India-US Eye Trade Deal by July Though Challenges Remain
India and the US are keen to clinch an early trade deal before the July 9 deadline, when higher US tariffs are set to kick in, but challenges remain, according to an official familiar with the matter.
Sectors including agriculture are proving to be one of the toughest parts of the negotiations, the person told reporters on Monday in New Delhi, asking not to be identified as the negotiations are ongoing.
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Forbes
12 minutes ago
- Forbes
How Fred Smith Built FedEx Into A Giant
Corbis via Getty Images Frederick Wallace Smith, the billionaire founder of FedEx, passed away at age 80 on Saturday. Smith was a visionary who was early to spot the need for an all-freight airline to ship packages around the world—smartly betting that passenger jets could never handle all of the world's shipments. But his success was far from certain. When Forbes profiled Smith in March 1977, he was a 32-year-old entrepreneur still using small jets to ferry packages around the nation. He was hoping to win government approval to upgrade to large planes, and his private equity backers were seeming to grow impatient. 'Will [FedEx] go on to become a $1-billion company?' we asked. Smith ended up taking FedEx public a year after our story, and grew it into a true giant over five decades at the helm. By the time Smith stepped down as CEO in 2022, at age 77, FedEx's market capitalization had surpassed $50 billion. operates in more than 220 countries and generated $87.7 billion in revenue in 2024. Smith remained executive chairman until his death. He's survived by his wife, Diane Smith, and ten children. He was worth an estimated $5.3 billion . F REDERICK WALLACE SMITH has a favorite story. It goes like this: Three men are shipwrecked on a desert island. Suddenly an authoritative voice echoes from the sky: "In ten minutes a tidal wave will obliterate this island." Pandemonium ensues. One man falls on his knees and prays. The second falls on a native girl and a bottle of booze. The third fellow runs like crazy. "What do you think you're doing?" the terrible voice demands. Still running, the runner gasps: "I'm going to jump in the ocean and figure out how to breathe under water." Surviving against impossible odds, breathing under water as it were, is a habit with 32-year-old Fred Smith, the son of a wealthy Tennessee entrepreneur who died when Fred was four years old. As a young boy in Memphis, Fred was crippled by a bone disease, learned to defend himself against bullies by swinging his crutch. Cured at age ten, he became an excellent football player, learned to fly at 15. In Vietnam, where he served two terms totaling 27 months, Smith won five medals. As a Marine infantry company commander, he almost miraculously survived a Vietcong ambush that cut down the men on either side of him. With his helmet, grenade and pistol gone, Smith retrieved the pistol to bring down his Vietcong attacker. "I was so frightened that I aimed at his head and hit his knee," he said. "To this day I don't understand how he missed me because they always aim for the company commander." On his second Vietnam tour, Smith served as a pilot of forward control planes, surviving over 200 ground-support missions. All this was just a warmup for the brazenly bold adventure that Smith was about to pull off in the business world. Back from Vietnam, he was soon embarked on what has turned out to be the biggest venture-capital startup deal ever tried in the U.S. — Federal Express Corp. "I got so sick of destruction and blowing things up — on people I had nothing against — that I came back determined to do something constructive," Smith recalls. At this point, he went back to an idea that had fascinated him while a student at Yale in the mid-Sixties. Bettmann Archive In an economics class, the professor agreed with the prevailing theory that air freight was the wave of the future and would be the primary source of revenue for the airlines. Smith wrote a paper disagreeing. No way, he said, because the passenger route patterns were wrong for freight and because costs would not come down with volume. The only way air freight would work, Smith wrote, was through a whole new system that would reach out to smaller cities as well as big ones and be designed for packages, not people. His point was simple: Air freight would only work in a system designed specifically for it, not as a simple add-on to passenger service. The professor gave Smith's paper a low grade. Looking back, Smith quips: "I was a crummy student — like Winston Churchill." Smith's idea, now reborn, was to start an all-freight airline that would fly primarily at night when the airports weren't congested. It would carry small, high-priority packages when speed of delivery was more important than cost. It would bring all the freight to a central point (Memphis), then disperse it to the ultimate destinations. That way his organization could free a full planeload for a smaller city, say Cedar Rapids, Iowa, because it would consolidate all Cedar Rapids shipments at the central depot. This was not your ordinary $1-million or $2-million venture-capital startup. What Smith was proposing was the creation in one swoop of an entire nationwide system. "I was naïve," Smith says. "I believed a good concept would attract all the money. By the time I found it wasn't true, I had gone so far that I couldn't stop." In the end, Smith raised an astounding $91 million to finance his untested idea. (To anyone who understands the venture-capital game, this is roughly equivalent to learning how to breathe under water.) First, he put in some $8 million of his own family's money. Then he got the enthusiastic backing of Manhattan-based, Rothschild-backed New Court Securities; New Court