Free Republic

Tim Cook's Apple succession plan is unfolding in plain sight as executives Kate Adams, Lisa Jackson, John Giannandrea, and Alan Dye depart Cupertino—but this isn't corporate chaos, it's choreographed transition. Giannandrea's removal follows Apple Intelligence failures and broken Siri promises, while Alan Dye's surprise departure to Meta left Apple blindsided, with insiders reportedly celebrating his exit and welcoming replacement Stephen LeMay. Meanwhile, Johny Srouji confirmed he's staying despite Mark Gurman's Bloomberg report, and Apple's Silicon chief remains crucial to the company's future under a likely John Ternus CEO succession. Comparing Apple's strategy to GE's Jack Welch disaster, Amazon's smooth Bezos-to-Jassy...

The US has approved a package of arms sales to Taiwan worth up to $11 billion — one of its biggest ever — a move that will likely draw a sharp response from Beijing. The approvals announced late Wednesday by the State Department cover a broad range of equipment, including missiles, drones and artillery systems aimed at strengthening the democracy’s defenses. The package includes a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, valued at up to $4.05 billion, as well as self-propelled howitzers worth about

An old report has brought back a question Donald Trump’s team hoped would disappear: did the FBI work through the night to remove his name from the Jeffrey Epstein files before saying there was nothing left to release? The timing is important as Trump has suddenly reversed his stance on making the documents public. Sources familiar with the process told Bloomberg, “We know from news reports that Trump’s name was in the Epstein files. But what hasn’t been reported is that an FBI FOIA team redacted Trump’s name and the names of other prominent public figures from the documents.” The...

Dan Niles, founder and portfolio manager at Niles Investment Management, joins CNBC's 'Money Movers' to discuss his outlook on this week's Big Tech earnings, the rise in Qualcomm stock, and more. You will see a 30 to 50% correction in many AI-related names next year, says Dan Niles | 6:01 CNBC Television | 3.26M subscribers | 41,414 views | October 27, 2025

Former NYC Mayor Bloomberg donates $500,000 to Bennet campaign Bloomberg's donation to Bennet's Super PAC is by far the largest single donation. US Senator Michael Bennet promises more affordable housing in Colorado if he wins the 2026 governor's race By: Shannon OgdenOct 20, 2025 A windfall for the Colorado gubernatorial campaign of Sen. Michael Bennet from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The Colorado Secretary of State's records show Bloomberg donated $500,000 to Bennet's super PAC "Rocky Mountain Way." It is by far the single-largest donation. Bloomberg, a billionaire philanthropist, was a three-term mayor of New York City and...

Apple Loses More AI Talent, But Enters Touch PC Market | 8:59Bloomberg Podcasts | 354K subscribers | 14,117 views | October 16, 2025

Regional bank stocks tumbled on Thursday after Zions Bancorp said it would write off fraudulent loans made to two borrowers, adding to investors’ fears about lending standards and stress in credit markets. Zions Bancorp (ZION) on Thursday said it had recently identified “what it believes to be apparent misrepresentations and contractual defaults” by two borrowers. As a result, it plans to write off $50 million of the $60 million outstanding on the affected loans. Shares of Zions dropped 13% on Thursday, leading regional banks lower. The KBW Regional Banking Index fell 6%. The recent bankruptcies of two companies in the...

Crypto prices tumbled amid investor concerns over economic stability and escalating trade disputes. Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two major cryptocurrencies, crashed after United States President Donald Trump announced a 100% tariff on 'any and all critical software' import goods from China. The continuing trade tensions between the two countries were significantly heightened by this move. According to Reuters, Bitcoin had dropped 8.4% to £78,000 ($104,782) as of 21:20 GMT. Ethereum also had a 5.8% decline, settling at £2,700 ($3,637). XRP, DOGE and Ada fell around 19%, 27%, and 25% in the last 24 hours, respectively, Bloomberg reported.…..

Billionaire investor Ken Griffin has warned that some of the brightest students from countries like India might never make it to the US and that this could hurt the country’s future. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, the Citadel CEO said the real loss isn’t the $100,000 cost of an H-1B visa, but it’s when a talented student in India or a math and physics prodigy in China chooses to stay home instead of coming to the US. “Fortunately, we’re in a sector of the economy where a $100,000 one-time cost to hire a person is not going to be...

