Dow Jones futures were little changed Thursday morning, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. U.S. stock markets will be closed Thursday the Thanksgiving holiday. The stock market rally had another solid broad advance. The major indexes moved further above their 50-day moving averages. Leading stocks continued to act well, with chips, gold and other metal plays standing out.…
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Futures Rise With Market Above Key Level; What To Do
Dow Jones futures rose slightly early Wednesday, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. The stock market rally had a strong Tuesday, with the major indexes and small-cap Russell 2000 regaining their 50-day moving averages, shrugging off weakness in Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The 10-year Treasury yield fell to the key 4% level as weak economic…
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AG Rob Bonta spent nearly $500K on lawyers while trying to be ‘helpful’ amid East Bay corruption probe, adviser says
SACRAMENTO — California Attorney General Rob Bonta spent $468,000 of his campaign cash on lawyers while reportedly being interviewed by federal authorities investigating Oakland’s former mayor and others in a sprawling federal bribery and corruption inquiry.
The longtime East Bay politician’s senior adviser, Dan Newman, told this news organization Wednesday that Bonta’s legal bills were for the sole purpose of “providing information that could be helpful to the investigation of those implicated” in the ongoing criminal probe.
Bonta — who lives in Alameda and has worked his way from city councilman to the state’s top prosecutor — was never a target of the investigation, Newman said.
“The AG’s involvement is over,” Newman added. “But this is an ongoing legal proceeding that we don’t want to hinder — with no relation to or involvement of the AG — so unable to provide further information.” He said the work required of those attorneys ended in 2024, the adviser said.
Newman initially told the KCRA this week that the attorney general used the campaign funds “to help his law enforcement partners pursue justice” in the East Bay corruption probe. The Sacramento station was the first to report Bonta’s legal spending.
Newman later changed that stance, claiming in a subsequent interview with KCRA that Bonta spent the money on attorneys for himself while being questioned by federal investigators. The adviser stressed Bonta was never a target of the investigation, and the funds were needed “because of the nature of the charges against the people implicated,” the station reported.
The size of Bonta’s legal bills appear historically large, and they reflect the fact that Bonta retained one of the premier law firms in Silicon Valley — Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati — which routinely charges four figures an hour for its work, said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political science professor. That also highlights the stakes Bonta faces as a politically ambitious state attorney general, particularly one who has taken a leading stand against the current White House administration by filing dozens of lawsuits against it, the professor said.
“His problems are the appearance of impropriety when he is the poster child against Donald Trump and the administration,” McCuan said. “So if he has an image problem that is created by this expenditure, then that is a problem for him.”
McCuan added that California campaign finance law is considered “murky” when it comes to when candidates can use campaign cash for legal help.
In general, campaign funding can only be used “if the litigation is directly related to activities of the committee that are consistent with its primary objectives,” said Shery Yang, a spokesperson for the Fair Political Practices Commission, in an email. While she said she couldn’t speak specifically to this case, instances where that money can be used include defending against claims that a candidate violated election laws, or ensuring compliance with state campaign disclosure reports.
The five payments to Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati were made two days before Bonta announced he would not run for governor and seek reelection as attorney general in February, the records show.
It all casts a fresh spotlight on Bonta’s ties to many of the main players charged in the ongoing bribery and pay-to-play probe that has roiled the East Bay’s political scene, including former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Andy Duong, who helps run a recycling company contracted by the city of Oakland.
In charges unsealed in January, federal prosecutors accused former Thao of accepting bribes from Andy Duong and his father, David, in the form of political favors and a $95,000 no-show job for Thao’s romantic partner, Andre Jones. In return, prosecutors claimed Thao promised to secure lucrative city contracts for a fledgling housing company co-founded by David Duong, as well as for Duongs recycling business, California Waste Solutions.
Thao, Jones and David and Andy Duong have all pleaded not guilty and could face trial by next year.
Bonta has known Andy Duong for years, even becoming a frequent presence on his Instagram page before federal agents raided the businessman’s house in June 2024.
In an August 2021 social media post, Bonta was seen standing alongside Andy Duong and the famed Filipino boxer and retired politician Manny Pacquiao, each of them giving a “thumbs up” to the camera. In another, Bonta appeared to be sitting in a limousine, smiling at the camera with one arm around Andy Duong and another around his wife, California Assemblymember Mia Bonta.
“Cannot wait to see what else the future has to offer to you,” wrote Andy Duong, calling the state’s top prosecutor a “brother” while recounting his rise from “Vice Mayor to State Assembly and now CA Attorney General.” The post included no less than nine other photos of the two together over the years, often at campaign events or, in one instance, together at a Golden State Warriors game.
Rob Bonta has since sought to distance himself from the Duongs. Shortly after the FBI and other federal authorities raided the family’s Oakland hills houses on June 20, 2024, Bonta said he planned to give back $155,000 in political contributions that he had previously received from the Duong family.
The political fortunes of Thao and Mia Bonta also nearly collided several years ago. Before running for mayor, Thao briefly considered campaigning for the state assembly seat once held by Rob Bonta before he became the state’s attorney general. Instead, Thao opted to run for the mayor of Oakland, while Mia Bonta ran and filled her husband’s post in Sacramento.
Bonta ties to people investigated in the corruption probe extend to an unnamed co-conspirator widely believed to be longtime Oakland political operative Mario Juarez. Bonta and Juarez enjoyed “close financial and political ties,” such as when Bonta helped secure a $3.4 million grant in 2017 from the California Energy Commission for a company that Juarez co-owned, according to a filing late last year by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
“They have publicly endorsed each other and have used the same office for their business dealings,” said the filing, adding that Juarez and the Bontas’ “extensive intertwined political and business dealings are widely known.”
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
Jakob Rodgers
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Futures: China Trade Deal Close; Huge Earnings On Tap
Dow Jones futures will open Sunday evening, along with S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures after the stock market rally hit record highs Friday. Now get ready for a huge week of earnings, another Fed rate cut and a Trump-Xi meeting A “comprehensive” U.S.-China trade deal is close after weekend talks, setting the stage for President Donald Trump and Chinese President…
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South Bay tech company, East Bay oil titan prep fresh job cutbacks
South Bay tech company Bill.com and East Bay energy giant Chevron have revealed plans for new rounds of job cuts that are poised to displace well over 100 workers in the Bay Area, filings with the state government show.
The layoffs are a reminder that job cuts in the tech industry have yet to run their course, as a wide range of tech companies continue to reveal their plans to trim staffing levels in the region.
Bill.com logo on the tech company’s office building at 6220 America Center Drive in north San Jose. (Google Maps) Chevron, which has moved its headquarters from San Ramon to Houston in another example of the corporate exodus from California to Texas, revealed prior layoffs that erased 600 jobs in the Bay Area.
According to WARN notices the companies sent to the state Employment Development Department, the layoffs include:
— Bill is cutting 84 jobs in North San Jose at the company’s headquarters complex. These layoffs are expected to take effect on Dec. 15, the WARN letter to the EDD shows.
— Chevron is eliminating 100 jobs in San Ramon, an East Bay city where the energy giant had once based its headquarters, according to the WARN letter. These most recent cutbacks are due to occur on Oct. 23. Chevron is also cutting 75 jobs in the Kern County city of Bakersfield.
Bill and Chevron both stated that the layoffs would be permanent.
“We are providing severance pay, medical continuation coverage, access to education and training resources, and outplacement assistance,” Henry Perea, Chevron’s manager of state government affairs, wrote in the WARN letter to the EDD.
George Avalos
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‘It’s really tragic’: Details emerge after former NFL star Doug Martin’s death in Oakland police custody
OAKLAND — Retired NFL star Doug Martin spent his final moments alive Saturday morning wandering in the dark through the backyards and banging on the front doors of his neighbors’ houses in the Oakland hills, sources told the Bay Area News Group.
Martin’s subsequent death — after what police described as a “brief struggle” with officers inside one of those homes — sent shockwaves through the city, stunning those who recalled the former All-Pro running back’s quick burst on the football turf and easygoing temperament off of it.
Two days later, questions mounted about the Oakland Police Department’s actions before dawn Saturday, along with the factors that appeared to lead Martin inside his neighbor’s home and the exact circumstances around his death in police custody.
“It’s tragic, it’s really tragic,” said his neighbor, Lynne Belmont, 74.
It was an abrupt, shocking end for Martin, a 36-year-old raised in Stockton who had quietly lived in Oakland of late after ending his playing career with the Oakland Raiders.
Multiple people called 911 around 4:15 a.m. Saturday, as Martin went door-to-door on the 11000 block of Ettrick Street, sources said. He had been staying in a longtime family home on that block, which sits atop an Oakland hills neighborhood near the Oakland Zoo.
Police initially received a call about a person breaking into a home on that street, which a source said had been occupied at the time. They “simultaneously” received notice that a person believed to be a burglar was having “a medical emergency,” according to a statement released Sunday by the Oakland Police Department.
A “brief struggle” ensued when officers contacted the suspected burglar inside a house and tried to detain him, police said. Martin then became unresponsive after being taken into custody, according to Oakland police.
Oakland police did not respond to multiple requests by this news organization for further details. City and police officials have yet to release police radio and dispatch recordings from the encounter, which were recently encrypted and shielded from the public’s ear.
The police department also has yet to announce how many officers have been placed on paid administrative leave, as is customary following an in-custody death.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin (22) runs during the second half of an NFL football game against the New York Jets, in Tampa, Fla. Two-time Pro Bowl running back Doug Martin has been released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018, who may look for a replacement in free agency.(AP Photo/Jason Behnken, File) In a statement issued Monday evening, Martin’s family said his parents “were actively seeking medical assistance for him and had contacted local authorities for support” before his encounter with police. They added that Martin “battled mental health challenges that profoundly impacted his personal and professional life,” and that he fled his home that night after “feeling overwhelmed and disoriented.”
“Ultimately, mental illness proved to be the one opponent from which Doug could not run,” said the family’s statement, which was released by Athletes First. The firm represented Martin when he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012.”
On Monday, Mayor Barbara Lee issued a statement mourning Martin’s death and noting she had reached out to Martin’s family. Lee hailed him as “an Oaklander who had a distinguished NFL career,” adding that “our condolences are with his family and loved ones.” The family has requested privacy.
Martin did not seem much involved in Oakland’s professional sports community, a tight-knit social circle that includes former big-league athletes and coaches. Several long-timers contacted for this story had not been aware that Martin had even resided in Oakland.
On his journey from high school stardom in Stockton to NFL fame, however, Martin was as memorable a running back as the coaches who crossed paths with him could remember.
“He was the kind of guy who really just absorbed everything you tried to teach him,” said Earnest Byner, a former NFL all-pro who was Martin’s running back coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “He could do anything you asked him to do.”
It was the kind of inner confidence that made the relatively undersized, 5-foot 9-inch tall player — nicknamed “Muscle Hamster” — eager to take on more physically taxing assignments, such as blocking heftier linebackers.
But Martin truly shone with the ball in his hand, coaches said, zipping downfield with a springy first step. A decorated college career at Boise State — where he logged 3,400 yards and 43 touchdowns — led him to be the Buccaneers’ first-round draft selection in 2012.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin (22) walks off the field after a staggeringly successful day against the Oakland Raiders in an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012 at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. Martin rushed for 251 yards and four touchdowns, as the Buccaneers won, 42-32. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff) Martin had been known around the college campus for his bounding social energy. He rode a remote-controlled electric skateboard to classes, forged close locker-room friendships and even embraced the popularity of “Teach Me How to Dougie,” a hit song with a signature dance move that shared his name.
“He was just having fun playing ball,” said Keith Bhonapha, the college’s running-back coach at the time. “He really felt at home there.”
Martin’s NFL draft-day party at his relatives’ house in the Oakland hills was uniquely festive, recalled Tony Franks, his high school coach in Stockton. Television trucks lined the street and dozens of people cheered when the St. Mary’s High School star received a call from the Buccaneers at the end of the first round.
Martin’s running style was prototypical for the time — “powerful, compact, explosive,” he said, yet nimble enough to “change direction on a dime.”
“He had such natural strength, leg strength, body strength,” Franks said. “The force he could create by accelerating was just tremendous.”
In the NFL, though, Martin faced adversity. After a breakout rookie season, he suffered a torn labrum that sidelined him for much of his follow-up campaign. Still, he notched two All-Pro teams in a career that lasted seven seasons, rushing for over 5,300 yards and two touchdowns before retiring in 2018.
Martin was suspended four games in 2016 for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy after testing positive for a banned substance. In a statement at the time, Martin said he initially considered appealing the penalty but had decided instead to seek treatment.
“My shortcomings,” he said of his off-the-field life, “have taught me both that I cannot win these personal battles alone and that there is no shame in asking for help.”
Bhonapha, an Oakland native who played football at Skyline High School, visited Martin sometime during the Tampa Bay years. Over a steak dinner, the coach recalled, Martin spoke sentimentally about his Boise State years, reminiscing about the familiarity and friendships that came before the realities of adulthood.
