Forbes Daily: Fed Opts To Get Aggressive With Interest Rate Cut

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FIRST UP

In a highly-anticipated move, the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates for the first time in four years Wednesday, making an aggressive 50-basis-point cut. The move will make borrowing cheaper, including mortgage rates and consumer loans, while companies will reap the benefits of more accessible credit.

MORE: Both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average set records minutes after news of the rate cuts, but all three major indexes ended the day slightly negative. The volatility came as Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s presser failed to sell investors on the notion the Fed is all-in on a growth-friendly policy pivot. Still, “the markets got what they wanted,” wrote Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley.

BUSINESS + FINANCE

The Supreme Court delivered a gut punch to federal regulators this summer by questioning their enforcement powers. Now, a shadowy operator with a checkered history is waging a legal battle that could end with the high court hobbling the organization that serves as U.S. investors’ first line of defense against crooked brokers and market shenanigans: the Washington, D.C.-based Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

The Justice Department has filed a $100 million lawsuit that accuses the owner and manager of a cargo ship that crashed into a Baltimore bridge earlier this year of not properly maintaining the vessel’s electrical and mechanical systems. The suit calls the collapse “entirely avoidable” and claims it was caused by “careless and grossly negligent decisions.”

WEALTH + ENTREPRENS

Daniel Lubetzky, who founded the Kind Healthy Snacks company in 2004 before selling it to Mars, will be an investor on the hit show Shark Tank when its next season premieres in October, replacing billionaire Mark Cuban. Lubetzky has a net worth of $2.3 billion as of Wednesday, and will step into a slot left vacant by Cuban on the panel of regular investors that also includes Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary.

TECH + INNOVATION

AI-powered hiring startup Mercor vets and interviews job candidates with AI, and has conducted more than 100,000 interviews—evaluating 300,000 people in less than two years. Led by three 21-year-old Thiel Fellows, the company is now valued at $250 million following its latest fundraising round.

X has quietly relocated its official headquarters from California to a rural community just outside of Austin, Texas, according to new court filings. A declaration from X real estate director Nicole Hollander claims the company’s HQ is now located in Bastrop, a small town that’s also home to SpaceX and The Boring Company.

LinkedIn is opting users into training its AI, the latest tech company to do so, even as privacy activists remain alarmed. To turn it off, LinkedIn users in affected countries can go to the data privacy section under settings and switch the “Use my data for training content creation AI models” toggle off.

MONEY + POLITICS

The House of Representatives rejected Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) stopgap spending bill Wednesday, extending the risk of a government shutdown if a funding measure is not passed by the end of the month. The failed bill included a voting measure opposed by Democrats and pushed by former President Donald Trump known as the SAVE ACT, which aims to require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.

An X user who created an AI-altered campaign video mocking Vice President Kamala Harris in July—which gained prominence after being shared by Elon Musk—has sued to block California’s new laws targeting political deepfakes. The plaintiff alleges the laws are a flagrant use of “state power to force private social media companies to censor private citizens’ speech by purging election-related AI-generated content.”

SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Two co-owners of the Sacramento Kings basketball team paid $125 million for a new WNBA team in Portland that will tip off in 2026. It’s the league’s third expansion team planned for the next two years as the popularity of women’s basketball continues to grow.

Harvey Weinstein on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to committing a criminal sex act, the latest charge in New York against the disgraced Hollywood producer. Prosecutors announced a new grand jury indictment against Weinstein last week after an earlier conviction was overturned.

SCIENCE + HEALTHCARE

Elemental Excelerator, a nonprofit climate investor backed by Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective, received $100 million in federal greenhouse gas reduction funding. Powell Jobs inherited her fortune, which Forbes estimates at $14.6 billion, from her late husband, Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, and she has established herself as one of the nation’s most influential philanthropists and impact investors.

