Category: Business

• Klarna's CEO sparked criticism for saying AI lets his in-house marketing team do more even at "half the size."
• Sebastian Siemiatkowski said Klarna is "spending less on photographers, image banks, and marketing agencies."
• Klarna previously said its AI assistant was doing the work of 700 humans.

Klarna's CEO seemingly touched a nerve on social media with a post about how the company saved millions by using AI to cut costs and do the marketing work human employees previously did.

Sebastian Siemiatkowski tweeted on Tuesday that the fintech firm will save $10 million this year in part because generative AI lets the company produce more images faster — and with a much smaller in-house marketing team.

"We're spending less on photographers, image banks, and marketing agencies," he wrote. "Our in-house marketing team is HALF the size it was last year but is producing MORE!"

The buy now pay later company has also cut external marketing agency expenses by 25% and "removed the need for stock imagery" by instead using AI image generators like Midjourney, OpenAI's DALL-E, and Adobe's Firefly, Siemiatkowski added.

He also wondered aloud at the impact AI will have on creative industries and those working in marketing.

"But it makes me think, what will happen to the hugely talented marketing and creative industries?" he added. "There is of course still a need for super great, super creative massive campaigns but a lot of the daily work of creative businesses can be done far quicker, more easily and at a fraction of the cost using AI."

His remarks were quickly met with backlash. Some commenters replied to his tweet, calling him names and saying his remarks were "ghoulish."

The largely negative response on social media to the CEO's post highlights the tension and concerns that many workers share about how companies implement AI in employees' day-to-day workflow in an attempt to boost productivity and cut down on costs — and the impact that can have on the workforce.

"If you still had a bigger marketing team, they probably would've advised you not to post this," one person said.

"Flexing that you fired half of your marketing team is just really bad," another added, alongside a clown emoji.

Klarna laid off roughly 700 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, in May 2022. The following year, the company posted its first profitable quarter in four years. Its head count fell by around 23% by the end of 2023, according to company filings.

When reached for comment, a Klarna spokesperson said, "We think it is important to highlight the impact that AI is having and show real concrete examples and data to drive a proactive discussion."

Other commenters remarked that the AI-generated images looked bad in their opinion, with one saying they "looked like shit." Siemiatkowski included in his tweet an image showing a hair curler in a bouquet of flowers.

While the responses online to the CEO appeared to be mostly negative, not all were.

"The creative industries will be able to level up, instead of a creative suite, they will have entire production studios at their fingertips," one person wrote. "Impressive results by Klarna team!"

Klarna has been leaning into AI for a while now

Siemiatkowski had tweeted in February about Klarna's AI assistant, powered by OpenAI, saying that by handling customer service inquiries it was doing "the equivalent job of 700 full time agents."

"In the longer term, as more companies adopt these technologies, we believe society needs to consider the impact. While it may be a positive impact for society as a whole, we need to consider the implications for the individuals affected," he said at the time.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Wednesday, Klarna's CMO David Sandstrom said the company needs to be "brutally efficient" in order to "become the most advanced marketing organization there is."

"What we're going to see is that we can achieve way more with lower costs, or if we decide to increase costs again, which I think we will do, we will be even more efficient," he said.

"On a marketing level, we as an industry have to acknowledge the fact that whether we like it or not, whether creatives and crafters are worried or not about their future—which they actually shouldn't be, in my opinion—we are in the midst of a step change for marketing and the marketing industry," Klarna's CMO added.

In a press release published on Tuesday alongside the CEO's social media post, Klarna said it had "generated over 1,000 images in the first three months of 2024 using genAI, reducing the image development cycle from 6 weeks to just 7 days."

Klarna also said its AI assistant was now used for 80% of all copywriting within the company.

• Alex Gonzalez, 56, had two of his adult children move back home after they graduated from college.
• He doesn't charge them rent, but asks that they use that money to save for a down payment on a home.
• He'd like more elbow room and his costs have increased, but he enjoys the extra time with his kids.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alex Gonzalez, 56, a financial advisor for money-advice platform Thrivent in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.

Gonzalez and his colleagues recently published a study on the increasing number of adult children who have moved back home with their parents due to housing-market unaffordability and student loan debt.

We've got three adult children, and two of them have boomeranged after college.

One is 26 and one is 22. Our daughter, the 26-year-old, has been back with us for about two years, and our youngest son has been back for about the same time.

I'd characterize their moves home as proactive.

My daughter had a relationship change and we wanted her to move on with her life and build towards the next stage. My son was in a rental situation that didn't work out. The lease came to an end, and his friends were going different directions. He wanted to save up some money for a home purchase. And now that's what both of them are doing.

The pandemic created some economic challenges. I look at my daughter's first employment, and it wasn't quite what she was hoping for or planning on. I also look at the low interest rates from the pandemic, trying to prop up the economy. That caused some inflation, which caused an increase in housing prices. It's so intertwined economically.

There are so many cascading effects. Housing stock is low, pushing up demand. Interest rates — people don't want to move out of their homes when they have good interest rates. They don't sell because they know they're going to get into a new mortgage with higher interest rates. So there are a lot of factors.

I lived at home after college, too

I was boomerang kid.

I graduated from college in 1990. There was a recession then.

I had a hard time finding a job, so I moved home for about three months after graduating from college. That was a challenge emotionally. It was tough, but it gave me incentive to get out as quickly as I could.

I wouldn't say that my children have enjoyed most of it, too — I remember how that felt when I was their age, and I wanted to move out. There are generational differences between my generation and their generation, but I think they want to move on with their lives.

I think they're pretty happy. They, I'm sure, would like their own space and some of their own rules, of course. But I think they're mostly happy.

Space is tighter and costs are higher

We intentionally downsized when our youngest went off to college. We sold our single-family home and moved into a townhome.

We were also intentional about that, figuring, "Well, we'll probably get a little bit of boomerang." We knew our kids might have some kind of transition period.

We have four bedrooms — three of them are legal bedrooms — so we have the space to do it, it's just a little bit tighter than we were planning on for an extended period of time.

Utilities have gone up. That's reality. I'd say utility costs have increased 10% to 15%.

When there are more humans in the house, you use more of those utilities, more groceries, more garbage, more recycling — just all of those logistical things.

We ask our kids to help out with groceries. They buy things like laundry detergent and certain groceries. Our youngest son buys the laundry detergent. He complained about how expensive it was, and we were like, "Yeah, welcome to life, son."

We've had to put some home projects on hold just because they're living in the space. We were planning on making one bedroom a guest bedroom and we haven't set it up.

We want to set my son's bedroom up for future grandkids. That does take some remodeling work, et cetera, and we can't do that now, of course.

We're looking forward to more elbow room in the next stage.

We don't charge rent, but our kids are saving to buy

Our deadline, per se, isn't time-related. It's goal-related.

Their next housing situation will likely be owning a home — for both of them.

My wife and I aren't charging them rent, but we are asking that they put the rent that we would have charged into a savings account that's building up for a home down payment.

They learned some of those disciplines from an early age, and now we're just continuing to reinforce them. There is none of this playing-video-games-in-the-basement kind of thing.

They're working full time; they're participating in their 401(k)s; they're enrolling in the group benefits at work. They're on their own health insurance. They're paying for their cellphones.

They're realizing all of these expenses in life are expensive — that life is expensive. We're teaching them financial planning.

There are pros and cons to virtually every situation in life.

We've looked at the kids living at home again as a blessing. We feel like we're blessed that our adult kids want to spend some time with us. We do things socially, we take some family trips.

We're looking at it as a really unique stage in life — an opportunity to get to know our adult children in a different way and enjoy this stage with them, while they're building up some cash for their next stage in life.

• Wealthy homeowners want out of an ultra-luxe building on Manhattan's "Billionaire's Row."
• They're even selling their units at a loss, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• The condo board sued the building's developers in 2021, alleging 1,500 construction and design defects.

An ultra-luxe "Billionaire's Row" residential tower has been mired in a lengthy legal dispute, and some owners are now fleeing the building, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The condominium board at 432 Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan — once the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere — first sued the building's developers in 2021.

In their lawsuit, the board argues that the alleged mismanagement at the 96-story, 125-unit skyscraper was "one of the worst examples" of developer malfeasance "in the history of New York City."

Their suit alleges that the building is riddled with more than 1,500 "construction and design defects," such as repeated elevator breakdowns, leaks, floods, and obtrusive noise and vibrations caused by the developer's "failure to properly design" the building to account for its height.

They argue that the developer's response to those flaws has been "equally atrocious."

The developers have denied most of the board's allegations, and in the years since the initial lawsuit, the battle has intensified, with more than 4 million pages of documents filed in court, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Now, a number of wealthy owners in the building want out — even if it means selling their units at a loss, the WSJ reported.

Eighteen units in 432 Park, totaling 14% of the building's total units, were listed for sale as of mid-May, the Wall Street Journal analysis found, citing data from StreetEasy.

As of Thursday, 16 units were still listed for sale on StreetEasy, 13 of which are selling for less than they had in previous years, according to their StreetEasy price history. The price of one of the units currently for sale has been reduced by nearly 18% in the last year, StreetEasy data shows.

The building's six-bedroom, seven-bathroom, 8,255-square-foot penthouse apartment was on sale for $169 million in 2022; now, it's listed for just $105 million, a 38% reduction.

Since the legal dispute became public in 2021, eleven sales have closed in the building. Those units sold for 3.7% less, on average, than what the sellers originally paid and, for those listed publicly, at a 27.4% discount from the highest asking price, according to the WSJ.

Lawyers for the building's developers did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, nor did the building's press representative. Lawyers for the building's board also did not respond.

• Apple puts its devices through some intense durability tests.
• It tests thousands of devices before releasing a product, Apple's engineering head said.
• In the videos, iPhones are submerged in water, dropped on the ground, and sprayed with a hose.

Apple let Marques Brownlee into test labs, and the YouTuber captured some intense iPhone durability tests that would border on science fiction if there wasn't video proof.

Brownlee is known for his tech reviews and explainer videos, and he went behind the scenes to witness iPhones go through rain simulators, a drop test machine, and more.

John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, told Brownlee that the tech giant might test "10,000 devices of a particular model" before releasing it to the public.

Dropping your phone in a puddle should be no problem compared to the levels of water tests Apple puts the iPhone through. They range from light rain and low-pressure sprays to a full-blown fire hose and submersion in water, according to a series of videos posted to X by Brownlee.

And for the clumsier iPhone owners, Apple has also anticipated your needs.

"Apparently, Apple has also bought and programmed an industrial robot to be their own drop test machine — to simulate hundreds of different drop angles onto different materials," Brownlee said on X.

A slow-motion video of a phone being dropped by this special machine shows the frame wobble upon impact with the ground (the screen does stay intact, though).

Other demonstrations include a computer-controlled machine that can be seen shaking a Vision Pro lens. Brownlee said its purpose is to simulate the vibrations of a motorcycle engine or the subway, for example.

Although Apple's focus has been mainly on making devices that are harder to break, Ternus told Brownlee that his team is also working to make them easier to repair.

Still, durability is the priority.

"It's objectively better for the customer to have that reliability, and it's ultimately better for the planet," Ternus said.

• China's drills around Taiwan "looked like a rehearsal" for an invasion, a top admiral warned.
• China surrounded Taiwan during the two-day exercises, demonstrating what an assault could look like.
• The head of US Indo-Pacific Command said the US "took note" of the drills and "learned from it."

China's large-scale military exercises surrounding Taiwan last week "looked like a rehearsal" for an invasion, the US' top officer in the Pacific said.

The two-day drills, which included a fleet of nearly 50 ships and bombers that carried out mock attacks, came on the heels of the inauguration of Taiwan's new president and demonstrated what a Chinese blockade or quarantine of the island could look like should Beijing decide to take it by force.

Chinese state media said the exercises were focusing on "joint sea-air combat readiness patrols, joint seizure of comprehensive battlefield control, and joint precision strikes on key targets." CCTV footage showed simulated airstrikes with live missiles.

In the aftermath of the exercises, US lawmakers and officials have been responding with clear shows of support for Taiwan. On Wednesday, US Indo-Pacific Commander Adm. Samuel Paparo said the exercises "looked like a rehearsal" for an invasion, adding that the US had observed them closely.

"We watched it. We took note. We learned from it," he told Japan's Nikkei newspaper. "And they helped us prepare for the future."

Paparo, who assumed command earlier this month, added that the US and its allies had been prioritizing deterrence in the region in order to prevent a conflict between China and Taiwan from breaking out. He also called the US and Japan's relationship "the most important alliance on the planet," signaling the growing threats in the Indo-Pacific region and the US focus on security in the area. The US would be dependent on Japan's bases to threaten a Chinese threat to Taiwan, as President Joe Biden has vowed.

Other US officials echoed similar concerns. Earlier this week, US Rep. Michael McCaul said the exercises were a "preview of what a blockade could look like," and demonstrate what a response from Taiwan "and or possibly the United States" would be. While visiting Taiwan, McCaul also noted that US military aid packages are on their way and noted that maritime assets, such as Harpoon anti-ship missiles, will be a priority going forward.

Last week's exercises weren't the first time China has held provocative exercises around Taiwan. It's the third such event in three years; the first came after former US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022 and the second happened in April 2023.

The most recent drills appeared to focus on joint combat capabilities, and while Chinese-declared exercise zones only skirted the edge of Taiwan's claimed contiguous zone and territorial waters, the activity still put major pressure on Taiwan and gave China a chance to test how its forces would assault the island.

Prior to the exercises, China characterized them as a "strong punishment for the separatist acts of Taiwan's independence forces," as well as "a stern warning against the interference and provocation by external forces," such as the US and Japan.

The drills were also seen as a response to the historic election of the Democratic Progressive Party's Lai Ching-te, who served as the former vice president under Tsai Ing-wen. Lai is particularly disliked by Beijing, who has declared him a "dangerous separatist." Lai's inauguration speech also appeared to ruffle some feathers in Chinese leadership, as he plainly laid out how Taiwan "must demonstrate our resolution to defend our nation." China's leadership views the self-ruled democracy as a breakaway province.

China has long resolved to unify with Taiwan, repeatedly noting that it would prefer to do so peacefully but that force is on the table as an option. Such an event would likely involve some sort of blockade or quarantine, effectively cutting Taiwan off and raising a gray area where the US and its allies may be unsure of how to respond without escalating into full-scale war.

• In the US, the message is clear: sitting up straight is good, and slouching is bad. 
• But Beth Linker, author of "Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America", says it's more complicated than that.
• In her new book, she unpacks the history of Americans' obsession with "good" posture and questions its scientific merit.

Odds are, you can probably remember the last time you were told to sit up straight. Maybe it came from a parent, a teacher, or a fitness instructor. Or perhaps it was suggested by an ad for posture-correcting devices like special sports bras or wearable sensors.

The message that slouching is bad is everywhere in our society. In fact, it's woven into the very fabric of American history, as Beth Linker, a science historian and former physical therapist points out in her new book "Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America."

"Slouch" takes readers on a journey through that history, and exposes the role that culture has played in shaping our collective obsession with sitting up straight — not to mention a $1.25 billion global industry built on posture-enhancing products and fitness programs, Linker reported.

That's not to say that there aren't any benefits to practicing good posture. Experts previously told Business Insider that bad posture can cause neck and back pain, wear and tear on joints and discs, decreased flexibility, and other health issues.

In her book, Linker makes no claim about how debilitating poor posture can be. But she does raise questions about the scientific merit of these claims. From her perspective, practicing good posture probably isn't as important as we've been taught to believe it is.

"I don't walk around with a drill sergeant in my head," she said. "I don't think it's going to help the pain that I'm experiencing or the pain I'll have in the future, because it's so much more complex than that."

The posture panic

Americans' fixation with posture dates back to the early 1900s. The very first study on the "poor posture epidemic," as Linker calls it, was published by Harvard University in 1917.

The study found that 80% of students had bad posture and those who slouched the most exhibited a "greater variety and higher percentage of sickness," than those who slouched less, the Harvard Crimson reported.

But the earliest musings about posture date back even further. "Since the time of Plato, naturalists, theologians, and philosophers in the West have remarked on the uniqueness of human posture and bipedalism," she wrote.

These thinkers saw uprightness as a crucial aspect of human nature that sets people apart from animals. Later on, 20th-century medicine labeled poor posture a disease. And culturally, slouching became entangled with racist, classist, and ableist ideologies, Linker argued in her book.

Meanwhile, the science suggesting that posture plays a role in our health — a key argument used to back its importance — is lacking.

A lack of evidence

Despite the general assumption that bad posture leads to a bad back, there's limited science to back that up.

"There have been a few studies that indicate that there isn't solid scientific evidence to show that a person who slouches more is more likely to have back pain," Linker told BI. For example, research has shown that there's little evidence to support that slouching in adolescents is associated with back pain, or predictive of future back pain.

While it's easy to blame bad posture for back pain and other spinal health issues, Linker said that it's actually more complicated.

"After being trained as a physical therapist, it doesn't really add up," she said. There are a myriad of things that impact a person's spinal health, such as diseases like arthritis, amount of exercise, aging, and even psychological conditions like depression and anxiety, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Plus, walking around with a "drill sergeant" in your head constantly reminding you to sit or stand up straight can cause more problems than it solves, Linker said, adding that in general, maintaining the same position for too long, even if your spine is properly aligned, can lead to pain.

So, "fixing" your posture isn't necessarily guaranteed to cure your back pain. When searching for the right solution, talking to a doctor, physical therapist, or bodywork professional is a great place to start, Linker said. They can help you identify the cause of your pain, and work towards a healthier spine.

She also recommends incorporating movement into your daily routine, especially if you work a desk job. And when it comes to posture-correcting products, be skeptical of their promises, she said. Some can be expensive, and they may not target your specific needs, she said.

• The IRS is making its free direct file tax program permanent after a successful pilot.
• The program launched in 12 states and saw 140,000 accepted returns in five weeks.
• The IRS hopes to expand eligibility and is inviting all states to join the program.

The IRS knows how annoying it can be to sit down and try to crank out your taxes — and get to pay for the honor of doing so. And so, after a successful pilot run, the tax agency has announced that it's making its new free direct file program permanent. It's also inviting every state to sign on.

"Meeting your tax obligations in claiming the credits and deductions for which you're eligible should be easy. But the IRS has been underfunded for decades, so taxpayers haven't gotten the support they deserve," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a phone call with reporters. "Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, we are changing this."

The Direct File program first launched in twelve states for the 2023 filing season following a successful pilot. The program was catered towards filers with simple returns — and, according to Yellen, saw 140,000 accepted returns in just five weeks. That was well above the Treasury's goal of a hundred thousand returns.

Filers who used the program saved $5.6 million in tax preparation fees, according to the IRS and the Treasury Department. Nearly half of Direct File users had said they paid for tax preparation the year before, according to IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. And filing generally took less than an hour, with many filing in just half an hour; Business Insider's Aaron Mok — who declared the program the "best way to do taxes" — said it took him under 40 minutes to file using Direct File.

Werfel said that the agency is also exploring ways to make more taxpayers eligible to use the program, including expanding Direct File's scope to cover more tax situations beyond simple returns.

"Since the direct file pilot was completed in April, we have heard directly from hundreds of organizations across the country, more than a hundred members of Congress, from individual direct file users, and those that are interested in using direct file," Werfel said. "The clear message is that many taxpayers across the nation want the IRS to provide options for filing electronically at no cost."

The new Direct File program has encountered some pushback from paid tax services. In a statement to BI last October upon the announcement of the Direct File pilot, Rick Heineman, a VP of communications at Intuit TurboTax, said that the program is "wholly redundant."

