Personal Loans if You Don't Have Credit OpenAI is considering building a social network to compete with Elon Musk's X and Meta's Instagram, a source familiar with the plans confirmed to CNBC. The project is still in its early stages, said the person, who asked not to be named due to confidentiality. It's based on the popularity of OpenAI's newest image-generation feature, which has led to an overloading of the company's servers. In March, OpenAI debuted its latest image-generation tool, the inspiration for the potential social media project, as a way to produce everything from diagrams, infographics and logos to business cards and stock photos. Images of anime-style renderings of users' uploaded photos have been going viral on X and other social media apps, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman changed his X profile photo to an image generated by the new feature. While it is "super fun seeing people love images" in ChatGPT, "our GPUs are melting," Altman posted on X late last month, referring to graphics processing units, which power AI training and workloads. He added that that the company would temporarily limit the feature's usage as it works to make it more efficient. OpenAI faces hefty competition in the fast-growing generative AI market, including from Musk's xAI, which said last month that it had acquired X, also controlled by Musk. Altman and Musk are simultaneously involved in a heated legal battle, largely centering around OpenAI's effort to transform into a for-profit entity. Musk was one of the co-founders of OpenAI, which was launched in 2015 as a non-profit research lab. In February, a Musk-led group offered to buy control of OpenAI for $97.4 billion, a bid that was swiftly rejected. Last month, OpenAI closed what amounts to the largest private tech funding round on record, raising $40 billion at a $300 billion valuation. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
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Personal Loans if You Don't Have Credit This was CNBC's live blog covering European markets. European markets rose on Tuesday amid tentative optimism that there will be some respite from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff regime. It comes after a 2.7% jump in the Stoxx Europe 600 index on Monday. The real estate and banking sectors led the market higher, rising by more than 2.4%, indicating risk-taking by investors. Equity markets were comfortably in positive territory after Trump on Monday said he was looking to "help some of the car companies" amid his 25% auto tariffs, raising hopes of a wider industry reprieve. Luxury bellwether LVMH dropped around 7.7% after sales unexpectedly declined in the first quarter. Regional markets started the week on a positive note, closing higher Monday as traders digested news of a U.S. tariff exemption for some tech items. Trump on Sunday said he would be announcing the tariff rate on imported semiconductors over the next week, NBC News reported. The news boosted sentiment on Wall Street on Monday, and Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose overnight as a result. Questions remain over exactly how long Trump's wider pause on his full "reciprocal tariff" plan will last, however, and how various countries will seek to or be able to negotiate without resorting to their own retaliatory action. European stocks closed higher on Tuesday amid hopes of further tariff relief from the United States. Stocks traded within striking distance of flat as Tuesday's trading day kicked off. The Dow and Nasdaq Composite ticked higher by 0.1% each shortly after 9:30 a.m. Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, said that, if U.S. Donald President Trump's tariffs on tech went into effect, it would take the U.S. tech sector back a decade. Europe's Stoxx 600 autos and parts index jumped 2.5% on Tuesday morning, leading broader regional gains after U.S. President Donald Trump touted the prospect of temporary exemptions for the auto industry. Speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said he is looking to help some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), adding that they may "need a little bit of time" to move their production to the U.S. The White House said it also intends to place tariffs on some auto parts no later than May 3. Trump's latest comments, however, raised hopes of a reprieve for the global automotive sector. Shares of Milan-listed Stellantis rose 5%, French car parts supplier Valeo was up 4.9%, while German auto giant Volkswagen was last seen 3.3% higher. Analysts at Citi said auto giants so far appear to be avoiding any detailed revisions to financial guidance, "likely hoping for changes in the tariff regime before making more lasting strategic decisions." "Whilst it seems clear that at the very least EU OEM US import tariffs will remain in place, the time of peak tariff panic may now be behind us," they added. Kering shares declined 1.46%, Burberry fell 2.2% while Richemont traded 0.6% lower. A smaller dip in the share price of Hermès saw the Birkin bag-maker's market capitalization surpass that of LVMH at one point during morning trade, according to Reuters. "These figures indicate that labor market activity was sluggish in the run-up to this month's substantial surge in tax and tariff costs, with unease over these twin threats limiting hiring plans," Suren Thiru, economics director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said in a note. "This strong wage growth may be more a lagging indicator of wider labour market conditions than strengthening underlying inflation, as it takes time for employers to adjust pay settlements to changing circumstances." Ashley Webb, U.K. economist at Capital Economics, said, "While the jobs market softened further, there were few signs of this feeding through to slower wage growth. But if the more uncertain backdrop from the recent U.S. tariffs chaos soon becomes a bigger drag on firms' hiring intentions, pay growth could start to fade more markedly." Luxury giant LVMH reported a 3% year-on-year fall in first-quarter sales in a trading update published shortly after the market close on Monday, missing consensus analyst expectations for slight growth. Citi analysts Thomas Chauvet and Mahesh Mohankumar said in a Monday evening note that there was "not much to cheer for at the luxury bellwether," with sales "overall below the most conservative buyside expectations." They added that it was difficult to foresee sequential revenue improvement in the second and third quarters for either LVMH or the luxury sector while U.S. and global economic uncertainty remained elevated. The luxury sector, reliant on global supply chains and U.S. consumer demand, is facing a host of headwinds from U.S. President Donald Trump's volatile trade policy. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Monday that inflation from Trump's tariffs likely will be "transitory," and indicated that interest rate reductions are still on the table. In a speech delivered in St. Louis, the central bank official broke down tariffs into two scenarios, one in which they are higher and longer lasting and the other whether they are negotiated lower. In either case, Waller said rate cuts are likely to boost growth under the higher-tariff scenario or as "good news" reductions under the reduced level. "I can hear the howls already that this must be a mistake given what happened in 2021 and 2022. But just because it didn't work out once does not mean you should never think that way again," Waller said of the "transitory" call. European markets are expected to open in mixed territory Tuesday. Earnings are set to come from Ericsson and Publicis on Tuesday, and data releases will include European industrial production figures, the latest U.K. unemployment data and the German ZEW survey of economic sentiment. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox
Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world Americas+1 212 318 2000 EMEA+44 20 7330 7500 Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000 Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world Americas+1 212 318 2000 EMEA+44 20 7330 7500 Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000 Mark Zuckerberg departs E. Barrett Prettyman United States Court House in Washington, DC, on April 14. Mark Zuckerberg returned to federal court on Tuesday to answer questions about his acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, which are at the center of a federal antitrust lawsuit that seeks to unwind the deals more than a decade after they were completed. The Meta Platforms Inc. chief executive officer appeared in Washington for the second day and was questioned about a series of internal emails by lawyers from the US Federal Trade Commission, who allege that Meta's acquisitions gave the company an illegal monopoly over parts of the social networking industry.
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Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world Americas+1 212 318 2000 EMEA+44 20 7330 7500 Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000 Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world Americas+1 212 318 2000 EMEA+44 20 7330 7500 Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000 Students and faculty gather at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in Chicago, Illinois. Private equity investor Konstantin Sokolov has donated $100 million to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, giving it a potential lifeline at a time when elite US colleges risk losing billions of dollars in federal funding. Sokolov dedicated the funds to the school's executive MBA program, from which he graduated 20 years ago. The University of Chicago said the gift will ensure the program can continue to offer scholarships and afford its operations. Founded in 1943 to address wartime demand for skilled administrators, the executive MBA curriculum will be renamed after him.
