The latest from CEO Times
Every story, newest first.
ServiceNow CFO says 14-hour days and 4 hours of sleep send a 'terrible example'
Gina Mastantuono said recovery belongs inside performance, not outside it, and argued that leaders who glorify exhaustion set the wrong standard for employees. Her comments, delivered at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, framed rest as a business discipline, not a luxury.
Lumen CEO says uncertainty is pushing boardrooms toward partnerships
Kate Johnson said the pace of change in AI and geopolitics has made it unrealistic for leaders to make hard calls alone. She argued that companies now need outside partners to help allocate capital and adjust faster.
U.S. Debt Tops $40.3 Trillion as IMF Says Growth Alone Won't Fix It
Kristalina Georgieva said stronger growth can help, but not fast enough, and that Washington also has to bring down the budget deficit. Treasury pushed back, arguing the IMF has a poor forecasting record.
Fission Raises $10 Million to Speed Tokenized Fund Exits to 90 Seconds
Pantera Capital led the round as the New York startup targets a bottleneck in Wall Street's tokenization push: investors can get in fast, but getting out can still take months. Fission says its platform can settle a sale in 90 seconds or less.
Woman pleads guilty in $1.2 billion extortion plot targeting Wes Edens
Changli 'Sophia' Luo pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to fraud tied to a scheme prosecutors said sought more than $1.2 billion from Fortress Investment Group co-founder Wes Edens. She faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing in February.
Diesel hits $6.30 a gallon as grocery shipping costs outrun lettuce
Average diesel prices reached $6.30 a gallon Wednesday, up about 68% from before the Iran war, and the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book says the shock is pushing freight, packaging and consumer prices higher. One regional grocery chain now pays more to move a head of lettuce than the lettuce itself.
Zacharia leaves White House after 5 days as Trump signals a transition
President Trump said he told Katie Zacharia to reconsider the job, and a White House official confirmed she is 'transitioning' out of the press secretary role. Her five-day run came after a rocky first briefing and renewed scrutiny over her credentials.
Supermicro names a new CFO after a $2.5 billion smuggling case and subpoenas
Mark Long replaced David Weigand as chief financial officer effective immediately, nearly two years after Supermicro committed to begin searching for a successor. The company is also facing subpoenas and inquiries tied to the Liaw case, its compliance program and internal controls.
China’s chip push tests U.S. export controls after 4 years
Rakesh Kumar says Washington’s chip crackdown has not stopped China’s progress and may have pushed Beijing to build its own ecosystem. Chinese firms are now closing the gap in processors, software, and memory chips.
Black says trust lifts engagement 41% as AI reshapes work
ADP CEO Maria Black said employees who trust their CEO and senior leaders are 41% more likely to be engaged at work, while trust in coworkers pushes that figure to 60%. She argued leaders have to earn that trust while companies push upskilling, reskilling, and AI adoption.
Marissa Mayer says AI’s path is still unknowable as Dazzle AI launches with $8 million
Marissa Mayer said anyone who claims to know how AI will play out is 'either lying or arrogant or both' and put the odds of a bad outcome at 'well less than 50%'. Her new startup, Dazzle AI, has raised $8 million in seed funding at a $35 million valuation.
One in 3 EU founders want out as 45% demand a real single market
New survey data shows Europe’s innovation class is optimistic on growth but frustrated by regulation, energy costs and market fragmentation. For Brussels, the warning is simple: capital will not wait for bureaucracy to catch up.
CoreWeave’s $35.6 billion debt stack is backed by $103.7 billion in contracts
The AI 'neocloud' provider lost $1.4 billion in the quarter, but supporters say its noncancellable customer commitments are enough to cover the bill. The market is asking whether that is discipline or leverage on a very thin margin of error.
Rare barn owls turn a Manhattan water tower into a first-ever nesting site
A family of barn owls has taken over a water tower on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, drawing nightly crowds and what one expert called the first documented instance of its kind in modern history. The sighting has become a rare reminder that even in New York, nature can still show up where zoning and concrete do not expect it.
JPMorgan blocks outside AI agents as Dimon cites security risks
Jamie Dimon said JPMorgan will not let outside AI agents log in to or act on customer accounts, citing the danger of 'rogue agents.' The bank is drawing a hard line even as Big Tech pushes AI tools deeper into personal finance.
AI chiefs say change is 'close to zero' as companies stall on core work
Four executives said most large companies have not truly reinvented their operations around AI, even as they spread the technology across side tasks. The money is not in adding another layer of software; it is in rewriting workflows, and that means politics, risk, and management discipline.
AmeriCorps says paid service can train workers as youth unemployment hits 5.6%
Michael D. Smith argues that structured service, not only classrooms, can give young people the skills employers say they need. He cites recent-grad unemployment at about 5.6% and says paid programs need livable stipends, urgent work and a credential.
8 states sue OpenAI over ChatGPT claims that put children at risk
Eight states say OpenAI deceived parents about ChatGPT’s safety while exposing children to harmful conversations, dangerous medical advice, and suicide-related guidance. OpenAI says it already has age-specific protections and will keep working with states on broader AI policy.
Flex CEO Says U.S. Grid Lag Could Slow AI’s 2030 Buildout
Revathi Advaithi says the United States is far behind on power infrastructure and approvals, warning that AI growth will run into an energy deficit unless the grid scales faster. She says the bottleneck is not just chips and frontier models, but the taxpayer-backed physical system that has to keep them running.
Bo Hines’ firm took $6.3 million from Tether as he helped shape stablecoin law
A Wall Street Journal investigation says Nxum, the consulting firm Hines cofounded, earned $6.3 million from Tether while Hines led the White House push for the Genius Act. Hines later left government for Tether’s new U.S. division.
Anthropic investor sees a $2.4 trillion post-IPO value, topping SpaceX
An early backer says Anthropic could price its IPO around $1.8 trillion and then trade up to $2.3 trillion to $2.4 trillion. The bet rests on enterprise demand, fast growth and a valuation that would set a new public-market mark.
Razer says AI could turn gaming into a $1 trillion market
Min-Liang Tan says AI will bring a new renaissance to gaming and help push the industry from hundreds of billions toward $1 trillion. Razer is betting on AI hardware, privacy-first wearables and virtual avatars to capture that growth.
Broadcom booked $68 billion in AI revenue as Hock Tan warns investors are 'in a casino'
Broadcom has become one of the biggest winners of the AI buildout, with about $68 billion in AI semiconductor revenue since late 2023. But CEO Hock Tan says too many investors still do not understand what they are funding, and he sees capital, not chips, as the industry’s biggest constraint.
Foundation set to train 1,000 private-sector leaders for civic life
The Wesley Mittman LePatner Foundation is built to channel private-sector talent into nonprofits and civic institutions. Its first class has eight fellows, with the next class set to double to 16.
Huang pushes back on pope’s AI warning as Nvidia cites safety work
Jensen Huang said Pope Leo XIV was raising 'all the right questions' about AI safety, while defending Nvidia’s record on guardrails, audit, governance, and standards-setting. The exchange underscores a growing fight over who gets to set the rules for a technology with enormous market power.
Olivia Walton puts $100 million behind a bid to cut U.S. maternal deaths in half
The Walmart founding family heir says her own postpartum care gaps pushed her to launch a five-year campaign through Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America. Arkansas and Kansas are set to receive $10 million each as Walton pushes more midwives, doulas and stronger employer benefits.
OpenAI engineer faces 5 years as prosecutors cite one-way Saudi trip
Prosecutors say Abdulrahman Alfozan booked a one-way flight to Saudi Arabia before his arrest, while his lawyer says the allegations are 'wholly out of character' and that he is entitled to due process.
Goldman posts $18.68 billion in third-quarter revenue as JPMorgan and BofA miss
Goldman Sachs delivered its second-highest quarterly net revenue ever in the third quarter, while JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America fell short of expectations. The split shows where Wall Street’s earnings power is still holding and where costs, trading weakness and regulatory pressure are biting.
Record 69,300 workers left Britain as taxes, healthcare and weather pushed exit wave
Nearly 70,000 taxpayers filed P85 forms in the 2025/26 tax year, up 32% from 52,000 the year before. The exodus is being driven by a mix of tax changes, weak public services and lifestyle factors that are turning Britain less attractive to capital and labor.
$124 Trillion Wealth Shift Puts Women and Veterans at the Center of Capital
Fortune says the Great Wealth Transfer could move $124 trillion by 2048, with $54 trillion going to women, $52 trillion to children, and $18 trillion to charity. Executives at its Most Powerful Women conference said women entrepreneurs and veterans are already changing how wealth is invested and spent.
Ohio lieutenant indicted after 29 Flock camera searches raise privacy and trust questions
Walter Cordes, a Sharonville police lieutenant, was indicted on a fifth-degree felony after allegedly using his department's Flock system 29 times for personal reasons. The case adds fresh pressure on a surveillance network already facing scrutiny over misuse and oversight.
Citi posts its best third-quarter revenue in a decade as Fraser pushes AI, cuts 20,000 jobs
Jane Fraser says Citigroup has already done much of the heavy lifting after a years-long turnaround. The next phase centers on AI, tighter risk controls, and a bank that must 'beat the best' to stay ahead.
Cécred’s family-built launch hit Ulta with 89 awards
Tina Knowles says the hair care line she launched with Beyoncé was financed without outside investors and built on decades of salon work, research and development. Since debuting, Cécred has posted Ulta Beauty’s most successful prestige hair care launch, won 89 awards and expanded into the U.K.
Lean In Says 93 Women Got the Promotion to Manager for Every 100 Men
Bridget Griswold says the 'broken rung' remains one of the most entrenched barriers to women’s careers, with 93 entry-level women promoted to manager for every 100 entry-level men in 2025. She argues the gap at the first step up still shapes who reaches leadership later.
Yum! says Taco Bell’s AI drive-thru bot is lifting retention at nearly 900 locations
Erika Burkhardt says the system has made jobs easier for restaurant workers by cutting friction in the ordering process. Taco Bell expanded Omilia Voice AI in drive-thrus to nearly 900 locations in July.
Rhode sale to e.l.f. hit $1 billion as Bieber kept control of the brand
Hailey Bieber said her main fear in the acquisition was losing control of Rhode, not losing the price tag. e.l.f. kept the founders in place as the brand pushed toward global retail scale and roughly $390 million in net sales in fiscal 2026.
Huang Puts a Zero-Tolerance Price on AI Cyber Incidents as Nvidia Plans $2 Billion in Europe
Jensen Huang says society should not accept AI-driven cyber incidents and argues the technology can be contained with stronger monitoring. Nvidia is also preparing $2 billion in new European investments, adding to the $8 billion it has already committed to the continent.
Lindsey Vonn weighs comeback after 8 surgeries and nearly 2 months in a wheelchair
The Olympic gold medalist says there is still a 'small chance' she could return to alpine skiing after a February crash that broke her leg and required eight surgeries. The numbers come first: the recovery has been long, painful, and far from routine.
California's proposed 5% billionaire tax pushes a 23-year-old millionaire out of San Francisco
Emil Barr said California's regulatory and tax climate, including Proposition 40, convinced him to cancel a planned move to San Francisco. Supporters say the measure would help fund healthcare; critics see a warning sign for entrepreneurs and investment.
Koch backs Emanate’s AI sales push as industrial buyers race for speed
Koch Disruptive Technologies is making a strategic investment in Emanate, a San Francisco startup that says AI can help industrial suppliers answer faster, price better and win more orders. The company says the software can lift customer revenue by 60% to 80%, though it would not name clients or disclose revenue.
Kalshi Says Flat Management Helped Drive a $4 Billion Revenue Run Rate
Kalshi cofounder Luana Lopes Lara says the company skipped VPs and 'heads of' to move faster, even as annualized revenue rose to $4 billion from $775 million in December. The market has already voted, but the company still faces lawsuits from state governments over whether its sports wagers are legal.
Gen Z mechanic outearns her friends by $3 an hour after quitting college
Victoria Madsen left a law path for ski-lift work in Utah and says the job paid $3 more an hour than her previous position. Fortune reports she now makes more money than most of her friends and has gained the financial security to move out, rent an apartment and buy a new car.
Women Hold 30% of C-suite and Board Roles as Promotion Stalls
Women’s share of C-suite and board roles has stalled at about 30%, even as the Fortune 500 now has 56 companies led by women. The slowdown is tied to weaker leadership development, a shakier labor climate, and less attention to executive pipelines.
LinkedIn Launches 30-Student School to Train Workers as Founders
LinkedIn has started a free 14-week Academy of Economic Opportunity for 30 employees, betting that more workers will pursue business ownership as AI reshapes hiring. The company has not said when the program will open to the public or what it will charge.
Amodei warns of AI ‘catastrophic or existential risk’ as Anthropic floats IPO plans
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said AI capabilities should move more slowly, warning of losing control of models, cyberattacks and bioterrorism. The company’s IPO prospectus also warned its technology could pose a ‘catastrophic or existential risk to humanity.’
Applied Materials puts $5 billion behind an AI chip lab to slash development time
The Sunnyvale project is designed to cut the 'concept to commercialization' cycle for new chip architectures from 10 to 12 years to as little as six years. Applied Materials says the EPIC center is its largest-ever U.S. investment in advanced semiconductor equipment R&D.
AI Is Saving Time, and Workers Fear the Payroll Cut
AI can make employees faster, but the bigger question is who captures the savings. A Norway-backed agreement and worker safeguards are being pitched as one answer, while U.S. workplaces remain far more union-light.
FBI arrests OpenAI employee over alleged conference-room recording device
The FBI says the employee was arrested after a device was found in an OpenAI conference room, and OpenAI says it has found no indication of model weights, source code, or customer data being accessed or exfiltrated. The case raises a familiar question for any company handling sensitive capital and trade secrets: how much trust can a tech operation place in its own internal controls?
Walton puts $100 million on maternal health as Arkansas’s mortality rate looms
Olivia Walton says she is committing $100 million over five years to cut the U.S. maternal mortality rate in half. The effort targets a system where Arkansas’s rate is around double the national average and women of Black and brown backgrounds face a mortality rate three times higher.
Block Says AI Agents Could Land on Org Charts as Spending Tops $730 Billion
Tech companies are restructuring to justify their AI bills, and Block CFO Amrita Ahuja says that could soon mean 'agents' listed alongside human workers. The push is being sold as efficiency, but the real test is whether the investment produces revenue.
California backs women’s wealth as Newsom’s legacy shifts beyond equal pay
Jennifer Siebel Newsom said equal pay laws were not enough, and that her work turned toward women’s wealth, financial literacy, and access to capital. The push puts taxpayer-backed programs and government influence at the center of California’s economic message.
Watkins says leadership pays when 51-year-old executives invest in people
Sam’s Club CEO Latriece Watkins says her greatest sense of power comes from watching the people she has invested in move up. She also says leaders need clarity, not improvisation, from the top.
Grede Says She Never Second-Guesses as Skims Reaches $5 Billion
Emma Grede said intuition and speed helped her build Skims into a $5 billion company and launch Off Season, while she warned that waiting to feel ready can be one of women’s 'most expensive habits.'
36.6% of Americans earning over $500,000 say they live paycheck to paycheck
Goldman Sachs says the strain now reaches households far above the national median, where 80% report delaying a major financial goal despite being employed. The numbers come first: high income does not always mean financial security when costs, debt and lifestyle inflation keep climbing.
Albertsons pulls forecasts as sales slip 0.8% under Whitman turnaround push
Albertsons withdrew its financial forecasts during a strategic review as second-quarter net sales fell to $18.9 billion and identical sales dropped 0.8%. The company says 'dramatic improvement is needed now' as Meg Whitman takes a hands-on role in the overhaul.
McConaughey Read 20 Years of Bad Reviews in the Desert, and Found 'a Point'
Matthew McConaughey says he spent a weekend in the West Texas desert reading a thick book of bad reviews, and came away separating noise from useful criticism. The lesson, he says, was simple: some critics just dislike the person, but others identify where the work falls short.
Causa Prima raises $20 million to automate billing disputes across companies
The startup says its AI agents are built to speed payments between buyers and suppliers, a market where manual approvals still slow cash flow. The new funding lifts total backing to $30 million as it prepares to open a New York office.
Centene CEO Says AI Could Save Medicaid Dollars and Reach 26 Million Members
Sarah London says the latest health care innovation often reaches deep pockets first, not Medicaid patients. Centene is already using AI in member communications and wants more of it to cut administrative costs and redirect dollars to benefits.
Wharton finds 62% of managers use AI daily as verification becomes the bottleneck
Managers at large U.S. companies are using AI more often, but the real issue is shifting from generating output to verifying it. The survey says 80% reported positive financial returns, even as caution rose and responsibility for mistakes stayed blurry.
AI could strand 18.6 million workers if employers choose automation over skills
The biggest risk in AI is not technology alone, but a strategy that treats workers as fixed inputs. Opportunity@Work says roughly half the transitions from gateway jobs into higher-paying work are highly exposed to AI, putting 18.6 million workers in the most exposed roles at risk of being left behind.
