Latest news with #BCG
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
The New CPG Playbook, AI Insights And Consumer-Led-Centric Innovation
Healthy Foods For much of the past few decades, large food and beverage companies have been low-risk and consistent – anchors of consistent success. But the rise of GLP-1 medications, coupled with a growing shift toward values-based purchasing, has disrupted that long-standing stability and loyalty to traditional brands and products. According to BCG, 'overall food and beverage market growth fell to 2.1% in 2024 (from an average of 5% in the previous three years), below the 2.9% rate of inflation. For large players (those with more than $1 billion in sales), 2024 growth was only 0.5%, while small and midsize brands outperformed, with growth of 4.9%' - indicating there's room for white space for startups to set a new standard for CPGs to break through (CPG Companies Need a New Recipe as Consumers Seek Healthier Choices). The food and beverage companies that will succeed aren't the ones clinging to legacy playbooks; they're the outliers doubling down on consumer-centric growth and harnessing the power of AI and machine learning to decode the real drivers of demand. By investing in smarter data strategies, these companies aren't just reacting to trends, they're anticipating them. This means putting more relevant, strategic products on shelves faster, and adapting quickly to the ever-shifting tides of consumer behavior. In a market defined by disruption, from GLP-1s to value-driven buying, agility and insight will separate the leaders from the laggards. How we got here Datassential's 2025 Trends Report listed cost as the just third defining factor driving consumer's food purchases; quality of product (56%) and great taste (52%) came out on top (Datassential's 2025 Food Trends Report). When cost is the major selling point for big CPGs, this data indicates that consumers are prioritizing incumbent products that can deliver functionality and flavor. Even with over 30% of each generation (Gen-Z, Millennials, Gen-X, and Boomers) opting to buy more store brand products as prices rise this year, according to a recent Prosper Insights & Analytics survey, big CPGs do not have nearly the same stronghold on the market. Prosper - As a Result of Price Increases Are You Doing Any of the Following The appointment of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has compounded that turmoil, since his stated policies include the ban of Red Dye No. 40 and overall skepticism of ultra-processed foods. A number of the proposed ingredient bans, if enacted, will impact large food and beverage companies much more than startups. This can largely be attributed to their supply chain investments, notably in CapEX processes for existing formulations, as well as their focus on driving margin expansion through long lead time ingredient purchasing. Ironically, just as the market demands more innovation, many of the large companies have shut down their innovation departments and halted investment in building new brands altogether. In March, General Mills announced that it closed G-Works Innovation Studio, responsible for incubating and developing new brands and paused venture investments, and AB InBev's ZX Ventures 'divested from internal company building & exploratory initiatives'. Even the conglomerates that have not shied away from building and launching new products often see failure rates of more than 70% after spending three to five years in development with tens of millions of dollars invested in their efforts. This shows that they aren't tracking their consumer's demands when the demands are at their highest. Meanwhile, the proliferation of the omnichannel across industries means that CPG companies are no longer just competing against each other; they're competing against everything, from TikTok Shop to foreign brands looping into their customers' algorithms. (2024 Incisiv State of the Industry Innovation in Retail report) 'Relying on the status quo of product development is not serving today's grocery shopper,' says Chaz Flexman, CEO and Co-Founder of Starday Foods. 'With the evolution of data science and the rich trove of purchasing and shopper data that retailers have, there are smarter ways to understand whitespace on shelves and the products that will satisfy specific demands right as they are emerging - rather than several years too late.' Where do we go from here? Long gone are the days of generic products that serve every consumer - we now know that health is personal and what we put into our bodies directly affects that. The rise of Low Fodmap diets, the ever-present nature of protein in seemingly every category, or huge percentage of children that are being diagnosed with Top 9 Allergies are case in point. When consumers are looking to discover products or solutions to meet their dietary habits, more often than not they're turning online to TikTok, Instagram, or Reddit in hopes of discovering products or recipes that can help provide what they need. Today, generative AI can act as leverage, as if a company could deploy 10,000 staff across consumer insights - reading, tagging, and trying to understand the intent behind user-generated content (UGC) across the wide range of channels where that demand is expressed. Starday Foods, the AI-driven food innovation company that identifies unmet consumer needs and corresponding product opportunities, is demonstrating this in action. With ample consumer data and by leveraging machine learning, Starday can accelerate development cycles that have historically taken years. A prime example is Starday's chickpea protein toppers, All Day, which solves multiple problems. Starday's data identified intersecting trends of desires for both more vegan protein options and cleaner ones. Plus, people want convenience and nutrition, but they also crave variety and excitement. These insights led Starday to make All Day a topping with a chickpea base - because it's a clean, vegan alternative delivered in an easy format to weave into a consumer's life, as well as one that feels novel and adds variety to a diet while not requiring tremendous effort. All Day is now in the top-tier for store sales and category velocity at Sprouts nationwide. The future of AI + CPG product development CPG companies will now have to embrace the fact that using traditional methodologies for growth and product development will not give them the scale nor information for what they need to understand consumer needs. Software is enabling a powerful and data-driven new framework to help CPGs succeed. And yet, AI software itself cannot be the sole answer. 