• Citadel CEO Ken Griffin called Trump's tariffs on US allies "a disaster" and "pro-inflation."
• Griffin predicts Republicans would lose at least one chamber in the midterms.
• Inflation has erased nearly all average workers' hourly wage gains since Trump returned to office.

Ken Griffin sees trouble ahead for Republicans and says Donald Trump’s fights with America’s allies are part of the problem.

The Citadel CEO told Bloomberg's Dani Burger on Tuesday at the Future of Global Markets Conference in New York that Trump’s tariffs have fueled inflation and disrupted supply chains as the party heads toward a difficult midterm election.

“I think that the tariff battles with Canada, with Europe, with our allies has just been a disaster,” Griffin said. “I talked about this when he first started this in his presidency. To be blunt, I hate to say it, but I've been right.”

“It's been pro-inflation. It has certainly taken supply chains around the world and severed them,” Griffin, who said he has been supporting a number of Republican candidates this election cycle, added.

Trump's trade disputes with Canada and the EU remain unresolved. The president announced an additional 50% tariffs on certain imports from Canada on July 20, citing what he described as discrimination against American auto, alcohol, and dairy exports. Those duties took effect in August.

The economic backdrop is also challenging. US consumer prices rose 3.7% in September from a year earlier, while inflation has erased nearly all of the average worker’s hourly wage gains since Trump returned to office. Fuel affordability and the lack of housing supply have become pain points for Republicans in the midterms.

Griffin predicted Republicans would almost certainly lose control of at least one chamber of Congress, describing the midterms as a check on the party in power.

“The House almost is in a really tough spot and the Senate's going to be really close," Griffin said.

Griffin also has thoughts on Trump’s explanation of the war in Iran and called the administration’s treatment of immigrants "disgraceful."

"The war in Iran is very unpopular. I think he's done a very poor job of explaining why," Griffin said. "I think the president has not made that case in a powerful, meaningful way to the American people."

Griffin said he believes in securing the border, but immigrants who are already here should be offered "a path to being a contributing member of our society" and help "grow our economy."

"If you are here with your family or by yourself and you are gainfully employed and you are working to find a better life for your family, there needs to be a way to stay in our country," Griffin added.

• SpaceX's earnings reveal growing capex as well as AI revenue that surpassed its Starlink business for the first time.
• The company reported overall capex spending in line with estimates. It projected it could double in the current quarter.
• AI-related spending was slightly less than expected but still more than previous quarters.

SpaceX's second-ever earnings report revealed it's spending more than ever on AI — and that could soon double.

SpaceX reported spending $16.4 billion on AI-related capex in the third quarter, continuing the acceleration of AI spending seen in recent quarters.

SpaceX spent roughly $19.6 billion on overall capital expenditures in the third quarter as Grok maker continues its AI buildout. That was squarely in line with what Wall Street analysts were expecting.

Of that $19.6 billion, SpaceX reported spending $16.4 billion on AI-related capex. Analysts were expecting $16.9 billion.

SpaceX expects capex to balloon in the current quarter, with CFO Bret Johnsen forecasting $35-$40 billion due to new compute coming online. Johnsen also said SpaceX expects to quickly see returns on its investments.

"At current pricing, new compute deployments are generating a payback of less than a year," he said.

SpaceX's stock was trading up 4% after hours following the results. The company is broadcasting the earnings call on X, becoming one of a small list of companies to broadcast video of the gathering.

During the earnings call, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that chips are no longer the biggest constraint to AI buildout.

"So talking about SpaceX superintelligence, SpaceXSI — "sexy," whatever — so as I think people are starting to realize the constraints on deployment of superintelligence is more in power and cooling and infrastructure than it is in chips," he said.

SpaceX's AI revenue grew significantly quarter-over-quarter to $7.6 billion — ahead of analysts' estimates of $6.3 billion. This report also marks the first quarter since SpaceX purchased Cursor.

That revenue means that SpaceX's AI segment officially brought in more revenue than its Starlink business. Starlink brought in $5.2 billion for the quarter.

SpaceXAI has since rebranded as SpaceXSI, following Musk's alignment with President Donald Trump's preferred rebranding of "artificial intelligence" to "super intelligence."

One area where SpaceXSI has found some success is leasing its compute to Anthropic, Google, and Reflection AI. During the company's last earnings call, SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen said the leasing arrangements had generated $1.6 billion in additional revenue.

Musk said that SpaceX is being inundated with lease requests.

"We are also frankly hounded relentlessly by every hyperscaler and by dozens of smaller companies to rent more of our compute," he said. "So we could rent out our compute several times over if we said yes to everyone."

Overall, he said the allocation for SpaceX compute is something "that's going to change from one month to the next."

"I guess as a rough approximation, our goal is to kind of split it 50/50 more or less, where half of the compute is used internally, and half of it is rented to others," he said. "But that number could shift 60/40 one way or the other."

Correction: Tuesday, October 20, 2026 — An earlier version of this story incorrectly included two values for SpaceX's overall capex. The correct value is $19.6 billion.

• Netflix's co-CEO said its US movies and shows need to improve.
• "We do need better execution in the US," Ted Sarandos told investors.
• The streaming leader replaced its content chief and film head before its Q3 earnings report.

Netflix needs to make better shows and movies in the US, its co-CEO said after its third-quarter earnings report.

"We do need better execution in the US," co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on the company's Q3 earnings call on Tuesday.

Netflix's global content — including Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia — "is largely working," Sarandos told investors.

"The US is also working. It's just not growing as fast as it could, or as fast as we'd like," Sarandos said.

Netflix's biggest market is the US and Canada, which made up about 44% of its revenue this quarter at $5.6 billion. Next are Europe and the Middle East, followed by Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region.

Sarandos said the US "had some really solid doubles and triples this year" but added that "the other territories count on some of those titles being home runs, so that they'll travel around the world."

Netflix announced last week that it will be replacing content chief Bela Bajaria, who had overseen the streamer's movies and shows since 2023, with former Disney and Fox executive Peter Rice.

The streaming giant is also moving on from film chief Dan Lin. Rice will oversee Netflix's movies until the company fills his role.

Co-CEO Greg Peters said on the earnings call that Netflix's goal is to take its content slate "from very good to great."

Besides subbing out content execs, Netflix also cut roughly 1,000 workers in what was its biggest round of staff reductions since 2022.

Netflix shares entered Tuesday's earnings report down about 44% in the last 12 months. The stock fell 6% in after-hours trading following the company's report, which showed a third consecutive quarter of slowing revenue growth.

Wall Street has grown concerned about Netflix's engagement growth, especially as the paid streaming leader competes with free streamers like YouTube.

"There is a lot to be excited about, but I know that we could do better," Sarandos said.

• It was lights, camera, and action for SpaceX's second earnings call as a public company.
• SpaceX's third-quarter earnings call included a live video stream of its top execs.
• CEO Elon Musk used video to share dramatic shots of Starship.

SpaceX's superfans may have found their next must-see TV.

The rocket and AI company's third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday included a live video stream featuring SpaceX's big three: CEO Elon Musk, COO Gwynne Shotwell, and CFO Bret Johnson.

The video, which opened with cinematic shots of SpaceX's products, featured the executives seated at a table speaking to the camera from the SpaceX Starlink factory in Bastrop, Texas, with SpaceX-branded water bottles in front of them.

"In order to understand the nature of the universe and all these fundamental questions, we must expand the scope and scale of consciousness," Musk said in a recording that played over images of space and the moon, with the result looking far more like a trailer for a sci-fi film than the start of a corporate earnings report.

Musk wore a black T-shirt featuring a logo for Grok, SpaceX's AI assistant, and a black leather jacket, a classic sartorial choice famously favored by another Big Tech CEO.

SpaceX also used the video format to share a recap video of a recent Starship flight as well as a dramatic video simulation, complete with orchestral music, of an upcoming flight in which the company's giant mechanical arms and stand will try to catch both the booster and the ship, calling it a "profound technology milestone in the history of civilization and consciousness."

While earnings calls generally include live audio, live video streams are far less common. SpaceX's first earnings report as a public company in August did not include video. Netflix, Duolingo, and Robinhood have all livestreamed their earnings calls.

Netflix has streamed live video of its earnings calls for years, including its latest call on Tuesday, which featured its co-CEOs. Robinhood's CEO told The Verge last year the company's video earnings call was inspired by the NBA post-game interview.

