Sean Diddy Combs was convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges on Wednesday, following an eight-week federal trial. The verdict immediately sparked a wave of reactions online, ranging from disbelief to outrage.
The jury returned guilty verdicts on two of the five counts after three days of deliberations. Upon hearing the decision, Combs held his hands in a prayer motion and embraced defense attorney Teny Geragos, according to The Associated Press.
The 55-year-old disgraced mogul now faces up to 10 years in prison. Many on social media expressed shock and outrage over the outcome.
The Diddy jury verdict shocked me. I wasnt expecting anything other than guilty on all charges, one X user wrote. So let me get this straight: Diddy was found NOT guilty of sex trafficking . . . but somehow guilty of transporting someone for prostitution? How does that even work? another asked.
The Diddy jury verdict shocked me. I wasnt expecting anything other than guilty on all charges.— Quin (@Quinthox) July 2, 2025
This is a staggeringly big loss for federal prosecutors,” journalist Meghann Cuniff posted on X. “Not guilty on both the RICO and trafficking counts is as bad as it can get for them. When is their press conference??”
Some critics raised concerns about the precedent the ruling might set for future sex crime prosecutions. This Diddy trial is proof that you can do anything if you got money, one person wrote. “The Diddy verdict is a stark display of privilege and the persistent disbelief of women. Absolutely revolting,” another posted.
This Diddy trial is proof that you can do anything if you got money— The Hood Therapist (@OhhMar24) July 2, 2025
Others focused on the public reaction to the verdict. These Diddy takes are about to be cringe-worthy, one user commented. The worst people you know gonna celebrate the Diddy verdict like its some kind of a win, another X user wrote. One prediction read: “Diddy is about to go on the greatest rebrand in American history and y’all all gonna fall for it.”
50 Cent, a longtime rival of Combs, shared an Instagram post referring to him as the Gay John Gottia nod to the infamous mafia boss known as the Teflon Don for repeatedly avoiding conviction in the 1980s.
In response to the verdict, UltraViolet, a womens rights organization, released a statement: This is a decisive moment for our justice system, one which threatens to undo the sacrifice of courageous survivors who stepped forward to share their stories in this trial, as well as to all those abused by Diddy who werent able to, said Arisha Hatch, the organizations interim executive director, according to The New York Times.
The 28-year relationship between Apple and TBWA/Media Arts Lab is one of the longest, most successful partnerships ever forged between a brand and ad agency. And it’s not even close to slowing down.
Apple won Creative Marketer of the Year at Cannes Lions in June, and I sat down with TBWA\Media Arts Labs global CEO Katrien De Bauw and global chief creative officer Brent Anderson to talk about how the two companies work together to keep the magic going.
Subscribe to Fast Company Premium to watch the video interview on:
The guiding principles that define TBWA/MALs 28-year partnership with Apple
What De Bauw and Anderson believe is the most important element of the relationship that produces great work
How the agency translates complex topics like privacy into simple, clever messages
Why that viral Pedro Pascal short film embodies what they try to do for Apple on every project
The definition of “cool” would seem to be an ephemeral thing. (We’re not talking temperature here. We’re talking James Dean, Serena Williams, and Arthur Fonzarelli cool.) What inspires one to admire another would ostensibly vary from person to person.
That didn’t stop a global group of scientists from looking into what it means to be cool, though. And what they found was “cool” is a lot more universal than you might expect.
Everyone wants to be cool, or at least avoid the stigma of being uncool, and society needs cool people because they challenge norms, inspire change, and advance culture, said co-lead researcher Todd Pezzuti, PhD, an associate professor of marketing at the Universidad Adolfo Ibáez in Chile, in a statement.
The peer-reviewed study, which was published in the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Experimental Psychology, included experiments with roughly 6,000 participants from around the world between 2018 and 2022. Participants were asked to think of someone who they thought was cool, not cool, good, or not good, and then rate the personality and values of those people.
Cool is universal in more ways than you might expect. For example, the study found that even in countries with languages based on non-Latin alphabets, such as South Korea and Turkey, “people use the word cool, often pronouncing it similarly to how it is pronounced in English.”
Cool people are likable but not always good
Not surprisingly, there was some crossover between who participants thought of as a good person and a cool person. But despite the overlap in some traits, the two aren’t the same, researchers found.
