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CoreWeave is now sitting on a backlog of nearly $67 billion in revenue, with business from Meta and OpenAI. View More
In this articleCRWVFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Michael Intrator, Chief Executive Officer of CoreWeave Inc., speaks during an interview with CNBC on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Sept. 22, 2025.Jeenah Moon | Reuters CoreWeave shares fell as much as 12% in extended trading on Thursday after the artificial intelligence-focused cloud infrastructure provider posted higher fourth-quarter revenue than Wall Street had expected.Here's how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:Loss per share: 89 cents. That might not compare with the LSEG consensus of a loss of 49 centsRevenue: $1.57 billion vs. $1.55 billion expectedCoreWeave's revenue grew 110% year over year in the quarter, according to a statement.For all of 2026, the company sees $12 billion to $13 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG had anticipated $12.09 billion. CoreWeave called for $900 million to $1.1 billion in 2026 adjusted operating income.The company called for $1.9 billion to $2 billion in first-quarter revenue, below the $2.29 billion LSEG consensus.Nvidia graphics chips, which lie at the core of CoreWeave's offering, remain in short supply, CoreWeave CEO Mike Intrator said on a conference call with analysts. Average prices for Nvidia's H100 processors in the fourth quarter were within 10% of where they started the year, and older A100 prices increased in 20205, Intrator said.CoreWeave is targeting $30 billion to $35 billion in capital expenditures for 2026, up from $10.31 billion in 2025.The company had 850 megawatts in active power capacity at the end of the year, while contracted power stood at 3.1 gigawatts. Analysts polled by LSEG had been projecting about 827 megawatts in active power. CoreWeave intends to end 2026 with over 1.7 gigawatts of active power, which is higher than Visible Alpha's consensus of 1.59 gigawatts, and add over five gigawatts beyond its contracted footprint by 2030."Not only are we seeing the proliferation of demand across the economy going from where was initially really housed within the hyperscaler clouds and the foundation models," Intrator said. "You're now seeing it kind of explode into the enterprise. You're seeing it move into sovereign. You're seeing all these new participants beginning to come in and securing the infrastructure that they need."CoreWeave quickly resolved delays it disclosed in November, Intrator said.A backlog of revenue swelled to $66.8 billion from $55.6 billion at the end of the third quarter. The company's weighted contract length has increased to five from four at the end of 2024, Intrator said.Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, at $898 million, came in below StreetAccount's $929 million consensus. After going public last March, the company reported $21.37 billion in debt as of Dec. 31.AI has become a greater concern for software investors in recent weeks, with announcements from Anthropic leading to sharp selling. CoreWeave supplies AI model makers such as Google and OpenAI, and its stock was up 36% so far in 2026 as of Thursday's close, while the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector Exchange-Traded Fund is down nearly 22% in the same period.During the quarter, CoreWeave announced a deal with model builder Poolside and introduced an object storage service. The company also said it increased a credit facility to $2.5 billion from $1.5 billion.CoreWeave continues to be a specialist in cloud infrastructure, although the storage launch will help it compete with larger entities, such as Amazon Web Services."We are virtually sold out in 2026 of all of our capacity and then continuing to add contracts that will be allocated once they come online in 2027," Intrator said.WATCH: CoreWeave shares jump 14% intraday after news of Nvidia investment watch nowVIDEO1:0001:00CoreWeave shares jump 14% intraday after news of Nvidia investmentClosing Bell
AI-led disruption is threatening India’s software giants. View More
In this articleINFY-INWIPRO-INCSA-FFFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Ai trading concepts. 3D renderBlackjack3d | E+ | Getty Images This report is from this week's CNBC's "Inside India" newsletter which brings you timely, insightful news and market commentary on the emerging powerhouse. Subscribe here.The big storyIndian IT stocks are facing their steepest monthly declines since the 2008 global financial crisis, with the Nifty IT Index on track to drop 20% this month, as concerns over AI-led disruption pressure software stocks globally. At the mega India AI summit last week, major tech companies announced tie-ups with leading Indian IT services firms to drive AI adoption across enterprises. India's largest and the world's second largest IT services company, Tata Consultancy Services, tied up with OpenAI, while Infosys partnered with the ChatGPT maker's rival Anthropic.These tie-ups did little to cheer the markets with the Nifty IT index down 19.6% so far this month as investor concerns over the