Lyft just got a new logo, but you probably didnt notice it.Over the past few weeks, Lyft has quietly rolled out an updated logo, broadened color palette, and custom typeface on its app and across its social media platforms. The new look, designed by the branding studio Koto, is meant to serve as a natural progression of the brands existing identity, injecting it with a subtle boost of structure and maturity.According to Arthur Foliard, executive creative director at Koto, the changes come at a pivotal moment for Lyft, which is currently testing out an expansion into autonomous driving and slowly gaining on its main competitor (and dominant industry player), Uber. In an interview with Fast Company this May, Lyft CEO David Risher noted that, since he joined Lyft in 2023, the company has brought its market share in the U.S. from 26% to 31%.Lyfts blink-and-youll-miss-it new look follows a recent trend in which larger brands like Walmart and Adobe have skipped the big rebrand (which ruled the branding world several years ago) in favor of an understated-yet-practical refresh.Lyft’s previous logo (top) and new version (bottom) [Image: Koto/Lyft]Lyft’s new lookLooking at Lyfts new logo next to its old one is a bit like a game of spot the difference. But one key detail in the logo immediately jumps out: The playful path connecting the f and t characters has been severed. “The Lyft logo is one of the most recognizable in tech, so we approached it with a lot of care, Foliard says. The original had a ton of character, but it wasnt optimized for the way the brand shows up today, especially in smaller, digital contexts. The ligature between the f and t in particular caused legibility issues and sometimes felt overly stylized.[Image: Koto/Lyft]To preserve the visual cues that make Lyfts logo recognizable, Foliards team broke up the ligature but kept the spirit of the marks swooping, bold letters the same. Besides the newly separated f and t characters, the rest of the logo has been just slightly slimmed down and realigned. We adjusted the weight, spacing, and proportions to make the wordmark feel more confident and contemporary, less ornamental, more intentional, Foliard says. The result is a logo that feels mature without being cold. It still has that signature Lyft charm, but now it holds up wherever it appears, from app icons to car decals to national campaigns.That focus on versatility was also applied to Lyfts color palette and typography. Lyft Pink, the companys signature shade of neon purplish-pink, has been given a more focused role. Whereas Lyft Pink was previously used more wholesale across the branding, Koto built out an accompanying palette of off-whites, deep pinks, and neutrals to keep the bright hue reserved for the most important moments of the brand, like the logo.[Image: Koto/Lyft]One feature of the branding that was entirely overhauled is its typography. Foliard says Lyft was previously using several functional typefaces that while serviceable, didn’t quite capture Lyft’s warmth and humanity. So, in collaboration with the type design studio NaN, Kotos team created a custom typeface for Lyft called Rebel Sans. Its a classic-looking sans serif, available in a range of weights, that echoes the logo with flourishes like a half-smile shape in the y character.We wanted it to feel like it had been made by people, for people, Foliard says. It features distinct humanist detailsslight line weight variation, gentle curves, and subtle flaresthat bring a sense of the human hand into both display and text. Underneath it all, its grounded in a more geometric structure, giving it the clarity and sophistication needed to scale across the brand.[Image: Koto/Lyft]Lyft gets the baby Botox treatmentLyfts spruced-up identity is the latest in a series of similar approaches from other major brands. If the early 2020s were the heyday of the major rebrand, and 2024 was the era of the dialed-back brand refresh, then 2025 is currently seeing an even more minimal wave of baby Botox branding. This year, several brands have moved away from headline-grabbing overhauls in favor of small updates that are intended to fly under the radar. For an ultra-recognizable brand like Walmart, this approach is meant to avoid alienating the customer by shedding too much core brand affinity at once. In January, Walmart introduced its biggest branding update in two decadesan update that, rather than actually replacing any assets, instead opted to simply spruce up the existing look with brighter colors and chunkier shapes. Other brands, like Amazon (which also worked with Koto on its logo touch-up) and Google, have similarly rolled out new logos in rcent months that would likely require a trained eye to spot. In May, Mother Design studio, which gave Adobes logotype a subtle facelift, encapsulated this trend by explaining that its goal was to create an update that looks as if it’s always been there. For Lyft, Foliard says, this new branding wasn’t about changing who Lyft is, but rather about sharpening what was already there.The timing felt right to strike that balance between evolution and preservation, ensuring the brand could grow with the business while keeping the heart and humanity that made it iconic in the first place, Foliard says.