investments came to $5 million. With New Court behind him, Smith was able to put together a virtual Who's Who of venture capital, including General Dynamics, Heizer, Allstate Insurance, Prudential Insurance and Citicorp Venture Capital Ltd. However, Smith's problems were only beginning. The passenger airlines with a sideline in freight and the freight-only lines did not relish the prospect of additional competition. Long and haggling hearings before the Civil Aeronautics Board were in prospect. Luckily there was a loophole: Planes with a payload under 7,500 pounds did not need CAB permission to operate. Smith went ahead and assembled a fleet of small, 550-mile-per-hour French-built Falcons, constructed a main base at Memphis and began servicing 75 airports. Nightly Federal's Falcons would pick up packages at each of the airports, fly them to Memphis, then sort them out for immediate reshipment to other cities. At the other end, Federal trucks sped them to their destinations. With luck a shipment made by afternoon got delivered by the next noon. Operations started in April 1973. Forbes named Fred Smith one of America's 100 greatest living business minds in 2017. Martin Schoeller for Forbes In the beginning the losses were horrendous; in Federal's first 26 months they mounted to $29 million. The investors were getting antsy. Federal was falling far short of Smith's projections. There was talk of kicking him out. Smith's own sisters were suing him for misinvesting the family fortune. But Arthur Bass, Federal's operating man, stood by Smith. Bass, 44, a pilot and airline consultant, gradually improved the delivery schedules, and Federal began to come out of its tailspin. By last fiscal year, Federal's revenues hit $75 million, and the company was $3.6 million in the black. Seldom in history had a company gone from nothing to that size so swiftly. In this fiscal year, ending May 31, Federal should make $8 million on $110 million revenues. Federal now counts 31,000 regular customers. The biggest is the U.S. Air Force, which uses Federal to ship the spare parts needed to keep its planes flying. Another major customer: International Business Machines Corp. Others include shippers of film, blood, organ transplants and drugs. On heavily traveled passenger routes, such as New York to Chicago, Federal has plenty of competition from the major airlines. But it has virtually none in moving packages from smaller cities — from El Paso, Tex. to Rochester, N.Y., for example; or Jacksonville, Fla. to Cedar Rapids. Emery Air Freight, which ships via regular airlines, has been meeting some of Federal's competition by chartering its own planes in areas where airlines like Delta and Eastern have cut back less-traveled routes or night service, both crucial to air freight. But Emery cannot match Federal's nationwide air-delivery service. As a freight forwarder Emery is not permitted to operate its own planes and cannot reach the Cedar Rapids of America as quickly as Federal. To meet the competition, Federal has evolved a two-tier pricing system. On routes where there is serious competition, Federal tries to undercut Emery by as much as 10%. It recoups on exclusive routes by charging higher rates — arguing that higher-priced service is better than poor service for these towns. Are Smith's troubles over? Alas, no. At the moment, Federal is up against a serious ceiling on its capacity. The small Falcons can't always handle the available business on some routes, and, as a result, some packages must be held over. As a consequence, Federal's on-time delivery record has slipped from 96% to about 90%; now some couriers not only deliver packages but wait to see they get on the plane. The solution: bigger aircraft. One day soon Federal will file with the CAB a request for permission to fly bigger planes, such as Boeing 727s, and extend service from the present 75 airports and 130 cities to 170 airports and 300 cities — virtually the entire country. On the busier routes, 727s would take over; a single one could replace five Falcons flying nightly wingtip to wingtip on the Los Angeles-Memphis route, for example. On the lighter routes, Federal would still use its Falcons. The savings from using bigger planes alone would increase profits by $9 million a year. This will be Federal's second effort to obtain the right to use bigger craft. Last year the Senate passed a Smith-inspired bill that would permit Federal Express to rapidly institute larger all-cargo flights. The bill died in the House; it was bottled up in a subcommittee headed by Representative Glenn Anderson from Southern California, where opponent Flying Tiger Line is headquartered. This was a severe setback for Smith. In addition to the problem with the CAB, Federal's balance sheet is in terrible shape. The big losses have cut equity capital to just $7.8 million, vs. $52.5 million debt. However, if CAB authorization is forthcoming, Federal's backers have expressed a willingness to help recapitalize the company. There are, moreover, plenty of second-hand Boeings around, and Federal could quickly assemble a fleet of big jets. If it gets to that stage, the next step would be to take Federal public, not only to raise additional capital but to provide Federal's long-suffering backers with an opportunity to get some of their money out. Venture capitalists are not infinitely patient. Maybe Federal will get the right to fly 727s. Maybe it won't. But it has come a long way already. As President Art Bass puts it: "The absolute worst that can happen to us now is that we will be a limited success. It is no longer possible, as it was a year ago, that we'll go down the tube." Will Federal go on to become a $1-billion company? Will Fred Smith once again win a victory of mind over matter, of will over "reality"? Tune in next time for the answer.