impact of rapid artificial intelligence advancements on the sector has dampened sentiment. Indian IT industry leaders, however, have called AI implementation a "big opportunity.""We are confident AI will strengthen growth across our business and unlock the next phase of opportunity for the broader IT ecosystem," Sham Arora, chief technology officer at Tech Mahindra told CNBC.But unlike the U.S., where the debate is still on between AI fears being "illogical" and a possible collapse of companies offering software as a service, or SaaS, experts told me that AI won't make Indian firms offering IT services irrelevant. It will, however, shrink their margins. Biswajit Maity, senior principal analyst at Gartner, told me that traditional IT services companies such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Accenture will play a "pivotal role in enterprise AI adoption" by leveraging their client relationships and domain expertise in integrating AI solutions.Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Thursday also attempted to play down AI concerns, suggesting that markets have miscalculated the threat to software companies. But to remain relevant, Indian IT services companies need to invest in talent and proprietary platforms, develop industry-specific AI solutions and co-innovate with clients, among other things, Maity said. And while some of that work is underway, the efforts are unlikely to protect margins of Indian IT companies, Maity and other experts forecast. The pricing pressure Indian IT companies collectively control over oneâthird of global IT services brand value, export technology services estimated at more than $220 billion annually, and dominate the global outsourcing landscape, making them critical for the world's digital infrastructure. But the business models of Indian IT companies are dependent on labor arbitrage, and with the advancement of AI this will soon be replaced by technology arbitrage, said Maity.Indian IT companies get a majority of their revenue from helping enterprises with integration of IT services and digital transformation, and not SaaS. This makes AI an immediate business opportunity, but a long-term challenge.Enterprises cannot "suddenly move away" from the services that are being provided by Infosys or TCS and "move into Anthropic" straightaway, Manishi Raychaudhuri, CEO of Asia-Pacific focused financial advisory firm Emmer Capital Partners, told CNBC's "Inside India" on Monday.But he added that clients are asking IT companies to incorporate AI agents in their services, which means that pricing would take a hit and so would the valuations of these companies.AI will also transform the business mix of IT service companies.A report by global brokerage firm Jefferies on Sunday said that AI could shrink the managed services business, which accounts for 22%-45% of revenues of leading Indian IT companies. This will increase cyclicality and require a change in talent and operating model â adding more risks, it said.Managed IT services refers to IT companies handling the day-to-day management of IT needs of enterprises to provide support services, while consulting is a more cyclical business.Jefferies said that stock performance of IT companies will "more likely" be tied to the longer-term business outlook rather than earnings delivery in the near term.Indian IT firms play a pivotal role in enabling AI adoption by enterprises, an area where spending is projected to rise sharply, according to Gartner. It has estimated agentic AI software spending will reach $985 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 62.7% from 2025 to 2030 as enterprises scale adoption. Jefferies, however, has cut price targets on Indian IT companies by up to 33% and downgraded most large firms to either hold or underperform.Investors seem to side with Jefferies' assessment and appear unconvinced that AI will benefit IT services companies. With two more trading sessions to go, this month could go down as the worst for Indian IT stocks nearly two decades.  Top TV picks on CNBC watch nowVIDEO4:4004:40"No way" India will go back to the same deal under new tariffs: Ex-WTO EnvoyInside India Jayant Dasgupta, former Indian ambassador to the World Trade Organization, said India would be within its rights to withdraw the tariff concessions it had extended to the U.S., as one side has altered tariff rates, effectively reopening the agreement for negotiation. watch nowVIDEO4:3804:38Intel: Our objective is to support India's semiconductor and AI ambitionsInside India Santhosh Viswanathan, managing director of Intel India, said in the company was in the country for the "long haul," and was supporting New Delhi's semiconductor manufacturing and AI ambitions. watch nowVIDEO4:1804:18India's defence sector will benefit from France ties: Indo-French ChamberInside India Payal Kanwar, director general of the Indo French Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that India's deepening ties with France will help improve its defense ecosystem.Need to knowIndia likely to continue buying Russian oil. India will likely continue buying Russian oil as the U.S. Supreme Court's verdict outlawing President Donald Trump's import tariffs has constrained his trade policy options, analysts said.Indian trade negotiators delay U.S. visit. India's trade negotiators will reschedule their planned visit to Washington, D.C., aimed at firming up an interim trade deal with the U.S., a person familiar with the development told CNBC.India launches federal government-backed taxi service: Challenging the dominance of American giant Uber, the Indian government has launched taxi-hailing service, Bharat Taxi, which will give drivers a share of profits from the business and charge no commissions. Quote of the week In many ways, India's relationship with Russia is beyond just oil. It is a strategic partnership, and India would not like to pull back on it beyond a point.