🌏 Trump’s inauguration funders

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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Sam Altman said OpenAI’s former board members “f—ed” him. The organization’s CEO recently recalled his unhappiness at being temporarily ousted over policy differences.

Donald Trump’s transition team may whittle down his most controversial tariff plan. Aides are reportedly trying to narrow the number of products affected by higher duties.

Chick-fil-A infuriated fans with a “slight” change to its waffle fry recipe. A bid to increase the side order’s crispiness is not going over well.

Winter Storm Blair has led to hundreds of flight cancellations on Monday. Major airlines are advising customers to keep a close eye on their flight schedules.

Disney found a way to kill a lawsuit stalling its new venture. It bought Fubo, the streamer that had been suing it over plans for the “anticompetitive” sports platform Venu.

An inaugural spending spree

Elections aren’t the only time that the business world donates money to politicians. Donald Trump has raised a record $150 million — and counting — from companies and executives donating money to his inauguration fund.

Trump’s haul is more than double the amount raised by Joe Biden’s inauguration fund. Among the president-elect’s benefactors are household names like Amazon, Uber, and Sam Altman of OpenAI, who are all making million-dollar contributions.

Who else is donating big sums to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund? Quartz’s William Gavin identifies a few of them.

Healthy insurance market shares

The health insurance industry has been spending the last few years doing a lot of consolidation. After all of its mergers and acquisitions, the sector’s seven biggest companies now control 75% of the market.

For instance: Kaiser Permanente, which merged with Geisinger in 2023, now has 7% of the insurance market. And it is by no means the biggest player.

Which health insurers control how much of the industry? Quartz’s Bruce Gil runs down their respective market shares.

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SURPRISING DISCOVERIES

America’s biggest ski resort is dealing with a ski patrol strike. Mountain safety staffers at Utah’s Park City Resort walked off the job.

AI adoption is moving faster than corporate America anticipated. Workers are making use of the technology more quickly than employee handbooks can regulate the rules around it. (paywall)

Big cities are good for GDP growth. Economists estimate that U.S. economic output would have been 8% lower by 2010 if cities had been limited to 1 million residents since 1900.

A special set of treasure hunters are helping recover museum artifacts. The Cave Clan, an urban spelunking group, is helping Melbourne, Australia’s Museums Victoria recover items washed into the sewer after flooding. (paywall)

Your car is probably keeping tabs on you. More than 3 in 4 car brands say they can share or sell the data of their vehicles’ drivers. (paywall)

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