To be seen as cool, someone usually needs to be somewhat likable or admirable, which makes them similar to good people, said co-lead researcher Caleb Warren, PhD, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Arizona. However, cool people often have other traits that arent necessarily considered good in a moral sense.
That could explain why antiheroes, especially in films and TV shows, are so often seen as cool.
There is a risk of homogenization of coolness, though, as music, movies, and fashion become global products. When Taylor Swift and the Avengers become properties that dominate conversations and pop culturenot only in the United States, but in virtually every other countrypreexisting definitions of what it means to be cool can also become more fixed.
Indeed, the perception of coolness, the researchers wrote, “is [now] stable across countries, which suggests that the meaning of cool has crystallized on a similar set of values and traits around the globe.”
That said, being cool hasn’t lost its coolness. It has simply progressed.
Coolness has definitely evolved over time, but I dont think it has lost its edge. Its just become more functional, Pezzuti said. The concept of coolness started in small, rebellious subcultures, including among Black jazz musicians in the 1940s and the beatniks in the 1950s. As society moves faster and puts more value on creativity and change, cool people are more essential than ever.
What makes someone cool?
The study found that being cool largely comes down to six traits.
Perhaps most obviously, cool people are more extraverted than uncool people. They’re also powerful, hedonistic, adventurous, open, and autonomous.
There are limits, of course. Take musicians, a group that produces plenty of cool people, as an example.
“A rock band seemed more cool when it displayed moderate levels of autonomy (e.g., not trying to write songs that everyone likes) than extreme autonomy (e.g., not caring at all what others think about their music),” the study noted. “The same likely applies to the other cool attributes. For example, a hedonistic person who parties all night, abuses drugs, and has reckless sex will likely strike most people as being irresponsible rather than cool.”
Good people, the study found, have many of those same qualities, but other personality traits were ranked more highly by the subjects.
“Being calm, conscientious, universalistic, agreeable, warm, secure, traditional, and conforming are more associated with good than with cool people,” according to the study. “Being capable is both cool and good, but not distinctly either.”
Qantas said on Wednesday it is contacting customers after a cyberattack targeted a third-party customer service platform that stored the personal data of 6 million customers.
Here’s what you need to know.
What happened?
On Monday June 30, Australia’s largest airline detected “unusual activity” on a third-party platform. It took “immediate steps and contained the system,” according to a statement.
“We are continuing to investigate the proportion of the data that has been stolen, though we expect it will be significant,” Qantas said in that statement. “An initial review has confirmed the data includes some customers names, email addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, and frequent-flier numbers.”
The database did not contain credit card, personal financial information, or passport details. In addition, Qantas said that no frequent-flier accounts, passwords, personal identification numbers, or login details were accessed.
The Australian airline giant said it is putting additional security measures in place to further restrict access and strengthen monitoring and detection as it investigates whether the cybercriminal group Scattered Spider is responsible for the attack, according to the Financial Times. The attack comes days after the FBI warned that the group had started to target global airlines.
The warning followed recent cyberattacks on Hawaiian Airlines and Canadas WestJet, the Financial Times reported. Scattered Spider is thought to have conducted a number of high-profile data breaches, including an attack on U.K. retailer Marks and Spencer.
Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said the airline was working closely with the federal government’s national cybersecurity coordinator, the Australian Cyber Security Centre, and independent specialized cybersecurity experts.
What should I do if I am a Qantas customer?
The airline said it was contacting all customers affected by the data breach. Customers can contact Qantas’s dedicated support line at +61 2 8028 0534 with any questions.
Qantas by the numbers
Shares of Qantas (ASX: QAN) fell 2.2% on Wednesday after the Australian airline confirmed the cyberattack. The airline, which trades on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), has a market capitalization of AU$15.91 billion (US$10.47 billion). In February, it reported its half-year earnings results for the period ending December 31, 2024, with an increase in underlying pretax profits, up 11% to AU$1.39 billion (US$914 million), and earnings per share (EPS) of AU$0.63 (US$0.41), up 21%.
Microsoft is making a new round of deep cuts to its workforce, eliminating 9,000 jobs company-wide. The company began notifying employees of the layoffs, which will shrink the company by 4%, on Wednesday morning.
While not limited to its gaming divisions, Microsofts latest cuts will impact its Xbox business. In a message to his staff, Xbox lead Phil Spencer announced that the company would end or decrease work in certain areas of the business and that the layoffs were designed to position the gaming division for future success.
