ceo

Companies are not just letting go of their youngest workers. They are making them CEO

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The business fabric in the US is experiencing one of its most turbulent periods. Not only because of the coming to power of Donald Trump and his upstart tariff policiesbut because of the challenge in management and governance models that poses to AI. OK to what was published by The Wall Street Journalthe US is experiencing a generational change at the head of the main listed companies. In 2025 alone, one in nine CEOs at the 1,500 largest companies in the S&P 1500 will be replaced, the highest rate since records began in 2010. The demands of AI they are retiring the CEOs more experienced. Relay record at the top. According to data revealed by a study from the consulting firm Spencer Stuart, 168 people debuted as CEO in large listed companies. In more than 80% of these appointments, the new managers lacked previous experience leading companies of that category, although 60% of those appointments were promotions. Furthermore, two-thirds of these incorporations had also not served on boards of directors before. That is to say, its greatest value It was not his experience, but his youth. The trend continues strongly during the first two months of 2026. Top-tier companies such as Walmart, Procter & Gamble, Lululemon, Disney, PayPal and HP have made changes in his highest executive position. This pace marks a great experiment in leadership by large companies in the face of unstable markets, where the pressure to obtain immediate results accelerates the departures of veterans. Younger and younger leaders. The average age of new CEOs dropped to 54 years in 2025, which is almost two years less than the record in 2024, thus confirming that this is a trend that has been occurring for some years. Although only 3% of managers in large companies are under 40 years old, 64% are between 50 and 59 years old, and only 12% are over 60 years old. Some examples are found in recent replacements like disneyin which Josh D’Amaro, 55, took the replacement of Bob Iger 75 years old. This replacement reflects a commitment to fresh talent, but with a deep knowledge of the companies they are going to lead, but without experience in decision-making. The life cycle of a CEO. Spencer Stuart analysts found that CEOs of large companies have “a useful lifespan” at the helm. During the first year in office, the new CEO begins the “honeymoon effect” and his companies outperform the S&P 500 by 10% on average. However, in the second year of office, 73% experience a drop in returns of an average of 21%. Between the third and fifth years at the helm, a reinvention of leadership occurs, which precedes a stagnation between the sixth and ninth years. Beginning in the tenth year, stable leadership is established. The majority cannot taste that stability since, after the third year, 25% have already left the position. 50% do not reach the sixth year as CEO. The average duration of active CEOs is 7.1 years, and 86% of departures are voluntary and agreed upon with the board of directors. Only 9% of CEO changes in the S&P 500 group of companies have been forced removals. It should be noted that only 16% of new appointments to senior management positions they have been womenwhich represents a bittersweet historical record. In Xataka | The average salary of Ibex 35 managers has grown by 172% in two decades: the purchasing power of its employees, not so much Image | Unsplash (Bruce Mars)

“We will not flood our ecosystem with soulless AI garbage.” We already know what Asha Sharma wants to do as CEO of Microsoft Gaming

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Friday night has been busy in the gaming world with a movement that, more than a change of cards, represents a paradigm shift in Microsoft’s video game division: the end of the Spencer era and the resignation of Sarah Bond as president of Xbox. Phil Spencer has left the company after almost 40 years, 12 of which he has been leading the gaming area. The new CEO of Microsoft Gaming is Asha Sharma. Who is Asha Sharma. The 36-year-old Indian-American’s CV includes Instacart, where she was director of operations for three years, until she left the firm for Microsoft in 2024. She previously served as vice president of product and engineering at Meta, leading, among other things, the company’s messaging apps. And more than a decade ago he worked in the marketing area of ​​Microsoft. Another leadership profile. Spencer’s leadership was almost evangelical: his era was characterized by rebuilding the brand after the discreet launch of the Xbox One in 2013expansion through acquisitions such as that of Activision Blizzard for 69,000 million dollars and its total commitment to Game Pass. However, Xbox has still not won the console war and its studios have been chaining cancellations and closures in recent times. Sharma’s career is meteoric, but she lacks a track record within the video game industry: she is neither a designer nor a dev, she is an operations and technology executive who comes from leading enterprise AI teams at Microsoft. The new Sharma aims more at operational efficiency, AI and platform ubiquity. Asha Sharma’s roadmap with Xbox. Sharma has already published its first statement where it establishes three axes: Great video games. His message is reassuring for fans: there will be iconic franchises, a commitment to creativity and innovation, and complete trust in Matt Booty. The return of Xbox. You want to put the console back in. center, something that with Spencer had been blurred. Of course, without giving up PC, mobile phones and cloud gaming. The future of gaming and AI. Sharma promises not to flood his ecosystem with artless garbage: “Games are and always will be art, created by humans and with the most innovative technology we offer.” Surprising from someone who comes precisely from there. In summary it would be: AI yes, but with a head. Unknowns and challenges. Its first message is promising but vague and leaves many key questions in an area where finding balance is complicated. If Microsoft, which is the largest player in the sector by capitalization, puts someone without gaming DNA on the front line, it sends a signal of where the business is going that points to platforms, subscriptions, generative AI, platforms… the question is whether that is compatible with making great games. On the other hand, Sharma mentions that games are “art made by humans” but also that AI will “evolve and influence.” We will have to see what the conciliation is like. In addition, neither she nor Booty have clarified What will happen to the studies that Microsoft has closed. Finally, the Xbox Everywhere model invites you to play on any device and makes more sense than ever, so there is no doubt to wonder about the future of consoles as devices. In Xataka | Video games have grown a lot this year. But the money goes to China, Roblox and the owners of mobile platforms In Xataka | Windows was the kingdom of gaming for decades: Microsoft knows that something has gone wrong, and promises these changes Cover | Microsoft

