Here's a look at Fink's career rise and creation of the money-managing giant BlackRock.
Laurence Douglas Fink was born November 2, 1952. He grew up in Van Nuys, California, located in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.
Fink grew up in Van Nuys, California, pictured here, located in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.
trekandshoot / Getty Images
Fink's father owned a shoe store, and his mother was a professor at California State University at Northridge.
He earned his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California at Los Angeles, graduating in 1974.
Fink went to UCLA for his bachelor's and MBA degrees.
Damian Dovarganes/AP
He also got his MBA with a concentration in real estate from UCLA in 1976.
After graduating, Fink worked at First Boston, the investment bank later bought by Credit Suisse.
Credit Suisse bought a controlling stake in First Boston in 1988.
Richard Levine/Corbis via Getty Images
He rose to become First Boston's youngest managing director at 28 years old and a member of its management committee at 31.
Vanity Fair reported in 2010 that Fink "added, by some estimates, about $1 billion to First Boston's bottom line."
In 1986, he took a hit when his department lost roughly $100 million from incorrectly predicting interest rates would rise when they in fact fell.
A bad bet on interest rates cost Fink's department at First Boston $100 million in 1986.
AP
Years later, in his 2016 commencement address to graduates of UCLA, Fink reflected on the loss.
"We lost the company a lot of money. And all of a sudden, we went from 'partners' to outcasts," he said. "I was upset with how we were sidelined. But I was even more upset with myself, because I had become complacent…too sure of what I thought I knew. I believed I had figured out the market, but I was wrong — because while I wasn't watching, the world had changed."
He talked more about risk management and that time in his career in an interview with Crain's.
"We probably should have been fired for the amount of risk we were taking during those times," he once told Crain's. "They should have been raising questions: 'How are you making so much money? Are you taking too much risk?' And they didn't ask. They asked it when you had the losses."
Fink later left First Boston for Blackstone Financial Management.
Steven Schwarzman cofounded Blackstone in 1985, a few years before Fink and several partners started BlackRock.
Horacio Villalobos / Getty Images Contributor
The similarity of Blackstone and BlackRock's names was intentional, despite outside advice to distinguish them to avoid confusion, Blackstone Group CEO Stephen SchwarzmantoldCNBC in 2017.
"Larry and I were sitting down and he said, 'What do you think sort of about having a family name with "black" in it?'"
It was under Blackstone's umbrella that BlackRock later got its start. Fink started BlackRock with seven partners in 1988.
Eight partners, including Fink, founded BlackRock in 1988.
Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images
His big loss at First Boston inspired a subsequent focus on risk management at BlackRock.
"The greatest lesson for me was: know your risk," he told Crain's of his First Boston loss. "That was a major genesis for the formation of BlackRock. When we started the firm, we focused on risk management."
BlackRock went public in 1999, with shares priced at $14 in its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. The company also began selling its proprietary investment management system, Aladdin, that year.
The firm has made several big acquisitions under Fink's leadership.
Fink has pushed through several major acquisitions while at the helm of BlackRock.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Among them are BlackRock's acquisitions of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in 2006 and Barclays Global Investors, with its iShares exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, in 2009. BlackRock today is the world's largest ETF issuer.
More recently, BlackRock announced plans this year to acquire private equity firm and infrastructure investor Global Infrastructure Partnersfor roughly $12.5 billion in cash and stock in its biggest deal since 2009.
The deal will create the second-biggest global infrastructure manager with more than $150 billion in assets, according to an internal memo Fink and BlackRock president Robert Kapito sent to employees that was seen by Business Insider.
"We believe this will be one of the fastest growing areas of our industry over the next 10 years," the memo read.
The Fed has enlisted BlackRock's help in key crises.
The Fed tapped BlackRock for assistance in the 2008 financial crisis and the early days of the pandemic.
Throughout his career, Fink has been a proponent of environmental, social, and corporate governance principles in business.
Fink is one of the most popular faces of ESG investing though he has come to dislike the term itself.
AP
He has been vocal about the climate crisis, for example, writing in 2020 that "climate risk is investment risk," adding that "every government, company, and shareholder must confront climate change."
Fink, however, no longer uses the term "ESG," saying it's become "weaponized" in politics and "misused by the far left and the far right."
Fink has been hit with criticism from both sides of the political spectrum in recent years.
Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called Fink "king of the woke industrial complex, the ESG movement, the CEO of BlackRock, the most powerful company in the world," at the fourth Republican presidential debate in December.
In a response on LinkedIn, Fink noted BlackRock was accused of "pursuing an ideological agenda."
"The only agenda we have is delivering for our clients," he said. "Now I know why they call this the political silly season."
Fink also has critics on the political left. Climate activists, for example, have protested outside Fink's home and BlackRock's New York headquarters in recent years, calling for a divestment from fossil fuels.
Fink's annual letters have helped build his and BlackRock's influence and signal where he's focusing efforts.
Fink has since stopped writing his annual letter to CEOs but continues to write an annual letter to investors.
Thos Robinson/Getty Images
In addition to his annual letter to investors, he also wrote an annual letter to CEOs for several years but has since stopped publishing the latter. Key figures in business and politics closely follow his yearly remarks.
Today, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager.
BlackRock's assets under management grew by 15% year-over-year to a record $10.5 trillion, the company reported in first quarter earnings.
Fink's success at BlackRock has made him a billionaire.
Forbes has also named Fink one of the world's most powerful people.
Thos Robinson/Getty Images for The New York Times
Today, his net worth is estimated at $1.2 billion, according to Forbes.
Looking ahead, Fink said in 2023 that he wasn't planning to depart BlackRock "anytime soon."
Fink is preparing five possible candidates to be his successor.
REUTERS/Ruben Sprich
Though he hasn't shared further specifics on when he aims to retire, he told The Wall Street Journal in May 2023 that he "would prefer to not be at BlackRock in his late 70s."
Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is known for her goofy, friendly persona and "be kind" mantra.
Accusations by crew members and a guest on her show led to a string of bad press in 2020.
At a recent stand-up show, DeGeneres said that she's "not mean."
Ellen DeGeneres began facing backlash in 2020.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has long been considered a beloved celebrity for her friendly and funny public demeanor. But in 2020, that all changed as complaints of inconsiderate behavior sprung up in the news.
The Dutch beauty YouTuber Nikkie de Jager, also known as NikkieTutorials, was one of the first people to call out DeGeneres, saying on a talk show in her home country that the beloved host was "cold and distant" during de Jager's appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
In April of that year, a thread on X (formerly known as Twitter) asking for stories about DeGeneres being "one of the meanest people alive" was widely shared, garnering more than 2,000 replies from people describing uncomfortable or off-putting experiences with the host.
Crew members for "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" also spoke and said they had not received any communication from DeGeneres or show executives about their pay or working hours during the coronavirus pandemic.
With accusations of unkind or inconsiderate behavior swirling around the talk show host for years, it can be hard to keep track of all the controversy. Below, we broke down all the backlash DeGeneres has received since 2020.
Nikkie de Jager appeared on DeGeneres' show in January 2020.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
NikkieTutorials was one of the first people to speak out in February 2020
The Dutch beauty vlogger first visited "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in January to discuss her experience as a transgender woman after coming out earlier that month.
But de Jager said during an appearance on the Dutch talk show "De Wereld Draait Door" in February that it hadn't been a completely positive experience for her.
When van Nieuwkerk asked de Jager whether DeGeneres was "cold and distant," the beauty YouTuber agreed.
And on Thursday, another interview with de Jager came to light in which she expanded on her experience with DeGeneres and DeGeneres' show. De Jager reportedly told &C Magazine that the friendly, welcoming atmosphere portrayed to viewers wasn't the reality in the studio.
"Maybe I'm being naive, but I expected them to welcome me with confetti: Welcome to 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show'!" she said in the interview seen by Pop Crave. "But instead I got greeted by an angry intern, who was a bit overworked. I expected a Disney show, but I got a 'Teletubbies' after dark."
According to de Jager, she didn't receive the same VIP treatment as other celebrity guests on the show, despite having millions of views on her YouTube videos.
"Every guest at Ellen had a private toilet, but I didn't," she said, referring to a bathroom. "I couldn't even use the closest toilet to me because it was reserved for the Jonas brothers."
DeGeneres was called out by users on X after a thread asking for "insane" stories about her went viral.
YouTube
In April, a thread on X asking for stories about DeGeneres being 'one of the meanest people alive' received more than 2,000 replies
A comedian named Kevin T. Porter crowdsourced "insane stories you've heard about Ellen being mean" in exchange for $2 donations to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank — and received thousands of responses on X.
While the accuracy of the stories is impossible to verify from posts alone, news outlets, including Business Insider, picked up on the thread.
One user accused DeGeneres of using her fan art as a prop, while another described her getting mad at a server with chipped nail polish who waited on the host and her wife, Portia de Rossi, at brunch.
There were also stories about DeGeneres' behavior while filming, including accusations that she wouldn't let crew members eat meat, that she fired an autistic custodian for greeting her, and that she made anyone entering her office chew gum from a bowl outside her door since she had a "sensitive nose."
DeGeneres didn't respond publicly to the accusations, and a representative for the talk show host didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider on this story.
"One thing I've learned from being in quarantine is that people — this is like being in jail, is what this is," DeGeneres said during the segment, adding, "It's mostly because I've been wearing the same clothes for 10 days, and everyone in here is gay."
DeGeneres seemed amused by her comparison, smiling and remarking, "The jokes that I have."
After DeGeneres shared the clip on Twitter, users were quick to call out the host for her remarks about prisons, especially during a time when people in prisons were at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19. Some pointed out that those in prisons were far more likely to die from the novel coronavirus than the larger population — especially wealthy people like DeGeneres.
DeGeneres continued to film her talk show, despite being in lockdown during the pandemic.
Kevin Winter/One Voice: Somos Live!/Getty Images
In April 2020, news broke that DeGeneres' crew was 'furious' about a lack of communication over their pay during the shutdown
Variety cited two anonymous sources as saying that the long-running talk show's core stage crew — which consisted of more than 30 employees — had not received any communication about the status of their working hours or pay and that producers had not checked in about their mental and physical health.
Furthermore, the report said crew members were left in the dark about how much they would be paid, or whether they would be paid at all, for more than two weeks.
DeGeneres' show continued to air, with the host recording from her home in California, but Variety reported that only four members of the core crew were working on the show's lockdown edition, with a nonunion tech company brought on to help.
And despite a statement from Warner Bros. Television saying the crew had been paid at a consistent rate (albeit at reduced hours), crew members were still said to be upset about a lack of personal care from the show — and felt the way they had been treated was not in keeping with DeGeneres' famous "be kind" advice.
Such reports are a stark contrast with other shows.
Portia de Rossi, Ellen DeGeneres's wife, was "very pleasant," according to a bodyguard hired to protect the comedian at the 2014 Oscars.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
A former bodyguard for the host said his experience with her at the 2014 Oscars was 'kind of demeaning'
Tom Majercak was hired to protect DeGeneres, her mother, and her wife, Portia de Rossi, as they attended the 86th Academy Awards, which DeGeneres hosted.
But the bodyguard told Fox News in April 2020 that his experience with DeGeneres was less than ideal.
"I'm holding their hands and walking them through individuals and large groups of people. Ellen is the one person that I've been assigned to — and I've been assigned to quite a few celebrities — that has never taken the time to say hi to me," Majercak said.
According to the bodyguard, DeGeneres' wife, de Rossi, was "very pleasant" throughout the evening and "carried on a conversation," but things "started going negatively" when de Rossi introduced him to the talk show host.
"Ellen pretty much just gave me a side glance out of her eye and didn't even say 'hello,' or 'thank you for protecting my mother, my wife and me,'" Majercak told Fox News, adding, "It was very cold and it was very sly and it was actually kind of demeaning in the way that she treats people other than those who are in her circle."
DeGeneres's reputation fell under scrutiny beginning in 2020.
Steve Granitz/WireImage
A former producer for DeGeneres' show said that the host once called Steve Jobs to complain about the font size on iPhones
Speaking to the New York Post, the producer, who wasn't named in the Post's May 2020 story, said the call to Jobs came after DeGeneres lost her glasses and couldn't read a text on her phone.
"She stopped everything and made a call. Next thing we know, we literally hear Steve Jobs pick up and say, 'Hi, Ellen' … Ellen told him the iPhone should have a bigger font," the producer said.
"That's her," the former producer continued. "It's not that she's some demon. She just lives in an incredibly privileged bubble and is out of touch with the real world."
In early July 2020, the hashtag '#RIPEllen' began trending on X — even though DeGeneres was alive and well
After speculation that DeGeneres' popular talk show was going to be canceled, some Twitter users reportedly took things further by spreading false news of DeGeneres' "death."
Producers confirmed with the Post that DeGeneres' show would not be canceled, but that didn't stop users from continuing to use the "#RIPEllen" hashtag in their posts.
An internal investigation into the workplace culture at DeGeneres' show was launched in 2020.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
News broke in late July 2020 that WarnerMedia, the distributor of 'The Ellen Show,' was launching an internal investigation into the show's workplace culture
The investigation came after a turbulent past few months for DeGeneres, the show, and some of its employees, who were reportedly left in the dark about pay and hours during the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Shortly thereafter, an Australian radio host said he was instructed not to look at or talk to DeGeneres when working with her in 2013
During a segment on his radio show "4BC Breakfast" on July 28, Neil Breen said he worked as an executive producer on the Australian "Today" show.
According to Breen, DeGeneres' involvement in the episode "got watered-down" from co-hosting to doing a sit-down interview in Melbourne, where Breen and his crew had to fly ("at our own expense") to tape the segment.
Australian TV presenter Richard Wilkins was set to interview DeGeneres, but Breen said he and the rest of his team received a very specific set of rules when working with her.
"Because it's 'The Ellen Show,' they controlled everything," Breen explained. "They controlled the interview seats, the lights, how it would work, everything."
"The producers called us aside and said, 'This is how it's going to work here this morning. Ellen's going to arrive at 10:15, and she'll be sitting in this chair here. And Richard, you'll be sitting in this chair here,'" he continued.
According to Breen, DeGeneres' team told him, "Neil, no one's to talk to Ellen. You don't talk to her, you don't approach her, you don't look at her. She'll come in, she'll sit down, she'll talk to Richard, then Ellen will leave."
Breen said he found the whole thing "bizarre."
"I'm not blaming Ellen because I didn't get to talk to her. I don't know whether she's a nice person or not. I wouldn't have a clue," he said. "But I can tell you, the people who worked with her walked on eggshells the whole time."
DeGeneres addressed 'issues' at her show with a letter to staff in late July 2020
In the letter obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, DeGeneres took responsibility for the overall issues on her set.
"As we've grown exponentially, I've not been able to stay on top of everything and relied on others to do their jobs as they knew I'd want them done," DeGeneres wrote. "Clearly some didn't. That will now change, and I'm committed to ensuring this does not happen again."
The host referenced WarnerMedia's ongoing investigation and apologized at the beginning and end of the letter to anyone who was not treated with fairness and respect.
'Everybody Loves Raymond' star Brad Garrett said DeGeneres mistreating people is 'common knowledge'
"Sorry but it comes from the top @TheEllenShow. Know more than one who were treated horribly by her. Common knowledge," Garrett wrote on X on July 30.
"People love to take shots at people. They love to see people fall. How quickly so many forget," he wrote.
Braun called DeGeneres a "kind, thoughtful, courageous human being who stands for what is right" and "has helped change the views for equality." He explained that he felt compelled to speak up because he has a "firsthand" perspective of how DeGeneres "helps so many" both on and off her show.