A stable “release” version of Apple’s iOS 26 is due in September, but you can now try an in-progress version, called the public beta. It previews a revamped interface and new features in apps like Messages and Phone (both with spam filtering), Camera, Wallet, and especially CarPlay. Models starting with the iPhone 15 Pro also get upgrades to the Apple Intelligence AI suite, including live translation, improved image creation, and the ability to search visually across apps. The translucent Liquid Glass interface is seeing a bit of a revival in areas such as Notification Center, after Apple toned it down in earlier betas.
Is the iOS26 public beta safe to install?
The public beta follows four developer betas meant for app creators (although others tend to install betas out of curiosity). Adding the word public doesn’t mean this beta is without risks. To get it, you have to accept an agreement that absolves Apple of responsibility for any problems it may cause. This includes brickingrendering the phone inoperable.
It’s safest to test the public beta on a spare device, which Apple’s beta site strongly recommends. You can lower the risk to an old model or your current one by first backing up your iPhone and learning how to unbrick and roll it back to the latest release version of iOS 18. We’ll walk you through how to do that further down.
These tips may also help with glitches you may encounter in the release version.
How to get iOS 26 public beta
First, check whether your iPhone supports iOS 26. Apple’s list includes models back to 2019s iPhone 11 and 2020s SE (2nd generation), both using the A13 Bionic chip. If you have an iPhone X or earlier model, it may show an option to download iOS 26, but won’t let you.
Getting the beta is easy: Visit the Apple Beta site, click Sign Up, and log in with the same Apple ID your iPhone uses. Signing up provides access to all Apple OS 26 betas: iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, plus HomePod software.
Does installing iOS 26 public beta void my warranty?
According to Apple’s FAQ, installing the beta wont void your hardware warranty, although you will have to restore to a stable OS version before getting service.
Apple Beta Software Program login screen for signing in with Apple ID
But within the the roughly 5,500-word Apple Beta Software Agreement is the clause: “APPLE SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY COSTS, EXPENSES OR OTHER LIABILITIES YOU MAY INCUR . . . INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY DAMAGE TO ANY EQUIPMENT, SOFTWARE OR DATA. (Fast Company has asked Apple to clarify whether “equipment” would include the iPhone hardware and will update if we get an answer.)
The agreement does say that the company may provide support through its beta program, at Apples option. TL;DR: Dont count on help, and take your own precautions.
How to back up your iPhone before installing iOS 26 public beta
Before you do anything, first back up your iPhone. The easiest way is online: Go to Settings, then click your name, iCloud > iCloud Backup. Apple provides 5GB of free storage. Paid tiers start at 50GB for $0.99 per month and 200GB for $2.99.
You can also back up to a computer over USB. In recent versions of macOS: Open Finder, click your iPhone in the left panel, then click Back Up Now. Windows or macOS Mojave (10.14) and earlier should use iTunes. (Yes, it’s still out there.) Click the Device button near the top left of the iTunes window, then Click Summary > Back Up Now.
Before installing iOS 26 public beta, note these backup options in your macOS Finder.
How to download and install iOS26 public beta on your iPhone
Now comes the main event. On your iPhone, click Settings > General > Software Update. Click Beta Updates to see multiple options on the next screen, including Off and possibly betas for several versions of iOS. Click to place a check mark next to iOS 26 Public Beta. Then tap the back button and click Update Now.
iPhone screenshots showing how to select iOS 26 Public Beta from the Beta Updates menu
How to roll back from iOS 26 beta
In the event that iOS 26 does brick your phone, a new tool called Recovery Assistant may automatically activate, allowing you to monitor the process wirelessly from another Apple device.
If Recovery Assistant doesnt appear or work, try the old-fashioned way: Connect the iPhone to your computer over USB and open Finder or iTunes (depending on your computer operating system). Press and release the iPhone’s volume up button, then the volume down button. Then press and hold the side button until you see the Recovery Mode screen with cable and computer icons. If you dont see them, throw yourself at the mercy of Apple Support by contacting them online.
MacOS Finder shows iPhone in Recovery Mode with the option to update or restore for iOS 26 beta installation.
If you do, Finder or iTunes will show the message There is a problem with the iPhone that requires it to be updated or restored. Its best to select the Restore option, which erases the Phone and installs the latest public release of iOS. Then restore the deeted data and settings from your backup.
Every CEO I know wants their team to use AI more, and for good reason: it can supercharge almost every area of their business and make employees vastly more efficient. Employee use of AI is a business imperative, but as it becomes more common, how can companies avoid major security headaches?
