• Dubai, Bangkok, and Tokyo are rising as new luxury hubs for the global ultra-rich.
• Shanghai and New York are slipping as lifestyle shifts and politics reshape spending patterns.
• Julius Baer's 2025 report shows the wealthy now prioritize wellness, stability, and experiences.

Singapore, London, and Hong Kong still top the charts as the world's most expensive cities — but upstarts like Dubai, Bangkok, and Tokyo are rising fast as global wealth patterns shift.

For the third year running, Singapore ranked as the world's most expensive city for high-net-worth individuals, according to the latest Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report from Julius Baer Group, a Swiss wealth management group.

London moved into second place, nudging Hong Kong into third — but behind these familiar frontrunners, a quiet transformation could soon redraw the global map for the super wealthy

The 2025 edition of the report, published on Monday, tracked the cost of what it called "living well" — meaning the ability to afford and regularly spend on 20 luxury goods and services that high-net-worth individuals typically enjoy.

These include private school fees, luxury property, watches, fancy dinners, and business class flights. Pricing data was collected across 25 cities between November 2024 and March 2025, and each city was ranked based on the weighted-average total cost of all 20 items, converted into US dollars.

To complement the price index, Julius Baer also conducted a separate Lifestyle Survey, polling 360 high-net-worth individuals across 15 countries in February and March 2025 to understand how the wealthy are spending and investing.

While the methodology is robust, it does not account for geopolitical shifts that followed, including the Trump administration's April tariff announcements, and its relatively small sample size may limit broad conclusions.

Still, the findings point to a clear shift in momentum: while the podium remains stable, several key cities — especially in Asia and the Middle East — are climbing fast, suggesting a broader power shift in global luxury hubs.

The top 10 most expensive cities for the wealthy in 2025

1. Singapore.
2. London.
3. Hong Kong.
4. Monaco.
5. Zurich.
6. Shanghai.
7. Dubai.
8. New York.
9. Paris.
10. Milan.

The quiet rise of new luxury capitals

Several emerging cities climbed the rankings at an unexpected pace, especially in Asia and the Middle East.

Dubai jumped five spots to 7th place, edging closer to European strongholds like Monaco and Zurich.

Bangkok and Tokyo both rose six positions, landing at 11th and 17th, respectively, driven by rising costs of fashion, watches, and property.

Bangkok's "growing upper-middle class has had a direct impact on the expansion of the local luxury market," Rishabh Saksena, cohead of Julius Baer's global asset class specialists, told Business Insider.

"Increased wealth has mechanically driven demand for luxury goods and services, allowing the development of luxury malls, fine dining, and experiences such as spas," he said.

"Additionally, the city benefits from Asia's long-standing appeal as a global tourism destination."

Tokyo's rise reflects a similar trend.

"Tokyo, and Japan more broadly, has long been a culturally rich and influential region, with a strong luxury market, especially in areas such as fashion, fine dining, and experiences," Saksena added. "The recent global shift among HNWIs toward valuing experiences over goods has further enhanced Tokyo's attractivity and appeal."

Meanwhile, Shanghai, which topped the index in 2022, fell from 4th to 6th place — a sign that its dominance may be fading

São Paulo and Mexico City also dropped notably in the rankings.

"Dubai is nipping at the heels of the bastion cities in the region for wealth and lifestyle — London, Monaco, and Zurich — in a trend that is likely to continue as the Emirate ups the ante on offering an attractive residence proposition for HNWIs," the report said.

Behind the movements is a growing desire among the ultrawealthy for stability, wellness, and future-focused cities.

The report also notes that Dubai's appeal lies in tax advantages, luxury infrastructure, and a booming property market, while Bangkok and Tokyo benefit from regional economic momentum and cultural cachet.

What's driving the change?

The global average cost of "living well" actually declined 2% in US dollar terms between 2024 and 2025 — a rare drop in a sector typically shielded from macroeconomic headwinds.

Yet, beneath that decline are sharp regional contrasts:

• Business class air fares jumped 18.2% globally, driven by a shortage of jets and booming demand for premium pleasure travel.
• Luxury goods like handbags and jewellery fell in price, reflecting shifting consumer priorities.
• Private school fees soared in cities like London, where new tax rules drove up costs by over 25%.

More broadly, high-net-worth individuals increasingly prioritize experiences over possessions and longevity over status. These include spending more on wellness, curated travel, and health services, especially in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

"The main shift we've seen recently is the growing move toward aspirational consumption among HNWIs, who increasingly value experiences over physical goods," Mark Matthews, Head of Research Asia at Julius Baer, told BI.

"This trend varies from one location to another. Markets with a long cultural history of luxury goods (e.g., Switzerland with watches or Germany with cars) tend to show a slower transition toward 'experience-based' spending," he added.

Data from the Lifestyle Survey backs this up.

While luxury spending growth has cooled in Europe — where only 36% of high-net-worth individuals reported spending more on hotels — HNWIs in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America continue to ramp up their spending on high-end fashion, jewellery, and watches.

In APAC, 65% reported increasing spending on both hotels and watches, and 63% on women's fashion. In the Middle East, 52% spent more on hotels and 50% on fine jewellery.

Across the board, travel and hospitality remain top spending priorities, with fine dining and five-star hotels leading the way.

A Eurasian future?

The report also hints at a broader geopolitical rebalancing in how — and where — the world's wealthy choose to live.

"There is already talk of many wealthy Americans decamping to Europe for the next four years — and possibly forever," Julius Baer's report said, citing affluent individuals looking for political stability and strong institutions.

Cities like London, despite Brexit and political change, remain magnets for global wealth thanks to world-class education, healthcare, and cultural capital.

Meanwhile, Dubai plans to double the size of its economy by 2033 and is quickly becoming a rival to Europe's traditional elite enclaves.

• When Orrin Onken retired in 2020, he thought his golden years would look quiet and relaxing.
• Instead, he realized his phone addiction was recreating the stress he experienced at work.
• Onken, a former lawyer, is now setting rules to prevent his phone from poisoning his retirement.

Recently, I decided to watch The Brutalist — a movie that's won multiple Academy Awards and has been widely praised by critics — with my wife. I got snacks from the kitchen, snuggled into my recliner, and prepared to be mesmerized by great art.

Not even 10 minutes had passed before I reached for my smartphone. No one was calling me. I wasn't expecting any texts, emails, or alerts. Yet, as the movie played, for reasons unknown even to me, I was staring at the tiny screen in my hand.

Relentless phone-checking has become a regular occurrence in my life, so much so that it's poisoning my retirement. It's become an addiction, and I'm determined to overcome it.

When I was a lawyer, my phone was mostly a helpful tool

I retired from the practice of law in 2020. During my working years, my screen time was quite limited. My staff screened calls to the office, and I checked emails twice a day on my computer. My mobile mostly stayed in my pocket, reserved for communicating with my office on court days or for calling my wife.

When the time came for me to stop working, my retirement plans were ordinary. I imagined the time-consuming demands of clients and courts would be replaced by travel, gardening, and the leisurely reading of good books.

But what I didn't predict was that my handy pocket computer would turn on me and become a source of the kind of stress I retired to escape.

As a retiree, I find myself checking my phone all too often

My smartphone is an amazing tool. It opens and starts my car. With it, I can locate my house keys, my luggage, and even my wife. I can change the temperature in my home and see what the security cameras see. I can read books, play five-minute chess, and follow the news.

But what do I really do? I check it dozens of times a day for little or no reason. I get hooked on clickbait in my news feed: "The ingredient that every grilled cheese sandwich needs," "Five exercises that will give you eternal life," and whatever else the algorithm has concocted to catch my attention.

When I was still working as a lawyer, I didn't get sucked into my news feed in the same way, mostly because I didn't have the time. Nowadays, I find myself checking my phone because it relieves the anxiety I feel when I leave it unchecked for too long.

