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Halfway to the weekend! Who says the housing market is tough? You can buy this lovely home in France for checks notes $454 million.

In today's big story, we're discussing TikTok's lawsuit against the US government to stop its potential ban — and asking you to pick a side.

What's on deck:

• Markets: Top hedge funds turn to these people to get investing talent in the door.
• Tech: Mark Zuckerberg once considered acquiring the Associated Press.
• Business: Get ready, home sellers: It's about to be a summer from hell.

But first, see you in court.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.

The big story

A suit over swiping

Here. We. Go.

From the moment the ink was dry on the law banning TikTok in the US, barring a sale, a legal fight was sure to follow. Two weeks later, the popular app answered the bell.

TikTok and its parent company ByteDance filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the federal government, write Business Insider's Dan Whateley and Geoff Weiss.

The legal battle set to unfold is a fascinating who's who of major business topics. Government regulation of tech? Check. US-China tensions? Check. The future of the creator economy? Check.

And the knock-on effects extend beyond TikTok, impacting everything from President Joe Biden's reelection campaign to Apple and Tesla.

But don't expect things to wrap up quickly. It'll take time for all of this to work its way through the courts. (As always, the real winners are the lawyers.)

The TikTok-US government fight pits two pillars of American society against each other: free speech and national security.

Let's look at both arguments and then you pick a side.

The case for banning TikTok: The past decade taught us the incredible power of social media, from the data it collects on users to the information it pushes out to them. We also know foreign actors have leveraged social media to interfere with an election.

TikTok plays on both those fears. Not only is it a massively popular app that users seem to lose track of time on. Its parent company is based in Beijing, the capital of a country the US is not on the best terms with.

With young people turning to TikTok for news — and China reportedly trying to influence US elections — you start to see where the concerns are coming from. (One legal expert told BI the law had a 70% chance of surviving a legal challenge.)

The case against banning TikTok: To borrow (and alter) a famous movie line, "Show me the evidence!"

We can talk until we're blue in the face about the Chinese Communist Party potentially forcing ByteDance to share TikTok's US user data or influence operations on its behalf. But the US government hasn't provided evidence that's happening. And TikTok maintains its data is safe and separate from outside influence.

Meanwhile, TikTok has helped plenty of users earn money and launch full-blown careers seemingly overnight.

And who's to say this stops with TikTok?

The threat of foreign influence might make the TikTok ban easier to swallow. But what happens the next time the government wants to exert some control over social media?

Regulators haven't been shy about going after Big Tech. A successful TikTok ban could open the door for more aggressive actions against others in tech.

So, which side do you fall on?

Vote here.

3 things in markets

1. Citi's Jane Fraser isn't sold on a soft landing. The bank's CEO remains hopeful the Fed can stick an economic soft landing, but acknowledged how hard it is. In the meantime, inflation is hitting lower-income Americans thef hardest, Fraser said.
2. The people making key hires at the biggest hedge funds. Business-development executives are tasked with recruiting and retaining the top investing talent for multimanager hedge funds. From Citadel to Millennium, these are the BDs courting top portfolio managers.
3. Is a recession coming? A lesser-known Piper Sandler indicator that's predicted the last 11 economic downturns just flashed red — but in better news, the firm's chief investment strategist, Michael Kantrowitz, still expects stocks to carry on racking up gains in the short run.

3 things in tech

1. Mark Zuckerberg once considered acquiring the Associated Press. Between 2017 and 2018, with Facebook under scrutiny for its role in the misinformation surrounding the 2016 election, Zuckerberg considered acquiring or permanently funding the AP.
2. New iPads are here. Apple unveiled new iPad Air models, as well as iPad Pros with M4 chips and the first OLED display in the iPad lineup. The company also showed off new iPad accessories, like a $129 Pencil Pro and a new Magic Keyboard.
3. OpenAI destroyed a trove of books used to train its AI model. Newly unsealed documents in the class action lawsuit brought by the Authors Guild against the startup revealed it had deleted two huge datasets, named "books1" and "books2," that had been used to train its GPT-3 AI model. The documents also showed that the two researchers who created the datasets are no longer employed by OpenAI.

