Tag: News

• UAVs are still dominating Ukraine's war, accounting for 60% of all strikes Kyiv's forces conducted.
• Ukraine's military chief said aerial drones conducted 304,000 missions in November.
• That's compared to just 2,000 missions run by ground drones, a rising technology in the war.

Ground drones are growing more popular on Ukraine's front lines, but they're still vastly overshadowed by the small aerial drones made famous in the war.

In November, uncrewed ground vehicles accounted for less than 0.66% of Ukraine's total drone missions.

Usage numbers were announced on Tuesday by Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander in chief of Ukraine's armed forces, as he gave a statement on the war situation this winter.

"At the current stage of the war, it is unmanned aerial vehicles that provide about 60% of all strikes on enemy targets," Syrskyi wrote.

The military chief said that in November alone, Ukrainian uncrewed aerial vehicles, or UAVs, carried out over 304,000 missions, striking or destroying roughly 81,500 targets.

"Over the past six months, this indicator has been constantly growing," Syrskyi added.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian uncrewed ground vehicles, or UGVs, carried out 2,000 missions in the same timeframe, he said.

The statistics underscore just how aerial drones continue to dominate the battlefield in Ukraine. UGVs, an emerging technology, are still finding their footing in the war as Kyiv moves to integrate them at a wider scale among its military units.

Amid the push, dozens of Ukrainian companies and units have been debuting their own UGVs, which can range from miniature buggies to full-size trucks mounted with remote machine gun turrets.

The ground drones are particularly useful because they can perform dangerous frontline missions that human soldiers would otherwise be required to carry out. Ukrainians are building them to serve a variety of purposes, from direct assaults and mine-clearing to monitoring roads and delivering frontline supplies.

Some units have begun using aerial and ground systems in tandem, such as troops in Pokrovsk who used a UGV to spot incoming Russian vehicles through fog and later attacked with exploding drones.

Russia's ramping FPV production

Russia has also been pioneering new drones, including UGVs for logistics and rocket artillery. On the aerial front, the Kremlin's forces were the first to introduce unjammable, fiber-optic drones that are now proliferating on the battlefield.

This year, Moscow has repeatedly been reported to be more readily integrating drone warfare into its ranks, scaling up mass production, forming official drone units, and creating new warfighting doctrine after observing Ukrainian tactics.

Syrskyi wrote that Russia had, at one point, reached a "period of a certain parity" with Ukraine in the use of first-person-view drones, or the small hobby drones souped up to fly explosives into targets.

"As reported by our intelligence bodies, the enemy seeks to reach monthly deliveries of up to half a million FPV drones to its troops," he wrote.

Now, however, Syrskyi claimed that Ukraine has recently surpassed Russia in first-person-view drone usage.

"The Ukrainian response must be asymmetric and effective: strengthening the fight against enemy drones and destroying the infrastructure of the enemy's unmanned forces units," he added.

Syrskyi's statement offered a grim recap of the war in recent months, saying that Ukraine's forces have "faced some of the most serious challenges since the beginning of the full-scale war."

Both civilians and soldiers in the country must soon grapple with another brutal winter, as temperatures are expected to consistently drop below freezing in January and February. Russia has been targeting local energy grids, disrupting Ukraine's access to reliable heating.

• Rivian wants its cars to do more than drive themselves.
• CEO RJ Scaringe said he wants them to be able to coordinate servicing so their owners don't have to.
• The company is gearing up to start production of the R2, a $45,000 SUV, which is its cheapest EV to date.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe wants his EVs to be able to service themselves.

In an interview with Fortune released on Tuesday, the host asked Scaringe what AI should and shouldn't do in a car. Scaringe, who is also the automobile company's founder, replied that self-driving capabilities have been talked about for years in the EV industry, but he wants his cars to go beyond that.

Scaringe said he was "very bullish" on his cars being self-driving in the next couple of years, such that "you can own a car, but it can drop you at the airport, it can pick your kids up from school, it can go get things from the store for you."