In Spencers memo, reported by The Verge, the head of Xbox said that his department would follow Microsofts lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness. Microsoft-owned King, the Stockholm-based mobile game studio behind Candy Crush, will also lose 200 jobs amounting to 10% of its staff, Bloomberg reports.
In June, Bloomberg reported that major layoffs to Microsofts sales teams and gaming departments were looming as the fiscal year wrapped up.
The cuts keep coming
Microsofts new job losses follow layoffs in May and June that together culled 6,000 positions.
According to Washington employment filings, software engineers bore the brunt of the May cuts, accounting for more than 40% of 2,000 jobs eliminated in the state.
In June, Microsofts cuts focused on software engineers, product management and product marketing, technical program managers, and legal staff. When Microsoft last reported its numbers last year, the company had 228,000 employees.
In its April quarterly earnings call, Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said that the company planned to refocus on agile teams by reducing layers with fewer managers. In spite of that goal, in a round of layoffs the following month, only 17% of roles eliminated were classified as management.
Microsofts spending spree continues
Microsofts flurry of layoffs is terrible news for employees, but a glance at its share price makes it clear that the company itself is feeling fine. With its stock soaring, AI projects booming, and executive compensation spiking to eye-watering new heights, Microsoft is looking to further supercharge its business, not to course correct.
Through aggressive layoffs, the company aims to balance out its splashy recent spending, including new plans to invest $80 billion into AI-powered data centers in the 2025 fiscal year. Beyond its big AI bets, Microsofts gaming business is still under pressure to cut costs related to the companys $69 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard, which closed two years ago.
Between spending big on AI and leveraging the technology in its operations, its no secret that artificial intelligence is already taking a bite out of Microsofts human workforce. Earlier this year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that as much as 30% of the companys code is now written by AI rather than humans.
Cloud and AI are the essential inputs for every business to expand output, reduce costs, and accelerate growth, Nadella said in the companys April earnings report.
The new round of layoffs is Microsofts deepest single cut to its workforce since 2023, when it eliminated 10,000 jobs. Microsofts 2025 layoffs together have eclipsed that number, with 15,000 employees losing their jobs this year so far.
From Elon Musk’s controversial Washington crusade to the Cybertruck’s flop, it’s been a bad year for Tesla. Now, the EV company is reporting a 13% decline in vehicle deliveries for its second quarter, marking the second quarterly decline in a row.
On Wednesday, Tesla reported 384,122 total vehicle deliveries, down from 443,956 in the same period last year. The drop of almost 60,000 vehicles is Teslas biggest quarterly decline in the companys history, and is on par with low expectations from various analysts.
The drop follows last quarter’s decline, with Tesla reporting 336,681 deliveries for this year’s first quarter, down from 386,810 the previous year.
Still, the Austin-based company’s stock is up by 4.4% at the time of publishing, although it is on course for an annual drop amid ongoing challenges related to Musk’s controversies, changing policies, and an increase in EV competition.
BYD takes the lead
Tesla’s sales in European and Asian markets have plunged throughout the year, in part due to other EV manufacturers taking the lead as a demand for EV vehicles remains steady.
Notably, Chinese EV leader BYD outpaced Tesla’s $97.7 billion in annual revenue last year, rising to $107 billion. In April, the Chinese company also outsold Tesla in Europe for the first time, selling 7,231 battery-powered electric vehicles over Tesla’s 7,165.
Despite BYD’s growing popularity, its stock price has been slowly declining, with its shares down 1.4% at the time of publishing.
DOGE controversy
Tesla has been facing backlash following Musk’s 130-day stint as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which implemented massive layoffs and funding cuts for federal agencies.
Public outrage targeted the EV maker, with protests organized outside of Tesla dealerships; videos of users trading in their Teslas going viral on social media; and overall mockery and pranks surrounding Tesla vehicles. Additionally, discontent from the CEO’s political alignment led to sales declines in key U.S. markets like California.
Despite a slight rise in Tesla’s stock following Musk’s departure from DOGE, public trust in the company and sales have not recovered.
Changing policies and a presidential feud
After Musk stepped down as head of DOGE, the former adviser and President Trump entered into a feud over the proposed “Big Beautiful Bill.” The budget bill, which Musk called a disgusting abomination,” plans to cut EV tax credits, which would likely hurt Tesla’s sales.