3 things in business

1. Good luck trying to sell your home this summer. The age of insane bidding wars and huge concessions is coming to an end. As buyers' options slowly increase, sellers may have to slash asking prices or wait longer for a viable offer to come along.
2. Bob Iger has a new plan for Marvel. In Disney's earnings call, Iger announced plans to limit the number of Marvel shows and movies released each year. The company also reported mostly strong earnings, but its stock fell as much as 11% after announcing lighter-than-expected subscriber numbers.
3. Less on booze, more on rent. BI compared how adults aged 25 to 34 spent their money in 1989 and 2022. Today's millennials are spending less on food and alcohol, but more on housing and healthcare.

In other news

• Judge threatens Trump with contempt for 'cursing audibly' during Stormy Daniels testimony, new trial transcript shows.
• Elon Musk is a homeowner again, despite his claims of couch surfing.
• 'You hate Donald Trump!' Stormy Daniels accused of vendetta in scorching cross-examination by Trump lawyer.
• Uh, this music-streaming app called Musi sure feels like it's in a gray area.
• How 12 brands are using generative AI in their ad campaigns, from bringing the artist Salvador Dalí to life to helping shelter pets get adopted.
• Meta is about to open up the generative AI floodgates for advertisers with new tools.
• GM wants to scoop up interns impacted by Tesla's cuts, recruiter says.
• How much influencers charge for sponsored posts, Gen Z views on AI influencers, and other key takeaways from new influencer-marketing data.

What's happening today

• Today's earnings: Airbnb, Uber, and other companies are reporting.

The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London.

• The barrier to influencing is lower than ever, meaning more and more competition to succeed.
• Audiences are favoring authentic and knowledgeable content creators over follower count.
• It's the "intellectual influencers," or "thought leaders," who are likely to thrive.

Influencers are out, and thought leaders are in.

With TikTok facing a US ban, YouTube going through a period of unrest, and the next social-media platforms rearing their heads, influencers are facing an uncertain future.

Many are now having to think hard about what they provide to their audiences and whether their followers will stick around.

The barrier to influencing is lower than ever, meaning viewers are more discerning. They are turning their backs on creators who seemingly just promote products and go on out-of-touch, lavish trips and leaning more toward those who offer them content with more meaning.

Nya Étienne, who is a journalist and TikTok content creator, refers to this concept as the rise of "the intellectual influencer."

"People are facing burnout on social media," she told Business Insider. "They want to see content with more substance, and they want to see influencers and creators as three-dimensional people, not just as people trying to sell them things."

People want 'edutainment'

This new breed of influencer could outlast all the rest and may soon be dominating social media feeds.

"People are now starting to shift their attention to what I like to call thought leaders," Katya Varbanova, a content creator and the CEO of Viral Marketing Stars, told BI. "An influencer is somebody that influences you because of their personality and personal taste and personal preferences, whereas a thought leader influences you because of their expertise."

Back when posting on social media was novel, the audience of an aspiring content creator would grow exponentially simply because they were entertaining to watch. Now, anyone can be an influencer — they just have to pick up their phone, shoot a video on TikTok, and edit it within the app with ease.

"The barrier to entry for creators is so low, and I think the standards of the general public are rising because of that," Varbanova said.

"They don't just want to be entertained or just want to be educated. They want to be edutained."

People want to hear from creators with knowledge, such as a psychologist with 20+ years of experience who can post deep dives into a topic as a side hustle to their day job. They don't want an inexperienced teenager's view on nutrition, they want a registered dietician to bust food myths and tell them what they should be eating.

A 2023 survey of 9,000 global shoppers from Bazaarvoice, a consumer and retailer platform, found, in general, that influencers with millions of followers just don't resonate like they used to.