'Organic growth is more challenging than ever before - R&D cycles are long and expensive, while consumer behavior is evolving faster than most CPG teams can keep up,' said Flexman. 'At Starday, we believe the consumer mindset must come first. By making tech-enabled, data-driven decisions, we can help usher in a new era of CPG innovation—developing products consumers truly need. That's why we're partnering with CPG companies to help them not just adapt but thrive.'
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Health
- Hindustan Times
Week-long immunisation drive to begin in Gurugram slums in late June
The district health department will launch a week-long immunization drive in late June, targeting children under five in slum clusters across the city. The campaign aims to deliver life-saving vaccines to vulnerable communities with limited healthcare access. While officials initially planned to focus on five major slums, the drive will now cover all informal settlements throughout Gurugram. According to health officials, the campaign will focus on vaccines under the National Immunisation Schedule, including those for polio, measles, diphtheria, tetanus, and hepatitis B. Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) and Anganwadi workers have already conducted door-to-door surveys to identify children who missed scheduled doses. 'This is a crucial opportunity for parents to ensure their children are protected from preventable but serious diseases. We request all guardians to bring their children to the nearby vaccination centres and be part of this important public health effort,' said Dr. Jaiprakash Rajliwal, deputy civil surgeon for Gurugram. Health workers will also conduct home visits in cases where children are unable to reach vaccination centres due to illness or other challenges. The department has compiled a list based on the surveys to ensure no eligible child is left behind. Dr Jaiprakash added that a child is considered fully immunised after receiving the BCG vaccine at birth (for tuberculosis), three doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV 1, 2, and 3), three doses of the pentavalent vaccine (covering diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, and Haemophilus influenzae type B), and the Measles-Rubella (MR1) vaccine at nine months. Daily progress of the campaign will be monitored, and any gaps or lags in coverage will be addressed in real time. Officials said the initiative is part of a broader effort to boost immunisation rates and prevent disease outbreaks in high-density, low-income settlements.
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
As an AI entrepreneur, will.i.am says data privacy and training the next generation should be prioritized
Musician and founder of the platform spoke during Business Insider's CMO Insider breakfast at Cannes. He discussed everything from AI to data privacy. This article is part of " CMO Insider," a series on marketing leadership and innovation. Musician, producer, and entrepreneur compared AI to early video games during a discussion at Business Insider's CMO Insider breakfast at Cannes on Tuesday. "AI is in its infancy," he said. "It's Pac-Man; it ain't even Halo yet." Now a founder of the platform , was interviewed by Jamie Heller, the editor in chief of Business Insider, at the event, which had BCG as its founding sponsor. Early video games, said, required a level of imagination from the player in the absence of sophisticated graphics and a real story. This same level of imagination is needed from "the people that love AI, the folks whose imagination is doing the work as you're training it or it's learning from your imagination," he said. He said AI will not stifle creativity, but provide room to enhance it. While AI may be in its early stages, its potential impact over the next few years is undeniable. One area that will need to adjust to make way for AI is higher education. That is why, said, recently partnered with Arizona State University to provide technology to help enhance the learning experience and prepare students for the reality that awaits them upon graduation at the end of the decade. "When you go out into the world, you're not just competing with humans," he said of these students. Rather, there's an "onslaught of agents" that are replacing the jobs that students are going to school for, and there's no one trying to offset how they compete with them, he said. He said working with is going to provide a path so that students will make an agent of their own; when they graduate, so will their agent. "Humans have to be able to compete with the marketplace, and that marketplace is going to be like ghost bots that are going to be doing amazing work," he added. Like-minded partners is currently working with brands like Formula 1, Mercedes, and Qualcomm. In looking for brands to work with, said that there has to be a sense of shared values. "If the values aren't aligned, that could be a problem," he said. "For example, it'll be hard for us to work with companies that have data privacy practices that don't really gel with how we want to move in this AI space." He added that he's fearful that AI could follow the same trajectory of many social media platforms, whose data practices have been "parasitic." "There have been lots of issues with data practices and lack of regulations and governance around it," he said. "So if that is to come into this new age we are stepping into with AI, it's not a good result."
