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Former President Donald J. Trump told a group of America’s most powerful chief executives on Thursday that he intended to cut the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 21 percent, according to three people who attended the meeting and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the ground rules stipulated the meeting was off the record. Mr. Trump made the remarks from a comfortable gray armchair during a conversation with his former economic adviser Larry Kudlow in front of the audience of dozens of leading chief executives, including Tim Cook of Apple, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Doug McMillon of Walmart and Charles W. Scharf of Wells Fargo. They had gathered on Thursday morning in Washington for a meeting of the Business Roundtable, an influential corporate group, and there was said to be palpable relief in the room when Mr. Trump, who has been trying to woo business leaders as potential donors, told the executives much of what they had hoped to hear. Many leaders in corporate America have been nervous that in a second term, Mr. Trump might not be as friendly toward them as he was in his first. Many ended up abandoning him and publicly criticizing him, especially after the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Larry Kudlow, Tim Cook, Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase, Doug McMillon, Charles W . Scharf, Wells Organizations: Apple, JPMorgan, Walmart, Business, Capitol Locations: Wells Fargo, Washington, America

Apple tries to close the A.I. leaders, like Nvidia and Microsoft, have soared since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT in November 2022. Big Tech C.E.O.s have fallen over themselves to show they are in the race. But Apple hasn’t yet introduced a new A.I. (The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft over use of copyrighted articles related to A.I.

Persons: Apple, Tim Cook, Apple’s, OpenAI Organizations: Apple’s Worldwide, Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Big Tech, Wall Street Journal, New York Times Locations: China

☆ A New Measure Shows C.E.O. Pay at Even More Astronomical Levels
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-07 | by ( Jeff Sommer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The annual tallies of chief executive pay for 2023 have arrived and they are fascinating and irritating, in equal measure. But this year, there’s a new wrinkle: Companies must disclose how much C.E.O. By that measure, too, chief executives are amassing extraordinary wealth. In 2023, using traditional measures of executive pay, four chief executives of publicly traded companies were each rewarded with more than $150 million:Plus, new rules stemming from the Dodd-Frank law of 2010 have gone into effect. They focus on how the market changes executive pay each year, yielding a second highest-paid C.E.O.

Persons: there’s, Dodd, Frank

Tim Cook has delivered at least seven commencement addresses since becoming the chief executive of Apple. The superstar Taylor Swift, whose concerts have been credited with lifting local economies, addressed New York University’s graduation ceremony in 2022. Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Jamie Dimon — they’ve all given graduation speeches more than once. The appeal of being a commencement speaker, however, seems to be waning. Just three Fortune 50 chief executives appear to be commencement speakers this year, as colleges have faced campus protests over the war in Gaza, student arrests and wealthy alumni threatening to break ties with their alma maters over antisemitism.

Persons: Tim Cook, Taylor Swift, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Jamie Dimon —, They’re, ”, David Murray Organizations: Apple, Fortune, Professional Speechwriters Association Locations: New, Gaza

☆ The C.E.O.s Who Just Won’t Quit
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Emma Goldberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Even so, there are few scenarios in which a middle-aged corporate executive can be treated like an aging rock star by thousands of fawning employees. Around the time Ballmer announced his plans to go, the company’s stock price was lower than when he started the job. The media was bemoaning Microsoft’s “lost decade.” While its tech rivals had seized on new markets, Microsoft had changed fairly little. Apple dominated smartphones, Google prevailed in search and giants like Facebook — which didn’t even exist when Ballmer took the reins — stood atop a whole new sector of the economy. With the arrival of Ballmer’s successor, Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s stock price soared.

Persons: Ballmer, ”, I’ve, Bill Gates, Microsoft’s “, —, Satya Nadella Organizations: Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook

☆ She Dreams of Pink Planets and Alien Dinosaurs
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Becky Ferreira | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Have dinosaurs evolved on other worlds? Could we spot a planet of glowing organisms? What nearby star systems are positioned to observe Earth passing in front of the sun? These are just a few of the questions that Lisa Kaltenegger has joyfully tackled. How much is the diversity of opinion and emotion from people around the search for extraterrestrial life top-of-mind in your research?

