Crystal Kim

1 month ago | thedailyupside.com | Crystal Kim

The huzzahs out of Washington, D.C., and Beijing post US-China trade talks are obscuring the biggest beneficiary of the Trump administration’s trade agenda — Japan. Some $57 billion in foreign investments poured into the country’s securities in April as investors and central bank managers sought shelter from the Trump administration’s trade herky-jerky.

1 month ago | thedailyupside.com | Crystal Kim

Some educational tech platforms are falling behind as students increasingly embrace popular generative-AI chatbots and tools. Chegg, an online education company that offers textbook rentals and homework help, said on Monday that it would lay off 248 employees, or 22% of its workforce, as part of a broad restructuring effort. It is also closing physical offices in the US and Canada by the end of the year and reducing new product development initiatives.

1 month ago | thedailyupside.com | Crystal Kim

Where there’s a will, there’s a way, tariffs or no tariffs. The US-China meeting in Geneva over the weekend is ginning up hopes that companies caught in the crosshairs of a trade war will soon get some relief — President Trump floated the idea of cutting tariffs to 80% from 145% ahead of the discussions in a show of de-escalation. But some enterprising Chinese exporters looking to keep costs down have already taken matters into their own hands.

1 month ago | thedailyupside.com | Crystal Kim

De Beers, caught between a rock and a hard market, is dropping its lab-grown jewelry brand. The world’s largest diamond producer on Thursday said it plans to shutter LightBox and is in discussions with potential buyers to sell off assets, including inventory. The decision aligns with its majority owner, UK-listed Anglo American, restructuring its business from a diversified model to a more focused one. Anglo American plans to spin off or sell De Beers, though timing remains unclear.

1 month ago | thedailyupside.com | Crystal Kim

One small step for SpaceX; one giant leap for Elon Musk’s fever dreams. Musk’s space company is getting a boost to fulfill its long-publicized mission to Mars. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday approved SpaceX’s request to quintuple annual Starship launches out of its home base at the southern tip of Texas, which, as of Saturday, has its own city — a testing site, perhaps, before eventual Mars colonization.