The company is close to finalizing a global bond issuance in excess of $30 billion, according to two people familiar with the deal, an increase from the $20 billion it raised on Monday. On Tuesday morning, Alphabet went to the European market to raise roughly $11 billion in sterling and Swiss francs, said the people, who asked not to be named because the details are private. Bloomberg reported earlier that Alphabet raised almost $32 billion. Investors are showing heightened demand for high-quality paper from tech heavyweights that are leading the charge in artificial intelligence, one source said. In its earnings report last week, Alphabet said it expects to shell out up to $185 billion in capital expenditures this year, more than double its 2025 capex. The group of hyperscalers, which also includes Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, are projected to collectively spend close to $700 billion in 2026. With tech companies pouring money into high-priced chips, large facilities and networking technology, analysts expect free cash flow to plummet this year. Oracle was the first large tech company to test the debt market in 2026, with its $25 billion dollar offering last week. Meta is preparing a large debt offering in first part of this year, as it looks to accelerate its data center push across the U.S., the sources said. Alphabet held a $25 billion bond sale in November. Its long-term debt quadrupled in 2025 to $46.5 billion. CFO Anat Ashkenazi said on last week's earnings call that as the company considers its total investment, "we want to make sure we do it in a fiscally responsible way, and that we invest appropriately, but we do it in a way that maintains a very healthy financial position for the organization." Alphabet didn't respond to a request for comment. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

House Republican leaders are in danger of an embarrassing loss on a procedural vote Tuesday because fellow GOP lawmakers are balking at voting to block challenges to President Donald Trump's tariffs through the summer. A potential GOP rebellion on the vote highlights divisions among House Republicans, a dynamic that could make it even harder for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to advance his and Trump's agenda through a narrowly divided Congress. Dissatisfied factions within the House GOP have revolted several times this Congress, forcing the release of files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and supporting a failed Democratic effort to extend Obamacare subsidies. Johnson cannot afford to lose more than one Republican, assuming all members are present and Democrats are united against the measure being voted on that would set the rules for debating a bill to boost domestic production of critical minerals. At least two Republicans said they plan to vote against Johnson. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a perennial thorn in the side of GOP leadership, has vowed to vote "no." Others have similarly signaled their opposition, as frustration over Trump's tariffs and leadership's maneuvering percolates within the Republican ranks. Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., told CNBC on Tuesday he objects to "this idea that everyone needs to stick together to bring a particular bill on the floor" because it makes the House "less of a democratic body." The vote was originally slated for early afternoon, but House Republicans rescheduled it for Tuesday night. The Supreme Court is considering a legal challenge to Trump's tariffs with a ruling pending following oral arguments last November. The president's trade policies have been a great benefit to the country," Johnson said at a news conference Tuesday morning. The House Rules Committee on Monday approved language that would block any House votes disapproving of Trump's tariffs through July 31. House Democrats had already planned to force a vote on tariffs this week. "It is no secret that in private many Republican members of Congress have concerns with President Trump's tariff policies. Now some are even voicing their concerns in public," the House Rules Committee's top Democrat, Rep. Jim McGovern, of Massachusetts, said at Monday's hearing. They know that the Republican House finally, after months of blocking itself from doing what the Senate has already done, is poised to vote to end these unpopular, unwise, downright dumb tariffs," McGovern continued. The Senate has on multiple occasions voted to strike down tariffs issued by Trump, while the House has blocked votes on tariff-related resolutions. For Tuesday's vote, some other Republicans expressed their discomfort with tariffs, but did not commit to opposing the measure up for a vote. "The Supreme Court is going to be deciding this issue by June. So there is an argument to be made to maintain the status quo until then," Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., told CNBC on Tuesday. And tariffs are a big mistake. But given that the Supreme Court's about to weigh in, maybe we ought to just keep our powder dry and see what they say." — CNBC's Karen Sloan contributed to this report. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

US automakers are still building electric vehicles and rolling out gas-powered trucks. But plug-in hybrids — once pitched as a compromise between gasoline cars and fully electric vehicles — are quickly disappearing from American showrooms. Plug-in hybrids combine a cord-chargeable battery with a gasoline engine, allowing drivers to travel short distances on electricity alone before switching to gas on longer trips. Despite years of promotion, that powertrain is now being phased out across much of the industry, leaving several major automakers without any plug-in hybrids in their US lineups. "Consumers really don't seem to like them," Kevin Roberts, the director of market intelligence at CarGurus, told Business Insider. Every time Ben publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Ben and get more of their work as it publishes. By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. In January, year-over-year sales of plug-in hybrids fell 51.8%, according to CarGurus data. For months, the average sticker price of plug-in hybrids has continued to climb, even as demand waned. The average plug-in hybrid listed for $70,565 in January 2026, up from $62,079 a year earlier. Stellantis told Business Insider it is focusing instead on "more competitive electrified solutions, including hybrid and range-extended vehicles." Ford is ending production of the Escape and Lincoln Corsair — including their plug-in hybrid variants — leaving the automaker without any plug-in hybrids in its American lineup. Last year, Volvo stopped US production of the