| | Good morning. According to Mozilla, it's Darth V-AI-der versus Luke Sk-AI-walker. The nonprofit, best known for its Firefox browser, said Tuesday that it's focused on deploying its $1.4 billion in reserves to build "a rebel alliance" of "mission-driven tech companies and nonprofits" that will "push AI in a better direction" by focusing on public benefit alongside commercial interest. Still, that's little money next to OpenAI and Anthropic, which have raised more than $60 billion and $30 billion, respectively, or the billions in AI capital expenditures of tech giants like Alphabet and Meta. "It wasn't just idealism that broke Microsoft's stranglehold over the web — it was innovation; experimentation; participation; and a rebel alliance of programmers, developers, activists, investors and coders who built something new, together," said Mozilla. In other words, when you're up against a megacap empire, best not to go Han Solo. | | | | | | | | Break-ups are hard, but staying in a toxic relationship is even worse. Just ask UPS, which is in the midst of splitting up with longtime partner Amazon. In its fourth-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, the parcel-delivery giant conceded that this would lead to a near-term downturn in delivery volume — but promised a much more profitable business in the future. And as it turns out, Wall Street loves a firm that understands healthy boundaries, practices self-preservation and honors its own needs. Turn Down the Volume The e-commerce giant once loomed large in UPS's life. According to executives who spoke to Supply Chain Dive a year ago, Amazon accounted for as much as one-quarter of all UPS deliveries, but only about 11% of UPS's total revenue. "Amazon is our largest customer, but it's not our most profitable customer," CEO Carol Tome told Reuters last year when the conscious uncoupling was first announced, adding that the partnership proved "extraordinarily dilutive" to the company's margins. Still, the only thing worse than an unfruitful client is a ruthless competitor. Somehow, Amazon has become both. Call it a one-sided relationship: Amazon is UPS's top (and most problematic) customer, but Amazon uses UPS mainly as a release valve when its own growing logistics network becomes overwhelmed: - After surpassing both UPS and FedEx in total yearly parcel volume in 2023, according to the Pitney Bowes Shipping Index, Amazon delivered 6.3 billion parcels in 2024 compared with UPS's 4.7 billion. In fact, Pitney Bowes projects that Amazon will surpass the United States Postal Service in parcel volume by 2028, when it will deliver roughly 8.4 billion packages.
- In January last year, UPS said it planned to reduce Amazon delivery volume by 50% over the next 18 months. At the one-year check-in on Tuesday, UPS said everything was going according to plan and that it will "glide down another million pieces per day" for the next six months.
  The Daily UPSide: Achieving a significantly scaled-back Amazon partnership will serve as an "inflection point in the execution of our strategy to deliver growth and sustained margin expansion," Tome said Tuesday, as the company announced projected 2026 revenue of $89.7 billion, above most analyst expectations of about $88 billion (UPS also announced layoffs of about 30,000 employees). Shares jumped as much as 4% through Tuesday's trading session, before evening out near the end of the day. Sometimes, less is more. Written by Brian Boyle | | | | | | | | | Photo via Surf Air Mobility | The next wave of AI isn't in chatbots. It's in infrastructure. Surf Air Mobility (NYSE: SRFM) is developing an AI-enabled operating system designed for private aviation and Advanced Air Mobility, aiming to turn a fragmented industry into a connected, intelligent network. Think SaaS, but with wings. Its proprietary software, SurfOS, is designed to integrate the aviation ecosystem under one unified operating layer. Deployed within SRFM's own business today, SurfOS is helping deliver measurable results across its core businesses, including a 75% increase in platform transactions and a 197% increase in bookings per broker in its On Demand segment. Powered by Palantir, Surf Air Mobility is preparing to launch SurfOS commercially in 2026, aiming to become the operating system for a new era of aviation. Moreover, SRFM is positioning its Mokulele Airlines Hawaii network of short inter-island routes as an ideal proving ground for next-generation Advanced Air Mobility. Discover more of what's behind the future of flight.*  | | | | | In medical school lingo, comorbidity is when a patient has two or more conditions at once. On Tuesday, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group (UNH) suffered the financial equivalent, as disappointing annual earnings combined with a dramatic tightening in 2027 federal Medicare reimbursements to send its shares reeling. Unfortunately for those holding other insurance-sector stocks, the bad news was contagious. Down with the Sickness UNH has struggled in recent years due to rising medical costs and lower-than-expected Medicare Advantage reimbursements, both of which squeezed margins, as well as a major cyberattack that drew regulatory scrutiny and shook investor confidence (shares are down 48% in the past 12 months). On Tuesday, the company reported 2025 earnings of $19 billion, an unwelcome 41% year-over-year decline. And while fourth-quarter and full-year revenues only narrowly missed expectations, with both rising 12% to $113.2 billion and $447.6 billion, respectively, executives did not exactly offer a rosy prognosis for 2026. The insurer expects revenue to decline 2% this year to $439 billion, marking the first decline since 1989. Unsurprisingly, that's not what Wall Street wanted to hear — UNH explained that it reflects a "right-sizing across the enterprise." Medicare Advantage reimbursements were part two of the double whammy. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced late Monday that the payment rates for government-backed Medicare Advantage health plans will increase an infinitesimal 0.09% in 2027, way off the 6% markets expected (the 5.06% increase for 2026 was higher than expected). That news spread across insurance stocks on Tuesday like a merciless case of winter flu: - The biggest exposure to Medicare Advantage belongs to UNH, which accounts for roughly 30% of enrollment and saw roughly $60 billion in market cap erased as its shares fell 19.6%.