SpaceX reported a significant increase in both AI spending and revenue. The stock was up 5% in after-hours trading.

• SpaceX and Tesla have each established exploratory committees to discuss a possible merger, Elon Musk said.
• Musk, who said he can't participate in the talks, gave the update during Tesla's Q3 earnings call.
• Musk said he thinks a merger is a good idea, but cautioned investors that shareholder approval is "quite a high hurdle."

Houston, we have an update on all that SpaceX-Tesla merger chatter.

During SpaceX's Tuesday earnings call, Elon Musk said both of the companies had created "special committees of independent directors" to discuss a potential merger.

Musk, who helms both companies and owns billions of dollars in stock of each, said he can't be part of those exploratory groups.

"Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes," he said on the call. "But at the end of the day, the shareholders have to be supportive of this, and particularly on the Tesla side, we will need a 50% vote of all shares, not just those who vote, but of all shareholders."

He said clearing that bar would be "quite a high hurdle."

It's the most detailed update investors have received yet on the idea of a tie-up, which has been the subject of much chatter since SpaceX went public earlier this year. If the companies ultimately decide to merge, it would further consolidate Musk's business empire, often referred to as Musk Inc.

His businesses have been on a consolidation kick. In 2025, xAI acquired Musk's social media company, X (formerly Twitter), and in February, SpaceX acquired xAI.

Musk also runs the brain-chip startup, Neuralink, and the tunnel-building firm The Boring Company. Both operate independently, but have had business collaborations within Musk Inc.

Tesla and SpaceX's stocks were up in after-hours trading following the news. SpaceX was up around 6.6% and Tesla 1.6%.

Musk sees clear benefits in tying the knot

"I do think there's a lot of merit to combining the companies as we are pretty much in the superintelligence singularity," Musk said during the call.

SpaceX and Tesla have worked together on a host of projects, including artificial intelligence software, chip design, TeraFab manufacturing efforts, robotics, Starlink satellite connectivity, and SpaceX's ability to launch payloads into orbit, Musk and SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said.

The most recent result of that partnership: On Thursday, Tesla demoed its long-awaited Roadster, which includes a version with SpaceX technology. The high-powered sports car's top trim will include cold-gas thrusters. The car launched, hovered, and flipped in the air during the demo.

While Musk is for the two companies tying the knot, he said investors shouldn't think it's a sure thing.

"I don't think we should necessarily assume that a SpaceX and Tesla merger is a certainty," he added. "That would be overstating it."

• Fireworks AI is an AI-infrastructure startup founded by former Google and Meta AI engineers.
• The company is seeking to raise a new round of funding at a valuation between $30 billion and $40 billion.
• Fireworks AI was last valued at nearly $18 billion in July of this year.

Fireworks AI is seeking to raise fresh funding at a valuation between $30 billion and $40 billion, a dramatic jump just months after the AI-infrastructure startup was valued at $17.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The potential valuation leap reflects investors' appetite for the companies selling the computing power and tools fueling the AI boom, even as Fireworks AI works through the fallout from a recent security incident.

The talks around the financing are still early, and valuation targets could still change. Fireworks declined to comment.

Founded in 2022, Fireworks was built by veterans of Meta and Google's AI efforts. Chief executive Lin Qiao previously led the PyTorch team at Meta, while cofounders include former Meta infrastructure engineers and a former leader of Google's Vertex AI. The company rents out computing infrastructure and software that lets businesses run, fine-tune, and deploy open-weight and custom AI models.

In July, Fireworks announced a $1.5 billion Series D funding round at a $17.5 billion valuation, led by Atreides Management, Index Ventures, and TCV, with participation from Nvidia, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Menlo Ventures. That round followed a $250 million Series C at a $4 billion valuation in late 2025, co-led by Lightspeed, Index, and Evantic. Last month, The Information reported that Fireworks has been considering a round at a $30 billion.

Rather than trying to build a consumer chatbot to rival ChatGPT, Fireworks sells what it calls specialized intelligence: models customized on a customer's proprietary data, workflows, and use cases. The company said in July that it had surpassed $1 billion in annualized revenue and was serving more than 40 trillion tokens a day; it said 95% of those tokens came from models tailored to customers.

The company operates in a highly competitive layer of the AI stack. Rivals include model-infrastructure startups such as Together AI, Baseten, and Replicate, as well as cloud giants such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle.

The fundraising talks come shortly after a security incident at Fireworks AI. The company said it identified unauthorized use of internal credentials earlier this month that allowed an intruder to access data from some customer accounts.

"We take this seriously and will be transparent about what happened and what we find," Qiao posted on X. "I'm personally committed to turn this attack into the most formidable security response in AI Infra."

Please send along your tips. Email Ben or Katie anytime or contact them on Signal at benbergman.11 and kroof.26. Sign up for Business Insider's weekly VC Insider newsletter here.

• Netflix has been talking about its plans to build a video game business for years.
• More recently, it has told investors it was also excited about its move into podcasts.
• Now it has nothing to say about either category. Its silence may be telling.

For years, Netflix has been telling investors how excited it is about its move into video games.

More recently, it has also started talking up its move into podcasts.

But when the company released its third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, the streamer had nothing to say about either foray.

What does that mean? Netflix won't say. But I'm pretty comfortable coming up with my own conclusion: Netflix doesn't think games or podcasts are going to do much for its business, at least in the near future.

That also tracks with new reporting from The Wall Street Journal, which says that Netflix has recently "stopped pushing games and podcasts, focusing more on its core movie and TV offerings."

That's logical, given the most pressing problem the company has: figuring out how to make movies and TV shows that attract new subscribers, and that get its existing subscribers to spend more time on the service.

But it's also a real turnaround, at least in its messaging.

Netflix has consistently talked up games since it launched that business in 2021. In 2022, cofounder Reed Hastings predicted that Netflix would eventually "be a big leader in games." And the company has frequently pointed out its ambitions in its quarterly updates to investors.

Last quarter, for instance, the company highlighted a new World Cup game, and an app for kids games, and said it had "increasing confidence that we are building a foundation with exciting future growth potential."

It has also spent the last two quarters talking up its move into podcasts. In April, it said podcasts were a "potential incremental engagement opportunity." Three months later, it told investors that podcasts were good because they gave viewers more reasons to watch the service during the day (as opposed to the evening, where half of its viewing happens) and on mobile phones.

But on Tuesday, it had nothing to say about either category, other than a single legalese mention about forward-looking statements. But it did make a reference to other people's video games: It said a 27-minute trailer for Take-Two's highly anticipated "Grand Theft Auto VI," which it showed exclusively for a six-hour window, had been a hit.

Both games and podcasts make a certain kind of sense for Netflix, in theory: The company has often talked about the fact that gaming is a big competitor for its viewers' time. So why not try to harvest some of that attention for itself? And video podcasts are really just another term for "talk shows on a budget" — so why not offer those up to viewers as well?

The flip side: It's been hard to understand how Netflix would be able to create games that are better or more popular than everyone else in the game business. And it's an open question whether viewers who turn to Netflix in search of distracting entertainment would be interested in low-fi chats.

Maybe both categories eventually turn into something meaningful for Netflix one day. But the company seems to be saying that won't happen anytime soon.

• Starlink missed on customer growth expectations. It's still making a ton of money for SpaceX.
• The company is leaning heavily on large customers, like governments.
• The company acquired a spectrum provider in October. Execs said they're targeting mobile providers.

Starlink is SpaceX's big cash cow. And it just reported some mixed results.

On Tuesday, during the company's earnings call, SpaceX said its satellite-internet service had 13.6 million consumer subscribers at the end of September, up 1.6 million from three months earlier. That fell short of the 14.2 million expected by Bloomberg analysts — though the company said the figure excludes hundreds of thousands of enterprise subscribers and aviation customers.

Still, Starlink is making a lot of money. Monthly consumer revenue per user rose 5% from the previous quarter, while enterprise and government revenue jumped 91% from a year earlier to $2.1 billion.

A big, important customer? Airlines. The company said that, as of the end of September, 3,800 total aircraft had been outfitted with Starlink equipment.

"Aviation remains a major growth opportunity, as we're still early in the installation phase with many of the largest carriers worldwide," CFO Bret Johnsen said on Tuesday's earnings call.

