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But after landing a job at Amazon in the late 1990s—when it was a bookstore-focused startup—Hart started his steep climb up the corporate ladder. In 2009, he had worked his way up to Jeff Bezos’ technical advisor, a chief-of-staff-equivalent role internally known as “the shadow.”

Now, as a new CEO of Coursera, Hart is taking the lessons he learned sitting next to the now third-richest man in the world (with a net worth of $241 billion) to transform the world of educational technology. That includes, he says, being someone who is always willing to be curious and to listen to your gut—even if the data might not back you up.

“One of the things that Jeff would regularly say is when the data and the anecdotes don’t align, trust the anecdotes,” Hart tells Fortune. “Because it probably means that you’re either measuring the wrong thing in the data, or that the data is telling you something that you’re just not seeing yet.”

This mantra would prove especially relevant in Hart’s life after he was tapped to lead Amazon’s creation of Alexa—a level of success he hopes to emulate at Coursera.

“(Coursera) is one of the leaders in the edtech space, certainly,” Hart says. “But hasn’t yet achieved what I would call the true breakout success that I was fortunate to have seen when I was at Amazon.”

Reshaping edtech with lessons learned from Amazon and Alexa

While serving as technical advisor, Hart was asked to turn Bezos’ two-sentence idea for the implementation of virtual assistant technology into a product found in consumers’ homes, later known as Alexa. 

With little background in hardware or software, Hart recalls being hesitant: “Why am I the right person to tackle this challenge?”

“He (Bezos) was unbelievably gracious. He said, ‘you’ll do fine, you’ll figure it out,’” Hart says.

Now with more than 600 million Alexa devices sold, it’s clear Hart did figure it out—in part thanks to the belief Bezos instilled in his subordinates. That lesson is one Hart says was critical in making Amazon grow from a bookstore to an e-commerce conglomerate.

“Pushing decisions down as close to the customer as possible was certainly something that I learned from Jeff,” he says. “The fewer decisions that have to go to the CEO, the faster the organization will move.”

Moving quickly will likely play in Coursera’s favor considering the rapidly changing world of education, including AI’s intersection with skill development. 

One of Coursera’s biggest competitors, 2U (which also owns edX), filed for bankruptcy last year and became a private company. Coursera’s public performance hasn’t been spectacular, either. Its share price currently sits at about $8.50, a far cry from its 2022 IPO at about $45.

But in the next five years, a predicted 1 billion people will gain internet access, according to Bloomberg, and thus would have access to Coursera’s thousands of online learning opportunities, that include partnerships with both industry and universities including Google, Microsoft, and IBM as well as Stanford University, University of Michigan, and University of Pennsylvania.

“There is a huge opportunity for Coursera, not just to serve all the people who are online today and give them access to world class education so they can transform their lives, but also to do that for the population that will come online,” Hart says.

Hart’s advice for Gen Z: Optimize for learning—and ask why

For young people looking to push their careers up the corporate ladder and emulate a jump from Nordstrom to Amazon,Hart’s advice is simple: Focus on learning—not on a flashy job title or cushy salary.

“Don’t optimize for titles, don’t optimize for salary, optimize for learning. And if you do that in the long run, it will benefit you,” he tells Fortune.

And while that advice may sound on-brand coming from the CEO of an education company, treating your career like a marathon, not a sprint, and spending time discovering your broader interests is a mantra echoed by other business leaders, including Hart’s former coworker, Andy Jassy. 

“I have a 21-year-old son and a 24-year-old daughter, and one of the things I see with them and their peers is they all feel like they have to know what they want to do for their life at that age,” Jassy, the current Amazon CEO, said on the podcast, How Leaders Lead with David Novak. “And I really don’t believe that’s true.”

“I tried a lot of things, and I think that early on it’s just as important to learn what you don’t want to do as what you want to do, because it actually helps you figure out what you want to do,” Jassy added.

And while Jassy admits career success involves an element of luck and may include multiple setbacks, remaining persistent is what ultimately might land you a shot at the corner office. 

“I feel like my journey or adventure was a lot of luck, and I think maybe one of the things I did best was not overthink it,” Jassy added to Novak.

By William Watts

‘Strength begets strength’, says ClearBridge’s Schulze after S&P 500’s rapid rally off April lows

Tariffs? Deficits? So what?

