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In today’s great story, plans for the construction of tallest and most expensive skyscraper in the country show the challenges surrounding the RTO debate.
What’s on deck
Markets: The key to understanding who suppressed the income it could be the US dollar.
Technical: There is a new person inside one of Amazon’s most prized roles.
Business: Businesses are rushing to cash in on Gen Zers looking for fun without alcohol.
But first, the cost of doing business.
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The big story
The sky is the limit
Sarah Meyssonnier/AP Images; Lindsey Nicholson/Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI
New York City. A massive and expensive new skyscraper. Donald Trump.
The plans for 175 Park Avenue have a little bit of everything. They also represent the challenges that come with Corporate America’s continued push to push workers back into the office.
Business Insider’s Dan Geiger has a story on how New York developers RXR and TF Cornerstone hope to build a 1,575-foot-tall office and hotel tower near Grand Central Terminal with a little help from the federal government.
The tower, which would be the tallest in the US in terms of roof height, won’t come cheap. At an estimated cost of $6.5 billion to build, it would also be the nation’s most expensive.
That’s a hefty bill under the best of circumstances, let alone when serious questions remain about the office space market.
However, developers have a unique solution, reports Dan. They hope the work they’re planning to do at the adjacent train terminal and subway station will allow them to tap into federal funding.
This is where the president-elect comes in. The federal money is discretionary and distributed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, meaning the Trump administration will make the final call on whether to reward developers with loans.
Coincidentally, the project involves the demolition of the Hotel Commodore, a property that Trump redeveloped nearly 50 years ago, serving as a career breakthrough for the then-young developer.
ozgurdonmaz/Getty Images
Commercial real estate financing, as difficult as it may be, is only half the battle.
Efforts by companies to bring workers back to the office have not always been well received. Take advertising giant WPP. Thousands of workers have signed a petition calling on the firm to revoke its four-day RTO mandate, writes BI’s Polly Thompson.
It’s not just causing internal drama, as the company’s shares are down more than 8% since the RTO plans were announced. (To be fair, WPP is down more than 15% this year.)
It’s those kinds of headaches that investors are trying to avoid, which is one of the reasons why financing new commercial real estate projects has been such an uphill battle.
However, for those willing to take the risk, there may be opportunities. For companies moving forward with RTO plans, a common theme is emerging: they don’t have enough space.
From Amazon to AT&T, office calling has been full of chaos due to a lack of resources to accommodate a workforce that has at times grown significantly since before the pandemic.
News summary
Main headlines
- Los Angeles prepares for wildfires to get worse ‘Extremely dangerous’ wind forecasts.
- Mark Zuckerberg says he wants more ‘masculine energy’ in Meta. So why aren’t more men using Facebook?
- Blockchain giant Chainalysis acquires AI secret agent security startup Alterya for over 100 million dollars.
- Jack Smith’s final report for January 6 has been released. Read it here.
- The S&P 500’s Post-Election Rally it is now completely deleted.
- A $30 million campaign to free social media from billionaire control is now underway.
- The Lively-Baldoni battle fits into a broader PR trend which can be costly for the media.
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As TikTok’s ban approaches, so are two other Chinese social apps growing in popularity.
3 things in the market
REUTERS/Donna Carson
1. Energy stocks are rising. For the first time in years, energy reserves are outperforming the S&P 500 year-to-date. After a difficult few years, the sector is the best in the market thanks to a rebound in oil and gas prices as cold weather hits the US.
2. So much for the 2025 rate cuts. Wall Street is feeling pessimistic about it The Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates this year. A strong December jobs report and fears of Trump’s policies reigniting inflation have some predicting the central bank will halt its tapering cycle for a while.
3. The US dollar is bringing major energy to earnings season. Morgan Stanley’s chief US equity strategist Mike Wilson said the greenback’s rising strength could be the deciding factor between winners and losers. Companies that rely heavily on foreign sales face the greatest risk.
3 things in technology
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy
REUTERS/Mike Blake; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI
1. Stepping into Andy Jassy’s shadow. Amazon’s CEO has a new right-hand man, according to an internal filing obtained by BI. Alex Dunlap, a 17-year AWS veteran, will serve as Jassy’s “shadow” advisor and join almost every CEO meeting. Former shadow advisers have gone on to big roles at Amazon – Jassy himself was one.
2. What the new chip export restrictions mean for Nvidia. President Biden introduced last-minute semiconductor regulations, limiting the number of GPUs Nvidia can export to certain countries. Experts break down potential impacts on sales, production and innovation of AI.
3. Microsoft’s new AI group. In an email to employees, CEO Satya Nadella announced that Microsoft is forming a new engineering group led by Jay Parikh, Facebook’s former head of engineering. GROUP will build its own AI platform and toolsas the company envisions AI agents to fundamentally change application development.
3 things in business
JJKH/Getty, Tyler Le/BI
1. No alcoholic beverages, no problem. A growing group of Gen Zers are opting out of America’s drinking culture. For the younger demographic, it’s a cheaper and more rewarding way to socialize – and restaurants and clubs are making money.
2. Elon Musk’s X targets more advertisers. The company plans to add more defendants to her lawsuit against advertisers, according to a new legal filing. The lawsuit accuses several advertisers of unlawfully conspiring to boycott the platform.
3. The records reveal the FTC’s investigation Publishing.com. The company sells $2,000 courses and tools for publishing AI-generated books, and is under scrutiny for flooding Amazon with AI-generated content. A BI investigation found that the FTC received 62 complaints against him, claiming high-pressure sales tactics and difficulty getting refunds.
In other news
The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Ella Hopkins, Associate Editor, London. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, London. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York.
