Author: Editor

Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media and Technology Conference at the Sun Valley Resort in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 8, 2025.David A. Grogan | CNBCDETROIT — General Motors is proving to be a star tightrope walker when it comes to balancing its profits, vehicle portfolio and political whiplashing under the Trump administration.The Detroit automaker’s 2025 results propelled GM’s stock Tuesday to a fresh record high as the company beat earnings expectations and projected an even better 2026, including a 20% increase in its dividend and a new $6 billion stock…

The fatal shooting this weekend of a second American citizen by federal immigration agents in Minnesota has forced corporate leaders to do something they’ve rarely done since President Donald Trump returned to office last year: publicly disagree with his policies.For months, executives have kept quiet as the Trump administration expanded its sprawling immigration crackdown. The Department of Homeland Security in recent weeks has sent thousands of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents into Minnesota, leading to violent clashes with protestors.It wasn’t until the Jan. 24 killing of intensive care unit nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents that…

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.Many investment firms of ultra-rich families are keen to buy stakes in private companies directly rather than through private equity funds, which come with fees and less control.Cutting out the middleman can come at a steep cost, though, and requires hiring an in-house investment team to source proprietary deals. But family offices have found a way to have their cake and eat it too by backing PE funds while…

Comcast posted mixed results for its fourth quarter on Thursday, beating analyst expectations on earnings but slightly missing on revenue. Once again, Comcast’s broadband business showed signs of significant competition facing cable companies. Comcast said it lost 181,000 domestic broadband customers during the period, although it said the losses were offset by an increase in international subscribers. The company’s mobile offering remained a bright spot, notching 364,000 additions during the period and bringing its total to more than 9.3 million mobile customers for Comcast’s newest business. Last year, Comcast said it was shifting its strategy to focus more on growing its mobile business…

Starbucks is expected to release a long-term forecast and share more details about how it plans to hit those financial targets at an investor presentation held in New York City on Thursday.When Starbucks suspended its outlook in October 2024, its long-term forecast projected global same-store sales would grow at least 5%, revenue would climb at least 10% and earnings per share would rise at least 15%. Shares of Starbucks have fallen roughly 5% over the last year, dragging its market value down to about $108 billion. In addition to the company’s challenges, investors are concerned about the broader pullback in…

Elon Musk recently said that saving for retirement could become “irrelevant” in the next decade, as new technologies promise to create such an abundance of resources that nobody will need a nest egg.Dario Amodei warned this week that achieving a plentiful future won’t be easy. The CEO of Anthropic, the AI startup behind ChatGPT-rival Claude, wrote in an essay that AI promises to “raise the quality of life for everyone” — but there will be a brutal “rite of passage” to get there.Amodei said that at the current rate of progress, “it cannot possibly be more than a few years…

Editor’s note: After this story was published, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ended its “enhanced activities” in the state.After Andy Gerry and his business partners put a “No ICE” sign in the window of their lobster roll shop in Portland, Maine, backlash followed quickly.Gerry said dozens of bad reviews flooded the restaurant last week after lists circulated online of area businesses that had hung “No ICE” posters following the federal government’s announcement that it would increase immigration enforcement in the state.For Gerry and his co-owners at The Highroller Lobster Co., it was…

The Trump administration has focused its efforts on using funding to affect policies at elite schools. Getty Images/Photo illustration by Emily Bogle/NPR hide caption toggle caption Getty Images/Photo illustration by Emily Bogle/NPR A year ago, President Trump issued an executive order that put U.S. universities on notice. The Jan. 29, 2025, directive targeted antisemitism on campus and launched investigations at five schools — later widened to 60. But within weeks of the executive order, federal agencies started withholding billions of dollars in contracts and grants from several high-profile schools and pressuring them to align their policies more closely with Trump’s…

Last Friday, Minnesota business Catzen Coffee wasn’t open for purchases — but it did invite customers in to hang out with cats and find community as part of a statewide economic blackout to protest ramped-up ICE actions.This Friday, the general strike is going nationwide.At least that’s the aim of activist groups, unions, and some celebrities who have called for no work, school, or shopping after fatal shootings by immigration officers in recent weeks in Minnesota.In a post promoting a “National Shutdown,” actor Hannah Einbinder wrote on Instagram that “withholding our labor and capital is our most effective leverage. national general…

Angelo Warren has never poured as much hard liquor in his 10 years of bartending as he has over the past few months. Even this January, when there would typically be a pullback, has been pretty busy. His bar does a lot of corporate events where attendees drink for free, and people who would typically take it easy around their bosses are cutting loose. “I’ve had to cut off hosts of parties because they’re drinking too much,” Warren, who lives in Chicago, says.Outside of events, sales are barely down, and customers are leaning toward the heavy stuff. Last year was…