President Donald Trump has invested millions of dollars into the popular revolving sushi chain Kura Sushi USA.

The purchase was among a series of investments Trump made in early 2026, according to a report detailing his financial transactions. The document, signed by Trump on May 8, was released last Thursday by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

The investment, valued between $1 million and $5 million, was made on Feb. 2.

Based in Irvine, California, Kura Sushi operates 88 restaurant locations across 22 states and the District of Colombia, with a total of more than 650 worldwide. The chain is known for its revolving conveyor-belt sushi service, where diners select plates as the items pass each table.

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President Donald Trump smiles as he participates in a Small Business Summit in Washington, D.C., on May 4, 2026. (Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

According to the filing, Trump purchased Class A common stock in Kura Sushi USA Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the Japan-based restaurant chain.

The transaction was listed as “solicited,” meaning the investment recommendation came from a financial broker or investment adviser managing the account.

The Trump Organization has previously reported that his accounts are managed by third-party financial institutions without input from Trump or his family in an effort to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

Trump’s investments are “maintained exclusively through fully discretionary accounts independently managed by third-party financial institutions with sole and exclusive authority over all investment decisions,” Kimberly Benza, a spokesperson for the Trump Organization, told NOTUS on Thursday. 

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Sushi plates move along a rotating conveyor belt inside a restaurant. (iStock / iStock)

The president has previously been reported to dislike raw fish. According to the 1993 book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, Trump said he would not “eat any f—ing raw fish” during a 1990 visit to Japan, according to Mashed.

While the total value of Trump’s transactions was not specifically disclosed, the reported range of stock purchases and sales totaled hundreds of millions of dollars. 

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Sushi plates move along a conveyor belt at Sushi rail Japanese restaurant. (iStock / iStock)

Trump also made major sales involving holdings in Amazon, Microsoft and Meta, with transactions valued between $5 million and $25 million.

Kura Sushi was not the only restaurant-related investment listed in the portfolio. Trump also reportedly purchased shares in Chipotle Mexican Grill valued between $500,000 and $1 million, Domino’s Pizza valued between $250,000 and $500,000, and Starbucks valued between $50,000 and $100,000.

The founder of 4Networking lost a £2 million business in an afternoon, then spent four years being smeared online by a woman he had met for 30 seconds.

In an unflinching conversation with Richard Alvin, he describes the four seconds that nearly ended it all, and the platform failures he now wants the next Secretary of State to put right.

There is a moment, about twenty minutes into our conversation, when Brad Burton goes very still. We are talking about the period in 2022 when his business had collapsed, his stalker was posting fifteen lies a day across LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X, and the platforms were responding to his complaints with cut-and-paste boilerplate. He is sitting at his desk in Somerset, the same desk he sat at then.

“Four seconds,” he says. “For four seconds, I thought I can’t do this anymore.” He pauses. “Luckily those four seconds happened when I was sat at my desk, as in another setting the outcome might have been different, either way it motivated me to go to the doctors and get some antidepressants. Hadn’t done them for 25 years. That just shows you how severe this was.”

It is a remark, delivered in the matter-of-fact Salford cadence familiar to anyone who has ever booked Burton for a keynote, that reframes the whole interview. Britain’s self-styled “number one motivational speaker”, the man who built 4Networking from a £25,000 debt and a pile of pizza delivery sheets in 2006 into the country’s largest face-to-face business network — was, on his own admission, four seconds from a very different ending.

We had sat down for the latest edition of the ‘In Conversation Podcast’ to talk about three things, all of them, in his view, urgent for anyone running a small business in 2026: how you rebuild when turnover goes to zero with no playbook; what happens when the professional platform you have anchored your reputation to stops protecting you; and what resilience, mental, financial, reputational, actually looks like on the other side. They proved to be the same story.

From £2.3 million to nought in a single afternoon

The first collapse was televised. On 20 March 2020, with 4Networking turning over £2.3 million a year at its peak and running 5,000 face-to-face breakfast meetings in Premier Inns and Brewers Fayre up and down the country, Boris Johnson told the country to stay at home.

“When you’re running 5,000 networking meetings in Brewers Fayres and Holiday Inn Expresses up and down the land, that’s a problem,” Burton says, with characteristic understatement. The original assumption that “this will be a short pause, we’ll be back”, turned into a “dance of the seven veils”, a fortnightly extension that he believes did more damage than honesty would have.

