 

Nvidia beat other legendary tech giants Apple and Microsoft to the $4 trillion mark. Since the start of the year, Nvidia’s stock is up 17%—though that proves a relatively calm performance for the chipmaker, which has seen its stock rise 1,453% over the past five years.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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• The chances the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 50 basis points in December are growing, according to Oxford Economics. The June jobs report showed strong headline numbers, but the underlying data pointed to a weakening labor market. If it cratered unexpectedly the Fed would be forced into such a large rate cut.   

Interest rate cuts will be a crystal ball. 

Amid a cloudy outlook, they’ll reveal either good economic fortune or a downturn. 

On the one hand, interest rate cuts could mean the Federal Reserve has finally deemed the threat of inflation has passed and economic forecasts stable again after the tariff-induced uncertainty. That is the outcome investors and President Donald Trump would most welcome. But until any of that uncertainty subsides, interest rates will remain where they are. 

There is, however, one scenario, in which rate cuts aren’t a sign of eagerly awaited relief but of the start of a long-feared downturn. In the event the labor market suddenly starts to go south, the Fed would have to step in and cut rates. In that case, investors and the president would get more than they bargained for: an interest rate cut of 50 basis points. 

A rate cut of that size, double the usual 25 basis points, would only come if unemployment spiked and companies stopped hiring later in the year. The Fed started its holding pattern, largely worried Trump’s tariffs would reignite inflation. But in recent weeks, there has been a greater focus on unemployment—the other side of its dual mandate. Investors, too, are worried the labor market may be teetering. 

“We think the risk is growing that the first cut is 50 basis points,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. 

Oxford Economics still forecasts a single rate cut of 25 basis points in December. But the fact the firm is entertaining a jumbo rate cut points to genuine fears the bottom may fallout from the labor market quickly, even dramatically. It’s the nature of the labor market slump that matters more than anything else. 

If it is “unexpected in a shock kind of way, that would motivate a 50-basis-point reduction at the end of the year,” said Jose Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers. “You would need things to go bad really quickly towards the end of the year for that to happen.”

If the bad news is swift and severe, then the Fed will have to scramble. 

“We do see a growing risk that the first move is larger, i.e. 50 basis points, because we think the Fed at that point may have some catching up to do” with the labor market, Vanden Houten told Fortune. 

The current labor market is remarkably stable despite the market turbulence that surrounded the original tariff announcements in April. Under the surface, though, there are some subtle changes indicating it is loosening. In June, the unemployment rate actually ticked down to 4.1% from 4.2%, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That headline number—which came alongside 147,000 new jobs—belied slowing momentum in the job market. Private sector jobs grew at the lowest level in eight months; 130,000 people dropped out of the labor force; and individuals out of a job were staying unemployed for longer. 

Those nuances don’t point to a labor market in imminent danger, but one that is shifting beneath the economy’s feet.

“The numbers aren’t horrible, allowing the Fed to focus more on inflation right now,” Vanden Houten said. “The latest data allow the Fed to breathe a little easier, although there were definitely some quirks in the June employment data that probably made the labor market look a little better than it is.”

Economic growth would have to significantly underperform expectations and hiring levels would need to be below 50,000 a month in October and November for the economic picture to worsen quickly enough to force a 50 basis point cut, according to Torres. 

The possibilities of both happening are unlikely at the moment. Investors expect growth and the labor market to slow later in the year, but not to those levels. Wall Street firms and economists lowered their forecasts for year-end growth and raised those for inflation, mainly citing tariffs. Some have revisited those projections, lowering them further, as Trump’s looming tariff deadline looms. 

That said, markets have remained steady amid a renewal of Trump’s tariff whirlwinds. Markets seem to have largely already priced Wall Street’s lower forecasts for the rest of 2025. In fact, markets were largely unmoved earlier this week as Trump announced a series of new and possibly definitive tariffs on a host of countries—all of which came after the S&P 500 hit a new all-time high at the start of July.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Turns out Donald Trump gauges his esteem for presidential predecessors by how well their portraits fit into his White House redecorating scheme. Or sometimes how well the frames around those portraits do.