â Sarang Shidore, director of Global South Program at Quincy Institute In the marketsIndian stocks were flat amid regional gains, buoyed by a tech stock rally after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that markets had miscalculated the AI threat to software companies.In what he described as "counterintuitive," Huang said that AI agents won't replace these software tools, but will use them instead.The Nifty 50 is down nearly 3% so far this year. Yield on 10-year Indian government bonds was up 1 basis point to 6.685%, while the rupee was trading flat at 90.87 against the U.S. dollar. Stock Chart IconStock chart icon Coming upFeb. 27 - March 2: Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney visits IndiaFeb. 27: GDP data for quarter ending December 2025 Feb. 28: Industrial output data for January Each weekday, CNBC's "Inside India" news show gives you news and market commentary on the emerging powerhouse businesses, and the people behind its rise. Livestream the show on YouTube and catch highlights here. SHOWTIMES:U.S.: Sunday-Thursday, 23:00-0000 ETAsia: Monday-Friday, 11:00-12:00 SIN/HK, 08:30-09:30 India Europe: Monday-Friday, 0500-06:00 CET
Elmina Aghayev was taken into custody by Department of Homeland Security officials from residential building owned by Columbia University. View More
In this articleDJTFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Students are seen on the campus of Columbia University in New York City on April 14, 2025.Charly Triballeau | AFP | Getty Images Columbia University on Thursday confirmed that federal immigration agents released student Elmina Aghayeva after she was detained earlier in the day.The school said in a tweet posted shortly after 4:15 p.m. ET that Aghayeva had been released. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said earlier Thursday that President Donald Trump would release her following a meeting between the two politicians."He has just informed me that she will be released imminently," Mamdani said in a post on X. Mamdani said in the post that he "just got off the phone" with Trump.A Department of Homeland Security official confirmed in an earlier statement to CNBC that Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Aghayeva, an Azerbaijan native whose student visa was terminated by the Obama administration in 2016."The building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment," the official said. "She has no pending appeals or applications with DHS."The student was taken by DHS officials from a university-owned residential building around 6:30 a.m., according to an email from Claire Shipman, the school's acting president, obtained by CNBC. Aghayeva was not named directly in Shipman's email. "Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a 'missing person,'" Shipman said.Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said in a social media post that ICE "used a phony missing persons bulletin" about a 5-year-old girl. He said federal agents "purposefully deceived" campus housing and security personnel to enter the student's apartment.Thursday's detainment comes as Trump's focus on immigration has become a national flashpoint.Border czar Tom Homan said earlier this month that the administration would wind down its immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota, an operation that sent thousands of agents to the Minneapolis area. Two U.S. citizens were killed by immigration officials this year in Minnesota, bringing the backlash against the White House's efforts to a fever pitch.All law enforcement agents required a judicial warrant or subpoena to enter housing and other non-public campus areas, Shipman said in her email. Agents looking to enter private campus spaces should wait until the school's public safety team has been contacted, she added.Columbia has been in the White House's crosshairs since Trump returned to office last year.The Education Department said in June that the Ivy League school did not meet its accreditation standards because it was "is in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws." A month later, Columbia said it would pay $200 million to the federal government to restore its funding that the Trump administration cut.Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil was released after months in ICE detention last year.The White House referred CNBC to DHS when contacted for comment before Mamdani's announcement of the release.