SpaceX's next venture: your phone

The company has recently focused on becoming a mobile provider.

On October 8, SpaceX announced it had agreed to buy a portfolio of low-band wireless spectrum from Grain Management. The deal gives SpaceX a key ingredient that could turn its Starlink satellite-internet provider into a direct challenger to Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.

SpaceX said the spectrum would power Starlink Mobile, which it has described as a hybrid satellite-and-terrestrial network designed to work indoors, outdoors, and in cellular dead zones.

It also comes after SpaceX hinted that it saw itself as a challenger to mobile carriers during its first-ever earnings call in August. The company's president, Gwynne Shotwell, hinted that the company was considering building a "cellular base station on basically the gear that holds the Starlink broadband dish," rather than a ground-based system.

They said the market was worth $600 billion annually.

"I anticipate us to be able to acquire quite a few of their customers," Shotwell said.

During the earnings call, Shotwell said, "The vast majority of mobile connectivity is actually WiFi," an area where Starlink is already well-versed.

"Keep in mind, Starlink broadband does a lot of WiFi work as well," she said. "As far as the mix goes, I think we expect that the S-band spectrum will provide the majority. And then obviously, you need the low-band spectrum, the 800 megahertz spectrum, to basically penetrate buildings. So if you're not on WiFi, you can still receive the signal."

Musk said that there was probably a need for a longer presentation about their Starlink plans.

"I can say we do see a clear path to several hundred billion dollars a year in connectivity revenue," he said. "But I think we should lay — probably describe that in a — in more detail in a forum that's not limited to a few minutes at an earnings call."

• Christina Applegate recently learned that she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).
• Applegate was first diagnosed in 2021 after multiple tests and worsening symptoms.
• About 15% of MS patients are believed to be misdiagnosed, given how complex the disorder is.

After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2021, living with severe symptoms, and becoming one of the most famous celebrities with the disorder, Christina Applegate learned some shocking news: She doesn't actually have MS.

In an October 20, two-part episode of her podcast "MeSsy" with Jamie Lynn Sigler (another actor diagnosed with MS), Applegate shared that she took over half a year off from recording the podcast to process the news of her MS misdiagnosis.

According to Applegate, her doctor framed the revelation as a positive update. "She came into my room and said, 'Congratulations, you don't have MS,'" Applegate said in the podcast.

But to Applegate, no longer having an explanation for the pain, balance issues, tremors, incontinence, and fatigue she'd been living with for years felt more like being "back at square one."

"You don't get misdiagnosed and then all of a sudden, I'm better," she said. "If anything, I've gotten worse, in some ways."

Applegate's story is far from a medical anomaly. MS researchers estimate that about 15% of worldwide MS patients are actually misdiagnosed, based on a 2024 meta-analysis of multiple studies.

The risks to patients are two-fold, Dr. Marwa Kaisey, an associate professor of neurology at Cedars-Sinai, who also appeared on the podcast, told Business Insider. "One is thinking you have MS — a lot of the medications we use to treat MS have side effects and risks like infections," she said. "The other category is, if you don't know what you have, then you're not getting treated for your actual diagnosis."

Kaisey and another researcher shared why MS is so challenging to diagnose — and why more people might end up with Applegate's experience in the future.

The race to diagnose a hard-to-diagnose disorder

There is no single blood test that can diagnose MS.

Instead, doctors often piece together an MS diagnosis using a neurological exam (testing balance and reflexes), MRI scans, a lumbar puncture (or spinal tap), and possible blood tests to rule out other conditions such as Lyme disease.

Sometimes, doctors overrely on a single diagnostic, such as an MRI finding, without performing enough other tests, Dr. Andrew J. Solomon, a professor of neurological sciences at the University of Vermont who co-authored the meta-analysis, told Business Insider.

In 2019, Solomon co-authored an MS misdiagnosis study that found that patients who were initially diagnosed with MS were later told they actually had other conditions, such as migraine, radiologically isolated syndrome, spondylopathy, and neuropathy, which can share overlapping symptoms with MS and similar brain scan results.

In the podcast, Applegate revealed that she had a nerve test to rule out peripheral neuropathy, as well as MRIs and a lumbar puncture. While her spinal fluid test showed a low level of immune proteins that can support an MS diagnosis, she had nearly 40 brain lesions and worsening symptoms, leading doctors to diagnose her with MS.

Solomon said MS should be diagnosed by "confirming each element of our diagnostic criteria and ruling out other things," rather than assuming it must be MS if the MRIs and symptoms fit.

The problem is, both physicians and patients are eager to diagnose MS as early as possible, he said. Correctly spotting MS early can lead to better treatment results and a higher likelihood of disability prevention, according to research.

Plus, for patients dealing with a plethora of debilitating symptoms, "a period of diagnostic uncertainty is uncomfortable," he said, even though the best course of action is to wait and perform more tests.

A new testing protocol revealed Applegate's misdiagnosis

In the podcast, Applegate shared that her brain lesions were missing "strings" associated with MS.

It's a finding associated with a new, more accurate diagnostic tool for Kaisey, who also co-authored the 2019 study with Solomon, explained on the podcast.

The central vein sign (CVS), is an MRI biomarker that can help differentiate MS brain lesions from ones associated with other disorders. It refers to a small vein that appears as a dot or thin line through the center of a brain lesion.

CVS was only recently adopted as part of the recommended MS diagnostic criteria, in 2025 — four years after Applegate was first diagnosed with MS. Kaisey told Business Insider that part of her work is expanding education around newer diagnostic tools, noting that not all physicians are using CVS yet.

Solomon hopes more doctors will include CVS in their diagnostic protocols, especially for existing MS patients or those who switch providers without being evaluated by their current doctors. "If something doesn't fit, there's an opportunity there to reevaluate if the diagnosis is right," he said.

Many misdiagnosed MS patients feel exactly like Applegate does

When it comes to learning about an MS misdiagnosis, Solomon said experiences like Applegate's aren't that uncommon.

"I've heard many stories where some doctor was very enthusiastic about telling a patient they actually didn't have MS," he said. "But many of these patients are suffering, and they still have symptoms. So it's not always necessarily a happy thing."

For Applegate, her initial MS diagnosis provided clarity and direction. "That was my answer to everything that was going on," Applegate said. Some might relate to Applegate's "square one" feeling, particularly if their doctor was an MS specialist and won't see them anymore, Solomon said. Without a formal diagnosis, they might also worry about insurance coverage for treatments that have provided some relief.

There is also the emotional part of having an MS diagnosis. "I leaned into other friends, I leaned into the community," Applegate said. "I had a reason as to why my day sucked every day, and now I don't have a reason."

Knowing she doesn't have MS also made her feel like she "let everybody down" after becoming one of the "poster children for MS," she said. It made her wonder if she was somehow imagining symptoms or at fault for her pain.

Given how common MS misdiagnosis is, Solomon believes it's a good thing that Applegate is sharing her story.

"It's kind of wonderful that Ms. Applegate is public with this because if the number is really 15%, you can do the math," he said. "There are a lot of people out there who might ask their doctors about the accuracy of their diagnosis and find out that, in fact, they had something else."

• Foursquare cofounder Dennis Crowley said the company's acquisition paid $0 to equity holders.
• "I am sorry the Foursquare story ended in such a way," he wrote to employees.
• Crowley said the company decayed after a private equity investment.

Foursquare's acquisition left its cofounder sad and angry.

Dennis Crowley helped launch the location technology company in 2009. Seventeen years later, Foursquare was acquired by Infillion. Crowley wrote on Substack that one point of the acquisition left him "heartbroken."

Foursquare's acquisition earned equity holders exactly $0, Crowley wrote, with no money offered for preferred or common stock.

"To our ~1600 former employees over 17 years, I am sorry the Foursquare story ended in such a way that makes it seem like our collective efforts were worth… nothing?" Crowley wrote.

Crowley left the CEO role in 2016, though he continued to lead Foursquare's research and development lab through 2021. After that, Crowley kept a seat on the board.

Foursquare raised capital from The Raine Group, a private equity firm, in 2019. Less than two years later, Gary Little became CEO. Little was one of The Raine Group's managing directors.

"Leadership was unable to preserve the value it inherited or create new value during those six years," Crowley wrote.

