Corporate Strategy

Business leaders embrace a minimalist framework: identify your three most important tasks, three things that make no sense, and three areas where AI could 10x your output.

Ryan Cohen thinks he can transform eBay into something worth hundreds of billions. GameStop's unsolicited $125-per-share offer values eBay at $56 billion with $20 billion in debt financing from TD Bank already secured. The meme stock darling holds $9 billion in cash against its $12 billion market cap, making this a bet-the-company move. Both firms pivot around collectibles and resale markets, but analysts see low probability of success given the massive dilution required. Cohen's compensation package rewards him for lifting GameStop to $100 billion. He is prepared for a proxy fight if eBay's board resists.

Apple killed Apple Pay Later in June and terminated its Goldman Sachs partnership, pivoting from balance-sheet financial services to a pure payments network play. The shift hands lending risk to partners like Affirm while Apple captures distribution fees from its Wallet ecosystem. iOS 18's new Tap to Cash feature targets peer-to-peer payments directly against Zelle, while opening NFC APIs to third parties strengthens platform lock-in. Apple has decided it cannot effectively be both a network and a bank, choosing the higher-margin, lower-risk model that leverages its 1.5 billion device installed base.

Shares recovered from a 2.5% initial drop to finish up 2.6% at $273 after the company announced Tim Cook's transition to executive chairman and John Ternus's promotion to CEO effective September 1. The orderly succession, unanimously approved by Apple's board, positions the 25-year hardware veteran to lead during the AI transition while Cook handles policy engagement. iPhone sales in China surged 23% in early 2026 against a shrinking market, providing Ternus with momentum heading into his first earnings call as CEO-designate. Investors seem convinced that product-focused leadership beats operational continuity in the AI era.

Zuckerberg is firing 10 percent of Meta's workforce to bankroll his artificial intelligence ambitions, the bluntest admission yet that even trillion-dollar companies cannot afford infinite compute budgets. The 8,000 job cuts will save roughly $1.5bn annually, money that flows directly into AI infrastructure and talent acquisition as Meta races OpenAI and Google for model supremacy. This marks Silicon Valley's new normal: growth-stage layoffs not for survival but for strategic reallocation. Meta joins Amazon, Microsoft, and Google in treating human capital as the most liquid funding source for AI bets. The market rewarded the efficiency play, pushing shares up 3 percent in after-hours trading.

Rio Tinto's new CEO is wielding the axe with surgical precision. Simon Trott is selling the company's entire US boron operation — including mines supplying 30% of global demand — for up to $2 billion as he reorganizes into three core divisions. The California assets have attracted more than a dozen bidders despite boron's recent addition to the US critical minerals list, showing how portfolio simplification trumps strategic value in today's mining. It's a bet that shareholders prefer focus over diversification, even when divesting involves materials deemed essential for national security.