Beyoncé will make her Met Gala return as a co-chair for the 2026 event.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
All across Manhattan, stars are powdering their noses, smoothing down wrinkles on gowns and suits, and doing one final look in the mirror.
It might seem like a lot of fuss for a Monday, but it’s not just any Monday. It’s the first Monday in May, which means one thing in New York City: Met Gala day.
Tonight, celebrities will gather at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the 2026 Met Gala.
Business Insider will be sharing live updates throughout the event, from A-list arrivals to the best and worst Met Gala outfits. Read on to be part of fashion’s biggest night.
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are sponsors of this year’s gala, much to the dismay of protesters.
Lauren Sánchez Bezos attends the press conference for the 2026 Met Gala.
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
After attending past Met Galas as guests, the billionaire couple is taking on a new role at this year’s ball. They’re helping fund this year’s exhibit and gala, alongside Saint Laurent and Condè Nast. They’re also honorary co-chairs.
Sánchez Bezos first attended the Met Gala in 2024, walking the red carpet solo in a statement Oscar de la Renta gown. The Amazon founder, on the other hand, has never walked the event’s red carpet, but he’s been photographed inside.
Though the couple has said they’re excited for the Met Gala, protest groups have posted boycott signs and other displays across New York City.
The guest list is largely a mystery, but we know some stars who will be there.
Sabrina Carpenter attends the 2025 Met Gala.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
We know that the Met Gala’s host committee members will be in attendance. That includes Anthony Vaccarello, the creative director of YSL, and Zoë Kravitz (no word yet on whether Kravitz will bring Harry Styles as her plus-one), as well as stars like Sabrina Carpenter, Teyana Taylor, and Lisa.
Of course, we’ll be on the lookout for the stars who always make a splash, like Rihanna. Sometimes, though, it’s first-time attendees who make the biggest impact, as Tyla did in 2024 when she arrived in a gown made of sand.
How to watch the Met Gala red carpet
Neilson Barnard/MG25/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Though we won’t be able to see what happens inside the famous gala, the red carpet will be filmed from start to finish.
Vogue will livestream Met Gala arrivals on YouTube, TikTok, and its other digital platforms beginning at 6 p.m. ET.
Model Ashley Graham, actor La La Anthony, and model Cara Delevigne will host, and influencer Emma Chamberlain will return as a Vogue red-carpet correspondent.
You can also watch the red carpet on E! starting at 6 p.m. ET.
Meryl Streep won’t be making an appearance — as herself or Miranda Priestly.
Meryl Streep won’t be attending the Met Gala.
Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” begins with Meryl Streep in an opening scene clearly inspired by the Met Gala, but life won’t be imitating art at this year’s event.
A spokesperson for the Oscar-winning actor confirmed that Streep will not be attending fashion’s biggest night on Monday, as per her tradition.
“Meryl has been invited to the Met Gala for many years but has never attended,” the representative told People, adding that the star-studded event “has never quite been her scene.”
The absence still comes as a surprise, given Streep’s recent media blitz for “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” which included posing on the cover of Vogue alongside Anna Wintour, who has chaired the Met Gala for three decades. Streep — who plays a fashion magazine editor in chief inspired by Wintour in the film — also sat next to the legendary Vogue editor at a Dolce & Gabbana fashion show during Milan Fashion Week in September.
Three iconic women are serving as co-chairs.
Venus Williams attends the 2025 Met Gala.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Anna Wintour, Vogue’s former editor in chief, works with a set of famous Met Gala co-chairs each year to bring the event to life.
For 2026, Wintour tapped Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Beyoncé.
Kidman and Williams have been familiar faces at the Met Gala in recent years, but Beyoncé hasn’t attended the event since 2016 for the “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” gala.
The theme of the 2026 Met Gala is “Costume Art.”
Guests wander the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition during a press conference for the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art.”
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
Unlike some A-list events, the Met Gala always has a theme. It coordinates with the Costume Institute’s annual exhibit, which attendees can explore once they enter the gala.
For 2026, museum curator Andrew Bolton created a “Costume Art” exhibit, saying he “wanted to focus on the centrality of the dressed body within the museum.”
The Met Gala’s red carpet also has a dress code that dictates the eye-catching looks celebrities wear. This year, stars will dress to the “Fashion is Art” dress code, as Vogue announced in February, advising guests to “consider the many ways that designers use the body as their blank canvas.”
That description leaves plenty of room for guests to interpret the theme as they see fit, particularly compared to stricter Met Gala dress codes of years past, so we’ll likely see a variety of different takes on “Fashion is Art” attire.
The 2026 Met Gala has arrived at last.
The outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art ahead of the Met Gala in May 2026.
Christina Horsten/picture alliance via Getty Images
It’s time to roll out the fancy carpet because fashion’s biggest night is just hours away.
Held annually at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Met Gala raises funds for the museum’s Costume Institute and is the place to be for celebrities on the first Monday in May.
A night of glamour doesn’t come cheap, though.
This year, individual tickets cost $100,000. More often than not, fashion houses and other corporate sponsors buy tables and bring guests to fill them (though Anna Wintour is said to have final say on who gets in). Tables cost $350,000 for 2026.
The Treasury Department confirmed in an April letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren — released on Monday — that it has started preparations to take over the Department of Education’s 9 million defaulted student-loan accounts.
The confirmation follows a March announcement that the transfer of student-loan accounts to the Treasury would occur in phases, beginning with defaulted accounts, with the goal of eventually transferring the rest of the federal portfolio to the agency.
Mason Champion, the Treasury’s assistant secretary, wrote in the letter that the transfer has so far “achieved two significant milestones,” the first being a request for information from stakeholders on procuring agents to help defaulted borrowers with their options to return to good standing.
The second “milestone” was an agreement between the Treasury and Education Departments to send seven Education employees to Treasury, and two Treasury employees to Education, which Champion said will “support the implementation of the partnership, with an initial focus on the transition of operational responsibility for the defaulted portfolio to Treasury.”
The letter did not specify a timeline for each phase, including the timing of the official handover of management of the defaulted portfolio to the Treasury. Warren said in a statement that the agreement “is bad for students and families, and I’ll do everything I can to fight back,” adding that the department has not provided evidence showing that the transfer would improve borrower outcomes.
The Department of Education, in a letter to Warren, wrote alongside the Treasury’s letter that “Treasury is well positioned to provide operational support to ED’s ongoing work to enhance the management of the federal student assistance programs.”
Transferring the student-loan portfolio to the Treasury is part of the administration’s broader goal to dismantle the Department of Education. Former officials previously told Business Insider that handing over student loans to the Treasury could amplify confusion for both borrowers and servicers; Arne Duncan, the education secretary under former President Barack Obama, said that the move “makes no sense educationally or from a customer service standpoint.”
Additionally, the Department of Education paused involuntary collections on defaulted student loans in January, meaning borrowers have not faced wage garnishment or seizure of federal benefits. While the department has not said when the pause will lift, borrowers will likely need extra assistance preparing for repayment, and moving their accounts to a new agency could jeopardize those efforts.
“Having systems that are spread across multiple agencies really puts the entire system at risk and is going to make it a lot harder, not only to communicate with borrowers, but also to make sure that we are moving toward a more streamlined system,” Sarah Sattelmeyer, education project director at the left-leaning think tank New America, said.
“The Mandalorian & Grogu” is hitting theaters this month, the first “Star Wars” movie in seven years.
Disney+
There have been 18 live-action TV shows and movies in the “Star Wars” universe.
They have ranged in quality, from almost unwatchable to masterpieces.
Later this month, the first “Star Wars” film in seven years hits theaters.
Happy May the Fourth! We’ve been watching stories set in a galaxy far, far away for almost 50 years.
Since the first “Star Wars” film was released in 1977, there have been 10 more movies and seven TV series (not including the animated ones) in this universe. It’s generated billions of dollars in revenue, not just at the box office or on Disney+, but with theme parks, toys, comics, video games, and more.
Of course, not everything can be as great as the original “Star Wars” (now titled “A New Hope”), but a fair few have risen to classic status. Others are probably best forgotten.