But beyond driving, he said the car can help with a lot of things that people don't want to be doing, like handling service appointments.

"So if the vehicle has an issue, it's actually not a positive part of the customer experience to have to coordinate a service activity or to coordinate parts, deliver any of those things."

"We want all that to happen behind the scenes and all that to be powered through AI," he said.

Scaringe's comments echo those of Rivian's software chief, Wassym Bensaid, from last year.

"We are not necessarily chasing full self-driving, we're not chasing robotaxis," Bensaid said to Business Insider. "Our goal is incremental improvements to the safety and convenience for customers."

The carmaker does not currently have fully autonomous cars. But its Gen 2 models come with the Rivian Autonomy Platform features, which can automatically steer, brake, and accelerate on select highways, among other capabilities.

The company is now gearing up to start production on its cheapest EV to date, the R2 model, which will be a $45,000 SUV.

Rivian, which is headquartered in Irvine, California, has seen its stock price rise by 33% since the start of the year. However, the company has endured multiple rounds of layoffs in recent years, with the most recent — a 4% cut in its workforce — announced in October.

In November, Rivian doubled Scaringe's pay package from $1 million to $2 million, along with performance-based stock options that could be worth up to $4.6 billion, per an SEC filing.

• President Donald Trump launched an economic tour, defending his tariff policies and record.
• The rising cost of living and affordability are key issues ahead of the midterm elections.
• Trump has rolled back some tariffs, especially on food, amid ongoing inflation concerns.

President Donald Trump is standing by his tariffs, at least in theory.

Under the banner "Lower Prices, Bigger Paychecks," Trump kicked off the first of a series of speeches to promote his economic message in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, as polls indicate the country is increasingly concerned about the rising cost of living.

"They always have a hoax," Trump told the crowd, referring to criticism from Democrats that his policies drove up prices. "The new word is 'affordability.'"

"Democrats are like, 'prices are too high.' Yeah, they're too high because they cause them to be too high," Trump added. "But now they're coming down."

Later, he said, "I can't say affordability is a hoax because I agree the prices were too high. So I can't go to call it a hoax because they'll misconstrue that."

Trump, during the 90-minute speech, also reiterated that his favorite word is "tariff" and credited his policies for bringing in "hundreds of billions of dollars," presumably for the government in tariff revenue.

"You can give up certain products," Trump said at one point. "You could give up pencils. Because under the China policy, you know, every child can get 37 pencils. They only need one or two, you know. They don't need that many."

Despite standing by his tariff policies, Trump has, in reality, rolled back many of his earlier tariffs, especially ones enacted on April 2.

Tariffs are still higher than they have been in many decades, but the original 25% tariff on every import from Mexico and Canada was walked back to exclude all items covered in the USMCA trade agreement, which includes most imports from the two neighbors. Tariffs on imports from China, once more than 100%, have been reduced to a baseline tariff of 10%, which applies to all other countries.

On top of that, in an attempt to address the price of groceries, Trump also modified and removed tariffs on a range of food products in November, such as beef, coffee, bananas, and tomatoes.

Of the remaining tariffs, evidence points to an impact on the price of consumer goods.

"Our analysis suggests that tariff measures are already exerting measurable upward pressure on consumer prices," according to a report published in October by the Federal Reserve of St. Louis that looked at data from January to August of this year. "The rise in prices beginning in early 2025 coincides closely with tariff developments, and our model-based regressions confirm that these effects are statistically and economically significant."

"At the same time, the pass-through remains partial; only a portion of the model-predicted effect has materialized so far," the report added. "This could reflect delays in price adjustments, competitive pressure limiting firms' ability to raise prices, or expectations that the tariffs may prove temporary."

Trump's speech comes as consumer sentiment remains low. According to the University of Michigan's survey of consumers, sentiment dropped to 51 points in November, which is the second-lowest score the index has ever recorded since 1952, narrowly topped by a score of 50 in June 2022.

Earlier on Monday, in an interview with Politico, Trump said that he would give his economy a grade of "A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus."