Sift’s latest data found that 31% of consumers admit to entering personal or sensitive information into GenAI tools like ChatGPT, and 14% of those individuals explicitly reported entering company trade secrets. Other types of information that people admit to sharing with AI chatbots include financial details, nonpublic facts, email addresses, phone numbers, and information about employers. At its core, it reveals that people are increasingly willing to trust AI with sensitive information.
This overconfidence with AI isn’t limited to data sharing. The same comfort level that leads people to input sensitive work information also makes them vulnerable to deepfakes and AI-generated scams in their personal lives. Sift data found that concern that AI would be used to scam someone has decreased 18% in the last year, and yet the number of people who admit to being successfully scammed has increased 62% since 2024. Whether it’s sharing trade secrets at work or falling for scam texts at home, the pattern is the same: familiarity with AI is creating dangerous blind spots.
The Confidence Trap
Often in a workplace setting, employees turn to AI to address a specific problem: looking for examples to round out a sales proposal, pasting an internal email to “punch it up,” sharing nonfinal marketing copy for tone suggestions, or disclosing product road map details with a customer service bot to help answer a complex ticket.
This behavior often stems from good intentions, whether that’s trying to be more efficient, helpful, or responsive. But as the data shows, digital familiarity can create a false sense of security. The people who think they “get AI” are the ones most likely to leak sensitive data through it or will struggle to identify malicious content.
Every time an employee drops nonpublic context into a GenAI tool, they areknowingly or nottransmitting business-sensitive data into a system that may log, store, or even use it to train future outputs. Not to mention, if a data leak were ever to occur, a hacker would be privy to a treasure trove of confidential information.
So what should businesses do?
The challenge with this kind of data exposure is that traditional monitoring won’t catch this. Because these tools are often used outside of a companys intranettheir internal software networkemployees are able to input almost any data they can access.
The uncomfortable truth is that you probably can’t know exactly what sensitive information your employees are sharing with AI platforms. Unlike a phishing attack where you can trace the breach, AI data sharing often happens in the shadows of personal accounts. But that doesnt mean you should ban AI usage outright.
Try to infer the scale of the problem with anonymous employee surveys. Ask: What AI tools are you using? For which tasks do you find AI most helpful? And what do you wish AI could do? While an employee may not disclose sharing sensitive information with a chatbot, understanding more generally how your team is using AI can identify potential areas of concernand potential opportunities.
Instead of trying to track every instance retroactively, focus on prevention. A blanket AI ban isn’t realistic and puts your organization at a competitive disadvantage. Instead, establish clear guidelines that distinguish between acceptable and prohibited data types. Set a clear red line on what can’t be entered into public GenAI tools: customer data, financial information, legal language, and internal documents. Make it practical, not paranoid.
To encourage responsible AI use, provide approved alternatives. Create company-sanctioned AI workflows for everyday use cases that don’t retain data or are only used in tools that do not use any inputs for AI training. Make sure your IT teams vet all AI tools for proper data governance. This is especially important because different account types of AI tools have different data retention policies. Furthermore, it helps employees understand the potential dangers of sharing sensitive data with AI chatbots.
Encourage employee training that addresses both professional and personal AI risks. Provide real-world examples of how innocent AI interactions inadvertently expose trade secrets, but also educate employees about AI-powered scams they might encounter outside of work. The same overconfidence that leads to workplace data leaks can make employees targets for sophisticated fraud schemes, potentially compromising both personal and professional security.
If you discover that sensitive information has been shared with AI platforms, act quickly, but don’t panic. Document what was shared, when, and through which platform. Conduct a risk assessment that asks: How sensitive was the information? Could it compromise competitive positioning or regulatory compliance? You may need to notify affected parties, depending on the nature of the data. Then, use these incidents as learning opportunities. Review how the incident occurred and identify the necessary safeguards.
While the world of AI chatbots has changed since 2023, there is a lot we can learn from a situation Samsung experienced a few years ago, when employees in their semiconductor division shared source code, meeting notes, and test sequences with ChatGPT. This exposed proprietary software to OpenAI and leaked sensitive hardware testing methods. Samsung’s response was swift: they restricted ChatGPT uploads to minimize the potential for sharing sensitive information, launched internal investigations, and began developing a company-specific AI chatbot to prevent future leaks.
While most companies lack the resources to build chatbots themselves, they can achieve a similar approach by using an enterprise-grade account that specifically opts out their accounts from AI training.
AI can bring massive productivity gains, but that doesnt make its usage risk-free. Organizations that anticipate and address this challenge will leverage AI’s benefits while maintaining the security of their most valuable information. The key is recognizing that AI overconfidence poses risks both inside and outside the office, and preparing accordingly.
