Financial Mindset

By the start of 2000, I was already a veteran writer for Fortune warning our readers that the dot.com craze had lifted Nasdaq valuations to unsustainable highs. All of the time-honored metrics pointed to the same outcome—crash ahead! Then, AOL and Time Warner, Fortune ‘s parent as owner of magazine-maker Time Inc., issued a shocker for the ages that, as it turned out, confirmed my worst fears: The tiny internet hotshot, its brand barely a decade old, was purchasing the fabled media colossus multiple times its size. For the announcement at Time Warner’s Manhattan headquarters, the media empire’s CEO Jerry Levin, appearing sans tie or jacket, took the stage alongside AOL chief Steve Case, and avowed his delight at taking Case’s offer since “I accept dot.com valuations.” Today, that transaction is generally cited as epitomizing arguably the craziest interlude in the annals of U.S. equity markets, and vilified as the worst big deal ever. So bad tha...

The hype around so-called “peanut butter” raises that distribute equal payments to every worker is falling flat as AI divides the workplace into super users and stragglers.  Companies have given out raises based on performance for years, but studies from earlier this year suggested this trend was shifting. About 44% of employers said they either planned to or were considering giving out equal raises to their employees this year, according to one study by compensation software company Payscale. Yet, a new report by consulting firm Mercer shows this trend hasn’t actually panned out. Only about 4% of employers in the U.S. are giving out raises in this way, according to a recent survey by consulting firm Mercer.  Part of the reason why, may be AI’s influence on a rapidly changing workplace. Just under 60% of business leaders say technology is key to their business strategy, according to a recent report by the advisory, tax, and assurance firm Baker Tilly, and some...

Capella Hotel Group, the ultra-luxury hotel group that once played host to the leaders of two nuclear powers, is pursuing more aggressive growth with plans to double its portfolio by 2030 with new ventures in Europe and the Middle East. “Capella is at an inflection point,” Roland Fasel, the firm’s new CEO, tells Fortune. “We’ve gained recognition in the last few years and that gives us the confidence to go forward.” The group’s first European hotel, based in a 12th-century compound near Florence’s Duomo cathedral, will open in late 2027. Capella will also debut in the Middle East that same year with a property in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; there are at least ten other hotels in its pipeline. Capella currently has a dozen properties: Ten luxury hotels, the most recent of which opened in Kyoto in March, and two properties under its more accessible Patina brand. “We are growing, but we’re not just putting flags in destinations. It’s a thoughtful, focused growth model,” he exp...

Handguns could be mailed through the United States Postal Service for the first time in nearly 100 years if a proposed rule under the Trump administration takes effect. Democratic attorneys general in two dozen states sent a letter this week in opposition. In 1927, Congress passed a law barring the USPS from mailing concealable firearms unless they were from licensed dealers in an effort to curb crime. In January, the Department of Justice revisited the 1927 law, calling it unconstitutional and arguing that it violated the Second Amendment, and urged the postal service to change its regulations. The Department of Justice said that as long as Congress chooses to run a parcel service, “the Second Amendment precludes it from refusing to ship constitutionally protected firearms to and from law-abiding citizens, even if they are not licensed manufacturers or dealers.” Last month USPS proposed a new rule that would allow anyone to mail concealable firearms like pistols and revol...

Ted Turner, a brash television pioneer who raced yachts, owned huge chunks of the American West and transformed the news business by launching  CNN  and introducing the 24-hour cable news cycle, died Wednesday. He was 87. Turner died surrounded by his family, according to Turner Enterprises, the company that oversees his vast business interests. Turner owned professional sports teams in Atlanta, defended the  America’s Cup  in yachting in 1977 and donated a stunning $1 billion to United Nations charities. He married three women — most famously actor Jane Fonda — and earned the nicknames “Captain Outrageous” and “The Mouth of the South.” He once bragged: “If only I had a little humility, I’d be perfect.” He was slowed in later years by Lewy body dementia. Long out of the television business, he concentrated on philanthropy. His garrulous personality sometimes overshadowed a risk-taking business acumen. By the time he sold his Turner Broadcasting S...

Geopolitics are dominating headlines, and trade conflict is accelerating. In this context, countries and companies need to position themselves well in the right industries to sustain profitable growth. What are those industries? The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) identified 18 “arenas” in 2024—industries that stand out for their dynamism and future potential in both revenues and profits. They include an “AI foundation” set of industries (semiconductors, cloud services, and AI software and services); digitization (digital advertising, E-commerce, streaming video, cybersecurity, and video games); electrification (EVs, batteries, nuclear fission), hard tech (robotics, space, shared autonomous vehicles, commercial drones, modular construction); and new bio frontiers (drugs for obesity and related conditions and non-medical biotech).   In research published this spring , MGI tracked the development of those 18 arenas and showed them accelerating sha...

Super Micro Computer CEO Charles Liang spoke out during the company’s fiscal third quarter earnings call to deliver a message. “No one” at the company besides three indicted employees—including cofounder Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw—were involved in what prosecutors have called an elaborate scheme to smuggle servers to China in violation of U.S. export controls, said Liang. The stock rose 18% in after-hours trading. The server manufacturer’s third quarter earning call on Tuesday was the first since Liaw and two other defendants were indicted in a criminal investigation over U.S. export controls and an alleged scheme to smuggle $2.5 billion in servers to China. Michael Staiger, the VP of corporate development, informed analysts at the onset of the quarterly call that the company would focus on financial results during the call’s Q&A portion. Unmoved, analysts started the Q&A with questions about the indictment fallout. Staiger said b...