John Hyatt

NEW: Epstein emails show how billionaire financier Leon Black, founder of Apollo, relied on the convicted sex offender to help him leverage his multi-billion-dollar art for $500m+ in loans from Bank of America. www.forbes.com/sites/johnhy...

NEW: Days after a top Wall Street economist wrote that AI has provided “zero financial payoff", his firm led a $40 billion chip financing deal for Elon Musk's SpaceX. On Wall Street, even as doubts mount about AI, billions keep flowing to the data center buildout. www.forbes.com/sites/johnhy...

NEW: What's one thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on? Consolidation in the playground equipment market, apparently. The FTC and 12 state AGs are teaming up to block the private equity firm run by Pistons owner Tom Gores' playground roll-up. @forbes.com 👇 www.forbes.com/sites/johnhy...

NEW: How Vivek Ramaswamy's Well-Timed Ohio Move Likely Saved Him $12 Million In Taxes. The billionaire gubernatorial candidate says lower taxes will make founders flock to Ohio. Ramaswamy is one politician who puts his money where his mouth is. www.forbes.com/sites/johnhy...

Other than getting married/having kids, Sept. 11 probably changed my life more than anything. Re-read this piece last night that we did. It still haunts me. Bravery and decency even if the face of utter terror. It is possible. (Free link. ) www.nytimes.com/2002/05/26/n...

How Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Went From 9/11 Hero To 'Most Hated Guy On Wall Street’ www.forbes.com/sites/sarado...

NEW: Inside the making of Wall Street's hottest tax-avoidance investment strategy, and the little-known accounting PhD who has ridden his success to the billionaire club. www.forbes.com/sites/johnhy...

Only in Utah: These two ex-Mormon ecommerce billionaires left their spouses after cofounding a company together, then married each other and are now worth over $2 billion. And now two of their kids (from their previous marriages) have themselves gotten married. www.forbes.com/sites/alicia...

Nosebleed tickets for Game 3 Knicks-Spurs at the Garden available for a reasonable $11k a pop

Today, our members distributed fliers outside the Forbes Iconoclast summit to let management know we deserve a fair contract. Four years into bargaining, Forbes is still proposing wages that do not keep up with inflation. Solidarity, Forbes Union

This is... Wow.

Trump: Americans’ Finances Are Not a Factor in Iran Negotiations www.wsj.com/video/trump-...

Any time a PR is yelling on social media about a story it’s probably because they’re getting yelled at themselves. That or they’re *true believers*, which is even sadder

Now all we need is someone to go through and manually count every Jeff to make sure it’s word for word the same # as Infinite Jest

If they take away my lexapro I’m going to (literally) lose it

It's really sad that people are blowing their life savings on mobile gambling games designed to be addictive that don't even offer real payouts. This is important reporting. www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

My latest for Forbes charts the rise of MAGA megadonor Robert Low, owner of Kentucky Derby favorite Renegade, who built a $5 billion trucking fortune after stabbing his friend with a hunting knife and getting off on a temporary insanity plea (too many cough drops). 👇 www.forbes.com/sites/johnhy...

My latest for Forbes charts the rise of MAGA megadonor Robert Low, owner of Kentucky Derby favorite Renegade, who built a $5 billion trucking fortune after stabbing his friend with a hunting knife and getting off on a temporary insanity plea (too many cough drops). 👇 www.forbes.com/sites/johnhy...

🤯

This is wild. One of the world’s richest men has saved ~$1 billion in taxes over decades—just by plowing his dividend income into real estate.

Does AI threaten your 401k? Legendary advisor Bill Bengen thinks it might. He's cut his tech exposure to zero on the uncertainty. After years of dominance, software and mega-cap valuations are straining under AI. That poses a risk to savers everywhere. Read more @forbes.com 👇

While he was flying around the world as Trump's peace envoy, Steve Witkoff got $300 million richer over the past year--largely thanks to his crypto venture with the Trump family (World Liberty) and his tiny, but valuable, stake in SpaceX. Read at @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/giacom...

The AI giant's abrupt Sora shutdown is just one example. As it announces one of the biggest funding rounds in history, #OpenAI has trumpeted hundreds of billions in other deals + products that haven’t yet become reality. With @rashis.bsky.social for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

So much for the cage fight

New for @forbes.com: The richest people in private equity including Trump pal Stephen Schwarzman and former Epstein client Leon Black have lost ~$40B amid private credit and AI fears battering their stocks. Full story here: www.forbes.com/sites/johnhy...

THREAD: We just released a tool that allows you to search billions of dollars in wealth, ties to the most powerful companies in the country, and details of the personal finances of President Trump and over 1,500 of his appointees. Here’s how it works 1/

Private equity billionaire Marc Rowan (cofounder of Apollo with Epstein friend Leon Black) says that Epstein is "wasting my time from the grave." Shareholders sued Apollo, Black & Rowan on Monday for ‌allegedly defrauding by concealing Epstein interactions. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: How rich was Mexican druglord 'El Mencho'? What happens to his multi-billion-dollar criminal enterprise now that he's dead? And where will his personal fortune go? My latest for @forbes.com seeks to answer these questions👇 www.forbes.com/sites/johnhy...

“How Jared Kushner’s Bold Bets In The Middle East Made Him A Billionaire” @mhunterhart.bsky.social , @giacomotognini.bsky.social for Forbes in Sept.

The Dubai tycoon who told Epstein he “loved the torture video" has resigned from his company. www.forbes.com/sites/mikest...

This is really, really dark. www.wsj.com/world/middle...

"Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2017 for advice related to tax, estate, and asset planning. That is a vast amount of money to pay for such services, especially for a Wall Street insider with easy access to top expertise."

1/ @mhunterhart.bsky.social and I found several contracts and payment records that uncovered two new billionaire clients of Jeffrey Epstein: real estate mogul Mortimer Zuckerman and Ariane de Rothschild, a Rothschild heir by marriage. www.forbes.com/sites/giacom...

Marimar Martinez, shot 5 times by Border Patrol in Chicago, speaks out after Renee Good, Alex Pretti deaths 'I am their voice' NEW w/ @adrianacardmag.bsky.social: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

New: “Why The Trump-UAE Crypto Deal Made No Financial Sense—For The Emiratis” 💰🤷🇦🇪 @kylekhanmullins.bsky.social (whom you should follow) and me for @forbes.com

What happens when an ambitious AI startup creates a fake company to help it take on a PE-backed software giant? You guessed it: Litigation. Here's how a Silicon Valley success story has devolved into a cautionary tale. Read about it @forbes.com 👇 www.forbes.com/sites/johnhy...

SCOOP w/ @carolinehaskins.bsky.social: ICE Is Using Palantir’s AI Tools to Sort Through Tips www.wired.com/story/ice-is...

We profiled refugees who: Arrived in the country legally. Applied for green cards. Were arrested by ICE and detained. One refugee who was arrested found out they got their green card after being released. This is an unprecedented operation. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/u...

NEW: One of Pope Leo XIV’s top U.S. allies, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, is calling for the defunding of ICE. Tobin says the “lawless organization” is a “machinery of death.” This marks the first time a senior Church leader has called for ICE to be defunded. More are expected in the coming days.

I am trying not to post on these events in this state of mind but: I hope people understand what the observers are doing is brave and dangerous.

Federal law enforcement agents shot and killed a man in Minneapolis on Jan. 24 according to local police officials. DHS told Fox News that the man was “armed with a gun”. A video of the shooting appears to show that a gun was taken from the man before the first shot was fired. x.com/BillMelugin_...

Stunning photos from Minneapolis, including this one by John Locher for the Associated Press. www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

Ah, yes, because what America needs at this moment more than anything is Karoline Leavitt’s “takes on vaccines”

"The one constant in Marco Rubio’s career is that he has betrayed every mentor and every principle he’s ever had in order to claim power for himself." www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

🚨 In Nov., Trump's Labor Dept. lowered the minimum wage for foreign farmworkers. A month later, Trump's winery filed to hire 36 foreign, temporary workers. The rate? Almost $2/hour less than in 2025. 1/ me, for @forbes.com

Incredible that he did this. Terrifying that he felt the need to.

Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG... www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...