Filing your taxes isn’t typically fun, but getting a nice refund at the end certainly helps.

This year, however, filers might have to wait a bit longer to get their money. While the average refund is up by more than 10% compared to last year, hundreds of thousands of taxpayers are experiencing delays due to how the IRS now handles refunds. Paper checks are no more, so if there’s any issue with your direct deposit information, the IRS will more likely freeze the refund until you update it.

Whether you’re waiting on a refund, or already thinking about the 2026 tax year, we’re hosting a live Q&A for Forbes members on tips to reduce your future tax burden—it’s this coming Monday, March 30, at 3 p.m. ET. Learn more and sign up here.

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President Donald Trump extended his previous deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, postponing any U.S. strikes on Iran’s energy sites until April 6. The president cited progress in negotiations to end the war, but the Wall Street Journal also reported that the Pentagon is considering deploying another 10,000 ground troops to the Middle East.

MORE: Trump also said Thursday that Iran allowed 10 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a “present” to the U.S., though the vessels were Pakistani-flagged. Pakistan has emerged as an intermediary between the two nations, and has presented Iran with a 15-point framework for peace on behalf of the U.S.

OnlyFans has been a money-printing machine for its secretive billionaire owner Leonid Radvinsky, so investors were puzzled by an obscure debt fund’s pitch to buy him out—for a rock-bottom price of $5.5 billion. But they later learned that Radvinsky, who passed away earlier this week at 43, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The deal still hangs in the balance, and the hopeful buyer, Architect Capital, has big changes in mind.

Shares of Facebook parent Meta showed rare vulnerability Thursday, dropping 8% after a pair of landmark court rulings and adding to a more than 10% decline over the past year, the worst performance among the “Magnificent Seven” stocks. The company’s challenges extend beyond the courtroom, as the New York Times reported earlier this month that Meta had delayed the release of Avocado, its upcoming AI model, after it failed to outperform rivals from Google, OpenAI and Anthropic.

Self-custody crypto wallet provider Trust Wallet is launching a toolkit that enables AI agents to trade crypto across more than 25 blockchains. One of the new features is something that Trust Wallet says no rival offers: With access to a user’s existing wallet, an AI agent can then propose a transaction and wait for the user to approve it. “Agentic economy will come sooner than anyone expected,” says CEO Felix Fan.

Silver prices fell more than 5% Thursday while gold dropped by about 3% following mixed messages about the state of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. Both metals have seen double-digit drops in their value since the conflict began, bucking conventional wisdom that international crises lift prices of the typical safe haven assets.

Earlier this week, the FBI’s Cyber Division issued a critical alert that a hacker group had breached two developer tools popular with AI creators. The group, known as TeamPCP, later told Forbes over encrypted chat that it used AI to turbocharge the attacks. The incident is an early example of how tools that are supposed to secure AI software are themselves vulnerable to hackers, which one cybersecurity expert called “a nightmare scenario for the cyber community.”

A federal court in Texas dismissed a lawsuit that Elon Musk’s X Corp brought against a group of advertisers, alleging they conspired to illegally boycott the social media platform he purchased in 2022. U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle found that the social media company formally known as Twitter did not prove the advertisers violated antitrust laws, writing that “the only harm X has asserted is that its customers collectively chose X’s competitors over X.”

SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Netflix is once again hiking its subscription prices, with the latest announcement coming just weeks after the streaming giant backed out of its bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. The new round of increases will cost customers an extra $1 to $2 per month across its tiers, with its premium package jumping to a monthly price of $26.99.

Airlines are now passing along increased jet fuel prices to passengers, with the average airfare transaction for the six largest U.S. airlines growing between 2% (American Airlines) and 12% (Delta Air Lines) for the week ending March 15 compared to the two weeks prior. Those costs could continue to rise, as United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told Bloomberg TV this week that fares could shoot up 20% if fuel prices remain elevated due to the war in Iran.

How This Meat Snack Company Devoured The Competition And Became A $1 Billion Business

Over the past few years, Chomps has become the fastest-growing meat snack in America—despite the fact that it couldn’t keep up with its customers’ enormous appetites. “We’ve been living in this endless world of allocation where we can only fill so much of the demand,” says Rashid Ali, cofounder and CEO of the Florida-based snack brand.

Not anymore. Consider Chomps unleashed. This year is the first, Ali says, where Chomps is up to the challenge and has enough infrastructure to produce enough meat sticks to satisfy the estimated 2 million it sells a day.

Founded in Naples, Florida in 2012, Chomps is on track to top $900 million in annual revenue this year, according to Forbes estimates—up from $660 million last year—with 10% of the meat snack market.

Its meat sticks—made with grassfed and finished beef, venison and antibiotic-free turkey—are resonating with consumers seeking on-the-go protein, particularly women, who make up about 70% of its customers. Forbes estimates that the brand is now worth north of $1 billion—or more if it reaches $1 billion in annual revenue.

WHY IT MATTERS “Just having Chomps getting to the level where it is right now, and then on top of it, understanding that we've only scratched the surface of where it can go is just mind boggling to me,” says cofounder Pete Maldonado, who moved from the co-CEO role to chairman last year. “Now is the first time we’ve got all the capacity from a production standpoint, and so now we get to find out really how high is high.”

MORE How America’s Most Popular Iced Tea Company Brewed Up A $1.7 Billion Family Fortune

Last year was one of many ups and downs for U.S. markets, but Wall Street employees managed to secure their biggest collective bonus pool ever:

$49.2 billion: The record bonus pool for Wall Street in 2025, a 9% increase over the year prior

$246,900: The average bonus paid to securities industry employees

2006: Adjusted for inflation, this year’s bonus pool actually comes in under that of 2006, which totaled $53.7 billion in today’s dollars

In a recent national survey, an overwhelming 90% of college faculty said they believe AI use is weakening students’ critical thinking skills—a trend that’s colliding head-on with changing workforce demands for deeper conceptual understanding and strong judgement. It’s a widespread reskilling challenge that higher education should address now, and there are a number of solutions ranging from federal and state AI policies, to governance that promotes effective AI use alongside workforce preparation.

The Kennedy Center announced it will award its Mark Twain humor prize to a comedian who has repeatedly traded jabs with President Donald Trump. Which comedian will receive the honor?

Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Caroline Howard.

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