In the course of my life, I've overcome difficulties with alcohol, nicotine, and overeating. With each of those addictions, I knew I was in trouble when I was no longer going for the substance to feel good, but because using gave me temporary respite from withdrawal symptoms. I was doing the same thing with my phone.

Over time, I realized the relaxed retirement I'd envisioned was being sandwiched into the intervals between checking my phone. During my working days, I obsessed about my cases, and my mind would wander off to one of them at random moments. Today, it wanders off similarly to the call of social media and my news feed.

Phones are too valuable a tool in our modern society for abstinence, so I knew I had to learn to regulate my screen use instead of going cold turkey.

The journey to wean myself from addiction has begun

I want a retirement in which I participate in the world, instead of being pulled out of it by repeatedly engaging in behaviors that don't make me happy.

My first step toward this goal was to admit my dependence and then become sensitive to the difference between using my phone productively and grabbing it at every uncomfortable juncture in life.

Two months ago, I set some rules I adapted from when I quit smoking twenty-five years ago. I'd notice when I felt an urge to check my phone, and then tell myself to wait 10 minutes. When that time had passed, I'd often forget about the urge or decide I could wait another 10 minutes.

My aim is to be intentional about checking my phone. And it's working. Those intermittent rewards are already losing their grip on me.

When I do eventually look at my phone, because I have a reason to, the cheap reward of three likes on my social media post still gives me a little thrill, but I no longer go looking for them by refreshing my feed twenty minutes after I posted.

I want to learn to control my phone, rather than let it control me

As I navigate healthier phone use, I won't condemn myself for watching funny videos of cats or stop playing online chess. I only want to end the mindless checking — the things that, when I am finished, make me feel stupid and sad.

I didn't walk away from the pressures of the law office to replace them with pressure from my phone. I aspire to a retirement of simple tasks and quiet days. It's a vision that no one ever achieves in this day and age, but for now, I won't allow that fantasy to be destroyed by my own behaviour and a tiny screen inside my pocket.

Do you have a story to share about retirement? Contact the editor, Charissa Cheong, at [email protected]

• Qatar Airways brought a unique Boeing 777 to the Paris Air Show.
• The same plane transported the PSG soccer team days before the huge industry gathering.
• I toured its award-winning business class and the large cockpit.

I might never have achieved my childhood dream of becoming a world-class soccer player, but at June's Paris Air Show, I had the chance to see how some of them travel.

Qatar Airways exhibited a Boeing 777-300ER dressed in a unique blue livery, decorated with the logos of the Champions League and Paris Saint-Germain.

The airline sponsors the French soccer team, which is also owned by the Qatari sovereign wealth fund. This particular plane was used to transport them to the US for this year's FIFA Club World Cup. PSG play in Sunday's final against Chelsea.

While the interior was the same as a typical Qatar Airways 777, it was certainly an added highlight knowing that some of the world's best athletes had been flying on the same jet just a few days earlier.

Regardless, it's also safe to say that the interior is best-in-class. The day before my tour, Skytrax named Qatar Airways the world's best airline.

From the cockpit to the award-winning QSuite business class, here's what it was like on board the jumbo jet.

Qatar Airways' Boeing 777 attracted a lot of attention at the Paris Air Show.

Unlike most of the other planes on display at the Paris Air Show, anybody could line up to see on board without an appointment.

However, only some of us were allowed to sit inside the cockpit.

Just the week before, the plane took PSG to Los Angeles for the FIFA Club World Cup.

In May, PSG won the Champions League, the highest honor in European club soccer, for the first time.

They then also made it through to Sunday's FIFA Club World Cup final after beating Real Madrid 4-0 on Wednesday.

Qatar's vast wealth has allowed PSG to buy the two most expensive players ever. Neymar moved from Barcelona for 222 million euros in 2017, and Kylian Mbappé joined from Monaco a year later for 180 million euros, although both players have since moved on.

It was an imposing aircraft to walk around.

The Boeing 777-300ER is over 240 feet long and has a wingspan of 212 feet 7 inches. Qatar Airways' layout can accommodate 354 passengers, with a maximum range of nearly 8,500 miles.

That's enough to go nonstop from New York to Thailand.

I boarded the plane in the business-class section, checking out the QSuites.

Business takes up a sizable portion of the plane, with 42 suites.

Qatar Airways' business class was named the world's best for the fifth year in a row by Skytrax, considered the Oscars of the industry.

It's won many plaudits thanks to the quad layout in the center of the cabin.

The TVs can slide to the side, opening up the divider with two rear-facing seats. Privacy dividers also go all the way down, which can make passengers feel like they're sleeping in a double bed, a comfort usually reserved for only the very most expensive airplane seats.

With all the dividers down, the quad seemed like its own enormous, unique suite.

I took a moment to sit down and was impressed by the atmosphere it created, making the Quad a clear selling point for families compared to competitors' offerings.

Even traveling solo, QSuites are a cut above much of the competition.

I had the opportunity to fly in a QSuite on a Qatar Airways A350 last year, and was also impressed by the friendly service and Diptyque amenities.

The spacious suites and privacy doors make for a luxurious experience.

The seats have an array of different positions, and can lie flat at 6 feet 7 inches long.

Plus, the area on the left can be raised for use as an armrest and opened up for stowage.

The 10-abreast economy cabin looked pretty comfortable, too.

Some rows offer huge amounts of legroom.

The first two center rows are only three seats wide. This means seats 19D, 25D, and 37D can offer plenty of legroom — perhaps the best choice for economy travelers.

The plane has just two classes, as Qatar Airways doesn't have premium economy, while first-class is uncommon.

Rival Emirates was relatively late to the premium economy game, only introducing it in 2021, while Qatar Airways doesn't have any plans for it.

Meanwhile, it maintains that its QSuites are better than some other carriers' first-class cabins.

Some of its older planes, like the Airbus A380, don't have QSuites, but instead have a more traditional business and first-class setup.

At the end of my tour, I also got the chance to check out the flight deck.

It was a fun moment to take a breather and chat to the pilots.

I was impressed with how friendly they were, pointing out the various bells and whistles of the intimidatingly large flight deck.

One button, at the top left, controls the WiFi, provided by Elon Musk's Starlink.

Qatar Airways announced Thursday that it has completed rolling out Starlink WiFi on 54 of its Boeing 777 jets, with its Airbus A350s up next.

Business Insider previously tried it out on the airline's Starlink launch flight last October and found speeds of up to 215 Mbps — faster than most home internet connections.

• Hooters of America filed for bankruptcy in the US in late March.
• The restaurant and bar chain has struggled with high levels of debt and closed many locations.
• Hooters is not that well known in the UK. Business Insider put it to the test to assess the Transatlantic differences.

Hooters of America, a major operator of the instantly recognizable chain restaurant famed for its scantily clad waitstaff and chicken wings, is facing bankruptcy in its home market as it fights high levels of debt and struggling locations.

Although primarily a US chain, Hooters operates internationally, with locations in Canada, Singapore, South Africa — and three restaurants in the UK.

As luck would have it, one of these locations is in my hometown of Newcastle. I decided to go along to taste-test its famous wings, and see how well the concept translates to the UK.

I visited Hooters on a Thursday evening.

The restaurant I went to is located in Newcastle upon Tyne, which I was visiting to see my parents at Easter.

Newcastle is in the north east of England, about 250 miles north of London as the crow flies.

There are two other Hooters in the UK: one in Nottingham, and one in Liverpool.

While Hooters is renowned for its scantily-clad serving staff, the restaurant's entry has a distinctly family-friendly tone.

Alongside a folksy faux "wanted" sign appealing for customers was a framed photo of some staff posing with a gaggle of young children.

I was also struck by the wide array of merch available. I'm a big fan of the tendency of pretty much every business in the US to sell some kind of branded apparel, and promptly bought myself a T-shirt. Even more promptly, my partner prohibited me from ever leaving the house wearing it.

The family-friendly feeling continued inside with a sign advertising free kids' meals one day a week.

While lots of restaurants offer similar deals, it was nice to see Hooters embrace being family-friendly. It certainly seemed to be working when I visited at around 8 p.m., with two families with preteen kids eating dinner.

Hooters Newcastle is located right in the very heart of the city.

Located a three-minute walk from Newcastle's cathedral, Hooters couldn't be any more central.

Newcastle is a city renowned for lots of things: its history of shipbuilding, producing globally successful musicians like Sting — and its soccer club, Newcastle United.

It's possibly most famous within the UK, however, for its nightlife. The city has a reputation as a great location for stag and hen parties — the UK equivalent of bachelor and bachelorettes — thanks to its abundance of cheap and hospitable late-night bars.

Hooters Newcastle seems to want to lean into the city's reputation

As well as being extremely central, the restaurant is also located on a street called the Bigg Market, an area with a reputation for attracting the worst of the city's drunken revellers.

The location, twinned with the forefronting of the family-friendly ethos, struck me as slightly odd and a little contradictory. Why open your restaurant right in the heart of partyland, a place where few families are likely to visit, while also very visibly trying to attract families?

This question intensified late on in my visit when, during a particularly exciting moment in a Manchester United soccer match being shown, one customer — perhaps intoxicated by both booze and sporting loyalty — sprinted round the restaurant screaming in support of his team.

As my colleague Alex Bitter noted when he visited a US Hooters recently, Neil Kiefer, the chief executive of Hooters' founding group, HMC Hospitality Group, has recently placed an emphasis on being more family-friendly.

While the Hooters in Newcastle is not operated by HMC, this could explain the confused messaging.

Mixed messages aside, I was impressed on entering the restaurant.

Not only was it spacious, airy, and very clean, but the staff were — as expected for a business that prides itself on its friendly servers — absolutely delightful.

Plenty of TVs showing an array of sports dotted the walls, as did lots and lots of "fun" signs, including mottos such as "Tans fade, but wings are forever," and a cartoon of Marge Simpson dressed in a Hooters uniform.

I'd taken the precaution of booking a table, something that seemed to slightly throw the waitress who greeted us given the 200-seat location only had about 25 customers in it when we arrived.

We were seated right away by the smiling Michelle, our server for the night.

Michelle, clad in Hooters' famous tank top and orange hot pants, immediately delivered us pint glasses filled with iced water, something you get in virtually every restaurant in the US, but is fairly rare in Britain.

She briefly explained the menu to us, before leaving us to our own devices … for roughly three minutes.

Service was speedy, friendly, and precise.

If you're looking for discreet and quiet service, Hooters is not the place for you. Our server came to our table every few minutes to check how we were doing and asked if we'd like to order no less than four times in the first 15 minutes after we sat down.

We Brits are used to a certain cool disinterest from our waiters, in contrast to the exuberant friendliness of American servers.

This is largely down to the difference in tipping culture between our two nations. While tipping and service charges are becoming much more common in the UK, unlike in the US, our service staff don't rely on tips to ensure a livable income.

I'm skeptical of Hooters in the UK for this very reason. Because servers aren't working for tips, there's simply less incentive for the staff to be overtly friendly and engaging, possibly undermining one of its key selling points. That said, it didn't seem to be the case with our server.

I had zero complaints about how quickly my beer arrived.

A pitcher of beer arrived ice-cold in just a couple of minutes, and our food order was taken very promptly.

Hooters' menu contains a baffling variety of foods.

From burgers to ribs to loaded nachos and even shrimp, there's something for everyone, and prices are pretty reasonable.

We opted for a handful of Hooters classics, including chicken wings.

While wings are certainly a thing in the UK, they're nowhere near as popular here as they are in the States.

Hooters wings in the UK come with a choice of nine sauces and four rubs of varying spice levels, running the gamut from Parmesan garlic to spicy garlic, which carried a warning of being "really, really hot."

This reminded me a little of the heat options at Britain's legendary chicken chain, Nando's.

For our 20 bone-in wings, which cost us £16.99 (roughly $22.50), we opted for the medium.

We also ordered 10 boneless wings.

Costing £10.99 ($14.50) we got them tossed in a cajun honey sauce.

It was my first time trying boneless wings — which aren't actually wings, but glorified chicken nuggets. They were delicious: tender, juicy, and with a nice sweet and spicy kick from the Cajun honey.

The regular wings were pretty darn good too. I've eaten my fair share of wings in both the UK and US, and these were a fine example. Crispy on the outside but with soft, yielding flesh on the inside, and importantly, generously sauced.

The sides were good too.

Tater tots don't really exist in the UK, so there was a definite novelty to ordering what the menu called "Lots-A-Tots."

The tots for £7.99 (about $10.60) were very good, topped with melted American cheese, sour cream, scallions, and bacon bits. I'm sure if you've had tater tots before, these would have been nothing special, but they scored big points on novelty alone.

Fried jalapenos were also perfectly serviceable, though the mountain of sour cream was overkill.

All in all, the food at Hooters was substantially better than I expected. Would I tell all my friends to rush down there? Probably not. But would I happily go back for some wings and a couple of beers? Absolutely.

The one bum note of the evening was the cocktails.

For the sake of testing every part of the menu, I asked my dining companions to order a couple of cocktails. They opted for a classic margarita and a Sea Breeze, which featured vodka, cranberry juice, grapefruit juice, and lime.

The verdict? Too sweet, and not nearly boozy enough.

I found myself asking one big question: who is this place for?

I just couldn't really work out the target market. The location and the general concept of the restaurant seemed to be geared toward straight, sports-loving men, but the signage and promotions seemed geared to attracting families.

Sure, these two demographics can probably coexist, but do groups of men want small children hanging around while they watch soccer, and do parents want drunk, rowdy men swearing and drinking near their kids? Probably not.

I don't doubt that the Hooters location in Newcastle, which opened earlier this year, will be a success. "Geordies" love eating and drinking, and its prime location sets it up well for success.

Beyond that, however, it's not hard to see why the mixed messaging at the heart of the brand's modern identity has confused some customers, and left some pundits questioning where Hooters fits in modern dining.

Hooters didn't respond to a request for comment.

• A think tank boss believes AI will replace most jobs by 2045, leaving billions without work.
• Sex work, coaching, and politics may survive, but not at the scale society needs, Adam Dorr said.
• He said the future could bring mass inequality or "super-abundance," depending on our response now.

By 2045, robots and artificial intelligence could render most human jobs obsolete — and there's little time to prepare for the fallout, according to Adam Dorr, director of research at the RethinkX think tank.

In a Wednesday interview with The Guardian, Dorr warned that machines are advancing so rapidly that within a generation, they'll be able to perform virtually every job humans do, at a lower cost and with equal or superior quality.

Drawing from historical patterns of disruption, he compared today's workforce to horses in the age of cars, or traditional cameras in the age of digital photography.

"We're the horses, we're the film cameras," he said.

Dorr and his research team have documented more than 1,500 major technological transformations. In most cases, he said, once a technology gains even a few percentage points of market share, it quickly dominates — typically within 15 to 20 years.

"Machines that can think are here, and their capabilities are expanding day by day with no end in sight," he said. "We don't have that long to get ready for this."

Still, he said, not every job is destined for extinction. Dorr believes a narrow set of roles may survive the AI takeover, especially those grounded in human connection, trust, and ethical complexity.

He pointed to sex workers, sports coaches, politicians, and ethicists as examples of jobs that could remain relevant.

"There will remain a niche for human labor in some domains," he said. "The problem is that there are nowhere near enough of those occupations to employ 4 billion people."

Dorr argued that the looming upheaval could lead either to mass inequality or to what he called "super-abundance" — a society where human needs are met without traditional labor. But achieving the latter, he said, will require bold experiments in how we define work, value, and ownership.

"This could be one of the most amazing things to ever happen to humanity," he said — but only if we're ready.

The AI takeover debate is heating up

Several top AI researchers and tech leaders have shared Dorr's concerns, though views on which jobs will endure vary.

