Author: Editor

Leopold Aschenbrenner (L) and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.Photo: Josh Edelson (L) | Oscar Molina (R)Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan on Wednesday called the recent near-collapse of high-flying AI hedge fund Situational Awareness a warning shot for financial markets that are being fueled by elevated valuations and borrowed money.Last week, Situational Awareness, led by Leopold Aschenbrenner, was forced to offload most of its public equities to Citadel in a fire sale as its bets on artificial intelligence soured. Bank of America was among the firm’s prime brokers, executing trades and providing leverage to the fund, along with Goldman…

Four McKinsey & Co partners sit down around a table. One wears Chanel jewelry and a pantsuit; another a casual, billowy shirt. Several hands sport Oura rings, silently tracking their wearers’ heart rates.There’s no punchline here — only a massive promotion. When we spoke in late June, this quartet was a week away from joining the top tier of McKinsey as senior partners or distinguished partners. It’s a level few people make it to: While McKinsey has more than 2,500 partners globally and typically adds around 200 partners every year, it added roughly 60 senior partners this year.Consulting partners can…

Adam Mosseri wants you to free the knee.As summer temperatures rise, corporate workers may be tempted to swap their khakis for an easy pair of shorts. It’s stirred up a long-running dispute around corporate etiquette: are shorts in the office a sign of freedom, or just plain indecent?The head of Instagram stands firmly with shorts-wearers. On the podcast “Throwing Fits,” Mosseri said that there was a “hot debate” in the company’s office.”I’m pro,” Mosseri said. “But not everyone can pull them off, and not all shorts are created equal.”He doubled down: “I’m definitely pro. When it hits, it hits. But,…

Every time a star investor implodes, Warren Buffett looks a little smarter.Leopold Aschenbrenner, 24, a Columbia valedictorian and former OpenAI researcher, was the toast of Wall Street after building a $45 billion hedge fund in under two years, and notching a 1,000% gain since inception this spring.But disaster struck his firm, Situational Awareness, in late July. A sharp downswing in AI stocks triggered margin calls from the firm’s lenders, forcing a fire sale of most of its publicly traded stock portfolio to Ken Griffin’s Citadel.Buffett, 95, who retired as Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO at the turn of the year, successfully avoided…

Ken Griffin’s investment firm is the most profitable hedge fund in history, has been running for more than 35 years, and has invested in complex situations around the world.So if the $71 billion firm is setting new records, it’s pretty notable.Citadel had its best-ever month in its stand-alone stock-picking fund thanks primarily to its deal to purchase a bulk of Situational Awareness’s public portfolio last week. The deal, at a 10% discount, sent the holdings such as CoreWeave, SK Hynix, and Bloom Energy soaring, fueling Citadel’s gains.In July, the firm’s stock-picking fund was up 14.2%, a record for Griffin’s firm,…

Ads designed to influence AI agents rather than human consumers are emerging as a new marketing channel. They’re also opening up a new brand safety battleground.The big outstanding question: Once the AI platforms get wise to brands advertising to their crawlers, will they play ball or try to stamp out the practice?Here’s an example of how these ads function: Adtech startup Mobian recently worked with the publisher Time to serve “Agent Ads” for brands including Ally Bank and the Project Management Institute.Previously, Time had created stripped-down, text-only versions of its webpages that AI agents could read more efficiently. Time then…

Disney pleased both Wall Street and TikTok fans as it reported its first full quarter under CEO Josh D’Amaro.Shares rose over 3% in early trading after the Mouse House posted strong earnings for the quarter that ended June 27.Adjusted diluted earnings per share were up 28% year-over-year to $2.06, higher than analysts’ estimate of $1.86 per share. Streaming operating income more than doubled to $712 million this quarter, while operating income in Experiences rose 20% to over $3 billion.Revenue increased 7% year-over-year to $25.25 billion, which was just below the estimate of $25.39 billion from analysts polled by Bloomberg.Disney also…

The Eli Lilly logo appears on the company’s office in San Diego, California, Nov. 21, 2025.Mike Blake | ReutersEli Lilly on Wednesday reported second-quarter earnings and revenue that blew past estimates and hiked its full-year sales outlook, as demand for its blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro surged again. The pharmaceutical giant now expects 2026 revenue to come in between $85 billion and $87 billion, up from a previous guidance of $82 billion to $85 billion.Lilly projects its full-year adjusted profit to be between $35.50 and $36.50 per share, which compares with a previous outlook of $35.50 to…

CVS Health on Wednesday blew past second-quarter earnings and revenue estimates and raised its 2026 guidance, as its insurance unit Aetna shows signs of recovery. CVS, which operates the nation’s largest pharmacy chain, sees full-year adjusted profit coming in between $7.90 and $8.10 per share. That’s up from a previous guidance of $7.30 to $7.50 per share. The company also expects revenue of at least $414 billion in 2026, up from its prior outlook of at least $405 billion.In a release, CVS said the higher profit guidance reflects increases in its insurance and retail pharmacy segment, but noted that the company is…

The turning point for former FBI agent Jana Monroe came when her husband couldn’t find a single kitchen knife in their home.Monroe had spent years studying serial killers, violent crime scenes, and the psychology behind some of the country’s most disturbing crimes. By then, she realized she had started bringing those cases home with her.”I’d been working several cases where a knife was involved,” said Monroe, who spent over 20 years as an FBI agent across several units. “They were all stabbing victims, and all of them, the offender had come in and used their own knives — the victim’s…