Forbes Daily: A Major CDC Shift On Covid-19 Vaccines Draws Criticism
No one has donated more to Parkinson's disease research than Google cofounder Sergey Brin, and now he's giving away another $700 million.
Brin's recent gift of Alphabet shares was split between three nonprofits, most of which went to his 4-year-old nonprofit Catalyst4. Brin, who is worth an estimated $137 billion and is currently the world's eighth richest person, sees the work as deeply 'personal.' His mother had Parkinson's and he carries a genetic mutation that gives him a much higher chance of getting the disease.
His hope is to address both scientific research and eventual treatments for central nervous system diseases, which also include autism and bipolar disorder.
The CDC is no longer recommending routine Covid-19 vaccines or boosters for pregnant women and healthy children, a decision that drew criticism as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a longtime vaccine skeptic. FDA Commissioner Martin Makary, who appeared in the video announcement with Kennedy, had written that pregnancy was a high-risk condition for Covid infections earlier this month.
The Giving Pledge announced 11 new signatories in 2025 who have pledged to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes during their lifetime or in their wills—the largest cohort since 2021. Six of the new pledgers are members of Forbes' Billionaires' List, and the richest among them is Canva cofounder and chief product officer Cameron Adams, who is worth an estimated $2.9 billion.
Satya Patel
Homebrew
In Forbes' fourth annual Midas Seed list, a global ranking of the top 25 seed stage investors, Silicon Valley veteran Pejman Nozad stayed in the top spot. And a lack of IPOs and acquisitions means a handful of massive private startups are driving changes in the rankings for even those investors focused on the very earliest stage of a startup's lifecycle.
MORE: Satya Patel, a partner at the venture firm Homebrew who ranked No. 13 on this year's Midas Seed list, refers to his broad philosophy as a VC as 'bottom up' investing—betting on companies from 'boring' industries like HR or banking, and gussying them up with high-tech software. He's made early bets on companies like IPO-bound digital bank Chime, payroll unicorn Gusto, and Plaid, which was acquired by Visa in 2020 for $5.3 billion.
Following in the footsteps of President Donald Trump's crypto strategy, Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, is raising $2.5 billion to build a corporate bitcoin reserve. According to an SEC filing, the company will sell $1.5 billion in shares and $1 billion in convertible bonds to institutional investors, the proceeds of which will be used for the reserve—making cryptocurrency a core part of its balance sheet.
Elon Musk said he is 'disappointed' with President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful' bill passed by the House last week, his most direct criticism of a signature White House policy after recently stepping back from his work as the head of DOGE. Musk said the expansive budget bill 'undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,' as it is expected to add around $3.3 trillion to the federal debt over the next 10 years, according to an estimate published by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
A body of the United Nations released a new report that projects global temperatures will remain near record levels over the next five years, with a strong chance the 2024 annual temperature record will be broken during this period, likely worsening the impact of climate change and increasing the chances of extreme weather events. There is also a 70% chance that the 5-year average temperature for 2025-2029 will be more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial numbers—a key benchmark laid out in the Paris Climate Agreement.
As President Donald Trump escalates his attacks on Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump on Tuesday took credit for preventing 'lots of really bad things' from happening to Russia and said the Russian leader is 'playing with fire.' Trump's criticism comes after Russia launched one of its largest aerial attacks on Ukraine since the start of the war, killing at least 12 people, according to the Associated Press.
TRAVEL + LIFESTYLE
A string of recent high-profile aviation safety incidents has travelers nervous as summer approaches. A few key ways to reduce risk when flying, experts told Forbes, include avoiding airports with air traffic issues and booking direct flights. Consider your seat and the type of plane you'll be flying in, too—larger airplanes typically have more sophisticated safety systems.
General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja, No. 8 on Forbes' 2025 Midas List, believes his venture capital firm is going to transform how Americans access health care.
Last year, the firm announced its $485 million purchase of Summa Health, an 8,000-employee hospital system based in Akron, Ohio, with the aim of plugging it into Silicon Valley's innovation engine. That means injecting tech and artificial intelligence into almost every step of the health care process, from checkups to insurance.
Buying a hospital is jaw-dropping for a VC. Tech investors preach disruption, but they are deeply conservative when it comes to running their own funds. General Catalyst wants to break that mold.