Forbes
12 minutes ago
- Forbes
20 Critical Mistakes Advertisers Make With Social Media Campaigns
While successful social media campaigns can build awareness, drive conversions and strengthen audience trust, even strong campaigns can fall flat if they miss key details or employ the wrong tactics. From posting on the wrong platforms to ignoring your audience's wants and needs, seemingly small missteps can derail momentum (and your budget). Here, members of Forbes Agency Council share 20 critical mistakes advertisers make with social media campaigns. Read on to learn how to avoid the same and focus on what works. 1. Failing To Entertain The biggest mistake advertisers make is creating content that fails to entertain first. We're in our 'talkies moment'—the algorithm is the gatekeeper, and without stopping the scroll, your content won't reach anyone. Instead, follow new rules: Entertain first, then inspire or educate. Key takeaways beat key messages. The days of averages are over. Focus on trends and patterns in a video-first world. - James Nord, Fohr 2. Overproducing Content Overproduced content often backfires on social media. People scroll past anything that feels too scripted or polished. The best content feels native to the platform—casual, imperfect and real. That's what builds trust. Don't be afraid to let your brand show up with a little less polish and a lot more personality. - David Moncur, Moncur 3. Trying To Be Present Everywhere One of the biggest mistakes advertisers make is trying to be everywhere at once without a strategy. At our organization, we believe that spreading content across every platform without understanding where your audience engages can weaken your message. We recommend a focused and strategic approach by tailoring content specifically for the platforms where your audience is most active and receptive. - Durée Ross, Durée & Company, Inc. 4. Not Leveraging Creators One mistake is not partnering with creators to deliver your story. Creators are trusted more than ads or celebrities, and collectively are the most effective messaging to drive conversions on social media. But finding the right creators is important. We use a leaderboard to show brands' top-performing creators and content ranked by performance and to ensure the best-performing ones are chosen. - Rodney Mason, LTK Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify? 5. Handing The Reins To The Algorithm Hire a pro; don't depend on the algorithm. It's tempting to rely on the built-in automation tools; with a few clicks, you can 'boost a post' or build a broad 'lookalike' audience. But doing so hands the reins to a program optimized to spend your budget, not grow your business. Social can drive serious ROI when it's treated as a strategic channel rather than a checkbox. - Chintan Shah, KNB Communications 6. Posting On The Wrong Platforms Focus on the platforms where your customers spend their time! If you are marketing to grandparents, use Facebook, but for younger audiences, use Instagram or TikTok. For business audiences, use LinkedIn. Don't waste time and resources posting on the wrong platform for your targeted audience! - Nancy Marshall, Marshall Communications 7. Not Understanding Your ICP The biggest mistake is not understanding your ideal customer profile and their user journey. If you don't understand who you're targeting and where they are in the buying cycle, your message will miss. Tailor content to match their stage, intent and platform behavior to actually drive results. - George Arabian, NVISION 8. Boosting Posts On Facebook Boosting a Facebook post is often a complete waste of time and money. Boosting is a watered-down version of a Meta campaign with default settings that may not be right for you. Spend the extra time in creating a campaign properly or work with someone who understands Meta advertising. - T. Maxwell, eMaximize 9. Ignoring Audience Responses Within social advertising, ignoring audience responses—letting comments and messages go unanswered—wastes ad spend and erodes trust. Avoid this by assigning a community manager, setting real‑time alerts for mentions and committing to reply within 24 hours. This encourages dialogue and user‑generated content, boosting reach and loyalty. - Goran Paun, ArtVersion 10. Chasing Virality When brands chase viral moments that don't reflect who they are, they dilute trust. Start with clarity on your brand's voice, purpose and role in the world. Stay consistent. Then use trends as a lens, not a crutch, to create content that's timely and true. - Jacquelyn LaMar Berney, VI Marketing and Branding 11. Overemphasizing Sales Versus Genuine Engagement One of the biggest mistakes is overemphasis on sales instead of pure engagement. Overly promotional content can cause a huge turn-off with your audience. It's important that advertisers focus on providing value through their content, which can eventually lead to more naturally converted sales. - Jordan Edelson, Appetizer Mobile LLC 12. Using Non-Specific Messaging Trying to include everyone can ironically make audiences feel unseen. When messaging lacks specificity, it misses the mark emotionally. Focused, audience-driven content fosters true connection—people respond when they feel truly understood. - Christy Saia-Owenby, MOXY Company 13. Having A Corporate 