Some Democrats have centered their pre-2026 midterm messaging on affordability, and several have explicitly blamed rising costs on Trump's tariff and trade policies. Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor-elect, with whom Trump had a meeting, also won while running primarily on making the city more affordable.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• AT&T CEO John Stankey said he made a mistake by being too slow at changing the company culture.
• Stankey sent a blunt memo to employees in August about culture changes that went viral.
• The CEO said he could've acted faster to prioritize those changes.

CEO John Stankey said he made some missteps in addressing company culture at AT&T — and shed some new light on his internal memo that went viral.

The lengthy memo, which was first reported by Business Insider in August, described how the company was moving to a "more market-based culture," setting off discourse about the state of workplace loyalty.

Stankey gave some insight into the goal behind the memo during a conversation at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit on Tuesday.

When asked to name a mistake he's made, Stankey said he was too slow to tackle the "culture evolution" that was needed. He said he put it among several areas of focus for the company and that instead he should've put it at the forefront and forced specific actions to make it happen.

Alan Murray, president of the WSJ Leadership Institute, suggested that was why Stanley sent that memo this year, rather than sooner.

"The memo shouldn't be over-rotated on. It's one of a series of steps in trying to put a framework out there and remove excuses for leaders to lead," Stankey said, adding the memo gave context on the framework he was building for the business.

"That memo outlined my point of view on it, and it gives leaders that want to lead all the air cover in the world they need to go and execute around that framework," he said.

AT&T has undergone a number of changes as a company in the past year, including a return-to-office mandate of five days a week.

In the memo to employees, Stankey effectively said they should get on board with changes to the company culture, or get out.

"We run a dynamic, customer-facing business, tackling large-scale, challenging initiatives," Stankey said in the memo. "If the requirements dictated by this dynamic do not align to your personal desires, you have every right to find a career opportunity that is suitable to your aspirations and needs."

At the event on Tuesday, Stankey also outlined how AT&T is pushing employees to adopt AI. He said the company has tutorials and other educational tools for employees to upskill with AI, and that he's paying attention to who is using them.

"I want to see who's building their skill set, where they're building, and this is just the next set of skills that people are going to have to have," he said.

• Elon Musk said on a podcast that he wouldn't join the DOGE office again if he could go back in time.
• He added that the cost-cutting department was only "somewhat" successful in saving taxpayer money.
• Musk said he'd skip working for the department and focus on building his companies instead.

If he could do it all over again, Elon Musk says he wouldn't have participated in DOGE.

Speaking on "The Katie Miller Podcast," the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said the White House's Department of Government Efficiency, a new office created at the beginning of President Donald Trump's second term, was only "somewhat successful" at saving taxpayer money, and Musk believes he could have better spent his time focused on his various business ventures.

"I guess I couldn't believe I was there for the most part. It's like — it all seemed extremely surreal at the time," Musk told Miller, who is married to Stephen Miller, who currently serves as White House deputy chief of staff.

The name DOGE itself, Musk said, was made up "based on internet suggestions," and, while he still agrees that it's a worthwhile cause to try to slow government spending, he doesn't see his efforts as particularly effective during the months he worked alongside the Trump administration.

"We were a little bit successful. We were somewhat successful," Musk said. "I mean, we stopped a lot of funding that really just made no sense, that was just entirely wasteful. For example, there was probably $100, maybe $200 billion worth of zombie payments per year, which simply by enforcing that there be a payment code and an explanation for the payment, the payment would not go out."

While Musk had initially projected DOGE would save an estimated $2 trillion, he later revised his estimate to project nearly $150 billion in spending cuts for the 2026 fiscal year before he stepped back from the office in April, Business Insider has previously reported.

While it is unclear exactly how much the office ultimately saved before it quietly disbanded in July, an August analysis by Politico verified $1.4 billion in confirmed contract cancellations and a decrease in federal spending.

When asked directly by Miller whether he'd participate in the DOGE office if he could repeat history, Musk thought for just a moment before sighing and saying he would not.

