President Donald Trump’s choice to run the Department of Education, Linda McMahon, faces a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday where Democrats are likely to grill her on the president’s plans to shut the department outright.
Trump on Wednesday reiterated his call to shutter the department, which employs about 4,200 people and had a $251 billion budget in the fiscal year that ended in September.
“I’d like it to be closed immediately,” Trump said. “The Department of Education’s a big con job.”
Shuttering the Cabinet-level department, created in 1979, would ultimately require the approval of Congress, where many Republicans have pushed for years to prioritize local control of the nation’s schools.
Despite calling for the department’s closure, Trump and his fellow Republicans have also pushed for the federal government to scrutinize school districts’ sports programs and investigate cases of transgender athletes competing on women’s teams.
Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee are expected to press McMahon on the Trump administration’s moves to undo diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and her positions on school choice options, federal spending for high-poverty school districts and funding for the nationwide school lunch program.
While they will have the power to grill McMahon, a former professional wrestling executive who headed the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, they do not have the votes to block her confirmation in a chamber that Republicans control 53-47.
So far Senate Republicans have not blocked any of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, including controversial picks such as new Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Republicans at McMahon’s Senate confirmation hearing could question her approach towards the nation’s powerful teacher unions, her views of religion and prayer in the classroom, as well as on federal student aid relief, which was implemented by the Biden administration and rolled back by Trump last month.
Bo Erickson, Reuters
Japanese automaker Honda reported a 7% decline in profit for the nine months that ended in December on Thursday as it terminated talks on integrating its business with Nissan.Tokyo-based Honda Motor Co. said its motorcycles business was strong, but its auto sales suffered in China and Japan, while demand stayed solid in the U.S.Honda’s April-December 2024 profit totaled 805 billion yen ($5 billion), down from 869.6 billion yen the same period in 2023.Nine-month sales gained nearly 9% to 16.3 trillion yen ($106 billion).Honda and Japanese rival Nissan Motor Corp., along with the smaller Mitsubishi Motors Corp., said in December that they were in talks to set up a joint holding company.The automakers said Thursday they were ending the talks, although existing collaborations in electric vehicles and smart cars will continue.
Yuri Kageyama, AP Business Writer
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon scorned calls from some employees to soften the bank’s five-day return-to-office policy in an animated town hall meeting on Wednesday, according to a recording reviewed by Reuters.
Employees at the largest U.S. bank have complained on internal message boards and chats about losing hybrid working arrangements, and one group launched an online petition urging Dimon to reconsider.
When asked about the in-person work policy during the staff meeting, he said: “Don’t waste time on it. I don’t care how many people sign that fucking petition,” he said, drawing some laughter.
JPMorgan declined to comment.
Instead, Dimon demanded more efficiency and stressed that employees have a choice whether to work at JPMorgan. The CEO told them not to be mad at him, and said that it was a free country.
The rollback of remote working policies has prompted groans from some workers as COVID-19 lockdowns receded. JPMorgan’s call for more workers to come back brought a deluge of complaints, many from back-office workers.
Some employees sought advice from the Communications Workers of America on how they might set up a labor union, a rare thing in the U.S. finance sector, CWA campaign lead Nick Wiener said.
About 950 people had signed the petition against the five-day policy by Wednesday evening. JPMorgan has more than 317,000 employees worldwide.
Dimon, who has run the lender for 19 years, said some staff did not pay attention during Zoom meetings, which reduced their efficiency and creativity.
JPMorgan’s profits surged to a record in 2024 and its share price roughly doubled in the past five years. The strong performance prompted some workers to question why they needed to spend more time in the office.
In-office requirements will not be left up to managers, Dimon said.
“There is no chance that I will leave it up to managers,” he said. “Zero chance. The abuse that took place is extraordinary.”
Dimon’s view is shared by many Wall Street leaders and President Donald Trump, who demanded the end of remote work arrangements in the federal government.
Dimon has asked all the bank’s departments to show 10% gains in efficiency, which would entail 10% cuts in reports, meetings, documents and training sessions.
During the town hall, Dimon recounted a story about a wealth management matter that required 14 committee approvals.
“I feel like firing 14 chairmen of committees, I can’t stand it anymore,” he said. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I’m the boss.”
He also cited performance reviews for the bank’s operating committee that could stretch to six pages.
“Because of legal and risk, they have to look at it, the regulators might say, there could be litigation around it, so you have to be careful,” Dimon said. “I get the thing, I throw it in the goddamned garbage can.”
Dimon was also asked about hiring.
The bank is working to keep headcount flat, and “we continue to invest in hiring new professionals where appropriate and currently have 14,000 open positions,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
Isla Binnie, Reuters
Fast Company staff writer Pavithra Mohan explains how Trumps executive orders regarding DEI will impact youand how companies can sustain inclusion efforts.
Theres a focus on protecting our personal data now, perhaps more so than ever before, be it from foreign powers, Big Tech, or Elon Musks DOGE. Consumers are wary about where their data is going, what its being used for, and how, or if, they can put up safeguards, especially while using tech tools like search engines or AI assistants.
With several AI tools and assistants hitting the market over the past couple of yearsMicrosofts Copilot and Metas Llama, among many othersmuch of our data, queries, and summaries are being fed to large tech companies, used to train their artificial intelligence models.
While some users may not mind, it could turn others off, which is why one company is trying a different approach.
PIN AI, a Bay Area-based AI startup, is rolling out what it calls the personal AI network with the launch of a mobile application this week, complete with a native large language model (LLM) that is designed to become a personalized intelligence network, or PIN.
In a nutshell, PIN AIs app and LLM live on a users smartphone, accessing the personal data via other apps and platforms that only the user authorizes, and then provide specific and tailored insights or answers based on that information. Its similar, in some ways, to Apple Intelligence.
Thats important, say PIN AIs founders, because AI tools are the next great online frontier, even if theyre not ubiquitous quite yet.
These AI products are becoming the universal interface to access online services, says Davide Crapis, one of the companys cofounders, along with Bill Sun and Ben Wu. Its becoming the new way that we access the internet.
Getting personal
Personalization is going to be incredibly important going forwardnot only to protect users data and information but also to provide relevant information.
For example, suppose a user allows PIN AI to connect to their Gmail account, social media accounts, banking information and payment apps, text messages, and internet browsing data. Tapping into all of that information, PIN AI will be able to deliver personalized, in-depth answers or responses, unlike any or most other AI tools on the market.
[Image: PIN AI]
In other words, while other AI models utilize all of the data theyve scraped and ingested to train themselves to generate responses for users, PIN AI only uses the personal data and information a user has given it access to.
Crapis, Sun, and Wu, collectively, have been working on AI technology for many years, and say that it may sound complicated but that users will quickly realize its a fairly simple product.
Theres an LLM packed with the app, says Sun, so you get a personalized AI.
As an example of how personal the AI tool can get, Sun tells Fast Company that a hypothetical user could simply bark a voice command at the app such as, order my mom a birthday present. From there, PIN AI would sift through past communications and other information, discerning what the users mom might want, where to get it, and at the best price. It can also place the order and have it deliveredwith no additional effort from the user, other than the initial voice command.
Its all about sovereignty
Another example: If a user were to ask PIN AI a more complicated question, such as, can I afford to buy a new car, the tool could likewise analyze the users bank accounts, figure out what types of vehicles the user may want or need (incorporating family needs, etc.), their favorite color or other potential specifications, financing needs, and deliver up an answer of either yes or no, along with a list of potential buying options from nearby dealerships.
While its all pretty powerful, users may rightfully be wary about giving an app and AI tool so much access to their information. Thats another thing the PIN AI team says theyre focusing on: encryption and security.
The tool is built on blockchain protocols and users data and information are encrypted, so if a user loses their phone with PIN AI installed, a bad actor still shouldnt be able to access it.
Resonating with early users
After rolling out a trial app, Sun says that it has attracted around 2 million users, almost exclusively through word of mouth, as well as an active community on platforms like Discord.
In terms of monetization, the company plans to drive revenue by charging the various agents from different apps and platforms that will interact on the model a per-use feeso users themselves dont pay anything. The monetization takes place within an agentic AI marketplace, and those agents will fork over a slice of applicable commission fees.