Stock-market investors who were in full-fledged panic just three months ago in the wake of President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” unveiling of sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners went into the long Fourth of July weekend with the S&P 500 SPX and Nasdaq Composite COMP in record territory. That’s even with a 90-day pause on those tariffs due to expire on Wednesday.

“The direction of travel for tariffs has really been one way over the last couple months, which has been a positive direction,” Jeff Schulze, head of economic and market strategy at ClearBridge Investments, with $180.4 billion in assets under management, told MarketWatch.

Stocks stumbled hard after the April 2 tariff announcement, with the S&P 500 finishing nearly 19% below its February record and on the cusp of a bear market, before roaring back after Trump announced the pause. Stock-market bulls barely looked back as equities extended their climb, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both pushing back into record territory in June.

Investors have been soothed by a framework agreement with China that helped cool tensions between Washington and Beijing. And while flare-ups between the U.S. and trading partners are possible, the expectation is that the pause will be extended for countries negotiating levies, all of which could make the July 9 deadline a “non-event,” Schulze said.

“The setup for stocks during the second half of 2025 is quite Goldilocks” – neither too warm nor too cold, but just right – as investors eye potential trade deals, the extension of the 2017 tax cuts with passage of Trump’s massive tax and spending bill, calming geopolitical tensions and a Fed that’s warming up to interest-rate cuts, said Clark Bellin, president and chief investment officer of Lincoln, Neb.-based Bellwether Wealth, which manages $630 million in assets, in emailed comments.

Congressional Republicans wrestled Trump’s fiscal legislation over the finish line shortly after markets saw an early close Thursday. That was also described as a positive for stocks, with tax cuts and other measures set to provide a fiscal tailwind.

“Enthusiasm is also heavily motivated by the fact that this growing economy will receive supply-side stimulus,” said Jose Torres, chief economist at Interactive Brokers, in a note, referring to the legislation.

Read: Trump’s big bill just passed the House. Here are the winners and losers as it goes to his desk.

So much for the bond-market vigilantes. Volatile moves in Treasury yields beginning last fall were tied by some investors to fears that Trump’s fiscal agenda would result in a further surge to the deficit. The legislation passed Thursday is projected to add $3.4 trillion to the U.S. government’s $36.2 trillion debt over the next 10 years.

Treasury yields rose Thursday, but that was driven more by good news on the economic front after a stronger-than-expected June jobs report. The yield on the 10-year note BX:TMUBMUSD10Y finished the week at 4.339%, up 5 basis points on the day but down 46 basis points from its 52-week high near 4.8% set in January. Yields and bond prices move opposite each other.

Deficit estimates don’t account for potential tariff revenues, which were $15.6 billion in April according to Bipartisan Policy Center data, analysts at Jefferies said in a Thursday note. “The key question for equity investors is whether the tax incentives will meaningfully boost economic growth and thus rein in the growth in public debt over the next decade,” they wrote.

Stocks rallied Thursday after June nonfarm payrolls rose a stronger-than-expected 147,000 and the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% from 4.2%. Economists didn’t love all aspects of the report, but investors were in a buying mood. The S&P 500 rose 0.8% to close at a record 6,279.35, while the Nasdaq advanced 1% to end at a record 20,601.10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA gained 344.11 points, or 0.8%, to close at 44,828.53, off 0.4% from its record close of 45,014.04 set on Dec. 4.

See: The June jobs report is grimy under the hood. Here’s a few key numbers that tell us why.

Investors may be reluctant to stand in the way of the stock market after such a ferocious rebound from the April lows. Schulze noted that the 19.8% 50-day rally off the April 8 low was the ninth-strongest such rally for the S&P 500 going back to 1950. Strong 50-day rallies have tended to be followed by impressive gains over the subsequent three-, six- and 12-month periods, he said (see table below).

“Strength usually begets strength,” he said.

Some strategists still see reasons to be cautious.

For one thing, the Wall Street consensus appears overly optimistic when it comes to the tariff outlook and thus the growth rate in calendar year 2025, said Scott Wren, global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, in a note. As tariffs arrive in force, the economy is certain to slow, pushing up unemployment and denting consumer spending.

“Our feel is that stocks are ahead of themselves, and as a result, we are looking to trim positions in markets and sectors that we find overvalued, particularly U.S. small-cap equities and the industrials and consumer discretionary sectors” in the S&P 500, which have done well in recent months, he said.