If you’re in a hurry to upgrade your PC, NVIDIA’s CEO has bad news: don’t be in a hurry

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Talking about artificial intelligence is talking about Jensen Huang. The CEO of NVIDIA has become the figure of an industry: that of artificial intelligence. In large part, it is your company’s products that are driving the engine of the data centers and, at the same time, enormous semiconductor industries and memory are the essential components of NVIDIA GPUs. And if Huang has been commenting for a few weeks that this 2026 it’s going to need wafers and a lot of RAMhas now asked for patience with AI. Because he has another seven or eight years of unchecked climbing left. In short. When we talk about artificial intelligence, there are two poles. On the one hand, those who see signs of a bubble that will burst in the short term. On the other hand, those who defend the billion-dollar investment against all odds. In that boat is Jensen Huang, who recently noted in CNBC that this massive spending is “necessary and appropriate” because a “once-in-a-generation infrastructure” is being shaped. The most interesting thing is that, for him, this career will continue for several years, pointing that the investment and construction of infrastructure for AI has seven or eight years left. Mortars of money. In his statements, Huang pointed out that companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are making money despite everything invested and that their current brake is not so much the budget as the limit of computing power. That is why you want your suppliers –Samsung in HBM4 memories new generation or TSMC with the processors- increase the pace. It remains to be seen, however, if the pace can be maintained over the next five years. On CNBC, the CEO of NVIDIA pointed out that, despite the astronomical amount of money, the spending is sustainable. And proof of this is that it is increasing. If in 2025 the total spending of Big Tech did not reach 400,000 million, wait that this year the number of American companies will rise to 650,000 million. Only between Amazon and Alphabet -Google-, they will invest about 385,000 million. They see the AI ​​computing race as the next “whoever wins the most,” and none are willing to lose – DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria speaking to Bloomberg Parallel career. And that, as we say, in American companies, since China is the other pole in this race for artificial intelligence. The Asian giant is the birthplace of several extremely capable models, but also something that is missing in the United States: energy to feed the enormous needs of AI. China is betting on AI, but also on robotics, and all this at the same time buy NVIDIA products and develop your own semiconductor network with the goal of achieving technological sovereignty. It is another race parallel to that of the United States, and apart from the two poles of infrastructure development, we have particular names. That so much money is being invested means that opportunities are being created, and there are companies that have gone through a bad patch and want to surf the wave. For example, a Intel that, after needing a rescue by the United Statesis positioning itself as one of the great foundries in the United States. In addition, they are putting their foot in a segment that they had not explored, that of DRAM memory, and They are doing it with the Japanese giant SoftBank. Japan has not had a say in the memory industry since the 80s, when South Korea snatched their positionand now they may have another chance. Translation for the user. These are a couple of examples of companies that are taking advantage of the conditions to obtain financing and expand, seeking to position themselves in what they have determined is the future of the technology industry. With that amount of money and investment, there is a question you may be asking yourself: will I be able to buy a PC? The answer It is not hopeful. Giants like Micron -one of the heavyweights in the RAM segment- They are investing a lot to expand facilities and be more capable when creating memories, but they will not be for us: they will be for data centers. If the end of 2026 or 2027 was targeted as the end of the component crisis like the RAM or SSD (which are still components with memory modules), now it is Lip-Bu TanCEO of Intel, who states that It won’t be until 2028at the earliest, when we can see a horizon in the current panorama. So, yes, the entire tech industry has turned to AI and those that can increase their production of key components will do so over the next few years. The issue is that they are going to focus on components that users neither care about nor care about, neglecting those that we really need on a day-to-day basis. AND an example is NVIDIA itself. Image | NVIDIA In Xataka | Apple has been the industry’s first customer for decades. AI is relegating it to the background

