Stock Market Update
May 20, 2026
UPGRADES
Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos said a controversial tax strategy used by the wealthy to borrow against assets to lower their income taxes is largely a “myth.”
“There’s no truth to this ‘buy, borrow, die’ thing,” Bezos told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin Wednesday in a wide-ranging interview. “I don’t even know where this comes from.”
The “buy, borrow, die” strategy refers to the practice of wealthy founders or investors borrowing against their assets and using the loan proceeds as income. Since the loan isn’t considered taxable income, their income stream avoids tax.
Thanks to the step-up in basis tax provision, any gain in the value of their assets during their lifetime is also erased upon their death, avoiding any capital gains tax.
DOWNGRADES
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees in a Wednesday memo that the company’s decision to lay off 8,000 employees is necessary because “success isn’t a given” in the fierce and competitive space of artificial intelligence.
“AI is the most consequential technology of our lifetimes,” Zuckerberg said in the memo, which was viewed by CNBC. “The companies that led this way will define the next generation.“
Meta declined to comment. The New York Times first reported on the employee memo.
Zuckerberg’s message to employees about the significance of AI for the future of the social media giant underscores the sense of urgency at the company on the day it began its latest round of layoffs, which hit about 10% of the company’s workforce.
NEWS
The U.S. House by an overwhelming vote of 396-13 approved a bipartisan housing affordability bill Wednesday that would limit major investors from purchasing single-family homes while allowing them to build additional housing units.
The measure is getting support from the White House after some last-minute changes struck a balance between the Senate version, which placed more restrictions on major investors owning homes, and the House version, which was seen as more friendly toward Wall Street.
The legislation won the support of the rental, construction and housing industries by removing a requirement in the Senate-passed bill that would have forced major investors — defined as those owning 350 units or more — to sell any units they built beyond the cap within a seven-year window.