S60 and V60 Recharge, including their plug-in hybrid variants, as part of "normal lifecycle planning," the company told Business Insider. While 18% of Volvo's US vehicle sales last year had a plug, the automaker has said it wants electrified vehicles — including plug-in hybrids and fully electric models — to account for 90% to 100% of global sales by 2030. Still, a wave of decisions to remove or wind down plug-in hybrid models has rapidly thinned inventory across the industry. Availability of plug-in hybrids on US dealer lots fell 46.9% over the past year, according to CarGurus dealership data. The retreat comes as American car companies reassess their electric strategies. The Detroit Big Three have announced tens of billions of dollars in losses tied to electrification investments, while Chinese automakers — led by BYD, the world's best-selling EV car brand last year — have continued expanding electric and hybrid production and gaining market share abroad. Stellantis announced a $26 billion write-down tied to its broader electrification strategy, including discontinued plug-in models. The plug-in hybrid pull-back stands out because it hasn't been mirrored across other powertrains. The other big bet among automakers is investing in range-extended electric vehicles, which rely primarily on electric motors but house small gas generators that can recharge batteries mid-drive. Many prototypes boast a range of 500 to 700 miles and get better gas mileage than combustion engines. Volkswagen is also reviving the Scout brand of SUVs and pickups, including extended-range models. The company's CEO recently told InsideEVs that about 80% of reservations so far have been for EREVs. While Chinese automakers have leaned heavily into plug-in hybrids and extended-range vehicles as a mass-market bridge to electrification, US automakers appear to be abandoning plug-in hybrids in favor of a more polarized strategy — betting on either simpler hybrids or fully electric vehicles. "I still think the long-term trend is toward EVs," he added.

Elon Musk's xAI has lost another founding member. Others, including Igor Babuschkin, Kyle Kosic and Christian Szegedy, have also departed, and Greg Yang announced last month that he would be stepping back from his role to focus on his battle with Lyme disease. "It's time for my next chapter," Wu wrote in a post on X. "It is an era with full possibilities: a small team armed with AIs can move mountains and redefine what's possible." Wu's departure comes as xAI faces a consumer backlash and regulatory probes in multiple countries. The company's Grok AI chatbot and image generator allowed mass-creation and syndication of non-consensual, explicit, deepfake images that were based on photos of real people, including children. Tesla CEO Musk launched xAI in 2023 alongside 11 other people in an effort to compete with rivals like OpenAI and Google. Last week, Musk announced that his rocket company SpaceX acquired xAI ahead of what could be a potentially massive IPO. The record-setting transaction is the largest merger of all time and values SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion, according to documents viewed by CNBC. Musk previously merged xAI with X in a multibillion-dollar deal he announced last March. --CNBC'a Lora Kolodny contributed to this report WATCH: SpaceX takes on xAI cash burn after merger Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

The agency initially proposed rescinding it in July last year. "This week at the White House, President Trump will be taking the most significant deregulatory actions in history to further unleash American energy dominance and drive down costs," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in an email to CNBC. The revocation of the endangerment finding would represent the Trump administration's biggest broadside yet against efforts to combat climate change and would be a boon for the fossil fuel industry that has fought against climate regulations for years. The endangerment finding determined that greenhouse gases pose a risk to public health and welfare, giving EPA the authority to regulate them. Effectively, the EPA's move would immediately wipe away regulations on emissions from the country's highest polluting sector in transportation. Rescinding the endangerment finding, which was signed during the Obama administration and serves as the basis for troves of U.S. climate policy enacted since, would cause EPA to "lack statutory authority under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to prescribe standards for certain motor vehicle emissions," the agency said. Since the ruling, the EPA has regulated emissions from automobiles and other vehicles and power plants. Its revocation would open the door to challenging those regulations. Rescinding the endangerment finding would almost certainly face legal challenges from environmental groups, and it could be legally tenuous. The endangerment finding has been upheld in court. In 2007, a Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, cleared the way for the finding to be made. The high court declined to hear an appeal challenging the endangerment finding as recently as 2023. We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Trump administration Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday admitted he and his family had lunch on the private island of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein years earlier. "I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation" in 2012, Lutnick said in testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee. "And we had lunch on the island, that is true, for an hour," he said. We were on family vacation," he said. The secretary's admission came as he faces bipartisan calls to resign following the release of records showing that his business and personal relationship with Epstein was more extensive than previously known. Lutnick previously said that he cut off contact with Epstein after 2005 — years before Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to a state-level charge of soliciting a minor for prostitution, which required him to register as a sex offender. But analyses of the latest batch of Epstein files released by the Department of Justice show Lutnick and Epstein were in communication years later. In December 2012, Epstein invited Lutnick to lunch at his private island in the Caribbean, the documents showed. In his testimony Tuesday morning before the Appropriations panel's subcommittee on commerce, justice, science and related agencies, Lutnick insisted that he "barely had anything to do with that person." "I'm glad to be here to make it clear that I met Jeffrey Epstein when he moved, when I moved to a house next door to him in New York," the Cabinet secretary testified. "Over the next 14 years, I met him two other times that I can recall, two times," he said. "Probably the total — and you've seen all of these documents, of these millions and millions of documents — there may be 10 emails connecting me with him ... Over a 14 year period." "I did not have any relationship with him," Lutnick said. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the subcommittee's ranking member, replied, "There's not an indication that you yourself engaged in any wrongdoing with Jeffrey Epstein. It's the fact that you ... misled the country and the Congress based on your earlier statements suggesting that you cut off all contact, when, in fact, you had not." Asked by Van Hollen if he saw anything inappropriate during his visit to the island, Lutnick said that he did not. "The only thing I saw with my wife and my children and the other couple and their children was staff who worked for Mr. Epstein on that island," he testified. Van Hollen asked if Lutnick would commit to sharing with Congress his own records relating to Epstein in order to "ensure that the file is complete." "I will surely talk about that. Hadn't thought about that," Lutnick said, adding, "I have nothing to hide. We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., on Tuesday slammed Democrats for conditioning Homeland Security Department funding on a requirement that federal immigration agents must obtain judicial warrants to carry out key enforcement activities. Johnson, in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box," called that proposal "completely unworkable." But it's Democrats' top demand for funding DHS, which is set to lose funding by the week's end if Congress can't pass an appropriations bill. Johnson said he hopes Congress can pass another stopgap measure to buy time, but suggested Democrats have been unreasonable in negotiations so far. DHS includes the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, whose deportation efforts have grown especially controversial after an aggressive surge in Minnesota stirred national unrest. Democrats "want to make it almost impossible for ICE to do its job," Johnson, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said. "Of the 10 demands, probably the most obnoxious is they want to require judicial warrants, which is completely unworkable," he said. "Our immigration laws have always been enforced by the executive branch, through administrative law judges. We have, again, literally millions of cases that need to be adjudicated. Our Article Three courts simply can't handle that, and Democrats know it," Johnson said. Democrats have rejected arguments that requiring judge-signed warrants to enter private property — as opposed to administrative warrants issued by federal agency officials — would overburden the system. The White House sent a counterproposal to Democrats' demands, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in a statement late Monday called it "incomplete and insufficient." Johnson also defended ICE agents wearing masks and obscuring their faces, accusing Democrats of wanting extreme political activists to "dox" agents. "Democrats want to make sure that ICE can't use masks. He warned that a shutdown would cause real harm, noting that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration would be defunded if DHS appropriations lapsed. Other parts of the department are already funded through previous legislation. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Strategy CEO Michael Saylor brushed off concerns about the company's credit risk if bitcoin continues to tumble. In fact, Saylor said he plans to keep accumulating the cryptocurrency for the company every quarter. "If bitcoin falls 90% for the next four years, we'll refinance the debt," the executive said Tuesday on CNBC's "Squawk Box." Asked whether he believed banks would continue to lend to the digital asset treasury firm if bitcoin collapses, Saylor said, "Yeah, because the volatility of bitcoin is such that it's always going to be a value." Bitcoin was last trading at $68,970.45, down 9% over the past five days. It has retreated as investors broadly reassess its utility, with the token tumbling 15% to $60,062.00 on Thursday — its lowest level in roughly 16 months. Strategy has more than $8 billion in total debt on its balance sheet, in part due to its issuance of convertible notes used to buy bitcoin. The executive also dismissed suggestions that Strategy would sell any of its digital asset holdings: "I expect we'll be buying bitcoin every quarter forever," Saylor said. Strategy holds 714,644 bitcoins worth about $49 billion as of writing time, per its website. Saylor noted his firm has two-and-a-half years worth of cash on its balance sheet to cover dividends. Strategy shed about 2% on Tuesday as bitcoin broke below $70,000 again. We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.

Paramount Skydance said Tuesday it has sweetened its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, adding a so-called ticking fee to signal regulatory confidence among other new elements. Paramount stopped short, however, of raising its per-share offer to WBD shareholders. In December, Paramount launched a hostile tender offer for the entirety of Warner Bros. The company contends its offer is superior to a pending transaction between Warner Bros. "The additional benefits of our superior $30 per share, all-cash offer clearly underscore our strong and unwavering commitment to delivering the full value WBD shareholders deserve for their investment," said Paramount CEO David Ellison in a statement. "We are making meaningful enhancements – backing this offer with billions of dollars, providing shareholders with certainty in value, a clear regulatory path, and protection against market volatility." The so-called ticking fee is equivalent to roughly $650 million in cash value each quarter for every quarter the deal is not closed past Dec. 31. In addition, on Tuesday Paramount said it would fund the $2.8 billion termination fee that Warner Bros. Discovery would owe Netflix if that deal were to fall through, and it would also eliminate a potential $1.5 billion refinancing cost of debt. Paramount said the revised offer — including the ticking fee, funding the termination fee and refinancing — is "fully financed" by $43.6 billion of equity commitments from the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners, as well as $54 billion in debt commitments from lenders Bank of America, Citigroup and private equity firm Apollo. RedBird Capital Partners' Gerry Cardinale told CNBC's David Faber on Tuesday that the amended bid was an effort to "continue to reinforce and perfect" Paramount's offer. "What we've done is we've perfected it by taking off the table all of the, what I call, more clerical items that they have been using to suggest that they are not going to engage with us," said Cardinale, the firm's founder. "Our deal is highly aligned with delivering the best value and certainty – that has never changed," he said. Netflix's proposed acquisition of WBD's streaming and studios assets was estimated to close in 12 to 18 months from when the deal was announced in December. That deal would close after the separation of WBD's TV networks, such as CNN, TBS and Discovery, takes place, which is expected in the third quarter of 2026. Last month, Netflix amended its own offer for WBD assets to pay $27.75 per share entirely in cash. Paramount's revised offer leans on antitrust concerns that have been raised by lawmakers and industry insiders since Netflix announced the proposed deal. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has publicly noted his confidence in getting the deal approved, most recently in the company's January earnings call with investors. Sarandos said he believed the deal would secure regulatory approval, contending it would preserve jobs at a time of heavy layoffs across media "because this deal is pro-consumer ... pro-innovation, pro-worker." Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Every time Nicole publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Two C-suite executives and several senior staff have departed Tools for Humanity, the Sam Altman-founded startup behind the eyeball-scanning "Orb," in recent months, Business Insider has learned. Adrian Ludwig, the Chief Information Security Officer and Chief Architect, recently left after a two-year stint, according to two people and a LinkedIn review. He previously worked at firms including Alphabet, Atlassian, and Adobe. Damien Kieran, Chief Legal and Privacy Officer for the past year and a half also recently announced his departure in a LinkedIn post. His previous roles included general counsel at the photo-sharing app BeReal and chief privacy officer at Twitter, leaving after Elon Musk took over the platform. A former employee added that the company's data protection officer left in November. The head of device product and a lawyer who, according to LinkedIn, joined in September, also submitted their notices, the former employee said. Business Insider reviewed an internal Slack message in the company's #team-chat channel in which CEO Alex Blania described leadership changes, including the appointment of five interim positions. "Only exceptional impact, commitment, extreme work ethic, and mission alignment will be sufficient to succeed in our team," Blania wrote. One former employee who recently left the company said that challenges with company culture and leadership contributed to the departures. A Tools for Humanity spokesperson told Business Insider that, "each departure is unique and we wish our former colleagues the best." "At a time when the distinction between AI and humans online blurs more each day, we've aligned our team around our increasingly urgent mission to help humanity make those distinctions," she said. The rash of exits at Tools for Humanity comes as Altman and Blania turn their attention to a new venture they co-founded, Merge Labs, to develop brain-computer interfaces. As Business Insider previously reported, Tools for Humanity has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to try and scan the world's eyeballs in order to verify users' identities. The company has also faced scrutiny over its hardcore company culture, after Business Insider reported that Blania told staffers to work weekends and not care about anything outside of work.

In the wake of Jeffrey Epstein's 2019 death, prosecutors examined sexual assault claims against one of his most powerful associates: Leon Black. The Justice Department's newly released Epstein files show prosecutors looked at allegations from at least four women who accused the billionaire former CEO of Apollo Global Management — the key source of Epstein's wealth in the last decade of his life — of sexual assault and other misconduct. The newly public files include dozens of emails, internal memos, and records of calls with lawyers for Black's accusers going back to 2019. They include the first known instance that prosecutors investigated whether there was wrongdoing related to Black. Two of the women who drew the attention of prosecutors alleged Black raped them in Epstein's Manhattan mansion in 2002, claims that mirror those in civil lawsuits filed against Black after Epstein's death. The other woman's lawsuit, in which she alleged Black raped her as a teenager, is pending. Lawyers and a spokesperson for Black didn't answer Business Insider's questions about any interactions with law enforcement. Black's attorney, Susan Estrich, pointed to an Apollo-commissioned investigation of Black that she said found "he had no awareness of Epstein's criminal activities." "There is absolutely no truth to any of the allegations against Mr. Black," Estrich said in a statement. In March 2021, Black stepped down from his role as CEO and chairman of Apollo, the behemoth he'd cofounded. The billionaire's connections to Epstein had been the subject of media and public scrutiny since Epstein's 2019 arrest, prompting an internal investigation that found Black had transferred over $150 million to the convicted sex offender between 2012 and 2017. The review found no evidence of criminal activity. The transactions, which Black has said were for tax and estate planning advice, are now under scrutiny by the Senate Finance Committee's investigators. A December 2019 memo says that federal prosecutors investigated Epstein's "potential co-conspirators," including Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now serving a 20-year prison sentence and is the only person to be criminally charged for involvement in his sex-trafficking operation. The document does not list Black among the potential coconspirators, but includes a summary of a 2019 interview with a woman who told the Justice Department that Epstein directed her to massage Black in Epstein's townhouse. A document from 2021 details allegations relayed to federal prosecutors by Jeanne Christensen, an attorney who specializes in sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits. Christensen told them she spoke to a woman who alleged that "Leon Black raped her violently." Christensen's account is that Epstein introduced the woman to Black at his townhouse in 2002 under the pretense that he could help her find work. The woman claimed Black sexually assaulted her in Epstein's massage room, Christensen said. The allegations mirror those made in a 2022 civil lawsuit against Black by Cheri