“I’m a frame person,” Trump said Tuesday during a meeting with his Cabinet. “Sometimes I like frames more than I like the pictures.”

Trump wrapped up a 90-plus-minute session by explaining how he personally worked to redecorate the Cabinet Room, seeming to take real joy in choosing which portraits were hung. The president also said he helped choose the room’s drapes and polled those present about whether he should repaint the room in gold leaf. (Cabinet members think he should.)

“I actually spent time in the vaults. The vaults are where we have a lot of great pictures and artwork. And I picked it all myself,” Trump said. “I’m very proud of it.”

The president said that meant “a lot of time, effort” and “very little money.” He even recounted having gone to Secretary of State Marco Rubio ‘s office and directing that a grandfather clock there be moved to the White House.

“As president, you have the power — if I go into the State Department, or Department of Commerce or Treasury — if I see anything that I like, I’m allowed to take it,” Trump said, drawing laughs. He offered the anecdote despite there not being any record of Trump having paid a public visit to the State Department during Rubio’s tenure.

Trump also pointed out each portrait and shared what he thought of each ex-president depicted. He started by indicating “the great Andrew Jackson ” and went from there — renewing his frequent praise for William McKinley and getting in a dig about how Bill Clinton once offered donors overnight stays in the Lincoln bedroom in exchange for campaign contributions.

Here’s what Trump said about some past presidents:

James K. Polk (1845-49):

“That’s a gentleman named — and we call him — President Polk. He was sort of a real-estate guy. He was — people don’t realize — he was a one-termer. But he was a very good president. But, and I’m not sure I should be doing this, he actually gave us the state of California.”

Then Trump revealed that his choice of Polk’s picture might have had more do with the portrait’s frame being almost the same size as the frame surrounding Jackson’s portrait, which he suggested was especially aesthetically pleasing: “Polk is actually a very good president who’s got the same frame that I needed, OK.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-61):

“A very underrated president. Built the Interstate (Highway) System. And he was the toughest president, I guess, until we came along. But I don’t mind giving up that crown, because, I don’t want to be too tough on it. But we want to be humane. But he was the toughest president on immigration. He was very strong at the borders. Very, very strong. And, sometimes you can be too strong. He was strong at the borders and, during a certain period of time, there was so strong that almost every farmer in California went bankrupt. And we have to remember that. We have to work together. We have to remember that. But he was a very good president, and a very good general and a very good president and I thought he deserved a position somewhere on this floor.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-45):

“He was not a Republican, to put it mildly. But he was, you know, a four-termer. He was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And, if you notice, we have a lot of ramps outside. You have a ramp. People say, ‘It’s an unusual place for a ramp.’ It was because of him. He was wheelchair bound. But he was an amazing man.”

Abraham Lincoln (1861-65):

“Over there is ‘Honest’ Abe Lincoln. And that picture was in his, ugh, in his bedroom. And we thought this would be a very important place because this is where wars are ended. I’m not going to say wars are declared. I’m going to say wars are ended. OK? We’ll be positive. And, that’s the picture of Abe Lincoln from his bedroom, sat in the bedroom for many, many years. That was his favorite picture of himself. And the Lincoln Bedroom’s very famous. You remember when Bill Clinton had it and he rented it out to people. We don’t do that.”

John Adams (1797-1801):

“They were the first occupants of the White House. 1800. And John Quincy Adams, Mrs. Adams, they were the first occupants. So we have them looking at each other and, in between their stares is Abraham Lincoln trying to make peace.”

(Trump is correct that John Adams, the nation’s second president, and his wife Abigail, were the first first couple to move into the White House in 1800. But he was mistaken about John Quincy Adams, who was John and Abigail’s son and the sixth president. He served from 1825 to 1829).