“The amount of calls I’ve gotten from teammates since this weekend asking what happened … guys who were really close with him said they hadn’t talked to him in a couple years,” Bhonapha said.
But even amid the shock of Martin’s untimely passing, those who witnessed the Stockton kid’s rise to the sport’s top ranks recalled the determination that had brought him there.
“He had probably gone through being doubted because of his size at one point,” Byner said. “But he never doubted what he could do — and we didn’t, either.”
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at smukherjee@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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Jakob Rodgers, Shomik Mukherjee
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Futures Rise With China Trade Talks, CPI, Big Earnings Due
Dow Jones futures rose slightly Sunday evening, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. Tesla (TSLA), GE Vernova (GEV), Netflix (NFLX) and GE Aerospace (GE) headline big earnings with the September CPI inflation report due Friday. But the biggest market news may be U.S.-China trade talks. The stock market rally enjoyed strong weekly gains. But the major indexes and…
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Why This Market Is So Dangerous. Tesla, GE, CPI Data Due
Dow Jones futures will open Sunday evening, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. Tesla (TSLA), GE Vernova (GEV), Netflix (NFLX) and GE Aerospace (GE) headline a big earnings week capped by the September CPI inflation report. The stock market rally enjoyed strong weekly gains. But after Monday’s rebound, the major indexes and many leaders have seen big intraday…
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Futures: Trump Says ‘Don’t Worry’ After 100% China Tariff
Dow Jones futures will open Sunday evening, along with futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, as investors react to a flurry of U.S.- China news. Late Friday President Donald Trump moved to impose an extra 100% tariff on China, but on Sunday that “it will all be fine.” The stock market sold off Friday as Trump threatened tariffs over…
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UC Berkeley professor Omar Yaghi wins Nobel prize in chemistry
UC Berkeley professor Omar Yaghi, a Jordanian immigrant molded by the American public school system, reached the pinnacle of his field on Wednesday, sharing the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
After receiving the award for his work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which have incalculable applications, Yaghi acknowledged the role his American education played in the realization of his work at a press conference.
“This recognition is really a testament of the power of the public school system in the U.S. that takes people like me — with a major disadvantaged background, a refugee background — and allows you to work hard and distinguish yourself,” Yaghi said. “Especially UC Berkeley, where the faculty are given full freedom to explore, fail and succeed.”
Yaghi’s discoveries with MOFs – along with co-winners Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University, Japan – have broad implications for emerging technologies such as water capture from desert winds, toxic gas containment and carbon sequestration from the atmosphere.
Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University, Japan, left, and Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne are co-winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with UC Berkeley professor Omar Yaghi, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP) The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in its announcement, lauded the MOF breakthroughs for their ability to craft customizable materials with applications across the scientific field. Yaghi built on Robson and Kitagawa’s discoveries by creating a stable MOF that could be modified to have new properties: Imagine a porous filter programmed to selectively remove any atom or molecule at the command of a scientist.
Since the trio’s discoveries, “chemists have built tens of thousands of different MOFs,” the academy wrote in its award announcement, noting that some may be key to solving humanity’s greatest challenges.
“Metal–organic frameworks have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions,” said Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
On Wednesday, Yaghi spoke with reporters via Zoom from Brussels, Belgium, to discuss the award. He described the moment he was exiting a plane in Frankfurt, Germany, when his phone buzzed with a call from Sweden. On the line was the secretary of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry with the news that he had won.
“It was absolutely thrilling. You cannot prepare for a moment like that,” Yaghi said. “Since then, my phone hasn’t stopped ringing, buzzing, receiving emails, hundreds and hundreds of emails. I have no idea how I’m going to respond to all of them.”
Yaghi said his two biggest influences were his father and his Ph.D. adviser, Walter Klemperer, who each pushed him to challenge the status quo and accept failure as an inevitable part of progress, and also instilled in him his belief in the power of the experiment. His father’s belief in Yaghi’s academic potential pushed him to send his son alone to Troy, New York for school.
“That takes incredible commitment … We didn’t have a lot of the conveniences that many others do, but we had a lot of love and a lot of care,” Yaghi said. “I’m quite emotional to see my refugee parents spend every minute of their time dedicated to their kids and to their kids’ education, because they saw that as a way to lift themselves and their kids out of challenging situations.”
Yaghi addressed the challenges facing the scientific community as President Donald Trump’s administration cuts funding for research and discovery. Public funding from his first grant from the National Science Foundation was crucial to securing the resources and funding that laid the foundation for his research, he said. The grant allowed Yaghi to take creative risks and explore new directions in chemistry, ultimately leading to the discoveries that earned him the Nobel Prize.
The Jordanian refugee turned Nobel Prize winner said that scientists face a “crisis of our times” today as public support for science fades. He called on scientists to renew their historical commitment to the pursuit of knowledge, exploring the frontiers of science without fear. Only when scientists can explore their curiosities, he said, does that lead to building the industries of tomorrow, improving public health and securing the future.
“Science is an absolute essential part of an enlightened society and building a robust society that improves the quality of life for its people,” Yaghi said. “Our science is a jewel in the crown of our country, so we cannot allow that to slip.”
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Chase Hunter
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Trump’s $100,000 visa targets a $280 billion India success story | Fortune Asia
Donald Trump’s move to curtail H-1B visas threatens to rewrite the rules for one of India’s biggest business success stories, a decades-old model that’s grown into a $280 billion industry and underpins much of the technology behind the world’s largest corporations.
The U.S. president’s order on Friday—which requires a $100,000 fee for H-1B applications—will force a rethink at Indian outsourcers led by Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Infosys Ltd., who use the program to deploy tens of thousands of engineers across American clients from Citigroup Inc. to Walmart Inc. The two Indian software exporters’ shares slid more than 3% on Monday.
The abrupt move—a response in part to accusations of abuse—forces Prime Minister Narendra Modi to once again deal with the fallout from America First policies. Companies from TCS to Wipro Ltd. have been hailed as a touchstone of Indian technological achievement, helping create high-skilled jobs for the world’s most populous economy since the idea of outsourced information technology gained currency around the 1990s. Trump deals a blow to some of India’s most valuable companies at a time they’re grappling with IT cutbacks because of geopolitical and economic uncertainty.
Trump’s move is a “geopolitical turf war,” said Chander Prakash Gurnani, the former chief executive officer of Tech Mahindra Ltd., who now runs an AI firm. “We’re only helping America. And we’re helping American companies be more competitive.”
