Time in meetings has dropped to 14.8 hours a week in 2024 from 21.5 hours a week in 2021, according to a survey.
Rudzhan Nagiev/Getty Images
Desk workers' weekly meeting hours have decreased by 31% since 2021, says a survey by Reclaim.ai.
We might have fewer meetings than a few years ago, but the time can still cut into productivity.
Despite the drop in appointments, workers only attend 83% of them, often because they're too busy.
We're spending less time in meetings than just a few years ago. Yet, like a dieter who's cut a few pounds but can't see it, our extra free time isn't always obvious.
According to Reclaim.ai, which makes an AI-powered calendar app, desk workers' time in meetings has dropped to 14.8 hours a week in 2024 from 21.5 hours a week in 2021. That's a 31% decrease, according to data from 1,300 workers it surveyed.
That reduction might surprise those of us who twitch when we hear a meeting reminder go off. Of course, many people are still beholden to too many calendar events, but it seems it could be worse.
The change can be partially explained by Covid. There was a jump in meetings, especially one-on-ones, during the depths of pandemic lockdowns because so many people were working from home, Henry Shapiro, Reclaim.ai cofounder and COO, told Business Insider.
"There was this big spike and almost overcorrection," he said. "Then people kind of settled out and said, like, 'Wait, what are we all doing here?'"
But while some of us have managed to shed meetings, we still attend an average of 17.1 a week. And they're taking longer, with the average meeting length at 51.9 minutes, up from 50.6 in 2021. Thanks, "just one more thing" crowd.
All of this time can be costly. The survey, which focused on tech companies, found that employees spend 37% of their work hours in meetings. Reclaim.ai said that, based on the average pay in the US, those get-togethers add up to about $29,000 per worker yearly.
The biggest culprit: team meetings. There are an average of 6.7 a week, though about eight in 10 workers canceled or rescheduled one of those in the past year because their calendars were bursting.
Shapiro said the rise of remote work during the pandemic — and its relative endurance even now with hybrid setups — meant many of us saw meetings as an essential way to connect with others. Some workers believed they had to revive ties with colleagues after years of working apart, Shapiro said.
"Those relationships used to get built inside of the office in all these sort of serendipitous ways. And now, the only real function for them to do that is through some kind of recurring touchpoint," he said.
Shapiro said meetings have their place, especially because not all workers are together every day. Yet they need to be a good use of time, he added. "There is such a thing as bad meetings. There is such a thing as good meetings," Shapiro said.
The business of managing your calendar itself can drain productivity, he said. The survey, which was conducted from February through April, found that workers spend about three hours a week booking and rescheduling meetings.
Many workers are so overcommitted that they attend only 83% of what they're supposed to. We're canceling, declining, or skipping 3.5 meetings a week, the survey found. The main reason — cited by more than eight in 10 respondents — was a conflict with, you guessed it, another meeting. A slightly smaller percentage said they opted to ditch the meeting to focus on something more important.
Tiresome as they can be, meetings are often essential, Ron Hetrick, senior labor economist at the research firm Lightcast, previously told BI.
"People rip on meetings," he said. "But there's a value in meetings." Hetrick said workers — particularly those early in their careers — use meetings to mature and learn what happens when people might disagree. "I'm seeing how problems get worked out," he said.
Shapiro works remotely most of the time but is in the office on Wednesdays. On those days, he schedules only a few meetings, like a handful of one-on-ones, where he might grab coffee and go for a walk with a colleague.
"The way I've described it to the team is Wednesdays are some of my least productive days," Shapiro said. "And yet they're also like my best days in a lot of ways."
An Army Tactical Missile System during live-fire testing at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on December 14, 2021
White Sands Missile Range/John Hamilton
US lawmakers have finally cleared the way for Ukraine to receive additional security assistance.
Officials say as part of the influx in weaponry, Ukraine will receive a fresh batch of ATACMS.
Kyiv used these long-range missiles to batter Russian helicopters in multiple strikes last year.
The US is slated to send Ukraine more of the powerful long-range tactical ballistic missiles that Kyiv's forces have used to devastate Russian airfields in strikes deep behind the front lines.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday cleared the last obstacle for Ukraine to receive additional aid, including MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, also known as ATACMS, as part of a crucial influx of military aid to the country.
Ukraine secretly received a shipment of ATACMS earlier this year and recently used them in long-range strikes, according to multiple reports, and US lawmakers have suggested that more of the deadly missiles could be on their way to Kyiv within a matter of days.
Ukraine has previously demonstrated it could effectively target Russia's high-value assets in the rear with ATACMS, which experts say presents a significant dilemma for Moscow. More such missiles could allow Kyiv to continue this trend.
"This is going to cause the Russians to change a lot of their strategy and tactics," Dan Rice, a former US Army artillery officer, told Business Insider.
In this handout image released by the South Korean Defense Ministry, an Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) is fired during a joint training between the United States and South Korea, on October 05, 2022 at an undisclosed location. T
South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty Images
Throughout the war, Ukraine has routinely pressed Washington to provide ATACMS so it could hit high-value Russian targets deep behind enemy lines. After secretly obtaining a small number of the missiles from the US, Kyiv eventually debuted them last fall by striking two Russian airfields in occupied areas of eastern Ukraine.
Kyiv used the M39 ATACMS variant in those attacks. A highly lethal cluster missile with a range of around 100 miles, the M39 is packed with 950 anti-personnel and anti-materiel M74 bomblets, which are released mid-flight and dispersed over a large area, giving the weapon the ability to cause significant damage.
The two strikes destroyed more than a dozen Russian helicopters, assets critical to Moscow's operations, as well as an air defense missile launcher, vehicles, and ammunition depots, according to Western intelligence. After the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remarked that ATACMS had "proven themselves."
Since last fall, there has not been any public confirmation from Kyiv or Washington of additional Ukrainian strikes involving the missiles.
But on Wednesday, The New York Times and Reuters reported that the Biden administration had secretly shipped long-range ATACMS variants to Ukraine earlier this month as part of a $300 million security assistance package announced in March. Kyiv then immediately used the missiles to strike a Russian military airfield in the occupied Crimean peninsula last week, US officials told the outlets.
A still from a video shared by the Ukrainian military of ATACMS in use.
General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Screengrab via X
Over the weekend, House lawmakers passed legislation that requires the transfer of additional ATACMS to Ukraine as part of a crucial $61 billion aid package for the war-torn country that has spent months in limbo.
With this legislation having finally cleared its toughest hurdle, Sen. Mark Werner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that he hoped ATACMS would be in transit by the end of this week.
And after speaking with Biden on Monday, Zelenskyy said, with regards to an agreement on ATACMS, that "all the details have been finalized."
It is unclear exactly which ATACMS variants Ukraine will receive going forward. Beyond the 100-mile-range M39, the US has two other versions that can both travel up to 190 miles; one ATACMS variant scatters some 300 little bomblets, while the other has a unitary warhead.
Ukraine has repeatedly pressed Washington for the longest-range versions of the missile, which were reportedly used in last week's strikes in Crimea. It's unclear if Kyiv used the cluster missile variant or the one with a unitary warhead in the attack to hammer Russian air defense systems and radar stations.
A M142 HIMARS launcher with armored cab stands in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on May 18, 2023.
Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
All of the ATACMS can be fired from Ukraine's existing inventory of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, but different ATACMS variants could be used to go after different targets, said Rice, who previously served as a special advisor to Ukrainian military leadership.
The cluster variants, which are known as area weapons, can be used to target large troop concentrations — exposed or in trenches — while also destroying fuel, ammunition, and armored vehicles kept in the immediate vicinity.
The unitary warheads, on the other hand, can be used to go after targets like bridges, command and control facilities, supply depots, or well-protected bunkers because they release one large explosion instead of dispersing submunitions over a broader area.
"Having the combination just makes these HIMARS launchers more lethal [and] puts more pressure on the Russians in all of the areas within 300 kilometers of the front lines," Rice, a longtime advocate for sending various cluster munitions to Ukraine and now the President of American University Kyiv, said.
Regardless of the variant, the arrival of additional ATACMS will likely compel Moscow to change its strategy and tactics. Experts previously assessed that Russia's military leadership will have to balance how to protect and relocate vulnerable assets that are within range of the missiles without actually reducing their combat value.
In this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, an ATACMS missile is fired during a joint military drill between US and South Korea at an undisclosed location in South Korea on Oct. 5, 2022.
South Korea Defense Ministry via AP
Rice said the anticipated arrival of more ATACMS could force the Russians to push its supply depots, command and control nodes, and attack helicopters even farther from the front lines. By doing this, he added, Ukraine is going to make it "very difficult" for Moscow to wage war against Kyiv's forces.
The passage of additional funding for Ukraine this week comes at a critical time for Kyiv's forces, who have been facing an increasingly grim outlook on the battlefield as they run low on much-needed artillery ammunition and air defense munitions.
Russia, meanwhile, has made notable advances over the past few months. US, Ukrainian, and Western officials, as well as war experts, have warned that without additional security assistance from Washington, Kyiv may continue to lose ground.
Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters at a Tuesday briefing that with the passage of the Ukraine aid package, the US can at last "surge life-saving security assistance" to Kyiv "as quickly as possible."
"Much more to follow in the days ahead," he added, "but needless to say we understand the importance and the urgency and are doing everything we can to be poised to respond quickly."
Gunners from 43rd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fire at a Russian position in the Kharkiv region on April 21, 2024.
Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images
After Biden signed the legislation into law on Wednesday, the Pentagon immediately announced a $1 billion security assistance package for Ukraine. While the statement did not specifically mention ATACMS, it said the package contains "additional ammunition" for the HIMARS, which could include ATACMS.
This massive military aid package also includes air defense interceptors, artillery ammunition, armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons, and other lethal equipment.
If Russian President Vladimir Putin "triumphs in Ukraine, the next move of Russian forces could very well be a direct attack on a NATO ally," Biden said on Wednesday. "That's why were supporting — and surging support — now to Ukraine, to stop Putin from drawing the United States into war in Europe and in the future."
On Tuesday, the US Department of Justice said in a sentencing memo that prosecutors recommend he serve three years in prison and pay a $50 million fine.
Here's the story of Zhao's dramatic career rise and fall:
Changpeng Zhao is the founder of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Changpeng Zhao, who founded and served as CEO of Binance.
With a net worth of $42.6 billion, he's listed as the 29th-richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
But crypto winter has taken a toll across the industry, and Zhao is no exception. His real-time estimated net worth is a far cry from the peak of his personal wealth: His net worth peaked at $95.9 billion earlier in 2023, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows.
