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Wealthfront Corp. is looking to rake in the wealth after going public on Friday. The Palo Alto-based automated digital wealth platform raised $486 million after selling 43.6 million shares, putting the company’s valuation at roughly $2 billion. Wealthfront shares began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker “WLTH.” The company made more than 34.6 million shares of common stock available for the IPO for $14—an offering that expires on Monday, December 15. The stock was up around 4% by mid-afternoon on Friday afternoon after trading began. To mark the occasion, the company’s leadership—including CEO David Fortunato, cofounder and chairman Andy Rachleff, a…

Every December, something strange happens inside companies. Decisions that were stuck for months suddenly fly through. Projects get approved. Budgets get finalized. People stop debating and finally choose. Leaders usually chalk this up to “year-end energy” or “the holiday push.” That is an easy story, but it hides what is actually going on. December forces leaders into a tighter frame. There is less time to overthink, fewer acceptable choices, and clearer expectations. In other words, the environment is designed in a way that produces commitment instead of delay—even though for complex, novel strategic bets, the calendar alone is rarely enough. This isn’t holiday …

Any office party can be challenging, but holiday office parties are particularly stressful. After all, the season brings a set of demands—including the need to be “merry and bright” when you may not feel that way. To survive this end-of-year event (and to use it to advance your career), here are three strategies that will work wonders. 1. Use Holiday Parties as a Chance to Get to Know New People There are good reasons to circulate broadly at your next holiday party and not to hang out with people you already know. Clustering with friends can lead to excessive drinking, and with that comes danger to your health and safety. Staying with your pals or people you wo…

Shares of iRobot Corporation (Nasdaq: IRBT), maker of the Roomba autonomous vacuum cleaner, are crashing today after the company announced that it will seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As of this writing, IRBT shares are down more than 78%—and the news is only expected to get worse for common shareholders. Consumers, on the other hand, may be wondering if their Roombas will stop working. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? On Sunday, iRobot Corporation said it has filed for bankruptcy. The Massachusetts-based company is seeking Chapter 11 protection in the District of Delaware. As part of the process, iRobot has entered into a Restructuri…

Since the tragic news broke that director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, have died, tributes have been pouring in. And amid the stories of kindness, compassion, and political action, one story stands out: How the couple’s chance first meeting altered the ending of the 1989 classic When Harry Met Sally—possibly the most beloved romantic comedy of all time. Had the couple not met during filming, the movie’s memorable New Year’s Eve ending might’ve not been a part of the film at all. During production of the iconic rom-com in New York City, photographer Michele Singer Reiner (then Michele Singer) stopped by the set. According to a 1989 New York…

I’ve tried them all. A fancy planner, “perfect” workout routines, ambitious ways to read more, and writing rituals to get more done. I did the research. But what ultimately worked is something called the kaizen incremental method. An idea is from Japanese manufacturing, of all places. It means “continuous improvement.” The practice of tiny actions. A step so small your brain’s resistance (a built-in fight-or-flight response to big, scary changes) doesn’t even bother to fight it. I use the kaizen approach as a backdoor to building new neural pathways. I’m not forcing change; I’m gently guiding my brain into new habits, one step at a time. That’s how I started writ…

An increasing number of companies are finding the much-promised financial gains of implementing artificial intelligence in the workplace have been slow to materialize. But that isn’t stopping many CEOs from spending even more on AI in the coming year. A new study from advisory firm Teneo finds that 68% of CEOs will increase their AI spending next year. A growing number, however, are aware that they need to start showing returns on that investment—and an important part of their job is convincing shareholders to remain patient. “As efforts shift from hype to execution, businesses are under pressure to show ROI from rising AI spend,” the company wrote. “Large-cap CEO…

Many Americans are likely to see massive changes to their taxes in 2026, especially seniors. That’s largely due to President Donald The President’s so-called big, beautiful bill, a massive 940-page bill signed into law over the summer that includes an array of new tax write-offs but also fails to renew some previous deductions from the Biden administration. One change is a $6,000 deduction for seniors. Here’s what to know. Who qualifies for the new senior tax deduction? The President’s tax and spending law introduced a $6,000 deduction for qualifying seniors ages 65 and older, on top of the current additional standard deduction for seniors under existing la…

A 911 call about a man resembling “the CEO shooter.” Body-camera footage of police arresting Luigi Mangione and pulling items from his backpack, including a gun that prosecutors say matches the one used to kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and a notebook they have described as a “manifesto.” Notes about a “survival kit” and “intel checkin,” and testimony about alleged statements behind bars. A three-week pretrial hearing on Mangione’s fight to exclude evidence from his New York murder case ended Thursday after revealing new details about his December 2024 arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania, steps prosecutors say he took to elude authorities for five days, and what h…

The seven states that rely on the Colorado River to supply farms and cities across the U.S. West appear no closer to reaching a consensus on a long-term plan for sharing the dwindling resource. The river’s future was the center of discussions this week at the annual Colorado River Water Users Association conference in Las Vegas, where water leaders from California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming gathered alongside federal and tribal officials. It comes after the states blew past a November deadline for a new plan to deal with drought and water shortages after 2026, when current guidelines expire. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has set a n…

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in November from the previous month, but slowed compared to a year earlier for the first time since May despite average long-term mortgage rates holding near their low point for the year. Existing home sales rose 0.5% in last month from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.13 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Friday. Sales fell 1% compared with November last year. The latest sales figure came in slightly below the 4.14 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. Through the first 11 months of this year, home sales are down 0.5% compared to the same period last ye…