- Humana, which is in second place with 17% enrollment, took an even steeper 21% tumble, while CVS Health slumped 14%.
Margin Fall: UNH said its medical care ratio — an important metric that measures how much of an insurer's premium revenue is spent on medical care — rose to 88.9% in 2025, compared with 85.5% in 2024. Other insurers have reported similar ratios, reflecting rising costs and tighter margins across the sector. The stingy 0.09% Medicare Advantage hike in 2027 won't help: It represents about $700 million in additional revenue for insurers, whereas 2026's 5% rate hike is worth some $25 billion. Written by Sean Craig | | | | | | General Motors, the company whose president famously declared in 1953 that 'what is good for the country is good for GM,' is now prioritizing one of Wall Street's favorite American traditions: stock buybacks. The Detroit automaker said Tuesday that its board authorized a $6 billion share repurchase program in addition to raising its quarterly dividend by 20% to 18 cents per share. Since November 2023, GM has bought back $23 billion worth of its own shares. Investors seemed to approve, sending shares climbing around 8% Tuesday morning after the company reported earnings. American Autos Once the largest carmaker in the world and an archetypal US multinational, GM has retreated from the global spotlight, selling its European Opel and Vauxhall brands in 2017 and restructuring its business in China after losing ground to local competitors. In some ways, staying close to home has paid off: In 2025, the company achieved its highest US market share since 2015, driven by "low inventory, low incentives, and strong pricing," CEO Mary Barra said in a letter to shareholders. This was the company's fourth consecutive year of US market share growth. Overall, General Motors reported a $3.3 billion loss for the quarter, weighed down significantly by a previously disclosed writeoff of about $7.2 billion tied to the company's struggling electric vehicle business. Last year, Congress ended a $7,500 tax credit for new EV buyers, dampening demand for those vehicles. But the earnings report brought good news for the automaker, too: - Excluding the writeoff and other items, GM reported profit of $2.51 per share in the fourth quarter, beating analysts' expectations of $2.28.
- The company, which once advertised its Chevrolet brand as the 'Heartbeat of America,' expects adjusted earnings of $13 billion to $15 billion this year, higher than 2025's $12.7 billion, despite tariffs and the cost of reshoring production.
Risky Business: GM faces another speed bump from a recent deal that will allow thousands of Chinese EVs into Canada. Barra called the move a risk to North America's auto manufacturing, saying that it goes against protecting jobs and national security on the continent, The Wall Street Journal reported. "I can't explain why the decision was made in Canada," Barra said during a meeting with employees on Tuesday. "It becomes a very slippery slope." Written by Mallika Mitra | | | | | - Gaining Altitude: Boeing posted its first profitable quarter in over three years — mostly thanks to the sale of a navigational software unit — but other signs show its turnaround efforts are on track to pay off.
- Car in Need of PR: New research says the value of Tesla's brand fell 36% last year to $27 billion, well below its $66 billion 2023 peak, as CEO Elon Musk ventured deeper into politics and the company didn't launch any new models.
- The Hustle Covers the Weird, Wild Side of Business that Traditional Media Ignores. From gas station pizza empires to billionaire mountain takeovers, pickle-ball millionaires and everything in between. Join 1.5M readers discovering massive opportunities and weirdly profitable businesses hiding in plain sight. Subscribe today.**
** Partner | | | | Disclaimer *Comparing Q3 2024 with Q3 2025. See Press Release for further details. Stock markets are volatile and can fluctuate significantly in response to company, industry, political, regulatory, market, or economic developments. Investing in stock involves risks, including the loss of principal. Before investing, carefully assess whether a particular stock aligns with your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and financial situation. This is a paid advertisement for Surf Air Mobility, Inc. | | |
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