Fortune

Employee engagement is the goal of every good business leader—and it’s distressingly rare. Worldwide, only 30% of managers and 23% of rank-and-file workers describe themselves as highly involved and enthusiastic at work, according to Gallup. In the U.S. those numbers are 37% and 32%, respectively—higher than those in China, Japan, and most of Europe, but also an 11-year low. Gallup estimates that low engagement costs the global economy a stunning $8.9 trillion a year, owing to lower productivity and higher turnover. Overwork, boredom, and mental health issues are among the main factors behind the dissatisfaction. One ray of hope: Highly engaged managers often boost the engagement of their direct reports. So: How are you feeling? Read more: https://lnkd.in/ecjydN-E

Our Inaugural gathering of #BrainstormAI in Singapore brought together the top minds among startups, companies across Asia from the Fortune Global 500, Fortune Europe 500 and Fortune 500 lists, investors, policymakers, and academics to discuss this pivotal moment for the industry, an opportunity to keep moving forward boldly but responsibly in an increasingly competitive landscape. The program, presented in association with Accenture Southeast Asia, featured intimate one-on-one conversations, engaging panel discussions, and lively roundtable sessions. See more coverage and learn more about our #BrainstormAI community here: bit.ly/3KfetEJ

It’s the new blueprint for Big Tech companies scrambling for dominance in artificial intelligence: Hire the cofounders of a high-profile AI startup along with some of its staff. The latest example came when Google said the cofounders of AI chatbot startup Character AI and some members of its research team would join its already substantial AI efforts. The announcement is a lot like what Microsoft did in March when it hired a big part of the workforce at AI startup Inflection, including CEO Mustafa Suleyman, and what Amazon did in June with AI company Adept. If three is a trend, there is clearly something trendy happening in the world of AI startups—and it may not be these deals to absorb AI upstarts without actually buying them. Instead, it may be that the AI startup era itself, which has soared wildly for over two years, is beginning to implode. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eN_48E8c

A federal judge on Monday ruled that Google has illegally monopolized the search market, handing the government an epic win in its first major antitrust case against a tech giant in more than two decades. Judge Amit Mehta in Washington said that the Alphabet Inc. unit’s $26 billion in payments to make its search engine the default option on smartphones and web browsers effectively blocked any other competitor from succeeding in the market. “Google’s distribution agreements foreclose a substantial portion of the general search services market and impair rivals’ opportunities to compete,” Mehta said in a 286-page ruling. Read more:

Simone Biles is the most decorated Olympic gymnast in history. The “GOAT,” as she has been dubbed, led the 2024 U.S. Olympic team to all-around gold and secured her 9th gold medal in the individual all-around competition. While some may argue that Olympians are just built differently both physically and mentally, there are some mindset tricks that Biles has honed over the years that have helped launch her success. It turns out, there are strategies we all can take away from the gymnastics legend. “It’s all about mental training,” Biles says in her MasterClass on gymnastics fundamentals, overcoming fear, and goal setting. For those pursuing greatness in any field, she offers this reminder: “You can do this. Have confidence, and think back to everything you’ve done in training for this moment now.” Read more from Fortune Well:

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. reported a worse-than-expected loss after its failed bet on Tesla Inc. electric vehicles weighed on the value of cars in its fleet. The rental giant lost an adjusted $1.44 a share in the second quarter, according to a statement Thursday, compared with analysts’ average estimate of a $1.17 deficit. Hertz said fleet refreshment efforts drove per-unit depreciation to $600 a month, more than three times higher than a year ago, as the company unloads EVs faster than originally planned. The results underscore the heavy financial toll from its strategic pivot. Under new Chief Executive Officer Gil West, a former Delta Air Lines Inc. executive, Hertz is trying to unwind the Tesla debacle by selling off the vehicles at a loss and revamping the management team. Read more here: bit.ly/3YufS2N

Love or hate Robinhood, there’s no denying it has, more than any other company in recent memory, changed the way Americans invest. It popularized rash mass purchases of stocks like GameStop and Dogecoin, but also spurred the broader brokerage industry to copy its no-cost, mobile-first approach. Robinhood has grown fast: It had 24.1 million funded accounts at the end of May, up from 12.5 million in 2020, and its assets under custody have bulged to $135 billion. And it has transformed the demographics of investing, helping millions of people get a piece of the stock market for the first time. Robinhood has also changed CEO Vlad Tenev. The 37-year-old first-generation American has weathered a series of crises, some self-inflicted, that Silicon Valley veterans say would have crushed most CEOs, emerging more canny and focused. Tenev is also just getting started. Read more from the #Global500 issue of Fortune Magazine: https://lnkd.in/ecfZ_cYJ

Friday’s jobs report set the weekend off on the wrong foot, and now most of the global markets look like they’re shaking off an epic hangover this Monday. Add global socio-political conflict in the Middle East and poor earnings among tech and consumer-facing companies to the mix and you have a fully boiling pot, as Paul Christopher, head of global investment strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, explained in a note on Monday. Seemingly unbeatable tech stocks have floundered; Japan saw its worst market day in decades after raising its interest rates last week, and U.S. markets saw their worst plunge since 2022. In short, a lot is happening—perhaps too much for the beleaguered consumer. Monday ushered in broken records, as the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” reached its highest level in two years and Japan’s Nikkei 225 had its worst day since 1987, plummeting by 12%. It’s a case of the Mondays for sure. But that doesn’t mean it’s time for investors to freak out, explain financial advisors. Read more:

X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter, is set to leave San Francisco in the coming weeks. In a Monday email from Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X appointed last year by owner Elon Musk, X staffers were briefly informed of the company’s plans to shutter the office that has served as Twitter headquarters for more than a decade. “After much thought, we have made the decision to close our San Francisco office over the next few weeks,” Yaccarino wrote in the email viewed by Fortune. “This is an important decision that impacts many of you, but it is the right one for our company in the long term.” Read more:

The Fortune #Global500 is out today! It's full of insights into global big business. Here are 5 of my favorite facts from the list: - Total revenues of this year's Fortune Global 500 companies equaled $41 trillion, which is more than 1/3 of global GDP   - The financial sector led all other sectors, with $8.6 trillion in revenues and $923 billion in profits - Fortune Global 500 companies employ 70.5 million people around the world - Almost 1/4 of the Fortune Global 500 are based in 5 cities — Beijing, Tokyo, New York, Shanghai, and Seoul — and there are 233 other cities with at least one company on the list - 13 companies debuted on the list for the first time ever, including NVIDIA (No. 222), HDFC Bank (No. 306), and Novo Nordisk (No. 469) You can explore the entire list and discover more insights right here: https://lnkd.in/eKt9yxHv