Neal Freyman

1 month ago | morningbrew.com | Neal Freyman

Last week, Sam Altman stunned the tech world by teaming up with the lead designer of the iPhone to create a new device that could ultimately supplant the iPhone. His company, OpenAI, shelled out $6.5 billion in equity to acquire io, the one-year-old design firm led by famed former Apple designer Jony Ive. It’s an ultra-expensive bet that interacting with AI is best suited for a new kind of form factor beyond the brick in your pocket.

1 month ago | morningbrew.com | Neal Freyman

President Trump is traveling to the Middle East today for his first major international trip of his second term. And it’s strictly business. Over the next four days, Trump will roll through Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates in what’s expected to be an economics-heavy visit focused on securing investments from these oil-rich nations, who’ve become increasingly influential in sectors spanning AI to entertainment (remember where Disney is opening its next park? Abu Dhabi, in the UAE).

1 month ago | morningbrew.com | Neal Freyman

Inside Omaha’s CHI Health Center on Saturday, tens of thousands of Warren Buffett fans hung on his every word for hours, until they heard the ones they had dreaded the most: He’s stepping down. The 94-year-old stunned the business world when he closed out Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders meeting by revealing he would leave his CEO position by the end of the year. It even surprised his handpicked successor, Greg Abel, who wasn’t informed of the announcement beforehand.

2 months ago | morningbrew.com | Neal Freyman

The nation’s top universities are stockpiling cash at levels not seen since Covid or the Great Recession as they prepare for a financial standoff with the federal government. The Trump administration has so far pulled, suspended, or put under review more than $10 billion in funding to schools it says haven’t done enough to combat antisemitism, per the Wall Street Journal.

2 months ago | morningbrew.com | Abigail Rubenstein |Neal Freyman

In a Rose Garden speech anticipated with a level of hype usually reserved for Supreme collab drops, President Trump flipped the economic status quo that’s existed for decades on its head with the announcement of a minimum 10% tariff on all exporters to the US—plus higher reciprocal rates on countries he said maintain unfair trade barriers for American products. “Reciprocal. That means they do it to us, and we do it to them. Very simple,” Trump said.