Tag: CEO Daily

When Disney earlier this month selected Josh D’Amaro to succeed Bob Iger as CEO, the entertainment giant gave D’Amaro’s reported rival for the job, Dana Walden, a one-time $5.26 million stock grant, plus a recurring annual target compensation of about $27 million. And when Morgan Stanley named Ted Pick as its new CEO in 2023, it paid Pick as well as Andy Saperstein and Dan Simkowitz, reportedly dual runners-up, special bonuses valued at $20 million each. 

The big bucks reflect the big stakes of retaining top talent. A leader who has ascended to the level of CEO contender is likely a high performer with broad institutional knowledge and deep relationships, both inside and outside the firm. Such a star walking out the door can scramble organizational operations, ruin team morale, and dent a company’s bottom line. Top executive turnover typically costs many multiples of the person’s annual salary.

Paying for executives’ loyalty works—to an extent. A recent report from consultancy FW Cook found that the grants have “a strong, but limited, retentive effect—typically lasting approximately two to three years.” That time frame likely reflects the awards’ vesting schedules, says Marco Pizzitola, a consultant at FW Cook and coauthor of its new report. 

FW Cook’s report examined 100 large‑cap U.S. companies and identified 47 that swapped out their CEOs between 2016 and 2020. At roughly a third of those companies, boards rolled out succession-related retention grants to 39 named executive officers who did not become CEO. 

Companies were more than twice as likely to hand out the grants if they hired external CEOs, suggesting “there’s greater concern” about an executive exodus with an outsider chief executive than with an internal promotion, Pizzitola says.

You can read more about this trend—and the second part of the consolation package that Disney awarded Walden—here. 

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top leadership news

Paramount wins Warner Bros. war

Warner Bros. Discovery’s board has officially deemed Paramount Skydance’s all-cash offer of roughly $111 billion or $31 per share a “superior proposal” over its existing deal with Netflix. Netflix declined to raise its bid, calling the deal “no longer financially attractive,” which clears the path for Paramount CEO David Ellison to assemble a media empire that aims to rival Disney.

Amodei’s focus on culture

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says his most important job is maintaining his AI company’s culture, which takes up nearly 40% of his time. “I think we’ve done an extraordinarily good job…making everyone feel the mission,” he said. His comments came even as Anthropic has stepped back from prior AI safety pledges. 

A surprise perk of remote work

As CEOs push return-to-office mandates, a San Francisco Fed study of 25,000 French workers delivers a counterintuitive finding: remote and hybrid employees earn 12% more per hour than fully in-office peers. Even after controlling for demographics, a 6% wage premium persists—suggesting flexibility has become a perk reserved for top talent.

The markets

S&P 500 futures are down 0.31% this morning. The last session closed down 0.54%. The STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.30% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.41% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.16%. China’s CSI 300 was down 0.34%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.95%. South Korea’s KOSPI was down 1.0%. India’s NIFTY 50 was down 1.25%. Bitcoin was down to $67K.

Around the watercooler

Citadel Securities demolishes viral AI doomsday essay, arguing the real ‘Global Intelligence Crisis’ is ignorance of macro fundamentals by Nick Lichtenberg

Bitcoin fans latch on to ‘ridiculous’ Jane Street conspiracy to explain price slump by Jeff John Roberts

Rolex has just opened a trade school for watchmakers in Texas. Already competition is as fierce as Harvard’s, and students could walk out with $95,000 jobs by Emma Burleigh

After months of quiet, Perplexity’s CEO steps into the OpenClaw moment by Sharon Goldman

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams, Claire Zillman and Lee Clifford.

The term came out of the Flatiron and Soho neighborhoods in the 1990s where companies like DoubleClick, Razorfish and About.com were born. That was a time when the media-minded startup community in downtown Manhattan competed for mindshare, if not money, with the tech scene springing up around Stanford and Sand Hill Road in northern California. Like the battle between East Coast and West Coast rap, though, it’s a relic of another era. While Silicon Valley drew about 46.3% of all U.S. venture funding in 2024, with New York getting 13.3%, VC spending is a small fraction of startup funding and an even smaller portion of overall investments in innovation. 

“Nobody talks about Silicon Alley anymore; it’s just tech,” said attendee Stephen Messer, who co-founded LinkShare with his sister Heidi in New York in 1996, sold it to Rakuten for $425 million in 2005, and later co-founded Collective[i], an enterprise AI firm that operates on both coasts. “New York’s tech scene is so large now that there’s no center.”

Indeed, the city’s tech ecosystem now spans fintech, biotech, e-commerce, climate tech, and more, spawning brands like Etsy, Bilt, MongoDB, Ramp, Warby Parker, Datadog, Kickstarter, Tumblr, Foursquare and OpenSea. Some local tech darlings have had high-profile stumbles—hello WeWork!—while others like Bloomberg were thriving long before a bunch of young entrepreneurs set up shop downtown as the internet was taking off. Add in the fact that tech hubs have since sprung up in many other cities and countries around the world. 

Still, nostalgia can be fun. Friday’s party felt more like a throwback to the raves of my youth than a reflection of what tech has become. Instead of alcohol-fueled merrymaking with young singles in some seedy warehouse, this was a gathering of middle-aged professionals clutching cans of water and Whoop bands in an office building overlooking Wall Street. But I enjoyed running into folks like Bloomberg Beta’s Karin Klein, Indiegogo’s Slava Rubin, “sextech” guru Cindy Gallop, entrepreneur Josh Weinstein and cohost Kevin Ryan, the so-called “Godfather of NYC tech” behind DoubleClick and now Alley Corp. Prior to hitting the exit as fire department officials poured in, I picked up a souvenir magazine filled with sepia-toned photos and articles like “Ten Reasons to Be Happy After the Dot-Com Crash.” 

As I wandered around, overhearing conversations about AI, pilates, private equity, Mamdani and the new Melania documentary, it struck me that what the 1,000 or so attendees wanted most was a reason to meet up with creative people on a cold Friday night. I suspect that instinct, as much as funding, is what really fuels the tech scene in New York.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top leadership news

How the CEO of FedEx is navigating global change

FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam is steering the company through Trump-era tariffs and shifting trade routes by doubling down on cost-cutting and expanding the company’s international operations with a strategy he calls “re-globalization.” Despite headwinds, he says demand won’t slow: “People want to trade and travel. I don’t think there’s any going back.”

Is weighing in on politics a no-win for CEOs?

Social media users described last week’s letter from Minnesota business leaders emphasizing a deescalation of tensions as “hollow” and not strong enough. Is weighing in on polarizing events a no‑win choice for CEO?

What 2026 IPOs could signal for an AI bubble

Economist Owen Lamb told Fortune that we aren’t currently in an AI bubble since nobody is rushing to unload overvalued stakes in AI firms. A slew of potential AI-related IPOs in 2026 countries change that.

The markets

S&P 500 futures are down 0.58% this morning. The last session closed down 0.43%. STOXX Europe 600 was flat in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.07% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 1.25%. China’s CSI 300 was down 2.13%. The South Korea KOSPI was down 5.26%. India’s NIFTY 50 was up 1.06%. Bitcoin was at $78K.

Around the watercooler

Ford CEO has 5,000 open mechanic jobs with up to 6-figure salaries from the shortage of manually skilled workers: ‘We are in trouble in our country’ by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

Silicon Valley legend Kleiner Perkins was written off. Then an unlikely VC showed up by Allie Garfinkle

Top energy expert says probability the U.S. will attack Iran soon is 75% as risk of major disruption to oil supply is priced in — ‘this one is real’ by Jason Ma

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative cut 70 jobs as the Meta CEO’s philanthropy goes all in on mission to ‘cure or prevent all disease’ by Sydney Lake

Despite Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky and Steve Jobs praising micromanagers, a new survey ranks them among the most annoying coworkers by Orianna Rosa Royle

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams, Claire Zillman and Lee Clifford.

In late 2024, Saks Global executive chair and controlling shareholder Richard Baker, a real estate scion, landed his dream trophy in Neiman Marcus (which also owned Bergdorf), achieving his long-held ambition to combine the U.S.’s fanciest luxury department stores into one company. To pull this off, Saks Global borrowed $2.7 billion, an untenable debt load that has put the company on the precipice of a bankruptcy protection filing, or at least a major refinancing. (No one thinks Saks Global is going under, but this can only hurt its prospects as a retailer.)

The Saks-Neiman tie-up was the culmination of a plan Baker hatched in 2005 to snap up retailers with valuable real estate. Over the years, different iterations of the company, known for years as HBC, have included Lord & Taylor (his first big acquisition), and Canada’s Hudson’s Bay.

