In today’s CEO Daily: The debate is raging over how to manage humans in the AI era. The big leadership story: Deep cuts at Meta The markets: In the black as investors remain upbeat about AI. Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune. Good morning. For companies leaning into AI, what’s the value of the human resources function? For Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow, the answer is nada. As he told at...
In today’s CEO Daily: The debate is raging over how to manage humans in the AI era. The big leadership story: Deep cuts at Meta The markets: In the black as investors remain upbeat about AI. Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune. Good morning. For companies leaning into AI, what’s the value of the human resources function? For Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow, the answer is nada. As he told attendees at Fortune’s Workforce Innovation Summit this week, “We got rid of our HR team.” To be fair, Breslow eviscerated HR last year along with thousands of other employees when he returned to the CEO role. The fintech firm he’d cofounded in 2014 had dropped from an $11 billion valuation in 2022 when he first stepped down to a reported value of about $300 million two years later. It went from a “peacetime” headcount of 2,500 to what he now calls a “wartime” footing of around 100 people. While Breslow reports his company is better off without HR, I’d argue the art and science of managing humans is more important than ever—and it’s also evolving fast. I recently spoke to Himanshu Palsule, the CEO of Cornerstone OnDemand, a learning and talent software company. With 140 million users and 7,000 enterprise customers who are taking a hard look at their own HR spend, Palsule has a vested interest in the conversation. But I’m impressed by the agentic platform it launched yesterday that leverages AI to help assess, train, and mobilize employees. “People will enable agents to take over the enterprise,” he told me at a customer event in New York. “If you lose your people, those agents aren’t doing anything in your company—they’re just creating chaos.” Other thoughts: On Gen Z: “The greatest irony of our time is we are leaving out a generation that’s most skilled to do AI. We have to make room for that generation if we want AI to thrive within a company. We dismiss them, like they’ve done something wrong. These are people we asked to grow up digitally different. We shoved an iPad in t...
Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new stake in Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,101,000. Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALAB. Perigon Wealth Management LLC gre...
Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new stake in Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,101,000. Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALAB. Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Astera Labs by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,252 shares of the company's stock valued at $208,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Astera Labs by 13.6% in the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 636 shares of the company's stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Astera Labs by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 902 shares of the company's stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Astera Labs by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,284 shares of the company's stock valued at $546,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Astera Labs by 2.2% in the second quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 4,119 shares of the company's stock valued at $372,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. 60.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Astera Labs alerts: Sign Up Astera Labs Stock Performance Shares of Astera Labs stock opened at $297.84 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 201.24, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 3.35. Astera Labs, In...
BNY Mellon High-Yield Strategies Fund ( DHF ) declared a monthly cash dividend of $0.0175 per share, payable June 22, 2026, to shareholders of record on June 5, 2026. The previous dividend declared in April was $0.0175 per share of beneficial interest. More on Bank of New York Mellon Bank of New York Mellon Continues Its Bull Run After Strong Q1 Earnings The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation 202...
BNY Mellon High-Yield Strategies Fund ( DHF ) declared a monthly cash dividend of $0.0175 per share, payable June 22, 2026, to shareholders of record on June 5, 2026. The previous dividend declared in April was $0.0175 per share of beneficial interest. More on Bank of New York Mellon Bank of New York Mellon Continues Its Bull Run After Strong Q1 Earnings The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation 2026 Q1 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BK) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript BNY to Replace ‘BK’ Ticker With ‘BNY’ on NYSE From May 21 BNY raises 2026 revenue outlook to ~6% as it expects ~10% net interest income growth
Zara owner Inditex SA is banking on diversification across brands and countries as well as artificial intelligence to spur growth at the world’s largest listed retailer, Chief Executive Officer Óscar García Maceiras said. With Inditex marking its 25th anniversary as a traded company, its efforts to serve a wide range of customers across the globe with a multitude of options will help the retailer ...
