The 10 richest men in the world got $64 billion wealthier after the stock market reached new heights following former President Donald Trump’s successful bid for a second term, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and the richest man in the world, added $25.5 billion to his net worth since the election results came in early Wednesday morning. Musk, of course, is an ally of Trump and poised take on a role as “secretary of cost-cutting.”
After weeks of uncertainty, the White House’s plan to review frontier models before release appears dead.
After weeks of uncertainty about what role if any the White House would play in overseeing the release of new foundation models, this week top AI companies have been briefed on its plans, according to a new report from The Information.
The planned executive order describes a voluntary plan in which the National Security Agency, Office of the National Cyber Director, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will decide which models to review, per the report.
The plan is reportedly less strict than AI companies had feared, but it does call for a 90-day testing period before release, a window that is substantially longer than the 14-day window that the companies wanted.
The new order could be signed as soon as this week.
The planned executive order describes a voluntary plan in which the National Security Agency, Office of the National Cyber Director, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will decide which models to review, per the report.
The plan is reportedly less strict than AI companies had feared, but it does call for a 90-day testing period before release, a window that is substantially longer than the 14-day window that the companies wanted.
The new order could be signed as soon as this week.
SpaceX is gearing up for what is expected to be the biggest IPO in history — a $75 billion raise at a record $1.75 trillion valuation. But some of Wall Street’s biggest whales aren’t happy with the plan.
Leaders from three of the largest US public pension systems — New York State, New York City, and California — sent a letter to CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday, calling out the company’s planned corporate structure as “extreme” and the “most management-favorable governance structure ever brought to the US public markets at this scale.”
Among their concerns: Musk’s inviolability since only he can remove himself as CEO, the elimination of class-action lawsuits, and a “Texas shield” that could require a staggering 3% of outstanding stock just to file a derivative suit.
While the group has requested a meeting with Musk, it’s not clear if the $1 trillion they oversee is enough to force Musk to entertain their demands. These funds may be caught in an “index trap.” As passive benchmark trackers, they’ll be forced to buy the stock once it lists, stripping them of any boycott leverage. And with a tiny ~5% float and the expected massive demand from retail and other investors, Musk may be able to ignore a few whales.
Executives from some of America’s biggest companies, including Apple, Tesla, and Boeing, are joining President Trump on his trip to China this week to help facilitate trade and investment between the countries. After a last-minute invite, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who was initially snubbed, is also part of a trip aimed, in part, at resolving a prolonged import-export standoff between China and the US regarding AI and semiconductor technology.
Meta President and Vice Chairman Dina Powell McCormick is also going. Recently China blew up one of Meta’s major AI bets by unwinding the company’s acquisition of AI agent startup Manus.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the group was journeying to China to ask President Xi to “‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level!”
He added, “I have never seen or heard of any idea that would be more beneficial to our incredible Countries!”
Here’s the full list of company executives, per Reuters:
Apple (Tim Cook)
BlackRock (Larry Fink)
Blackstone (Stephen Schwarzman)
Boeing (Kelly Ortberg)
Cargill (Brian Sikes)
Citi (Jane Fraser)
Cisco (Chuck Robbins, invited but unable to attend due to the company’s earnings release, CNBC reported)
Coherent (Jim Anderson)
GE Aerospace (H. Lawrence Culp)
Goldman Sachs (David Solomon)
Illumina (Jacob Thaysen)
Mastercard (Michael Miebach)
Meta (Dina Powell McCormick)
Micron (Sanjay Mehrotra)
Nvidia (Jensen Huang)
Qualcomm (Cristiano Amon)
Tesla/SpaceX (Elon Musk)
Visa (Ryan McInerney)
Iranian officials told The New York Times Thursday that they are discussing a one-page proposal with the United States to temporarily reopen the Strait of Hormuz for 30 days and cease hostilities for the same period of time.
The reopening would come in exchange for the US lifting its naval blockade and halting all hostilities for that period, per the Times. The strait would be open to commercial traffic if both sides agree to the deal, according to three Iranian officials who spoke with the NYT.
The US has not yet commented on this specific proposal.
Shortly after news broke of Iranian consideration of the proposal, the US struck oil ports on the island of Qeshm and the coastal city of Bandar Abbas, a US military official told Jennifer Griffin of Fox News. The strikes do not constitute a restarting of the war, the official said.
The reopening would come in exchange for the US lifting its naval blockade and halting all hostilities for that period, per the Times. The strait would be open to commercial traffic if both sides agree to the deal, according to three Iranian officials who spoke with the NYT.
The US has not yet commented on this specific proposal.
Shortly after news broke of Iranian consideration of the proposal, the US struck oil ports on the island of Qeshm and the coastal city of Bandar Abbas, a US military official told Jennifer Griffin of Fox News. The strikes do not constitute a restarting of the war, the official said.
