Month: October 2025

• Egan-Jones partly backed Elon Musk’s $1 trillion Tesla pay plan, breaking with other proxy firms.
• The advisor said Musk’s payout aligns with performance but warned of governance and equity risks.
• Tesla’s chair urged investors to “vote yes to robots” and reject “robotic” advice from proxy firms.

A third major proxy advisor has weighed in on Elon Musk‘s proposed $1 trillion Tesla pay package, giving it a partial thumbs up, but with some serious caveats.

Egan-Jones Proxy Services said it would recommend shareholders vote for the 2025 CEO Performance Award, but only under its “Wealth-Focus Policy,” which prioritizes shareholder returns and pay-for-performance alignment.

Under all its other policy frameworks, including ones focused on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles and broader corporate accountability, the firm urged investors to vote against the deal.

The split stance makes Egan-Jones the first major proxy firm to partly back Musk’s record-breaking compensation plan, setting it apart from Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, which both told Tesla shareholders to reject it outright.

A plan entirely built on performance

Under the wealth-focused framework, Egan-Jones argued Musk’s massive potential payout is justified because it’s fully tied to performance.

To unlock the full $1 trillion, Tesla would have to hit 12 operational milestones, including reaching an $8.5 trillion market capitalization, generating $400 billion in adjusted earnings, delivering 20 million vehicles, and reaching 10 million active Full Self-Driving subscriptions.

“If Mr. Musk fails to meet the specified milestones, he will receive nothing,” Egan-Jones wrote in its analysis.

“If he succeeds, both Mr. Musk and shareholders stand to benefit significantly,” it said.

The firm estimated that, if all targets are met, Tesla shareholders‘ stock value could rise by about 800% over 10 years.

Governance and fairness concerns

But under its other policies — the Blended, ESG, Catholic, and Taft-Hartley policies — Egan-Jones flagged major governance and fairness risks.

These policies are designed for investors who value strong corporate oversight, equitable pay, and social responsibility alongside profits.

The firm cautioned that if Musk hits every target, his total ownership could climb to 28.8%, potentially giving him greater control over Tesla and reducing other shareholders’ influence on company decisions.

It also pointed to the massive gap between Musk’s potential earnings and employee pay, saying that if his proposed equity stake were shared evenly among Tesla’s 125,000 workers, each would receive about $8 million in stock.

Egan-Jones said that such a vast disparity could eventually hurt morale and pose long-term risks to Tesla’s workforce and reputation.

Those concerns echoed warnings from the other proxy firms.

ISS said Musk’s plan could undermine shareholder rights and governance standards, while Glass Lewis called it “excessively dilutive,” arguing Musk could earn billions in stock awards even if he hits just one of the 12 performance tranches.

Tesla fired back — and its chair stepped in

Tesla has fiercely disputed the proxy firms’ criticism, calling their analyses “misguided” and “robotic.”

In a series of posts on X this week, the company accused ISS and Glass Lewis of relying on “one-size-fits-all checklists” that ignore Tesla’s unique business model and history of defying industry norms.

Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm doubled down in an open letter to shareholders, which Tesla shared on X on Tuesday, urging them to “vote yes to robots, and reject robotic voting.”

She said ISS and Glass Lewis use a “simplistic, one-size-fits-all framework” that can’t assess a company as unconventional as Tesla, and argued that Musk’s 2025 play plan is meant to “supercharge Tesla’s next phase of exceptional growth and value creation.”

“Elon gets nothing unless shareholders enjoy exceptional investment returns,” Denholm wrote.

She dismissed concerns that the plan would shrink existing investors’ stakes, saying the package should be seen as “an investment, not dilution,” since shareholders would only give up value if Tesla’s market capitalization grows more than sevenfold.

Denholm closed by challenging investors to make a choice: “If you prefer that Tesla turn into just another car company mired in the ways of the past, then you should follow ISS and Glass Lewis.”

But if you believe in Tesla, “under the visionary leadership of Elon,” she added, “then you should vote with Tesla.”

