- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady talks to Michael Dell about his big donation and perspective on giving.
- The big story: The AI race intensifies as Anthropic considers 2026 IPO.
- The markets: Mostly up, with Bitcoin staging a comeback.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. Earlier this week, I spoke to Michael Dell about his plan to put $250 in the so-called Trump Accounts (now called Invest America accounts) of 25 million American kids when the savings program launches next year. The $6.25 billion donation is more than double the total amount that the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation has dispensed in its 26-year history. As he told me in a wide-ranging interview: “When children have accounts like this, their outlook on life just changes.”
In some ways, it changed his. “When I was about 6 or 7 years old, I got a passbook savings account. I had maybe $6 or $7 in it. I’d go to the Savings & Loan, put in a quarter, and they’d stamp my book. I learned about compound interest and savings and, I’m like, ‘This is really cool,’” he said. “That ignited an interest in me. Hopefully, these accounts will cause children to want to learn more about compound interest and the companies in the S&P 500 and investing and saving.”
Dell went on to famously create the company now known as Dell Technologies in his freshman dorm room at the University of Texas at Austin in 1984, and made enough money to start giving it away about a decade later, with the foundation launching in 1999.
Of course, it’s easier to give away billions when you’re worth close to $150 billion, but Americans tend to be a generous lot. Overall, people gave $592.5 billion to U.S. charities last year, a new high that was no doubt boosted by stock market gains and a buoyant economy. It helps to have mechanisms that encourage giving, such as company matches and GivingTuesday, which the Dells chose for making their announcement. Brunswick Group CEO Henry Timms deserves credit for cofounding the GivingTuesday campaign in 2012 as a day for philanthropy following the big-spending traditions of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It’s since become a global ritual that raises billions in more than 60 countries.
Dell, for one, approaches philanthropy less as a handout than as an investment. “We’re very results-oriented, data-driven, outcome-focused. We took all the lessons from business and treat every grant like an investment,” he said, adding that he and his wife have other significant announcements to come. “I’ve had the opportunity to create a significant impact on the world through Dell Technologies, but the goal that we’ve set is that we want our philanthropy to have an even bigger impact.”
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
Top news
Anthropic preps for an IPO
Anthropic has reportedly hired lawyers from Wilson Sonsini for an upcoming IPO that could be one of the largest listings ever. The AI firm, which has prioritized safety, could potentially beat OpenAI to the public market with a 2026 offering. The AI race is also heating up on other fronts, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declaring ‘Code Red’ in response to the splashy release of Google’s Gemini 3.
HSBC’s new chair
After a year-long search for its next chair, HSBC has landed on its interim chairman Brendan Nelson. The longtime KPMG partner, 76, joined the board in 2023 and was named to the temporary chair role in October. The job was a tough one to fill since HBSC, Europe’s largest bank by assets, is based in London but earns a lot of its money in Asia.
Instagram’s meeting crackdown
Instagram head Adam Mosseri is calling U.S. employees back to the office five days a week and taking aim at unnecessary meetings. He encouraged workers to decline meetings that interfere with their focus time and said all recurring meetings will be canceled automatically every six months. Only ones that are “absolutely necessary” will resume, he said.
Binance names co-CEO
The world’s largest crypto exchange has a new co-CEO. Binance co-founder Yi He will lead the firm alongside Richard Teng who stepped into the top job after longtime leader Changpeng Zhao resigned amid a U.S. criminal investigation in mid-2023.
London’s run on office space
London is at risk of running out of prime office space due to high demand and a building slowdown caused by Brexit and the pandemic. Real estate broker Knight Frank projects the city’s vacancy rate for the highest quality office space will hit zero by 2028 as big name tenants BlackRock, Jane Street, Amazon Web Services and Bank of America hunt for hundreds of thousands of new square feet.
How selling TikTok U.S. could benefit ByteDance
Chinese tech giant ByteDance may be forced to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations as part of a deal with the U.S. government, but could the sale bolster the company’s established success with AI?
The markets
S&P 500 futures are up 0.17% this morning. The last session closed up 0.25%. STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.32% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.19% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 1.14%. China’s CSI 300 was down 0.51%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 1.04%. India’s NIFTY 50 is down 0.18%. Bitcoin was up at $93K.
Around the watercooler
Elon Musk says he warned Trump against tariffs, which U.S. manufacturers blame for a turn to more offshoring and diminishing American factory jobs by Sasha Rogelberg
Nvidia CFO admits the $100 billion OpenAI megadeal ‘still’ isn’t signed—two months after it helped fuel an AI rally by Eva Roytburg
CEO of $5.6 billion Swiss bank says country is still the ‘No. 1 location’ for wealth after voters reject a tax on the ultrarich by Jessica Coacci
CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Claire Zillman.