Overall, respondents pointed to favoring authentic content over a follower count and the importance of experts. More than a quarter (26%) of respondents said they were influenced by experts on a particular topic when purchasing something, while 33% said they had bought a product based on a recommendation from a specialist.

A 2023 survey by Matter Communications, a brand elevation agency, also found that authenticity was paramount for viewers when choosing who to follow. Relatable personalities came out top, with 61% saying they found these more appealing, followed by expert personalities (43%) and just-for-fun personalities (32%).

"It just used to be so easy to get attention," Varbanova said. "Now, because it's harder, and because people have more choice, they're more selective."

Audiences will still watch quick dopamine-hit content that doesn't require too much brain power, as well as videos that make you think deeper about a topic. But the latter is in a much less crowded field.

When it comes to brand deals and promotions, someone trusted is also going to have a better chance of generating sales than someone who's not, Varbanova said.

Staying relevant

Koko Dubuisson, a fashion content creator from Boston, told BI TikTok was the platform where she has seen the most growth, and she believes that's down to how real it is.

For example, restaurant reviewers, such as Keith Lee, are becoming trusted replacements to Google reviews for young people. These kinds of creators can "really make a business boom," Dubuisson said, because they are expert voices.

Even ultra-specific niches of content, such as farmers cleaning horseshoes, can be addictive. Some people like ASMR, others like true crime. It's the content that makes you feel something that will persist, Dubuisson believes.

"I feel like even years down the line, content creating is still going to be relevant," she said.

It's more a matter of how influencers themselves will stay relevant as some platforms disappear and others surface.

The influencer industry is "growing up," Kaye Putnam, a psychology-based brand strategist and YouTube creator, told BI. And those who want to keep up need to move toward professionalization and specialization, she said. That's the type of content that will be dominating feeds.

The influencers who will succeed have to build a "true business around their influencing" and diversify by starting up email lists, such as Substack, or tending to their communities on platforms like Circle or Discord.

"With ChatGPT, we can Google or find the answer to anything," Putnam said. "So having a unique point of view is incredibly important."

That's not to say the days of a perfectly curated feed are dead. If that's something an influencer truly has a passion for, they should lean into that, Putnam said. Just proceed with caution and let followers know they still have something in common with you.

"We get kind of resentful when people flaunt what they have without also pairing that with some vulnerability or some humanness at the same time," she said.

"We create that parasocial relationship with them when they're not so perfect, and I think people are demanding that more than ever."

• Realtor.com identified 15 large US cities with the lowest incomes needed to afford a home.
• Some of the most affordable cities for homebuyers who earn less are in the South and Midwest.
• Pittsburgh, where a $67,000 income comfortably buys a typical $250,000 home, tops the list.

We're more than four months into 2024, and US mortgage rates show no signs of easing.

Persistently high home prices and wallet-squeezing inflation are sobering realities. According to a recent survey by nationwide property intermediary service IPX1031, 70% percent of Americans don't think they can swing buying a home this year.

But don't throw in the towel just yet.

Realtor.com has identified 15 large cities where homebuyers can make less than $100,000 a year — about the typical income of a household with two or more married or related members — and still afford to purchase a median-priced property.

"As a result of inflation, a six-figure salary doesn't stretch as far as it used to, but it continues to be a significant milestone for many households," Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, told Business Insider.

While the overall income needed to comfortably buy a house in the US has increased by $5,900 since last year and median home prices have jumped significantly compared to a decade ago, prospective buyers in these cities won't spend more than 30% of their income on properties — a telltale sign of being cost-burdened.

Many of the cities that are more affordable for homebuyers are in the South, the Midwest, or the Mid-Atlantic states — which are known for their relatively cheaper costs of living. Not a single city from the West made the cut, underscoring the considerable cash needed to achieve homeownership in states like California relative to how much people make.