"No, I don't think so. Would I do it? I think I probably — I don't know," Musk said. "I think instead of doing DOGE, I would have basically built, you know, worked on my companies, essentially, and the cars — they wouldn't have been burning the cars."

Musk faced intense public backlash and was the subject of numerous protests, including vandalism against Tesla, as a result of his work with the Trump administration. Musk described the backlash as "a very strong reaction" to his attempt to stop "political corruption."

Musk's relationship with Trump soured in June after Musk criticized the president's "Big Beautiful Bill." The pair publicly feuded for months, but Business Insider reported in November that the tension between the two had eased recently, and Musk was invited to Trump's White House dinner with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

• Kaisu Koskela has been a digital nomad for 15 years.
• She convinced her husband to join her on a 27-day cruise from Seattle to Sydney filled with fellow nomads.
• She didn't connect much with locals on shore, but she forged meaningful relationships onboard.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kaisu Koskela, 48, a postdoctoral researcher on digital nomads. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I've been a digital nomad for 15 years, so Nomad Cruise had been on my radar for a while. What began a decade ago as a relocation cruise for remote workers has grown into something much bigger — twice-yearly trips that feel like floating community conferences.

As a researcher and policy advisor on digital nomadism, I was especially curious. After some deliberation, my partner and I booked the 27-day Pacific crossing from Seattle to Sydney.

Neither of us had ever been on a cruise before. It felt exciting, but also overwhelming.

Once on board, we quickly found our rhythm

Something was always happening: talks on life and work, meetups, and workshops. All of that was just the nomad program. The ship added even more, from cabaret shows to talks on local history. We also had full days ashore in places like Honolulu and Samoa.

Starlink WiFi made working easy, and I met people in all kinds of fields, from AI to videography. But it was a long route, and no one was overly focused on productivity, including me.

I'd planned to finish an article but never got to it, and honestly, I didn't mind. I was there for the experience.

Everyone leaned into their overlooked hobbies

The 230 passengers felt like a true snapshot of the nomad world. The youngest passenger was 23, and the oldest was in their 60s, but the majority were in their 30s.

The cruise is set up as a peer-learning conference: passengers give talks and share their expertise for free. I spoke about digital nomad visas and helped people one-on-one afterward. In return, before I got onstage a performance coach prepped me for my talk, and a designer explained a confusing part of my chart. Everyone gave something.

I was surprised by how many passengers weren't nomads yet. They'd come for inspiration. Some were so enamored by the idea of location independence that they quit their jobs on the spot, pushed over the edge by burnout and encouraged by others to go freelance and build something of their own.

A common theme kept coming up: Don't stay tied to an employer who's breaking you down.

As the days passed, we created more together. In the first week, someone formed a choir. I joined, and we rehearsed on every sea day before performing a full concert with professional lights and sound. I've had to sacrifice very little to be a digital nomad, but singing in a choir is off the table. Having one of my hobbies back for a month felt incredible.

Meetups took off just as easily. I posted one for speed puzzling and ended up playing with a group that included someone who'd competed in the World Puzzling Championship. What started as a fangirl moment became real technique training.

The community was big enough that no matter how niche the interest, someone else shared it.

Cruise tourism is a hard nut to crack

Life onboard was easy — the staff were wonderful, and the vibe felt warm. But being a "cruise tourist" on land felt different

Vanuatu, an island archipelago in the South Pacific, was our final stop. It was also a new country for me. There, we were dropped on an otherwise uninhabited island where bars and food stalls had been set up just for us. Technically, I've now been to Vanuatu, but I had no contact with local life. I didn't love that.

Cruise stops are short; you're usually back onboard by 4:30 p.m. Early in the trip, after docking in Hawaii, we rushed around Maui trying to see everything. It felt pointless, a YouTube video would've given me the same overview.

We'd cracked the formula by the time we reached Savusavu in Fiji. It was a real town with a market, and we just wandered, with no agenda. I preferred those stops; even a tiny slice of local life beats racing through a checklist.

