• Meta will assess employee performance by AI-driven impact starting in 2026.
• The company is shifting toward an AI-native culture and incentivizing AI adoption through rewards.
• Meta is also rolling out an AI tool to assist employees in writing performance reviews.

Meta will tie employees’ performance to their “AI-driven impact” starting next year.

The social media giant is making “AI-driven impact” a “core expectation” from 2026, Janelle Gale, Meta’s head of people, told employees Thursday in an internal memo, which was seen by Business Insider.

Meta will assess employees on how they use AI to deliver results and build tools that can move the needle in a major way when it comes to productivity.

Individual AI usage and adoption metrics won’t be included in 2025’s annual performance reviews, according to the memo, though workers should include their AI-fueled wins in their self-reviews.

“It’s well-known that this is a priority, and we’re focused on using AI to help employees with their day-to-day work,” a Meta spokesperson told Business Insider.

The move marks a broader shift within corporate America toward an AI-native culture. Big Tech firms, including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, are pushing employees to do more with AI. The directives given to workers have been unified and clear: using it is “no longer optional,” as one Microsoft executive put it to managers in June. Google CEO Sundar Pichai had a similar message for employees in a July all-hands meeting, telling employees they need to use it for Google to lead the AI race.

Earlier this year, Meta overhauled its hiring process by allowing job applicants to use AI in coding interviews. It also launched an internal game called “Level Up” to incentivize AI adoption, and now it’s willing to reward workers who use AI to drive meaningful outcomes.

“As we move toward an AI-native future, we want to recognize people who are helping us get there faster,” Gale wrote in the memo. “For 2025, we’ll reward those who made exceptional AI-driven impact, either in their own work or by improving their team’s performance.”

Meta is also overhauling how workers write performance reviews and feedback by rolling out an “AI Performance Assistant” to use in this year’s performance review cycle, which begins on December 8, according to the memo.

Gale wrote that employees can use its internal AI assistant Metamate, as well as Google’s Gemini, for their performance content.

Employees have already been using Meta’s internal AI bot to help write performance reviews, Business Insider previously reported.

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• John Furner began working for Walmart in 1993 as a part-time associate in the garden center.
• His roles with the company have spanned the globe, positioning him to take the helm as CEO next year.
• Here’s a look back at Furner’s life and career leading up to this moment.

Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, is getting a new CEO, and the job is going to a man who has seen about every corner of the company.

On Friday, the company said that longtime CEO Doug McMillon would retire in January, with Walmart US CEO John Furner taking over on February 1.

John Furner began working for Walmart as an hourly store associate in 1993 at Store 100, located in the company’s hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas.

He later graduated with a degree in business from the University of Arkansas and held a wide range of assignments over the next decade.

Furner was named CEO of Sam’s Club in 2017 and subsequently became CEO of Walmart’s US division in 2019.

Here’s a look back at Furner’s life and career leading up to this moment.

Furner was born in Arkansas in 1974.

His father, Steve Furner, became an executive at Walmart in the 1980s. John Furner chose to study business at the University of Arkansas in 1992.

He joined Walmart as a garden center hourly associate in 1993.

Furner applied for a job at Store 100 to earn money for college. The Federal minimum wage at the time was $4.25, which would be worth about $9.68 in today’s dollars.

After graduating in 1996, he spent the next 10 years in various roles.

Some of his roles ranged from assistant store manager to district manager, regional general manager, and from buyer to divisional merchandising manager, to VP of global sourcing.

“John understands every dimension of our business — from the sales floor to global strategy,” Walmart chairman Greg Penner said in a statement.

In 2006, he joined Sam’s Club as a VP and divisional manager of seasonal and hardlines merchandise.

Furner spent most of the next 13 years with the Walmart-owned warehouse club chain. At the time, future Walmart CEO Doug McMillon was CEO of Sam’s.

Furner took a break from Sam’s Club in 2013 to be the chief merchandising officer and marketing officer for Walmart China.

That period marked a major turning point for the company, with dozens of store closures setting the stage for aggressive expansion plans.

In 2015, Furner returned to Sam’s Club as chief merchandising officer.

Furner played a key role in improving the club’s product assortment.

After two years, Furner was named CEO of Sam’s Club — a role previously held by Doug McMillon.