ASML CEO knows the whole world depends on her

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The European Union has announced the inauguration of a new research center dedicated to the development and manufacturing of semiconductors. The project, called NanoIC, wants to become one of the fundamental pillars of the European Chips Act program. 2.5 billion euros on the table. The total budget is 2.5 billion euros, of which 700 million come from EU funds. Another 700 million will come from regional and national governments, and the rest will put ASML on the table and other industrial partners. What is Imec. In reality the project is an expansion of the Imec facilities at its headquarters in Leuven, near Brussels. This body does not manufacture commercial chips, but is the “laboratory” in which rival companies such as Intel, Samsung or TSMC collaborate to define the chips of the future. clean rooms. This is a new clean room (“cleanroom“) of 2,000 square meters which will among other things house ASML’s new next-generation High NA EUV scanner which is expected to arrive in mid-March. The total area of ​​Imec’s clean rooms amounts to 12,000 square meters and the company claims that this makes it a central part of the Chips Act strategy. Imec will soon build another 4,000 square meter clean room on the aforementioned Leuven campus. Everyone loves ASML. ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet highlighted the leading role that your company has managed to achieve thanks to its semiconductor manufacturing machines, the only ones in the world capable of producing the most advanced chips today. As he said, these are the machines “that everyone would like to have.” China sighs (for now). He is right: today the US is a key trade ally but does not have comparable technology of its own, and China has been trying to develop extreme ultraviolet machines for some time. but for now he is still behind in that race. Obviously Europe depends on the US and China in many other areas, but ASML is certainly a clear technological asset for European interests. Inverse dependency. The vice president of the European Commission, Henna Virkkunen, indicated in a interview with Politico that “it is true that we have some of the key technologies, such as ASML, that everyone is dependent on globally.” He explained, of course, that the EU has no plans to turn that into a weapon for potential negotiations, “but it is important to realize that we have those strengths that others do not have.” Changing the story. These statements undoubtedly seek to counteract the idea that Europe depends totally on American technology, demonstrating that the old continent also has its own levers to negotiate. Digital sovereignty. The EU is expected to prepare a second Chips Act which should be presented at the end of March and which would clearly differ from the first. Instead of an emergency response to a project that will turn Europe into a competitive region at a technological level. But. The initiative is striking, but it also has important challenges. We are looking at a research center and that means that its size and budget cannot be compared with those investments in data centers made by large US technology companies. But in addition to that parameter there is another even more relevant one: that of talent. Europe must train and attract enough engineers to operate these centers and develop that work there and not in companies or centers that compete in other regions, including of course the US and China. In Xataka | We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be like. The machine that will allow them to be manufactured is close

There is a Spaniard at the top of Silicon Valley. His name is Enrique Lores and he has just become CEO of PayPal