And its also gotten the attention of investors. The company is backed by a16z Crypto (CSX), Hack VC, and Sequoia Capital U.S. Scout. So far, PIN AI has raised more than $10 million, according to data from PitchBook.
With the app launch, the team hopes to attract more users, refine the product, and see how PIN AI ultimately slots in on the market among other AI tools.
Its about the sovereignty of the user and their data, says Crapis. With PIN AI, you have full control.
A Texas county on Wednesday approved holding an election sought by SpaceX that would let residents living around billionaire Elon Musk’s company decide whether to formally create a new city called Starbase.The election was set for May 3 and votes can only be cast by residents living near the launch site that is currently part of an unincorporated area of Cameron County, located along the U.S.-Mexico border.In December, more than 70 area residents signed a petition requesting an election to make Starbase its own municipality. Most of the residents are company employees and the community includes more than 100 children, according to copies of the petition obtained by The Associated Press.Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevio said the county reviewed the petition and found it met the state’s requirements for the incorporation process to move forward.“If the election passes, this will be the newest town in Cameron County since Los Indios in 1995,” Trevio said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing the outcome of this election.”SpaceX responded to a request for comment by referring to the company’s earlier statement in December.Kathryn Lueders, Starbase’s general manager, previously said that the incorporation would streamline certain processes to build amenities in the area. Some local environmental advocates have expressed worry about what the effects would mean for development.SpaceX’s launch site broke ground in Texas in 2014. Only 10 of the roughly 250 lots of land within the proposed new city limits do not belong to the company.More than 3,400 full-time SpaceX employees and contractors work at the Starbase site, according to a local impact study issued by the county last year.Musk has long been planting business roots in Texas and has spread them far and wide across the Lone Star State. The billionaire moved to Texas in 2020 and relocated to or expanded a number of his companies in the state, citing the state’s business-friendly climate.Tesla’s massive 10-million-square-foot (930,000-square-meter) Gigafactory, where the company makes its Cybertrucks, opened near Austin in 2022 and will also serve as the company headquarters.
Valerie Gonzalez, Associated Press
For years, I thought saying yes was the key to success. Yes, to my parents dream of me becoming a doctor. Yes, to the long hours in medical school. Yes, to a career that others admired, even as I felt a growing sense of unease.
I loved medicines ability to make a difference in peoples lives, but deep down, I had questions: Did I truly want to be a doctor, or was I fulfilling the role others expected of me? Every yes felt like another step away from myself.
One pivotal moment came while I was working in a hospital in the Cook Islands. I treated patients with heart failure so advanced that basic mobility was a struggle. What struck me most wasnt the lack of resources; it was the sense of familiarity. Even in the U.K.s world-class healthcare system, I had seen patients left behindignored, dismissed, or underserved. These moments clarified what I valued most: fairness, justice, and confronting systemic inequality.
When I returned to work as a junior doctor in Edinburgh, it became clear that the questions driving me werent about treating symptomsthey were about the systems perpetuating inequity. I eventually said no to medicine, not because I didnt care, but because I cared deeply.
Saying no isnt rejectionits redirection. Its about aligning your time and energy with your values and goals. But in practice, saying no can be dauntingespecially in professional environments where compliance often feels safer than resistance.
I have learned, however, that the ability to say no is a skill.
Turn down projects that stretch you too thin
Leaders and professionals often overcommit, risking burnout and lower-quality work. A former student of mine, a project manager, learned this the hard way. After saying yes to an unrealistic timeline, the team missed deadlines, and relationships suffered. The next time a client proposed an impossible deadline, she said, To meet your goals, wed need more time to maintain quality. Can we extend the timeline or adjust deliverables? The result? The client agreed, and the team delivered excellent work, strengthening trust.
Set boundaries without alienating others
A marketing executive I know faced constant interruptions from colleagues seeking her input. Instead of shutting them down, she framed her no around her priorities: I want to give you my full attention, but Im focused on completing this project right now. Can we schedule a time to discuss this later? By acknowledging their needs while protecting her time, she maintained strong relationships without compromising her priorities.