Customers can expect to receive $100 refund on average, though State Farm says it will vary by state and by the amount of premium paid. View More
watch nowVIDEO1:2601:26State Farm announces $5 billion cash back to auto customersMoney Movers State Farm on Thursday announced a historic $5 billion dividend for its car insurance members, the largest in the mutual insurance company's 103-year history. "This dividend is possible due to State Farm Mutual's financial strength and a stronger than expected underwriting performance, which has been reported industry wide," the company said in a statement. Customers can expect to receive refunds of $100 on average, though State Farm says the amount will vary by state and by the amount of premium paid. State Farm reports it has also lowered premiums by about 10% across 40 states, totaling $4.6 billion in cost savings for customers.That's a trend across the motor vehicle insurance industry. Auto repair costs are starting to decline, and the frequency of accidents declined in 2025. But car insurance premiums have soared. By early 2025, rates had climbed by more than 50% over three years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the highest inflation for motor vehicle insurance in 50 years.Affordability became a primary concern for many customers and led them to shop around for better deals. TransUnion recently issued a report showing insurance shopping has become a routine activity for consumers, rather than a rare event prompted by a car or home purchase."At this point we can safely say that regular insurance shopping is just the new normal," Patrick Foy, the senior director of strategic planning for TransUnion's insurance business, told CNBC in an interview. The report noted that the main drivers behind the rate shopping are economic pressures pushing consumers to find ways to reduce household expenses. At the same time, insurers are investing heavily in marketing and setting competitive rates.Travelers, Berkshire Hathaway's Geico, Root and Chubb compete with State Farm and USAA and other mutuals, where customers are also shareholders.Progressive in particular has been pressuring State Farm's dominance in auto and was among major auto insurers announcing significant financial returns to customers in 2025. The company paid $1 billion in dividends to its customers in Florida, where state laws require insurers to return excess profits. USAA announced a $3.8 billion payout to its members across states in 2025. The auto insurance business represents 63% of State Farm's property and casualty insurance business. Customer loyalty in auto insurance often leads to loyalty in homeowner's insurance too, where State Farm told CNBC it is not seeing its claims costs subsiding and it's still working to charge adequate rates to compensate.
The results come shortly after the auto giant scaled back its EV ambitions following a major strategic shift. View More
In this articleSTLAFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Antonio Filosa attends the presentation of the new Fiat 500 Hybrid at the Stellantis FIAT Mirafiori plant in Turin, Italy, on November 25, 2025.Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images Auto giant Stellantis on Thursday reported its first-ever annual loss after booking substantial write-downs amid a major strategic shift.The multinational conglomerate, which owns household names including Jeep, Dodge, Fiat, Chrysler and Peugeot, posted a full-year 2025 net loss of 22.3 billion euros ($26.3 billion), compared with full-year profit of 5.5 billion euros a year ago.The net loss was impacted by 25.4 billion euros in write-downs, Stellantis said, as the firm sharply scales back its electric vehicle strategy.Despite the results, shares of the company were up Thursday after CEO Antonio Filosa discussed Stellantis' North American operations leading a turnaround for the company, including better-than-expected results for the region during the second half of the year."North America is a very strong growth in volume. ... It is very encouraging," Filosa told investors during its results. "This growth will be the largest contributor in the world for Stellantis' profitability."Shares of the company in Milan and New York closed Thursday up by more than 4%.Filosa said expected continued growth in North America will be led by new products as well as the increased production of trucks with Hemi V8 engines. He also said the company's decision to cancel its plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will help with profitability.Stellantis' results come as carmakers across the globe look to walk back their EV plans. Car giants including GM, Ford and Honda, for example, have all announced billions of dollars in charges to write down EV investments in recent months. The trend underscores the shifting dynamics at play on the road to full electrification. Stock Chart IconStock chart iconMilan-listed shares of Stellantis so far this year. "Our 2025 full year results reflect the cost of over-estimating the pace of the energy transition and of the need to reset our business around our customers' freedom to choose from the full range of electric, hybrid and internal combustion technologies," Filosa said in a statement. "In 2026 our focus will be on continuing to close the execution gaps of the past, adding further momentum to our return to profitable growth," he added.Stellantis said it had suspended its dividend for 2026, as it had previously flagged, and issued up to 5 billion euros of hybrid bonds. It also reiterated its 2026 forecasts, including a mid-single-digit percentage increase in net revenue and a low-single-digit adjusted operating margin.Other earnings highlights:Adjusted operating loss of 842 million euros in 2025, compared with an adjusted operating income of 8.65 billion euros in 2024.Estimates net tariff expenses of 1.6 billion euros in 2026. Stellantis said it expects positive industrial free cash flow in 2027.Over the second half of 2025, Stellantis it delivered a "solid" performance, noting consolidated shipments came in at 2.8 million units, with North America posting the strongest contribution. Net revenue rose 10% to 79.25 billion euros through the latter half of 2025 when compared with the same period a year ago. These results reflect the initial impact of improved operational efficiencies, disciplined commercial strategies and the strength of the firm's global brand portfolio, Stellantis said.
