Ken Griffin been something of a critical friend to the White House since President Trump won the Oval Office. Griffin, the CEO of Citadel ($400-plus billion assets under management), was open about the fact he voted for Trump in last year’s elections and would do what he could to support the administration, but has cautioned the president about certain policies in the months since.
This has included warning the White House against intervening too closely with central bank policy, and raising questions about some aspects of tariff policy. And this is where the hedge fund billionaire has raised further questions this week, making it clear he doesn’t believe preferential treatment should be showed to America’s biggest businesses.
Trump has made it clear that backing U.S. business will be the central theme of his second presidency, and has surrounded himself with some of the most notable names in the economy. This has included bringing Tesla CEO Elon Musk into the White House to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and having executives from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, to Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai in the front row of his swearing in ceremony.
The revolving door of Magnificent 7 CEOs coming through the White House is perhaps to be expected with a businessman in the Oval Office, but Griffin warned potential preferential treatment to certain companies shouldn’t be encouraged.
“I spoke about my concerns with the crony capitalism if we went down the path of tariffs. The line outside the White House of every business arguing why they should be exempt from paying tariffs on what they import into their products is nauseating,” Griffin told CNBC in an interview released today.
Griffin, worth $50.5 billion according to Forbes, added companies like Apple shouldn’t get exemptions from tariffs despite how many Americans buy them. “100% not,” he said. “We’re just going to favor big and connected businesses in America? Is that our country, that we’re going to favor the big and the connected? That’s not the American story.”
The White House has indeed announced some Apple products will be exempt from certain tariffs, a move which sent its stock price up after investors worried how exposed the Mag7 company would be to tariff policy. Chipmaker Nvidia has also scored some wins, having agreed with the White House it will share a portion of its revenues in return for being able to sell advanced chips to China.
Griffin added he had “nothing against Tim Cook,” explaining: “Tim Cook’s doing what he as CEO should do vis-a-vis his shareholders, but when the state becomes involved in picking winners and losers, there’s only one way this game ends. All of us lose.”
There’s also the question of how future administrations might view businesses which became so deeply entrenched with the Trump team. Would a future Democrat president, for example, seek to right-size a business which they felt were given preferential treatment in the past?
“Now you’re going to end up in, if you’re out of favor with the next administration what will they ask you to pay to do business abroad?” Griffin asked. “With each administration are you going to find corporate America having to cut new deals with a new administration about their terms and business dealings abroad?”
The question of fairness
Trump is scoring wins for his deals with the world’s largest companies. Apple increased its U.S. investment pledge in August to $600 billion, confirming plans to hire some 20,000 people to work in R&D, silicon engineering, software development, and AI and machine learning over the next four years.
Meanwhile SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX are initial equity partners in the Stargate project, a company which will invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure—Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI are the key initial technology partners.
Indeed, Altman has lauded the president’s swift approach to building infrastructure, telling press this week: “This administration has been great for building. I mean look at the speed with which we’re now able to build infrastructure, and I think the president really understands and values that.”
And while business booming for some of the biggest companies in the U.S. can mean good things for the man on the street—more jobs in a weakening labor market being one of them—Griffin was careful to frame the conversation of tariffs around equity.
He said: “We are bringing in money, remember … in some senses it’s a national sales tax, and the incidence of tax is therefore disproportionately high on lower class and middle class America. Keep that in mind, this tax is paid for disproportionately as a percentage of household income by those who can least afford to pay it.”
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Good morning. As audit committees confront a rapidly expanding risk landscape, their role in corporate governance is being reshaped. Boards have often turned to current and former CFOs as independent directors, particularly for audit committees, because of their ability to translate complex operational and financial realities into effective oversight.
For example, this month, J. Michael Hansen, former EVP and CFO of Cintas Corporation, was appointed to the audit committee at Paychex. In July, Britt Vitalone, EVP and CFO of McKesson Corporation, was appointed to the audit committee of Align Technology’s board of directors. And in November, Catherine Birkett, CFO of GoCardless, was named chair of the audit and risk committee at Twinkl.
