Major IT Outage hits banks, airlines, businesses worldwide

Screens and tech services across the globe were hit by last year’s CrowdStrike outage (Diego Radames/Getty Images)

CrowdStrike’s mixed earnings report sends stock lower as company seeks to put last year’s outage in the rearview

CrowdStrike reported first-quarter earnings after the bell Tuesday.

6/3/25 3:35PM

It was nearly a year ago that CrowdStrike reached household name status following a software glitch that caused possibly the largest IT outage ever. The cybersecurity firm’s first-quarter earnings report, posted Tuesday, highlights its continued efforts to move past it.

CrowdStrike posted earnings per share of $0.73, beating analysts’ estimates of $0.66 per share. Its revenue rose 20% year over year to $1.1 billion, a hair shy of the Wall Street consensus. The company posted annual recurring revenue of $4.44 billion, up 22%.

For its second quarter, CrowdStrike expects sales of between $1.14 billion and $1.15 billion and adjusted earnings of $0.82 to $0.84. That’s compared to analysts’ expectations for $1.16 billion in revenue and earnings of $0.81, according to FactSet.

Investors were nonplussed, sending CrowdStrike shares, which have soared lately, down more than 6% after the report.

Last year, CrowdStrike reported $60 million in costs related to its outage. In its latest earnings, the company reported another $39.7 million in outage costs. CrowdStrike has projected millions of dollars more tied to discounts the company has offered customers as a mea culpa.

Despite costs still lingering, CrowdStrike shares have recovered, breaking record closing highs three times in the past week before Tuesday’s drop after the bell. The stock has more than doubled off the lows it fell to last July shortly after the outage.

Max Knoblauch16h

Report: OpenAI won’t pay a dime in cash for its 3-year licensing deal for Disney IP

More financial details behind the landmark deal that will grant OpenAI three years of access to Disney intellectual property are coming out, and they’re pretty surprising.

The deal will reportedly see OpenAI pay zero dollars in licensing fees, instead compensating Disney in stock warrants. It was previously reported that Disney would invest $1 billion into OpenAI as part of the agreement.

It’s very abnormal for Disney to grant anyone access to its massive IP library without a cash payment, and the entertainment juggernaut has been known to strike down even crocheted Etsy Yodas for infringing on its turf. In its fiscal year 2025, Disney booked more than $10 billion in revenue from licensing fees across merchandising, television, and theatrical distribution.

OpenAI Deal to License Disney Characters Is Entirely in Stock

Max Knoblauch12/15/25

Ford says it will take $19.5 billion in charges in a massive EV write-down

The EV business has marked a long stretch of losing for Ford, and today the automaker announced it will take $19.5 billion in charges tied, for the most part, to its EV division.

Ford said it’s launching a battery energy storage business, leveraging battery plants in Kentucky and Michigan to “provide solutions for energy infrastructure and growing data center demand.”

According to Ford, the changes will drive Ford’s electrified division to profitability by 2029. The company will stop making its electric F-150, the Lightning, and instead shift to an “extended-range electric vehicle” that includes a gas-powered generator.

The Detroit automaker also raised its adjusted earnings before interest and taxes outlook to “about $7 billion” from a range of $6 billion to $6.5 billion.

Ford’s write-down is one of the largest taken by a company as legacy automakers scale back on EVs, giving EV-only automakers a market share boost.

Max Knoblauch12/15/25

GM adds Apple Music to select new vehicles, racing to fill the gap left by CarPlay’s absence

Earlier this year, General Motors said it plans to end support for in-vehicle phone projection systems like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on all of its vehicles (a big expansion of the move it announced for its EVs back in 2023).

Now, the automaker appears to be stocking its replacement system with native apps to fill the void. On Monday, GM announced it was rolling out Apple Music to select 2025 Chevrolet and Cadillac models.

Losing CarPlay is a sore subject for many drivers: 39% of respondents to an American Trucks survey this month said a lack of the system (or Android Auto) is a “deal-breaker” when it comes to buying a new vehicle.

Many automakers appear willing to risk alienating those potential customers in exchange for access to lucrative data. Others, including Tesla, are working to allow CarPlay to boost sagging sales, according to reporting by Bloomberg.

GM Strikes Deal to Put Apple Music in All of Its New Vehicles

Claire Yubin Oh

CART VS. GOLIATH

12/12/25

The economics of Instacart’s grocery delivery are pretty tight — AI might help, or hurt

AI proved to be a double-edged sword this week for Instacart, as the gains from a new ChatGPT integration were wiped out by an AI pricing allegation.

Instacart gift card display in Costco store, Queens, New York

Tom Jones

flight club

12/11/25

A new pass to access American Airlines’ loyalty program will set you back $5,000

AA is doubling down on perks and partnerships, as the nonflying parts of the operation have become a billion-dollar business.

Silhouettes of passengers waiting at an airport