Foursquare employees reached out to Crowley to express their frustrations with leadership, he wrote. He cited the company's Glassdoor reviews, which rate it 2.1 stars out of 5. The Raine Group did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Crowley also wrote that the $0 equity outcome was buried in a 125-page PDF for Foursquare's legal team. "No single individual stood up to own (or even acknowledge) the outcome," he wrote.

Calynn Krieger, an executive vice president of marketing for Infillion, told Business Insider in an email that Foursquare had "remarkable technology and a talented team."

"We have nothing to say about Foursquare's former leadership, but we're glad the business and its value continue, and we're committed to creating even more of it," Krieger said.

The lesson Crowley learned

Crowley took responsibility for his role in the lead-up to Foursquare's $0 outcome for equity holders. His decisions as CEO led to the need for a private equity investment, Crowley wrote, and he said he wished he were louder on the board.

His takeaway: "Maybe the biggest mistake I've made in my career is falling in love with this company."

Crowley was too loyal to "making it work," he wrote, and stayed longer than he should have. "Watching the company slowly decay has been a grind on my soul," he wrote.

In a footnote, Crowley gave founders a piece of advice.

"It's okay to fall in love with the company you're building, but don't deny yourself the ability to get closure and move on just because the company itself hasn't yet experienced an exit or ending," he wrote.

• Netflix shares sank up to 6% after a Q3 earnings beat and weak guidance for the rest of the year.
• Shares had fallen about 44% in the last year as investors worry about slowing growth.
• The streaming leader laid off about 1,000 employees last week and changed its content leadership.

Netflix's third-quarter earnings failed to excite investors, a week after a major content executive shuffle and its biggest round of layoffs since 2022.

The streamer turned in results above expectations for the third quarter, but provided weak guidance for the rest of the year. Netflix said its earnings beat was primarily due to the timing of expenses.

Netflix's revenue growth slowed for a third straight quarter, and the company projected it would continue to decelerate in the fourth quarter.

Shares fell up to 6% in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

"While Netflix is growing, the pace of that growth is slowing," Forrester's Mike Proulx said. "That's a wake-up call for the company that once defined the streaming market and is now in need of growth reacceleration."

Here's how the streaming giant's Q3 financial results compared to the company's forecast:

• Revenue: $12.87 billion vs $12.86 billion estimated ($11.5 billion in Q3 2025)
• Earnings: $0.87 per share vs $0.82 per share estimated ($0.59 per share in Q3 2025)

Netflix told investors to expect earnings of $0.67 per share in the fourth quarter, below Wall Street's $0.73 per share estimate. The company's $13.44 billion revenue projection for Q4 was also lower than analysts' estimate of $13.51 billion.

The streaming leader cut its annual advertising forecast from $3 billion to $2.7 billion, citing a slower-than-expected rollout of its ad products.

"With Netflix under pressure to find alternative lines of revenue beyond subscriptions, it's concerning that the company lowered its estimate for its ad business," said analyst Ross Benes of Emarketer, Business Insider's sister company.

Heading into Q3 earnings, Netflix's stock was down over 44% in the last year as investors worried about engagement growth and stiff competition from YouTube and other free streamers.

Netflix said in its third-quarter shareholder letter that it knows "there's some investor concern about our view hours growth" but added that engagement "remains healthy."

"We do seek to accelerate growth in view hours as well, and we're confident we'll do that by relentlessly focusing and executing" its strategy, the shareholder letter said.

The company has invested in video games and podcasts but didn't mention either in its letter, outside a disclosure section on "forward-looking statements."

Netflix's results came less than a week after it shook up its content leadership team and cut about 1,000 workers.

Content chief Bela Bajaria is leaving her role after more than three years, Netflix announced last week. The company said Monday that film chief Dan Lin is also out.

Bajaria will be replaced by Peter Rice, a former Fox and Disney exec who ran Disney's TV division, including ABC and FX. Netflix hasn't yet said who will replace Lin; Rice will oversee film in the meantime.

"It's our goal to go from very good to great," co-CEO Greg Peters said of Netflix's content slate on the company's earnings call.

The leadership changes come as Netflix battles slowing viewership growth. The streaming powerhouse generated 97 billion viewing hours in the first half of the year, which was up 2% year-over-year.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said at an industry event hosted by Bloomberg last month that Netflix was "not growing as fast as I want us to, and we're working on making that move faster."

"Revamping content strategy is not enough to fix this challenge, but it is a worthwhile start," Benes said.

Netflix layoffs were across its product, tech, HR, and legal teams. Co-CEOs Sarandos and Peters said in a memo to staffers that the company was downsizing so it can be "disciplined about where we prioritize our people and resources."

Other media companies have laid off employees in the last month. NBCUniversal cut a few hundred global streaming tech employees in early October, and Disney trimmed its tech and HR teams in late September.

In the second quarter, Netflix's results were roughly in line with analysts' expectations. The stock sank 8% after the report as Netflix said it would cut back on how frequently it shared viewership data.

• Sarah J. Maas is returning to the "ACOTAR" world with two new books.
• The sixth book will be released on October 27, 2026, and the seventh on January 12, 2027.
• Teasers shared ahead of its release confirmed four characters who will return in book six.

Sarah J. Maas fans, gather round. We're just one a week away from returning to Prythian.

On August 17, 2026, Maas announced the titles of the sixth and seventh "A Court of Thorns and Roses" books, along with initial descriptions of the novels. Book six is called "A Court of Splintered Harmony" and will be released on October 27, 2026, and book seven is "A Court of Forgotten Melody," hitting shelves on January 12, 2027.

Maas first announced she would publish the sixth and seventh installments of her "ACOTAR" series in March 2026, remaining tight-lipped about them until the title announcement in August.

The books are eagerly awaited not only by fans but also by Maas' publisher, Bloomsbury. The company's sales fell 10% for the 2025-2026 fiscal year because Maas didn't release a new book, Publishers Weekly reported.

Ahead of the release, Bloomsbury shared quotes from "A Court of Splintered Harmony" on social media, building hype for the novel and teasing what's to come. Maas joined in the fun a week before the release (after asking fans to stop sharing any leaks of book six).

Here's everything we know about "ACOTAR" six so far.

Warning: Some spoilers for Maas' work — including "ACOTAR" and "Crescent City" — ahead.

Maas is releasing the sixth 'A Court of Thorns and Roses' story in multiple volumes

In March 2023, Bloomsbury announced that Maas had signed a deal for three more books with the publisher. At the time, she was already under contract for four titles, including "House of Flame and Shadow," the third installment in her "Crescent City" series, published in January 2024. Readers didn't find out what the next book she would write would be until her March 2026 appearance on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast with Alex Cooper.

She told Cooper she finished the sixth "ACOTAR" book while writing in Montana over the summer of 2025, but she didn't share details about it because of its nontraditional release structure.

"This book's coming out October 27, and then on January 12, like two months later, I can't do math, whatever that is, the next ACOTAR book will be coming out," Maas said. "So there will be two books within, like, a very short span."

As her fans will know, Maas' books are typically split into parts, separating different sections of the story she is telling. However, when it comes to the sixth "ACOTAR" story, Maas said the individual parts became longer than she anticipated as she started writing, with part one coming in at 400 pages at one point.

As she continued writing, Maas decided the parts didn't have to be in a single physical book.

"What if this book was really long?" she said. "What if it took me more than a thousand pages to tell the story that needed to be told, the arc that I wanted to create from start to finish?"

Maas said the story for "ACOTAR" six was ultimately divided into four parts, though it is still one cohesive story. Part one is the novel Bloomsbury will publish on October 27, 2026, and parts two and three will be published together on January 12, 2027. Maas has yet to write or give a publication date for part four, but she told Cooper all three volumes would be published "in a very short time."

"It's meant to be read, ideally, as one massive, massive story as opposed to in a trilogy," she said. "It's not a trilogy. Like, arcs aren't wrapped up."

Maas finally shared some details about the books in August 2026

On August 16, Maas cleared her Instagram of all its posts, changing her profile photo to a black-and-white illustration of a monster and a spider. Then, on August 17, she shared the covers and titles of books six and seven on social media.

The "Splintered Harmony" cover features a pink-and-orange backdrop with a sketched drawing of a monster with teeth and bones, and the subtitle is "The Valkyrie Cycle: Movement I." The Valkyrie were introduced to "ACOTAR" in "A Court of Silver Flames," when Nesta Archeron brought the legendary all-female fighting squad back to life alongside her friends Gwyn and Emerie.

