The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has taken a step ​toward eliminating its requirements for shareholder ​proposals at public companies and giving new powers to states, ​a shift that would diminish the influence of investor activists.

In aregulatory notice dated Friday, the SEC said it would consider changes to the rule known as 14a-8. It establishes requirements for shareholder ‌proposals in ⁠public companies’ annual ⁠proxy statements including minimum ownership.

Via e-mail, a spokesman for SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said ​he has “highlighted concerns that the SEC’s Rule 14a-8 on shareholder proposals exceeds the Commission’s authority and infringes upon ​state laws. To that end, the Commission is expected to consider a proposal to rescind the rule and return the role of regulating shareholder proposals to ​the states.”

Investor resolutions focused on topics like carbon emissions ⁠and executive ‌roles have been the focal point of many corporate annual ​meetings, though ​support for them has fallen in recent years.

Tim Smith, senior policy ⁠adviser at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, whose members ​often file shareholder resolutions, said the move would create confusion ​because regulations are not uniform among states, such as how many shares are needed to bring a matter to a vote.

Under a new law in Republican-controlled Texas, for instance investors could need as much as $1 million worth of shares to file a resolution, compared with just $2,000 under a current SEC requirement.
“Across the investor ‌community there will be a response to the questionable legal arguments he (Atkins) is making about the authority of the SEC,” Smith said.Cooley ​law firm ​strategist Broc Romanek said ⁠the change could lead to more votes against corporate board members as shareholders’ options for expressing disapproval narrow.

“Votes against directors will be used more and more as ​other avenues are shut down,” Romanek said in a telephone interview.

In a separate regulatory notice, the SEC said it would “modernize” the proxy solicitation process, which governs shareholder communications. The agency spokesman said it aims “to reflect advancement in technology and current realities of shareholder communications.”

Activists say such changes could unfairly restrict speech by small investors.

Users of the workplace project management platform Asana began reporting widespread access problems starting at approximately 10:40 a.m. Eastern time Monday, according to outage-tracking service Downdetector, sparking a wave of complaints on social media under the hashtag #AsanaDown.

Downdetector, an Ookla-owned platform that aggregates user-submitted outage reports across more than 12,000 online services, posted on X shortly after the reports began surfacing. “User reports indicate problems with Asana since 10:40 AM EDT,” the account wrote, asking users to share how the disruption was affecting them. As of Monday morning, Asana had not issued a public statement acknowledging the reported outage, and the company’s official status page had not reflected any confirmed service disruption at the time reports began circulating.

Downdetector’s reporting model relies on a combination of user-submitted complaints and automated web traffic signals to gauge the health of online services in near real time, rather than direct access to a company’s internal infrastructure. That means reported spikes in outage activity can sometimes reflect issues affecting a smaller subset of users, specific geographic regions, or particular product features rather than a complete platform-wide failure, though widespread social media complaints often accompany more serious disruptions.

Asana, founded in 2008 by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and former Google and Facebook engineer Justin Rosenstein, has grown into one of the most widely used work-management platforms globally, used by teams to organize projects, assign tasks and track progress across organizations of varying sizes. The company, which trades publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ASAN, reported revenue of 724 million dollars for its 2025 fiscal year, according to public filings, and counts more than 1,800 employees, with Moskovitz continuing to serve as chairman and Dan Rogers currently serving as chief executive officer.

Monday’s reported disruption is not the first time Asana has experienced service issues this year. According to outage-tracking site StatusGator, the platform’s last officially acknowledged outage prior to Monday occurred on Aug. 5, and separate monitoring from the service Statusfield recorded eight total incidents affecting Asana during the month of July alone, though the company maintained roughly 97.4% availability over that same period. Some previously reported issues have involved intermittent link loading problems and account access difficulties on desktop, according to user complaints logged by StatusGator, rather than complete platform-wide outages.

For organizations that rely on Asana as a central hub for coordinating team workflows, even brief disruptions can create ripple effects across daily operations, delaying task assignments, project updates and cross-team communication that many businesses have come to depend on the platform to manage. That dependency has made outage reports for widely used workplace software tools, including Asana as well as competitors such as Monday.com, Smartsheet and Jira, a recurring source of frustration on social media whenever service interruptions occur, regardless of how long the disruption ultimately lasts.

