The World Economy Summit: Fall 2025 Edition

Sports investor and venture capitalist Mark Ein on whether sports ownership is a good investment:

“On average, employees lose $75,000 over a lifetime just losing those 60 days out of the market,” Betterment CEO Sarah Levy said, discussing problems with employee-sponsored 401(k) rollovers.

Florida Republican Mike Haridopolos, on the firing of federal workers during the US government shutdown:

“There’s this perverse thing in our society today where oftentimes the least healthy food is the cheapest,” Brooks Tingle, the CEO of John Hancock, said.

“I’ve encouraged for years that a SNAP dollar spent on a fresh fruit or vegetable should only count as 50 cents.”

NYSE Group President Lynn Martin, on parent company ICE’s investment in Polymarket:

Spain has to engage with China, “and we have to understand that in many sectors, they have a huge technological advantage,” Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said.

Nasdaq Executive Vice President and Global Chief Legal, Risk and Regulatory Officer John Zecca says AI can help the “trust factor” in emerging markets:

“AI has already been used in the military for many, many years,” SAIC CEO Toni Townes-Whitley said. “And I would argue machine-to-machine has been in national security, without human-in-the-loop.”

“I think, through lack of forethought by the policymakers, we allowed a dominant bank to get even more dominant,” PNC President Mark Wiedeman said. “Do we want a couple of megabanks to just keep getting larger and larger?”

Indeed research shows “25% of the workforce will be heavily impacted” by AI, Chief Economist Svenja Gudell said.

Walmart US CEO John Furner said a commitment to American manufacturing has been good for business, employment, and communities.

“About two-thirds of what we sell is either made, grown, or assembled in the United States.”

Federal funding cuts to PBS are not “an existential threat” to Sesame Street, Sesame Workshop CEO Sherrie Westin said.

“But it’s so painful because we pride ourselves on being able to reach all children, regardless of whether their family has the ability to afford streaming.”

USA Rare Earth CEO Barbara Humpton, on the need to diversify the supply chain for critical minerals:

“The president is checking every day: What are the gas prices? What are the electricity prices? He wants those down,” National Energy Dominance Council Executive Director Jarrod Agen said.

Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness on the early “divisive” marketing of the plant-based meat industry:

“We are the non-oil investment arm of the Kingdom, so it comes naturally for us to invest even more into the sustainable economy of Saudi and also globally,” Public Investment Fund Head of Financial Institutions and Investor Relations Princess Rasees Al Saud said.

Sarfraz Maredia, Uber’s head of autonomous mobility and delivery, on whether users show a preference for autonomous Waymo rides over human drivers:

Asked about the changing regulatory environment under the Trump administration, Early Warning Services CEO Cameron Fowler called for “clear, consistent, consumer-oriented” regulation.

“The pendulum doesn’t help or serve anyone,” he added. “When we swing the pendulum back too far, as in limited or no, I think we all know through the cycle where that ends.”

China’s private sector is interested in “continuing to invest and having access to US markets,” BNY Senior Executive Vice President and Head of International Hani Kablawi said.

“There’s continued red carpets being rolled out in China, trying to make sure that the private sector to private sector conversations continue to be positive.”

National Bank of Belgium Governor Pierre Wunsch cited the European cultural attitude “towards risks and even towards success” when asked about the Draghi report.

“We don’t like the Californian model of moving fast and breaking things,” he said. “That’s very un-European.”

He also spoke about whether the Trump administration is pressuring Europe to follow the US on China.

Asked about doubt in economic data and what the US can learn from the Greek financial crisis, Minister of Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis noted that “the current head of the Greek statistical authority was selected to become the deputy head of the European statistical authority” and called it “a manifestation of all the change that has occurred in Greece.”

“You need to have the same objective data, on top of which you can argue, on top of which you can disagree,” he said. “But you need the basis of objectivity when you’re having the discussion, and this is why we need those authorities to be independent.”

Treasury Department Counselor to the Secretary Joe Lavorgna said US support for Argentina is “not a bailout.”

TWG Global Managing Partner and former Biden envoy Amos Hochstein called Trump’s Gaza peace agreement “a great deal,” adding that he gives “a lot of credit to the administration.”

“The only tinge of disappointment and sadness that I have is that I think we could have had this earlier... but that doesn’t take away from the fact that I think the administration gets a lot of credit.”

On the Trump administration’s hostility to renewables:

Asked about restrictions on chip exports, Hochstein cited a “tug of war” that lasted to “the last day” of the Biden administration.

“And by the way, I’d rather work with UAE than with Spain,” he added. “Spain is a European country, but they’ve put Huawei in their intelligence systems, so I’d rather go to countries and say ‘On this issue, it’s binary.’”

Elanco CEO Jeff Simmons said the Make America Healthy Again movement “has been a good thing for animal agriculture.”

“We cannot work under uncertainty,” Syrian Minister of Economy and Industry Mohammad Nidal al-Shaar said when asked about the Caesar Act.

“When you’re building a new state, and building a new economy, and introducing a new economic system, you cannot build that on uncertainty.”

Syrian Central Bank Governor Dr. Abdel Kader Husrieh described the difference between “construction” and “reconstruction.”

“If we miss this opportunity, Syria is gone,” al-Shaar said. “Please give us the time. We are emerging from scratch, from ruins, from wreckage.”

“I think we should still be worried about inflation,” Goldman Sachs President John Waldron said, arguing that companies are “sacrificing margin” to keep prices down in the wake of tariffs.

“Either tariffs come down, which is probably not likely, or you’re going to start to see people increasing prices because I think that is the only way you can maintain profitability.”

Zerohash founder and CEO Edward Woodford on the potential benefits of speeding up payments with stablecoins:

Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad sharply criticized the Biden administration’s approach to the crypto sector, arguing that “the US fell far behind” as a result.

“Tokenized securities is securities,” Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said when asked if a new regulatory framework is required.

“Putting a wrapper and technology around an asset doesn’t change what the asset is. It doesn’t change the laws around it.”

US Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., said it is “critical” that the US win “what is essentially a war for supremacy on AI, and making sure that our standards, our technologies are the ones that become globally universally adopted.”

“We have about 17,000 customers around the world today, and about 30% of those customers have adopted some AI capability in our platform,” Qualtrics CEO Zig Serafin said. “Of our top 50 customers, our largest ones, 90% of them are using AI capability.”

Asked why Chime wanted to go public at a time when other companies wouldn’t, CEO Chris Britt called it “a natural step.”

“We certainly could’ve stayed private longer... We had already raised close to $2 billion in the private markets. After being at it for 13 years, we thought the time was right — and we don’t regret it.”

Synopsys CEO Sassine Ghazi, on the state of the AI race between the US and China: