• In closings Tuesday, defense lawyer Todd Blanche tried the classic " but if he did do it" defense.
• If Trump did falsify documents, he didn't do it with the required criminal intent, Blanche argued.
• He then showed jurors 3 prosecution exhibits where Trump admits to the hush-money reimbursement. 

It's the classic defense closing argument: My client didn't do it, ladies and gentlemen — but if he did do it, it wasn't intentional.

This is the argument that Donald Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, tried out on the hush-money jury in Manhattan on Tuesday.

Yes, Blanche spent the bulk of his argument denying that Trump committed the charges he's on trial for

Prosecutors say Trump falsified 34 business records to hide a year's worth of reimbursement payments to his then-attorney, Michael Cohen, who had fronted a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Trump was not involved with any such conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, Blanche told jurors in great detail on Tuesday, during a three-hour summation.

But if he was, there was no requisite intent, Blanche argued. How could there be, he asked, when Trump freely admitted to reimbursing Cohen?

Blanche then showed the jury three exhibits from the prosecution's own case.

Each exhibit — showing a tax form, a tweet, and a government ethics form — was shown on the courtroom's display screens.

Each bolsters the prosecution's case: that Trump knew full well that the $130,000 he paid Cohen in installments throughout 2017 was for reimbursement, not legal fees as his business- record entries falsely claimed.

"The government has to prove to you that President Trump caused these entries — even if they were false — with an intent to defraud," Blanche told jurors.

"Where is the intent to defraud on the part of President Trump?" the lawyer asked the jury.

Prosecutors must demonstrate Trump had an intent to defraud in order to prove first-degree falsifying business records, the state charge that Trump allegedly violated 34 times throughout 2017, including when he personally signed nine of Cohen's reimbursement checks.

Here are the three exhibits that Blanche displayed in court for jurors as "proof" that Trump had nothing to hide.

1. A 1099 tax form from 2017

The Trump Organization — and Trump as an individual — reported that they'd paid Michael Cohen a total of $420,000 in 2017.

Prosecutors say this is the sum Trump's then CFO, Allen Weisselberg, calculated for what Cohen would be paid as reimbursement for his hush-money outlay, plus taxes and other money Trump owed him.

1. Why would Trump announce these payments to the IRS "if there was some deep-rooted intent to defraud on the part of President Trump?" Blanche asked jurors.

   

2. A 2018 tweet

On May 3, 2018, Trump posted a somewhat garbled tweet that concedes the payments he'd made to Cohen throughout 2017 were, in his word, "reimbursement."

This tweet was made just five months after signing the last of nine $35,000 checks to Cohen. Each check was labeled "RETAINER."

3. A government ethics form

Also during closing arguments, Blanche showed jurors what's called an "Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report" for the year 2017. This was the then-president's mandatory disclosure of his assets and liabilities .

3. Under "Liablities" — which is the section where Trump must list the money he's borrowed — Trump certified that in 2017, he "fully reimbursed" Cohen an interest-free sum of between $100,000 and $250,000.

   

"President Trump tweeted what happened when it came out," and then signed a government ethics form that also admitted to the reimbursement, Blanche told jurors Tuesday.

"That's not evidence of any intent to defraud," Blanche said.

The defense lawyer spent most of his summation impugning the credibility of Cohen, whose testimony is key to the prosecution case.

Cohen is "literally like an MVP of liars," Blanche told jurors. Two jurors — a woman in the front row and a man in the back row, smiled when Blanche went on to call Cohen "The 'Gloat'" — for Greatest Liar of All Time."

Deliberations are expected to begin on Wednesday.

• GOP Sen. Josh Hawley has positioned himself as a populist ally of workers.
• That's included rallying with striking auto workers with the UAW last year.
• But the UAW just backed his likely Democratic opponent, Lucas Kunce, while calling Hawley a "joke."

In recent years, Sen. Josh Hawley has sought to position himself as populist Republican and a staunch ally of organized labor.

