Top news
White House ranks loyalty of CEOs
The Trump Administration has created a ranking of 553 companies and lobby groups based on how supportive they are of President Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill," Axios reports. Companies’ support is ranked as “strong, moderate or low.” The loyalty list "helps us see who really goes out and helps vs. those who just come in and pay lip service," a White House source told Axios. CEOs are cowed by the list, the FT’s Gillian Tett says. “When I recently participated in different private roundtables with executives and investors, there was little private criticism either. Fealty and silence is the new norm.”
Tech CEOs praise Trump at presidential dinner
President Trump hosted a dinner after a meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education, at which CEOs thanked and praised the president for his pro-business stances. Apple’s Tim Cook, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and IBM’s Arvind Krishna attended. Elon Musk was conspicuous by his absence.
Trump warns ‘fairly substantial’ tariffs on chips are coming
“I’ve discussed it with the people here, chips and semiconductors, and we’ll be putting tariffs on companies that aren’t coming in,” the president said yesterday. “We’ll be putting a tariff very shortly. You probably are hearing we’ll be putting a fairly substantial tariff, or not that high, but a fairly substantial tariff.” Trump has previously floated the idea of a 100% tariff on imported chips. Companies that have moved operations to the U.S. will be spared.
Trump: Trade deals could “unwind”
President Donald Trump signaled during an Oval Office press conference this week that his administration may have to “unwind” recent international trade deals if the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't uphold his tariffs. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the court to make a decision by September 10 due to “sensitive ongoing diplomatic trade negotiations.”
Miran promises to be independent, kinda
Stephen Miran told Congress he would act independently if he were appointed as a Fed governor, but said he also wanted to keep his job in the White House at the same time.
DOJ brings charges against former unicorn CEO
The Department of Justice has charged the former CEO of a social media unicorn with fraud, among other charges, for allegedly misleading investors and destroying relevant records. Authorities claim Abraham Shafi, once CEO of startup IRL, greatly deflated the amount the company was spending on marketing and PR.
Suntory chairman says he broke no laws
Takeshi Niinami, who resigned as chairman of Suntory earlier this week, said he had bought a CBD supplement in the U.S. where it is legal but had never used the substance in Japan where it may not be. “I believe I did not violate any laws and am innocent,” he told reporters.
The markets
S&P 500 futures were up 0.2% this morning. The index closed up 0.83% to 6,502.08, another record high, in its last trading session. STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.33% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.36 in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 1.03%. China’s CSI 300 was up 2.18%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 0.13%. India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.19% before the end of the session. Bitcoin rose to $112.7K.
Around the watercooler
Inside the Anthropic ‘Red Team’ tasked with breaking its AI models—and burnishing the company’s reputation for safety by Sharon Goldman
America’s billionaires are older than ever, with one in five already in their 80s or 90s—as millennials await the Great Wealth Transfer by Jessica Coacci
Stripe and Paradigm announce new payments-focused blockchain Tempo by Leo Schwartz
America’s billionaires are worth $5.7 trillion—but they’ve only pledged or donated $185 billion of that in the last decade by Emma Burleigh
Frustrated Wall Street analysts want Apple to buy Perplexity. It’s reportedly planning to beef up Siri to beat it instead by Dave Smith
CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.
