Bill Ackman's Pershing Square revealed a sizable stake in Meta on Wednesday. "We believe Meta's current share price underappreciates the company's long-term upside potential from AI and represents a deeply discounted valuation for one of the world's greatest businesses," stated the fund's annual investor presentation. Meta shares are off by 16% over the last 12 months on fears it is spending too much on artificial intelligence. "We believe concerns around META's AI-related spending initiatives are underestimating the company's long-term upside potential from AI," stated the Pershing presentation. Pershing noted that Meta currently trades at a 22 times its projected earnings over the next 12 months, cheap considering how much AI is set to rev up future earnings growth. Alphabet, Apple and Nvidia all have higher forward P/Es. The fund bought positions in Amazon, Hertz and Meta in 2025, according to the presentation with the Amazon and Hertz stakes previously disclosed. Got a confidential news tip? 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. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes.

Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn anticipates the Federal Reserve will issue more interest rate cuts this year than what's being anticipated and that's giving him greater confidence in his gold bet. While rate cut expectations diminished a bit Wednesday following the much better-than-expected January jobs report, traders are still currently pricing in a more than 88% chance that the central bank will make two quarter percentage point cuts by the end of the year, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. But Einhorn said that the market viewing the latest jobs figures as a reason not to cut is "wrong." In fact, he thinks the rate cuts number could be higher than that, as he expects Kevin Warsh – President Donald Trump's pick to succeed Jerome Powell as Fed chair – is going to be able to persuade the committee to do so. "If we have 4% or 5% inflation, sure, then he won't be able to persuade people, but otherwise he's going to argue productivity," Einhorn said on CNBC's "Money Movers" to Sara Eisen on Wednesday, adding that Warsh, in his view, is going to take the position of cutting "even if the economy is running hot." The hedge fund manager also owns gold, which sold off at the end of last month after Trump announced Warsh as his nominee for Fed chair, as the move eased anxieties on Wall Street surrounding Fed independence. The yellow metal – typically viewed as an inflation hedge – has since seen some recovery, with gold futures being up more than 17% this year. That's after it surged more than 60% in 2025 amid threats to central bank independence as well as heightened geopolitical tensions and unstable trade policy. Einhorn — who gained notoriety in 2008, when he bet against Lehman Brothers at the Sohn Investment Conference just months before the investment bank declared bankruptcy — pointed out that gold has actually gone up over the past couple years as a result of "becoming the reserve asset" to own among central banks around the world. "U.S. trade policy is very unstable, and it's causing other countries to say we want to settle our trade in something other than U.S. dollars," he said. In the long term, he said that a reason to own gold is due to the fact that the current relationship between our fiscal and monetary policies "don't make any sense." He also said that other major developed currencies around the world are "as bad or worse" than the U.S. The U.S. dollar suffered its biggest single-day drop since April 2025 last month after Trump said he wasn't concerned about the currency's recent weakness. "There are some issues that sometime over the next number of years could play out with some of the major currencies," he said. Deeming betting on more cuts as "one of the best trades out there right now," Einhorn said he was also long futures on SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate), which essentially is a bet that short-term rates will continue to go lower. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Every time Grace 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. XAI brought staffers together for an all-hands on Tuesday night, shortly after the company lost its second cofounder in less than 48 hours. Musk did not directly address the departures of company cofounders Tony Wu and Jimmy Ba, but thanked those who had left for their contributions to the company. Wu and Ba both left the company shortly after their responsibilities were changed, Business Insider previously reported. The all-hands meeting also addressed Musk's plans for data centers in space. Musk has said SpaceX's recent acquisition of xAI will allow the company to more quickly deploy cosmic data centers, and previously discussed having Tesla's Optimus robot man the facilities. Every time Grace publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Grace 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. It was truly rewarding to contribute to grok imagine video series: 0.9 as our first release, then 1.0 that recently topped across competitive leaderboards and user feedback. I see a mix of humble craftsmanship and ambitious vision throughout the team. XAI had previously scheduled an all-hands meeting for last week, after it was announced that SpaceX had acquired xAI. SpaceX, which Musk founded in 2002, has reportedly been gearing up for an initial public offering that could value it at $1.5 trillion. Do you work for xAI or have a tip? Use a personal email address, a non-work device, and non-work WiFi; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday responded to House Democrats' heated questions about the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files by chastising them for ignoring stock market gains and other of President Donald Trump's political wins. "The Dow is over 50,000 right now," Bondi said in sworn testimony before the House Judiciary Committee after Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., slammed her and the Department of Justice for so far failing to indict any of convicted sex predator Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirators. The S&P 500 is also up and the Nasdaq is "smashing records," while Americans' retirement accounts are "booming," Bondi said after celebrating the Dow Jones Industrial Average's gains. "That's what we should be talking about." Democrats balked at the rhetoric, but Bondi doubled down. "What does the Dow have to do with anything? That's what they just asked. she said as Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, banged a gavel and called for order in the hearing room. Trump has repeatedly mentioned stock market gains as a barometer for his presidency after having been elected to a second term amid voter concerns about rising prices for consumer goods. The Dow closed above 50,000 for the first time on Friday and added to that record each day this week. The DOJ oversight hearing had already devolved into partisan shouting matches on multiple occasions prior to Bondi's references to the stock market. 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.