Zhao's interest in cryptocurrency began in 2013 when he first learned about Bitcoin, according to a 2018 Forbes report. His career in the up-and-coming digital currency industry started at Blockchain.info, where he served as the head of development.
Zhao founded Binance in 2017 and powered it to become the biggest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. The exchange handles some $76 billion in daily trading volume, Protocol previously reported. In 2021 alone, Binance generated over $20 billion in revenue, according to Bloomberg.
Editor's note: This story was first published in October 2022 and has been updated to reflect recent developments.
Zhao was born in a rural village in Jiangsu province in China in 1977 to a family of teachers.
Nanjing, Suzhou, China.
Fang Daqing/VCG/Getty Images
Zhao, who is Chinese-Canadian, moved to Vancouver in the late 1980s with his family, according to Forbes.
Zhao's father, Shengkai, was a professor who was exiled to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution in China, according to the Maclean's report.
Zhao said in a September blog post that his family had to wait in line outside the Canadian embassy for three days to procure visas. He added that he was "lucky to have been able to leave at that time."
Shengkai immigrated to Canada to pursue a doctorate degree at the University of British Columbia, per Maclean's. After the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, Zhao and his family followed his father and moved to Vancouver.
Zhao said he experienced food rationing growing up in rural China. "You get a ticket to buy meat," Zhao told Fortune in a March interview. Zhao told Maclean's that it wasn't until he moved to Canada that he ever drank fresh milk, because it was so rare to find it in China.
When Zhao moved to Canada, he held a number of part-time jobs, according to the Maclean's report.
McDonald's in Richmond, BC, Canada.
Cheng Feng Chiang/iStock/Getty Images
He started working at McDonald's when he was 14 and worked there for two years, Dewi Mustajab, a spokesperson for Binance, told Business Insider.
Zhao also worked at a Chevron gas station and as a referee for volleyball games in his teens to earn money, per Maclean's.
Zhao said in the blog post that moving to Canada "changed my life forever." He added that he spent his "best years as a teenager" growing up in Vancouver.
Zhao is known to be frugal: He doesn't own cars, yachts, or luxury watches. Instead, he has digital watches like the Apple Watch, and he recently bought a Toyota Velfire van, Mustajab said.
Zhao studied computer science at McGill University in Montreal, the same school where his father worked as a visiting scholar.
McGill University, which Zhao attended.
JHVEPhoto/iStock/Getty Images
Zhao's interest in technology was fueled by a $14,000 286 DOS computer that his father — "a math whiz and programmer" — bought when was Zhao was in his teens, per Maclean's. Before attending McGill, Zhao enrolled in programming classes in high school and started coding when he was just 16 years old, per Bloomberg.
After graduating from university, Zhao worked first on the Tokyo Exchange, and from 2001 to 2005, on Bloomberg's Tradebook, Mustajab said.
In 2005, Zhao quit the corporate life and moved to Shanghai to become a partner at the trading system company Fusion Systems. According to Zhao's LinkedIn page, he left the company in December 2013.
The vast majority of Zhao's multibillion-dollar wealth comes from his controlling stake in Binance Holdings, per Bloomberg.
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao speaks at a Binance fifth anniversary event in Paris, France, July 8, 2022.
Staff/Reuters
While Bloomberg estimates Zhao is worth around $42.6 billion from his majority stake in the cryptocurrency platform, it's not a complete picture of his wealth. Bloomberg said it does not include cryptocurrency directly held by Zhao in his net worth, as the amount is not publicly available.
Zhao has personal cryptocurrency holdings in Bitcoin and Binance Coin, per a September report by Bloomberg. In 2021, Binance had over 90 million users, Bloomberg reported, citing an estimate from Zhao.
Zhao is said to have a considerable amount of wealth from Bitcoin, having bought $1 million worth of the digital currency when it was just $600 a unit, per Maclean's.
Binance declined to confirm Zhao's net worth and the source of his wealth to Business Insider.
But Zhao's journey at Binance has been far from smooth sailing — the company has been embroiled in several controversies.
Binance said in a blog post that in the event of a hack in the future, its validators will decide if the hacked funds will be frozen. The decision would be made through a series of "on-chain governance votes" — the system that manages and implements changes to the blockchain. Binance added they would also consider implementing a "bug bounty reward system," so users are incentivized to report bugs.
"Nearly $570 million were minted and taken by the hacker, $100 million are unrecovered and moved off chain by the hacker. No users or users funds affected," Mustajab said.
Zhao responded to these allegations in a blog post published in September, where he clarified that Binance was never incorporated in China and said it does not "operate like a Chinese company culturally." He added that he is "a Canadian citizen, period."
Binance also garnered controversy for enabling Iran-based users to trade cryptocurrencies on the exchange despite US-imposed sanctions, according to a July report by Reuters. Binance informed traders in Iran to liquidate their accounts in November 2018, but seven traders continued until September 2021 to use the account even after the ban. Binance did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment at the time.
Zhao was known for his rivalry with FTX cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried. In 2022, Binance looked set to rescue SBF's firm from bankruptcy, before backing out of the deal.
It all started with a public spat on November 6, 2022, when Zhao announced on Twitter that Binance would be liquidating its FTT tokens, the cryptocurrency of FTX.
Anthony Scaramucci, who sold 30% of his business to FTX, told Business Insider in January 2023 that Bankman-Fried had been saying "nasty things" about Zhao during a fundraising tour in the Middle East – which may have prompted Binance to sell off its FTT holdings.