As Sam’s Club CEO, Furner oversaw 11 consecutive quarters of comparable sales growth, as well as robust membership expansion, the company said.

In 2019, Furner was appointed president and CEO of Walmart US, the company’s largest division.

As CEO of Walmart US, Furner was responsible for overseeing more than 4,600 locations and about 1 million employees. He has also played key roles in the overhaul of the company’s sprawling logistics and fulfillment network, as the brick-and-mortar brand reinvents itself as an e-commerce leader powered by artificial intelligence.

He also took home a hefty pay package worth nearly $16.3 million last year — a far cry from his annual earnings as a part time worker.

Now he’s set for the top job.

“I’ve worked with John for more than 20 years,” McMillon said in a statement released Friday. “He’s a merchant, an operator, an innovator, and a builder. I know that our future is bright with his leadership.”

• Marriott ended its partnership with Sonder, leaving guests with canceled reservations.
• Travelers face refund delays and confusion after Sonder’s abrupt shutdown and bankruptcy filing.
• An expert advises filing credit card chargebacks quickly to get refunds.

Marriott-Sonder guests are describing chaos, confusion, and out-of-pocket expenses after Sonder — a short-term rental company once billed as an Airbnb rival — abruptly shut down this week.

Sonder, which said it will file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after Marriott terminated its partnership on Sunday, had been operating thousands of apartment-style units around the world through Marriott’s Bonvoy platform.

The sudden breakup has left some guests with canceled reservations and uncertainty about when they’ll see their money again. On Tuesday, Marriott updated its FAQs to advise customers to contact their credit card companies for refunds.

Fabio Fernandes, head of communications at consumer watchdog Consumer Choice Center, told Business Insider that affected guests shouldn’t wait for the bankruptcy process to play out, but instead should file chargebacks.

“Consumers shouldn’t wait on a bankruptcy administrator to make them whole,” he said.

“If a stay was canceled or never delivered, the fastest, most reliable path is a credit-card dispute for ‘services not provided.’ Do it now, keep your paperwork, and escalate if your bank drags its feet,” Fernandes said.

In a US Chapter 7 liquidation, customers with prepaid stays become unsecured creditors near the back of the line, he said — meaning refunds through the courts could take years and may amount to little or nothing.

That’s why filing a chargeback quickly is critical, he said, adding that cardholders should send a written dispute within 60 days of their statement.

Banks are required to respond within 30 days and resolve the dispute within two billing cycles, or no later than 90 days, he said, adding that Visa and Mastercard generally allow disputes to be filed up to 120 days from the scheduled stay date.

Fernandes said travelers can also file a claim in the bankruptcy proceedings, but that process is “a slow, uncertain path.”

Booking through a major brand like Marriott doesn’t automatically guarantee reimbursement unless Marriott was the merchant of record— the company that actually processes the payment and appears on a customer’s credit card statement — which it says it was not in this case.

Neither Marriott nor Sonder immediately responded to BI’s requests for comments.

Key steps travelers should follow

Fernandes offered a simple playbook for avoiding future travel headaches:

• Always pay by credit card, and prefer to pay at check-in whenever possible.
• Know who the merchant of record is before booking, and only prepay if the discount is genuinely worth it.
• Travelers should also look for “supplier failure” coverage in their insurance,
• If the card issuer drags its feet, escalate complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or a financial ombudsman.

‘Several phone calls and strongly worded emails’

Some Sonder customers have had success in securing refunds.

38-year-old Janna Reeves from San Antonio said she booked her Orlando stay at Sonder Welborn in December 2024. She planned to meet a friend in Florida for the Vans Warped Tour and possibly visit Disney World.

Four days before her November 13 check-in, Reeves received two emails — one from Sonder saying it could “no longer honor” her reservation after its partnership with Marriott ended, and another from Marriott confirming the cancellation. BI has viewed these emails.

She said Marriott told her she would receive a refund but would need to find and pay for new accommodations herself.

“Even that call center seemed to not know anything about this cancellation between Marriott and Sonder,” Reeves said. “Their only solution to me was to proceed with booking elsewhere.”

Reeves said she ended up spending about $800 more on a last-minute hotel during Orlando’s peak tourist season.

After “several phone calls and strongly worded emails,” she said Marriott agreed to issue a refund and 80,000 Bonvoy points — roughly matching her extra costs.

“I had to push them to help me,” she said. “It was not given willingly.”

‘No real explanation, no real solution’

But others have been less fortunate at securing their refunds.

Diane Gendry, a 65-year-old press officer from France had a reservation at The Henry hotel in London canceled for November 19 after Marriott ended its partnership with Sonder.

She received an email from Marriott on November 11 confirming the cancellation, but it offered little clarity on when — or if — she would be refunded.

“They remained vague on the refund,” she said in an email to BI. “I am surprised Marriott didn’t offer the opportunity to stay for the same price in one of their hotels in London.”

She said she has yet to receive any refund. In the meantime, she found another hotel across the street and paid €265 ($307)— less than her original stay — but until the refund comes through, she’s effectively paid for both.

• MrBeast said last year he owned just over half of his $5 billion company.
• The YouTuber operates a variety of business lines, including a content studio and a chocolate brand.
• Beast Industries has been on a hiring spree, adding four new execs to boost content and brand deals.

YouTuber MrBeast said in a deposition last November that he owned “a little over half” of his company, which was valued at roughly $5 billion in its most recent funding round.

By that math, the value of his ownership stake would have topped $2.5 billion.

Beast Industries sought to raise up to an additional $200 million this year, according to investor materials viewed by Business Insider, as an extension to its $300 million Series C round referenced in the deposition. This could have diluted MrBeast’s ownership stake.

With over 400 million subscribers, MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is the top creator on YouTube. He has expanded well beyond the platform, building out a content studio, a chocolate-bar company called Feastables, the analytics firm Viewstats, and a variety of other ventures. Beast Industries has also explored launching other business lines, including a fintech brand and a wireless phone service.

Beast Industries pulled in over $400 million in revenue last year, according to investor materials viewed by Business Insider. The company was not profitable last year, mainly because of high costs in its media segment. Donaldson said in his deposition that Viewstats and Lunchly did not generate much revenue as of November 2024.

Feastables, however, was profitable, Donaldson said in the 2024 deposition, which he attributed to the product’s quality.

“I just obsess over the product and make sure the product’s really high-quality,” he said in the deposition. “We’re launching in the right places, and we’re doing things that delight and make our customers happy.”

The MrBeast team, which comprises around 450 staff members, has been bolstering its leadership team recently, with a focus on sponsorships and unscripted content. Since late September, it has brought on four new executives from companies including TikTok, Snap, and NBCUniversal.

The company has also been on a cost-cutting push as it looks to stop losing money from its media business.

Donaldson addressed the need for profitability during his 2024 deposition, saying that in the long run, “you have to focus on profits or you don’t have a business.”

The MrBeast team did not respond to a request for comment.

• AT&T has experienced multiple data breaches in recent years, prompting a class-action lawsuit.
• The company agreed to pay affected AT&T customers $177 million as part of a settlement.
• The deadline to submit a claim and join the settlement is December 17.

If you were one of the tens of millions of AT&T customers whose personal data was leaked online in recent years, you could be eligible for up to $7,500 as part of a settlement.

The telecommunications company revealed in March 2024 that information belonging to millions of current and past customers had been leaked on the dark web. Four months later, AT&T said additional customer data had been illegally downloaded from a company workspace on a third-party cloud platform back in 2022.

Both incidents spurred lawsuits against AT&T, which has denied any wrongdoing.

Affected customers filed a consolidated class-action suit against the company in May. Two months later, AT&T agreed to establish two settlement funds totaling $177 million: a $149 million all-cash fund for customers affected by the first data breach and a $28 million all-cash payment for customers affected by the second data incident.

“While we deny the allegations in these lawsuits that we were responsible for these criminal acts, we have agreed to this settlement to avoid the expense and uncertainty of protracted litigation,” an AT&T spokesperson told Business Insider. “We remain committed to protecting our customers’ data and ensuring their continued trust in us.”

The deadline for eligible customers to submit a claim and receive settlement money is fast approaching. Here’s what affected AT&T customers need to know.

Who qualifies?

Kroll, a third party that manages class action settlements, said that eligible AT&T customers fall under two categories: AT&T 1 Settlement Class and AT&T 2 Settlement Class.

AT&T 1 Settlement Class refers to people living in the United States whose data — including names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, birth dates, passcodes, billing account numbers, and Social Security numbers — were included in the first leak.

