Warren requests information from MrBeast about crypto and children

CRYPTO

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a 12-page letter to Jimmy Donaldson, the popular YouTuber better known as MrBeast, requesting more details about his company’s plans to expand into financial services. In February, Donaldson’s company Beast Industries purchased a banking app called Step that had planned to promote cryptocurrency to its young users. Though Warren did not accuse the company of any wrongdoing, she asked more than a dozen questions and requested additional information about its move into the highly regulated world of finance. She also raised concerns about the company’s banking partner, Evolve Bank & Trust, but much of the letter was devoted to Beast Industries’ plans to potentially push cryptocurrency to children. Beast Industries filed a trademark application last year for “MrBeast Financial,” which could offer loan products such as cash advances and credit cards. It mentioned cryptocurrency four times. Step offers spending, savings, and investment accounts, geared for children younger than 18. It had announced plans in 2022 for a new crypto and stock investment product that parents would oversee. It claimed to be “the first financial app that will allow both teens under 18 and young adults to buy, sell, hold, and receive crypto.” Then, the company quietly backed away from the offering. “Despite Step’s careful claims that crypto investing by minors was only with the permission of a parent or guardian, Step published resources encouraging kids to pressure their parents into crypto investments,” Warren wrote in the letter to Donaldson and Jeffrey Housenbold, the CEO of Beast Industries. — NEW YORK TIMES

VIDEO GAMES

Epic Games Inc. is cutting more than 1,000 jobs across the company amid a downturn in engagement with the online video game Fortnite over the past year. “We’re spending significantly more than we’re making, and we have to make major cuts to keep the company funded,” CEO Tim Sweeney said in a blog post on Tuesday. “This layoff, together with over $500 million of identified cost savings in contracting, marketing, and closing some open roles puts us in a more stable place.” This is Epic’s second major round of layoffs in three years. In September 2023, the Cary, North Carolina-based company eliminated 830 employees for similar reasons. Fortnite, one of the most popular video games on the market since it burst onto the scene in 2017, has recently struggled to deliver “consistent Fortnite magic,” Sweeney wrote in the blog post. He noted that “market conditions today are the most extreme we’ve seen since those early days.” Sweeney cited several issues affecting the broader video-game industry, such as rising competition, weaker consumer spending, and slower console sales. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

AIRLINES

United Airlines Holdings Inc. CEO Scott Kirby said ticket prices may have to go up by 20 percent if jet fuel prices remain elevated for longer. The airline expects some consumer pushback and fewer people to travel if ticket prices continue to rise, Kirby said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Tuesday. The airline has already reduced 5 percent of its capacity on routes that are not profitable and don’t cover higher fuel prices, Kirby said. Still, at the moment, demand remains very strong, Kirby said. United, the world’s largest airline by capacity, has previously said it expects oil prices to rise to as much as $175 a barrel in a worst-case scenario and trade at over $100 a barrel through 2027. Airlines globally are grappling with a painful spike in oil prices amid a supply crunch because of the war in Iran. Major US carriers like United are not hedged on fuel, leaving them without protection from volatile price jumps. The broader industry has already responded with fare increases and fuel surcharge to claw back some of the elevated costs. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

TECH

The Trump administration has banned imports of new, foreign-made routers, citing supply chain vulnerability and cybersecurity risks. The newest addition to the US “covered list” targets consumer-grade routers, the boxes that connect home computers, phones, and smart devices to the internet. The list is a catalog of communications equipment and services considered “to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the US or the safety and security of Americans,” the Federal Communications Commission said. “Malicious actors have exploited security gaps in foreign-made routers to attack American households, disrupt networks, enable espionage, and facilitate intellectual property theft,” the FCC said this week, citing several examples of foreign-made routers that were involved in cyberattacks targeting US infrastructure. Although some routers are sold by US hardware companies such as Netgear and eero, their production is almost exclusively handled overseas. It is unclear if any of their router production is currently handled in the US or whether foreign-made routers produced by American companies are included in the ban. The government included an exemption for routers that agencies have granted conditional approval after determining they do not pose unacceptable risks. Producers of consumer-grade routers can still apply for conditional approval. The FCC said the updated restrictions apply to new device models and that consumers can continue to use previously purchased routers. However, if you’ve been putting off an upgrade to your home networking hardware, now may be the time to do so. Router models that were previously authorized by the government are still sold by retailers. Once the stock is gone, you could see shortages — and probably price hikes — as American companies restructure their supply chains, build out local manufacturing, and seek US approval for new models. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEAUTY

Estee Lauder and the perfume maker Puig are in merger talks that would potentially put brands like MAC, Clinique, Charlotte Tilbury, and Jean Paul Gaultier under one roof. Estee Lauder Cos. confirmed the discussions but said that no agreement has been reached with the century-old Spanish company. Talks of an acquisition could be seen as a significant strategic shift for Estee Lauder, which early last year announced a sizeable restructuring for a company that had posted declining revenue in each of the past three years. Puig oversees makeup, skin care, and fragrance brands like Nina Ricci, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Dr. Barbara Sturm. The company went public on the Madrid Stock Exchange in early 2024. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

JOBS

Americans’ outlook on the job market has turned increasingly pessimistic, a surprisingly negative shift given the low unemployment rate but one that likely reflects an ongoing hiring drought. Just 28 percent of workers in a quarterly Gallup survey conducted late last year said now is a “good time” to find a quality job, with 72 percent saying it is a bad time. Those figures are a sharp reversal from just a few years ago, in mid-2022, when 70 percent said it was a good time. Americans have quickly gotten more pessimistic: As recently as late 2024, just under half of workers still said it was a good time to search for a job. The current survey was conducted during the final three months of 2025, long before the Iran war that has sent oil and gas prices soaring and threatens to slow the economy as Americans redirect more of their dollars to filling gas tanks and away from other spending. Job pessimism is especially pronounced among college graduates. The shift is likely because hiring in many white-collar professions has been unusually weak for the past two years, in areas such as software, customer service and advertising. Just about 2 in 10 workers ages 18-34 think now is a good time to find a job, compared to about 4 in 10 workers ages 65 and older who say the same. Gallup’s survey is consistent with what economists call the “low-hire, low-fire” job market: Businesses are largely holding onto their workers and measures of layoffs remain quite low. As a result, older workers are largely secure in their jobs. But hiring is also quite sluggish, making it harder for younger workers to break in and find permanent work. — ASSOCIATED PRESS