Maas posted the book alongside the tagline, "What was broken will be remade." The blurb shared on booksellers' websites reveals that the Night Court is facing new threats when book six opens: Koschei the Deathless, one of three legendary monster siblings introduced throughout "ACOTAR," and those willing to ally with him to claim the newly freed human lands.

The description also notes that there is tension among the members of the Night Court because of "recent betrayals and revealed truths," which they must work through if they want to defeat Koschei.

"A Court of Splintered Harmony" will be 352 pages and will include three bonus chapters from the "ACOTAR" series. Those bonus chapters were previously published in specific editions of Maas' novels, but they will be in all copies of "ACOSH," as the publisher shared on its social media on September 24. One chapter focuses on Feyre and Rhysand, one on Cassian and Nesta, and one on Azriel's experience on the Winter Solstice that takes place in "A Court of Silver Flames."

Teasers from the new book

In mid-September, Bloomsbury began sharing quotes from "A Court of Splintered Harmony," offering more insight into the novel than the vague blurbs.

It released six quotes in total, and the first, shared on September 17, revealed that at least some of the novel will be told from Lucien Vanserra's perspective.

"Lucien's heart thundered, throat drying out," the quote read. "Maybe this had been a terrible idea."

Lucien has only played a supporting role in the "ACOTAR" books so far, but Maas has been teeing up his expanded role in her books through his unaccepted mating bond with Elain Archeron, Feyre's middle sister, and his connection to Koschei. He serves as an emissary to the human lands for the Night Court in "ACOSF," alongside Jurian and Vassa, a human queen who was sold to Koschei and cursed to turn into a firebird each day. It would be surprising if Vassa — and by extension Lucien — weren't involved in fighting against Koschei in book six.

Likewise, the final quote Bloomsbury shared on October 9 appeared to confirm that Azriel will narrate some of "ACOSH." The quote didn't include his name, but the unnamed narrator was communicating with shadows: "'We are here,' the shadows whispered in his ear. 'We are always here.'"

Azriel is a Shadowsinger in the "ACOTAR" world, with his shadows being described as keeping him company and whispering to him as he serves as the Night Court's spymaster.

No other passage shared by Bloomsbury names a narrator, but the quote shared on October 6 mentions Rhysand, whom the narrator calls Rhys — indicating it could be the POV of one of his close companions — giving a "savage smile" before saying, "With pleasure."

A quote shared on September 22 referenced "sisters lost to us — ones we pray each day will find a way home to our sides."

That might refer to the original Valkyrie, many of whom died in the first war against Hybern. Gwyn, whose own sister was killed by Hybern soldiers, had started writing a chapter for a book about the new Valkyrie in "ACOSF," so it's possible the quote is from her book. However, Rhysand's sister was killed by Tamlin's father and brothers, so the quote could connect to her as well.

A teaser shared on October 1 confirmed that a female character will tell some of the story, saying, "Like hell would she allow this creature to bring her to her knees again."

There are several female characters the quote could be attributed to, though some fans think it may be from Vassa when she must face Koschei again.

And most interestingly, the quote shared on September 28 asks if it is "possible for mates to…un-mate" if a bond were to "fracture deeply enough" that it cannot be repaired.

Lucien and Elain's mating bond is strained because Elain has yet to accept it, so some fans think the comment is about them. At the end of "House of Flame and Shadow," though, Nesta and Cassian were at odds, so others think the quote hints at tension between the pair (more on that in a minute).

Maas chimes in

Maas' Instagram was quiet after she announced the titles of her books, until October 19, when she took to her Instagram story to ask fans not to share leaks of "A Court of Splintered Harmony."

"I know how much you love these books and these characters; I know you've been waiting for a long time to know what comes next," she wrote. "That love for these stories is exactly why I'm requesting that you please, please don't share leaks."

"Nothing about this release is meant to feel like a secret that needs to be found out," Maas went on. "Publishing a book takes time and effort from so many hardworking people to get it into your hands. Throughout this long process, everyone involved has been dedicated to keeping things from being spoiled, but sometimes things happen, and it is beyond disheartening to see out-of-context moments take away from all of you who have waited so patiently."

"All I'm asking for is just a bit more of that patience — until you can get everything in its fullness, the way it's meant to be read," Maas said.

Representatives for Maas did not respond to a request for comment on the Instagram story, and Maas did not specify which images spreading online contained authentic leaks of the book.

However, she posted a short video on her Instagram on October 20 that featured another sneak peek at the text, this time from Feyre's perspective, as she confirmed by captioning the post, "7. FEYRE."

Feyre was the narrator for the first four "ACOTAR" books, telling the story from a first-person perspective. Like books one through four, the passage Maas shared was in the first-person perspective:

"My body wouldn't move. Couldn't move. I could do nothing to help him, nothing at all, and I would die from it, this despair and agony. Please, I tried to beg the darkness, please. Anything. I'd give anything for him to be safe. My life, my territory, my — would you give that too?"

Maas provided no further context about the quote, though fans were quick to point out that the inner monologue seemed like what Feyre would have been thinking when she gave birth to her son, Nyx, as she and the baby almost died because he was born with wings. Rhys also nearly lost his life, as he and Feyre bound their lives together at the end of "ACOWAR." Nesta saved them all by returning her power to the cauldron, but the passage could be a flashback to the scene from Feyre's perspective.

Maas also didn't elaborate on why she included a "7" in her caption, though it could refer to chapter seven of "A Court of Splintered Harmony," Feyre as a seventh narrator not yet featured by Bloomsbury in its teasers, book seven, or the number of days until the book is released.

More clues about 'ACOTAR' 6 narrators

Lucien, Feyre, and Azriel all appear to have a POV in the new book, and it's also likely safe to assume Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie will be central to Maas' new books since the novels are part of "The Valkyrie Cycle."

Maas ushered in a new era of the series by writing from Nesta's perspective in "A Court of Silver Flames," released in 2021.

The "recent betrayals and revealed truths" mentioned in the description of "A Court of Splintered Harmony" could refer to Nesta's actions in "House of Flame and Shadow" from Maas' "Crescent City" series. Specifically, the "revealed truths" may reference the resurrection of the long-forgotten Dusk Court in Prythian, which they discover Rhysand is an heir to, while the "recent betrayal" against the Night Court could be Nesta's lending the Mask of the Dread Trove to Bryce Quinlan, the "Crescent City" protagonist, without Rhysand and Feyre's permission.

Bryce also gave Nesta the sword Gwydion at the end of "HOFAS," telling her she thinks she was meant to have it when she returns the Mask. Nesta shared with Bryce in the same scene that Cassian is the most upset with her of everyone for her actions.

It seems Maas was setting up a continuation of Nesta's story for her next "ACOTAR" story in the scene, which may see her explore her power and connections to the fae of the Dusk Court.

You can read a more detailed breakdown of what to remember from Maas' previous works ahead of "ACOTAR" six here.

Elain's role in future 'ACOTAR' books

Although it seems like Nesta and her fellow Valkyrie will be important in the new novels, Maas told Eva Chen during an appearance on "Live Talks Los Angeles" in February 2021 that she planned to write a book from the third Archeron sister's perspective — Elain.

In "A Court of Silver Flames," Elain had settled into life at the Night Court, refusing to explore her mating bond with Lucien or her Seer powers.

Maas also spoke to Cooper about Elain and Lucien's mating bond, telling her that Lucien's involvement in bringing Elain to the fae world is a barrier to their relationship. She also said she was "interested" as a writer in exploring what it meant for someone not to desire to be mated.

Elain also seems to have an attraction to Azriel in the text, with the pair almost kissing in his bonus chapter. However, Maas juxtaposes their connection with the ill-fitting aspects of life at the Night Court for Elain during a visit to the Court of Nightmares in "ACOSF."

• Amanda Seyfried is making headlines for again playing Elizabeth Holmes in "You Can See Everything."
• Seyfried first played the Theranos founder in the Hulu series "The Dropout."
• She's part of a growing class of actors who've taken part in the latest trend: playing tech moguls.

We've all heard of musician and actor biopics — now, it's all about the stories of tech CEOs.

