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Elon Musk does not apologize often. So when he does, people pay attention.In a post on X Thursday, Musk admitted that his artificial intelligence startup xAI “was not built right first time around” and is now “being rebuilt from the foundations up.” He also apologized to job candidates the company wrongly passed on, saying he and xAI talent head Baris Akis are combing through old interview records to reconnect with people who should have gotten a shot.The admission is striking for a company that launched in 2023 with promises of cracking the universe’s mysteries. It is even more striking given the timing.Timing raises serious questionsJust six weeks ago, SpaceX acquired xAI in a deal valuing the combined entity at $1.25 trillion. Before that, Tesla disclosed a $2 billion investment into xAI’s Series E round in its Q4 2025 shareholder letter. Now Musk is telling the world the thing he just sold to his own investors was broken.More AI Stocks:Morgan Stanley sets jaw-dropping Micron price target after eventBank of America updates Palantir stock forecast after private meetingMorgan Stanley drops eye-popping Broadcom price targetTesla shareholders are already suing Musk for breach of fiduciary duty, arguing he diverted AI talent and resources away from Tesla to benefit his private ventures. This admission adds a new layer to those legal challenges.It also comes as SpaceX prepares for what could be a record IPO later this year. A stumbling AI division is not the story Musk needs investors reading right now.The cofounder exodus tells the storyOf the 12 people who cofounded xAI with Musk in 2023, only two remain. Manuel Kroiss and Ross Nordeen are the last ones standing.The departures accelerated sharply in early 2026. Here is who has left.Key xAI departures since January 2026Jimmy Ba: One of xAI’s most prominent AI researchers, he left in February amid reported tensions over model performance.Tony Wu: Departed the same week as Ba, with no public explanation given.Toby Pohlen: Put in charge of the ambitious “Macrohard” coding project, left just 16 days after being appointed.Guodong Zhang: Led xAI’s Imagine team. Confirmed his departure on X this week. Reuters reported Musk blamed him for coding product shortfalls.Zihang Dai: Worked on Grok’s coding capabilities. Left earlier this week, per Reuters.The exits are not just about personnel. Insiders describe a combination of burnout, Musk’s management style, and an organizational structure that was never built to sustain the kind of aggressive AI development the company promised.Grok is falling behindThe immediate trigger for this week’s reset is Grok’s performance on coding tasks. Musk said at a conference this week that “Grok is currently behind in coding,” a candid admission given that AI-assisted software development has become the most commercially valuable near-term application of large language models.

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Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex are pulling ahead. To close the gap, xAI has poached two senior engineers from AI coding startup Cursor: Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg. Both will report directly to Musk.Beyond coding, xAI faces broader reputational headwinds. Grok has drawn government scrutiny in multiple countries after its image generator was found producing non-consensual intimate imagery with minimal safeguards. That has complicated the company’s pitch to enterprise customers who might otherwise have considered Grok as a legitimate alternative to OpenAI or Anthropic.Musk is betting on a patternMusk has been here before. Tesla was months from bankruptcy when it launched the Model 3. SpaceX had three rocket failures before its fourth mission succeeded. In both cases, he blew things up and rebuilt leaner.The question is whether that playbook works in AI, where the competitive landscape shifts every few months and the penalty for falling behind compounds fast.SpaceX and Tesla executives have already been sent into xAI to audit teams and identify underperformers, per Reuters. Musk is also reaching back out to job candidates xAI previously rejected, hoping to rebuild the talent pipeline from scratch.Whether investors in Tesla and SpaceX knew the full picture before committing billions to xAI is a question regulators and shareholders are now starting to ask. Musk’s track record on turnarounds is real. But the stakes on this one are higher than anything he has attempted before.Related: Elon Musk’s Next Move Could Reset the Record Books

Costco and Sam’s Club have long been rivals. And while both companies’ financials indicate that they’re thriving, each retail giant would love nothing more than to steal customers away from the other.Costco and Sam’s Club each have distinct advantages. One of Costco’s biggest strengths is its wide selection of quality products at fantastic prices. And Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand also tends to have a better reputation than Sam’s Club’s Member’s Mark brand.On the other hand, a membership at Sam’s Club is cheaper. A regular Club membership costs just $50 a year, while a Plus membership costs $110. At Costco, the basic Gold Star membership costs $65 per year, while the Executive membership costs $130.Recently, Sam’s Club made a big move to improve an important aspect of the member experience. And it’s an area that tends to be a point of frustration for Costco customers in particular.Checkout at Costco is a major painIf you’ve ever been to Costco on a weekend, you know quite well how painful the checkout process can be. And when you’re trying to get out the door and move on with your day, you don’t want to get stuck on a 20-minute line.”If you go to Costco during peak times, it means peak checkout wait times too,” said a user on Reddit. Related: Costco makes a policy change that frustrates membersCostco has tried to improve the checkout experience by installing self-checkout lanes. But many members find those just as frustrating.”My Costco DOES NOT have handheld scanners, or employees that check you out. There is one person there for 6 self checkouts and they get huffy if they have to do their job,” said a Reddit user.Interestingly, on that same thread, another Redditor was quick to point out how much better the checkout experience is at Sam’s Club. “Tried switching to Costco from Sam’s but I just couldn’t do it. The Sam’s Club is seriously one of the best store apps I’ve ever used. Scan and go so I can scan everything as I put it in my cart and just have the receipt checker scan my QR code.”