• Gen Z buyers are driving a surge in Cartier watch sales on the secondary market, a new report said.
• Cartier’s share of Gen Z purchases on watch marketplace Chrono24 rose over the last seven years.
• Some young investors look at luxury watches as assets.

Gen Z watch lovers are all about Cartier right now.

The luxury brand’s Swiss-made watches are hot commodities among Gen Z buyers on the secondary market, according to a new report by watch marketplace Chrono24 and publication Fratello that was shared with Business Insider.

Cartier’s share of the total purchases by Gen Z on Chrono24 rose from 1.7% to 6.8% over a seven-year period as of the first half of 2025, according to the report.

That share outpaces the brand’s overall growth on the site during the same period.

Three models are driving the interest from Gen Z: the entry-level Tank, the sportier Santos, and the dressy Panthère.

The Tank is often considered an entry point to Cartier’s luxurious offerings, with a starting retail price of around $3,500. New Santos and Panthère lines, depending on the material, can easily go for well over $10,000.

Cartier didn’t respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Dress watches overall are having a moment among young adults. The report describes them as smaller in size, often in gold, and paired with a leather strap — more elegant than the rugged look of stainless steel sports watches. Cartier’s Tank model, for example, often comes with a leather band in an array of sizes.

Gen Z’s interest in secondhand dress watches is stronger than any other demographic, the report said, with 12% of all watch purchases during the first half of 2025 being dress watches.

These days, luxury watches are more than fashion statements. One recent study found that high-end watches can appeal to investors seeking to diversify their portfolios with potentially lower-risk investments.

Pop icon Taylor Swift also appears to be a fan of Cartier. The singer was spotted wearing a Cartier Santos Demoiselle in her engagement announcement photos in August.

Chrono24 said in August that searches for the Cartier Santos Demoiselle surged 2000% in the two days after Swift’s engagement compared with the days before.

The report’s findings show it’s more than Swift’s star power driving the interest in Cartier.

• Shield AI unveiled what it called a fully autonomous multirole fighter jet.
• It uses Hivemind, the AI pilot it previously used to pilot an F-16 through a dogfight.
• The company says the jet can take off without a runway, from container ships and remote islands.

The AI that powered an F-16 in a dogfight against a manned aircraft is powering a new, fully autonomous fighter jet, its maker said as it unveiled the new aircraft design.

US defense tech unicorn Shield AI unveiled its new X-BAT fighter aircraft on Wednesday. The company says that it can operate without human pilots and without runways. It said it can take off from islands and ships — not just warships, but also container ships.

Armor Harris, Shield AI’s senior vice president of aircraft engineering, told Business Insider that the brain for the new aircraft is the company’s Hivemind, “the same combat-proven AI pilot we used to fly a modified F-16 through a dogfight,” a reference to a landmark 2024 test.

Last year, during a testing exercise, the AI-driven X-62A Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft (VISTA), a modified F-16, went head-to-head with a crewed fighter aircraft in aerial combat. The military never said which aircraft emerged victorious.

In other simulations, the AI beat the human pilot, but this was a different kind of test involving aircraft in the real world. The then Air Force secretary, Frank Kendall, was riding in the back of the pilotless fighter aircraft.

Powered by Hivemind, the new X-BAT can complete missions without human pilot involvement and can advance without GPS or reliable communications, Shield AI told Business Insider. Artificial intelligence-enabled systems are considered necessary developments to break through contested areas that traditional crewed aircraft may be unable to navigate safely, or at all.

Pilotless fighters are also not bound by the same design limitations meant to protect a human pilot.

Shield AI said that “unlike legacy crewed aircraft, X-BAT frees human aviators for missions that demand critical human judgment — an essential advantage in today’s fast-moving and unpredictable conflict zones.”

A pilotless fighter aircraft

Harris said that the X-BAT can also act as a drone wingman, working closely with crewed fighter jets to protect them and expand their overall combat power.