Say ‘no’ to preserve long-term vision
Patagonias decision to say no to the fast-fashion model is a famous example. By focusing on sustainability and durability, the company aligned its business practices with its values. This defiant stance reshaped the outdoor apparel industry and built a loyal customer base.
One reason saying no feels so difficult is the fear of resistance or misunderstanding. People may question your decision or even push back. Thats why preparation matters. Before entering these conversations, get clear on your reasons and rehearse how youll articulate them. If youre declining a promotion, for example, you could say, Im incredibly grateful for this opportunity, but Ive reflected on my priorities and realized this role doesnt align with the path I see for myself. Id love to contribute in ways that better match my strengths and long-term goals. Clarity and confidence can help diffuse resistance and ensure your no is respected.
Saying no isnt about being contrarian or uncooperative. Its about alignmentwith yourself, your values, and the future you want to create. Even at the highest levels of leadership, the importance of focus and clarity is critical. In a recent strategy meeting, Google CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized the company’s biggest priority for 2025: simplifying work and scaling key initiatives like their AI-powered Gemini app. He urged employees to “internalize the urgency of this moment” and to prioritize focus by saying no to distractions. This kind of intentional decision-making isnt just about efficiencyits about achieving excellence by staying aligned with core goals.
When saying no:
Reframe no as alignment, not rejection. A well-chosen no isnt about shutting down an opportunityits about making space for the right ones.
Be transparent and tie your no to shared goals or values. When people understand your reasoning, they are more likely to respect your decision.
Remember that no isnt the endits the beginning of a better path. The discomfort of saying no is temporary, but its impact can last for years.
Looking back, I see that saying no to medicine wasnt about closing a doorit was about opening the right one. That decision made room for a career aligned with my values, one where I could research, teach, and advocate for systemic change.
No isnt the end. Its the beginning of a path to greater alignment, purpose, and impact. Whether its a career decision, a project at work, or a personal boundary, learning to say no with clarity and intention is one of the most productive skills you can develop. And each time you do, youre not just making a decisionyoure affirming who you are and what you stand for.
In 2023, creator and social agency Whalar Group announced an ambitious plan to create physical campuses for content creators to learn, make, and collaborate with their peers. Now the company is opening the doors to its first campus in Venice, Calif. this month with an additional location in Brooklyn launching this spring and a London location slated for 2026.
Part production studio, part co-working space, part university, The Lighthouse is membership-based community designed to help creators and their teams level-up both their content and the businesses theyre building around it.
If you look at [20th century German art school] Bauhaus, Andy Warhol’s Factory, Silicon Valley, all those moments where you had a gathering space for smart, curious, multi-hyphenate[s] created a generational shift for creative industries, says Jon Goss, president of The Lighthouse. That’s our goal: to be a place where people can find connection, find opportunities to collaborate, learn from experts and thought leaders, and learn from each other. And I think that enables the creator economy to go into its next chapter.
The Lighthouses founding cohort in Venice includes 150 creators and creative professionals who will use the facilities for filming, editing, podcasting, screening, performing, and more on top of having access to educational classes and sessions covering topics including business management, how to staff a team, production workshops, wellbeing and personal growth, and more. Memberships will typically run for up to four years and those who have contributed to The Lighthouse by way of education, community building, and programming will have the option to remain members who can mentor the next generation of creators and creatives.
[Photo: Yoshihiro Makino]
For as long as the creator economy has been around (since 1997, by some suggestions) and for all the money pouring into it (estimates place its total addressable market reaching half-a-trillion by 2027), its still somewhat of the Wild West. Various platforms and agencies have sprouted up in droves to help creators monetize their content, sell products, and score brand deals. But whats often missing is a cohesive path toward professionalizing a creator business, particularly for the middle class of the creator economy.
According to Influencer Marketing Hub, more than 50 million people worldwide consider themselves to be creatorsbut only 2 million would say theyre professionals, i.e. earning enough for it to be their full-time career. Granted, some creators will always keep what they do as a side hustle. But for those looking for a more solid foundation to scale up their businessesor even establish one in the first placeGoss sees The Lighthouse as a viable resource.