Using critics’ scores on Rotten Tomatoes, we’ve ranked all 18 live-action “Star Wars” properties from worst to best. Here’s how each stacks up, from “A New Hope” to “Andor.”
Critics and fans agree that the most recent (for now) “Star Wars” film is also the worst in the decadeslong franchise. In attempting to wrap up a story that’s been going since the ’70s and please fans who hated the previous installment (more on that one later), the powers that be had an unenviable task.
Unfortunately, they did not prove to be up to the challenge. “Rise of Skywalker,” in the seven years since its release, has become shorthand for a disappointing finale — just look at the first responses to the latest “Mission: Impossible” movie.
If you don’t remember, “The Rise of Skywalker” made the questionable decision to make Rey the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine, dragging this new trilogy back to an enemy fans thought they’d finally left in the past. It also killed off Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, failed to kill off Chewbacca in an insulting fake-out, and added a bunch of new, useless characters instead of focusing on existing ones that audiences had grown fond of over the last two films.
“J.J. Abrams’s mechanical, nonsensical ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ contains so many resurrections it’s a wonder Disney and Lucasfilm didn’t push back the release date from Christmas to Easter,” wrote Michael Sragow for Film Comment Magazine.
“The Phantom Menace” came to theaters in 1999, 16 years after we had last spent time in a galaxy far, far away. Needless to say, expectations were extremely high.
This movie, which certainly has its defenders, is, to put it plainly, boring. Even if its plot about a trade war has new significance today, that doesn’t mean we wanted a “Star Wars” movie to focus on the economy of the galaxy.
It was also an unfortunate choice to introduce Anakin Skywalker, the future Darth Vader, as a 10-year-old child, especially when his future wife, Padmé, was played by 18-year-old Natalie Portman.
“Sure, there’s a great NASCAR-like pod race and a cool, horn-studded professional wrestler type… But the only person who gets body-slammed here is the viewer looking for a trace of the magic that carried us away in the original trilogy,” wrote Rick Holter for the Dallas Morning News.
Ruled a slight improvement upon its predecessor, “Attack of the Clones” continues the story of Anakin Skywalker, now played by a 21-year-old Hayden Christensen. It follows him as he falls in love with Padmé (a big no-no for a Jedi), while the rest of the Jedi try to uncover a conspiracy regarding a secret army and the return of their ancient enemies, the Sith.
“‘Attack of the Clones’ wasn’t as outrightly horrid as ‘Phantom Menace,’ but it offended in a different way: it was boring,” wrote Collider’s Allison Keene.
Boba Fett, as a character, was one of the coolest and most mysterious people in the Star Wars universe. He was introduced as a faceless assassin with a sick jetpack in “The Empire Strikes Back,” and he captivated fans for decades after.
It’s a tough ask to create a story worthy of someone that cool — and “Book of Boba Fett” proved that we probably should know less about Boba, not more.
It follows the assassin after his escape from the Sarlacc Pit in “Return of the Jedi,” when he became part of the Tusken Raiders, through to his takeover of Tatooine’s underworld. If none of that meant anything to you, it’s best you skip this one.
The most damning thing about “Boba Fett” though, is that the best episode of the season was the one that was more like a bridge between the second and third seasons of “The Mandalorian.”
“‘The Book of Boba Fett’ was a series of compounding mistakes. Its best feature was to deliver a ‘Mandalorian’ sequel that could have been a self-contained film,” wrote Craig Mathieson for The Age.
It was never going to be easy to fill the gargantuan shoes of Harrison Ford as Han Solo, who is perhaps the coolest and most beloved character in movie history? (There’s a case to be made.)
So, we can’t really lay the blame on Alden Ehrenreich for the failure of this movie, an origin story for pre-“A New Hope” Han. It was just never going to work. There’s also the nonsensical plot, unimportant fan service — did we really need to know how Han got his dice or his last name? — and a lackluster villain.
“‘Solo’ is at its best when it’s uncoupled from all that heavy lifting, just crammed in a cockpit with its likeable cast and shooting for the stars,” wrote Time Out’s Philip de Semlyen.
12 (tie). “The Acolyte” (2024)
Amandla Stenberg as Mae in “Star Wars: The Acolyte.”