Persons: Lisa Kaltenegger, Carl Sagan, Kaltenegger’s, Cornell Organizations: Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, Cosmos, New York Times Locations: Austria

☆ Secret Service Had to Adjust Tactics to Avoid Bites From Biden’s Dog
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Peter Baker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Secret Service had to “adjust our operational tactics” to protect President Biden because the first family’s dog kept biting agents, including one who required six stitches and another whose blood spilled onto the floor of the White House, according to newly released internal emails posted online. Commander was banished from the White House last fall to an undisclosed location. “The recent dog bites have challenged us to adjust our operational tactics when Commander is present — please give lots of room (staying a terrain feature away if possible),” an assistant special agent in charge of the Presidential Protection Division wrote to the team. and military activities, and posted on his website, called The Black Vault. The Secret Service confirmed the documents were authentic.

Persons: Biden, Camp David, ”, “, Biden “, John Greenewald Organizations: White, Presidential, Service Locations: Delaware, California

☆ Self-navigating ships could change the shipping industry. Here are the companies poised to benefit
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Worldwide, the autonomous ships market reached $4.13 billion in 2022, and is forecasted to grow to $10.1 billion in 2032, according to Emergen Research . Avikus said this journey marked the first time autonomous navigation successfully enabled a large vessel to complete a trip over 10,000 kilometers. HiNAS 2.0 deployed a level-three autonomous navigation system, meaning that human intervention is only deployed in an emergency situation. The success of the HiNAS 2.0 and Prism Courage journey marked a foray into greater commercialization and implementation of autonomous ship navigation technology. The company is aiming for its fully autonomous ship technology to reach full-scale commercialization by 2025.

Persons: Patrick Ryan, Covid, Courage, Avikus, Carol Schleif, Rudy Negenborn, — Ryan, Ryan, BMO's, Morgan Stanley, Ravi Shanker, Shanker, Hunt, C.H, Robinson, Negenborn Organizations: Research, American Bureau of Shipping, Hyundai, Yara International ASA, Yara, BMO Family, Delft University of Technology, Moeller, Maersk, Yara International, Mitsui, Mitsui O.S.K, Royce, Shipbuilders, Expeditors International Locations: Covid, Avikus, Freeport, of Mexico, Panama, Korea, Red, Suez, U.S, Danish, American, ADRs, Japan

(Both men already hold sizable amounts of Alibaba stock.) Alibaba itself bought back $9.5 billion worth of stock last year, reducing its share count by over 3 percent. The stock purchases will probably bring attention back to Ma, a former English teacher who helped start Alibaba as an e-commerce platform. Ma, who hasn’t held a management role at Alibaba or Ant in years but remains a lifetime partner in the Alibaba Partnership, now largely focuses on Bill Gates-style philanthropy. And she’s expected to take swipes at Trump’s economic record as president.

Persons: Tsai, Ma, Alibaba, Ant, hasn’t, Bill Gates, Nikki Haley, Donald Trump, Eric Rosengren, Robert Kaplan, Kaplan, Rosengren, Archer, Daniels, Vikram Luthar, Scott Stuber, Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, Jane Campion, Stuber, Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s, Bela Bajaria, Biden’s, Janet Yellen, Lael Brainard, they’re, Biden, ” Ray Fair Organizations: Pool Management, Alibaba, Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, Nets, Boston Fed, Dallas Fed, Republican, Biden, Yale, Times Locations: U.S, Hong Kong, China, Ma, Beijing, ’, Paris, New Hampshire, Dixville

Zelensky and Trump loom over DavosTwo people are having an outsize impact at the World Economic Forum, and one of them isn’t even there. One is Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, who put on a full-court press of business and global leaders at the forum in Davos, Switzerland. Zelensky isn’t the only leader at Davos worried about Trump. The Ukrainian leader has sought to shore up global business support. And the annual wine tasting hosted by Anthony Scaramucci, the financier and former Trump official, well, ran out of wine.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump, Zelensky, Vladimir Putin, Andrew, Trump, Putin, “, ” Zelensky, Republican Party ”, DealBook, thumped, JPMorgan Chase, Steve Schwarzman, Blackstone, Ray Dalio, David Rubenstein, Carlyle, Michael Dell, John Kerry, Biden’s, Anthony Scaramucci, Christine Lagarde, Christopher Waller, Nelson Peltz’s, James Gorman, Morgan Stanley, Mary Barra, General Motors —, Bob Iger, Disney’s, Murray Auchincloss, Bernard Looney, Auchincloss, Yi Fuxian Organizations: Trump, Economic, Ukraine, Republican Party, Republican, JPMorgan, Congress Center, Dell, European Central Bank, Fed, Disney, General, BP, University of Wisconsin – Locations: Davos, Switzerland, Europe, Ukraine, American, Iowa, Bridgewater, China, Beijing, Russia, Britain, U.S, Asia, University of Wisconsin – Madison

The meetings behind the meetingThousands of global leaders have once again descended on snowy Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting. The theme of this year’s event: “rebuilding trust.”But there are the public meetings, and then there are the real ones behind closed doors that the attendees are talking about most. These include discussions touching on U.S.-China tensions, the war in Gaza, artificial intelligence and the future of Ukraine. If the answer is zero, you’ve won. Top U.S. officials are set to appear on the main stage, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser.

Persons: you’ve, Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan Organizations: Center, U.S Locations: Davos, Switzerland, China, Gaza, Ukraine

☆ What Harvard students have to say about the bombshell resignation of embattled president Claudine Gay
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-03 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Read previewFrom excitement to frustration, Harvard University students had mixed reactions to the bombshell Tuesday resignation of the Ivy League school's embattled president, Claudine Gay. AdvertisementSome Harvard students hailed Gay's resignation, while others viewed it as a submission to powerful donors and political figures. "I think it is, if anything, too late," said Alex Bernat, a junior at the elite Massachusetts university, told The New York Times. AdvertisementAnother Harvard student, Ru'Quan Brown, told the Crimson that Gay's resignation "sets a bad precedent for future presidents." The professor added that he was "saddened for Harvard and higher education" with the news of Gay's resignation.

Persons: —, Claudine Gay, Gay, Gay's, Alex Bernat, Bernat, Joshua Kaplan, Bernat's, Kaplan, Sanaa Kahloon, Jeremy O.S, Ornstein, Crimson, Bill Ackman, Elise Stefanik, Harvard's, Orenstein, Ru'Quan Brown, Brown, Chukwudi Ilozue, Ryan Enos, Enos, Stefanik, Liz Magill, Claudine Gay's Organizations: Service, Harvard University, Ivy League school's, Harvard, Business, Harvard Corporation, Massachusetts, New York Times, Harvard Crimson, Times, GOP, WBZ, MIT, University of Pennsylvania, Gay, University of Pennsylvania's, U.S . Congress Locations: Palestine, New York, Israel

Shein aims to win over Wall Street and WashingtonIn filing confidentially for an initial public offering, Shein, the ultrafast-fashion retailer, is showing ambition on two fronts. The company and its underwriters are betting that investors will be more receptive to I.P.O.s, even though high-profile market debuts this fall largely fizzled out. Shein is also testing whether it can endure what’s likely to be an increase in political heat on the China-founded e-commerce giant. The company has also set up operations in Ireland and Indiana and hired an array of lobbyists in the U.S. “No one should be fooled by Shein’s efforts to cover its tracks,” Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, wrote in a letter to other lawmakers.

Persons: Marco Rubio Organizations: Wall, Washington, underwriters, Republican Locations: China, Washington, Singapore, Nanjing, Ireland, Indiana, U.S, Florida

Social media’s antisemitism problemThe rise in antisemitism since the outbreak of war in the Middle East has ignited a clash between Wall Street donors and universities, and divided some workplaces. Now, the pressure is building on social media platforms, particularly Elon Musk’s X and TikTok, with advertisers, celebrities and influencers pulling spending and confronting executives about the proliferation of hate speech. He posted to X his support for white nationalist conspiracy theories that Jewish communities were spreading hatred. Yaccarino was brought in to win back advertisers after Musk bought Twitter last year and culled many content moderators. More than a dozen Jewish celebrities and creators, including the actors Sacha Baron Cohen, Debra Messing and Amy Schumer, confronted TikTok executives this week.