“In the short run, the next 12 months, there is a shock,” he told Bloomberg Television, emphasizing however that TCS and its rivals have in some ways anticipated a longer-term shift away from the U.S. “The business model, and the global delivery model, are changing and we live in a very dynamic world.”
The changes to the visa policy increased strains on the India-U.S. relationship on the eve of the Indian team’s visit to Washington as the countries seek a breakthrough on trade talks. They also add to a wave of anti-immigration movements across the globe that have impacted the nation of 1.4 billion people.
In India, social media erupted with responses that ran the gamut from outraged to panicked and accusatory. Many worried about the impact on families who rely on H-1Bs to work and stay in the U.S. as well as their relatives in India who they often send money to.
The H-1B visa program is used heavily by Indian outsourcing firms as well as the U.S. tech sector to bring in skilled workers from abroad. Finance companies and consulting firms also use the program, which makes tens of thousands of visas available via a lottery. The Trump administration cast the changes as part of a broader plan to bolster legitimate applications while weeding out abuses.
H-1B visas are awarded based on a system where employers file petitions by March for a lottery in April, with 65,000 visas available plus 20,000 for U.S. master’s graduates. In 2025, over 470,000 applications were submitted. Many firms submit multiple registrations for the same workers to improve their odds at the lottery, a Bloomberg News investigation previously found.
The new $100,000 payment would be in addition to current fees, which are more modest. Fees directly tied to the H-1B visa application currently include a $215 fee to register for the lottery alongside various filing fees.
Indian-born workers accounted for 72.3% of all H-1B beneficiaries in the U.S. fiscal year to September 2023, which includes initial and continuing employment. Infosys got approval for initial employment of 2,504 H-1B visas in FY2024. Under the new rules, that would cost at least $250 million.
As recently as July, Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had said immigration rules—including those around H-1B visas—had not come up in U.S. trade talks. Opposition lawmakers were quick to blame Modi for Trump’s decision on the H-1B fee hike, saying the government has failed once again to protect Indian interests.
In a televised address to the nation Sunday, Modi spoke about a reduction in consumption taxes, but didn’t make mention of the visa changes. India’s foreign ministry on Saturday said the local tech industry and the U.S. are expected to consult on the path forward.
While Trump aims to protect U.S. jobs by restricting immigrant inflows, the new rules could backfire: they will likely raise costs for American corporations and push them to step up the expansion of their so-called global capability centers in India. Companies including Microsoft Corp., Google, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley already run large GCCs in India.
“If American companies cannot outsource onshore, they may look to expand their offshore presence in places like India, even with a possible fee hit,” said Bhaskar Rao, CEO of communications company Digital Sea. “The decision is clearly targeted to keep Trump voters happy, but it remains to be seen whether they can replace nearly 65,000–85,000 junior and mid-level professionals affected by the H-1B cap.”
The order, which took effect Sunday, is already drawing criticism for flouting clear requirements of U.S. federal immigration law and is likely to invite immediate lawsuits. The lack of clarity around the new rules prompted Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.—some of the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B program—to initially warn employees against foreign travel.
“The main issue with such decisions is that they create a lot of uncertainty in the business environment,” said Arup Raha, a Singapore-based independent economist. “Such a supply-side shock” isn’t in U.S. interests either, he said.
Indian firms such as TCS, Infosys and HCL Tech Ltd. have steadily pared back their dependence on H-1B visas since Trump threatened to raise immigration barriers in his first term and a bulk of projects was done remotely at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. All major IT companies have also stepped up local hiring and ramped up so-called delivery centers in the U.S. to service clients.
Still, the H-1B remains critical to Indian IT firms— t helps maintain key client relationships in their biggest market, and allows engineers to be stationed on the ground for sensitive projects in the U.S. The increased visa costs will force them to fly even fewer workers to client sites. Infosys employs thousands of people across its delivery centers in states including Texas, Indiana, and North Carolina.
“The move will almost certainly be challenged in court, and there will be considerable pressure from the tech industry to reverse it,” Digital Sea’s Rao said. “Nothing is final with Trump.”
Sankalp Phartiyal, Anup Roy, Bloomberg
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Asia is ahead of the curve of using AI to fight fraud. Here’s what the rest of the world can learn from it
The financial sector is going through a rapid digital transformation, but cybercriminals are adapting just as quickly. Banks are forced to spend heavily to keep ahead of surging financial fraud. Across the Asia-Pacific region, 98% of financial institutions have had to scale up their compliance operations, driving costs above $45 billion. This surge reflects a shift toward integrated anti-fraud strategies, with governments and industries rolling out targeted national responses to counter increasingly sophisticated threats.
Hong Kong authorities have launched Scameter, a mobile fraud alert system that that notifies users of high-risk transactions. Singapore has introduced the Shared Responsibility Framework, which allocates scam loss responsibilities to financial institutions and telecommunication operators, encouraging the implementation of anti-scam measures. Similarly, Australia’s Scam-Safe Accord is a cross-industry initiative across banks, building societies, credit unions aimed at elevating the standard of customer protection to counter scams.
These moves all represent a strong response to a growing regional threat, exemplified by Southeast Asia’s “scam compounds”: physical hubs where criminal syndicates orchestrate large-scale online scams, including identity fraud, phishing, fake investments and money laundering. Disguised as legitimate businesses, these sophisticated operations generate billions of dollars annually.
What’s driving this evolution in financial crime? Increasingly, it’s artificial intelligence. Criminal networks use AI to create synthetic identities, launch massive phishing campaigns, and bypass traditional security systems—and do so with fewer resources and in record time. While scam compounds are concentrated in Asia, the threat of financial fraud is global.
Yet as Asia’s crime syndicates make headlines, the region’s banks are quietly leading a shift in how to prevent fraud. Unlike other banks, which use AI for customers personalization and call center support, Asian banks are instead tapping AI to fight back against cybercriminals through fraud detection, identity verification, and anti-money laundering.
Why APAC is outpacing in AI-driven fraud defense
Asia’s greater focus on AI-powered fraud prevention is due to the region’s exposure to financial crime. Asian institutions are in the trenches when it comes to cybercrime, pushing them to rapidly adopt AI-driven strategies.
The scale of financial loss is staggering. In 2024 alone, the Asia-Pacific region lost an estimated $688 billion to fraud, nearly two-thirds of the world’s total. Asians’ rapid adoption of digital wallets and payment platforms makes matters worse: By outpacing the rollout of strong consumer protections, this usage opens doors for cybercriminals and is putting banks on the front lines.
Asian banks are leading the way in adopting ISO 20022, a new messaging standard that allows financial institutions to use AI to precisely detect anomalies and cut exposure to financial crime.