To the world, the Olympics may look like a full-time job, but for many athletes, it's a second one. "I have two full-time jobs," Team USA curler Korey Dropkin told KARE 11, a local Minnesota television station. Meanwhile, his mixed doubles partner, Cory Thiesse, works at a wastewater company for a steady paycheck that allows her to compete. The International Olympic Committee does not pay athletes directly for competing or winning medals. Instead, the IOC redistributes 90% of its income — about $4.2 million per day — to National Olympic Committees and international federations, according to the organization. Those bodies then decide how to support athletes in their countries. For sports like curling, biathlon, and skeleton, where sponsorships and broadcast revenue are limited, that often isn't enough to fund a career. Artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez told Business Insider last year she once supplemented a $250 monthly Team USA stipend with shifts at a sporting goods store. Even after that stipend rose to $1,900 a month, she said it was "stressful" trying to stay "focused and dialed in on the Olympic training" while rushing to work after long days in the pool. In Italy, where the Winter Olympics are being held, many top athletes are formally employed by military and police sports groups, effectively placing Olympians on the government payroll. In the UK, athletes receive National Lottery-funded performance awards designed to help cover living and training costs. Team USA is also experimenting with new financial backstops. A recently announced donation by financier Ross Stevens will provide American Olympians with $200,000 in total benefits to help reduce long-term financial insecurity. Until the financial model changes, many Olympic careers will continue to be built around a stable paycheck. Here are 15 athletes whose day jobs help fund their time on the world stage. It's perhaps unsurprising that Cochran-Siegle started skiing when he was just 2: His mother, Barbara Ann Cochran, was also an Olympian, winning gold in slalom at the 1972 Games in Sapporo, Japan. A three-time Olympian, Cochran-Siegle, 33, won silver in the super-G on Wednesday. "Depending on the time of year it typically involves either boiling maple syrup or pulling taps from trees once the sap run has finished," he told NBC in 2022. "For me it's less of a job and more of a way to come home and help out with my cousin's family business. It's also a great way to be productive while spending time outside in the woods with family, exploring our Cochran family land." Curling doesn't offer guaranteed contracts or league salaries, so athletes often build parallel careers during the four-year Olympic cycle. He began curling at age 5 at Broomstones Curling Club in Massachusetts and later moved to Duluth to train. A graduate of the University of Minnesota Duluth, Dropkin, now 30, became a licensed realtor, working across northern Minnesota and Wisconsin while competing internationally. Cory Thiesse, a Minnesota-based curler who earned silver with Dropkin in mixed doubles curling on Tuesday, works full-time in wastewater testing at an environmental lab. Thiesse's role involves testing water for mercury levels. "That really is helpful for getting time off to go compete, and I just feel really grateful to have a job that pays the bills while I'm able to go and compete in curling," Thiesse, 31, told KARE11. Paige Jones' Olympic schedule ran alongside online coursework in biomedical engineering at the University of North Dakota. "It gives me something to think about when I'm not on the hill. I don't want to be ruminating about ski jumping all the time — it's so easy to get in your head, especially when the jump only lasts about five seconds." Born and raised in Park City, Utah, Jones started downhill skiing at age 3 before discovering ski jumping at 9 through a school program. She progressed to international competitions as a teenager. Her breakthrough came at the 2021 FIS Nordic World Championships, where she became the first woman to jump an Olympic large hill at a world championships event, per Team USA. After missing the Beijing Olympics due to an injury, Jones, now 23, rebuilt her form and earned a spot on Team USA for the 2026 Games. Cleveland-born boxer Morelle McCane, 31, started boxing at 17, then pieced together a rotation of quick jobs while working toward the Paris Olympics. "You just have to find what you can for the moment sometimes," McCane told the Chronicle in 2024, explaining that better-paying employers typically want longer commitments than an Olympic schedule allows. Peterson, 34, graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry in 2018 and now works as a dentist in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. "I've gotta get some hours in and get a paycheck," Peterson told KARE 11 in a recent interview, adding that there are many similarities between curling and pharmacy in that both require "intense focus and attention to detail." Keely Cashman's Olympic journey included coffee orders and espresso machines: The skier, 26, worked as a barista at her family's coffee shop in Strawberry, a small town of around 80 people in California. Alpine skiing can offer endorsement upside for some athletes, but outside the podium tier, income can fluctuate season to season. For Cashman, the coffee shop provided steady work between competitions and injuries. Austin Florian, 31, didn't grow up sliding headfirst down icy tracks. Florian graduated from Clarkson with an engineering degree and later worked in manufacturing engineering in Connecticut while pursuing national team status. By the time he qualified for the 2026 Games, Florian had turned into an elite starter, and he'd done it while holding down engineering work. "Like most sports, skiing has an offseason and I had to stay productive," he wrote on his website. In 2022, Business Insider reported that Wilson was selling pieces for roughly $100 to several hundred dollars. Chris Plys' Olympic timeline is punctuated by responsibility. His father died of cancer in 2012, and Plys left college to take over the family's food brokerage business. "It was the first major thing that I had gone through after the Olympics, and I just was forced to grow up fast," Plys told USA Today in 2022. In 2019, she also self-published a cookbook, "Mindful Meals," which chronicles her move to Salt Lake City and her learning to cook while training at an elite level. Long before women's skeleton made its Olympic debut, Lea Ann Parsley was responding to emergency calls in Ohio. Around the same time, she was quietly making history in a different arena — she became the first American skeleton athlete to win a World Cup medal. She joined the US Skeleton Team in 1998 and quickly rose through the ranks, eventually earning seven World Cup medals. Her silver medal remains one of the biggest achievements in American women's sliding sports. Vermont native Susan Dunklee built one of the most successful American biathlon careers of her generation while studying and working in environmental science. As a member of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project in Vermont, she promoted sustainability, alongside endurance sports, in her community. She has also helped coach other biathlon athletes. Before Alex Deibold stood on an Olympic podium, he was helping other riders get there. In 2014, ESPN reported that Deibold attended the 2010 Vancouver Games as a technician for the US snowboardcross team: waxing, tuning, and preparing boards for competition. Deibold won bronze in snowboardcross at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, completing one of the more unlikely arcs of that Olympic cycle.

Lyft CEO David Risher defended the company's fourth-quarter results Wednesday, telling CNBC that consumer demand remains strong. "We have record profits, generated over a billion dollars in cash, and that's a result of our customer-obsessed strategy, which just keeps working and growing the company," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "So, love what we're seeing, and really no softness on the consumer side at all." Shares sank 15% Wednesday as ridership numbers disappointed Wall Street. The ride-sharing company reported 29.2 million active riders for the quarter, falling short of 29.5 million expected by analysts. Risher highlighted Lyft teen accounts and the company's acquisition of European taxi app FreeNow as future growth drivers for the company. Lyft's launch of teen accounts on Monday came more than two years after rival Uber. As robotaxis continue to expand, Risher noted Lyft's planned autonomous vehicle rollout. "We'll be starting to bring some of their technology, some of their self-driving cars onto the roads in places like Nashville, [Tennessee], in 2026." Lyft's fourth-quarter revenue fell in line with expectations at an adjusted $1.76 billion. The company reported an adjusted 16 cents in earnings per share, beating expectations of 12 cents. Risher also drew attention to Lyft demand during the Super Bowl, which he said had 13% to 15% volume growth year over year, with faster pickups and lower surge pricing than competitors. Got a confidential news tip? 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.

Every time Jake 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. The US military intercepted Mexican cartel drones that breached US airspace, a Trump administration official said on Wednesday, explaining why the government made the rare decision to temporarily restrict flights over El Paso. It's unclear how the US military disabled the cartel drones — whether they were shot down or jammed with electronic warfare technology — or if they were carrying any drugs. A social media account for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, which advises Pentagon leadership on cutting-edge technology, published a photo showing what appears to be a laser destroying a small drone with the caption "defend the homeland," suggesting that directed energy may have been involved in the El Paso incident. Fort Bliss, a major US Army installation in El Paso, could not immediately be reached for comment on the incident. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a social media post that the FAA and Pentagon "acted swiftly" to address what he described as a "cartel drone incursion." The FAA earlier issued a surprise notice shutting down the airspace above El Paso, a major city in west Texas on the US-Mexico border, and halting all flights up to 18,000 feet for 10 days due to "special security reasons." The restrictions went into effect from 11:30 p.m. MT on Tuesday and were scheduled to last until the same time on February 20. It did not offer more details about the situation. Rep. Veronica Escobar, whose congressional district includes El Paso, called the FAA's decision "unprecedented." However, the FAA said shortly before 7 a.m. MT on Wednesday that the temporary airspace closure over El Paso had been lifted, adding that "all flights will resume as normal." These concerns are top of mind among Western countries following a string of drone incursions across Europe near the end of 2025, during which Russian drones violated the airspace of multiple NATO states and unidentified drones were spotted above critical infrastructure — including airports — in other allied countries.