I attended the launch event of the Institute of Internal Auditors’ (IIA) Global Audit Committee Center last week in Washington, D.C., which addressed the challenges and opportunities facing audit committees. The center is designed to be a resource to strengthen the alliance between audit committees of boards and internal audit in a fast-changing risk environment. It offers research, webinars, and events and will ultimately add formal training programs.
“The center has a very strong core belief—well-informed, engaged, and well-supported audit committees are essential to corporate governance,” said Anthony Pugliese, president and CEO of the IIA.
Pugliese emphasized that board audit committees need to turn to internal audit to truly understand what is happening inside an organization. The event drew members from across the U.S. and around the world, including Canada, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, with Abdullah Alshebeili, CEO of the Saudi Authority of Internal Auditors, in attendance.
CFOs, in particular, work with internal audit on risk assessment, internal controls, and audit readiness, and they share information on financial processes and control issues. Finance chiefs also communicate regularly with the board’s audit committee.
AI and analytics reshape how audit committees see risk
During a panel discussion at the event, Ann Cohen, CFO of the IIA, said audit committees are increasingly using AI and advanced technology to connect different types of risk—third-party, financial, operational, cyber, and regulatory. They are using analytics to surface anomalies and emerging risks earlier, support proactive oversight, and run “what if” analyses before risks materialize. “It allows us to be more responsive to risks and provide more robust assurance to stakeholders,” she said.
A major focus is “everyday AI,” said Sarah Francis of the EY Center for Board Effectiveness. “I think audit committees are really also looking at, ‘How do we start to touch, feel, smell, and get used to the products that are out there?’” Directors, many of whom are active executives, are also thinking about how to deploy these tools effectively. “There have to be clear governance frameworks for AI and analytics,” she said, noting that prompts—and the people who craft them—matter. She highlighted the need for experts who can help frame broader questions around ethics within responsible AI frameworks.
Audit committees can and should engage with technology as they work toward a fully defined plan, commented Luke Whorton, executive search and leadership consultant at Spencer Stuart in the firm’s Financial Officer Practice. “How do you create a foundation, but one that’s agile and responsive, because it’s going to continue to change rapidly?” he asked.
“Audit committees need to be curious,” Cohen said. “They need to challenge management on their inputs, on their assumptions and their judgment, and on what they’ve embedded into their AI outputs.”
The committees that challenge assumptions and lean into technology, alongside strong partnerships with internal audit, could be well-positioned to safeguard trust in an uncertain world.
Linda LaGorga will step down as CFO of Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENTG), an advanced materials science provider, effective Feb. 28. Effective March 1. Mike Sauer, Entegris’ VP, controller and chief accounting officer, will assume the role of interim CFO, in addition to maintaining the responsibilities of his current role. LaGorga will serve as a senior advisor to Entegris through May 15. Entegris has initiated a search process for a permanent CFO with an executive search firm. Sauer has 37 years of experience in finance and accounting roles at Entegris.
Hugo Doetsch was appointed CFO of AuditBoard, a governance, risk, and compliance platform. Doetsch brings over two decades of financial leadership and strategic operating experience to AuditBoard. Most recently, he served as CFO at symplr, an enterprise health care operations software provider. Before that, he was CFO at NetDocuments, a cloud-based content management platform. Doetsch also held senior leadership roles at Ping Identity, where he assisted the company in a 2019 initial public offering.
Big Deal
The 2026 Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies list was released this morning. The annual ranking of corporate reputation is based on a poll of some 3,000 executives, directors, and analysts.
Apple has been No. 1 for 19 consecutive years. Amazon and Microsoft have filled out the top three for seven years in a row. Berkshire Hathaway (No. 6) and Alphabet (No. 8) have each been in the top 10 for well over a decade. Berkshire, the conglomerate nurtured by Warren Buffett, holds the distinction of having been on the All-Star list every single year since it launched in 1998; it shares that honor with Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Toyota Motor, and Johnson & Johnson.