That's included rallying with striking auto workers in his home state of Missouri last September, courting support from labor unions, and even voting against a recent GOP-led effort to overturn a new rule from the National Labor Relations Board.

Despite those moves, the United Auto Workers are endorsing Democrat Lucas Kunce over Hawley as the Missouri Republican seeks reelection this year.

"Josh Hawley calling himself pro-worker is a total joke. There is only one candidate in this US Senate race who has earned the trust of Missouri autoworkers, and that's Lucas Kunce," said Fred Jamison, President of the UAW Region 4 Midwest States Cap Council, in a statement first shared with Business Insider.

A spokesperson for Hawley did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Kunce, a self-styled populist Democrat who also ran for Senate in 2022, is likely to prevail in the August 6 primary. Observers generally consider the race to lean Republican, though organizers are hoping to put a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights on the ballot this November — a move that could drive Democratic turnout.

"I'm honored to have the support of UAW in this race," Kunce said in a statement to Business Insider. "The only way we'll put Missouri and America first in the next generation of industry is by investing in and empowering workers like them. In the US Senate, I'll fight like hell for them. Let's pass the PRO Act and Make Shit In America Again!"

Hawley has made some pro-worker moves in recent years, including voting to give seven extra days of paid sick leave to rail workers during a looming strike in December 2022 and supporting a $15 minimum wage for workers at companies that generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue.

The Teamsters, one of the country's largest labor unions, contributed $5,000 to Hawley's reelection campaign in April. They also gave $45,000 to the Republican National Committee — along with the same amount to the Democratic National Committee — and have seemingly considered endorsing former President Donald Trump.

But Hawley previously supported right-to-work laws, and he remains opposed to the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, a top priority of organized labor. The Democratic-backed bill is designed to strengthen workers' ability to form unions.

"I'm not a huge fan of the PRO Act," Hawley told Business Insider in September. "My worry would be that it might, you know, hurt workers more than it helps."

He went on to say that "we can have a debate about" the bill, but that the "real question" is whether certain jobs will remain in the US at all.

"If you want to talk about how to divide up a shrinking pie, I suppose we can do that," said Hawley. "But why don't we think about how we get more pie for labor in this country?"

Hawley has also criticized public sector unions, which account for slightly less than half of all union members in the US and include teachers and police officers.

"I just think that public sector unions for a long time have held government hostage, held vital government services for people hostage, and that's different," Hawley told the Kansas City Star in October. "But when you're talking about private sector unions that are trying to get folks bargaining power, these multinational corporations, particularly in the last 30 years, they're really less and less tied to this country and less and less tied to American workers."

• BYD says its new hybrid powertrain system can drive 1,250 miles without refueling or recharging.
• That's nearly twice the range of some rival hybrids in the US.
• Hybrid popularity has surged as EVs remain expensive and largely unprofitable. 

1,250 miles without stopping to fill up? That's a pipe dream for any car on the market right now, whether it's powered by gas or electricity. 

But Chinese EV maker BYD says it can happen thanks to upgrades in its new hybrid powertrain system, which will launch on two recently revealed midsize sedans, Bloomberg reported. It's the equivalent of about 81 miles per gallon, more than three times the US fuel economy average for model-year 2022 cars. It's also about 500 more miles of range than a hybrid 2023 Lexus ES, which last year topped Kelley Blue Book's list of longest-range hybrids.

A leap this big in hybrid technology would boost an already fervent interest in these cars, with their impressive fuel economies, lower upfront costs, and mitigated range anxiety. The models are wildly popular with both automakers and consumers as a bridge between traditional ICE engines and fully electric models, especially as EV sales plateau in many markets. 

In BYD's case, hybrids make up a majority of its models sold, Reuters reported.

Toyota, a relative latecomer to EVs with a plethora of hybrid options, has seen its strategy vindicated by this softening of the market. Ford said in April that it would expand its hybrid offerings as the segment helped cushion EV losses. GM also plans to bring more hybrid models to North America in response to changing demand. 

Just don't expect to buy a BYD car in the US anytime soon. 

• Melinda French Gates further explained her decision to leave the foundation she started with Bill Gates.
• In an op-ed in The New York Times, she said she's leaving to focus her philanthropy on women and girls.
• She and Gates initially continued work on their foundation together after divorcing in 2021.

Melinda French Gates is speaking out about her upcoming departure from the philanthropic foundation she cofounded with her now ex-husband Bill Gates.

She explained her decision in an op-ed in The New York Times published Tuesday.

"Many years ago, I received this piece of advice: 'Set your own agenda, or someone else will set it for you.' I've carried those words with me ever since," she wrote. "That's why, next week, I will leave the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, of which I was a co-founder almost 25 years ago, to open a new chapter in my philanthropy."

French Gates announced earlier this month that she's resigning as cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, effective June 7, to "to move forward into the next chapter of my philanthropy."

"I am sorry to see Melinda leave, but I am sure she will have a huge impact in her future philanthropic work," Gates said in a separate statement.

French Gates and Gates announced their divorce in 2021 after 27 years of marriage, saying, "We no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives." The Wall Street Journal later reported that French Gates had been meeting with divorce lawyers since 2019, after Bill Gates' ties to Jeffrey Epstein became publicly known (Gates has said his meetings with Epstein were "a mistake in judgment.")

After announcing their divorce, French Gates affirmed her commitment to continuing to work with Gates for the foundation. The Gates Foundation said in July 2021 that Melinda would step down from her role as co-chair if, after two years, either she or Bill decided they could no longer continue working together.

As recently as last July, spokespeople for French Gates had told The Wall Street Journal that she had decided to stay as its cochair. However, 10 months later she announced she was resigning.

As part of French Gates' new philanthropic endeavors, she's committing $1 billion through 2026 to "people and organizations working on behalf of women and families around the world, including on reproductive rights in the United States," she wrote in the op-ed.

Included is a $20 million grant-making fund distributed to a dozen people to use at their discretion, including former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, track and field Olympic medalist Allyson Felix, and filmmaker Ava DuVernay, according to a press release from Pivotal Ventures, which French Gates founded in 2015.

• A Chinese supersonic spy drone was intercepted by Japan over the East China Sea.
• The WL-10/WZ-10 drone is a reconnaissance/attack drone with electronic warfare capabilities.
• The drone's flight path indicates it was flying near a Japanese base key to US airpower in the region.

Japan intercepted the Chinese supersonic WL-10/WZ-10 drone over the East China Sea for the first time on Monday.

The drone, which appears to mainly serve as a reconnaissance and electronic warfare platform with some strike capabilities, was flying near Japanese air defenses and a key base hosting US airpower.

Japan's Joint Staff Office, which oversees ground, maritime, and air self-defense forces, released a statement on Monday confirming the interception of the Chinese WL-10, or WingLoong-10, drone. China also appears to designate the drone the WZ-10.

The office said this was the first time the aircraft was spotted in an airspace violation. Japanese fighter jets responded to the drone, monitoring its flight.

According to the office's post, the WL-10 drone's flight pattern showed it traveling in the East China Sea north of Taiwan and near Japan's Okinawa prefecture, a grouping of southwestern islands in the area. It's home to multiple Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air missile defense systems, as well as the Kadena Air Base.

Located in Okinawa, Kadena is a key hub for US airpower in the Pacific. Most recently, US 18th Wing and Japan Air Self-Defense Force aircraft conducted bilateral exercises at both Kadena and Naha Air Base from May 13-17 as part of an annual exercise "to enhance interoperability between US forces and host nation partners."

Japanese F-15J Eagles and US F-22A Raptors were involved.

