CNBC TechCheck Evening Edition: June 6, 2025
CNBC's TechCheck brings you the latest in tech news from CNBC's 1 Market in the heart of San Francisco.
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35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
TIMELINE: Inside the evolving relationship between Trump and Musk from first term to this week's fallout
The fallout between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump is an evolving situation marked by a public blowup on Thursday, but their relationship ties back to Trump's first term and even earlier. A November 2016 CNBC interview with the Tesla CEO, who's now the richest man in the world, took a critical tone of the now president just days before he was elected president in an upset that signified the strength of the populist movement. "Honestly, I think Hillary's economic policies and her environmental policies particularly are the right ones, you know, but yeah. Also, I don't think this is the finest moment in our democracy at all," Musk said. "Well, I feel a bit stronger that probably he's not the right guy. He just doesn't seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States," he later added in the interview. 'Kill Bill': Elon Musk's Conservative Evolution Puts Him At Odds With Trump On Key Legislation During Trump's first term, Musk was part of some of his economic advisory councils, which often includes CEOs, but ultimately left his post because he disagreed with the president's move to exit the Paris Climate Accords. Read On The Fox News App "Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world," Musk posted at the time. The two continued to have an on-and-off relationship, but there were some positive signs in May 2020. "Elon Musk, congratulations. Congratulations, Elon. Thanks, Elon. For Elon and 8,000 SpaceX employees, today is the fulfillment of a dream almost two decades in the making," Trump said at the Kennedy Space Center in May 2020. And at the SpaceX Demo-2 launch, Trump said he and Musk communicate regularly. "Well, I won't get into it. But, yeah — but I speak to him all the time. Great guy. He's one of our great brains. We like great brains. And Elon has done a fantastic job," he said. Elon Musk's Net Worth Plummets By $34B Amid Escalating Feud With President Trump Fast forward to 2022, when Musk purchased Twitter and renamed it X, and brought back Trump's account that November, after it was suspended after the events of Jan. 6, 2021. In 2022, Musk also announced that he would vote Republican, but indicated he would back Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis if he opted to seek the nomination. DeSantis launched his campaign on X in a "space," a virtual public event forum, with Musk, who also reportedly significantly financially backed the Florida governor, according to The Wall Street Journal. However, a major turning point was in July 2024, after the assassination attempt of Trump at a rally in Butler, Penn. "I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery," Musk posted. Musk then campaigned for the president, including a famous moment when he was jumping on stage at his comeback rally in Butler. Would Donald Trump Have Won The 2024 Presidential Election Without Elon Musk's Help? "I want to say what an honor it is to be here and, you know, the true test of someone's character is how they behave under fire, right?" Musk said at the rally. "And we had one president who couldn't climb a flight of stairs and another who was fist pumping after getting shot." "This is no ordinary election," the tech CEO continued. "The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech." "Just be a pest to everyone," he added. "You know, people on the street everywhere: Vote, vote, vote!" The tech billionaire spent roughly $300 million through America PAC to boost swing state voter efforts, including Pennsylvania. By the time the presidential election rolled around, Trump and Musk appeared to be close friends as the Tesla CEO was with Trump in Mar-a-Lago on election night. Over the next few days, Musk remained in Florida and was reportedly advising Trump on appointments and policy as the transition to a new administration kicked off. A week later, shortly before Musk and the new president appeared at a SpaceX launch together in Texas, Trump announced that Musk and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy would be heading up the Department of Government Efficiency in an effort to rid the government of waste, fraud, and abuse. Trump described the pair as "two wonderful Americans' and although Ramaswamy left that post in January and is now running for governor in Ohio, Musk stayed on and quickly became the face of an agency that made him the main target of attacks from Democrats pushing back on spending cuts that they argued were too drastic. Protests erupted nationwide against Musk and DOGE including violent outbursts at his Tesla dealerships that tanked the company's stock and were labeled as acts of "domestic terrorism" by the Justice Department. Flashback: Top Five Wildest Moments From Elon Musk's Doge Tenure As It Comes To An End During the first few months of the year, Musk and Trump were spotted together at several viral events including a UFC fight, an Oval Office meeting where Musk's son "Little X" stole the show, and a cabinet meeting in late February where Musk was the main focus. In March, Trump hosted Elon at a Tesla showcase in front of the White House amid a dip in Tesla stock where the president told reporters he was purchasing a Tesla while touting the company. As Musk's time at DOGE began to wind down, his employee classification allowed him to serve for 130 days, the newly formed agency had become the poster child of anti-Trump sentiment from Democrats who consistently attacked the $175 billion in spending cuts that DOGE estimated