Trump's $1 billion promise, RFK Jr. on Ozempic, and Microsoft rejects Bitcoin: Business news roundup

President-elect Donald Trump’s latest pitch to major corporations and wealthy business leaders: Invest $1 billion in the U.S. and he’ll drastically slash any red tape slowing them down.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has shed more light on his views on popular weight-loss treatments.

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On Jan. 1, 2025, millions of workers across the U.S. will see their paychecks grow as the minimum wage rises in 21 states.

According to the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a nonprofit advocacy group, these changes, driven by cost-of-living adjustments, reflect a growing effort to ensure wages keep pace with inflation.  

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UnitedHealth Group (UNH) CEO Andrew Witty defended the company’s claim denial practices in a leaked video recorded after the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth’s insurance subsidiary. The video has sparked another round of online backlash against the company regarding how it evaluates medical claims.

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Microsoft (MSFT) shareholders voted against adding Bitcoin to the company’s balance sheet on Tuesday.

The decision follows the board’s recommendation to vote against the proposal, citing Microsoft’s existing strategy of evaluating a diverse range of investable assets, including Bitcoin, as part of its broader investment framework.

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American fans of long-distance airline travel may soon have a new option to look out for when booking their tickets.

The airline industry news site The Air Current reports that the Federal Aviation Administration has given its approval to the Airbus (AIR) A321XLR, a plane capable of some of the longest commercial trips in the world.  

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A new, state-of-the-art quantum chip from Google (GOOGL) has cracked the code on an almost three-decade-long problem, according to the company.

Google’s latest quantum chip, Willow, has demonstrated “two major achievements” in quantum computing, including “exponentially” reducing the rate of errors when adding more qubits — a challenge that has existed for almost 30 years, Hartmut Neven, founder and lead of Google Quantum AI, said in a statement.

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Elon Musk was already the richest person on the planet. Now, thanks to Tesla, xAI, and SpaceX’s surging valuations, he’s worth more than $400 billion, according to Bloomberg News’s calculations.

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Chet Kapoor compares today’s generative AI landscape to the early days of the iPhone and Angry Birds

Chet Kapoor discusses his time at NeXT and how Jobs’ vision would have shaped AI today