Business
UnitedHealth Grew to Be a Leviathan. Then Came the Backlash. With great power comes great responsibility. UnitedHealth is a behemoth in the healthcare industry. With gigantic scale and operations in almost every step of a consumer healthcare journey, UnitedHealth has great power. But does it possess the required responsibility? The scandals, the lawsuits and investigations indicate no. Maybe it’s time for them to look back at what they did, reconsider and change for the better.
Jeff Bezos Doesn’t Believe in PowerPoint, and His Employees Actually Agree. It was a masterful insight by Bezos. Or at least it was thanks to him that I came across such an idea. I have repeatedly noticed the lack of vigorous thinking in decks. And I can’t count how many times a presentation’s flow is disrupted because a senior executive can’t wait for the next slides. Writing is thinking. Reading a memo is seeking truth. The problem is that not many are patient enough to leverage this wonderful tool.
Introducing PayPal World. This is such a great idea. PayPal wants to be more interoperable and work with other platforms to increase volume. Merchants can sell to more folks and buyers can purchase from more merchants. Such a win-win-win.
Jury Says Tesla Was Partly to Blame for Fatal Crash. This is going to have major ramifications for the future of self-driving cars. Tesla manufactures both the vehicle and the software. In this case, they are on the hook. What if there were two suppliers, one was responsible for the hardware and the other for the software? Who would be responsible then? Also, when AV manufacturers or consumer go to an insurance for a policy, what would the insurer do? If there is no willing insurer, what then? I find it interesting the jury determined that Tesla bore 33% responsibility. Why 1/3? How?
AI Is Coming for the Consultants. Inside McKinsey, ‘This Is Existential.’ The consulting business was long outdated and did not align the interests of McKinsey with those of the clients. If creating great decks with some generic business content was ever a value add, it would be fast outdated with the arrival of AI. It is the one thing that AI is very good at. So now, the company must evolve and adapt. They have to show they have a reason to exist and deserve to be paid.
Other Stuff I Find Interesting
GOP Senator Fights White House Over Billions in Frozen Funds. Republicans in Congress are starting to realize that they have an Executive branch that doesn’t always follow the rules. They are in a bind here. If the administration continues to withhold funds authorized by Congress, they will lose credibility and have to face constituents at home. Plus, this sets a precedent in the future if a Democrat wins the White House. On the other hand, the President has his own following and can push any Republican in Congress into primaries.
The Protein Bar Arms Race. The trend to consume protein is so insane that a protein bar startup strove to control the monopoly of a key ingredient and managed to create a waitlist for its upcoming debut product.
Meta brought AI to rural Colombia. Now students are failing exams. One of the teachers found a great way to combat the reliance on LLMs: make students do homework in front of her and verbally. Is this going to be a trend moving forward? The advent of LLMs will change how students/people learn from now on.
The first 100% effective HIV prevention drug is approved and going global. “This is a pivotal moment – not just for the fight against HIV, but for the fundamental principle that lifesaving innovations must reach those who need them most – whoever they are, and wherever they live.” Well freaking said!
China struggles to break its addiction to manufacturing. “Economists have long warned that China’s state-directed model of debt-fuelled investment risks the inefficient allocation of resources and the crowding out of consumption, obstructing long-term growth. China’s over-dependence on manufacturing investment has taken on new urgency as its excess capacity and weak domestic demand lead the country into one of its longest periods of deflationary pressure since the 1990s. Falling prices are hurting the profitability of enterprises and the loan books of banks, and disincentivise new investment. “
Stats
Zillow attracts 230 million unique visitors each month
76 percent of all passenger vehicles sold in the last year in Nepal were electric
2025 saw so far 34.4M monthly active crypto mobile wallet users
Minh Quang Duong 
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