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The Spanish manager Enrique Lores has become the new CEO of PayPal. The company has announced it in his digital press room indicating that he will take office on March 1. This is a unique appointment that consolidates Lores’ career and places him in that select group of CEOs of large technology companies. And that is precisely its mission: to make PayPal really great again. At PayPal they knew him well. In the announcement, PayPal officials highlight that Lores had already been on the board of directors for five years, which makes it clear that the appointment is not entirely a surprise. The Spanish manager replaces Alex Chriss in the position, and for the adaptation stage the company’s current CFO, Jamie Miller, will act as interim CEO. The reason. From PayPal they explain that the signing comes from an evaluation of the business and how the company is in relation to its competition. “While some progress has been made in several areas over the past two years, the pace of change and execution has not lived up to the Board’s expectations. The Board is confident that the appointment of Lores, an executive with more than three decades of experience in technology and commerce, will provide the leadership necessary to lead PayPal into its next stage.” A life at HP. Lores had been CEO of HP Inc. for more than six years, where he led a series of strategic projects. During his tenure the firm has gone beyond PC and printers to expand its services and subscriptions business, in addition to starting the commitment to integration of AI in various business areas in the signature. He was also the main leader of the split between HP and HPE. Lores has spent much of his professional life at HP, where he achieved a leading role as vice president of the imaging and printing division for EMEA in 2001. Since then he has not stopped rising positions, but his time at HP ends now. There he will be replaced as CEO by Bruce Broussard, a member of the board since 2021. Remembering the ‘PayPal mafia’. The story of the founding and early years of PayPal is fascinating and an example of disruption. Among its founders are Elon Musk and Peter Thielbut in that team there were people who have ended up being the germ of a good part of the “internet 2.0”. He famous ‘PayPal Mafia’ phenomenon tells how after the purchase by eBay several members of the original team left the company to create their own projects. And among those projects are YouTube, LinkedIn or Yelp. PayPal continued to grow, without a doubt, but for today’s Internet what happened to it before the eBay purchase was more relevant than what happened after. difficult times. After separating from eBay in July 2015, PayPal carried out some strategic operations such as (the controversy) Honey in 2020. The pandemic caused e-commerce to skyrocket, which benefited it, and in October 2020 the company took a historic turn by allowing the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies. The end of confinement and the rise in rates caused a stagnation and then a fall in its assets, and competition from Apple Pay or Shopify eroded its market share in the traditional payment button market. An increasingly fragmented market. Apple and Google have managed to impose their payment solutions thanks to their competitive advantage, but PayPal has also been overtaken by Strupe, which won over developers with a cleaner and more flexible API. In Spain, for example, the use of Bizum has cannibalized that of PayPal (the same with Mercado Pago in Latin America) for payments between individuals, and PayPal’s commission structure is complex and does not help to earn money and recover the relevance of the past. Quite a challenge for Enrique Lores. Thus, the Spanish manager faces a truly formidable challenge. PayPal is still a big tech company, but its current market capitalization (39,830 million dollars), even though it is greater than that of HP (17,750) is very far from the true “Big Tech”. In fact it is the company number 620 by market capitalization according to CompaniesMarketCap. It will be interesting to see what measures Lores takes to boost the business of one of Silicon Valley’s legendary companies. In Xataka | The highest paid Spanish manager in the world does not work in a large technology company: he sells “sugar water”

that does not look like Bob Iger’s previous successor as CEO

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Disney’s board of directors prepares to announce Bob Iger’s successor for early 2026, according to revealed President James Gorman. With this, the race to lead the entertainment giant has been reduced to two favorites. And after the disastrous mandate of Bob Chapek between 2020 and 2022, Disney cannot afford another mistake in the chair of the most powerful manager in Hollywood. With the shareholders meeting scheduled for March 18 and Iger’s contract expiring on December 31, 2026, the clock is ticking for a decision that will determine the direction of a 230,000-employee company valued at more than $170 billion. Iger’s salary. Iger’s compensation amounts to $45.8 million: $1 million in base salary, $21 million in stock, $14 million in stock options, $7.25 million in cash bonuses and $2.59 million in additional compensation. It represents an increase of 11.5% compared to the 41.1 million by 2024a figure that contrasts with the urgency surrounding the search for his replacement and underlines the importance of the position. The imminent announcement. James Gorman stated that the appointment will be determined by the full board in early 2026. The March 18 shareholder meeting is relevant for a precedent: when Iger retired in 2020, the announcement of his successor It occurred approximately two weeks before the annual meeting. The two candidates: Josh D’Amaro. The succession has become a duel between two antagonistic profiles. Josh D’Amaro, 54, president of Disney Experiences, leads the bets in some recent surveysa striking fact considering that one year before He wasn’t even among the top three candidates. D’Amaro has 27 years of uninterrupted experience in the company. Disney Experiences generated last year the 36% of total revenue and oversees a $60 billion five-year expansion in parks and cruises, and Wall Street supports its operating profile. Among its weaknesses, its limited experience in the creative content businessthe historic heart of Disney: film production, relationships with Hollywood talent and streaming. The two candidates: Dana Walden. Walden, 61, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment with Alan Bergman, presents an opposite resume. President of Entertainment at Fox in 1999, Co-CEO of the Fox Television Group, she arrived at Disney in 2019 with the acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Walden is a historic choice: she would be the first woman to lead Disney in its 102 years of existence. His strength lies in decades of cultivating relationships with the Hollywood creative ecosystem and having led Disney+ to profitability after years of million-dollar losses. Under his supervision, the group’s platform and television networks have produced recent hits such as ‘The Bear’ and ‘Only Murders in the Building’, consolidating Disney’s presence in the competitive streaming market. Walden’s shortcomings. The opposite of D’Amaro: he has never managed parks and resorts, a segment that contributes more than two-thirds of operating profits. He also does not have substantial experience in the film industry. His candidacy was marred by temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show in October 2025, episode that some media suggested that could have damaged its image with shareholders. Other possible candidates. Alan Bergman, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, has contributed to the profitability of Disney+ and oversaw hits such as ‘Inside Out 2’ and ‘Deadpool and Wolverine.’ The company reached a record 60 Emmy Awards in 2024. However, it has been said who lacks the necessary charisma and falls below D’Amaro. Jimmy Pitaro, current president of ESPN, personally communicated his lack of interest in the position. Replacing him at ESPN would also be complex given the specialization of the position. Disney also considered hiring external talent: Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts, held talks during Chapek’s tenure about a potential sale of EA to Disneybut lacks experience in film, television and parks. The Chapek trauma. The urgency responds to a recent corporate trauma. Bob Chapek, named CEO in February 2020 after leading the parks division, was removed in November 2022, 33 months later, forcing Iger to be reinstated. Among Chapek’s mistakes: the release of ‘Black Widow’ simultaneously in theaters and Disney+ without renegotiating Scarlett Johansson’s contract, which led to a public lawsuit. The second disaster came when it was revealed that Disney had financed campaigns of legislators who promoted the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law in Florida, which was followed by protests by employees and Iger demonstrating against it. Chapek’s late rectification sparked a confrontation with Gov. Ron DeSantis. The final blow: a disastrous fourth quarter in 2022 that stocks sank. The possible scenarios. The most likely: D’Amaro as sole CEO, with Walden overseeing creative content. There is also speculation with D’Amaro and Walden as co-CEOs, dividing control according to their previous experiences, a model that would avoid excessive concentration of power. The third scenario, with Walden as sole CEO, is the least likely due to her inexperience in parks and cruises. Header | Nagi Usano

Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, is building a huge space telescope. The question is not how, but why

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If someone today wanted to build something like a new Hubble, it would make sense to think of years of reports, reviews and committees before the first piece of hardware is even manufactured. However, that logic has just been broken with an unexpected announcement: Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, and his wife Wendy have put on the table his own money to power not one, but four telescopes, including a large-scale space observatory. The move not only challenges the sector’s inertia, but raises a question deeper than budget or technology: what exactly is a former Silicon Valley executive pursuing by wading into the heart of modern astronomy. This is a project promoted by the Schmidt Observatory System, it seeks to cover everything from the deep sky to the detailed study of transient phenomena. A change of model. Currently, telescopes are generally in the hands of public agencies and academic consortia. Building ever-larger mirrors and then putting instruments into orbit turned astronomy into a matter of national budgets. The Schmidts’ entry into this arena suggests that, with new technologies and another way to finance risk, that historic balance could be starting to shift again. Risk, speed and open science. The approach behind the observatory system is not to compete with space agencies, but to cover the space left by their own processes, which are long, conservative and highly conditioned by public budgets. The Schmidts seek to finance concepts that have already been imagined by the scientific community, but that rarely overcome the barrier of official financing due to their level of risk or the deadlines they require. The piece that gives meaning to the whole and that really makes the difference is Lazulithe only one of the four projects that will leave Earth. It aims to cover a wide range of science, from transient events lasting minutes or hours to the detailed study of exoplanets, with a level of flexibility that large public observatories cannot always offer. Further, more agile. One of the clearest breaks between Lazuli and Hubble is where it will operate and how. While NASA’s telescope orbits about 500 kilometers from Earth, Lazuli will be placed much further away, in an elliptical orbit that should give it a clearer view and allow for fast and continuous data linking. Lazuli Space Observatory In the official description, Schmidt Sciences frames this operation in a “lunar-resonant” orbit. Added to this is a larger mirror, 3.1 meters compared to Hubble’s 2.4 meters, and an observation philosophy designed to react quickly to unexpected phenomena. One platform, several instruments. Lazuli is designed as a unique platform that integrates three instruments designed to cover everything from wide-field observations to the detailed study of exoplanets and transient phenomena. Wide-field optical imager with high cadence for photometric time series, 30′×15′ field of view and filters between 300 and 1000 nm Integral field spectrograph continuously covering 400–1700 nm, optimized for stable spectrophotometry and rapid sorting High contrast coronagraph to directly observe exoplanets and circumstellar environments, with contrasts of 10⁻⁸ and up to 10⁻⁹ after processing The era of array telescopes. Argus, DSA and LFAST They are not traditional telescopes, but rather distributed systems that take advantage of recent advances in computing, storage, and automated analysis. Instead of concentrating everything in a single structure, they distribute the collection of light or radio signals among tens or thousands of modules that are then digitally synchronized. This modularity aims to accelerate deployments and opens the door to observing the sky almost in real time, something fundamental for the astronomy of fleeting events. Render of the Argus Array (left), Deep Synoptic Array (right) Argus Array will bring together 1,200 optical telescopes in Texas to observe the northern sky almost continuously, with the idea of ​​being able to “rewind” what happened minutes or hours before an event such as a supernova. DSA, in Nevada and under the direction of Caltech, will deploy 1,600 radio antennas to map more than a billion sources and update its view of the sky every fifteen minutes. LFAST, for its part, will be installed in Arizona as a system of 20 80-centimeter mirrors aimed at large-aperture spectroscopy and the search for biosignatures, with a prototype planned for mid-2026. What the Schmidts have launched is, at its core, an experiment on the scientific system itself. Lazuli and his three colleagues on land aim to show that it is possible to build large-scale observatories more quickly and with an openness of data that does not always fit into traditional models. Whether that vision materializes will depend on factors yet to be determined, such as the final contractors, real costs or the feasibility of the schedules, but if it goes well, the impact will not only be measured in new discoveries, but in a new way of deciding what science is done. Images | Village Global | Schmidt Observatory System In Xataka | China has just resolved one of the biggest doubts about going to Mars with the birth of six space mice

