On taking stakes in U.S. companies: “Some people actually think it’s un-American, what I do. They say, ‘You’re taking their company away,’” the president said. But he sees such moves as a patriotic way to boost the economy, and if anything, he would like to do more, recounting last year’s visit from Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan. “I said, ‘Give the country 10% ownership for free in Intel.’ He said, ‘You have a deal.’ I said, ‘Shit, I should have asked for more.’” Added Trump: “I want to help American companies. There’s nothing in it for me other than I want companies to do well.”

On the national debt: Musing about this intractable problem, the real estate president casts it in a way that’s likely to blow the minds of economists and others who are concerned about how much the U.S. government now owes. Trump calculates the potential worth of natural assets like the Grand Canyon and even America’s surrounding oceans. “If you put down the value of these things, it’s like hundreds of trillions of dollars,” Trump said, and by that measure, “if you kept [the national debt] at $40 trillion, you’re way under-levered.”

Top leadership news

Powering AI and cutting bills

In an interview with Fortune, NRG CEO Robert Gaudette highlighted the power and electricity giant’s efforts in the burgeoning business of turning the United States’ dumb power grid into a smart one with better technology. There are two pillars to NRG’s strategy: rapid power growth to satisfy demand and better efficiency to help solve the rising utility bill woes that are triggering AI backlash.

Deutsche Bank's work with Epstein 

Deutsche Bank described its relationship with Jeffrey Epstein as running from August 2013 to December 2018. Internally, the reality was much messier. Some of the disgraced financier’s accounts officially remained open at the bank following his arrest on July 6, 2019—seven months after he was supposed to have been terminated. It wasn’t until July 9, 2019, that all of Epstein’s accounts were closed at the bank. 

Oil markets' ticking clock

Investors have been trading on the hope that the Iran ceasefire remains intact, but there are few signs that the oil trade will return to normal soon, forcing them to reckon with the reality of worsening shortages and an imminent tipping point ahead. JPMorgan predicted that commercial oil inventories in the developed world could “approach operational stress levels” by early June. 

The markets

S&P 500 futures are down 0.31% this morning. The last session closed down 1.24%. The STOXX Europe 600 was down 0.31% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.17% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.97%. South Korea’s KOSPI was up 0.31%. China’s CSI 300 was down 0.54%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.11%. India’s NIFTY 50 is down 0.24%. Bitcoin was down at $77K.

Around the watercooler

Wall Street is keeping a close eye on Kevin Warsh at the Fed. These are the red (and green) flags they’re watching for by Eleanor Pringle

‘No one was coming to save me’: How Reese Witherspoon built a $900 million company from a problem Hollywood wouldn’t fix by Sydney Lake

Gen Z wants AI-proof jobs. The president of a 50-property hotel chain says hospitality is hiding in plain sight by Preston Fore

Supply shocks weren’t random. They were strategic—and should be seen as ‘supply coercion’ instead, former Fed official says by Jason Ma

Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z’s entry-level job crisis by Jake Angelo

CEO Daily is curated and edited by Joseph Abrams, Jason Ma, Claire Zillman, and Lee Clifford.