Author: josh
The mystery donor who offered $130 million to pay troops during the government shutdown is Timothy Mellon, sources told The New York Times on Saturday. The extremely private billionaire is a top Republican backer and contributed $125 million to the Make America Great Again super PAC that supported Donald Trump during his presidential bid last year. Trump announced the anonymous donation on Thursday, declining to name the benefactor, only saying that the individual was a “patriot” and a friend. When asked about Mellon on Friday, Trump declined to identify him as the donor while speaking to reporters. He said the…
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he plans to hike tariffs on imports of Canadian goods by an extra 10% because of an anti-tariff television ad aired by the province of Ontario. The ad used the words of former President Ronald Reagan to criticize U.S. tariffs, angering Trump who said he would end trade talks with Canada. Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford said he would pull the ad after the weekend, and it ran Friday night during the first game of the World Series. “Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World…
Vladimir Putin’s wartime economy has been resilient in the face of Western sanctions triggered by his invasion of Ukraine, but it’s hitting a wall and U.S. pressure on the energy sector could cause a recession, according to experts. Massive defense spending has propped up growth, kept factories humming, and pushed unemployment lower, while Moscow has relied on allies like China for goods no longer available from the West. “But the country has exhausted its reserves of manufacturing capacity and manpower,” Alexandra Prokopenko, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and former Russian central bank advisor, wrote in Foreign Affairs on…
Top U.S. and Chinese officials met in Malaysia on Saturday to lay the groundwork for a summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, with some on Wall Street saying Beijing overplayed its hand by imposing draconian restrictions on rare earth exports. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng held negotiations that the U.S. characterized as constructive. But sources told the Financial Times China was reluctant to ease the export controls. If Beijing refuses to budge and talks between Trump and Xi on Thursday don’t result in a deal to roll back export controls, U.S. tariffs on China…
For nearly three years, JPMorgan Chase has picking up the legal tab of Charlie Javice and Olivier Amar, the two convicted fraudsters who sold their financial aid startup Frank to the bank. But the two have racked up an astronomical, nine-figure legal bill that far exceeds any reasonable amount the two may have needed for their defense, the bank said in a court filing late Friday. Chase shouldn’t have to pay and its agreement as part of the startup purchase to shoulder the costs should end, the bank argued. According to the filing, Javice’s team of lawyers across five law…
A massive blast at a Tennessee explosives plant that killed 16 people, leveled the building and was felt more than 20 miles away began in an area where workers used kettles to produce a mixture of explosives and set off other explosives stored nearby, authorities said Friday.Investigators still haven’t been able to identify the remains of two of the people killed in the Oct. 10 explosion at the Accurate Energetic Systems factory in Bucksnort, an unincorporated community about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Nashville, officials said at a news conference.The delicate investigation at the site of the plant has concluded, but…
When I was an aerospace engineer working on the NASA Space Shuttle Program, trust was mission-critical. Every bolt, every line of code, every system had to be validated and tested carefully, or the shuttle would never leave the launchpad. After their missions, astronauts would walk through the office and thank the thousands of engineers for getting them back home safely to their families—that’s how deeply ingrained trust and safety were in our systems. Despite the “move fast and break things” rhetoric, tech should be no different. New technologies need to build trust before they can accelerate growth. By 2027, about…
Francis Suarez is proud that an adopted Miamian, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino, will be speaking at the upcoming America Business Forum—as will Infantino’s new chum, President Donald Trump. Suarez, who briefly ran a Republican presidential campaign in 2023, hailed Trump in comments to Fortune, calling the president “one of the most consequential political and business leaders of our time,” adding that his perspective on leadership, global business, and America’s role in the world “will be a defining part of this year’s Forum. We are honored to welcome him to Miami.” Suarez also told Fortune that he’s proud Miami is hosting…
For decades, telecommunications companies have been the quiet power behind the world’s digital transformation. They connect billions, fuel global commerce, and enable nearly every modern convenience. Yet despite that foundational role, telcos have often struggled to capture the consumer imagination or command the kind of loyalty enjoyed by tech and social media brands built on top of their networks. Today, two converging forces can change the equation: the rise of the creator economy and the rapid maturation of artificial intelligence. Together, they represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity for telcos to reinvent themselves not just as providers of connectivity, but as platforms for community and innovation. The Loyalty Challenge Telecom…
The Giving Pledge was designed to hold the world’s richest people accountable for donating at least half their fortunes in their lifetimes or wills–but so far, only John and Laura Arnold have actually done it. From well-known Wall Street energy trader to philanthropist, John Arnold began his career trading natural gas at Enron and later ran a hedge fund, Centaurus Partners. By 2012, he had retired and fully pivoted to philanthropy at 38 years old. The Arnolds have donated over $2 billion to date, and more than $204 million in 2024, according to Forbes. Currently, their net worth is around…