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While solar power helps reduce carbon emissions, solar farms also take up a lot of valuable green space. A new company from billionaire Robinhood cofounder Baiju Bhatt is exploring a solution: Build the solar panels in space.
Unlike its competitors, Aetherflux’s approach is to use infrared lasers to beam power to the Earth’s surface, allowing for smaller, cheaper satellites. Bhatt is using his own fortune, which Forbes estimates at over $1.5 billion, to carry the company through its first mission of launching a satellite to test its technology. But he admits that outside capital will be needed down the line.
“We’re entering an era of space exploration that is going to become totally different in the next five to 10 years,” he said.
FIRST UP
More than 3 million homes and businesses were without power early Thursday as Hurricane Milton exited Florida as a category 1 storm after spawning multiple tornadoes and major flooding as it moved through the state overnight. The hurricane made landfall Wednesday near the Siesta Key in Sarasota County as a Category 3 hurricane, with strong winds causing heavy damage, including destroying part of the roof at Tropicana Field—home to the Tampa Bay Rays—which is being used as a staging site for workers to deal with the hurricane’s aftermath, according to the Associated Press.
BUSINESS + FINANCE
Federal Reserve officials were split over the size of last month’s interest rate cuts, though “a substantial majority” supported the jumbo 0.5 percentage-point cut that was ultimately made. Minutes from the Fed’s meeting showed an unusually divisive moment for the central bank, where several staff members noted that a smaller cut “could risk a stalling or a reversal of the progress on inflation,” while others noted the challenges of a “weakening” economy once growth deterioration is already underway.
Ratan Tata, a former chairman of Tata Group who led the Indian megacompany through multiple significant international acquisitions, died at age 86, the group announced Wednesday. Under his leadership, Tata companies acquired firms like tea company Tetley, British car makers Jaguar and Land Rover, Tyco Global Network and more. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Tata as “a visionary business leader.”
WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP
India’s 100 richest tycoons are worth a collective $1.1 trillion, surpassing the trillion-dollar milestone for the first time, and making them more than twice as rich as they were in 2019. The country’s richest person is Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, worth $119.5 billion, while infrastructure magnate Gautam Adani was the biggest dollar gainer, with a net worth of $116 billion.
Matthew Stuller has become America’s wholesale jewelry king, with a net worth that Forbes estimates at more than $1 billion. He has built his fortune through a relentless focus on manufacturing processes, logistics and satisfying his retailer customers’ every need.
TECH + INNOVATION
OpenAI requested the dismissal of Elon Musk’s federal lawsuit against the company, alleging that it was a harassment effort aimed at boosting the billionaire’s own artificial intelligence startup xAI. Musk has accused OpenAI of abandoning its founding mission of developing an open artificial intelligence platform to “benefit humanity” in favor of maximizing profits.
MONEY + POLITICS
Tim Sheehy, the GOP candidate trying to unseat U.S. Senator Jon Tester in a tight Montana race, is getting plenty of help from billionaire backers. In all, 12 billionaires have given more than $1 million apiece to groups backing Sheehy or opposing Tester since 2023, including the Walton family, Ken Griffin and Blackstone cofounder Stephen Schwarzman and his wife Christine. Meanwhile, the super PAC that has spent the most in support of Tester’s candidacy is entirely funded by Majority Forward, a “dark money” group—meaning that because of its tax classification, it has more restrictions on its spending but also does not have to disclose its donors.
SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT
Tennis superstar Rafael Nadal announced Thursday he will retire from the sport after next month’s Davis Cup finals—capping off a legendary career with 22 Grand Slam titles and more than two decades of dominance. In his announcement on social media, Nadal spoke about his recent injury problems, adding that retiring was a “difficult decision.”
DAILY COVER STORY
Elon Musk Sees Tesla’s Future In Self-Driving Robotaxis But He’s Far Behind Waymo
TOPLINE Tesla’s billionaire CEO Elon Musk is expected to announce a new electric model that will be the basis for its futuristic taxi fleet at a splashy event tonight.
Musk’s desire to excite investors and Tesla fans may lift its stock price, which is flat this year on lower EV sales. But a dearth of public information about Tesla’s autonomous drive testing, as well as scrutiny of its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving software by regulators and ongoing technical problems, suggest attaining Musk’s vision will be a stretch.
The most promising robotaxi program right now isn’t Tesla’s CyberCab but Waymo’s, the long-time self-driving benchmark, though it’s far from a profitable business. Its robotaxis, with no human at the wheel, currently handle more than 100,000 paid rides a week in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. That number is likely to swell soon as the service expands to Austin and Atlanta.
The vehicles aren’t flawless, but Waymo has avoided the major accidents that stymied rival programs at Uber and Cruise, as well as the crashes and fatal accidents linked to Tesla’s partially automated software, though the NHTSA is investigating several collisions and traffic violations involving its robotaxis.
Bullish estimates for a future robotaxi market are $50 billion a year by 2030, according to a recent Raymond James report. Forbes estimates Waymo revenue will top $50 million this year, potentially approaching $100 million as the service expands.
Waymo and Tesla have followed vastly different paths to solve autonomous driving. Waymo has conducted years of structured testing, monitored testing in cities, and worked to master specific driving maneuvers that humans take for granted, like making unprotected left turns and navigating around obstacles in the road.
WHY IT MATTERS “Robotaxis are likely to become a lucrative market, potentially worth $50 billion annually by 2030,” says Forbes senior editor Alan Ohnsman. “But Musk’s spotty track record when it comes to predictions for Tesla’s autonomous driving tech and Tesla’s failure to share public safety and testing data are concerning. Waymo’s approach has been somewhat lower key, but it appears to be building a serious business.”
A Robotaxi Business Is A Dream For Elon Musk–But Already A Reality For Waymo
FACTS + COMMENTS
A severe geomagnetic storm may impact most of the northern continental U.S. Thursday and Friday. Emergency officials and forecasters said such an event could affect some critical infrastructure, including possible impacts to power grids, satellite navigation and low-frequency radio:
Second-strongest: Geomagnetic activity for Thursday is forecast as a G4 storm, which is the second strongest on NOAA’s scale
Nearly 8,078 miles per second: How quickly the coronal mass ejection—a cloud of “solar material” that becomes a geomagnetic storm on Earth’s surface—traveled from the sun’s surface toward Earth starting Tuesday
2025: The year the current solar cycle will peak
STRATEGY + SUCCESS
As people move from job to job, it’s not uncommon to forget about a pension or 401(k) from long ago. Especially if you are at or nearing retirement age, make a list of your former employers and contact them, and if you find any retirement assets, roll them over to another tax-deferred account. Another place you can look for lost money is state-level unclaimed property websites, which can help you find cash gathering dust in forgotten bank accounts, annuity payouts, stock dividends, utility deposits and more.
VIDEO
QUIZ
The NHL made headlines this week as it opened its season with a notable first in the league’s history. What happened?
A. A 17-year-old player made their debut
B. A woman coached an NHL game
C. A woman officiated an NHL game
D. A new team debuted in Montana
Check your answer.
Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire, Chris Dobstaff and Caroline Howard.