Geoffrey Hinton, often called the "Godfather of AI," warned that "mundane intellectual labor" is most at risk. On the Diary of a CEO podcast in June, he said he'd be "terrified" to work in a call center or as a paralegal.

Hinton believes hands-on roles like plumbing are safer, at least for now, saying it will be a long time before AI is "as good at physical manipulation" as people.

In May, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told Axios that he believes that half of all entry-level white-collar jobs, including roles in tech, finance, law, and consulting, could disappear within five years.

But Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Meta's Yann LeCun have pushed back, saying AI will transform jobs, not eliminate them entirely.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also said AI will displace many roles, but believes new ones will emerge, even if they look "sillier and sillier" over time. "We have always been really good at figuring out new things to do," he said.

MIT economist David Autor took a darker view: AI may not wipe out jobs, but it could make people's skills worthless, ushering in a "Mad Max" economy where many fight over a shrinking pool of valuable jobs.

• Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles.
• Elon Musk said on Thursday that the chatbot would be available on Tesla's EVs by "next week at the latest."
• It comes after the AI model went on an antisemitic rant and praised Adolf Hitler in a series of posts on X.

Tesla owners could be about to get a controversial backseat driver.

Elon Musk said Thursday that Grok, the chatbot built by his company xAI, would soon be available on Tesla's vehicles, after a chaotic week in which the AI model posted a series of inflammatory and antisemitic responses on X.

"Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles very soon. Next week at the latest," the billionaire wrote in a post on X.

It came hours after xAI debuted Grok 4, the latest version of the AI model. The Tesla CEO said that the new update would allow Grok to solve "difficult, real-world engineering questions" it had never seen before.

The launch followed a tumultuous few days for the "truth-seeking" AI system.

On Tuesday, xAI removed numerous posts made by Grok on Musk's social media site X, after the chatbot praised Adolf Hitler, linked Ashkenazi Jewish surnames to "anti-white hate," and made antisemitic jokes.

To better understand Grok and the recent controversy, read our explainer.

The arrival of Grok on Tesla's vehicles comes as Musk faces renewed pressure over his leadership of the EV giant.

Tesla's share price fell on Monday after the world's richest man announced he would form a new political party and intensified his feud with President Donald Trump over the weekend, with investors expressing concern over Musk diving back into politics.

On Thursday, Tesla said it would host the annual meeting of shareholders on 6 November.

The day before, a group of major Tesla shareholders, including several US state treasurers and institutional investors, sent a letter to Tesla's board raising concerns about the company's failure to schedule its annual general meeting, as required by Texas law.

The EV maker has reported underwhelming sales so far this year, faced protests, and suffered brand damage over Musk's previous role in the Trump administration and his interventions into politics.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment sent outside normal working hours.

Carnival (NYSE: CCL)(NYSE: CUK) continues to deliver impressive results, but its stock is still 64% off its all-time high. There's good reason for that; it has a huge debt that makes it risky.

But that isn't likely to stick around forever. If you have some appetite for risk, now's the time to buy before it pays off the debt and soars. Here are three reasons why Carnival stock looks ripe for buying today.

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1. It's experiencing record demand

Carnival is the largest cruise operator in the world, and it's dealing with incredible demand for its industry-leading cruises. Over the past few years, as demand continues to soar and sales continue to increase, there have been various reasons investors have been worried that it would eventually slow down. It hasn't.

Sales have surpassed pre-pandemic levels, and they continue to grow. In the fiscal 2025 second quarter (ended May 31), revenue increased 8.6% year over year.

Image source: Getty Images.

Demand is staying strong. It's remaining at historically high levels, with 93% of 2025 booked in its second-highest-ever position, and 2026 also booked at historic levels. Total deposits were a record $8.5 billion in Q2. Carnival is also benefiting from increased onboard sales of non-ticket items like food and entertainment. Clearly, these are engaged passengers.

Revenue is trickling down to the bottom line, which took a little longer to get back into the positive. Operating income nearly doubled year over year in Q2 to almost $1 billion, and adjusted net income more than tripled from last year, well above management's guidance. Earnings per share (EPS) of $0.35 beat internal guidance of $0.22 and crushed Wall Street's expectations for $0.25. Management raised guidance for net income and EPS for the full year.

2. It's investing for the future to keep it that way

All the worry about slowing down has been for naught up until now, but that doesn't mean the worry is going away. Management is making many moves to keep demand strong and stay in growth mode for the foreseeable future.

It has one new ship scheduled for delivery this year, and it's refitting some current ships with upgrades and new attractions. It has another four ships on order for delivery between 2027 and 2032.

The cruise line has been making a major marketing effort to generate buzz and interest in its new, exclusive asset called Celebration Key, a resort for Carnival guests in the Bahamas. It features beaches, shops, restaurants, and guest services, and it can accommodate two million guests annually, or two cruises at once, and it's launching in July.

Carnival has two other experiences ready to roll out next year -- RelaxAway and Isla Tropicale. These innovations can attract new users and feature new ways to vacation for repeat customers to keep high demand steady. It's also launching a new membership program to achieve loyalty and drive more repeat business.

3. It's almost at investment grade

As risky as it is for Carnival to hold so much debt right now, management has been paying it down efficiently. Although it stands at more than $27 billion as of the end of Q2, that's nearly $10 billion off its peak total debt of $32 billion at the end of 2022. In Q2, it prepaid $350 million and refinanced another $1 billion at better rates.

Also in Q2, it got two upgrades from rating companies Fitch and S&P Global after getting an upgrade from Moody's in Q1. It's now one notch away from an investment-grade rating.

Due to the current risk, Carnival stock trades at the cheap, forward, one-year price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 12 and a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of just over 1.

Carnival is demonstrating its resilience right now, becoming stronger through adversity. Not only is profitability coming back, but in Q1, it reported its highest operating margin in almost 20 years. These are the kinds of qualities you want to see in a great company.

Carnival won't stay cheap forever, and now appears to be an excellent time to buy shares.

Should you invest $1,000 in Carnival Corp. right now?

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Jennifer Saibil has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Moody's and S&P Global. The Motley Fool recommends Carnival Corp. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The UK’s competition regulator is proposing to loosen Google’s control of its search engine in the first application of Britain’s tough new digital market rules.

The Competition and Markets Authority said on Tuesday that Google could be required to implement new “fair ranking” measures in its search results and give publishers more control over how it uses their content, including in output generated by artificial intelligence.

The CMA said it was minded to hand Google “strategic market status”—a label introduced under new digital market laws this year—in light of its dominant position in search and search advertising, which would require the tech giant to abide by a number of such conduct rules. A final decision will be made by October following a public consultation.

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• Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, but it's already showing signs of strain.
• Tehran may turn to proxies, missiles, or the Strait of Hormuz if the conflict reignites.
• Analysts told BI that Iran's options are limited and it risks a strong backlash.

Despite being outmatched by Israel's advanced arsenal, Iran retains several military options should the fragile ceasefire first announced by President Donald Trump collapse.

On Monday, Trump announced that the US had brokered a "complete and total" truce between the two countries, but since then there have already been signs that the deal is on shaky ground.

By Tuesday morning, Trump was urging restraint on Truth Social, calling on both countries to "not violate" the ceasefire. He later urged Israel to avoid "dropping those bombs," or risk committing a "major violation."

Ongoing covert operations and missile launches have already chipped away at its credibility, Andreas Krieg, a Gulf specialist at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at King's College London, told Business Insider.

"The ceasefire that took effect following US and Qatari mediation is brittle and fragile," Krieg said. "It rests more on political signaling and public posturing than on concrete enforcement mechanisms."

He added: "In practice, the ceasefire has mostly existed on social media, with each side using digital platforms to declare restraint while continuing activities that fall short of open warfare."

Mining or threatening the Strait of Hormuz

"There is a case where a ceasefire could hold," Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab British Understanding, told BI, "but there's also a case sort of saying that both sides want to be the last to fire."

