The Forbes Daily Briefing shares the best of Forbes reporting on wealth, business, entrepreneurship, leadership and more. Tune in every day, seven days a week, to hear a new story. The Daily Briefing is edited, produced and hosted by Kieran Meadows.
Daniel Ek, the billionaire founder of the $150 billion music streamer, is exiting Spotify's top role as he is increasingly backing moonshot tech companies out to solve the world's toughest problems. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Swedish carmaker isn't a giant by sales, but Chief Sustainability Officer Vanessa Butani wants it to be a circular business leader with aggressive reuse of metals, batteries and other materials and climate-neutral auto-assembly plants. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Since launching six years ago, Tom's Watch Bar has grown to 18 locations by catering to fans on their way into or out of stadiums—with dozens more on the way. Welcome to the best seat not in the house. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The exact lineup of investors is still under wraps but the network of players is in some cases nearly half a century in the making. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
With climate funding under threat, Wendy Schmidt is becoming an increasingly vital philanthropist—supporting deep-sea discovery, public media, and scientific collaboration across the globe. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Eric Skae ran the best-selling pasta sauce business for the legendary Rao's restaurant until the company was sold. Now as the CEO of Carbone Fine Food, he's done it again—building a $100 million competitor and a simmering rivalry. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Nuclear power startup Oklo is now worth $21 billion. Its relationships with the Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have certainly helped. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
President Trump just had the most lucrative year of his life. But percentage-wise, members of his immediate family, including sons Eric, Don Jr. and Barron, did even better. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Elon Musk keeps hyping the AI-enabled software, and getting more people to buy it is key to his massive new pay package. But in a recent test, it ignored standard street signs and even a flashing school bus stop sign — squashing mannequin child “Timmy.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Pongsakorn Pongsak built IF into China's top coconut water brand—and a $700 million fortune—by bottling Thailand's tropical taste. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Clemens Fischer has never smoked pot in his life, but he believes his new experimental drug could reap billions in sales—and change millions of lives. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Razer, founded and run by Min-Liang Tan for two decades, is prepping to release cutting-edge AI tools to help game developers produce games faster and cheaper and to coach players to sharpen their skills. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Microsoft cofounder, who reigned for nearly a quarter century as America's richest person, no longer makes the very top of this year's ranking of the country's wealthiest people. Here's why. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jim Irsay's daughters have inherited an NFL team that has been in their family for 53 years and is now worth $5.9 billion—making them among the richest female owners in sports. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
These colleges—spread from Pennsylvania to Kentucky to Michigan—discount their listed cost of attendance by at least 50% for all, or nearly all, students. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
An alum of Google, Facebook and Twitter, Edwin Chen built his data labeling company, Surge, in the background of the AI revolution. Now the youngest member of the Forbes 400 is ready to step out of the shadows and make his voice heard. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Donald Trump lost money during his first term. Out of office, he found a formula for profiting off politics—now he's piling up billions. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Mercor, debuting on the Forbes Cloud 100 list, built an AI recruiter to interview job candidates. Along the way, it discovered a more immediate cash cow: finding humans to train AI models. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Dick Portillo opened a hot dog stand in Chicago with $1,100 and built it into a billion-dollar regional chain, Portillo's. After cashing out in 2014, he bought back some stores and built a new real estate and restaurant empire—now, he sits back and collects the rent. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
With more than 80,000 AI-powered cameras across the U.S., Flock Safety has become one of cops' go-to surveillance tools and a $7.5 billion business. Now CEO Garrett Langley has both police tech giant Axon and Chinese drone maker DJI in his sights on the way to his noble (if Sisyphean) goal: Preventing all crime in the U.S. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Nathan Xu's bootstrapped company has sold more than 1 million AI recording devices that transcribe and summarize the busy days of doctors, lawyers and business people — and he's just getting started. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
When it comes to selling coconut water to the health obsessed, New York's Vita Coco has served up a master class, schooling even giant rivals like Coke and Pepsi. Its next test will be withstanding Trump's tariff shocks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