A bucket list adventure worth paying for

The remoteness of the Pacific was surreal. Seattle to Hawaii took a week; Hawaii to Samoa took another 16 days with no land, no ships — just ocean and the occasional pod of dolphins.

There was even a Crossing the Line ceremony for first-time equator crossers. We had to kiss a fish and jump into the pool. I loved it.

Nomad Cruise was expensive — €4,300, or about $5,000 each — so we thought hard before booking. We chose a basic cabin with a window and ate like royalty.

Alcohol was extra, though happy hour made wine about $6 a glass. Onboard purchases came with an automatic 18% tip, plus a crew appreciation fee of about $17 per day. But reaching these destinations on our own would've cost more, and once we were on the ship, I stopped thinking about money; everything felt free.

Leaving after a month on the cruise felt surreal; the community bubble was hard to step out of. I loved the people, the sunsets, and even the small things like watching the weather and birdlife change across the ocean.

I'm sure I'll cross paths and deepen connections with some of the people I met on board. We shared something special.

• A small fraction of all No. 1 hits have ruled the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks or more.
• "All I Want for Christmas Is You" returned to No. 1 for its 19th week atop the chart.
• Mariah Carey ties Lil Nas X and Shaboozey for the all-time record.

The Billboard Hot 100 is widely regarded as the definitive all-genre singles chart in the US.

Since the chart launched in 1958, over 1,000 songs have reached the coveted No. 1 spot. However, far fewer have remained there for double-digit weeks.

Mariah Carey's 1994 smash "All I Want for Christmas Is You," which has cyclically returned to No. 1 each holiday season since 2019, recently notched its 19th week atop the chart — tying Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" and Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" for the longest domination in history.

Keep reading for a roundup of all 47 songs that have ruled the chart for at least 10 weeks, listed in the order they reached that milestone.

Listen to the complete playlist on Business Insider's Spotify.

1. "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone

"You Light Up My Life" was the first song in history to chart at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

2. "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John

"Physical" charted at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

3. "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men

"End of the Road" charted at No. 1 for 13 weeks.

4. "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston

"I Will Always Love You" charted at No. 1 for 14 weeks.

5. "I Swear" by All-4-One

"I Swear" charted at No. 1 for 11 weeks.

5. "I'll Make Love to You" by Boyz II Men

"I'll Make Love to You" charted at No. 1 for 14 weeks.

7. "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men

"One Sweet Day" charted at No. 1 for 16 weeks, making Boyz II Men the first artist in history to earn double-digit weeks atop the chart with three different songs.

8. "Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)" by Los Del Rio

"Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)" charted at No. 1 for 14 weeks.

9. "Un-Break My Heart" by Toni Braxton

"Un-Break My Heart" charted at No. 1 for 11 weeks.

10. "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans featuring 112

"I'll Be Missing You" charted at No. 1 for 11 weeks.

11. "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John

"Candle in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" charted at No. 1 for 14 weeks.

12. "The Boy Is Mine" by Brandy and Monica

"The Boy Is Mine" charted at No. 1 for 13 weeks.

13. "Smooth" by Santana featuring Rob Thomas

"Smooth" charted at No. 1 for 12 weeks.

14. "Maria Maria" by Santana featuring The Product G&B

"Maria Maria" charted at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

15. "Independent Women, Pt. 1" by Destiny's Child

"Independent Women, Pt. 1" charted at No. 1 for 11 weeks.

16. "Foolish" by Ashanti

"Foolish" charted at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

17. "Dilemma" by Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland

"Dilemma" charted at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

18. "Lose Yourself" by Eminem

"Lose Yourself" charted at No. 1 for 12 weeks.

19. "Yeah!" by Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris

"Yeah!" charted at No. 1 for 12 weeks.

20. "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey

"We Belong Together" charted at No. 1 for 14 weeks.

21. "Gold Digger" by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx

"Gold Digger" charted at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

22. "Irreplaceable" by Beyonce

"Irreplaceable" charted at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

23. "Low" by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain

"Low" charted at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

24. "Boom Boom Pow" by The Black Eyed Peas

"Boom Boom Pow" charted at No. 1 for 12 weeks.