"She isn't about what is popular she is about what is right. Sending love to Ellen today," Braun wrote.
The Sun's source described Corden as "a natural fit" for DeGeneres' job.
Former producer Hedda Muskat spoke about working on DeGeneres' talk show.
Joshua Blanchard/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images/Chris Pizzello/AP
In early August, several other ex-employees of DeGeneres came forward to share their experiences with her on-set
Former producer Hedda Muskat told The Wrap about an incident during a staff meeting where new-at-the-time executive producers Ed Glavin and Mary Connelly were introduced to the rest of the existing team.
Muskat said Glavin screamed at one member of staff in front of everybody else. "He just went off on them. His whole face turned red…We were stunned."
"I was waiting for Ellen to say something. 'Whoa, Ed, don't talk like that,'" Muskat said. "Do you know what she did? She giggled. She crossed her legs up on the chair and she said, 'Well, I guess every production needs their dog.' And from then we knew. Ed was going to be the barking dog — her dog."
"I had never seen this before. I had never been around a toxic host," she added.
And former DJ for "The Ellen Show" Tony Okungbowa shared a statement about his experience shortly thereafter.
"While I am grateful for the opportunity it afforded me, I did experience and feel the toxicity of the environment and I stand with my former colleagues in their quest to create a healthier and more inclusive workplace as the show moves forward," Okungbowa wrote on Instagram.
A post shared by Tony okungbowa (@tokungbowa) on Aug 4, 2020 at 9:53am PDT
'The Ellen Show' had its season 18 premiere in September 2020, and DeGeneres addressed the allegations in her opening monologue
"The Ellen DeGeneres Show" returned on September 21 after a summer hiatus.
"I learned that things happened here that never should have happened. I take that very seriously," DeGeneres began. "I want to say I am so sorry to the people who were affected."
"I know that I'm in a position of privilege and power. And I realized that with that comes responsibility," she continued. "And I take responsibility for what happens at my show. This is 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show.'"
"We have had a lot of conversations over the last few weeks about the show, our workplace, and what we want for the future. We have made the necessary changes and today, we are starting a new chapter," DeGeneres said.
DeGeneres was called out by people on social media in late October 2020 for her 'superhero' nurse costume
DeGeneres shared a clip of herself in the costume on X, along with the caption, "My costume this year is inspired by the real superheroes of 2020."
While the host was seemingly referencing the important work that doctors, nurses, and other essential workers have done during the coronavirus pandemic this year, people were more focused on the reports that DeGeneres treated staff and collaborators poorly.
"Who are the real superheroes? People who treat their staff well?" one person wrote.
Dakota Johnson's appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2019 went viral.
"The Ellen DeGeneres Show"/ NBC
In November 2020, people online celebrated the 1-year anniversary of Dakota Johnson calling out DeGeneres on her show
The host revealed she tested positive for COVID-19 in December 2020
DeGeneres first shared news of her diagnosis on December 10, writing on X, "Hi Everyone, I want to let you all know that I tested positive for COVID-19. Fortunately, I'm feeling fine right now."
"Anyone who has been in close contact with me has been notified, and I am following all proper CDC guidelines," DeGeneres continued, referencing advice from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Following DeGeneres' diagnosis, production was halted on her talk show until January.
DeGeneres joked about her experience with COVID-19 on an episode of her show.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show/EllenTube
She later got candid about herexperiencewith the virus during a January 2021 episode of her show
"Obviously there are a lot of negative things going on, so I wanted to talk about something positive: my COVID test," DeGeneres joked in the opening monologue of her January 13 episode.
According to DeGeneres, she tested positive for the virus "before the holidays," but recovered.
The host revealed that she was backstage getting ready for her talk show when she received news of her positive test.
"I was in hair and makeup...and then my assistant Craig walks in and says, 'You tested positive for COVID,'" DeGeneres said.
"And then everyone around me ran away," she continued. "It's funny, people just really get scared."
Internet personality Trisha Paytas appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2010.
Christopher Polk / Getty Images / TheEllenShow / YouTube
But around the same time, YouTuber Trisha Paytas said she was told not to touch DeGeneres or look her in the eye
Paytas spoke about her experience on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" during an episode of her podcast "Frenemies," which she hosts with H3H3's Ethan Klein, calling DeGeneres "a bitch" and saying that she wasn't allowed to touch her.
Paytas appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2010 when she was 22 years old to showcase her speed-reading talent during an audience talent segment.
In the clip, Paytas gushed over DeGeneres, reaching out to touch her and then pulling her hand back, saying that she shouldn't touch the host before launching into a whirlwind recitation of what appears to be DeGeneres' book, "My Point... And I Do Have One."
Paytas said that, in a pre-Instagram era, she wanted to be famous and made her way onto the show via posting on YouTube.
"My thought was, if I go on all these shows someone will discover me," she said on the podcast. "I thought Ellen was gonna discover me and I was gonna be like, a cohost of hers. That was my thought process."
Her experience on set didn't live up to her expectations, though, she said.
"When all that stuff started coming out [about Ellen], I was like, that makes sense because she was so awful. Literally, would not talk. They tell you..., 'Don't look in her eyes, don't touch her,'" Paytas said, referencing past statements from celebrities and everyday people that painted DeGeneres as mean or cold.
Celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Katy Perry, and DeGeneres' wife Portia de Rossispoke outin support of the host
"I haven't spoken with @TheEllenShow and can only speak from my own experience," Kutcher posted on X in early August. "She & her team have only treated me & my team w/ respect & kindness. She never pandered to celebrity which I always saw as a refreshing honesty. When things aren't right she handles it and fixes."
Kutcher was subsequently called out by fans who accused him of letting his celebrity status potentially influence his opinion.
Other stars who voiced support for DeGeneres included Katy Perry, who wrote on X that she has "only ever had positive takeaways from my time with Ellen & on the @theellenshow," and DeGeneres' wife De Rossi, who shared an uplifting message to Instagram.
The "Cruel Intentions" actor shared a picture of himself posing in front of a poster of DeGeneres to his Instagram story, with the caption, "And remember to be kind... wait."
'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' came to an end in May 2022 after 19 seasons
DeGeneres got emotional as she reflected on her journey on daytime TV and encouraged her audience to lead with compassion.
"If someone is brave enough to tell you who they are, be brave enough to support them even if you don't understand," she said. "They are showing you who they are and that's the biggest gift anybody can ever give you. By opening your heart and your mind, you are going to be that much more compassionate. Compassion is what makes the world a better place."
"If this show has made you smile, if it has lifted you up when you're in a period of some type of pain, some type of sadness, anything you are going through, then I have done my job," she added. "Because of this platform we have been able to change people's lives. This show has forever changed my life. It is the greatest experience I have ever had, beyond my wildest imagination."
The series finale, which aired on May 26, included appearances from Pink, Jennifer Aniston, and Billie Eilish.
In September 2022, singer Greyson Chance called DeGeneres 'manipulative'
Chance rose to fame as a 12-year-old, after a video of him playing Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" on piano went viral. Shortly after, DeGeneres reached out to Chance and he went on to appear on her show.
Chance told Rolling Stone that he recalled DeGeneres assuring his mom that she'd never have to work again. The singer said that DeGeneres told him, "I'm going to protect you. I'm going to be here for you. We're going to do this together."
After his appearance on the talk show, Chance said that DeGeneres gave him $10,000 and a new piano, signed him to a record label she co-created, and got him set up with representation in Hollywood. But over time, she "became domineering and way too controlling," Chance said.
According to the singer, DeGeneres "completely abandoned" him once his career slumped and the hype died down.
"I've never met someone more manipulative, more self-centered, and more blatantly opportunistic than her," he said.
DeGeneres addressed the end of her talk show during her stand-up tour in 2024, calling it 'devastating'
"Ellen's Last Stand…Up Tour" kicked off in West Hollywood in April. According to Rolling Stone, she cracked plenty of jokes about the end of her run on daytime TV.
"I got kicked out of show business. There's no mean people in show business," DeGeneres joked during the set.
"The 'be kind' girl wasn't kind. I became this one-dimensional character who gave stuff away and danced up steps," she continued. "Do you know how hard it is to dance up steps? Would a mean person dance up steps? Had I ended my show by saying, 'Go fuck yourself,' people would've been pleasantly surprised."
Jokes aside, DeGeneres said that what happened to her was "devastating."
"I just hated the way the show ended," she said. "I love that show so much and I just hated that the last time people would see me is that way."
Reflecting on the backlash, the comedian said, "It's been such a toll on my ego and my self-esteem. There's such extremes in this business, people either love you and idolize you or they hate you, and those people somehow are louder."
At another stop on her tour in July 2024, DeGeneres alluded to plans to step away from the spotlight
DeGeneres recently hinted at fans seeing less of her in the future.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Live Nation
According to SFGate, DeGeneres jokingly said that she "got kicked out of show business for being mean."
"I used to say, 'I don't care what people say about me.' Now I realize I said that during the height of my popularity," the comedian said.
DeGeneres also pushed back against her reputation.
"I am many things, but I am not mean," she said.
When asked about the possibility of appearing on Broadway or in movies during the Q&A portion of the stand-up show, DeGeneres said, "Um, no."
"This is the last time you're going to see me. After my Netflix special, I'm done," she said, referring to a comedy special in the works with the streamer that's scheduled for release sometime this year.
Libby Torres contributed to a previous version of this article.
A graphic rendering of the future guided-missile frigate USS Lafayette (FFG 65). Work on a new class of frigate has been experiencing delays.
US Navy graphic
Congress ordered the US Navy to look into new ships and weapons platforms amid shipbuilding delays.
The requested study is in direct response to the delays of a new frigate class.
Lawmakers are concerned the US Navy is at risk of being unable to China in the Indo-Pacific region.
Congress has requested that the US Navy conduct a study looking into other ships it can arm with missiles given the pressing need to maintain US naval power amid ongoing shipbuilding delays.
In a report accompanying a new draft of the annual defense policy bill for the 2025 fiscal year, the US Senate Armed Services Committee wrote that it was "concerned with the number of Navy battle force ships" and vertical launch platforms for missiles over the next two years.
"Given the ongoing naval buildup by the People's Republic of China, the committee believes these projected declines increase risk to US forces in the US Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility," lawmakers wrote.
The committee report added that it doesn't believe the Navy is adequately preparing to meet requirements for those capabilities in the near-term.
The request comes in response to delays on the first new Constellation-class guided missile frigate, which won't be delivered until at least 2029, three years behind schedule, per a Navy report earlier this year. The second ship in the class is also delayed.