Very interested in what autonomous uncrewed assets can bring to the force, the US Air Force has been investing in Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCAs, that can fly alongside crewed aircraft.

For Increment 1, the Air Force selected General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Anduril Industries to develop two prototypes, both of which have received unique “fighter drone” designations. Additional CCA designs are being presented.

Harris said that the X-BAT was built for “what comes after” the Increment 1 development phase.

He said that this phase of the program has “played a foundational role, and now X-BAT is pushing the envelope with advanced electronic warfare capabilities, greater payload capacity, and extended range that gives combatant commanders geographically distributed long-range fires and effects.” This is an area that the military recognizes it needs to catch up on.

Part of the desire for CCAs is affordability. These are attritable warfighting platforms that can support and, if needed, be sacrificed for crewed fighters, which are more expensive and will ultimately be far fewer in number.

Shield AI said that the new X-BAT design “delivers high-end capability for a fraction of the cost of traditional fighter jets.”

Filling the fleet with this kind of aircraft makes for a larger, more resilient fleet that can take hits without suffering severe pilot losses or budget-breaking plane losses, a necessity for high-intensity peer-level combat. Shield AI said uncrewed aircraft like these are “reshaping how future conflicts are fought and sustained.”

Kendall said last year that “the AI competition is essentially going to determine who’s the winner in the next battlefield.” And he told BI that the F-16 dogfight was “a transformational moment” that marked the transition from when autonomous air-to-air combat was only “a distant dream” to its emergence as reality.

The company said the X-BAT was developed “to ensure the US and its allies keep pace on the battlefield amid rapid technological change.”

Deploying from anywhere

Key to the X-BAT design is its flexibility. Shield AI said it has vertical takeoff and landing with a 2,000-nautical-mile range, “letting it launch from ships, islands, or austere forward sites without carriers, runways, or tankers.” That kind of range could prove valuable at overcoming the “tyranny of distance” in the vast Indo-Pacific amid a growing concern about conflict with China.

Shield AI said it was the “only platform in its class” to combine those features.

Big-deck amphibious warships could host up to 60 X-BATs, Harris said, but these aircraft, which have a small footprint and don’t require a runway, could also be launched from atypical vessels, like a container ship, he added, “giving commanders the power to project combat airpower from almost anywhere.”

It can be used by the US Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Army, or allied forces, Harris said.

The X-Bat was unveiled in front of military leaders and politicians in Washington, DC, on Tuesday

It’s unclear if the X-BAT will be the future for US or allied militaries, but forces are increasingly interested in autonomy. European aerospace and defense giant Airbus has also tested its H145 helicopter with Shield AI’s Hivemind, which has also been used on a number of other aircraft.

• Dollar General has gained ground among shoppers as a destination for fill-in grocery trips.
• The chain has grown its share of grocery trips that last under 10 minutes, Placer.ai found.
• It points to another niche that dollar stores are filling in the US retail landscape.

For some shoppers, Dollar General is becoming like a local corner store.

Data from Placer.ai released this month shows that Dollar General has become a destination for shoppers looking to pick up a snack, a gallon of milk, or other quick groceries. Many customers are shopping at the chain in addition to more traditional supermarkets.

Dollar General stores were the destination of 28% of quick visits, or shopping trips that last less than 10 minutes, during the second quarter of 2025, according to Placer.ai’s data. That’s up from 24% during the same quarter in 2019.

“Consumers are visiting Dollar General, and probably all dollar stores, for that matter, as a sort of fill-in opportunity,” Elizabeth Lafontaine, the director of research at Placer.ai, told Business Insider.

Traditional grocery stores still received about 61% of those quick trips in the second quarter of 2025, Placer.ai found. But the data shows that Dollar General has carved out another niche for itself, Lafontaine said.

Dollar stores, particularly those operated by Dollar General and Dollar Tree, have opened thousands of new locations in the US over the past several years.

The chains have gained a reputation for setting up shop in small rural communities where Walmart and other retailers can’t make a store work. In those areas, shoppers might spend most of their weekly grocery budgets at dollar stores.