25. "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas

"I Gotta Feeling" charted at No. 1 for 14 weeks.

26. "We Found Love" by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris

"We Found Love" charted at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

27. "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell

"Blurred Lines" charted at No. 1 for 12 weeks.

28. "Happy" by Pharrell Williams

"Happy" charted at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

29. "Uptown Funk!" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars

"Uptown Funk!" charted at No. 1 for 14 weeks.

30. "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth

"See You Again" charted at No. 1 for 12 weeks.

31. "Hello" by Adele

"Hello" charted at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

32. "One Dance" by Drake featuring WizKid and Kyla

"One Dance" charted at No. 1 for 10 weeks.

33. "Closer" by The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey

"Closer" charted at No. 1 for 12 weeks.

34. "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran

"Shape of You" charted at No. 1 for 12 weeks.

35. "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber

"Despacito" charted at No. 1 for 16 weeks.

36. "God's Plan" by Drake

"God's Plan" charted at No. 1 for 11 weeks.

37. "In My Feelings" by Drake

"In My Feelings" charted at No. 1 for 10 weeks, becoming Drake's third entry on this list. He holds the record for the most solo songs with double-digit weeks atop the Hot 100.

Drake also holds the record for the most No. 1 song debuts in history.

38. "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus

"Old Town Road" set the record for the longest stretch at No. 1 with 19 weeks. It also became the fastest song in history to be certified diamond and won two Grammy Awards.

39. "The Box" by Roddy Ricch

"The Box" charted at No. 1 for 11 weeks.

40. "Butter" by BTS

"Butter" charted at No. 1 for 10 nonconsecutive weeks.

41. "Easy On Me" by Adele

"Easy On Me" charted at No. 1 for 10 nonconsecutive weeks, becoming Adele's second song to reach the milestone.

42. "As It Was" by Harry Styles

"As It Was" charted at No. 1 for 15 nonconsecutive weeks, the longest reign ever for a British artist.

43. "All I Want for Christmas Is You"

More than three decades after its release, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" returned to No. 1 in December 2022 for its milestone 10th week on top of the chart.

The holiday hit became Carey's third song to earn double-digit weeks atop the Hot 100, making her the third artist and first woman ever to achieve the feat thrice.

In 2025, the song experienced another holiday-season surge, earning its 19th total week at No. 1 and setting a record among female artists.

44. "Last Night" by Morgan Wallen

"Last Night" charted at No. 1 for 16 nonconsecutive weeks, despite Morgan Wallen's many controversies.

45. "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by Shaboozey

"A Bar Song (Tipsy)," Shaboozey's breakout hit, charted at No. 1 for 19 nonconsecutive weeks, the most ever among solo hits. It's tied with "Old Town Road" and "All I Want for Christmas Is You" for the all-time record.

46. "Luther" by Kendrick Lamar with SZA

"Luther" was released as track three on Kendrick Lamar's album, "GNX," and originally debuted at No. 3 on the Hot 100.

Shortly after Lamar's Super Bowl halftime show (which SZA joined to perform both "Luther" and their 2018 hit "All the Stars"), "Luther" rose to the top spot, where it remained for 13 consecutive weeks.

47. "Ordinary" by Alex Warren

"Ordinary" was released as the lead single from Alex Warren's debut studio album, "You'll Be Alright, Kid."

Warren performed the song on the "Love Is Blind" season eight reunion special, which boosted its streaming numbers. It later became a summertime radio hit and reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in June, nearly four months after its release.

"Ordinary" spent nine consecutive weeks atop the chart before rebounding for its milestone 10th in late August.

• Paramount submitted a hostile offer for Warner Bros. Discovery after Netflix won the bidding war.
• CEO David Ellison says he knows the WBD board can't accept the Monday offer.
• These comments and others suggest Ellison could be willing to increase his bid.

Paramount CEO David Ellison says he knows the Warner Bros. Discovery board can't accept his latest offer of $30 per share for the company.

Why?

