Elon Musk Lands Another ‘Moonshot’ Pay Deal

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0:33Corrie Driebusch:A new wave of job cuts hits tech workers, as big tech's bill for AI spending comes due. Plus, the SpaceX IPO could give Elon Musk even more power at the company. Investors are all for it. It's a lot of I trust in Musk. And if you have that belief, you're almost investing in the person. And good news for the multi-billion dollar cannabis industry. the Trump administration is reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug. It's Thursday, April 23rd. I'm Alex Osula for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

1:17Corrie Driebusch:It's a gloomy day for tech workers. Meta will lay off a tenth of its staff, roughly 8 ,000 people, next month. Per an internal memo, it's trying to streamline its operations and pay for massive AI investments. The memo also says Meta will cancel plans to hire for 6 ,000 open roles. A Meta spokesperson declined to comment. And the journal has learned that Microsoft is offering buyouts to about 7 % of its U.S. employees. The Voluntary Retirement Program for longtime workers is a first for the software giant, which is reorganizing staff as it also pushes hard on AI. Microsoft employed more than 100 ,000 people in the U.S.

1:56Corrie Driebusch:as of June 2025. Companies in Silicon Valley and beyond have made mega layoffs in recent months and are often getting praise from investors for it. Turning to SpaceX, WSJ reporter Corey Driebusch says that sources have told the Journal that its CEO Elon Musk could land another big payday. Elon Musk is poised to really have a lot of control over SpaceX when the company goes public. SpaceX's board has already granted him a moonshot pay package, packages that typically are very large in dollar amount and are given to CEOs of companies once they hit huge, very long shot goals. Musk, of course, was already granted a moonshot$1 trillion pay package at his other company, Tesla.

2:48Corrie Driebusch:As for SpaceX, which is expected to go public in June, Corey says Musk could control it through what are called super voting shares. Musk and key executives are expected to hold Class B shares that get 10 votes each, and every other share is going to have one vote each, a dual share class. It's much more popular for founder-led companies and specifically for tech. founder-led companies. And corporate governance experts for a while have pushed back on this. But investors we've spoken to, current investors, and even those who are looking at the IPO, say they welcome those moves. They said, you know what?

3:27Musk's interests for SpaceX, those align what our interests for SpaceX are. And obviously, a lot of these shareholders have held on to SpaceX stock even without seeing the financials. It's a lot of I trust in Musk. And if you have that belief, you're almost investing in the person. So yeah, it makes sense to give them more power.

3:53Corrie Driebusch:Stocks turned lower today, with the Nasdaq leading the losses and closing down 0.9%. Oil prices were up for a fourth straight session. The front-month Brent crude contract rose above$105 a barrel. Investors are uneasy about hostilities potentially escalating in the Middle East. U.S. and Iran are jostling for control of the Strait of Hormuz. A third U.S. aircraft carrier has now arrived in the region, which would give President Trump more firepower if he decided to resume strikes on Iran. Mediators are still trying to get the diplomatic process back on track. In earnings, American Airlines warned today that the company could lose money this year and revised its financial outlook because of the rise in fuel prices.

4:34Corrie Driebusch:On this morning's earnings call, American Airlines CFO Devin May explained. The midpoint of the full-year earnings guidance is$0.35 per share, approximately flat to 2025, despite jet fuel prices increasing fuel expense by over$4 billion year-over-year. In the first quarter, American posted a loss of$382 million, compared with$473 million a year ago, while revenue rose 11 percent. Its stock closed up 2.4 percent. And American Express today reported that profit rose 15 percent in the first quarter. The credit card company known for its higher income cardholders says customer spending rose 9 percent, the highest growth rate in three years.

5:15Corrie Driebusch:Where were they shopping? At luxury retailers, spending rose 18 percent and at restaurants, 9 percent.

5:24Corrie Driebusch:In Washington, the Trump administration is reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug. Since 1970, marijuana has been a Schedule I drug, the most restrictive category. That also includes heroin and LSD. Now, marijuana is a Schedule III drug, which means people can get it with a prescription. It's one of the marijuana industry's biggest victories. And Journal-Corporate News reporter Dean Seale says the move is likely to have a big effect on the cannabis industry. So people who own cannabis companies can now finally start to deduct their business expenses, which was a major hang-up for the industry for a long time.

5:58Essentially, they just weren't getting taxed like any other business. Now they will be, so this is a big step towards normalization of their business and their industry. And that should also help open up some access to potentially banking down the line and also further investment and financing.

6:13Corrie Driebusch:More than half of states have legalized marijuana for some purpose over the past decade. But even with this federal change, recreational use of marijuana remains illegal under U.S. law. Coming up, how New York City turned the corner in the fight against shoplifting. That's after the break.

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6:56Corrie Driebusch:It's been years that we've been dealing with those plexiglass barriers to buy things like shampoo and baby formula. And you might not realize it when you're shopping at the drugstore, but in New York City, the police department has made progress in tackling the scourge of shoplifting that made those barriers necessary in the first place. Retail theft is down a little over 20 percent in the city for the first quarter compared to the same time last year. Reporter Jim Finelli covers federal prosecutions and law enforcement for the journal and is here to tell us more. Jim, it seems like there was a specific moment in time when this shoplifting really became a problem, and that was during the COVID-19 pandemic.

7:32Corrie Driebusch:What was going on there? The way retailers see it is that shoplifters were not really being prosecuted or being held accountable. And it led to this surge in cases around the country, including in New York City, that only started to turn around in the last couple years with changes in New York's case in the state law, as well as a real priority shift for the NYPD. And that includes deploying more officers into subway stations that shoplifters use as escape routes. They are encouraging retailers to report shoplifting complaints early and often, and they're showing them data that shows the earlier and quicker you report an incident, the higher chances they have of making an arrest.

8:16Corrie Driebusch:What are the kinds of things that people tended to steal? Candy and health and beauty items that are small and easy to pocket. One of the chiefs for the NYPD told me he knew the number one product at CVS that could be stolen, although he didn't want to share that with me. Oh, that's too bad. But these don't seem like really big ticket items. Do we know much about the impact this is having on retailers' bottom line? That was part of the problem is that somebody steals$30 worth of items, are they really going to send the police and prosecutors after that person? But it turns out now that NYPD really wants to go after that because new state laws allow them to aggregate the total thefts by one shoplifter at a specific store.

8:56And if it reaches this$1 ,000 threshold, then the misdemeanor charges that they could face now turn into a grand larceny felony charge, which comes with stiffer penalties.

9:06Corrie Driebusch:OK, Jim, the thing I think everybody wants to know is will we finally see those plexiglass barriers come down? There is some anecdotal evidence of barriers coming down for some items. But overall, signs point to no. The National Retail Federation says the security measures that most retailers put in place are going to stick around because it's not just what local law enforcement is doing, but also what retailers think is important to keep their items safe. That was WSJ reporter Jim Finelli.

9:39Corrie Driebusch:And finally, one of the most significant moments in some people's financial lives is divorce. That goes for both adults and their children. This week, The Wall Street Journal is exploring the cost of divorce. According to the latest census data, almost a third of American children saw their parents go through a divorce before they turned 18. WSJ personal finance reporter Oyen Adedoyan spoke with several children of divorce and their parents to learn about how it affected them. One of the ways that kids witness this change is usually the kid stays with one parent, right, but spends time with another.

10:14So they might observe differences in how their parents handle money. I got to speak with Olivia Kelly and her mom, and they have a really interesting story. Her mom, Janice, experienced the divorce when she was in her 40s, and at the time, Olivia was in middle school. So she's just entering that time in her life where money feels like a real thing. And her mom realized that she had really taken a backseat when it came to the finances. So her mom was learning a lot and relearning a lot about money at the same time that her daughter was just starting to interact with money for the first time. She had a side cooking business.

10:54For those who know her, she's a very great cook, of course, and she would make a bunch of prepared meals for people in the neighborhood. So I would help deliver some of those and just prep some of those with her. That meant that Olivia got this crash course in finance right alongside her mom. She learned about savings. She learned about investing. She learned about taxes. She helped me set up a Vanguard account. She really taught me how to manage my money well and not spend it recklessly. And it kind of set me up for my marriage. When she actually got into a relationship with her now wife, they all sat with Olivia's mom and talked about their spending patterns.

11:44And that's something that her wife, Chantel, was actually not used to. She came from a family where they didn't really talk about money. And so hearing Olivia and Janice talk so openly and freely about spending patterns was a new thing for Chantel, Olivia's wife.

11:58Corrie Driebusch:That's WSJ personal finance reporter Oyin Adedoyan. To read more of the WSJ's reporting on divorce, we've left a link to the journal's Cost of Divorce series in our show notes. And that's what's news for this Thursday afternoon. Additional sound courtesy of S &P Global Market Intelligence. Today's show was produced by Danny Lewis, Pierre Bien-Amey, and Amani Moise with supervising producer Tali Arbel. I'm Alex Osula for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.

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