
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Federal investigators are investigating claims suggesting Pfizer delayed announcing test results of its Covid vaccine until after the 2020 presidential election, the Wall Street Journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/health/pharma/pfizer-covid-vaccine-2020-election-probe-2f3ec247?mod=hp_lead_pos11" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reported</a>, bolstering a claim by President Donald Trump, who has said for years the company withheld vaccine results to impact his chances at reelection.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan is leading an investigation into claims by a scientist who used to work at Pfizer, who allegedly told colleagues and GSK that the company delayed announcing the success of its Covid vaccine until after the 2020 election, people familiar with the matter&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/health/pharma/pfizer-covid-vaccine-2020-election-probe-2f3ec247?mod=hp_lead_pos11" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">told</a>&nbsp;the Wall Street Journal.</p>



<p>The scientist, Phil Dormitzer, who no longer works at GSK, reportedly denies making the allegations.</p>



<p>An investigation into the disputed comments follows claims by Trump, who&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1325961445062938625" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">alleged</a>&nbsp;in a series of social media posts that Pfizer “didn’t have the courage” to announce details about the company’s Covid vaccine until after Election Day in 2020,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1325962203346972678" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">suggesting</a>&nbsp;without evidence Pfizer “didn’t want to have me get a Vaccine WIN” before the election.</p>



<p>Investigators have interviewed at least two people in the probe, including a GSK executive who took notes of a conversation with Dormitzer, and prosecutors are expected to soon interview a third person, the Journal reported.</p>



<p>Neither Dormitzer nor Pfizer immediately responded to requests for comment, though Pfizer told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-prosecutors-probe-tip-about-timing-pfizers-covid-vaccine-wsj-reports-2025-03-26/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Reuters</a>&nbsp;in a statement the company has “consistently and transparently reiterated the facts and the timeline” of its vaccine, arguing, “Theories to the contrary are simply untrue.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-did-pfizer-delay-the-release-of-its-covid-vaccine">Did Pfizer Delay The Release Of Its Covid Vaccine?</h2>



<p>Both Pfizer and its biotech partner BioNTech have denied claims the companies delayed the release of their Covid vaccine. Kathrin Jansen, a senior vice president at Pfizer and head of the company’s vaccine research and development,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/fact-check-no-evidence-supports-trump-s-claim-covid-19-vaccine-result-was-suppressed" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">told</a>&nbsp;the American Association for the Advancement of Science shortly after the 2020 election that Pfizer’s vaccine development was “never about politics” and the company “had no time and still have no time to deal with politics.” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/announcements/open-letter-pfizer-chairman-and-ceo-albert-bourla?linkId=102134275" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">suggested</a>&nbsp;in October 2020 the company would know whether its vaccine was effective by the end of the month, though he noted federal guidelines would likely delay Pfizer’s request for an expedited public release until at least the third week of November 2020. Bourla previously projected trial results would come by late September 2020, but the timeline was delayed as the company increased the number of participants in its trial. Bourla&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-ceo-we-didnt-delay-vaccine-results-until-after-election-idUSKBN27X2N2/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">said</a>&nbsp;in November 2020 the company “didn’t conspire with anyone” to delay its trial result.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-has-trump-said-about-pfizer-s-covid-vaccine">What Has Trump Said About Pfizer’s Covid Vaccine?</h2>



<p>Trump has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/11/trump-angry-about-pfizer-vaccine/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">alleged</a>&nbsp;the Food and Drug Administration and Pfizer conspired with the so-called “medical deep state” to delay the release of Pfizer’s vaccine trial results until six days after Election Day in 2020. After the announcement, Trump requested the Department of Health and Human Services to “get to the bottom” of what happened with Pfizer’s alleged delay, the Washington Post&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/11/trump-angry-about-pfizer-vaccine/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reported</a>. He pushed his claims on Twitter, now known as X,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1325961445062938625" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">writing</a>, “As I have long said, Pfizer and the others would only announce a vaccine after the election, because they didn’t have the courage to do it before.” Trump claimed the FDA “should have announced it earlier, not for political purposes, but for saving lives.” He later&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/ap-fact-check-trump-distorts-on-vaccine-state-distribution-76d1580f82b1586b207990396c1e3b5f" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">claimed</a>&nbsp;credit for Pfizer’s announcement and suggested the company denied having received financial support from the Trump administration. Though Pfizer never received direct federal funding to develop its vaccine, it did benefit from a nearly $2 billion advance order from the U.S. for 100 million doses.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Pfizer and BioNTech&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-announce-vaccine-candidate-against" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">announced</a>&nbsp;the results of their Covid vaccine on Nov. 9, 2020, six days after Election Day. Former President Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election just two days earlier, a result Trump and some of his allies decried amid false claims of widespread voter fraud. The companies said their vaccine was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing the spread of Covid in a late-stage trial, and the announcement did not indicate the vaccine would be immediately available to the public.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/health/pharma/pfizer-covid-vaccine-2020-election-probe-2f3ec247?mod=hp_lead_pos11" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">U.S. Prosecutors Probe Tip About Timing of Pfizer Vaccine</a>&nbsp;(<em>Wall Street Journal</em>)</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://sync.graph.bluecava.com/ds.png?p=4cb3430d-9dfd-11ef-a5fe-4201ac100015&amp;segment=forbeseval" alt=""/></figure>


Vaccinations at Egoli Township as Omicron Cases Spread

Did Pfizer Delay Covid Vaccine Announcement Until After 2020 Election? Here’s What We Know.


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>DeepSeek released an upgrade to its large language model this week, an update the company said featured “significant improvements” over its predecessor as the China-based startup appeared to escalate its rivalry with OpenAI and other U.S. artificial intelligence firms, after an earlier release rattled global tech stocks.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>DeepSeek&nbsp;<a href="https://huggingface.co/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V3-0324" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">launched</a>&nbsp;an upgrade to its V3 large language model, DeepSeek-V3-0324, on the AI development platform Hugging Face on Tuesday, which the startup marketed as including improvements in reasoning and coding capabilities over its earlier V3 model.</p>



<p>DeepSeek’s V3 large language model was released on Dec. 26, 2024, and the company claimed it was three times faster than its V2 model as it&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2025/01/27/what-is-deepseek-new-chinese-ai-startup-rivals-openai-and-claims-its-far-cheaper/">ranked</a>&nbsp;among the top 10 in Chatbot Arena, a performance platform hosted by the University of California, Berkeley.</p>



<p>The latest update included “significant improvements” across several benchmark tests for the language model, DeepSeek said, in addition to upgrades to front-end web development, Chinese writing proficiency—with new features like “interactive rewriting,” according to the company—and Chinese search capabilities like “enhanced report analysis.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">What To Watch For</h2>



<p>Whether the latest DeepSeek model impacts U.S. tech stocks. Shares for Nvidia dropped by 1.2% as of 9:35 a.m. EDT, while other stocks like Broadcom (0.6%) and Tesla (0.3%) declined slightly. Apple (0.3%), Meta (0.7%) and Microsoft (0.3%) were up Tuesday morning.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-is-deepseek">What Is Deepseek?</h2>



<p>DeepSeek is an AI startup&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2025/01/27/what-is-deepseek-new-chinese-ai-startup-rivals-openai-and-claims-its-far-cheaper/">founded</a>&nbsp;by Chinese entrepreneur&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/01/28/who-is-behind-deepseek-heres-what-to-know-about-founder-liang-wenfeng/">Liang Wenfeng</a>&nbsp;in 2023. Liang started accumulating thousands of Nvidia graphics processors for an unnamed AI project in 2021, just before the Biden administration restricted trade of those chips to China. He called for China to “gradually transition” to being a contributor in the AI industry, “rather than continuing to ride on the coattails of others.” DeepSeek has claimed its products are more efficient and cost less to train and develop compared to similar products made by OpenAI and Meta. The company said training one of its latest models cost about $5.6 million, far less than the $100 million to $1 billion an AI executive&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/china-ai-deepseek-chatbot-6ac4ad33?mod=livecoverage_web" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">estimated</a>&nbsp;for costs to build a model.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-will-deepseek-be-banned-in-the-u-s">Will Deepseek Be Banned In The U.s.?</h2>



<p>A bipartisan bill&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/02/06/deepseek-should-be-banned-from-federal-devices-lawmakers-urge-after-ai-chatbot-linked-to-banned-chinese-firm/">banning</a>&nbsp;Deepseek from federal devices was introduced in February, after a report linked the company’s chatbot to a banned Chinese state-run telecommunications company. It’s not immediately clear whether the bill will be supported by other lawmakers. The Trump administration is also mulling a ban over national security concerns, a person familiar with the matter told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-likely-ban-chinese-app-deepseek-government-devices-wsj-reports-2025-03-07/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. Some U.S. agencies have already restricted access to DeepSeek, including the U.S. Navy, the Defense Department, the Commerce Department and NASA, among others. The House’s Chief Administrative Officer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/01/30/house-congress-bans-deepseek-ai" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reportedly</a>&nbsp;claimed “threat actors are already exploiting DeepSeek to deliver malicious software and infect devices,” as some congressional offices have been warned not to use DeepSeek.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>DeepSeek released its advanced reasoning model R1 in January, a move that appeared to put China in close competition with U.S. tech and AI giants like OpenAI and Meta. R1 achieved performance on par with OpenAI’s o1 model across several benchmarks and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/26/deepseek_r1_ai_cot/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reportedly</a>&nbsp;exceeded o1’s in the MATH-500 test. DeepSeek’s R1 model is available for anyone to access, use, study, modify and share, as the open-source model surged to the top of the iPhone download charts—surpassing OpenAI’s ChatGPT. R1’s release sparked&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/01/29/deepseek-panic-live-updates-nvidia-stock-drops-4-as-trump-reportedly-mulls-china-chip-sale-restrictions/">declines</a>&nbsp;across several U.S. tech stocks, led by Nvidia closing down 17% on Jan. 27. Nvidia’s dive cut $589 billion off its market cap, marking the largest single-day loss of value for any public company in history. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman praised DeepSeek’s products and noted the R1 model was “impressive … particularly around what [DeepSeek is]able to deliver for the price.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2025/01/27/what-is-deepseek-new-chinese-ai-startup-rivals-openai-and-claims-its-far-cheaper/">What Is DeepSeek? New Chinese AI Startup Rivals OpenAI—And Claims It’s Far Cheaper</a>&nbsp;(<em>Forbes</em>)</p>


Newly Launched Chinese AI App DeepSeek Causes U.S. Tech Stocks To Tumble, Amid Its Rapid Rise To #1 In Apple’s App Store

DeepSeek Launches AI Model Upgrade Amid OpenAI Rivalry—Here’s What To Know


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Social media platform X said the Turkish government has requested more than 700 accounts be blocked amid protests over the controversial arrest and jailing of Istanbul’s mayor—but X said it wouldn’t comply with the requests, even though some accounts <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/musks-x-suspends-opposition-accounts-turkey-protest-civil-unrest-erdogan-imamoglu-istanbul-mayor/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">say</a> they’ve been censored. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



<p>In a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/GlobalAffairs/status/1903879657755230507" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">statement</a>&nbsp;posted to X, the company’s global affairs team said it received multiple court orders from the Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority to block “over 700 accounts of news organizations, journalists, political figures, students, and others within Türkiye.”</p>



