Fortune US - December 2023 - January 2024

In this issue

13 Stocks to Buy for 2024
BY WILL DANIEL
Forecasters have rarely been so divided over the global economy. Our picks aim to help your portfolio come out ahead, whatever occurs.

Gary Gensler Is Comfortable in the Hot Seat
BY LEO SCHWARTZ & JEFF JOHN ROBERTS
Will the SEC chair’s combative stance undermine the investor protections he’s fighting for?

In Focus LAURA ALBER

Laura Alber became Williams Sonoma CEO at just 42 years old. Thirteen years later, she’s the Fortune 500’s longest-tenured female chief executive, and in that time has doubled annual revenue at the parent company of West Elm and Pottery Barn. But economic headwinds are now forcing the CEO to develop new revenue streams at the luxury home furnishings retailer, something Alber—creator of Pottery Barn Kids—has done before.

6 mins

Sometimes It's Bravest to Not Take a Stand

In a divided, violent world, leaders' humility, willingness to listen, and core values are what matter most.

4 mins

CEOs Share Tips for Tightrope Walking

The Fortune CEO Initiative rallied business leaders to collaborate on global problems including inflation, geopolitical tension, and the AI revolution.

2 mins

Cloud Giants Are Making It Rain for AI

Amazon's big investment in Anthropic shows what's really at stake in the chatbot wars: binding customers more tightly to Big Tech cloud providers.

6 mins

Going to War Against Deepfakes

Companies are racing to detect videos that have been manipulated with the help of AI-before they cause even more violence and confusion in battle zones.

6 mins

Tracking the New Boom in AI

The inaugural Fortune 50 AI Innovators list is the definitive guide to a sector that's now attracting one out of every four startup investment dollars.

1 min

A Caregiver's Guide to Retirement Homes

The rapidly expanding eldercare industry means more - and tougher - choices for family members.

4 mins

Ukraine. Israel. Taiwan?

Business leaders fear that crosss-trait tensions may cause the next geopolitical blowup, putting Taiwan and its top chipmaker TSMC at risk.

5 mins

FORTUNE 500 EUROPE

Our first-ever ranking of the largest companies in Europe by revenue shows that Old World companies are reaching new heights. They're setting the global agenda in energy, finance, the auto industry, and elsewhere.

2 mins

13 Stocks to Buy for 2024

Forecasters have rarely been so divided about the outlook for the economy. Will inflation and high interest rates drive it down, or will a technological revolution lift it up? Our stock picks aim to help your portfolio come out ahead, whatever occurs.

10+ mins

How Did Josh Kushner Get $3.3 Billion?

Kushner paved a path outside his famous family. Now he's a billionaire, thanks to bold bets on Instagram, Stripe, and OpenAI - and he's running his biggest-ever portfolio. Here's how he did it.

10+ mins

COMFORTABLE IN THE HOT SEAT

Relentless, ambitious, and media-savvy, the former Goldman Sachs banker has become an unlikely hero among critics of Wall Street. But the SEC chair's over-the-top intensity could set him up for a fall and undermine the very investor protections he's fighting for.

10+ mins

TROUBLE BELOW AT THE BORING CO.

Shelved projects, politics, and slow progress seem to have dulled Elon Musk's tunneling dreams at the Boring Company.

10+ mins

DAVID ZASLAV UPSET NEARLY EVERYONE IN HOLLYWOOD. GET READY FOR THE PLOTTWIST.

Since he took the helm of the newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery last year, the headlines about CEO David Zaslav have been relentlessly cringe-worthy: He has been booed while giving a commencement speech, criticized for his massive salary, and mocked for seemingly out-of-touch business decisions. During strikes by actors and writers, his smooth visage became the face of corporate fat-cat indifference to the demands of Hollywood's creative class.

10+ mins

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Fortune US Magazine Description:

FORTUNE covers the entire field of business, including specific companies and business trends, tech innovation prominent business leaders, and new ideas shaping the global marketplace. FORTUNE is particularly well known for its exceptionally reliable annual rankings of companies. FORTUNE furthers understanding of the economy, provides implementable business strategy, and gives you the practical knowledge you need to maximize your own success.