Kevin Hart did ads for Sam’s Club. Sam’s Club

Sam’s Club takes steps to eliminate traditional checkoutWhile Costco clearly has work to do to improve the checkout process, Sam’s Club is making great strides. As Fox Business reported, Sam’s Club is phasing out traditional checkouts across its 600 warehouse club stores. To do so, it’s leaning on technology to create a seamless checkout experience that allows customers to scan goods on the go using its app and then have an AI scanner verify purchases as customers leave. The best part? This approach eliminates a huge potential bottleneck — having a receipt checked at the door.Having to take that second step before existing the store has long been a complaint among Costco members. However, there’s a reason for it. As Costco states on its website, “It is standard practice at all our warehouse locations to verify purchase receipts when customers exit our buildings. We do this to double-check that the items purchased have been correctly processed by our cashiers. It’s our most effective method of maintaining accuracy in inventory control, and it’s also a good way to ensure that our members have been charged properly for their purchases.”But while Costco may have its reasons for implementing its checkout and receipt-scanning protocols, if the checkout experience at Sam’s Club proves to be far superior, Costco risks losing members.More Retail:Costco sees major shift in member behaviorRetail chain shuts all locations as legal changes hit industryCostco makes major investment in online shopping for membersT-Mobile launches free offer for customers after major lossCostco’s isn’t just sitting back and letting Sam’s Club completely win the checkout wars, though. During the company’s second-quarter 2026 earnings call, CEO Ron Vachris said the company is “piloting automated pay stations that will allow members to pay for their pre-scan orders seamlessly.” If that process is implemented on a broad scale, it could improve the checkout experience tremendously. But Costco might still continue to lag behind Sam’s Club in that area.Maurie Backman owns shares of Costco.Related: Costco cuts prices on eggs, butter, other staples

If you drive a Ford, service it at a Ford dealership, or even just fill up your tank every week, there is now a credit card built specifically around how you already spend money.The Ford Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card, announced on March 10 through a new long-term partnership with Bread Financial, is designed to turn routine car-related spending into real rewards.But before you rush to apply, there are certain details you should know. Not every driver will get equal value from this card, and the fine print on how those 16x points actually work is worth understanding. Here is what you need to know, who this card is built for, and where it falls short.Ford and Bread Financial team up on a new rewards cardFord Motor Company (F) partnered with Bread Financial (BFH) to launch a co-branded credit card and installment loan program. The card is issued by Comenity Capital Bank, a Bread Financial subsidiary, under a Visa license.This replaces the previous FordPass Rewards Visa issued through First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO), which Ford discontinued approximately one year ago. The new card carries no annual fee, and you can prequalify without a hard inquiry on your credit report.The variable purchase APR ranges from 21.24% to 34.24% depending on your creditworthiness, according to U.S. News. That upper range is steep, so carrying a balance on this card would quickly erase whatever rewards value you earn.Ford Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card: how the rewards break downThe 16x points headline on the Ford Rewards credit card is real, but it requires some stacking. Here is how the earning tiers work.Earning rates at a glance:Up to 16 points per $1 spent on Ford.com and eligible Ford dealership service purchases. This combines 10 base points you already earn as a Ford Rewards member with 6 additional points from the credit card.6 points per $1 on groceries, restaurants, gas stations, EV charging, auto insurance, tolls, and parking.2 points per $1 on all other purchases.That 16x figure only applies if you are already enrolled in Ford Rewards (free to join) and use the card for eligible Ford purchases. Without the base program points, the card itself earns 6x on Ford purchases, which is still competitive for a no-fee, co-branded card.The sign-up bonus gives you up to $175 in early valueNew cardholders get two separate welcome offers that can stack together.15,000 Ford Rewards Points (approximately $75 in redemption value) when you make any purchase within the first 90 days of opening your account$100 statement credit after you spend $1,500 within the first 90 daysCombined, that is up to $175 in early rewards. The 15,000-point bonus has a low bar. Any single purchase triggers it. The $100 credit requires $1,500 in spending, which is realistic if you time the card opening around a planned service visit, tire purchase, or other larger expense.For context, the previous FordPass card offered 11,000 points after your first purchase and a $100 credit after $3,000 in spending. The new card clearly improves on both thresholds.Ford Rewards points are worth about a half-cent eachThis is where you need to slow down and do some honest math. Ford Rewards points are redeemable at roughly $0.005 per point, or half a cent each, according to analysis from Doctor of Credit.That means the 6x earnings rate on groceries and gas translates to about 3% back in real value. The 2x rate on general purchases works out to roughly 1%. Those numbers are decent for a no-annual-fee card, but they do not compete with top-tier general cashback cards that offer 2% flat on everything.Where you can spend your points:Ford vehicle service (oil changes, brakes, tires, maintenance)Ford accessories and partsFord subscriptions (BlueCruise, Connected Services, SiriusXM)New Ford vehicle purchasesExclusive experiences like the Bronco Off-RoadeoYou cannot redeem points for cash, travel, or non-Ford purchases. That limited redemption ecosystem is the biggest trade-off here. If you are not actively spending within the Ford ecosystem, the points lose much of their practical utility.One purchase can bump your Ford Rewards tier statusMaking a single purchase on the card in a calendar year automatically moves you from the Bronze to Silver tier in Ford Rewards. Silver status gives you a 5% bonus on all points earned, which accelerates your earning rate slightly across the board. More Automotive:Tesla investors may miss game-changing moveKey auto parts and services company files Chapter 11 bankruptcyTop-rated analyst drops curt 8-word take on Tesla stockSpending $25,000 on the card in a calendar year pushes you to the Blue tier, which bumps that bonus to 10%. The Ford Rewards program now has more than 18 million U.S. members, according to Bread Financial’s press release. If you are already in the program, the card layers onto an ecosystem you are already using.Ford-Bread Financial installment loan program adds zero-interest financingBeyond the credit card itself, the Ford-Bread Financial partnership also includes an integrated installment loan program. Qualified customers can finance service and accessory purchases at 0% interest, with no upfront payment required, Ford Authority reports.These installment loans are integrated directly into Ford’s online platforms and at dealerships nationwide. If you need a major repair or want to add accessories but do not want to pay up front, this financing option could be genuinely useful. Just be aware that qualification depends on your credit profile, and the specific terms will vary.”Bread Financial’s flexible payment options align with our vision to put customers at the center and empower them with greater financial freedom,” said Beth Leverton, director of rewards and loyalty at Ford Motor Company.Ford Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card makes sense for committed Ford driversThe Ford Rewards Visa Signature is not trying to compete with Chase Sapphire or Amex Gold for general spending. It is a niche card built for people who are already deep in the Ford ecosystem.You will likely get strong value if you:Own a Ford vehicle and regularly service it at a Ford dealershipPlan to buy or lease a new Ford in the coming years and want to bank points toward the purchaseSpend heavily on gas, groceries, and other driving-related expensesHave already participated in the Ford Rewards programYou should probably look elsewhere if you:Do not own or plan to own a Ford vehiclePrefer flexible redemption options such as cash back, travel credits, or statement creditsTend to carry a balance: The 21.24% to 34.24% APR range makes this an expensive card if you are not paying in full every month. With average credit card APRs hovering near 24%, according to LendingTree data cited by TheStreet, carrying debt on any rewards card erodes the value quickly.How to apply and what to check firstYou must be a Ford Rewards member to apply. Membership is free and available at fordrewards.com. Once enrolled, you can prequalify for the card without a hard credit inquiry.Before applying, verify that you understand the APR range and confirm that you will pay the balance in full each month. Also check that your spending patterns align with the card’s bonus categories. If you spend $300 a month on gas and groceries alone, that is roughly 21,600 points per year at the 6x rate, worth about $108 toward Ford service. Add in Ford dealership spending, and the numbers scale up quickly. Residents of U.S. territories (such as Puerto Rico and Guam) are not eligible for the Ford Rewards program or the credit card. The card is subject to credit approval, and terms may change.Ford’s loyalty play comes as co-branded cards gain momentumThis launch fits a broader trend in 2026. Automakers and major brands are increasingly using co-branded credit cards to lock in customer loyalty and create recurring revenue streams beyond the initial sale.Ford reported full-year 2025 revenue of $187.3 billion and projected 2026 adjusted EBIT of $8 billion to $10 billion, according to its fourth-quarter earnings release filed with the SEC. A loyalty card that deepens customer engagement across service, subscriptions, and future vehicle purchases is a strategic move that supports the company’s Ford+ growth plan.If you are a Ford owner who already spends money on service, gas, and groceries, this card converts spending you would do anyway into points that offset future Ford costs. Just make sure the math works before you sign up, and never carry a balance.Related: Ford F-150 shoppers may want to wait to buy