UnitedHealth Group says it is cooperating with federal criminal and civil investigations involving its market-leading Medicare business.
The health care giant said Thursday that it had contacted the Department of Justice after reviewing media reports about investigations into certain elements of its business.
(UnitedHealth) has a long record of responsible conduct and effective compliance, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal said federal officials had launched a civil fraud investigation into how the company records diagnoses that lead to extra payments for its Medicare Advantage, or MA, plans. Those are privately run versions of the governments Medicare coverage program mostly for people ages 65 and over.
The companys UnitedHealthcare business covers more than 8 million people as the nations largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans. The business has been under pressure in recent quarters due to rising care use and rate cuts.
The Journal said in February, citing anonymous sources, that the probe focused on billing practices in recent months.
The paper has since said that a federal criminal health care-fraud unit was investigating how the company used doctors and nurses to gather diagnoses that bolster payments.
UnitedHealth said in the filing Thursday that it “has full confidence in its practices and is committed to working cooperatively with the Department throughout this process.”
UnitedHealth Group Inc. runs one of the nation’s largest health insurance and pharmacy benefits management businesses. It also operates a growing Optum business that provides care and technology support.
UnitedHealth raked in more than $400 billion in revenue last year as the third-largest company in the Fortune 500. Its share price topped $630 last fall to reach a new all-time high.
But the stock has mostly shed value since December, when UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in midtown Manhattan on his way to the companys annual investor meeting. A suspect, Luigi Mangione, has been charged in connection with the shooting.
In April, shares plunged some more after the company cut its forecast due to a spike in health care use. A month later, former CEO Andrew Witty resigned, and the company withdrew its forecast entirely, saying that medical costs from new Medicare Advantage members were higher than expected.
The stock price slipped another 3%, or $10.35, to $282.16 in midday trading Thursday. That represents a 55% drop from its all-time high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, of which UnitedHealth is a component, also fell slightly. Meanwhile, the broader S&P 500 rose.
UnitedHealth will report its second-quarter results next Tuesday.
Tom Murphy, AP health writer
President Donald Trump took to social media Thursday morning to support Elon Musk’s car company, a startling development given their bitter public feud.
I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE, Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The post wasn’t enough to help Tesla’s stock, which fell sharply after the company reported another quarter of lackluster financial results and Musk warned of some potentially rough quarters into next year. At midday, the stock was down around 9%.
Late Wednesday, Tesla said revenue fell 12% and profit dropped 16% in the April-June quarter. Many prospective buyers have been turned off by Musks foray into right-wing politics, and the competition has ramped up in key markets such as Europe and China.
Investors have been unnerved by Musk’s social media spat with the president because Trump has threatened to retaliate by ending government contracts and breaks for Musk’s various businesses, including Tesla.
But Trump struck a starkly different tone Thursday morning.
Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elons companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so!” Trump wrote. The better they do, the better the USA does, and thats good for all of us.
After Trump’s massive budget bill passed earlier this month, Tesla faces the loss of the $7,500 EV tax credit and stands to make much less money from selling regulatory credits to other automakers. Trumps tariffs on countries including China and Mexico will also cost Tesla hundreds of millions of dollars, the company said on its earnings call.
Musk has blasted the budget bill on his own social media platform X for adding to U.S. debt at a time when it is already too large. The Tesla CEO has called the budget pushed by the president a disgusting abomination and has threatened to form a new political party.
On Wednesday’s call, Musk said the electric vehicle maker will face a few rough quarters as it moves into a future focused less on selling cars and more on offering people rides in self-driving cars. He also talked up the company’s business making humanoid robotics. But he acknowledged those businesses are a ways off from contributing to Teslas bottom line.
Tesla began a rollout in June of its paid robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, and hopes to introduce the driverless cabs in several other cities soon. Musk told analysts that the service will be available to probably half of the population of the U.S. by the end of the year thats at least our goal, subject to regulatory approvals.
Were in this weird transition period where well lose a lot of incentives in the U.S., Musk said, adding that Tesla probably could have a few rough quarters ahead. He added, though, Once you get to autonomy at scale in the second half of next year, certainly by the end of next year, I would be surprised if Teslas economics are not very compelling.”
After closing for five months due to smoke damage from the Palisades Fire, the Eames House (Case Study House #8) in Los Angeles has reopened to visitorsnow with a more determined mission to serve as a place of community.
[Photo: Chris Mottalini, 2025/ 2025 Eames Office, LLC.]
Nearly 7,000 buildings were destroyed in the Palisades Fire, and though the Eames House was spared, cleanup efforts have been intensive. A crew took about a week to wipe away flame retardant that had been dropped to slow the fire from advancing from the outside of the home. They also dug up the property’s plantings beds so the soil could be replaced due to concerns about toxic materials.
Eames Demetrios, Lucia Dewey Atwood, and Adrienne Luce outside the studio. [Photo: Chris Mottalini, 2025/ 2025 Eames Office, LLC.]
“We were very fortunate,” says Lucia Atwood, the granddaughter of architects Charles and Ray Eames who built the Pacific Palisades home in 1949. The home is a model of resilience, but its stewards were also proactive. Atwood tells Fast Company interventions began in 2011 to better fire- and drought-proof the home, which is a National Historic Landmark and on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Those efforts that took on greater urgency after the Getty Fire in 2019.
Charles and Ray balancing on the steel framing of the Eames House in Pacific Palisades, California, 1949. [Photo: 2025 Eames Office, LLC.]
“At that point it became very clear that there were going to be an increasing number of of extremely damaging fires,” says Atwood, the former executive director of the Eames Foundation. The foundation has worked to harden the landscape, a process that included clearing brush and removing some of the more than 250 trees that were on the property.
[Photo: Chris Mottalini, 2025/ 2025 Eames Office, LLC.]
Reopening events this month with local leaders, neighbors, and fire survivors have turned the Eames House into an Eames home for the community, as is the case for patrons of the Palisades Library, which was destroyed in the fires. After offering the library the use of the property, including the home’s studio, which is open to the public for the first time, for events like book clubs and sales, the head of the library got emotional, says Adrienne Luce, who was announced the Eames Foundation’s first non-family member executive director in April.
“This place is for you,” Luce recalls telling the library’s head, and she says she started to choke up. “Being so close to the devastation actually is a wonderful opportunity to serve and support the local community and long-term community rebuilding efforts.” Reopening means “really engaging and serving the local community,” Luce says.
Singapore-based solar panel manufacturer Bila Solar is suspending plans to double capacity at its new factory in Indianapolis. Canadian rival Helienes plans for a solar cell facility in Minnesota are under review. Norwegian solar wafer maker NorSun is evaluating whether to move forward with a planned factory in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And two fully permitted offshore wind farms in the U.S. Northeast may never get built.
These are among the major clean energy investments now in question after Republicans agreed earlier this month to quickly end U.S. subsidies for solar and wind power as part of their budget megabill, and as the White House directed agencies to tighten the rules on who can claim the incentives that remain.
This marks a policy U-turn since President Donald Trumps return to office that project developers, manufacturers and analysts say will slash installations of renewable energy over the coming decade, kill investment and jobs in the clean energy manufacturing sector supporting them, and worsen a looming U.S. power supply crunch as energy-hungry AI infrastructure expands.
Solar and wind installations could be 17% and 20% lower than previously forecast over the next decade because of the moves, according to research firm Wood Mackenzie, which warned that a dearth of new supplies could slow the expansion of data centers needed to support AI technology.
Energy researcher Rhodium, meanwhile, said the law puts at risk $263 billion of wind, solar, and storage facilities and $110 billion of announced manufacturing investment supporting them. It will also increase industrial energy costs by up to $11 billion in 2035, it said.
“One of the administrations stated goals was to bring costs down, and as we demonstrated, this bill doesn’t do that,” said Ben King, a director in Rhodium’s energy and climate practice. He added the policy “is not a recipe for continued dominance of the U.S. AI industry.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration has defended its moves to end support for clean energy by arguing the rapid adoption of solar and wind power has created instability in the grid and raised consumer prices assertions that are contested by the industry and which do not bear out in renewables-heavy power grids, like Texas’ ERCOT.
Power industry representatives, however, have said all new generation projects need to be encouraged to meet rising U.S. demand, including both those driven by renewables and fossil fuels.
Consulting firm ICF projects that U.S. electricity demand will grow by 25% by 2030, driven by increased AI and cloud computing a major challenge for the power industry after decades of stagnation. The REPEAT Project, a collaboration between Princeton University and Evolved Energy Research, projects a 2% annual increase in electricity demand.
With a restricted pipeline of renewables, tighter electricity supplies stemming from the policy shift could increase household electricity costs by $280 a year in 2035, according to the REPEAT Project.
The key provision in the new law is the accelerated phase-out of 30% tax credits for wind and solar projects: it requires projects to begin construction within a year or enter service by the end of 2027 to qualify for the credits. Previously the credits were available through 2032.
