Business

Why CIOs and CFOs are becoming ‘attached at the hip’ as businesses make big AI investments

Published

2 months ago

October 22, 2025

When Rani Johnson joined Workday as chief information officer in March 2023, her appointment happened to coincide with some monumental generative artificial intelligence milestones, including the debut of Anthropic’s Claude and the rollout of OpenAI’s GPT-4.

Amid all the buzzy attention on generative AI and the hunt to produce both top- and bottom-line gains from the deployment of these fast-developing tools, Workday wanted to be thoughtful about how it would budget the business software company’s AI investments. A close partnership was forged between IT and finance, the latter led by Chief Financial Officer Zane Rowe, who joined Workday just three months after Johnson.

“We created a framework for the governance to ensure that any material AI investments had a review process,” says Johnson.

This process includes a monthly IT-finance meeting where the teams discuss the various AI tools in the marketplace, which use cases have the highest feasibility for success, and which can produce the greatest impact to the business. Each month, Workday evaluates every generative AI use case that’s been in production for six months or longer to determine if these investments are delivering on key performance indicators, which may include productivity or revenue generation.

On a bimonthly basis, the company’s broader executive leadership team meets to align on Workday’s overall AI strategy. In those sessions, Johnson shares updates on the future generative AI roadmap and what benefits are expected to be achieved when making those investments. That transparency ensures accountability for all AI bets.

Business leaders say it is critical for IT and finance to nurture a close partnership as AI becomes more expansive across their operations, especially as some studies have shown that a vast majority of AI pilots fail. Most organizations that are using generative AI today are seeing a limited return on their investments, according to research from management consulting firm McKinsey.

Workday pilots every new AI feature it may want to deploy, frequently with a very short contract.

“We do believe there’s going to be some enterprise-level consolidation over time,” explains Johnson. When looking back and assessing AI investments, the company may swap out vendors when a new tool proves to be easier to deploy at a lower cost. In one example, Workday swapped in Salesforce Agentforce to replace some third-party agents that the company had deployed from another, unnamed vendor.

“I think the finance-IT partnership is terrific in enabling us to still drive value, while we recognize that there’s not only opportunity, but the cost of not changing is significantly high as well,” says Rowe.

At Akamai Technologies, CIO Kate Prouty and CFO Ed McGowan joined the cybersecurity and cloud computing company within a year of each other more than 25 years ago. After many years as colleagues, Prouty has reported to McGowan ever since she ascended to the top IT role in 2021.

“When you have the CFO behind you, it makes life a lot easier,” says Prouty.

IT and the finance department’s procurement team are “attached at the hip,” looking closely at vendor contracts to ensure that Akamai is getting the best rates possible. Akamai’s IT team fields all inbound requests for new technology solutions across the organization, committing to responding to submissions within a day.

McGowan says leadership needs to strike a delicate balance of encouraging the use of AI tools that can help engineers code faster or make it easier for lawyers to draft legal contracts. But the company doesn’t want to see costs exploding by saying “yes” to every AI request.

“We have to make sure that we don’t get in a situation where we’re either duplicating efforts, or signing bad contracts, or just having expenses run out of control,” says McGowan.

The C-suite leaders at animal health company Zoetis have placed fewer, bigger AI bets focused on just two core parts of the business, research and development and commercialization. Six of the company’s seven AI use cases have been deemed a “success,” including one AI tool that helps sales representatives prepare more tailored business pitches for each individual livestock customer.

Zoetis acknowledges it is a bit behind on implementing more generic AI productivity tools, including those that can speed up recruitment. But the company says it’s shifting more financial resources in that direction. And it can shop around and explore off-the-shelf products sold by various AI vendors that don’t have as much differentiation as the tools that Zoetis developed for its core use cases.

“We started out being more disciplined and focused in terms of where we were pursuing gen AI and making our bets,” says Wetteny Joseph, CFO at Zoetis.

Like his peers at Workday and Akamai, Zoetis Chief Digital and Technology Officer Keith Sarbaugh says the high costs tied to compute and licensing are an ongoing concern. “In my 25 years in this type of work, I’ve never seen another technology carry post-implementation costs as high as AI,” says Sarbaugh.

He frequently fields pitches from vendors like Salesforce and SAP about their latest AI offerings, but firmly believes that the greatest value will come from tools that aren’t siloed.

“We’re always looking for those opportunities where we can integrate data and processes across platforms and sort of unlock new value that way,” says Sarbaugh.