Zara owner Inditex SA is banking on diversification across brands and countries as well as artificial intelligence to spur growth at the world’s largest listed retailer, Chief Executive Officer Óscar García Maceiras said. With Inditex marking its 25th anniversary as a traded company, its efforts to serve a wide range of customers across the globe with a multitude of options will help the retailer differentiate itself, García Maceiras indicated in a Bloomberg TV interview with Francine Lacqua on Friday. “Diversification is one of the key strengths of the group,” he said. “From a geographical perspective, we have physical stores in 98 countries and our online platforms are in 214 different markets and we have eight different brands.” García Maceiras and Inditex Chairwoman Marta Ortega — daughter of founder Amancio Ortega — have been pushing to reposition the Zara brand beyond its core High Street markets by associating it with edgy designers, fashion icons and celebrities — mainly through limited collections. On the duo’s watch, the company has been accelerating its transformation to do more business online, grow in the US , and increase its recognition as a company that can offer both affordable mass-market products while also appealing to more upmarket clients, especially with its flagship Zara chain. Read more: Billionaire Zara Heir Bets Fast Fashion Empire on Upmarket Push In addition to Zara, the company’s brands include Lefties and Massimo Dutti, among others. It operates in countries from Spain to China and is now betting on growing in the US. The company is also investing in AI and has launched a virtual tryout with which a customer, by taking two pictures, can digitally try on every single item available on the Inditex website. García Maceiras, a lawyer by training, is Inditex’s third CEO since its initial public offering in 2001. He is also the only one to have served under Chairwoman Ortega . Inditex shares have risen more than 1,630% since its IPO in May 2...
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +0.55%) will celebrate its 130th anniversary on May 26. But the historic index looks nothing like it did over a century ago. The Dow of today is chock-full of tech-focused companies, with Salesforce swapping with ExxonMobil in 2020, Amazon trading places with Walgreens Boots Alliance in 2024, and Nvidia taking Intel's spot in 2024. Adding tech stocks has made...
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +0.55%) will celebrate its 130th anniversary on May 26. But the historic index looks nothing like it did over a century ago. The Dow of today is chock-full of tech-focused companies, with Salesforce swapping with ExxonMobil in 2020, Amazon trading places with Walgreens Boots Alliance in 2024, and Nvidia taking Intel's spot in 2024. Adding tech stocks has made the Dow more representative of the modern stock market. But one critical flaw of the Dow is its drastic underweighting of communications stocks, with just a 2% weighting in the sector compared to 11% in the S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.17%). Here's the catalyst that could pave the way for communications giant Alphabet (GOOG 0.40%) (GOOGL 0.36%) being added to the Dow in June and why the stock has room to run higher and join Nvidia in the $5 trillion club. The Dow is ready for Alphabet Unlike the S&P 500 or Nasdaq-100, which are weighted based on market cap, the Dow has maintained its long-standing tradition of being price-weighted. The Dow's price-weighted nature means the heaviest-weighted components aren't necessarily the most valuable companies. In fact, 16 of the Dow's 30 components are weighted more heavily than Nvidia, even though it's the most valuable company in the world. Stock splits tend to instigate Dow shake-ups because they drastically change its composition. Apple's 2020 stock split was the catalyst for adding Salesforce, Amgen, and Honeywell International (HON +2.95%) and for booting RTX, ExxonMobil, and Pfizer. Similarly, Sherwin-Williams' stock split in 2021, Amazon's split in 2022, and Nvidia's stock split in 2024 paved the way for adding all three stocks to the Dow in 2024. Similarly, Alphabet split its stock in 2022. So if it were added today, it wouldn't upset the index's balance. And the good news for Alphabet is that it doesn't need one of the existing Dow components to undergo a stock split to justify its inclusion. Expand NASDAQ : GOOGL Alphabet Today's Chan...
Alina Vytiuk/iStock via Getty Images By Carsten Brzeski The long-running public and political debate on the need for reforms and structural change often gives the impression that Germans are harking back to a more glorious past rather than embracing an uncertain but potentially more dynamic future. Some might even argue that the decision to bring the legendary goalkeeper Manuel Neuer back into Ger...