Now some project developers are scrambling to get projects done while the U.S. incentives are still accessible. But even that strategy has become risky, developers said.
Days after signing the law, Trump directed the Treasury Department to review the definition of beginning of construction. A revision to those rules could overturn a long-standing practice giving developers four years to claim tax credits after spending just 5% of project costs. Treasury was given 45 days to draft new rules.
“With so many moving parts, financing of projects, financing of manufacturing is difficult, if not impossible,” said Martin Pochtaruk, CEO of Heliene. “You are looking to see what is the next baseball bat that’s going to hit you on the head.”
About face
Heliene’s planned cell factory, which could cost as much as $350 million, depending on the capacity, and employ more than 600 workers, is also in limbo, Pochtaruk said in an interview earlier this month.
The company needs more clarity on both what the new law will mean for U.S. demand, and how Trump’s trade policy will impact the solar industry.
“We have a building that is anxiously waiting for us to make a decision,” Pochtaruk said.
Similarly, Mick McDaniel, general manager of Bila Solar, said “a troubling level of uncertainty” has put on hold its $20 million expansion at an Indianapolis factory it opened this year that would create an additional 75 jobs.
“NorSun is still digesting the new legislation and recent executive order to determine the impact to the overall domestic solar manufacturing landscape,” said Todd Templeton, director of the company’s U.S. division that is reviewing plans for its $620 million solar wafer facility in Tulsa.
Five solar manufacturing companies – T1 Energy, Imperial Star Solar, SEG Solar, Solx and ES Foundry – said they are also concerned about the new law’s impact on future demand, but that they have not changed their investment plans.
The policy changes have also injected fresh doubt about the fate of the nation’s pipeline of offshore wind projects, which depend heavily on tax credits to bring down costs. According to Wood Mackenzie, projects that have yet to start construction or make final investment decisions are unlikely to proceed.
Two such projects, which are fully permitted, include a 300-megawatt project by developer US Wind off the coast of Maryland and Iberdrolas 791 MW New England Wind off the coast of Massachusetts.
Neither company responded to requests for comment.
“They are effectively ready to begin construction and are now trapped in a timeline that will make it that much harder to be able to take advantage of the remaining days of the tax credits,” said Hillary Bright, executive director of offshore wind advocacy group Turn Forward.
Nichola Groom, Reuters
IBM announced strong second quarter 2025 earnings that beat expectations on many points, helped in part by response to its new AI-focused mainframe computer. So why is the stock sliding today? First, a look at the results.
IBM Q2 2025 earnings results
Shares in the stock (NYSE: IBM) were down over 8% on Thursday in midday trading, after the tech giant beat expectations for “revenue, profit, and free cash flow” this quarter. The company reported revenue of $16.98 billion, topping expectations of $16.59 billion, with earnings-per-share (EPS) of $2.80, beating expectations of $2.64. It also raised its full year forecast.
“With our strong first-half performance, we are raising our full-year outlook for free cash flow, which we expect to exceed $13.5 billion,” IBM chief executive Arvind Krishna said in a statement. “IBM remains highly differentiated in the market because of our deep innovation and domain expertise, both crucial in helping clients deploy and scale AI. Our generative AI book of business continues to accelerate and now stands at more than $7.5 billion.”
That’s all good news for investors. In fact, IBMs revenue increased nearly 8% year-over-year in the quarter, according to its earnings statement. So why the stock dive?
IBM stock price slides as earnings miss on software revenue
The answer: software revenue.
While revenue from software rose about 10% to $7.39 billion, it fell short of analyst expectations of $7.43 billion, CNBC reported.
“You’re seeing the stock pull back, because there’s just not a lot of room to miss,” Dan Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust, told Reuters. “This would be more evidence that software is not growing at the pace that the Street was expecting.”
At the time of this writing, the company had a market capitalization of $239.39 billion.
China and the European Union have issued a joint call to action on climate change during an otherwise tense bilateral summit in Beijing on Thursday riven with major disagreements over trade and the war in Ukraine.
The two economic juggernauts issued a joint statement on climate change, urging more emission cuts and greater use of green technology and affirming their support for the Paris Climate Agreement as well as calling for strong action at the upcoming COP30 climate summit in Brazil.
In the fluid and turbulent international situation today, it is crucial that all countries, notably the major economies, maintain policy continuity and stability and step up efforts to address climate change, the joint statement said.
Their climate agreement was a silver lining on a stormy day where European leaders demanded a more balanced relationship with China in talks with President Xi Jinping.
