CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting on artificial intelligence and international security on Sept. 23, 2026, in New York City. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A nonprofit artificial intelligence safety group has sued OpenAI over a July incident in which the company’s autonomous AI agents accessed the computer systems of another firm, Hugging Face, without authorization during a cybersecurity test.
Legal Advocates for Safe Science & Technology (LASST) filed the lawsuit late Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court, alleging roughly 700 of the company’s AI agents participated in the breach.
The AI agents stole credentials, uploaded malicious files and gained access to parts of Hugging Face’s production infrastructure, the lawsuit claims.
A spokesperson for OpenAI said the lawsuit was “without merit” in a statement to ABC News.
“Hugging Face was a serious incident and we’ve taken a series of actions in response to it, but this lawsuit is completely without merit,” said Drew Pusateri, a spokesperson for OpenAI.
The lawsuit seeks a court order barring OpenAI’s AI agents from accessing third-party computer systems without permission and requiring changes to what LASST calls unsafe AI development practices.
LASST “suffered harm” as a result of the hack into Hugging Face, the lawsuit says. In the aftermath of the incident, the group was “required to divert resources from its normal activities to educate regulators, civil society, and the public about the facts, legal issues, and potential dangers,” according to the lawsuit.
The self-directed hack into Hugging Face took place as OpenAI tested the capabilities of a pair of its AI models, the company said in July, describing how the technology had escaped and gained access to the open Internet.
A swarm of about 700 AI agents, in turn, hacked into AI firm Hugging Face and attempted to cover their tracks as they sought to complete the test, according to reports issued by research organizations METR and Redwood Research.
“We care very deeply about AI safety,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on X in August. “We believe the entire field will have to coordinate on shared safety standards, but will act unilaterally in the meantime.”
“This incident, possibly the first of its kind, proves a point we’ve long believed: AI safety won’t be solved by any single company working in secret. It will be solved in the open, collaboratively, with broad access to AI for every defender, everywhere,” Clem Delangue, the co-founder and CEO of Hugging Face, said in a statement in July.
Hugging Face did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment about the lawsuit filed against OpenAI.
Altman dialed back the pace of his company’s AI development earlier this month. “The world deserves confidence that American companies developing increasingly capable AI will act responsibly, especially as the trajectory of progress has steepened,” Altman said in a post on X at the time.
OpenAI signaled further restraint toward its AI models this week, pausing the release of its latest AI model, GPT-6.1 Astra, due to security concerns.
What to know about the U.S. ban of Canadian products. (American Action Forum Office of the United States Trade Representative.)
(WASHINGTON) A United States ban of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Canadian products took effect on Tuesday, escalating a trade war between the longtime allies and pinching imports from one of the top U.S. trade partners.
The ban applies to an array of products spanning from alcohol to motorcycles to dairy goods, White House documents show.
In all, the affected products account for $967 million worth of annual imports from Canada, Jacob Jensen, director of trade policy at the right-leaning American Action Forum, said in a blog post.
Nearly $9 of every $10 worth of impacted products belongs to the category of alcoholic beverages, making them the primary target of the ban, Jensen said. The move comes after some Canadian provinces pulled U.S.-made alcohol off of liquor store shelves, crimping sales for American producers.
The list of banned alcoholic products includes beer, wine, whiskey, vodka, rum and brandy.
The policy also bars some mopeds and motorcycles, as well as some food items featuring whey, a popular protein-rich additive derived from dairy. Molasses and non-alcoholic beer also stand among the banned imports.
Still, the U.S. ban applies to a small fraction of U.S. imports from Canada. The U.S. imported roughly $381 billion worth of goods in 2025, the Office of the United States Trade Representative found, meaning the ban covers 0.2% of Canadian products shipped to the U.S.
The Toasts Not Tariffs Coalition — a trade group representing farmers, retailers and other members of the U.S. alcohol supply chain — issued a statement on Tuesday criticizing the ban.
“We appreciate the Trump administration’s commitment to encouraging Canada to reopen its market to American spirits and wine products,” the organization told ABC News.
“However, as this ban on Canadian spirits and wines takes effect today, America’s restaurants, bars, retailers and consumers are being pulled further into a trade dispute that has already taken a significant toll on U.S. wine and spirits producers,” the group added.
A tit-for-tat trade war erupted in August after official negotiations collapsed and a fresh round of U.S. levies took hold. Within days, Canadian officials unveiled what they described as a set of matching tariffs.
Canada’s retaliatory measure, which took effect earlier this month, targets about $20 billion worth of U.S. products, mirroring the size of the U.S. levies.
The goods impacted by both countries’ levies total about 4.5% of annual trade between the U.S. and Canada, the Office of the United States Trade Representative said. For now, levies apply to a sliver of goods that travel between the U.S. and Canada, limiting the impact of the trade dispute.
Trump has carried out on-again, off-again trade negotiations with Canada since he took office, aiming to resolve a dispute that began with tariffs announced by Trump early in his second term.
Trump has repeatedly claimed Canada takes advantage of its proximity to the large U.S. consumer market, while preventing many U.S. sellers from reaching Canadian shoppers.
“On Trade, and in other ways, also, they are among the worst Nations in the World to deal with,” Trump said on his social media platform in August. “They feel entitled, and yet, WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has criticized fresh U.S. tariffs as a pressure campaign that disadvantages Canadian exporters, describing retaliatory levies as an effort to protect Canada’s economy.
“I don’t believe in escalating the conflict. That’s not constructive, but our tariffs are necessary to protect our workers, protect our companies and our communities. We can’t let American goods into Canada tariff-free while they charge our companies to export,” Carney said in a video message posted earlier this month.
An exterior view of the NVIDIA headquarters on May 30, 2023, in Santa Clara, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Nvidia, a top chipmaker whose products fuel many artificial intelligence agents, released a software platform on Monday designed to prevent security incidents revealed by AI firms in recent months.
The software aims to provide a “trust layer” for AI agents that insulates them from inadvertent exposure to other AI agents, digital products and the open internet over the duration of their existence, Nvidia said in a blog post.
“Recent security incidents have underscored the need to equip organizations with open, customizable tools that enforce more control over long-running agents,” Nvidia said in a statement.
Dozens of companies partnered with Nvidia on the project, including IBM, Microsoft, Palantir, Anthropic and xAI-parent company SpaceX.
The move comes after a flurry of AI security incidents disclosed by firms such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and Alphabet-owned Google.
Those security breaches prompted warnings from some of most powerful executives in the artificial intelligence industry, who cautioned of a grave threat posed by the technology and called for a slowdown in AI development.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk belong to a group of industry leaders who have issued acute warnings about the risk of AI slipping out of human control.
Some analysts warn of a pathway called recursive self-improvement, in which AI becomes increasingly effective at training itself, eliciting a cycle of rapid advancement. At that point, they say, AI could take charge of critical systems using its superior capabilities to evade protections devised by humans.
By contrast, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has downplayed such doomsday scenarios, instead pushing for safety measures that would keep AI in check as firms continue to develop it.
“Artificial intelligence is extraordinary technology that will advance discovery, productivity, security, health, and prosperity for generations to come,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a post on X on Monday. “But its full promise can only be realized when people have confidence that AI is being built to be safe and deployed with wisdom and responsibility.”
Anthropic and SpaceX joined in partnership with Nvidia on the AI safety software platform, Nvidia said. OpenAI is not listed among the corporate partners unveiled by Nvidia on Monday; nor are Meta or Google.
Public concern grew after an autonomous cyberattack disclosed by OpenAI in late July. The ChatGPT-maker revealed that its AI models had escaped a “sandboxed testing environment” and gained access to the open internet, OpenAI said.
A swarm of about 700 AI agents, in turn, hacked into AI firm Hugging Face and attempted to cover their tracks as they sought to complete the test, according to a report issued by research organizations METR and Redwood Research on Aug. 26.
On the same day, OpenAI released its own report about the cyberattack, voicing concern about the implications of its findings.
“We consider this incident a ‘warning shot for us and for the world: evidence that, without proper safeguards, highly capable AI agents are now able to work around technical controls, collaborate through unapproved channels, and take dangerous actions that no human directed,” OpenAI said at the time.
“Preventing future incidents will require sustained investment in the alignment and control of sophisticated AI systems, as well as security and other safeguards that operate at the speed of the AI agents themselves,” the company added.
Nvidia said on Monday the newly unveiled software platform would have stopped the hack into Hugging Face, a company Nvidia has since acquired for nearly $13 billion. Hugging Face is a partner on the software platform, Nvidia noted.