These days, startup founders can be just as famous (or infamous) as any other celebrity, and the dramatic lives they've lived in business or at home make great fodder for TV and film.

To play these figures, some of the best-known actors had to ditch their signature looks to take on Steve Jobs' turtleneck and wire-frame glasses, Elizabeth Holmes' red lipstick and frizzy blowout, or SBF's signature curls.

Here are 17 celebrities who transformed to play some of Silicon Valley's most prominent figures.

Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes in 'The Dropout' and 'You Can See Everything'

In the 2022 Hulu limited series "The Dropout, Seyfried played Holmes from her time at Stanford in 2003 (when she did the titular dropping out) through the fall of her company, Theranos, after The Wall Street Journal's 2015 exposé.

Theranos purported to manufacture a device that could do a litany of blood tests from a single finger prick, but, infamously, it did not work as promised. In 2022, Holmes was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted of defrauding investors.

Four years after the Hulu series, comedian and documentarian Nathan Fielder asked Seyfried to once again play Holmes in some reenactments he wanted to do in his doc about her final days before prison, "You Can See Everything." We won't say much else besides that you need to see it to believe everything that goes down.

Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman in 'Artificial'

"After the Hunt" wasn't enough for Garfield and director Luca Guadagnino — the two have since teamed up to tell the story of OpenAI CEO and cofounder Altman.

"Artificial," which is set for release in select theaters on Christmas Day, will focus on Altman's 2023 firing by cofounder Ilya Sutskever (Yura Borisov) and subsequent rehiring one week later.

Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg in 'The Social Reckoning'

"Succession" star Jeremy Strong played the Facebook founder in "The Social Reckoning," a film about the release of Facebook Files, a staggering number of internal documents leaked by whistleblower and employee Frances Haugen and published by The Wall Street Journal in 2021, and the subsequent congressional scrutiny that followed.

The film, released in October 2026, was written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, the screenwriter of "The Social Network," making this something of a sequel to the 2010 classic.

Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg in 'The Social Network'

"The Social Reckoning" wasn't the first time Zuckerberg has been portrayed on screen — most famously, Eisenberg played the founder in "The Social Network," which chronicled the earliest days of Facebook, back when it still had a "the" in front of it.

It juxtaposes the wild, early days of the website with two lawsuits Zuckerberg settled a few years later: one from cofounder Eduardo Saverin and another from his Harvard classmates, the Winklevoss twins.

Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker in 'The Social Network'

The other famous "disruptor" portrayed in "The Social Network" is Parker, one of the cofounders of Napster, the original music streaming platform. He's played by Timberlake in a career-best performance.

Parker comes in as an early believer and executive at Facebook, which ruffles the feathers of cofounder Eduardo Saverin.

Anthony Boyle as Sam Bankman-Fried in 'The Altruists'

Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, will get the biopic-miniseries treatment this November on Netflix in a series titled "The Altruists."

Bankman-Fried co-founded the crypto trading firm Alameda Research in 2017 and later co-founded the cryptocurrency exchange FTX in 2019.

After making millions, FTX collapsed in 2022, and Bankman-Fried was eventually convicted of several crimes, including fraud and money laundering, in 2024. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

SBF's onetime girlfriend and former CEO of the FTX-affiliated trading firm Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, will also be in the show, portrayed by Julia Garner.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Travis Kalanick in 'Super Pumped'

Gordon-Levitt played Uber cofounder and former CEO Kalanick in "Super Pumped," a 2022 Showtime limited series. It focuses on the rise of Kalanick and his eventual fall from power, culminating in his 2017 resignation from the company.

Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs in 'Jobs'

The first mention of Jobs on this list goes to Kutcher, who played the Apple founder in the 2013 biopic "Jobs." It traces his career from Apple's founding in 1976 to the introduction of the first iPod in 2001.

Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs in 'Steve Jobs'

Two years after "Jobs," the late founder was portrayed again on screen, this time by Michael Fassbender in "Steve Jobs."

Instead of a standard cradle-to-grave biopic, "Steve Jobs" checks in with the enigmatic figure at three different points in his career: first in 1984, before the introduction of the first Apple Macintosh computer; second, in 1988, when Jobs is the head of a new company, NeXT, and is preparing to launch its first computer; and finally, in 1998, as Jobs gears up to release the iMac.

Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs in 'Pirates of Silicon Valley'

In 1999, the TV movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley" aired, starring Wyle as the Apple founder. It chronicles Jobs' career from the '70s to the '90s, from the founding of Apple to his return as CEO.

Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates in 'Pirates of Silicon Valley'

The other half of the "Pirates of Silicon Valley" narrative focuses on Gates, the cofounder of Microsoft. He's played by "Breakfast Club" star Anthony Michael Hall.

The film's climax is based on the real-life falling out Gates and Jobs had in 1985, when Jobs felt that Gates had ripped off Apple.

Jared Leto as Adam Neumann in 'WeCrashed'

Leto physically transformed to play the WeWork CEO and cofounder in the 2022 Apple TV+ miniseries "WeCrashed." The show chronicled the immense success the coworking startup experienced in its early days in 2010, all the way through its disastrous attempted IPO in 2019.

Anne Hathaway as Rebekah Paltrow Neumann in 'WeCrashed'

Hathaway costarred in "WeCrashed" as Neumann's wife, Rebekah Paltrow Neumann, who was heavily involved in WeWork. She was, however, "an unpredictable and unmistakable presence" at the company, per Business Insider's reporting.

Jay Baruchel as Mike Lazaridis in 'BlackBerry'

The creation of the BlackBerry, one of the earliest smartphones, was dramatized in "BlackBerry," which starred Baruchel as one of the cofounders of RIM (the brand behind the phone) and one of the cocreators of the BlackBerry itself, Lazaridis.

The film begins with Lazaridis and his partner teaming up with Jim Balsillie (more on him later) to make BlackBerry the most popular smartphone in the world — only for its reign to end with the iPhone.

Glenn Howerton as Jim Balsillie in 'BlackBerry'

RIM really got off the ground when Mike Lazaridis and his cofounder Doug Fregin were approached by Balsillie. According to the movie's telling, Balsillie offered to invest $20,000 for a 50% stake in the company, and was eventually sold a 33% stake for $125,000 and the title of co-CEO.

The less we say about Howerton's performance, the better — it really must be seen to be believed.

Lily James as Whitney Wolfe Herd in 'Swiped'

2025's "Swiped" is the story of the creation of Bumble through the eyes of its founder, Herd. Originally, she was a cofounder of Tinder, but resigned in 2014, and eventually received an out-of-court settlement after suing Tinder for sexual discrimination and sexual harassment, without either Tinder or its parent company, IAC, admitting to wrongdoing.

After leaving Tinder, Herd wanted to create an app that focused on female empowerment, and thus, Bumble, a dating app where women have to make the first move, was born.

Sebastian Stan as Vlad Tenev in 'Dumb Money'

In 2023's "Dumb Money," which is about the "Gamestonk" GameStop short squeeze and subsequent drama that happened in 2021, led by the Reddit community r/WallStreetBets and one user in particular, Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, Stan has a small role.

He plays Robinhood cofounder and CEO, Tenev. During the events of the film, Tenev directs Robinhood, an e-trading platform and investment app, to stop allowing users to buy certain stocks and options (including GameStop), which caused an uproar.

• J.Crew's website temporarily went down and displayed an odd message.
• It read: "JCrew generative AI Backend is healthy."
• The clothing retailer later offered shoppers 20% off due to the "technical issues."

The website of clothing retailer J.Crew crashed Monday, leaving shoppers with a bizarre message: "JCrew generative AI Backend is healthy."

Multiple screenshots posted to social media by puzzled customers showed the statement on the brand's website set against an otherwise blank, black page.

"Wtf is up with the @jcrew website," one online browser posted to X along with a screenshot. J. Crew's customer service account responded to the post shortly after, saying, "We're working to get the site back up and running - sorry for the trouble. Hope you'll check back soon!"

In an apparent attempt to make up for the odd disruption, J.Crew later emailed its customers a 20% discount code that expires on Thursday.

"We're sorry!" the email viewed by Business Insider read. "Thanks for your patience during our recent technical issues at jcrew.com. As a token of our gratitude, enjoy an extra 20% off your next purchase."

It was not immediately clear what caused the website to malfunction or whether it was related to AI. Representatives for J.Crew did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Business Insider on Tuesday.