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Eating into SEO budgets, GEO is pushing CTRs to obsolescence
AI-driven search may currently account for just 3% of total search traffic, according to BCG (Boston Consulting Group) data, but its growth trajectory can not be ignored. In India, it's already eating into traditional SEO ( Search Engine Optimisation ) budgets and making long-standing metrics like CTR ( Click Through Rate ) increasingly obsolete. The shift is not just theoretical. Semrush predicts that AI-driven channels could rival traditional search in economic impact by 2027, with AI-powered visits converting at 4.4 times the rate of organic search. Marketers can't simply ignore these figures, as the implications for marketers are profound and demand immediate attention. Adding to the urgency is the fact that India now leads the world in ChatGPT usage, accounting for 13.5% of its global user base, according to Mary Meeker's 'Trends – Artificial Intelligence ' report. According to Parul Bajaj, India leader, marketing, sales & pricing, BCG (Boston Consulting Group), 'Over the past year, visits to top 10 AI chatbots have nearly doubled, from around 30 billion in April 2024 to approximately 55–60 billion by March-April 2025. In our view, this is not a short-term change. It represents a fundamentally new discovery model where AI plays a central role in how consumers find, evaluate, and engage with information.' These developments raise important questions for brands operating in India: How are marketers in India responding to 'conversational commerce'? Are they rethinking their strategies, reallocating budgets, and optimising content for AI-driven discovery? Let's hear directly from the marketers and take a closer look at the AI search ecosystem, unpacking one layer at a time. Status check on GEO SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) was built for a world of clickable links and ranked results. It relies on keywords, backlinks and metadata (information describing the data) to push content to the top, but brands can no longer rely on keyword stuffing or legacy optimisation tricks to gain visibility in AI search. To stay relevant, they must optimise content for how AI models read, interpret and surface information. This optimisation is referred to as GEO ( Generative Engine Optimisation ). 'Our research shows that tactics like keyword density, backlinks, and metadata that were important in SEO do not guarantee visibility in AI results. Some of the most-cited pages in AI answers often have fewer keywords and backlinks than top-ranking SEO pages,' Bajaj noted. AI engines typically prioritise content that is conversational, easy to extract, and clearly presented. Brands need to create content that is well-structured, neatly formatted, and includes numerical facts and credible expert quotes. But, the question remains: where do Indian brands stand when it comes to optimising content for AI-led search? 'We have begun structuring our content for AI visibility, whether through schema-rich explainers (content with structured data, making it more understandable for AI engines), FAQs, or simplified jargon-to-journey formats (simplifying industry jargon into clear content guiding consumer decisions). We are seeing a shift from traditional blogs to content that answers rather than just ranks,' said Sandeep Walunj, executive director and group CMO, Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFS). For the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance) sector, Walunj believes that future content strategies will focus on creating content that earns trust and citations within AI ecosystems. Highlighting the shift from traditional to AI-driven search in BFSI, Arvind Iyer, marketing head, Piramal Finance, said, 'We're already experiencing the shift where our visibility in AI-generated answers is outpacing our traditional SEO rankings for certain keywords. We are seeing that a significant number of our target keywords that don't rank in the top 50 on Google are already being surfaced by AI platforms in their generative responses. This includes important terms in lending, personal finance, and credit awareness.' It's now evident that AI-driven search isn't just a buzzword; it's a reality for categories like BFSI brands in India. Yet, the question is: is this trend significant enough for marketers to start reallocating budgets for GEO? Investments in GEO While AI-driven search is gaining momentum, it still accounts for just 3% of total search traffic, according to BCG. As a result, most brands in India are not yet making sizable standalone investments in GEO. Instead, they are reallocating a small fraction of their existing digital content budgets to explore this emerging space. Iyer noted that Piramal Finance has begun dedicating 5-8% of its digital content and SEO budget specifically toward AI search optimisation , which includes reformatting content for AI summarisation, tracking how the brand appears in generative answers, and testing what influences being referenced by AI engines. 