His bet was that the value of iconic properties like the Saks and Lord & Taylor flagships in Manhattan or The Bay in Toronto could be monetized so long as the underlying retail business remained steady.

But nothing about retail, especially department stores, has been stable. Lord & Taylor shut all its stores in 2019 after HBC sold the weakened retailer, and Hudson’s Bay in Canada liquidated last year, ending its 355-year run.

To be fair, Baker has made some good deals in the world of retail. (He sold Target the locations of its ill-fated Canadian expansion in 2011.) And department stores have been cratering for decades. 

But a constant churn of financial maneuvers (spinning off Saks’ e-commerce, creating co-working spaces in underutilized stores, all while being highly leveraged) brought some benefit but never obviated the need to invest more in basics. Saks Global has said it’s poured tons of money into its retailers, but it has not been enough. Its cash crunch has led some vendors to stop shipping to Saks: it’s very hard to sell merchandise you don’t have, ergo a 13% drop in sales last quarter.

A few months ago, I chronicled the comebacks at Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom (all benefiting from Saks’ problems) alongside the consistent performance of Belk and Dillard’s. Such retailers have improved customer service, renovated stores, and stocked ample and new merchandise. A strong business boosts the value of their underlying real estate.

All that will be key for Baker to consider since he’s just become the new CEO of Saks Global, giving him a direct hand in running the company, not just yanking its financial levers. You can read my full story on the Saks saga here.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top news

How to get Venezuela’s oil 

One big question that looms over the Trump administration is how to obtain and monetize Venezuela’s oil, which the White House said it will control “indefinitely.” It’s reportedly considering exerting some control over state-owned producer Petróleos de Venezuela SA. Meanwhile, the U.S. oil industry is asking for legal and financial guarantees from Washington before it assumes the risk of investing in Venezuela. Trump has suggested that the U.S. may end up reimbursing oil companies for rebuilding Venezuela’s infrastructure.

ICE shooting sparks outrage

Video of an ICE agent shooting and killing a woman during an encounter in Minnesota spread rapidly online Wednesday. The incident stoked national tensions over the Trump administration’s immigration raids and sparked protests as far away as New York City. 

JPMorgan’s proxy platform

JPMorgan’s asset management unit, one of the world’s largest with more than $7 trillion in client assets, is ditching proxy-advisory firms in favor of an internal AI-enabled platform called Proxy IQ that will help cast votes on shareholder resolutions. 

Trump goes after big single-family home investors

In a post on Truth Social Wednesday, President Trump suggested that he will ban institutional investors and Wall Street firms from buying single-family homes as young people are finding it harder and harder to purchase homes. Analysts say the biggest investors in the space collectively own hundreds of thousands of homes.

Accessing Greenland’s minerals could take decades—and billions

Alexander Gray, who worked in President Trump’s first administration, recently told Fortune that the president’s threats to take over Greenland should be taken very seriously. Mineral experts, on the other hand, say that targeting the island’s natural resources will take billions of dollars across decades to see any return.

The great private equity consolidation 

Nearly half of all U.S. private equity capital raised last year through September went to the top 10 funds, their largest share in a decade, as institutional investors favor the top managers amid weak distributions. 

Are layoffs really because of AI?

A new report from Oxford Economics suggests that companies aren’t laying off workers and replacing them with AI, instead using the technology as a cover for standard headcount reductions. “We suspect some firms are trying to dress up layoffs as a good news story rather than bad news, such as past over-hiring,” the authors of the report wrote.

The markets

S&P 500 futures were down 0.2% this morning. The last session closed down 0.34%. STOXX Europe 600 was down 0.3% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.33% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 1.63%. China’s CSI 300 was down o.82%. The South Korea KOSPI was flat. India’s NIFTY 50 was down 1.01%. Bitcoin was down to $90K.

Around the watercooler

The $38 trillion national debt is one thing 82% of Americans agree on: ‘Voters are understandably concerned,’ watchdog says by Nick Lichtenberg

Jensen Huang might be fine with a billionaires tax, but Google cofounder Larry Page is already dumping California by Sasha Rogelberg

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health in a push to become a hub for personal health data by Sharon Goldman

‘It feels challenging to break through’: Most recruiters say they can’t find talent while 80% of job seekers feel unprepared to find a job by Jacqueline Munis

Netflix co-CEO says he doesn’t read business books—instead, he reads one 1902 novella about a ship and its captain ‘over and over again’ by Preston Fore

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams, Claire Zillman and Lee Clifford.