Cloudflare's stock gained 5% Wednesday after the company beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter estimates and issued upbeat guidance as artificial intelligence adoption fuels demand for its networking and security tools. In an earnings call with analysts Tuesday, CEO Matthew Prince said the rise of AI and agentic tools that can carry out tasks on a user's behalf has driven more demand to Cloudflare's networking and security offerings Prince said the company is seeing a boost from a "fundamental re-platforming" of the internet. The global networking and cloud provider reported adjusted earnings of 28 cents per share on $615 million in revenue. That topped the 27 cents per share and $591 million in revenue expected by analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue jumped 34% from a year ago. Cloudflare also provided strong guidance, calling for revenue in the range of $620 million and $621 million during the first quarter, ahead of the $614 million expected by analysts. Last month, the viral rise of Moltbot, an open-source AI personal assistant built on Anthropic's Claude model, lifted shares of Cloudflare as the company's edge infrastructure and security platform proved effective for running the agents.The cybersecurity company then released its own Moltworker platform, especially for securely running the Moltbot. The "continued proliferation of AI agents benefits Cloudflare and its Workers platform as AI agents require low-latency, secure inferencing that often scales up and scales down and is close to the user or 'edge' of the network," wrote analysts at RBC Capital Markets last month. Prince, who also co-founded the company, said Cloudflare finished 2025 with 4.5 million active human developers. 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.

The House is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a resolution disapproving of President Donald Trump's tariffs against Canada, in what could amount to a blow to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and a rebuke of the president's signature economic policy. The tariff resolution, introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., will be considered a day after a procedural vote on a rule that would have barred House challenges to Trump's tariffs failed with the support of three Republican members. "The Speaker continues to abdicate his responsibilities, ceding Congress's Article I authority to Donald Trump," Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement posted to X on Tuesday. "Republicans now face a clear choice: go on the record and join Democrats in ending these cost-raising tariffs, or keep forcing American families to pay for them." A vote on Trump's tariffs will force House Republicans to choose between loyalty to the president and striking down economic policy that many in the GOP conference do not like. Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., and Don Bacon, R-Neb., bucked Trump and GOP leaders on Tuesday by voting with every Democrat to defeat a rule that would have blocked House votes on Trump's tariffs through July 31. "I don't like putting the important work of the House on pause, but Congress needs to be able to debate on tariffs. Tariffs have been a 'net negative' for the economy and are a significant tax that American consumers, manufacturers, and farmers are paying," Bacon posted to X after the Tuesday vote. Because of the razor-thin GOP majority in the House, Johnson can afford to lose only one Republican vote if all Democrats are present and vote in favor of the resolution to end Trump's Canada tariff. "This is life with a razor-thin majority," Johnson said in a Wednesday morning appearance on Fox Business. "I think it's a big mistake. I don't think we need to go down the road of trying to limit the president's power while he is in the midst of negotiating America-first trade agreements with nations around the world." We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

CNBC is now accepting nominations for the 2026 Disruptor 50 list. Apptronik has raised $520 million in funding at a $5 billion valuation as the startup aims to commercialize its humanoid Apollo robots, potentially beating Chinese competitors and Tesla's Optimus to the market. B Capital, chaired by Howard Morgan, co-led the deal with Google. Located in Austin, Texas, where Tesla is also headquartered, Apptronik is reeling in cash to refine and start producing more of its Apollo humanoids, CEO Jeff Cardenas told CNBC. Early versions of the company's Apollo robots are currently working within designated areas in factories and warehouses run by Apptronik strategic partners, including Mercedes-Benz, GXO Logistics and Jabil. The designated areas are defined by external sensors and so-called light curtains, Cardenas said, meaning an Apollo in the area will pause if a human steps across a boundary. Cardenas said that in the future, the Apollo will be engineered for "collaborative safety," so the humanoids can slow down, stop, or maneuver alongside other people, just as a human would, while performing tasks like transporting components, sorting and lifting. Apptronik's competitors include a wide array of humanoid developers, such as China-based Unitree, Figure, Agility Robotics and 1X. Tesla has grand ambitions with Optimus, one of the reasons it's planning to shell out $20 billion on capex in 2026. But in a recent earnings call, CEO Elon Musk said the Optimus humanoids remain in an early, research and development stage. Cardenas said that within the field of automation, the allure of humanoids is their versatility, which allows "one robot to do thousands of tasks, versus a thousand robots doing a single task." From pilot deployments, Apptronik is able to observe its Apollo in action, gather data from its fleet and use that to refine its systems and the way they work. The new funding comes after Apptronik locked in a partnership with Google DeepMind and began working with its Gemini Robotics AI models, which underpin