Same tech, different playbooks
Regional priorities are shifting as banks adopt AI. Asia-Pacific banks are focusing on fraud prevention and security, while European and U.S. institutions instead use AI to personalize products and customer service.
According to our research, just over half of organizations in the UK want to use generative AI to enhance the customer experience. That reflects the UK’s hyper-competitive market, where user-friendly interactions are key to winning customer loyalty. The U.S. is splitting its AI focus between customers experience and operational automation, supporting both consumer demands for frictionless banking and internal goals for efficiency.
In contrast, 58% of Asia-Pacific banks are focusing their AI investments on fraud detection and anti-money laundering, well above the global average. Asia-Pacific banks face a high-risk landscape where criminal networks use generative AI for identity fraud, phishing and financial scams. As a result, the region prioritizes cybersecurity, forging a sharper, security-focused AI strategy that views fraud prevention as a key competitive advantage.
Importantly, AI is blurring the distinction between security and service. Growing cyber threats means customers expect their banks to not just protect their money, but also provide clear, accurate answers in times of uncertainty. Our work with clients reveals that AI-powered chatbots and authentication systems can speed up queries from banking staff by sourcing information for them 30-40% faster than before. This has in turn had a knock-on effect for customer satisfaction, with customers now rating their experiences with chatbots 25% higher than their previous conversations with human agents.
What the next era of banking demands
Fraud detection can’t be isolated in today’s threat landscape. It must be embedded within financial infrastructure. Whether that’s through cross-industry accords like Australia’s Scam-Safe Accord, or through the blend of service and security seen in AI-powered chatbots that both authenticate users and resolve queries in real time, APAC is demonstrating how integrated systems can turn raw data into actionable defenses, driven by AI and aligned with operational needs.
Asia-Pacific’s experience highlights that financial security hinges on being proactive, not reactive. Faced with massive fraud losses and complex scam networks, Asian institutions have swiftly prioritized AI-driven fraud prevention. U.S. and European peers, on the other hand, treat fraud prevention as one possible AI application among many. That will be a mistake as AI-driven financial crime starts to spread globally.
AI’s role in fraud will grow. Asia-Pacific’s strategy shows the value of acting quickly to counteract it, integrating fraud prevention into financial infrastructure. As global threats escalate, the world should look to Asia, not just as a regional leader, but as a role model for secure, seamless financial transactions.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
Ashish Thapar
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China AI chip leader Cambricon sees record earnings boost from DeepSeek
Cambricon Technologies Corp. swung to a record profit in the first half, reflecting a wave of demand for Chinese chips after Beijing encouraged the use of homegrown technology in a post-DeepSeek AI boom.
The Chinese AI chip designer, which competes with Huawei Technologies Co. to provide accelerators for developing and hosting AI models, posted a 1.03 billion yuan profit ($144 million) versus a year-earlier loss of 533 million yuan. That’s off a roughly 44-fold surge in revenue to 2.9 billion yuan. Its shares climbed more than 8% in Shanghai.
The results underscore how startups and big tech firms like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. are increasingly employing domestic alternatives to Nvidia Corp. as the pace of AI development intensifies. The Chinese authorities have urged local agencies to use homegrown chips, citing security concerns as well as persistent uncertainty over the Trump administration’s export curbs.
That’s lifted sentiment toward chipmakers amid rising geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions. Cambricon—one of the largest listed AI chip designers—has doubled its market value to $80 billion this month alone. That’s after becoming China’s top performing stock of 2024, riding investor enthusiasm over government support for local tech. On Tuesday, the State Council reaffirmed support for AI adoption as well as the development of intelligent vehicles and robots—all of which require AI processors.
“Amid U.S. restrictions on China’s AI sector, government support for leading domestic firms is essential to drive growth and replace imported chips,” said Ma Cheng, chairman of Shenzhen Juze Investment Management Co. “Such protection is necessary, and Cambricon’s growth is far from temporary.”
Chip shares have led gains in the recent China stock market boom as investors grow more optimistic about the country’s AI prospects and DeepSeek’s latest model update, which it said was tailored to work with next-generation homegrown AI chips.
Despite the strong results, Cambricon acknowledged intensifying competition in the AI chip sector, with only Nvidia maintaining an absolute advantage in the market. That’s as the US government allows Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to resume sales of certain lower-end chips to the country.
To shore up its base, Cambricon said it’s expanded support for DeepSeek, Alibaba’s Qwen and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s Hunyuan models. It also announced a 4 billion yuan private placement in July to fund its large-model chip platform.
Rachel Yeo, Kelly Li, Bloomberg
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San Jose State University sees record enrollment despite Trump concerns
San Jose State University welcomed a record number of students for the fall 2025 semester, despite concerns that the Trump administration’s crackdown on higher education would cause a drop in fall enrollment.
The university said Monday nearly 40,000 students enrolled at San Jose State for the fall semester — an 8% increase from last year and the highest enrollment total for a single academic term in the university’s 168-year history.
San Jose State also said it welcomed its largest-ever classes of first-year students, transfers and undergraduate students, with more than 5,100 first-year students, 3,600 transfer students and a total of 8,700 new undergraduate students.
Last year, the university saw a 3.7% increase in total fall enrollment and a 2.8% increase in freshman enrollment for the fall 2024 semester, despite concerns that errors in the federal financial aid form and resulting application delays would cause a widespread drop in enrollment. San Jose State credited last year’s enrollment boost to the university’s proactive workshops, communication and staff efforts to counteract the national error.
Last year, the California State University system as a whole saw record first-year enrollment for the fall 2024 semester. Preliminary fall enrollment data is typically released in October and finalized in November.
SJSU said it also saw a record number of students enrolled in its online programs for the fall 2025 semester, with 850 students enrolled — a 30% increase from last year. The university said its professional and continuing education programs — post-secondary learning opportunities for working adults — saw an all-time high of nearly 5,000 students enrolled.
The announcement comes as San Jose State University is one of many universities across the state and nation facing increasing scrutiny by the Trump administration.
San Jose State is currently under a federal investigation over a potential civil rights violation for allowing transgender athletes to compete on women’s teams, stemming from national scrutiny the university faced last year when the co-captain of the San Jose State women’s volleyball team joined a lawsuit accusing the NCAA of discriminating against women by allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports.
The university has also been impacted by several of the Trump administration’s higher education policy changes, including cuts to research funding, international students’ visa revocations and cuts to students’ financial aid.