Student loan borrowers who were steered into a forbearance by Navient may soon get a check, due to a settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. View More
In this articleNAVIFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Source: Navient Some student loan borrowers can soon expect a check in the mail, more than a year after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reached a $120 million settlement with former federal servicer Navient. The CFPB said Navient steered student loan borrowers away from affordable repayment plans and into expensive forbearances, causing many to pay steep interest charges."People suffered real consequences â delaying children, not buying homes or returning to school when they wanted to, and more," said consumer advocate Julia Barnard, who was the top student loan official at the CFPB when the settlement was announced. "These checks are necessary and will help make debtors whole after the harm they faced due to Navient's misconduct." A Navient spokesperson, at the time of the settlement, said it disagreed with the CFPB's allegations. Read more CNBC personal finance coverageSome student loan borrowers are getting Navient settlement checks â who qualifiesTrump accounts aren't exactly 'tax-free,' as the president said. How they workTrump said beef, egg and chicken prices are falling. Here's what the data showsTrump pitches new retirement plan with a match of up to $1,000 â who may benefitThink of active managers and index funds as portfolio 'teammates,' not 'rivals': CFPMany workers want a career change. Are you one of them?ACA health coverage subsidy lapse hit 22 million people. Here are some of their storiesTrump's $2,000 tariff dividend checks just got a lot less likely, experts sayStudent loan forgiveness is taxable again. How to plan for a five-figure IRS billWhat the Trump administration's Harvard lawsuit could mean for future applicantsHomebuyers are paying more for credit checks. Here's whyTrump accounts have 'more unanswered questions than answered,' expert saysTreasury: Trump accounts sign up about 3 million kids in early pushAverage IRS tax refund is up 14.2%, according to early filing dataStudent loan delinquency rate jumps to nearly 25% in Trump's second term: analysisCNBC's Financial Advisor 100: Best financial advisors, top firms ranked At one point, Navient was the largest student loan servicer in the U.S., managing the accounts of more than 12 million people. As part of the settlement, the CFPB banned the company from handling federal education loans, although it continues to play a role in the private student loan market. More than 42 million Americans hold student loans, and the outstanding debt exceeds $1.6 trillion, according to the Congressional Research Service.Here's what borrowers should know about the settlement compensation. Qualifying borrowers are those put in forbearance If you had federal student loans with Navient and your account was placed in a forbearance in 2017 or earlier, you may qualify to receive a check, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. Over the years, the U.S. Department of Education has transferred many borrowers between student loan servicers, once or even multiple times. You should be able to pull up a record of the companies that have managed your debt at Studentaid.gov. Navient's federal student loan accounts were originally transferred to Mohela, and may have subsequently been switched to Aidvantage, Nelnet or EdFinancial.Asked this week about the settlement payments, Cate Fitzgerald, a spokesperson for Navient, said, "the CFPB is responsible for administering the funds and, under our agreement, identifying the borrowers who will receive them."The CFPB did not respond to a request for comment. On its website, the bureau directs consumers with questions about settlement compensation to call the third-party payments administrator, Rust Consulting, at 1-800-711-8418 or email navient_info@rustcfpbconsumerprotection.org. At least 100,000 borrowers may get a check The CFPB has not shared the number of borrowers who will be compensated under the settlement. However, Kantrowitz estimates that at least 100,000 people could get a check, based on his analysis of historical data of Navient borrowers in forbearance. The typical payment will likely be several hundred dollars, Kantrowitz said. Borrowers on Reddit have so far reported settlement payments of up to $2,000. "I'm happy to see that debtors are already receiving these checks that they're entitled to," Barnard said. Financial consequences of forbearances When a borrower enters forbearance, they are not required to make payments, but interest typically continues to accrue on their loans. As the Navient settlement showed, forbearances can be costly for borrowers. While it can be tempting to put your loan payments on hold, your balance can grow much larger and, therefore, be harder to repay when the relief period ends. In March 2017, the average loan amount in forbearance by Navient was around $43,000, Kantrowitz found. That means a borrower's balance would spike by nearly $3,000 each year their bill was paused, assuming a 6.8% interest rate, he estimated. Borrowers are better off finding a repayment plan they can afford, consumer advocates say.