John Kell

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NEWS PACKETS

Amazon Web Services stung by massive outage. Amazon’s cloud computing service experienced a major outage that disrupted an array of online services affecting major corporate clients including Starbucks, Robinhood, United Airlines, McDonald’s and even Amazon’s own services like Ring and Alexa. Amazon blamed the outage on issues related to the company’s domain name system and said the outage originated in Northern Virginia, which is the biggest and oldest cloud hub in the country, according to the Associated Press. The AWS outage began Monday morning, with all services returning to normal operations by 6 p.m. Eastern. DownDetector, which tracks disruptions to internet services, said in a Facebook post it had received over 11 million user reports of problems at more than 2,500 companies.

OpenAI hires ex-bankers to develop AI tools that can perform work now done by junior staff. Bloomberg reports that OpenAI has hired more than 100 former investment bankers from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and other financial giants, staff that’s been brought on board to help train financial models that can replace entry-level tasks performed by younger bankers. The project, called Mercury, pays participants to write prompts and build financial models for transaction-related tasks, including initial public offerings and restructuring. Bloomberg reports that Mercury is an example of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s bid to make AI technology more useful to specific industries, like finance in this case, as well as legal and consulting.

Anthropic debuts Claude Life Sciences, brings Claude Code to the web. OpenAI’s rival Anthropic has formally announced new technology offerings including the debut of Claude Life Sciences, which is built around Anthropic’s AI models but will also support new connections to external scientific tools that are used for research and development. Anthropic says it intends for this AI integration to help researchers speed up the drug discovery process, including research, data analysis, and clinical and regulatory compliance. Separately on Monday, Anthropic announced it would bring its AI coding assistant Claude Code to the web, allowing developers to create and manage AI coding agents from their browser. Rivals like Cursor have similarly moved in this direction in recent months, with Anthropic telling TechCrunch it wants to put Claude Code everywhere to “meet developers where they are.”

ADOPTION CURVE

AI use surges among business leaders and chatbots are their go-to tool. A vast majority of business leaders (82%) report that they use generative AI tools “multiple times a day,” primarily for work-related tasks, but also for personal productivity and social media content creation, among other uses, according to a survey of 119 members of the Fortune AIQ Advisory Board.

Chatbots including ChatGPT and Gemini were by far the most-used generative AI tools (99% report regular usage), followed by image generators like Midjourney (42%), GitHub Copilot and other AI coding assistants (26%), and video generators (only 8%). The most popular work-related tasks were research (88%), drafting reports or emails (74%), and brainstorming ideas (71%).

While nine out of ten of the business leaders reported that they were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with these generative AI tools, there were some concerns when asked if they had encountered any output issues. The top issue was inaccurate or misleading results (39%), followed by a lack of context understanding (23%), and biased or inappropriate outputs (8%). Two out of ten reported no major issues with their generative AI usage.

Courtesy of Fortune AIQ Advisory Board

JOBS RADAR

Hiring:

– Airrosti is seeking a CTO, based in San Antonio, Texas. Posted salary range: $200K-$230K/year.

– AmeriSave Mortgage is seeking a chief AI officer, based in Colorado. Posted salary range: $300K-$1M/year.

– The Information is seeking a head of engineering, a hybrid position that’s based in New York City or San Francisco. Posted salary range: $200K-$250K/year.

– Corpay is seeking a VP of technology, based in Sacramento, California. Posted salary range: $222.6K-$260K/year.

Hired:

– Whataburger named Rohit Kapoor as EVP and chief digital and technology transformation officer, joining the fast-food operator after serving as EVP and CIO at retailer Claire’s. Kapoor also previously held senior leadership roles at restaurant giants Starbucks and Yum Brands.

– Cart.com announced the appointment of Arjun Sainath as CTO, where he will lead product and the engineering strategy for the logistics-focused e-commerce software provider. Most recently, Sainath served as VP of platform engineering at supply chain management company Blue Yonder. He also previously served as a senior director at Salesforce.

– Kikoff announced Philippe Clavel as CTO, joining the fintech company to steer the advancement of its AI strategy. Clavel previously served as CTO and CEO at luxury travel-tech company Scenset and as a senior director of engineering at online game platform Roblox.

– Mongoose appointed Scott Johnston as CTO, joining the software developer after most recently serving as chief product officer for the civic tech nonprofit Code for America. Prior to that, Johnston spent 16 years at Google, where he helped develop key products including Google Drive, Meet, Chat, and Voice. Johnston’s arrival at Mongoose coincides with the company’s planned deep investment in agentic AI.