China unveiled the WZ-8 reconnaissance drone during a military parade in 2019. The drone looked strikingly similar to a US drone that crashed into China's southwestern Yunnan province in 1971. The WZ-8, about 37 feet long with a 22-foot wingspan, was reported by Chinese media to be capable of flying 160,000 feet at speeds as fast as Mach 6.

US intelligence documents leaked last April revealed that China has "almost certainly" established its first operational WZ-8 unit. One document from the leak claimed that one of the drone's missions was to conduct high-altitude reconnaissance flights of the South Korean coast and Taiwan using "electro-optical" cameras and sensors and synthetic aperture radars to map territory at night or in low visibility.

The WZ-10 spotted by Japan appears to be a variation of that drone model, likely larger than the WZ-8 in length and wingspan. The WZ-10 appears to also host electronic warfare capabilities, per The Aviationist, and like the WZ-8, could be capable of being modified to launch strikes.

Japan's news of the WZ-10 flight comes just days after China conducted massive, two-day military drills surrounding Taiwan. The exercises were a joint military effort partially in response to the inauguration of Taiwan's new president. They were also a show of force, identified by experts as a clear rehearsal for some sort of assault or blockade.

• Interest-rate hikes aren't out of the question, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said.
• "If we get surprised by the data, then we would do what we need to do," he said.
• Most central bankers favor a policy pause as they wait for inflation to fall towards the 2% target.

As markets debate the timing of when interest rates could finally ease, investors shouldn't be so sure rate hikes won't resume. 

According to Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank president, Neel Kashkari, monetary policy is likely restrictive enough for now, but no central banker can say with certainty that more rate hikes are completely out of the question. 

"I don't think anybody has formally taken them off the table, even me," he said during a Tuesday presentation in London, and later added: "Of course, if we get surprised by the data, then we would do what we need to do."

All of this is determined by how far away inflation is from the Fed's 2% target, which every central banker is committed to reaching, Kashkari said. In that spirit, most of his colleagues are for now set on keeping monetary policy unchanged as they await more clarity on the direction of consumer prices in the US. 

Kashkari agrees with this approach. In a separate interview with CNBC on Tuesday, he stressed that there's no hurry to cut rates.

"The most recent inflation print that we got on the CPI data was marginally better than the earlier prints from the first three months, but it's still not where we needed to get to," he said, continuing: "I think we're right now we're in a good position because the labor market remains strong in the US. So we have the luxury of being able to sit here until we gain confidence on where inflation is headed."

Still, though outlooks have shifted throughout this year, markets still expect inflation to fall low enough for rate cuts to emerge in 2024. As of Tuesday, investors are pricing in an interest rate pivot by November.

Ryan Salame, a former top executive at FTX and member of Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle, has been slapped with a hefty prison sentence.

Salame was one of four top executives to plead guilty since the crypto exchange's 2022 collapse.

He was sentenced to seven and half years in prison on Tuesday, federal prosecutors in New York announced.

Salame's sentence comes on the heels of Bankman-Fried's own 25-year prison sentence on fraud and money laundering charges, which was handed down in March. Salame is the first of Bankman-Fried's deputies to get prison time.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

• Hollywood had a miserable Memorial Day weekend — one of the worst it has had in decades.
• But this shouldn't be a surprise: Movie-going has been in decline since the early 2000s.
• Guess what started taking off in the early 2000s? Yup. The internet.

This weekend my family went to the movies, twice. We saw Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (pretty good!) and The Garfield Movie (what you think it would be).

But many, many Americans did not go to any movie, at all. This past holiday weekend was the worst Memorial Day showing Hollywood has seen in decades, with ticket sales down a staggering 40% from last year.

One thing Hollywood is very good at is generating explanations for a flop — or in this case, multiple flops. Last year's actor and writer strikes cut into movie production; marketing movies is hard in 2024; maybe the movies weren't any good; streaming has taught people to stay home, etc.