Asana’s official status page, hosted at status.asana.com, tracks the health of several distinct service components across multiple global regions, including separate monitoring for the platform’s core application, application programming interface, mobile apps, notifications, and automation and background action systems across the United States, European Union, Japan, Australia and the Middle East. The company has not historically provided detailed public post-incident reports for every outage, though more significant disruptions have in the past been acknowledged through updates posted directly to that status page.

As of this report, the scope, cause and expected resolution timeline for Monday’s reported issues remained unclear, with affected users encouraged to monitor Asana’s official status page directly for the most accurate and up-to-date information regarding the platform’s operational status. Asana did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the reported outage.

Shares of Tesla Inc. climbed nearly 5% Monday, notably outperforming a broader market decline, after the company confirmed that its Optimus humanoid robot has officially entered production at its Fremont, California, factory, reinforcing the robotics narrative that has driven much of the stock’s recent recovery.

Tesla stock traded at 365.02 dollars, up 16.27 dollars, or 4.67%, as of 11:43 a.m. Eastern time on the Nasdaq. The gains stood out sharply against the backdrop of a struggling broader market, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite trading in negative territory Monday amid renewed U.S.-Iran tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. Key electric vehicle peers Rivian and Lucid Group were also trading lower Monday, according to Investing.com, underscoring that Tesla’s advance was driven by company-specific developments rather than a broader sector rally.

Investing.com editor Louis Juricic reported that Tesla shares climbed as much as 3.2% in earlier morning trading, reaching 359.85 dollars, before extending gains further as the session progressed. The rally builds on the stock’s recovery from its 52-week low of 297.38 dollars, a level Tesla touched in late July before beginning a steady climb back toward its current trading range.

Monday’s gains follow a string of Tesla developments in recent weeks that analysts have credited with lifting investor sentiment. The company’s 2026 capital budget has grown to roughly 25 billion dollars, with a significant portion of that spending directed toward scaling up Optimus production, according to reporting from the Motley Fool. Tesla also received approval last month to expand its robotaxi operations, with Clark County, Nevada, clearing the company on Aug. 20 to run driverless robotaxis in Las Vegas alongside Alphabet’s Waymo and Uber. Tesla secured the largest allocation among the three companies, with approval covering up to 5,000 vehicles out of a combined 8,000 robotaxis the county authorized across all operators over the next year.

The company has also continued building momentum around its electric semi truck business. Tesla is preparing to showcase its all-electric semi at an international transportation expo in Germany as it works toward launching the vehicle in the European market, a development that had already contributed to a 5.1% single-day gain in Tesla shares earlier this month, according to the Motley Fool’s coverage of the stock’s performance on Aug. 21.

Despite the recent enthusiasm, some market observers have cautioned that both the robotaxi and Optimus businesses remain in relatively early stages, far from full commercial deployment at scale. Analysts covering Investing.com noted Monday that the macro backdrop for Tesla remains mixed, with investors continuing to monitor trade policy developments and lingering concerns over the company’s operating margin, which compressed sharply in its most recent quarterly results. Even so, Investing.com’s coverage described Monday’s combination of the Optimus production milestone, the upcoming Semi showcase and Tesla’s international pricing initiatives as giving the stock a clear outperformance edge relative to the rest of the market.

Tesla’s current market capitalization stands at roughly 1.4 trillion dollars, according to data compiled by the Motley Fool, with the stock carrying a price-to-earnings ratio above 300, a valuation level that some analysts have argued reflects investor expectations for future growth in robotics and autonomy rather than the company’s current core automotive earnings. Tesla shares have ranged between 297.38 dollars and 498.83 dollars over the past 52 weeks, according to data from Robinhood, reflecting substantial volatility in the stock over the past year as investors have weighed the company’s traditional vehicle business against its ambitions in humanoid robotics and autonomous driving.

Tesla has not provided a detailed public timeline for scaling Optimus production beyond its initial entry into manufacturing at the Fremont facility, and the company did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment on Monday’s stock movement.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down from his role at the helm of one of the world’s largest tech companies after a 15-year tenure that saw Apple become the first publicly traded U.S. company with a $1 trillion market cap and other notable milestones.

