Alex Osila (3:06)

That was WSJ reporter Harriet Tory. Thanks so much, Harriet. Thank you. We're exclusively reporting that Ford executives are discussing whether to scrap the electric version of the company's F150 pickup, the Lightning. That's according to people familiar with the matter. Ford once described this vehicle as a modern Model T because of its importance to the company. And if the automaker decides to scrap it, the truck would be America's first major EV casualty. Sharon Turlop, who covers the automotive industry for the Journal, said the Lightning was a hot seller, at least at first. But the trucks are expensive and buyers had concerns.

Sharon Turlop (3:45)

The reality was with the Lightning and also generally with these vehicles, when they're in really cold weather, when they're towing or carrying heavy loads, that battery range, it's reduced. And also if you think about where there are chargers there, those are plentiful in urban areas. But when you get out to the country and even more into some of the suburbs in the middle of the country, it's just not as easy to find a charger for your vehicle.

Alex Osila (4:11)

The truck is a money loser for Ford. As demand for EVs cools overall and government incentives and clean air mandates fall away, the auto industry is reckoning with that changed environment.

Sharon Turlop (4:22)

I don't think there's anyone saying EVs are just going away and nobody's going to drive them. What we're hearing a lot of is EV growth is going to be much slower, so it's gonna be more of a creep. As to this explosive growth and that the EVs people buy are not, at least in the near term, going to be these very big trucks. It's going to be smaller, more affordable cars that aren't. These massive investments.

Alex Osila (4:47)

Ford paused production of the truck last month amid an aluminum shortage and has said it would start it up again, quote, at the right time. People familiar with the matter say the company is weighing whether to keep that plant idle. And this just in. Tesla shareholders have approved Elon Musk's $1 trillion pay package. The measure was hotly debated with some large shareholders taking opposing sides. The vote was largely seen as a referendum on the EV company's longtime leader and his vision to shift Tesla's focus to humanoid robots and artificial intelligence. Musk, who is also CEO of SpaceX and XAI, had threatened on social media to leave Tesla if the measure was rejected. For the latest on this breaking story, check out WSJ.com and in case you missed it, we dropped a new episode of what's News and Earnings earlier today about automakers from the US and overseas. We look at how they're dealing with slower EV demand tariffs and more. That's in the feed. Now we know more about the flight restrictions from the Federal Aviation Administration. A preliminary list viewed by the Journal shows that the nation's biggest, busiest airports will be hit, including those serving Boston, New York City, Washington, Dallas, Denver and Seattle, leading to thousands of flight cancellations. Aviation data provider Cirium says as many as 1800 flights could be affected tomorrow alone and the number of cuts will increase through the middle of next week. If you're traveling soon and aren't sure how the flight traffic reduction might affect you, check out our story. We'll leave a link in the show Notes coming up, Want to buy a stake in a private company? Increasingly you can more on that after the break.

Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins (6:36)

Hi, I'm Christopher Mims. And I'm Tim Higgins. We're the hosts of the Wall Street Journal's Bold Names podcast. On our show, we bring the bold name companies featured in the pages of the Wall Street Journal to life through real conversations with the people that lead them. If you're looking for more news and insights that bring you inside the C suite, consider becoming a subscriber to the Wall street journal. Visit subscribe WSJ.com Bold names to subscribe.

Alex Osila (7:20)

ESPN and Pen Entertainment are ending their sports betting agreement early after failing to gain significant market share. Instead, ESPN will launch a new multi year deal with industry leader DraftKings. The move is a sign of the grip DraftKings and its competitor FanDuel have on the growing sports betting market. It's long been the case that it was really only institutional investors and the super rich who invested in startups and other promising companies that weren't publicly traded. But smaller investors increasingly want in on the action and more Wall street firms are making this possible now. Charles Schwab is joining in, saying today that it is buying Forge Global, one of the major platforms that allows investors to buy shares in private companies. Hannah Aaron Lang covers markets for the Journal and is here now with More Hannah, why are more Main street investors wanting to buy?

Hannah Aaron Lang (8:14)

Yeah, so I think this has a lot to do with the fact that some of the biggest companies out there today, think about names like OpenAI or Elon Musk's SpaceX, for example, are these rapidly growing companies that have a lot of influence over corporate America. So investors want access to these potentially very high returns. But it's a lot more difficult when companies are private versus public. And what we're seeing is different brokerages and Wall street players try to open up these previously opaque and private market markets to more individual investors. So Charles Schwab will offer its clients the abilities to purchase private shares through Forge Global's platform. They'll do that once the deal closes. They'll immediately roll this out to ultra high net worth clients. And then there are plans to ultimately expand that access to Charles Schwab clients with more than a million dollars in assets.

Alex Osila (9:06)

Further down the line, can anyone buy a stake in OpenAI? Even though it's not publicly listed, it.

Hannah Aaron Lang (9:13)

Still remains the case that you have to be a so called accredited investor to buy a stake in a private firm. Requirements for that are actually quite steep. You need at least a million dollars in net assets, not including your home residence, or at least $200,000 in yearly income, $300,000 if it's a joint household. There are a lot of customers who have a million or more in assets on Schwab and they told me that they've been hearing from investors that they're interested in this, so they're responding to that demand in this way.

Alex Osila (9:44)

Is there a risk here that's different than investing in a publicly traded company?

Hannah Aaron Lang (9:49)

Absolutely. It is a very high potential reward, high potential risk situation. We have spent decades in the United States regulating our financial markets. Publicly traded companies have to maintain a certain level of accountability to their investors. Right. They have to disclose their financials every quarter, which is why you see us writing about earnings reports. And there are lots of other regulations in place to be sure that the investors that own a piece of those companies can have a really clear look into the financials, receive a lot of information about how leaders are running the company. And with private markets, those regulations simply aren't in place. And it's something that critics have brought up when we talk about expanding the access to private companies, that we could be opening more investors and less wealthy investors up to those risks.

Alex Osila (10:41)

That was WSJ reporter Hannah Aaron Lang. Thanks, Hannah.

Hannah Aaron Lang (10:44)

Thanks for having me.

Alex Osila (10:51)

Turning back to publicly traded U.S. companies, tech stocks, led markets, lower with the Nasdaq dropping 1.9%. Tesla, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Nvidia all fell. The chipmaker is down 9% in three trading sessions, its worst three day stretch since April. The S and P lost just over 1% today, while the Dow lost a little less than 1%. And on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs has promoted 638 employees to the role of managing director. That's a bigger group than the last class two years ago. The managing director role is the last stop before employees can ascend to Goldman's partnership. The job typically comes with a base salary of around $400,000 and bonuses, which can range from thousands to millions of dollars. Something good to know before tax season. The IRS is officially ending Direct File, the free tax filing program that the Biden administration started last year. The Trump administration says the private sector can do a better job and it will promote alternatives for free tax filing through private companies. Democrats are criticizing the decision. And finally, remember this from the top of the show.

Nancy Pelosi (12:04)

I'm grateful to my colleagues for their commitment to equality, which is both our heritage and our hope, giving me the historic honor of being the first woman speaker of the House of Representatives.

Alex Osila (12:19)

That, of course, was California Representative Nancy Pelosi speaking on the house floor in 2011 as she ended her first stretch as the first female speaker of the House. Today she announced that she won't run for reelection and plans to leave her seat in Congress at the end of this term. For the 85 year old Democrat representing San Francisco, it's the end of a decades long political career that included driving landmark healthcare initiatives and going toe to toe with President Trump. And that's what's news for this Thursday afternoon. Today's show is produced by Pierre Biennime and Zoe Culkin with supervising producer Tali Arbel. I'm Alex Osola for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning.

Hannah Aaron Lang (12:59)

Thanks for listening.