Budget carrier Frontier Airlines is taking a page from its competitor Southwest’s book.
Frontier is now selling “economy bundles” that include a free carry-on bag, as well as offering a promotion for an additional, free checked bag for summer travel—that perk goes into effect the same day Southwest plans to end its popular two free checked bags policy. And “if travelers show us the love,” CEO Barry Biffle said the airline could make the perks permanent.
Still, it’s unclear if that will happen, since roughly $650 million—or around 17%—of Frontier’s total revenue in 2024 came from baggage fees.
FIRST UP
Win McNamee/Getty Images
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump on Tuesday, saying that Trump’s call to impeach a federal judge is inappropriate. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that Trump’s executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 should be paused for 14 days, and is now looking into whether the Trump Administration defied the order by sending more than 260 migrants to a prison in El Salvador.
Google parent company Alphabet is making its largest acquisition ever with a $32 billion all-cash deal to buy Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz, which will make its four cofounders worth about $2.2 billion apiece. Forbes profiled the company in 2023, highlighting its aggressive growth strategy that at the time raised eyebrows from some industry peers.
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BUSINESS + FINANCE
San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
In the latest sign of the apparent corporate retreat from DEI, organizers behind one of the country’s largest LGBTQ Pride celebrations say an abnormal number of companies have pulled out of sponsoring this year’s march. San Francisco Pride organizers confirmed to Forbes four companies that dropped out of supporting its celebrations this year, and according to SFGate, the loss of sponsorships represents $300,000 in funding—slightly less than a tenth of the $3.2 million budgeted for SF Pride’s June events.
TECH + INNOVATION
Distributed Spectrum cofounders Ben Harpe, Isaac Struhl and Alex Wuff.
Distributed Spectrum
Distributed Spectrum, a company founded by Harvard students, is making tiny AI-powered sensors to help the U.S. military locate enemy troops and drones via radio emissions. On Tuesday, the company announced it has raised $25 million in a Series A funding round. The need for such devices is perhaps most apparent in Ukraine, where radio waves are powering everything from warfare communication to guided missiles and explosive-laden drones.
MONEY + POLITICS
A judge ruled that Elon Musk’s and DOGE’s efforts to dismantle USAID are likely unconstitutional, and ordered the Trump Administration to restore the foreign aid agency’s functionality. The administration has sought to distance Musk from the widespread federal cuts, and the case is one of several that take aim at the billionaire’s authority over the federal government.
The Trump Organization previously tried and failed to expand into Ukraine, long before Trump’s first presidency and the war with Russia, according to testimony Donald Trump gave in 2007. Trump was interested in developing a hotel in Kiev sometime prior to March 2005 as part of broader expansion plans, he explained during a sworn deposition in a lawsuit he filed against journalist Timothy O’Brien and his publisher.
SCIENCE + HEALTHCARE
Purdue Pharma submitted a new bankruptcy plan Tuesday, which will give its creditors more than $7.4 billion in cash—including up to $7 billion in payments from the billionaire Sackler family—to help compensate the victims of the opioid crisis, after the Supreme Court struck down the company’s previous settlement plan. Under the plan, the drugmaker would be dissolved and a new “public benefit company” would absorb its assets.
WORLD
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a limited ceasefire Tuesday that involves temporarily not attacking Ukrainian energy and infrastructure targets, after a highly anticipated phone call with President Donald Trump, but stopped short of agreeing to a full ceasefire. It’s unclear whether the leaders discussed land and power plants seized in the war, a major factor in permanently ending the conflict, though Trump said Sunday he would discuss “dividing up certain assets.”
TRENDS + EXPLAINERS
Tax Day is just around the corner, but it’s been a slow start to the tax season, and the millions of taxpayers who still need to file could consider filing for an extension if they’re not ready. It’s most important to ensure your return is accurate, and the extension will be granted automatically as long as you follow the rules.