"In some areas, like the South, we're seeing an increase in smaller-footprint homes for sale, which helps dampen prices. Furthermore, in many of these regions, builders have done a better job of keeping up with housing demand," said Hale. "In part, the home prices in the West reflect the reality that the tech industry has played a significant part in boosting incomes in the region. However, we also see the impact of limited construction stifling supply and pushing up home prices."

Realtor.com determined where homeownership is most achievable based on income by choosing places where the typical person wouldn't spend more than 30% of their income to buy a home given a 205 down payment and a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with current interest rates. Researchers also examined local taxes and home insurance costs.

Here are the 15 US cities where prospective buyers with relatively lower incomes can still purchase houses, according to Realtor.com.

15. San Antonio

• Median home list price: $345,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $100,000

14. Cincinnati

• Median home list price: $375,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $99,000

13. Oklahoma City

• Median home list price: $330,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $98,000

12. Memphis

• Median home list price: $339,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $91,000

11. Baltimore

• Median home list price: $352,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $91,000

10. New Orleans

• Median home list price: $335,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $90,000

9. Rochester, New York

• Median home list price: $295,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $87,000

8. Indianapolis

• Median home list price: $340,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $87,000

7. Louisville, Kentucky

• Median home list price: $327,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $87,000

6. St. Louis

• Median home list price: $294,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $82,000

5. Buffalo, New York

• Median home list price: $285,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $79,000

4. Birmingham, Alabama

• Median home list price: $297,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $75,000

3. Cleveland

• Median home list price: $255,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $71,000

2. Detroit

• Median home list price: $250,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $69,000

Pittsburgh

• Median home list price: $250,000
• Median household income required to purchase a home: $67,000

• A Georgia appeals court has given Donald Trump a legal win in the state's election-interference case against him. 
• The appeals court agreed to consider Trump's bid to get the DA removed from the case. 
• Trump scored another legal win Tuesday when a federal judge delayed his classified documents trial indefinitely. 

Former President Donald Trump has scored another legal win that will likely delay one of his criminal trials.

A Georgia appeals court on Wednesday agreed to consider Trump's bid to get Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis disqualified from the state's 2020 election-interference case against Trump and his allies.

Trump and his codefendants in the Georgia case had asked the appeals court to review a ruling made earlier this year by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee that permitted Willis to continue to oversee the case.

Attorneys for Trump and his codefendants had previously argued in a motion to disqualify Willis that Willis had a conflict of interest in the case because she improperly benefited from a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the Atlanta lawyer she hired as a special prosecutor for the case.

Following a days-long evidentiary hearing on the matter in which both Willis and Wade testified, McAfee ruled in March that Willis and her office could remain on the case so long as Wade stepped aside. Wade announced his resignation hours later.

McAfee said in his ruling that though he did not find a real conflict of interest, "an odor of mendacity remains." The judge allowed a request by Trump and his codefendant's to appeal the ruling.

Trump attorney Steve Sadow cheered the Georgia appeals courts' decision to take up the case, writing in a post on X on Wednesday: "The GA Court of Appeals has GRANTED President Trump's Application for Interlocutory Appeal from the trial court's order refusing to disqualify Fulton County DA Fani Willis!!!"

The case was not scheduled for trial. In the months leading up to the filing of the conflict-of-interest motion, Willis had been seeking an August trial date — but that was before her office lost its lead prosecutor on the case.

The appeals court's decision to review the ruling just increases the likelihood that the Georgia case against Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, won't go to trial before the presidential election in November.

Trump — who has been charged in a total of four criminal cases and is currently standing trial for one of them, in relation to hush money paid to a porn star — got another legal victory on Tuesday.

The federal Florida judge overseeing Trump's criminal case over his holding onto secret government documents following his presidency delayed the trial indefinitely, giving him the chance to get rid of the charges if he wins the 2024 election.

The former president's legal team has been trying to delay Trump's criminal cases — and the strategy seems to be paying off.

