UK’s Billionaire Tax Black Hole, Goldman’s Earnings Surge, and Meta Pays to Escape Trial

18th July, 2025

From Britain’s billionaire tax gap to Meta’s billion-dollar courtroom exit, today’s news is a whirlwind of power, privacy, and AI potential. Goldman rides the Trump tariff chaos to a record trading quarter, while OpenAI takes ChatGPT from talk to task. And in the shadows? Lawmakers, lawsuits, and stealth moves from AI labs to utopian cities. All this and more on today’s Read It and Eat!

Major Headlines

• UK Tax Office Can't Track Billionaire Tax Payments — MPs Sound Alarm

  
  

• A new UK report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed that HMRC has no clue how many billionaires actually pay tax in the country—or how much. Despite a crackdown on offshore tax avoidance, officials admitted they lack the data to assess billionaire contributions, which casts doubt on the feasibility of Labour’s proposed wealth taxes. Lawmakers warn that the “tax gap” remains vast, with over £849bn in UK wealth held in tax havens, while HMRC’s offshore revenue loss estimate—£300m—was labeled “inconclusive” and likely far too low. Bloomberg 

  
  

• Goldman Profits Jump as Wall Street Rides Trump Tariff Chaos

  
  

• Goldman Sachs crushed Q2 earnings, riding the volatility wave from Trump’s tariffs to post a 22% profit surge. The firm posted its best-ever quarter for stock trading, with equities revenue up 36% and investment banking fees climbing 26% YoY. CEO David Solomon credited “remarkably resilient” dealmaking despite geopolitical shocks. The upbeat quarter followed similar earnings wins from JPMorgan, Citi, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America—all benefitting from active trading desks, even as M&A sizes shrank. Yahoo Finance

  
  

• Meta’s top execs, including Zuckerberg, dodge trial with $8B privacy settlement

  
  

• Mark Zuckerberg and other current and former Meta executives, including Sheryl Sandberg and Marc Andreessen, have agreed to settle an $8 billion shareholder lawsuit over Facebook’s repeated privacy failures. The case centered on allegations that leadership ignored user data breaches and let the Cambridge Analytica scandal unfold unchecked. Just as Zuckerberg and Sandberg were set to testify under oath, the trial was abruptly paused with news of a surprise deal. Terms weren’t disclosed, but the move halts what could’ve been a highly public reckoning for Meta’s top figures.  Reuters

  
  

• OpenAI unveils multitasking ChatGPT agent

  
  

• OpenAI has launched a new “ChatGPT agent” that can complete tasks like creating presentations, running code, and pulling data from apps like Gmail and GitHub — all from natural language prompts. The tool merges earlier efforts like Operator and Deep Research and marks OpenAI’s boldest step into building AI agents that do, not just chat. It’s rolling out to Pro, Plus, and Team users this week. TechCrunch 

Minor Headlines

• Fed Beige Book showed broad price increases as a result of tariffs  Bloomberg

  
  

• JP Morgan is now worth more than its three largest rivals combined Bloomberg 

  
  

• Walmart Mexico loses $3B in value as Q2 margins miss expectations  Reuters

  
  

• Uber invests in Lucid and Nuro to build luxury robotaxi fleet — TechCrunch 

  
  

• California Forever unveils tech manufacturing hub for utopian city plan — TechCrunch 

  
  

• Meta promotes GenAI lead to run Threads as engagement strategy shifts — TechCrunch 

  
  

• Waymo expands robotaxi ops in Austin amid intensifying AV race —  Reuters

  
  

• Anthropic quietly limits Claude Code usage—users not informed —  TechCrunch 

Earning Headlines

Technology

• ASML beat Q2 revenue, earnings, and net bookings estimates and delivered its first High-NA EUV tool, but shares fell 8% after the firm withheld full-year guidance due to ongoing tariff and chip export concerns. (CNBC) 

• Netflix beat Q2 expectations with earnings per share hitting $7.19 and raised its full-year revenue forecast to $45.2B. The upbeat results come as the streaming giant continues to ramp up monetization efforts via advertising and password crackdown strategies. (YF)

Finance

• Bank of America missed Q2 revenue estimates but topped earnings expectations, as investment banking, fixed income, and equities trading met Wall Street forecasts. The bank flagged resilient consumer spending and rising borrower utilization. (CNBC) 

• Goldman Sachs crushed Q2 expectations with its strongest stock trading performance ever, driven by tariff-fueled market swings. IB fees jumped 26% YoY, while asset and wealth management was the lone soft spot, down 3%.  (CNBC) 

• Morgan Stanley also posted a Q2 beat, powered by robust trading, a four-year high in equity underwriting, and strong wealth management performance. (CNBC) 

• Progressive beat on Q2 earnings as underwriting and premium growth in personal insurance more than doubled net income; its combined ratio improved to 86%. (RT) 

• Wells Fargo beat Q2 profit estimates but lowered FY net interest income forecast due to weakness in its markets business; their CEO now sees greater growth opportunities with the recent lifting of its $1.95T asset cap (CNBC)

• BlackRock beat Q2 earnings estimates but missed on revenue as a $52B redemption from an Asian client and weaker inflows led to its worst earnings-day drop in over a decade, though their push into private markets has raised investor expectations (BBG)

• State Street beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates, but higher expenses and a drop in net interest income disappointed investors; outflows in assets under custody also raised concerns (BBG)

Healthcare

• Johnson & Johnson delivered a Q2 beat-and-raise, signaling confidence despite pressure from pharma tariffs and pricing reform threats. (BBG)

Travel & Transport

• United Airlines beat Q2 earnings but missed on revenue due to weak domestic demand from price-sensitive travelers. Still, it reinstated its full-year guidance, citing a “less uncertain” global outlook. (CNBC) 

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