Pierson, whom Christensen represented. In the lawsuit, Pierson said she experienced "excruciating pain" when Black "placed his mouth on her vagina and began biting her" on the massage table. According to Christensen's email to prosecutors, Pierson's allegation resembled the experience of another client who had accused Black of sexual assault. Black has said he never met Pierson, who discontinued her lawsuit, which was dismissed with prejudice, in 2024. In February 2023, a prosecutor in the Manhattan DA's office emailed an assistant US Attorney to say the DA's office was looking into a new accusation against Black. The woman was represented by Christensen and said she "was trafficked by Maxwell and Epstein," the prosecutor said. The lawsuit, which is pending, alleges the accuser was sexually abused by Epstein in 2002, when she was 16 years old, and trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to multiple men, including Black. A spokesperson for Christensen's law firm, Wigdor LLP, declined to comment. The memo said the Manhattan DA's office had "not found any independent corroboration" of her allegations "against JE and LB," appearing to refer to Jeffrey Epstein and Leon Black. Four days before Christensen filed the civil lawsuit on behalf of the accuser, she blasted federal prosecutors for not indicting Black. "It's outrageous that criminal charges have not been brought against him," Christensen wrote. Brad Edwards, who has represented over 100 Epstein accusers, opposed the woman's attempt to join a $290 million class-action settlement from a lawsuit that victims had filed against JPMorgan Chase for allegedly facilitating his sex-trafficking operation, according to a prosecutor's memo. According to the memo, which was based on a conversation the prosecutor had with Christensen, Edwards said in a sealed court hearing that there was no "corroboration" for the accuser's claims about her interactions with Epstein, Maxwell, and Black. It's unclear from the heavily redacted documents if prosecutors looked into the allegations by Ganieva, whose lawsuit was dismissed in 2023 after a judge found her claims were barred by a non-disclosure agreement with Black, who said they had a consensual relationship. There's no indication that any criminal inquiry into Black remains active. If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline (1-800-656-4673) or visit its website to receive confidential support.

Every time Katherine publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. McDonald's launched a pre-Valentine's Day promotion on Tuesday, allowing nugget fans across the country to sign up for free delivery of a 1-oz tin of baerii sturgeon caviar from Paramount Caviar, eight ounces of crème fraîche, and a $25 voucher to buy McNuggets to pair with it, while supplies last. I've been a nugget connoisseur since my preschool days, and McDonald's McNuggets top the charts as my favorite from all fast food brands. Nubia Murray, senior director of brand communications at McDonald's, said the promotion was a way to make caviar, a typically exclusive luxury ingredient made from salt-cured, unfertilized fish eggs, "playful and accessible" by offering it for free. McNugget Caviar was inspired by a dish served at the August 2025 US Open that spawned viral copycats online. COQODAQ, a Korean fusion fried chicken restaurant based in New York, offered a dish at the tennis championships: six chicken nuggets topped with caviar, crème fraîche, and chives, priced at $100. McDonald's fans with expensive tastes recreated the dish for social media videos. "When we see something fans genuinely love, sometimes in a playful or unexpected way, we bring that insight to life in a way only McDonald's can. In early 2025, McDonald's experienced a significant same-store sales slump, with its first-quarter US sales dropping 3.6% — the company's worst performance since 2020 — driven by lower- and middle-income consumers cutting back on fast food due to inflation and other economic concerns. The chain countered by expanding its $5 meal offerings and doubling down on targeted marketing to regain price-sensitive diners. It has improved its same-store sales performance in subsequent quarters, but foot traffic in the quick-service segment is still down across the board. Analysts told Business Insider earlier this month that price cuts and discounted meal deals have become structural for quick-service restaurants as they navigate an increasingly value-focused environment. However, constant deals are a double-edged sword because consumers get used to discounts and don't come back to pay full price when the economy improves. "Value is important, but you look at when McDonald's, Burger King, etc., have done well — it's really when they have great menu innovation or great marketing that they really see customers respond," TD Cowen analyst Andrew Charles said. In that way, the McNugget Caviar promotion lands in a sweet spot: it's free, yet offers value beyond its price point by capitalizing on social media buzz and offering a unique combination that McDonald's diners may not typically enjoy. In an era when value menus are table stakes, maybe the real flex isn't being cheaper, but being in on the joke.

Every time Samuel publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. This year has seen a revival of the "Sell America" narrative amid new trade war tensions and Donald Trump's aggressive posturing toward allies. As Trump's tariff policies have weighed on some relationships this year—most notably with the European Union—investors have, in some instances, sold off dollar assets such as stocks, bonds, and the greenback itself. The president's bombastic rhetoric regarding taking over Greenland only gave fresh fuel to Sell America fears earlier this year. "First, geopolitical tensions are self-limiting and not in either side's interest. Second, investors don't keep long-term geopolitical grudges—especially if tensions trend lower." In his view, the "Sell America" narrative hasn't spread across Europe so far, and there is no evidence that investors are dumping US assets en masse. European investors were still among the leading buyers of US Treasurys last year, government data shows. Yet, Alamariu argues that positive investor sentiment will continue to outweigh any bearishness on US markets. "U.S. dominance of critical fields like high tech and higher innovation propensity means it remains attractive to foreign investors despite policy misgivings." Alamariu believes there is one scenario in which the "Sell America" could become a concern for investors. He said that if the US market continues to underperform in the coming year amid major geopolitical disturbances, more investors could pivot to other markets.

Last November, OpenAI investor Brad Gerstner pressed Sam Altman on a podcast about how a company with $13 billion in revenue could commit to $1.4 trillion in spending. Three months later, OpenAI is aiming to raise $100 billion in its latest funding round — a sign that, even amid mounting questions, Altman can find buyers. Amazon, SoftBank, and Nvidia are all reportedly considering investments that could run into the tens of billions. And there are strong signals that it's weighing an IPO for later this year. For all that momentum, the chatbot pioneer can't shake the central concern: It is spending money it doesn't have, at a scale that could overwhelm its backers if revenue doesn't offset its costs. On Monday, OpenAI began testing ads inside ChatGPT for free and low-paying users in the US, a sign it's looking for more ways to monetize. OpenAI's view is that scale itself will become an advantage, one large enough to overwhelm competitors and cement OpenAI's position at the center of the AI industry. Whether it can make good on that all-important bet is the trillion-dollar question — and one that will be in front of millions of investors if the company goes public this year. Inside Business stories reveal the inner workings of companies from Silicon Valley to Wall Street that are shaping our world today. For some investors, the uncertainty is reason enough to stay away. "The company is not yet profitable and doesn't have a plausible pathway to near-term profitability," Charles Jaskel, founder of secondaries firm New Vintage Partners, told Business Insider. "Markets change, and there is no guarantee that a technological edge, especially in this AI-driven end of the market, will endure." HSBC researchers said in a late November report that they expect OpenAI to have a $207 billion shortfall by 2030, even when modeling for significant boosts in revenue. In September, The Information reported that OpenAI was telling investors it would burn $115 billion of cash by 2029, more than three times the company's previous estimate. Last month, Microsoft said nearly half of its cloud computing backlog was tied to OpenAI. The software giant's reliance on OpenAI helped wipe $440 billion from Microsoft's market value amid concerns that Altman's company may not deliver on its obligations. It has signed agreements for more than 30 gigawatts of capacity in the coming years — nearly a third of what JLL estimates the entire industry used last year. "You should expect OpenAI to spend trillions of dollars on data center construction in the not very distant future," Altman reportedly told journalists at a dinner in August. In a January blog post, chief financial officer Sarah Friar said the company's relative lack of computing power had been holding back monetization. "Three years ago, we relied on a single compute provider. Today, we are working with providers across a diversified ecosystem. That shift gives us resilience and, critically, compute certainty." Some investors say that the headline spending figures overstate OpenAI's true exposure. Ethan Choi, an OpenAI investor at Khosla Ventures, wrote on X last month that of the $1.4 trillion in obligations cited by Altman, about $600 billion would be spent directly by OpenAI. Choi noted that OpenAI and its rival Anthropic have shown they can generate about $10 billion in annual revenue for each gigawatt of computing power. OpenAI should have about 14 gigawatts online in three years or so, Choi said, adding that the figure was his estimate based on public information. Choi trusts Altman and Friar on how to deploy capital. They "have the most data in front of them," he said. I think we just need to step back and think about how we can apply AI to our lives, and it's endless." ChatGPT's launch was a watershed for consumer technology, hitting 100 million users in two months to achieve the fastest consumer adoption of any product in history. It went on one of the most impressive growth runs in business history. "So that's great, except for the problem of their capex." "The infrastructure they're buying is undergoing massive advancements, with performance doubling, tripling, quadrupling," he said. "You can't build a data center fast enough to ensure that it's not going to be obsolete by the time you finish it." Multiple outlets, including Business Insider, have reported there are signs OpenAI is aiming to IPO later this year. That would give OpenAI access to a far deeper pool of capital than private markets can offer, but it also means quarterly earnings calls, public scrutiny of its losses, and increased pressure to show a path to profitability. Last week, Elon Musk merged xAI with SpaceX, a company widely expected to go public this year. Over the past year, OpenAI has shifted between expansion and retrenchment. Last May, OpenAI named Instacart chief Fidji Simo as CEO of applications, signaling how serious the company is about expanding beyond its core chatbot. In December, Altman called a "Code Red" in an internal memo, telling employees the company had spread itself too thin and needed to refocus on improving ChatGPT. Two months later, the company is pushing deeper into search and ecommerce with a new checkout feature, considering adult content, working on a personal device with Apple's former design chief, and rolling out ads — something the "Code Red" memo explicitly hit pause on. It's also exploring robotics and designing its own chips. On the consumer side, Google's Gemini has been steadily eating into ChatGPT's lead, according to data from Apptopia. On the enterprise side, Anthropic has carved out a strong position, particularly with software developers and businesses looking for specialized AI coding tools. It's no longer clear that ChatGPT's consumer dominance alone will be enough to generate the kind of returns OpenAI's valuation demands. Andrej Karpathy, an OpenAI founder who is now building his own startup, fawned over Anthropic's Claude on X. "This is easily the biggest change to my basic coding workflow in ~2 decades of programming and it happened over the course of a few weeks," he wrote. OpenAI's version, Codex, has not received the same level of adulation. Open-source models from China and elsewhere are delivering rapid performance gains at a fraction of the cost. "Our biggest concern is competitive intensity," Kyle Qi, an investor at Llama Ventures, which backs Anthropic, Thinking Machines Lab, and xAI, told Business Insider. That convergence compresses OpenAI's technological moat at a time when expectations for durable dominance are priced in." Jeremy Abelson, the founder and CEO at Irving Investors, which has investment exposure to OpenAI, told Business Insider that "OpenAI needs to spend a large amount of money on capex now because key competitors like Google are investing in-line to larger capex at this point to remain at the top of the LLM leaderboard." He added that if the Altman-led company doesn't keep ahead of the innovation curve, "it risks decreasing market share and losing relevance." Until fundraising is finished, it's unclear what OpenAI's valuation will be, but estimates reported by other news outlets range from $750 billion to $830 billion. Whether its ultimate valuation makes sense may depend less on the brilliance of OpenAI's models than on the discipline of its capital allocation. "At this valuation, a lot of things need to go right," said Steve Brotman, managing director and founding partner at Alpha Partners, who said he would pass on OpenAI at this stage for less risky opportunities. That doesn't mean you need to buy the stock." "Someone is going to lose a phenomenal amount of money," he said at the August dinner. Do you work for OpenAI or have insight into the company's fundraising plans?

Every time Theron publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. "I've been looking for a blow-off in equities for over three years now — followed by the worst crash since 1929," Mark Spitznagel, the founder and chief investor of Universa Investments, told Business Insider in a recent email. Universa specializes in "tail-risk hedging" or protecting investors' portfolios from rare, extreme, and unpredictable events. "The Black Swan" author Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who previously ran a hedge fund with Spitznagel, is the firm's scientific advisor. Spitznagel has been bullish since 2022, but expects stocks to eventually march off a cliff. Immense buzz around AI, interest-rate cuts, and historic levels of government spending have propelled stocks higher with little interruption. The Universa chief told Business Insider he's a "big believer in AI," but "asset bubbles have a hype that is independent of the underlying idea." Hype has also fueled gold's record rally, he said, before adding that the yellow metal will likely be an "important asset in the years ahead." "I remain a believer in gold's long-term thesis, but I expect it to fall — precipitously — alongside other risk assets when the turn comes," he wrote. Spitznagel anticipated a "Goldilocks zone" for investors in the year ahead, comprising "falling inflation and rates, a slowing economy but not too slow, and sentiment flipping toward euphoria" before a "final blow-off in equities." Michael Burry of "The Big Short" fame and GMO's Jeremy Grantham have both been sounding the alarm for years now. On the other hand, investors Ross Gerber and Kevin O'Leary have told Business Insider they're not worried as AI is supercharging growth and productivity.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Daniel Fayemi, a 28-year-old senior software and blockchain engineer living in Toronto. It has been edited for length and clarity. Over the past seven years, I've worked for multiple companies shipping blockchain integrations and production-grade financial infrastructure in Lagos, Amsterdam, and now Toronto. I started my career in Nigeria, where I was born and raised, and moved to Amsterdam in May 2023 after a short career break for a job as a senior software engineer. I returned to Nigeria after a year and worked until I received my Canadian work visa through my wife in October 2024. Since May 2025, I've worked as a senior software engineer at Source Inc. in Toronto, and I do some consulting on the side. I make a six-figure salary, plus restricted options in the same range. Professionally, I was also excited to work in the North American market and build products for a global audience from here. The costs add up fast … legal fees, travel, and finding a home in Toronto where my wife and I could settle. We put a lot of our savings on the line, and I was scared of not making something meaningful out of that money, effort, and sacrifice. You pay a lot for not much. One thing that makes everything feel pricier is taxes being added after purchase. Tips, too, were a real money culture shock. Here, they say it's optional, but the prompts are right there, leaving you with little choice. Compared to Nigerian groceries, Amsterdam was actually more expensive than Toronto and harder to find, so I understand those prices. The funniest adjustment for me was actually grocery shopping. I pushed three heavy grocery bags through the lobby and the concierge, two neighbors in the elevator, and a guy in my hallway all asked if we were throwing a party. Also, as someone from Lagos who thought Amsterdam cold was "real," Toronto taught me otherwise. In Toronto, if it's pouring or a heat alert is in effect, our team quietly switches to working from home. No drama, just "see you on Slack." My managers are genuinely kind and low-ego. Coming from what I joke is the "Respect Capital of the World," Lagos, that felt radical at first. I like the occasional chit-chat with folks just starting out. Because most of my close friends here are software engineers at different levels, I don't feel a strong need for what the broader tech community has to offer. I found my current role on LinkedIn, and I still get about two recruiter messages a week there. The groups I'm in are private circles of friends and friends-of-friends where we swap opportunities, do interview prep, workshop startup ideas, and sometimes just hop on to play video games. Sometimes I go on outings with colleagues and friends. We went to an arcade together recently. Finding a suitable place in Toronto has been one of the hardest parts of moving here. I recently left the first place I rented when I arrived, and it still took me four months to find a new one, even with all my documents. I think we only got this apartment because our real estate agent knew the landlady. I haven't had a single bad experience here. Toronto has a wide range of food, which I also appreciate. I can get authentic Lebanese shawarma at Shelby's Shawarma one night and the best pasta at Trattoria Mercatto the next, and yes, I've tried the whole menu. Every day feels different, and the weather can change multiple times before lunch. Toronto's interesting to watch, and I love it. I plan to grow into more leadership roles here, work more with AI, and maybe one day build something of my own, most likely something related to blockchain and AI.

Every time James publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. It all looks a lot like Zillow, the near-ubiquitous home search site. There is one key difference between Compass' site and Zillow, though: a prominently displayed black box. Behind the black box sits a heap of listings beyond Zillow's reach, so-called "Private Exclusives" that can only be seen with the help of a Compass agent. In Los Angeles, there are apparently 366 homes that can only be unearthed by contacting Compass. New York City boasts nearly 450 homes you can't find on Zillow, Realtor.com, or any other home-search portal. The country's most popular home-search portal has gone so far as to ban some listings from its vaunted website, which Zillow says is necessary to stem the rising tide of exclusive listings and preserve a fair and open marketplace: "If a listing is online, it should be online everywhere," begins one of the company's blog posts. Compass may not want its listings on Zillow right away, but it does want them there eventually: CEO Robert Reffkin has likened the "private exclusive" phase to a movie trailer that drums up hype before a wider release. On Friday, Zillow scored an early victory in the legal battle: A judge denied Compass's request for a preliminary injunction, which would have forced Zillow to stop enforcing its new rules. Every time James publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to James and get more of their work as it publishes. By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. For one thing, it's not even clear that Zillow really wants to enforce its own rules. During the injunction hearing, though, the company revealed that it had sent about 1,200 warnings and banned just 50 homes from its site over a roughly four-month period last year. Internal documents also showed executives fretting over the risks of turning away agents and their listings. It's not a great look for the biggest name in home search to openly admit that it can't — or won't — show you every home for sale. Zillow may keep up its tepid enforcement of the ban, and it may very well deter some agents, especially those reliant on Zillow's reach, from following Compass' lead. The combined company, including franchisees, would account for almost a quarter of nationwide home sales volume based on last year's figures, according to an analysis by T3 Sixty, a real estate management consulting firm. If Compass continues to advertise listings only on its own platforms — in internal databases or simply on the public-facing side of its website — it could attract even more agents and clients by promising them an edge in home search. As one longtime real estate executive told me last year, "Listings are fuel." The legal setback doesn't amount to a total loss for Compass. Or Compass could simply decide to pursue its vision regardless of the courtroom result. "We'll never give up," Reffkin, Compass' CEO, told me at company headquarters late last year, when I pressed him on the possibility that the legal battle doesn't go his way. Even if Zillow blocks some listings from its platform, Compass may plow ahead under the assumption that buyers and their agents will gravitate toward any place that offers them a leg up in their home search. Compass still maintains thousands of home listings that are unavailable on other search portals. Other big brokerages are following suit, building up their own stockpiles of exclusive inventory in preparation for a world in which listings are more closely guarded rather than shared broadly from the get-go. If you're looking to buy a house, this reality could make choosing an agent all the more fraught. Some agents have always been able to unlock more inventory than others, via "private listing networks" or chummy relationships with potential sellers in the area. But if brokerages encourage more of their agents to share homes internally before making their broader debut, bigger companies like Compass could gain a decisive advantage, particularly in markets where they control a significant share of listings. This shift could make it more difficult to shrug off an agent and go it alone, or weaken your negotiating position if you want to bargain down your agent's fees. Homebuyers, take note: The old way of searching for homes is fading fast. Business Insider's Discourse stories provide perspectives on the day's most pressing issues, informed by analysis, reporting, and expertise.

Every time Matthew publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Russian troops are experimenting with a contraption that spins steel cables to protect vehicles from small loitering munitions. They're essentially discs with roughly nine or 10 thin cables that whip aside incoming objects. Each disc, turned via a shaft, sticks out from one of the Courier's four sides. The Courier, a tracked, 550-pound Russian ground drone, is mounted with what appears to be a motor that can spin all four shafts simultaneously. "When an FPV drone tries to strike, the cables either knock it down or deflect it to the side," said a man identified by state media as a squad leader named "Struk." The Courier is a multi-purpose drone, meaning that it can potentially be used to transport cargo, retrieve the dead or wounded, or be fitted with weapons for assault missions. Uncrewed ground vehicles have risen quickly as a new front of the war's technology race, with Russian and Ukrainian forces both hoping to scale up production of ground drones that can replace human soldiers for dangerous frontline tasks. In the conflict's early days, Russian troops fitted their battle tanks and armored vehicles with metal cages, nets, and spikes to increase survivability against small drone attacks. The tactic was initially mocked, but has since spread even to militaries outside Ukraine and Russia. Still, the Courier is designed to carry a significant payload, so it has space for the new weed whacker — a luxury that battle tanks, armored vehicles, and weaponized drones don't enjoy.