Since 2018, it has morphed from a typical VC partnership to a multi-hyphenate investment house: There's the firm's 'creation' fund, which spins up new AI companies aimed at remaking dusty industries like accounting or customer service. Then there's the General Catalyst Institute, a think tank looking to shape technology policy around the world, and GC Wealth, a white-glove broker meant to woo well-heeled founders away from private banks.
That makes Taneja, 50, one of the champions of a new class of venture capitalist. 'Mega funds' are the sometimes-sniffy label for General Catalyst and peers like Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed and Thrive Capital, Josh Kushner's outfit. Managing tens of billions of dollars, they are still minnows compared to Blackstone ($1 trillion in assets) and KKR ($660 billion), but Taneja's ambition isn't to be the biggest investor. Instead, he wants General Catalyst to be a 'strategic conglomerate.'
But perhaps the biggest risk is that General Catalyst is doing too much. 'I get that question a lot,' Taneja says. He says it's a matter of having 'leadership bandwidth' and a good operating model, comparing the company to Amazon, which expanded from books to data centers to grocery stores to moviemaking.
WHY IT MATTERS Taneja has his critics, too. General Catalyst's industrial-scale investing barely resembles venture capital, some say. Others snipe, discreetly, about General Catalyst's focus shifting from generating returns from financing startups to 'farming fees' from ever-multiplying funds.
But Taneja's supporters are willing to back his bold vision thanks to a near-15-year winning streak. Since moving to Silicon Valley from Boston in 2011, Taneja has backed payment giant Stripe (last valued at $91 billion), defense startup Anduril (in funding talks at a $28 billion valuation) and a string of health care unicorns like Commure (valued at $6 billion).
MORE Ranking The World's Top Venture Capitalists In 2025
The Trump Administration paused interviews for new student visa applicants as it weighs expanded social media screening, a potential indication of a wider crackdown on international students:
More than 1.1 million: The number of international students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities in the 2023-24 school year, according to the Institute of International Education
$43.8 billion: The amount per year international students contribute to the U.S. economy
$100 million: The value of the remaining government contracts with Harvard that the Trump Administration canceled Tuesday
Remote work gives employees greater flexibility, but it can also be isolating. To help feel less lonely when working from home, try organizing occasional meetups if your colleagues are nearby, and if not, organize virtual lunches where the discussion isn't about work. It can be easy to blur the lines between personal and professional if your home is also your office, so be sure to dedicate a designated workspace, even if it's just a small corner.
Users reported outages for a popular streaming service Tuesday, the latest server disruption for the company. Which streaming platform is it?
A. Netflix
B. Spotify
C. Apple Music
D. Hulu
Check your answer.
Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Chris Dobstaff.
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4 reasons renters are choosing to stay in place
This story was originally published on Multifamily Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Multifamily Dive newsletter. Apartment REIT earnings season kicked off with the news that Equity Residential, a company that went public more than 30 years ago, posted its lowest turnover rate ever in the first quarter of this year. The Chicago-based firm's 7.9% turnover rate proved to be a harbinger of strong retention results throughout the industry. Palo Alto, California-based Essex Property Trust saw what CEO Angela Kleiman said was 'a notably low turnover rate of 35%, while achieving positive new lease rate growth and stable occupancy levels.' Memphis-based REIT MAA reported improving turnover at 41.5% in Q1. Two years ago, that rate sat at 46%. Houston-based Camden Property Trust also saw retention near historical highs. 'Turnover rates across our portfolio remained very low, and our first quarter 2025 annualized net turnover rate of 31% was one of the lowest in our company's history,' Camden Executive Vice Chairman of the Board Keith Oden said on the REIT's earnings call last month. But it's not just public firms noticing turnover fall. Private companies are experiencing it as well. 'We've seen retention and renewal rates that have been higher than normal,' said Chris Finlay, CEO of Middleburg Communities, a Tysons Corner, Virginia-based owner, manager and developer. While some apartment operators are seeing surprisingly high retention rates when large numbers of new units are available, there isn't one uniform reason for the trend. Here are four trends executives say are helping keep residents' heads in beds. Many residents are staying in place because buying a home has become unaffordable. In April, Redfin published a report saying Americans must earn $116,633 annually to afford the median-priced home for sale. In comparison, they needed more than the $64,160 to afford the typical apartment for rent. That's an 81.8% difference. The typical U.S. household earns $86,382. The median home-sale price has been growing at roughly 4.5% year over year for months, and the average 30-year-fixed mortgage rate is around 6.5%, according to Redfin. However, the median asking rent rose just 0.2% YOY to $1,604 in February, making leasing an attractive option. 