Burton’s response was to invoke what he calls his 24/24/24 framework. “If I can’t make a decision in 24 seconds, revisit in 24 minutes. If after 24 minutes I can’t make a decision, I revisit in 24 hours. If after 24 hours I can’t make a decision, I’ve just made a decision, it’s not important. Next.” Within days, 4Networking had become the first network in the country to move wholesale onto Zoom, under the banner 4N Online. He calls it “drawing a picture of a sandwich when you’re hungry”, a holding measure rather than a substitute. He exited the company in 2022.

That should have been the story: a textbook British SME pivot, a clean founder exit, a man in his early fifties moving on to keynotes and books. It was not.

Thirty seconds at Aston Villa

In January 2019, at one of Burton’s personal development events at Aston Villa Football Club, a woman in an audience of around 200 was introduced to him by a mutual contact and asked for a selfie. The exchange lasted less than a minute. Her name was Sam Wall.

A year later, with Britain locked down and Burton’s identity as the country’s networking-in-chief evaporating in real time, Wall began posting on social media. The first post was vague; the second referenced “a high-profile speaker”; the third named him. Within days she had 30,000 LinkedIn followers, more than Burton’s own, and was alleging he had given her death threats, poisoned her cat, slashed her tyres and put a tracker on her car. Burton was 200 miles away in Somerset throughout lockdown.

“I was 200 miles away in lockdown and being accused of poisoning her cat — and Linkedin did nothing”

“People don’t do checks and measures on social media,” he says. “It was a modern-day witch hunt. I was guilty until proven innocent.” A cease-and-desist letter, served at a cost of £3,000, was promptly photographed and posted to her feed beneath the caption: “I’m not allowing this guy to bully me into submission.” Supporters cheered her on. Speaking engagements began to be quietly cancelled. Family members were drawn in.

The legal road, when he finally took it, was as slow as it was bruising. A statement given at Taunton police station vanished from the system. Wall was arrested, bailed for 30 days, “30 days of peace”, and resumed her campaign, in Burton’s recollection, “30 days and 10 minutes later”. She forged what purported to be a stalker protection order against him and posted it online. She wrote a 22,000-word article about him on LinkedIn. By his own count, she made roughly 500 posts about him across the major platforms over four years.

In March 2025, the case finally reached a national audience. BBC Panorama broadcast My Online Stalker, presented by Darragh MacIntyre, with Burton and the Manchester tech entrepreneur Naomi Timperley as its central voices. Channel 4’s Social Media Monsters followed with a second-episode treatment of the same case. ITV covered the sentencing. In October 2025, at Minshull Street Crown Court, Sam Wall was jailed for 28 months for what Judge Neil Usher described as a “prolonged, deliberate and calculated” campaign and an “unrelenting barrage” that was “breathtaking” in its scope.

Burton’s case is one of the fewer than two per cent of stalking complaints in this country that result in a conviction.

“There is no leadership at LinkedIn”

It is the response of the platforms, and one platform in particular, that animates him now. Wall’s LinkedIn account, as of publication, remains live, and so does much of the content she posted about him. Business Matters has previously reported on the mounting pressure on LinkedIn to act.

“We contacted LinkedIn legals. We contacted support. We tagged in everybody,” Burton says. “Not a single piece of content came down. We had people from America come on Zoom calls, they wouldn’t even turn the cameras on, saying, ‘She’s not doing anything illegal.’ I said, ‘What happens if she gets convicted?’ They said, ‘If she gets convicted, do let us know and we’ll see what we can do.’ So guess what? We let them know. They did nothing about it.”

Top-tier legal advice, he says, surfaced a structural problem: LinkedIn hides behind European law jurisdictionally rooted in Ireland and corporate decision-making rooted in California. “They’ve got this double moat. Nobody wanted to champion it.” Reporting Wall’s account, by design, blocked the reporter from her output rather than removing it. “That’s not a solution.”

If he had ten minutes with the Secretary of State and LinkedIn’s UK MD, what would he ask for? “Imagine if on your platform, I called you this, and I said this about your family. Would you ignore it and block me? Or would you make some changes and get me off the platform? That is exactly what should have happened here. Your business is people, and that’s the bit that’s been lost.” He goes further: there is, he says, “no leadership” at the UK level. “Nobody stepped forward and said, ‘I’m the UK managing director. I’m going to sort this crap.’”

It is a critique that lands at a moment when the regulatory tide is turning. The Online Safety Act is reshaping platform obligations in the UK, and stalking prosecutions, although still woefully low against a high base of reported offences, are at a record high. Burton’s case is the gap between the law and its enforcement made flesh.

Building the antidote

What Burton always does, and is doing again, is build. His new venture, Motivational Business Network, has opened for paid membership at £75 a month, vetted, deliberately slow, and capped at the kind of room size where, as he puts it, “you go and put yourself in a room with 50 people who are on side and positive, and tell me that’s a waste of time.”