In a Twitter post, Bankman-Fried said that Zhao was "trying to go after us with false rumors," and that FTX and its assets "are fine."
It alleged a "willful evasion of federal law" because Binance ignored requirements to register the exchange, and helped customers to evade its "ineffective compliance program."
The CFTC said Binance didn't require customers to provide ID, and "failed to implement basic compliance procedures designed to prevent and detect terrorist financing and money laundering."
The filing shows officers discussing transactions from the Palestinian militant group Hamas. "Like come on. They are here for crime," Lim said in internal communications, per the filing.
Zhao has split his time between Dubai and France. He was previously based in Singapore.
Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
Marielle Descalsota/Insider
Zhao moved to Dubai in late 2021, where he leases an office to run what Bloomberg described as "a new phase" of Binance. Zhao also owns an apartment and a minivan in the city, the publication reported.
Previously, Zhao lived in Singapore from 2019 to 2021. The city-state spent hundreds of millions of dollars investing in the sector amidst a crackdown on the industry in the US, UK, and China.
In November 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering charges and stepped down from his role as CEO of Binance.
Changpeng Zhao steps down from his role as CEO of Binance after he pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering charges.
Part of the fine will go toward settling the lawsuit brought by the CFTC earlier this year, which accused Binance and Zhao of failing to stop illegal trading activity on the crypto exchange.
The crypto exchange is also pleading guilty to related charges, which could potentially put an end to a five-year Department of Justice investigation.
In April 2024, the Justice Department recommended Zhao be sentenced to three years in prison and have to pay a $50 million fine.
CZ, founder of Binance.
Antonio Masiello / Getty
Zhao's attorneys in response suggested he be sentenced to probation, arguing, "No defendant in a remotely similar [Bank Secrecy Act] case has ever been sentenced to incarceration. Mr. Zhao should not be the first."
Eruptions appeared in four spots on the sun at the same time.
NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory
Four solar flares appeared to erupt on the sun at the same time on Monday night.
NASA video shows the simultaneous eruptions sent rapid bursts of bright light from the sun's surface.
There is no threat to Earth, but solar flares have the potential to cause geomagnetic storms.
The sun is furiously demanding our attention again, flexing near the peak of its power with four eruptions at the same time.
Video footage from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows that, around 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday evening, four solar flares erupted at once across the visible surface of the sun.
The rare quadruple eruption, shown below, is not an immediate danger to us on Earth.
NASA video footage shows four sudden flares occurring at about the same time on the sun.
NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory
Solar flares can send solar material screaming toward Earth, causing geomagnetic storms in our planet's atmosphere.
Indeed, a radio blackout occurred shortly after the flares, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, though it was not clear from the agency's report whether this was linked.
"These things are very difficult to forecast, but I wouldn't expect too much geomagnetic activity from these particular events," Mathew Owens, a professor of space physics at the University of Reading, told Business Insider in an email. "We might get something of a glancing blow from one of them in a day or two."
The SWPC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Though these eruptions were facing Earth, as of Wednesday morning the center wasn't forecasting any geomagnetic storms for the next three days.
A 'super-sympathetic' solar flare event
The simultaneous and powerful flares probably resulted from one underlying trigger, in a phenomenon known as a "sympathetic solar flare."
Magnetic loops at the outermost part of the sun, called the corona, can connect sunspots or filaments. When one explodes, it creates an instability in these magnetic forces that can set off other eruptions, Spaceweather.com explains.
It's a "domino effect," Owens said, "where one region becomes unstable and sets off activity in a bunch of other locations, often at great distance."
Sympathetic solar flares usually involve only two concurrent explosions, making this flare a "super-sympathetic" one.
"This is indeed a fascinating event. It's quite rare to find sympathetic flaring at four locations," Daniel Verscharen, a physicist and associate professor of space plasma at University College London, told BI in an email.
Scientists still don't understand the exact mechanism behind sympathetic flares.
"A likely explanation is that one flare erupts and triggers a disturbance that travels through the solar corona," Verscharen said. "This disturbance could be a shock wave that travels from the first flare around the sun. When this disturbance encounters another active region, it may trigger that region to become unstable and erupt as well."
The sun is peaking
Though this event appears striking, it's exactly the right time for rare events on the sun. Our star is near solar maximum, the peak of its 11-year cycle, where it becomes hyperactive.
That's why the last year has brought a barrage of solar flares, eruptions, and coronal holes that send winds of plasma and magnetically charged particles washing over Earth.
Scientists aren't yet sure whether the sun has already hit solar maximum, but if it hasn't, then maximum is likely to occur within the next year.
From then on, solar activity will decline for years, meaning less radio and GPS disruption on Earth, as well as far fewer chances to see the northern lights.
President Joe Biden has welcomed the support of Kennedy family members, some of whom have lined up against RFK Jr.'s campaign.
Matt Rourke/AP
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s large family keeps speaking against him.
Most of them have endorsed President Joe Biden.
Several have said Kennedy's long shot campaign will hurt Biden's reelection chances.
Since the day he declared for office, Democratic-turned-Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been chastised by his fellow Kennedys for being a threat to President Joe Biden's chances at reelection.
Many of them endorsed Biden over their relative during a campaign stop in Philadelphia in April. Kennedy, whose campaign could hurt Donald Trump's reelection chances, brushed it off in a lengthy social media post highlighting his affection for them.
"I hear some of my family will be endorsing President Biden today," Kennedy posted. "I am pleased they are politically active — it's a family tradition. We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other."