Maybe. The impact of a shutdown will, of course, depend on its length and the reaction of those impacted. Investors aren’t happy, but that could pass. While roughly three-quarters of federal employees are classified as “essential” workers who must stay on the job, some may stop showing up if they’re not paid. As another CEO pointed out yesterday, a raft of no-show TSA workers can make for annoying security lines, but a dozen “sick” air traffic controllers can seriously disrupt air travel.

The U.S. has weathered 10 shutdowns since the current budget policy was established in 1976.

One difference this time around is that DOGE cuts and policy shifts have already disrupted various aspects of government operations, from education grants to public health programs, making yesterday’s “orderly shutdown” yet another challenge to navigate. The main message from CEOs I reached yesterday: Check back in a week or two.

While CEOs are keeping an eye on the economic impact of a shutdown, they have to stay focused on growing their business, recruiting top talent and leveraging or developing breakthrough technologies in areas from clean energy to AI. That’s why gatherings like the Fortune Global Forum in Riyadh on the 26^th and 27^th of this month are so important. It’s an opportunity for leaders to learn and connect around shared challenges and opportunities. Among the CEOs joining us are Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon, Masdar’s Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Delta’s Ed Bastian, Abhijit Dubey of NTT Data, Mary Callahan Erdoes of JPMorgan Chase, JLL’s Christian Ulbrich, Bill Winters of Standard Chartered, Cohere’s Aidan Gomez, Nokia’s Justin Hotard, Tony Han of WeRide, Jenny Johnson of Franklin Templeton, Zimmer Biomet’s Ivan Tornos, Tan Su Shan of DBS Group, Gilberto Tomazoni of JBS, Jonathan Ross of Groq and many more. You can check out more about the upcoming forum here and click here to apply to attend.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top news

Trump uses shutdown to cut spending, fire workers 

“Republicans must use this opportunity of Democrat forced closure to clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud. Billions of Dollars can be saved,” the president said on Truth Social. White House budget director Russell Vought said $26 billion in funding for previously approved programs was on hold, much of which had been earmarked for Democrat-led states or cities. Permanent layoffs are expected to begin in the next day or so. The White House is using government agency websites to refer to the shutdown as “Democrat-led.”

U.S. to provide intelligence for long-range strikes on Russia

More evidence that Trump’s break with Putin is serious: The WSJ reports that the White House has approved sharing intelligence with Ukraine that will help Kyiv conduct long-range strikes deep into Russia, potentially targeting the oil and power infrastructure that fuels the invasion of Ukraine. Washington is also considering sending Ukraine long-range missiles, but has not made a final decision.

Supreme Court delays decision on Fed’s Cook

The high court ruled that it will not take up Fed Governor Lisa Cook’s lawsuit against President Trump until January, after lower courts have dealt with the case. The move is a potential signal that the court is skeptical of the White House’s legal right to fire her.

PIMCO: There are “cracks” in the corporate credit market 

PIMCO President Christian Stracke told CNBC that the private credit market for companies seeking debt funding was going through a difficult patch. “We’re seeing some real problems in the credit markets. There have been some high-profile defaults in the credit markets — in the public markets — where it’s very difficult for the company to negotiate with the lenders to preserve value in the company,” he said.

The turnaround at Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren was staring irrelevance in the face when Procter & Gamble veteran Patrice Louvet took over as CEO and brought the fashion brand back to its luxury roots. Now, with profits at a 13-year high, Louvet says, “It’s got to stay fresh.”

Two weeks of bro-co-CEOs 

In the past two weeks, three large companies—Spotify, Oracle, and Comcast—either added a co-CEO to their corner office or replaced their CEO with a leadership duo. Fortune’s Lila MacLellan describes the phenomenon as the “rise of the bro-co-CEO.”

Citi mandates AI training for most employees

Citi is mandating AI training for the majority of its 229,00 employees, according to an internal memo shared with American Banker. A Citi representative told Fortune that “This training is about teaching our colleagues the possibilities of great prompting versus basic prompting to generate impactful results.”

OpenAI is officially worth $500 billion

Sam Altman’s AI company has completed a funding round that values his company at a higher level than SpaceX, making it the world’s most valuable startup.