But the most obvious explanation is the one Hollywood and the people who love Hollywood are least likely to say out loud: People aren't going to the movies like they used to. Period.

The statistics are quite clear about this: In 2002, Americans went to the movies 5.2 times a year; by 2019, that number had shrunk to 3.5 times a year.

The pandemic, of course, devastated the box office. But post-Covid, things are still lousy. Analyst and investor Matthew Ball says the average moviegoer went 2.3 times in 2023 — the same year the industry was crowing about the revival of the box office, led by Barbie and Oppenheimer.

Hollywood has been responding to the decline by raising ticket prices — they shot up an estimated 20% between 2019 and 2022 — and pushing moviegoers who do want to go out to much more expensive theaters, like Imax screens. (I paid $44.76 for the two Furiousa tickets I bought over the weekend at my local Alamo Drafthouse. No complaints, though — I love that chain.)

They should be going the other way, and cutting prices, says Sony movie boss Tom Rothman. "It's fundamental consumer economics: just lower the prices and you'll sell more," he said in a recent interview that's generating lots of buzz in the industry:

There's a value proposition in pricing for two constituencies that are important to us. Kids are trying to make rent, they don't have a lot of disposable income. And the second very significant pricing-sensitive segment is the family audience. It's too dang expensive to take your whole family to the movies right now, even if the kids get in half price or whatever.

That seems pretty reasonable to me. And people obviously are still willing to go to the movies on special occasions — see, again, Barbie and Oppenheimer.

But there's no way around the internet, and the competition it provides for everything, including movie-going.

In 2002, about 7% of Americans had broadband internet at home. Now 80% do. Then factor in the phone — which you're likely reading this story on — and all the things you can watch on that, for free. Fighting that is like fighting gravity.

I don't think movies or movie theaters are going away. (And don't blame me! I think I've been to at least six this year.) But it's time to stop being surprised when movie-goers, year after year, say they'd rather do something else.

• Alexis Ohanian rose from University of Virginia student to Reddit cofounder in a matter of years.
• The entrepreneur is also known for his marriage to tennis superstar Serena Williams.
• Here's how Ohanian rose to the top. 

Alexis Ohanian's path to becoming the "Mayor of the Internet" wasn't a conventional one.

The Baltimore, Maryland-raised Ohanian initially thought he wanted to become a lawyer before an epiphany at a Waffle House made him realize he'd rather be an entrepreneur. He and his college best friend, Steve Huffman, went on to create Reddit, the online community site known as "the front page of the internet." Today, the company is worth billions.

Since selling Reddit in 2006, Ohanian has invested in startups through his venture capital firm, fought against federal bills that would have stifled internet innovation, and married tennis superstar Serena Williams.

Here's how Ohanian got his start and helped build one of the cornerstones of the internet.

Ohanian was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the Baltimore area

He gave the student address at his high school graduation. "I was not the valedictorian; they just let anyone audition for the speech," Ohanian wrote on YouTube.

He attended the University of Virginia, where he met his Reddit cofounder

While at university, Ohanian met Steve Huffman, who would be his Reddit cofounder.

"I was terrified that no one played video games in college. But when I arrived at my dorm at the University of Virginia, Steve was playing Gran Turismo 2, and I was like, 'Hey, what's up?' We lived together all four years of college, then almost five years after," Ohanian told Inc in 2012.

The summer after their junior year, Ohanian and Huffman came up with the idea for a mobile food ordering company called MyMobileMenu and spent the following year working on it.

They pitched it to Y Combinator cofounder Paul Graham, who initially rejected them. The next day, however, Graham called them back and said he would accept them into the startup accelerator but not their business idea. "You guys need to build the front page of the internet," Graham told them, according to Inc.

Ohanian and Huffman built and founded Reddit in just three weeks in 2005

The then-bare-bones site featured just links and some text in its first iteration. The founders soon decided to add the option for comments.

"We knew our business was in our user base, that that was the most important part," Ohanian told Inc.

That same year, however, Ohanian was struck by two tragedies. His then-girlfriend fell from a balcony and went into a coma. She recovered months later.

Around the same time, his mother was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. She died in 2008, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Ohanian and Huffman sold Reddit to Condé Nast in 2006.

The site had taken off, and its two cofounders decided to sell it to the magazine publisher shortly after launch for an undisclosed amount.

Ohanian has said the sale was between $10 and $20 million, Business Insider previously reported.

Three years after the sale, Ohanian left Reddit, taking a fellowship in Armenia, where his father's family is from. He also helped launch Breadpig, a "geek" marketplace that donates some of its profits, and travel website Hipmunk around this time.

Ohanian waded into internet advocacy in 2010

He became an outspoken opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. He helped organize anti-SOPA protests and said at the time that Congress was going to "obliterate an entire tech industry" if it passed the bill.

Ohanian was called to testify before Congress, but the bill was killed before he could do so.

He later formed the Internet Defense League, an organization that worked to inform and mobilize website users against oppositional legislation, describing the group as a "Bat Signal for the internet" in a comment to Forbes.

By 2015, things had taken a turn for both Reddit and Ohanian and Huffman's friendship

Reddit became an independent subsidiary of Condé Nast's parent company in 2011. But in the following years, the site was overrun by racist trolls and multiple CEOs filtered through.

Ohanian and Huffman also drifted apart. But the former friends came back together in 2015, determined to work on their friendship and help turn around Reddit, the duo told NPR.

That period of time wasn't without controversy, however. Yishan Wong, one of Reddit's former CEOs, has said that Ohanian was behind the decision to fire a popular employee in 2015. The firing caused an uproar that resulted in then-CEO Ellen Pao stepping down.

"When the hate-train started up against Pao, Alexis should have been out front and center saying very clearly 'Ellen Pao did not make this decision, I did,'" Wong wrote on Reddit at the time. "Instead, he just sat back and let her take the heat."

Ohanian co-founded a venture capitalist firm in 2016

The rising tech star started Initialized Capital with Garry Tan that year. The firm prided itself at the time on its investing team, which was 50% female.

That same year, Ohanian met his future wife, tennis superstar Serena Williams

He had previously dated microbiologist Sabriya Strukes, whom he met in college. The couple broke up sometime around 2015, according to Vanity Fair.

Ohanian met Williams in Rome when he sat next to her outside by a hotel pool. She was there to play her first match in the Italian Open, the outlet reported. He was there for a conference.

The couple's first date took place before the French Open in June 2015. According to Vanity Fair, Williams invited Ohanian to Paris to see her play and they ended up walking around Paris for six hours before the tournament began. Ohanian soon became a fixture at Williams' matches, often showing up in the stands to watch her play.

Ohanian told the outlet he was certain he wanted to marry Williams by April 2016.

"I felt like a door had been opened to a person who made me want to be my best self," he said.

Ohanian proposed to Williams in December 2016

He proposed at the same hotel he and Williams had met at in Rome. Williams announced the engagement on Reddit: She had Ohanian draw her a customized version of Reddit's alien logo, "Snoo," and called herself the "future Mrs. Kn0thing," referencing Ohanian's Reddit username.

In early January 2017, Williams and Ohanian found out they were expecting a baby together, right before Williams was scheduled to play in the Australian Open. She went on to win the Australian Open while she was eight weeks pregnant.

The couple welcomed a baby girl in 2017

Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. was born on September 1, 2017.

Two months later, Ohanian and Williams got married at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans.

In August 2023, the couple welcomed their second daughter, Adira River Ohanian.

Since the birth of his daughters, Ohanian has become an advocate for paternity leave. In a 2019 New York Times op-ed, he explained why it was so important that he took paid leave following Olympia's birth.

"I took my full 16 weeks and I'm still ambitious and care about my career. Talk to your bosses and tell them I sent you," Ohanian wrote.

Ohanian also started a podcast called "Business Dad," where he interviews other celebrity dads, like "Patriot Act" host Hasan Minhaj and retired NBA star Chris Bosh.

Ohanian stepped down from Reddit's board in June 2020

Amid nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody, Ohanian quit the board of Reddit, calling his resignation "long overdue."

He said his decision was spurred by him being "a father who needs to be able to answer his Black daughter when she asks: 'What did you do?'" He called on Reddit to name a Black board member, which the company did by appointing Michael Seibel.

Ohanian also shared a personal story from before he founded Reddit, saying police found him passed out in his car while drunk and high.

"Because I was white. I walked away + started Reddit, not jail time," Ohanian tweeted. "I'm grateful for that police officer's tolerance with me + disgusted that it's so obviously not (never) been afforded to everyone just because of their race."

Ohanian has continued to keep a foot in the investing world since leaving Reddit

In 2020, he was the lead investor in Angel City FC, a new franchise in the National Women's Soccer League, which began playing in 2022. 

Ohanian ended his partnership at Initialized in June 2020 but announced a new venture capital firm called Seven Seven Six the following year. Forbes reported that the company's debut fund closed at $150 million.

The firm sought to prioritize investing in startups led by underrepresented communities like women and people of color, Seven Seven Six partner Katelin Holloway previously told Business Insider.

By mid-2021, Seven Seven Six made 20 investments in startups like Pearpop — an influencer marketing platform.

Williams reveals she's pregnant at the 2023 Met Gala

Williams, wearing a black Gucci dress and pearls, showed off her baby bump while standing on the red carpet beside Ohanian at the March 2023 Met Gala.

"Was so excited when Anna Wintour invited the 3 of us to the Met Gala," Williams shared in an Instagram caption.

Williams also revealed that she had to keep the pregnancy a secret from her daughter Olympia until the day of the Met Gala.

"Olympia does not know right now that I am pregnant, so the big reveal will be at the Met, and then before we leave, I'll tell Olympia," Williams said in a video clip shared on Instagram "The reason I haven't told her is because she can't keep a secret." 

Ohanian and Williams welcomed their second child in 2023

Ohanian announced the birth of his second daughter, Adira River Ohanian, in an Instagram post in October 2023.

Ohanian called Williams "the GMOAT" — or the greatest mother of all time.

Ohanian added in the post that Williams has "now given me another incomparable gift" and that he will "never forget the moment I introduced [Olympia] to her baby sister."

Ohanian scores a Cybertruck

On November 30, during Tesla's Cybertruck Delivery Event in Texas, Ohanian was the third in line to pick up his futuristic electric truck.

Ohanian later revealed to The Verge newsletter that he was a fan of the car and said that the Cybertruck "handles even better" than his Tesla Model X.

Ohanian also revealed that he enjoys the ample legroom in the car.

"As a big fella, this is the first car that really feels comfortable to me," Ohanian told The Verge.

This article has been updated since its initial 2020 publication.

• Chick-fil-A's fee for a new restaurant is $10,000 – one of the lowest of any major fast-food brand.
• Chick-fil-A restaurants average about $9.4 million in sales annually among non-mall locations.
• Despite the potential success and low startup costs, franchisee restrictions might not be worth it.

Chick-fil-A is among the most successful fast-food chains in the US, with one of the lowest franchise fees of any major fast-food brand.

According to Restaurant Business, the chain booked sales of $22 billion in 2023. That means most locations averaged nearly $9.4 million in sales a year.

"That's more than double a McDonald's, and McDonald's is no slouch," veteran restaurant analyst Mark Kalinowski said of Chick-fil-A's non-mall restaurants in 2023.

By comparison, McDonald's restaurants posted median domestic sales of $3.8 million in 2023, according to the chain's latest franchise disclosure report. 

Despite its success, Chick-fil-A charges a franchise fee of $10,000 to open a new restaurant, and the company told Business Insider it doesn't require candidates to meet a threshold for net worth or liquid assets.

Those fees are cheaper than most other major fast-food chains in the US, including McDonald's, whose operators view Chick-fil-A as its biggest rival.

McDonald's, for example, requires potential franchisees to pay from $1.5 million to $2.6 million in startup costs — including a $45,000 franchise fee, according to the chain's 2024 FDD.

Potential Taco Bell franchisees pay the same $45,000 fee, and startup costs for a traditional restaurant range between $1.6 million and $4 million, according to the chain's 2024 FDD.

Total costs to launch a franchised Chick-fil-A restaurant range from $585,500 to $3.33 million, according to the 2024 FDD documents. In 2023, Chick-fil-A reported a range of $518,385 to $2.8 million, according to 2023 FDD documents. 

Chick-fil-A, however, makes up for the loss of upfront capital investment with other costs to franchisees, such as real estate, restaurant construction, and equipment, which it leases to the franchisee.

"The challenge to becoming a franchisee is never going to be money," a Chick-fil-A spokesperson told Business Insider. "We seek to find business-minded restaurant operators who find great joy in making other people's days."

So what's the catch?

While Chick-fil-A's franchise fee is low, the ongoing fees are higher than those charged by many of its rivals, and they start adding up on day 1.

McDonald's charges an ongoing monthly service fee of up to 5% of gross sales, while Chick-fil-A franchisees pay a "Base Operating Service Fee" of 15% of sales and an additional fee of 50% of net profits.

Both McDonald's and Chick-fil-A charge rent, with Golden Arches owners paying a rate that starts at 8.5% but can be nearly twice as much if McDonald's development and acquisition costs are higher. Chick-fil-A, meanwhile, limits its rent charges to 6% of sales.

Beyond the unusual fee structure, several other items might give a prospective franchisee pause.

For starters, Chick-fil-A prohibits most of its franchisees from opening multiple units, which can limit potential profits. Franchisees must also devote their full time and attention to operating the actual business.

A Chick-fil-A spokesperson told BI in 2023 it selects "a relatively small number of franchisees to operate multiple units."

Franchisees are also prohibited from owning or working in any other fast food business within five miles of their Chick-fil-A location.

The company says this is meant to enable franchisees to be intimately involved in the day-to-day operations of their restaurants, and it encourages franchisees to be actively involved in the communities where they live and work.

"Chick-fil-A operators must be as comfortable rolling up their sleeves in the kitchen as they are shaking hands in the dining room," the spokesperson said.

Another issue that may be of concern regards franchisees' actual control over their business.

Franchisees are business owners by definition, but Chick-fil-A's FDD prevents franchisees from exercising a key benefit of ownership: selling the business.

No transfer or sale of a Chick-fil-A business is allowed, not even family inheritance in the event of death or disability.

Chick-fil-A also reserves the right to terminate any franchisee's agreement without cause with 30 days' notice or with cause for infractions such as subjecting the brand to "scandal," filing for bankruptcy, opening a restaurant on a Sunday or Christmas Day, or if operations are "frustrated" by labor union activity.

The application process

Chick-fil-A's model may be unusual, but it's incredibly popular and competitive. However, it's very selective, and more than 40,000 candidates apply to become a franchisee a year. 

To apply, candidates have to submit a form through the company's website expressing their interest. From those candidates, Chick-fil-A selects between 75 to 80 new franchisees annually.

Applicants do not need previous Chick-fil-A experience.

"More than 40% of our newly selected franchised operators never worked for Chick-fil-A Inc. or at a Chick-fil-A restaurant before applying to become a franchised operator," the company's website said in 2023.

In addition to interviewing the candidates themselves, the company may also interview candidates' friends, family members, and business partners.

Once selected and hired, franchisees must undergo a multi-week program that includes about 160 hours of classroom training before they can open and operate their own restaurant.