The CEO of Ryanair is clear about how he would govern a country. We are lucky that it doesn’t.

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Michael O’Leary has spent decades building a reputation based on provocation and irreverence. The CEO of Ryanair has not only built Europe’s largest low-cost airline based on surcharges on your services and open confrontation with clients, unions and regulators. He has also turned each interview into a showcase of extreme opinions that rarely leave anyone indifferent. The last of them, granted to the Financial Timesis especially revealing. In it, O’Leary explains bluntly how he would run a country if he had the chance. To no one’s surprise, his approach is not too far from what has been applying for years at Ryanair: treat everything as a balance of results, eliminate what is considered “inefficient” and assume political wear and tear as inevitable collateral damage. Govern a country as if it were Ryanair. O’Leary doesn’t hesitate when asked about his vision of power. As he explains, if he had to govern a country he would do it exactly the same as his airline. Aggressively cutting public spending and, especially, social benefits. “I would run it like Ryanair, I would cut it big… I would cut benefits big. Get a job!” he says without nuance in the interview. Even when he recognizes that there are people who cannot work, his conclusion remains the same and he would not hesitate to reduce this aid. “Are there people who cannot work at all? Yes, but it would also cut their benefits,” said the controversial manager, who maintains an extreme vision of the minimum State, where the social protection network is perceived more as a cost than as a collective investment. Millionaire politicians to attract talent. The most striking part of the interview comes when O’Leary addresses salary of the politicians. There are no cuts on the horizon. For the Irish manager, one of the big problems in current politics is the lack of talent, and the solution is to pay politicians as if they were senior managers. His idea is that “If you are prime minister or a minister, you should earn at least one million pounds a year”, which is equivalent to 1,152,900 euros at the exchange rate. Very far from the 93,145.20 euros that are assigned as salary to the President of the Government in Spain, or 182,400 euros gross per year who receives the President of the Republic in France. “Politicians must be paid much better, although saying so is political suicide,” giving Singapore as an example, where senior public officials receive very high salaries to attract the most talented profiles in the private sector to politics and reduce incentives for corruption. Zero personal affinity with Trump. O’Leary’s interview Financial Times It also leaves room for his relationship with Donald Trump. O’Leary recounts a direct call from the then-candidate in 2016, in which Trump insisted for almost an hour on increase flights from Ryanair to airports close to its golf courses in Scotland and Ireland. The current president of the United States even offered him accommodation in one of his hotels. O’Leary’s response to Trump’s offer was to avoid at all costs approaching any politician. “No, no way. It’s not my style,” the executive concluded, making it clear that personal harmony with Trump never existed, although both share a very similar vision of the world as a place where everything is negotiated. The same approach you apply to your passengers. O’Leary’s ideas on how to govern are consistent with the decisions he has made at Ryanair during the years who runs Ryanair. From defending the charge for using the bathroom on board to imposing increasingly complex surcharges for luggage or boarding passes. Everything responds to one income maximization logic and reduce costs, even if that means a more hostile experience for the customer. Their inflexibility with refunds is another example. In the interview he remembers the case of a passenger stabbed in an attack on a train in the United Kingdom who tried to cancel a flightbut did not obtain a refund for the ticket. “If the company had offered him one, the doors would have been opened to other demands for reimbursement,” said O’Leary, for whom the company’s efficiency and profitability always come before empathy. An old idea with dubious results. The proposal to manage a country as if it were a company is neither new nor exclusive to O’Leary. Elon Musk already defended openly that approach from the DOGE who led in the first months of the Trump administration. The result was especially negative for the cooperation policy and the operation of the US administration. Trump himself has applied this logic of business negotiation to international and economic policy with the imposition of tariffs as a negotiation weapon. The results, at least so far, do not seem to be giving the best fruits for the United States economy. In Xataka | When Ryanair CEO went to a restaurant he was charged for two extras: “priority seating” and “legroom” Image | Flickr (Polish presidency of the Council of the EU 2025)

Olivier Blume is the CEO who has piloted Porsche’s jump to the electric car. Now he leaves with a message: “we were wrong”

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Porsche is going through difficulties. To display data: Its profit margin has plummeted to 0.2%. Its sales are clearly declining and it has encountered the worst possible scenario in Europe, China and the United States. Now, Oliver Blume, who has been its CEO for a decade and has piloted the transition to electric cars in the company he leaves. And it does so with a painful message. “We were wrong”. This is what Oliver Blume has pointed out outside of Porsche in an interview with the German newspaper FACE: “Our strategy was to offer sports cars with internal combustion, hybrid and electric engines in each of our three segments, but not for all models. We were wrong with the Macan. With the data and market studies available at that time (late last decade), we would make the same decision today” The statement refers to the complete electrification of the Porsche Macan. A car that, like we count on Xatakaruns like a shot and maintains all the quality and touch of the company but has to deal with the backpack that Porsche, at the time, offered that same car with a V6 gasoline engine. Why does an electric car have less autonomy than advertised? Today the Porsche Macan is an exclusively electric car that, in addition, was delayed countless times as a consequence of creating a platform with an expiration date for this model and the Audi Q6 e-tron. A solution that only created more chaos and difficulties to an internal development that was prolonged to the point of being one of the reasons that removed Herbert Diess, then CEO of the Volkswagen Groupfrom the company. A perfect storm. In favor of Blume it must be said that Porsche has encountered a perfect storm. And this is reflected in the statements to the German newspaper: “The Chinese luxury market has plummeted by more than 80% in a very short time. In the United States, we face high tariffs. These two markets each account for more than 50% of Porsche sales” European luxury brands are having serious difficulties in China. It has been difficult for them to understand a market that has turned its back on them and that has changed his tastes. What was once a sign of quality has become an obsolete product. Now, luxury chinese cars navigate rivers, break speed records and they are filled with screens. “It was just an electrified Porsche. That’s all,” a Chinese customer pointed out to Bloomberg to express his disappointment when getting into the Porsche Taycan To this we must add that the tariffs that the United States has raised for the entry of vehicles from Europe have been a very harsh punishment for the Volkswagen Group and especially for Porsche, which distributes its production between Germany, Bratislava and Malaysia. There is no good option when it comes to putting cars in a very important market for Porsche and much more interesting than China or Europe if we take into account the drop in sales in the former and the position in terms of emissions in the latter. Already in July Porsche’s operating profit was estimated to fall by 67%. Not very flexible. In his interview, Blume acknowledges that they were not very flexible. Buoyed by the enormous success of the Porsche Taycan, the company decided it had to electrify its best-seller. With the numbers in hand, it seemed that converting the Macan into a purely electric car was a good idea to reduce emissions and avoid fines. Over time it has been proven that it was a bad decision. The European Union has made fines more flexible, delaying the accountability of manufacturers from 2030 to 2032 when the Volkswagen Group will have greater room for maneuver to cover Porsche’s presumed excess emissions with greater electric sales of Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda or Cupra. Furthermore, they leave the door open to a future of very expensive combustion cars from 2035what gives life to an even more expensive and exclusive Porsche 911. Without understanding the public. But, furthermore, everything indicates that they did not understand their own audience. And the customer of a Porsche Taycan, the company’s most advanced car at its launch With the appeal of being its first electric car (which was also much more advanced than any other car on the market), it is very different from that of a Porsche Macan. Yes, it is very likely that there is a Macan audience that wants an electric car as a second vehicle in a home where there is already a Porsche 911 or a Panamera to travel with. But the Macan is also the gateway to the Porsche world, the most accessible entry for those who have always dreamed of having one of the Stuttgart cars in their garage. And that customer does not dream of an electric car. going backwards. It’s easy to talk in the past when the data said Porsche was on the right track With the electric car he only does a little more than two exercises. And it must be taken into account that the company has experienced years of record after record in the last decade. All in all, they seem to have verified that their range of clients is very wide. The Porsche Cayenne that it aimed to be electric only will include hybrid engines. The Porsche 718 that were also going to go all-electric They will maintain combustion versions. And the Porsche Macan is preparing for new gasoline versions that have to be mounted on another platform (presumably from the Audi Q5) because the current PPE does not allow the use of a combustion engine. Photo | porsche In Xataka | Porsche wanted to convince us that the electric sports car was the future. The problem: almost no one wants it