The product cue is something called Shine: every member receives 100 daily “Shine points” they can award to others for genuine help, the awards visible on a member’s profile as social proof. “When everyone’s shouting, no one’s listening,” he says. “We’ve got to start getting quieter. We’ve got to start talking again. Less AI, more human.”

He pauses, the Salford grin back in place. “When I built 4Networking, it was a wobbly Jenga tower. This time we’re building it slow, methodical. No rush. Let’s get it right, not right now, which goes 100 per cent against everything I’ve ever done.”

For a man who came within four seconds of a different outcome, “right, not right now” sounds less like a strapline and more like a hard-won operating principle. British business, and the platforms that profess to serve it, would do well to take the note.

Amy Ingham

Amy is a newly qualified journalist specialising in business journalism at Business Matters with responsibility for news content for what is now the UK’s largest print and online source of current business news.

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Kraft Heinz is bringing a cleaner-label makeover to one of America’s most iconic desserts.

The company announced Tuesday that it is launching Jell-O Simply, a new line of gelatin products made without artificial sweeteners or FD&C artificial colors, as consumers increasingly seek foods with simpler, more recognizable ingredients. 

The updated recipe also uses real fruit juice and contains 25% less sugar than traditional Jell-O products, according to Kraft Heinz.

“For more than 125 years, Jell-O has brought colorful, jiggly fun to dessert tables across America,” Kraft Heinz said in a statement. “Now, one of the country’s most iconic food brands is entering a new era.”

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Kraft Heinz announced Tuesday that it is launching Jell-O Simply, a new line of gelatin products made without artificial sweeteners or FD&C artificial colors. (Kraft Heinz)

The launch comes as food companies face growing pressure from consumers and policymakers to simplify ingredient labels.

“We know families are looking for treats that strike the right balance between great taste and ingredients they can feel good about – and they don’t want to sacrifice the brands they know and love to get there,” Kathryn O’Brien, head of marketing of desserts at Kraft Heinz, said in a statement. 

“Jell-O Simply delivers everything people love about Jell-O – the delicious taste, the iconic jiggle and the vibrant fun – now made with no FD&C colors or artificial sweeteners. It’s a meaningful evolution for the brand and an important milestone in Kraft Heinz’s broader modernization journey.”

Jell-O Simply ready-to-eat cups are available nationwide now for $3.99 per four-pack and come in orange, raspberry lemonade and blueberry flavors.

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Kraft Heinz’s Jell-O pudding and gelatin for sale at a grocery store on Dec. 30, 2025, near Lake Tahoe in Zephyr Cove, California.  (Al Drago/Getty Images)

Kraft Heinz said additional Jell-O Simply gelatin and instant pudding mixes will hit store shelves nationwide in August for $2.24 per box, with flavors including vanilla, chocolate, banana and strawberry.

The rollout is part of Kraft Heinz’s broader effort to eliminate FD&C artificial colors from its U.S. product portfolio by the end of 2027, including the entire Jell-O lineup.

The move comes amid increased federal scrutiny of synthetic food dyes.

In January 2025, during the final few days of the Biden administration, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned Red 3 from the U.S. food supply.

ONE OF AMERICA’S OLDEST BEER BRANDS DISCONTINUED AFTER 177 YEARS IN US

The move comes amid increased federal scrutiny of synthetic food dyes. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

A few months later, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the FDA announced plans to phase out petroleum-based food dyes as part of the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative.

“We’re restoring gold-standard science, applying common sense, and beginning to earn back the public’s trust,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a statement at the time. “And we’re doing it by working with industry to get these toxic dyes out of the foods our families eat every day.”

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NEW YORK — Elon Musk announced on May 21, 2026, that SpaceX is hiring world-class engineers and physicists for its new SpaceXAI initiative, emphasizing that prior experience in artificial intelligence is not necessary.

In a post on X, Musk wrote: “SpaceX is actively hiring world-class engineers/physicists for SpaceXAI, even if you have zero prior experience in AI. Smart humans figure it out fast.”

He directed applicants to email ai_eng@spacex.com with approximately three bullet points demonstrating evidence of exceptional ability. Musk added that he will personally review emails that pass reasonable sanity checks.

In follow-up posts, Musk clarified what qualifies as exceptional ability. He stated: “If you’ve made a very complex thing do useful work, that’s a major plus.”

SpaceXAI is a new effort combining SpaceX’s expertise in aerospace engineering with advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. The initiative aims to accelerate development in areas such as autonomous systems, simulation, optimization and next-generation spacecraft design.