There’s a lot to love about “The Acolyte,” chief among them Manny Jacinto’s performance as The Stranger, one of the creepiest villains a “Star Wars” property has ever given us.
This show, which took place in a heretofore unexplored era of the “Star Wars” universe (roughly 100 years before “The Phantom Menace”), also had an interesting question at its center: Are the Jedi actually good?
Alas, we’ll never know what happens to twins Osha and Mae, and the Stranger, because Disney canceled the show after one season.
“Set hundreds of years before the events of the Star Wars saga we know best, this show gets to tell its own story — making it better than most of the series Disney+ has pumped out,” wrote Dylan Roth for Observer.
Don’t underestimate the power of the prequels, even if, on average, they have the lowest scores of the three film trilogies. When “Revenge of the Sith” returned to theaters for a weeklong stint to celebrate its 20th anniversary last year, it was the No. 2 movie at the box office, only behind “Sinners.“
“Revenge of the Sith” is easily the best prequel film. It has the very real stakes of Anakin slowly descending into evil and becoming the most iconic movie villain of all time, Darth Vader. It also depicts the Jedi finally realizing that they’ve been blind to the hatred and fascism festering right under their noses, and Obi-Wan’s decision to dedicate his life to protecting his best friend-turned-enemy’s son, Luke.
It puts all the pieces into place for anyone who chooses to watch the “Star Wars” films in chronological order without missing a beat.
“The saddest and sincerest of all the ‘Star Wars’ epics, the mad work of a man desperately trying to understand his own creation,” wrote Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri.
For many years, fans theorized about what, exactly, Obi-Wan was doing in the Tatooine desert during the 20 or so years between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope.”
This miniseries answered that question, for at least a few weeks. It turns out Obi-Wan met a young Princess Leia, saved her from the Empire, battled with Darth Vader multiple times, and reconnected with the Force. It was a productive time!
The high point of this series was Obi-Wan and Vader’s final fight, where Obi-Wan heartbreakingly glimpsed Anakin for a few moments, underneath all the hatred, before giving up on his old friend.
“The latest ‘Star Wars’ spin-off from Disney+ sees the Scot [Ewan McGregor] put in his best performance as the legendary Jedi in a John Wick-esque caper with marvelous action sequences,” wrote Stuart Heritage for The Guardian.
It’s hard to end a series in a satisfying way, and back in 1983, George Lucas and Co. didn’t know for sure that another six movies would be released. This could’ve been the last people saw of Luke, Han, Leia, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO.
Even though, of course, we know it wasn’t, “Return of the Jedi” does a pretty good job of tying up loose ends. Luke fulfills his destiny to bring balance to the Force, Han and Leia declare their love, Anakin finds the light once again, and Ewoks are there. What else could you want?
“One may carp, gripe, quibble with ‘Jedi,’ but Lucasfilm’s special effects subsidiary, Industrial Light and Magic, is in a class by itself as creator of screen magic. And when it is good, ‘Jedi’ is peerless escapist fantasy,” wrote Joseph Gelmis for Newsday.
George Lucas has repeatedly reiterated that “Star Wars” is meant for kids. Rogue One, a prequel story that goes right up to the seconds before “A New Hope” starts, puts that statement to the test.
It’s easily the darkest and most morally gray film in the “Star Wars” canon and shows Darth Vader at his most terrifying, finally pushing beyond what was technologically possible during the original trilogy.
Based on a throwaway line in the opening crawl of “A New Hope,” “Rogue One” proved that a “Star Wars” movie about something other than Luke Skywalker and the Force could be successful.
Chris Klimek of NPR called the film a “tense, well-made spacefaring war movie about a desperate and demoralized band of insurgents standing up against a rising authoritarian regime.”
8. “Ahsoka” (2023-present)
Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano holding a lightsaber in “Ahsoka.”
It’s time to discuss the animated properties in the “Star Wars” universe. If you skipped out on “The Clone Wars” or “Rebels,” you most likely don’t even know who Ahsoka is.
