Tesla's hiring freeze, Elizabeth Holmes' prison sentence, FTX customers' money: The week's most popular stories
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ prison sentence keeps getting shorter
When Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the now-disgraced blood testing company Theranos, received the sentence for her fraud conviction in 2022, she was originally expected to serve 11 years after she reported to prison last May. But it looks like she’ll be getting out by Labor Day 2032.
‘Tungsten wall’ leads to nuclear fusion breakthrough
A tokamak in France set a new record in fusion plasma by encasing its reaction in tungsten, a heat-resistant metal that allows physicists to sustain hot plasmas for longer, and at higher energies and densities than carbon tokamaks.
FTX customers are getting back all the money they lost in the crypto exchange’s collapse
Nearly all of FTX’s former customers will get back almost 100% of the money they lost at the time of the cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse — if not more.
Tesla quietly axed thousands of open jobs, pointing to a hiring freeze after Elon Musk’s layoffs
Tesla is a massive company, employing 140,000 people as of late last year. But over the past month, layoffs have torn through the electric vehicle maker — and now a hiring freeze appears to be in effect in North America.
The 10 states with the most aggressive drivers, according to a new study
People tend to assume their state, and especially their city, has the worst drivers in the country. We tend to chalk that up to the fact that you’re going to notice a lot more bad behavior in the place you live compared to somewhere you’re visiting, but ultimately, somewhere has to have the worst drivers, right? The question is, where is that place, exactly?
Half of Google’s white-collar staff ‘does no real work,’ Silicon Valley VC says
David Ulevitch, a general partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, is tired of the “BS jobs” at big companies.
McDonald’s and other food giants are struggling in the inflation economy
The inflation economy has come for Big Food. Earnings reports from some of the biggest food companies have highlighted struggles with higher prices, labor shortages, and more
Warren Buffett on Berkshire Hathaway selling Apple stock, AI, and life after Charlie Munger
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported strong first-quarter earnings as the conglomerate kicked off its annual shareholder conference.
The 5 biggest Bitcoin owners in the world
Ever since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin’s odyssey has mesmerized the public and attracted some colorful buyers. Even if you’re not an expert, you might have wondered who owns the world’s top cryptocurrency.
IHOP and Applebee’s owner says inflation has people switching from pricey menu items to the cheap stuff
Dining out can be a short getaway from the everyday hustle. But today, that simple joy is also a cost-cutting opportunity.
Spirit Airlines CEO says the airline industry is a ‘rigged game’
Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie is definitely not bitter about how things went down with the JetBlue Airways merger that was halted by the Justice Department before eventually being abandoned.
The head of NASA says he trusts SpaceX because Elon Musk put someone else in charge
NASA plays nicely with privately owned SpaceX, but is that something to be concerned about? In an interview with NPR, NASA director Bill Nelson assuages any fears of an unsupervised Elon Musk running a space agency by reminding us that SpaceX is actually run by its president Gwynne Shotwell. Nelson trusts Shotwell to protect SpaceX from Elon Musk’s often irrational fever dreams, and thus to protect the billions of American tax dollars granted to SpaceX in government contracts from his wayward spending, too.
‘Fractional home ownership’ wants to fix real estate’s woes. Could it work?
There’s more than one way to own a house these days. Sites including real estate startup Pacaso are opening up a new market for people looking to own just a fraction of a house — for a fraction of its total price. Instead of laying claim to an entire single-family home, Pacaso sells luxury single-family homes to groups of buyers, a practice known as fractional home ownership. Someone could, for example, own one-eighth of a multi-million dollar mansion in Florida’s coveted Marco Island for just $736,000.
Tesla is facing major competition in China. Here are its biggest rivals
Like many Western automakers, Tesla is dealing with a slew of tough rivals in the world’s largest auto market.
The next Swiss Army Knife won’t have a knife
The Swiss Army Knife has become such a shorthand for multifunctionality that companies producing does-a-lot-of-stuff wares will often say that their goods are the “Swiss Army Knife” of whatever category they’re a part of. You can use the tool to cut stuff, snip stuff, uncork stuff, file stuff, in some cases download stuff.
Elon Musk wants Warren Buffett to ditch Apple and buy Tesla stock: ‘It’s an obvious move’
Elon Musk wants Warren Buffett to go all in on Tesla stock after the legendary Wall Street investor sold another 115 million shares of Apple.
The 3 states with the most billionaires — and 3 that have none
Across the U.S., billionaires reside in cities big and small. Many are looking for locations that are close to their businesses or their families, have favorable tax systems, or just have a sunnier climate — and maybe access to a beach.