'In a world of zero-click search, you either get summarised or sidelined. While we have not seen a significant uplift in branded search volumes yet, we believe this is a space worth investing in,' Iyer noted. Speaking of budgets, Boult (a D2C brand known for its audio products and smartwatches) is allocating 3-5% of its content budget on AI search-related initiatives and anticipates this allocation to grow in the next two quarters. Varun Gupta, co-founder, Boult, mentioned that early adopters of GEO practices have seen up to a 20% increase in snippet visibility. Moreover, Walunj noted that while investing in GEO is a priority, the current budget allocation remains in the single-digit percentage range. However, early indicators such as increased citations in AI summaries, reduced bounce rates on educational pages, and higher conversions from AI-generated leads are already encouraging. 'In broking and AMC (Asset Management Company), where the journey is high-stakes and trust-led, appearing in authoritative AI responses is an edge,' Walunj resolved. Resonating with the above-mentioned marketers, Bajaj also emphasised that most aren't carving out separate budgets for AI search optimisation. Instead, they're reallocating a portion of their existing SEO content spend towards GEO efforts. 'At this stage, no major brand in India has fully cracked the code or committed to large-scale investment in AI-driven search,' Bajaj quoted. A different game While BFSI brands are actively exploring GEO, other categories remain hesitant, waiting to see how AI search evolves. The hesitation largely stems from the challenges AI-driven search presents, but what exactly are they? Varadharajan Ragunathan, head of ad tech and retail media, TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), pointed out that one of the biggest challenges in embracing GEO is the lack of clarity around how advertising will function on AI engines. 'GEO operates very differently from SEO. Think of it like a roll call in school. Earlier, the teacher would call out a name, but now, it's more like, who's fanatical about cricket and has Virat Kohli's autograph? If that's you, you're called upon. It's an entirely new, contextual way of being recognised. That's not how our brains have traditionally processed search. So the question becomes: how do I change my name, or in this case, my content, so that AI recognises and references me?,' said Ragunathan. Another key challenge, according to Ragunathan, is the need for dual strategies: one for conventional search and another for AI-friendly content. He likens this approach to being a car manufacturer who must now build both electric and conventional vehicles and excel in both. Calling out another challenge, Ragunathan shared that brands now face the challenge of optimising their content for multiple AI search engines, without knowing which one will ultimately dominate. Unlike the past, when Google was the clear winner, the AI search landscape is fragmented and evolving rapidly. 'It's like not knowing whether I'm playing cricket, football, or tennis, yet, I need to impress my cricket coach in the morning, my tennis coach in the evening and my football coach at night,' noted Ragunathan. Ragunathan's words raise an important question: do brands need to create separate content optimised for both SEO and GEO? Addressing this challenge, Bajaj said, 'SEO and GEO are not in conflict with each other. It's not an 'either-or' scenario; it's an 'and'. Both strategies can and should coexist. In my view, GEO isn't replacing SEO, it's augmenting it. And despite the tactical differences, both strategies share a common core: delivering value through intent-driven, user-centric content. GEO extends SEO's reach into zero-click (searches that end without the customer clicking on a web page), AI-powered environments, enhancing discoverability and relevance where search results are increasingly synthesized rather than linked.' This brings us to the next dilemma many marketers face: which AI search engine should they prioritise when optimising their content? As Gupta puts it, 'It is tough to optimise one piece of content across every AI search platform plus traditional SEO. These models interpret information differently, and our biggest challenge so far is identifying how to make our content simultaneously 'citable' for LLMs and 'rankable' for Google, without fragmenting our team's bandwidth.' Bajaj offers a clear approach. She said, 'There's a growing list of AI chatbots in the market today, but when we look closely, we begin to see clear differences in their user profiles. The right strategy begins with identifying on which AI platform your customer base is over-indexed on.' Elaborating her stance with an example, she said, 'ChatGPT, for instance, commands the largest and most diverse user base globally. It's widely used across age groups and demographics, making it the most popular in education and workplace contexts. On the other hand, Claude tends to skew more male and shows a higher concentration of users in the United States. Meanwhile, Google's Gemini leans towards a younger demographic. These nuances are essential for brands crafting their GEO strategies as each platform brings its own audience.' Measuring the impact In the past, one of the main measures of SEO success was CTR (Click Through Rate), which measures the number of people who click on a link or an ad. But now, with a growing number of searches, around 60% (BCG data), ending without any clicks, CTRs will increasingly become less relevant. This raises the challenge of how brands will measure the effectiveness of their GEO strategy . 