From Apple and Goldman Sachs to Bilt and Wells Fargo, high-profile credit card partnership missteps reveal how risky these deals between brands and banks can be. Almost 30% of adults own co-branded credit cards as customers can earn different rewards like discounts or free hotel points. So why are some partnerships hitting road blocks?
WSJ explains how these complex partnerships work and what’s at stake.
Jakarta is the fastest sinking city in the world, and the Indonesian government is moving its capital 800 miles away from the island of Java. Nusantara is set to open next month but with investors pulling out, project heads resigning and little complete, the city’s fate remains uncertain.
WSJ explores how the promised capital risks squandering Indonesia’s funds and damaging the country’s reputation.
The company behind the popular artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 by a number of researchers, academics and entrepreneurs including Sam Altman, Greg Brochman and Elon Musk. Musk left OpenAI in 2018 and now has his own artificial intelligence company called xAI.
In its early years, OpenAI flew somewhat under the radar, at least from the point of view of the general public. The company released its first project in 2016, a toolkit called “OpenAI Gym” used for developing and comparing reinforcement learning algorithms. That same year, OpenAI also released Universe, a tool to train intelligent agents on websites and gaming platforms. But the release of ChatGPT in 2022 is what propelled the company to stardom. Today, OpenAI is valued at over $80 billion and counts Microsoft, which has invested around $13 billion into OpenAI since 2019, as a major supporter and partner. But OpenAI’s wild success has also raised concerns from regulators and experts who question the outsized power that artificial intelligence companies and Big Tech could have on our society as well as the toll that the technology could take on our power grid.
More than 80% of recent homebuyers say they regret their purchase, according to a recent survey from Clever Real Estate. Home prices have been rising faster than incomes, which can be a problem for homeowners because as the value of a home rises, so does the cost to maintain it. Property taxes and insurance premiums have been rising at a rapid rate, influenced by inflation and the increase in catastrophic weather events.
In its fiscal third-quarter report, Walgreens announced its plans to close a ‘significant’ amount of stores, acknowledging only 75% of its 8,600 stores were profitable. While no specific stores were tapped for closure yet, more than 2,000 locations could face the chopping block by 2027. This just the latest sign of trouble for the struggling retail pharmacy sector as CVS and Rite Aid both announced large closures in the past year. Watch the video above to learn why U.S. pharmacy chains are fighting for survival.
Starbucks reported a global same-store sales decline of 3% and missed revenue expectations by $130 million in its fiscal third-quarter earnings on July 30, 2024. Its share price has tumbled nearly 25% in the past year. That's all due to operating challenges, an increasingly price conscious consumer and boycotts related to the Israel-Hamas war. Still, the coffee giant accounted for more than 25% of the U.S. coffee and snack shop market in 2023.
Scott Goodfriend, 39, was working his dream job at Meta — until he was laid off just 8 months into the gig in February 2023. Instead of taking another corporate job, he decided to take his food tour side hustle full-time. Now he runs Ultimate Food Tours in New York City, bringing in $145,000 a year.