'Billboard' Mindset Blasting messages like it's a one-way ad channel is the fastest way to get ignored. Social isn't a billboard; it's a conversation. Want results? Sound human, not corporate. Build campaigns that invite response, adapt in real time and earn attention. If you're not listening and evolving, you're just adding to the noise. - Lars Voedisch, PRecious Communications 14. Prioritizing Reach Over Relevance One of the biggest mistakes is chasing reach over relevance. Pumping budget into broad campaigns without clear audience targeting wastes spend. Instead, focus on niche segments, tailor creatives for each and test relentlessly to optimize for engagement and conversions. - Boris Dzhingarov, ESBO Ltd 15. Forgetting To Optimize For Mobile Most users will see your ad on their mobile device, so if it's not mobile-friendly, you're losing impact. Avoid small text, wide layouts and slow-loading content. Use vertical videos, concise captions and buttons that are easy to tap. Always preview your ads on mobile before launching to make sure they look great where it matters most. - Jason Hall, FiveChannels Marketing 16. Treating Social Media As A Stage One of the biggest missteps is treating social media like a stage instead of a conversation. Chasing likes, trends or clever gimmicks without anchoring your campaign in what actually matters to your audience—their pain, priorities or goals—is a fast way to burn budget and attention. Social works best when it's relevant, consistent and rooted in brand purpose. - Sarah Tourville, Media Frenzy Global 17. Taking A One-Size-Fits-All Approach One of the biggest mistakes is failing to understand the audience's true needs and values. A generic, one-size-fits-all approach won't resonate. Advertisers should invest time in research, listening and personalizing content to create meaningful connections. Tailored messages build trust, leading to more authentic engagement and better campaign results. - Robert Nikic, Why Unified 18. Failing To Tailor Ads To Social Media So many advertisers fail to create ads that are specific to social media. Social platforms need authenticity to ensure the ad is credible. People also go to social media to waste time; brands should respect that by making their social ads entertainment. - Mike Maynard, Napier Partnership Limited 19. Talking About The Brand Instead Of To The Audience One of the biggest mistakes advertisers make is talking about themselves instead of to their audience. Social media isn't a stage—it's a feed full of people looking for connection, not a pitch. If your ad doesn't speak directly to their world, it's ignored. Relevance beats reach. Every time. - Jimi Gibson, Thrive Agency 20. Posting The Same Thing Across Every Platform A major mistake is treating all platforms the same by repurposing content without tailoring it to each platform's user intent. Use AI-driven sentiment analysis to understand how your audience engages differently on each platform and customize messaging accordingly to boost relevance and response. Even small adjustments can significantly improve ROI. - Ajay Prasad, GMR Web Team
Forbes
12 minutes ago
- Forbes
16 Strategies To Keep Your Retirement Portfolio Growing And Balanced
A successful retirement strategy doesn't stop at setting up a portfolio or savings account. It requires regular attention and thoughtful adjustments over time. While the "set it and forget it" mindset may seem convenient, it can also prevent you from realizing alternative investment opportunities or leave you vulnerable to increased risk. Staying engaged, reassessing goals and responding to market changes are key to building long-term financial security. To help you stay on track, 16 members of Forbes Finance Council share smart, actionable tips for maintaining a well-balanced and growth-oriented retirement portfolio. 1. Stay Engaged And Adjust Regularly You shouldn't treat your retirement like a crockpot; you should treat it like a business. It's important to check in every quarter and adjust based on what's happening worldwide and where the money's moving. You must use smart tools that track trends and save money by keeping your taxes low. The old passive way is out. Today, it's about being engaged, staying sharp and shifting smart. - Karla Dennis, KDA Inc. 2. Create And Follow A Financial Plan Wealth-building and retirement preparation require a financial plan. You should avoid a "set it and forget it" approach to prevent missed opportunities. Regular review ensures alignment with goals, especially after life changes. Annual evaluations encourage engagement and empower decisions. Thoughtful planning secures lasting financial stability. - Sean Gould, Waddell & Associates 3. Review And Rebalance Quarterly Investors should review their portfolios quarterly to assess whether values align with what was laid out in their plan and rebalance as needed to keep within plan parameters. It's a good opportunity to do a quick review of what is going on in your life as it happens and changes. Retirement plans are not one-time builds to just forget them after. They are living plans that get reviewed and adjusted as life happens. - Shawn Maloney, Retire Wise, LLC 4. Stick To Strategy With Annual Reviews You need to remember that investing for retirement is investing in your long-term