Since then, tensions between Musk and the president have risen, with both sharing insults, allegations and exchanges via social media, while Tesla’s stock plummeted. Early last month, the company’s share price fell as much as 15% (it has since slowly recovered).
Tesla, whose current market capitalization is upward of $1 trillion, is expected to release its second quarter financial results on July 23 after market close.
A well-known grocery store brand, which has long sold canned fruits and vegetables, has filed for bankruptcy.
Del Monte Foods, a 138-year old company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday. The company is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California, and operates six production facilities across the U.S., and two in Mexico. The company is now looking for a buyer with plans to sell off all of its assets.
“This is a strategic step forward for Del Monte Foods,” said Greg Longstreet, president and CEO of Del Monte Foods, in a press release. “After a thorough evaluation of all available options, we determined a court-supervised sale process is the most effective way to accelerate our turnaround and create a stronger and enduring Del Monte Foods. With an improved capital structure, enhanced financial position and new ownership, we will be better positioned for long-term success.”
From canned fruit king to bankruptcy
In addition to its flagship Del Monte brand, which includes canned fruits, vegetables, fruit cups, juices, and more, the company is also known for selling College Inn and Contadina products. The company began in 1886 before building a cannery in 1907 in San Francisco in 1907. Just two years later, in 1909, it had become the largest canned fruit and vegetable company in the world, according to the company’s website.
Del Monte says it has secured $912.5 million in new funding, which includes $165 million from some of its current lenders. The funds will allow the company to continue operations leading up to its sale. The company listed liabilities estimated between $1 billion and $10 billion, per court documents.
Mr. Longstreet continued, “While we have faced challenges intensified by a dynamic macroeconomic environment, Del Monte Foods has nourished families for nearly 140 years, and we remain committed to our mission of expanding access to nutritious, great-tasting food for all. I am deeply grateful to our employees, growers, customers and vendors, as well as our lenders for their support in helping us achieve our long-term goals.”
Overseas operations remain unaffected
Del Monte also operates outside of the U.S. and Mexico, with other main locations in the Philippines, Singapore, and India. The company says it doesn’t expect interruptions to non-U.S. units, including its operations in Mexico.
When it comes to recognizable grocery store products, Del Monte has been one of the biggest staples on the shelves for over a decade. Still, the company is not the only major brand to face financial challenges as of late. A number of fast casual chains, pharmacies, and other stores, such as Big Lots and Joann Fabrics, have all filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in recent months, signaling that in a tough market even iconic brands are struggling to hold on.
Why is Del Monte filing for bankruptcy now?
While Del Monte says increased production costs are to blame for the company’s struggles, some experts say that canned foods, which rely heavily on preservatives, are no longer America’s go-to at the grocery store. Consumer preferences have shifted away from preservative-laden canned food in favor of healthier alternatives,” Sarah Foss, global head of legal and restructuring at Debtwire, said, per CNN.
While Americans did lean on canned food immediately after Trump announced new tariffs, with more information around the risks of high levels of bisphenol A (BPAs) in canned products, there are plenty of health-focused reasons to avoid them altogether.
Shares of U.K.’s Bytes Technology plunged over 27% on Wednesday after the IT firm said its operating profit for the first half of fiscal 2026 would be marginally lower due to delayed customer decisions and longer-than-expected readjustments from internal restructuring.
Trading in the first few months of the year was hurt by macroeconomic pressures, leading to deferred customer decisions, particularly among corporates, the firm said in an update to the exchanges ahead of its annual general meeting.
The stock fell as much as 27.43% to 369 pence, the lowest since April 2023, before paring some losses to trade down 23% at 391.4 pence by 08:00 GMT.
Bytes, which provides software, cloud, and AI services, is moving from a generalist sales model to specialised, customer segment-focused teams a shift that has taken longer than expected, it said.
Also weighing on its performance in the first half are changes to Microsoft’s enterprise agreement program, which the company had disclosed earlier, where certain transactional incentives have been reduced.
The impact of the changes are weighted more to the first half due to high levels of renewals in March and April, Bytes said.
The firm posted an operating profit of 35.6 million pounds ($48.8 million) for the first half of fiscal 2025. On Wednesday, it said it expects gross profit for the first half of fiscal 2026 to be flat.
In May, it had said it was “well positioned” to deliver another year of double-digit gross profit growth and high single-digit operating profit growth in financial year 2025-26.
