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And the layoffs continue: Intuit plans to axe 17% of its workforce, about 3,000 of its approximately 18,200 global employees (as of July 31, according to its annual report), Reuters reported Wednesday. The company said it will focus on accelerating integrating AI across the company and its services, while streamlining operations. The news is based on a an internal ‌memo sent to employees from CEO Sasan Goodarzi, which argued the move would help the software company behind TurboTax, QuickBooks, Credit Karma, and Mailchimp deliver better products. In an effort to restructure and streamline, Intuit is also reportedly closing key hubs in Reno, Nevada and Woodland Hill…

Airbnb is becoming Airb-n-bigger. In an attempt to become what is something of an all-encompassing trip platform, Airbnb announced several new features and offerings on Wednesday, including a redesigned homepage, new service categories (such as airport pickups, grocery-delivery options, luggage-storage, and car rentals, along with new experiences), and even the ability to book rooms at boutique or independent hotels. That’s right: the company that built a name for itself offering alternatives to hotels is now folding some of them into its platform. Airbnb inflates The new features are wide-ranging, and users can even take advantage of social elements, like…

First there was nutrient timing, then proteinmaxxing—now, fibermaxxing is the latest viral wellness trend everyone is talking about. On TikTok, social media influencers can be seen extolling the virtues of fiber (hashtag #fibermaxxing). One such influencer is @shanny_do, a self-proclaimed “fiber-obsessed gastroenterologist,” who posted with gusto about what she packs each day for work at the hospital. (For the curious, that’s a bowl that includes: Ethiopian spicy lentils, some plain black beans straight from the can, baba ganoush and carrots; a second small bowl of berries—black, blue and raspberries; a Z bar—a kid’s protein snack bar made of oats—and an apple.) A…

U.S. markets are poised to open with gains on Wednesday as bond yields slipped and oil prices fell. Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.4% while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.2% higher and Nasdaq futures jumped 0.7%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased overnight to 4.64% from 4.66% late Tuesday, but are up from less than 4% before the war with Iran began. That’s a notable increase and part of the reason that stock prices look even more expensive while threatening to slow the economy. Higher yields can drive up rates for mortgages and loans going to companies to build AI data centers, which has been a big source of growth for the economy. Ther…

Management and union leaders at Samsung Electronics failed to reach a last-minute deal over wages Wednesday, raising prospects for a strike at the South Korean electronics giant that could rattle global semiconductor supplies and the country’s trade-dependent economy. Government officials have threatened to invoke rarely used emergency powers to force a settlement at Samsung, where the union, which represents more than 70,000 workers, says the company has failed to offer adequate compensation despite its soaring profits fueled by the global boom in artificial intelligence. After the latest round of talks ended without a breakthrough on Wednesday, union leader Choi Seung…

Today, Figma announced an AI agent built natively inside its collaborative environment. Forget the disconnected, floating prompt boxes we’ve grown so tired of; this system gives you multiple digital assistants right on your digital drafting board in Figma Design. According to the company, it is capable of churning out interface elements and banishing the mindless drudgery of pixel-pushing, while keeping creators locked in their creative zone. With the update, Figma is fundamentally reengineering the digital drafting board into an autonomous engine. By throwing the gates wide open—inviting the marketing department, code-wranglers, and project supervisors to play …

The Target boycott is ongoing but it might be having less of an impact. On Wednesday, the company reported first-quarter earnings that included successes like a 6.7% increase in net sales year-over-year (YOY). The $25.4 billion in net sales included a 24.5% jump in non-merchandise sales, like Target Circle 360 membership revenues and the Target+ marketplace. In that vein, Target saw its digital comparable sales rise by 8.9% thanks to a 27% jump in same-day delivery with Target Circle 360. The retailer also reported earnings per share of $1.71, surpassing Wall Street’s predicted EPS of $1.46, according to consensus estimates cited by CNBC. “There is mu…

Prices are rising again, and by some measures, consumer sentiment is as low as it’s ever been. That makes it an opportune time for some Americans to perhaps get a boost to their credit scores if they’re able to. Now they might be able to. Last fall, FICO announced a new generation of its UltraFICO Score—an upgrade to its existing scoring model—infusing it with real-time cashflow data (with consumer permission, of course) from fintech company Plaid. The new and improved model is now live and available to lenders. FICO’s leadership says it could help lenders make better decisions about creditworthiness and, in most cases, consumers could see a boost to their cre…

