Forbes Daily: Rising Cocoa Prices Lead Hershey To Raise Candy Prices

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4 days ago

Americans are in more debt than ever, but so far, borrowers are holding up fine, Synchrony's financial results show. Inflation threatens to derail that.
The financial performance of the Connecticut-based bank offers a window into the health of U.S. consumers, since the firm says one in every four American adults has a Synchrony card—it offers co-branded credit cards and point-of-sale loans for customers like Sam's Club, Lowe's and PayPal.
After the pandemic caused a spike in default rates, the bank's CEO Brian Doubles said more customers are now paying back their loans than expected. But while Doubles was optimistic about growth this year, one analyst says the bank's customers are particularly vulnerable to inflation because many have below-average credit scores.The Trump Organization has not announced any deals in Abu Dhabi yet, but there have been plenty of signs to suggest it has plans to make a move in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. It's part of a slew of recent overseas Trump projects, all of which represent an about-face for the president, who hung onto ownership of his assets during his first term but stuck them in a trust and promised to launch no new ventures abroad. 'It's gone so far as to be whatever is the direct opposite of government ethics—I suppose we'd call that corruption,' said Walter Shaub, who led the Office of Government Ethics in President Donald Trump's first term before stepping down and speaking out.
Columbia University on Wednesday announced that it has agreed to pay $221 million to settle multiple civil rights investigations opened by the Trump Administration, which accused the university of failing to combat antisemitism on campus. The university said the agreement 'preserves Columbia's autonomy and authority over faculty hiring, admissions, and academic decision-making,' while President Trump praised the university for 'agreeing to do what is right.'
Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Tesla reported its worst revenue decline in more than a decade Wednesday, as Elon Musk's political activities continue to weigh on the company's bottom line. The EV maker attributed the downturn to a 13% decline in vehicle deliveries in the second quarter and less cash from selling regulatory credits, though analysts have expressed some optimism after the company's limited robotaxi rollout in Austin, Texas.
It was harder to sell a small business last quarter, data from online marketplace BizBuySell shows, as buyers were cautious about higher interest rates, tougher loan rules and overall economic stability. The median sale price also fell by 6% on a year-over-year basis, but some sectors were more impacted than others: Service-oriented businesses like healthcare and construction continue to attract buyers, while manufacturing took a sharp hit.
Record high home prices and elevated mortgage rates are tamping down real estate demand, as sales of existing homes fell 2.7% in June, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. The median existing-home price reached an all-time high of $435,000, and NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said years of undersupply are driving the record prices. TECH + INNOVATION
Vanta cofounder and CEO Christina Cacioppo Katie Thompson
Security and compliance software company Vanta said Wednesday it raised $150 million, valuing the startup at $4.15 billion. The firm, cofounded by CEO Christina Cacioppo, who is on Forbes' list of America's Richest Self-Made Women, seeks to automate businesses' security compliance processes, through both continuous monitoring and real-time reports with the help of AI.
Google parent company Alphabet exceeded expectations for its second-quarter earnings, spurred by its cloud and search business, though shares remain relatively flat for the year. Experts have mixed expectations for the company's stock ahead of a looming antitrust ruling that could force a sale of its Chrome browser. MONEY + POLITICS
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi Photo byIn the latest update to a quickly escalating crisis for the White House, the Wall Street Journal reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi told President Donald Trump he was named multiple times in the Epstein files at a routine briefing in May. Officials reportedly told Trump the files contained rumors about him and other high-profile figures who socialized with Epstein in the past. Trump had a long association with the disgraced financier before Epstein pleaded guilty to sex crimes in 2008.
In a 2-1 ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that blocked President Donald Trump's order seeking to end birthright citizenship, deeming it unconstitutional. In its majority opinion, the court said that the executive order 'contradicts the plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment's grant of citizenship to 'all persons born in the United States.'' Wednesday's ruling will likely set up a future hearing by the Supreme Court. TRENDS + EXPLAINERS
President Donald Trump's battle with universities has focused on elite private schools, but the impacts on higher education as a whole have been sweeping: In the first six months of the Trump Administration, federal agencies—primarily the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation—canceled more than 4,000 grant awards worth an estimated $7 billion at over 600 colleges and universities. Among the 10 states that have lost the most funding per student, four are red and six are blue, a new report from the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress shows. DAILY COVER STORY Former Citigroup Chair Sandy Weill's New $100 Million Gift To Harness AI For A West Coast Cancer Hub
Philanthropists Joan and Sandy Weill Walter Zarnowitz/UCSF
Sanford 'Sandy' Weill, the former CEO and chairman of banking giant Citigroup, and his wife Joan have been big donors to medical research on both coasts of the U.S. Now, the couple are taking it up a notch.
On Wednesday, two Bay Area universities—University of California, San Francisco and Stanford University—announced a $100 million gift over 10 years from the Weill Family Foundation for a new cancer hub that is designed to advance cancer research and treatment via four specific projects.
The gift, a matching grant, has the goal of raising an additional $100 million for the new initiative, called the Weill Cancer Hub West. A quarter of the matching funds have already been raised, the universities said. Sandy Weill, who retired as Citigroup CEO in 2003 and as chairman in 2006 and dropped off Forbes' billionaires list in 2022 as a result of his charitable giving, is now 92 years old and devoting most of his time to philanthropy via he and Joan's $425 million (assets) charitable foundation.
Though the death rate from cancer has fallen by about a third in the past quarter century, cancer is still on the rise, with almost 20 million new cases annually and about 10 million deaths globally each year.
The Weill Cancer Hub West will harness recent promising developments to tackle cancer. One project will use the gene editing tool CRISPR to engineer immune cells inside the body by injecting the CRISPR machinery into a patient, deliver it to a patient's immune cells, and reprogram those cells to go after the cancer. Another project, in the area of cellular therapy, aims to build weaponized cells that are personalized to each patient to go after solid tumors—like breast cancer or pancreatic cancer.
WHY IT MATTERS 'This donation comes at a time when funding for more than 1,000 grants from the National Institutes of Health has reported to have been cut off and a debate continues on dramatically reducing their budget,' says Forbes assistant managing editor Kerry Dolan. 'Though extraordinary progress in cancer treatment has been made in recent decades, there's still much to accomplish. Plus, private funding like the grant from the Weills' foundation enables the two universities to take more risk than they would likely be able to with government funding.'
MORE How This New Biotech Billionaire Outmaneuvered Merck In China FACTS + COMMENTS
Prices on a number of Hershey's candy products will soon increase due to a surge in cocoa prices. The iconic American chocolate company will also adjust each container's weight and quantity:
From the low teens to 20%: The size of the price hikes, which will vary
90 days: The amount of time it typically takes higher prices to materialize at retailers, according to a spokesperson
$15 million to $20 million: The hit Hershey expects to take from President Donald Trump's wide-ranging tariff policies this year STRATEGY + SUCCESS
Modern society places an emphasis on perseverance, but sometimes it's better to know when to walk away. Don't stick with something just because you invested time and money into it—if you spend time on something, it takes away from doing something else that you may be more passionate about. Quitting may be another path to self-improvement. VIDEO QUIZ
An upcoming film from Amazon MGM Studios will feature portrayals of several billionaires. Who is actor Ike Barinholtz in talks to play in the comedy-drama Artificial ?
A. Bill Gates
B. Sam Altman
C. Jeff Bezos
D. Elon Musk
Check your answer.
Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Chris Dobstaff.