If the ceasefire collapses, Iran's most powerful geopolitical lever remains the Strait of Hormuz — a vital 21-mile-wide chokepoint through which 20% of the world's oil flows.

Iran has long threatened to block it.

While Iran lacks the legal authority to shut down the Strait of Hormuz outright, it could cripple global energy markets by making the waters barely navigable.

"Under normal circumstances, this might be seen as a self-destructive option given Iran's own dependence on revenue from oil exports through that corridor," Jacob Parakilas, a research leader for Defence Strategy, Policy and Capabilities at RAND Europe, told Business Insider.

"But if Israeli strikes cause enough damage to Iranian oil infrastructure, that calculation might well change," he said, adding that Iran could use missile-armed small boats, drones, and naval mines.

"This arsenal could pose a significant challenge to navigation," said Sidharth Kaushal, a sea power expert at the Royal United Services Institute think tank.

Kaushal said the US Navy is equipped to counter this, but the time needed to do so would be costly for all involved.

A full closure of the Straits could push Brent crude past $110 a barrel, according to Goldman Sachs.

Attacks on US bases

Iran launched a missile strike on Monday on Al Udeid, the largest US base in the region. This was before the ceasefire was announced.

While Qatar said its air defense systems intercepted the missiles, and no casualties were reported, the attack showed Tehran's willingness to target US bases.

The US has bolstered its regional strength by deploying carrier strike groups and missile defense systems and repositioning aircraft, including B-2 bombers, away from vulnerable sites like Al Udeid.

However, Doyle believes that Iran is unlikely to escalate directly against the US.

Instead, he said that Iran's strategy could be to prolong the conflict with Israel, aiming to outlast its will politically and economically.

He described this as a war of attrition, rather than one of decisive strikes. "Whilst these dangerous weapons are still being used, anything can happen," he said.

Proxy groups

Beyond direct military action, Iran has long relied on its network of proxy forces — Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shia militias in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis in Yemen.

These offer Tehran plausible deniability and the ability to hit Israel or US assets without direct confrontation.

But Iran's proxies are not what they once were.

Israel's offensives have decimated Hamas' military leadership and driven Hezbollah into retreat after heavy airstrikes and an incursion into southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, President Bashar Assad has been ousted in Syria.

The deaths of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the political wing of Hamas, have further degraded Tehran's reach.

Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior advisor to the Counter Extremism Project, cautioned that Tehran may already be close to exhausting its proxy playbook.

These groups "are already doing everything they can," he said.

"Iran cannot supply the proxies — the Houthis are under siege," he added. "The main threats to the Americans would be from the Iraqi proxies, and even they may act independently rather than under direct Iranian command."

Activating these forces en masse also risks broader escalation, especially if unconventional weapons are used.

Ballistic missile capabilities

While Iran's air force can't compete with Israel's, its ballistic missile arsenal has expanded into the largest in the region.

Tehran now possesses an estimated 3,000 missiles, including a growing stockpile of solid-fueled, precision-guided medium-range weapons like the Fattah-1 and Kheibarshekan, which were both used in an attack on Israel last October.

But experts say these, too, have been significantly reduced.

Iran's "ballistic missile supply is not infinite and has already decreased significantly," Yaniv Voller, a senior lecturer in Middle East Politics at the University of Kent, said.

Fitton-Brown agreed: "They've mainly been depleted because they've been used — and the Israelis have taken aim at military-industrial sites."

No good options

Browne Maddox, director of the Chatham House think tank, wrote in a Sunday briefing that few of the choices available to Iran are attractive to it.

But it may still go for them "rather than be seen to be forced back to the table," she said.

It's also a delicate matter for the country domestically.

Being forced by the US to give up its nuclear enrichment — a key demand of the Trump administration — "would very likely be perceived by Iranians as surrender," she said.

One option for Tehran, she said, is to draw out negotiations while quietly rebuilding its nuclear program, taking advantage of ongoing disagreements in the Trump camp over how best to proceed.

But all its military options risk a devastating US or Israeli response.

"Iran doesn't have good options," Fitton-Brown said. "It's run out of them."

Though indexes have rebounded, the first half of the year has been rocky for investors. The market had to digest a variety of uncertainties, from geopolitical problems to mixed economic data and the U.S. plan to tax imports. All of these factors -- particularly the import tariff announcements -- have weighed on investors' appetite for stocks.

But in recent weeks, trade talk progress has lifted investor optimism, and this, along with strong corporate earnings reports, has helped the S&P 500 return to positive territory for the year. Many great bargains still exist though, making now a fantastic time to invest. Here are my five dirt cheap favorites to buy before the second half, which starts next Tuesday.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Alphabet

Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is the cheapest of the "Magnificent Seven" technology stocks that led market gains last year but tumbled this year amid concerns about tariffs and their impact on the economy. Today, the stock trades for 17 times forward earnings estimates, a steal considering the company's earnings track record, strong moat, and prospects across its main businesses.

This tech giant is the owner of something many people use every day: Google Search. It's the world's No. 1 search engine, and its presence in our daily routine and Alphabet's moves to use artificial intelligence (AI) to continually improve results should help it remain on top. This is key because Alphabet generates most of its revenue through advertisements across the Google platform.

Alphabet's Google Cloud also is proving to be a huge part of the revenue picture, generating double-digit quarterly growth in recent times. Again, AI is part of the story as Alphabet makes available a wide range of AI tools for customers. With AI growing in leaps and bounds and Alphabet's price low, now is the perfect time to invest.

2. Viking Therapeutics

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) doesn't yet have products on the market so we can't use traditional valuation metrics to assess the stock price. Instead, it's important to look at pipeline progress, the potential market for its products, and Viking's financial health.

This biotech is working on a variety of candidates for metabolic conditions but the one that's captured investors' attention is VK2735 for weight loss. An injectable candidate is set to start phase 3 trials, and the oral formulation has already started phase 2 trials. Earlier trials have produced strong results, and demand for weight loss drugs is booming -- the market is set to approach $100 billion by the end of the decade.

Though pharma giants Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk already share the market, demand suggests there's room for additional companies to generate significant growth too. Viking is well positioned to be one of them thanks to its candidates and cash position of more than $800 million to support development. That's why it looks like a bargain today.

3. Target

Target's (NYSE: TGT) revenue growth has stumbled in recent years as shoppers favored essentials over discretionary spending, but this retailer is well positioned to excel over the long term for a few reasons.

Target has built up a strong online presence, and that's helping digital sales advance even if overall sales have stagnated. The company also has invested in its stores through remodels and new openings, and revamped stores generally have delivered higher sales. Target also is known for its owned brands, many of which generate billions of dollars in revenue annually, for example, the Cat & Jack children's clothing line. Owned brands are an important asset for Target as the company has more control over the cost structure and therefore is able to generate higher profits on sales.

On top of this, Target is making moves to focus on growth. In the recent quarter, it announced the creation of an "accleration office" to supercharge decision making and the development of its strategy.

Target stock is cheap, trading at 13 times forward earnings estimates, and could easily head higher with any progress in the coming quarters.

4. Pfizer

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) is another company that's had a growth problem recently. This is as its top-selling products -- its blockbuster coronavirus vaccine and treatment -- saw declining demand and at the same time, some of Pfizer's older blockbusters headed for patent expiration.

But it's important to take a long-term view and imagine where Pfizer may be a few years from now. The company has brought several new products to market over the past couple of years, and it acquired oncology specialist Seagen as part of an effort to grow its presence in oncology. Importantly, Pfizer says its oncology products are generating high gross margin and operating margin.

Meanwhile, Pfizer also has been working to cut costs, a move to strengthen its business and prepare for a new wave of growth led by its newer products. In the recent quarter, Pfizer said it was on track to deliver $4.5 billion in cost savings by the end of this year. And it expects $500 million of research and development cost savings by next year, and will reinvest this to support pipeline growth.