They highlighted trade in their opening remarks, calling for concrete progress to address Europe’s yawning trade deficit with China.
As our cooperation has deepened, so have the imbalances, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. We have reached an inflection point. Rebalancing our bilateral relation is essential. Because to be sustainable, relations need to be mutually beneficial.
Little movement expected
Expectations were low ahead of the talks, initially supposed to last two days but scaled back to one. They come amid financial uncertainty around the world, wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and the threat of U.S. tariffs. Neither the EU nor China is likely to budge on key issues.
European Council President António Costa called on China to use its influence over Russia to bring an end to the war in Ukraine a long-running plea from European leaders that is likely to fall again on deaf ears.
Xi called for deeper cooperation between China and Europe to provide stability in an increasingly complex world. Both sides should set aside differences and seek common ground, he said, a phrase he often uses in relationships like the one with the EU.
China is willing to strengthen coordination on climate and make greater contributions to addressing climate change, he said, but he pushed back against EU restrictions on Chinese exports.
We hope the EU will keep its trade and investment markets open, refrain from using restrictive economic and trade tools and provide a good business environment for Chinese companies to invest and develop in Europe, he said, according to a readout posted online by state broadcaster CCTV.
US tariff threats weigh on EU-China cooperation
Besides trade and the Ukraine war, von der Leyen and Costa were expected to raise concerns about Chinese cyberattacks and espionage, its restrictions on the export of rare earth minerals and its human rights record in Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
The EU, meanwhile, has concerns about a looming trade battle with the United States.
Europe is being very careful not to antagonize President Trump even further by looking maybe too close to China, so all of that doesnt make this summit easier, said Fabian Zuleeg, chief economist of the European Policy Center. “It will be very hard to achieve something concrete.
China’s stance has hardened on the EU, despite a few olive branches, like the suspension of sanctions on European lawmakers who criticized Beijing’s human rights record in Xinjiang province, where it is accused of a widespread campaign of repression against the Uyghurs.
The summit ended with almost no movement on the major issues of trade, electric vehicles, or Russia, said Noah Barkin, an analyst at the Rhodium Group think tank. Rather, frustration from the EU was glaringly obvious after years in which its concerns have been largely ignored by Beijing.
He said the Europeans will likely use more “trade defense tools in the months ahead, including a debate over expanding safeguards and new cases under the blocs foreign subsidies regulation.
Trade disputes range from rare earths to EVs
Like the U.S., the 27-nation EU bloc runs a massive trade deficit with China around 300 billion euros ($350 billion) last year. It relies heavily on China for critical minerals and the magnets made from them for cars and appliances. When China curtailed the export of those products in response to Trump’s tariffs, European automakers cried foul.
China agreed during the summit to to start an upgraded export supply mechanism to fast-track exports of critical minerals, von der Leyen said. Details of the arrangement were not immediately made public. Barkin said he doubted the mechanism would be a miracle solution for what may become a go-to coercion tool for Beijing in the years ahead.
The EU has imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to support its carmakers by balancing out Beijing’s heavy auto subsidies. China would like those tariffs revoked.
The rapid growth in Chinas market share in Europe has sparked concern that Chinese cars will eventually threaten the EUs ability to produce its own green technology to combat climate change. Business groups and unions also fear that the jobs of 2.5 million auto industry workers could be put in jeopardy, as well those of 10.3 million more people whose employment depends indirectly on EV production.
China has launched investigations into European pork and dairy products, and placed tariffs on French cognac and armagnac. It has criticized new EU regulations of medical equipment sales and fears upcoming legislation that could further target Chinese industries, said Alicia García-Herrero, a China analyst at the Bruegel think tank.
The EU has leverage because China needs to sell goods to the bloc, García-Herrero said. The EU remains Chinas largest export market, so China has every intention to keep it this way, especially given the pressure coming from the U.S., she said.
China bristles at EU sanctions over Russia’s war against Ukraine. The latest package included two Chinese banks that the EU accused of links to Russias war industry.
Chinas Commerce Ministry protested the listing and vowed to respond with necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and financial institutions.
The EU looks beyond Beijing and Washington
Buffeted between a combative Washington and a hardline Beijing, the EU has more publicly sought new alliances elsewhere, inking a trade pact with Indonesia and drafting trade deals with South America and Mexico.
Costa and von der Leyen visited Tokyo the day before their meetings in Beijing, launching an alliance with Japan to boost economic cooperation, defend free trade and counter unfair trade practices.
