After Amazon backed a startup developing new nuclear technology, other investors took notice.
X-energy hopes to commercialize a type of small modular reactor, and on Thursday said it raised an additional $200 million from big names like the venture fund of billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs, following a $500 million funding round led by Amazon. The company, controlled by space-focused billionaire Kam Ghaffarian, says it now has enough money to get regulatory approval for its reactor design and build the first one.
Developers of small modular reactors say they will be safer, and also faster and cheaper to build, but so far those promises haven’t come to fruition.
FIRST UP
Billionaire Elon Musk and his young DOGE minions set off alarm bells this week as they accessed sensitive government databases and payment systems to cut federal spending. But the biggest potential conflict of interest isn’t Musk benefitting his companies directly—it’s his deep ties to China. Tesla and Musk enjoy a particularly cozy relationship with China’s Communist Party leaders, and the country was the only growing market for Tesla last year as sales in the U.S. and Europe slumped.
The Senate confirmed one of President Donald Trump’s most controversial nominees, Russell Vought, as director of the Office of Management and Budget. The Project 2025 co-author is expected to expand the agency’s power and exert outsized control over government spending. Vought is one of several contributors to the far-right policy agenda who have now been elevated to major roles in Trump’s White House.
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WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, heir to the L’Oréal cosmetics fortune and Europe’s richest woman, will retire from her role on the company’s board and give her vice chairmanship to her son, Jean-Victor Meyers. Bettencourt Meyers, worth an estimated $76.1 billion, is the granddaughter of the founder of the L’Oréal cosmetics company, and is the president of her family’s philanthropic foundation.
Two divorces and a lifetime of impulsive behavior are both culprits in tamping down the fortune of former Fox News host and newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Forbes estimates that Hegseth and his wife Jennifer are worth about $3 million, but two-thirds of that fortune are his wife’s assets.
TECH + INNOVATION
A bipartisan bill introduced in the House would ban Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from government-owned devices after a report linked the AI chatbot to a Chinese state-run telecommunications company, sparking national security concerns. A cybersecurity analysis firm told the Associated Press that DeepSeek has hidden code that could send user login information to China Mobile, which the U.S. has banned from operating in the U.S.
MONEY + POLITICS
Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Justice Department to “investigate, eliminate, and penalize” private companies and universities with “illegal” DEI programs shortly after she was sworn in Wednesday, the Trump Administration’s latest attack on DEI. Bondi told the Justice Department to enforce federal civil rights laws to urge private companies to abandon the policies, though she did not specify which civil rights legislation to use.
Lawmakers are intensifying scrutiny over allegations that U.S. regulators pressured banks to sever ties with certain groups and sectors, primarily cryptocurrency firms, under the Biden Administration. In Wednesday’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, several crypto executives said they were unfairly targeted under what many in the industry have labeled “Operation Choke Point 2.0.”
SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT
The NCAA announced Thursday it will limit competition in women’s sports to athletes assigned female at birth, complying with an order made by President Donald Trump barring transgender women and girls from participating in women’s sports. The NCAA has over 530,000 student-athletes, fewer than 10 of whom are transgender, according to a statement NCAA president Charlie Baker provided to a Senate panel in December.
TRAVEL + LIFESTYLE
More than 4,000 flights were delayed on Thursday afternoon while a winter ice storm moved from the Great Lakes to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The New York City area’s three airports, Philadelphia International, Boston Logan, and Washington D.C.’s Reagan National and Dulles all reported double-digit flight cancellations.
TRENDS + EXPLAINERS
The Trump Administration offered more than 2 million full-time federal workers the option to resign from their positions and receive eight months’ severance, but the IRS confirmed Thursday that specific, critical filing season positions are exempt from the Deferred Resignation Program offer until May 15. The program, combined with an earlier hiring freeze, raised questions about whether the IRS would be sufficiently staffed for tax filing season. Now, it seems, the answer was no.
DAILY COVER STORY
Billionaire Chiefs Owner Clark Hunt On Building A Dynasty — On And Off The Field
TOPLINE Kansas City Chiefs’ CEO and chairman Clark Hunt was born into a dynasty.
The Dallas Texans, founded by his father Lamar, won an American Football League championship just before he arrived on the scene and then, after they became the Kansas City Chiefs, played in the first Super Bowl. Three years later, Hunt got to watch legendary quarterback Len Dawson lead the team to a title in a landmark game that immediately preceded the AFL-NFL merger.
With a Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers in 2020, Kansas City began a run that ranks among the most dominant in sports history. Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles will be the Chiefs’ fifth appearance in the title game in six years, and a victory would give the team its fourth championship ring in that span, as well as the first Super Bowl three-peat ever.
Hunt’s father coined the term “Super Bowl,” and his name graces the trophy given to the conference champion, hoisted again and again by Kansas City. The family, meanwhile, has now retained control of the Chiefs for the franchise’s entire 65-year existence—something of a rarity in professional sports.
Today, the Chiefs are worth $4.85 billion, according to Forbes’ most recent NFL valuations. That leaves them a modest 24th in the league but still No. 39 among all sports teams worldwide, and it has made Clark Hunt and his three siblings—Lamar Jr., Sharron and Daniel—quite wealthy. They are all believed to have 25% stakes in the Chiefs, as well as shares of MLS’s FC Dallas and a small piece of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, and Forbes estimates their fortunes at $1.6 billion each.
WHY IT MATTERS Even as Hunt’s sports empire grows, though, he wants it to stay a family business, and preparing the next generation is something he discusses with his siblings “quite a bit.”
“Honoring [my dad’s] legacy is very, very important to us, and we have no plans to disengage from the sports business,” he says. “It’s central to who we are as a family.”
MORE Meet The Billionaire Owner Of The Philadelphia Eagles
FACTS + COMMENTS
A judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s buyout offer to federal employees from taking effect Thursday, pushing back the deadline to at least Monday. Trump is reportedly planning mass layoffs among those who don’t take the resignation offer, per CNN:
2.3 million: The number of employees eligible for the buyout offer
Roughly 2%: The share of workers offered the deal who have accepted so far, or about 40,000 employees
5% to 10%: The share of the federal workforce the White House wants to slash through the buyouts
STRATEGY + SUCCESS
Just like you would when leaving any job, when you’re retiring, it’s important to spell out key details in a resignation letter. Decide what you want your transition to look like, and understand that the amount of notice you should give varies based on your industry, tenure and level at the company. Still, have a verbal conversation with your manager before going to HR, and only announce your retirement when you’re ready to leave, especially if you think your manager (or other decision-makers) may ask for an early end date.
VIDEO
QUIZ
If Valentine’s Day has you thinking about relationships that didn’t work out, a zoo in Illinois will name an insect after your ex…right before it is fed to a zoo resident. What kind of insect is it?
A. Spider
B. Beetle
C. Cockroach
D. Earwig
Check your answer.
Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Chris Dobstaff.