Apollo's capabilities. Apptronik ranked 33rd on the 2025 CNBC Disruptor 50 list. Cardenas said the company will use some of the fresh capital to expand its footprint in Austin, and open a new office in California later this year, while working to get its robots and facilities ready for mass production. Unlike Musk, who's known for making lofty promises, Cardenas prefers not to make many public predictions about Apollo. He declined to say when the robots will be widely produced and what capabilities they will have when they first ship. Apptronik will reveal more later this year about what its robots will and won't be able to do, Cardenas said. Morgan was more forthcoming about his expectations for the company, and said demand for the Apollo is already apparent. He said he expects orders for $1 billion worth of robots starting in 2027, when he hopes the company will be delivering Apollo in high volumes for roughly $80,000 a year, about the price of a luxury car. "Think about a factory worker doing three or four shifts, and on any weekend," Morgan said. WATCH: How LG, 1X, Tesla and others plan to bring robots into your home Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

The Federal Aviation Administration abruptly grounded all flights in and out of El Paso International Airport in Texas for 10 days starting Wednesday morning, citing "special security" instructions — and then lifted the order hours later. A Trump administration official said the Department of Defense disabled Mexican cartel drones that had breached U.S. airspace and that there was no threat to commercial air travel currently. "The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted," the FAA said in a post on X. "There is no threat to commercial aviation. The airport sits next to Biggs Army Airfield and is near the Mexican border, about 12 miles from Juarez, Mexico. Flights were initially halted until late Feb. 20 and the ban applied to a 10-nautical-mile area around the airport. While the FAA regularly halts flights at airports for weather, traffic or even rocket launches, a security issue is highly unusual, as is announcing such a long effective airspace closure. El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson called the temporary grounding a "major and unnecessary disruption" and called for better communication from the federal government. "While we're not happy with the disruption, we commend the FAA for taking swift action to protect travelers and ensure the safety of U.S. airspace," they said in a joint statement. "We look forward to pursuing a bipartisan solution that strengthens interagency coordination and ensures that the Department of Defense will not jeopardize safety and disrupt the freedom to travel." U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat whose district includes much of El Paso, said the move to suddenly close airspace was "unprecedented." "There was no advance notice provided to my office, the City of El Paso, or anyone involved in airport operations," she said in a statement. Nearly 3.5 million passengers passed through the airport in the first 11 months of 2025 and it is served by Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines and Frontier Airlines, according to airport data. There were 1,314 departures scheduled for the El Paso airport this month, according to aviation data firm Cirium, including about 40 departures on Wednesday. Southwest has 23 flights scheduled at the airport Wednesday, out of more than 3,000 systemwide. The airline said Wednesday it is resuming operations to and from El Paso and encouraged travelers to check its website for updated information. "Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of its Customers and Employees," it said. United said it didn't cancel any flights and that it canceled an earlier travel waiver. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Two cofounders and several other employees have announced their departures from Elon Musk's AI startup in the past few days. It comes after Musk announced last week that xAI would merge with his rocket company, SpaceX, in a deal the billionaire said would help the joint entity build a network of AI data centers in space. That could be a major boost for xAI, which reportedly burned through billions of dollars last year. Since then, around half of the company's cofounders have left, and xAI has faced global backlash over sexual images of real people generated on X by Grok, the startup's AI chatbot. Here's everyone who has left xAI in the company's most recent exodus. Business Insider has contacted xAI and each of the following employees for comment. xAI cofounder Tony Wu announced his resignation from the company on Tuesday. In a post on X, the former Google researcher said it was time for his "next chapter" and thanked Musk for "the ride of a lifetime." Business Insider's Grace Kay previously reported that Wu began reporting directly to Musk last year and led xAI's reasoning efforts. Hang Gao, a member of technical staff, also announced in an X post on Tuesday that he had left xAI. Vahid Kazemi, a member of xAI's technical staff, said on X on February 11 that he had left the company a few weeks prior. IMO, all AI labs are building the exact same thing, and it's boring. Kazemi joined xAI last year and, before that, worked at OpenAI. "Will be taking a few months to spend time with family & tinker with AI," he wrote in a post on X. Jaiswal joined xAI in September 2025, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before that, he was head of growth at Scale AI. Shayan Salehian said on February 7 that he was leaving after a seven-year stint across Twitter and X to build something new. "Working closely with Elon across X and xAI, I saw what happens when you refuse to accept impossible as an answer," he wrote on X. "Today is my last day at xAI, feeling very fortunate about the opportunity. It has been an amazing journey," he wrote in a brief departure post on X. Before xAI, Zhai was a research scientist at Google DeepMind.