Placer.ai’s data, though, shows how dollar stores function in more densely populated areas, where shoppers tend to have many shopping choices. In those areas, many consumers aren’t spending most of their budget at Dollar General, but they are turning to the chain for those quick trips, Lafontaine said.

Between 2022 and 2025, for example, more Aldi shoppers also began shopping at Dollar General, according to Placer.ai data. At the same time, more Dollar General shoppers turned to Aldi.

That means that shoppers, especially those who are looking for good deals, are “likely to visit both of those retailers and not necessarily exchange one trip for another because they see them as probably complementary visits to one another,” she said.

Dollar General has also bolstered its quick delivery options through partnerships with DoorDash and Uber Eats. Three-quarters of delivery orders at the chain are filled within an hour, and many contain grocery items, CEO Todd Vasos said on an earnings call in August.

Do you work at Dollar General or another dollar store and have a story to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com

• I was 26 when I had my son, and I didn’t realize how important it was to have mom friends.
• I tried to make some at first, but when nothing stuck, I sort of gave up.
• Then, a good friend of mine had a child, and I saw the benefits of being friends with other parents.

When my son was born, I was 26. I was a new mom, and not only did none of my good friends have kids yet, but they also didn’t live close by. I didn’t have anyone my own age to talk to about all of the mom things that would come up. Every time I needed parenting advice, I called my aunt, and she was patient with me.

But talking to my aunt was not the same as talking to someone going through parenting milestones at the same time. She had her son 10 years prior to me having mine. Often, she didn’t remember what she had done in any given situation, and she would tell me I needed to “try to make some mom friends.”

When my son was born, I tried to make mom friends at first

I went to story times at the library, popular playgrounds, and local swim lessons for moms and babies, but I never hit it off with anyone. Many of the moms were older and married, and I felt like I was in a different territory as a younger single mom.

After a year of failed attempts, I stopped trying so hard. That’s when one of my good friends had a son, and we slowly became closer over the shared experience of being a boy mom.

We had been good friends in college and ever since, but becoming moms at around the same time took our friendship to a new level. I think we each care a lot about being a good parent, and that brings even more mutual respect into the relationship. I’ve found it so helpful at times to put our brains together and break down different parenting issues with her.

My son is now almost 12, while her three boys are all younger. My son’s whole life, I’ve given them the clothes and toys he outgrows. It’s really special when I recognize them wearing something like one of his old shirts. It feels like we’re all more connected.

I didn’t realize how many benefits there were to being friends with other moms

I went on for the first three years of my son’s life without any other friends who were also parents. Before then, I envisioned the main benefit as being someone to talk to about your kids. However, being friends with someone who recognizes me as the person I am, not just as a mom, is actually the greatest benefit of having friends who are also mothers.

Now that I’ve experienced the support that comes with being friends with other moms, I’m really sad that I missed out on that when my son was at his youngest. Being a new mom, I felt totally isolated. It would have been really helpful to have more allies, and to cheer each other on.

Having friends who are also moms and understand how all-encompassing it can be helps me feel understood and makes me feel connected to myself again. My friends and I have also made a habit of checking in on each other, because we just…get it.

I have individual relationships with a few moms now who are close friends. Besides them all being in my wedding, I mostly spend time with each of them separately. I love that with any one of them, we can hang out with our kids, which is our preference, or do something together kids-free, like go out for coffee. Either way, I’m sure we’re talking about our kids half of the time.

I had told myself it wasn’t important to be friends with other parents

During the years I was navigating parenthood alone, I had honestly given up on the idea of finding any mom friends. I had family and child-free friends, and told myself I didn’t need anything else. But once I experienced bonding with another mom, I realized just how valuable it is to find someone who understands that experience.

I believe being a parent is the most important job I’ll ever have. Finding such a good friend in someone who feels the same way has actually made me even better at it, because I no longer feel alone. It feels like I’m part of a team that just wants to do a really good job at being a mom.