“Investors will be slightly taken aback by the more cautious AGM statement, which now flags flat year over year trends versus May guidance for double-digit gross profit growth,” Jefferies analysts said in a note.
($1 = 0.7298 pounds)
Judes Joseph, Reuters
Flying comes with a lot of carbon emissions, but not all plane seats are environmentally equal. Seats that take up more space, like business or first class, come with a higher personal carbon footprint than the tightly packed seats in economy. Private jets, which have fewer than 20 seats total, are even more polluting per person. Now a coalition of eight countries has pledged to tax so-called premium fliers as a way to raise funds for climate action.
The countries in the coalition are France, Kenya, Barbados, Spain, Somalia, Benin, Sierra Leone, and Antigua and Barbudaall members of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, a group launched at the COP28 climate conference in 2023. Municipalities have increasingly considered taxes on polluting activities, like private jet use or carbon emissions, as a way to make it less profitable to pollute, and to finance sustainable development initiatives. This initiative will also be supported by the European Commission.
The tax on premium fliers will affect first- and business-class tickets as well as passengers on private jets, though its not yet clear how high the tax will be (a recent unrelated study on private jet use found that taxing private jet fuels at $1.95 per gallon could generate $3 billion annually for decarbonization efforts). A study for the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force found that broad aviation taxes, like on commercial jet fuels and for frequent fliers as well as private jets, combined could generate 187 billion euros (upwards of $220 billion) per year.
Countries have tried to take other steps to curb aviation emissions, like by banning short flights. In 2021, France announced it would ban any flight that could be replaced by a 180-minute train ride. France also recently released plans to drastically cut marine shipping emissions.
Only a small percentage of the world is responsible for aviation emissions. Overall, aviation accounts for 2.5% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions (its warming effect is stronger, however; aviation has contributed around 4% to global temperature rise since preindustrial times). But that comes from a limited group: Only around 10% of the worlds population flies most years. Just 1% of the worlds population is responsible for more than half of all aviation emissions, a group that has been dubbed super emitters.
Flying is the most elite and polluting form of travel, so this is an important step towards ensuring that the binge users of this undertaxed sector are made to pay their fair share, Rebecca Newsom of Greenpeace International said in a statement about the coalitions pledge. With the cost of climate impacts surging in countries least responsible for the crisis, bold, cooperative action that makes polluters pay is not just fairits essential.
But Newsom noted that the task force, and other rich countries, should go even further. The obvious next step is to hold oil and gas corporations to account, she said, by committing to higher taxes on fossil fuel profits and extraction by COP30.
A U.S. judge has ruled that China’s Huawei Technologies, a leading telecoms equipment company, must face criminal charges in a wide reaching case alleging it stole technology and engaged in racketeering, wire and bank fraud and other crimes.U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly on Tuesday rejected Huawei’s request to dismiss the allegations in a 16-count federal indictment against the company, saying in a 52-page ruling that its arguments were premature.The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The U.S. accuses Huawei and some of its subsidiaries of plotting to steal U.S. trade secrets, installing surveillance equipment that enabled Iran to spy on protesters during 2009 anti-government demonstrations in Iran, and of doing business in North Korea despite U.S. sanctions there.During President Donald Trump’s first term in office, his administration raised national security concerns and began lobbying Western allies against including Huawei in their wireless, high-speed networks.In its January 2019 indictment, the Justice Department accused Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company called Skycom to sell equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions and charged its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, with fraud by misleading the HSBC bank about the company’s business dealings in Iran.Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, was arrested in Canada in late 2018 on a U.S. extradition request but released in September 2021 in a high-stakes prisoner swap that freed two Canadians held by China and allowed her to return home.Chinese officials have accused the U.S. government of “economic bullying” and of improperly using national security as a pretext for “oppressing Chinese companies.” In their motion to dismiss the broad criminal case, among other arguments Huawei’s lawyers contended that the U.S. allegations were too vague and some were “impermissibly extraterritorial,” and do not involve domestic wire and bank fraud.The biggest maker of network gear, Huawei struggled to hold onto its market share under sanctions that have blocked its access to most U.S. processor chips and other technology. The limits led it to ramp up its own development of computer chips and other advanced technologies.The company also shifted its focus to the Chinese market and to network technology for hospitals, factories and other industrial customers and other products that would not be affected by U.S. sanctions.
Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer
