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American business leaders have offered only limited public criticism of President Donald Trump’s economic agenda, with analysts citing concerns about retaliation. Individual chief executives, including Exxon Mobil's Darren Woods and JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon, have raised narrow objections affecting their sectors, such as Venezuela policy and Federal Reserve independence, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Suzanne Clark has urged support for free markets without naming Trump directly. Experts say the muted response contrasts with Trump’s first term and reflects uncertainty over policy direction. Surveys show executives view political unpredictability as a major risk, while economists warn limited pushback could invite heavier regulation in future.

 

Reuters

Citigroup has hired former Paramount executive and longtime media banker Alex Berkett to run its media investment banking division, as it continues strengthening its dealmaking bench under new banking leadership. Berkett will join later this month and report to Dan Richards, Citi’s global head of media and communications investment banking. Berkett previously held roles at Bear Stearns and JPMorgan, co-founded radio group Townsquare Media (which IPO’d in 2014), and later led strategy and corporate development at Viacom/Paramount.

 

Wall Street Journal

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has forecast that U.S. GDP growth could exceed 5% in the first quarter of 2026, citing high interest rates as a barrier to even stronger expansion. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Lutnick argued for rate cuts to unlock up to 6% growth. He also warned the E.U. not to retaliate against President Trump's threatened tariffs linked to U.S. ambitions to control Greenland, cautioning such moves could reignite a trade war. His growth forecast surpasses those of other officials and institutions, including the IMF's 2.4% estimate for 2026.

 

Reuters

Four in five workers believe ‌artificial ​intelligence is going to affect ‌their daily tasks in the workplace, according to a survey ‍of 27,000 workers and 1,225 employers that covered more than 3m job postings across 35 markets conducted by Randstad. Gen Z were found to be among ​those most concerned as job ​vacancies requiring "AI agent" skills surged by 1,587%, the survey showed. The annual 'Workmonitor' report by the recruitment agency indicated that AI and automation are increasingly replacing low-complexity, transactional roles.

 

U.S. News

The Supreme Court will today hear arguments over President Donald Trump’s request to lift a lower court judge's decision barring ​him from firing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook while her legal challenge to the removal continues. Reuters says the justices may focus on Trump's use of social media. In August, Trump posted to his Truth Social account a letter addressed to Cook informing her that "you are hereby removed" from the role of Fed governor. Cook and her lawyers argue that this action violated her rights under the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment, which provides that no person may be "deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law."

 

Financial Times

Reuters

Estée Lauder is facing a lawsuit from Nomi Beauty, a tech startup that claims the cosmetics giant stole its proprietary technology designed to boost beauty product sales in luxury hotels. Filed in Manhattan federal court, the complaint alleges Estée Lauder abandoned contracts in 2018 and 2020, then used Nomi's trade secrets to develop its own programs in multiple countries. Nomi accuses Estée Lauder of profiting significantly from innovations meant to reduce reliance on traditional retail. The start-up is seeking compensatory, punitive, and triple damages.

 

Reuters

The Supreme Court yesterday issued three decisions but refrained from addressing the contentious issue of President Donald Trump's global tariffs. The court has not yet announced when it will release its next set of rulings.

 

U.S. News

Netflix has reported an 18% rise in fourth-quarter revenue to $12.05bn and net income up 29% to $2.42bn, driven by gains in subscribers, pricing, and ad revenue. Subscriber numbers topped 325m, boosted by hit content like the final season of Stranger Things. The company also reaffirmed its $72bn all-cash bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery and HBO Max, pausing share buybacks to fund the deal. For 2026, Netflix forecasts revenue of up to $51.7bn and aims to double ad revenue and expand into new content categories including video podcasts.

 

Bloomberg

Los Angeles Times

Reuters

Wall Street Journal

GoldenTree Asset Management is investing $200m in Saks Global Enterprises’ $1bn debtor-in-possession financing package, backing the luxury retailer’s turnaround efforts during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Saks filed earlier this month under mounting debt and cash flow pressures. The total bankruptcy financing stands at $1.75bn, with $1bn to fund operations during restructuring and $500m accessible post-bankruptcy. Despite objections from Amazon, Saks aims to exit Chapter 11 later this year while keeping all store locations open and customer programs intact.

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

AI startup Humans& has raised $480m in an outsized seed financing ‌round that Reuters says is indicative of the intense investor interest in next-generation AI labs as companies race to build systems that ‌go beyond chatbots and agentic tools. The seed round values the company, which was founded by former OpenAI, Alphabet ​and xAI researchers, at $4.48bn. Humans& is said to be working on human-centric ‍AI tools for communication and collaboration to launch early ‌this ‌year. "The model will coordinate with people, and other AIs where appropriate, in order to allow people to do more and to bring them together," CEO Eric Zelikman told Reuters.

 

Reuters

Writing for Time, Ayesha Javed reports that business leaders shared their perspectives on the impact of scaling up new technologies including AI during a TIME100 Talks panel discussion in Davos on Jan. 20. Abhijit Dubey, CEO and chief artificial intelligence officer at NTT Data, observed that, unlike all other innovations, AI is the “first technology that will actually be non-human driven.” Raj Sharma, global managing partner for growth and innovation at EY, said the key ingredients in the AI era would be trust, tools, and talent. “You have to balance the equation between [the] three to make sure that AI is adopted.” 

 

Time

KPMG’s U.K. boss Jon Holt and the Big Four accounting firm’s global chief operating officer Gary Wingrove are in a two-person race to lead the organization, according to the Financial Times. 

 

Financial Times

Nestlé chief executive Philipp Navratil has partly blamed U.S. President Donald Trump for the company’s failure to talk enough about sustainability, the Financial Times reports.

 

Financial Times

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CBS News that President Donald Trump would “sue” the news outlet if it did not air an interview unedited. Trump taped the 13-minute interview with Tony Dokoupil, the new "CBS Evening News" anchor, during a visit to a Ford truck plant in Dearborn on Jan. 13.  Leavitt told Dokoupil and his team: "He said, 'Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,'" and also, "He said, ‘If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off.’”

 

Detroit Free Press

New York Times