Buffet said that the only Berkshire board members who were informed about the decision were his children, Susie and Howard. He added that he expects Greg Abel, vice-chairman of the company’s non-insurance operations, to succeed him in the role.

“I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year-end,” said Buffett.

Greg Abel joined Berkshire Hathaway in 1999 when the company bought MidAmerican Energy, where he served as president. He became MidAmerican’s CEO in 2008, serving in the position for a decade before transitioning to Vice Chairman of Non-Insurance Businesses role and assuming a seat on Berkshire’s board of directors.

Buffett added that he intends to remain involved in the company in some capacity and won’t sell any of his Berkshire shares.

“I would still hang around and could conceivably be useful in a few cases. But the final word would be Greg’s,” Buffett shared. “… I would add this, the decision to keep every share is an economic decision because I think the prospects of Berkshire will be better under Greg’s management than mine.”

Buffett acquired Berkshire Hathaway, which was originally a textile manufacturer, in 1965 and became its CEO in 1970. He quickly transformed it into a conglomerate and positioned it as one of the most powerful companies in the world thanks to smart and timely investments. Today, Berkshire Hathaway’s Class A stock is worth $809,350 per share. Class B shares trade at $539.80 per share.

The post Warren Buffett to Step Down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO at the End of 2025 appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Tesla initially planned to produce a brand new model that would cost $25,000 before changing course in order to focus on the development of robotaxis. Instead, the carmaker decided to offer a “stripped-down” version of its popular Model Y that was slated to start production in the first half of 2025. This affordable model would be smaller and come with fewer features while being 20% cheaper to produce compared to the original.

Tesla still plans to produce 250,000 units of cheaper Model Y in the United States in 2026. However, the start of production will come at least a few months later than the company envisioned. The reasons for the delay remain undisclosed.

The EV giant reportedly also plans to produce the lower-cost Model Y in China and Europe while working on a cheaper version of Model 3 that will launch at a later date. 

The decision to introduce affordable models is part of Tesla’s strategy to address the slumping sales that the company faced in early 2025. It previously reported a 13% drop in sales for the first three months of the year, marking its worst quarter since 2022. Tesla’s stock has taken a hit as a result, being 36.36% down year-to-date.

The post Tesla Delays the Launch of U.S.-Made Affordable EV appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Speaking in front of the Economic Club of Chicago, Powell said that the Fed is well-positioned to “wait for greater clarity” before deciding on interest rate changes. 

“For the time being, we are well-positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance,” Powell stated.

The two main goals of the Fed are to keep the prices stable while maximizing employment. It makes changes to its policy based on which goal it needs to achieve. However, the tariffs could jeopardize both goals at the same time, causing inflation to surge while slowing economic growth.

“We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension,” Powell added. “If that were to occur, we would consider how far the economy is from each goal, and the potentially different time horizons over which those respective gaps would be anticipated to close.”

The markets didn’t react positively to Powell’s remarks. The benchmarks S&P 500 slid by 120.93 points or 2.24% while tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 516.01 points or 3.07%. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average went down by 700 points or 1.73%.

The post Fed to “Wait for Greater Clarity” Before Making Policy Adjustment Says Chair Jerome Powell appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

“I have authorized a 90-day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.

Speaking with reporters later in the day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that reciprocal tariffs were a “successful negotiating strategy” while explaining that the 90-day pause actually means the return of the baseline 10% tariff rate.

Shortly after Trump’s announcement, the U.S. stocks embarked on a ferocious rally. The benchmark S&P 500 soared 9.52% or 474.13 points to close at 5,456.90. This was the biggest single-day gain for the index since 2008.

Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite recorded its second-biggest daily gain in history. It improved by 1,857.06 or 12.16% to close at 17,124.97 points.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped by 7.87% or 2,962.86 points and ended Wednesday’s session at 40,608.45.

Overall, more than 30 billion shares, worth $1.5 trillion, were traded on Wednesday, marking Wall Street’s record in the last 18 years of available data.