The world's second-largest brewer reported lackluster earnings on Wednesday, with total beer volumes declining 2.4% over the course of 2025, while adjusted operating profit was up 4.4%. The company also said it plans to cut between 5,000 and 6,000 roles over the next two years and is targeting operating profit growth in the range of 2% to 6% this year. Outgoing CEO Dolf van den Brink told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Wednesday that the results were due to "challenging market circumstances," but performance was overall well-balanced. Heineken's outlook for 2026 comes in below the usual range but "is in line with buyside expectations and consistent with peer Carlsberg, and prudent in light of a new incoming," UBS analysts said in a note on Wednesday. Regarding the cuts, Van den Brink said: "Productivity has been a top priority in our evergreen strategy... we committed to 400 to 500 million euros ($476 million to $600 million) of savings on an annual basis, and this is a first operationalization of that debt commitment." The job reductions will help the brewer to invest in growth and in its premium brands, he said. Van den Brink acknowledged that the cuts came "partly also due to AI, or let's say digitization." "That's a very big part of our EverGreen 2030 strategy, with around 3,000 roles moving to our business services, where technology digitization in general, and AI specifically, will be an important part of ongoing productivity savings," he said. The EverGreen 2030 strategy focuses on three core areas, including accelerating growth, increasing productivity, and future-fit. Van den Brink is due to step down from his leadership position in May after six years at the helm. Heineken is currently searching for a successor. AI layoffs have dominated headlines over the past year, and remain a top focus for businesses and leaders going into 2026. Firms that cited AI in layoffs in 2025 range from Amazon, which announced 15,000 cuts last year, to Salesforce, with CEO Marc Benioff saying he let go of 4,000 customer support workers as AI was supposedly doing 50% of the work at the company. Some European companies that cited AI in restructuring strategies were airline group Lufthansa and tech consultancy firm Accenture. Kristalina Georgieva, managing director at the International Monetary Fund, told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in January that AI is "hitting the labor market like a tsunami" and warned that "most countries and most businesses are not prepared for it." — CNBC's Steve Sedgwick, Karen Tso, and Ben Boulos contributed to this report. Correction: This story has been updated to correct the U.S. dollar conversion of Heineken's planned annual savings. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Kraft Heinz on Wednesday said it is pausing work on its previously announced plans to split the company. CEO Steve Cahillane, who joined Kraft Heinz in January, said in a statement that many of the company's issues are "fixable and within our control." "My number one priority is returning the business to profitable growth, which will require ensuring all resources are fully focused on the execution of our operating plan," he said. "As a result, we believe it is prudent to pause work related to the separation and we will no longer incur related dis-synergies this year." The investment will also go toward "product superiority and select pricing," according to Cahillane. While investors originally cheered the merger, the luster faded as the combined company's U.S. sales slipped, and it wrote down many of its iconic brands, like Oscar Mayer and Maxwell House. For at least six years, Kraft Heinz has been in turnaround mode, trying to revive its U.S. business. Berkshire Hathaway, under new CEO Greg Abel, has since taken a formal step toward unwinding its 28% stake in Kraft Heinz. "We support CEO Steve Cahillane and the Kraft Heinz Board of Directors' decision, under Steve's new leadership, to pause work on the company's previously planned separation. As a result, management can commit to strengthening Kraft Heinz's ability to compete and serve customers," Abel said in a statement. For years, Kraft Heinz has underinvested in its brands, and executives appeared unwilling to change that strategy, Piper Sandler analyst Michael Lavery wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday. "This appears to have changed with the hiring Steve Cahillane, who has reshaped KHC's 2026 plans (and proposed split) much more significantly than we had expected in just the six weeks since he started as KHC's CEO," Lavery said. "We still believe this remains a 'show me' story, and that this is only the first step in getting KHC in a position for sustainable growth, which still looks unlikely to come soon." Kraft Heinz announced Cahillane's hiring in December. He previously led Kellogg through its own breakup and then headed Kellanova, itself a spinoff, until its sale to Mars. Shares of Kraft Heinz fell as much as 5% in early trading before rebounding to trade essentially flat. "Investors will view this negatively because it indicates that the businesses are not in strong enough condition to operate on a standalone basis, and it is uncertain when they will," TD Cowen analyst Robert Moskow wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday. The announcement Wednesday came alongside Kraft Heinz's quarterly earnings release. The company's earnings topped Wall Street's estimates, but its revenue fell short of analysts' projections. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Every time Madeline 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. One year before he was charged with sex trafficking, Jeffrey Epstein was planning a major renovation of his private islands, Little St. James and Great St. James, documents newly released by the Department of Justice reveal. Hundreds of pages of emails, contracts, and renderings in the Epstein files give insight into his plans for the islands, one of which has become notorious for the sexual abuse that prosecutors allege occurred there, as well as an inside look into his exacting nature. Over the course of eight months, Epstein paid at least $150,000 to Florida-based design firm Radyca for architectural and interior plans. Epstein fired the firm in June 2018, emails show. Every time Madeline publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Madeline 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. Various schematics, proposals, and designs — as well as the correspondence about them — reveal how Epstein imagined the properties. The plans for the two islands included a "ladies' residence" and master retreat in proximity, as well as a cinema, a "funhouse point," and various other guest pavilions and outbuildings. Epstein also gave several notes on the 7,700-square-foot master retreat. In one email, Alonso wrote that "we completely isolated the bedroom from any noise or daylight as requested." In another, Epstein said he didn't want guests above his bedroom and that his bedroom windows didn't need to open any more than to "air out the place." "i might add that the cost incurred to date. with virutally nothing to show for it," Epstein wrote in a May 2018 email, with his usual idiosyncratic punctuation. In other emails, he called the designs "silly," said he was "shocked and disappointed," and told Alonso that the firm had created "nothing at all . By June 2018, relations appeared to reach a tipping point. "Please understand that I don't mind changing direction as many times as it's needed to your full satisfaction and I also really like you and working with you but I don't appreciate when you diminish our work," Alonso wrote in an email to Epstein. Little St. James was central to the disgraced financier's sex-trafficking operation, according to witness testimony included in the US's 2019 case accusing Epstein of sexual abuse and trafficking of underage girls. Epstein pleaded not guilty and died by suicide in jail that year while awaiting trial. The settlement did not include any admission of guilt. Epstein purchased the 72-acre Little St. James in 1998 for $7.95 million. In 2016, he added the 162-acre Great St. James to his portfolio for $22.5 million, according to deeds included in the Epstein files. The buyer, billionaire Stephen Deckoff, has said he plans to transform them into a luxury resort. Throughout his decades on the Little St. James — often referred to as Little St. Jeff's — Epstein hosted famous and powerful figures. LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, Google cofounder Sergey Brin, and Howard Lutnick had plans to visit Little St. James, according to emails in the latest batch of Epstein files. The island had a reputation for parties and, in Epstein's words, "a ratio" of men to women that could make women "uncomfortable." "What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?" Over the years, Epstein embarked on several redesign projects, documents and emails included in the Epstein files show, hiring architects, surveyors, and decorators. "We even shipped in sand and palm trees and all kinds of things to get the island to what he wanted it to be," she said, answering the judge's questions about the scope of her work on the island. Jacob Shamsian contributed reporting to this story.

Every time William 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. Over the last half-decade, perhaps no one has personified the archetype of a finance bro more than Mark Moran. He posts on X about his preferred loafers. In 2024, he told Business Insider about his love for Zyn. After stints at investment banking like Lazard and Centerview Partners, Moran first gained notoriety after being selected as a contestant on HBO's Fboy Island reality dating show in 2021. He then became the first employee of the popular financial meme account Litquidity before launching his own investor relations firm, Equity Animal, in 2022. Despite being a prominent face for millennials in finance, the 33-year-old said his experience is fueling his move away from the industry and into politics. "We have a captured legislative branch," he said. "I'm very much against the control that Wall Street has been able to have over politicians." Moran also wants to take on a Wall Street darling right now: AI data centers, which are fueling the AI buildout that's helped drive the S&P 500 up by 94% since late 2022. He's proposing a tax on data centers that would fund community colleges. "Someone is gonna come in, pay for the campaign of a Republican who's quote-unquote business-friendly, and they're gonna give designation as critical infrastructure to win our war of AI against China — which I want to happen, but the people are not going to get anything in return," Moran said. "If we were to put a compute tax on the data centers, over the next 10 years, that could be $100 billion, if not more," he continued. "That would be enough to entirely change the community college system to make it so that we could have universal community college."