Molly Gibbs
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Why banks should leverage AI to serve more than the affluent—and build a financial system for everyone
Artificial intelligence is no longer just a buzzword thrown around in the boardroom. This technology now powers modern finance, shaping how money moves and how decisions are made. Through rapid trading, personalized wealth management, algorithmic credit scoring, and automated back-office functions, AI is helping financial institutions reduce costs and deliver greater value to their clients.
Yet these benefits will primarily help those that already have access to a bank—and not the more than one billion that still lack access to formal financial systems. A staggering $5.2 trillion credit gap prevents small businesses in emerging markets from growing. Financial inclusion is stubbornly out of reach for these business and individuals.
AI, combined with Web 3.0 technologies, could expand access to unbanked and underbanked populations, but only if it’s not treated as an afterthought. Financial institutions must harness AI, develop advanced methods to determine consumers’ intent to repay loans, and use alternative datasets to unlock collateral-free credit for those most in need. Collaboration, not disruption, is the way forward.
In Kenya, Indonesia, and Brazil, startups are utilizing alternative datasets, such as mobile usage and merchant transactions, to deliver microloans and insurance to last-mile customers overlooked by traditional banks. In India, multilingual AI chatbots are already breaking down language barriers. In Latin America, fintech platforms have leveraged AI to reach millions of customers, making financial services accessible at scale.
But financial exclusion won’t be eliminated by just another app. Instead, policymakers need to create inclusion frameworks that embed equity and access directly into the financial system.
This requires building global infrastructure where inclusion is the norm, not the exception. For example, the UPI-PayNow bridge between India and Singapore is a real-time payments corridor allowing instant transfers with just a mobile number. But this bridge wasn’t built overnight; it’s the result of years of policy coordination, regulatory alignment, and public-private trust.
Furthermore, in banking, collateral remains the cornerstone of traditional lending: If you want a loan, you must pledge an asset. This approach excludes low-income individuals—millions without property or savings—from accessing formal credit.
While banks use AI mainly for efficiency today, the real potential lies elsewhere. Banks could develop strong behavioral data models using AI, serving as proxies for collateral and indicators of creditworthiness, thereby opening access for those left behind.
Lasting change in any sector requires sustained collective action, not just individual brilliance. Disruptive breakthroughs spark innovation, but when multiple stakeholders work together toward common goals, they can overcome resistance, manage complexities, ensure everyone’s input, and keep up momentum to make progress resilient and deeply rooted.
In finance, AI can have unintended consequences due to opaque algorithms, biases that reinforce risks, and systems that are hard to understand. For AI to promote inclusion, it must be transparent and understandable to regulators. Institutions that use such AI need to be accountable. This involves rigorous bias testing, built-in human oversight, and clear channels for appealing major decisions. Trust is essential: Without it, liquidity dries up, credit markets freeze, and economic growth slows.
As the world enters a new technological age, AI, digital token networks, and quantum information systems are poised to transform global financial inclusion. AI will redefine financial services. Digital token networks will enable borderless, low-cost transactions through asset tokenization, eliminating the need for traditional infrastructure. And quantum information systems will enhance cybersecurity and streamline digital identification, payments, and smart contracts.
Together, these technologies will build a trustworthy financial infrastructure, providing everyone, regardless of location, literacy, or economic status, with safe and affordable access to the global economy.
By embedding inclusion into our financial infrastructure, we’ll have another opportunity to create a system that meets the needs of the world’s eight billion people.
Sopnendu Mohanty
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Southeast Asia’s ‘incredibly dynamic’ Islamic finance market is drawing in non-Islamic players
Over 280 million Southeast Asians, about 40% of the region’s population, identify as Muslim. That’s spawned demand for goods and services that cater to a more Islamic lifestyle. It’s more than just halal food: Muslim consumers also demand more modest fashion or cosmetics that don’t use pig-derived products or alcohol.
Even Southeast Asia’s finance sector is becoming more halal. Islamic finance in Southeast Asia totaled roughly $859 billion in 2023, up from $754 billion in 2020, according to a study from the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector and the London Stock Exchange Group.
Mambu, a cloud-native, software-as-a-service, composable core banking platform based in Amsterdam, wants to tap this growing market. “The Southeast Asian market, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia, is incredibly dynamic in terms of how they’ve grown in the Islamic banking space,” says David Becker, managing director and head of APAC sales at the firm.
The company already works with Southeast Asian clients like Bank Islam, Malaysia’s largest provider of shariah-compliant financial products, and Bank Jago, an Indonesian digital bank.
Courtesy of Mambu
Becker says that Islamic finance is growing just as quickly as traditional banking, and so Mambu hopes to provide tools to support shariah-compliant products like profit sharing.
Unlike in conventional banking, Islamic financial institutions must avoid companies that deal in products that are harmful or considered “haram”, like pork, alcohol, or gambling.
Islamic banks also can’t charge interest and so must instead generate a return through some other mechanism, like profit-sharing or leasing.
Becker is optimistic that Southeast Asia’s younger and more mobile-savvy population will gravitate towards digital financial solutions—and particularly those that reflect Islamic principles.
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, is a clear target market for Islamic finance. Neighboring Malaysia, where two thirds of the population identify as Muslim, is another option. There are also significant Muslim populations across Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand.
Malaysia, the first country in the region to adopt Islamic finance, has “reached a peak” when it comes to growth, says Cedomir Nestorovic, a professor at the ESSEC Business School in Singapore who focuses on Islamic business. Instead, Indonesia offers more potential for retail banking and “takaful” insurance, a type that follows Islamic principles.
“There is plenty of room for progress in the country, so many companies want to come to Indonesia,” Nestorovic says.
Yet he cautions that Southeast Asia presents its own risks. For one, unlike the Middle East’s more homogenous market, Southeast Asia is more heterogenous, meaning businesses will need to tailor their offerings to an array of different economies, consumer bases and regulatory regimes.
Becker, from Mambu, acknowledges the challenges present in Southeast Asia, including the need to follow regulations. Yet the size of the opportunity outweighs the risks.
“We just see it growing and growing, and I think that’s a factor in why governments and regulators have been so supportive,” he says.
Lionel Lim
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Bessent says China tariff status quo ‘working pretty well’
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated the U.S. is satisfied with the current tariff set up with China, a signal the Trump administration is looking to maintain calm with its economic rival before a trade truce expires in November.
When asked in a Fox News interview when progress in negotiations would be seen and if the U.S. needed a trade agreement because of how tariffs were going, Bessent said that “we’re very happy” with the situation with China. “I think right now the status quo is working pretty well,” he said.
“China is the biggest revenue line in the tariff income—so if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” he said in the interview on Tuesday. “We have had very good talks with China. I imagine we’ll be seeing them again before November.”
