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In October, Claudia Sheinbaum made history when she was sworn in as the first female president of Mexico. “It is time for women,” she said in her inauguration speech.
Unfortunately, much of the world is not getting this message. The Reykjavík Index, a survey of G7 countries, found that public confidence in female leadership across business and politics is declining.
But President Sheinbaum and the other members of Forbes’ 2024 Power Women list are defying those trends. Take Melinda French Gates, at No. 8, who has pledged $1 billion over the next two years to advance women’s power globally, or Malina Ngai, No. 75, Group CEO of AS Watson—the world’s largest international health and beauty retailer.
FIRST UP
UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect Luigi Mangione appears to have been an active Reddit user, posting in communities centered around spinal pain, travel gear and the game Pokémon Go, according to archived comments. The New York Times later reported that the account was deleted by Reddit, which said that its policy is to suspend accounts that may be connected to “suspects in high-profile criminal investigations.”
MORE: In social media posts such as those on Reddit, Mangione appeared to have detailed his issues with lower back pain and spondylolisthesis, a rare back condition caused by the vertebrae in the spine slipping out of place. In a subreddit for people diagnosed with the condition, the since-deleted account posted: “Seemingly all I could read on the internet was that I was destined to chronic pain and a desk job for the rest of my life.”
The law to ban TikTok or force its sale to an American owner was upheld by a powerful appeals court last week, but if it takes effect, the law will prohibit Oracle from hosting TikTok users’ data. Oracle’s $1 billion partnership with TikTok is meant to keep U.S. users’ private information inaccessible by employees at TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, but the law could put Americans’ data back in the Chinese company’s hands.
BUSINESS + FINANCE
A federal judge on Tuesday scrapped the sale of Alex Jones’ Infowars to the satirical news website The Onion, ruling that the auction process failed to adequately compensate the family of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims. The judge said the sale to The Onion “left a lot of money on the table” for the Sandy Hook families, who Jones has been ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in damages for promoting conspiracy theories about the incident.
A federal judge blocked a $25 billion merger between Kroger and Albertsons on Tuesday, siding with the Federal Trade Commission over concerns about competition in the supermarket business. The FTC argued alongside eight states that the proposed merger would give Americans who are already contending with rising food prices fewer choices in the grocery market.
Small businesses are getting a much-needed reprieve from inflation and high interest rates, and recent rule changes to the Small Business Administration’s 504 loan program make it easier for businesses to refinance debt and capitalize on lower rates. The program helps small businesses finance major expenses with lower down payments and longer repayment terms than traditional loans, and the SBA recently streamlined the process and expanded the types of loans eligible for refinancing.
WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Larry Ellison, Oracle’s billionaire cofounder and the world’s third-richest person, saw his net worth plummet by more than $13 billion Tuesday as the company’s stock suffered its worst loss in nearly a year. The company’s earnings report fell short of expectations, though analysts remained optimistic about the database software firm’s cloud business.
TECH + INNOVATION
General Motors said Tuesday it is folding its Cruise robotaxi unit and combining it with in-house efforts to develop autonomous driving technologies for personal vehicles. Despite Cruise raising more than $8 billion, GM said it will take too long and cost too much to scale the business to compete with rivals.
Laude Ventures, a seed-stage firm from Databricks and Perplexity cofounder Andy Konwinski, early backer Pete Sonsini and Antimatter CEO Andrew Krioukov, has closed a $150 million first fund to invest in pre-seed and seed stage startups. Its partners hope to back about 25 companies with their first fund, focusing on research-driven, highly-technical founders at their alma mater UC Berkeley and elsewhere.
MONEY + POLITICS
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz is getting his own show on OAN, the conservative network announced Tuesday, weeks after Gaetz dropped out of the running to serve as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general amid allegations of sexual misconduct. The pro-Trump network has limited distribution—it was dropped by DirecTV in 2022—and it has promoted the president-elect’s false claims of election fraud in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
Trump on Tuesday promised to fast track environmental approvals and other permits for any company making an investment of $1 billion or more in the U.S., though how he plans to do so remains unclear. Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the federal government is required to conduct environmental reviews before approving energy production plans, infrastructure builds and other projects.
DAILY COVER STORY
Why Caitlin Clark Is One Of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women In 2024
TOPLINE Groundbreaking, galvanizing, and history-making. Those are some of the words to describe the year Caitlin Clark has had.
After leading Iowa to the NCAA women’s finals—which was watched by a record 18.7 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched games in college basketball history and surpassed the men’s final for the first time—Clark went on to become the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft.
In her inaugural WNBA season, she continued making history—she set rookie records for most points and assists, and was named the league’s Rookie of the Year. Alongside draft class members Angel Reese, Cameron Brink and Kamilla Cardoso, Clark is credited with driving a record 54 million viewers to ABC, NBC, ESPN and their cable peers to watch the WNBA’s regular season.
All of that attention is also lucrative: Over the summer, the WNBA struck an 11-year $2.2 billion media rights deal with Disney, Amazon Prime and NBC.
A basketball player has never before made the ranks of the Forbes list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, but the 22-year-old Clark was a driving force in a game-changing year for women’s sports—which is why she’s No. 100 on this year’s list, the spot reserved for someone who may not wield hard power like a CEO or president does, but who has nonetheless driven a major narrative in the year.
“Caitlin Clark became the lightning rod of this moment in time,” says Thayer Lavielle, the executive director of Wasserman’s sports division, The Collective.
WHY IT MATTERS Dawn Staley, who as the head coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks now has three NCAA women’s titles to her name, told Forbes in July that the momentum behind women’s sports has been building for so long that it’s finally “uncontrollable.” But it also takes a singular figure to truly galvanize consumer interest.
“I think sometimes you need a unifier,” Staley said. “I think Caitlin Clark has done a tremendous job at being that person people want to see. She’s brought a different set of eyeballs to our game.”
MORE Power Rising: These Are The Women To Watch In 2025
FACTS + COMMENTS
Walgreens shares surged Tuesday after the Wall Street Journal reported it is in talks to sell itself to a private equity firm. The news comes as the drugstore chain has struggled financially:
Over 20%: The spike in Walgreens’ stock after the report was released, before ending the day up 18%
$9 billion: The company’s market cap this year, down from $105 billion in 2015
61%: The decline in Walgreens shares since the start of the year
STRATEGY + SUCCESS
As a result of the 2017 tax law, fewer people are itemizing their deductions—which means they can’t get a tax break for charitable contributions. But if you are looking for a deduction anyway, consider bunching your gifts into one year instead of spreading them out. You can also donate appreciated assets like real estate, which will allow you to both avoid paying capital gains tax and claim a charitable deduction.
VIDEO
QUIZ
You can now purchase a car on Amazon, including getting financing. Which manufacturer’s vehicles will be offered?
A. Honda
B. Toyota
C. Hyundai
D. Kia
Check your answer.
Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Chris Dobstaff and Sarah Whitmire.