• AWS expected to get $5 billion of Nvidia GB300 racks, followed by $3 billion more each month.
• Some of these GPU systems are being stored elsewhere due to lack of data center power.
• Amazon CEO Andy Jassy sees AI as a major opportunity, but getting capacity online is a challenge.

Amazon is racing to secure AI hardware earlier than before, even as data center power shortages leave some GPU systems waiting in warehouses.

Under a new Early Rack Receipt process, AWS expected to receive roughly $5 billion in Nvidia's GB300 server racks at US facilities before final deployment, according to August internal emails reviewed by Business Insider. The company projected roughly $3 billion more in GB300 racks each month "for the foreseeable future," one of the emails said.

Some AWS sites had room for more racks but not enough available power to turn them on, people familiar with the effort said, leaving finished equipment to be staged at intermediary warehouses until the facilities were ready.

At least one AWS team did not have "a clear forecasted path" for getting the incoming racks into data centers at the time, according to one of the emails.

Dark GPUs

A lack of new electricity capacity is one of several bottlenecks slowing the buildout of some AI data centers. This has led to a phenomenon known as dark GPUs, where AI chips and servers are purchased but can sit idle due to power supply issues or other challenges. (Dark GPUs can also refer to system design flaws that mean this gear isn't fully used after being plugged in).

This is partly why financial pressure is mounting on big data center projects. Money must be spent upfront to secure supplies of Nvidia GPUs and other valuable AI components. But if some data centers aren't ready to run, those early investments can tie up huge amounts of cash. Debt financing can fill in the gaps, but the market has become less willing to lend against some of these projects lately.

Trade-off

Amazon's early-rack program is one piece of the cloud leader's broader AI buildout, which is putting new pressure on its cash flow, as Business Insider exclusively reported this week. Amazon expects roughly $220 billion in capital expenditures this year — more than any Big Tech peer. Its free-cash-flow turned negative last quarter for the first time since 2023, and could stay negative for a while.

For AWS, the trade-off is securing scarce GPU racks before competitors do, even if some data centers are not yet ready to turn them on. But taking ownership earlier can tie up billions in equipment before it starts generating cloud revenue.

Previously, AWS took ownership of a finished rack only upon delivery to a data center, according to internal documents. Under the new approach, it can pay for and record certain racks earlier in the supply chain.

An Amazon spokesperson said the company routinely stages finished hardware near deployment sites so it can install it once capacity becomes available, calling the practice "best business practice." The spokesperson added that Amazon has long-established systems for tracking infrastructure assets and disputed that the broader company lacked a path for getting racks into data centers.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy previously said the company has a "clear line of sight" to strong returns from its AI investments, calling the technology a "once in a lifetime opportunity."

"We've been through this cycle with the first big AWS growth wave, and liked the results," Jassy wrote in Amazon's annual shareholder letter. "We expect to feel similarly about this next wave."

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• The Wall Street Journal has been planning a big streaming TV push with an ambitious slate of shows.
• It's explored shows around editor in chief Emma Tucker and creators like Feed Me's Emily Sundberg.
• Sundberg dropped out of talks a few weeks ago, Business Insider has learned.

The Wall Street Journal has been ramping up its push into video and had plans for an ambitious slate of streaming TV shows.

Internal documents viewed by Business Insider described an initial six-series offering that would include a flagship live morning program and an interview show hosted by the Journal's editor in chief, Emma Tucker. The docs are from the summer, and a person familiar with the Journal's strategy said that its plans, including dates and partners, are in flux.

The docs said the Journal had been "in negotiations" with creators such as Feed Me Substacker Emily Sundberg, as well as with the restaurant discovery platform The Infatuation. Sundberg dropped out of the talks a few weeks ago, Business Insider has learned.

The plans called for the shows to launch on the Journal's own channels, YouTube, and social media.

Journal parent company Dow Jones is also hiring a head of programming and content, who would be tasked with building "something ambitious in video." The live job description says the role will pay up to $330,000 in base salary, and involve developing talent that includes employees and external creators, translating the company's journalism into streaming formats, and creating live and on-demand shows.

The Journal and Dow Jones's effort shows how news outlets traditionally known for the written word — including The New York Times — are racing to beef up their video offerings in a media landscape that's seeing both the rise of social video and the decline of cable TV news. It also demonstrates that Tucker is taking a flexible approach to the market by looking to both build shows around in-house talent, including herself, and partner with creators and other media companies.

"Expanding our video presence across Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal is a major strategic priority, as we have widely communicated," a Dow Jones spokesperson said. "We are actively hiring leadership to shape and execute our go-to-market strategy for video across Dow Jones, and we look forward to sharing our updated plans when ready."

The Journal name-checked familiar figures

The internal docs viewed by Business Insider described the live morning show as a 60-minute-long anchor of the initial slate. The docs said the Journal enlisted some familiar names in morning news and video to help execute the show. They said the Journal has been working with the production company EverWonder, which was cofounded by the former Time Studios executive Ian Orefice with backing from Jeff Zucker's RedBird IMI.

Another show in the proposed slate in the docs was "The Exchange with Emma Tucker," which was billed as a "prestige interview franchise" that would put viewers "in the room with the people running the global economy." The documents name-checked top CEOs, including Microsoft's Satya Nadella, JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, and BlackRock's Larry Fink, as potential guests.

The person familiar with the Journal's strategy said the documents represented one of a number of different avenues the outlet was exploring and didn't reflect the current status and form of its efforts. The person said the company is in active conversations with a number of external people for potential partnerships.

The documents said the Journal had been "in negotiations" with Sundberg — which have since ended — for a show called "Feed Me, On Camera" that would introduce her "highly engaged, younger creator audience to WSJ while bringing WSJ's scale, authority, and affluent professional audience to her world." The docs envisioned each episode beginning with a "tip, obsession, or question from the Feed Me universe," and following Sundberg to its conclusion while integrating business context and reporting from the Journal.

Other shows the docs said the Journal had explored included one called "Market Price with The Infatuation" that would tackle the "business behind taste, literally." It would combine the cultural authority and young audience of The Infatuation, now owned by JPMorgan Chase, with the Journal's business reporting chops.

Another was "Inside Sports" ("title to change"), a "next generation reboot of 'Real Sports' for the sports-as-an-asset class era," potentially helmed by Emmy-winning TV journalist Armen Keteyian.

The documents said the Journal had been "in negotiations" with The Infatuation and "in discussions" with Keteyian. Business Insider could not confirm the status of those discussions.

The last series listed in the docs was an AI show that aimed to get a big-name host.

The Journal compared its plans to 'The Daily'

In the docs, the Journal expressed big ambitions for a live morning news show, and said there had been "nothing new" in the category for a professional audience "in a decade." The last entry on a timeline included in the planning docs was The New York Times' "The Daily" in 2017, which has become a reliable top show on the podcast charts and one of the paper's most successful launches.

"We see an opportunity to reinvent the category," the documents said. The Journal also has its own daily news podcast, called "The Journal."

Like the Times, the Journal is in a rare position in a challenged media environment to make a transformative investment. The Journal, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., is profitable, helped by an early move to paywall its journalism.

The documents said that in its video push, the Journal aimed to produce 20 hours of video a week, expand to a free, ad-supported streaming (FAST) channel, and add subscription options and other formats as demand warranted. Between WSJ TV, existing video shows, licensed shows, and co-productions with creators, the Journal aspired to be an "always-on streaming channel." The person familiar with the Journal's strategy said those goals didn't represent its current plans.

Tucker took the helm at the Journal in 2023, moving from the Murdoch-owned UK Sunday Times with a plan to increase engagement with the Journal's digital products. Digital subscriptions rose 8% to 4.5 million in the three months ended June 30 versus the year-ago period. She has called for more lively writing and enterprise reporting. The Journal had already begun to reorient its video strategy under its former head of video Maral Usefi. Under Usefi, the video team had grown by a third, to 65 people, as of April. She was succeeded by Samantha Henig, who was hired in July to lead a new multimedia team.

The docs said that with the Journal's new effort, it aimed to combine its authority and scale with the personality of creator-led media and modern distribution. In terms of audience, it intended to reach a younger viewership than the traditional business TV audience and more decision-makers than creator-led media.