He announced in April that he would step down as Apple CEO at the end of August, and while he is leaving that role, he will remain with the company as the executive chairman. John Ternus, who most recently served as Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, will be Cook’s successor.

Cook became CEO in August 2011 when Apple co-founder Steve Jobs resigned six weeks before his death. Jobs first met Cook in 1998 and convinced him to join Apple that year, starting his career at the tech giant as a senior vice president for worldwide operations.

“As you know, I am not leaving Apple. But I am stepping away from a role that I have loved deeply,” Cook said in a memo emailed to all employees on his final day. “I will miss this work in ways I can only begin to imagine, even as I remain completely at peace with my decision.”

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“Together, we have created something far greater than any one of us could have imagined or accomplished alone. And that’s the secret to our success. We bring out the best in each other. We lift each other up,” Cook said.

“We have made it possible to leave our ‘dent in the universe,’ as Steve once described it, because of who we are and what we believe, because of what we value and how we see the world,” he added.

Cook’s tenure at Apple saw the tech giant move to compete in new product and service categories, building a broader consumer tech ecosystem off of the MacBook, iPhone and iPad.

APPLE CEO TIM COOK TO STEP DOWN IN MAJOR LEADERSHIP SHAKEUP, SUCCESSOR NAMED

In 2014, Cook and the company announced the Apple Watch as the company entered the wearable health tech market, while it also launched Apply Pay that year to build on its base of consumer device users to compete in mobile payments.

The next year, Apple Music marked the company’s pivot from iTunes to a subscription-based model for consumers who stream their music, while 2016 saw the debut of Apple’s AirPods which supercharged the growth of the company’s wearables division. The company also launched Apple TV+ and Apple Card in 2019 as it continued to broaden its service offerings.

Apple also hit a number of major corporate milestones under Cook’s leadership. It became the first U.S.-based publicly traded company to reach $1 trillion in market capitalization in 2018. 

Apple later reached the $2 trillion milestone in 2020, surpassed the $3 trillion market for the first time in 2022 during intraday trading, then crossed $4 trillion in October 2025. It briefly overtook Nvidia for largest market cap in July 2026.

WHO IS JOHN TERNUS, SET TO SUCCEED TIM COOK AS APPLE’S CEO?

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
AAPL	APPLE INC.	316.85	-2.85	-0.89%

Over the years, Apple has vied with ExxonMobil, Nvidia and Microsoft for the title of most valuable publicly traded U.S. company, with the top spot regularly changing hands among those companies. Within that period, Apple ranked first for much of the 2013 to 2018 period.

Apple currently has a market cap of roughly $4.6 trillion, ranking second behind Nvidia’s $5.25 trillion market cap while leading Microsoft’s $3.79 trillion valuation.

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Leander Kahney, the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac who has authored six books on Apple, told FOX Business that Cook “had huge shoes to fill, but he’s done so admirably,” adding that he helped the company grow into one of the world’s most valuable companies “while maintaining Apple’s values.”

“He’s presided over a great run of products, with only a couple of missteps. Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple Silicon – these are up there with the best stuff Apple has ever done,” Kahney said. “Even the Mac, Steve Jobs’ baby, has been boosted to new heights and is more popular than ever – look at the AI buying boom that the Mac is leading.”

“Cook is leaving Apple in great shape for his successor, and I’m really interested to see what he gets up to next,” Kahney added.

Apple is planning to hold the first major event under new CEO John Ternus next week on Sept. 9, when it will unveil its newest iPhone and could potentially reveal the long-awaited foldable iPhone.

Cook said in his letter that he takes “enormous comfort in handing the helm to someone as brilliant and wonderful and capable as John,” adding that few people “understand what it takes to build products that change the world the way John does and I could not be more excited for his leadership.”

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A report by Reuters noted that analysts expect Apple to launch a foldable iPhone, entering a new segment of the smartphone market to compete with Samsung in the growing device segment.

BURLINGTON, MASS. — Keurig Dr Pepper is bringing its The Original Donut Shop brand into the refrigerated aisle with the launch of its ready-to-drink cold brew.

The beverage is available in regular, vanilla swirl and caramel drizzle varieties. The beverage additionally is free from sugar.

The cold brew may be purchased at Kroger locations.

GRAPEVINE, Texas — GameStop Corp. shares rose more than 4 percent Monday after the video-game retailer posted preliminary second-quarter results showing higher profit on lower sales and revised a large convertible-note exchange to pay more in cash and fewer new shares.

The stock traded around $18.64, up 77 cents, or about 4.3 percent, by late morning in New York. The move followed two company releases issued before the open: unaudited figures for the 13 weeks ended Aug. 1 and an amendment to agreements covering about $1.4 billion of zero-coupon convertible notes.

GameStop said it expects net sales of $780 million to $800 million, down from $972.2 million a year earlier. The company attributed the drop mainly to last year’s Nintendo Switch 2 launch, planned store closures and the sale of its France business. Operating income is projected at $150 million to $170 million, compared with $66.4 million a year ago. Net income is expected at $290 million to $310 million, up from $168.6 million.

Those profit figures include about $238 million of net gains tied to an eBay Inc. derivative and equity stake, partly offset by a loss of roughly $75 million on digital assets and related receivables. During the quarter GameStop converted a previously disclosed eBay derivative into a direct holding. As of Aug. 1 it held about 43.4 million eBay shares. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities are expected at $5.05 billion to $5.07 billion, down from $8.694 billion a year earlier after that conversion.

The sales range came in above a Wall Street consensus near $757 million cited by market data services, even though revenue is still falling year over year. The profit beat is less clean: a large share of net income comes from investment marks, not from selling games and consoles.

Separately, GameStop amended exchange deals first announced Aug. 3. Holders of certain 0.00% convertible notes due 2030 and 2032 had agreed to swap about $1.4 billion of principal for stock based on a 35-day volume-weighted average price that began Aug. 3. The company is ending the remaining pricing window. Shares will cover the elapsed portion of the period. The rest will be paid in about $358.4 million of cash. Total new stock is now fixed at about 55.5 million shares. Closing is expected around Sept. 3. About $2.8 billion of notes would remain outstanding after the deal.

The original all-stock structure had weighed on the shares in August as investors priced in dilution. Fixing the share count and substituting cash removed some of that uncertainty. The stock had slipped toward a 52-week low near $17.79 in recent weeks after the first exchange announcement and after reports that Chief Executive Ryan Cohen might rethink a large eBay bid.

Cohen earlier this year made an unsolicited proposal to buy eBay for about $56 billion. Dow Jones reported that eBay rejected the offer as “neither credible nor attractive.” Cohen has said publicly he would keep pursuing a transaction. GameStop’s eBay stake and the mark-to-market gains in the quarter keep that campaign on the balance sheet even if a full takeover does not close.

The core retail story is mixed. Higher operating income on a smaller store base and without the France unit suggests cost control and a richer mix. The comparison with last year’s Switch 2 launch also inflates the sales decline. Collectibles, trading cards and delivery experiments — including a tie-up with Uber Eats announced in July — remain secondary to the cash pile and the investment book.

Market value is about $8.4 billion. Trailing twelve-month revenue is near $3.7 billion. The company has no regular dividend. Institutional ownership is a minority of the float, and the stock still trades with the volatility that has followed it since 2021.

Monday’s bounce does not erase the tension in the model. GameStop is shrinking its physical footprint, booking large paper gains on a public-company stake, and using cash to cap how many new shares a debt swap creates. Investors who wanted a cleaner operating print still have to wait for fully audited results and a complete earnings call. Those who wanted less dilution got a clearer share count and a cash check.

What happens next is mostly mechanical. The note exchange is scheduled to settle within days. Full second-quarter financials will show how much of the $150 million-plus operating profit holds after final adjustments. The eBay position will keep moving with that stock. And the video-game calendar — new hardware cycles, software slates, collectible drops — will decide whether sales can stabilize once the Switch 2 anniversary rolls off.

For one session, the combination of a profit preview above last year and a smaller equity issuance was enough to lift a name that had spent August under pressure. The numbers GameStop put out are preliminary and unaudited. They are also specific: sales down, operations up, investments noisy, dilution capped. That is the report the market traded.