Plus: Meet The Florida Sugar Barons Worth $4 Billion And Getting Sweet Deals From Donald Trump |
Good morning,
When it comes to evaluating labor market data, it’s not just about the quantity of jobs—it’s also about the quality. And most Americans aren’t feeling good about that, either.A new report found that just 40% of U.S. workers hold “quality jobs,” defined as roles that meet at least three of five criteria: financial well-being, workplace culture and safety, growth and development opportunities, agency and voice, and work structure and autonomy. The findings build on other research that shows employee engagement is near a 10-year low, and overall sluggishness in the labor market. “This is everything that lots of everyday Americans experience and know to be the truth, which is there’s a lack of good jobs,” says Pete Stavros, co-head of global private equity at KKR.
Let’s get into the headlines, |
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| In a new lawsuit against the Trump Administration, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the planned $100,000 fee for H-1B visas will harm American businesses—especially smaller firms with less capital. The increased fee has garnered attention from top executives in Big Tech, as it overwhelmingly affects the sector, though it will also impact fields like medicine, engineering and finance. Greek yogurt maker Chobani is now worth around $20 billion after raising $650 million to fund production investments in upstate New York and Idaho. Chobani, which was the top-selling yogurt brand in the U.S. last year, was founded by billionaire Hamdi Ulukaya in 2005, and Forbes estimates the deal boosts his net worth by over $11 billion, to $13.5 billion. |
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 | | Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul (left) and his brother José "Pepe" Fanjul Taylor Jones/The Palm Beach Post/Zuma Press/Newscom |
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| To celebrate Donald Trump’s second inauguration earlier this year, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey came to Washington with an appropriate symbol of appreciation: a commemorative edition of the president’s favorite beverage, Diet Coke. But the meeting got a little tense when Trump asked why the company doesn’t use cane sugar in its signature soda—commonly referred to as “Mexican Coke”—and Quincey demurred, saying that “there wasn’t enough supply.” Trump wasn’t buying it, according to the book 2024: How Trump Retook The White House, and soon called up one of his top political donors and friend of more than 40 years, José ‘Pepe’ Fanjul—the 81-year-old Palm Beach sugar magnate who lives near Mar-a-Lago—to ask if the information was true. That conversation appears to have planted the seed for what transpired in the months following the inauguration, which Fanjul attended after donating nearly $1 million. Over the summer, when Quincey returned to Washington, Trump brought up the cane sugar issue again, and then shortly after he announced on social media that Coca-Cola would create an entirely new line: “This will be a very good move by them—You’ll see. It’s just better!” Fanjul and his siblings—who control a sugar and real estate empire, including Domino Sugar and Florida Crystals, that Forbes estimates to be worth some $4 billion—have been jockeying for the Coca-Cola business ever since. Even as the highly anticipated U.S. cane sugar line is expected to begin production soon, as Coca-Cola confirmed it would launch this fall, details of where the Atlanta-based beverage giant will source its U.S-farmed cane sugar remain scant. Coca-Cola declined to comment. Yet a source familiar with the company’s launch told Forbes that Coca-Cola “is trying to keep this under wraps” but confirmed that the Fanjuls “will be in the mix.” |
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| Global sugar prices have been volatile over the past decade, and companies like Florida Crystals and its competitors have struggled due to lower prices and a negative outlook for commodities. That’s why expanding their business with Coca-Cola will be a nice sweetener for the Fanjuls. And if Trump can keep American sugar prices high and competitors out, they’ll keep profiting. |
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| With the Federal Reserve finally bringing interest rates down, homebuilder confidence this month saw its biggest jump since January 2024, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. It’s a key economic indicator as the government shutdown delays federal data, and housing is often an early signal of shifts in monetary policy. President Donald Trump said Thursday his administration intends to bring beef prices down “soon,” as inflation for the meat significantly outpaces most other food products, though he did not offer details. The average price for ground beef reached an all-time high average of $6.31 a pound in August—a 14% increase since the start of the year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. |
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| WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP |
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| As the AI boom drives data storage demand, 16-year-old flash drive company Pure Storage is reaping the benefits. Earlier this year, the company signed a deal with Meta to help build the social media giant’s AI supercomputers—an agreement that made Pure Storage’s cofounder John Colgrove a new billionaire, with his 4% of the $30 billion (market cap) firm now worth around $1.2 billion. |
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| President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor, John Bolton, was indicted in Maryland, where he is being investigated for the potential mishandling of classified documents. Bolton’s criminal charges come after the Trump administration recently indicted two other longtime Trump adversaries, former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, on federal charges in Virginia. |
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| The world’s 10 highest-paid soccer players are set to earn an estimated $945 million during the 2025-26 season, led by superstar forward Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s slated to pull in $280 million in total earnings over the coming year before taxes and agents’ fees, a figure so high that among all the athletes Forbes has tracked since 1990, only one has surpassed it in a single year while active in his sport: boxer Floyd Mayweather. |
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| The Trump Administration is reportedly considering changes at the IRS that could make it easier for the agency to use its broad powers to investigate alleged financial crimes and go after the president’s political opponents. The administration wants to make the reforms to the IRS Criminal-Investigative Division to streamline their investigations against left-wing groups and donors, the Wall Street Journal reported. |
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| Even as more workers look to take on temporary jobs, American employers are planning to hire a record-low number of seasonal employees this year. Tariff fears, inflation and increasing reliance on full-time employees could be causing the dip, according to one expert: |
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100,800 | The number of seasonal hiring plans tracked by career services firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas in September, down from the 401,850 announced by the beginning of October in 2024 | |
| 50% | The increase in the number of searches for seasonal work over 2023, per Bloomberg | |
| 2009 | 2025 has seen the lowest level of year-to-date hiring since 2009 |
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| Most of us probably think about desk jobs when we consider the ways AI could transform workplaces, but the technology also has plenty of applications in the skilled trades. It can help streamline administrative tasks or scheduling, allowing tradespeople to dedicate more of their energy to hands-on work. And as seasoned professionals retire, AI can help with training and preparing younger generations to join the field. |
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| GAMES | | QUIZ | | President Donald Trump announced pla |
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