All of this suggests Pfizer's growth could pick up at any moment, making the stock a bargain trading at about 8 times forward earnings estimates.

5. Carnival

Carnival (NYSE: CCL) (NYSE: CUK) suffered in the early days of the pandemic as it was forced to temporarily halt cruises, but over the past couple of years, the company has been recovering and returning to growth.

The world's biggest cruise operator has done this by focusing on efficiency -- for example, replacing fuel-intensive ships with ones that use less -- and the company also has prioritized paying down debt. It's made significant progress on that, as the chart below shows, and tackled variable-rate debt, a move that makes it less vulnerable to shifts in interest rates.

CCL Total Long Term Debt (Annual) data by YCharts

As for revenue and demand for sailings, they've been on the rise and have reached records in recent quarters. And advanced bookings, even at higher price points, have climbed, too. This is thanks to Carnival's strength in the market as well as the general popularity of cruise vacations.

So, right now, trading at 12 times forward earnings estimates, down from nearly 20 times, Carnival looks like a bargain to get in on before the second half as it continues along its new growth path.

Should you invest $1,000 in Alphabet right now?

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The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Alphabet wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Adria Cimino has positions in Target. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Pfizer, and Target. The Motley Fool recommends Carnival Corp., Novo Nordisk, and Viking Therapeutics. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

• Air India is cutting international flights by 15% after a deadly crash and conflict in the Middle East.
• The crash, which killed 241, involved a Boeing 787. The airline is conducting checks on its fleet.
• Fighting between Israel and Iran has closed airspace, causing airlines to suspend some flights.

Air India announced Wednesday it would cut its international schedule by 15% in the coming weeks, citing last week's deadly plane crash and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

"The curtailments are a painful measure to take, but are necessary following a devastating event which we are still working through and an unusual combination of external events," the airline said in a statement provided to Business Insider.

On June 12, Air India flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 241 of the 242 people on board.

It's still not clear what caused the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to crash minutes after take-off. India's civil aviation ministry has held just one press conference since the crash, and questions weren't allowed.

"The investigating authorities are continuing their efforts to find out the reasons for the accident," Air India said in its statement.

It added that the reduction in international services was due in part to a safety review of its aircraft.

The airline said India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation, which regulates the country's civil aviation industry, had ordered enhanced safety inspections across Air India's Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft fleet.

It said that, as of Wednesday, 26 of 33 planes had been inspected and cleared for service, with the remaining seven still under inspection.

It also said it was conducting its own "enhanced safety checks" on its Boeing 777 fleet as an added precaution.

But these aren't the only reasons for the cuts to international services.

Air India also cited geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, where both Iranian and Israeli airspace has been closed following an Israeli strike on Iran last Friday.

The two countries have continued to trade aerial strikes, leading to Israel's flagship carrier, El Al Airlines, suspending all flights until further notice.

Several global airlines, including Emirates and Etihad, have also suspended flights to Tel Aviv and Tehran.

Air India said that due to "certain disruptions" to international operations over the six days before Wednesday, it had canceled 83 flights.

The airline said the 15% cuts to international services on widebody aircraft would continue until at least mid-July.

"This effectively adds to our reserve aircraft availability to take care of any unplanned disruptions," it said.

The airline said it would try to rebook affected passengers on alternative flights, but they can also choose to reschedule or request a full refund.

• Archer Aviation makes the Midnight VTOL aircraft that is often called a "flying taxi."
• CEO Adam Goldstein said it may create an AI flight manual for air taxi pilots.
• Archer is partnering with Palantir, Goldstein told Business Insider at the Paris Air Show.

Archer Aviation is considering creating an AI flight manual for its air taxis, its CEO told Business Insider.

"We look at using AI and LLMs [large language models] to help simplify things," Adam Goldstein said in an interview at the Paris Air Show this week.

"So, we can look at anything from a flight manual — which may be quite complex, that you can query and ask questions — to internal tools to help us move faster.

"You can imagine if you're in some type of scenario and there's a big flight manual, and you need to understand what to do very quickly, you don't want to be thumbing through some multi-hundred-page book," he added. "You want to ask a quick question, get your answer, and fix your problem."

Pilots have manuals called quick-reference handbooks that outline procedures for emergencies or other situations where the aircraft signals a warning message. The handbooks are typically on a digital device that are easier to search.

AI could make searching faster, but large-language models such as ChatGPT have faced criticism for sometimes generating incorrect information, known as hallucinations.

Silicon Valley-based Archer has partnered with Palantir for work with AI, saying they would develop software to improve a range of systems, including air traffic control, movement control, and route planning.

"There's big complicated systems that need near 100% reliability, if not 100% reliability, and that's why we partnered with Palantir," Goldstein told BI.

He said he used ChatGPT daily: "I think it's a great way to do research and to view the world, and I only expect that to continue."

Archer is one of the premier players in advanced air mobility, which is regarded as the next generation of aircraft.

Its aircraft, Midnight, is electric and can take off and land vertically — called an eVTOL for short, or a "flying taxi."

The goal is to transform commutes in cities. For example, Archer says it would take 9 minutes to travel between Newark Liberty International Airport and downtown Manhattan, instead of the roughly hourlong journeys by car or public transit.

United Airlines has placed an order worth up to $1.5 billion, and Archer last month announced it was chosen as the official air taxi partner of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Also in Paris on Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced an alliance to streamline the certification of eVTOLs, including the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Archer plans to deploy its first Midnight aircraft in the United Arab Emirates later this year.

• Israel targeted nuclear and military sites in Iran in airstrikes early Friday morning.
• The strikes are a major escalation that threatens to expand into a wider regional conflict.
• These are five key questions in the wake of Israel's air war.

Israel's widespread airstrikes on Iran effectively damaged the country's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which officials said was a primary goal.

The strikes hit over 100 targets, including Iran's air defense systems, missile launchers, and senior military leadership.

Now, all eyes are on Tehran's response and the specter of a wider conflict. And there are questions over whether the US will get pulled into the fight.

Here are some main questions stemming from the attacks.

How has Iran responded?

Iran initially responded to the attack by firing 100 drones at Israel on Friday, which the Israel Defense Forces said were mostly intercepted.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel "should anticipate a severe punishment" in response to the strikes, and that Iran "won't let them go unpunished."

Hours later, the IDF said Iran had launched "dozens" of missiles at Israel in what appeared to be several waves. The military said its air defenses were actively intercepting threats, and video footage captured several impacts.

"The Iranian response might be delayed or split into multiple phases," said Matthew Savill, the director of military sciences at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute think tank.

"But their main weapon will be ballistic missiles," he added, "which have the best chance of inflicting damage on Israel, whereas drone and cruise missile attacks will face more extensive Israeli defences."

It is not unprecedented for Iran to launch powerful weapons at Israel; Tehran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at its foe in April and October last year. However, those strikes were mostly intercepted by Israel and its allies, including the US.

Beyond direct strikes, another way that Iran could retaliate is through the so-called "Axis of Resistance," a vast network of militias it is aligned with throughout the region, including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthis.

Israel has been battling these forces, and Hamas in Gaza, since the October 7, 2023, attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long advocated for destroying Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran claims is for civilian purposes.

The US, however, has been trying to reach a new deal with Iran (and has threatened violence if a deal isn't done). The strikes could derail those efforts and even goad Iran into racing to build a nuclear arsenal.

Could this trigger a wider conflict?

Israel's strikes threaten to spark a wider regional conflict, analysts at London's Chatham House think tank warned Friday.

"Far from being a preventive action, this strike risks triggering a broader regional escalation and may inadvertently bolster the Islamic Republic's domestic and international legitimacy," Sanam Vakil, Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa program director, said.

Last year, Tehran reportedly threatened to target Gulf state oil facilities if they allowed Israel access to their airspace for strikes against Iran. It's unclear what routes Israeli aircraft used in the attacks, but there's been speculation Israel could exploit the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria to get its aircraft directly over Iraq for strikes.

Russia is also a close ally of Iran, and the two have increased their defense cooperation since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

However, Nikita Smagin, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment, said in December that the Kremlin is unlikely to come to Iran's direct aid in order to avoid direct confrontations with Israel and the US.

Will the US be pulled into a fight?

The US has helped arm and defend Israel, notably in the wake of Hamas' October 7 attacks. The world will be watching to see how President Donald Trump responds.

Trump has sought to broker a new nuclear deal with Iran, and in the wake of the Israeli attacks overnight, warned of "even more brutal" strikes from Israel if Iran refuses a new agreement.

Last year, the US Navy helped shoot down Iranian missiles fired at Israel in two major attacks, and it has rotated multiple aircraft carriers and many warships into the region since 2023, in a show of support for Israel and to deter its enemies, including Iran.

The US and other NATO countries have also defended international shipping routes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden from attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.

What forces does the US have in the region?

The US has a substantial military presence in the Middle East, including naval forces, ground troops, and strike aircraft.

A Navy spokesperson told BI that the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group — consisting of an aircraft carrier, a cruiser, and three destroyers — is in the Arabian Sea.

There are also three American destroyers in the Red Sea and another in the Eastern Mediterranean.

All of these warships, and the carrier's dozens of embarked aircraft, are capable of carrying out air defense missions to defeat incoming drones and missiles.

Were the strikes effective?

IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Israel's strikes "significantly harmed" Iran's main uranium enrichment site at Natanz.

"For many years, the people of the Iranian regime made an effort to obtain nuclear arms in this facility," he said, adding that the site "has the necessary infrastructure to enrich uranium to a military grade."

The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed the site was struck, but the extent of the damage remains unverified.

Satellite imagery appeared to show significant damage at the surface level.

There was also a report Friday that Israel had struck Fordow, a nuclear fuel enrichment site guarded deep under a mountain.

The IDF said that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps chief Hossein Salami and other senior military commanders were also killed in targeted strikes.

• An Air India Boeing 787 crashed less than a minute after takeoff on Thursday.
• The crash comes as both Boeing and Air India are trying to turn themselves around.
• Attorneys and aviation experts said no conclusions could be drawn until the investigation ended.

Thursday's fatal crash of an Air India Boeing 787 shortly after takeoff comes as both the airline and Boeing try to revive their public images.

After 2024 became an annus horribilis for Boeing, 2025 is crucial for the planemaker to show it is successfully overhauling its processes.

CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took over last year and has made the turnaround the centerpiece of his leadership, has scrapped plans to travel to next week's Paris Air Show, CNBC and Bloomberg reported. The event is a crucial industry showcase. Neither Boeing nor Air India responded to requests for comment from Business Insider.

On Thursday, Ortberg shared the company's "deepest condolences" to everyone affected and said a team stood ready to support the investigation.

After visiting the crash site Friday morning, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said in a video statement, "We know that the investigations will take time but we will be fully transparent and will support the process for as long as it takes."

"Air India will continue to do everything we can to care for those affected by this tragedy, and to uphold the trust placed in us," he added.

'The crash derails Boeing stock's positive momentum'

When an Alaska Airlines 737 Max lost a door plug during a January 2024 flight, regulators capped Boeing's production of the type. A seven-week strike then shut down key facilities, further hurting revenue.

Boeing ended 2024 as the Dow Jones' biggest loser, as its share price fell 31%. Investors had been reassured by Ortberg's work to turn the company around, and the stock had risen more than 20% in 2025 before the crash.

It dropped about 4% after Thursday's crash and fell more than 3% Friday morning.

Morgan Stanley analysts said Thursday that the crash "derails the positive momentum on Boeing's stock."

Jeff Windau, a senior industrials analyst for Edward Jones, said in a research note that he expects near-term volatility and raised the possibility of enhanced scrutiny on Boeing's processes.

"However, at this time, we do not feel there will be a long-term impact to production," he added.

Air India has been working to turn itself around

Following decades of state ownership and huge losses, Air India was acquired by the Tata Group in 2022. The airline has expanded with hundreds of additional flights, flying 60 million customers to 103 destinations through 2024.

The new owners invested billions, and the airline has ordered hundreds of planes to replace its aging fleet.

In a December interview with BI, Wilson compared his work revitalising Air India to "drinking from a firehose."

He added that he thought the turnaround was close to completion, but said there were supply-chain constraints. "Until we upgrade the aircraft, then people won't believe that the transformation has happened," Wilson said.

Alan Tan, an aviation law professor at the National University of Singapore, told BI that Air India in particular would have an immediate hit to customer perception.

"But as other leading airlines facing crises have shown, these are not insurmountable," he added. "Transparency and accountability in investigations, and consistent messaging to the public, will hopefully reduce the risks of a media spectacle."

A lengthy investigation

It will take a thorough and lengthy investigation before there are answers about what caused the crash.

Attorneys who have battled Boeing in the courts were among the people BI spoke to who were hesitant to draw any conclusions.

"The fact that this tragedy involves a Boeing aircraft does not necessarily mean that there's something wrong with the actual aircraft — as distinguished from issues surrounding maintenance, or even products that are not Boeing's, such as the engines," said Robert Clifford, lead counsel for the families of victims of the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, in which a 737 Max crashed shortly after takeoff, killing more than 150 people.

He added that a quick and efficient investigation is necessary to "help calm the public."

Thursday's incident was the first fatal crash and total hull loss of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, one of the most advanced passenger jets, which entered service in 2011.

The model has faced some criticism from whistleblowers. Last year, Sam Salehpour, a quality engineer at Boeing, told NBC he observed "shortcuts to reduce bottlenecks" in manufacturing 787s. Boeing responded that it was "fully confident in the 787 Dreamliner."

On Thursday, Salehpour's attorneys urged the Federal Aviation Administration to release a report investigating his claims.

Richard Aboulafia, managing director at Aerodynamic Advisory, told BI, "It's a terrible tragedy, but I just don't see how this impacts anything [for Boeing]."

"Unless it's the unlikely event that they do find a design or manufacturing flaw, but after all these years, both for this type of aircraft and this particular aircraft, that's not normal," he added.

• Mark Cuban criticized Bluesky for becoming an echo chamber, warning it was driving some users away.
• Engagement on Bluesky has plunged since February, with far fewer daily unique users.
• Cuban questioned BlueSky's future, citing vanishing nuance and an absence of some topics.

Mark Cuban is sounding the alarm on Bluesky's declining engagement — and he's not pulling his punches.

In a series of Bluesky posts, the billionaire investor and entrepreneur criticized the platform for fostering an echo chamber that he said was driving users away and inadvertently boosting traffic back to Elon Musk's X.

"The lack of diversity of thought here is really hurting usage," Cuban wrote, linking to a Washington Post opinion piece headlined "BlueSky's decline stems from never hearing from the other side."

Once known for "great give-and-take discussions on politics and news," Cuban said Bluesky had become a monoculture where dissent was unwelcome and nuance was vanishing.

"Engagement went from great convos on many topics, to 'agree with me or you are a Nazi fascist,'" he posted.

A graph of Bluesky's unique daily posters supports his concern.

On February 28, Bluesky had more than 1 million unique users daily. Since then, engagement has plummeted, with June 7 and 8 hovering well below that peak at about 670,000 daily posters.

The Musk factor

BlueSky's rise accelerated following the election of President Donald Trump, whom CEO Musk backed financially, and after X introduced new terms of service.

Many X users migrated to Bluesky, with some 2.5 million joining in one week in November.

Some were seeking a friendlier, more open platform with less hate speech and misinformation, and more control over what content is shown in their feeds.

A startup, BlueArk, even sprang up to help users migrate their X/Twitter histories to Bluesky, porting over millions of posts and creating the illusion of continuity on a new platform.

At the time, Cuban told Business Insider he preferred Bluesky over alternatives due to its variety of content and growing engagement.