Investors could hold those funds or reinvest in sectors that appear more favorable, including tech, financials, energy, utilities and communications services, he wrote. Or, since stocks aren’t cheap, they may opt “to hold those funds to reinvest if the downside volatility we expect develops.”

-William Watts

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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It’s been a tremendous year so far for bitcoin and the crypto market.

Cryptocurrencies have gained greater acceptance in Washington, with President Donald Trump establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve and the Senate passing the GENIUS Act. They’ve also found favor with traditional finance; spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund net inflows in 2025 have totaled $14.4 billion through July 3, according to data from Farside Investors.

Bitcoin (BTCUSD) has gained about 15% since the start of year, outpacing the S&P 500’s rise of 7%. It isn’t far from the all-time high of near $112,000 set in May, edging closer to the bullish year-end targets analysts set at the start of the year.

Here’s what crypto investors will be watching for in the second half of the year.

Will Bitcoin Treasuries Go Mainstream?

So-called bitcoin treasury companies have been the talk of the town in 2025. A bitcoin treasury company is a business that holds a substantial portion of its reserve assets in bitcoin, often as an inflation hedge or in anticipation of bitcoin’s development as a global, apolitical reserve asset. Some companies, like Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR), take it a step further by issuing shares or debt to accumulate bitcoin.

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) has been at this for years, but there are several new players entering the arena, including Metaplanet and Twenty One. There are now an estimated 135 public companies that hold bitcoin as a reserve asset.

“The latter half of 2025 will mark a pivotal moment for bitcoin’s adoption as a treasury asset, driven by a convergence of global market trends, shifting corporate strategies, and institutional validation,” Stephen Cole, who is the co-founder and CEO of bitcoin treasury solution provider Castle, told Investopedia. “We’re already seeing bitcoin treasury companies emerge in every major global capital market and [I] expect that trend to continue,” he said.

Cole expects larger companies, including well-known tech giants, to begin establishing bitcoin positions and defining their allocation strategies by the end of the year. “For (small and medium sized businesses) and large corporations alike, the question of whether to acquire bitcoin is quickly going from if to when,” Cole added.

Do Altcoins Stand a Chance Against Bitcoin?

Some have wondered if bitcoin treasury companies will sap demand for smaller, more volatile altcoins.

“Demand for altcoins has historically stemmed from two main sources: (1) beta exposure to bitcoin, and (2) differentiated use cases that bitcoin’s blockchain doesn’t fulfill,” David Lawant, Head of Research at FalconX, told Investopedia. “What we’re seeing now is that bitcoin treasury companies and broader access to instruments like options can meet that first demand more efficiently and with less friction.”

However, Lawant says bitcoin treasuries only satisfy some of the criteria that drive demand for altcoins. He also cautioned that “the cycle is likely far from over,” and in his view, there is still time for certain types of alternative crypto assets to shine.

“Altcoins with a strong and distinct fundamental value proposition still have plenty of room to perform,” said Lawant. “Regulatory shifts such as the crypto market structure bill and a more permissive stance toward decentralized finance (DeFi) experimentation could unlock powerful new trends.”

More Crypto ETFs and IPOs

Of course, bitcoin treasury companies aren’t the only way to gain exposure to bitcoin and other crypto assets via public markets. Spot ETFs for bitcoin and ether already exist, and according to Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart, similar products could be on the way for other digital assets. Tweaks to existing ETFs, such as in-kind redemption and staking, are also likely.

“I think we will see the vast majority, if not all, of the currently filed 19b-4s obtain approval by the end of the year,” Seyffart told Investopedia. “That includes in-kind [redemptions] and staking and something like 10 individual assets [that have] attempted to get an ETF.”

Additionally, the undeniable success of the IPO for stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) has not gone unnoticed. Galaxy (GLXY) and eToro (ETOR), which are both heavily involved in the crypto market, also debuted earlier this year. According to Nate Geraci, President of The ETF Store, there could be more IPOs on the way from the likes of crypto exchanges Gemini and Kraken, and blockchain technology companies Consensys and Ripple, among others.

Ethereum’s Make or Break Moment?

Finally, ether (ETHUSD), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain and long the second-largest crypto asset behind bitcoin, may also be at a critical point in its history. It has underperformed both bitcoin and some of its smaller competitors, such as Binance Smart Chain and Solana, in recent years.

A recent report from a group of Ethereum proponents gained attention for comparing ether to digital oil. Still, some investors doubt that the use of Ethereum’s tech by the likes of Coinbase Global (COIN) and stablecoin-issuers will necessarily accrue value to the ether asset itself over the long term.

That said, Lawant believes there are still plenty of reasons to not count out ether quite yet.

“There have been clear signs over the past few months that sentiment is shifting in the Ethereum ecosystem,” said Lawant. “Ethereum also benefits from being more closely tied to traditional capital markets, which is a key price driver in today’s environment. That’s evident in its active CME futures market and the launch of spot ETFs.”

Ether “also remains underowned by many institutional investors,” says Lawant. Analysts say the addition of staking to spot ether ETFs could help improve institutional adoption. “If the current developments play out as expected, there’s meaningful room for a catch-up.”

Ether is down about 85% relative to bitcoin since hitting an all-time high of 0.1475 ether per bitcoin roughly eight years ago, according to data from CoinGecko.

Remember the era of cheap natural gas? Yea, that world is gone.

Utilities and tech companies may be clamoring to build new gas-fired power plants to meet rising energy demand, but no matter how much they envision gas as a solution, there’s no escaping gas’s expensive, bad-for-the-climate reality. Anyone harboring the illusion of low-cost gas is operating as if it’s still 2015.

“I think people have in their minds that gas is a cheap way to generate power”, said Rich Powell, CEO of trade group the Clean Energy Buyers Association. “New build natural gas is not a cheap way to generate electricity.”

Today, gas’s economics are facing pressure on two fronts: Supply chain bottlenecks and workforce shortages have made it nearly impossible to source equipment for new gas-fired power plants in the near to medium term while also raising the costs of those plants. And gas as a fuel is becoming more expensive as global demand for liquified natural gas intensifies and the United States exports more of the fossil fuel instead of keeping it within our borders to meet American demand.

The shale revolution did usher in an era of cheap gas that reshaped the U.S. energy landscape, with gas overtaking coal in electricity generation around 2016. However, in recent years, new natural gas plants have constituted a small share of new capacity additions to the overall U.S. electricity mix.

In fact, since the 2018 surge, nearly every megawatt of new generation added to the grid has been clean energy—96% of new power in 2024 and 85% in 2023. That’s largely because for more than half a decade, renewables have been the cheapest sources of new electricity.

A gas buildout would look different this time

The big surge of new U.S. gas-fired power plant additions came in the early 2000s, before leveling off to a more moderate pace where the slowdown triggered several reactions that could make it hard to quickly build new gas plants today.

It turns out building gas plants is a use-it-or-lose-it skill.

Gas turbine manufacturers such as GE Vernova and Siemens Energy scaled back their production capabilities to meet lower demand, and output can’t be increased overnight. As a result, new gas turbine orders face a wait time of five to seven years before they can be delivered to utilities.

“Gas turbines were dead in 2022,” Siemens Energy North America President Rich Voorberg said at a recent conference, noting the company had been down to one customer.

Additionally, the slowdown in gas plant construction led to a brain drain, with NextEra CEO John Ketchum explaining much of the workforce that built the early 2000s boom has retired or moved to other fields, leaving behind a serious labor shortage.

Because of these factors, not only will it take years to build more natural gas-fired power plants, they’ll also be more expensive this time around. NextEra’s Ketchum estimates building a new plant today would cost three times as much as the last facility the utility built, back in 2022.

Others agree. “We did a quote and to do the same kind of unit that had been built a few years back it would be two and a half times more today,” Paul Sotkiewicz, president and founder of consultant E-Cubed Policy Associates.

He’s not alone in this sentiment.

“We are seeing substantial increases in the estimates for new builds, including everything from the cost of engineering, procurement and construction to the cost of equipment and materials,” said Bobby Noble, senior program manager for Gas Turbine Research and Development at EPRI.

The fuel to run gas plants costs more too

Then there’s the other side of the coin—not only will it cost much more to build a natural gas plant in today’s world, but the fuel that plant will burn is becoming significantly more expensive. The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts Henry Hub prices—the main benchmark for natural gas prices—will increase by 43% in 2025 and another 27% in 2026. Increased natural gas demand from growing liquified natural gas exports is a primary driver for these cost increases, according to the EIA.

It’s a textbook Econ 101 example—exporting LNG abroad where natural gas prices are much higher raises demand for U.S.-produced gas. And when demand goes up, so does the price.

“It is not clear how both the AI and LNG export boom, both of which need prodigious volumes of gas, can succeed without provoking price spikes,” Gas Outlook recently reported.

“The explosion of (LNG) exports has upended domestic energy markets … and has exposed American energy markets to increased price volatility and episodes of sharply higher prices,” said Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s energy program.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” makes the problem even worse

There’s no question U.S. electricity demand will increase in the coming years, although exactly what the rate of growth will be remains an open question. But relying on natural gas to fill the gap over at least the next five years appears to be both a foolhardy and highly expensive gamble. Instead, we should be increasing the pace of wind, solar, and storage buildout, as these technologies are currently the fastest, most affordable ways to add more power to the grid. Unfortunately, Congress just built a giant roadblock for clean energy.

The new One Big Beautiful Bill Act would repeals renewable energy incentives and puts in place overly complicated supply chain constraints, killing many of the domestic clean energy projects that had been projected to come online over the next few years. That will increase wholesale electricity costs by 74% over the next decade, according to Energy Innovation analysis. Over same time period, 340 fewer gigawatts of clean energy would also not get built.

Thus, we face a scenario where we need more power quickly, can’t get the materials or staff needed to build new gas plants that would be wildly expensive anyway, and we’re taking big chunks of fast, cheap clean energy off the table.

That’s a great blueprint for losing the AI race and making America expensive again.

Master Changan Motor Limited has increased the prices of all its vehicles, with the revised rates taking effect from July 1, 2025.

The adjustment affects the full model lineup and follows broader pricing changes across the auto industry in response to measures introduced in the federal budget for 2025–26.

The new pricing includes increases ranging from Rs45,000 to Rs200,000, depending on the model. For the Oshan X7, the price of the Comfort (7 seats) variant has risen from Rs8,299,000 to Rs8,474,000, while the FS (5 seats) and FS (7 seats) variants are now priced at Rs9,149,000 and Rs9,299,000, respectively, both reflecting a Rs200,000 increase.

For the Alsvin, the MT Comfort variant now costs Rs4,189,000, up from Rs4,099,000. The Lumiere and Lumiere Black Edition have both seen Rs100,000 hikes, with new prices set at Rs4,899,000 and Rs4,999,000.

The Karvaan Power Plus 1.2 is now priced at Rs3,249,000, up from Rs3,199,000, and the Sherpa Power 1.2 has increased from Rs2,304,000 to Rs2,349,000.

The price hikes follow the introduction of a New Energy Vehicle (NEV) adoption levy under the 2025–26 budget. The levy ranges from 1% to 3% depending on engine displacement and applies to all locally assembled vehicles.

Automakers, including Changan, have revised prices to absorb the impact of the new levy. While some manufacturers have partially absorbed the increased cost, most have passed it on to customers.

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By Francesca Merlo

Pope Leo XIV has received two custom-built electric vehicles to assist him during his apostolic journeys abroad. 

Developed by the Italian company Exelentia in collaboration with the Gendarmerie Corps of Vatican City State, the compact vehicles are designed to be transported on long-haul flights without needing to be dismantled.

The news of the donation came in a press release issued on the 6th of July by the Governatorate of Vatican City State, which explains that the vehicles are “the result of a fusion of engineering design and the high-level mechanical, electronic, manufacturing, and artisanal expertise” of the team involved in their development. They are, in fact, fully electric and emit neither noise nor pollutants.

The statement explains that both have been customised to meet the specific needs of the Pope.  More specifically, “the bodywork was customised with the addition of a front handle and lateral supports under the armrests to offer secure grips and improved comfort when boarding and exiting the vehicle”.

The Gendarmerie Corps played a central role in supervising each phase of the project, aiming “at ensuring maximum efficiency, agility, and security”, especially given the vehicles’ intended use during international visits. ITA Airways, on which Pope’s travel, also collaborated on the project by helping define the technical and dimensional requirements for air transport.

The vehicles were presented to Pope Leo XIV during a private meeting on the 3rd of July at the Pontifical Villas in Castel Gandolfo.