<p>The statement called the request “unlawful” and said it would hinder “millions of Turkish users from news and political discourse in their country,” adding, “X will always defend freedom of speech everywhere we operate.”</p>



<p>But, on Saturday, Politico Europe&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/musks-x-suspends-opposition-accounts-turkey-protest-civil-unrest-erdogan-imamoglu-istanbul-mayor/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reported</a>&nbsp;X had already suspended a number of accounts “belonging to opposition figures,” including activist Ömer Faruk Aslan, who said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/Omeraslanyedek/status/1903078542432240084" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">post</a>&nbsp;he made a new account after his former account “was blocked by a court order because the tweets exceeded 6 million views,” and news outlet Bianet, which&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/bianet_org/status/1904163241741426755" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">said</a>&nbsp;its account is censored.</p>



<p>Some of the accounts were&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/musks-x-suspends-opposition-accounts-turkey-protest-civil-unrest-erdogan-imamoglu-istanbul-mayor/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reportedly</a>&nbsp;only suspended in Turkey and remained viewable to people in other countries.</p>



<p>Forbes has reached out to X for comment.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Why Is There Unrest In Turkey?</h2>



<p>Last week, authorities arrested Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and said he must face trial for corruption charges, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/turkey-mayor-jailed-istanbul-f962743f724f00a318f84ffaed7f58de" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">multiple</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/istanbul-mayor-turkey-imamoglu-erdogan-protests-chp-lira-rcna197737" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">outlets</a>. Istanbul’s mayor is accused of leading a criminal organization, overseeing bribery, supporting terrorism, and more, according to The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/world/europe/turkey-protests-istanbul-erdogan-imamoglu.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">New York Times</a>. Imamoglu, a member of the Republican People’s Party, is largely seen as the main political rival to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his jailing has been viewed as a political move. Hours after he was jailed, his party elected him as its presidential candidate in the next election, which is scheduled for 2028. From March 19 to Sunday, there have been more than 1,100 people detained, Ali Yerlikata, Turkey’s minister of the interior,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/AliYerlikaya/status/1902974486317502527?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1902974486317502527%7Ctwgr%5Eb285711d5c5635484ed342d978ac41df9678d17d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftimesofindia.indiatimes.com%2Ftechnology%2Fsocial%2Felon-musk-owned-x-may-have-suspended-opposition-accounts-during-turkish-unrest%2Farticleshow%2F119417587.cms" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">said</a>&nbsp;on X, and the Times reported the protests that have followed have been the country’s largest in more than a decade.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Has X Had Issues With Turkey Before?</h2>



<p>Yes. In 2023, when Erdogan was up for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/turkey-election-president-recep-erdogan-runoff-kemal-kilicdaroglu-nato-rcna86052" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reelection</a>, then-Twitter’s global affairs team&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/GlobalAffairs/status/1657219168863756288" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">said</a>&nbsp;in a post it had “taken action to restrict access to some content in Turkey” in response to the legal process and “to ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey.” On his personal account, X owner Elon Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1657422401754259461" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">responded</a>&nbsp;to allegations of X not supporting free speech by saying, “The choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What We Don’t Know</h2>



<p>Exactly how many accounts are being censored in Turkey. In an X post, Yerlikata&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/AliYerlikaya/status/1902974486317502527?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1902974486317502527%7Ctwgr%5Eb285711d5c5635484ed342d978ac41df9678d17d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftimesofindia.indiatimes.com%2Ftechnology%2Fsocial%2Felon-musk-owned-x-may-have-suspended-opposition-accounts-during-turkish-unrest%2Farticleshow%2F119417587.cms" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">said</a>&nbsp;authorities identified 326 accounts that were inciting crime, 72 of which were abroad. Yusuf Can, coordinator and analyst at the Wilson Center&#8217;s Middle East Program,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/musks-x-suspends-opposition-accounts-turkey-protest-civil-unrest-erdogan-imamoglu-istanbul-mayor/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">told Politico</a>&nbsp;over the weekend most of the accounts were “grassroots activists” and “university-associated activist accounts, basically sharing protest information, locations for students to go.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Big Number</h2>



<p>85.66%. That’s how many removal requests X complied with from Turkey in the back half of 2024, according to its&nbsp;<a href="https://transparency.x.com/content/dam/transparency-twitter/2025/x-global-transparency-report_h2_2024.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">global transparency report</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/musks-x-suspends-opposition-accounts-turkey-protest-civil-unrest-erdogan-imamoglu-istanbul-mayor/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Musk’s X suspends opposition accounts in Turkey amid civil unrest</a>&nbsp;(Politico Europe)</p>



<p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/turkey-istanbul-mayor-protest-journalists-detained-erdogan-f6e803ab00ce86097aba78b3a94ef061" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Turkey detains journalists as protests grow over the jailing of key Erdogan rival</a>&nbsp;(Associated Press)</p>



<p><a href="https://fortune.com/europe/2025/03/24/turkey-block-x-accounts-unlawful-freedom-of-speech-elon-musk-opposition-mayor-istanbul/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Turkey to block over 700 X accounts—from news organizations, journalists, politicians and students. X calls the decision &#8216;unlawful&#8217; and vows to &#8216;always defend freedom of speech&#8217;</a>&nbsp;(Fortune)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/24/journalists-among-more-than-1100-arrested-in-turkey-crackdown-istanbul" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Journalists among more than 1,100 arrested in Turkey crackdown</a>&nbsp;(The Guardian)</p>


Social Media And Messenger Logos

What We Know About Reported X Bans In Turkey—As Musk’s Company Says It Won’t Comply With Government Requests


<p><strong>The streaming giant has been unable to disrupt the video game market, but armed with massive resources and time, its new push to level up could leave its competitors in the dust.</strong></p>



<p>“Netflix has won the streaming wars. Case closed,” analyst Robert Fishman wrote in a MoffettNathanson report published Monday on the streamer’s recent earnings update. “But where does the company go from here? How much more runway for growth is ahead?”</p>



<p>Since November 2021, Netflix, which recently passed 300 million subscribers globally, has been trying to convince users, investors and developers alike that one of the answers to that question can be video games.</p>



<p>And it’s put real money behind that conviction. By fall 2023, according to widely cited reports, Netflix had spent $1 billion on gaming, buying up four smaller development studios and building two of its own in California and Helsinki, Finland, and publishing dozens of titles for mobile devices, including tower defense game&nbsp;<em>Bloons TD</em>&nbsp;and graphic adventure&nbsp;<em>Oxenfree</em>.</p>



<p>Analysts believe the company likely spent another $1 billion on gaming in 2024 alone, increasing its offering to 140 games made available to anyone with a Netflix subscription, all without ads or in-app microtransactions.</p>



<p>Traction in the gaming marketplace has been harder to come by. Netflix’s portfolio of mobile apps have recorded 192 million total downloads, according to data provider Apptopia, and daily active user counts hover around 1.1 million, each fractional compared to mobile publisher competitors and even smaller in relation to Netflix’s overall subscriber base.</p>



<p>“We’re not yet the Netflix of games,” said Netflix president of games Alain Tascan on Wednesday, presenting at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. “But that’s exactly where we’re headed.”</p>



<p>Tascan is a newcomer to the streaming giant, having joined the company last July and replacing its original games chief Mike Verdu a few months later. Under his leadership, Netflix is rethinking its gaming strategy, moving out of direct competition with large game developers and into a more supplemental role for its primary streaming offering.</p>



<p>Moving forward, Netflix Games will focus on the development of more games that can be played inside the Netflix app on connected smart TVs, where 70% of Netflix viewership already happens, utilizing phones as the controller via a mobile app. The company also wants to create casual party games that can “replace family game night,” and make more offerings for younger children, which Tascan says make up 15% of Netflix’s linear entertainment viewing hours. And it wants to build more “interactive experiences” that can extend the life of Netflix’s IP from popular homegrown shows and movies, as it has done with&nbsp;<em>Squid Game&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>Too Hot To Handle.</em></p>



<p>That’s a far different strategy than the traditional idea of the “Netflix for games,” in which startups like Blacknut and Shadow, as well as tech giants such as Google (Stadia) and Apple (Arcade) and Microsoft (Xbox Game Pass), have built a cloud-based library of games that can be sold for a subscription. Google shut down Stadia in 2023, citing a lack of user interest. Apple and Microsoft have succeeded (on mobile and console, respectively), though primarily as a marketplace for third-party content rather than a home for original creations.</p>



<p>Netflix’s pivot also seems to remove it from the race to create the next blockbuster game like&nbsp;<em>Fortnite</em>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<em>Call of Duty: Warzone</em>, evidenced first in October by dozens of layoffs and the shuttering of its California studio, which was focused on bigger budget AAA game projects, before it had published a single title.</p>



<p>&#8220;[Netflix] shouldn&#8217;t be trying to be something they&#8217;re not,” says Jason Chapman, cofounder and managing partner of gaming venture fund Konvoy Ventures. ”They&#8217;re not a AAA content production house, but they should continue to lean into interactive.&#8221;</p>



<p>This evolution from linear, passive entertainment on Netflix to more interactive experiences makes a lot of sense, in theory. The $180 billion gaming industry now dwarfs the size of traditional Hollywood movies and television (estimated at $100 billion annually), and has become the preferred pastime for younger generations. As far back as 2019, Netflix co-CEO Ted Serandos cited&nbsp;<em>Fortnite</em>&nbsp;as its major competitor for user attention—no doubt one of the reasons the company hired Tascan, who worked previously as an executive at Epic Games on&nbsp;<em>Fortnite</em>.</p>



<p>However, Netflix’s early efforts at line-blurring interactive content—such as the headline-grabbing&nbsp;<em>Black Mirror: Bandersnatch</em>&nbsp;<em>—</em>did not catch on and in November the company announced it would be removing dozens of similar titles from its library entirely. (<em>Bandersnatch&nbsp;</em>is one of only four that remain.)</p>



<p>To date, Netflix has yet to create a game, or any game-like experience, that has captured and maintained the interest of the broader public over an extended time. Even&nbsp;<em>Squid Game: Unleashed</em>, which the company touts as one of its biggest success stories, hit six million downloads when it debuted in December, peaked at nearly 13 million downloads in January and then fell to 700,000 in February and just over 100,000 in March, according to Apptopia data. That game, notably, is the first not to require its players to have a Netflix subscription to play.</p>



<p>Netflix’s answer, in the short term, has been licensing. In December 2023, the company announced it would be offering three old&nbsp;<em>Grand Theft Auto&nbsp;</em>titles to anyone with a Netflix subscription, and to date,&nbsp;<em>GTA: San Andreas</em>&nbsp;has been its most downloaded and played game by far.</p>



<p>Internally, Netflix says it has its own set of criteria for games success, such as subscription acquisition and retention, and the ability to drive engagement back to its linear programming. With&nbsp;<em>Squid Game: Unleashed</em>, the developers experimented with a “watch along” feature that unlocked certain rewards for players who had viewed Seasons One and Two of the show.</p>



<p>&#8220;Those effects are relatively small currently, but frankly so was our investment in games relative to our overall content budget,” said Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters during the company’s earnings call in January. “And we&#8217;re going to stay disciplined about scaling that budget as we see continued scaling in member benefits.&#8221;</p>



<p>What Netflix Games has in its favor is the time and resources to experiment. The company grew its overall revenue by 16% in 2024, generating $10 billion in operating income and nearly $7 billion in free cash flow.</p>



<p>In MoffettNathanson’s recent analysis, it projected continued revenue growth, stronger margins and a higher stock price all without mentioning the gaming division once in the 26-page report.</p>



<p>&#8220;Do I think games are a core focus for them? Absolutely not,” says Chapman. “But this isn&#8217;t a throw away or a Hail Mary pass for them. They&#8217;ve put too much money into this.”</p>



<p>In the not-too-distant future, Chapman predicts Netflix will begin to implement monetization strategies such as in-app purchases and ads—drawing on lessons learned and infrastructure created by the company’s push into linear advertising in 2024—that would bring the viability of the games division into sharper focus. Until then, he says the company can afford to continue searching for its place in the market.</p>



<p>Tascan acknowledges that is a privileged position to be in amidst a games landscape that faced industry-wide layoffs, budget cuts and company closures in 2024. “I say sometimes to the team, ‘We have a golden ticket,’” he said. “What are we going to do with it?”</p>


MainMenu_4K_30.12.2024_10-48-11

Can Netflix Become The Netflix Of Gaming?