Other family members have kept their support much more low-key.
"We love our brother. We love our party. And we love our president," Christopher Kennedy told Politico shortly after RFK Jr. decided to run as an Independent.
Many of his relatives haven't been nearly as kind when speaking out against Kennedy, as seen below:
Kerry Kennedy
Kerry Kennedy, one of RFK Jr.'s sisters, has been one of the family's most outspoken critics of her brother's presidential run.
Getty Images News/Getty Images
Kerry Kennedy, Robert's sister, endorsed President Joe Biden during a rally in April that featured other family members, arguing that Biden and Trump are the only two candidates that matter in 2024.
"President Biden has been a champion of all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncle stood for," Kerry Kennedy said, adding that "The Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for president."
Kerry Kennedy has been harshly critical of her brother, including when he shared the unfounded claim that COVID-19 was "ethnically targeted" to avoid Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. Kennedy later said his comments were not antisemitic.
"I strongly condemn my brother's deplorable and untruthful remarks last week about Covid being engineered for ethnic targeting," Kerry Kennedy said at the time. "His statements do not represent what I believe or what Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights stand for, with our 50+-year track record of protecting rights and standing against racism and all forms of discrimination."
Kerry Kennedy is directly involved in shaping her father's legacy as president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, a nonprofit organization. She also wrote a 2018 book about RFK's legacy that is based on interviews with celebrities like Bono and world leaders like President Barack Obama.
Joseph Kennedy II
Former Congressman Joseph Kennedy II (second from left) said members of the family will work to make it clear they don't support his brother's presidential run.
AFP/Getty Images
Former Congressman Joseph Kennedy II said he and some of his family members would continue to express their disagreement with his brother's presidential campaign.
"We cannot do anything that in any way, strips even one vote from President Biden. You put the name Kennedy on the ballot and Democrats are going to feel torn," Kennedy II told reporters after the Biden endorsement rally in April. "We are trying to make them understand that this is an issue that they do not have to feel torn about."
Kennedy II represented Massachusetts in Congress for over a decade, until 1999. Before leaving Washington, he ruled out a gubernatorial run. Kennedy also declined to run for the so-called "Kennedy seat" in the US Senate after the death of his uncle, Ted Kennedy, in 2009.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has denounced her brother's presidential run.
Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has also endorsed Biden.
"Honored to stand with my family as we endorse Joe Biden who will continue to protect our rights our freedom and our democracy in this moment of deepest peril," she wrote on X after Biden campaign event that featured some of the family members.
Townsend made history in 1994 when she was elected Maryland's first female lieutenant governor in a close election. She had previously become the first Kennedy to lose a general election when she lost a bid to represent Maryland in Congress in 1984. Townsend was just 16 years old when her father was assassinated. Secret Service agents accompanied her, RFK Jr. and Joseph Kennedy II, as they flew out to California.
Townsend sided with her brother in a push to reopen the investigation into RFK's assassination, concluding that Sirhan Sirhan may not have fired the fatal shots.
"Bobby makes a compelling case," she told The Washington Post in 2018. "I think [the investigation] should be reopened."
Rory Kennedy
Rory Kennedy, RFK Jr.'s sister, was among the members of the family the formally endorsed Biden.
Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
Rory, the youngest of RFK Sr. and Ethel Kennedy's 11 children, has repeatedly denounced her brother's campaign.
"Bobby might share the same name as our father, but he does not share the same values, vision or judgment," Kennedy said in a statement when RFK Jr. announced his intention to run as an independent presidential candidate.
Kennedy was joined by three other siblings, Kerry Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy III, and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Rory Kennedy was born six months after her father's assassination. She is a documentary filmmaker. Her latest work is "The Synanon Fix" a TV series for Max that explores a drug rehabilitation program that turned into what some call a cult. Kennedy was nominated for an Academy Award for her work in 2005's "Street Fight" a documentary about Cory Booker's early rise through an unsuccessful Newark mayoral race.
Joseph Kennedy III
Former Congressman Joe Kennedy III is one of his family's most vocal critics of RFK Jr.
Getty Images News/Getty Images
Former Congressman Joseph Kennedy III told NBC News that his uncle's campaign is "likely to divert support away from President Biden and end up increasing support for Donald Trump."
Kennedy III left Congress after failing to oust Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey in a 2020 primary. He was viewed as a rising star in the Democratic Party and even delivered the party's official response to Trump's 2018 State of the Union. He is the most recent Kennedy to have served in Congress. Biden appointed him as United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland in 2022.
Stephen Kennedy Smith
Stephen Kennedy Smith, JFK's nephew, poses with US ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin (middle) to mark the president's 1963 visit to Ireland.
Claire Cronin/X
Stephen Kennedy Smith has said that his uncle "does not have the vision, values, or judgment of RFK Sr. "
"I have known RFK Jr. since I was a child. We attended Harvard together and my father ran Senator Robert F Kennedy's campaign for Senate in 1964 and his presidential campaign in 1968," Smith wrote on LinkedIn. "When RFK Jr decided to run he didn't call me to ask for help because he knew I would oppose his candidacy due to his misguided stands on issues, his poor judgement, and tenuous relationship with the truth."
Smith has served as a US Senate staffer, lectured at Harvard, and is a philanthropist and entrepreneur. He also wrote a book about JFK with historian Douglas Brinkley, "JFK: A Vision for America."
Bobby Shriver
Bobby Shriver slammed a Super Bowl bowl that used the image of his uncle, RFK Sr., to promote RFK Jr.'s campaign.
Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
Bobby Shriver, a nephew of RFK Sr., was among the family members who slammed a pro-RFK Jr. super PAC for using images of the late attorney general.
"My cousin's Super Bowl ad used our uncle's faces- and my Mother's," Shriver wrote on X. "She would be appalled by his deadly health care views. Respect for science, vaccines, & health care equity were in her DNA."
RFK Jr. apologized for the ad but promoted it on X. He later named one of the major donors to that super PAC, Nicole Shanahan, as his running mate.
Shriver, who briefly served as mayor of Santa Monica, California, cofounded (RED) which works with major brands to raise money to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Jack Schlossberg
Jack Schlossberg has called his cousin's presidential campaign " an embarrassment."
WireImage/Getty Images
Jack Schlossberg, JFK's only grandson, has gone after his cousin for invoking the family's famous image for "personal gain" amid the presidential campaign.
"He's trading in on Camelot celebrity conspiracy theories and conflict for personal gain and fame. I've listened to him. I know him. I have no idea why anyone thinks he should be president," Schlossberg wrote on Instagram. "What I do know is his candidacy is an embarrassment. Let's not be distracted again by somebody's vanity project."
Schlossberg's comments are notable as his mother, Caroline Kennedy, cannot engage directly with the presidential campaign due to long-held interpretations of how federal law restricts political statements by US diplomats. Biden appointed Kennedy as US Ambassador to Australia.
A slew of other Kennedys have endorsed Biden.
Ted Kennedy Jr. is among the other family members that has endorsed Biden's presidential campaign.
Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
Other family members have not been as outspoken in their criticism of RFK Jr., but they have announced that they will support Biden this November.
According to multiple reports, they are Beth Kennedy, Christopher Kennedy, Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, Vicki Strauss Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy Meltzer, Max Meltzer, Ted Kennedy Jr., Peter McKelvy, and Rebeca McKelvy.
Tesla's plan to accelerate the launch of new models — including more affordable cars — and talk of a robotaxi service was enough to send the stock price higher despite the earnings miss.
The investor reaction suggests Wall Street has bought into the idea that cheaper vehicles will help solve some of Tesla's demand challenges.
EV sales growth has slowed in part because most of the options are more expensive than the average car purchase in the US, or so the theory goes.
"If you have a great product at a great price, the sales will be excellent," CEO Elon Musk said Tuesday on an earnings call.
That might ordinarily be true. But Tesla is no ordinary product. Even at a lower price, say $25,000, it's a very significant purchase — likely one of the most expensive purchases a person will make.
So let's for a second look at why a lower ticket price might not be a panacea for Tesla.
Switching from gas to electric is a big deal
Many EV buyers thus far have been early adopters, and there are many, many more car buyers who are yet to be convinced. It's part of the reason hybrids have been having a moment, as an intermediate step from gas-powered cars to fully electric vehicles.
It's possible that there are a bunch more buyers out there who would love to buy a Tesla but just can't afford one. How big is that group of buyers? It's not clear.
"These new vehicles still bring a lot of new, unanswered questions, and TSLA didn't really address, leaving us to believe much is still in flux," UBS said in a note following the earnings release.
"What are they really, and what buyer are they targeting other than 'lower cost'? Lower cost may not be enough because of lower used Tesla pricing," the note added.
For context, a quick search of Carvana reveals a whole bunch of used Teslas priced in the $25,000 to $30,000 range. Many of those listed have seen recent price drops.
Are they a good deal? It's hard to say. The resale data for used EVs is sparse, and the longevity of batteries is scattershot as technology improves.
Infrastructure challenges remain
EVs also require entirely different infrastructure from gas-powered vehicles, and anxiety over battery range and charging stations continues to be a real issue for EV owners.
The number of charging stations in the US has grown gradually over the years, but operators have struggled with maintenance and uptime issues — and some lack the amenities like snacks and bathrooms you'd find at gas stations. It's also worth noting that a full charge for a Tesla, which has nearly 7,000 US charging stations, could take up to 30 minutes.
Maybe infrastructure isn't a core concern for the archetypal early Tesla buyer: someone who might be a tech employee in California with plugins in their garage or driveway — and also at their office. There are many other Tesla buyers, of course, but as Tesla introduces lower-cost models in search of different buyers, needs will shift.
Today's buyers of a Honda Civic or Toyota Camry, two of the most prevalent cars on American roads, may not be willing to invest the time and money in perfecting their home-charging setup, which can require an electrician to install high-voltage plugs in a convenient spot. And that's, of course, only if they own their own parking space. Installation might be trickier for people living in apartment complexes, urban townhouses, or myriad other housing situations.
Musk and Tesla are politicized
As Tesla looks to lure potential new buyers with a cheaper car, it will have to contend with souring consumer sentiment toward the EV maker.
The number of US consumers who say they would consider buying a Tesla fell to 31% in February — down from 70% in November 2021 — according to research recently published by Reuters. Some Tesla owners had previously told BI that they were rethinking their allegiance to the brand due to concerns over Musk.
Tesla is also facing headwinds in China, where it's losing ground to fierce local competitors like BYD.
BYD sells one EV model for less than $10,000 in China, where Tesla's Model 3, by comparison, costs about $32,000.
Tesla's share of the Chinese auto market fell to 6.7% in the quarter ended December, compared to a 10.5% share in the first quarter last year, Bloomberg reported based on China's Passenger Car Association data.
