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Businesses are embracing AI, and despite fears about the technology taking over our jobs, most experts agree AI will support human performance, not replace it. To stay ahead of the curve, learn as much as you can about how it works.
For instance, try feeding a chatbot like ChatGPT a non-proprietary work project and see what it would add. Since it’s a field of work you already know, it will quickly become clear whether the technology’s outputs are helpful. But don’t accept the results at face value: Large language models can hallucinate, or make up information.
Most importantly, do what technology can’t: Lean on human relationships with colleagues to work through what AI’s use could look like in the workplace.
Former President Donald Trump posted a $175 million bond on Monday in his New York State civil trial. The bond was provided by California-based company Knight Specialty Insurance, with chairman Don Hankey telling Forbes that the company initiated the deal, reaching out to Trump shortly before an appeals court lowered the amount he would have to pay while his appeal was heard. Hankey, who said he’d never met Trump, was also the largest owner of Axos Financial, the lender that bailed the former president out by refinancing his mortgages at Trump Tower and his Miami resort in 2022.
Aid group World Central Kitchen says it will pause operations in Gaza after seven of its workers delivering humanitarian aid in the region were killed by an Israeli strike on Monday. The international aid group said in a statement that its team in Gaza was struck while traveling in vehicles marked with the World Central Kitchen logo in a “deconflicted zone,” and that the strike occurred despite having “coordinated movements with the IDF.”
Alex Murdaugh, the former attorney serving two life sentences for the murder of his wife and son, was sentenced to 40 additional years in prison Monday for nearly two dozen federal financial crimes. The sentence was harsher than the 17.5-year to almost 22-year sentence prosecutors recommended.
Former President Donald Trump’s fortune plunged by about $1 billion Monday, as shares of his social media company tanked after the company revealed its latest financial results, predictably well below what a typical multibillion-dollar company would deliver. Trump Media’s stock fell about 20% as the company revealed full-year revenues of $4.1 million on a net loss of $58.2 million.
On the Forbes World’s Billionaires List for 2024, a record 14 people qualify for the $100 Billion Club—the elite class of billionaires who have 12-figure fortunes. That’s up from six last year and just one in 2020, and includes tech moguls like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison.
Drawing from Warren Buffett’s playbook, Todd Boehly, cofounder and CEO of $70 billion Eldridge Industries, has used the cash generated from his boring—but dependable—annuities business to build a multibillion dollar sports and entertainment empire. Since forming Eldridge in 2015, Boehly has amassed a trove of more than 100 companies worth $10 billion, including betting site DraftKings, Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve, Bruce Springsteen’s song catalog and more. Forbes estimates Boehly’s net worth to be $6.1 billion, up $1.6 billion since 2022.
Google will destroy “billions” of data entries it collected on Google Chrome users’ private browsing activities to settle a class action lawsuit, and Chrome will enable default settings that prevent Google from automatically harvesting incognito data. Chrome users will not automatically get a monetary settlement, but the agreement leaves open the possibility for users to pursue damages “on an individual basis.”
Last week, Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith signed a 10-year, $140 million contract extension with the team. He’s now projected to earn an estimated $39.1 million this season before taxes and agents’ fees, placing him among the highest-paid players in baseball. Smith’s contract extension caps off a period of explosive spending for the Dodgers, but like his teammate Shohei Ohtani, the 29-year-old will defer a huge portion of his new $140 million deal.
The national average price for a gallon of regular gas surpassed $3.50 last month, the highest point since October amid rising oil prices and geopolitical conflict. But analysts suggest prices may drop in the long term, and the average price for a gallon of gas has risen near the average recorded over the past several years, according to GasBuddy data.
DAILY COVER STORY
It’s been a banner year for the mega-wealthy. Forbes found an unprecedented 2,781 billionaires around the globe for this year’s World’s Billionaires list—141 more than in 2023 and 26 more than the previous record, set in 2021. The super-rich are also richer than ever, with their combined wealth hitting $14.2 trillion—$2 trillion more than just a year ago.
As with the economy in general, the money is concentrated at the very top. There are now a record 14 individuals who are members of the $100 Billion Club, the elite group of people whose fortunes stretch into 12 digits, up from just one four years ago. These lucky few are worth $2 trillion in all, meaning just 0.5% of the world’s billionaires hold 14% of all billionaire wealth.
The richest of all is Bernard Arnault, who holds the No. 1 spot for the second year in a row. The French luxury goods kingpin is worth an estimated $233 billion, $22 billion more than in 2023 thanks to another record year for his conglomerate LVMH, the company behind brands such as Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co. and Sephora.
Arnault is $38 billion richer than the world’s No. 2, Elon Musk, who is worth an estimated $195 billion. Just behind him, at No. 3, is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who is worth an estimated $194 billion.
Two-thirds of the planet’s billionaires are richer than a year ago. No one has gained more, in sheer dollar terms, than Mark Zuckerberg, who has benefited—to the tune of a $112.6 billion jump in a single year—thanks to Meta stock nearly tripling amid cost-cutting layoffs and big bets on AI and the metaverse. Zuck is No. 4 on Forbes’ 2024 ranking, worth an estimated $177 billion, the richest he’s ever been.
WHY IT MATTERS “The World’s Billionaires list is a window into the economy—and, especially, the stock market,” says Forbes senior editor Chase Peterson-Withorn. “Tracking who’s up, down, new and out of the ranks shows which companies are on the way to the top and which are faltering. It’s also an incredibly important piece of investigative reporting. The billionaire class is hugely wealthy, and thus hugely powerful—it’s crucial that we know who they are and what they’re doing with their vast fortunes.”
MORE: The World’s Youngest Billionaires 2024
FACTS AND COMMENTS
Even as stock indexes reach record levels, gold—often viewed as a hedge against market losses elsewhere—keeps gaining value. A key factor behind gold’s rally is the less-than-bright outlook for many non-U.S. markets:
$2,223: The price per ounce of gold as of Monday afternoon, an all-time high
13%: The 12-month gain in the price of gold
$3.3 trillion: The amount of gold held by investors, according to JPMorgan Chase strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou
STRATEGY AND SUCCESS
If you sold your house in 2023, you may be able to get a tax break. Taxpayers are allowed an exclusion of up to $250,000, or $500,000 for those married filing jointly, on the gain from the sale of a main home, as long as they’ve owned and lived in the home for two of the five years before the sale. Your main home is considered to be the one you live in most of the time, but it doesn’t have to be a single-family home.
VIDEO
QUIZ
A new film exceeded expectations in its opening weekend in theaters, bringing in $80 million in North American sales. Which franchise is the film part of?
A. Fast and Furious
B. Mission: Impossible
C. Godzilla
D. Marvel Cinematic Universe
ACROSS THE NEWSROOM
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