The creator economy is being taken more seriously every year, Goss says. It just feels like centers of gravities going towards creators and the creator economy. I think more and more brands and media platforms and entertainment organizations are recognizing that every single day. It’s just inevitable.
[Photo: Yoshihiro Makino]
So our mission is to be an ecosystem for all those constituents, he adds, having those people all in the room together, actually having those conversations in real-time versus them happening in their echo chambers.
Part of bringing the gap among those constituents are The Lighthouses founding brand partners Shopify, iHeartMedia, and Samsung providing programming and activations throughout the campus. Shopify will have a pop-up for creator brands to showcase their products. iHeartMedia will host a monthly live podcast onsite featuring emerging talent. And Samsung is outfitting the space with TVs and products. Whalar Group also struck a broader partnership with Tribeca Festival to have a vertical within Tribeca dedicated to the intersection of Hollywood and creators. That vertical will also translate into a year-round talk series at the Lighthouse Venice and Brooklyn.
The Lighthouses cohorts are selected by a council of their peers. And Goss says they took a similar approach of careful curation with which brands and organizations they chose to partner with.
They’re directly relevant to creators, to the creator economy, to the ability for creators to up-level and have a connection to them, Goss says. Brands are still a massive part of creators both in terms of the content they can create and the ability to generate revenue.
To be sure, The Lighthouse isnt necessarily a novel concept. In 2012, YouTube launched Spaces which eventually shifted to a virtual and pop-up event model after the the company shuttered its physical locations post-pandemic. Popular content creator Casey Neistat launched his own attempt with Studio 368 in 2018 but a post on its Instagram last year stated it was time to pack it all up.
[Photo: Yoshihiro Makino]
Goss says theyve studied predecessors to The Lighthouse and he sees the difference being that what theyve built is a design-driven space for creators to do more than produce content.
We’ve taken elements of hospitality and membership clubs and shared workspaces where cultural programming happens on a regular basis to keep driving community and conversations, Goss says.
He also sees The Lighthouse succeeding by remaining as dynamic as the creator economy itself.
This has to be a place of constant evolution, Goss says. When we talk about what will this place become, what will it mean for creators, not knowing the endless possibilities that can come is the exciting bit. Weve doubled down on providing this environment for all sorts of possibilities to happen.
Dutch Bros Inc. shares surged more than 27% in premarket trading Thursday after the coffee chain posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and announced plans to expand mobile ordering and food offerings.
Revenue rose 34.9% to $342.8 million, surpassing Wall Street estimates. Same-store sales grew 6.9%, and adjusted earnings per share reached 7 cents, both exceeding expectations.
The company forecasts 2024 sales between $1.555 billion and $1.575 billion, exceeding analyst projections.
Our efforts to develop our foundational transaction driversinnovation, paid media, and our Dutch Rewards loyalty programare working, CEO Christine Barone said in a statement. We believe these efforts are contributing to current momentum and that there is considerable runway for further growth.
Dutch Bros stock (NYSE: BROS) has risen more than 143% in the last 12 months.
Expansion plans and growth strategy
The fast-growing Starbucks rival has made significant strides in its expansion. Dutch Bros recently opened its 1,000th store and added 151 locations in 2024 alone, which is on the lower end of projections it had made early last year.
With plans to now open at least 160 more shops this year, the company continues its aggressive growth strategy while increasing its advertising efforts and expanding its rewards program.
Barone also highlighted future plans for mobile ordering and food offerings.
We see a clear path forward, with multi-year transaction-driving initiatives that layer on top of this foundation, with opportunity to unlock throughput and ramp mobile order in 2025, she said. In 2026 and beyond, we are excited about opportunities with expanding our food offerings.
Preserving culture amid growth
As Dutch Bros continues to expand, the company said it remains committed to preserving its culture of friendly service, courtesy of the “broistas” (Dutch Bros’s term for baristas) who have been key to its success.
As we expand [broistas] roles, we must consider how to do so in ways that continue to foster a fun and energetic work experience that assures we continue to attract and retain the very best people, Barone explained.