Bitcoin treasury craze cools

Companies that diluted their stock by selling shares specifically to fund Bitcoin purchases have seen their values tumble by 20% to 50%, according to the WSJ. While their valuations remain above the price of Bitcoin on their balance sheets, it seems the market is not willing to buy an endless number of self-diluting Bitcoin treasury companies. Michael Saylor’s Strategy fell 20% in Q3.

The markets

S&P 500 futures were up 0.16% this morning. The index closed up 0.34% in its last session. STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.7% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 flat in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.87%. China’s CSI 300 was up 0.45%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 2.7%. India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.92% before the end of the session. Bitcoin rose to $118.6K.

Around the watercooler

Walmart now plans to bring drone deliveries to ‘most areas that we operate in’, exec says by Jessica Mathews

The economy is just getting stronger, not weaker, and ‘we in the economics profession need to look ourselves in the mirror,’ top analyst says by Nick Lichtenberg

People destroyed the ‘friend.com’ AI necklace ads with graffiti. The 22-year-old founder loves it: ‘Capitalism is the greatest artistic medium.’ by Eva Roytburg

Former Wall Street darling Charlie Javice says ‘I have remorse deeper than I knew possible’ in tearful apology to JPMorgan shareholders by Dave Smith

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.

This is the web version of CEO Daily, a newsletter of must-read global insights from CEOs and industry leaders. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.

While CEOs understand the power of entertainment to delight people they’re trying to reach, they might not appreciate the business case—and how it’s shifting. Dave McKay of RBC told me he’s never been more popular than when the bank sponsored Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. It also helped RBC add more than 600,000 clients to its Canadian banking business last year. Here are some insights from CEOs shaping the next wave of live entertainment. 

Create a multigenerational experience. It’s not just mother-daughter Swifties. In organizing the CBGB event, entrepreneur Phil Sandhaus created a “Young Punk” category of $73 tickets, along with a separate stage area of younger acts that was buzzing with energy—and the sponsors who wanted to associate with that. He also livestreamed the key mainstage acts.

“We want to appeal to people who grew up with this music but make it accessible to a younger generation,” Sandhaus told me. “Different price points and experiences let us go after different sponsors and brands. We’re not trying to gouge people; we’re here for the long run.”

Pick a committed partner. As Terrapin Station Entertainment CEO Jonathan Shank notes, with ticket prices often starting at 10x what they were a generation ago, an experience needs to “be first class in order to cut through.” That means investing in technology—ABBA pulled in $2 million a week from a concert that featured their avatars—and the right partner. A pioneer in bringing intellectual property from Bob Marley to Disney to the live stage, Shank knows the importance of partnering on a franchise that matters to the owner. “If it’s a prioritized project within the studio, you have everybody going down the river in the same direction and at the same time,” Shank said. “If it’s not a huge priority, you can find yourself out on an island” and the project suffers. 

Create an ecosystem. Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment CEO Sam Zussman is proud of what he’s built around the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty, but his goal is to turn the Barclays Center into a destination for the community. (The latest example is the Brooklyn Basketball Training Center.) That vision is a big reason why Brooklyn Nets owner (and Alibaba Chairman and cofounder)  Joe Tsai chose Zussman. “Sam came in as an outsider and saw BSE Global as a venue-based entertainment business with IP that’s proprietary to us,” Tsai told me recently. “I was looking for someone who can create an ecosystem.” While Zussman says the goal is to “build generational fandom,” the BSE CEO views sports as “a vertical of entertainment” with talent, partners and facilities that let him woo a world of other customers.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top news

Trump says Gaza peace plan is close

The president said a deal to end the war between Israel and Hamas was in its “final stages.” Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Trump at the White House on Monday. A statement from Hamas said it had not received the proposals.

Government shutdown would delay jobs report

The federal government is headed for a shutdown on Wednesday unless a deal is reached, and, if so, a contingency plan obtained by Bloomberg notes that the monthly jobs report won’t publish when scheduled on Friday. Bank of America analysts warn that the situation “would delay key economic data ahead of the Fed’s next meeting.”

GSK CEO Emma Walmsley stepping down

She will be replaced by chief commercial officer Luke Miels. Walmsley had been at the drugmaker for eight years. GSK shares initially rose on the news.

