Nico De Pasquale Photography/DigitalVision via Getty Images
Download this episode on Apple Podcasts/Spotify or listen below:
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby backs a national wealth tax. (0:14) ‘Magic: The Gathering’ drives Hasbro beat. (1:09) OpenAI races to raise $30B ahead of Anthropic IPO. (1:19)
The following is an abridged transcript:
United Airlines (UAL) CEO Scott Kirby, who earned a little over $32M last year, has backed the idea of a national wealth tax and said he would be willing to pay it.
“Wealth inequality has become a danger to our society, and we need to address that,” he said in an interview with The New York Times.
“We should have a national wealth tax. It won’t work by state because people will just move,” Kirby said. “And I think we should have inheritance taxes that get close to 100% at some level. I would pay them.”
Kirby joins other business leaders who have voiced support for raising taxes on wealthy individuals, including Warren Buffett and George Soros.
Among active stocks, General Motors (GM) is down as disappointment over FY26 profit guidance and rising input costs overshadowed a Q3 earnings beat and a $20B multiyear share buyback announcement.
GE Aerospace (GE) reported better-than-expected Q3 earnings and revenue as demand for commercial jet engines and maintenance services helped the aircraft engine manufacturer raise its full-year outlook.
And Hasbro (HAS) is rallying after it smashed profit expectations and boosted guidance. Adjusted EPS of $2.90 came in more than $1 ahead of the $1.85 consensus.
CEO Chris Cocks flagged that “Magic: The Gathering” topped $600M in quarterly revenue for the first time.
In other news of note, OpenAI (OPENAI) is moving quickly to lock in roughly $30B in new investor commitments ahead of Anthropic’s (ANTHRO) anticipated mid-November IPO, according to Reuters.
Existing backers, including SoftBank Group (SFTBY) and Abu Dhabi’s MGX, are in talks to join the round, which would value OpenAI at about $1.4T.
OpenAI also wants to capitalize on its recent revenue momentum following its latest model launches. It is telling investors that growth picked up after the release of GPT-6 Astra, with annualized revenue reaching $50B and projected to hit $70B by year-end.
And in the Wall Street Research Corner, Oppenheimer overhauled its top 50 large-cap Buy list this month, rotating within Financials (XLF) by swapping out legacy banking giants for dominant payment networks and insurance providers.
Out went Bank of America (BAC), Morgan Stanley (MS), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citigroup (C), while Visa (V), Mastercard (MA), MetLife (MET) and Corpay (CPAY) stepped in.
Other notable additions include International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), Cintas (CTAS), Humana (HUM) and American Electric Power (AEP).