<p>Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte sent a new criminal referral against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, intensifying the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against the central bank board member over allegations of mortgage fraud. The new referral, in a letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi dated Aug. 28, concerns a third property in Massachusetts and follows a complaint earlier this month alleging that Cook fraudulently listed homes in Michigan and Georgia as her “primary residence” when she obtained mortgages in 2021, a declaration that typically secures more favorable loan terms.</p>

Microsoft warns patched systems remain vulnerable as attackers find new ways to infiltrate SharePoint servers. Microsoft has issued a critical warning about Chinese state-backed hackers exploiting security flaws in its SharePoint software. These vulnerabilities have been used to compromise a growing list of government agencies and private organizations worldwide, including the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). In a detailed blog post, Microsoft identified three hacking groups with ties to China. The groups, known as Linen Typhoon, Violet Typhoon, and Storm-2603, are believed to have taken advantage of SharePoint weaknesses that mainly affect customers who operate the software on their...

Despite having called Bitcoin BTC +0.59% an "immature asset class" that is inappropriate for long-term investors, Vanguard Group has become the largest shareholder in Strategy, according to a report from Bloomberg. Through its funds, the $10-trillion money manager owns 20 million Strategy shares or 8% of the outstanding common stock, according to a Bloomberg chart. Vanguard most likely passed Capital Group Cos. to become the top shareholder of Strategy shares during the fourth quarter, the report said. Strategy (ticker MSTR), formerly known as MicroStrategy, has become a proxy bet for Bitcoin as the company's chief business proposition has been acquiring...

according to Bloomberg News. Most of the hikes in US prices came on Friday, with markups significantly higher in some categories than others, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. The average price for the top 100 products in the beauty and health category increased by 51% from Thursday, with several of the items more than doubling in price. For home and kitchen products and toys, the average jump was more than 30%, led by a massive 377% increase in the price of a 10-piece set of kitchen towels. For women’s clothing the rise was 8%. E-commerce shopping platforms like...

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin used his veto power to send a bill back to the Democrat-controlled legislature with a clever change. The legislature last month passed a bill introduced by State Delegate Laura Jane Cohen (D-Fairfax), a far-left former school board member, requiring schools to text and email parents each school year, admonishing them to lock up any guns they own. Youngkin added a provision that would require schools to also communicate with parents before transitioning a child to a different gender. Democrats previously voted down a similar bill, but now they will have to vote whether to accept or...

Everytown for Gun Safety is also trying to swing the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. The radical anti-gun rights group is spending $600,000 on an advertisement targeting former attorney general and Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel—a staunch defender of the Second Amendment. Guess who backs them? Mega donor Michael Bloomberg. WI, please, I need you to go out and vote. We cannot afford to lose two house seats.

For years, the CIA has categorically denied the existence of secret prisons—or black sites—on U.S. soil. However, a now-deleted list of government-owned properties suggests that the agency may have indeed owned a facility used for secretive operations. The list included government properties that the General Services Administration, at the direction of the Trump administration’s DOGE, planned to sell. Among the properties on the list was a highly sensitive complex in Northern Virginia long tied to CIA operations. The GSA published the list on Thursday but quickly took it down the next day, according to Wired and Bloomberg. “Obviously, someone did...

The White House yanked a reporter at a left-leaning news outlet from the rotation of journalists given special access to President Trump, making good on its pledge to rip control away from the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA). HuffPost’s White House correspondent S.V. Date had been slated to serve as the daily print pool reporter Wednesday, but the Trump administration booted him in the wee hours of the night and replaced him with an Axios reporter. The administration also kicked Reuters out of the spot it enjoyed as a wire service. In the past, Reuters, the Associated Press and Bloomberg...

magine a state’s attorney general accepting staff who were paid by a foundation that was funded by an out of state billionaire who had financial and political interests he wanted advanced. These volunteer assistant attorneys general waste little time filing lawsuits against the billionaire’s adversaries in Minnesota. They pursue their actions knowing full well that even if they succeed, the only result will be higher prices for all Minnesotans. That’s exactly what is happening right now in the Minnesota attorney general’s office. Recently, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office filed a lawsuit against the American Petroleum Institute, Exxon Mobil, and...

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison claims to be the “People’s Lawyer.” But documents say he spoke at a lavish Hawaii retreat in June 2021 partially funded by companies he’s investigating, including Meta and Google. A 2021 retreat agenda of the Attorney General Alliance says Ellison participated in a lunch conversation at the Grand Wailea hotel with New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas about managing high-profile criminal matters. The AGA is a bipartisan group funded via corporate sponsorship tiers from $10,000 to $50,000, according to documents reviewed by The Center Square. A 2020 AGA sponsorship list obtained by The Center Square...

Gun-owners are getting exactly what they voted for with President Trump. There’s now an accounting for government malfeasance in process and he’s turned up the receipts. President Trump is delivering on his promise to break open the secretive spending habits of government officials. It’s exactly what voters wanted and, frankly, expected. The results, however, have been jaw-dropping. Gun control proponents have been smashing open the government piggy bank to swipe dollars for their pet gun control projects. That’s right. Gun control advocates were using taxpayer dollars to fund their campaigns to rob Americans of their Constitutionally-protected rights to keep and...