'It has become increasingly challenging for American renters to make the shift to homeownership thanks to the triple whammy of rising home prices, high mortgage rates and a shortage of houses for sale,' said Redfin Senior Economist Elijah de la Campa in the report. The relative affordability of renting is helping to drive retention. Camden saw move-outs for home purchases at 10.4% in Q1, which is low for the REIT. 'The premium to own versus rent continues to be at historically high levels, making apartment homes more affordable,' CEO Ric Campo said on the firm's Q1 earnings call. The high cost of single-family homeownership isn't the only thing keeping residents in their apartments. AvalonBay has seen homeownership pull 8% to 9% of renters out of its apartments over the last several quarters, which is low for the REIT. 'But the overall level of turnover has continued to come down,' chief operating officer Sean Breslin said on the REIT's earnings call last month. 'So I would think of it as the move-out piece on the home side being relatively stable.' With concerns about the economy, inflation and the potential effects of the Trump administration's tariffs, some residents might feel safer staying in place rather than moving out. 'With some of the increased uncertainty in the economy, people just tend to stay put where they are,' said Tim Argo, chief strategy and analysis officer at MAA, on the REIT's Q1 earnings call. 'I think that's helping to benefit our turnover, and people are just a little more hesitant to make big life decisions.' Camden's Oden also wondered if economic uncertainty had led residents to decide to renew their leases and reconsider moving 'somewhere down the road' when the picture is clearer. Others see similar patterns. 'When things are uncertain, people just hunker down right there,' Finlay said. 'They're not looking to upgrade or to go buy a house.' The uncertain economic climate also played a role in EQR's resident retention, and that could continue into future quarters. 'When there's ambiguity, people tend to bunker down,' EQR Chief Operating Officer Michael Manelis said on the firm's Q1 earnings call last month. 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Apartment firms, with REITs leading the way, have spent millions adopting sophisticated centralization systems that measure and improve the resident experience. On his firm's Q1 earnings call in late April, Manelis said renewals continued a previous trend and 'supported the strength of our centralized renewal process and intense focus on delivering our residents a quality experience.' Other firms see similar drivers. Tom Toomey, CEO of UDR, often lauded as a trailblazer in centralization, credited the firm's customer experience project with helping reduce resident turnover, which fell 300 basis points year over year. The REIT has made investments in how it measures, maps and orchestrates the customer experience. 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They were marching for Israeli hostages. Then an antisemitic firebombing started
Race & ethnicity The Middle East Israel-Hamas warFacebookTweetLink Follow It started as a typical Sunday for Ed Victor. Every Sunday since September, he had stood in silent solidarity with members of the Jewish community in front of the Boulder County Historic Court House. The group had gathered to take part in 'Run for Their Lives' — a global event organized by members of the Jewish community to bring attention to the 58 hostages still in Gaza. Even when there had been hecklers, Victor and other members would focus on setting up their demonstration — signs reading 'Let them go now,' and posters bearing the faces of 58 hostages still being held in Gaza. Victor was talking to someone, looking west toward the mountains, he said, when he first felt the heat. 'Huge amount of flame,' Victor said. Then, he saw someone on fire. The quiet, peaceful march in Boulder, Colorado, quickly devolved into chaos after a man used a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to set people at the plaza on fire in an antisemitic attack. Smoke rose as demonstrators and onlookers rushed to find anything that could hold water to pour onto the more than a half dozen people set ablaze. Clothing singed off bodies. Screams from burn victims and sirens from ambulances, police cars and firetrucks pierced the air. Victor used flags and banners meant to bring awareness to the hostages to smother flames that had consumed another marcher. At least 12 people were injured in the attack, District Attorney Michael Dougherty said Monday. Two are still hospitalized, officials said. 'I never ever, ever would've thought that this would've happen. I really can't and I'm so shocked that it did,' Victor said. Jewish leaders had been warning of the historic rise in antisemitic violence and threats since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. Nearly two years later, US-led attempts to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas remain unsuccessful, fighting in Gaza continues and antisemitic threats in the US have boiled over into violence. Sunday's antisemitic attack took place just weeks after two Israeli Embassy staff members in Washington DC were killed by a pro-Palestinian attacker and an arsonist targeted Josh Shapiro's home during Passover because of the Pennsylvania governor's views on the war in the Gaza, heightening fear in the Jewish community. The FBI is investigating Sunday's firebombing as 'an act of terrorism.' The 'Run for Their Lives' event had been meeting regularly since mid-October 2023. The suspect, later identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, had been planning the attack for nearly as long, he told federal authorities. He targeted the group after researching them online, but waited nearly a year to attack them — until his daughter graduated high school, according to an affidavit filed Sunday. Soliman, who was born in Egypt but lived in Kuwait for 17 years, arrived in the United States in August 2022 as a non-immigrant visitor, according to multiple law enforcement officials. Soliman was seeking revenge after he determined the group didn't care about Palestinian hostages, per the affidavit. He told authorities he 'wanted to kill all Zionist people.' Witnesses said the suspect showed up to the plaza looking like a gardener, officials said. He wore a utility vest over his shirt, and carried a garden sprayer. Investigators believe he stopped at nearby gas stations to fill up bottles and the sprayer before the attack, arriving in the area around 1 p.m. He threw two Molotov cocktails, and the district attorney said police later found 16 more in the area. Brian Horwitz was at a nearby cafe having brunch with family when the attack began. The 37-year-old heard the screams and ran toward the suspect. ''F*** you Zionists. You're killing my people so I kill you,'' Horwitz said he heard the man say. The attacker then singled out people in the plaza saying ''you're a killer, you're a killer,'' Horwitz said. Horwitz said the man then locked eyes with him. 'That's when he looked at me and said you're a killer,' Horwitz recalled. He ran to an elderly victim who had burns on her feet and hands. The woman told him to worry about her friend instead, he said. Her friend had severe burns to her calf, the skin barely visible. 'She was cool, calm and collected - almost as if she had been there before,' Horwitz said. Three minutes after he called emergency services, police arrived and took the suspect into custody, Horwitz said. He noted the wait felt like an eternity. 'It was easily the most horrific thing I've ever seen in my life,' Horwitz said. 'There's someone who is outraged enough to go and attack these elderly people who are doing absolutely nothing to provoke it other than walk in silence and meet in a courtyard peacefully. It's unbelievable.' Soliman 'stated he would do it (conduct an attack) again,' according to the affidavit. He later told investigators he had planned on dying in the attack, according to a warrant for his arrest. Many of the injured were older adults. None of them have died, Boulder police said. Two were burned so badly, they had to be airlifted to nearby hospitals. In one video, a severely injured woman is seen lying on the ground as bystanders pour water on her. 'There were people on the ground and a bunch of others running over with buckets and bottles and whatever they could carry water in' the owner of Heady Bauer, a local clothing store, told CNN. 'Everyone was dumping water on the burned people, especially one woman on the ground who was totally torched from her hair to her legs.' Aaron Brooks said he saw 'smoke coming from a human being.' There was also singed grass and black marks around the site of the attack, he said. Horwitz said he saw pants completely burned and singed off, and 'it looked like their skin had just melted off their bodies.' Among those injured are a mother and daughter, said Elyana Funk, executive director of the University of Boulder Hillel. The mother 'is a Holocaust survivor in her 80's, who's been through certainly enough trauma.' Funk said she talked to some of the victims, who range in age from 52 to 88, including one woman who is 'healing from horrible burns.' The woman, Funk said, 'really felt like this happened not just to her, but to the whole community.' Soliman has been arrested and charged with a federal hate crime, and is facing a slew of state charges, including 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder. The weekly vigil in Boulder is now on hold, but Funk said the community will still find ways to come together. Victor says he'll be back next week again, just like he's been for nearly a year. 'This would not stop me,' he said. 'We'll see what other people decide they want to do, but I will be here.' CNN's John Miller, Sara Smart, Sarah Dewberry, Mark Morales, Martin Goillandeau, Amanda Jackson, Isaac Yee, Amanda Musa, Karina Tsui, Josh Campbell, Hanna Park, Matt Rehbein and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.