– Plainsight announced the appointment of Venky Renganathan as CTO, joining the startup that helps businesses convert images and videos into structured data. Renganathan previously served as VP of engineering at repair shop management software company Fullbay and held software development roles at Amazon and Amazon Web Services.

– Accruent named Aron England as chief product and technology officer, joining the software provider after most recently serving as CPTO at speech technology software company Rev. England also has more than 20 years of product and software leadership at Dell, Vrbo, and Expedia.

– AXS appointed Nikhil Bobde as CTO and named Alex Hazboun to the newly created role of chief innovation officer, reporting to Bobde. Bobde joins the sports and entertainment ticketing company from online marketplace Thumbtack and held prior roles at Microsoft and Meta. Hazboun had served as CTO of AXS for nine years and previously held roles at Ticketmaster and Live Nation.

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Business

SpaceX to offer insider shares at record-setting $800 billion valuation

Published

8 hours ago

December 6, 2025

Jace Porter

SpaceX is preparing to sell insider shares in a transaction that would value Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker at as much as $800 billion, people familiar with the matter said, reclaiming the title of the world’s most valuable private company.

The details, discussed by SpaceX’s board of directors on Thursday at its Starbase hub in Texas, could change based on interest from insider sellers and buyers or other factors, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. SpaceX is also exploring a possible initial public offering as soon as late next year, one of the people said.

Another person briefed on the matter said that the price under discussion for the sale of some employees and investors’ shares is higher than $400 apiece, which would value SpaceX at between $750 billion and $800 billion. The company wouldn’t raise any funds though this planned sale, though a successful offering at such levels would catapult it past the record of $500 billion valuation achieved by OpenAI in October.

Elon Musk on Saturday denied that SpaceX is raising money at a $800 billion valuation without addressing Bloomberg’s reporting on the planned offering of insiders’ shares.

“SpaceX has been cash flow positive for many years and does periodic stock buybacks twice a year to provide liquidity for employees and investors,” Musk said in a post on his social media platform X.

The share sale price under discussion would be a substantial increase from the $212 a share set in July, when the company raised money and sold shares at a valuation of $400 billion. The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times earlier reported the $800 billion valuation target.

News of SpaceX’s valuation sent shares of EchoStar Corp., a satellite TV and wireless company, up as much as 18%. Last month, EchoStar had agreed to sell spectrum licenses to SpaceX for $2.6 billion, adding to an earlier agreement to sell about $17 billion in wireless spectrum to Musk’s company.

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The world’s most prolific rocket launcher, SpaceX dominates the space industry with its Falcon 9 rocket that lifts satellites and people to orbit.

SpaceX is also the industry leader in providing internet services from low-Earth orbit through Starlink, a system of more than 9,000 satellites that is far ahead of competitors including Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Leo.

Elite Group

SpaceX is among an elite group of companies that have the ability to raise funds at $100 billion-plus valuations while delaying or denying they have any plan to go public.

An IPO of the company at an $800 billion value would vault SpaceX into another rarefied group — the 20 largest public companies, a few notches below Musk’s Tesla Inc.

If SpaceX sold 5% of the company at that valuation, it would have to sell $40 billion of stock — making it the biggest IPO of all time, well above Saudi Aramco’s $29 billion listing in 2019. The firm sold just 1.5% of the company in that offering, a much smaller slice than the majority of publicly traded firms make available.

A listing would also subject SpaceX to the volatility of being a public company, versus private firms whose valuations are closely guarded secrets. Space and defense company IPOs have had a mixed reception in 2025. Karman Holdings Inc.’s stock has nearly tripled since its debut, while Firefly Aerospace Inc. and Voyager Technologies Inc. have plunged by double-digit percentages since their debuts.

SpaceX executives have repeatedly floated the idea of spinning off SpaceX’s Starlink business into a separate, publicly traded company — a concept President Gwynne Shotwell first suggested in 2020.

However, Musk cast doubt on the prospect publicly over the years and Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen said in 2024 that a Starlink IPO would be something that would take place more likely “in the years to come.”

The Information, citing people familiar with the discussions, separately reported on Friday that SpaceX has told investors and financial institution representatives that it’s aiming for an IPO of the entire company in the second half of next year.

A so-called tender or secondary offering, through which employees and some early shareholders can sell shares, provides investors in closely held companies such as SpaceX a way to generate liquidity.

SpaceX is working to develop its new Starship vehicle, advertised as the most powerful rocket ever developed to loft huge numbers of Starlink satellites as well as carry cargo and people to moon and, eventually, Mars.

