Author: Editor

Health insurance costs are going up, and it’s especially rough for workers at small businesses.A new annual survey of employers and their health benefits from KFF found that small-business workers pay more for family coverage than workers at firms of every other size. At the same time, many of these workers have fewer plan choices than at larger firms, meaning they’re often stuck with whatever option their employer selected.From 2025 to 2026, annual worker contributions for family coverage at firms with 10 to 199 workers increased from $8,889 to $9,687, a 9% increase. While the largest firms saw a sharper…

People vote at a polling location at Los Angeles’ Metro Headquarters Building during California’s state primary on June 2, 2026. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption i Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images A federal judge in California is putting limits on pre-election field operations conducted by the Department of Homeland Security that the agency says is aimed at trying to find noncitizens who have illegally voted in nine states. In recent weeks, armed Homeland Security Investigations officers have carried out field operations and visited homes to interview people suspected of illegally voting as noncitizens. The…

Moderna shares dropped as much as 25% on Thursday following the leak of partial data on its closely watched cancer vaccine developed with Merck. Shares of both drugmakers fell even though the data, released in full later Thursday following the leak, appeared meaningful for patients and positive relative to Wall Street expectations. The personalized vaccine, known as intismeran autogene, paired with Merck’s immunotherapy Keytruda reduced the risk of recurrence or death in certain melanoma patients by 42% compared with Keytruda alone. The data also showed that the shot along with Keytruda reduced the risk of cancer spreading to distant parts…

Having a job doesn’t always mean you have enough to cover daily living or savings goals. A July survey of Americans by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and the behavioral economics firm Escalent found over 60% of respondents have worked outside their primary roles, largely because they needed to. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said work covers their expenses, but it’s tough to get ahead.”Employment remains essential for retirement security, but for many Americans, it is no longer sufficient,” a Goldman Sachs Asset Management retirement report said.Gen Zers were most likely to say they earn or have earned money outside their primary…

David Ellison, co-CEO of Skydance Corp., and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Kent Nishimura | AFP | Getty ImagesElon Musk has made an investment in Skydance of roughly $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The financial injection comes as the company looks to cut costs. Paramount closed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Oct. 6, naming the combined entity Skydance. Co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz are tasked with merging two major film studios in Paramount and Warner…

The war isn’t over, but it may have peaked.Hedge funds have been fighting one another for years for top traders. The surge of assets into the industry, in particular into the people-heavy multi-strategy platforms, has given firms essentially a blank check to bring in top PMs. It’s driven compensation figures through the roof, with funds guaranteeing tens of millions of dollars to investing talent before they’ve made a single trade.But new research from Goldman Sachs found that hiring among these multi-strategy and multi-manager funds has slowed, relative to the amount of assets they’ve brought in over the past 12 months.…

A staff member is seen at a Taco Bell restaurant in London.May James | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesPepsiCo and Taco Bell renewed their long-running partnership through 2036, the food and beverage company said Thursday.The announcement comes one week after Taco Bell’s sister chain, KFC, said that it will switch to Coca-Cola as its U.S. beverage supplier. While it is unusual for large restaurant chains to change drink providers, the move is not unprecedented, as Coke and Pepsi try to win contracts through perks and other inducements. Coke’s win over Pepsi was more symbolic, representing another example of how…

The latest push into high-end travel is taking place on the high seas, as cruise lines increasingly lean on luxury offerings. On Regent’s Seven Seas Splendor, an all-luxury ship, cabins cost anywhere from $1,800 to $15,000 per night for its top-of-the-line booking, the Regent Suite.The difference is not just the roughly 5,100 square feet of space. The top-tier suite has a Steinway piano, a private dining room and a wraparound deck with a hot tub and a view comparable to the one from the ship’s bridge. Multiple passengers wanted the suite for the Splendor’s 151-night global cruise that embarks in…

Supporters of California’s proposed billionaire tax say it could raise about $100 billion. But a new paper puts the takings closer to $30 billion and warns that the state could ultimately lose money if its richest residents flee.Proposition 40, which goes before voters on November 3, would impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires who were California residents on January 1, 2026, with their wealth valued at the end of the year. Most of the tax proceeds would go toward healthcare.In a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper released this week, Stanford economists Benjamin Jaros and Joshua Rauh estimate…

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg threatened to move out of California if residents of the state approve a first-of-its-kind billionaire wealth tax when voters head to the polls on Nov. 3, the company said in a new regulatory filing. Because of his concerns over the wealth tax, Zuckerberg told Meta that he was “evaluating relocating his primary residence outside California and that steps toward any such relocation, including any listing of his residential real estate in California on the market, would be public and inevitably noted and commented upon by company employees and, accordingly, raise questions for management of the company going forward,” the…