"If they accept the offer exactly as it is today, right, then they're admitting breach of fiduciary duty, so I don't think they can just take that," Ellison was overheard saying at the UBS media event on Tuesday, Business Insider has exclusively learned.

On Friday, WBD announced it had accepted Netflix's offer of $27.75 per share for WBD's studio and streaming assets. Then on Monday, Paramount launched a hostile bid for the entire company, including its TV networks like CNN and TNT.

Ellison said Paramount's Monday offer was the same as the one it delivered privately to WBD on Thursday.

"We wanted to communicate to everyone: We didn't change the offer. This is exactly what we sent them," Ellison said at the UBS event.

That's why Ellison says it would be fraught for WBD's board, which is duty-bound to act in the best interests of shareholders, to accept it. How can they accept the offer they already indicated wasn't good enough?

WBD issued a statement in response to Paramount's hostile bid, saying that its board would "carefully review and consider Paramount Skydance's offer" in a way that's "consistent with its fiduciary duties and in consultation with its independent financial and legal advisors."

Moving forward, Ellison's comments suggest he knows he might have to sweeten the deal to get it over the finish line, even though he said he thinks Paramount's current bid is "by far the superior offer" compared to Netflix's. Another possibility: Instead of changing his offer, Ellison could let shareholders vote on its merits.

There have been indications that Ellison could be willing to move on price.

Paramount disclosed in an SEC filing that Ellison texted WBD CEO David Zaslav on Thursday, saying the following: "Please note importantly we did not include 'best and final' in our bid."

Many media industry insiders suspect that the bidding war isn't over yet.

Kevin Mayer, Disney's former top dealmaker, said the Paramount-Netflix face-off reminds him of the bidding war between Disney and Comcast for Fox's studio assets.

"I would be very surprised if we don't see a sweetened, and perhaps meaningfully sweetened, offer" from Paramount or Netflix, Mayer said on Tuesday at the UBS conference.

• Airbus' CEO said the next generation of commercial aircraft could look like the B-2 bomber.
• The design combines the fuselage and wings into one giant wing with the cabin built inside.
• It promises better fuel burn and passenger space, but it may have few windows.

The future of aviation could look surprisingly similar to the triangular paper airplanes you folded as a kid.

In an interview with Tobias Fuchs and Martin Murphy at the German newspaper Bild, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said that over the next 30 or 40 years, planemakers may abandon the traditional tube-and-wing layout for a single, thick wing with the passenger cabin built inside.

This design — known as a "blended-wing body," or BWB — distributes lift across the entire sweeping wing, allowing for heavier carrying capacity and greater efficiency than conventional jets. Faury said a widebody aircraft would be "better suited" for the concept.

He added that the BWB benefits come with trade-offs, including the possibility of eliminating windows. Passengers wouldn't receive any natural light, and some could get disoriented or experience claustrophobia.

Emergency evacuations could also be challenging: passengers and crew would have no view of what's going on outside, and those in the cabin center would be farther from exits than on today's jets.

Faury's comments are the latest sign that Airbus sees opportunity in the blended-wing design, an area where it faces competition from new aircraft makers seeking to beat Airbus to market. The BWB design has a long history.

The Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bomber — often cited as the best-known "flying wing" aircraft — first flew in 1989. Although the BWB concept dates back even further, renewed interest emerged in the early 1990s when McDonnell Douglas explored a blended-wing transport idea that eventually evolved into the BWB-17 in partnership with NASA.

After McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1997, Boeing continued the work with NASA to produce the X-48 series of subscale demonstrators until the program ended in 2013.

But, to date, no full-size passenger BWB has been certified or flown, and Boeing has not announced plans to develop its own.

For its part, Airbus has been exploring BWBs since 2017, and the company's 200-person design is a key pillar of its ZEROe initiative for zero-emission aviation.

In 2019, the company flew a small-scale demonstrator that showed potential major fuel savings — estimated at around 20% — and new cabin layouts made possible by the wider interior. The long-term vision includes running these aircraft on hydrogen rather than traditional jet fuel.

But despite the early momentum, Airbus has pushed its initial ZEROe 2035 timeline by as much as 10 years.

Airbus has cited challenges surrounding certification complexity, limited global hydrogen infrastructure, and uncertainty around passenger acceptance — especially when some seats could be positioned far from natural light.

Still, the BWB race is far from just an Airbus effort.

Startups hope to break the Airbus-Boeing duopoly

Aviation startups like Natilus and JetZero are betting that the unconventional BWB shape could help crack the traditional Boeing-Airbus duopoly, with both targeting launches in the early 2030s.

San Diego-based Natilus is developing a narrowbody version called Horizon to rival the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, promising about 25% lower fuel burn but 40% more cabin space. And it can fit into existing airport infrastructure.

Company CEO Aleksey Matyushev previously told Business Insider that the industry could face a shortfall of roughly 40,000 narrowbody jets over the next 20 years — a number he said is far more than the two legacy players can realistically supply.

Matyushev added that Horizon's larger cabin footprint could allow for wider seats, dedicated family areas, and other special features that go beyond what today's narrowbody jets offer.

Renderings of Horizon's proposed cabin, released in July, show up to three aisles instead of the traditional one or two. Matyushev confirmed to Business Insider that the jet will have windows throughout.

Passengers in the center seats will still be farther from the windows, but Natilus said it is adding skylights and other lighting strategies to mimic the outside.

Meanwhile, 100 miles north in Long Beach, JetZero is pursuing a widebody version called the "Z4" that promises up to 50% lower fuel burn and could replace jets like the Boeing 767 and Airbus A330.

The plane would have similar advantages to Horizon in terms of airport compatibility and seat layout.

JetZero has already attracted interest from United Airlines. In April, United Airlines Ventures, the division that invests in these innovative aircraft, said it planned to buy up to 200 of JetZero's 250-seat Z4s.

Managing director Andrew Chang previously told Business Insider that the aircraft's expansive interior could be game changer that feels like a "living room in the sky."

JetZero successfully flew a subscale prototype called Pathfinder in 2024.

• Pieology, once backed by Kevin Durant, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
• The pizza chain, founded by tennis star Michael Chang's brother, faces debts that exceed its assets.
• Pieology plans to keep operating during bankruptcy as it seeks a court-approved repayment plan.

A pizza chain founded by the brother of tennis star Michael Chang, and once backed by NBA superstar Kevin Durant, is seeking bankruptcy protection after years of store closures.

The parent company of Pieology filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday in California, stating that its debts exceed its assets by at least double. The filing lists over 200 creditors, including many landlords and vendors.

The chain, founded in 2011, built its reputation on letting customers "craft" their own pizzas, calzones, and other foods. By 2022, it was boasting 130 locations in a press release announcing Shawn Thompson, a former Tim Hortons executive, as its CEO.

Its website lists nearly 40 locations, mainly in California, but also in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii. Thompson, whose LinkedIn page suggests his term as CEO ended last month, didn't return a request for comment.

Representatives for Pieology, which is expected to continue operating while the bankruptcy proceeds, didn't respond to a request for comment.

In addition to the bankruptcy filing for Pieology's parent company, The Little Brown Box Pizza, Chang is also seeking bankruptcy protection for a company called Kustom Partner, which appears to be the administrative arm of Pieology.

The two companies filed for a form of Chapter 11 designed for small businesses that allows them to keep operating while they restructure their debts under court supervision.

Listed among Kustom Partner's creditors were numerous tax collectors from Florida, Oregon, Utah, Hawaii, Idaho, Georgia, Arizona, and more.

In a 2017 story about Durant's investment in Pieology, the basketball legend told ESPN that he was "impressed with the quality" of the pizza chain. Representatives for Durant didn't return a request for comment about the status of their investment. Pieology's bankruptcy filing said no one owns more than 10% of the company, suggesting no current institutional owners.

The Little Brown Box Pizza listed assets of between $100,000 and $500,000 compared to liabilities, or money owed, of between $1 million and $10 million.