First Brands bankruptcy raises questions about private credit market risk

Auto parts supply company First Brands Group filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, owing $10 billion in debts, according to the FT. It follows the collapse of auto lender Tricolor a few weeks ago. The two cases are causing investors to ask questions about the safety of the private credit markets and corporate debt. “There’s been a very positive investment environment for a long time, with a large amount of money and a lot of optimism,” Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital told the WSJ. “The worst loans are made at the best of times.”

Yes, AI will create a jobs crisis, CEOs say

Quote of the day from Axios: “Last week, Mike Allen and I talked privately with 20 different CEOs of a wide range of companies. Every single one of them said they’re reducing their hiring ambitions at the dawn of AI.”

Can outside help keep Intel together?

Struggling chipmaker Intel has received emergency cash infusions from the U.S. government and Nvidia—and the company’s former CEO told Fortune that it will need about $40 billion in total to stay afloat. Is a new CEO and external help enough?

The rise of prediction markets

Prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket surged during the 2024 election, attracting more than $3 billion in wagers on the outcome. The sites’ founders have moved towards sports-related bets since, but how they make money and remain compliant with regulators is still up in the air.

Moldova rejects pro-Russian interference

Moldova has elected the pro-E.U. PAS party’s Maia Sandu as its president. The vote was marred by harassment from pro-Russian interests, according to the BBC. PAS won 50% of the vote. The pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc received under 25% of the votes.

The markets

S&P 500 futures were up 0.5% this morning. The index closed up 0.59% in its last session. STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.34% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 up 0.54% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.69%. China’s CSI 300 was up 1.54%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 1.33%. India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.14% before the end of the session. Bitcoin rose to $112K.

Around the watercooler

Everyone’s wondering if, and when, the AI bubble will pop. Here’s what went down 25 years ago that ultimately burst the dot-com boom by Dave Smith

Larry Ellison once predicted ‘citizens will be on their best behavior’ amid constant recording. Now his company will pay a key role in social media by Jason Ma

‘There’s so much pressure to be the company that went from zero to $100 million in X days’: Inside the sketchy world of ARR and inflated AI startup accounting by Allie Garfinkle

Walmart CEO wants ‘everybody to make it to the other side’ and the retail giant will keep headcount flat for now even as AI changes every job by Nino Paoli

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.

This is the web version of CEO Daily, a newsletter of must-read global insights from CEOs and industry leaders. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.

• In today’s CEO Daily: Matt Heimer on Fortune’s 11^th annual Change the World list.
• The big story: HSBC has successfully deployed a quantum computer chip to predict bond prices.
• The markets: The U.S. and Europe are down, Asia is up.
• Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

Good morning. This week, Fortune published our 11^th annual Change the World list, a compendium of 50 companies that are using the creative forces of capitalism to tackle big social problems. These companies are doing well by doing good, so to speak: They’ve figured out how to make money selling products and services that have a positive impact on people and the planet. Here are this year’s honorees.

Generally, the companies that make this list fall into two categories—big, established corporations that use their size as a force for good; and startups that have built their whole business models around tackling an urgent issue.

The giants, as you might expect, can get big results fast. This year’s CTW includes Carrier Global, the $22 billion HVAC and refrigeration giant. Carrier committed itself five years ago to making its product line far more energy-efficient: Since then, they estimate they’ve reduced their customers’ CO2 emissions by enough to power 65 million homes for a year.

The startups, meanwhile, are nimble enough to develop and deploy products quickly, then scale up to meet big needs. The rare earth minerals that many energy, tech, and defense companies depend on are, well, rare, as recent U.S.-China trade tensions have taught us; Cyclic Materials, of Toronto, is standing up factories to recycle them. Chronic teacher shortages bedevil many communities; San Francisco-based startup Amira Learning has developed an AI-driven platform that helps instructors develop reading-instruction lesson plans for more kids, more efficiently, and it’s already being used in more than 4,000 school districts.

What Change the World companies of all sizes have in common is leadership that’s committed, from the CEO on down, to nurturing and implementing world-changing ideas. The concept of “business for good” goes in and out of fashion, but enlightened leaders prove again and again that staying true to their ideals helps them attract a deeper talent pool and build customer loyalty.

By the way, top leaders from around the globe will be gathering for the Fortune Global Forum in Riyadh on Oct. 26-27. We’d love to see you there; learn more about that here.—Matt Heimer

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top news

HSBC deploys quantum chip

The bank claims that its use of IBM’s Heron quantum processor achieved a 34% improvement in predicting bond prices. Quantum computing chips solve problems in parallel, as opposed to sequentially in analog chips, and thus have much faster processing power. “If one bank is able to start using quantum computing to develop a program, then the others will be developing it the next day and people will not sleep until they have it,” Miklos Dietz, senior partner and managing partner of McKinsey’s Vancouver office, told Bloomberg.

Trump demands investigation into U.N. mishaps

President Trump demanded “an immediate investigation” into “three very sinister events” at his speech to the U.N. two days ago. He claims the escalator malfunction, a non-working teleprompter, and that his microphone was switched off while he was talking, are acts of “sabotage.” 

New tariffs could be coming for robotics and medical equipment

The U.S. Department of Commerce said it had opened a “Section 232” investigation into whether certain imports of syringes, prescription drugs, and other medical equipment, and certain types of robotic equipment, are threats to national security. If they are designated as such, they will face extra tariffs.

Cracks appear in U.S. corporate debt market

The collapse of two companies—auto lender Tricolor Holdings and auto parts supplier First Brands Group—whose credit Wall Street had previously rated as safe has investors in corporate debt worried. JPMorgan Chase and Fifth Third underwrote their debt and are now exposed to hundreds of millions of dollars in potential losses on auto loans that may not be repaid.

Energy activity continues to fall

Oil and gas activity fell once again in the third quarter of the year, per new data from the Dallas Fed Energy Survey, and executives in the industry took to the survey’s anonymous comment section to decry tariffs and policy uncertainty for their negative effects. “Those who can are running for the exits,” one executive wrote.

Is the McKinsey-CEO pipeline in trouble?

McKinsey has produced more Fortune 500 CEOs than any other organization, but the onset of generative AI could threaten this legacy by reducing the need for early-career consultants. How can the consulting firm transform its leadership training for a post-AI world?

Elsewhere: Four airports in Denmark were shut down after the presence of unauthorised drones was detected. NATO countries are on high alert due to Russia’s hostile incursions into Europe’s airspace … Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, is drawing up a plan for the mass firing of federal workers not aligned with Trump’s mission if there is a federal government shutdown.

The markets

S&P 500 futures were flat this morning. The index closed down 0.28% in its last session. STOXX Europe 600 was down 0.3% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 down 0.18% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.27%. China’s CSI 300 was up 0.6%. The South Korea KOSPI was flat. India’s Nifty 50 was down 0.4% before the end of the session. Bitcoin declined to $111.8K.

Around the watercooler

‘I would beg the president’: Jamie Dimon, one of Wall Street’s top H-1B visa users, predicts ‘pushback’ because big employers need top expertise by Sasha Rogelberg

Sam Altman’s AI empire will devour as much power as New York City and San Diego combined. Experts say it’s ‘scary’ by Eva Roytburg

Microsoft boss says its new AI-infused web browsing experience is like ‘a little angel on your shoulder doing the boring hard work’ by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

Nearly one in 5 Gen Zers is ‘very concerned’ that AI will take their job in the next 2 years, Deutsche Bank says. Boomers and Gen X aren’t bothered by Nick Lichtenberg

Bill Gates calls on Congress to ‘show its values’ on foreign aid, or this year will see children’s deaths go up instead of down by Eleanor Pringle

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.

This is the web version of CEO Daily, a newsletter of must-read global insights from CEOs and industry leaders. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.

Shoaib Makani, Founder and CEO of Motive: “We use contract manufacturers across Asia. These tariffs are not, paradoxically, high enough for us to nearshore. You’d have to get to 50%-plus for it to make sense for us to move our supply chains to North America. Even if we were at that threshold, we don’t have the manufacturing capacity to bring the vast majority of electronics here.”

Jennifer Ives, Vice President, Artificial Intelligence, Partnership for Public Service: “We’re seen such a bringing together of industry and public sector leaders to figure out how to approach this. There really isn’t enough thoughtful conversation around regulation and guardrails … I hear, on one side, regulate, regulate and, on the other, deregulate. There is a happy medium.”

John W. Mitchell, President and CEO, Global Electronics Association: “Companies need consistency to make plans and move forward. They’re moving to other countries because they’ll give us a 10-year plan and they’ll follow it. We have a government in this country that changes every four years and they tend to undo everything that happened the previous four years. That’s not a very reliable environment in which to build.”