Student Ellie Aghayeva's petition states the federal agents did not have a warrant and “represented they were searching for a missing person to gain entry.” “No reason was given for the arrest,” the filing said, adding that she was later transferred to a federal detention center in Lower Manhattan. View More
The president has commanded a massive military buildup in the region, as he negotiates a new nuclear deal with Iran. View More
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffires (D-NY) speaks at a press conference on the government shutdown at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 8, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images Congressional Democrats will force a vote on a war powers resolution relating to Iran next week, Democratic leadership announced Thursday, as President Donald Trump engages in a massive military buildup in the region. The resolution would limit Trump's ability to conduct military action there.Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., have introduced a measure known as a war powers resolution that would compel the administration to seek congressional approval before engaging in any further activity in Iran. Congress has the sole authority to declare war under the U.S. Constitution, though that authority has been stretched in recent years by the executive branch. "As soon as Congress reconvenes next week, we will compel a vote of the full House of Representatives on the bipartisan Khanna-Massie War Powers resolution," the Democratic leaders led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement. Read more CNBC politics coverageCongress takes on Nvidia, White House as it pushes for chip export limitsWarren calls Trumpâs bluff on affordability after State of the UnionHouse Dems project midterm optimism at annual policy retreat following State of the Union "The Iranian regime is brutal and destabilizing, seen most recently in the killing of thousands of protestors," the statement read. "However, undertaking a war of choice in the Middle East, without a full understanding of all the attendant risks to our servicemembers and to escalation, is reckless."The war powers resolution would also need to be approved by the Senate if it is passed by the House. But passage from the House is far from a guaranteed outcome as bipartisan lawmakers have recently lined up against the resolution. Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., released a statement last week opposing the measure, citing concerns about Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities."We respect and defend Congress's constitutional role in matters of war. Oversight and debate are absolutely vital," the pair wrote. "However, this resolution would restrict the flexibility needed to respond to real and evolving threats and risks, signaling weakness at a dangerous moment."Trump has overseen a massive military buildup in the Middle East and has threatened strikes against Iran. His administration is also negotiating with Tehran over the country's nuclear program. The two countries held a third round of talks in Geneva on Thursday.Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi in a post on X described the day's negotiations as having made "significant progress." He said that technical discussions will continue next week in Vienna and that the principals would reconvene "soon after consultation in the respective capitals."The president said during his State of the Union address Tuesday that he prefers to resolve the Iran situation diplomatically but did not take military force off the table. "I will never allow the world's No. 1 sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon," Trump said.
Wealthy Americans use DAFs to give back and save on taxes, but the popular strategy comes with strings attached. View More
Ridvan_celik | Istock | Getty Images A version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.With donor-advised funds gaining popularity as a vehicle for the wealthy to give back, risks and potential conflicts of interests are emerging â and being put on display in a lawsuit over a family's $21 million charitable fund.Philip Peterson, a 63-year-old Kansas resident, filed suit in January alleging that the nonprofit that administers his family's donor-advised fund has refused to communicate with him and has failed to make charitable grants that he has recommended since early 2024. The suit, filed in Colorado federal court, alleges the Christian nonprofit, called WaterStone, cut off his access to information about the account and that he doesn't know how the fund has fared since the end of 2023, when it had $21 million in assets.Counsel for WaterStone, founded as the Christian Community Foundation, said in a statement that the Colorado Springs nonprofit has respected the wishes of Peterson's late father, who originally created the fund in 2005 and died in 2019.The case sheds light on the growing uptake, and dangers, of donor-advised funds, or DAFs, which have quickly become one of the most dominant forces in philanthropy. Americans donated nearly $90 billion to DAFs in 2024, per the most recent annual report from the DAF Research Collaborative. According to the most recent data available, DAFs held $326 billion combined in assets in 2024. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); For Americans looking to give back and save on taxes, DAFs are marketed as a flexible and simple way to do so, often described as charitable saving accounts or credit cards. Instead of writing a check to a nonprofit, donors contribute cash and other assets to a DAF. While the tax deduction is immediate, the funds can be allocated to charities later.  DAFs, unlike private foundations, are not required to distribute assets within a given timeframe, a common criticism among opponents who say DAFs are wealth hoarding vehicles.The Peterson case offers a cautionary tale on the tradeoffs â especially when it comes to control. While donors are able to recommend how the funds are distributed to charity, the assets are legally controlled by the organizations that administer the DAF on their behalf. Though these organizations, also known as sponsors, typically respect their donors' wishes, donors have little recourse if they do not."It's sold to the public as, 'This is your account, and you can decide where it goes, and you can move it, and you maintain full control.' But if you don't give up dominion and control, you don't get the tax benefits," said Ray Madoff, tax scholar and professor at Boston College Law School. "There's a disconnect between the legal rules that govern it and the understanding of the parties. And this case is a perfect example of it." How much to give Peterson told Inside Wealth that the rift with WaterStone started with a disagreement over how much to distribute. In early 2024, Peterson alleges, WaterStone CEO Ken Harrison told him that the organization was going to keep the fund's principal in perpetuity and