As a candidate last year, Donald Trump suggested he could easily conquer inflation and ease voters’ fears about the economy.“I will very quickly deflate,” he promised at a California rally. “We are going to take inflation, and we are going to deflate it. We are going to deflate inflation. We are going to defeat inflation. We’re going to knock the hell out of inflation.”Wednesday’s consumer price index report showed that inflation is punching back and President Trump could end up facing the same challenges that dragged down his predecessor, President Joe Biden.The annual inflation rate has risen in the three months since the November election to 3%, with gasoline prices climbing despite Trump’s claims that his return to the White House would signal increased oil production that would lower energy costs.Trump frequently makes far-reaching assertions about his power to bring about change only to find that it is no match for market forces. It’s a humbling reminder that even U.S. presidents are subject to the invisible hand of supply and demand, rather than the masters of it.Consumer sentiment measures suggest the public already sees Trump’s plans to expand tariffs as increasing inflation. On Wednesday, the president called for interest rate cuts, even though rate hikes by the Federal Reserve helped lower inflation that spiked at a four-decade high in 2022.The latest consumer price figures have unnerved economists and the financial markets because they suggest that strong consumer spending, solid job gains and a falling unemployment rate could reignite inflation. Steady demand, particularly from wealthier consumers, makes it easier for companies to keep raising prices.The cost of goods including toys and auto parts rose last month even before the imposition of tariffs. Trump has placed 10% tariffs on China, in addition to announcing the removal of exemptions on his 2018 steel and aluminum tariffs. There are also potential tariff hikes on Canada and Mexico and a potential executive order that would increase tariffs to match the import taxes charged by other countries.All of this means that baseline inflationary pressures could be at their highest level in decades.“Disinflation may be dead, and we may be looking at a higher rate of inflation than we observed for the 20 years prior to the pandemic,” said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, a tax and advisory firm.Trump’s call for lower rates puts him in opposition to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.“If inflation goes up in general, we will use our tools, which is the interest rate, to bring it back down to 2% over time,” Powell told a congressional committee on Wednesday. Powell also said that Trump’s calls to lower rates wouldn’t sway the Fed.So far, the Trump White House’s main response to this challenge has been to blame Biden, an argument with a short lifespan as Trump is exerting more control over economic policy.“The Biden administration indeed left us with a mess to deal with,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Wednesday’s news briefing. “It’s far worse than I think anybody anticipated.”But Trump allies are also starting to float new ideas for tackling inflation. Standing in the Oval Office on Tuesday, billionaire Elon Musk, the head of the president’s Department of Government Efficiency, proposed $1 trillion in spending cuts this year.Musk, the world’s richest man who continues to control Tesla, X and SpaceX among other companies, wants to eliminate $1 out of every $7 spent by the federal government in order to bring the inflation rate to zero. It’s not clear based on lawsuits and Congress’ responsibility for government funding that Musk can deliver those savings.“If you cut the budget deficit by a trillion between now and next year, there is no inflation,” Musk said. “And if the government is not borrowing as much, it means that interest costs decline. So everyone’s mortgage, their car payment, their credit card bills, anything, their student debt, the monthly payments drop. That’s a fantastic scenario for the average American.”Such a steep cut might bring lower prices but also the pain of a sharp economic downturn.“That would be a roughly 4% of GDP cut to federal spending, all in one year,” said Michael Linden, a senior policy fellow at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. “It would be an instant recession.”For now, markets are anticipating more inflation as consumer demand stays strong and Trump has yet to show how exactly his policies would keep prices low, as he promised to voters.The yield on the 10-year Treasury note jumped Wednesday to 4.62% in response to the inflation report, a sign that investors expect interest rates, growth and inflation to be higher in the coming months.Consumers also say that inflation will rise. Americans’ expectations of inflation over the next year have soared, according to the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey. The February survey said that inflation this year will be 4.3%, up sharply from 3.3% the previous month. Many respondents mentioned tariffs as a concern.When asked Wednesday why Trump’s call for lower interest rates would temper inflation, Leavitt focused on what the president “wants” instead of what he would do.“He wants interest rates to be lower,” she said. “He wants inflation to be lower. And he believes that the whole of government economic approach that this administration is taking will result in lower inflation.”
Josh Boak and Christopher Rugaber, Associated Press