A hedge fund has revealed it's betting against President Donald Trump's media company. Qube Research & Technologies disclosed a net short position in Trump Media & Technology Group — representing 2.5% of the Truth Social owner's outstanding shares — in Germany's Federal Gazette on Monday. Breakout Point, the research firm that first spotted the filing, said in a note emailed to Business Insider that this was the first short wager against TMTG to be disclosed to regulators, and QRT's second-biggest short in percentage terms. QRT's press team said in an emailed statement to BI that the firm operated a diversified, quantitative long/short portfolio and did not comment on its positions. TMTG shares tumbled to a six-month low this month after the company registered for sale shares belonging to Trump — who owns 53% of the business — and several other shareholders. TMTG didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI. Short sellers borrow shares of their target company and then sell them, hoping they can buy back the shares at a lower price, return them to the lender, and pocket the difference as profit. TMTG went public in March last year via a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. The meme stock has tanked 44% this year and trades more than 80% below its peak price. Total short interest was 4.9% on Monday, Nasdaq data shows.
But investor Christopher Tsai says the current market volatility has not spurred him to alter his investment strategy. In fact, market volatility has often proven to be beneficial for us because volatility can come with opportunity," Tsai told Business Insider on Monday. He manages a $137 million portfolio that includes holdings in companies like Tesla and Apple. "It primarily depends upon how long and to what extent the tariffs remain in place." A baseline rate of 10% went into effect on April 5. A higher set of tariff rates that varied by country took effect on Wednesday before Trump announced a 90-day pause on the same day. Trump had already imposed a 20% tariff on China last month. China has retaliated with a 125% tariff on US imports. Besides waging a trade war with China in his first term, Trump often talked about placing tariffs on foreign countries and companies while on the campaign trail last year. "By doing so, Trump showed the world he was not bluffing and that he was willing to inflict some degree of domestic pain in order to demonstrate how serious the impact of the tariff would be on other countries," Tsai said, adding that countries like Japan and South Korea are now eager to start negotiating with the US. Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said almost 70 countries had approached the Trump administration on starting trade talks. "Trump's use of credible threats and a tit-for-tat retaliation on China is consistent with game theory. Tsai told BI that he was more concerned about Trump's 90-day pause on tariffs and whether it will be extended. "I think that Trump is fully aware of the difficulties companies will have if they are not given enough time to adjust their operations to a new cost structure, and that's why he has paused some reciprocal tariffs and exempted certain goods," Tsai said. Tsai said he had spoken to several business owners. Some told him that they are adopting a wait-and-see approach to their investments, while others are proactively shifting their supply chains to other countries. The impact of Trump's tariffs on small and medium-sized businesses that aren't able to adjust could be what tips the US into recession, Tsai said. People's jobs are at stake and businesses that have been thriving and contributing to the economy for years are all of a sudden in an extremely different situation. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO also criticized Trump's top trade advisor, Peter Navarro. But Tsai believes Tesla is in an "even better position" than before Trump's tariff announcement. That's because Tesla has a 100% US production footprint, and almost all of its component parts come from within the United States," Tsai said. Tesla shares make up a large part of Tsai's portfolio. In an SEC filing on February 12, Tsai Capital said it owned 69,700 shares, or about one-fifth of its portfolio. Tesla shares have slid by nearly 50% from their record highs. The automaker's shares closed at about $252 on Monday, down from a peak closing price of $479 in mid-December. The company initially enjoyed a postelection boost after Trump's November election victory, but it has since seen a drop in sales in Europe and China. Musk's work with the White House DOGE office has also hurt Tesla, as the company's showrooms and vehicles have become targets for protesters and vandals. He said Musk's involvement with the US government was a "significantly positive event" for Tesla and "negative market sentiment will disappear at some point." "There's always been issues with any company, including Tesla. The way we look at it is that Tesla has a very small share of a growing pie that will eventually result in a pie almost entirely composed of electric vehicles," Tsai said on Monday. "So we don't get too caught up with what might be happening in any given month and miss the forest for the trees," he added.
There are moments in life when your own stupidity dumbfounds you. "Your tax return does not match the information we have on file," the three-page letter began in large bold font. One number, under the heading "reported by third parties," was my salary at Business Insider. The other number, under "shown on your return," was zero dollars. Not only had I forgotten to attach my W2 in my filing, but I hadn't even declared my salary at BI, which I had joined midway through the year. Without meaning to, I had cheated on my taxes. We started a college savings fund for our children. I took pictures of the IRS notice and emailed it to Greta Whelan, our accountant for the past decade. "I'll take a look and get back to you," she assured us. "This happens much more often than you might think." Every year, several million of Americans fail to properly file their taxes. The IRS also sends taxpayers 170 million notices a year. My therapist told me I was his third client to get an IRS notice this year. I heard about a guy who became the CEO of a major corporation but forgot to tell his accountant — who wound up omitting more than $3 million in income on the guy's returns. Even tax specialists screw up and forget to attach their W2s. The galling thing is, it doesn't have to be this way. In the notice I received, the IRS revealed that it already knew damn well exactly how much I had earned from BI that year — without my help. But rather than share its knowledge with me, it penalized me for not reporting the information it already had in hand. With one simple change, we could simplify tax filing, eliminate inadvertent mistakes like mine, and increase America's tax revenue, all without adding a single IRS agent to the federal payroll. In New Zealand, you log onto a website, see what the government says you owe, and click to verify. In 2005, the Stanford law professor Joseph Bankman — Sam Bankman-Fried's dad — designed a California pilot program called ReadyReturn, in which single-income taxpayers received return forms prefilled with information the state already had on them. Arnold Schwarzenegger, then governor, was a fan, and other states were watching closely. But when Bankman tried to get ReadyReturn passed through the state legislature, lobbyists from the big tax accounting firms made sure it was shot down. Why let the government fill out your tax forms for free, when you can pay $50 for some software and struggle through it on your own? A study by economists at the Treasury Department and Dartmouth College found that nearly half of all tax returns are so simple that the IRS could automate them. But instead of implementing this one simple fix to America's tax system, Elon Musk and DOGE are busy firing IRS employees who were working to modernize the agency's technology and operate its taxpayer hotline. In the absence of automated returns, it's been estimated that Americans were forced to spend an average of nine hours on their taxes last year — a staggering 7.9 billion hours of needless stress and lost productivity. The notice was asking us to say, "You caught me." There was nothing about how much we owed. The problem is, you could be waiting a long time for that bill. The agency has a three-year statute of limitations to review filings. But since the pandemic, Greta explained to us, it's been taking longer and longer for the IRS to do its job. Greta has some clients who received bills more than a year and a half after they filed their taxes. We could refile our returns right away and pay the additional taxes we owed, plus nine months of interest and penalties. Or we could wait for the bill and risk letting many more months — or even years — of interest and penalties accrue, in the hopes that we could beg for mercy as first-time offenders. Tell us what we owe and make the nightmare end. She redid our returns and emailed us a revised calculation. All told, we owed $10,102, including just over a grand in penalties and interest. Call me crazy, but this sure seems like a place where the world's richest man — a guy who built his wealth on the wonders of technology — could help me keep a little of my own. Zak Jason is a deputy editor of Discourse at Business Insider. Business Insider's Discourse stories provide perspectives on the day's most pressing issues, informed by analysis, reporting, and expertise.
Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world Americas+1 212 318 2000 EMEA+44 20 7330 7500 Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000 Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world Americas+1 212 318 2000 EMEA+44 20 7330 7500 Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000 Hong Kong pushes to position itself not only as a bridge to mainland capital, but as a true global gateway for the ultra-wealthy. Hong Kong is going all-in to lure family offices and cement its place on the global wealth map. The city is setting an ambitious target: 200 new large family offices by the end of 2025, on top of the 2,700 already in place as of late 2023. The government is pulling key levers to get there, from hosting its third high-profile Wealth for Good Summit on March 26, to easingBloomberg Terminal capital investment visa rules and floating fresh tax perksBloomberg Terminal for family offices.