AI is everywhere these days. Try as you might to avoid it, you’re not likely to succeed. LinkedIn, though, is attempting to draw a line in the sand and, if not completely eliminate the AI slop on its pages, at least cut back on it. The company plans to target low-quality AI posts that distract its users from finding value on the platform. That has been a growing problem in recent months as people have trawled LinkedIn for engagement among professional users. The company’s VP of product, Laura Lorenzetti, says LinkedIn isn’t banning all posts generated by artificial intelligence. Some, she concedes, actually have some value. Others, though? Those need to go. …

Areaware, the 22-year-old design brand, announced its closure back in February, bidding farewell to its dedicated fan base and selling off the last of its quirky home goods in a series of final sales. Just three months later, though, the brand is getting a surprising second chance: Today, the puzzle company Piecework is announcing its acquisition of Areaware for an undisclosed sum. Piecework, founded in 2019 by Rachel Hochhauser and Jena Wolfe, plans to keep Areaware’s name, website, and socials separate, and will maintain the two as distinct sister brands. According to Hochhauser, who will serve as Areaware’s chief brand officer, the idea to acquire Areaware was…

Across job listing sites over the past few months, you might have noticed something curious. Alongside traditional titles like “designer,” “engineer,” and “product manager,” a new crop of roles is appearing. They have names like “designer engineer,” “builder,” or “design crafter,” and they represent a tipping point in the design industry that’s just beginning to play out. That tipping point is captured in the second annual AI in Design report, published by the investor firm Designer Fund and the venture capital firm Foundation Capital. This year’s report draws on a survey of over 900 designers across 60+ countries, including partners like Stripe, Framer, Linear, Notion,…

In a trial featuring a clash between Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, neither of the tech titans has emerged as an overly sympathetic character. But nobody has more to lose than Altman, who is expected to take the stand this week to defend himself. Already, testimony about Altman’s turbulent tenure at the ChatGPT maker has become prime fodder for internet jokes. One piece of evidence that has inspired countless memes was a text exchange between Altman and a company officer, Mira Murati, in 2023 during his short-lived ouster as CEO, when Altman asked if things were moving “directionally good or bad” and she wrote back: “Sam this is very bad.” Musk, the world’s riches…

Back in March, Amazon announced new 1-hour and 3-hour delivery options for tens of thousands of items in over 2,000 cities across America. But now the e-commerce juggernaut is making those short wait times look relatively long. Starting today, the company is launching a 30-minute delivery service, dubbed Amazon Now, in several cities across the U.S. Here’s what you need to know. What is Amazon Now? Amazon Now will make thousands of Amazon’s products available for delivery within 30 minutes or less. It joins Amazon’s other existing fast delivery options in the United States. These include under 60-minute delivery with the company’s Prime Air drone service in eig…

For a long time, we thought we were doing our part. Our firm gave generously, supported causes we believed in, and showed up when asked. But over time, it became clear that something was missing. Our giving wasn’t balanced. It was concentrated. It didn’t always reach far enough into the communities where we live and work. And it didn’t always invite everyone to take part. That realization led us to rethink how we engage—and why our Day of Giving program matters so deeply. MG2’s Day of Giving is not about a single project or a single group of people. It’s about participation. Once a year, every MG2 employee is invited to step away from their work and spend a day serving a…

After a rough start to the year, America’s four major publicly traded quantum computing companies are surging once again. The latest rally kicked off about a month ago, right around World Quantum Day, and since then, all four quantum computing companies—D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS), IonQ, Inc. (NYSE: IONQ), Quantum Computing Inc. (Nasdaq: QUBT), and Rigetti Computing, Inc. (Nasdaq: RGTI)—have recovered much of their 2026 losses. And today, their stocks are up even more. Here’s why. Quantum stocks are finally reversing their bad start to 2026 America’s so-called Quantum Four publicly traded companies saw an incredible year of stock gains in 2025. But in…

Today, Spotify is releasing some never-before-seen data to users—and it’s coming in a format that looks strikingly familiar. To celebrate its 20-year anniversary, Spotify is launching Your Party of the Year(s), an in-app experience designed to hit users with a blast of nostalgia by walking them through highlights of their own user journey with the app, including their first song ever streamed. The format is a click-through, interactive infographic, and it looks a whole lot like Spotify Wrapped. Since it debuted in 2014, Wrapped has become a core pillar of Spotify’s business. In 2025, more than 300 million users engaged with the launch, up 20% from 2024. And that’…

Twelve years ago BuzzFeed Inc reportedly valued itself at almost $1 billion, scaring off rumored interest from the Walt Disney Company. Fast-forward to this week and BuzzFeed is selling a controlling stake to Allen Family Digital for $120 million—$100 million of which isn’t due for five years. Allen Family Digital, associated with Byron Allen, will control about 52% of BuzzFeed’s outstanding shares at $3 each. BuzzFeed’s shares were up more than 101% to over $1.49 on Tuesday morning. The stock has been trading at under a dollar a share for most of this year. What the deal means for BuzzFeed As part of the deal, BuzzFeed CEO and founder Jonah Peretti …

As Amtrak continues to roll out new high-speed trains, it’s also improving on another pain point of train travel: unwieldy suitcases. A new partnership with Away is promoting a set of sleek luggage designed to tackle some of the issues of maneuvering a suitcase through the tight spaces on a moving train car. The first feature is small, but undeniably useful—a brake to stop your suitcase from rolling away when you’re standing in a train corridor before disembarking (or in similar situations, like balancing in a crowded subway car). “Luggage has a tendency to shift or roll away at the exact moment you need it to stay put,” says Hannah Clayton, vice president of design a…

Finally, some good news. Amid widespread reports of retail closure after closure, a new report on retail market dynamics from the real estate services company JLL outlines the sectors that are leading openings so far in 2026. Restaurants and discount dollar stores lead the way, with Dollar Tree opening 400 new stores and Starbucks opening 175. The growth across these industries is promising, even as other areas are still facing closures in the first quarter of 2026. But the same thing happened last year, with early 2025 closures evening out by the end of the year. Even as store closures continue to create vacancies, other tenants are quick to move into th…

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told members of his Cabinet on Tuesday that he has no intention of resigning as calls within his Labour Party for him to step down grew louder. Starmer is trying to shore up support within his Cabinet following a febrile few days in the wake of hefty losses for the Labour Party in local elections last week, which if repeated in a national election would see it overwhelmingly ejected from power. The meeting, which lasted about an hour, took place as around 80 Labour backbenchers, or nearly a fifth of the party’s representation in the House of Commons, said Starmer should stand down, or at least set out a timetable for his departure. Under…

Most of the executive teams I work with have been investing in AI for a few years. The ones who are frustrated are not the skeptics. They are the believers whose programs have not connected to the P&L. They have the pilots, the internal momentum, the board slide showing everything in flight. What they do not have is a clear line between that activity and business performance, and at this point in the AI cycle, that gap is no longer acceptable. I spent several years running AI at scale inside Kroger and its data science subsidiary 84.51°, where we processed millions of predictions per second across thousands of store locations. We measured work in margin, basket si…

Prebiotic soda brand Poppi has come a long way since it first appeared on Shark Tank under its original name, “Mother Beverage,” in 2018. Allison Ellsworth cofounded Poppi with her husband Stephen Ellsworth—but before becoming multimillionaires, though, the Ellsworths were maxing out their credit cards to launch Poppi. “My husband told me I was absolutely crazy, but he trusted the vision,” Ellsworth said. “So we maxed out our credit cards, sold one of our cars to buy bottles [and] opened our own manufacturing facility.” The pair invested $90,000 into the business in the first year, while her husband worked various gigs to cover their mortgage. In 18 months of…

Yes, you read that right: Brain-eating amoeba have been found in two popular U.S. national parks, according to a recent study from the U.S. Geological Survey, and a number of other institutions, published in the American Chemical Society’s journal, ES&T Water. Here’s what to know. What happened? Researchers took 185 water samples from five popular U.S. national parks, looking at “40 thermally impacted recreational waters” at Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Olympic National Park, and Newberry National Volcanic Monument over an eight year period from 2016 to 2024. What they found revealed widespre…

More than three dozen snack products sold under numerous brand names are being recalled due to fears that one of their ingredients could be contaminated with the potentially deadly bacterium Salmonella. Here’s what you need to know about the snacks recall. What’s happened? Beginning last month, a company called California Dairies Inc. recalled buttermilk and bulk powdered milk distributed to manufacturers over fears that the ingredients could be contaminated with Salmonella, according to a safety alert posted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Since that initial recall, numerous other brands have recalled their own products that used the recalled i…