Both Europe and Japan see a world around us where protectionist instincts grow, weaknesses get weaponized, and every dependency exploited,” von der Leyen said. So it is normal that two like-minded partners come together to make each other stronger.
Sam McNeil and Ken Moritsugu, Associated Press
Mark Carlson contributed to this report.
General Motors, the largest automaker in the U.S., announced its second-quarter financial results on July 22. The report was, overall, a gloomy tale of the impact of President Trumps tariffs, which, the company said, cost it more than a billion dollars this past quarter. But while GMs total profits fell by more than a third in Q2, the company did point out one bright spot: a major spike in EV sales, launching it closer to true competition with Tesla.
In its investor relations call, GMwhich operates the subsidiary brands Buick, GMC, Chevrolet, and Cadillacsaid its EV sales more than doubled from April to June. Meanwhile, early this month, Tesla reported a 13% decline in vehicle deliveries for its second quarter, one of the largest quarterly declines in the companys history and its second quarterly decline in a row. In its earnings call on July 24, the company reported its revenue was down more than $3 billion year-over-year (though the company also claimed a newer, cheaper version of the Model Y would soon be available).
An analysis by the data collection firm Cox Automotive published on July 14 found that while Tesla still solidly holds the title of the U.S. EV markets largest mover, GM has charged past Ford and Hyundai to snag the No. 2 spot. With models like the Chevy Blazer and Chevy Equinox, the automaker is quietly encroaching on Teslas dominant market spot.
2025 Blazer EV [Photo: Chevrolet]
A tale of Teslas (declining) dominance
Tesla has long outpaced its competitors in the American EV market, but the gulf that once separated the brand from all others has been slowly closing over the past several years.
In 2020, Tesla controlled nearly 80% of the U.S. market, based on data from Experian. By 2022, that was down to 65.4%, followed by 55% in 2023. This year, per Cox Automotive, that share continues to decline, hovering around 45% as of July 11.
In a press release, Cox Automotive stated, Teslas many issues do not require a full rehashing here: Suffice it to say, the hyper-competitive EV market is providing the troubled automaker no relief.
Part of Teslas market share decline can certainly be attributed to the brands laundry list of reputational blows this year, namely concerning CEO Elon Musks ongoing feud with Trump. But as Cox Automotive hints, another factor is broadening competition: Since 2020, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, and other automakers have introduced countless new EV models.
GM, in particular, has been dedicating greater resources to its fleet of electric vehicles. The company now sells 12 different EV models across its four brands, which accounted for about 15% of the U.S. EV market in the second quarter of 2025triple the share of both Ford and Hyundai. Of GMs EVs, its top-selling models were the Chevy Equinox and Chevy Blazer, which sold 17,420 units and 6,549 units, respectively. The Equinox has gained significant traction for its relatively low cost, which starts at around $35,000.
These numbers are far behind those of Teslas ultra-popular Model Y, which shipped 86,120 units in the second quarter. Still, Chevrolets EV sales alone have shown 130%-plus year-over-year growthsignaling that GM may be on an upward trajectory compared to Teslas current slump.
GM CEO Mary Barra reinforced that trajectory on a July 22 earnings call, sharing that profitable EV sales are now the companys North Star.
We are growing in EVs because we have a strategic portfolio of vehicles that people love for their design, performance, range, and value, she said.
[Photo: Chevrolet]
An uncertain path ahead
Despite GMs major EV success of late, the new EV market saw an overall year-over-year decline. Stephanie Valdez Streaty, senior analyst at Cox Automotive, said in its press release that the lower sales underscore the markets ongoing challenges, as growth in the auto business ebbs and flows on consumer demand, and are a sign of a more mature EV market.
Used EV sales, on the other hand, quietly flourished, surpassing a record-breaking 100,000 units in the second quarter. With availability growing and incentives for new EVs expected to fall, the used EV market maygrow faster in the quarters ahead, Cox Automotive reported.
For market analysts, the elephant in the room is Congresss recent approval of new spending legislation that will end tax credits on new or used EVs beginning September 30. In light of this change, several experts have predicted that EV sales are likely to see a spike in the interim, followed by a noticeable decline starting in October.
Cox Automotive takes a slightly more conservative stance, predicting that new EV sales will continue to expand in the U.S. compared to last year, but at a much reduced pace.
With government-backed incentives set to end in September and economic pressures mounting, the second half of the year will be a critical test of EV demand, Valdez Streaty said. Q3 will likely be a record, followed by a collapse in Q4, as the electric vehicle market adjusts to its new reality.