It projected reaching about 75 million viewers through Dow Jones' social reach, upward of 5.6 million monthly watch hours by its 2028 fiscal year, and ad rates that were three to five times what business content on YouTube commands. The person familiar with the Journal's strategy didn't say if those figures represented its current ambitions.

The Journal made a big push into original video more than a decade ago, including the launch of video app WSJ Live in 2011 and expanding to episodic video doc series. Publishers overall have newly reprioritized video amid the rise of short-form content, YouTube's increasing popularity on TV screens, and the success of new live shows like TBPN.

While embracing creator talent — and getting its own staff involved in video content — could help the Journal reach a younger audience, it comes with risks. Journalists who become on-camera talent can often command higher paydays, or defect to start their own ventures, like The New York Times' "Hard Fork" hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton did recently. Creators often have their own audiences, which give them leverage over a news organization that staff reporters might not have.

Flagship video shows are also expensive to produce, which makes high ad rates crucial to the Journal's success with this slate. The internal docs explored pitching a variety of ways for advertisers to get involved, including as launch partners, with category-exclusive partnerships, and as "moment partners" tied to major news events like elections, earnings, and WSJ specials.

• United CEO Scott Kirby says he's all for a nationwide wealth tax.
• Kirby said wealth inequality "has become a danger to our society."
• While Kirby doesn't want a state-by-state approach, California voters will soon vote on a proposed billionaire tax.

United CEO Scott Kirby says "wealth inequality has become a danger to our society."

That's why Kirby said he supports a nationwide wealth tax.

"We should have a national wealth tax — it won't work by state because people will just move," Kirby recently told The New York Times.

Kirby, who lives in the Chicago area near United's headquarters, was one of the highest-paid CEOs of a public company in 2025, according to Crain's Chicago Business. Kirby's 2025 total compensation was valued at over $32 million, according to United's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wealth taxes are facing one of their biggest tests yet this November. Californians will vote on what, if approved, would become the world's first billionaire tax.

The fight is pitting some of the state's wealthiest individuals against the proposal. Google cofounder Sergey Brin alone has donated $102 million to a group seeking to undercut the proposed wealth tax by proposing competing initiatives that could effectively cancel it out.

In addition to a wealth tax, Kirby also said that inheritance taxes should be increased.

"We should have inheritance taxes that get close to 100 percent at some level," he said. "I would pay them."

Kirby's views may seem unusual among corporate leaders, but others are at least open to the idea of wealth taxes.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently reiterated his willingness to pay potentially billions of dollars if California's wealth tax goes into effect.

"I don't mind paying taxes," Huang said. "The more you make, the more taxes you pay, so I'm OK with it."

Huang, who famously got his start working at Denny's, said he worries about other things. Bloomberg estimates that the Nvidia CEO is now worth $180 billion, making him the ninth richest person in the world.

"The fact that I can afford to pay $8 billion in taxes over five years is a privilege," he said. "I'm not afraid of paying taxes. I'm just afraid of being poor."

• Joel Kaplan, Meta's chief global affairs officer, is leaving, Meta confirmed to Business Insider.
• Kaplan, a Republican who once worked for the Bush administration, spent 15 years at Meta.
• Kaplan helped bridge ties between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and President Donald Trump.

A longtime political operative at Meta who played a key role in bridging ties between the company and President Donald Trump's administration is leaving.

Joel Kaplan, Meta's chief global affairs officer, will leave after the midterm elections and a transition period, Axios first reported. Meta confirmed the report to Business Insider.

A veteran Marine Corps artillery officer, Kaplan is a Republican who served as an advisor and deputy chief of staff to former president George W. Bush.

Kaplan joined Meta in 2011. At Meta, he oversaw the company's response to policy issues ranging from the Cambridge Analytica scandal to the end of its fact-checking program.

Kaplan helped repair a once-fraught relationship between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Trump after Meta temporarily suspended Trump's account following the January 6 riot.

Kaplan posted on X on Tuesday that he plans to spend time with his family and figure out what to do next.

Kaplan didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Kaplan has served as Meta's chief global affairs officer since 2025, succeeding former UK politician Nick Clegg. Other Meta executives will share his responsibilities, Axios reported.

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• Elon Musk said that "AI and robots" are the key to fixing America's national debt.
• On a podcast, Musk said it would be "impossible" to tackle any other way.
• He predicted "digital superintelligence" could boost the output of goods and services by 20% to 30%.

Elon Musk said artificial intelligence and robots — not government spending cuts — are the only way to fix the US national debt problem.

Speaking on a newly released episode of author Walter Isaacson's "The Builders" podcast, Musk said his 130-day stint as a special government employee in the second Trump administration led him to that view.

Musk, the world's richest person, served as the de facto leader of the White House DOGE office from January to May 2025, where he sought to slash federal spending.

"I came to the conclusion that the only way we're going to solve the national debt is with AI and robots. We're not going to solve it by trying to save our way there," Musk told Isaacson, calling the latter "impossible."

The US national debt load hit a record $40 trillion in August and has continued to climb, according to Treasury data.

"Maybe if the president made that his, you know, primary goal, we could do that, but the problem is if you try to solve the deficit and stop wasteful spending, you make a lot of enemies in that situation," Musk said.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said political leaders in Washington are mostly unwilling to rein in federal spending enough to significantly shrink the deficit.

"The appetite is not there, and it's not just at the presidency. The appetite is not there at the presidency, the House, the Senate, or the judiciary," Musk said.

He added, "Basically, no one in authority in the government whatsoever, really, with maybe a few rare exceptions of like the Rand Pauls of the world type of thing, actually wants to reduce spending — no, they don't."

Musk estimated that "digital superintelligence" could boost the global output of goods and services by 20% to 30% — an increase he estimated could add roughly $30 trillion a year to the world economy.

"If you have robots and you get to space and can do a mass driver on the moon, then you can get to, I think, potentially a million times the size of the Earth economy," he said.

This could ultimately make money "irrelevant," Musk said.

"There will still be currency, but I think currency will be measured in fundamental physics metrics like wattage and tonnage, mass and energy," he said, predicting, "Conventional currency will not matter."

During the interview, Musk also reflected on his chainsaw-wielding time with the Department of Government Efficiency, admitting he got "carried away."

"I think I should have been more in the background and probably only had it last for a month or two, because at that point you've sort of seen most of what there is to see," Musk told Isaacson.

Musk said he should have left and "focused on AI a little sooner than I did."

• Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue isn't a fan of the Netflix documentary about his company's hack by OpenAI's AI agents.
• Netflix released a short documentary called "AI Gone Wild" in October.
• Delangue, who was interviewed for the project, called the result "super disappointing."

Clément Delangue isn't wild about Netflix's new documentary.

Delangue cofounded Hugging Face, an AI startup acquired by Nvidia for almost $13 billion in September. Two months prior, Hugging Face became the face of AI risk when rogue OpenAI agents hacked the business.

The hacking saga sparked a Netflix documentary titled "AI Gone Wild." On Tuesday, Delangue criticized the so-called "instadoc" in a lengthy X post.

"Super disappointing, as they went for maximum anthropomorphism of the technology and full doomer mode," Delangue wrote.

Delangue sat for an interview in the documentary, along with a METR researcher, the director of the AI Futures Project, and two tech journalists.

In the X post, Delangue wrote that he spent over two hours trying to correct what he described as the documentary's mistakes. He wanted to explain that AI agents were "technological systems, not aliens."

"It looks like the drive to scare people for maximum views was too strong," Delangue wrote.

Delangue listed some things the Netflix documentary omitted: the lack of agent containment, how safeguards for OpenAI's closed model blocked Hugging Face's defense, how Hugging Face defended itself with an open model, and "that we still lack a lot of information and transparency including full agent traces and that companies need to remain accountable for what their agents do."

Netflix did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Some techies responded to Delangue's post with their own criticism of the documentary. Alex Imas, Google DeepMind's director of AGI economics, called Delangue's post "important reading."

Brigitte Tousignant, Hugging Face's head of communications, posted on X that the documentary widened the gap between the public's understanding of AI and how it actually works.

Tousignant wrote to Netflix: "If you can't tell this story responsibly in 26 minutes, maybe 26 minutes isn't enough."

Despite his criticism, Delangue suggested a way to frame the project to make it an enjoyable watch: "It ends up being a fun sci-fi movie though!"