Now, some of the earliest and most visible converts, including Cuban, are questioning whether the migration created a new community, or just repackaged the same silos.

"Why would anyone stop using Twitter if the only topic that is acceptable to you is news and politics?" he asked.

Cuban also criticized the platform's culture, saying: "The replies on here may not be as racist as Twitter, but they damn sure are hateful."

Posts about AI, business, or healthcare — traditionally strong areas for Cuban — often gain little traction or were met with outright hostility, he added.

Cuban also questioned Bluesky's business model: "How does everyone suggest BlueSky survive as a business? Or do you not care?"

• NATO member Poland has put on hold plans to buy 32 Black Hawk helicopters.
• It suggested that Russia's invasion of Ukraine shows they're not the right weapon to focus on.
• It's not abandoned helicopters, but they have proven vulnerable in Ukraine.

NATO member Poland has postponed its purchase of 32 S-70i Black Hawk helicopters, with military officials there suggesting the way Russia is fighting in Ukraine shows they're not the right equipment for it to focus on.

General Wieslaw Kukula, the Polish armed forces chief of staff, said at a Friday press conference that "we have decided to change the priorities of the helicopter programs" in order to "better adapt to the challenges of future warfare," Reuters reported.

Poland's deputy defense minister, Pawel Bejda, said on X that his country's military, pilots, and experts were analyzing the geopolitical situation, as well as "the war in Ukraine" and what Russia is buying and equipping its military with.

Poland shares a land border with Ukraine.

Grzegorz Polak, a spokesman for Poland's Armament Agency, which buys equipment for its military, told Reuters that its priorities needed "some correction" and that it might be necessary to buy other equipment instead of the helicopters, "such as drones, or tanks, or some kind of communication."

He also told Polish outlet Defence24 that the armed force's priorities have changed amid evolving threats.

Poland, like other European countries, has warned that Russia could attack elsewhere on the continent.

Its prime minister, Donald Tusk, warned in March that Russia's big military investments suggest it's readying for a conflict with someone bigger than Ukraine in the next three to four years.

Poland is already the highest spender on defense in NATO, as a proportion of its GDP, and has been a major ally of Ukraine throughout the invasion.

Helicopters over Ukraine

Helicopters have played a role in Russia's invasion, with both sides using them to counter drones, offer air support, and launch attacks.

They were particularly effective for Ukraine against Russia's attempts to seize a key airfield shortly after the invasion began in February 2022, and for Russia during Ukraine's 2023 counteroffensive.

But they have also proved vulnerable.

The proliferation of air defenses has meant that they, like other aircraft, have had to hang back from frontline fighting more than in past conflicts, making them far less useful.

Ukraine's success at taking down Russia's Ka-52 helicopters in 2023 meant Russia started using them less. Many were hit by US-provided M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS.

Reports suggest that Russia lost more than 100 helicopters in the first two years of the war.

Ukraine has also destroyed some Russian helicopters at bases far from the front lines.

Even so, losses could have been higher. Mark Hertling, a former commander of United States Army Europe, told BI in January that Russia has been "very poor" in the way it used helicopters and other air assets, but also that Ukraine's air-defense shortages have protected them.

Andrew Curtis, an independent defence and security researcher who spent 35 years as a UK Royal Air Force officer, told BI last year that one lesson Western countries could take from the war is "about the vulnerability of helicopters in the modern battlefield where hiding and seeking is not a child's game, it's a matter of life and death."

A helicopter strategy

The S-70i is a variant of the UH-60 Black Hawk made by PZL Mielec, a Polish company owned by the US's Lockheed Martin.

Poland's plan to buy them began in 2023, under a previous government. The aim was for the helicopters to be used for combat and logistics, and to work with AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters ordered from the US.

Bejda, the deputy defense minister, said the latest move did not involve terminating a contract, as one was never signed.

But it has still led to some domestic issues.

Mariusz Blaszczak, Poland's former defense minister, described the decision as a disgrace in a post on X, saying it would lead to job losses, delays in replacing the country's helicopter fleet, and a loss of interoperability because Poland's military already uses some Black Hawks.

The postponement comes after Poland spent years investing in helicopter technology, including ordering 96 Apache Guardians in a deal signed last year, and 32 Leonardo AW149s in a deal signed in 2022.

Bejda said Poland would still prioritize some helicopters, including training and combat helicopters, a heavy transport helicopter, and search and rescue helicopters.

But the government, which took office at the end of 2023, clearly views increasing the fleet as less important than investing in other military assets.

The war in Ukraine has led Western countries to boost their own defense spending and to change their priorities, including through buying more air defenses and drones, investing more in tanks, and even bringing back old types of training like trench warfare.

• Alvaro Munevar Jr. leveraged middle management jobs to help him retire early from his tech career.
• Now, Big Tech companies are culling middle managers, a reduction that Munevar Jr. said makes sense.
• He said he witnessed how middle managers allowed fiefdoms to thrive and slowed down productivity.

I spent nearly all of my 30-year tech career in middle management. I managed teams that built and delivered web and mobile business applications.

I intentionally stayed in the middle management bracket, where I was paid well and typically worked 40 to 45 hours most weeks. This meant I had enough time to build a real-estate side business. Doing that helped me achieve my goal of early retirement.

In 2024, I left my corporate job and live off my real-estate passive income.

My retirement at 59 came as the wider tech industry began eliminating many middle management positions.

Big Tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Google have been trying to flatten their company structure by removing managers. Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, has said this is to increase efficiency, while Amazon's Andy Jassy, who has said he wants the company to run like the "world's largest startup," has suggested that removing management layers can cut bureaucracy.

Although I really enjoyed working and learning as a middle manager, I did occasionally question the value I was bringing at that level.

I worked in startups and bigger companies alike

Beginning in the late 1990s, I worked in both engineering and middle management roles for a few small startup companies.

These startups maintained a flat management structure where the CEO worked directly with individual contributors to quickly make key decisions and deliver software products. There were few middle managers, and little bureaucracy. This leaner model meant we had fewer scheduled meetings and fewer roadblocks to building out products.

In the startups I worked for, everyone was focused on rapidly solving problems to reach the objective. Your job and future stock awards were based on the team's ability to focus and deliver quickly. Teams could make and execute plans more rapidly without the bureaucracy of a middle management layer — the reviews and approvals that middle managers tend to oversee in larger companies often only slow things down.

When I worked in tech roles at larger companies, my role often involved monitoring progress and confirming that software development teams were meeting the project timelines. I was responsible for explaining the delays to senior management and recommending improvements to avoid future hold-ups.

I spent significant time relaying status updates to the leaders above me and directives to the individual contributors below me. From working at startups, I knew that this back and forth could be reduced in a leaner management environment.

While working at larger companies, I also noticed that fiefdoms began to thrive due to the large number of middle managers.

Fiefdoms, a well-known phenomenon in tech, are essentially siloed groups of workers who are closely controlled by middle managers. These managers oversee what information about the group they share with the rest of the company.

I noticed that fiefdoms often benefited managers. By overseeing a larger head count, they had a greater perceived value. However, it unfortunately ended up isolating teams and departments from one another, leading to duplicated efforts across the company due to limited communication between groups.

On several occasions, my team and I would spend months building out a new software solution only to learn upon presenting our work that another manager's silo of engineers had already built out a similar one.

This is a management fiefdom scenario at its worst, and it negatively impacted morale. My team members were furious that their efforts had been wasted because of the lack of communication.

I'm not sad to see middle managers go

I built my tech career in middle management, so it may seem odd that I recommend removing the very role I once performed.

But after working in tech for over 30 years, I've witnessed significant wasted effort, duplicated results, and territorial management practices in the traditional, heavier middle management model.

There may be disruption and some confusion until the new model has fully worked itself out, but I expect that flattening companies will ultimately create leaner, better working environments.

Do you have a story to share about middle management in tech? Contact the editor, Charissa Cheong, at [email protected]