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The newest billionaire faces of the AI revolution are the same age as a typical college senior. The trio of 22-year-old founders of AI recruiting startup Mercor became billionaires this week as a $350 million fundraising infusion valued the firm at $10 billion. CEO Brendan Foody, CTO Adarsh Hiremath and board chairman Surya Midha are now the world’s youngest self-made billionaires—and a year younger than Mark Zuckerberg was when he first became a billionaire. Mercor, originally founded to match engineers in India with U.S. companies in need of freelance developers, stumbled into the in-demand world of data labeling, an industry that has seen major upheaval in recent months. This is a published version of the Forbes Daily newsletter, you can sign-up to get Forbes Daily in your inbox here. Getty Images An earnings miss for Meta made Mark Zuckerberg about $25 billion poorer Thursday, dropping him into fifth place in Forbes’ ranking of the richest people in the world. The company attributed the decline to a one-time tax charge of $15.9 billion as a result of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and said it expects a “significant reduction” in its U.S. federal cash tax payments in the future. Amazon surpassed Wall Street’s expectations in its third quarter earnings, leading shares to surge 10% in after-hours trading Thursday. The company, which laid off 14,000 corporate workers this week, is trying to strengthen its AI offerings and cloud infrastructure as it competes with leaders like Microsoft and Google. BUSINESS + FINANCE David Bailey, CEO of KindlyMD David Bailey is best known as the publisher of Bitcoin Magazine, cofounder of the world’s largest bitcoin conference and President Trump's crypto advisor, but in recent months he's bet everything on a Utah healthcare company that is trying to become the world’s premiere bitcoin bank. So far, Wall Street isn’t a fan: The stock has spent most of October under $1, down from a peak of near $35 in May. But Bailey has a plan to turn the company’s fortunes around. WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP Milan-based startup Bending Spoons—fresh off its biggest deal to date to purchase AOL—is worth over $11 billion after a recent fundraising round, making its cofounders billionaires. One of Italy’s most valuable private companies, the firm focuses on buying ailing apps and websites, recently acquiring video hosting tool Brightcove, fitness app Komoot, and taking video platform Vimeo private. MONEY + POLITICS President Donald Trump on Thursday night urged the Republicans to use the “nuclear option” and get rid of the Senate filibuster—which would allow them to end the government shutdown and pass legislation with a simple majority. Trump argued that the Democrats wanted to end the filibuster when they were in power, though such a move faces significant pushback from the GOP’s congressional leadership. In a largely symbolic vote, the Senate approved a resolution to block Trump’s tariffs, with four Republicans voting alongside Democrats. But the Republican-controlled House is unlikely to authorize the legislation, which seeks to end the national emergency Trump declared in order to impose his “Liberation Day” tariffs. SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT Getty Images In the largest acquisition in sports history, the NBA greenlit the $10 billion sale of the Los Angeles Lakers to Guggenheim Partners CEO and Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter. The Buss family, which purchased the Lakers for $67.5 million in 1979, will retain a stake in the NBA’s second-most valuable team. TRENDS + EXPLAINERS President Donald Trump called his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping “amazing,” but experts say China emerged with the advantage. Trump agreed to several concrete concessions, including a tariff reduction, but Beijing’s offers appear more vague and tentative. By leveraging its monopoly on rare earths, China “successfully orchestrated a game of ‘whack-a-mole’ for the Trump Administration,” Brookings Institution fellow Jonathan Czin told the New York Times. DAILY COVER STORY The Highest-Paid Dead Celebrities Of 2025 Illustration by Michael Gambriel Michael Jackson has broken the paradigm for posthumous earnings: His estate has garnered an astonishing $3.5 billion since his death in 2009, according to Forbes estimates. The King of Pop once again tops Forbes’ list of the Highest-Paid Dead celebrities, with $105 million in earnings over the past 12 months. The biggest paydays came from unwinding assets that Jackson accumulated during his life. In addition to owning his own publishing rights and master recordings, Jackson also purchased the ATV Music catalog for $47.5 million in 1985—about $142 million today—which included among its nearly 4,000 songs almost every hit written together by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. That investment eventually returned $750 million in 2016 (around $1 billion today) when the estate sold its stake to Sony. Because of the global appeal of pop music, and the likelihood that star recording artists receive a higher percentage of residual profits than, say, actors from their catalog of movies or TV shows, musicians once again dominate this year’s list, making up 10 of the top 13, who earned a total of $541 million combined before taxes and fees. Master recordings and publishing rights continue to print millions each year for icons such as Prince, John Lennon and Bob Marley. WHY IT MATTERS Rare is the celebrity whose appeal does not diminish in the years after their death, and rarer still is one whose family still controls the rights to his or her works and name, image and likeness—not the case for former listees, including Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein, and Muhammad Ali. Still, for these lucky 13, the roads of the afterlife remain paved with gold. MORE From Taylor Swift To Nascar: Under The Hood Of Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine FACTS + COMMENTS The Trump Administration finalized rules that would restrict who can receive student loan relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The rules seek to exclude employees of organizations that work with undocumented immigrants and gender-affirming care for minors: A ‘substantially illegal purpose’: The Department of Education said of the organizations it seeks to bar from the program 120: The number of qualifying payments borrowers must make to receive forgiveness Over 1 million: The number of people who received student debt relief through PSLF after Biden Administration reforms STRATEGY + SUCCESS Planning can help provide a sense of clarity, but it’s important to not let plans undermine your organization’s ability to adapt. Instead of long-term roadmaps, consider breaking up initiatives into short, testable components that can be adapted. Another strategy is to place multiple bets on several different paths and see what sticks—similar to the way a venture capital firm might operate. A pop star was critical of billionaires in an award acceptance speech Wednesday evening, encouraging them to donate their wealth. Which musician was it? A. Olivia Rodrigo B. Taylor Swift C. Billie Eilish D. Sabrina Carpenter Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Chris Dobstaff. Got a tip? Share confidential information with Forbes. Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions
