Plus: Anyone But Mamdani: These Billionaires Are Spending Big To Stop Him From Becoming NYC’s Mayor |
Good morning,
Billionaire crypto executive Changpeng Zhao has found an ally in President Donald Trump.Trump pardoned Zhao, known as “CZ,” after he pled guilty to money laundering charges as part of a $4.3 billion settlement with the Justice Department, which also included him stepping down as head of crypto exchange Binance. He was later sentenced to four months in prison. In a statement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized the Biden Administration and its “war on cryptocurrency.” Meanwhile, Binance has played an important role in the Trump family’s crypto ventures, and the president, who has signaled support for the industry, is one of America’s biggest bitcoin investors.
Let’s get into the headlines, |
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President Donald Trump said he was terminating all trade negotiations with Canada after the provincial government of Ontario ran ads that showed former President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs, which Trump labeled as “FAKE.” The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute said in a statement on X that the ad “misrepresents” Reagan’s 1987 Radio Address, and “the Government of Ontario did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks.”
Quantum computing is the latest private industry the Trump Administration is considering taking a stake in, leading shares of firms in the sector to surge Thursday. The Commerce Department is in discussions with at least three quantum computing firms—including IonQ, Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum—about receiving equity in exchange for federal funding, the Wall Street Journal reported. |
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| Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist New York state assemblyman, remains well ahead of former Governor Andrew Cuomo and talk show host Curtis Sliwa in the race for New York City mayor—despite making more than a few enemies in high places. More than two dozen billionaires and members of billion-dollar families from around the country have sunk at least $100,000 each into supporting Cuomo (now running as an independent) or one of the other candidates running against Mamdani, according to a Forbes analysis. In all, billionaires have donated over $22 million to back opposition campaigns, flooding the airwaves and mailboxes of Big Apple residents with anti-Mamdani messages. Over half of those donations, about $13.6 million, came before Mamdani won the Democratic primary on June 24. More than half of that was donated by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who endorsed Cuomo and flooded a group called Fix The City, Inc. with $8.3 million in cash in June. But spending has ramped up in recent weeks; Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia, who also has a role in the Trump Administration, poured $3 million into three different anti-Mamdani groups on October 15 alone. It’s not just Trump allies, like casino magnate Steve Wynn and oil baron John Hess, or even just Republicans who are big anti-Mamdani spenders. Liberal donors including Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings, media entrepreneur Barry Diller and construction mogul John Fish, each sent Fix the City $250,000 before the primary. |
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| Mamdani’s mayoral platform does not call for the elimination of billionaires, but does promise to freeze rent in rent-controlled apartments, make city buses free and establish universal childcare, paid for in theory by raising the top marginal income tax rate in New York City by two points and hiking corporate income taxes from 7.25% to New Jersey’s rate of 11.5%. No surprise then that 16 of the 26 billionaire donors that Forbes found are city residents, including Bloomberg, Diller and the Tisch family. |
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| New sanctions on Russia’s largest oil companies are part of the reason why oil prices spiked Thursday, but such a large jump is also explained by how traders were positioned before the news. The futures market for oil is as tight as it has been in 15 years, meaning it is more prone to big swings when news breaks. |
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| Startup Redwood Materials raised $350 million to expand from recycling lithium-ion batteries to making grid-scale energy storage systems, bringing its valuation to over $6 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Tesla cofounder and board member JB Straubel, who Forbes estimates is worth at least $2 billion, started the company eight years ago to reduce reliance on China for the critical materials needed to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. Klaus Hommels, founder and chairman of Lakestar, one of Europe's largest venture capital funds, said it will no longer raise new “generalist” venture funds and instead shift its focus to existing startup investments. The news from Hommels, known for early bets on Facebook and Spotify, comes amid a fundraising slump for European venture funds. |
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| Democrats in Virginia will attempt to redraw their congressional map in an effort to pick up more House seats in next year’s midterm elections—the latest move by Democrats to counter Republican-led gerrymandering in other states, The New York Times reported. Virginia Democratic state lawmakers are angling to add two or three additional House seats to their map, up from the six they hold, following a similar effort in California. |
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| In a story that rocked the sports world Thursday, the Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones were among more than 30 people arrested as part of a federal investigation into illegal gambling schemes, FBI Director Kash Patel said. The arrests were connected to two indictments, one focused on accusations of illegal sports betting and one involving allegedly rigged poker games run by the Italian American Mafia. MORE: Prosecutors have detailed seven 2023 and 2024 NBA games they say were targets of bettors placing illegal wagers after they allegedly obtained insider information about players and games—including injury reports—from people inside the NBA who were then profiting from the bets. |
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3,000 | The number of CMS workers furloughed when the government shutdown began, about half of its staff | |
| 750,000 | The total number of government workers furloughed | |
| November 1 | The start of open enrollment for plans under the Affordable Care Act |
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| Taking short breaks away from work is shown to increase productivity—a so-called “side quest,” which is a term used to describe optional goals in a video game, can be activities like taking a walk, practicing a hobby or learning something new. In order to integrate side quests into your work day, carve out 30 to 60 minutes in the middle of the day, and if you’re a manager, model that behavior so your employees can learn from you. You don’t have to work nonstop to be effective at your job. |
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| GAMES | | QUIZ | | Online dating can be a challenging way to meet a romantic partner, but a new feature |
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