<p><strong>The company known for its festive fruit baskets just launched a new website for hemp-derived, THC-infused beverages and gummies.</strong></p>



<p>Edible Brands, the parent company of the fruit basket outfit Edible Arrangements, is taking a bite of the cannabis industry.</p>



<p>The Georgia-based company, which had $500 million in annual sales last year, launched Edibles.com this week, an e-commerce site that sells hemp-derived THC products made by some of the biggest brands in the marijuana industry, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2023/06/01/nancy-whiteman-interview-wana-brands-cannabis-edibles-empire/">Wana</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/kiva-confections-kristi-and-scott-palmer/">Kiva</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2021/04/23/meet-cann-the-bestselling-cannabis-beverage-thats-coming-hard-at-hard-seltzer-ellen-degeneres-weed-drinks/">Cann</a>. Edible Brands is&nbsp;<em>not</em>&nbsp;selling marijuana, which is federally illegal, but is focusing on THC products derived from hemp,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2024/10/05/hemp-madness-why-the-government-is-waging-war-against-marijuanas-legal-cousin/">marijuana’s less potent and federally legal cannabis cousin</a>.</p>



<p>But these products are still strong enough to get customers stoned. “This is a really natural fit for us,” Edible Brands CEO Somia Farid Silber tells&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>. “We&#8217;re already called ‘edible’, right? We know that sometimes there’s even a little bit of an expectation from a customer for [cannabis] products.”</p>



<p>Edibles.com, which the company acquired last year, will launch in Texas first but will soon expand to Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, and expects to go nationwide later this year. With its network of more than 700 Edible Arrangements stores, the company says customers can order online and get their cannabis products delivered to their door faster than an old school pot dealer.</p>



<p>“We have an incredible delivery network with our franchisees for fulfillment—we can reach 70% of U.S. households within an hour,” says Silber.</p>



<p>Because marijuana is still illegal at the federal level but hemp has enough THC to get someone high, some of the weed industry’s biggest players have started selling hemp products outside of dispensaries. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2024/04/19/the-cannabis-civil-war-hemp-vs-marijuana/">hemp and marijuana industry used to be at war</a>, but over the last year some of the biggest cannabis companies, from Curaleaf and Trulieve to Kiva and Wana, have embraced the federal legality of hemp-derived cannabinoids, thanks to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/congressional-testimony/hemp-production-and-2018-farm-bill-07252019" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">2018 Farm Bill</a>, and started selling their own products.</p>



<p>The hemp products industry is even bigger than the marijuana sector, which has been throttled by a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2021/04/30/state-legal-cannabis-companies-pays-insane-tax-rates-thanks-to-a-minnesota-speed-dealer/">punitive federal tax code</a> for drug traffickers and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2022/08/02/how-america-botched-legalizing-cannabis-berner-cookies-kim-rivers-trulieve-steve-deangelo/?utm_campaign=socialflowForbesMainLI&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=ForbesMainLinkedIn">overregulation on the state level</a>. In 2023, hemp products sales hit $28 billion while marijuana sales topped $26 billion, according to <a href="https://www.whitneyeconomics.com/2023-us-national-cannabinoid-report" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Whitney Economics</a>.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<p>Joe Hodas, the CEO of Wana, one of the country’s best-selling edibles manufacturers, says he sees hemp as a way to expand to states that do not have recreational marijuana laws. Wana has also started selling its hemp-derived THC beverage line in Total Wine stores.</p>



<p>This is not the first time Edible Brands dipped into the cannabis space. In 2019, Edible Arrangements&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/21/business/edible-arrangements-cbd/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">launched its own CBD edibles line</a>, which are not psychoactive. But this pivot to THC is even more bold. And it’s a signal that cannabis products, especially edibles and beverages, have gone mainstream.</p>



<p>In 1999, Pakistani immigrant Tariq Farid launched the first Edible Arrangements store in Connecticut. Now based in Georgia, the company has become the go-to fruit basket gifting company by selling chocolate covered strawberries, cookies and bouquets of cut fruit for birthdays, anniversaries, funerals and other life milestones. In addition to its franchised stores across the U.S., Edible Brands also owns freshfuit.com and Roti, a fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<p>Edible Brands is going headlong into the political battle over THC hemp products currently underway in Texas. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is leading a push to shutter the industry, which is composed of more than 8,000 hemp shops across the state. On Wednesday, the Texas Senate passed a bill&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/19/texas-senate-hemp-ban-thc-dan-patrick/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">that would ban all products containing THC</a>, including gummies, vapes, flower, and beverages. The bill has not become law as the House still needs to vote on its proposal, which would regulate, not eliminate, the state’s hemp market. None of this is stopping Edible Brands.</p>



<p>The company is also building a flagship Edibles store in downtown Atlanta. The company will own the first few hemp products stores under this concept but will eventually open the model up to franchisees.</p>



<p>“We&#8217;re treating it like a bodega style [store],” says Thomas Winstanley, the executive vice president of Edibles.com. “We want to make it feel like it&#8217;s a regular consumer experience that&#8217;s elevated, that&#8217;s premium, and doesn&#8217;t feel like you&#8217;re walking into a smoke shop, or a gas station.”</p>



<p>When asked if Edible Brands is betting its future on cannabis, Silber, the founder’s daughter, is clear. “For us, this is just one of the pillars of our growth strategy,” she says. “It&#8217;s definitely not a make or break type of thing. We&#8217;re going to continue to diversify and grow this brand, just as we are with [our] other brands.”</p>


Chocolate CBD bites

Edible Arrangements Can Now Get You High—On Edibles


<p><strong>Will Trump’s tariffs and his assault on the federal government lead to a deeper crash, or even a recession? Market experts advise long-term investors and 401(k) holders to sit tight.</strong></p>



<p>W<strong>hile the last</strong>&nbsp;three weeks have been punishing for the stock market, veteran wealth managers are sounding a similar refrain for long-term investors: don’t panic.</p>



<p>It can be difficult advice to heed when alarming headlines are regularly flooding the news. Two days after the S&amp;P 500 index hit its all-time high on February 19, hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen made a prescient prediction that he wouldn’t be surprised to see a “significant correction” in the stock market, calling tariffs an additional tax. On Tuesday this week, JPMorgan economists raised their recession risk forecast for this year to 40% from 30%. The S&amp;P 500 is down 9% from its high and seems destined to fall further.</p>



<p>But history suggests changes in sentiment often happen much faster than investors expect. Just last year, when stocks fell 8.5% over three weeks in July and August, those losses were erased within a month. The same is true of the S&amp;P 500’s last 10% correction, which took place from July to October 2023.</p>



<p>In fact, Dave Donabedian, co-chief investment officer of CIBC Private Wealth U.S., which manages $84 billion in assets, says his firm researched “true crises” far more consequential than the current self-inflicted declines fueled by tariffs—shocks to the system like outbreaks of war or the onset of Covid-19.</p>



<p>“What you find is that about two-thirds of the time, the S&amp;P 500 has recovered all that it lost after the shock in a month,” says Donabedian. “The punch line is don’t do knee-jerk selling, and we’ve certainly had some of those conversations in the last week or so.”</p>



<p>The primary culprit for the current stock market swoon is the uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on imports from China, Canada and Mexico. Trump initially announced the tariffs over the weekend prior to February 3, but when the market opened that day down 2%, he changed course and granted Mexico and Canada a temporary 30-day reprieve following concessions they made to secure their borders with the U.S. Stocks quickly rebounded.</p>



<p>That pause expired with Trump allowing the tariffs to take effect on March 4, but he soon carved out exemptions for some goods subject to a trade agreement he signed during his first term. Since then, investors have become increasingly dismayed at Trump’s uncharacteristic indifference to the stock market—last Thursday, he told reporters he’s “not even looking at the market.” This week, he walked back a threat to hike tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports to 50%, but added a 25% charge on those metals shipped from any foreign country, leading to retaliatory tariffs imposed by the European Union on U.S. imports. The whipsawing is only adding to investors’ uneasiness.</p>



<p>“We knew tariffs were negative for economies, but it’s less the impact of the tariffs themselves than the uncertainty of the policy,” says Adrian Helfert, chief investment officer for alternative and multi-asset portfolios at Westwood. “Small and mid-sized businesses need to know what to expect so they can plan their capital expenditures. Uncertainty leads to businesses that are nervous to plan for a future that they don’t know.”</p>



<p>More clarity shouldn’t be particularly hard to provide, and while Donabedian contends it would be “foolish” to make a short-term prediction about whether the next piece of news is better or worse for investors, the perceived risk of the tariffs could peak within the next couple of months. “Our view is still that we get a year of slow growth, but not a recession,” he says.</p>



<p>And there’s reason for optimism elsewhere in the economy. Inflation eased to 2.8% in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday, slightly lower than consensus expectations, which improved hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year. The S&amp;P 500 crawled 0.5% higher yesterday, resisting the downward trend and signaling that a broader rebound could be on tap if the tariff issue gets resolved.</p>



<p>The top-performing S&amp;P sector Wednesday was information technology, which gained 1.6% despite being one of the index’s largest laggards of the year, illustrating how quickly trends can reverse. Selling off parts of portfolios that look precarious could backfire if news changes quickly.</p>



<p>“For your average retail investor, the temptation is to say ‘I&#8217;ve got to do something’ during times like this, when the reality is, if you&#8217;re a long term investor, often your best decision is to stay out of your own way,” says Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. “Unfortunately in this country, we&#8217;ve got far more people that aren&#8217;t saving enough or investing enough in preparation for their retirement than those that are over-saving or over-investing.”</p>



<p>Some strategists even see this as a time to buy into parts of the market that have underperformed if investors do have extra cash. The Russell 2000 index tracking small-cap stocks is down 17% from its post-election high and has hardly budged since the end of 2020, while large caps have enjoyed stronger gains for the last two years.</p>