• Google’s Chelsea campus underwent bedbug treatment over the weekend.
• A pest-control company said bedbug sightings in commercial spaces have increased as employees return to offices.
• Bedbugs pose an icky problem for employers, who should have protocols in place to avoid legal issues.

More workers are heading into the office with laptops, lattes — and, in some cases, bedbugs.

Google sent a memo over the weekend informing New York City employees that it was treating its Chelsea campus offices for the pests.

The company’s Real Estate & Workplace Services team “was recently informed of a possible bed bug issue at our Chelsea campus,” the Sunday memo, acquired by Business Insider, said. “Today, exterminators inspected the NYC-9TH, Chelsea Market, 8510, and Pier 57 buildings with a sniffer dog and found credible evidence of their presence. Initial treatment has been completed on the affected floors of the Chelsea campus.”

For a time during the pandemic, workers logging on from home didn’t have to worry about creepy-crawlies in their cubicles. Now, as more employees return to the office, bedbugs are coming along for the ride.

“These are what we tend to call ‘take-your-bedbug-to-work events,'” said Gil Bloom, an entomologist who is president of Standard Pest Management in New York. “They’re primarily hitchhiking, unfortunately, from home environments” via items like backpacks and clothing.

Bedbug issues in New York haven’t reached the level they were prior to the pandemic — but there’s been an uptick in sightings at commercial locations since life began returning to normal, Bloom told Business Insider.

Offices aren’t immune

Google isn’t the only employer to deal with this issue. Earlier this year, bedbugs were discovered at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation office, and staff from the affected area had to leave while the building underwent treatment, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

In 2017, BuzzFeed’s Manhattan headquarters similarly had to get bedbug treatment. Hotels and airlines have also had to deal with the wingless insects.

New York City ranked second among the most bedbug-infested cities in 2018, dropped to fifth place in 2021, and climbed to third in 2023, based on data from 300 Terminix branches in the US. As of June, New York is back in second place.

Bloom said when companies suspect bedbugs are in a workspace, exterminators typically bring in detection dogs to confirm their existence and identify affected areas. While an employee might accidentally bring bedbugs into work, offices usually lack the ideal infrastructure for the insects to settle in.

“There’s no great hotspot,” Bloom said, referring to the lack of beds in most offices. “So it’s like finding a bedbug in a haystack.”

Identifying the location of the outbreak allows companies to narrow down the treatment area and resolve the problem, Bloom said. He describes such instances as “introductions,” rather than full-blown “infestations.”

A liability issue for companies

While bedbugs might be unpleasant, Jerome Goddard, a medical entomologist at Mississippi State University, told Business Insider that there is little to no transmission of disease from the pests. Often, the biggest challenge is dealing with the ick factor.

“The main effects are emotional and psychological,” Goddard said. “And I’m not saying that’s not real.”

Companies, however, could face legal consequences if they don’t take steps to kill the bugs.

Employers have a duty to provide a safe workplace per OSHA requirements, and failing to protect workers could create a liability, said Andrea Whalen, a senior HR business strategist at consulting firm Clark Schaefer Strategic HR.

Bloom said companies don’t usually provide extermination services to individual employees unless there’s a repeat situation and the office is trying to find the source to avoid future introductions to the office.

Whalen told Business Insider that companies should establish clear, written rules that cover different kinds of infestations or outbreaks. Those policies could include considerations about paying workers if they have to be sent home while pest-control professionals treat a worksite.

Because employees have a “moral and an ethical responsibility” to tell their employers if they have bedbugs, policies should include a way for employees to report an issue confidentially, she said.

“You want a way for an employee to come forward and say, ‘I have this issue,’ so that it protects the rest of the team,” Whalen said, adding that it should be addressed with “empathy and discretion.”

After all, she said, places where people often think of outbreaks occurring — like hotels, schools, and hospitals — are themselves workplaces.

“It can happen to anyone,” Whalen said. “It can happen to any place.”

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