Newport News Shipbuilding workers and Navy sailors walk past the USS George Washington as it rests pier side.
Jonathon Gruenke/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Congress' push for short-term naval combat solutions is also linked to the slow procurement of new large, unmanned surface vessels, which is not expected to begin until 2027.
With this in mind, "the committee believes the US Navy needs to focus more on supplementary options for increasing ship numbers and missile-launching capacity in the nearer term."
By April 2025, Congress expects the Navy to pursue a number of solutions, including a crewed version of the LUSV, more missile-launching capacity, "foreign, commercial, or US government ship designs" that could be adapted for the Navy, and existing Navy platforms "that could be quickly modified into missile-firing ships through the addition of VLS (vertical launch system), bolt-on, or containers missile launchers."
In its report, the committee acknowledged its concerns that these near-term solutions are needed to keep the US Navy in fighting shape should conflict in the Indo-Pacific region arise, especially considering the massive naval buildup seen in China.
Back in April, a 45-day review showed major delays for most of the Navy's big shipbuilding projects, including its Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program, a top priority for the Department of Defense. Due to plans to retire previous ships, the delay will likely keep the Navy from meeting its obligation of having 10 ballistic missile submarines ready to deploy at all times. But this isn't the only problem.
An artist rendering of a future Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine.
US Navy
Other ships, like the Navy's next Ford-class carrier, are also notably delayed. At the time of the review, Navy officials attributed the issues to the lingering effects of COVID-19 on the workforce and supply chain, though some issues have long been around.
Beyond the Navy's shipbuilding woes, other US military deficiencies have prompted lawmakers and other national leaders to raise concerns about how the Pentagon is prioritizing its military capacity in the Pacific in order to counter and deter China. In May, 13 members of Congress wrote to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro about the glaring vulnerabilities of US Pacific air bases and aircraft in the face of a missile barrage from China, for example.
With China's current missile strike capabilities," the lawmakers wrote in their letter, "China can attack all US bases in the region, targeting US service members from Okinawa to those on US territories of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands."
The Denver Basic Income Project released its first-year results.
milehightraveler / Getty Images
The Denver Basic Income Project gave cash to more than 800 Coloradans experiencing homelessness.
They were divided into three groups to see how different payment structures might benefit them.
Similar findings were reported across groups, including those who got just $50 a month.
Editor's note, July 11, 2024: This story was updated with context about the findings from the Denver basic-income pilot's control group. The story, which originally focused on the pilot's overall findings, now notes that the pilot's organizers did not identify major differences in outcomes between the test groups and the control group. This suggests that giving more money to participants didn't significantly improve their outcomes after 10 months. The story was also updated to clarify findings involving participants' mental health. While some individual participants did report improvements to their mental health, participants on average scored higher on the Kessler 10 test at the pilot's 10-month mark than they did at the beginning, indicating increases in stress.
Jarun Laws lived in his car in a restaurant parking lot near downtown Denver. He worked there as a cook until 2020 and had only $400 a month left after paying bills and child support. That was barely enough to cover his car payments and child support — and not even close to what he would need for rent.
The 51-year-old occasionally spent part of his paycheck on weekend stays at a cheap hotel, where he could spend time with his children. He struggled to afford food, clothes, and medicine — and he had been experiencing homelessness for nearly a decade.
That changed when Laws enrolled in the Denver Basic Income Project. He said the pilot program, which gave him $6,500 up front and $500 each month after, allowed him to secure a temporary apartment with furniture, spend more time with his children, and find a better-paying job.
"I had questioned myself: if I was going to be a good father to my children because I was suffering," Laws previously told Business Insider. "When I got accepted, it changed my life."
Denver's basic-income pilot program — which started payments in fall 2022 — focused on more than 800 Coloradans experiencing homelessness, including people living in cars, temporary shelters, the outdoors, or other nonfixed living situations. Participants like Laws were given direct cash payments, no strings attached, and could spend the money on whatever they chose.
The city's program initially lasted one year and was extended in January for six months. Participants were randomly sorted into three groups: One received $1,000 a month for a year, another got $6,500 up front followed by $500 a month, and a third got $50 a month as a control group.
Overall, the program found similar outcomes among the participants — indicating the two trial groups didn't outperform the control group.
During the program, participants were asked about their housing, food security, finances, and mental health. On June 18, the program released its one-year report, based on the self-reported surveys. It said that 10 months into the program, roughly 45% of participants in each group said they were living in their own house or apartment, up from 6% in both trial groups and 12% in the control group who said the same at the program's start.
The report suggested participants spent less time in places like emergency rooms, hospitals, temporary shelters, and jails during the program than they did before. It estimated that this reduction in public-service use saved the city $589,214.
These savings are a fraction of the $9.4 million it took to fund the program — with money coming from the city, the philanthropic organization The Colorado Trust, and an anonymous foundation.
Basic-income pilots like Denver's have become a trending approach to poverty reduction in US cities. Denver's program results reflect the short-term impact of cash payments on participants. Though researchers described housing gains, it's not clear how the basic income will affect participants in the long term.
Laws, for example, had to return to living in his car after the payments ended.
Results of Denver's basic-income project
Participants in Denver's program told researchers that the basic income primarily helped them pay for immediate expenses like transportation, hygiene, clothes, and groceries as well as recurring bills like rent, health insurance, or debt payments.
Participants in each payment group said they felt more financially stable and relied less on emergency financial-assistance programs than they did before the basic-income program began.
Nick Pacheco, a participant engagement coordinator, said at a press conference on June 18 that basic income helped put low-income families on "an equal playing field." He added that cash payments helped participants get training and resources to establish careers.
The program said participants who received the lump sum or the monthly payments of $1,000 were more likely to report having a full-time job than they were before they received basic income. Meanwhile, the percentage of participants in the control group who said they had full-time employment decreased slightly.
The report said participants in all three groups scored higher on average on a test called Kessler 10, designed to evaluate a person's overall level of psychological distress, at the 10-month mark than they did when the program began. (A higher score indicates more stress.)
But it also said participants in the $1,000-a-month group and the control group reported spending more time on leisure activities, such as being with family and friends, than they did when the program started. It added that parents in the program said they were able to better support their children and grandchildren financially.
These results echo those from the six-month report, which found that, compared with the start of the program, fewer people across all participant groups said they were sleeping on the street, experiencing food insecurity, and feeling unsafe.
Even so, several of the results — including in housing — were similar for both the participants in the two groups receiving higher payments and the participants in the control group, suggesting that giving more money to participants didn't significantly improve their outcomes.
Many families told the researchers that they were anxious about paying bills after the end of the payments. Some said they worried they could lose their housing.
"It is difficult to discern from the DBIP 12-month findings if changes in outcomes were a result of the differential amounts of unconditional cash or were due to other characteristics of the intervention," the researchers wrote in the report. They added that the availability of temporary housing vouchers during the COVID-19 pandemic could have also affected housing outcomes.
Some participants were better able to pay bills in the short term with basic income
Some participants in Denver's program have told BI that basic income was the financial safety net they needed.
Moriah Rodriguez, 38, was working as a youth developer for Denver Public Schools when she got hit by a car and suffered a traumatic brain injury. She lived in public housing with her kids, all of whom have intellectual disabilities, though they were displaced shortly after.
She received monthly Social Security payments, just enough to care for her kids. While staying with a friend, she learned about the pilot program.
Rodriguez used the payments to fix her truck, transport her kids to school and work, buy new clothing, and secure a lifelong public-housing voucher. She also used some of the money to pay for monthly expenses — mostly rent and gas — and some smaller daily purchases. She said that she returned to school to get her GED and that her credit score increased.
Rodriguez said the basic income gave her more time to focus on her children's education and mental health, adding that the program's extension was another lifeline. "I had the space to get them tested and get them diagnosed and connected with the support they need," she said.
Dia Broncucia, 53, and Justin Searls, 45, who received the $6,500 lump sum and $500 monthly payments, said the basic income helped them afford things like an apartment, a new car, clothing, hygiene products, furniture, and mental-health resources. They said they previously lived in a temporary shelter but were able to secure a studio apartment for $1,300 a month.
Broncucia and Searls said last October that though they had some uncertainties about their future, they felt much stronger and less stressed because of basic income.
"Starting with nothing and then being able to receive a lump sum of money and then get our payments once a month is why we were able to get on track and stay on track," Broncucia previously told BI.
Cities are using basic-income pilots to try to address poverty
"The lessons from those pilots are infusing the whole ecosystem of support," Teri Olle, the director of Economic Security California, a branch of the nonprofit Economic Security Project, previously told BI. "People are really seeing the power of those pilots and the power of giving people money and trusting them."
The leaders of Denver's program hope to extend it for a third year and are raising millions of dollars to do so. While the researchers haven't found evidence that giving people $1,000 a month is substantially more effective than giving them $50, they said they hoped to see more-significant differences between participants in the trial groups and those in the control group over time.
Mark Donovan, the project's founder and executive director, said in June that he was paying close attention to results from basic-income programs across the country, adding that it's a "really exciting time in the movement."
"If we're able to move people into housing and out of homelessness at a lower cost and generate better long-term outcomes, why wouldn't we try to expand and build upon that?" Donovan said.
Jeff Bridges said that he's "feeling great" three years after his illness, and still loves doing fight scenes.
Taylor Hill/Getty Images
Jeff Bridges says that he's "feeling great now," three years after his cancer went into remission.
Bridges was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2020, and caught COVID-19 in early 2021.
He stars in the second season of "The Old Man" on FX, opposite John Lithgow.
Jeff Bridges is more than ready to go ahead with the season two premiere of his FX series "The Old Man," three years after he contracted COVID-19 while undergoing chemotherapy.
Bridges appeared on Wednesday at the Television Critics Association summer press tour alongside his "Old Man" costar John Lithgow and executive producers Jonathan Steinberg, Dan Shotz, and Warren Littlefield. Bridges spoke about the show's upcoming second season and gave an update on his health.
"I'm feeling great now. I'm coming back for more punishment," Bridges said.
In "The Old Man," Bridges plays Dan Chase, a former CIA operative haunted by his past. The show's first season went on a production hiatus after Bridges' diagnosis. It resumed production in 2022 after he announced in September 2021 that he was in remission, Deadline reported.
"In the first season when I was doing these fight scenes, I had a 9-inch by 12-inch tumor in my body, in my stomach, that didn't hurt at all," Bridges said. "So that's surprising to me, but I'm feeling great now."
Bridges praised "The Old Man's" stunt coordinators for helping him pull off some fight scenes. His costar, Lithgow, recommended that people watch Bridges in the 1972 film "Bad Company" to better "appreciate" the work he's doing now.
"Some of the greatest scenes in 'The Old Man' are Jeff's fight scenes, an old man having to summon up the strength and skill he had 50 years ago," costar Lithgow said.
Season two of "The Old Man" will premiere on FX on September 12.
San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in San Quentin, California, 2015.
Reuters
California officials confirm that a "potential gastrointestinal illness" has struck at San Quentin.
Four prisoners told BI that last Wednesday's boiled chicken was to blame.
A July 4th weekend lockdown affecting some 2,000 inmates is only now being lifted, they said.
Usually, when "chicken hindquarters" is on the dinner menu at San Quentin, it's good news.
"It's a very popular meal in prison," Aaron Ramzy, who is incarcerated there, told Business Insider in a phone call from his cell unit Wednesday. "You get one piece of chicken, roasted on the bone."
But last Wednesday, the welcome dish may have led to a very unwelcome result. Four men serving sentences at San Quentin say dozens of prisoners were sickened, and some 2,000 were subjected to a week of lockdown to prevent any illness from spreading.
Only on Wednesday, a full week later, were some units being taken off lockdown, they said.
In a written statement, a spokesperson for California Correctional Health Care Services confirmed that "a potential gastrointestinal illness" had resulted in a precautionary cut-back in "programming and visitation."
But the officials would not confirm any specifics, and said the cause was still under investigation.
The four men who spoke to Business Insider told similar stories.
It all started, they said, with some gnarly chicken served the day before the 4th of July holiday.
"Normally, it's prepared in the oven until it's well done," said Ramzy, 34. This chicken, though, was white with translucent skin. He said it looked undercooked.
"Hey, what is this?" Ramzy said he asked a correction officer who worked in the kitchen, which serves some 2,000 prisoners. The officer, he said, only shrugged.
"'Enjoy your food,'" Ramzy said he was told.
In the four days after eating the chicken, he said he suffered "sweats, trembling, shivering," along with even more unpleasant symptoms of diarrhea and dry-heaving.
"Oh, you ate that chicken?" he recalled officers telling him, as he lurched toward the prison medical facility. "Go ahead, go ahead and get to medical."
Ramzy said a sergeant told him some three dozen fellow residents of the prison's 600-inmate South Block needed medical attention, including electrolytes and antacids.
Luis Sigueras, 61, said he was rushed out of the prison to Marin General Hospital.
"Yes, I did eat the chicken, and I have other health problems," including heart trouble, he told Business Insider.
"They took an EKG and a CAT scan and said I had food poisoning. It was the chicken on the bone from Wednesday — they served it with mashed potatoes and cake for dessert," he said.
A doctor told him, "The next time you come here with chest pains or food poisoning, your heart is so weak you might not make it," he said.
"I told him, 'Doctor, if I gotta go, I gotta go. If God wants me, he'll take me.'"
Marty Zahorik, 74, said he, too, was sickened after eating last Wednesday's chicken. He was put on an IV and couldn't keep water down.
"Everybody said I looked like I was going to die," he said.
Zahorik said prison medical personnel told him 72 prisoners were treated for severe food poisoning.
"The food has been on a consistent downhill slide in the 22 years I've been here," he said. Portions have shrunk to subsistence levels, condiments and other extras have vanished, and for years, there's been a pigeon problem, he said.
Zahorik said as recently as Wednesday, he witnessed bird droppings on tables and broken windows in the kitchen.
About three years ago, the infestation was so bad, "We got a new sergeant, and he had a bunch of officers bring in pellet guns. And they executed the pigeons," he said.
San Quentin is California's oldest and most notorious prison. First built in 1852, it has survived waves of controversy.
The state is facing four lawsuits stemming from the 2020 transfer of prisoners infected with COVID-19 to the prison — and the coronavirus outbreak that followed, sickening 75% of the population.
Ultimately, 28 prisoners and a correctional officer died.
The prison's four cell blocks house some 3,000 people in total.
Last May, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the facility's "transformation" from San Quentin State Prison into San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, empowering an advisory council comprised of community leaders, prison staff, and program leaders to come up with recommendations to improve conditions.
On Tuesday, the prison staff served chicken again, said Ramzy. "It was like chicken chunks over rice, with some kind of marinara sauce," he said.
He has no idea how well it was cooked or what it tasted like.
"I didn't eat it. I was scared," he said.
"I know I've done something wrong, and I'm paying my debt to society, but I'm also human," he told Business Insider Wednesday afternoon, as the lockdown began to be lifted, unit by unit.
"I have a family who loves me. I shouldn't be getting just anything on a tray. I shouldn't be subjected to poison," he said.
A spokesperson for the California Correctional Health Care Services issued this statement on Tuesday:
"We are currently investigating cases of a potential gastrointestinal illness at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. When multiple patients in a housing unit present with symptoms consistent with a gastrointestinal illness, CDCR and CCHCS will take proactive measures to limit potential spread. This includes providing additional cleaning, education on proper handwashing procedures, and testing for potential causes.
"Results of testing can take multiple days. Additionally, programming and visitation can be limited as a precaution to prevent further spread."
California Correctional Health Care Services did not respond to follow-up questions Wednesday.