Author: Editor

Editor’s note: This piece originally ran on November 4, 2025, ahead of Zohran Mamdani’s electoral win. We are resharing the story on January 1, when he will be sworn in as mayor of New York City.If you read the tabloids, the eve of a potential Zohran Mamdani mayorality has turned Billionaire’s Row into 1975 Saigon, with everyone looking to hitch the last flight to Palm Beach.To put it more bluntly, the city’s wealthiest and most powerful business leaders have some qualms with Mamdani’s socialist platform.However, the story is not so simple, says Yasser Salem, a former McKinsey executive building a business…

A few months ago, a new client, the CEO of an oil and gas company, told me he wanted to build a data warehouse to power several AI initiatives. I could not answer his questions. He was way more knowledgeable about AI than I was.It made me realize that if I can’t articulate what AI can do for a client, I will be replaced. I needed to get well-versed in this whole AI thing.I initially signed up for an online course offered through MIT, but it was way too deep and complicated. My CEO then found a 12-week certification program…

Sometimes it takes a few decades to really hit your stride.That appears to be the case with Canadian fashion retailer Aritzia, which has experienced considerable success in recent years.But 2025 has been something else entirely.Over the past 12 months, the brand — and its stock price — have kicked into overdrive as the company accelerated its physical and digital expansion.Aritzia’s share price has more than doubled over the past year, even after taking a hit in the early days of President Donald Trump’s trade war. In October, the company reported a 32% year-over-year increase in total quarterly sales, with comparable…

Sprinkles Cupcakes is closing, cofounder Candace Nelson said on Wednesday. Nelson started the American cupcake brand in 2005 with her husband. The couple sold it to private-equity firm KarpReilly in 2012. “This isn’t how I thought the story would go. I thought Sprinkles would keep growing and be around forever. I thought it was going to be my legacy,” Nelson said in a video on Wednesday. Nelson said the company’s locations were closing on Wednesday: “Just to say that out loud is completely surreal.” The company had 21 stores in seven states, according to its site, which did not indicate…

One morning in their two-bedroom apartment in Bangkok, Donetta Barber noticed her daughter, Maleah, gazing out the window.As Maleah watched the cars go by on a busy street below, the 9-year-old turned to Barber and said, “Mommy, thank you for moving us to Thailand. I’m just so grateful for this experience.”For the 39-year-old single mom, it was the sign she’d made the right choice.Just a year ago, their lives looked completely different in Fresno, California, where Barber was running her aesthetic and body sculpting business. The mother-daughter duo has been traveling regularly ever since her daughter was one. Donetta Barber. Two to three trips a…

Thiel Capital is expanding in Miami.On Wednesday, the private investment firm founded by the billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel said it has opened a new office in Miami.Thiel Capital’s press release said that the new office is located in Wynwood, a former warehouse district that has become a hub for startups, investors, and cultural institutions. The lease was signed in December, and the new office will “complement Thiel Capital’s existing operations in Los Angeles,” the firm said.The announcement comes as a proposal for a wealth tax was floated in California.Miami’s startup and finance scene heated up during the pandemic and…

A federal appeals court ruling on New Year’s Eve blocked Hawaii from enforcing a climate change tourist tax on cruise ship passengers, a levy that was set to go into effect at the start of 2026.Cruise Lines International Association challenged the tax in a lawsuit, arguing that the new law violates the U.S. Constitution by taxing cruise ships for entering Hawaii ports. They also argued it would make cruises more expensive. The levy increases rates on hotel room and vacation rental stays but also imposes a new 11% tax on the gross fares paid by a cruise ship’s passenger, prorated for the number…

In this image from video released by the House Judiciary Committee, former special counsel Jack Smith speaks during a deposition Dec. 17, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. House Judiciary Committee/AP hide caption toggle caption House Judiciary Committee/AP WASHINGTON — The Jan. 6., 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol “does not happen” without Donald Trump, former special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers earlier this month in characterizing the Republican president as the “most culpable and most responsible person” in the criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee released on Wednesday a…

Amazon is allowing employees who are stranded in India because of visa delays to work remotely there until early March, according to an internal memo viewed by Business Insider.The catch: They’re not allowed to code, make strategic decisions, or interact with customers.Amazon is one of many American companies scrambling to adapt to the Trump administration’s rapid-fire changes to the H-1B visa program, including a mandate that consular officers must review visa applicants’ social media posts before issuing visas. The additional screening has delayed processing, and some embassies and consulates have rescheduled visa appointments by several months, leaving some employees stranded…

Starting New Year’s Day, some food-stamp recipients around the U.S. will be banned from using the government nutrition assistance to buy candy, soda and other foods. Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah and West Virginia are the first of at least 18 states to enact waivers prohibiting people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, from purchasing certain foods. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins have urged states to strip foods regarded as unhealthy from the $100 billion federal program.”We cannot continue a system that forces taxpayers to fund programs that make people sick and then…