Plus: Korean Internet Giant Kakao Teams With OpenAI To Jumpstart Growth |
Good morning,
Tesla’s headaches continued Wednesday, as the EV maker reported sales data that underperformed analysts’ already low predictions. The auto company reported a 13% decline in vehicle deliveries in its second quarter compared to the same period last year, narrowly exceeding the previous quarter as the company’s largest year-over-year decline in the metric. It’s the latest in a rocky stretch for Tesla, as CEO Elon Musk recently reignited his feud with onetime ally President Donald Trump, leading Trump to threaten to reexamine the company’s government subsidies. Surprisingly, the automaker’s stock rose after the news, ending the day up 5%.
Let’s get into the headlines, |
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| President Donald Trump late on Wednesday lashed out at Republican House members who had refused to back his signature policy megabill and warned that holding out would cost them votes from his base. In a post on Truth Social, Trump asked, “What are the Republicans waiting for??? What are you trying to prove???” By early Thursday, the messaging appeared to have made an impact, as GOP leaders said they now believe they have the votes to pass the bill and will vote on it today, CNN reports. Robin Hood, an anti-poverty philanthropy group backed by nearly two dozen ultra wealthy finance moguls, denounced the Senate’s passage of the sweeping budget bill, which it says is “pull[ing] the rug out from under everyday working and poor Americans.” But among the billionaire donors and current or former board or leadership council members that Forbes reached out to—including Michael Bloomberg, hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman and Citadel founder and CEO Ken Griffin—none responded with a comment. |
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 | | Shina Chung, CEO of Kakao Jaehyun Kim For Forbes ASIA |
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| Striding purposefully across the stage at a packed media briefing held in Seoul in early February, Shina Chung, CEO of Korean internet giant Kakao, leaned in to greet OpenAI cofounder Sam Altman. After six months of negotiations, the two companies had just sealed a partnership that would give Kakao (market cap: $20 billion) access to the American AI titan’s powerful technology. As Chung declared on stage, it could potentially turn “all imaginable AI-era services into reality”—and give Kakao a fighting chance to leapfrog the competition. With OpenAI’s help, Kakao hopes to realize its ambitions of being at the forefront of providing hyper-personalized services to the 49 million users of its ubiquitous superapp KakaoTalk, which equals about 94% of the country’s population. Chung is targeting a November rollout of so-called AI agents—next generation virtual assistants that can go beyond answering basic questions to making decisions and even taking actions on behalf of users. For Kakao and its first woman CEO, the OpenAI alliance could be nothing less than a game-changer. Since taking the top job in March 2024, Chung’s biggest challenge is to steer the company through the longest stretch of sluggish sales in its 15-year history. The 50-year-old Chung, who featured on Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen list last year, is betting that going all-in on AI will be a catalyst for growth. The collaboration isn’t a one-way deal. For OpenAI, it offers an opportunity to further its global ambitions by providing access to one of the world’s most tech-savvy markets, which has the highest number of paying subscribers outside the U.S. for ChatGPT, its revolutionary chatbot. |
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| It’s a critical turning point for Kakao. The company’s business is dependent on the Korean market—compared with blue-chip stalwarts like Samsung and Hyundai whose fortunes are determined by global exports—which faces a deepening economic slump. The country’s GDP contracted by 0.2% in the first quarter amid the threat of a global trade war, weak consumer spending and months of political turmoil. |
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| Del Monte Pacific—the canned food producer controlled by Philippine food-to-pharmaceuticals tycoon Joselito Campos and his siblings—said it will deconsolidate its U.S. subsidiary, which has filed for bankruptcy. The company is among the assets owned by the Campos family, which is among the wealthiest in the Philippines with a net worth of $940 million, according to Forbes Asia. |
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| President Donald Trump has ratcheted up his attacks on New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who pulled off a major upset in last week’s primary and has said he plans to “Trump-proof” New York City. The president floated the idea of examining Mamdani’s process for becoming a U.S. citizen in 2018, and has threatened to withhold federal funding to New York City. As the Supreme Court wrapped up its latest term, a Forbes analysis found that groups linked to the controversial, right-wing Project 2025 were largely successful before the nation’s highest court. The Supreme Court favored interests pushed by Project 2025-linked groups in eight of the 12 major cases Forbes examined, including those that limited court rulings against Trump, allowed restrictions on transgender healthcare, expanded tax exemptions for religious charities and killed Mexico’s lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers. |
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| Sean “Diddy” Combs escaped his more serious criminal charges on Wednesday, as a jury found the music mogul guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution, charges that—unlike the others he faced—do not come with the possibility of life in prison. One reason for the verdict, a legal expert told Forbes, could be because the prosecution failed to convince jurors that Combs forced or coerced his former girlfriends into commercial sex acts. But he still faces up to 20 years in prison and will remain in jail until his sentencing after being denied bail. Soccer star Diogo Jota, who played for Liverpool F.C. and the Portuguese national team, was killed in a car crash in Spain early Thursday morning, just two weeks after his wedding and only two months since he won the English Premier League title. Jota’s Portugal teammate Cristiano Ronaldo mourned the 28-year-old’s death in a post on X, saying: “To your family, your wife and your children, I send my condolences and wish them all the strength in the world...We’ll all miss you.” |
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| Three major global airlines—Qantas, Hawaiian Airlines and WestJet—have been hit with cyberattacks in the last three weeks, and cybersecurity experts say more carriers may have been targeted. The FBI recently warned of a cybercriminal group targeting the airline sector called Scattered Spider, which has been credited with many high-profile cyberattacks in recent years. |
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| As the House deliberates on President Donald Trump’s tax bill, the legislation would have a major impact on colleges, likely weakening many institutions’ finances while making it more difficult for students to access financial aid and student loans. Though the Senate pared back some of the changes proposed in the original House version, the bill still includes an increased tax on the investment income of some college endowments and changes to students’ eligibility for Pell grants. |
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Between $2 million and $4 million | The price the 54-pound meteorite is expected to fetch | |
| Around 77,000 | The number of officially recognized meteorites on Earth, only 400 of which are Martian, according to Sotheby’s | |
| 6.59% | The percentage of Martian material on Earth that this meteorite accounts for |
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| The majority of Americans experience burnout, and the summer is the perfect time to recharge by way of vacation days, long weekends and summer Fridays. But it’s critical to plan ahead so you can rest with intention: schedule time off, block off your calendar and turn on out-of-office notifications. And make time for the things that energize you, whether it’s exercise, a hobby or volunteering in the community.< |
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