The AT&T 2 Settlement Class refers to any customers whose data was involved in the second leak, which could include information like phone numbers with which customers interacted and other data related to those interactions, such as the duration of calls or the number of times those numbers were contacted.

If your information was part of either breach, AT&T would have contacted you.

How much money could AT&T customers receive as part of the settlement?

Within the AT&T 1 Settlement Class, customers can submit a claim for a “Document Loss Cash Payment” of up to $5,000 for losses that happened in 2019 or later, “upon presentation of documentation that the losses are fairly traceable to the AT&T 1 Data Incident.”

They also qualify for a Tier 1 or Tier 2 cash payment, which is an alternative to the Document Loss Cash Payment and represents a pro rata share of the AT&T 1 Net Settlement Fund cash.

Under the AT&T 2 Settlement Class, customers are eligible for a Documented Loss Cash Payment of up to $2,500 for losses that happened on or after April 14, 2024. The Tier 3 cash payment is a pro rata share of the AT&T 2 Net Settlement Fund cash.

Kroll said some customers may be an “overlap settlement class member,” so they could walk away with a total of $7,500.

When is the deadline for submitting a claim?

Customers have until December 18 to submit a claim. Submitting a claim is the only way a settlement class member can receive a payment.

However, customers who want to opt out of the class member settlement benefits must do so by November 17. By opting out, customers retain the right to file other lawsuits relating to this case against AT&T in the future.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas will hold a final approval hearing for the settlement on January 15, 2026.

• Amazon said it will now block apps that have been identified as hosting pirated content, including illegal sports streams.
• It’s just one way the tech giant is stepping up its efforts to thwart piracy.
• Amazon is working with an anti-piracy alliance that helped take down Streameast, a site that hosted pirated sports streams.

Amazon is making it harder to use its Fire TV streaming sticks to watch pirated content, the latest blow to sports fans looking to access illicit livestreams.

Amazon is now blocking access to apps that have been identified as providing pirated content, including those downloaded outside the tech giant’s app store.

“Piracy is illegal, and we’ve always worked to block it from our Appstore,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “This builds on our ongoing efforts to support creators and protect customers, as piracy can also expose users to malware, viruses, and fraud.”

There are numerous videos and tutorials online that instruct users on how to “sideload” apps onto Amazon’s Fire TV Stick, which, while not illegal, can also be used to access apps that feature pirated content, including illegal sports streams. The latest edition of the streaming device, 4K Select, features a new operating system that only allows customers to download apps from the company’s app store. The crackdown will also apply to older devices by blocking third-party apps that have been found to host pirated content.

Amazon worked with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, which fights piracy on behalf of 50 media companies, including Disney, Paramount, Fox, Comcast, and others. Streamers like Amazon, Apple TV, and Netflix are also members. The Motion Picture Association, Hollywood’s powerful trade association, heads the alliance.

A game of whack-a-mole for pirated sports streams

Pirated content remains a significant issue worldwide, particularly for live sports, leading to an ongoing game of whack-a-mole for authorities and regulators.

As cord-cutting rises and cable TV declines, many sports fans have become adept at finding illicit workaround methods for accessing pirated livestreams of matches — including during carriage disputes, such as the ongoing standoff between Disney and YouTube TV.

Methods vary, but can include modifying the software on a streaming TV stick, like Amazon’s popular and inexpensive Fire TV dongles, or searching online forums for comments mentioning specific websites that offer illicit livestreams. Many access the livestreams on their phone or laptop’s web browser and then screen-cast or plug their laptop into their TV. Often, if one pirated sports domain is shut down, a variation is quickly spun up to replace it.

Efforts to combat the pirated sports streams recently scored a major win. In September, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, with which Amazon has partnered, worked with Egyptian authorities in the takedown of Streameast, a massively popular network for pirated live sports. The group said that Streameast was “the largest illicit live sports streaming operation in the world.”

Soccer, given its global popularity, is a massive source for such illegal streams. According to The Athletic, the English Premier League shut down 660,000 social media and website live streams last season alone.

Last month, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the governing body for European soccer, became the first such entity to join the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment.

Amazon, which has been entering into deals with sports leagues to secure exclusive content for its Prime TV App, has an agreement with UEFA to stream matches in select European markets.