Time will tell for Tesla
It's still not entirely clear when a new more affordable model might arrive, though Musk floated the possibility of early 2025.
Elon Musk has a history of overpromising on timelines. The Cybertruck, for example, was supposed to go into production in 2021. Deliveries to customers didn't start until late 2023.
If and when the cheaper car does arrive, it may take off. Renault has had some recent success with lower-priced EVs, for example. It could make Tesla more attractive in markets like India. Maybe the pool of buyers for a cheap Tesla will be ginormous. Betting against Elon Musk has been a losing proposition over time.
But it's worth considering what might happen if it's not an instant success.
Tesla's gigafactory outside Austin, Texas in 2024.
Go Nakamura/Reuters
Tesla's gigafactory outside Austin won't have to follow the city's environmental regulations.
The EV company was granted an exemption thanks to a new state law.
Elon Musk has said the property will be an "ecological paradise," but Tesla has a history of violating the environment.
Tesla's massive gigafactory outside Austin, Texas will no longer have to follow local environmental regulations, thanks to a recent state law.
Tesla's 2,500-acre property, which includes its 10-million-square-foot electric vehicle gigafactory, is in unincorporated land on the outskirts of Austin.
Despite not being directly in the city, most of that land was still part of Austin's "extraterritorial jurisdiction" (ETJ), which allowed the city to regulate developments outside its limits.
In February, Tesla applied for an exemption from Austin's ETJ, which the city's Planning Department approved in March.
The exemption was possible thanks to a new state law that went into effect in September and allows landowners to request to be removed from jurisdictions so that they can develop land with fewer regulations.
Several cities in the state have already sued to block the law, including Grand Prairie, which argued in a filing that the law will hurt the city's ability to protect the health, safety, and welfare of those who live in and around its borders.
But under the law, cities don't have much leeway to deny a landowner's request, Austin's director of planning previously said, according to the Austin Business Journal.
Tesla's ETJ exemption will enable the electric vehicle company to further develop its land without having to follow the city's environmental restrictions, which an Austin city spokesperson acknowledged could harm locals.
"Releasing properties from the ETJ impacts the City because development in the ETJ is subject to limited subdivision regulation as well as regulation of water quality and flooding issues," Shelley Parks, an Austin city spokesperson, said in a statement to Business Insider. "All affect people in both the ETJ and the City itself."
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Musk's companies have had issues with environmental regulations in the past, however. In February, Tesla settled a lawsuit accusing them of mishandling hazardous waste in California. Meanwhile, the Boring Company has been accused of letting untreated wastewater drain into the Colorado River.
Spanish Civil Guards and Italian embassy employees at the gates of the Italian embassy in Madrid, on January 31, 2023.
AP/Paul White
A billionaire cartel boss was arrested for his involvement in drug trafficking, reports say.
Karim Bouyakhrichan was released on bail by a Spanish court after paying a $53,000 bond.
He then fled, and his whereabouts remain unknown.
A billionaire drug baron was arrested in Spain on money laundering charges but was released after paying a $53,000 bond, according to reports. He then simply vanished.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Felix Bolaños, Spain's justice minister, described the development as "worrying news" but added that security forces would bring the man to justice "as soon as possible."
Karim Bouyakhrichan was one of the most important leaders of a Dutch-Moroccan cocaine cartel, according to Spanish authorities, and was arrested along with five other suspects in January.
They were accused of buying 172 properties in Spain worth more than €50 million, about $53 million, to launder the gains of drug trafficking operations, Spain's National Police said in a press release at the time.
This followed a five-year investigation that police say showed the suspects had established a criminal organization involved in large-scale drug trafficking, including the smuggling of significant amounts of cocaine.
The press release did not name Bouyakhrichan but described him as one of the leaders of the so-called Mocro Maffia — a nickname given to a network of drug gangs of Morrocan origin operating in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Morroco.
According to the BBC, the Mocro Maffia is believed to have smuggled billions of dollars worth of drugs from South America into Europe over the past decade and a half.
Politico referred to Bouyakhrichan as a billionaire who possesses bank accounts and properties around the world.
It also reported that police obtained credible evidence that he'd planned to either kidnap or kill the heir to the Dutch throne, forcing her, out of safety, to move out of student accommodation and back into the royal palace in 2022.
Bouyakhrichan was to be extradited to the Netherlands after authorities there filed an extradition order requesting he be returned to the Netherlands to stand trial for his drug trafficking empire, according to Spanish radio Cadena SER.
But shortly after his arrest, Bouyakhrichan's lawyer challenged his detention, citing a lack of evidence of criminal activity to justify imprisonment and the absence of a risk of flight, per court records seen by Business Insider.
The court rejected all of Bouyakhrichan's lawyer's grounds but ruled that preventing his risk of flight could be achieved with "less burdensome" security measures.
The judge then imposed a €50,000 bond, roughly $53,000, took away Bouyakhrichan's passport, and ordered him to report to the authorities every fifteen days.
According to the BBC, Bouyakhrichan was accidentally released amid confusion over the Dutch extradition request. It described him as one of the most wanted criminals in Europe.
Vincent Veenman, a spokesman at the Dutch public prosecutor's office in The Hague, said it was "unknown" why Bouyakhrichan had not been held in custody pending his extradition, permultiplereports.