only make grants from investment income. Peterson said he did not agree to the proposal as this would not allow the fund to make its customary annual grants of between $2.3 million and $2.5 million.He further alleges that in March 2024, after he told Harrison over Zoom that he wanted to move the DAF to another sponsor, Harrison told him never to contact WaterStone again and abruptly ended the call.Now Peterson is suing to assert his advisory privileges and regain access to the DAF, which was started by his late father, Gordon Peterson, a real estate investor and devout Christian, to support evangelical Christian causes. Peterson ultimately seeks the court to compel WaterStone to transfer the DAF to another organization so he can bring the fund's giving back up to speed.He said he requested WaterStone make a $1 million grant in 2024 but does not know if that grant â or if any grants â were issued that year. In 2025, WaterStone notified Peterson it would permit a $400,000 distribution from the fund, he said."I made a promise to my father. I promised him that if I was the remaining person on the account that I would direct the funds as I knew that he would 100% approve," he said. "I want to be a man of my word." Philip Peterson, left, pictured with his father Gordon in 2015. Gordon Peterson passed away in 2019.Courtesy of Philip Peterson WaterStone declined to comment on specifics of Peterson's allegations. The deadline for WaterStone to answer the complaint in court or move to dismiss it is mid-March."WaterStone has consistently carried out the articulated wishes of the donor since the donor advised fund in question was established," WaterStone's legal counsel said in a written statement, referring to Peterson's father. "The plaintiff in this case is not the donor."Andrew Nussbaum, Peterson's lawyer, said that WaterStone helped Gordon Peterson appoint his wife, Ruth, and son Philip as co-advisors to the DAF before he died. Ruth Peterson died in 2021, leaving Philip Peterson as the sole successor-advisor. Prior to 2024, WaterStone granted Philip Peterson's grant requests, Nussbaum said.Nussbaum said the lawsuit could set a chilling precedent if the court upholds WaterStone's argument that designated successors do not have advisory privileges."If WaterStone is right, you're talking about billions of dollars being beyond any kind of legal reach of the original donor-advisors or their successors to have any oversight related to the funds," Nussbaum said.Moreover, Peterson said he believes WaterStone has not honored his father's wishes. He alleges that WaterStone has delayed or denied his grant recommendations even though they met the mission statement written by his father, which included a list of approved charities."I can tell you this: My dad would never have created a donor-advised fund if he knew that this was going to be the outcome. He felt very passionately about this," he said. DAF trade-offs Law professor and DAF critic Roger Colinvaux said in his view, donors who want control of DAF assets are trying to have their cake and eat it too. "Whether you like DAFs or not, the DAF sponsor is an independent charity. It's an independent entity, and its duties are not to the donor," said Colinvaux, professor at the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America. "If the plaintiff wanted the sort of control that the plaintiff seems to want, as evidenced in the complaint, there's a structure for that, and that's a private foundation." Dana Brakman Reiser, professor at Brooklyn Law School, cautioned that Peterson's story is a rare scenario. She said the biggest DAF sponsors like Fidelity Charitable and Schwab Charitable (now DAFgiving360) are affiliated with financial institutions and generally inclined to keep donors happy."It's in their interest as long as honoring the donor's request is not going to get the sponsor in trouble," she said. Brakman Reiser added that the IRS prohibits using DAF assets to buy gala tickets or pay college tuition. Get Inside Wealth directly to your inboxThe Inside Wealth newsletter by Robert Frank is your weekly guide to high-net-worth investors and the industries that serve them.Subscribe here to get access today. Still, the interests of sponsors and donor-advisors are rarely perfectly aligned. Sponsors typically collect fees for managing DAF assets, creating an inherent financial incentive to disburse fewer assets, according to Chuck Collins, the director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank. While community foundations pioneered the DAF model, they are now competing with larger commercially-affiliated sponsors for donors' dollars, he added."More and more, they are having to compete with the commercial DAFs like Fidelity that have very low overhead and don't take much in the way of fees. And so what's the business model for a community foundation where, you know, 80% of the donations coming in are from people wanting to create DAFs?" he said. "In reality, their business model now depends on people parking their assets for longer periods of time."While Peterson's case is unusual, it's not the first legal challenge surrounding DAFs. In 2018, a hedge fund couple sued Fidelity Charitable, contending the sponsor broke an agreement to liquidate their donated shares gradually and instead sold off 1.93 million shares, a position originally worth $100 million, in a matter of hours. Fidelity Charitable argued that it had followed the law and the case was ruled in their favor.In another noteworthy debacle, in 2009, a Virginia-based charity called the National Heritage Foundation wiped out 9,000 DAFs worth $25 million combined to pay out creditors after it filed for bankruptcy. Giving directly to charity doesn't necessarily guarantee the assets will be used to the donor's intent. But adding an intermediary into the equation adds another layer of complexity. The handful of lawsuits filed by donor-advisors over how DAF assets are spent or invested have thus far been largely unsuccessful in court. In short, according to Colinvaux, courts have upheld that donors have ceded any control in order to qualify for the tax break. If donors had the right to control assets â as opposed to the privilege to advise â they would not be able to claim a deduction, he said.Nussbaum said Peterson's case is different as it focuses on his rights to advise grants rather than control over how the assets are investments. Peterson said he tried to resolve the dispute with Waterstone for about two years before going to court. While he knows his suit faces considerable odds, he said he felt he had no choice."People put an enormous amount of trust in these companies, and we're hopefully going to find out what these companies can and can't do," he said. "It may have a big effect on the industry, and I don't want to be that guy. All I want to do is to be able to continue my father's legacy."Correction: This story has been updated to correct the IRS limitations on use of DAF assets.