A Tesla Supercharger electric vehicle charging station is seen in Ohio, Aug. 4, 2026. (Marcin Golba/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Transportation is easing fuel economy standards that were put in place during the Biden administration.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said Monday that changing CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards for vehicles will make them more affordable by establishing “commonsense” guidelines for automakers.
“This administration is delivering relief to families and reviving the beating heart of American manufacturing,” Duffy said. “With our commonsense standards in place, we are making the American dream affordable again, putting safer cars on the road, and investing in the American autoworker.”
The new Trump administration rule reduces the previous average fuel economy requirement from 50.4 miles per gallon by 2031 to 34.9 miles per gallon by 2031. It also eliminates the need for automakers to invest in electric vehicle production to help meet those requirements. The rule reverses the requirements set by the Biden administration in 2024.
“This rule restores integrity to the national fuel economy program, balancing vehicle affordability and energy conservation goals while improving safety on our roadways,” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator Jonathan Morrison said in a statement. “Newer cars are safer cars. By reducing vehicle prices, more American families will be able to afford newer vehicles, and sensible standards allow automakers more freedom to design and produce vehicles consumers actually want. I’m proud of our fantastic team of expert engineers, economists, and lawyers for the tremendous job they’ve done finalizing this rule.”
The agency is also changing the classification of light truck and passenger vehicles beginning in 2030.
“This reclassification will eliminate the incentive to add equipment and alter designs for classification purposes, which will result in greater availability of lower-cost vehicle options for consumers,” the Department of Transportation said in a statement. “Instead, automakers will develop vehicles that meet consumer wants and needs. With the current vehicle classification, manufactures are disincentivized from making hatchbacks, wagons, and smaller footprint vehicles in general.”
NHTSA says current regulations have encouraged manufacturers to add features or make design changes primarily for regulatory purposes, reducing the availability of smaller, lower-cost vehicles. It also claims the change will cut the average cost of new vehicles by as much as $1,300 on average and could save Americans $138 billion over the next five years. The average price of a new vehicle was $49,855 in July, according to Kelley Blue Book.
These new standards are also expected to reduce U.S. yearly oil consumption by 1.3 billion barrels in 2050, according to the DOT.
President Donald Trump posted on social media over the weekend that these fuel economy standards for vehicles will “take the waste out of building cars in America” and subsequently lead to “LOWER PRICES.”
CAFE standards were established in 1975 to promote fuel conservation and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The standards require automakers to meet fuel economy targets across their fleets, which can also help reduce pollution and fuel costs for drivers. Since the standards are calculated using a manufacturer’s overall fleet average, electric and hybrid vehicles can improve that average, allowing automakers to sell less fuel-efficient vehicles, such as trucks and SUVs, while still meeting the requirements.
The Trump administration has argued that the previous CAFE standards effectively functioned as an EV mandate. However, NHTSA’s 2024 rule did not require vehicle manufacturers to make EV vehicles. The standards in the previous rule were “performance-based” and manufacturers were encouraged to “apply their expertise to find the appropriate technology path that best meets all desired outcomes.”
Environmental groups and climate experts quickly condemned the NHTSA’s decision, warning of potential adverse effects on air quality and human health.
Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator during the Obama administration and the current chair of the advocacy group America Is All, said in a statement: “For fifty years, fuel economy standards have saved Americans money and cut pollution at the same time, creating cleaner air, lowering prices at the pump, and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. Rather than keeping the U.S. at the forefront of innovation and improving affordability, this administration has chosen to do the opposite.”
“Cleaner, more efficient vehicles are good for consumers, good for jobs, and good for public health. Governors, mayors, and businesses are pressing forward to find solutions for America’s growing affordability crisis while reducing carbon emissions. And they will keep pressing forward – with or without Washington,” she added.
The Sierra Club said argued that less fuel-efficient vehicles will increase gas use, costs for drivers and air pollution.
“Less fuel-efficient cars mean more gas burned, spending more at the pump, and dirtier air in our communities,” said Katherine García, Sierra Club Clean Transportation for All Director. “The Sierra Club will fight this senseless rollback every step of the way. We’re going to continue to fight back against this administration’s dangerous and costly attacks on cleaner cars and public health.”
Supporters of the decision said changing the CAFE standards gives automakers greater flexibility in meeting fuel economy requirements.
In response to the new rule, Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing major automakers, said it is “still reviewing the final rule, but NHTSA made the right call to better align fuel economy standards with the law and current market conditions.”
“The standards finalized under the previous administration effectively required a switchover to electric vehicles that was out of step with market realities and customer demand. Today’s final rule is an appropriate course correction,” John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, said in a statement to ABC News.
“What the industry needs is long-term regulatory stability that includes balanced, durable and achievable fuel economy standards that continue to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy. As we’ve said before: This is the formula for preserving consumer vehicle choice and keeping the U.S. auto industry globally competitive,” he added.
The EPA calculates that the transportation sector is the largest contributor of direct greenhouse gas emissions in the country, with cars and trucks accounting for more than 75% of those emissions.Greenhouse gases are the leading contributor to climate change.
A person pumps gas at a Mobil gas station on September 24, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Consumer sentiment dropped in September close to the lowest level ever recorded in the 74-year history of the University of Michigan’s monthly survey, fresh data on Friday showed.
Shopper attitudes soured as a monthlong bout of inflation squeezed consumers and an underlying oil supply shock showed little sign of imminent resolution.
The final reading of the University of Michigan index registered at 48.1 in September, marking the second-lowest final reading ever recorded. The index hit a historic low of 44.8 in May, just months after the outbreak of the Iran war, before ticking slightly upward to a level of 51.7 by August.
Prices rose at an annual rate of 3.4% in August, the most recent month on record, federal government data showed. Inflation stands more than a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
The average price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. is $4.49, according to AAA, marking a roughly 50% jump since the war began in late February.
Shoppers expect inflation to rise even more over the next year, the University of Michigan consumer survey found, while individuals’ view of their financial outlook has worsened.
Democrats and Republicans alike displayed sizable declines in consumer sentiment in September from the previous month, Surveys of Consumers director Joanne Hsu said in a statement on Friday.
In response to rising prices, a key long-term Treasury rate hit its highest level in nearly two decades on Wednesday, days after the Federal Reserve raised benchmark borrowing costs. The rise in borrowing costs has pushed up rates for loans like credit cards and mortgages, threatening to worsen the financial crunch.
Investors peg a two in three chance of another quarter-point interest rate hike next month, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.
Despite a stubborn bout of inflation, the economy remains fairly robust by some measures.
A blockbuster jobs report earlier this month showed employers added 162,000 workers in August, demonstrating continued resilience for the nation’s labor market. The economy grew over three months ending in June, defying fear of a downturn triggered by the Iran war.
Still, persistently elevated prices have continued to take a toll on shoppers, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., last week.
“The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long,” Warsh said.
A customer purchases gas at a station, Sept. 15, 2026, in Chicago. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Kelsey Benson said she was laid off from a job in sales earlier this month, leaving her without health insurance at a time when price hikes are weighing on the rest of her budget.
The monthly out-of-pocket cost of Benson’s name-brand medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder jumped from $120 to $500, she said. That sudden expense came at a time she was already struggling with rising rent and utility costs, she said.
“You should not have to wear yourself down to nothing to be able to live,” said Benson, 32, who lives in Queens, New York.
The financial strain has complicated Benson and her partner’s potential plans for buying a house and having a child, she said.
“The dream, many people have been told, is you get the white picket fence, the house,” Benson said. “It’s not attainable.”
Benson is hardly the only person getting hammered by price hikes. A monthslong surge of inflation set off by the Iran war has driven up costs nationwide for gasoline, groceries and other products, squeezing many household budgets.
Shoppers expect inflation to rise even more over the next year, according to a recent University of Michigan consumer survey, while individuals’ view of their financial outlook has worsened.
In response to rising prices, a key long-term Treasury rate hit its highest level in nearly two decades earlier this month, even before the Federal Reserve raised benchmark borrowing costs. The rise in borrowing costs pushed up rates for loans like credit cards and mortgages, threatening to worsen the financial crunch.
“A lot of people across America have cut the expenses that they can cut,” Ted Rossman, a financial analyst at nonprofit advisory firm Money Management International, told ABC News. “They feel like they can’t catch a break.”
Drew Davis, 26, a law student in New York City, said the recent surge in prices dawned on him in the meat section at his local grocery store.
During a shopping trip this summer, Davis said he noticed prices for his preferred types of beef and chicken had climbed $1 or $2 since he began law school three years ago.
“I’ll buy, like, fattier beef, or I’ll buy chicken instead of beef mostly, just because it’s cheaper a lot of the time,” Davis said.
Davis, who is financing his education with student loans, said his debt factors into spending decisions such as where he lives and what he buys amid an economic environment he described as “intense.”
Prices rose at an annual rate of 3.4% in August, the most recent month on record, federal government data showed. Inflation stands more than a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
The average price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. is $4.47, according to AAA, marking a 50% jump since the war broke out.
Grocery prices have increased more than 20% over the last five years, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed.
“People are feeling what’s happened the last several years,” Rossman said. “The accumulated toll is really stacking up.”
Steve Prentice, 70, who is semi-retired and works part-time at a yarn store in Tennessee, said the most noticeable price increase is gas.
“This is the first time I can recall gas being above $4 [a gallon],” Prentice said.
The cost crunch prompted Prentice and his wife to seek out bargains on groceries. Prices at all of the chain supermarkets nearby have “generally gone up,” Prentice said, forcing him and his wife to turn to lower-priced stores.
“Their prices seem a little bit more stable, but even they have gone up,” Prentice said.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh speaks during a news conference following Federal Open Market Committee meetings at Federal Reserve Headquarters, Sept. 16, 2026, in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A key long-term Treasury rate hit its highest level in nearly two decades earlier this month, even before the Federal Reserve raised benchmark borrowing costs.
The Fed hiked interest rates a quarter of a percentage point in an effort to battle back a monthslong surge of inflation. The rise in borrowing costs pushed up rates for loans like credit cards and mortgages, threatening to worsen a budget crunch as shoppers weather price hikes for gas and other essentials.
Those dangers, however, come along with potential financial benefits, some experts told ABC News. The hike in borrowing costs directly benefits savers, who stand to gain from an uptick in the interest yielded by accounts held at banks, they said.
Financial products like high-yield savings accounts and certificates of deposit, or CDs, provide options for investors eager to take advantage of the favorable environment for savers, they added, though such products carry limitations of their own.
“Higher interest rates incentivize people to park money in the bank and spend less of it,” James Cox, a financial advisor and managing partner of Virginia-based Harris Financial Group, told ABC News. “If you’re a person who has accumulated assets, higher interest rates can be beneficial.”
Interest rate hikes make it more lucrative for banks to hold money, which in turn puts pressure on financial institutions to pass along some of those earnings to depositors through higher yields.
As a result, some banks have bid up each other’s yield offerings to attract customers.
The average return on a savings account in the U.S. registered at 0.64% annual percentage yield as of Tuesday, marking a slight increase from 0.62% annual percentage yield last month, before the Fed’s rate hike, Bankrate data showed.
An incremental uptick in interest rates for savings accounts or other funds may provide a modicum of financial benefit, but it is unlikely to dramatically improve a household’s income, Cox said.
“It’s not going to materially change the interest-rate picture for a family’s savings,” Cox said.
Even so, analysts said, investors can avail themselves of products that make the most of higher interest rates, such as high-yield savings accounts and CDs.
Financial institutions have not settled on what exactly constitutes a high-yield savings account. But the name indicates the key characteristics of this financial product: a savings account that delivers high returns.
While no specific threshold earns an account the moniker of “high-yield,” the enhanced savings from such accounts can prove substantial, some analysts said.
High-yield savings accounts offer customers as much as 4.2% annual percentage yield, Bankrate data showed, putting interest rates well above the nationwide average of 0.64% for savings accounts.
“As a saver, you can make more money in a high-yield savings account,” Kate Ashford, lead wealth writer at NerdWallet, told ABC News. “There’s no real downside.”
The annual inflation rate currently stands at 3.4%, meaning price increases outpace the average interest yielded by savings accounts at banks. As a result, the purchasing power of money kept in a savings account can drop, even as the total dollar amount increases, Ashford said.
“A high-yield savings account can prevent inflation from eating away the value of what you’ve got,” Ashford said.
In some cases, the interest rate on a high-yield savings account increases automatically in response to a rate hike at the Fed.
“A high-yield savings account of my own saw an increase within 24 hours of the Fed’s announcement,” Ashord said.
A CD, meanwhile, is a type of savings account that offers a fixed interest rate over a given period of time. If depositors remove their funds before their agreed-upon end date, however, they incur a penalty.
Financial institutions often offer CDs at elevated interest rates in the aftermath of a rate hike at the Fed. Typically, long-term CDs spanning three or five years deliver higher interest rates than short-term CDs, since a wider time horizon requires investors to part with their funds for a longer period.
High-yield savings accounts and CDs carry some downside, however. The interest rate promised by a high-yield savings account or a CD means it lacks the possibility of enormous gains, unlike a riskier instrument such as the stock market, some analysts said.
“In the stock market, you have the potential to make more on your money over time,” Ashford said.
Still, Ashford added, a high-yield savings account or CD “gets your money moving in a forward direction.”
(NEW YORK) — Converse has discontinued an advertisement following public backlash last week over what critics said appeared to be Ku Klux Klan symbolism and lynching in the shoe and apparel company’s ad campaign.
One of the images in the ad showed the bottom half of a person wearing a white, calf-length skirt-like garment that some critics said resembled a KKK robe, while holding a pair of black sneakers in one hand with their arm fully extended down by their side.
Critics said lighting in the photograph makes the shoes look as if they are dangling in the air next to the person in the white garment, resembling someone being hanged.
Shadows in the photograph also create a triangle-shaped light on the white robe that critics said further resembled the top peak of a Klan hood.
“We’re sorry. We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize that we got this wrong,” Converse, who is owned by Nike Inc., said in a statement to ABC News Monday. “We removed it from our channels and are working to remove it everywhere it appeared. This should not have happened and we will do better.”
Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who represented the family of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was chased and fatally shot by three white men while jogging in Georgia in February 2020, weighed in on the controversial promotional campaign.
“We keep having this conversation because corporations keep failing the same test,” Merritt said in a social media post. “Do better means catching this before it airs — not after we’re offended.”
Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., said in a statement that the advertisement was neither creative nor artistic.
“Black pain is not a marketing prop,” Carter said. “Lynching is not a creative concept. The Ku Klux Klan is not an aesthetic.”
The photos were part of a campaign to promote the Chuck 70 X sneaker. The advertisement was a collaboration with K-pop singer Karina, who is with the group aespa.
ABC News has reached out to representatives of Karina for a comment.
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this story.
Toys R Us Grand Opening at Macy’s Herald Square on Oct. 13, 2022, in New York City. (Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Macy’s, Inc.)
(NEW YORK) — Toys R Us is planning a major expansion in the U.S. with the addition of 120 new standalone stores by the end of 2026.
The toy retailer, which currently has 40 standalone stores and Toys R Us shops inside Macy’s stores across the country, announced the strategic move, which is being carried out in partnership with Go! Retail Group, on Thursday.
“This is a major moment for [Toys R Us] as we significantly expand our presence across the United States,” Jamie Uitdenhowen, executive vice president of Toys R Us at WHP Global, said in a statement. “Together with our incredible partners, we are growing Toys R Us in unique ways to meet customers wherever they are, whether that’s at a standalone store in their hometown, inside Macy’s, at the airport or at a Navy Exchange.”
The statement continued, “Toys R Us has always been a place for discovery, and we’re building on that legacy by bringing customers the hottest toys, biggest trends and experiences that make the brand unlike any other.”
In addition to established toys such as LEGO bricks, Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars, Toys R Us said it will stock popular new toys from “KPop Demon Hunters,” Pokemon and more.
Select new Toys R Us stores will feature “Creator Studios,” described as “dedicated spaces where influencers, creators and toy brands can create content, unveil new products and host toy reveals, launches and special events,” the company said.
Select stores will also have candy shops and cafes inside for customers.
The new plan is a dramatic transformation for Toys R Us, which filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and closed most of its U.S. stores nearly a decade ago.
Private equity firms had previously acquired the retail chain in 2005 for $6.6 billion, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Toys R Us returned briefly with two new brick-and-mortar stores in 2019, however, those locations were shuttered not long after.
WHP Global acquired a controlling stake in the retailer in 2021, and the company launched a new two-story global flagship store at the American Dream shopping mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey, that December.
The retailer subsequently opened several additional standalone locations and “shop-in-shop” locations inside Macy’s stores in several U.S. states, as well as a second U.S. flagship store at Mall of America in 2023.
Warren Buffett attends ‘Becoming Warren Buffett’ World Premiere at The Museum of Modern Art on Jan. 19, 2017, in New York City. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK ) — Warren Buffett has stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the company announced in a statement published early on Friday, having served in the role since 1970.
Buffett, 96, is now chairman emeritus of the company and will remain a director, Berkshire Hathaway said.
His son, Howard Buffett, will take over as Berkshire Hathaway’s new chairman, the statement added. Howard Buffett has been a member of the company’s board since 1993.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