• LA County Sheriff's Department says it arrested eight suspects in an organized retail crime ring.
• Officials say the crew targeted retail chains in three states and sold stolen merchandise online.
• Last week, corporate investigators joined law enforcement to raid locations where items were found.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said it has arrested eight people in connection with an organized crime ring that stole millions of dollars worth of products from retailers in the region.

Officials said on March 3 that the recovered merchandise included cosmetics, over-the-counter medication, and hygiene products, which had been stolen from retailers in Nevada, Arizona, and California.

Items were then brought to multiple locations throughout LA County and sold to other crews who would then sell to the public, the Sheriff's Department said. Cash and a gun were also recovered.

The announcement follows raids last week in which corporate investigators from Walmart, Target, and CVS joined law enforcement to identify and recover boxes of merchandise from a dozen locations, as witnessed by KCAL News.

Authorities told the TV station the products were connected with a string of smash-and-grab robberies and cargo theft incidents.

One warehouse in the area was so filled with goods that it "resembled a Costco," KCAL reported, and investigators said that most of the items are sold online, including on Amazon.

• Tesla spent around $2 million on lidar tech, according to a quarterly earnings report from Luminar.
• Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly slammed lidar and referred to it as a "fool's errand."
• It's unclear how Tesla is using lidar, but in 2021 the EV giant signed a contract with Luminar.

Tesla spent around $2 million on lidar, a technology used in EVs that Elon Musk has previously referred to as a "fool's errand" and that any carmakers relying on it are "doomed."

But according to a recent earnings report from lidar manufacturer Luminar, Tesla was its largest customer last quarter and "comprised more than 10%" of its revenue during the period.

That's about $2 million, given that Luminar's reported quarterly revenue was $21 million. Luminar did not respond to a request for comment.

Lidar stands for light detection and ranging, and it uses light pulses to measure distance and create a 3D image of its surroundings. It's often used in EVs, specifically in self-driving and Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems, to help detect a vehicle's surroundings.

Tesla's purchase of the technology is notable considering the CEO has repeatedly slammed lidar in favor of cameras.

"It's like having a whole bunch of expensive appendices," Musk said at Tesla's "Autonomy Day" event in 2019. "Like one appendix is bad, well how about a whole bunch of them? That's ridiculous. You'll see."

"Humans drive with eyes & biological neural nets, so makes sense that cameras & silicon neural nets are only way to achieve generalized solution to self-driving," Musk said in an October 2021 tweet.

Musk most recently reiterated his stance on lidar during Tesla's quarterly earnings call. The CEO said Tesla EVs only rely on camera-based vision systems for driver-assist features.

"No lidars, no radars, ultrasonic. Nothing," Musk said.

Musk has also said that he doesn't hate lidar, he just opposes its use in electric vehicles. The Tesla CEO said he personally ran a project at SpaceX to create lidar sensors to help navigation.

For now, it's unclear how Tesla is using the technology, or if it will eventually make its way back into the company's vehicles.

In 2021, a photo of a Tesla Model Y with lidar sensors affixed to its roof circulated around the internet. That same year, Tesla reportedly entered a partnership with Luminar for testing and development.

Tesla has autonomous testing units in a number of cities around the country as it seeks to refine its Full-Self-Driving system.

The company's self-driving Autopilot feature has also caught the eye of regulators in the past. Last year, Tesla recalled over 2 million vehicles after regulators said its Autopilot system didn't protect enough against drivers misusing it.

Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was looking into whether the recall had enough of an impact after a fatal crash involved a driver who said he was using autopilot.

The US Department of Justice has also reportedly been investigating Tesla since 2022 over potential wire and securities fraud related to Elon Musk's past comments about Autopilot and its abilities.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

• Tesla is trying to use its full self-driving technology to run fleets of taxis.
• But Uber's CEO said that Tesla will need tools that his rideshare company already has.
• Dara Khosrowshahi told CNBC that Uber "in a great position to work with any and all EV manufacturers."

Tesla wants its self-driving technology to power robotaxis. But Uber's CEO says his company could play a key role to have it make financial sense.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi praised Tesla and CEO Elon Musk in a Wednesday interview with CNBC after Uber reported first-quarter results.

"I would never underestimate Elon Musk and Tesla. We're big fans of his," he told CNBC. "They're clearly the leaders in EVs, and we have a lot of Teslas in our marketplace."

But Tesla will need more than just self-driving cars to make robotaxis a reality, Khosrowshahi told CNBC.

Uber already offers some of the needed tools, including scheduling, pricing, and identity verification technology, which any manufacturer of autonomous vehicles (AVs) would use to start offering rides, he said.

"As a result, we think we're in a great position to work with any and all AV manufacturers as the technology develops safely, including Tesla," he said, referring to autonomous vehicles.

"We can drive enormous demand to this promising technology," Khosrowshahi added.

Musk reportedly discussed rolling out Tesla's full self-driving, or FSD, technology with officials in China during a visit to the country last month. During the meetings, the officials also expressed interest in potentially using FSD in China's taxi cabs.

In the US, Tesla is still testing FSD. The technology has reportedly struggled to navigate some parts of San Francisco, like making left turns at busy intersections.

• Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a 2012 deposition he has a worm in his brain.
• A major tenant of Kennedy's long shot campaign has been on his health compared to Trump and Biden.
• The New York Times reported he's also been hospitalized four times for atrial fibrillation.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a decade-old deposition that he believed he had a dead worm in brain.

First reported by The New York Times on Wednesday, Kennedy brought up the worm in a 2012 deposition during his divorce proceeding with his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy.

"I have cognitive problems, clearly," he said at the time. "I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me."

He also noted in the deposition, the Times reported, that he had been diagnosed with mercury poisoning around the same time. Mercury poisoning can also cause neurological problems.

The issues from both ailments, he argued at the time of his divorce, impacted his ability to earn money.

He recently told the Times that he's no longer having memory issues.

In the deposition, Kennedy said he visited several neurologists in 2010 to try to find the cause of his haziness. While some doctors believed he had a brain tumor, one thought he had a worm stuck in his brain.

Kennedy said the doctor told him his brain scan didn't show a tumor, instead saying the dark spot "was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died."

Kennedy's brain and mercury problems weren't the only health issues he's had over the years: As the Times noted, he's been hospitalized on four occasions for atrial fibrillation, a condition where the heart beats quickly and out of rhythm. In the 2012 deposition, Kennedy said that he once had to have his heart shocked by doctors to get it to beat back in sync.

The Times report on Kennedy's health troubles is a contrast to how he portrays himself in his long shot bid for the White House. The 70-year-old has positioned himself as a more physically and mentally fit candidate than 81-year-old President Joe Biden and 77-year-old former President Donald Trump. He even recorded a shirtless outdoor workout.

Kennedy hasn't polled high enough to be a significant threat to topple Biden or Trump and take the job himself, but he has siphoned enough support to hurt their campaigns in swing states.

Several of Kennedy's backers have an inordinate amount of power and wealth, like billionaire Pershing Square Capital Management CEO Bill Ackman, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, and PayPal founding executive David Sacks.

• Puma posted quarterly earnings on Wednesday that pushed shares 12% higher.
• The German sportswear giant flagged rising demand for its Palermo sneakers.
• The "terrace" trend has helped boost sales for Puma and arch rival rival Adidas in recent years.

Puma touted rising demand for its retro terrace-style range on Wednesday as it posted first-quarter earnings that were in line with analysts' expectations but still sent shares soaring.

The German footwear giant's net income and earnings per share fell for the three months ending March 31, but its sales in the Americas rose for the first time in four quarters.

Puma also said its profit margins had improved "despite major currency headwinds," with the soaring US dollar causing the euro to weaken this year.