Going deeper
“Who Gets Replaced by AI and Why?” is a report in Wharton’s business journal. New research from Wharton’s Pinar Yildirim explores how AI can impact employee motivation when it is implemented in the wrong part of a team’s workflow. The research addresses topics such as how managers should deploy AI capacity in teams and which positions are most vulnerable to being displaced by AI.
Overheard
“Working closely with David Ellison and this exceptional management team made the decision to resign from the board and jump in fully as CFO an easy one.”
—Dennis K. Cinelli wrote in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday regarding his appointment, effective Jan. 15, as CFO of Paramount, and his resignation from the company’s board. Most recently, Cinelli served as CFO of Scale AI, and he previously held senior finance and operational roles at Uber.
I love watching “Next Man Up” basketball, where the spotlight rotates unpredictably. One night it’s the bench guard dropping 30, the next it’s the role player posting a triple-double.
CapitalG’s Jill Chase—who captained her college basketball team at Williams College—says this logic actually applies to Alphabet’s growth firm. When I ask her what basketball team is most like CapitalG, she lists the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries.
“Everybody has a different skill set, and everybody is willing to drop anything to help each other win,” said Chase. “It’s a different person every night who wins the game. And I think that’s really consistent with the way CapitalG is building its culture.”
For the first time since the firm was started in 2013, it’s promoting two general partners, Chase and Alex Nichols, Fortune has exclusively learned. Chase, who joined CapitalG in 2020 specifically with a thesis around AI, has backed Abridge, Baseten, Canva, LangChain, Physical Intelligence, and Rippling.
Nichols, meanwhile, joined CapitalG in 2018 as an associate and was promoted to partner just two years ago. He previously worked with managing partner Laela Sturdy on the firm’s investments in Duolingo, Stripe, and Whatnot, and recently led CapitalG’s investment in Zach Dell’s energy startup BasePower. At a moment where there’s mounting angst around data centers and what it will take to power them, Nichols has a surprising take on how AI will affect energy—that both batteries and solar are getting cheaper and better at something like Moore’s Law speed. Those twin cost curves, over time, should actually drive energy prices down.
“I’m actually very optimistic about the future of energy prices,” he said. “You look at the history of energy consumption versus GDP. And cheap energy means more production, more income, and means a higher standard of living.”
At a moment when venture is perhaps more competitive than ever—and there are certainly some solo GPs out there making their mark—there’s an argument that as lines blur between disciplines in an AI-ified world, venture is by necessity a team sport.
Sturdy—who’s been CapitalG’s managing partner since 2023 (and also captained her college basketball team)—and Chase both have clearly taken some learnings from their time on the court. Chase sees venture overall as becoming more team-oriented: “Historically, it used to be like ‘you made general partner, go out and win your deal.’ To me, that’s not the right way to be successful in venture ever.”
Sturdy adds that in basketball, like venture, “We have to look at the scoreboard every once in a while, and you have to get back up when you get crushed… And, of course, coming together is better than playing alone.”
Term Sheet Podcast…This week, I spoke with Exelon CEO Calvin Butler. As resource-hungry data centers continue to sprout across the country, many are questioning whether the nation’s utility network can keep pace with such large-scale demand. Butler says it can. Listen and watch here.
Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.Subscribe here.
VENTURE CAPITAL
– humans&, a San Francisco-based AI lab, raised $480 million in seed funding. SVAngel and GeorgesHarik led the round and were joined by NVIDIA and others.
– Emergent, a San Francisco-based platform designed for AI software creation, raised $70 million in Series B funding. Khosla Ventures and SoftBank led the round and were joined by Prosus, Lightspeed, Together, and Y Combinator.
– Exciva, a Heidelberg, Germany-based developer of therapeutics designed for neuropsychiatric conditions, raised €51 million ($59 million) in Series B funding. Gimv and EQTLifeSciences led the round and were joined by FountainHealthcarePartners, LifeArcVentures, and others.
– Pomelo, a Buenos Aires, Argentina-based payments infrastructure company, raised $55 million in Series C funding. Kaszek and InsightPartners led the round and were joined by IndexVentures, AdamsStreetPartners, S32, and others.
