Forbes Daily: Target Misses The Mark As Nike Announces New Price Hikes

May 22, 2025

Bitcoin reached new heights Wednesday, as regulatory optimism fuels a crypto rally.

The price of bitcoin increased more than 4% to hit $109,700 yesterday afternoon, surpassing the all-time high set on inauguration day. This week, the Senate advanced the first regulatory framework for stablecoins, cryptocurrencies tied to currencies like the U.S. dollar.

As President Donald Trump has embraced and profited from crypto, some Democrats expressed concern about the legislation, though the latest version requires issuers to comply with anti-money laundering regulations and anti-terrorism sanctions.

FIRST UP

Two Israeli embassy staffers were killed in a shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday evening, in an incident that Israeli officials have described as an “act of anti-Semitic terrorism.” D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a press conference that the person believed to have carried out the shooting is now in custody, adding that the suspect chanted “Free, free Palestine” after he was detained.

Target missed expectations in its first-quarter earnings report, and warned of a likely sales decline for 2025 in the wake of tariff uncertainty and boycotts over its scaled-back DEI efforts. As other retailers like Walmart have warned of price hikes, Target CEO Brian Cornell reportedly said the company would only raise its prices amid tariffs as a “very last resort.”


This is a published version of the Forbes Daily newsletter, you can sign-up to get Forbes Daily in your inbox here.


BUSINESS + FINANCE

Nike is the latest company to announce that it will raise prices in the face of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, though the footwear and apparel titan did not directly blame the tariffs for the increases, which will go into effect June 1. The company plans to increase prices between $2 and $10, depending on the item, according to CNBC, which reported that about 50% of Nike’s footwear is manufactured in China and Vietnam.

All three major stock indexes had their worst single-day losses in a month Wednesday, as long-term Treasury yields spiked after an earlier auction for long-term U.S. government bonds had soft demand. Higher bond yields indicate lower prices, and as yields for Treasury notes increase, the cost of borrowing rises for consumers.

TECH + INNOVATION

Short videos claiming to offer an easy way to unlock paid-for subscriptions or features for apps like Microsoft Windows, Office365 and Spotify Premium are garnering millions of views on TikTok. But the posts are actually trying to trick viewers into installing malicious code that can spy on users’ devices, and the cybersecurity researcher who discovered the attack believes the scam is being perpetuated with the help of AI.

Microsoft said that nearly 400,000 Windows computers were recently infected by a Russian malware-as-a-service offering known as Lumma Stealer, as cyberattacks are on the rise this year.Lumma is sold in underground forums to hackers who typically use the malware, which impersonates trusted brands, to monetize stolen information or exploit victims.

MONEY + POLITICS

The Trump Administration was again accused of defying court orders over its mass deportation efforts, as a judge ruled Wednesday it violated a federal court order by sending migrants to South Sudan. The judge said the decision to send migrants there “unquestionably” violated a previous order he issued, which blocked the government from deporting people to a third country—meaning one other than the U.S. or their home country—without giving them a “meaningful” opportunity to protest the removal.

The U.S. formally accepted the luxury plane from Qatar Wednesday, despite bipartisan criticism. Trump has pushed back on the notion that accepting the plane is illegal, and initially said the Boeing 747, which is worth hundreds of millions, will be donated to his presidential library following its tenure as Air Force One.

TRAVEL + LIFESTYLE

As air traffic control outages at Newark Airport have raised alarm, a new report from CNN suggests communication breakdowns are relatively commonplace. According to the analysis, more than 40 reports of radar and radio failures at dozens of airports nationwide have been filed to NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System since 2022.

TRENDS + EXPLAINERS

As part of the Trump Administration’s push to revive American manufacturing, the Small Business Administration recently introduced a tool to help businesses source goods closer to home. The data—which is pulled from three private platforms—isn’t new, but the SBA is betting that packaging it in one place will make a difference. Still, it doesn’t address the underlying reasons businesses turned to China for manufacturing in the first place: cost and availability.

DAILY COVER STORY

Pokémon Go Made Niantic Billions. Now It’s Ditching Gaming For AI.

In March, Niantic made a bombshell announcement: The developer of Pokémon Go—once the biggest mobile game ever in the U.S.—is abandoning games to go all-in on AI. It sold off its game development business to Saudi-owned game maker Scopely in a $3.5 billion deal and rebranded itself as Niantic Spatial. Instead of building augmented reality games for mobile phones, it would develop artificial intelligence models that analyze the real world for enterprise clients.

Now, Niantic is doubling down on its nascent Spatial platform, announced in November, which provides AI mapping tools that companies can use to chart out routes for robots or power augmented reality glasses. Just as large language models allow AI to generate text, Niantic’s Large Geospatial Models (LGMs) help AI understand, navigate and interact with physical spaces as a human would. The models are able to recreate 3-D, real-world places thanks to Niantic’s massive set of location data, drawn from the 30 billion miles people have collectively walked playing its games like Pokémon Go and Ingress.

Niantic’s pivot underscores the seismic effect that the generative AI frenzy has had on Silicon Valley since ChatGPT rocked the industry nearly two-and-a-half years ago—radically transforming even a firmly established decade-old company like Niantic. According to Gartner, the market for spatial computing is expected to hit $1.7 trillion by 2033, up from $110 billion in 2023.

WHY IT MATTERS “The decision to sell off Pokémon Go, which still generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for Niantic, is an unusual one,” says Forbes senior writer Richard Nieva. “But the company felt the move was necessary. Essentially, the company is giving up the fickleness of the games business (the company could never replicate the runaway success of Pokémon Go) for the steady, but less exciting, world of enterprise AI.”

MORE Trump’s Tariffs Could Cost Us The AI Race

FACTS + COMMENTS

President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill that’s making its way through the House proposes a major overhaul of student loan programs and repayment plans in order to fund tax cuts. Critics of the president’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” say it could force some student borrowers to take out private loans and increase monthly payments for others:

Less than 10%: The share of student loans currently issued by private lenders, which are not eligible for income-based repayment and don’t offer forgiveness programs

$2,928: The estimated increase for what the average borrower with a college degree would pay under the new “Repayment Assistance Plan” compared to the Biden-era SAVE plan, according to the Student Borrower Protection Center

Over 61%: The share of Pell Grant recipients who could lose their grants or have them reduced under the bill’s changes

STRATEGY + SUCCESS

Learning how to manage stress is not only important for your mental health, it can also have a major impact on your career. The first step is to recognize the warning signs so you can intervene early, and identify the sources of stress in the workplace or elsewhere in your life. Lean on a strong support network, whether it’s family, friends or coworkers, and be sure to take care of your physical health by exercising and sleeping enough.

VIDEO

QUIZ

Online meme “Skibidi Toilet,” which has conquered YouTube lately, will be adapted into a movie. Who is slated to direct it?

A. Michael Bay

B. Christopher Nolan

C. Wes Anderson

D. Tim Burton

Check your answer.


Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Chris Dobstaff.

 

Search

RECENT PRESS RELEASES

Go to Top