Alina Vytiuk/iStock via Getty Images By Carsten Brzeski The long-running public and political debate on the need for reforms and structural change often gives the impression that Germans are harking back to a more glorious past rather than embracing an uncertain but potentially more dynamic future. Some might even argue that the decision to bring the legendary goalkeeper Manuel Neuer back into Germany’s squad for the upcoming World Cup fits that same pattern. Anyway, back to economics, and this morning’s macro releases are another illustration of the current discrepancy between past and future performance. While the German economy surprised to the upside in the first quarter, with 0.3% quarter-on-quarter growth, the just-released Ifo index does not bode too well for the months ahead. Even if Germany’s most prominent leading indicator stabilised somewhat, coming in at 84.9 in May, from 84.4 in April, there is no cause for relief. While German companies seem to have recovered somewhat from the first shock, the absolute level of the Ifo index remains weak. Yesterday, the latest PMI data already showed a high risk of the economy falling into contraction in the second quarter. War in the Middle East has clearly altered near-term outlook More broadly speaking, the war in the Middle East and soaring energy prices, combined with a lack of structural reform and clear strategy for how to restore competitiveness, do not bode well for Germany's growth outlook. The signs of a recovery on the back of fiscal stimulus, particularly in defence and infrastructure, have started to fade away. Soaring energy prices have again exposed the fact that Germany is one of Europe’s largest net importers of energy. Some 6% of its oil imports come from countries in the Middle East. The so-called energy-intensive industries in Germany account for some 17% of industrial gross value added and employ just under one million people. With the war in the Middle East now gradually shifting from a pure ene...
Key Points Recent additions to the Dow Jone Industrial Average underwent stock splits. Alphabet is one of the few companies that can capitalize on artificial intelligence (AI) across foundational models, applications, and at the infrastructure level. Despite rising severalfold in recent years, Alphabet stock remains a good value. 10 stocks we like better than Alphabet › The Dow Jones Industrial Av...
Key Points Recent additions to the Dow Jone Industrial Average underwent stock splits. Alphabet is one of the few companies that can capitalize on artificial intelligence (AI) across foundational models, applications, and at the infrastructure level. Despite rising severalfold in recent years, Alphabet stock remains a good value. 10 stocks we like better than Alphabet › The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) will celebrate its 130th anniversary on May 26. But the historic index looks nothing like it did over a century ago. The Dow of today is chock-full of tech-focused companies, with Salesforce swapping with ExxonMobil in 2020, Amazon trading places with Walgreens Boots Alliance in 2024, and Nvidia taking Intel's spot in 2024. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » Adding tech stocks has made the Dow more representative of the modern stock market. But one critical flaw of the Dow is its drastic underweighting of communications stocks, with just a 2% weighting in the sector compared to 11% in the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC). Here's the catalyst that could pave the way for communications giant Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) being added to the Dow in June and why the stock has room to run higher and join Nvidia in the $5 trillion club. The Dow is ready for Alphabet Unlike the S&P 500 or Nasdaq-100, which are weighted based on market cap, the Dow has maintained its long-standing tradition of being price-weighted. The Dow's price-weighted nature means the heaviest-weighted components aren't necessarily the most valuable companies. In fact, 16 of the Dow's 30 components are weighted more heavily than Nvidia, even though it's the most valuable company in the world. Stock splits tend to instigate Dow shake-ups because they drastically change its composition. Apple's 2020 stock...
Many investors have been waiting for an opportunity to invest in SpaceX NASDAQ: SPCX, Elon Musk’s space-oriented company. The wait is almost over. SpaceX is expected to make its debut on the Nasdaq exchange on June 12, 2026, with the ticker symbol SPCX. But first, the company had to deliver the goods to the institutional investors who will put a valuation on SPCX. That got one step closer to reali...
Many investors have been waiting for an opportunity to invest in SpaceX NASDAQ: SPCX, Elon Musk’s space-oriented company. The wait is almost over. SpaceX is expected to make its debut on the Nasdaq exchange on June 12, 2026, with the ticker symbol SPCX. But first, the company had to deliver the goods to the institutional investors who will put a valuation on SPCX. That got one step closer to reality when SpaceX filed its public S-1 on May 20. Get SpaceX alerts: Sign Up Generational Opportunity or Hype Trap? Investors have been wondering if SpaceX is a generational opportunity to invest in the space economy, or if it's a hype trap. Arguing for the former is data from a study from the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company that forecasts the space economy will grow from $630 billion in 2023 to $1.8 trillion by 2035. Arguing for the latter is the commentary surrounding the company’s founder and chief executive officer, Elon Musk. It’s not that investors question Musk’s ability. But there are concerns about how much bandwidth Musk can have while he’s still running Tesla NASDAQ: TSLA and X, among his other endeavors. Musk himself is no stranger to hype. In one part of the S-1 filing, Musk cited SpaceX’s total quantifiable addressable market (TAM) at $28.5 trillion. That's a staggering number that is rooted in $22.7 trillion in enterprise applications. That number is ... ambitious. And it’s just the kind of number that Musk is using to defend a raise of up to $75 billion at a valuation between $1.75 trillion to $2 trillion. That would make it the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history. What's Actually Driving the Business Before accepting or rejecting Musk's vision at face value, though, investors should understand what is actually generating revenue today. SpaceX operates two distinct business lines that tell very different stories. The first is the launch business (i.e., rockets, satellites, and government contracts), which is the company's founding missi...