"We are currently awaiting a decision on the extradition request," he said, adding that cooperation with the Spanish justice system was "generally good" and that "dozens of suspects are handed over every year."
AI is transformative, but it's hard to determine its stock winners, Howard Marks told CNBC.
"Every bubble starts from widespread conviction," he said.
Many are betting on an AI wave to lift a number of sectors, from semiconductors to infrastructure.
Artificial intelligence might end up changing the world, but that alone can't determine the success of its underlying assets, Howard Marks said.
"Every bubble starts from widespread conviction," the market veteran told CNBC on Tuesday. "Everybody believes A, they bid the beneficiaries of A up to the moon. It turns out, it's overdone."
When it comes to AI, Marks acknowledged the technology's transformative potential, and he himself can't say whether its beneficiaries are already under or overvalued.
But instead, AI investing reminded him of the internet's emergence 25 years ago, which also propelled markets sky-high:
"Everybody was sure that the internet would change the world. And it did," he said, but added: "And yet the internet and E-commerce stocks that were the beneficiaries of that thinking in the TMT bubble of the late 90s — the vast majority are now worthless."
"So to say well, I think that AI will be very important, that's the easy part," the billionaire investor said. "But knowing how it should be reflected in portfolios that's the hard part."
But forecasters are trying to meet this challenge. Just last week, Goldman Sachs outlined the sectors it thinks will win out in the long-term, from semiconductor producers to security software developers.
Meanwhile, Wall Street's other heavy hitters have voiced their own predictions. That includes the "Big Short" investor Steve Eisman, who is betting big on infrastructure to get a boost from AI's electricity demand.
And looking at more immediate impacts, Bank of America raised its S&P 500 target last month, citing AI spending as a significant driver of growth.
But Marks has generally demonstrated cynicism towards those who make macro predictions, and warned against relying too much on Wall Street forecasts — recently calling the practice an "organized religion."
"Prices are not necessarily right, they're just the best consensus can do," he said in a speech this week.
Tesla's free cash flow was negative $2.5 billion in the quarter, a shocking 674% year-over-year drop. (The company did point out it spent $1 billion on AI infrastructure investments this quarter.)
Those figures aren't what you want to see from a public company. And even though Tesla tried to pin the blame on hybrids, such a bad earnings miss isn't usually something Wall Street overlooks.
Details on its robotaxis plan and news of expediting the release of an affordable model were all Wall Street needed to get back in on Tesla. Shares popped nearly 11% in premarket trading, a big win for a company down more than 40% on the year.
Getty Images, Chelsea Jia Feng; BI
Tesla's ambitions around robotaxis and an affordable model tap into key trends.
Discussion of robotaxis, meanwhile, allows Tesla to ride the stock market's AI wave that has sent other companies' stock prices skyrocketing over the past year.
But having a plan is one thing. Executing it is something else entirely. Musk, for all his accomplishments, hasn't always held firm to future milestones he's targeted.
To that point, Business Insider's Linette Lopez suggested an even bigger initiative Tesla consider: Musk stepping down.
The CEO, she argues, is ultimately responsible for Tesla squandering its lead in the EV market and not better insulating itself from threats when things were going well.
Considering Musk's close ties with some of Tesla's board members, such a drastic move is a long shot. A more realistic request might be Musk pulling back on other responsibilities, but that also seems unlikely. Musk told analysts on the earnings call that Tesla is the majority of his work.
Ultimately, Musk's fate could be decided by investors. Tesla is seeking shareholder approval for Musk's $55 billion pay package, which a Delaware judge has already struck down.
If investors vote against the package at Tesla's annual meeting in June, who knows where Musk — and his AI ambitions — will end up.
3 things in markets
Matt Anderson Photography/Getty, Tyler Le/BI
The March sell-off in stocks could be the start of something bigger. JPMorgan's Marko Kolanovic highlighted a "problematic backdrop" in equities that investors seem to be ignoring. Stubborn inflation and geopolitical concerns aren't going anywhere and "put additional pressure on investors to de-risk," Kolanovic wrote.
Cathie Wood's investors are heading for the exits. Outflows for Wood's ARK funds are ramping up after a three-year decline. This year alone the suite of ARK ETFs has net outflows of $2.2 billion, triple what it endured last year.
Stocks for a strong economy. Goldman Sachs highlighted 30 names that they think will outperform the market because they're investing heavily in future growth opportunities like artificial intelligence. Meta, Intel, and Micron Technology were among the stocks the bank flagged.
3 things in tech
Gerard Julien/Getty Images
Microsoft is blocking employee access to Perplexity AI. Perplexity AI is one of the largest customers of Microsoft's Azure OpenAI service. Other AI tools, like Google's Gemini chatbot, are also blocked on Microsoft's employee devices.
Threads has overtaken X in one key metric. New data shows Meta's Threads is consistently surpassing Elon Musk's X in daily users in the United States. While X still has more monthly users, Threads could be on its way to becoming bigger than its competitor.
Scoop: Navan's IPO. The a16z-backed travel and expense platform, which was valued at $9.2 billion back in October 2022, is targeting an April 2025 public listing, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told BI.
How Amazon won over skeptical advertisers. Since launching three months ago, Prime Video's ads have made a positive impression on advertisers, luring them in with generous price incentives and sponsorships.
The Senate passed a bill that could ban TikTok. Joe Biden has signaled that he'll sign the legislation, which would effectively ban TikTok from the US app store. The final vote was 79 senators in favor, and just 18 opposed.