A quick crash course: Between the events of “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith,” the Clone Wars ravage the galaxy, and Anakin is promoted from padawan (or apprentice) to Jedi master. In turn, he takes a padawan himself: Ahsoka. Don’t worry about why she’s never mentioned in the movies; it’s (somewhat) convincingly retconned in “Clone Wars.”
She’s one of the most beloved characters in the animated “Star Wars” canon, and her live-action debut was highly anticipated.
So, when it was announced that Rosario Dawson would play Ahsoka first in “The Mandalorian,” and then in her own series, people were hyped.
And, for the most part, the series lived up to expectations. The one issue is that this show barely makes any sense if you don’t have, at the very least, basic knowledge of the characters from “Rebels,” including Sabine, Hera, Ezra, and Thrawn.
Season two is set to be released later in 2026.
“No lightsabers can match the fierce glow of Rosario Dawson as the ex-Jedi with the funky headgear who leads her sisterhood — glory to Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Natasha Liu Bordizzo — against the Empire’s fading patriarchy. Now that’s worth celebrating,” wrote Peter Travers of ABC News.
The first-ever “Star Wars” live-action TV show started on a high note, thanks to the cutest puppet of all time (who would later be named Grogu, but started out as simply “Baby Yoda”).
Besides this unbelievably adorable baby, “The Mandalorian” has another thing going for it: Pedro Pascal’s vocal performance as Din Djarin, a Mandalorian bounty hunter just trying to find his way in the universe. When he meets (and then refuses to kill) Grogu in the first episode, it starts him on a quest that’s still going — get ready for “The Mandalorian & Grogu” coming to theaters in a couple of weeks.
As “The Mandalorian” has progressed, it’s become a bit bogged down in connecting to the larger “Star Wars” canon, but we’ll always have that perfect first season.
“For all its sci-fi stiltedness, ‘The Mandalorian’ founded a compelling myth, a world of paranoia, ethical dilemmas and, aah, tiny space kitten things. Just don’t take it too seriously,” wrote The Times‘ Victoria Segal.
“The Last Jedi” is the most divisive “Star Wars” movie of the bunch. Those who love it, love it, and those who don’t? Well, just look at the 41% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
We’re of the opinion that it rocks. It has breathtaking cinematography, intense fights, and a genuinely beautiful message: That anyone, even if their last name isn’t Skywalker, can stand up to evil in the universe, whether they’re a small boy with a broom, a former Stormtrooper, or a young woman from a junk planet in the middle of nowhere. It doesn’t matter where you came from, just where you intend to go.
“[Director Rian] Johnson is easily the most skilled filmmaker to helm one of these (it’s not even close) and it’s not just that the film has a surface beauty of its own. He’s aware of what we expect narratively from a ‘Star Wars’ movie, and delights in subverting it,” wrote Jason Bailey for Flavorwire.
“Skeleton Crew” is best described as “The Goonies” in space. It follows a group of ragtag kids who accidentally get trapped on an old spaceship and get lost in space. They must work together, along with a new friend Jod (played by the always-charming Jude Law), to get home to their planet, which is more important and mysterious than these kids ever could have guessed.
It’s fun — something that “Star Wars” has been sorely lacking recently — and definitely worth the watch.
“For anyone who says the House That [George] Lucas Built is out of ideas and has been picked clean, ‘Skeleton Crew’ proves there’s still meat left on those bones,” wrote The San Francisco Chronicle’s Zaki Hasan.
“The Empire Strikes Back” has one of the most iconic plot twists in movie history. Do the words “No, I am your father” mean anything to you?
It’s also widely considered one of the best sequels of all time, and has been used as a shorthand to describe any sequel that some could call better than the original, and it’s certainly darker than its predecessor.
“The Empire Strikes Back,” for all its fun (and there is fun!), ends on a huge downer. Han has been captured and frozen in carbonite in front of the woman he loves and has been betrayed by an old friend; Luke has found out his nemesis is actually his dad; and the Empire is stronger than ever. Woof.
“The appeal of visiting Oz is that it is a magical place over the rainbow. The appeal of ‘Star Wars’ and, now, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ is that it also takes us to a magical place — the childhood of our mind,” wrote Gene Siskel for the Chicago Tribune.