<p>“If somebody were all in on the S&amp;P 500, I might counsel a little more diversification there, to maybe look at some things in the small- and mid-cap space or look at international, which has finally started to outperform the U.S.,” says Donabedian. Since Trump took office in January, Chinese stocks as measured by MSCI China are up 22%, and MSCI Europe has gained 9%. The S&amp;P 500 is down nearly 7% over the same period. Says Donabedian, “It’s an opportunity to pick some spots in the equity markets that have underperformed for a number of years.”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://sync.graph.bluecava.com/ds.png?p=4cb3430d-9dfd-11ef-a5fe-4201ac100015&amp;segment=forbeseval" alt=""/></figure>


Markets Continue Volatile Week As President Trump Changes Tariffs

Calming Advice For A Chaotic Stock Market


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Even the world’s richest man has bad days, as Elon Musk faced a litany of headaches to start the week Monday—including the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/03/10/x-outage-thousands-report-issues-with-elon-musks-platform/">crash</a>&nbsp;of his social media site, an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/03/10/tesla-stocks-election-rally-is-all-gone-erasing-91-gain/">11-figure drop</a>&nbsp;in his net worth as his primary venture Tesla faced brutal losses, while an awkward TV interview only gave critics more fodder.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-timeline">Timeline</h2>



<p>March 10, 8:54 a.m. EDTMusk’s Monday gets off to an immediate bad start as users on his X platform&nbsp;<a href="https://downdetector.com/status/twitter/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">begin</a>&nbsp;to report widespread outages, with Musk later&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/03/10/x-outage-thousands-report-issues-with-elon-musks-platform/">attributing</a>&nbsp;the crash to a “massive cyberattack” from “a large, coordinated group and/or a country” and noting the problem emanated from “IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area” (cybersecurity expert Cliff Steinhauer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/03/10/x-outage-thousands-report-issues-with-elon-musks-platform/">told</a>&nbsp;Forbes it was likely too early to determine the root of the issue).</p>



<p>March 10, 9:42 a.m.Musk shockingly&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1899093526190698784" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">calls</a>&nbsp;veteran and retired astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a “traitor” after Kelly posted support for Ukraine following a visit to the country,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/SenDuckworth/status/1899206544907981264" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">leading&nbsp;</a><a href="https://x.com/SenRubenGallego/status/1899206416641970357" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">a slew</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/SenWarren/status/1899206461462352342" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">of Democrats—</a>including Kelly’s wife&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/GabbyGiffords/status/1899172428032463302" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Gabby Giffords</a>—and even one House Republican, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., to criticize him, with Bacon&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/mkraju/status/1899248385233690883" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">telling</a>&nbsp;CNN Musk’s accusation was “not right” and “reflects bad on the White House” (on Musk’s own platform, his “traitor” comment received only 15,000 Likes by Tuesday morning compared to over 230,000 likes for&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/SenMarkKelly/status/1899155561171558505" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Kelly’s response</a>).</p>



<p>March 10, 3:45 p.m.Left-leaning watchdog organization Media Matters, a longtime Musk target,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/03/10/nx-s1-5323844/media-matters-elon-musk-new-lawsuit" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">sues</a>&nbsp;X for bringing lawsuits against it in foreign countries as part of &#8220;a vendetta-driven campaign of libel tourism,” the suit alleged.</p>



<p>March 10, 4 p.m.<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/03/10/tesla-stocks-election-rally-is-all-gone-erasing-91-gain/">Tesla</a>, the primary source of Musk’s wealth, ends Monday trading down more than 15%, its worst daily loss since September, as the electric vehicle maker became the most notable loser of the Wall Street losses tied to shaky investor sentiment amid President Donald Trump’s tariffs—Tesla stock closed more than 10% lower than it did prior to Trump’s election, wiping out what was once a more than 90% rally, and shares declined over 50% in less than three months.</p>



<p>March 10, 4:30 p.m.Musk sits down with Fox Business’ “Kudlow” and does little to assuage Tesla investor angst,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/03/10/elon-musk-says-hes-running-his-companies-with-great-difficulty-as-tesla-shares-plummet/">saying</a>—in a halting way that went viral on social media— that he’s juggling his Department of Government Efficiency role with his positions at Tesla and his other companies “with great difficulty” and invokes Monty Python, adding to “always look on the bright side of life.&#8221;</p>



<p>March 10, 4:56 p.m.Responding to a thread on Monday being the seventh-worst day in Tesla stock’s 15-year history, Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1899202765781450951" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">writes</a>, “It will be fine long-term.”</p>



<p>March 10, 10:13 p.m.A federal judge&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/03/11/federal-judge-rules-doge-must-disclose-records-about-its-operation-to-comply-with-federal-transparency-law/">rules</a>&nbsp;against DOGE for operating with “unprecedented power” and “unusual secrecy,” ordering Musk’s agency to comply with public record requests and increase its transparency.</p>



<p>March 10, 10:18 p.m.Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1899283682851975342" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">replies</a>&nbsp;the “antibody reaction is strong” to a post suggesting Musk “will be blamed for everything,” including the “incoming&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/03/08/are-we-suddenly-close-to-a-recession-heres-what-the-data-actually-shows/">recession</a>.”</p>



<p>March 11, 12:14 a.m.Musk’s boss<strong>&nbsp;</strong>Trump chimes in to support Musk after his bad Monday,&nbsp;<a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114141854575248527" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">writing</a>&nbsp;on his Truth Social site he will buy a Tesla “as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American.”</p>



<p>March 11, 8:22 a.m.Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, long one of the most outspoken voices on Wall Street in Musk’s and Tesla’s corner, publishes a critical note on Musk, saying patience is “wearing very thin” and Musk “needs to step up as Tesla CEO at this critical juncture” as there’s been “little to no sign of Musk” at any Tesla facility since Trump took office.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">Big Number</h2>



<p>$22.8 billion. That’s how much Musk lost off his net worth during Tesla’s Monday nosedive, according to our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?list=rtb/">estimates</a>. That’s more than the entire $22.7 billion fortune held by media mogul Rupert Murdoch.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">Forbes Valuation</h2>



<p>Musk’s $325 billion net worth still makes him by far the wealthiest person in the world with a $110 billion lead over the next richest man, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($215 billion net worth).</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">Crucial Quote</h2>



<p>“The Musk DOGE distractions” have “created a black cloud over Tesla&#8217;s stock” according to Ives.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tesla-stock-bounces-back-some-tuesday">Tesla Stock Bounces Back Some Tuesday</h2>



<p>Shares of Tesla gained as much as 6% Tuesday morning, bouncing off of their lowest close since October, before settling into a 1% advance by 11 a.m. EDT, as the market broadly dropped on Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114144217763824399" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">decision</a>&nbsp;to increase tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel imports to 50%. Tesla’s 2025 losses are staggering, as its nearly 45% year-to-date decline makes it the worst-performing company listed on the S&amp;P 500, according to FactSet data.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2025/03/10/why-tesla-isnt-the-ai-powerhouse-musk-says-it-is/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ForbesWhy Tesla Isn’t The AI Powerhouse Musk Says It Is<small>By&nbsp;Alan Ohnsman</small></a></p>


President Trump Returns To White House From Florida

A Timeline Of Elon Musk’s Terrible 24 Hours—A Dark Day For X, Tesla And More


<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Topline</h2>



<p>Ukraine has agreed to an immediate, 30-day ceasefire proposal brokered by the United States, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/spilna-zayava-za-pidsumkami-zustrichi-delegacij-ukrayini-ta-96553" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">joint statement</a>&nbsp;from the two countries, though Russia has yet to accept the deal as it continues its three-year invasion of Ukraine.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>The ceasefire can be extended if Ukraine and Russia agree to additional terms, the statement said, noting Russia has not yet accepted the ceasefire deal.</p>



<p>The U.S. will immediately remove its pause on intelligence sharing and security assistance for Ukraine, according to the statement, about a week after the White House suspended intelligence that primarily aided Ukrainian attacks within Russian territory.</p>



<p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ABC/status/1899528838717043133" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">told reporters</a>&nbsp;Tuesday after peace talks with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia “we’ll take this offer now to the Russians and we hope that they’ll say yes… the ball is now in their court.”</p>



<p>The U.S. and Ukraine also agreed to quickly reach an agreement on a mineral deal that was stalled last month after President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy engaged in a widely broadcast&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">argument in the Oval Office</a>&nbsp;that soured diplomatic relations and led to the Trump administration’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/03/04/zelenskyy-wants-to-make-things-right-as-us-cuts-off-assistance/">pause on military aid</a>&nbsp;for Ukraine.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-we-don-t-know">What We Don’t Know</h2>



<p>The specific terms of the ceasefire and what concessions, if any, Ukraine or Russia will have to make for the deal to go through. Zelenskyy has said Ukraine needs to be in a “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/02/28/zelenskyy-stands-his-ground-in-first-interview-since-fiery-trump-meeting-not-sure-that-we-did-something-bad/?ctpv=xlrecirc">strong position</a>” within a peace deal and that lasting security guarantees are needed.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-chief-critic">Chief Critic</h2>



<p>Former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton told&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/AmbJohnBolton/status/1899227444776743288" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">CBC News Network</a>&nbsp;on Tuesday that it is a “big mistake to insist that Ukraine agree to a ceasefire,” warning that a ceasefire along the frontlines could turn into the new Russian-Ukrainian border. “The result will be that Russia’s aggression will have been vindicated,” he said. Russia has control of eastern Ukrainian cities such as Melitipol, Mariupol, Donetsk, Bakhmut and Luhansk, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60506682" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">BBC</a>, which noted a smaller Russian offensive has taken shape in northern Ukraine as well.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Relations between the Trump administration and Zelenskyy have been rocky in the leadup to the ceasefire proposal. Trump began trying to broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia last month, with his administration holding talks with the latter country without any Ukrainian delegates present. Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not accept a peace deal created without Ukrainian participation, also alleging Trump had fallen for Russian disinformation as the U.S. president called him a “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2025/02/19/trump-zelensky-feud-trump-calls-zelensky-a-dictator--after-ukraines-president-criticizes-him-amid-russia-talks/">dictator</a>” who “has done a terrible job” handling Russia’s invasion. Trump and Zelenskyy verbally sparred in the Oval Office late last month, when the two were prepared to come to the table to sign a mineral deal that would allocate proceeds from Ukraine’s mineral resources to a joint fund with the U.S. as a means of providing the U.S. payback for the billions in military support it has provided Ukraine in the last few years. Tensions between Trump and Zelenskyy have slightly eased in recent days, with the Ukrainian president saying “it is time&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/03/04/zelenskyy-wants-to-make-things-right-as-us-cuts-off-assistance/">to make things right</a>” after the U.S. pulled military support from Ukraine and Trump remaining optimistic a peace deal could still be completed.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/03/04/zelenskyy-wants-to-make-things-right-as-us-cuts-off-assistance/">Zelenskyy Wants To ‘Make Things Right’ As U.S. Cuts Off Assistance</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p>Breaking News Alerts: Get the latest news straight to your inbox as it happens.Get the latest news on special offers, product updates and content suggestions from Forbes and its affiliates.Sign Up</p>



<p>By signing up, you agree to our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/terms-and-conditions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Service</a>, and you acknowledge our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Privacy Statement</a>. Forbes is protected by reCAPTCHA, and the Google&nbsp;<a href="https://policies.google.com/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Privacy Policy</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://policies.google.com/terms" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Service</a>&nbsp;apply.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/02/28/zelenskyy-stands-his-ground-in-first-interview-since-fiery-trump-meeting-not-sure-that-we-did-something-bad/?ctpv=xlrecirc">Zelenskyy Stands His Ground In First Interview Since Fiery Trump Meeting: &#8216;Not Sure That We Did Something Bad&#8217;&nbsp;</a>(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">Trump, Zelenskyy, Vance Face Off In Oval Office Shouting Match—Here’s Everything They Said&nbsp;</a>(Forbes)</p>


EU Leaders Emergency Summit On Defense And Ukraine

Ukraine Agrees To 30-Day Ceasefire Proposal—But Russia Hasn’t Accepted Yet


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—which falls under the purview of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—is planning to study potential connections between vaccines and autism,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-cdc-plans-study-into-vaccines-autism-sources-say-2025-03-07/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Reuters</a>&nbsp;reported Friday, a link Kennedy has controversially pushed in the past.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>Two unnamed sources familiar with the matter told Reuters of the planned study, though it was unclear whether Kennedy, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/02/13/rfk-jrs-health-secretary-confirmation-live-updates-senate-confirms-trumps-pick-mcconnell-votes-no/">known-vaccine skeptic</a>&nbsp;who has pushed the conspiracy that autism is linked to vaccination, is involved.</p>



<p>The CDC’s page on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/autism/faq/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">frequently asked questions</a>&nbsp;about autism—which was last updated on Nov. 5, 2024—states that, “to date, the studies continue to show that vaccines are not associated with” autism spectrum disorder.</p>



<p>There have been a&nbsp;<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5789217/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">number</a><a href="https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/autism-vaccine-link-debunked" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">&nbsp;of scientific</a><a href="https://autismsciencefoundation.org/autism-and-vaccines/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">&nbsp;studies</a>&nbsp;done in the past that have shown no connection between vaccination and autism, but 20 years ago, Kennedy emerged as the most prominent figure pushing the conspiracy.</p>



<p>Forbes has reached out to the CDC for comment.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-has-kennedy-said-about-vaccines">What Has Kennedy Said About Vaccines?</h2>



<p>Kennedy’s stance that vaccines may cause autism, along with his other stances on the safety of various&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/11/06/heres-what-an-rfk-jr-health-role-in-a-trump-administration-could-look-like-vaccine-skepticism-fluoride-ban/">vaccinations</a>, has been slammed by health experts and organizations who argue he is spreading long-discredited theories. Kennedy was among the most well-known public figures spreading the theory for years: In 2005, he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2023/08/scicheck-what-rfk-jr-gets-wrong-about-autism/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">published</a>&nbsp;a later-retracted article claiming a preservative used to prevent vaccine vial contamination was tied to childhood neurological disorders—a theory that CDC experts have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safety/about/thimerosal.html#:~:text=Does%20thimerosal%20cause%20autism%3F,link%20between%20thimerosal%20and%20autism." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">long rejected</a>. He also cites a decades-old CDC study when alleging vaccines are tied to autism, despite one of the authors of the study saying it gave no conclusion on a potential connection, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2023/08/scicheck-what-rfk-jr-gets-wrong-about-autism/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">FactCheck.org</a>. Kennedy has also falsely stated as recently as last year that there are no adults “with full-blown autism,” repeating that belief when he appeared on Joe Rogan’s&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/3DQfcTY4viyXsIXQ89NXvg" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">podcast</a>&nbsp;last summer. His claims were questioned heavily by lawmakers during his confirmation hearings. During the hearings, Kennedy said he was not “anti-vaccine” but is “pro-safety,” though he&nbsp;<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/rfk-jr-questioned-rising-autism-rates-experts-gets/story?id=118648320" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">refused</a>&nbsp;to say there is no link between autism and vaccines. In October, before he was appointed to lead HHS, Kennedy said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1845995741833011374" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">post on X</a>&nbsp;he is “not going to take anyone&#8217;s vaccines away from them. I just want to be sure every American knows the safety profile, the risk profile, and the efficacy of each vaccine.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-has-trump-said-about-autism-and-vaccines">What Has Trump Said About Autism And Vaccines?</h2>



<p>Since being elected, Trump has discussed the rise in autism rates—which many experts believe is linked to more frequent diagnoses—and said in a post on&nbsp;<a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113946130240319294" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Truth Social</a>&nbsp;“something’s really wrong. We need BOBBY!!!” referring to Kennedy. In his joint address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump cited the rise in autism in children and said, “we’re going to find out what it is, and there’s nobody better than Bobby and all of the people that are working with you.” In 2014, Trump weighed in more specifically on the conspiracy that vaccines cause autism, saying in a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/449525268529815552?lang=en" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">post on X</a>: “Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn&#8217;t feel good and changes &#8211; AUTISM. Many such cases!”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-have-autism-rates-been-increasing">Have Autism Rates Been Increasing?</h2>



<p>Yes, autism diagnoses have been on the rise. The CDC reported in 2020 that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/ss/ss7202a1.htm?s_cid=ss7202a1_e&amp;ACSTrackingID=USCDC_921-DM101985&amp;ACSTrackingLabel=This%20Week%20in%20MMWR%20-%20Vol.%2072%2C%20March%2024%2C%202023&amp;deliveryName=USCDC_921-DM101985" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">1 in 36</a>&nbsp;children were diagnosed with autism, an increase from from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/autism/data-research/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">1 in 150</a>&nbsp;two decades earlier. Researchers maintain there are no trusted scientific studies that show a connection between vaccines and autism, and the&nbsp;<a href="https://beta.cdc.gov/vaccine-safety/about/autism.html#cdc_vaccine_special_topics_cause_impact-vaccines-do-not-cause-autism" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">CDC says</a>&nbsp;there have been nine agency-funded or conducted studies that have shown no link between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism. Rather, researchers say the increase can be attributed to things including more awareness, more parents having children at a later age and increased risk factors like exposure to toxic chemicals and viral infections during pregnancy, The New York Times&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/health/what-causes-autism.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reported</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-did-the-theory-that-vaccines-cause-autism-originate">Where Did The Theory That Vaccines Cause Autism Originate?</h2>



<p>A since-retracted 1998 medical study from Andrew Wakefield hypothesized there could be a connection between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and the development of autism. The paper was discredited by health experts, retracted and Wakefield lost his medical license for acting “dishonestly and irresponsibly” while conducting research,&nbsp;<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/rfk-jr-questioned-rising-autism-rates-experts-gets/story?id=118648320" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">ABC News</a>&nbsp;reported.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">Tangent</h2>



<p>On Wednesday, Trump’s pick to lead the National Institutes of Health indicated he was open to funding new studies looking into potential links between vaccines and autism. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya&nbsp;<a href="https://www.statnews.com/2025/03/05/trump-nih-nominee-jay-bhattacharya-confirmation-research-on-vaccines-autism/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">said</a>&nbsp;in his confirmation hearing that he’s “convinced” there is not a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, but would “support a broad scientific agenda based on data to get an answer” to why the rate of children being diagnosed with autism is increasing.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-cdc-plans-study-into-vaccines-autism-sources-say-2025-03-07/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Exclusive: US CDC plans study into vaccines and autism, sources say</a>&nbsp;(Reuters)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/02/13/rfk-jrs-health-secretary-confirmation-live-updates-senate-confirms-trumps-pick-mcconnell-votes-no/">RFK Jr. Live Updates: Senate Confirms Trump’s HHS Pick—McConnell Votes ‘No’</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/11/06/heres-what-an-rfk-jr-health-role-in-a-trump-administration-could-look-like-vaccine-skepticism-fluoride-ban/">Here’s What An RFK Jr. Health Role In A Trump Administration Could Look Like: Vaccine Skepticism, Fluoride Ban</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.statnews.com/2025/03/05/trump-nih-nominee-jay-bhattacharya-confirmation-research-on-vaccines-autism/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NIH nominee is &#8216;convinced&#8217; vaccines don&#8217;t cause autism, but won&#8217;t rule out more studies on the issue</a> (Stat News)</p>


CDC Headquarters

CDC Plans Large Study On Long-Debunked Connection Between Vaccines And Autism, Report Says


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement posted on social media he and Ukraine are still committed to working with President Donald Trump and “it is time to make things right,” one day after Trump announced a pause on military aid to Ukraine after Zelenskyy’s contentious visit to the White House.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>Zelenskyy said in the X&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1896948147085049916" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">statement</a>&nbsp;Ukraine does not want “an endless war” and is ready to “come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer.”</p>



<p>Zelenskyy’s statement was posted just before 11 a.m. EST Tuesday, less than one day after Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/03/04/trump-freezes-ukraine-aid-after-confrontation-with-zelenskyy/">ordered a pause</a>&nbsp;on all military aid for Ukraine amid its ongoing war with Russia until he felt Ukraine’s leaders “demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-03/trump-pauses-military-aid-to-ukraine-after-clash-with-zelenskiy?srnd=homepage-americas" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>&nbsp;reported.</p>



<p>The pause in aid came days after Zelenskyy, Trump and Vice President JD Vance had a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">heated exchange</a>&nbsp;in the Oval Office in which American leadership criticized Zelenskyy for a lack of gratitude and Trump threatened he was “gambling with World War III.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">Crucial Quote</h2>



<p>“Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be,” Zelenskyy said in the statement. “It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">Big Number</h2>



<p>$66.5 billion. That’s about how much&nbsp;<a href="https://www.state.gov/bureau-of-political-military-affairs/releases/2025/01/u-s-security-cooperation-with-ukraine#:~:text=To%20date%2C%20we%20have%20provided,invasion%20of%20Ukraine%20in%202014." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">U.S. aid</a>&nbsp;and military assistance has been sent to Ukraine since its war with Russia began in February 2022.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Russia invaded Ukraine more than three years ago and the countries have been warring since, with the U.S. and European countries largely backing Ukraine against President Vladimir Putin’s Russia. But Trump was critical of former President Joe Biden’s support of Ukraine, and regularly said throughout his presidential campaign the war would not have begun had he been president at the time Russia invaded Ukraine. Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/02/28/trump-threatens-zelensky-during-tense-live-meeting-make-a-deal-or-were-out/">met with Zelenskyy</a>&nbsp;last week in the White House for the signing of a minerals deal that would see Ukraine put some proceeds from its state-owned mineral resources to a jointly owned fund with the U.S. as a way to pay the U.S. back for its support during the war, but the meeting devolved into a shouting match in which Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">told</a>&nbsp;Zelenskyy he and Ukraine “don’t have the cards” to beat Russia without U.S. support. Zelenskyy left the White House without signing the deal, and the meeting drew criticism from Democrats who&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/atrupar/status/1895593439854547343" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">said</a>&nbsp;Trump’s behavior made the U.S. look weak.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">Tangent</h2>



<p>After the meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump, European leaders announced increased efforts to support Ukraine and end the war with Russia. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K., France and other countries were committed to keeping aid flowing to Ukraine, finding a path to lasting peace and developing a “coalition of the willing” to defend Ukraine, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9vygkzkkrvo" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">BBC</a>&nbsp;reported. Starmer also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-britain-zelenskyy-europe-starmer-trump-russia-b980170ead74a1a7914c565f14ee6cc9" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">pledged</a>&nbsp;$2 billion to Ukraine to fund defense missiles.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">What To Watch For</h2>



<p>Trump’s response to Zelenskyy’s statement.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/03/04/trump-freezes-ukraine-aid-after-confrontation-with-zelenskyy/">Trump Freezes Ukraine Aid After Confrontation With Zelenskyy</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">Trump, Zelenskyy, Vance Face Off In Oval Office Shouting Match—Here’s Everything They Said</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/02/28/trump-threatens-zelensky-during-tense-live-meeting-make-a-deal-or-were-out/">Trump-Zelenskyy Talks End Early After Trump Threatens Him In Tense Live Meeting: ‘Make A Deal Or We’re Out’</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p></p>


President Trump Hosts Ukrainian President Zelensky At The White House

Zelenskyy Wants To ‘Make Things Right’ As U.S. Cuts Off Assistance


<p><strong>Trump’s second term may unleash a new wave of acquisitions, and mid-cap stocks could be in the crosshairs of acquirers.</strong></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<p>T<strong>he stock market</strong> surged higher following Donald Trump’s election win earlier last year as Wall Street celebrated the new business-friendly administration and the more lenient regulatory environment it is expected to bring.</p>



<p>Under the Biden administration, dealmaking has been sluggish due in part to an aggressive antitrust approach from the Federal Trade Commission headed up by Chair Lina Khan. A year-and-a-half Federal Reserve rate hiking campaign also slowed the pace of deals. Trump, however, has made it no secret that he wants to overhaul government departments, and once he takes office in January, a change in the FTC seems like it will be among his first orders of business. Plus, the Fed started cutting rates in September.</p>



<p>Dealmakers and corporate lenders are expecting a second Trump term to usher in a new era of merger and acquisition activity, while Wall Street now expects that under Trump, stalled deals like the Kroger-Albertsons grocery merger could get the green light.</p>



<p>Recent interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve have lowered the cost of capital for companies to do deals, particularly those involving debt. The dollar-volume of M&amp;A activity in 2025 will rise 20%, compared to a 15% decline this year, says Goldman Sachs’ chief U.S. equity strategist, David Kostin.</p>



<p>“A tidal wave of tech M&amp;A and overall deal activity could now be on the horizon with Trump in the White House,” says analyst Dan Ives at Wedbush.</p>



<p>Public company CEOs have also lauded what they see as a more favorable outlook for dealmaking. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav told analysts on a call earlier this month that the new Trump administration would be beneficial for business consolidation.</p>



<p>Andrew Peck, co-chief investment officer at $43 billion Baron Capital, predicts that sectors like healthcare, consumer staples and especially technology—where larger companies are sitting on big cash piles—are ripe for M&amp;A activity. CFRA Chief Investment Strategist Sam Stovall agrees about healthcare and consumer staples but adds to the list depressed sectors like industrials and materials. Bank of America says that just about any company with positive cash flow, above-average sales growth and low debt levels are takeover candidates.</p>



<p>Mid-caps, which range in market capitalization from about $2 billion to $10 billion, have been the stock market’s sweet spot since the turn of the century, with the S&amp;P Midcap 400 Index posting total returns 39% higher than both the large cap S&amp;P 500 Index and Russell 2000 Small Cap Index. An investment of $10,000 in May 2000 in the MDY exchange traded fund that tracks the S&amp;P 400 has mushroomed into a value of $92,260. By comparison, $10,000 invested in the SPY, which mirrors the S&amp;P 500, and IWM, which tracks the Russell 2000, grew into $65,560 and $66,430, respectively.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<p><strong><abbr>F</abbr>orbes decided to hunt</strong>&nbsp;for acquisition candidates among under-the-radar mid-cap stocks by selecting companies appealing to potential acquirers interested in both growth and value.</p>



<p>In screening for top targets in the growth category,&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;used the following metrics: Companies with a market range of between $2 billion and $15 billion, closely approximating the typical range for mid-cap stocks. These companies are big enough to exert competitive pressure on larger cap companies in their industry, spurring takeover interest. They are also small enough to be easily digestible for larger companies, and for private equity firms and Warren Buffett-style investors in search of well-run businesses that produce consistent and rising cash flows. There are more than 10,000 private equity firms globally and according to an S&amp;P Global report earlier this year, they are sitting on a record $2.6 trillion in dry powder.</p>



<p>For our mid-cap growth candidates, we required stocks to have more than a 7% increase in current-year earnings per share and revenue. We also required a return on invested capital (ROIC) of at least 15%, a calculation used to determine how well a company allocates money to profitable projects or investments. For the value category, we additionally required shareholder yield of greater than 4% but dropped the requirement for 7% current year growth in earnings per and revenue.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<p>On<strong>both lists&nbsp;</strong>we also considered enterprise value divided by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization—a metric widely used by acquiring firms that looks at the amount of cash flow generated if you were to buy all of a company’s stock and assume all of its debt. Finally, we then ranked both lists by ROIC and took the 10 stocks ranking highest in that metric.</p>



<p>Top of both the growth and value lists was Dropbox, the $8.5 billion (market capitalization) cloud storage company. Though shares are down some 7% this year, Dropbox boasted an impressive 55.6% return on invested capital, meaning that management has had a good track record of investing in profitable projects.</p>



<p>On our value list, the top performers were all in the consumer staples sector, though their share prices have largely been flat this year. These include retailer Bath &amp; Body Works, department store chain Dillard’s and footwear brand Crocs, which boasted a 37%, 28% and 26% return on invested capital, respectively.</p>



<p>The top targets in our growth list, meanwhile, include the likes of home service plan provider Frontdoor, radiopharmaceutical company Lantheus Holdings and clothing retailer Abercrombie &amp; Fitch. Many of these stocks have seen share prices jump higher in 2024 on the back of solid earnings growth: Lantheus is up 20% while Abercrombie &amp; Fitch and Frontdoor have both risen more than 50%.</p>



<p>“Regulatory shifts may open doors but won&#8217;t fundamentally change what makes a good deal good, and while a potential administration change could ease regulatory scrutiny, factors like higher interest rates could offset any surge in deal activity,” cautions Kurt Havnaer, manager of the Jensen Quality Mid Cap (JNVIX) mutual fund. “Looking ahead, acquirers will likely remain selective, focusing on deals that create tangible shareholder value through revenue synergies, market expansion, and operational efficiencies.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://sync.graph.bluecava.com/ds.png?p=4cb3430d-9dfd-11ef-a5fe-4201ac100015&amp;segment=forbeseval" alt=""/></figure>


Donald Trump Campaigns For President In Raleigh, North Carolina

Wall Street Expects A Dealmaking Boom Under Trump. These 20 Stocks Are Prime Targets


<p><strong><abbr>E</abbr>li Lilly</strong>&nbsp;is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/eli-lilly-bets-big-weight-loss-pill-with-550-million-inventory-stockpile-2025-02-20/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">stockpiling massive quantities</a>&nbsp;of an oral weight-loss drug that’s at least a year from launch, with total&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/59478/000005947825000067/lly-20241231.htm" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">“pre-launch inventory”</a>&nbsp;of nearly $550 million at Dec. 31, 2024, according to its 10-K financial statements released last week.</p>



<p>The unusual move represents a massive bet on a new once-daily pill for weight loss called orforglipron, at a time when GLP-1 drugs from Lilly and its competitor Novo Nordisk have taken the market by storm. Lilly’s tirzepatide drugs, Zepbound for obesity and Mounjaro for diabetes, both of which are administered by injection, accounted for $5.4 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter alone.</p>



<p>Orforglipron showed good results in a phase 2 trial published in the&nbsp;<em>New England Journal of Medicine</em>&nbsp;in June 2023. The highest dose of the drug resulted in&nbsp;<a href="https://investor.lilly.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lillys-phase-2-results-published-new-england-journal-medicine" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">14.7% weight loss after 36 weeks</a>&nbsp;for people who were obese or overweight. Lilly has begun stage 3 research, and CEO Dave Ricks said last month that the drug could receive FDA approval&nbsp;<a href="https://fortune.com/well/article/eli-lilly-weight-loss-pill-orforglipron-glp1-2026/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">as early as next year.</a></p>



<p>“The level of excitement here is high,” Patrik Jonsson, Lilly’s president of cardiometabolic health, told&nbsp;<em>Forbes&nbsp;</em>in an interview at the J.P. Morgan healthcare conference in January. “This could potentially be game-changing when it comes to reaching more patients across the globe.”</p>



<p>Oral medications, after all, don’t require the cold-chain storage and transportation that injectables do, and they’re less complicated to manufacture. They’re also more appealing to patients, especially those who have needle phobias.</p>



<p>What the easier production and distribution means for the price of orforglipron when it hits the market remains to be seen. On Tuesday, Lilly began selling higher doses of Zepbound in the U.S. at a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/lilly-launches-higher-dose-vials-weight-loss-drug-150-less-than-injector-pen-2025-02-25/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">discount of $150</a>&nbsp;compared to the injector pen versions, Reuters reported. Then, on Wednesday, it said that it would&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/26/eli-lilly-to-invest-27-billion-in-new-us-manufacturing.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">invest $27 billion</a>&nbsp;in four new U.S. manufacturing plants.</p>



<p>Research firm Coherent Market Insights estimates the global GLP-1 market at $25 billion in 2024 and forecasts that it will&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biospace.com/press-releases/glp-1-receptor-agonist-market-worth-55-70-billion-by-2031-coherent-market-insights" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">surpass $55.7 billion by 2031.</a></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cellino-inks-a-deal-to-build-a-stem-cell-foundry-at-mass-general"><strong>Cellino Inks A Deal To Build A Stem Cell Foundry At Mass General</strong></h2>



<p><strong><abbr>F</abbr>or more than a decade</strong>, biotech researchers have been exploring the possibility of regenerating damaged parts of the body as a way to treat degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and type 1 diabetes. One of the most promising technologies to do so are induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can be programmed to turn into basically any kind of cell.</p>



<p>The catch: making these cells is a labor-intensive process that can cost millions of dollars to produce tissue for just one patient. Biotech startup Cellino, cofounded in 2017 by CEO and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/pictures/5bda143431358e5b43352bd7/marinna-madrid-28-nabiha/"><em>Forbes&nbsp;</em>30 Under 30 alumna Nabiha Saklayen,</a>&nbsp;is now one step closer to scaling iPSC manufacturing. It’s building its first foundry at Massachusetts General Brigham’s Gene and Cell Therapy Institute. Cellino has raised a total of $100 million in venture funding at a valuation of $140 million as of January 2022, according to Pitchbook.</p>



<p>The foundry will use the automated systems that Cellino has developed (<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2024/09/10/this-startup-aims-to-regenerate-damaged-tissues-with-the-help-of-ai-and-lasers/">read more about the tech here</a>) to generate iPSCs from patients’ blood or skin cells on-site. The company estimates that use of the foundry, which is set to go online next year, could reduce costs by a factor of ten. More importantly, a scalable, consistent process will make it easier to manufacture new treatments that can go through the clinical trial process and eventually be commercialized, CEO Saklayen told&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>.</p>



<p>“With high quality cells, we can start to see what the readout is in patients and know how potent the medicine is,” she said. “That’s hard to tell if the manufacturing isn’t standardized. So that’s what I’m really excited about.”</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-biotech-and-pharma"><strong>BIOTECH AND PHARMA</strong></h2>



<p>Last December, the FDA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-mesenchymal-stromal-cell-therapy-treat-steroid-refractory-acute-graft-versus-host" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">approved</a>&nbsp;Mesoblast’s drug Ryoncil, which is the first time a mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapy has received a green light from the agency. MSCs are adult stem cells found in bone marrow that can turn into different types of cells. Ryoncil is used to treat children with severe graft-versus-host disease (GVH) following a stem cell transplant, which is typical for leukemia patients. It’s also the first approved treatment for children with this disease who don’t respond to steroids.</p>



<p>Mesoblast CEO Silviu Itescu told&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;last week that the company plans to begin commercial sales of the drug this quarter, with the remaining obstacles being setting pricing with payers and shipping product to hospital. “We have inventory for at least the next couple of years for children with acute GVH,” he said. The company is also pursuing clinical trials for adults with GVH as well as for the use of its stem cell products for children with severe Crohn&#8217;s disease, he said.</p>



<p>The publicly traded company’s shares are down 21% so far this year, at a recent $16.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-digital-health-and-ai"><strong>DIGITAL HEALTH AND AI</strong></h2>



<p>AI biotech startup Genesis Therapeutics&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250220803826/en/Incyte-and-Genesis-Therapeutics-Announce-Strategic-AI-focused-Research-Collaboration" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">entered</a>&nbsp;an agreement with pharmaceutical company Incyte to use Genesis’ AI drug discovery platform, GEMS, to discover small molecule drug candidates against two undisclosed targets. Under the terms of the arrangement, Incyte will pay Genesis $30 million upfront and up to $295 million in milestones per target over the course of the collaboration, plus royalties. Incyte, which has a $14 billion market cap, focuses on oncology, immunology and dermatology and other unmet needs. This is the third deal for Genesis since September, following similar collaborations with pharmaceutical company Gilead and AI powerhouse Nvidia.</p>



<p>“We found it was a really natural fit to combine GEMS and its ability to drug challenging targets with some of the needs Incyte had for some of its pipeline programs,” Genesis CEO Evan Feinberg told&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>, adding that another reason he wanted to work with Incyte is its “track record of pioneering completely new areas of medicine.”</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-medtech"><strong>MEDTECH</strong></h2>



<p>Medical device maker Medtronic (market cap $116 billion) gained FDA approval for a new&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medtechdive.com/news/Medtronic-DBS-BrainSense-Parkinsons-FDA-approval/740757/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">self-adjusting deep brain stimulation device</a>&nbsp;for people with Parkinson’s disease, a nervous system disorder that affects movement. The BrainSense Adaptive device works similarly to a cardiac pacemaker, but for the brain, using a surgically implanted neurostimulator to transmit electrical signals to the specific areas of the brain affected by the disease. Medtronic said that the approval was the first for an adaptive deep brain stimulation device for Parkinson’s, and that it would be the largest ever commercial rollout of a brain-computer interface technology. Some 1 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with the debilitating neurological disorder.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-public-health-and-hospitals"><strong>PUBLIC HEALTH AND HOSPITALS</strong></h2>



<p>Measles keeps spreading in West Texas. There are now&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/health/measles-texas-cases/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">124 confirmed cases,</a>&nbsp;most of them in West Texas where the outbreak began. The West Texas outbreak is the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/west-texas-measles-outbreak-spreads-amid-vaccine-hesitancy-in-some-communities" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">largest the state has seen in 30 years,</a>&nbsp;and highlights the difficulties convincing people to get vaccines in the current environment. A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/02/26/texas-measles-outbreak-first-death-reported-as-over-120-infected/">first death from the disease</a>&nbsp;was reported on Wednesday morning. A separate, potentially related, measles outbreak in New Mexico has now grown to nine cases. The outbreak has also spurred parents who’d previously chosen not to vaccinate children to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/texas-measles-outbreak-grows-parents-vaccinate-rcna193637" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">change their minds</a>.</p>



<p>Plus:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/katiejennings/2021/10/12/meet-the-sudanese-doctor-who-turned-nurse-staffing-on-its-head/">Healthcare hiring unicorn Incredible Health</a>&nbsp;is expanding from nurses to technicians, a workforce that makes up 60% of all healthcare workers and is now facing a shortage. The San Francisco-based startup will also go beyond hospitals to home health organizations and ambulatory care centers. Incredible Health,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2021/10/12/next-billion-dollar-startups-2021/">an alum of the 2021 Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups list,</a>&nbsp;has placed more than 1 million nurses in 1,500 hospitals across the country since it launched in 2017. It has been testing hiring of technicians in nine states, including California, New York and Texas, and plans to complete the national rollout by year end.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-deal-of-the-week"><strong>DEAL OF THE WEEK</strong></h2>



<p>Eikon Therapeutics, which is developing a pipeline of drugs to treat cancer, announced&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eikontx.com/news/eikon-therapeutics-secures-350-7-million-series-d-to-advance-clinical-stage-programs-and-future-pipeline/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">it has raised</a>&nbsp;$350 million, bringing its total funding to more than $1.1 billion. The Hayward, Calif.-based company, which was worth $3.7 billion before the latest investment, according to PitchBook, declined to disclose its new valuation. Eikon plans to use the new funds to support the ongoing development of its drug candidates, which target advanced melanoma as well as brain, ovarian, breast, prostate and pancreatic cancer. To facilitate its drug development, the company uses its own&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2022/01/06/this-startup-raised-over-500-million-to-find-better-drugs-with-nobel-prize-winning-microscopes/">advanced fluorescent microscopy technology</a>, which enables it to observe how different substances interact on the cellular level in real time. Eikon CEO Roger Perlmutter was previously head of R&amp;D at Merck.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-we-re-reading"><strong>WHAT WE’RE READING</strong></h2>



<p>A newly discovered coronavirus in bats&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00503-7" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">has the potential to spill over</a>&nbsp;into humans using the same pathway as the virus that causes Covid-19.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2025/02/20/this-ceo-became-a-billionaire-by-trying-to-bring-back-the-woolly-mammoth/">Billionaire Colossal Biosciences CEO</a>&nbsp;Ben Lamm sees uses for human health in efforts to resurrect the woolly mammoth.</p>



<p>At least three DOGE employees&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/doge-is-inside-the-national-institutes-of-health-nih/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">have access to&nbsp;</a>the National Institutes of Health’s systems that control finance, budget and procurement.</p>



<p>How&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/health/dr-oz-medicare-finances-conflicts.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Dr. Oz’s millions collide with Medicare</a>, including as a relentless promoter of controversial private Medicare Advantage insurance plans for older Americans.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-rehires-staff-medical-devices-division-mass-layoffs-rcna193501" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">FDA rehires staff</a>&nbsp;to its medical devices division after mass layoffs by Elon Musk’s DOGE. Meanwhile, the new administrator in charge of the FDA’s food division appears to have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/food-safety-donald-trump-jr-kyle-diamantas-hunting-buddy" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">no relevant experience</a>&nbsp;beyond hunting with Donald Trump Jr.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.grubstreet.com/article/bird-flu-crescent-duck-farm-doug-corwin-long-island.html?origSession=D250225bemIKt3OSACQ4UVJI%2FXSXx3Mv2q6AsYYvGKfm92CLFQ%3D&amp;_gl=1*1yjo6ki*FPAU*NDQ1NDkyOTg1LjE3NDA1MDQ1MDI.*_ga*MTYzNjUxMjM4OC4xNzQwNTA0NTAx*_ga_DNE38RK1HX*MTc0MDUwNDUwMS4xLjEuMTc0MDUwNDU1NC4wLjAuOTU3NzI1OTA2*_fplc*Wkp5NFh0JTJCZHQ3cjNybnFnRXp0RDA2alVvWXVjejJWREZSVjdxZzNJUUdCTGFFSTlFNFdFaUtHQmpFVTclMkJaQnplRlNkTkVjN0ZPdU95YVFHa0d3dk16OGxXd1JNZGthN0xQaFZSRTVQUXhZVCUyQkQ2R3RjQ3ElMkZKa2pKM3FjM3clM0QlM0Q." rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Bird flu wiped out</a>&nbsp;Doug Corwin’s century-old Long Island duck farm, forcing him to cull the entire 100,000 flock.</p>



<p>Two people, one in Wyoming and one in Ohio, have been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/24/bird-flu-hospitalizations-wyoming-ohio" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">hospitalized</a>&nbsp;with avian flu.</p>



<p>New research finds that hormone therapy&nbsp;<a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/transgender-youth-have-better-emotional-health-after-taking-hormones-new/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">significantly improves</a>&nbsp;the emotional health of young transgender people.</p>



<p>Health clinic workers brush up on constitutional protections for their patients as&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/california-health-clinics-immigration-raids-trump-constitutional-rights/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20First%20Edition&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_PHm1EgQV5IFp-ZPdE0o5DQu7-uyQDe8A5XyGfJW5DfWXtePxvtJB7OXmVMT9PJMDISwEK6RFmV5AxsHlTOnI9JipW2w&amp;_hsmi=348996172&amp;utm_content=348996172&amp;utm_source=hs_email" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">immigration raids loom.</a></p>


Indianapolis – April 2016: Eli Lilly and Company V

Eli Lilly Has Stockpiled Nearly $550 Million Of Its Next Obesity Drug


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is ready to sign a stalled minerals deal with the United States in a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895793386990551336" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">thread on X</a>&nbsp;on Saturday, in which he also urged the United States to stand strongly behind Ukraine amid its war with Russia, one day after his meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance devolved into a near-shouting match.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



<p><a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895793386990551336" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Zelenskyy said</a>&nbsp;he is grateful to Trump and Congress for bipartisan support for Ukraine throughout its three-year invasion by Russia, acknowledging “tough dialogue” without mentioning his contentious Friday White House meeting with Trump and Vance.</p>



<p>The&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895793627164471777" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Ukrainian president said</a>&nbsp;he is ready to sign the minerals deal—which he and Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-zelenskiy-did-not-sign-minerals-deal-white-house-says-2025-02-28/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">did not sign</a>&nbsp;after their meeting Friday—but said the deal is not enough, stating a “ceasefire without security guarantees is dangerous for Ukraine” and “Ukrainian people need to know that America is on our side.”</p>



<p>“I want the U.S. to stand more firmly on our side,”&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895794114622615757" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Zelenskyy said</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895794247791755302" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">stating</a>&nbsp;Ukraine’s relationship with the United States is “historic and solid bond between our peoples” that extends beyond Trump and himself.</p>



<p>Zelenskyy said it is “understandable the U.S. might look for dialogue with Putin,” but frequently warned of Russia throughout his X thread, calling the country “the enemy” and stating Putin cannot be trusted to uphold a ceasefire.</p>



<p>Zelenskyy’s tweet thread comes one day after he posted thanks to many foreign leaders for reaffirming their support for Ukraine after his meeting with Trump, including German Chancellor&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895574049960706075" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Olaf Scholz</a>, Swedish Prime Minister&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895574466580861106" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Ulf Kristersson</a>, European Parliament President&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895574887684874478" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Roberta Metsol</a>&nbsp;and European Commission President&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1895577227255013664" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Ursula von der Leyen</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What Happened At Zelenskyy’s White House Meeting?</h2>



<p>Zelenskyy visited the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/02/28/trump-threatens-zelensky-during-tense-live-meeting-make-a-deal-or-were-out/">White House</a>&nbsp;Friday to discuss the minerals deal with the United States, but his visit was cut short and the signing called off after a talk with Trump and Vance in the Oval Office grew increasingly tense and verged on a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">shouting match</a>&nbsp;between the three leaders. When Vance suggested the path to peace should be through engaging in diplomacy, Zelenskyy questioned the vice president: “What kind of diplomacy, JD, (are you) speaking about?” stating Putin is an unreliable partner in a potential cease-fire deal. Vance then called Zelenskyy “disrespectful” for trying to “litigate this in front of the American media” and questioned whether Zelenskyy had thanked the United States for its support. Trump entered the argument after Zelenskyy said “everybody has problems. Even you, but you have nice ocean and don’t feel now, but you’ll feel it in the future,” telling Zelenskyy: “Don’t tell us what we’re gonna feel,” adding the Ukrainian president he is “gambling with World War III.” Trump later told Zelenskyy: “You’re either gonna make a deal or we are out.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What Are The Details Of The Ukraine Minerals Deal?</h2>



<p>Trump has framed the minerals deal with Ukraine as necessary for repayment for military aid provided to Ukraine during its war with Russia. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/europe/ukraine-us-mineral-resources-deal-explained-intl-latam/index.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">terms of the deal</a>&nbsp;would reportedly establish a “reconstruction investment fund,” to which half the revenue from Ukraine’s state-owned natural resources projects would go. Zelenskyy has pushed for the deal to include greater security guarantees for Ukraine, though&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/25/trump-zelenskyy-ukraine-minerals-deal" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Trump has said</a>&nbsp;he would look for greater security for Ukraine “later on.” Trump initially demanded $500 billion from Ukrainian minerals from the deal, which Zelenskyy rejected, prompting Trump to call him a “dictator” in a tense war of words.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What Minerals Does Ukraine Possess?</h2>



<p>Ukraine’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources says the country has Europe’s number-one graphite, lithium, titanium and uranium reserves, which are crucial for producing batteries, armor, defense materials and nuclear fuel. Partnering with Ukraine to source these minerals could reduce the United States’&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/17/what-are-ukraines-critical-minerals-and-why-does-trump-want-them" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reliance on China</a>&nbsp;and Russia to import these minerals.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/28/trump-zelenskyy-vance-face-off-in-oval-office-shouting-match-heres-everything-they-said/">Trump, Zelenskyy, Vance Face Off In Oval Office Shouting Match—Here’s Everything They Said</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/02/28/trump-threatens-zelensky-during-tense-live-meeting-make-a-deal-or-were-out/">Trump-Zelenskyy Talks End Early After Trump Threatens Him In Tense Live Meeting: ‘Make A Deal Or We’re Out’</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>


Zelenskyy Says He’ll Sign Minerals Deal And Urges US To ‘Stand More Firmly’ For Ukraine After Oval Office Clash


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>The price of bitcoin dropped below $80,000 Friday, its lowest level since last November, amid a crypto selloff that has wiped out nearly all of the token’s post-election gains as concerns mount about the economic impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



<p>The price of bitcoin, the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency, stood at $78,949 early on Friday—after falling more than 8.5% over the past 24 hours.</p>



<p>In the past seven days, bitcoin’s price has plummeted nearly 20%.</p>



<p>Bitcoin’s slump comes amid a wider crypto market selloff, with the price of Ether—the second most valuable token by market cap—dropping more than 11% in the past 24 hours to around $2,100.</p>



<p>The price of the Ripple Labs-linked XRP, Binance’s BNB and Solana’s SOL have tanked 9.2%, 7.3% and 9% respectively in the past day.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Big Number</h2>



<p>27.3%. That is how much the price of bitcoin has dropped since it hit an all-time high of $109,114 on Jan. 20, the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Background</h2>



<p>The crypto market selloff comes on the backdrop of a major crypto exchange hack and concerns about the economic impact of Trump’s tariffs. Last week, hackers managed to steal Ether holdings worth nearly $1.5 billion from the exchange Bybit—the largest ever cryptocurrency heist. On Wednesday, the FBI&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA250226" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">accused</a>&nbsp;North Korea-backed hacker groups, TraderTraitor and the Lazarus Group, of carrying out the theft. The agency said the hackers were “proceeding rapidly and have converted some of the stolen assets to Bitcoin and…It is expected these assets will be further laundered and eventually converted to fiat currency.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Tangent</h2>



<p>Trump’s official meme coin,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/01/19/donald-trump-launches-trump-meme-coin-token-exceeds-12-billion-market-cap/">launched</a>&nbsp;just days before his inauguration, has also continued its downward slide amid the market wide rout. On Friday, the price of the $TRUMP meme coin fell to $11.30—a nearly 15% drop in the past 24 hours and 85% below its all-time high of around $75. The token peaked just two days after its official launch, with $TRUMP’s market cap briefly crossing $15 billion, but its price has steadily declined since then. The $TRUMP launch appeared to spur other world leaders to boost similar meme tokens. Earlier this month, Argentinian President Javier Milei promoted $LIBRA token, causing its market cap to surge to $4 billion, before early backers began dumping their holdings. The following crash in LIBRA’s price, which appeared to resemble a pump-and-dump scheme, has triggered lawsuits against the Argentine leader. In a similar move, the president of the Central African Republic—one of Africa’s poorest nations—launched a CAR meme token to raise his country’s profile. The coin’s value has slumped by more than 97% since its launch.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/02/25/bitcoin-slips-below-90000-down-nearly-20-from-trumps-inauguration-day-all-time-high/">Bitcoin Slips Below $90,000—Down Nearly 20% From Trump’s Inauguration Day All-Time High</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>


Bitcoin on digital circuit board and graph

Bitcoin Slumps Below $80,000 As Crypto Rout Wipes Nearly All Post-Election Gains


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>“Emilia Pérez” star Selena Gomez, billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey and Oscar winner Halle Berry are among the stars slated to present at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday evening, though Harrison Ford is no longer slated to present after receiving a&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/harrison-ford-no-longer-presenting-oscars-1236324484/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">shingles</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/harrison-ford-isnt-presenting-2025-oscars-shingles-diagnosis-1236151499/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">diagnosis</a>&nbsp;Friday.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>In keeping with Oscars tradition, the four&nbsp;<a href="https://press.oscars.org/news/oscarr-winners-robert-downey-jr-cillian-murphy-davine-joy-randolph-and-emma-stone-return" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">acting winners</a>&nbsp;from last year’s ceremony—Emma Stone, Cillian Murphy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Robert Downey Jr.—will all return to the Dolby Theatre stage to present this year.</p>



<p>Stars from some of this year’s nominated movies will present, including Selena Gomez (“Emilia Pérez”), Margaret Qualley (“The Substance”), Lily-Rose Depp (“Nosferatu”), Elle Fanning (“A Complete Unknown”), Joe Alwyn (“The Brutalist”) and Bowen Yang (“Wicked”)—as well as Zoe Saldaña, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for “Emilia Pérez.”</p>



<p>Past Oscar winners and nominees who are set to present include Halle Berry, Ana de Armas, Penélope Cruz, Whoopi Goldberg, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow, Goldie Hawn, Sterling K. Brown, Andrew Garfield, Samuel L. Jackson and billionaire Oprah Winfrey.</p>



<p>Other celebrities who will present include Willem Dafoe, Ben Stiller, Amy Poehler, June Squibb, Connie Nielsen, Gal Gadot, Dave Bautista, Alba Rohrwacher and Rachel Zegler.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-will-the-oscars-use-the-fab-5-presentations-this-year">Will The Oscars Use The “fab 5” Presentations This Year?</h2>



<p>Academy CEO Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/oscars-remove-original-song-performances-1236282452/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">announced</a>&nbsp;last month the “Fab 5” presentation—in which five previous Oscar winners honor each nominee in a given category one-by-one before presenting the award—would return for this year’s ceremony, though they did not specify which categories they would be for. The “Fab 5” presentation was used last year in the acting categories, in which previous winners, including Best Actress winners Jennifer Lawrence, Charlize Theron, Sally Field, Michelle Yeoh and Jessica Lange gave tributes to nominees Lily Gladstone, Annette Bening, Emma Stone, Sanda Hüller and Carey Mulligan, respectively.&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/netflix-emilia-perez-oscar-campaign-karla-sofia-gascon-scandal-1236296776/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Variety reported</a>, citing anonymous sources, the “Fab 5” presentations will not be used in acting categories this year, and that the Academy made this decision before Best Actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/02/05/emilia-prez-director-disavows-karla-sofa-gascns-tweets-and-slams-actress-for-playing-the-victim-all-the-films-controversies-explained/">ignited controversy</a>&nbsp;over resurfaced tweets in which she made disparaging remarks about Islam, diversity at the Oscars and George Floyd. Variety reported the “Fab 5” presentation will instead be used in the Best Director category and several other unspecified categories.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-are-the-oscars">When Are The Oscars?</h2>



<p>The Academy Awards will air at 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. PST on Sunday, March 2. The ceremony will broadcast live on ABC and will stream live on Hulu for the first time.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-who-is-nominated-at-the-oscars">Who Is Nominated At The Oscars?</h2>



<p>“Emilia Pérez,” a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/02/05/emilia-prez-director-disavows-karla-sofa-gascns-tweets-and-slams-actress-for-playing-the-victim-all-the-films-controversies-explained/">controversial</a>&nbsp;musical about a Mexican cartel leader who undergoes a gender transition, leads the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/01/23/oscar-nominations-2025-announced-emilia-prez-leads-with-13-nods-the-brutalist-and-wicked-get-10/">nomination tally</a>&nbsp;with 13 total. “Wicked” and “The Brutalist” follow with 10 each. Those three films, as well as “Anora,” “Conclave,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Dune: Part Two,” “I’m Still Here,” “Nickel Boys” and “The Substance,” are nominated for Best Picture, the ceremony’s biggest prize.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/01/23/oscar-nominations-2025-announced-emilia-prez-leads-with-13-nods-the-brutalist-and-wicked-get-10/">Oscar Nominations 2025 Announced: ‘Emilia Pérez’ Leads With 13 Nods, ‘The Brutalist’ And ‘Wicked’ Get 10</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2024/11/15/conan-obrien-will-host-2025-oscars-heres-why-that-might-mean-fewer-trump-jokes/">Conan O’Brien Will Host 2025 Oscars—Here’s Why That Might Mean Fewer Trump Jokes</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://sync.graph.bluecava.com/ds.png?p=4cb3430d-9dfd-11ef-a5fe-4201ac100015&amp;segment=forbeseval" alt=""/></figure>


Forbes

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA