The markets: The U.S. markets all closed down yesterday. The S&P 500 lost more than 1%, hitting 5909.03, as it struggles to regain the 6,000 level. Europe and Asia were mixed this morning. US futures ticked up 0.34% before the opening bell.
Today: Analysts cast doubt on the future of Jane Fraser at Citi. Fraser is one of the Fortune 500’s most prominent female CEOs but she hasn’t hit profitability targets and Citi lags its peers on that measure. “We suspect that if [Fraser] doesn’t show real progress relatively soon, she will be forced out to make way for someone who can,” Oppenheimer’s Chris Kotowski told clients. Citi declined to comment to the FT.
CEO Daily insight: Lionel Barber on SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son’s FOMO machine
Good morning. With so much attention on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang — who this week debuted the Cosmos platform that could revolutionize robotics, self-driving cars and more — it’s easy to ignore a man who was once Nvidia’s largest shareholder: SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son. (Son sold a $4 billion stake in 2019 that would have been worth almost $180 billion if he had waited until earlier this week.)
Now, Son has pledged to invest $100 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, with a focus primarily on AI. He told shareholders last year that he feels his purpose is to enable artificial general intelligence that’s 10,000 times smarter than the smartest person on earth.
Is Son late to the AI party, the next big thing – or both?
I spoke with Lionel Barber yesterday to get a deeper perspective. The former editor of the Financial Times just published a book called Gambling Man: The Secret Story of the World’s Greatest Disruptor, Masayoshi Son, that will go on sale later this month. Barber writes about Son’s rise to become one of the world’s boldest investors, with high-profile successes like Yahoo! and Alibaba — and also failures like WeWork.
What most interests me right now is Barber’s perspective on how Son keeps bouncing back.
“He’s a bit of a proponent of The Art of War,” said Barber. “You basically make people believe that you’re on the defensive. You may be even beaten, but meanwhile, you’re plotting your comeback, and you’re working to restore relations with allies. You’re working to get the money for your next big push.”
“He’s a sort of Zelig figure, having been around in the background during all the key moments in recent financial history, from, you know, the microchip to the launch of the internet through to the explosion of venture capital.”
“He’s also unbelievably resilient, like one of these rubber balls, I also think he’s a great salesman. Why has he persuaded people to give him all this money? It’s FOMO–this notion that you’re going to miss out, and you’ll miss out big time.”
Also on the radar
The world bets against China: China’s currency, the onshore renminbi or yuan, fell to a 16-month low against the dollar on news of impending tariffs from Trump. The decline comes despite the People’s Bank of China’s efforts to defend the yuan. Analysts are increasingly concerned over the health of the Chinese economy after Xi Jinping ordered that a prominent Chinese economist be censored for suggesting that the country’s GDP growth is lower than official estimates. The bond market seems to be betting that China may be heading into an extended period of deflation, Bloomberg reports.
Trump refused to rule out the use of force in Greenland and Panama. He also floated renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” Foreign leaders, who brushed off this type of bluster in Trump’s first term, are increasingly confused as to how to respond this time around. Remember: There is a difference between what Trump says and what he actually does.
Trump wins one, loses one. Two judges on separate cases ruled yesterday that the president-elect’s sentencing in the Stormy Daniels hush money case will not be delayed but that a special counsel report into investigations against Trump that did not result in charges should not be released.
Los Angeles ablaze: Three huge fires to the North, East and West of Los Angeles are engulfing entire neighborhoods and forcing the evacuation of thousands. LA Times live blog here.
X’s Linda Yaccarino announced new AI-driven advertising features at CES.
Mark Zuckerberg wore a watch worth $900,000 to in the big video announcement you all saw yesterday about ending censorship at Facebook, Instagram, and Threads
Advertisers are unhappy about Zuck’s announcement — they prefer brand-safe spaces — but say they’ll probably continue advertising with Meta anyway.
From the analysts
- Bank of America’s Rahul Bajoria says India’s nominal GDP growth has slowed substantially. ”This is the slowest pace since the pandemic and is now reversing the gains made on recovering lost output,” according to a note seen by Fortune.
- Uber: BofA’s Justin Post and Michael McGovern were impressed by the advantages that Nvidia’s chips and AI development generally will have for Uber’s push into autonomous driving, and its choice of partners and suppliers, according to a note seen by Fortune. “Uber is one of our top picks for 2025 … as we believe AV-proliferation overhang can change with new deals. Reiterate Buy on Uber.”
More news below.
Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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TOP NEWS
Meta takes censorship memo from X
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg released a video on Tuesday announcing that the Facebook and Instagram parent company is shifting away from fact checkers to a “community notes” system, much like the one used by competitor X. According to Zuckerberg, “we’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship.” Fortune
Nvidia trounces competitors in market cap
Nvidia hit a market cap of $3.66 trillion on Monday, more than double the market caps of all of the chipmaker's competitors combined. The company’s market cap slumped to $3.47 trillion on Tuesday, which still far outpaces the competition. Fortune
Execs are optimistic about M&A
New research from JPMorgan Chase published yesterday found that 43% of middle-market CEOs see “strategic” opportunities like partnerships or acquisitions on the way in 2025. The survey also measured double-digit jumps in confidence in the economy from heads of small and medium-sized businesses. Fortune
AROUND THE WATERCOOLER
Global ad giant WPP issues sweeping RTO mandate for its 114,000 staff, calling them back to office 4 days a week by Prarthana Prakash
Why OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and AI skeptic Gary Marcus are both wrong about today’s AI by Jeremy Kahn
Lucid Motors’ moment of truth nears as it readies launch of its first SUV, which drives farther than any Tesla on a single charge by Christiaan Hetzner
This edition of CEO Daily was curated by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.