For most of the last 50 years, new homes have cost more than existing ones, nationally. Thanks to builder strategies, shifting home designs and a new construction glut, the trend has flipped. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Football's 32 clubs are worth $7.1 billion on average, a 25% year-over-year jump, but the Dallas Cowboys sit tall in the saddle with a record valuation for any sports franchise. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In 2000, internet darling Cisco was the world's most valuable company. Today it's worth half as much. AI juggernauts like Nvidia and Palantir are driving the tech-bloated S&P 500 today. Buyer beware. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The U.S. government will take a 10% stake in the company, whose technology has been used by sanctioned Chinese surveillance and facial recognition firms including Uniview and Hikvision. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Congress and the FDA are pushing pharmaceutical companies to replace animals with technology for drug research. That's a long way off, but startups and industry stalwarts are working to make it happen. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The billionaire pop star and three-time Super Bowl champion are now engaged but no “gym teacher” could afford to propose to an “English teacher” with a $650,000 diamond ring. Here's how much he brings to their love story. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Why NASA administrator Sean Duffy's atomic directives are not that outlandish. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Five of America's top philanthropists are teaming up for a new venture aimed at helping low-income Americans rise from poverty. An AI giant has signed on to help. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
A string of big deals gives Scott Boras up to $244 million in commissions, but the entire top 20 is swinging for the fences, with a combined $32 billion in contracts under management. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Daniella Pierson has cozied up to everyone from Diane von Furstenberg to Selena Gomez, burnishing her image as her businesses unraveled. A case study in how hubris is bad for business. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Gerry Cardinale's firm RedBird Capital Partners is investing $1.8 billion toward Skydance's $8 billion deal. Here's how the tycoon became a billionaire—and how he may wield his influence at the new-look Paramount. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
First Vlad Tenev blew up the brokerage industry's fee model. Now, thanks in part to his full-on crypto embrace, he has increased his fortune sixfold to $6 billion as he embarks on a global financial services takeover with tokenized stocks, AI-powered investing and a bid to own the rails of the looming $124 trillion generational wealth transfer. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Where does the president go when he travels? Usually to the places where the Trump Organization makes money. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
After signing a new $1.5 billion deal with Paramount, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are part of Hollywood's most elite club. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
“I like controlling my own future,” says the former Florida state legislator turned homebuilding mogul. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Donald Trump wasn't making much from foreign deals. Then he regained power—and set aside the pretense that he cared about ethics. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The convicted sex offender was worth nearly $600 million at his death, thanks mostly to two wealthy billionaire clients—plus generous tax breaks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Daniel Nadler started OpenEvidence to help physicians sort through a deluge of medical research. Now, he's raised $210 million at a $3.5 billion valuation. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
A record 125 foreign-born U.S. citizens are billionaires living in the United States. They hail from 41 countries but became rich in America. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The months since President Donald Trump's April “Liberation Day” tariff announcement have been defined by constant reversals, with Trump's decision to extend his tariff pause until August just the latest in a long string of about-faces. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Here's what's been proposed—and why it never happens. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The company has avoided major legal problems for fatal accidents involving its partially automated Autopilot and FSD features. A fully autonomous ride service changes that.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Gail Federici sold her first company, John Frieda Hair Care, in 2002. She's more than doubled her fortune building a second brand, Color Wow, which is now eyeing a $1 billion sale. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
New drugs take too long to get to market because of clinical trial bottlenecks. Two cancer doctors built AI-enabled tech to speed up the process. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The lavish, celebrity-packed affair in Venice, replete with private water-taxis, three-Michelin-star catering and Murano glass gifts for guests, was over the top, but far from the most expensive billionaire wedding on record. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Zohran Mamdani won over New York City voters by promising to make the city more affordable with a rent freeze and free services funded in part with an added tax on the rich. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The FAA is a mess. Annexing our neighbors to the north, as Trump favors, looks like a longshot. But we could adopt its privatized air traffic control system. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Duke's freshman phenom went No. 1 and can earn nearly $14 million next season—not including endorsements. It could be the beginning of a billion-dollar career for the 18-year-old. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Alphabet Inc. unit entered its fifth major city on Tuesday, operating robotaxis in a partnership with Uber in a 65-square-mile portion of the Georgia capital. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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