William McKinley (1897-1901):

“McKinley was a great president who never got credit. In fact, they changed the name of Mount McKinley and I changed it back because he should have been — the people of Ohio, he was the governor of Ohio — the people of Ohio were very happy when I did that. I heard they were very insulted. They took the name of Mount McKinley off. That was done by Obama a little while ago and I had to change it back. I changed it back. He actually was a great president. He was a president. He was the tariff, the most, I guess since me — I think I’m gonna outdo him — but he was a tariff president. He believed that other countries should pay for the privilege of coming into our country and taking our jobs and taking our treasure. That’s the way he explained it. They took our jobs and they took our treasure. And for that he should pay. And he made them pay. And he built a tremendous fortune.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File

A “click-to-cancel” rule, which would have required businesses to make it easy for consumers to cancel unwanted subscriptions and memberships, has been blocked by a federal appeals court just days before it was set to go into effect.

The Federal Trade Commission’s proposed changes, adopted in October, required businesses to obtain a customer’s consent before charging for memberships, auto-renewals and programs linked to free trial offers.

The FTC said at the time that businesses must also disclose when free trials or other promotional offers will end and let customers cancel recurring subscriptions as easily as they started them.

The administration of President Joe Biden included the FTC’s proposal as part of its “Time is Money” initiative, a governmentwide initiative that was announced last year with the aim of cracking down on consumer-related hassles.

The FTC rule was set to go into effect on Monday, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said this week that the FTC made a procedural error by failing to come up with a preliminary regulatory analysis, which is required for rules whose annual impact on the U.S. economy is more than $100 million.

The FTC claimed that it did not have to come up with a preliminary regulatory analysis because it initially determined that the rule’s impact on the national economy would be less than $100 million. An administrative law judge decided that the economic impact would be more than the $100 million threshold.

The court decided to vacate the rule.

“While we certainly do not endorse the use of unfair and deceptive practices in negative option marketing, the procedural deficiencies of the Commission’s rulemaking process are fatal here,” the court wrote.

The FTC declined to comment on Wednesday.

The agency is currently moving forward with its preparations for a trial involving Amazon’s Prime program. The trial stems from a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit that accused Amazon of enrolling consumers in its Prime program without their consent and making it difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions.

The trial is expected to take place next year.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File

Almost 8 million federal student loan borrowers who enrolled in a Biden-era repayment program will soon see interest accruing on their debt again, even as their payments are paused due to an ongoing legal battle.

Starting Aug. 1, interest will begin accruing on loans that are currently enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, repayment plan, the Education Department announced Wednesday. Some 7.7 million borrowers are enrolled in the plan, which was created under the Biden administration in 2023 and faced immediate backlash from conservatives.

In fact, the future of the SAVE repayment plan has been in legal limbo for months, following a lawsuit brought by seven Republican-led states. While the lawsuit plays out, borrowers enrolled in the plan have not had to make payments, and interest has not accrued. Now, interest will restart, though enrolled borrowers still do not need to make payments, the Education Department says. That means their balance could grow as they wait for the lawsuit to play out—and when forbearance ends, borrowers will be need to make monthly payments on the new, higher loan totals.

The Student Borrower Protection Center, a student loan advocacy group, estimates this will cost the typical borrower $3,500 per year, or $300 per month, in interest payments.

The SAVE plan allowed some low-income borrowers to pay $0 per month on their loans. Debts could be forgiven after 25 years in repayment, even if that monthly payment never increased.

But the Trump administration is taking a significantly different approach to federal student loans than his predecessor. Blanket forgiveness—a cornerstone of the Biden approach—is off the table.

“Congress designed these programs to ensure that borrowers repay their loans, yet the Biden Administration tried to illegally force taxpayers to foot the bill instead,” said U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon.

The Education Department is encouraging SAVE borrowers to enroll in a different repayment plan. It says it will begin reaching out to affected borrowers.

In addition to restarting interest accrual, the Education Department resumed collections on overdue loans in May. It has received nearly $282 million in collections on defaulted federal student loans as of late June, according to a press release. It says it expects wage garnishment efforts to begin later this summer. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Mattel has introduced its first Barbie representing a person with Type 1 diabetes, as part of wider efforts from the toy maker to increase inclusivity among its dolls.

In an announcement Tuesday, Mattel said it had partnered with Breakthrough T1D — a Type 1 diabetes research and advocacy organization formerly known as Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, or JDRF — to ensure that the design of the doll “truly captures the community.” That includes accessories that “accurately reflect the medical equipment” people with Type 1 diabetes may need, the California-based company noted.

“Visibility matters for everyone facing Type 1 diabetes,” Emily Mazreku, director of marketing strategy at Breakthrough T1D, said in an accompanying announcement. And as a mother who lives with Type 1 diabetes, she added, “it means everything to have Barbie helping the world see T1D and the incredible people who live with it.”

The new Barbie wears continuous glucose monitor (CGM), a device that tracks blood sugar levels, on her arm — while holding a phone displaying an accompanying app. She also has an insulin pump attached to her waist. And the doll carries a blue purse that can be used to carry other essential supplies or snacks on the go.

The Barbie’s outfit is blue, too — with polka dots on a matching top and skirt set. Mattel says that this color and design are nods to symbols for diabetes awareness.

This new doll “enables more children to see themselves reflected in Barbie,” Mattel wrote Tuesday, and is part of the company’s wider Fashionistas line committed to inclusivity. The line features Barbies with various skin tones, hair colors and textures, disabilities, body types and more. Previously-introduced Fashionistas include a Ken doll with a prosthetic leg and a Barbie with hearing aids. Mattel also introduced its first doll with Down syndrome in 2023.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 38.4 million Americans of all ages — amounting to about 11.6% of the U.S. population — were estimated to have diabetes as of 2021, the latest year with data available. About 2 million had Type 1 diabetes, including about 304,000 children and teens younger than 20.

Barbie’s new doll with Type 1 diabetes was also introduced at Breakthrough T1D’s 2025 Children’s Congress held in Washington, D.C. this week, where the organization is advocating for continued federal research funding. This year, Breakthrough T1D has been particularly focused on the Special Diabetes Program, which is currently set to expire in September.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Linda Yaccarino is no longer the CEO of social media platform X, only the latest top Elon Musk lieutenant to part ways with his business empire as his personal and professional lives become increasingly chaotic. 

“After two incredible years, I’ve decided to step down as CEO of 𝕏,” Yaccarino wrote on X Wednesday. “When @elonmusk and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company. I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App.” 

Yaccarino joined X in June of 2023, and was at the company for two years. She joined X after decades in the media and advertising industry, with long stints at NBC and Turner Broadcasting System. Former colleagues previously told Fortune that she stood out as a gritty executive who was adept at managing difficult clients and “stood up to a lot of misogyny.”

It’s not clear why Yaccarino is departing X, although the social media platform has certainly had its share of troubles since Musk took over. Many users have left the platform since Musk took over in 2022, and competitors like Bluesky have become more popular over the past year. Just this week, a chatbot released by Elon Musk’s AI company called Grok shared anti-Semitic posts on X. The chatbot’s account on X later posted: “We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts.”

Yaccarino, however, is only the latest high-profile Musk lieutenant to step away from his business empire over the past several months, which have been particularly volatile. These are the other Musk lieutenants who have recently parted ways with the mogul.  

Omead Afshar, former head of sales in North America and Europe at Tesla
Departure: June 2025
A former top aide to Musk, Afshar left Tesla last month. He ran sales and operations in North America and Europe, but was also seen as a proxy for Musk when he was away from the company, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Jenna Ferrua, former director of HR at Tesla
Departure: June 2025
Ferrua reportedly left Tesla last month after spending seven years at the carmaker. Her LinkedIn profile does not reflect any change in her employment status.

Milan Kovac, ex-head of the Optimus humanoid robot team at Tesla 
Departure: June 2025
Kovac was “the brains behind CEO Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar dream of a robot future,” Fortune wrote when the executive announced he was leaving Tesla last month. Kovac, who worked at Tesla for nine years, said he was going to spend time with his family. 

Vineet Mehta, former head of battery architecture at Tesla
Departure: May 2025
The former 18-year Tesla veteran recently left the company of his own accord, he wrote on LinkedIn, though his departure came as a surprise to many. 

Mark Westfall, former head of mechanical engineering at Tesla Energy
Departure: April 2025
Westfall spent a decade at Tesla before leaving four months ago. “It’s hard to put into words what Tesla has meant to me – I never imagined the places this job would take me, or the impact I would be able to have,” he wrote in his departure post on LinkedIn. He’s now the director of engineering at Redwood Materials. 

Brett Weitz, former global head of content, talent, and brand sales at X
Departure: June 2025
Weitz called his time at X “one hell of a ride” when he acknowledged his departure on LinkedIn last month. The veteran media executive had previously worked at WarnerMedia and Turner before joining X in 2023. Deadline reported that Weitz had spearheaded X’s Originals documentary-style video series and launched video podcasts, including Khloé Kardashian’s Khloé in Wonderland.

David Lau, former vice president of software engineering at Tesla
Departure: April 2025
Lau’s reported departure earlier this year was described as “abrupt.” He had worked at the EV maker for 12 years. Lau has been credited with changing the way software was managed inside cars after he pioneered a superior experience for the user at Tesla.  

Dave Heinzinger, former head of media strategy at X 
Departure: March 2025
Heinzinger’s term at X could be measured in “Scaramuccis.” The ex-head of media strategy lasted four months in the role before resigning for personal reasons in March. In an interview with Axios, he praised Yaccarino’s knack for recruiting top talent on his way out the door. “I can say that Linda is building one of the most impressive teams in the world. The influx of talent has been incredible, and the platform is stronger, more innovative and more consequential than ever,” he said. He’s now the president of Haymaker Group, a PR firm in New York where he had worked for six years before jumping to X.

Haofei Wang, former head of product engineering at X
Departure: March 2025
Wang, who joined Twitter in July 2021, left X in March for unknown reasons, according to The Verge. (Wang’s LinkedIn profile still states that he is an employee at X.) Like others on this list, Wang worked closely with Musk, and reportedly acted as buffer and communication conduit between Musk and the engineering department. Before joining the social media site, he was the vice president of engineering at the streamer Tubi. 

Tom Ochinero, former vice president of commercial business at SpaceX 
Departure: February 2024
A former VP at Musk’s Space company, Ochinero is one of very few high-level executives to leave SpaceX. He’s now the chair and founding partner of an early stage investment group. 

Nick Pickles, former vice president of global affairs at X
Departure: September 2024
Pickles, a top spokesperson for X, left the company last September after a decade working in public policy roles at Twitter and X. “The constant across my time at Twitter and X has been the amazing people I’ve worked with inside and outside the company,” he wrote on X the day he stepped down. He’s now the chief policy officer for Tools of Humanity, according to his LinkedIn. 

Renato Leite Monteiro, former global data protection officer at X
Departure: September 2024
Monterio was among the holdovers from X’s Twitter years who stayed at the social media site after Musk took over. The former professor of computer sciences left academia for Twitter in 2020, initially working for the company in Brazil before relocating to Ireland. He quit last September to take some “personal time off,” he wrote on LinkedIn. Five months ago, he became the vice president for legal assurance at e&, a technology and investment group in Abu Dhabi.

David Zhang, former roadster and next-generation vehicle program manager at Tesla
Departure: July 2024
Zhang, the manager behind Tesla’s Model S and Cybertruck, joined Tesla in 2015. He left in July 2024, and acknowledged his departure on LinkedIn months later, writing, “Thank you and (belated) farewell, Tesla. It has been a privilege and an honor to have devoted myself to the mission.”

Joe Benarroch, former head of operations at X
Departure: June 2024
Considered Yaccarino’s top lieutenant, Benarroch resigned from the social media site in early June of 2024, after spending one year and one month at the company. The executive’s LinkedIn profile states that Yaccarino recruited Benarroch from NBCUniversal. At X, he was put in charge of restructuring the organization following mass layoffs. Benarroch also handled corporate communications for X. Benarroch is now the head of content, media partnerships, and distribution at the NYSE. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Within the resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho, a small group of the world’s richest people are beginning to gather for Allen & Company’s annual Sun Valley Conference. The four-day retreat, known informally as “summer camp for billionaires,” is full of opportunities for powerful figures to schmooze, network, and make deals.