Bessent’s remarks indicate that an easing of tensions between the two sides remains in place, potentially creating an opening for President Donald Trump to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The Trump administration has generally dialed down its confrontational tone with Beijing recently to get a summit with Xi and a trade deal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said a meeting between the two leaders is likely, though no date has been set.
Last week, Trump extended a pause on higher tariffs on Chinese goods for another 90 days into early November, a move that stabilized trade ties between the world’s two largest economies.
That was possible because the U.S. and China agreed to reduce tit-for-tat tariff hikes and ease export restrictions on rare earth magnets and certain technologies. S&P Global Ratings has said revenues from Trump’s tariffs would help soften the blow to the U.S.’s fiscal health from the president’s tax cuts, enabling it to maintain its current credit grade.
Still, the trade dispute with China is causing some pain for the U.S. Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association, said in a letter to Trump dated Tuesday that American soybean farmers are near a “trade and financial precipice” and cannot survive a prolonged dispute.
Trump said last week that he hoped China would massively step up its purchases of American soybeans. China hasn’t bought a single cargo of soybeans from the next harvest, which starts in September.
And in a move that’s likely to irk Beijing, the Trump administration is set to step up scrutiny of imports of steel, copper, lithium and other materials from the world’s No. 2 economy to enforce a U.S. ban on goods allegedly made with forced labor in the country’s Xinjiang region.
The plan dovetails with Trump’s broader trade goals, given he wants to lower the U.S. trade deficit with China and put pressure on Beijing to curb shipments of fentanyl and precursor chemicals.
Earlier this month Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50%, saying the hike was punishment for India’s purchases of discounted oil from Russia, which he argues helps fund President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
There’s been concern that the U.S. may also target other nations—China is the largest overall buyer of Moscow’s crude—but so far India has been the only major economy to be hit with such “secondary tariffs.”
Bessent defended the administration’s lack of secondary tariffs on China in an interview with CNBC, saying India only ramped up its purchases after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Bloomberg
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A 14-year-old’s suicide was prompted by an AI chatbot, lawsuit alleges. Here’s how parents can keep kids safe.
The mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy is suing an AI chatbot company after her son, Sewell Setzer III, died by suicide—something she claims was driven by his relationship with an AI bot.
“Megan Garcia seeks to prevent C.AI from doing to any other child what it did to hers,” reads the 93-page wrongful-death lawsuit that was filed this week in a U.S. District Court in Orlando against Character.AI, its founders, and Google.
Tech Justice Law Project director Meetali Jain, who is representing Garcia, said in a press release about the case: “By now we’re all familiar with the dangers posed by unregulated platforms developed by unscrupulous tech companies—especially for kids. But the harms revealed in this case are new, novel, and, honestly, terrifying. In the case of Character.AI, the deception is by design, and the platform itself is the predator.”
Character.AI released a statement via X, noting, “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users and want to express our deepest condolences to the family. As a company, we take the safety of our users very seriously and we are continuing to add new safety features that you can read about here: https://blog.character.ai/community-safety-updates/….”
In the suit, Garcia alleges that Sewell, who took his life in February, was drawn into an addictive, harmful technology with no protections in place, leading to an extreme personality shift in the boy, who appeared to prefer the bot over other real-life connections. His mom alleges that “abusive and sexual interactions” took place over a 10-month period. The boy committed suicide after the bot told him, “Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love.”
On Friday, New York Times reporter Kevin Roose discussed the situation on his Hard Fork podcast, playing a clip of an interview he did with Garcia for his article that told her story. Garcia did not learn about the full extent of the bot relationship until after her son’s death, when she saw all the messages. In fact, she told Roose, when she noticed Sewell was often getting sucked into his phone, she asked what he was doing and who he was talking to. He explained it was “‘just an AI bot…not a person,’” she recalled, adding, “I felt relieved, like, OK, it’s not a person, it’s like one of his little games.” Garcia did not fully understand the potential emotional power of a bot—and she is far from alone.
“This is on nobody’s radar,” Robbie Torney, program manager, AI, at Common Sense Media and lead author of a new guide on AI companions aimed at parents—who are grappling, constantly, to keep up with confusing new technology and to create boundaries for their kids’ safety.
But AI companions, Torney stresses, differ from, say, a service desk chat bot that you use when you’re trying to get help from a bank. “They’re designed to do tasks or respond to requests,” he explains. “Something like character AI is what we call a companion, and is designed to try to form a relationship, or to simulate a relationship, with a user. And that’s a very different use case that I think we need parents to be aware of.” That’s apparent in Garcia’s lawsuit, which includes chillingly flirty, sexual, realistic text exchanges between her son and the bot.
Sounding the alarm over AI companions is especially important for parents of teens, Torney says, as teens—and particularly male teens—are especially susceptible to over reliance on technology.
Below, what parents need to know.
What are AI companions and why do kids use them?
According to the new Parents’ Ultimate Guide to AI Companions and Relationships from Common Sense Media, created in conjunction with the mental health professionals of the Stanford Brainstorm Lab, AI companions are “a new category of technology that goes beyond simple chatbots.” They are specifically designed to, among other things, “simulate emotional bonds and close relationships with users, remember personal details from past conversations, role-play as mentors and friends, mimic human emotion and empathy, and “agree more readily with the user than typical AI chatbots,” according to the guide.
Popular platforms include not only Character.ai, which allows its more than 20 million users to create and then chat with text-based companions; Replika, which offers text-based or animated 3D companions for friendship or romance; and others including Kindroid and Nomi.
Kids are drawn to them for an array of reasons, from non-judgmental listening and round-the-clock availability to emotional support and escape from real-world social pressures.
Who’s at risk and what are the concerns?
Those most at risk, warns Common Sense Media, are teenagers—especially those with “depression, anxiety, social challenges, or isolation”—as well as males, young people going through big life changes, and anyone lacking support systems in the real world.
That last point has been particularly troubling to Raffaele Ciriello, a senior lecturer in Business Information Systems at the University of Sydney Business School, who has researched how “emotional” AI is posing a challenge to the human essence. “Our research uncovers a (de)humanization paradox: by humanizing AI agents, we may inadvertently dehumanize ourselves, leading to an ontological blurring in human-AI interactions.” In other words, Ciriello writes in a recent opinion piece for The Conversation with PhD student Angelina Ying Chen, “Users may become deeply emotionally invested if they believe their AI companion truly understands them.”
Another study, this one out of the University of Cambridge and focusing on kids, found that AI chatbots have an “empathy gap” that puts young users, who tend to treat such companions as “lifelike, quasi-human confidantes,” at particular risk of harm.
