Money

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — Pizza Hut is closing hundreds of locations across the United States while its parent company continues a strategic review of the embattled brand. Yum! Brands, which also owns Taco Bell and KFC, revealed in Wednesday’s earnings call that 250 “underperforming” Pizza Huts are closing in the first

By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — The brief US government shutdown has delayed the official jobs report for January, but the first look at hiring activity in the private sector showed that employment gains sputtered to start the year. Payroll giant ADP reported Wednesday that employers in the private sector added just 22,000 jobs in

By Brian Stelter, Liam Reilly, CNN (CNN) — The Washington Post laid off about one in three employees across the company Wednesday morning, dealing another big blow to a newsroom that has reached a breaking point. Post owner Jeff Bezos had no immediate comment about the cutbacks. Bezos has been pushing the Post’s management team

By Chris Isidore, CNN (CNN) — Elon Musk believes the best way to solve the difficulties of building AI data centers on earth is to move them into outer space. His merger this week of his rocket company SpaceX with his artificial intelligence company xAI could help get them there. And he isn’t the only

By John Liu, CNN (CNN) — Melinda French Gates said she was filled with “unbelievable sadness” when further documents detailing her ex-husband and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ ties with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were released last week. The philanthropist, who divorced Gates in 2021, opened up about her reaction to the controversy,

By Liam Reilly, Brian Stelter, CNN (CNN) — Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos on Tuesday faced skeptical lawmakers during a Senate hearing on his company’s pending $83 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming and studio assets. While many senators grilled Sarandos over antitrust issues, labor concerns and consumer prices, several conservative members focused instead

By Brian Stelter, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump isn’t attending the Super Bowl this year – but he will still be a part of the football festivities on NBC. The network announced Tuesday that Trump will tape a sit-down with “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Llamas. The interview will air in several parts beginning

By Bryan Mena, Samantha Waldenberg, CNN Washington (CNN) — Stephen Miran, one of President Donald Trump’s top economists, on Tuesday resigned from his leadership role at the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers as his term as a Federal Reserve Governor continues, according to a letter obtained by CNN. His departure was first reported by

By John Towfighi, CNN New York (CNN) — A nervous mood swept through markets Tuesday as stocks stumbled and bitcoin slumped to its lowest level since November 2024. The Dow was down 360 points, or 0.73%. The broader S&P 500 fell 1.25%, retreating after briefly flirting with a record high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 2%.

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — Bahama Breeze, the Caribbean-themed dining chain, is shutting down after a 30-year stint in the business. Darden Restaurants, which also owns Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, announced Tuesday that it’s closing the remaining 28 locations in the coming months, with half of them shutting down completely and

By Brian Stelter, Liam Reilly, CNN (CNN) — Josh D’Amaro, who chairs Disney’s hugely successful parks division, will succeed Bob Iger as The Walt Disney Company’s next chief executive next month. Disney TV and streaming boss Dana Walden, who was thought to be the other leading contender for the CEO role, will become the company’s

By Hadas Gold, Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — What happens when thousands of AI agents get together online and talk like humans do? That’s what a new social network called Moltbook, designed just for AI bots and not people, aims to find out. And so far, the results are equal parts fascinating and concerning, according

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — PepsiCo, the maker of popular brands like Doritos, Lays and Cheetos, is slashing the price of its snacks by up to 15% in response to customer complaints that they have become too expensive. In a release Tuesday, PepsiCo Foods US CEO Rachel Ferdinando said that she’s “spent

By Hanna Ziady, CNN London (CNN) — Spain will ban social media for under-16s and require platforms to employ strict age verification tools, joining Australia, France and Denmark in moves to curb the influence of digital platforms on children. “Our children are exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone. A space

By Saskya Vandoorne, Sana Noor Haq, CNN Paris (CNN) — French police raided the Paris offices of Elon Musk’s X Tuesday and summoned the tech billionaire for questioning as part of a widening probe into the social media company and its AI chatbot Grok. The search was linked to an investigation France opened in January

By Karina Tsui, Brian Stelter, CNN (CNN) — Independent journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon defended his coverage of an anti-ICE protest at a St. Paul, Minnesota, church, which resulted in his arrest last week, telling Jimmy Kimmel on Monday that as a journalist, he “went there to chronicle and document and record what

By Brian Stelter, CNN (CNN) — Savannah Guthrie was supposed to fly to Italy on Monday for NBC’s much-anticipated coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics. But instead, Guthrie spent a heart-wrenching day in Tucson, Arizona, supporting a massive search for her 84-year-old mother, Nancy. The elder Guthrie’s disappearance became national news on Monday as authorities

CNN By Chris Isidore, CNN (CNN) — SpaceX has acquired xAI, the company announced on Monday, merging two of Elon Musk’s most ambitious companies into the most valuable private company in the world. “This marks not just the next chapter, but the next book in SpaceX and xAI’s mission,” Musk said in a statement on

By Chris Isidore, CNN (CNN) — SpaceX has acquired xAI, the company announced on Monday, merging two of Elon Musk’s most ambitious companies into the most valuable private company in the world. “This marks not just the next chapter, but the next book in SpaceX and xAI’s mission,” Musk said in a statement on SpaceX’s