Among this year’s cohort are tech tycoons Tim Cook of Apple, Sam Altman of OpenAI, and Andy Jassy of Amazon. Bob Iger and Michael Eisner, the current and former CEOs of Disney, respectively, are also in attendance, as well as General Motors CEO Mary Barra. The conference has no shortage of political presence, too: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are both present at the conference this year.

Some of the camp’s usual suspects, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (who had his Venetian “Wedding of the Century” not too long ago) have not yet been spotted, though they were reported to have been invited to this year’s conference, according to Variety. Additionally, Tesla’s Elon Musk wasn’t on the invite list, and Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, who announced his retirement earlier this year, won’t be in attendance.

Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images

Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images

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• Sahib Khan, a long-time Apple veteran, will take over for COO Jeff Williams who announced his coming retirement next month. Khan has served under Williams for six years, managing the tech giant’s supply chain and logistics. 

Apple named a new operational czar after longtime chief operating officer Jeff Wiliams announced his impending retirement Tuesday. The company promoted Sahib Khan to Williams’ role in what it called a “long planned succession.” 

Khan, a 30-year Apple veteran, is rising to COO at a pivotal time for the company. President Donald Trump’s trade policies have significantly impacted Apple’s global supply chain and manufacturing operations. Trump-led tariffs on China and other countries where Apple products are manufactured have added a financial strain to the company. As a result, the business has been actively diversifying its supply chain, shifting some production out of China to countries like India and Vietnam to mitigate tariff impacts. All the while, Trump has called on Apple to move its manufacturing operations into the United States, threatening 25% tariffs on their products should it not comply. Apple has since pledged $500 billion in investments to expand its U.S. facilities.

Aside from global trade wars, Khan’s promotion comes after one of the company’s AI darlings was poached by Meta. Ruoming Pang, head of the foundation models team at Apple, will reportedly be joining Mark Zuckerberg in a major setback for Apple, which has already demonstrated difficulty competing with its peers in the AI race. 

Despite global pressures on the company, Apple appears confident in Khan’s ability to weather the current business climate’s enumerable challenges. 

“Sabih is a brilliant strategist who has been one of the central architects of Apple’s supply chain,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a company press release. “While overseeing Apple’s supply chain, he has helped pioneer new technologies in advanced manufacturing, overseen the expansion of Apple’s manufacturing footprint in the United States, and helped ensure that Apple can be nimble in response to global challenges. He has advanced our ambitious efforts in environmental sustainability, helping reduce Apple’s carbon footprint by more than 60%.” 

Wall Street tech analyst Dan Ives expressed similar confidence in Khan’s promotion. “We believe Sabih is the right choice and an integral part of the Apple growth strategy,” he told Fortune in a written statement, noting that the “Trump tariff black cloud” involving China and India will be an issue Khan will have to tackle. 

Khan, who joined Apple in 1995, is currently the senior vice president of operations. Originally from Uttar Pradesh, India, Khan’s educational background is in mechanical engineering and economics. He received bachelor’s degrees in economics and mechanical engineering from Tufts University and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Prior to joining Apple, Khan started his career as an engineer at GE Plastics. 

Since 2019, Khan has overseen Apple’s global supply chain and ensured product quality. Khan’s responsibilities also include managing Apple’s planning, procurement, manufacturing, logistics, and product-fulfillment duties, and the company’s supplier responsibility programs that “protect and educate workers at production facilities around the world.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Courtesy Apple

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, suffered a dramatic financial setback after announcing the formation of what he said would be a new political organization, the “America Party.” The move, which followed a highly publicized feud with President Donald Trump, sent shockwaves through financial markets and triggered a sharp sell-off in Tesla shares.

Key developments

• Net Worth Drop: Musk’s net worth fell by as much as $15 billion in the days following the announcement of his political party.
• Market Reaction: Tesla stock dropped nearly 7% on the first trading day after the announcement, erasing about $68 billion in market value for shareholders.
• Investor Sentiment: Wall Street analysts and investors cited growing fatigue with Musk’s increasingly controversial political activities as a key factor behind the sell-off.