it delivered. Signs of fracture in the relationship began showing in late May when Musk took a public shot at Trump's "big beautiful bill" as it made its way through Congress. "I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," Musk said. Two days later, Musk announced his official departure from DOGE. "As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending," Musk said, adding that the effects of DOGE "will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." DOGE, which fell short of Musk's initial goal of slashing $1 trillion in spending which Musk said he still remains optimistic will happen in the future, will continue its work without Musk, who said, "I look forward to continuing to be a friend and adviser to the president." That optimistic tone shifted drastically on June 3 when Musk took to X, the platform he owns, and blasted the budget reconciliation bill calling it "a disgusting abomination" and criticizing the Republicans who voted for it. "KILL THE BILL," Musk said the next day. A day after that, on Thursday, the feud hit a fever pitch. While speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said that he was "very disappointed" by Musk's vocal criticisms of the bill. The president claimed that Musk knew what was in the bill and "had no problem" with it until the EV incentives had to be cut. On X, Musk called that assessment "false." Trump turned to social media to criticize Musk, who he appointed to find ways to cut $2 trillion after forming the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). "Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!" Trump said in one post. In another post, Trump said, "I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress. It's a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given." "If this Bill doesn't pass, there will be a 68% tax increase, and things far worse than that. I didn't create this mess, I'm just here to FIX IT. This puts our Country on a Path of Greatness. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" At one point, Musk referenced late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in relation to Trump as part of the larger tirade in a comment that several Republicans told Fox News Digital went "too far." Other posts from Musk included a claim that Trump would not have won the election without his help while accusing Trump of "ingratitude." In another post, Musk suggested that Trump should be impeached and replaced by Vice President Vance. It is unclear if a resolution to the feud is coming in the next few days. Fox News Digital reported on Friday morning that Musk wants to speak to Trump and that White House aides could possibly broker a meeting. Trump told Fox News on Friday that he isn't interested in talking to Musk, adding that "Elon's totally lost it." Trump also said to Fox News' Bret Baier that he isn't worried about Musk's suggestion to form a new political party, citing favorable polls and strong support from Republicans on Capitol article source: TIMELINE: Inside the evolving relationship between Trump and Musk from first term to this week's fallout
CNBC
3 hours ago
- CNBC
Amazon CEO: People in their 20s tend to make this mistake—I was 'lucky' to avoid it
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has spent the past 28 years helping turn the e-commerce giant into one of the biggest companies on earth. But the 57-year-old executive didn't start his career with aspirations of being a high-powered CEO. In a May 15 podcast appearance on "How Leaders Lead with David Novak," Jassy said he too often sees young people who think they should be entering the professional world knowing what they want to do with the rest of their lives. "I have a 21-year-old son and a 24-year-old daughter, and one of the things I see with them and their peers is they all feel like they have to know what they want to do with their life at that age," he said. "And I really don't believe that's true." Before Jassy landed at Amazon in 1997 at age 29, he tried his hand at sportscasting, sports production, product management and entrepreneurship, he said. On top of that, he spent time working at a retail golf store, coaching his high school soccer team and investment banking. Even though many of those jobs didn't work out as he might've hoped, the experiences helped him understand the type of career that he wanted — and didn't want — to have, he said. "I think early on it's just as important to learn what you don't want to do as what you want to do because it actually helps you figure out what you want to do," said Jassy. "I do feel like one of the lucky parts for me was that I tried lots of things and was able to sort for myself what appealed to me and what didn't."Jassy credited his eventual success to his willingness to find out what he was good at and what he liked, rather than doggedly following a strong vision of what he wanted to do: "I think your attitude is an embarrassing amount of your success or lack thereof." Being reliable, trustworthy, hard-working and a good learner are more important than being good at every single thing you try, Jassy added. "I feel like those are things that you can control. It's actually amazing to me how often people don't. I worked hard at those things over time," he said. The Amazon CEO isn't alone in preaching dependability: Being a reliable and hard worker is the No. 1 way to build a strong reputation in the workplace, author and former Google executive Maha Abouelenein told CNBC Make It on Oct. 9. Having a consistent level of effort and doing your best to anticipate the needs of those around you will get you recognized, no matter where your career takes you, said Abouelenein. "Reputation is like a currency," she said. "It's the only thing you own, and I want you to invest in it ... Without your [personal brand], you can't do anything."
