Business
Ex-PayPal chief Dan Schulman appointed CEO of Verizon
Good morning. Having met many leaders, I’ve found two qualities that distinguish those who stand out: curiosity and the courage to make bold decisions. They look for opportunities to learn and have a sense of mission in what they do. Two people who come to mind are former PayPal CEO Dan Schulman and Oscar Health CEO Mark Bertolini, both of whom now have new roles at Verizon.
Schulman yesterday became Verizon’s new CEO, while Bertolini was elected board chair. Former CEO Hans Vestberg will stay on as a special advisor to focus on integrating the $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications. One former colleague, Denise Leonhard (who is now Zelle CEO), credits Schulman with creating a culture of fun and shared mission that enabled PayPal to turn around. I think of Dan as a leader who will stop to engage in debate on the streets of Davos and one who’s as likely to be found asking questions from the audience as sharing ideas from the stage. While best known for his achievements during his 9-year tenure as CEO of PayPal, he comes to Verizon with the experience of having been the founding CEO of Virgin Mobile and he worked almost two decades at AT&T.
I first met Bertolini when he was CEO of Aetna, where he pioneered the use of digital health tools and raised the minimum wage by 33%. In his two-plus years as CEO of Oscar Health, he’s driven strong growth in membership, share price, net promoter scores and revenue, though not yet profits. After spending his first 10 weeks with a different team every day, he told co-founder Josh Kushner that “I’ve broken everything here that’s been broken at Oscar at least twice myself in my career. I could walk in and say, ‘you do this, you do this,’ but I don’t think I would have garnered a lot of support.”
I mention Bertolini because there’s another prerequisite for success in the top job: Having a strong relationship with one’s board—something Schulman no doubt appreciates having served on Verizon’s board since 2018. Verizon’s stock dropped 5% yesterday, while other telecom rivals dipped, too. That could signal that investors are unnerved by the sudden leadership transition, or worried about industry challenges ahead. It certainly shows they want to see a strong and cohesive vision for Verizon to win from here.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
Top news
OpenAI finances don’t add up—yet
OpenAI has signed deals for computing power that will cost the company $1 trillion, the FT reports. The problem is that the company’s annual revenue is only $12 billion and its total valuation is $500 billion.
AMD notches deal with OpenAI
AMD shares soared on Monday following news that the semiconductor company will sign a deal to become one of OpenAI’s main chip suppliers. The deal could generate tens of billions in revenue for AMD as it competes with industry leader Nvidia.
Trump has “sort of made a decision” on Ukraine missiles
The president says he is leaning toward sending Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles that Ukraine could use to make strikes deep inside Russia, but says “I am not looking to see an escalation,” he said.
New tariffs on trucks
President Trump announced a new import tax on Truth Social yesterday: “Beginning November 1st, 2025, all Medium and Heavy Duty Trucks coming into the United States from other Countries will be Tariffed at the Rate of 25%. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
DBS Group CEO Tan Su Shan tops MPW Asia list
Fortune released its 2025 Most Powerful Women Asia list on Monday, spotlighting 100 women shaping the economic future of the region. DBS Group CEO Tan Su Shan holds the #1 spot—see who else made the list here. And be sure to tune in for Tan’s conversation with Diane Brady at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in D.C. next week.
Qualtrics To Acquire Press Ganey Forsta
Qualtrics announced that it will acquire healthcare-survey company Press Ganey Forsta for $6.75 billion, helping to create what Qualtrics CEO Zig Serafin described to Fortune as “the most complete AI platform for experience management.” Press Ganey compiles feedback from patients and doctors in more than 41,000 hospital systems and healthcare companies.
Everything you need to know about Bari Weiss
The WSJ and the NYT both have lengthy bios about the new CBS News editor-in-chief, her political views and her various business alliances.
Yet another French PM resigns
The French government remains paralyzed after its latest prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu, resigned after just 27 days in office. President Macron could choose another PM, but that would be his sixth in the last two years. He could call an election, but he might lose to Marine Le Pen’s hard-right National Rally party. The government has yet to pass a budget—and the bond market will no doubt have something to say about yields on French government debt. The 10-year bond ticked up sharply to 3.6% yesterday.
Yes, flight delays are getting worse
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has warned that airports could face increasing delays due to the government shutdown. Air traffic controllers are currently required to work without pay (they’ll get retroactive checks when the shutdown ends) but incremental delays are already cascading through major airports.
The markets
S&P 500 futures were down 0.21% this morning. The index closed up 0.36% in its last session at a new high of 6,740.28. STOXX Europe 600 was down 0.21% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was flat in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was flat. China’s CSI 300 was up 0.45%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 2.7%. India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.54% before the end of the session. Bitcoin was flat at around $123.8K.
Around the watercooler
‘I think you’re testing me’: Anthropic’s newest Claude model knows when it’s being evaluated by Beatrice Nolan
Trump says the American Dream is on hold because ‘big homebuilders’ are ‘sitting on’ 2 million empty lots by Eva Roytburg
These 2 kinds of employees are emerging in the AI-generated ‘workslop’ era—here’s why it may be better to write the email yourself by Jessica Coacci
Before the McLaren CEO got a $50 million payday from his team’s F1 championship, he was a high-school dropout who got his start on Wheel of Fortune by Sasha Rogelberg
CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.
