Despite these limitations, analysts at Piper Sandler have predicted that Copilot will generate more than $10 billion annually for Microsoft by 2026. Already, 40% of fortune 100 companies are testing Copilot.
Some Copilot using companies that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella mentioned by name were Bayer, KPMG, Mayo Clinic, Suncorp, and Visa.
Six Flags
An Amusement Park Merger
Amusement park companies Six Flags and Cedar Fair are merging in a deal worth $8 billion. The new company will still go by Six Flags, but will use Cedar Fair’s stock ticker(FUN).
An 11% immediate increases in the top hourly wage.
Future pay hikes over the course of the contract, totaling to a 14% increase.
The return of cost of living adjustments for wages
Faster job elevation with workers reaching top wages in 3 years rather than 8.
The right to strike over plant closures
Improved retirement benefits.
This success has seemingly emboldened the UAW, which has expressed interest in expanding its membership to non-unionized automakers like Tesla and Toyota. Likely in response to this, Toyota raised its top wages by 9% to disincentive workers from joining the UAW. However, it remains to be seen whether the UAW will be successful in growing and providing more power to workers.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
The End Of The FTX Saga
Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX who was accused of mismanaging and using billions of customer funds, has been found guilty on all charges. These charges are seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, totaling to a max of 110 years in prison.
Even if he doesn’t face the max though, he will still likely be in prison for most of, if not all of, the rest of his life. We will find out the length of his prison time after his sentencing on March 28, 2024.
Until then, he will be kept in the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, where he has been kept with the drug trafficking former president of Honduras and the also drug trafficking former head of Mexico’s FBI.
Tom Story/Zuma Press
WeWork Bankruptcy
WeWork is another example of incompetence in multibillion dollar companies. While it was once valued at $47 billion by Softbank, it is now likely to declare chapter 11 bankruptcy with its stock down 99% YTD.
Besides the immense losses investors in WeWork have experienced, other people are going to be negatively affected by the bankruptcy of WeWork. The scaling down WeWork will experience will lead to a drop in demand in a number of offices around the country, furthering losses in commercial real estate demand and hurting building owners severely.
Future Events
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Interest Rates Are Left Unchanged
The battle to defeat inflation has been raging for well over a year now, with interest rates and associated borrowing costs increasing greatly since 2022. However, recently, the Federal Reserve has taken a more measured and indecisive approach to interest rates.
Furthering this, the Federal Reserve decided this week to hold interest rates at 5.25%-5.5%, showing that the Fed is uncertain about whether more hikes will be needed.
The Fed’s rationale is understandable. On one hand, inflation is significantly above the 2% target set by the Fed. Additionally, the economy and labor markets are still doing great and would likely prove resilient. On the other hand, more interest rate hikes could hinder and even damage the economy, pushing the country into recession.
There are too many uncertainties and very dire possibilities associated with raising interest rates, likely leading the Fed to just hold them as they are.
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post
Biden’s AI Executive Order
AI will revolutionize the economy and society as a whole. While that statement may seem like some shady attempt to make you form over money, it is something that is undoubtedly true. AI will add a dimension of productivity and uncertainty that we have never seen before by automating processes and creating disruptive change.
New data shows that more than half of full time MBA students at top 5 business schools are women. Even when taking a broader look, 42% of people obtaining MBAs are women. While this does reflect the trend of more women than men in higher education, it is still a significant development in a seemingly male dominated industry.
The greater number of women obtaining business education will serve as a pathway to greater opportunities and status of women. It will help bridge the gap of women in leadership positions. For example, women still only run about 10% of fortune 500 companies, a figure that may grow in the future thanks to greater female MBA enrollment.