The National Archives on Tuesday released a massive tranche of documents pertaining to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy, after President Donald Trump vowed “all” records surrounding the JFK assassination would be publicly released. Researchers previously estimated between 3,000 and 4,000 documents have not been released, but experts have said it’s unlikely the remaining records would contain any smoking gun that changes the government’s findings.
DAILY COVER STORY
As Trump Makes Panama Canal Demands, Meet The Swiss Billionaire Who Bought Two Key Ports With BlackRock
Gianluigia Aponte
DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
President Donald Trump has touted a deal for a “large American company” to buy two ports on the Panama Canal.
The deal to which he was referring was the sale of 43 ports owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing’s Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison to a group led by asset manager BlackRock for $23 billion—and the two Panama ports were just a small part of it. What Trump didn’t say: One of the two partners in the deal, Terminal Investment Limited, is an arm of Swiss shipping giant Mediterranean Shipping Company, commonly known as MSC, cofounded by Swiss-Italian billionaires Gianluigi and Rafaela Aponte in 1970.
While the ownership structure of the sale hasn’t been made public, the deal will turn MSC into the largest port operator in the world. MSC owns 70% of Terminal Investment, while investment firm Global Infrastructure Partners—led by U.S. billionaire Adebayo “Bayo” Ogunlesi and now owned by BlackRock, which bought it for $12.5 billion in October—holds 20%, and the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC owns the remaining 10%.
Even before the CK Hutchison deal, MSC has spent more than $40 billion since January 2022, according to Forbes estimates, investing in everything from new ports to hospitals and even a high-speed rail company in Italy. The bulk of that was new ships: Over the past three years, the firm has bought or ordered 370 vessels for more than $31 billion, according to ship valuation experts VesselsValue.
Ownership of MSC is split equally between Aponte and his wife Rafaela Aponte-Diamant. Forbes estimates they are each worth $37.5 billion, enough to make Aponte-Diamant the richest self-made woman in the world.
WHY IT MATTERS “The Covid-19 pandemic snarled supply chains and sent freight rates surging, leading to record profits for the world’s largest shipping firms,” says Forbes staff writer Giacomo Tognini. “MSC had already overtaken Maersk to become the world’s largest container shipping firm in January 2022, and it has spent the last three years spending that cash to expand its dominance by buying up companies in trucking, air cargo, tugboats, maritime logistics, freight forwarding, car carriers and more.”
“That growth helped increase cofounders Gianluigi and Rafaela Aponte’s net worths by a combined $58 billion since early 2022—and if regulators approve the CK Hutchison deal, MSC will become the largest port operator in the world.”
MORE Meet The Greek Shipping Billionaires Getting Rich Off Russian Oil
FACTS + COMMENTS
Amid the sweeping layoffs across the federal government, the Department of Defense is reportedly preparing to slash tens of thousands of positions. It wasn’t immediately clear when the cuts would be made:
Between 50,000 and 60,000: The number of jobs the DoD is planning to eliminate
5% to 8%: The amount Pentagon leadership has previously said it aims to reduce its civilian workforce by, or 45,000 to 72,000 jobs
More than 900,000: The number of employees in the DoD’s civilian workforce, per the Associated Press
STRATEGY + SUCCESS
For years, we’ve been sold the idea that a successful career means earning a degree, landing a job and climbing the corporate ladder. But this route often involves compromising personal priorities, and when you tie your professional identity to one path, it can make you vulnerable—as evidenced by recent layoffs. Instead, more people are turning to non-linear careers, which can allow you to structure your professional life around what’s most important to you, grow through diverse experiences and adapt to different contexts.
VIDEO
QUIZ
The NCAA March Madness college basketball tournament is set to begin this week, and many bracket challenges are offering the chance to win big prizes. What is Elon Musk’s social network X offering to anyone who completes a perfect bracket?
A. $50,000
B. A free Cybertruck
C. A trip to Mars
D. A meet-and-greet with Musk
Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Chris Dobstaff.