Trump laid blame on Democrats for affordability and argued his administration has solved the problem, as polls consistently show increased concern from voters. View More
Ranking member Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questions Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing titled "The Financial Stability Oversight Council's Annual Report to Congress," in Dirksen building on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling President Donald Trump's bluff after he claimed to be "ending" the affordability crisis during his State of the Union address, opening a new front in the battle that could determine November's midterm elections."Your claims are directly at odds with the day-to-day experiences of American households, who are struggling with rising costs of essentials, including food, housing, health care, child care, and electricity," Warren, D-Mass., wrote in a letter to Trump, which was shared exclusively with CNBC after being sent late Wednesday. "Despite your claims, you have not 'solved' affordability or 'defeated' inflation. Instead, over the past year, prices have skyrocketed for American households," Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, wrote.Warren's letter is the launching point for a frontal assault on Trump and congressional Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms, which could be decided over affordability. Trump's approval rating on the economy has plummeted as voters express concern about the high cost of living, a contrast with an economy he said was "roaring" during his State of the Union address. Now, Democrats are hoping to seize the opportunity to leverage affordability and kick Republicans out of power in Congress. Warren made clear the letter is only her first foray into knocking the president on affordability, as Democrats race around the country selling their economic message before November. Read more CNBC politics coverageCongress takes on Nvidia, White House as it pushes for chip export limitsWarren calls Trumpâs bluff on affordability after State of the UnionHouse Dems project midterm optimism at annual policy retreat following State of the Union "Over the coming weeks, I will be writing to Administration officials, companies, and industry representatives directly about your chaotic tariffs and failed economic policies â seeking answers for the American people who are being forced to pay more on everything from groceries to housing," Warren said.Warren late Wednesday also sent a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy saying the online retailer was tardy in publicly saying that Trump's tariffs had contributed to price increases on its platform since their enactment. She also asked Amazon to respond to a series of questions about its future plans on price hikes given Trump's pledge to find ways tariffs in place. Spokespersons for Amazon and the White House didn't immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.Trump has at times suggested he is getting serious about addressing affordability concerns. He's called for a cap on interest on credit cards, which he did not mention in his speech. He's also called for a ban on institutional investors from buying homes, which he did mention. Both are also priorities of Warren's and the progressive left.But in his State of the Union address, Trump laid blame solely on Democrats for affordability and argued his administration has solved the problem, as polls consistently show increased economic concern from voters. "You caused that problem," the president said. "They knew their statements were a dirty, rotten lie. Their policies created the high prices, our policies are rapidly ending them." US President Donald Trump gestures as he delivers the State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 24, 2026. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | Afp | Getty Images While overall inflation has cooled significantly from recent highs, the cost of many everyday goods remains high, especially compared with before the Covid-19 pandemic. Electricity prices have skyrocketed amid increased demand from data centers, grocery prices remain high and housing costs have stayed inflated. Trump's tariff agenda has also contributed to lingering high prices. Trump doubled down on issuing tariffs through other means during his address, after the Supreme Court knocked down the authority he had been using to implement them. The tariffs will "remain in place under fully approved and tested alternative legal statutes," he said. To Warren, that only provided ammunition. "Rather than providing relief to consumers, you are pursuing additional across-the-board tariffs through other mechanisms â opening the door to yet another wave of price hikes," she said in her letter. watch nowVIDEO10:3310:33State of the Union 2026 rapid recap: Trump's biggest economic remarksRapid Recap