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Business

National Park Service drops free admission on MLK Day and Juneteenth while adding Trump’s birthday

Published

8 hours ago

December 6, 2025

Jace Porter

The National Park Service will offer free admission to U.S. residents on President Donald Trump’s birthday next year — which also happens to be Flag Day — but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.

The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America’s civil rights history while also promoting the president’s image, name and legacy.

Last year, the list of free days included Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth — which is June 19 — but not June 14, Trump’s birthday.

The new free-admission policy takes effect Jan. 1 and was one of several changes announced by the Park Service late last month, including higher admission fees for international visitors.

The other days of free park admission in 2026 are Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Veterans Day, President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday (Oct. 27) and the anniversary of the creation of the Park Service (Aug. 25).

Eliminating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, which commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans were emancipated, removes two of the nation’s most prominent civil rights holidays.

Some civil rights leaders voiced opposition to the change after news about it began spreading over the weekend.

“The raw & rank racism here stinks to high heaven,” Harvard Kennedy School professor Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the NAACP, wrote on social media about the new policy.

Kristen Brengel, a spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association, said that while presidential administrations have tweaked the free days in the past, the elimination of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is particularly concerning. For one, the day has become a popular day of service for community groups that use the free day to perform volunteer projects at parks.

That will now be much more expensive, said Brengel, whose organization is a nonprofit that advocates for the park system.

“Not only does it recognize an American hero, it’s also a day when people go into parks to clean them up,” Brengel said. “Martin Luther King Jr. deserves a day of recognition … For some reason, Black history has repeatedly been targeted by this administration, and it shouldn’t be.”

Some Democratic lawmakers also weighed in to object to the new policy.

“The President didn’t just add his own birthday to the list, he removed both of these holidays that mark Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights and freedom,” said Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. “Our country deserves better.”

A spokesperson for the National Park Service did not immediately respond to questions on Saturday seeking information about the reasons behind the changes.

Since taking office, Trump has sought to eliminate programs seen as promoting diversity across the federal government, actions that have erased or downplayed America’s history of racism as well as the civil rights victories of Black Americans.

Self-promotion is an old habit of the president’s and one he has continued in his second term. He unsuccessfully put himself forwardfor the Nobel Peace Prize, renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace after himself, sought to put his name on the planned NFL stadium in the nation’s capital and had a new children’s savings program named after him.

Some Republican lawmakers have suggested putting his visage on Mount Rushmore and the $100 bill.

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Business

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says Europe has a ‘real problem’

Published

9 hours ago

December 6, 2025

Jace Porter

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon called out slow bureaucracy in Europe in a warning that a “weak” continent poses a major economic risk to the US.

“Europe has a real problem,” Dimon said Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum. “They do some wonderful things on their safety nets. But they’ve driven business out, they’ve driven investment out, they’ve driven innovation out. It’s kind of coming back.”

While he praised some European leaders who he said were aware of the issues, he cautioned politics is “really hard.”

Dimon, leader of the biggest US bank, has long said that the risk of a fragmented Europe is among the major challenges facing the world. In his letter to shareholders released earlier this year, he said that Europe has “some serious issues to fix.”

On Saturday, he praised the creation of the euro and Europe’s push for peace. But he warned that a reduction in military efforts and challenges trying to reach agreement within the European Union are threatening the continent.

“If they fragment, then you can say that America first will not be around anymore,” Dimon said. “It will hurt us more than anybody else because they are a major ally in every single way, including common values, which are really important.”

He said the US should help.

“We need a long-term strategy to help them become strong,” Dimon said. “A weak Europe is bad for us.”

The administration of President Donald Trump issued a new national security strategy that directed US interests toward the Western Hemisphere and protection of the homeland while dismissing Europe as a continent headed toward “civilizational erasure.”

JPMorgan has been ramping up its push to spur more investments in the national defense sector. In October, the bank announced that it would funnel $1.5 trillion into industries that bolster US economic security and resiliency over the next 10 years — as much as $500 billion more than what it would’ve provided anyway.

Dimon said in the statement that it’s “painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing.”

Investment banker Jay Horine oversees the effort, which Dimon called “100% commercial.” It will focus on four areas: supply chain and advanced manufacturing; defense and aerospace; energy independence and resilience; and frontier and strategic technologies.

The bank will also invest as much as $10 billion of its own capital to help certain companies expand, innovate or accelerate strategic manufacturing.

Separately on Saturday, Dimon praised Trump for finding ways to roll back bureaucracy in the government.

“There is no question that this administration is trying to bring an axe to some of the bureaucracy that held back America,” Dimon said. “That is a good thing and we can do it and still keep the world safe, for safe food and safe banks and all the stuff like that.”

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