Fortune

Ed Bastian has led Delta Air Lines with a rare blend of salesmanship, showmanship, and an accountant’s mastery of return on capital. He’s served as CEO for almost nine years, the longest reign among chiefs of major U.S. airlines, and has helped Delta to build strong employee-management relations in an industry where those ties are often strained. On-time reliability and smart investments in airports and amenities have helped build the airline’s dominance, as have good labor relations. The question now is how long the good times will last. For the latest issue of Fortune Magazine, Bastian walked Fortune through the playbook that earned Delta its lead. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/eYGTguFW

"There wasn’t a part where he looked tired of it or ready to go home. He was always ready to answer the bell and deliver.” https://trib.al/P2wUfig

Lori Matthias and her husband had tired of Atlanta traffic when they moved to St. Augustine, Florida, in 2023. For Mike Waldron and his wife, moving from the Boston area in 2020 to a place that bills itself as “the nation’s oldest city” was motivated by a desire to be closer to their adult children. They were among thousands of white-collar, remote workers who migrated to the St. Augustine area in recent years, transforming the touristy beach town into one of the top remote work hubs in the United States. Matthias fell in love with St. Augustine’s small town feeling, trading the hour-long commute she had in Atlanta for bumping into friends and acquaintances while running errands. “The whole pace here is slower and I’m attracted to that,” said Matthias, who does sales and marketing for a power tool company. “My commute is like 30 steps from my kitchen to my office. It’s just different. It’s just relaxed and friendly.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/eaRTNA9z

“I have no time for decision fatigue and the destruction it causes.” https://trib.al/Zlzi1kw

“China has made and is making some huge, highly risky macroeconomic bets in order to drive what they see is this techno-driven industrial revolution that they want.” https://trib.al/3sM4KjG

ChatGPT might be making its most loyal users lonelier. According to a pair of recent studies from OpenAI and MIT Media Lab, frequent, sustained use of ChatGPT may be linked to higher levels of loneliness. “Overall, higher daily usage–across all modalities and conversation types–correlated with higher loneliness, dependence, and problematic use, and lower socialization,” the researchers said in an abstract for the two parallel studies. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e4Seej9G

Self-made billionaire and serial entrepreneur Marc Lore is far from done. In his latest big bet, Lore has poured over $300 million of his own funds into Wonder, a virtual food hall for the digital generation with ambitions to become so much more. Lore can almost taste the possibility that this will be the one—the company whose name becomes a verb, the killer app that will transform an industry and become his legacy. But first he needs people to understand what Wonder even is. Read the full story in latest issue of Fortune Magazine: https://lnkd.in/eheN2StN

A universal tariff would hit most imports, no matter which country they are from, sources told the Washington Post. https://trib.al/IGxkeGS

“I couldn’t care less. I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are gonna buy American-made cars. We have plenty.” https://trib.al/TwyVIdX

Millennials may be pushing 40 now—but their parents are still shelling out to help them stay afloat. About 50% of parents financially support at least one of their adult children over the age of 18, according to a recent report from Savings. Working-age Gen Zers receive the most at an average of $1,813 monthly, while millennials get about $863. This spending has reached a three-year high, as inflation has put financial strain on workers of all ages. Gen Z are getting paid handsomely by their parents because they’re early-career and have yet to establish livable income streams, the report notes, whereas millennials—aged 29 to 44—are farther along with more economic prowess. While about 92.5% of adult Gen Zers are working full-time, a stable salary isn’t enough to keep up with the rising costs of living. Mom and Dad are stepping in, but they’ve got financial woes of their own—and they won’t be forking over cash for much longer. Read more: https://lnkd.in/ea3_SrKE