Helical (LON:HLCL) reported a year of operational progress and improved earnings as the London-focused developer advanced several major projects, completed the sale of 100 New Bridge Street and announced a larger return of capital to shareholders. Chief Executive Matthew Bonning-Snook said the company had delivered on the strategy it set out two years ago, highlighting the forward sale of 100 New ...
Helical (LON:HLCL) reported a year of operational progress and improved earnings as the London-focused developer advanced several major projects, completed the sale of 100 New Bridge Street and announced a larger return of capital to shareholders. Chief Executive Matthew Bonning-Snook said the company had delivered on the strategy it set out two years ago, highlighting the forward sale of 100 New Bridge Street to State Street Corporation as “one of the standout transactions of 2025.” Practical completion was reached shortly before the presentation, and the sale completed during the week of the results. Bonning-Snook said Helical also made progress at Southwark, where it shifted from a more equity-heavy office-led scheme to an equity-light student accommodation-led project. The company exchanged contracts on the forward sale of the affordable housing block to Southwark Borough Council and the forward funding of the adjoining purpose-built student accommodation block with partner Places for London. “I would stress that we are taking delivery risk and not market or operational risk through our forward funding structures,” Bonning-Snook said. EPRA Earnings Double as NTA Rises Chief Financial Officer James Moss said Helical’s EPRA earnings doubled during the year, while its net tangible assets increased. EPRA profit rose to GBP 5.5 million, supported by higher development profits, lower administrative expenses and reduced net finance costs as more of the portfolio shifted into development assets where finance costs are capitalized. Moss said development profits increased to GBP 4.9 million, while net rental income fell to GBP 15.4 million following the prior year’s GBP 245 million sale of investment property. Administrative expenses declined by more than GBP 2 million to GBP 8.8 million. The company reported a net valuation gain of GBP 2.7 million, partly offset by a GBP 2.3 million decline in the fair value of interest rate swaps. IFRS profit after tax was GBP 5.7 milli...
Timing can make or break a leveraged debt sale . Get it right, and banks secure cheap financing for their client and maximize fees. Get it wrong, and they can end up with their profits — and reputation — on the line. Lately, bankers have become so worried about getting it wrong that they’ve rewritten the normal rules of engagement — securing pricing and investor support well before deals formally ...
Timing can make or break a leveraged debt sale . Get it right, and banks secure cheap financing for their client and maximize fees. Get it wrong, and they can end up with their profits — and reputation — on the line. Lately, bankers have become so worried about getting it wrong that they’ve rewritten the normal rules of engagement — securing pricing and investor support well before deals formally hit the market. Underwriters lined up about 85% of commitments for a €3.9 billion ($4.5 billion) financing package to back Carlyle Group Inc. and its partner Qatar Investment Authority’s acquisition of BASF SE’s coatings business in the three-week run-up to the launch of the bonds and loans, according to people familiar with the matter. Banks had no trouble selling the deal — demand exceeded the amount borrowed by a factor of three . Representatives for Carlyle and Goldman Sachs Group Inc, one of the lead banks on the sale, declined to comment on the deal. Other recent M&A financings have featured enhanced pre-marketing, either with extra time or a larger group of investors, to give Wall Street banks as much certainty as possible. Historically, such discussions targeted a restricted number of the “friends and family” of a buyout firm for a week or so before the general launch. “Pre-marketing has evolved from a price-discovery exercise into a de-risking tool,” said Hadrien Servais , leveraged finance partner at law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. “Banks increasingly want a transaction substantially spoken for before launch, with the objective being to eliminate as many execution variables as possible before syndication.” Hung Loan Losses War in the Middle East, global government bond yields at multi-decade highs , elevated oil prices, the potential for a new bout of hot inflation and tighter monetary policy — banks have plenty of reason to hedge their risks on leveraged debt. The memory of 2022’s hung loans is also keeping them cautious. Bankers were stuck with billions...