Ben Van Roo, Cofounder and CEO, Legion Intelligence: “The government isn’t thinking enough about digital agents. In the not-so-distant future, digital agents will be doing intelligence gathering, offensive-defensive cyber … Do we have 5,000 agents working on your behalf?” 

Peter Wilczynski, Chief Product Officer, Maxar Intelligence (BEARD): “The more complicated the system is, the more the actual constraint is labor and really well-trained human capital. It’s not just robots printing out big physical objects … When you look at the cost of a satellite or complex system, it’s denominated in dollars but most of the cost is in labor hours.”

Landon Mossburg, CEO, Peak Energy: “There’s a mentality that AI is the future and, as long as we win on that, we’re going to win. You look at Deep Seek and at how fast China is progressing. It seems quite easy to either steal parts of that technology or reengineer it yourself. On the flip side, how fast are we catching up on manufacturing polysilicon or solar panels or batteries or robots or drones? Who’s going to manufacture more drones? Is it going to be us? I doubt it.”

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top news

Poland shoots down Russian drones

Russia has repeatedly violated Polish airspace in its drone attacks on Ukraine, Polish PM Donald Tusk said. Poland temporarily shut down its airspace to all aircraft, essentially closing all its airports. Experts say the violations may be a Putin’s way of deliberately testing NATO’s resolve to fight back against Russian aggression. Also yesterday: President Trump asked the EU to impose 100% tariffs on Russia and India in hopes of pressuring Moscow on Ukraine.

Trump unhappy at Doha strike

The White House criticised Israel for its missile strike on a meeting of Hamas officials in Doha, Qatar, yesterday. “Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals,” the administration said. Long read: The WSJ has a great story about the strategy and tactics behind the strike.

Meta knew kids were looking at porn on its platforms, whistleblower says

“Meta cannot be trusted to tell the truth about the safety or use of its products,” former Meta employee Cayce Savage told the Senate. She alleges that Meta shut down internal research showing Meta knew kids were being exposed to sexual content in its VR environments.

Job number revisions cut 911,000 from data

Revised job numbers released on Thursday indicate that, from March 2024 to March 2025, the U.S. added 911,00 less jobs than reported. The revision casts an even bigger shadow over an already struggling labor market and is a boost to President Donald Trump’s efforts to prompt the Fed to cut rates.

Apple holds “Awe Dropping” event

Apple held its “Awe Dropping” event on Tuesday, unveiling eight new products as the company lags behind rivals in terms of AI integration. Here’s the next generation of products that Apple is leading with, including the new iPhone Air.

Epstein book contains joke about Trump buying a woman

The book of mementoes compiled by Jeffrey Epstein’s friends for his 50th birthday contains a photo of a fake check from Donald Trump to Epstein and a message underneath it explaining that it commemorates a time when Epstein “sells fully depreciated [name redacted] to Donald Trump for $22,500.” The woman dated both men, the NYT reported.

Elsewhere: A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump from the firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cook while her lawsuit against him proceeds … Novo Nordisk laid off 9,000 workers in order to boost profits … There is tension inside Meta between the new staff hired with massive compensation packages for its AI unit and pre-existing employees who are paid less, the WSJ says.

The markets

S&P 500 futures were up 0.23% this morning. The index closed up 0.27% in its last trading session. STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.53% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.22% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.87%. China’s CSI 300 was up 0.21%.  The South Korea KOSPI was up 1.67%. India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.35% before the end of the session. Bitcoin rose to $112.6K.

Around the watercooler

Tesla bull Dan Ives now chairs a company hoarding a Sam Altman-linked cryptocurrency. He’s not the only big name to enter the treasury race by Ben Weiss

Americans have the least confidence in finding a new job since 2013, the depths of the ‘jobless recovery’ after the Great Recession by Nick Lichtenberg

From borrowing her mom’s credit card to a $1.5 million net worth, WNBA star Paige Bueckers wasn’t prepared for ‘super fast’ NIL financial jump by Sasha Rogelberg

Sam Altman says people are starting to talk like AI, making some human interactions ‘feel very fake’ by Sydney Lake

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.

This is the web version of CEO Daily, a newsletter of must-read global insights from CEOs and industry leaders. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.