'Unlike SEO, where we have ranking reports, AI search lacks direct feedback loops. It's unclear why certain sources are preferred or ignored. Moreover, it is difficult to quantify the exact impact of being mentioned in an AI answer since there's often no click-through or attribution. Therefore, we are correlating AI visibility timelines with branded search spikes, time-on-site improvements, and conversion lifts - helping us infer the ROI of being AI-visible,' Iyer revealed. Drawing attention to the challenge posed by the evolving nature of AI, Bajaj said, 'What works today in AI search may not work a month from now. The pace of change is rapid, with platforms constantly evolving and new versions of chatbots being released regularly. This makes it difficult for marketers to rely on fixed playbooks or long-standing best practices.' The rise of social listening In the world of SEO, the formula was relatively straightforward: create quality content, ensure it ranks at the top when customers search for your brand, and move on. But the AI search landscape is changing that dynamic. Since AI engines generate contextual answers by citing third-party sources, brands must now also be concerned with how they are portrayed across the broader internet, not just on their own platforms. This shift means marketers will need to go beyond owned content and actively monitor how their brand is represented in external sources. It calls for continuous engagement with publishers, online communities, and customers. As Bajaj points out, this will drive a greater focus on social listening, with brands enhancing their capabilities to shape and manage their narrative in an AI-driven environment. Naturally, this also signals a growing demand for social listening and online reputation management tools. Tackling AI biases Imagine you're using a voice assistant like Alexa or Siri and you say, 'Call me a cab.' That sentence sounds simple. But behind the scenes, the assistant has to understand what you mean, turn that into a command, find an app that can do it, and then book the ride. Now, let's say a cab company gives Alexa a special set of instructions to help it complete that task. It seems helpful, free code, easy connection and a smooth experience. But here's the catch: those instructions are written in a way that makes Alexa more likely to pick that one company. It doesn't block other ride-hailing apps, but it quietly gives one an advantage. Things like default settings or backup options are all tilted in its favour. Referring to this challenge, Ragunathan said, 'If another cab company wants to show up with the same voice command, they will have to build their own integrations and try to compete against a deeply embedded default algorithm. Eventually, saying 'Call a cab' might always bring up that one company, not because it is the only option, but because the system was quietly built to prefer it. That's how bias can sneak into technology that looks fair on the outside.' AI tools overlook branded content Shedding light on the challenges faced by BFSI brands, Walunj mentioned that BFSI content is typically too jargon-heavy, leading AI tools to skip it. Compounding the issue is the lack of transparency in tracking how and where content appears in AI search results. Additionally, much of the legacy content is not easily understood by large language models like ChatGPT. 'We're solving this by rewriting core education and product pages in LLM-friendly formats, auditing brand presence in AI platforms and building reporting frameworks, and training internal teams to think 'answer-first', not 'SEO-first',' Walunj noted. The challenge of consistency Like humans, AI is also prone to errors and can sometimes hallucinate, generating information that is inaccurate or off-brand. For marketers, ensuring consistency across various AI search engines remains a significant challenge, particularly as content is interpreted and presented differently by each platform. Shifting attention to this challenge, Rajat Abbi, VP - marketing, Schneider Electric, Greater India, said, 'The primary issues include data availability, hyperpersonalisation, and LLM-specific concerns such as hallucination. Delivering contextually relevant content at scale while maintaining consistency is a complex task. Additionally, LLMs pose risks like hallucination, where AI-generated responses may misrepresent facts or dilute brand messaging.' While challenges remain in optimising content for AI-driven search, sectors like BFSI are leading the way through continuous experimentation, setting an example for other industries. The lack of clear feedback loops, combined with the fast-evolving nature of AI platforms, has led many brands to adopt a cautious, wait-and-watch approach. However, AI-driven search is rapidly gaining ground and poised to disrupt traditional SEO practices. With growing optimism around its potential, especially among digitally savvy consumers, brands, particularly consumer-focused D2C players, must begin preparing for this shift now to stay ahead of the curve.