Persons: Elon Musk’s, Adolf Hitler, Musk, X’s, Linda Yaccarino, Yaccarino, “ Linda, ” Martin Sorrell, DealBook, TikTok, Sacha Baron Cohen, Debra Messing, Amy Schumer, “ Hitler, Anne Frank ”, Cohen, ”, Osama bin, bin Laden, —, Alex Haurek, George Santos, Biden, Xi Jinping, Doug McMillon, Walmart’s, “, ” Brian Cornell, ’ Organizations: IBM, Media, America, Nazi Party, Apple, Oracle, Defamation League, Twitter, S4 Capital, House, Big, General Motors, Hyundai, Republican, Justice Department, Business, APEC, West Texas Intermediate, Consumers, Depot, Walmart Locations: TikTok, New York, Hong Kong, China, San Francisco, Beijing, Washington, U.S

☆ Welcome to Ed Park’s Many-Layered World
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Hamilton Cain | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

SAME BED DIFFERENT DREAMS, by Ed ParkJust after I’d registered for my first semester of college courses, I was meandering among a concourse of clubs and teams, fending off their grinning ambassadors, when a newspaper headline caught my eye: “U.S. Late in his lush, labyrinthine “Same Bed Different Dreams,” Ed Park recreates that moment, twisting the doomed flight’s number into a James Bond motif that resonates throughout the novel. Soon Sheen is an erstwhile Korean American writer turned lackey for GLOAT, a technology conglomerate. “Same Bed, Different Dreams” maps the arc of the mysterious Korean Provisional Government (or K.P.G. (Park’s novel and Echo’s nonfiction novel share a title, based on a Korean proverb and helpfully demarcated by Echo’s comma, the punctuation a possible allusion to the 38th parallel.)

Persons: Ed Park, Ronald Reagan’s, sabers, Ed, James Bond, Sheen, lackey, ’, ”, Drudge, swipes Organizations: Says Soviet, Korean, Jet, Korean Provisional Government Locations: Korean, GLOAT, NCD, Manhattan, Dogskill

☆ Opinion | A Tech Billionaire’s Case for Why Tech Billionaires Should Rule the World
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Elizabeth Spiers | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It takes a certain kind of person to write grandiose manifestoes for public consumption, unafflicted by self-doubt or denuded of self-interest. In this vision, wealthy technologists are not just leaders of their business but keepers of the social order, unencumbered by what Mr. Andreessen labels “enemies”: social responsibility, trust and safety, tech ethics, to name a few. But the real problem with Mr. Andreessen’s manifesto may be not that it’s too outlandish, but that it’s too on-the-nose. In the case of ordinary individuals, however, debt is regarded as not just a financial failure but a moral one. (If you are successful and have paid your student loans off, taking them out in the first place was a good decision.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz, ” Organizations: Netscape

☆ Investing in Space: On satellites, the invisible backbone of global industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Shipping company Maersk posted record annual earnings for 2022 but warned that profits are set to tumble this year as a "more balanced demand environment" emerges. CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter offers a view into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. GPS, geospatial intelligence and satellite communications are the invisible backbone that powers the world's largest industries today." That's the core of Space Capital managing partner Chad Anderson's pitch to new investors about the value of the space industry – and I think the "invisible backbone" element serves as an important reminder. Satellites have been, are, and will continue to be a critical backbone of the world's industries – even if we don't notice.

Persons: CNBC's Michael Sheetz, Chad Anderson's, David Sherry, Sherry, Starlink, We've, Lloyd Organizations: Shipping, Maersk, Space Capital, Starlink, Mitsui, Eastern Pacific Shipping, Polembros Shipping Locations: Danish, Mitsui O.S.K

☆ Opinion | What Republicans Say (and Don’t Say) About the Auto Workers’ Strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-23 | by ( Jamelle Bouie | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

But beyond the presidential contenders, there were also the ostensibly populist Republicans who have placed workers at the center of their case. They haven’t even blamed management for the strike, despite the fact that the U.A.W. And they haven’t voiced support for the largest, most ambitious organizing goal of the U.A.W. As (my former editor and colleague) Harold Meyerson notes in a piece for The American Prospect:The long-term future of the U.A.W. foreign-owned auto factories that are spread across the South, also falls well short of the levels that U.A.W.

Persons: “, Joe Biden’s, Josh Hawley, J.D, Vance, Ohio, Marco Rubio, Harold Meyerson, ”, Elon Organizations: Republicans, GM, Ford Locations: China, Missouri, Florida, Stellantis

☆ What C.E.O.s Mean When They Talk About ‘Moats’
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Talmon Joseph Smith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

What C.E.O.s Mean When They Talk About ‘Moats’Nvidia has been hailed by Wall Street for the “moat” it built around its chips to power A.I. Starbucks is trying to figure out how to retain its moat in China. So what’s all this talk of moats, and why do executives use the word so much? Here’s what to know →

Organizations: Nvidia, Wall Street Locations: China

Initial public offerings are back, warts and all. After a two-year dearth of new listings, shares of the grocery delivery company Instacart closed their first day of trading on Tuesday at $33.70, up 12 percent from their initial public offering price of $30. The performance signaled that investors were eager to take a chance on young tech companies — but only at the right price. But even with the early stock price pop, the company’s valuation remained a far cry from the $39 billion that investors assigned it in the private market in 2021. “The markets will always ebb and flow,” she said, adding that she was more focused on what she could control.

Persons: Fidji Simo

Instacart on Monday priced its shares at $30 each for its initial public offering, at the top of its expected range, in a sign of renewed demand for tech stocks. The San Francisco-based grocery delivery company had estimated that its shares would be priced at $28 to $30 a share. Instacart raised $660 million in the offering and was valued at $9.9 billion, significantly below its last private fund-raising round in 2021, which valued the company at $39 billion. Many companies that raised money during the boom times of 2020 and 2021 have slashed their soaring valuations over the last year. Before last week, this had been the worst year for I.P.O.s since 2009, according to EquityZen, a marketplace for private stocks.

Persons: Instacart Organizations: Nasdaq, I.P.O.s Locations: San Francisco

☆ NASA Announces New Job: U.F.O. Research Director
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Kenneth Chang | More About Kenneth Chang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A report released on Thursday by a panel convened by NASA does not attempt to provide a definitive answer to that question. Instead, it proposes a bigger role for the space agency in collecting and interpreting data on “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or U.A.P. In response, the space agency announced that it had appointed a director of U.A.P. “NASA will do this work transparently for the benefit of humanity,” Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator, said in a news release. NASA officials said that part of the reason for keeping the identity secret was the harassment and threats received by panel members during the period of the study.

Persons: ” Bill Nelson, Nicola Fox, “, ” Dr, Fox Organizations: NASA, Washington , D.C, YouTube Locations: Washington ,

The company priced its shares on Wendesday at $51 each, the top end of its range, valuing it at about $54.5 billion. Arm’s I.P.O. SoftBank had initially wished the company would be valued at as much as $70 billion. And it had pitched Arm as a major player in designing chips for artificial intelligence applications, a tech sector that investors have flocked to. But valuations of privately held companies have fallen sharply over the past year, and investors were reportedly concerned about Arm’s so-so financial performance of late.

Persons: SoftBank Organizations: Nasdaq, Wendesday

☆ The Stock Market Hopes for a Hit From the Year’s Biggest Initial Public Offering
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Erin Griffith | More About Erin Griffith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When shares of Arm, the British chip designer, begin trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Thursday in the year’s biggest initial public offering, investors, tech executives, bankers and start-up founders will be watching closely for how it performs. If Arm’s stock falls, they will know that the market for I.P.O.s is likely to stay frozen for longer. But a warm welcome for the shares could entice many more companies to go public in the coming months, ending the cold streak. Arm is the largest company to brave the public markets in 2023, a year that has been almost deathly quiet for I.P.O.s. The chip designer, which is owned by SoftBank, priced its offering on Wednesday at $51 a share, raising $4.87 billion and valuing the company at $54.5 billion.

Persons: ”, David Hsu Organizations: Nasdaq, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, SoftBank Locations: British

☆ Opinion | A Hidden Reason Cities Fall Apart
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Thomas B. Edsall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

And this has been a self-perpetuating process in which the fortunate metros have gained the most while many places are left behind. This used to happen all the time in Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, the Twin Cities, etc.”These locally based firms. Atkinson continued, “played an important role of helping the various municipalities in a region work more closely together. The only way to grow their banks or electric utilities was to grow the community where they were based. Their job is to sit on local boards and dabble in community relations, but they don’t really call the shots anymore.

Persons: Mark Muro, Muro, Robert D, Atkinson, Louis, “, ” Aaron M, Renn, Frank A Organizations: Brookings, ’, metros, Information Technology, Innovation Foundation, Twin, American, “ Civic, Baltimore News American, Maryland Locations: Detroit , Cleveland, St, Twin Cities, Banks, Dallas

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