In a news conference, CEO Arne Freundt flagged rising demand for the Palermo, which was commonly worn on European soccer terraces in the 1980s.

Puma relaunched the footwear line last year, tapping up high-profile celebrities including pop superstar Dua Lipa and Manchester City FC winger Jack Grealish to promote the retro shoes.

"We are only six months now in the market with the Palermo, and we see how the franchises are continuing to grow in strength," Freundt said.

Soaring demand for a similar terrace-style shoe sold by Adidas, the Samba, was one of the defining fashion stories of last summer, although the Puma rival recently said it would work to manage demand in a bid to stop the brand becoming a victim of its own success.

Last month, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was widely mocked after attending an interview wearing a pair of Sambas, causing some Britons to conclude that the trend was dead.

"Anybody in the world can wear our product and I'll be happy if they wear it," Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said on an earnings call last week, in response to a question about Sunak's choice of footwear.

Shares in Puma, which is listed in Frankfurt, jumped just over 12%, wiping out this year's losses and valuing the company at about $8 billion.

However, that pales in comparison with Adidas, which is worth about $43 billion after the stock rose 22% so far this year.

• Startup Havelar built Portugal's first 3D printed home using COBOD's popular printing system.
• The walls of the two-bedroom, 861-square-foot home were printed in 18 hours.
• The Portugal-based startup says it can build faster and cheaper than conventional construction.

If companies like Portugal-based Havelar have their way, the future of affordable housing will look like perfectly stacked strands of spaghetti (as in, they'd be 3D printed).

Printing-construction startup Havelar says it can build a new home in less than two months while pricing it significantly below market, all with the help of a robotic construction printer.

It may sound like an impossible claim, but its latest project — and Portugal's first 3D printed home — has made its case.

Havelar completed an 861-square-foot, two-bedroom home in Porto, Portugal, in late April.

Following the success of its project, the startup is now touting its ability to build houses for 1,500 euros per square meter, or about $150 per square foot.

That prices its new dwelling at about $130,000 — half the median cost of similarly sized homes in Porto, according to data from Spanish real estate company Idealista.

Like Havelar, proponents of printer-built homes have been making lofty promises about the futuristic tech.

Giant automated printers are increasingly being lauded as a way to build high-quality natural disaster-resistant homes faster and cheaper while reducing waste and labor.

However, like any nascent tech, the construction 3D printing industry has been facing growing pains, such as the high cost of printing materials and an underdeveloped workforce.

Printers have limitations, too: Most can only build walls, while the rest of the home has to be completed conventionally.

But printing can significantly slash build time — so much so that the walls of Havelar's home were printed in 18 hours, according to COBOD, the 3D printer's manufacturer.

Despite how it sounds, a printer-built home doesn’t have to look unrecognizably futuristic.

Save for the layered-looking walls, a signature of 3D printers, Havelar's build looks like any new two-bedroom house.

It wouldn’t be a modern home without an open-concept kitchen and dining room.

Like Texas-based Icon's first luxury printed home, the contrasting colors and textures of the wood finishes and the printer's cement mix create a contemporary and trendy feel.

But don’t start pulling out money for the downpayment.

Plans to sell the home are "currently unclear," a spokesperson for COBOD told Business Insider. Havelar did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

If you want to move into an affordable printed home, it might be best to wait for Havelar’s next projects.

Otherwise, be prepared to pay more in the US.

Rodrigo Vilas-Boas, cofounder of Havelar, said in COBOD's news release that its construction methods would allow first-time homebuyers to acquire their dream home in a good neighborhood for €150,000, about $162,000.

That's a steep price difference from Lennar and Icon's upcoming community of 100 3D printed homes near Austin, where the first six units were priced between $476,000 and $566,000.

Even steeper, homes at Icon's development in Marfa, Texas, a seven-hour drive east, start "in the upper $900,000s," according to its website.