CNBC
4 hours ago
- CNBC
'Bitcoin Family' hides crypto codes etched onto metal cards on four continents after recent kidnappings
A wave of high-profile kidnappings targeting cryptocurrency executives has rattled the industry — and prompted a quiet security revolution among some of its most visible evangelists. Didi Taihuttu, patriarch of the so-called "Bitcoin Family," said he overhauled the family's entire security setup after a string of threats. The Taihuttus — who sold everything they owned in 2017, from their house to their shoes, to go all-in on bitcoin when it was trading around $900 — have long lived on the outer edge of crypto ideology. They travel full-time with their three daughters and remain entirely unbanked. Over the past eight months, he said, the family ditched hardware wallets in favor of a hybrid system: Part analog, part digital, with seed phrases encrypted, split, and stored either through blockchain-based encryption services or hidden across four continents. "We have changed everything," Taihuttu told CNBC on a call from Phuket, Thailand. "Even if someone held me at gunpoint, I can't give them more than what's on my wallet on my phone. And that's not a lot." CNBC first reported on the family's unconventional storage system in 2022, when Taihuttu described hiding hardware wallets across multiple continents — in places ranging from rental apartments in Europe to self-storage units in South America. As physical attacks on crypto holders become more frequent, even they are rethinking their exposure. This week, Moroccan police arrested a 24-year-old suspected of orchestrating a series of brutal kidnappings targeting crypto executives. One victim, the father of a crypto millionaire, was allegedly held for days in a house south of Paris — and reportedly had a finger severed during the ordeal. In a separate case earlier this year, a co-founder of French wallet firm Ledger and his wife were abducted from their home in central France in a ransom scheme that also targeted another Ledger executive. Last month in New York, authorities said, a 28-year-old Italian tourist was kidnapped and tortured for 17 days in a Manhattan apartment by attackers trying to extract his bitcoin password — shocking him with wires, beating him with a gun, and strapping an Apple AirTag around his neck to track his movements. The common thread: The pursuit of crypto credentials that enable instant, irreversible transfers of virtual assets. "It is definitely frightening to see a lot of these kidnappings happen," said JP Richardson, CEO of crypto wallet company Exodus. He urged users to take security into their own hands by choosing self-custody, storing larger sums on hardware wallets, and — for those holding significant assets — exploring multi-signature wallets, a setup typically used by institutions. Richardson also recommended spreading funds across different wallet types and avoiding large balances in hot wallets to reduce risk without sacrificing flexibility. That rising sense of vulnerability is fueling a new demand for physical protection with insurance firms now racing to offer kidnap and ransom (K&R) policies tailored to crypto holders. But Taihuttu isn't waiting for corporate solutions. He's opted for complete decentralization — of not just his finances, but his personal risk profile. As the family prepares to return to Europe from Thailand, safety has become a constant topic of conversation. "We've been talking about it a lot as a family," Taihuttu said. "My kids read the news, too — especially that story in France, where the daughter of a CEO was almost kidnapped on the street." Now, he said, his daughters are asking difficult questions: What if someone tries to kidnap us? What's the plan? Though the girls carry only small amounts of crypto in their personal wallets, the family has decided to avoid France entirely. "We got a little bit famous in a niche market — but that niche is becoming a really big market now," Taihuttu said. "And I think we'll see more and more of these robberies. So yeah, we're definitely going to skip France." Even in Thailand, Taihuttu recently stopped posting travel updates and filming at home after receiving disturbing messages from strangers who claimed to have identified his location from YouTube vlogs. "We stayed in a very beautiful house for six months — then I started getting emails from people who figured out which house it was. They warned me to be careful, told me not to leave my kids alone," he said. "So we moved. And now we don't film anything at all." "It's a strange world at the moment," he said. "So we're taking our own precautions — and when it comes to wallets, we're now completely hardware wallet-less. We don't use any hardware wallets anymore." The family's new system involves splitting a single 24-word bitcoin seed phrase — the cryptographic key that unlocks access to their crypto holdings — into four sets of six words, each stored in a different geographic location. Some are kept digitally through blockchain-based encryption platforms, while others are etched by hand into fireproof steel plates using a hammer and letter punch, then hidden in physical locations across four continents. "Even if someone finds 18 of the 24 words, they can't do anything," Taihuttu explained. On top of that, he's added a layer of personal encryption, swapping out select words to throw off would-be attackers. The method is simple, but effective. "You only need to remember which ones you changed," he said. Part of the reason for ditching hardware wallets, Taihuttu said, was a growing mistrust of third-party devices. Concerns about backdoors and remote access features — including a controversial update by Ledger in 2023 — prompted the family to abandon physical hardware altogether in favor of encrypted paper and steel backups. While the family still holds some crypto in "hot" wallets — for daily spending or to run their algorithmic trading strategy — those funds are protected by multi-signature approvals, which require multiple parties to sign off before a transaction can be executed. The Taihuttus use Safe — formerly Gnosis Safe — for ether and other altcoins, and similarly layered setups for bitcoin stored on centralized platforms like Bybit. About 65% of the family's crypto is locked in cold storage across four continents — a decentralized system Taihuttu prefers to centralized vaults like the Swiss Alps bunker used by Coinbase-owned Xapo. Those facilities may offer physical protection and inheritance services, but Taihuttu said they require too much trust. "What happens if one of those companies goes bankrupt? Will I still have access?" he said. "You're putting your capital back in someone else's hands." Instead, Taihuttu holds his own keys — hidden across the globe. He can top up the wallets remotely with new deposits, but accessing them would require at least one international trip, depending on which fragments of the seed phrase are needed. The funds, he added, are intended as a long-term pension to be accessed only if bitcoin hits $1 million — a milestone he's targeting for 2033. The shift toward multiparty protections extends beyond just multi-signature. Multi-party computation, or MPC, is gaining traction as a more advanced security model. Instead of storing private keys in one place — a vulnerability known as a "single point of compromise" — MPC splits a key into encrypted shares distributed across multiple parties. Transactions can only go through when a threshold number of those parties approve, sharply reducing the risk of theft or unauthorized access. Multi-signature wallets require several parties to approve a transaction. MPC takes that further by cryptographically splitting the private key itself, ensuring that no single individual ever holds the full key — not even their own complete share. The shift comes amid renewed scrutiny of centralized crypto platforms like Coinbase, which recently disclosed a data breach affecting tens of thousands of customers. Taihuttu, for his part, says 80% of his trading now happens on decentralized exchanges like Apex — a peer-to-peer platform that allows users to set buy and sell orders without relinquishing custody of their funds, marking a return to crypto's original ethos. While he declined to reveal his total holdings, Taihuttu did share his goal for the current bull cycle: a $100 million net worth, with 60% still held in bitcoin. The rest is a mix of ether, layer-1 tokens like solana, link, sui, and a growing number of AI and education-focused startups — including his own platform offering blockchain and life-skills courses for kids. Lately, he's also considering stepping back from the spotlight. "It's really my passion to create content. It's really what I love to do every day," he said. "But if it's not safe anymore for my daughters ... I really need to think about them."