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Why 2026 Will Be A Big Year For AI In Business Finance
From the looks of it, 2026 is going to be AI's big year in the finance department. A new study from AI-powered procurement software company Tropic found that half of finance departments are currently piloting AI solutions, but 86% plan on using it in much fuller force by 2026. And they aren't just doing it because of the competitive pressure from other companies embracing AI. Two-thirds said their top driver in AI adoption is its operational efficiency. Most companies aren't yet seeing the expected efficiency boost, but it's slowly getting there. Just over half of companies say they're only seeing a slight improvement in productivity from AI, though that may also be because they're running smaller-scale pilot projects. And when asked what business-level outcomes finance leaders are seeing from AI, the most common answer—from 43%—was that there's no measurable impact yet. However, the rest of the respondents are seeing positives, with 30% reporting cost savings and 20% reporting better forecasting and planning. Nearly half of CFOs said that proven ROI could accelerate AI adoption. But they're already moving budgets around to accommodate the new technology. More than three-quarters anticipate increased software spending on financial AI next year, with 24% expecting a significant increase in investment. They're putting their faith and trust in ROI—which a well-thought-out deployment of AI can bring. But high ROI is not a foregone conclusion: A recent study from BCG found that many finance departments target a 20% ROI, and the median reported was just 10%. BCG found that the key to realizing a better ROI was deploying AI with a broad focus on value, looking at how it can transform the entire department, and not just a few functions. This is the published version of Forbes' CFO newsletter, which offers the latest news for chief finance officers and other leaders focused on the budget. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every Tuesday. The Eccles Building, location of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and of the Federal Open Market Committee, in Washington, D.C. Though experts have been warning for months that Trump's tariffs could undo economic progress to slow inflation, that hasn't yet come through in the numbers. May's consumer price index showed price increases of 2.4% compared to a year ago, and an increase of just 0.1% since April. It was lower than economists' estimates, which were 2.5% year-over-year inflation, and 0.2% month-over-month. The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting begins today, and although both Trump and Vice President JD Vance have essentially demanded that the board use this information to lower interest rates, the consensus projection is they will not budge. Forbes senior contributor Christian Weller writes that while the CPI report looks positive, there are troubling areas that could foreshadow larger problems in the coming months. Prescription drugs are seeing higher price increases—up 0.6% in May alone, after a 0.4% increase in April. Prices ticking upward could show the beginning of a trend of these items getting much more expensive, especially since many prescription drugs are imported. Prices for hospital services have increased 3.9% over the last 12 months, and that may keep going up as Republican lawmakers cut federal funds that many hospitals rely on. Insurance rates are also way up, Weller writes, with motor vehicle insurance up 7% in the last 12 months. The tariffs are looming on the horizon—though Trump announced a deal with China last week that imposes a 55% tariff on Chinese imports, as well as relaxes controls on rare earth minerals and magnets crucial to developing advanced technology. On Thursday night, Trump said his administration was negotiating tariffs with 15 countries, and would be sending 'take it or leave it' letters to all trading partners in the coming weeks with the U.S.'s final tariff offer. A new Quinnipiac University poll last week showed 57% of registered voters disapprove of the way Trump handles trade, writes Forbes senior contributor Stuart Anderson. Trump's final tariff declaration caused stock prices to drop on Friday morning, and they fell more sharply as the day continued as Israel attacked Iran, escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The nations continued strikes with no signs of a truce in the near future. However, the major indexes rebounded this week, even as tensions in the Middle East grew. IRS Commissioner Billy Long at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. The auctioneer is now officially leading the IRS. Last week, senators voted 53-44 to confirm Billy Long as the next IRS commissioner, writes Forbes' Kelly Phillips Erb. The vote was strictly along party lines, with all Republicans voting in favor and all Democrats voting no. Long, a