It had been 32 years since Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher had graced our screens as Luke, Han, and Leia (and for Hamill, at least, it’d be another couple of years until we saw him again).
Audiences had three decades to become attached to these original characters, but when “The Force Awakens” introduces us to Finn (John Boyega), a disillusioned stormtrooper, Poe (Oscar Isaac), a brash Resistance pilot, Rey (Daisy Ridley), a junk trader desperate for something more, and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), our new terrifying villain, audiences knew they were in good hands.
And then, after all that, we got to see (almost) all of our old friends together again, too.
“As a nostalgia trip that knows exactly what die-hard ‘Star Wars’ fans want and then layers in some memorable new characters, ‘The Force Awakens’ is exactly what it needs to be: an old-school Saturday afternoon sci-fi matinee writ big,” wrote The Austin Chronicle’s Marc Savlov.
2. “Star Wars: A New Hope” (1977)
American actors Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill on the set of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
Originally titled “Star Wars,” this is the film that started it all.
There’s a reason we’re still watching “Star Wars” movies and shows five decades later. The world that George Lucas introduced us to in “Star Wars” is filled with lovable characters, a villain that continues to scare audiences, a magical Force that connects all living things, and a brand-new alien to catch your attention whichever way you look. In many ways, it’s the closest thing we have to American mythology.
It also affected Hollywood forever. The special effects company created for this film, Industrial Light and Magic, completely changed the game for special effects and is still working today. It’s the fourth-highest-grossing film ever, adjusted for inflation. It was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, including best picture, and won six, including a special achievement award for its sound designer, Ben Burtt.
Critics knew it then; fans still know it now. To put it simply: “A New Hope” is great.
“George Lucas’ ‘Star Wars’ is not a film that readily lends itself to comparisons, so it may as well begin with the superlatives. This captivating science fantasy is the finest pure entertainment to reach the screen in ages,” wrote Desmond Ryan for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The series, which ran for two seasons, follows the beginning seeds of the Rebellion, which, by the time we see it in “A New Hope,” is a high-functioning operation. Of course, it didn’t start out that way.
Even though we know how this story ends, with Cassian Andor and many of his friends sacrificing their lives in “Rogue One” and beyond, the stakes are high, and the series can be unbearably tense.
Another high point: the writing. Many have clowned on George Lucas’ stilted dialogue in the prequels. There’s none of that to be found in creator Tony Gilroy’s prose, which has provided some of the most beautiful lines in “Star Wars” history. It is sorely missed.
“The show deserves to be seen as great TV, in the same league as shows like ‘The Wire’ and ‘The Sopranos,'” wrote David Klion for The New Republic.
Apollo President James Zelter spoke at Monday’s Milken Conference in Los Angeles.
APFIS
Capital needs of AI and infrastructure are so great that Wall Street giants are fighting less.
James Zelter, Apollo’s president, said it isn’t as “brutal” to compete for deals.
PE giants, including Blackstone, came together to form a joint venture with AI darling Anthropic on Monday.
Everyone plays nicer on the conference stage than in the boardroom, but it was a remarkably chummy start to the Milken conference in Los Angeles on Monday.
The reason, according to those onstage, is that elbows don’t have to be nearly as sharp when the investment needed to see the AI boom through is so massive.
The funding of artificial intelligence and the broader infrastructure to support the technology, including data centers, energy grid improvements, and more, has become the story of capital markets since OpenAI’s public release of its chatbot in late 2022.
Now, as James Zelter, the president of Apollo, said, “We all do a tremendous amount of work with each other,” talking about both his fellow panelists, including Blackstone’s Jon Gray, as well as the audience full of private-market investors.
Compared to the financial crisis, when “we were all very brutal competitors,” Zelter said the current “big ocean” of opportunities is ripe for partnerships, and capital is in high demand.
Investment-grade debt markets have been flooded with new issuances, he said, proving strong companies need capital. Monday morning kicked off with the announcement of a $1.5 billion joint venture between Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, and Anthropic, along with other investors, including Goldman Sachs.
Any pessimism around private credit, how AI could disrupt the workforce, or the US economy in light of the Iran conflict was nowhere to be found on the panel, which also included Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson, BNY CEO Robin Vince, and Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, the deputy CEO of the $375 billion Emirati sovereign wealth fund, Mudabala.
“We’re still probably the best dirty shirt in the laundry,” Johnson said about investing in the US. Mudabala has 44% of its portfolio in the country, and Gray believes there’ll be an explosion of blue-collar job growth in the coming years.
“You have to be quite negative if you don’t think it’ll be a tailwind,” Vince said about the amount of capital pledged and raised by companies to invest in their businesses.
And for investment managers, the current pressure from retail investors, institutions, and insurers alike is inconsequential if they can eventually generate returns.
“If we deliver that premium, it’s a good trade,” Gray said.
Jessica Stanton flew to Boston with Spirit Airlines and was left stranded.
Courtesy of Jessica Stanton
Jessica Stanton had round-trip tickets from Myrtle Beach to Boston for her undergraduate graduation.
She stayed up all night trying to find another direct flight after her Spirit flight was canceled.
She found a one-way flight with American Airlines for $399 a ticket.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jessica Stanton. It has been edited for length and clarity.
On Saturday morning at 2:28 a.m., I had an email from Spirit Airlines informing me that my flight back to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, had been canceled.
I had booked round trip tickets for my mom and I with Spirit Airlines in February, from Myrtle Beach to Boston, for my college graduation.
Jessica Stanton was traveling with her mom for her graduation.
Courtesy of Jessica Stanton
I had booked with Spirit because they were the only airline offering the direct flight we needed that day. At Myrtle Beach’s airport, Spirit Airlines was the largest carrier with the most direct flights to Boston.
Each ticket cost me $215
My mom and I got to Boston without any problems. I had my graduation on Friday, May 1, and afterward, had a great celebration with friends.
That evening, back at the hotel, my mom had a text from my stepdad asking if we were stranded.
“What are you talking about?” she asked him. We hadn’t heard anything about a change to our flight, which was booked for around noon on Saturday. I checked my email and texts — nothing. The Spirit Airlines app showed that my plane was on time.
While my mom was sleeping, I decided to stay up a while to see if anything came of the worries my stepdad had. Just in case, I started looking at options for other flights we could get back to Myrtle Beach.
At 2:28 a.m., I received an email informing me that all Spirit Airlines flights had been canceled and that we would be refunded automatically.
I started looking for other flights out
As my mom is older and has mobility issues, getting a direct flight was a priority.
Frontier was advertising reduced-price tickets for those stranded due to Spirit cancellations, but they only had flights to Orlando. Southwest had a flight, but it wasn’t direct. Delta didn’t have any good options.
I called American Airlines after seeing online that they had a direct flight from Boston to Myrtle Beach on Saturday afternoon for $399, and asked whether they would offer a reduced fare for Spirit customers. They told me they couldn’t.
Without another option, I had to bite the bullet and buy the tickets. I couldn’t believe I had already paid for tickets and was having to spend an extra $800 to get home.
Jessica Stanton paid $800 for two tickets on American Airlines.
Courtesy of Jessica Stanton
Although I thought about looking for other tickets, I knew that once everyone started waking up (it was still early hours of the morning on Saturday), it would be even harder and more expensive to get tickets.
I worked out that it would probably be cheaper to just get the tickets, instead of paying for another night in a hotel plus extra food if I couldn’t secure tickets for Saturday.
We arrived at an empty airport
When my mom woke up, I told her about what had happened, but assured her I had dealt with it and found a solution.
Jessica Stanton arrived at Myrtle Beach, where Spirit Airlines operated at several gates.
Courtesy of Jessica Stanton
We arrived back in Myrtle Beach to an empty airport because most of the gates there are Spirit Airlines gates. As we walked through the airport, I thought of all the jobs that have been lost. It feels like every six months, thousands of workers at these big companies are losing their jobs. It’s really sad.
After getting home and finally getting some sleep, I’ve noticed that flight prices have gone up and there are fewer flights available. I’m hoping I do get the refund I was promised, but I haven’t heard anything yet.
I’m so glad I booked when I did, and feel really grateful I got myself and my mom home.