The climate crisis is a dire threat, but it also represents a significant opportunity. For the first time, Forbes is highlighting 50 superstar entrepreneurs, scientists, funders, policymakers and activists who are leading the charge to combat the climate crisis with tangible impact in our inaugural Sustainability Leaders list.

WORLD

Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon on Wednesday, a day after at least 12 people were killed when pagers belonging to Hezbollah members detonated. It’s still not clear whether Israel—a major Hezbollah foe whose conflict with the group has escalated in recent months—was responsible for the explosions.

DAILY COVER STORY

Russia’s Richest Woman Handed Over A Third Of Her Fortune. Then Things Turned Deadly.

TOPLINE One of Russia’s most compelling entrepreneurial tales has turned into a deadly nightmare. On Wednesday, at least two people died and seven others were injured after a shooting at the Moscow headquarters of Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, according to media reports.

Tatyana Bakalchuk, the self-made billionaire who founded Wildberries, the $5.9 billion (sales) retailer comparable to Amazon in the U.S., blamed her estranged husband and cofounder, Vladislav Bakalchuk, who she said led a group of armed people into the e-commerce giant’s headquarters in an attempt to seize operations.

“This is a hostile takeover, or rather, an unsuccessful attempt,” Tatyana, the richest woman in Russia, said in a Telegram post in the hours after the shooting (Forbes translated the post into English). Vladislav, meanwhile, said in his own Telegram post that guards at the Wildberries office fired on him and his security team unprovoked, leaving some of those who joined him wounded.

Wednesday’s tragic events appear to be the latest escalation in a monthslong battle between the Bakalchuks, who have been married for at least 20 years, over the future of the e-commerce giant they long ran together. Tatyana left Vladislav in April and then said in July she’d filed for divorce. One month before filing the divorce petition, Wildberries announced its plan to merge with Russ Outdoor, a Russia-based billboard and outdoor advertising operator once owned by billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

While Tatyana endorsed the merger as a way to grow the Wildberries business, Vladislav came out publicly against the deal. New reporting by Forbes, however, sheds more light on why these tensions may have bubbled over.

In the months since the merger, publicly available documents reveal that Wildberries transferred all its valuable assets into a joint venture with Russ. Russ, meanwhile, transferred nothing, but gained a 35% stake in the new venture.

The result: Russia’s richest woman effectively gave away a 35% stake in her company, worth an estimated $3.4 billion.

WHY IT MATTERS “A former English teacher who built the Russian version of Amazon, Wildberries founder and CEO Tatyana Bakalchuk was one of Russia’s greatest entrepreneurial success stories,” says Forbes staff writer Jemima McEvoy. “Up until a few months ago, she appeared to manage her business seemingly independently of the Russian government. However, after a merger with a Russian billboard company, the future of her company—and its continued independence from the Kremlin—is now in flux.”

FACTS + COMMENTS

The majority of Americans are concerned about non-citizens voting in the 2024 election, a new poll shows. The poll comes as Republicans have amplified the false suggestion that Democrats are allowing migrants into the U.S. to vote for them, although there is no evidence to support these claims:

51%: The share of American adults concerned about non-citizens voting in the upcoming election

1,634: The number of non-citizens who attempted to register to vote between 1997 and 2022, but none actually voted, according to an audit by Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger

39%: The share of Scripps/Ipsos poll respondents who said immigration is the most important issue facing the country, second only to inflation

STRATEGY + SUCCESS

In response to Wednesday’s decision on the federal funds rate, banks will also adjust their interest rates, which could cut into the growth potential of savings accounts. To prepare, review the interest rates on your current savings accounts—online banks often provide higher yields. Also consider high-yield savings accounts, or explore money market accounts or certificates of deposit. Regardless of market conditions, automating your savings can help ensure you stay disciplined.

VIDEO

QUIZ

A major labor union announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate this year, breaking with its streak of endorsing Democrats. Which union is it?

A. International Brotherhood of Teamsters

B. United Auto Workers

C. AFL-CIO

D. Service Employees International Union

Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Chris Dobstaff.