Because of that, Common Sense Media highlights a list of potential risks, including that the companions can be used to avoid real human relationships, may pose particular problems for people with mental or behavioral challenges, may intensify loneliness or isolation, bring the potential for inappropriate sexual content, could become addictive, and tend to agree with users—a frightening reality for those experiencing “suicidality, psychosis, or mania.”
How to spot red flags
Parents should look for the following warning signs, according to the guide:
- Preferring AI companion interaction to real friendships
- Spending hours alone talking to the companion
- Emotional distress when unable to access the companion
- Sharing deeply personal information or secrets
- Developing romantic feelings for the AI companion
- Declining grades or school participation
- Withdrawal from social/family activities and friendships
- Loss of interest in previous hobbies
- Changes in sleep patterns
- Discussing problems exclusively with the AI companion
Consider getting professional help for your child, stresses Common Sense Media, if you notice them withdrawing from real people in favor of the AI, showing new or worsening signs of depression or anxiety, becoming overly defensive about AI companion use, showing major changes in behavior or mood, or expressing thoughts of self-harm.
How to keep your child safe
- Set boundaries: Set specific times for AI companion use and don’t allow unsupervised or unlimited access.
- Spend time offline: Encourage real-world friendships and activities.
- Check in regularly: Monitor the content from the chatbot, as well as your child’s level of emotional attachment.
- Talk about it: Keep communication open and judgment-free about experiences with AI, while keeping an eye out for red flags.
“If parents hear their kids saying, ‘Hey, I’m talking to a chat bot AI,’ that’s really an opportunity to lean in and take that information—and not think, ‘Oh, okay, you’re not talking to a person,” says Torney. Instead, he says, it’s a chance to find out more and assess the situation and keep alert. “Try to listen from a place of compassion and empathy and not to think that just because it’s not a person that it’s safer,” he says, “or that you don’t need to worry.”
If you need immediate mental health support, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
More on kids and social media:
Beth Greenfield
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The American Dream on European time: How late-night remote workers are cashing in on big U.S. salaries
It’s 9 p.m. in London, and Gita Selli is still at her computer, finishing up one last Zoom call with her team in the U.S. Her son has taken his bath, her husband is already in bed, and while the idea of a late-night video call may sound horrendous to some, Gita is feeling incredibly satisfied.
“Of course, American companies do pay better than European companies,” says Gita Selli, Senior Manager of Global Talent Acquisition at Chicago-based tech firm Loadsmart. “I’d lose between half and a third of what I make today if I were working for a European company.”
European workers, on average, earn 20-40% less than their American counterparts for similar jobs. For example, software engineers in the U.S. typically earn around $115,000; in Europe, the average is $75,000, depending on the region. Marketing managers see a similar gap, with U.S. salaries averaging $107,000 compared to Europe’s $70,000.
Before the pandemic, Europeans working for U.S. companies wasn’t unheard of, but holding U.S.-based roles with American-level salaries was a rarity. The shift to remote work has opened the floodgates, enabling Europeans to land positions traditionally reserved for American workers.
How do Europeans make it work?
Landing a U.S. job can feel like hitting the jackpot, but the rewards come with strings attached. European workers must adjust to U.S. hours, often working late into the night to align with American time zones.
Seasoned remote workers prefer companies on America’s East Coast, where a five- to six-hour time difference is easier to manage compared to those on the West Coast, where the eight- to nine-hour gap can make for grueling nights.
For many, especially working parents, this trade-off is worth it. “It’s helped a lot with family life,” says Selli, who has two kids. “I take breaks to pick up the kids, which I couldn’t do with a traditional nine-to-five UK job. But in the evenings, I’m glued to my desk, which is balanced by help from my husband.”
The flexibility is attractive to many, but not everyone can handle the time zone challenges. “It’s a killer for early-morning people,” Selli admits. “If you’re someone who wants to hit the pub after work, this isn’t the right place for you.”
“If you’re someone who wants to hit the pub after work, this isn’t the right place for you.”
Breaking up the day helps many remote workers. Some like to complete the first round of tasks in the European morning when coworkers aren’t around to interrupt with calls, emails, or instant messages, saving the afternoon for video conference calls. “I don’t need to be at my desk for eight hours straight,” says Romanian video and audio editor Otinel Mezin. “I can stay nearby and get back to my computer if any urgent editing requests come in.”
American companies have also become increasingly flexible with remote workers’ schedules. “I noticed a significant shift when COVID hit,” says Irish marketing executive Laura Mundow. “I’ve been working remotely for over a decade, but during the pandemic, many companies finally seemed to acknowledge time zone differences and adjusted accordingly.”
Selli offers practical advice: “Make sure everyone can see your calendar. If they know when you start and finish work, they won’t schedule meetings at unreasonable times. It won’t always be perfect, but it will help avoid having to work until 3 a.m.,” she advises.
Cultural differences also play a noteworthy role. American companies often operate at a faster pace, with a more aggressive approach to sales and more open discussions around salaries than their European counterparts. Despite these contrasts, many Europeans say they have come to appreciate the innovative and optimistic spirit.
“I really love working with Americans,” Mundow says. “There’s an openness there that you might not get in Europe. The stereotype of work being a massive focus for Americans is true. That might not suit everybody. It suits me, but I can see how it could be jarring if work weren’t a central part of your life.”
Although it requires some initial adjustment, many find the cultural differences refreshing. “I find clients to be more polite in the way they request work and not haggling over prices,” Mezin says.
Laura Mundow.
‘Geographic arbitrage’
One piece of advice from European workers is to avoid undervaluing yourself in the American market by accepting a salary lower than what an American would earn, even if it’s higher than typical European pay.
“My goal is always to be paid at an average U.S. rate, even though I live in Romania,” Mezin says.
“I wouldn’t consider undercutting myself,” Mundow states, who entered remote work upon graduating due to the dearth of media jobs in Ireland. “I just wouldn’t be happy with getting European wages working for an American company.”
One of the significant financial benefits is what Mundow dubs geographic arbitrage. “If you’re earning American money, you can live very well somewhere that is not America.”
It doesn’t have to be limited to Western Europe; Mundow has set up shop in Eastern Europe, using her mornings to explore before America wakes up. She’s also done stints from cost-effective spots in Latin America. Asia, however, has been impossible to pull off due to the time zone.
Are there days when the remote workers long for the 9-to-5 of a regular European job?
“Never! Never, ever,” Selli says. “I could never go back. The flexibility is so much better.”
Samuel Burke
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