[Editor’s note: American Airlines’ website says they are “doing everything we can to support Spirit Airlines customers” and that they have put in place rescue fares on non-stop routes that overlapped with Spirit Airlines.]
The author, posing with empanadas he made for an event he hosted, said that AI doesn’t have the human touch his job requires.
Courtesy of Emillio Mesa.
I’ve worked in the hospitality industry for more than 20 years.
Empathy is at the center of what I do, so I’m not worried about AI taking my job away.
Technology and people can work well together, but one cannot always replace the other.
Right after college, I was like most graduates — broke and desperate for money.
In the early aughts, there was no social media, no algorithms, and certainly no online job postings like there are today. The only way to get leads was through newspaper ads or those physical job boards at career fairs and public places. To get noticed, I printed out a stack of resumes, made a list of the companies I wanted to work for, put on my best professional outfit, and dropped a copy off — in person.
It’s almost hard to believe today. Over the last 24 years, I’ve worked a variety of jobs in the hospitality industry, and while a lot has changed in the world, the personal connection to people, which I believe is needed to excel in this industry, has not.
That’s why, while others seem panicked about AI replacing them at work, I’m not nearly as concerned.
Getting my first job took perseverance
To land my first hotel job as a concierge, I kept showing up in person every Monday after lunch for six weeks straight, because that’s when the security guard told me the new job postings went up. I figured I’d keep trying until a job opened or they told me never to return.
During my first interview, the human resources manager enthusiastically said, “Your persistence made you stand out. It says a lot about your character and drive.” I got the job and learned a valuable lesson that has stuck with me
Training season is never over
My hotel training lasted a month and was split into two parts. During the first two weeks, I dove into the rabbit hole of a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, which is a software that helps a business keep track of its customers and interactions with them all in one place. Think of it like a smart digital address book, notebook, reminder system all in one. The second half was all about etiquette, understanding the underlying reasons behind any complaints. That whole experience taught me that technology and the human touch must work together in the hospitality industry.
My training and years of work since then have taught me that it’s not enough to just acknowledge a guest — it’s about making them feel genuinely seen, heard, and understood. That’s something that only a real person can do, and I’m confident that it will be much better than an auto-generated, generic email or voicemail that pretends to mimic human concern.
The author said he cherishes the guestbook he has from hosting dinners.
Courtesy of the Emillio Mesa.
It always turns physical
My career in the hospitality industry has always been a bit like riding an exhilarating, white-knuckling rollercoaster. From the dizzying heights of working as a concierge to the exhausting lows of being an events planner, each day brought new challenges that I worked hard to overcome.
Over the years, I’ve dealt with the high-pressure demands of catering to ultra-high-net-worth clients and ensured celebrities felt truly cared for as a VIP attendant. I’ve planned unforgettable events for corporate clients and everyday folks.
There are always the unexpected issues that required me to think and act fast: diving into dumpsters to retrieve lost jewelry, shipping urgent packages, tracking down deliveries that were lost, printing last-minute presentations, sewing clothes in a pinch, and many more. These aren’t tasks AI can handle; they require a person’s presence, resourcefulness, and above all, empathy.
I have received letters from guests and companies, thanking me for saving their day — or sometimes, their job. These moments are proof that, with technology as a tool and a person at the heart, we make a powerful team, but the human is always the lead operator.
Tech can’t replicate everything
For a time I was hosting curated dinner parties. I wone awards, which was personally reward, especially since some of the recipes I used were from my late grandmother.
Her recipe book is not something AI has access to. Sure, AI can generate multiple fantastic recipes, but could it duplicate the seasoning she taught me to make with my hands from scratch for empanadas? No, I don’t think so.
An opportunity to impact, not take over
Managing expectations in hospitality isn’t just about following a checklist; it’s about listening closely, thinking through challenges, and making choices that are guided by empathy for how guests will feel because of your actions.
Empathy is the key, and so far, technology can’t replicate that. Sure, tech can streamline processes and provide valuable information, but it can’t replicate the genuine human connection that comes from understanding and responding to someone’s needs in person.
The real magic happens when people and technology work together, forming a partnership that elevates the guest experience to something truly special.