The hiring announcement generated significant interest on X, with thousands of replies, quotes and reposts within hours. Users shared resumes, qualifications and humorous applications in response to the open call.

Musk’s approach emphasizes raw talent and problem-solving ability over traditional credentials. This aligns with hiring practices he has previously described at SpaceX and Tesla, where demonstrated results and rapid learning capacity take precedence.

SpaceX, founded by Musk in 2002, has grown into a leader in reusable rocket technology and satellite internet through Starlink. The company employs thousands of engineers and has achieved multiple milestones, including routine orbital launches, crewed missions to the International Space Station and Starship development.

The addition of SpaceXAI reflects broader industry trends of integrating AI into aerospace applications. Potential uses include improved trajectory optimization, real-time anomaly detection, autonomous flight systems and advanced manufacturing processes.

No specific number of open positions or detailed job descriptions were provided in the initial announcement. Interested candidates are instructed to submit concise evidence of exceptional ability rather than traditional resumes.

The post received widespread engagement, with over 100,000 likes and millions of views shortly after publication. Replies included applications from engineers, physicists and individuals highlighting unique accomplishments.

SpaceX has not issued an official statement beyond Musk’s posts. The company typically recruits through its careers page and targeted outreach for specialized roles.

This hiring drive comes as SpaceX continues aggressive expansion. The company is preparing for increased Starship flight tests, Starlink constellation growth and future crewed missions to the Moon and Mars under NASA’s Artemis program and private initiatives.

Musk has frequently highlighted the importance of talent density in high-stakes engineering environments. His companies prioritize individuals who can rapidly adapt and contribute to complex technical challenges.

Applicants are encouraged to focus on concrete examples of problem-solving rather than formal qualifications. The three-bullet-point format aims to surface exceptional candidates efficiently.

The announcement aligns with Musk’s public emphasis on accelerating human progress through multi-planetary expansion and advanced technology development. SpaceXAI is positioned as a key enabler for these long-term goals.

As of May 21, 2026, no additional details on timelines, specific team sizes or compensation have been disclosed. The hiring process is expected to move quickly for qualified candidates.

SpaceX remains one of the most sought-after employers in aerospace and technology. The company’s culture emphasizes rapid iteration, first-principles thinking and ambitious goals.

The SpaceXAI initiative represents a significant step in applying AI to space exploration challenges. Potential applications include autonomous spacecraft operation, mission planning optimization and scientific data analysis from Starlink and future missions.

Musk’s personal review of qualifying applications underscores the priority placed on this recruitment effort. The process aims to identify top talent capable of contributing immediately to cutting-edge projects.

Voters in Philadelphia passed a ballot measure on Tuesday that will create the country’s first city-run savings program for workers whose jobs don’t offer retirement benefits.

The measure will create a new program called PhillySaves that allows private sector workers whose employers don’t sponsor retirement plans like a 401(k) to automatically enroll in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) set up by the city.

Participation in PhillySaves is voluntary and allows workers to opt out of enrolling in the auto-IRA or change how much they’re contributing out of their paychecks at will. 

The accounts will also follow workers to future jobs, and workers can withdraw contributions early if needed on a tax-free basis – though any gains or interest withdrawn would be subject to tax.

NEARLY HALF OF GEN X WORKERS ARE DELAYING RETIREMENT AS RISING COSTS, STAGNANT WAGES DRAIN SAVINGS

Philadelphia voters’ approval of PhillySaves creates the first city-run retirement savings plan for private sector workers in the country. (Jumping Rocks/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

An estimated 208,000 private sector workers in Philadelphia will be able to enroll in PhillySaves. Many such workers are in the service industry with higher employee turnover or are employed by small businesses that would face compliance burdens in establishing and maintaining a retirement plan.

The program also doesn’t charge businesses who are registered in the program to enroll their employees.

PhillySaves will be managed by a third-party firm overseen by the Philadelphia Retirement Savings Board created under the initiative. Pew estimates that the program will cost the city up to $1 million initially and around $500,000 annually in subsequent years.

WHY GEN Z IS SAYING ‘NO’ MORE OFTEN – AND SAVING MONEY

PhillySaves allows enrolled workers to adjust their contributions or opt out if they would rather not participate. (iStock)

“Philadelphia voters took an important step this week by approving PhillySaves,” said Patrick Morgan, project director for The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Philadelphia research and policy initiative. 

“It’s imperative that PhillySaves gets off to a fast start. We know from looking at similar efforts that appointing a strong board, hiring the right leader, and education employers and employees about how the plan works is critical to the success of these programs,” Morgan added.

RETIREMENT ‘MAGIC NUMBER’ JUMPS AS AMERICANS GROW ANXIOUS ABOUT THEIR FINANCIAL FUTURES

The PhillySaves IRAs will follow workers as they move between jobs over their careers. (iStock)

The measure passed with the support of 78% of voters and follows the Philadelphia City Council passing legislation last year that was signed into law by the mayor in January.  

That allowed the program to move forward with the public vote needed to create the governing board under the city’s charter.

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“Philadelphia now has a real opportunity to show that smart policy design, strong execution and sustained support can expand Philadelphians’ retirement security in a practical and affordable way,” Morgan said.

LIV Golf is preparing to take its updated business plan and investor pitch on the road as soon as Thursday, in an effort to raise fresh capital to continue operations past the end of the current season, people familiar with the plans told CNBC.

The upstart golf circuit will be seeking financing in the range of $250 million to $350 million from potential investors, according to the people, who requested anonymity given the confidential nature of the discussions. The capital raise plans are being taken to market by boutique investment bank Ducera Partners, which is advising LIV Golf.

Parts of the proposal seen by CNBC are targeting qualified investors and aim to “fully recapitalize LIV and drive path to profitability.”

The move comes weeks after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, or PIF, announced it would stop funding LIV’s operations after the 2026 season. PIF Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan also stepped down as the chairman of LIV Golf, which he founded alongside former professional golfer Greg Norman back in 2022.

The league said last month that a newly established independent board of directors had been put in place, led by capital markets and restructuring veterans Gene Davis of Pirinate Consulting Group and Jon Zinman of JZ Advisors. 

The new capital raise paves the way for league ownership to be controlled by not only new investors, but the league’s players and LIV management, as well. 

LIV may have a tougher road ahead to fundraise in the wake of PIF pulling its support. Multiple reports over the last several months have pegged PIF’s investment at more than $5 billion through the life cycle of its LIV involvement, which has yet to lead to a profitable golf league operation. 

Since its founding, LIV has garnered splashy headlines with massive contracts that were reportedly awarded to top talent to lure them away from the highly established PGA Tour. That vast spending was in part justified by having the vast resources of one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds backing it. 

Now that the PIF funding is no longer a cornerstone for the future of LIV, questions are being raised about how LIV CEO Scott O’Neil will restructure business operations without billions of dollars in funding. The league has hundreds of millions in player contract obligations and a goal of becoming profitable in the next two years.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg News reported that LIV had begun evaluating bankruptcy as a potential tool for resetting the stage for business operations with an aim of profitability. Bankruptcy filings have been used by other companies as a way to nullify contractual obligations in things like real estate and employment contracts.

The potential for bankruptcy has reportedly led some players within the LIV ranks to explore other avenues to continue their professional playing careers. Still, there are a number of high-profile LIV players who have recently expressed interest in keeping the LIV business operating as a going concern. 

During press availability at last week’s PGA Championship tournament at Aronimink Golf Club outside of Philadelphia, LIV Golfer and Legion XIII team captain Jon Rahm said he had faith in the work LIV was doing and its ability to come up with a good plan for the future. 

Rahm had previously acknowledged some of the news swirling around potential capital raises and restructurings.

“I do believe that for the business plan to change, whatever they’re coming up with, there will need to be some concessions on our part,” said Rahm, one of LIV’s highest-paid athletes, during a press conference at LIV Golf’s Virginia tournament at Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Virginia.

One of LIV’s biggest value propositions has been the prominent placement of team golf. During the early months after launching the league, insiders had promoted team golf as a potentially massive growth driver for the sport and had used the team aspect in pitches aimed at getting PGA Tour players to move to the newly minted circuit. 

The new funding plans will try to convince potential investors that team-based fandom and seasoned general managers will be key drivers of the business plan in the months ahead. 

LIV’s proposed calendar for next season will target 10 total team events across the world, according to the investor pitch viewed by CNBC, looking to replicate what it achieved with highly attended events in places like South Africa and Australia. The pitch also notes year-over-year growth in sponsorships, partnerships, ticket sales, retail and YouTube viewership.

One thing LIV will not have a problem getting as it kicks off its push for new investors is media attention.  Coverage of the ongoing battle between LIV and the PGA Tour has led to what looks like battle lines being drawn between those fans who are supportive of the long-established PGA Tour, versus those who are vocal supporters of LIV and its format.

Meanwhile, the golf world is also waiting on the next major update from the PGA Tour about its future operations, where more substantive updates are expected from CEO Brian Rolapp around mid- to late-June.