"Direct File is not free tax preparation, but rather a thinly veiled scheme where billions of dollars of taxpayer money will be unnecessarily used to pay for something already completely free of charge," Heineman said.

Werfel said that the IRS had heard from a "limited number" of stakeholders that current free filing options are getting the job done. He said that the feedback points to a tax system with multiple no-cost options, where taxpayers can opt into what works best for them.

Right now, the IRS and Treasury are extending the invitation to all 50 states to join the program, but not every state may opt in. The IRS anticipates reporting later this year which states — and filers — will be eligible.

"The numbers speak for themselves: the Direct File Pilot was a success, saving American taxpayers countless hours and millions of dollars filing their taxes," White House Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian said in a statement. "Now, we're bringing the program to a national audience. It's just one more example of how President Biden's Investing in America agenda is lowering costs for communities across the country."

Did you use Direct File and save time or money? Contact this reporter at jkaplan@businessinsider.com.

• Liquid Death is giving away a $400,000 Aero L-39 Albatros jet in a new contest.
• The winner will also get a flight helmet, a cockpit cup holder, and six months of free hangar space.
• The campaign pokes fun at Pepsi's 1996 marketing blunder offering a Harrier jet as a joke prize.

In the annals of the all-time biggest marketing snafus, few companies have made bigger or more high-profile errors than PepsiCo. The company once positioned reality TV star Kendall Jenner as the solution to racial strife in America amid the Black Lives Matter protests. It refused to pay up when it accidentally wound up owing $18 billion to Pepsi drinkers in the Philippines. But perhaps Pepsi's most memorable disaster (in the US, anyway) was when it was nearly forced to buy a McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II fighter jet for one of its consumers.

Remembering the Harrier fiasco, Liquid Death — the self-described "funny beverage company who hates corporate marketing as much as you do" — is poking fun at Pepsi's biggest fail by giving away a Czech-made Aero L-39 Albatros trainer jet. The new contest will last from May to September 2024, part of Liquid Death's ongoing "evil mission is to make people laugh and get more of them to drink more healthy beverages more often."

Pepsi's 1996 "Drink Pepsi, Get Stuff" campaign started off like any other branded merchandise giveaway of the 1990s: if you buy enough products, you could earn enough "Pepsi Points" to redeem for T-shirts, duffel bags, and even a mountain bike. The company's now-infamous Super Bowl commercial accurately represented how many points were required to get the shirt (75 points), jacket (1,450 points), or sunglasses (175 points) but also included a throwaway joke, offering a Harrier for a number of points that should have been out of reach — except for two key failures.

The first failure was that the commercials' producers cut the number of points for the Harrier down from 700 million to 7 million, so the number would be easier to read in the commercial, according to the Netflix documentary, "Pepsi, Where's My Jet?" The second failure was that the contest rules allowed Pepsi Points to be purchased for cash at 10 cents each, meaning that the Harrier could be purchased for just $700,000 — a steal for a fighter valued at $37 million at the time.

It was a deal John Leonard was willing to make, and he would sue PepsiCo. for his Harrier. He never got it, but the memory of his attempt has long outlived the Pepsi Points campaign.

Liquid Death's new sales campaign, however, is starting with the fighter jet, an Aero L-39 Albatros called "The Dehydrator" (because it can go so fast you'll pee yourself) that's currently valued at $400,000. The L-39 was first developed in communist Czechoslovakia as a light attack jet. Today, it's also used as trainer aircraft by many countries, especially members of the former Warsaw Pact. Updated versions of the L-39 are still in production, although "The Dehydrator" is a lightly used model with a top speed of around 470 miles per hour and a ceiling of 37,000 feet (it's also never been armed).

"We like to poke the bear," Andy Pearson, Liquid Death's vice president of creative, told Adweek. "And I've heard that others have had the idea to give away a jet, but no one's ever pulled it off … It's the biggest thing we've ever done."

Along with the Albatros, the lucky winner will also receive six months of free hangar space, a pilot's helmet, a year's supply of Liquid Death ("to rehydrate after you puke and pee your pants"), and a cockpit cup holder for all that water or tea. All you need to do is visit the giveaway site and start a text chain, buy a Liquid Death product from a physical store, and text a photo of the receipt. The company swears entrants to the jet contest will not have to take them to court to get the prize.

Each product purchase between May 21, 2024, and September 4, 2024, counts as one entry, with a maximum of 400 entries. You can also mail them a postcard for four entries, as per the official rules. And if you don't want a jet, you can opt for a briefcase filled with $250,000 instead.

• Billionaire Nelson Peltz is no longer an investor in Disney.
• Peltz fought a pricey proxy battle with Disney CEO Bob Iger over its board but lost.
• He's now sold all his Disney shares, which marks the likely end of the power struggle.

Billionaire hedge fund founder Nelson Peltz has sold his stake in The Walt Disney Company after losing a pricey proxy battle with CEO Bob Iger.

Peltz, the activist investor who founded Trian Partners, once controlled about $3.5 billion in Disney stock. But he has now sold all his shares, according to The New York Times.

Peltz became a vocal critic of Disney, hammering its streaming division's losses, unstable stock performances, and uncertain succession plans. Peltz eventually nominated himself and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo to Disney's board of directors in December 2023.

But in April, shareholders voted to support Iger and Disney's current board, blocking Peltz and Rasulo from taking the two spots.

Peltz's decision to sell his shares now appears to be the end of his war with the entertainment company.

Representatives for The Walt Disney Company did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment. Representatives for Trian declined to comment.

At its height, Trian controlled about 1.8% of Disney's shares, most of which belonged to Ike Perlmutter, a former Marvel Entertainment chairman Disney fired in March 2023.

Peltz's proxy battle may have been the most expensive in history, with various parties spending an estimated $70 million on the campaign.

Despite losing the battle, Peltz may have made up to $300 million from its investments in Disney, according to The Wall Street Journal.

• "The Apprentice" producer Bill Pruitt says Donald Trump used the n-word.
• Pruitt wrote in Slate that the moment was captured on tape, but will likely never surface.
• A Trump campaign spokesperson called Pruitt's account a "completely fabricated and bullshit story."

A producer on "The Apprentice" said Donald Trump used the n-word in a moment caught on tape that will likely never see the light of day.

In an op-ed for Slate, Bill Pruitt writes that he was one of four producers on the show's first two seasons. He signed an NDA that expired this year — roughly 20 years after "The Apprentice" first premiered.

Pruitt writes that off-camera deliberations about contestant firings were filmed in case the show was ever questioned by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which disallows fixing outcomes on game shows.

Pruitt said Trump used the slur while discussing first-season finalists Bill Rancic and Kwame Jackson.

As one of Trump's employees and advisors on the show spoke positively about Jacson, Pruitt claims Trump asked, "Would America buy a n— winning?"

A Trump campaign spokesperson told Slate that Pruitt's account was a "completely fabricated and bullshit story that was already peddled in 2016." The spokesperson said the claims were resurfacing due to "desperate" Democrats.

Pruitt writes in Slate that producers who'd heard Trump's remarks never discussed the incident in the moment, and he believes the tapes will never be found.

A rep for NBCUniversal declined to comment.

Pruitt isn't the first person involved with "The Apprentice" to claim Trump used the n-word.

Omarosa Manigault Newman, who also appeared on the first season of the show and formerly worked in the Trump administration, said she'd listened to tapes where Trump used the slur. Trump denied the existence of the tapes at the time, calling Manigault Newman "wacky and deranged."

Rumors of "Apprentice" outtake tapes have swirled for years.

Mark Burnett, the reality TV megaproducer and creator of the show, denounced Trump before the 2016 election. But Burnett said he had no legal rights to release any tapes. An MGM lawyer, whose studio bought Burnett's production company, also confirmed at the time that they did not have the rights to release any footage.

"MGM, not Mark Burnett, owns 'The Apprentice.' MGM has agreements with artists across a wide spectrum of creative properties, including 'The Apprentice.' These agreements typically contain provisions related to confidentiality and artist's rights," Marvin S. Putnam, MGM's outside counsel, said in a statement at the time.