– Cloover, a Berlin, Germany-based operating system designed for energy independence, raised $22 million in Series A funding. MMCVentures and QEDInvestors led the round and were joined by LowercarbonCapital, BNVTCapital, BoschVentures, and others.
– Statusphere, a Winter Park, Fla.-based influencer marketing technology platform, raised $18 million in Series A funding. VolitionCapital led the round and was joined by HearstLab, 1984Ventures, and HowWomenInvest.
– DominionDynamics, an Ottawa, Canada-based defense technology company, raised $21M CAD ($15.2M USD) in seed funding. Georgian led the round and was joined by BessemerVenturePartners and BritishColumbiaInvestmentManagementCorporation.
– Cosmos, a New York City-based image collection and discovery platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding. ShineCapital led the round and was joined by Matrix and others.
– Mave, a Toronto, Canada-based real estate AI company, raised $5 million in seed funding from StaircaseVentures, RelayVentures, N49P, and AlatePartners.
– Stilla, a Stockholm, Sweden-based developer of an AI designed to accommodate entire teams, raised $5 million in pre-seed funding. GeneralCatalyst led the round and was joined by others.
– AsymmetricSecurity, a London, U.K. and San Francisco-based cyber forensics company, raised $4.2 million in pre-seed funding. SusaVentures led the round and was joined by HalcyonVentures, OverlookVentures, and angel investors.
PRIVATE EQUITY
– ConnectWise, backed by ThomaBravo, acquired zofiQ, a Toronto, Ontario-based agentic AI technology company designed to automate high-service desk operations. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– GrantAvenueCapital acquired 21stCenturyHealthcare, a Tempe, Ariz.-based vitamins, minerals, and supplements company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– HighlanderPartners acquired Tapatio, a Vernon, Calif.-based hot sauce brand. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– PlatinumEquity acquired CzarnowskiCollective, a Chicago, Ill.-based exhibit and events company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– UnitedBuildingSolutions, backed by AEIndustrial, acquired DFWMechanicalGroup, a Wylie, Texas-based HVAC solutions company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
IPOS
– PicPay, a Sao Paolo, Brazil-based digital bank, now plans to raise up to $435.1 million in an offering of 22.9 million shares priced between $16 and $19 on the Nasdaq. The company posted $1.7 billion in revenue for the year ended September 30. J&F International and BancoOriginal back the company.
– EthosTechnologies, a San Francisco-based online life insurance provider, plans to raise up to $210 million in an offering of 10.5 million shares priced between $18 and $20. The company posted $344 million in revenue for the year ended Sept. 30. GeneralCatalyst, HeroicVentures, EricLantz, and others back the company.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
– BlueprintEquity, a La Jolla, Calif.-based growth equity firm, raised $333 million for its third fund focused on enterprise software, business-to-business, and tech-enabled services companies.
PEOPLE
– Area 15 Ventures, a Castle Pine, Colo.-based venture capital firm, promoted AdamContos to managing partner.
– BullCityVenturePartners, a Durham, N.C.-based venture capital firm, hired CarlyConnell as a principal.
– HarvestPartners, a New York City-based private equity firm, promoted LucasRodgers to partner, MatthewBruckmann and IanSingleton to principal, and ConnorScro to vice president on the private equity team.
– Wingman Growth Partners, a Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity firm, hired CheriReeve as CFO. She previously served as principal and CFO at AtlasHoldings.
Davos 2026: reading the signals, not the headlines | Fortune
Louisa Loran advises boards and leadership teams on transformation and long-term value creation and currently serves on the boards of Copenhagen Business School and CataCap Private Equity.At Google, Louisa launched a billion-dollar supply chain solutions business, doubled growth in a global industry vertical, and led strategic business transformation for the company’s largest customers in EMEA—working at the forefront of AI, data, and platform innovation. At Maersk, she co-authored the strategy that redefined the brand globally and doubled its share price, helping pivot the company from traditional shipping to integrated logistics. Her career began in the luxury and FMCG space with Moët Hennessy and Diageo, where she built iconic brands and led innovation at the intersection of heritage and digital transformation.
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