Visa and Mastercard have agreed to pay $167.5 million to settle a long-running class action lawsuit. The suit, which was first filed back in Oct. 2011, accused the two major credit card companies of conspiring to keep ATM fees artificially high. The proposed settlement, filed on Thursday in Washington, if approved, it will mean an end to “almost fourteen years of vigorously contested litigation.” The lawsuit alleged that both companies “participated in an unlawful conspiracy” involving Visa and Mastercard blocking independent ATM operators from offering lower prices. If approved, the settlement will have Visa and Mastercard pay millions to ATM users who say the…

Elusive street artist Banksy appeared to confirm Monday that a new mural in London, depicting two children lying down and pointing up at the sky, is his latest work. The artist posted two photos of the artwork on his official Instagram account Monday, hours after its appearance on a wall on the side of a building in Bayswater, west London sparked speculation over whether Banksy was behind it. The black and white mural, painted above a garage, depicts two figures dressed in winter hats and boots lying on the ground, with one of them pointing a finger upwards. An identical image appeared at the foot of a tower in central London on Monday, but the graffiti artist…

I didn’t set out to found a tech company, much less a brand that would redefine the standard for outdoor cellular cameras. Tactacam started with a simple passion for capturing and sharing outdoor moments, and that same passion drives us today. Throughout the years, I’ve found that success, growth, and customer loyalty come down to staying true to who you are. The brands that thrive lead with purpose and values, using them as guiding principles to earn trust, influence decisions, and create lasting loyalty, even during change. When brands drift from their core, they risk disrupting the very foundation of trust they’ve built. We’ve seen the consequences of brand dri…

A Powerball ticket purchased at a gas station outside Little Rock, Arkansas, won a $1.817 billion jackpot in Wednesday’s Christmas Eve drawing, ending the lottery game’s three-month stretch without a top-prize winner. The winning numbers were 04, 25, 31, 52 and 59, with the Powerball number being 19. The winning ticket was sold at a Murphy USA in Cabot, lottery officials in Arkansas said Thursday. No one answered the phone Thursday at the location, which was closed for Christmas. The community of roughly 27,000 people is 26 miles (42 kilometers) northeast of Little Rock. Final ticket sales pushed the jackpot higher than previous expected, making it the second-largest in…

Wall Street’s main indexes kicked off the final week of the year on a softer note on Monday, as heavyweight technology stocks retreated from last week’s gains that had pushed the S&P 500 to record highs. The information technology sector weighed on the S&P 500, as most tech and AI-linked stocks declined, with Nvidia down 1.8%, Broadcom off 1%, and Palantir Technologies shedding 1.4%. “This is (not) the beginning of the end of the tech dominance, it’ll turn out to be a buying opportunity,” said Hank Smith, director and head of investment strategy at Haverford Trust. “A big reason for that is the top tech names, excluding Tesla, do not have challenging v…

Yann LeCun, Meta’s outgoing chief AI scientist, says his employer tested its latest Llama model in a way that may have made the model look better than it really was. In a recent Financial Times interview, LeCun says Meta researchers “fudged a little bit” by using different versions of Llama 4 Maverick and Llama 4 Scout models on different benchmarks to improve test results. Normally researchers use a single version of a new model for all benchmarks, instead of choosing a variant that will score best on a given benchmark. Prior to the launch of the Llama 4 models, Meta had begun to fall behind rivals Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google in pushing the envelope. The comp…

While the Lego Group has dipped its toes into tech waters before, the company hasn’t strayed far from its analog roots. But on Monday, the 94-year-old company unveiled a new product line that embraces the digital age, without abandoning its core business. At CES, Lego announced the upcoming launch of the Lego Smart Play system, an interactive technology that lets users’ Lego creations respond to player actions with tailored sounds, lights, behavior, and more. The company says it’s a way to further engage digital native kids without having them stare at yet another screen. While the toy market has struggled for the past few years, sales at the Lego Group have remai…

At a time when it seems like everything’s getting more expensive, Ikea keeps making cheaper and cheaper USB-C chargers. Its newest—the 20-watt, single-port Sjöss—sells for $3.99. You’d pay more than four times that for Apple’s 20-watt, single-port USB-C charger, priced at $19. Charging cables for both are sold separately. Ikea has moved more aggressively into home electronics since last year. The company released a revamped range of smart home products in fall 2025 and opened pilot in-store pop-up shops in select U.S. Best Buy locations, meaning the brand now shares kiosk space with tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Meta. Its strategy: selling products th…

Health tech gadgets displayed at the annual CES trade show make a lot of promises. A smart scale promoted a healthier lifestyle by scanning your feet to track your heart health, and an egg-shaped hormone tracker uses AI to help you figure out the best time to conceive. Tech and health experts, however, question the accuracy of products like these and warn of data privacy issues — especially as the federal government eases up on regulation. The Food and Drug Administration announced during the show in Las Vegas that it will relax regulations on “low-risk” general wellness products such as heart monitors and wheelchairs. It’s the latest step President Donald The President…

Handmade punch cards are currently trending on TikTok as a cute, visual way to track 2026 goals. Modeled after the punch cards that will secure you a free coffee or sandwich after showing loyalty to one cafe or another, users instead punch, stamp or check off a square every time they make progress on their goals, whether that’s staying consistent at the gym, completing a no-spend weekend or paying down debt. “Today’s New Year’s Eve, and I made these little punchcards this morning of goals I have for myself starting this new year,” TikTok user @camiunderthesea said in a video showing off her deck of cards. “The first one is to read five books. I’ve been trying to…