Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” stormed into theaters over Presidents Day weekend, collecting $34.8 million across its three-day North American opening and claiming the No. 1 spot at the box office. The result marks Fennell’s strongest debut as a director, outpacing her previous work and signaling that literary adaptations driven by a singular creative…
The Walt Disney Company is simultaneously suing one AI company for generating its characters without permission and signing a deal with another AI company to do exactly that, on Disney’s terms. This split strategy reveals a calculated approach to artificial intelligence that treats litigation and licensing as two sides of the same coin. The tension…
Costco, the warehouse retail giant and Global 500 company, has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the legality of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and demanding a full refund of duties paid. The case, brought in the U.S. Court of International Trade, rests on a straightforward but potentially explosive…
Warner Bros. Discovery has pulled back from its pursuit of Paramount Global, a retreat shaped by activist investor pressure and growing concerns over regulatory risk. The withdrawal comes as WBD simultaneously faces a targeted campaign from Ancora, the activist fund pushing the company to rethink its broader deal strategy, including its streaming arrangement with Netflix….
The U.S. Small Business Administration sent termination letters to 154 Washington, D.C.-based firms in its 8(a) contracting program on February 11, 2026, citing eligibility violations tied to net worth, income, and asset limits. That same agency, over the past year, has been publicly celebrating veteran business mentors and clearing certification backlogs for military entrepreneurs. The…
Toyota is scrambling to keep its U.S. sales momentum alive as the RAV4, its single best-selling nameplate, enters a generational transition that could temporarily tighten supply at dealerships. The automaker has taken the unusual step of directly asking its dealer network to redirect customer attention toward slower-moving models, a strategy that reveals both the depth…
The Pentagon faces a growing tension between its appetite for advanced AI tools and the safety guardrails that come built into them. A potential $200 million contract for Anthropic’s Claude AI model could become the highest-profile casualty of that friction, as Defense Department leaders weigh whether the model’s built-in content limits are compatible with military…
Microsoft is actively building its own foundation AI models and reducing its dependence on OpenAI, a strategic shift that coincides with OpenAI’s proposed corporate restructuring and growing regulatory pressure from state attorneys general. The move signals that one of the most consequential partnerships in modern technology is entering a new, more competitive phase, with real…
Tesla’s grip on the world’s most advanced electric vehicle market is slipping at precisely the wrong moment, Fresh registration data from Norway, where battery-electric cars now account for nearly all new sales, reveals that buyers are choosing competitors in record numbers even as the broader EV transition accelerates, and the timing compounds pressure on Tesla…
Microsoft is now promising to cover the full cost of energy consumption at its AI data centers and walk away from the tax incentives that local governments have long dangled to attract Big Tech campuses. The pledge comes after months of organized community resistance and pointed political pressure over the strain these facilities place on…