The post U.S. Stocks Bounce Back in a Big Way Thanks to 90-Day Pause on Tariffs appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

ByteDance initially had a deadline of January 19 to sell TikTok in the U.S. or face a ban on national security grounds. However, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to postpone the deadline for 75 days with the intention of working out a deal that would see American owners take control of TikTok.

According to a report by the New York Times, Amazon signaled its intention to buy TikTok earlier this week by sending a letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. However, due to the nature and timing of the bid, the parties involved in negotiations are not taking it seriously.

Amazon’s interest in TikTok shouldn’t come as a surprise. TikTok is establishing itself as an emerging e-commerce platform while the two companies already have an established partnership that allows users to make purchases on Amazon through their TikTok app.

Cloud giant Oracle and alternative investor Blackstone are currently considered among the most serious bidders for TikTok. Sources close to negotiations say that a potential deal involving these two companies would allow ByteDance to keep an unspecified stake while also being provided with additional investments from its existing U.S. shareholders.   

The post Amazon Makes an Offer to Buy TikTok in the U.S. appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Musk confirmed the news via a post on X, saying that it was an all-stock transaction, which valued xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion. He stated that X’s full value was $45 billion before being lowered by $12 billion in debt.

“xAI and X’s futures are intertwined. Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent,” Musk added. “This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach.”

xAI was founded in 2023 by Musk as a competitor to ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. The company’s flagship product is the AI assistant Grok, which has been integrated into X since its inception. xAI had its latest funding round in December when it raised $6 billion and reached a valuation of $45 billion.

Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, paying $44 billion for the social media platform. He introduced a series of changes to the platform, including changing its name to X, while also making a series of job cuts. The company’s valuation dropped to $10 billion in September according to a report by Fidelity Investments, but apparently saw a massive turnaround since then.

The post Elon Musk Sells Social Media Platform X to His Own AI Startup xAI in a $33 Billion Deal appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

23andMe has been recently going through a rough patch, being forced to lay off 40% of its employees in November while halting projects related to the development of therapies. The company is now looking to sell itself and believes Chapter 11 will help speed up the process.

“After a thorough evaluation of strategic alternatives, we have determined that a court-supervised sale process is the best path forward to maximize the value of the business,” Chair Mark Jensen said in a statement.

Wojcicki made several attempts to take the company private again, but her takeover proposals have been rejected by the 23andMe board. Back in February, she offered $2.53 per share, valuing the company at around $75 million. She then came back with another bid earlier this month, offering $0.41 per share.

Following the bankruptcy filing, Wojcicki, who kept her board of directors seat, said she would make a new offer.

23andMe stock closed at $1.79 per share on Friday, already being down 49.58% since the start of the year. It plunged by another 43.58% in Monday’s pre-market trading.

The post 23andMe Files for Bankruptcy, Stock Crashes appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

The Fed’s benchmark borrowing rate is currently set at 4.25% to 4.5%, remaining unchanged since January. The future rate cuts are expected to amount to half a percentage point, bringing the rate to 3.75% to 4% range for the first time since November 2022.

The officials also shared their views on economic growth and inflation in the wake of recent tariff policy changes. They now expect slower economic growth and expect inflation to spike up to 2.7% compared to the current level of 2.5%.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated that the Fed’s stance on rates will continue to be based on the economic indicators.  

“If the economy remains strong, and inflation does not continue to move sustainably toward 2%, we can maintain policy restraint for longer,” Powell said. “If the labor market were to weaken unexpectedly, or inflation were to fall more quickly than anticipated, we can ease policy accordingly.”

The stock market reacted positively to the news, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures jumping by 0.2%. S&P 500 futures ticked up by 0.3% as did futures attached to Nasdaq Composite.

The post Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rates Intact, But Still Predicts Two Cuts in 2025 appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Walgreens and Sycamore Partners are looking to close the agreement by the end of the week with only minor issues left to be ironed out. Under the agreement, Sycamore Partners would initially pay between $11.30 a share and $11.40 a share in cash while including certain escalators that would drive the price up for shareholders if certain financial targets are reached.