Timeline

July 5, 2025: Musk officially declared the formation of the America Party on his social media platform, X, positioning it as an alternative to the two major U.S. parties.

July 7–8, 2025: The first trading day since Musk’s weekend announcement, Tesla shares tumbled, and Musk’s personal fortune dropped by as much as $15 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. As of July 9, it stands at $349 billion with Tesla shares broadly unchanged.

Business vs. politics

The market’s reaction underscores the delicate balance between business leadership and political activism for high-profile CEOs. Following Musk’s public break with President Donald Trump over the passage of a sweeping tax and spending bill—which Musk called “insane” and accused of “bankrupting” the country—he declared the formation of the America Party on his X platform, citing a poll in which two-thirds of his followers supported the idea. The billionaire’s stated goal is to disrupt the entrenched two-party system, focusing the party’s efforts on just a handful of Senate and House seats to serve as a swing bloc in Congress.

The announcement came after months of Musk serving as the unofficial head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, where he championed cost-cutting and deficit reduction. But the relationship soured when Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” as Musk warned of its estimated cost to the federal deficit. Their feud escalated further when Trump threatened to revoke billions in federal subsidies that Musk’s companies depend on.

Musk positioned his America Party as a home for the “80% in the middle” frustrated by partisan extremes. Although the party has not yet been formally registered with the Federal Election Commission, Musk’s advisors are reportedly exploring the use of a SuperPAC to build initial momentum and gather support.

Musk’s move has attracted interest from other political outsiders, including Andrew Yang’s Forward Party and the Libertarian Party, who see an opportunity to challenge the “duopoly” of Democrats and Republicans. Yet, the practical challenges are formidable: ballot access laws, signature requirements, and the entrenched power of the two major parties have stymied previous third-party efforts.

Despite these obstacles, Musk’s willingness to spend heavily—having already poured hundreds of millions into past campaigns—could make the America Party a factor in the 2026 midterms, especially if it can tip the balance in closely contested districts.

For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Samuel Corum—Getty Images

Nvidia made history by becoming the world’s first publicly traded company to surpass a $4 trillion market capitalization. The milestone was reached as Nvidia’s stock price surged to $164.42 during intraday trading on July 9. 

The company’s stock has soared by approximately 1,460% over the past five years, with a near 18% gain registered year-to-date. Nvidia’s ascent is driven by its near-monopoly on AI chip manufacturing, with its graphics processing units (GPUs) forming the backbone of machine learning, data centers, and large language models. The Silicon Valley giant’s chips are now essential for tech giants including Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet.

Jensen Huang’s net worth

Nvidia’s historic rally has had a dramatic impact on the personal fortune of its co-founder and CEO, Jensen Huang. As of July 2025, Huang’s net worth is estimated by Bloomberg at $140 billion, up $25 billion this year alone.

Huang owns about 3.5% of Nvidia, making him the largest individual shareholder. This surge places Huang among the world’s 10 richest individuals, with his fortune closely tracking Nvidia’s stock performance.

Nvidia now holds the heaviest weighting on the S&P 500 index, surpassing tech giants Apple and Microsoft. The milestone has fueled optimism for further growth, with some analysts projecting Nvidia’s market cap to keep rising. Loop Capital’s Ananda Baruah sees Nvidia at the “front-end” of the next “Golden Wave” for generative AI pushing it past $6 trillion in coming years.

For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s success has billionaires and business leaders gearing up to support Mayor Eric Adams. After Andrew Cuomo’s primary defeat, they see him as the next-best alternative in the city’s upcoming election, and they’re throwing him elite fundraising events.  

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s Democratic Party primary win against former governor Andrew Cuomo sent the city’s business community into a tizzy. Now the überwealthy and New York’s real estate scene are rallying around a not-so-new candidate: Mayor Eric Adams. 

Several billionaires and moguls have thrown their support behind the scandal-laden mayor in their latest attempt to thwart Mamdani, including Bill Ackman. The hedge fund manager endorsed Adams on X, pitching him as someone prepared to take on the popular democratic socialist candidate. Meanwhile, over the July 4 weekend Kenneth and Maria Fishel, the couple behind a New York real estate empire and the firm Renaissance Properties, cohosted an Adams fundraiser in the Hamptons. The Fishels were joined by billionaires John and Margo Catsimatidis, and real estate investor Jared Epstein, among others in attendance. 

“This is about keeping New York vibrant, keeping it free from socialism, and keeping it safe,” Kenneth Fishel told Fortune about his fundraiser. The event at his Hamptons home, he said, counted more than 100 guests from all sectors of business and industry. Although the exact amount raised at the party hasn’t been tallied up yet, said Fishel, he predicts the event will ultimately bring millions to the Adams campaign. 

“It was a great day,” Todd Shapiro, publicist for the Adams campaign, told Fortune. “The mayor felt it was one of the best fundraisers he’s had.”

Since the event, Fishel said fellow business and real estate leaders have told him they plan to follow his lead with similar events in support of Adams. They support the mayor’s policies on housing, zoning, capitalism, and public safety that they see as favorable. These industry titans are particularly concerned by Mamdani’s plans to freeze rents on rent-stabilized apartments, and increase income and corporate taxes. As for Adams, he has voiced opposition to significantly raising corporate taxes and supports streamlining the housing development approval process to create more affordable and regular housing. 

Marc Holliday, chief executive of the New York–based real estate investment trust SL Green Realty, is reportedly throwing an Adams fundraiser on Wednesday with dozens of New York’s real estate elite in attendance. Sources told the Wall Street Journal that attendees paid around $2,000 to join the festivities. Shapiro confirmed these details to Fortune.

Similarly, real estate investor Epstein has his own plans to support Adams’ reelection efforts. Epstein, according to the Journal, has several Adams events planned for August, including a private dinner and campaign events to target younger voters using social media influencers. Shapiro and Epstein confirmed plans for these events to Fortune. He has appeared repeatedly on Fox Business and on social media calling on voters to cast their ballots for Adams. 

“The goal is to open minds, not lecture. I want people to hear from Eric directly, to see and feel his deep love for New York, his understanding of its challenges, and his commitment to all New Yorkers,” Epstein told Fortune. He sees Mamdani’s platform as “neither economically viable nor legally achievable,” pointing to proposed tax hikes and Mamdani’s promise to make buses free.

“I don’t believe in perfection, I believe in leadership. Adams isn’t running on ideology or slogans. He’s making hard decisions, stabilizing the city, and delivering measurable results,” he added.

Alongside his events for younger voters, Epstein said he will be opening his Hamptons home to a small group of influential donors. “These are people who don’t just write checks, they mobilize communities,” he said, but did not name any of these high-profile individuals.

Several other business leaders in the city have opened their wallets to the mayor. An intermediary for Madison Square Garden Entertainment has contributed $29,400 to Adam’s reelection efforts. The company is led by businessman James Dolan, and $18,000 of the businesses’ contributions came from members of the Dolan family. Meanwhile, an intermediary for the Real Estate Board of New York contributed $3,100 on the group’s behalf through several donors. By donating through an intermediary, meaning a go-between organization linking donors with organizations they wish to support, donors receive counsel and administrative support in their contributions and are able to pool larger sums of money from various sources for a specific recipient.

Individual contributors to the Adams campaign have also helped fund his reelection bid. However, their donations are capped at $2,100 per New York campaign finance laws. 

Joseph and Jack Cayre, who run real estate giant Midtown Equities, and their spouses, have donated $8,000 to Adams’s reelection bid. Several members of the Gindi family, which operates Century 21 department stores and the real estate firm Gindi Equities, have also contributed to the candidate, adding more than $10,000 to his war chest. Several thousand in donations were also made by real estate mogul Alexander Rovt and his son Maxwell, who own a large real estate portfolio in New York and overseas.  

Madison Square Garden Entertainment, Marc Holliday, and members of the Cayre, Gindi, and Rovt families did not respond immediately to Fortune requests for comment.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

© Courtesy of Kenneth Fishel