former U.S. Representative from Missouri, was an auctioneer before his election to Congress and has been a longtime Trump ally. He has no formal tax and finance experience, and did not serve on any taxation committees while in Congress. After leaving Congress in 2023, he worked with businesses as a consultant to help them apply for and receive pandemic-era tax credits. Long's confirmation brings some permanency to the head of the tax agency; since former IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel resigned on January 20, there have been three acting commissioners. Long's term ends November 12, 2027. It remains to be seen what kinds of changes Long may bring to the IRS. However, small businesses are focusing on tax changes. Forbes' Brandon Kochkodin writes that nearly a fifth of them ranked taxation as their biggest problem in May's Small Business Optimism Index from the National Federation of Independent Business. The House of Representatives recently passed a bill extending Trump's 2017 corporate tax cuts and adding in other tax breaks, but several aspects of the sweeping bill face opposition in the Senate. Reuters reports that several changes have been proposed by Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee—though none of them seem to touch the corporate tax cuts. Chime CEO Chris Britt rings the opening bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite at the company's IPO last week. As the markets are once again on an upswing, two big IPOs last week saw success in their debuts, a sign that could entice more companies to go public now. Digital bank Chime began trading on Thursday and saw its price pop 37% on its first day on the market, bringing its valuation to $16 billion, writes Forbes' Jeff Kauflin. Chime, founded 13 years ago, caters to lower and middle-income consumers. It became popular by offering free checking accounts and debit cards with early access to paychecks, and requires customers to set up direct deposits to access several features, including small loans and secured credit cards. Chime makes the bulk of its revenue on interchange—the 1% to 2% fees merchants pay to accept debit and credit cards, though lending represents a significant future revenue opportunity. However, it's risky: losses from lending, disputed charges and fraud represented 21% of its revenue in the most recent quarter. The world's largest meatpacker, Brazil's JBS, saw its stock increase 5% as it made its long-awaited IPO on Friday, writes Forbes' Chloe Sorvino. For years, the company had eyed a U.S. IPO, but a lengthy rap sheet of corruption charges, both at home in Brazil and in the United States, got in the way of SEC approval for the IPO. Until this year, there had been a bipartisan effort in Congress to block the company from listing on the NYSE, with support from senators including Republicans Josh Hawley of Missouri and John Barrasso of Wyoming, as well as Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. JBS received SEC approval for its listing two days after the Trump Administration's new SEC chairman was sworn into office—and that campaign finance filings revealed JBS's Pilgrim's Pride was the highest donor to the Trump Inaugural Committee, giving $5 million. JBS is also listed on Brazil's B3 stock exchange, where it's been trading since June 9. Forbes CEO Sherry Phillips; Mizuho Americas Head of Investment & Corporate Banking Michal Katz; Member of the UK's House of Lords and Co-Principal of Versaca Baroness Dambisa Moyo; and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP Partner Alex Spiro onstage at the Forbes Iconoclast Summit. Earlier this month, a collection of business and financial titans gathered in New York City to discuss the most pressing financial, economic and market issues of the day at the 2025 Forbes Iconoclast Summit. Forbes CEO Sherry Phillips moderated a panel discussion looking at financial issues facing companies featuring Michal Katz, head of investment & corporate banking for Mizuho Americas; Alex Spiro, partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP; and Baroness Dambisa Moyo, member of the U.K. House of Lords and co-principal of Versaca, a family office. This excerpt of the session has been edited for length, clarity and continuity. You can watch the entire session here. Phillips: Dambisa, you talk so much about preparedness, and I know you're so involved with boards. Your optimism in terms of the history of resiliency was so important to share with every one of us who may not have been through that before. Can you talk about that a little bit? Moyo: The most important thing I can emphasize is that we're always in an era of uncertainty. The distribution of outcomes may have changed. If you think about a normal distribution, the skew and the kurtosis have obviously been altered in the new challenges, whether it's financial markets or geopolitics or macroeconomy. But from a board perspective, our responsibility is not only to mitigate risk, but also continue to find opportunities within which a board and organization can grow. That hasn't changed. When I look back in history, we've been in periods of pandemic, not just in 2020, but in 1918. We've been in periods of deglobalization, in the Progressive Era in the 1930s where the state grew and there was plenty of regulation. We've been in geopolitical warfare. I've been on the board of a company that's been around for over 350 years. They were there during the Industrial Revolution. All the technological gains that were experienced then is something that's in the DNA of corporations that have been around for several decades. This is to say our job is not to navel gaze because of all the uncertainty that has emerged. It's really to see through it, and to, of course, think about updating our processes and make sure financially and strategically and operationally the organizations are sound. But at the same time, we have to keep looking for opportunities to improve, deliberate, to think about margin increases, and also to invest in different regions or in different products. Deals are getting done right now and there are winners. We saw winners out of the pandemic. Where do you find that optimism in this space? Katz: I don't think we've talked enough about some of the structural imperatives that I think should drive deal activity. We know that private equity has been sitting on the sidelines for the last couple of years during the era when interest rate environments creeped up and made the cost of financing incredibly taxing in terms of returns. There are about 29,000 to 30,000 captive portfolio companies sitting in private equity funds that have yet to be monetized, and 50% of them are at least four years or so in terms of the investment cycle. Those companies will need to get monetized and will need to trade. There's other dynamics on the venture side of things. A lot of deals got done during the 2021 timeframe, perhaps at valuations that these companies have not grown into just yet. During that period of time, their growth has slowed down. I wouldn't call them fallen angels, but they're no longer the type of companies that would attract the public company investors as potential IPO exit. Those are a great cohort of companies that could be potential for M&A activity. Lastly, we've all talked about the regulatory environment over the last couple of years. The hurdle was incredibly high for companies seeking to put two companies together, as there was no visibility as to whether a transaction could actually get clearance and get to the finish line. The scrutiny has remained in effect, but we do have an administration and a regulatory body in place that is more willing to negotiate a settlement to allow these transactions to happen. So on the one hand you have the structural, the strategic imperatives, which is the industrial logic, why you want to grow, which areas you want to go to, like AI and geographic diversification. But on the other hand, there are structural imperatives that will help catalyze this activity, and that's why I'm incredibly optimistic about the opportunity ahead of us to try to get some deals done. How do you navigate the tariffs with your clients? How are you explaining to them that calmness, but also the innovation, that exists out there? Spiro: If you're dealing with a crisis or chaos—and there's a lot of chaos out there right now—I think the number one rule is you don't panic. The best CEOs, CFOs I know have been just methodically going over their books, their supply chain, how it impacts them mathematically and getting ready for what comes next. I try to learn from the people that do pretty good in crises and do different things. You don't have to agree with everything that they do, but Elon [Musk] likes to cut costs during a time like this because he thinks that then you're most nimble coming out of it. You can always rehire, you can always rebuild and do that. Other people like Jeff [Bezos] say there's so many things I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen next, but what are the things I can be certain of? And he pours his energy and his brainpower into what he can be certain of. Yes, you want to beat your competitors, but paying attention to their every move isn't the best way to do that. What you should be doing is focusing on your own company: Think big picture, play to your strengths and draw inspiration from outside places. Here's how to do that and more. It doesn't matter how long you've been a business leader: There's always much more to learn. It's beneficial to always do leadership training, which will exercise your critical thinking skills and help you be prepared for the future. Forbes surveyed several billionaires about the one indulgence they found essential. What was the most common response? A. Second homes B. Private jets C. Yachts D. Prestige cars See if you got the right answer here.