Sycamore Partners reportedly plans to split up Walgreens Boots Alliance, keeping its core retail business while selling or taking public other parts of the company.

Bloomberg also reports that several credit lenders are looking to enter the deal by providing $4.5 billion of debt for funding purposes. HPS Investment Partners and Ares Management Corp. are believed to be among the interested parties.

After the news about the Sycamore Partners deal broke out, Walgreens stock rose as much as 8% before sliding down by 3.5% on Wednesday. The stock is trading at $10.66 per share, giving the company a market cap of $9.2 billion. For comparison, the company was valued at $100 billion in 2015.

The post Walgreens to Go Private in a $10 Billion Deal appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

TikTok previously became the subject of a law that required its China-based parent company ByteDance to sell the social media platform in the U.S. or be shut down. It was temporarily banned in mid-January before being given an additional 75 days to find a buyer.

Several investors showed interest in buying TikTok’s U.S. assets in recent months, with Project Liberty emerging as one of the most prominent suitors. The non-profit was founded in 2021 with the intention to “construct a new internet infrastructure” and develop “technology that serves the common good.”

McCourt previously stated that his primary goal with TikTok’s bid is to protect the personal data of the platform’s users in the United States. If he manages to acquire TikTok, he intends to employ a technology that would allow users to decide by themselves how their data will be used and shared. 

With Ohanian on board, Project Liberty’s bid gains further legitimacy and opens up new ways for funding.

“His unique vision and deep personal commitment to user empowerment through social media platforms align perfectly with our transformative approach. His endorsement of Frequency underscores its potential to redefine the internet. We are excited to have him on board as we work to usher in a new and better chapter for TikTok, and turn the momentum created from The People’s Bid into building The People’s Internet,” McCourt said in a statement.

The post Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian Joins Project Liberty’s Bid for TikTok appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Buffet said that the only Berkshire board members who were informed about the decision were his children, Susie and Howard. He added that he expects Greg Abel, vice-chairman of the company’s non-insurance operations, to succeed him in the role.

“I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year-end,” said Buffett.

Greg Abel joined Berkshire Hathaway in 1999 when the company bought MidAmerican Energy, where he served as president. He became MidAmerican’s CEO in 2008, serving in the position for a decade before transitioning to Vice Chairman of Non-Insurance Businesses role and assuming a seat on Berkshire’s board of directors.

Buffett added that he intends to remain involved in the company in some capacity and won’t sell any of his Berkshire shares.

“I would still hang around and could conceivably be useful in a few cases. But the final word would be Greg’s,” Buffett shared. “… I would add this, the decision to keep every share is an economic decision because I think the prospects of Berkshire will be better under Greg’s management than mine.”

Buffett acquired Berkshire Hathaway, which was originally a textile manufacturer, in 1965 and became its CEO in 1970. He quickly transformed it into a conglomerate and positioned it as one of the most powerful companies in the world thanks to smart and timely investments. Today, Berkshire Hathaway’s Class A stock is worth $809,350 per share. Class B shares trade at $539.80 per share.

The post Warren Buffett to Step Down as Berkshire Hathaway CEO at the End of 2025 appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Tesla initially planned to produce a brand new model that would cost $25,000 before changing course in order to focus on the development of robotaxis. Instead, the carmaker decided to offer a “stripped-down” version of its popular Model Y that was slated to start production in the first half of 2025. This affordable model would be smaller and come with fewer features while being 20% cheaper to produce compared to the original.

Tesla still plans to produce 250,000 units of cheaper Model Y in the United States in 2026. However, the start of production will come at least a few months later than the company envisioned. The reasons for the delay remain undisclosed.

The EV giant reportedly also plans to produce the lower-cost Model Y in China and Europe while working on a cheaper version of Model 3 that will launch at a later date. 

