Business (Page 4)

Atomic Wings CEO Zak Omar says there is one habit that has helped him become a better leader: looking back at what went right, confronting what went wrong and identifying ways to improve.

“At the end of every week, I look at what we’ve done well and what we failed at, or, what mistakes we made,” Omar said. “Learning from your failures leads to greater success in the future.”

But Omar doesn’t spend too much time celebrating wins. Instead, he focuses on what the company can do better.

That approach has helped him grow Atomic Wings – a fast-casual restaurant chain known for its chicken wings and tenders – to 35 locations across multiple states, with plans to reach 40 by the end of the year.

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Omar’s connection to the restaurant industry began when he was a child. His father, an Afghan refugee, operated a chicken truck in New York City, where Omar would help out. He recalls experimenting with flavors as a child, mixing barbecue sauce, ketchup and mayonnaise with food left over from his father’s truck.

Today, Omar says that running a restaurant is about more than the food.

“We’re not in the food business here – we’re in the customer service business,” he said. “You’re not selling chicken, you’re putting a smile on people’s faces.”

Omar initially took a different path after college, working on Wall Street in an IT capacity. But his life changed after he was diagnosed with leukemia at the same time that his father was hospitalized with a brain tumor.

After undergoing treatment, Omar decided not to return to his corporate job.

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“I figured… let’s do something that my dad would be happy about,” he said.

Omar eventually acquired Atomic Wings and began growing the brand beyond New York.

As CEO, Omar said one thing he does not want to give up is his direct connection with customers.

He recently received a message from a longtime customer after a popular reward disappeared during an overhaul of the Atomic Wings app. Omar said he immediately asked the company’s technology team to restore it.

“Once you lose connection with that front line, you lose a connection with reality,” he said.

Omar said the best career advice he has received is to focus on helping other people succeed.

“When you focus on your team, and you focus on the people around you, your success is a natural byproduct of their success,” he said.

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That is especially important in a franchise business, Omar said, because the company’s success depends on its franchisees succeeding.

And while being a CEO may sound appealing, Omar said one big misconception about the job is that it’s “fun.”

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Omar said that CEOs have to wear many hats and make decisions that affect employees, franchisees and the broader business.

“It’s a lot of hard work, and you need to be selfless in a way because you have to commit yourself to the job,” he said.

President Donald Trump announced a massive $4.2 billion investment by German automaker Audi during a campaign rally in Georgia on Saturday, touting plans for a new manufacturing plant that he said would produce 200,000 vehicles annually.

Speaking during a campaign event in Perry, Trump said construction on the new plant could begin as early as next month.

“Today I’m thrilled to announce a massive auto manufacturing investment in the great state of Georgia by a fantastic company,” Trump said. “Audi has just committed to invest $4.2 billion in nearby Macon, Georgia to begin the construction next month on a massive plant that will produce 200,000 cars a year.”

“That’s incredible,” Trump continued, before describing the investment as a historic milestone for the American auto industry.

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“This will be the single largest investment in U.S. auto industry history, modern history,” he said.

The facility, Audi’s first U.S. manufacturing plant, is expected to create approximately 4,500 jobs and produce premium SUVs for the North American market, according to Georgia officials.

The president also touted what he described as $40 billion in broader auto industry investments that he said would create 30,000 jobs.

Trump credited Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick with helping secure the deal and invited Audi executives to join him onstage, including Audi CEO Gernot Döllner and Audi North America President Vito Paladino.

Döllner thanked the president for his support, saying the investment would have a significant impact.

FIRST RUSSIAN DIESEL TANKER HEADS TO NEW YORK AFTER TRUMP’S DEAL WITH PUTIN TO LOWER FUEL PRICES

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for Audi, for the Audi team and for America,” Döllner said.

“We are planning to bring our biggest and most premium SUVs and produce them here in Macon, Georgia,” he continued. “This is a long-term investment because we believe in the American market.”

The automaker’s investment was the latest initiative Trump unveiled during a series of recent campaign appearances.

On Friday, Trump announced a new $275 million initiative during a rally in Florida to recruit and retain nurses in nursing homes.

FOX Business’ Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.

The first tanker with 40,000 tons of diesel left for New York from Russia earlier this week following President Donald Trump’s deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to release millions of tons of diesel into the global supply, Fox News has reported.

This comes as diesel has shot to more than $6 per gallon in the U.S.

“The first oil tanker has sailed off to customers, and regular supplies will continue,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

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Following the deal earlier this month, Trump also waived most of the sanctions on Russia and those who bought fuel from the country under the Graham Act, which was backed by late Sen. Lindsey Graham.

However, retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro told Fox News that the 40,000 tons would only supply a “couple of hours” worth of diesel.

“Look, reducing fuel prices is a very legitimate and necessary policy goal,” he told John Roberts on “America Reports.” “The president has a number of positive initiatives in that regard. However, I don’t think lifting sanctions on Russia and buying diesel fuel from Russia and fueling their war machine, which yesterday just had another massive ballistic missile attack on Kyiv, killing women and children, knocking out their energy grid, so the Ukrainians will freeze, so my hope would be they kind of change their mind, beef up the other initiatives they have, turn that tanker around and go in a different direction.”

TRUMP RUSSIA DEAL COULD FUEL PUTIN’S WAR, EX-NATO COMMANDER WARNS AS ZELENSKYY SAYS ‘NYET’

Punaro said that Putin’s goal is to regain the territory from the Soviet Union.

“He was never going to stop with Ukraine. That’s why we’ve got to stop him in Ukraine,” he said.

Under the Oct. 9 deal between the U.S. and the Kremlin, Putin agreed to “immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel to the American and Global Marketplace, another 500,000 Tons during the month of November, and 1,000,000 Tons immediately thereafter,” Trump said.

Trump said the agreement came after the two had a “highly successful discussion.”

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He added on Truth Social, “Additionally, based on the condition of their Diesel Refineries, Russia will then deliver, within a short period of time, 3,000,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel. Between our TOTAL CONTROL of the Strait of Hormuz, and this great announcement on Russian Energy, Diesel Prices for Americans and, indeed, the World, will be COMING DOWN, IN RECORD NUMBERS, AND FAST! Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and Truckers, is my Greatest Priority.”

The president had been under pressure from Republicans to lower diesel prices before the midterms.

The Russian diesel is the first delivered to the U.S. from the Kremlin since 2023.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense announced Saturday that it had regained broader access to Starlink, a critical service for military drones, battlefield communications and other fast-moving equipment.

The restoration comes after more than a week of speed restrictions on SpaceX’s Starlink and Starshield services that disrupted Ukraine’s war effort against Russia.

It remains unclear what led to the slowdown in service, with Ukraine having accused both President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk of being behind it. 

Both men have denied involvement, and The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump called Musk on Wednesday and asked him to address the slowdown.

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Vice President JD Vance appeared to leave open a role for the U.S. government going forward, saying Musk should not be expected to navigate the war without Washington “effectively directing him on what to do.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and War Secretary Pete Hegseth, however, have denied that the U.S. government was responsible for slowing Ukraine’s Starlink service.

The restrictions disrupted Starlink connections on Ukrainian drones traveling faster than roughly 100 mph, limiting their ability to maintain satellite communications at higher speeds.

As of Saturday, Starlink connections are remaining stable at speeds of 250 mph, Ukrainian officials said.

RUSSIA STRIKES KYIV HOURS AFTER PEACE TALKS PLEDGE

This comes as both sides appear more eager to reach a resolution in the war, which has now dragged on for more than four years since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia agreed Wednesday to resume three-way negotiations with Washington and Kyiv next month, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox & Friends this week that he would be open to ending the war by freezing the fighting along the current front lines. 

Zelenskyy described it as a ceasefire, something Moscow has been routinely opposed to. However, on Friday, Kyiv and Moscow agreed to a ceasefire around Oleshky, a war-torn Russian-occupied town in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.

The White House said First Lady Melania Trump had a major role in negotiating the localized ceasefire, which will begin on Oct. 29 and allow humanitarian aid into Oleshky.

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Fighting has continued elsewhere. A missile strike on the city of Lozova in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region killed one man and injured two others, local officials said Saturday, according to The Associated Press.

Ukraine’s General Staff said Saturday that its forces struck a chemical plant in the Russian city of Tolyatti that manufactures materials used in rocket fuel. Mayor Ilya Sukhikh said the overnight attack caused damage to industrial facilities across the city, the AP reported.

Ukraine’s General Staff also confirmed Saturday that its forces struck an electronics plant in the Russian city of Oryol, that it said produces components for cruise and ballistic missiles used against Ukraine. 

Local officials said three people were killed in that attack, according to the AP.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

I have a soft spot for hard rock. So I find myself in one of Austin’s live music clubs listening to a band on the tail end of their world tour.

A guitarist is under the stage lights at Come and Take It Live, swaying and concentrating, the strains of a Stevie Ray Vaughan classic floating from the amps. The night air crackles. The rapt audience takes it in, applauding as the guitarist moves gracefully through the soulful notes. If you’ve played a musical instrument of any kind at any skill level, the live show reveals the human effort at the foundation of every good performer, performance and song. As a mediocre drummer, I tend to watch that part of most shows, whoever the band is. The drummer in this show is effortlessly throwing out some amazing double-bass rolls.

Rock and roll is an American invention that’s gone global. Nights like this have been happening across Austin, and across the country and the world, for generations, long before and after we sadly lost the great Texas firebrand.

SRV was such a phenomenon there’s a statue of him downtown. It’s appeared in thousands of Instagram Reels and photos by now, especially during SXSW and ACL fests. Music is the heartbeat of the city. The guitar legend was the king of live music, and live music is still big. In fact, according to Pollstar, while we stream our favorite movies and songs into our homes, going out to watch live music has never been bigger.

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Pollstar’s numbers reveal something in the age of AI, digital everything, on-demand and streaming: We still want real moments we can experience with others. In a world that increasingly feels all the same, we want to feel a beat. When a band we like hits the chorus of that song we love and everyone around us is singing along – that’s it.

Live music shows topped $6 billion for the first time, and “The Worldwide Top 100 Touring Artists for 2026 are on track to have a record-setting year based on reported third-quarter tour revenues and ticket sales between Nov. 13, 2025 and Aug. 12, 2026.” Three quarters, $6 billion – that’s a lot of us going to live shows.

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Topping the worldwide live show chart is South Korea’s K-pop monsters, BTS, with the “Dynamite” boy group racking up over $465 million on their Arirang World Tour. Back from compulsory military service, they are selling out NFL stadiums in major cities. That’s no great surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention to music, but perhaps more surprising is that another K-pop act, TWICE, has joined them in the top 10 at No. 6.

Those talented bands also benefit from South Korea’s “soft power” strategy of using government funds and might to export Korean idol music to the world. It’s clearly working. “The Feels” and “Butter” are two of K-pop’s biggest English-language hits over the last few years – both products of South Korea’s idol pipeline.

More surprising may be the resurgence of rock. Aussie titans AC/DC returned to the road and landed in the top 10 live acts, hauling in over $136 million. They’re very much “Back in Black” at No. 9.

Right behind them? Ed Sheeran. We’ll see where he lands in the next few months.

Others making the top 10 include Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, Lady Gaga and Luke Combs. Taylor Swift didn’t make the list because she didn’t tour.

In a time in which the lords of AI keep saying their tech may take our jobs, it’s heartening to see something tech can’t take away. At least, not yet.

KISS revealed digital avatars in their “final” show in a riff on “God Gave Rock and Roll To You” in 2023. Sia has sold off a 50% stake in her catalog and the buyer is aiming at some kind of digital show, and ABBA has already done its hybrid human-digital show in London, called “ABBA Voyage.” Digital presentation is coming for live music, as it has already started impacting digital music via AI-powered platforms on both the streaming and production ends. Will we someday see a triple bill of Elvis, Michael Jackson, and Johnny Cash? Maybe! It will be weird, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be tried.

Whatever the future of music is, big business is still betting on live music at all scales being here to stay. Apple just built a 600-seat venue loaded with tech. It can pull in millions. AEG is making a play for clubs like Emo’s in Austin, reopening it with a new name next year. It makes a nice bookend to the other local club AEG is investing in, a larger one with 4,000 capacity. The Emo’s name itself will live on after moving elsewhere.

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Whether it’s catching your friend’s band in a local bar, which I’ve done, or catching a global act like British Muse on tour with Tokyo-based One OK Rock in a major Texas arena, or an up-and-coming band trying to break out, seeing and hearing the result of thousands of hours of toil and effort become a groove you love is rewarding for the artists and the audience. In the small venues, you may be within a few yards of the stage. You feel it.

But whether it’s digital or with a living, breathing act on the stage, we still want to be with others who like the same things we do. We want to sing that chorus together.

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And from the local music spot to the strangely authentic country bar in Tokyo, to the massive, highly-produced stadium shows helmed by the major acts in the Top 100, the love of music, and especially live music, is global. The sales numbers don’t lie and neither do the numbers bands play. The amazing guitarist playing those shimmering blue SRV notes in that Austin club is called Iree. She’s one of a pair of brilliant guitarists in a quintet of fiery South Korean rockers called Rolling Quartz, blazing their way around the world one face-melting show at a time. Many of their songs are in English.

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., jointly introduced a bill which would ban companies from imposing non-compete agreements on employees who make less than $100,000 a year, according to the bill text which Fox News Digital has obtained exclusively.

“This is something that people should easily be able to get behind,” Khanna told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

Khanna highlighted the bipartisan nature of the bill, claiming that Vice President JD Vance has previously referred to non-compete agreements as unenforceable. 

“It’s something that, after this election, may actually be able to bring the country together. I mean what other issue do you have JD Vance, Rep. Luna, Ro Khanna all in alignment on?” he asked.

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If passed, the Workers’ Right To Compete Act would ban future as well as pre-existing non-compete agreements within 30 days of its passing, allowing workers who were previously beholden to such contracts to seek out new employment. 

Khanna and Luna both argued that non-compete agreements limit American employees from pursuing opportunity and that the contracts hinder economic growth. 

“Independent contractors and hardworking Americans deserve the freedom to continue advancing their careers and earn the money they deserve without unnecessary legal red tape standing in their way,” Luna told Fox News Digital in a statement.

“This legislation protects that freedom and puts Americans in charge of their opportunities and earning potential,” Luna concluded.

Khanna also pointed to the success of companies who have already done away with non-competes, such as KKR & Co., a private equity firm which prohibited companies it acquired from enacting a similar non-compete ban for employees making under $100,000 a year.

“They found that it actually improved the economic performance of the companies. It had no negative impact by not enforcing those non-competes,” Khanna said.

In an interview with Bloomberg, KKR’s co-head of global private equity Pete Stavros claimed economists say non-competes suppress wages. 

A 2021 article from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis supports that claim, with the authors writing that “When Oregon ended the enforcement of non-competes for hourly paid workers, wages for those workers rose by 2–3%.”

Khanna said that he’d ideally like to push for an even higher floor for those exempted from the non-competes than the $100,000 threshold proposed in the bill, but wanted to start somewhere that could get meaningful legislation passed. 

Khanna also pointed out that, thanks to California’s broad ban on non-competes, innovation flourishes, noting that Anthropic founder Dario Amodei would not have been able to start his business had his previous employer, OpenAI, contracted him under a non-compete clause. 

“Something I’ve heard from the day I’ve been in Congress, one of California’s successes in innovation has been that we ban the enforcement of non-competes. So you can have someone leave a technology company and go to another technology company that allows for new startups, new innovation, and more competition,” he told Fox News Digital.

“So many people from Google left to OpenAI,” Khanna continued. “So many from OpenAI left to Anthropic. People leave from NVIDIA all the time to go to Anthropic to start AI companies, to start technology companies. Now, my view is these tech companies already have too much power. We need more competition, not less competition. 

“But imagine if they were non-compete, you basically would have one monopolist in doing search, in doing AI, in building chips. I’m glad that at least you have AMD and NVIDIA competing,” Khanna said.

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“It’s bipartisan. It’s something that can bring the political spectrum together. It’s pro-innovation. It’s pro-growth. It’s pro wages. It is something that has worked in California and Silicon Valley,” he told Fox News Digital. “Anyone who knows the Silicon Valley ecosystem will say the non-enforcement of non-compete is one of the reasons for the Valley’s success.”

The Federal Trade Commission voted in 2024 on a rule to ban non-competes, but abandoned the rule after a federal district court struck it down. 

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Fox News Digital contacted Vance for comment. 

An American company says it’s positioned to tap into a potentially massive oil prospect in Greenland next year, following President Donald Trump’s announcement that resource exploration “is getting ready to begin” on the Arctic island.

Greenland Energy Company is in the permitting process to drill its first well in 2027 in eastern Greenland, according to CEO Robert Price. The company claims that its project, in partnership with British company 80 Mile, holds the sole oil permits for exploratory drilling in Greenland, which makes it a potential key player in Trump’s interest in Greenland’s resources.

Trump announced on Truth Social last week that “massive” resource exploration was expected to start in Greenland.

“Massive Oil, Gas, and Mineral Exploration is getting ready to begin in our new and beautiful Greenland!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES MASSIVE OIL, GAS AND MINERAL EXPLORATION PLANS IN GREENLAND, TOUTS NATIONAL SECURITY BENEFITS

“There are Experts that are saying that the amount of easily available Oil is far greater than that of almost any land, anywhere in the World and, even more importantly, from a Security Purpose in the Defense and Offense of both the United States of America, and Europe, is second to none,” he continued.

Trump’s announcement did not specify details about how or when resource exploration would begin in Greenland.

Greenland’s government stopped granting new oil and gas permits in 2021 over concerns about the environmental impact of oil extraction. However, existing permits granted before 2021 remain valid, pending additional government approval for extraction.

According to Greenland’s Ministry of Business and Mineral Resources, White Flame Energy, which is owned by 80 Mile, obtained two permits in 2015 and a third in 2018 for exploratory drilling and possible extraction of oil in Jameson Land in eastern Greenland. Price’s company, Greenland Energy has partnered with the British company as an investor in the endeavor and will act as the operator of the project.

Price says the project has drawn the attention of governments and investors due to the potential significance the oil might have to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil supplies. According to Price, an independent engineering report found that the planned drilling site could contain up to 13 billion barrels of crude oil.

The exact quantity of oil present in the Jameson Land Basin and whether the oil can be economically extracted will not be known until exploratory drilling occurs.

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Price has positioned his company’s project as a long-term solution to slow down chokepoints in the global supply chain caused by conflicts like the war in Iran.

“If we’re successful, or even partially successful, this could really help some of the chokepoints in the Middle East. So of course the U.S. government has been acknowledging what our project is and monitoring it,” Price told Fox Business.

According to Price, measurements taken at the surface of the proposed drilling site show that the crude oil Greenland Energy Company intends to extract genetically matches oil found in the North Sea, which means European refineries may have existing capabilities to process it.

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Finding new oil supplies in “friendly jurisdictions” is essential to the United States maintaining its independence from foreign oil supplies, Price says.

“It’s incumbent upon the United States to look beyond the shale plays for a supply of energy moving forward,” said Price.

“That supply is dwindling, and that’s why we need to look to friendly jurisdictions like Greenland to bring on new supplies of oil for the people of the United States and the European community,” he continued.

Greenland’s government said that the Jameson Land project remains in the exploration phase, and exploratory drilling cannot start until environmental social impact assessments are approved. The government previously objected to the project’s proposed timeline to drill in the winter of 2026/2027, according to a statement on its website.

Price told Fox Business that his company has filed all environmental reports and plans to drill its first well at some point in 2027.

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Price is also president of USFM Corporation, a private company that is drilling for minerals, including cobalt, nickel and platinum, in western Greenland.

Price said that the security of Greenland is essential to both the future of both USFM’s mineral exploration and Greenland Energy’s potential oil drilling. He pointed to a recent security agreement between the U.S., Greenland and Denmark as important part of continuing resource exploration on the island.

The three nations signed a trilateral agreement at the United Nations General Assembly in September. The security agreement permanently cements U.S. military rights in Greenland while affirming Greenland’s right to self-determination.

“Now we have clarity. Part of that clarity is Greenland Energy and USFM. We’re going to be in Green Land a very long time,” Price said. “We embrace the trilateral agreement because for a company like ours, having certainty in the security of Greenland for our long-term investment is very important.”

The security agreement does not affect existing oil permits or guarantee American resource exploration in Greenland.

Greenland’s government declined to comment on Trump’s Truth Social announcement.