“You can’t trust your eyes to know what’s real anymore.” Instagram CEO announces that the feed is dead

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That the Internet as we knew it no longer exists is not a surprise: it has been filled with search results generated by artificial intelligence and from ‘slop‘. The consequences are already visible: clicks have been reduced by halfwhich is catastrophic for the media. But not only the text is suffering from this barrage of AI that blurs everything: already We do not know how to distinguish if an image is real or notwe have gone from document our life on social networks to the era of influencer content favored by the algorithm to videos and images that are not real, but can pass as such. There are no longer four fingers that are worth it. Instagrammers, the feed is dead. And this is also going to take its toll on social networks. Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, closed 2025 with a publication in the form of a presentation of 20 images where he reflected in depth on what is coming: “the era of infinite synthetic content”, the antithesis of a more personal Instagram that has been dead for years. For Mosseri, AI has turned the carefully maintained grid with its algorithm into something of the past: “Unless you are under 25 years old and use Instagram, you probably think of the app as a feed of square photos. The aesthetics are careful: a lot of makeup, skin softening, high-contrast photography, beautiful landscapes,” Mosseri’s sentence falls like a stone on this millennial, who still uses Instagram as a kind of photo album. “That feed is dead. People largely stopped sharing personal moments on the feed years ago.” Tap to go to the post In search of something real. Mosseri explains that now its users keep their contacts up to date on their personal lives with “improvised photos of unflattering shoes and poses” shared via DM. And this also affects content creators: the omnipresence of images made by AI is going to bring a change: goodbye to those pro-looking photographs in favor of a more real and improvised aesthetic: “Flattering images are cheap to produce and boring to consume. People want content that feels real.” In fact, the CEO of Instagram points to manufacturers, applicable to cameras and mobile phones, who he says are making a mistake by democratizing the ability to “look like a professional photographer from 2015.” Because RAW images with defects are still a sign of reality until AI is able to copy them. But what is real? The time has come to unlearn to believe what our eyes see, something we have been doing all our lives. Javier Lacort explained that our entire epistemology (ranging from court testimony to photo albums) is based on the fact that seeing is a way of knowing. If you see a tiger, there is a tiger. If you see a photo of a tiger, someone has been close to one. This no longer applies: the era of uncover organized fake news has made way for anyone with Nano Banana Pro can get such an absurdly realistic image with a basic prompt in just a few seconds. Now creating a deepfake is trivial. Adam Mosseri think equal. “For most of my life I was able to safely assume that photographs or videos were largely faithful captures of moments that actually happened. That’s clearly no longer the case, and it’s going to take years to adjust. We’re going to go from defaulting to assuming that what we see is real to starting from skepticism. To paying attention to who’s sharing something and why. This will be uncomfortable: we’re genetically predisposed to believe our eyes.” If you can’t beat them… The paradigm shift has already occurred, so now Instagram and other platforms have to adapt to this new reality: “we have to build the best creative tools. Label AI-generated content and verify authentic content. Show credibility signals about who is posting. Continue to improve the ranking of originality.” It is the apocalypse of what is a photo that we have been predicting for years. Focusing on Instagram, Mosseri talks about how “we like to complain about ‘AI junk content,’ but there is a lot of amazing content created with AI.” He doesn’t give concrete examples or talk about Meta tools to make this possible, but Meta has already added AI tools on Instagram and Facebook. Without going any further, his AI Studio allows you to create personalized chatbots to deal with your followers. New times, new identification measures. It is increasingly difficult to identify content in AI, so it proposes fingerprints and cryptographic signatures in cameras to identify real content, forgetting about labels or watermarks. In any case, it advocates greater transparency about who publishes on the platform and improve creativity so that its human users can compete with content made in AI. In Xataka | The future of the Internet is to be flooded with AI. And there are those who have already seen a business niche: content made by humans In Xataka | There is a generation working for free as a documentarian of their own life: they are not influencers but they act as if they were.

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