Tech titans now worth $1 trillion; A glimmer of hope for malls?

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The richest tech billionaires are getting richer, according to Forbes — this year, net worth for the top 100 tech billionaires passed $1 trillion for the first time. It’s a 21% year-over-year bump, “buoyed by a dizzying rise in stock prices” at companies like Amazon, Facebook, and China’s Tencent. The US (and particularly California) dominated the list, with China coming in second. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates remained in the top slot, but Mark Zuckerberg saw the biggest dollar gain thanks to Facebook’s 34% stock increase over the past 12 months; Zuckerberg is the fifth youngest billionaire on the list and one of only 16 under 40. ? Share your thoughts: #RichestTechBillionaires

Good news for brick-and-mortar? Struggling retailers like Express, American Eagle Outfitters, and Guess beat Wall Street predictions for profit and revenue in their latest quarters. Even though many such clothing brands are closing stores, they still consider their physical footprint an advantage: Brick-and-mortar stores are encouraging online sales, says American Eagle, with more purchases coming from markets with physical locations; Express CEO David Kornberg called stores a “three-dimensional website.” Chains still have work to do, though, when it comes to adapting to retail’s new world order: Much of this quarter’s gains were bolstered by heavy discounting, and brands are still struggling to provide a “meaningful boost to sales.” ? Share your thoughts: #RetailerProfits

Despite months of scandals, riders are still using Uber — a lot. It appears no controversy thus far, from employees’ sexual harassment claims to the ousting of CEO Travis Kalanick, has been too big to deter riders: Trip requests for the ride-hailing company more than doubled in the past year. The service may just be too embedded in daily life to quit, posits The New York Times: “The numbers were a reminder of how much people have grown accustomed to using Uber as a transportation option.” ? Share your thoughts: #UberFinancialsQ2

Speaking of Uber: Meg Whitman really won’t be Uber’s next CEO, despite reports of a push by Uber investor Benchmark Capital to keep her in the running. “There’s that country music song, ‘What Part of No (Don’t You Understand),’” she told The Wall Street Journal. ? Share your thoughts: #UberNewCEO

China’s installing robots like crazy. Robot shipments to the country rose 27% last year to 90,000, more than any other nation and putting it on track to account for a third of the world’s total. The push for automation could ultimately depress wages for Chinese workers, exacerbating income inequality and hurting consumption. That shift could have worldwide ramifications, economists warn, denting prospects for a more balanced global economy. ? Share your thoughts: #ChinaBots

“Mobile is not a TV killer,” said Snap content VP Nick Bell — and the company is out to prove it. Snap wants to bring TV to mobile-focused millennials on Snapchat, and plans to produce some of its own scripted content this year. Snap is not the only tech company looking at producing originals to drive interest among users; Apple is reportedly investing $1 billion in original content efforts next year, and Facebook’s Watch tab debuted earlier this month.  ? Share your thoughts: #SnapchatTV

Idea of the Day: Work and life won’t be balanced all the time — but it could be over the long term. “If you want to achieve anything big, the chances are your life will get seriously out of balance for a while,” explains GLOBIS founder and president Yoshito Hori. #WorkLifeBalance

“Since turning 40, all I’ve done is to take back some of what I sacrificed when I was younger. What’s the result? Certain earlier decades of my life were indeed extremely out of balance. However, my life as a whole is starting to balance out very nicely.”

What's your take? Join the conversations on today's stories: #RichestTechBillionaires | #RetailerProfits | #UberFinancialsQ2 | #UberNewCEO | #ChinaBots | #SnapchatTV | #WorkLifeBalance

From earlier: #OctogenarianWealth

— Katie Carroll / Share this using #DailyRundown