The decision to introduce affordable models is part of Tesla’s strategy to address the slumping sales that the company faced in early 2025. It previously reported a 13% drop in sales for the first three months of the year, marking its worst quarter since 2022. Tesla’s stock has taken a hit as a result, being 36.36% down year-to-date.

The post Tesla Delays the Launch of U.S.-Made Affordable EV appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Speaking in front of the Economic Club of Chicago, Powell said that the Fed is well-positioned to “wait for greater clarity” before deciding on interest rate changes. 

“For the time being, we are well-positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance,” Powell stated.

The two main goals of the Fed are to keep the prices stable while maximizing employment. It makes changes to its policy based on which goal it needs to achieve. However, the tariffs could jeopardize both goals at the same time, causing inflation to surge while slowing economic growth.

“We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension,” Powell added. “If that were to occur, we would consider how far the economy is from each goal, and the potentially different time horizons over which those respective gaps would be anticipated to close.”

The markets didn’t react positively to Powell’s remarks. The benchmarks S&P 500 slid by 120.93 points or 2.24% while tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 516.01 points or 3.07%. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average went down by 700 points or 1.73%.

The post Fed to “Wait for Greater Clarity” Before Making Policy Adjustment Says Chair Jerome Powell appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

“I have authorized a 90-day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.

Speaking with reporters later in the day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that reciprocal tariffs were a “successful negotiating strategy” while explaining that the 90-day pause actually means the return of the baseline 10% tariff rate.

Shortly after Trump’s announcement, the U.S. stocks embarked on a ferocious rally. The benchmark S&P 500 soared 9.52% or 474.13 points to close at 5,456.90. This was the biggest single-day gain for the index since 2008.

Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite recorded its second-biggest daily gain in history. It improved by 1,857.06 or 12.16% to close at 17,124.97 points.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped by 7.87% or 2,962.86 points and ended Wednesday’s session at 40,608.45.

Overall, more than 30 billion shares, worth $1.5 trillion, were traded on Wednesday, marking Wall Street’s record in the last 18 years of available data.

The post U.S. Stocks Bounce Back in a Big Way Thanks to 90-Day Pause on Tariffs appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

ByteDance initially had a deadline of January 19 to sell TikTok in the U.S. or face a ban on national security grounds. However, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to postpone the deadline for 75 days with the intention of working out a deal that would see American owners take control of TikTok.

According to a report by the New York Times, Amazon signaled its intention to buy TikTok earlier this week by sending a letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. However, due to the nature and timing of the bid, the parties involved in negotiations are not taking it seriously.

Amazon’s interest in TikTok shouldn’t come as a surprise. TikTok is establishing itself as an emerging e-commerce platform while the two companies already have an established partnership that allows users to make purchases on Amazon through their TikTok app.

Cloud giant Oracle and alternative investor Blackstone are currently considered among the most serious bidders for TikTok. Sources close to negotiations say that a potential deal involving these two companies would allow ByteDance to keep an unspecified stake while also being provided with additional investments from its existing U.S. shareholders.   

The post Amazon Makes an Offer to Buy TikTok in the U.S. appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Musk confirmed the news via a post on X, saying that it was an all-stock transaction, which valued xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion. He stated that X’s full value was $45 billion before being lowered by $12 billion in debt.

“xAI and X’s futures are intertwined. Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent,” Musk added. “This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach.”

xAI was founded in 2023 by Musk as a competitor to ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. The company’s flagship product is the AI assistant Grok, which has been integrated into X since its inception. xAI had its latest funding round in December when it raised $6 billion and reached a valuation of $45 billion.

Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, paying $44 billion for the social media platform. He introduced a series of changes to the platform, including changing its name to X, while also making a series of job cuts. The company’s valuation dropped to $10 billion in September according to a report by Fidelity Investments, but apparently saw a massive turnaround since then.

The post Elon Musk Sells Social Media Platform X to His Own AI Startup xAI in a $33 Billion Deal appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

23andMe has been recently going through a rough patch, being forced to lay off 40% of its employees in November while halting projects related to the development of therapies. The company is now looking to sell itself and believes Chapter 11 will help speed up the process.

“After a thorough evaluation of strategic alternatives, we have determined that a court-supervised sale process is the best path forward to maximize the value of the business,” Chair Mark Jensen said in a statement.

Wojcicki made several attempts to take the company private again, but her takeover proposals have been rejected by the 23andMe board. Back in February, she offered $2.53 per share, valuing the company at around $75 million. She then came back with another bid earlier this month, offering $0.41 per share.

Following the bankruptcy filing, Wojcicki, who kept her board of directors seat, said she would make a new offer.

23andMe stock closed at $1.79 per share on Friday, already being down 49.58% since the start of the year. It plunged by another 43.58% in Monday’s pre-market trading.

The post 23andMe Files for Bankruptcy, Stock Crashes appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

The Fed’s benchmark borrowing rate is currently set at 4.25% to 4.5%, remaining unchanged since January. The future rate cuts are expected to amount to half a percentage point, bringing the rate to 3.75% to 4% range for the first time since November 2022.

The officials also shared their views on economic growth and inflation in the wake of recent tariff policy changes. They now expect slower economic growth and expect inflation to spike up to 2.7% compared to the current level of 2.5%.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated that the Fed’s stance on rates will continue to be based on the economic indicators.  

“If the economy remains strong, and inflation does not continue to move sustainably toward 2%, we can maintain policy restraint for longer,” Powell said. “If the labor market were to weaken unexpectedly, or inflation were to fall more quickly than anticipated, we can ease policy accordingly.”

The stock market reacted positively to the news, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures jumping by 0.2%. S&P 500 futures ticked up by 0.3% as did futures attached to Nasdaq Composite.

The post Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rates Intact, But Still Predicts Two Cuts in 2025 appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

Walgreens and Sycamore Partners are looking to close the agreement by the end of the week with only minor issues left to be ironed out. Under the agreement, Sycamore Partners would initially pay between $11.30 a share and $11.40 a share in cash while including certain escalators that would drive the price up for shareholders if certain financial targets are reached.

Sycamore Partners reportedly plans to split up Walgreens Boots Alliance, keeping its core retail business while selling or taking public other parts of the company.

Bloomberg also reports that several credit lenders are looking to enter the deal by providing $4.5 billion of debt for funding purposes. HPS Investment Partners and Ares Management Corp. are believed to be among the interested parties.

After the news about the Sycamore Partners deal broke out, Walgreens stock rose as much as 8% before sliding down by 3.5% on Wednesday. The stock is trading at $10.66 per share, giving the company a market cap of $9.2 billion. For comparison, the company was valued at $100 billion in 2015.

The post Walgreens to Go Private in a $10 Billion Deal appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.

TikTok previously became the subject of a law that required its China-based parent company ByteDance to sell the social media platform in the U.S. or be shut down. It was temporarily banned in mid-January before being given an additional 75 days to find a buyer.

Several investors showed interest in buying TikTok’s U.S. assets in recent months, with Project Liberty emerging as one of the most prominent suitors. The non-profit was founded in 2021 with the intention to “construct a new internet infrastructure” and develop “technology that serves the common good.”

McCourt previously stated that his primary goal with TikTok’s bid is to protect the personal data of the platform’s users in the United States. If he manages to acquire TikTok, he intends to employ a technology that would allow users to decide by themselves how their data will be used and shared. 

With Ohanian on board, Project Liberty’s bid gains further legitimacy and opens up new ways for funding.

“His unique vision and deep personal commitment to user empowerment through social media platforms align perfectly with our transformative approach. His endorsement of Frequency underscores its potential to redefine the internet. We are excited to have him on board as we work to usher in a new and better chapter for TikTok, and turn the momentum created from The People’s Bid into building The People’s Internet,” McCourt said in a statement.

The post Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian Joins Project Liberty’s Bid for TikTok appeared first on theprimarymarket.com.