Every time Naomi publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Enter your email By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. AI disruption fears sparked a tech sell-off last week, with the software sector getting slammed, but JPMorgan thinks the big drop has created an opportunity to buy the dip in a handful of stocks. Analysts highlighted several software names they believe are well-positioned despite AI disruption concerns that have dragged the sector to "deeply pessimistic levels." "Within Technology, this perceived risk of disruption has driven sell-offs in both Quality and Speculative Growth Software names indiscriminately," the analysts wrote. The analysts say the reasons investors should buy the dip include: Here are some of JPMorgan's "AI-Resilient" software stock picks that could weather renewed disruption fears. Jump to

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. The warning comes after Ukraine's defense ministry reached a deal with SpaceX earlier this month to cut off Russia's access to Starlink by blocking general connectivity across Ukrainian territory. "Cases of threats and demands to officially register Starlink terminals have been recorded," it added. Every time Matthew publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Matthew 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. The sweeping move aimed to curb a black-market loophole that Russian forces were exploiting. In compliance with US sanctions, SpaceX doesn't do business with Russia, but Ukraine has repeatedly said that Russian troops were obtaining terminals and using them to guide attack and reconnaissance drones. "For the enemy, Starlink is so important that they have deployed a whole network to search for traitors who are ready to register Starlink for themselves in the Central Administrative Service," wrote Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, a drone analyst and an advisor to Ukraine's defense ministry, in a Telegram statement on Sunday. Some have blamed Moscow for what they called a reliance on Western technology, even as the US and Europe explicitly back Ukraine. "It's about to suddenly become clear that units cannot operate effectively without communications. That'll be news to some in high places," one blogger, under the handle Belarusian Silovik, wrote. Denying Russian access to Starlink had long been a priority for Ukraine's new defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, who had previously advocated such measures while serving as minister for digital transformation.

Every time Shubhangi 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. Prediction markets are hot — and about to get even hotter, says Robinhood's CEO. "We're just at the beginning of a prediction market supercycle that could drive trillions in annual volume over time," he said. Olympics are going on right now, World Cup coming in the summer." Supercycles refer to sustained, long-term periods of expansion spurred by high demand for a product. Companies like Kalshi, Polymarket, and, recently, Robinhood let users bet on the outcomes of events such as elections, sports matches, and pop culture events. In August, Robinhood launched its prediction markets offering, which lets users trade on the outcome of popular NFL and college football games. It has since expanded into bets on categories like the Oscars and elections. "You're also seeing relevant non-sports contracts generating significant volume," he said. Prediction markets are a small but quickly growing slice of Robinhood's overall revenue. Tuesday's financial results showed that "other" revenue, which includes prediction markets, rose from $72 million to $147 million between the third quarter and fourth quarter of 2025. Shares of the investing platform fell over 7% in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Every time Lee Chong Ming publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. Wall Street may be getting the AI trade wrong, says Dan Ives, a Wedbush analyst and longtime tech bull. But software is where the real use cases and monetization will emerge, he added. Every time Lee Chong Ming publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Lee Chong Ming and get more of their work as it publishes. By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. These companies are deeply embedded in enterprise stacks, with hundreds of thousands of customers, Ives said, adding that their AI use cases could unlock incremental revenue over the next six to 18 months that investors are not yet pricing in. Large, entrenched platforms should not be compared to smaller players that serve small and medium-sized businesses. "You cannot paint all of them with the same brush," Ives said. Ives' comments came after software stocks tumbled last week amid investor fears that AI could disrupt large swaths of the industry. Not all tech and finance leaders think AI will replace traditional software companies. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dismissed that idea at a Cisco AI event last week. "There's this notion that the tool industry is in decline and will be replaced by AI," Huang said. Ives also wrote in an industry note published last week that the "software armageddon" can be regarded as a tech stock "garage sale." "We believe the market is baking in a doomsday scenario for software companies in the near-term, which we believe is extremely overblown, as many customers won't be willing to put their data at risk to capitalize on AI implementation strategies until there is less risk with these migration projects," Ives and his analysts wrote. Ives has long urged investors to buy tech dips, even as critics caution that AI enthusiasm may be running ahead of earnings and real-world adoption.