financial future. You should set the investment strategy that suits your risk tolerance and don't allow emotions such as greed and fear to interfere with that long-term strategy. Annual rebalancing helps to correct 'drift' away from your long-term strategy. - Sonya Thadhani Mughal, Bailard, Inc. 5. Explore Global Investment Opportunities They must think internationally. There are investment opportunities globally that can prove profitable beyond a domestic retirement account. While it can seem daunting, they should start trading in foreign currencies on a small scale. Doing so expands investment possibilities and makes for a more resilient portfolio. - Rahim Madhavji, Knightsbridge Foreign Exchange 6. Use Dynamic Glide Paths The key is to look beyond rebalancing and use dynamic glide paths. You should adjust equity exposure not just by age, but by real-time market conditions and personal spending behavior. It's a smarter way to grow while managing sequence-of-returns risk. - Sumeet Grover, UFCU Forbes Finance Council is an invitation-only organization for executives in successful accounting, financial planning and wealth management firms. Do I qualify? 7. Combine Passive And Active Models One strategy is to use a passive index core model with actively managed satellites to be opportunistic and move away from overpriced asset classes. Once your model is built, you can automate rebalancing to maintain risk exposure. - Christopher Foder, CExP, Meridian Financial Associates 8. Question Traditional Portfolio Models A smart strategy is to work with an advisor who questions outdated models like 60-40 portfolios, the 'endowment model' and overreliance on treasuries or tech stocks. We're in a generational regime shift—true diversification now requires alternatives and adaptive thinking. Many advisors lack the tools or mindset to keep up. You must choose one who evolves with the times to keep your portfolio positioned for long-term growth. - Brian Lasher, Euclid Harding LLC 9. Treat Your Portfolio Like A Business Investors must treat their portfolio like a boardroom: Underperforming assets don't get tenure; they get fired. You should audit allocations quarterly against forward-looking macro shifts, then redeploy capital with surgical conviction. Discipline eclipses hope; management outclasses memory. - Terry Chen, Modulate 10. Add Alternatives For Higher Growth I recommend adding alternatives to the portfolio allocation, such as startups, to ensure uncorrelated risk and access to growth opportunities that exceed the market. Investors should look at what early-stage companies do in their industry and leverage their domain expertise to make informed investment decisions. - Andrew Izyumov, 8FIGURES AI Investment Advisor 11. Protect Your Growing Assets A key strategy is to regularly assess liability exposure as your portfolio grows. Then, you can integrate powerful asset protection tools—like offshore trusts—not just for security, but for flexibility. Smart investing includes not just growing your nest egg but protecting it against lawsuits and unexpected claims. - Blake Harris, Blake Harris Law 12. Redirect New Contributions Strategically You should strategically use new contributions to achieve long-term portfolio goals. When certain asset classes move away from your target range, you can direct new investments to restore balance. Instead of selling one asset (which could create a taxable event) and buying another to rebalance, it might be optimal to redirect new capital additions more efficiently. - Martin Jarzebowski, CFA, Federated Hermes 13. Schedule Regular Advisor Check-Ins One simple but powerful tip is to schedule regular check-ins with your advisor. Life changes, markets shift and goals evolve, so your retirement plan should too. These meetings create space to explore new strategies, rebalance your portfolio and make sure your investments still align with where you're headed, not just where you started. - Michael Foguth, Foguth Financial Group 14. Realign After Life Milestones I would suggest aligning portfolio modifications with life milestones, not the calendar. Instead of using scheduled evaluations, you should update strategically after important life events like a job shift, home purchase or childbirth. These events naturally change financial priorities and risk tolerance, making them perfect realignment triggers. This maintains investments responsive and relevant without frequent monitoring. - Neil Anders, Trusted Rate, Inc. 15. Diversify With Self-Directed IRAs You should stay active and diversify! You might want to consider exploring self-directed IRAs for investments beyond the typical stock market, potentially hedging against volatility and expanding your portfolio's growth avenues. - Jason Craig, IRA Resources, Inc. (IRAR) 16. Reallocate Based On Economic Indicators You can implement a periodic reallocation strategy based on macroeconomic indicators and asset class performance. At our office, we view active oversight, not overreaction, as essential to preserving intertemporal balance and compounding growth across shifting market cycles. - Alfonso Cahero, Cahero Family Office The information provided here is not investment, tax, or financial advice. You should consult with a licensed professional for advice concerning your specific situation.
