Our annual ranking of the Best Business Schools is out, and Businessweek’s senior editor for B-schools, Dimitra Kessenides, is here in the newsletter to tell us which school is on top and what risks lie ahead for MBA programs. Plus: Toddler video star Ms. Rachel is in her “advocacy era,” and CEOs have found a way to influence Trump—with trophies.

If this email was forwarded to you, click here to sign up.

It might sound like old news, but it’s not: The Stanford Graduate School of Business is again No. 1 in the US in Bloomberg Businessweek’s annual ranking of full-time MBA programs. The 2025-26 list, released today, comes at a time when universities and business schools are confronting broad challenges to the mission of education.

Stanford might seem to be above some of the problems, but the university and its B-school are not exempt, as Dean Sarah Soule reminds us: “The university has taken prudent steps—tightening budgets, slowing hiring and making difficult cuts—so we can protect our core mission of education and research.”

The business of business education faces more challenges than ever. Photo Illustration by 731. Photos: Getty Images

So, too, have many programs around the world. After the Trump administration in late May went after Harvard (No. 4 in our ranking this year) and other universities on issues of diversity and international enrollment, global deans and administrators at B-schools loudly opposed the challenges. And many recognized an opportunity to step in and make more MBA prospects aware of what schools abroad have to offer.

All this has heightened the uncertainty around American schools. “While interest in top US universities remains strong, prospective students are rightly weighing the concerns about the economy, the return on a degree and clarity around post‑study work opportunities,” Soule says.

Ultimately, the responsibility of school leaders is to ensure there are opportunities for learning—open, engaged, collaborative learning. As Francisco Veloso, dean of Insead in France (No. 5 in Europe), says, central in all this is “supporting students in their journey and standing up for education generally.”

For the whole list: Best Business School Rankings 2025-26

Read more: For Top US Business Schools, Local Challenges Could Bring Global Solutions

Is a degree worth it? Check: The Business School ROI Calculator 2025-26

Related: MBAs Cost More and Are Less Profitable as ROI Falls

In Brief

• US retail sales rose in August for a third month in a broad advance, rounding out a summer of resilient spending.
• A United Nations-commissioned report concluded Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
• US auto safety regulators opened an investigation into whether some Tesla doors are defective. Previously, from Bloomberg News: Tesla’s Dangerous Doors

The Rise and Evolution of Ms. Rachel

Rachel Accurso, aka Ms. Rachel, on the New York set of an upcoming video. Photographer: Amy Lombard for Bloomberg Businessweek

In late summer, Rachel Accurso, a YouTube star with more than 16 million subscribers, was putting the finishing touches on her next video. As always, Ms. Rachel, as she’s known to her fans, was collaborating closely on the project with her husband, Aron. Whatever they put online, the Accursos knew, would get devoured by vast numbers of riveted youngsters. They wanted it to be exceptionally good.

Often their videos dig into a single topic. This time around they’d be exploring the nature of friendship. Specifically, what does a friend look like? Their answer would be simple and instructive: A friend can look any which way. “They can have any type of hair, they can have any color skin,” says Accurso. “It can be brown, it can be peach.” A friend could even be Palestinian.

Months earlier the Accursos had met a 3-year-old girl named Rahaf Saed, who’d lost both of her legs in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. Now, Rahaf would be starring with Ms. Rachel in the friendship episode, along with an ornately diverse cast of other children. “We want to show that Rahaf is a wonderful friend of mine,” Accurso says.

Aisha Counts and Felix Gillette write that the Accursos take a highly conscientious approach to making online videos that’s almost too earnest for the internet culture of 2025. But over the past six years, they’ve succeeded at building one of the most influential brands in children’s media: Why the Queen of Toddler TV Became an Activist for Gaza

You can also listen to the story here.

What to Give a President Who Craves Wins

Photo Illustration: Ben Denzer for Bloomberg Businessweek; Photos: Getty Images (5)

Donald Trump calls himself the most transparent president in history. And in some ways he’s right. Where many of us would be mortified if the world could eavesdrop on our internal monologues—all of our personal complaints, desires, jealousies and grievances publicly laid bare—Trump exhibits no such inhibition. His daily torrent of Truth Social posts and the hours he spends before the cameras each week saying whatever comes to mind offer everyone an unredacted transcript of a president’s conversations with himself.

Among the things Trump doesn’t hide is his desire to be awarded prizes and gifts. He’s open about his craving for the Nobel Peace Prize and his vexation that Barack Obama has one and he doesn’t. He posts effusive self-congratulations after being declared the winner of tournaments held at his own golf clubs. “It’s good to win,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One after an April championship at his course in Jupiter, Florida, one of six trophies he’s claimed this year. “You heard I won? Did you hear I won? Just to back it up there, I won.”

This fixation has evidently not gone unnoticed by leaders of prominent corporations, including Tim Cook. After Trump threatened this summer to impose stiff tariffs on foreign-made semiconductors, a tax that would drive up the cost of iPhones and other devices, the Apple Inc. chief executive officer arrived at the White House in August with a pledge to invest an additional $100 billion in US manufacturing, helping Trump fulfill a campaign promise.

It wasn’t the only enticement Apple’s leader brought to the Oval Office that day. Cook, whose transactional relationship with the president has experienced many ups and downs, cracked open a white box to reveal a “unique” gift crafted specifically to Trump’s tastes: a glass Apple logo set atop a gleaming 24-karat-gold base. Cook extended his hand to the only man who would ever win such an award. “Congratulations, Mr. President,” he said, to Trump’s delight.

In a new World Stage column, Wes Kosova writes how other business leaders can follow Cook’s lead in rewarding the president: The CEO Guide to Getting What You Want Out of Trump

Battles With the Press

Remembering Redford

Like Businessweek Daily? Check out these newsletters:

• Markets Daily has what’s happening in stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities right now
• Supply Lines follows the trade wars, tariff threats and logistics shocks that are upending business and spreading volatility
• FOIA Files goes behind the scenes with Jason Leopold to uncover documents that have never been seen before
• Management & Work analyzes trends in leadership, company culture and the art of career building
• Bloomberg Pursuits is your weekly guide to the best in travel, eating, drinking, fashion, driving and living well

Explore all Bloomberg newsletters.