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Seven churches targeted in suspected arson spree Seven churches targeted in suspected arson spree Seven churches have been targeted in a suspected arson attack that occurred overnight in New Zealand. Four churches in the town of Masterton, north of the capital Wellington, sustained “moderate to significant” damage, while evidence was found to suggest three more buildings had been targeted but did not catch fire. Crews from across the Wairarapa region responded to the fires at about 04:30 local time on Saturday (15:30 GMT on Friday). “The fires are being treated as suspicious and have been referred to police,” a Fire and Emergency spokesperson said. No arrests have been made. The Anglican Church Of The Epiphany, St Patrick’s Catholic Church Masterton, Masterton ******** Church and Equippers Church Masterton were all set on fire, authorities said. Descriptions of broken windows, burnt chairs and scorched upholstery have been reported in local media. All fires have been extinguished and no-one was injured. Masterton Mayor Gary Caffell said the apparent attacks had shocked the community, adding that they had come out of the blue. He told local media: “You just don’t expect something this sort of thing to happen, and particularly in a place like Masterton.” Local MP Mike Butterick expressed his “deep sorrow” and described first responders as “heroes” in a statement. A ******** home in the same area which contains a chapel was also set on fire at around 10:00, but no one was in the building. Police remain at the scene and are asking witnesses to come forward. Officers will also be conducting patrols in Masterton to reassure residents throughout Saturday, and in the nearby towns of Featherston and Carterton. A video circulating on social media shows a man claiming responsibility for the attacks, expressing anti-religious and anti-monarchist sentiments. Police and Fire and Emergency New Zealand have been approached for further comment. Religious buildings in New Zealand have suffered a spate of arson attacks in recent years. Last year, a church property in Auckland was subjected to two arson attacks in the same night. A mosque was also set on fire in the same area in November. In 2019, 51 people were murdered at two mass shootings in mosques in Christchurch. The man responsible Brenton Tarrant said he had also planned to burn down the mosques, wanting to “inflict as many fatalities as possible”. Source link #churches #targeted #suspected #arson #spree Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Donald Trump Hit With Major DEI Legal Setback – Newsweek Donald Trump Hit With Major DEI Legal Setback – Newsweek Donald Trump Hit With Major DEI Legal Setback NewsweekCourts rule on Trump administration initiatives including DOGE, DEI The Washington PostSan Francisco community groups sue Trump over anti-trans executive orders Axios Source link #Donald #Trump #Hit #Major #DEI #Legal #Setback #Newsweek Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

****** frees five hostages in Gaza after body of Shiri Bibas returned ****** frees five hostages in Gaza after body of Shiri Bibas returned By James Mackenzie and Maayan Lubell JERUSALEM (Reuters) -****** freed five hostages and was set to release one more from Gaza on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of ************ prisoners and detainees, after Israel confirmed that a body handed over hours earlier was that of hostage Shiri Bibas. Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23, all seized from the site of the Nova music festival in ******’ October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, were handed over to the Red Cross to be transported to Israeli forces. Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. Dozens of masked militants stood guard in a crowd that had gathered to watch the handover, as ****** men armed with automatic rifles stood on each side of the three hostages, who appeared thin and pale, as they were made to wave from the stage. Tal Shoham, 40 and Avera Mengistu, 39, were released in southern Gaza’s Rafah earlier. A sixth hostage, Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, was expected to be released in Gaza City. Al-Sayed and Mengistu have been held by ****** since they entered Gaza of their own accord around a decade ago. Shoham was abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri along with his wife and two children, who were freed in a brief truce in November 2023. The six are the last living hostages from a group of 33 due to be freed in the first stage of the ceasefire deal that took effect on January 19. Around 60 more captives, less than half of whom are believed to be alive, remain in Gaza. Hundreds of Israelis gathered in the rain in what has become known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. Some lit candles under photos of the Bibas family, whose bodies were returned this week, and others cheered as they watched the release on screen. Among those watching the release broadcast on a large screen was Yael Alexander. Her son, a soldier and a dual U.S.-Israeli national, was abducted from a military base near Gaza in the October attack. “It’s giving me a lot of hope that our son ***** will be next,” she said. Further south, more people lined the road near the Gaza border to welcome the convoy carrying the freed captives. The ******-directed releases, which have included public ceremonies in which captives are taken on stage and some made to speak, have faced mounting criticism, including from the United Nations, which denounced the “parading of hostages”. ****** rejected the criticism on Saturday, describing the ceremonies as a solemn show of ************ unity. In return for the hostages, Israel is expected to release 602 ************ prisoners and detainees held in its jails in the latest stage of a ceasefire deal that has largely held. They will include 445 Gazans rounded up by Israeli forces during the war, as well as dozens of convicts serving lengthy or life terms, according to ******. SLAIN IN CAPTIVITY The fragile truce in the war between Israel and ****** militants had been threatened with derailment by the misidentification of a body released on Thursday as that of Shiri Bibas, who was kidnapped with her two young sons and her husband in the ****** 2023 attack. However, late on Friday, ****** handed over another body, which her family said had been confirmed to be hers. “Last night, our Shiri was returned home,” her family said in a statement, which said she had been identified by Israel’s Institute of Forensic Medicine. The Bibas family has been an emblem of the trauma suffered by Israel on that day. The misidentification of the remains of Bibas, as well as the staged handover of their coffins by ****** outraged Israelis. Her husband Yarden, seized and held separately from his family, was freed on February 1. The Israeli military said intelligence assessments and forensic analysis of the bodies of 10-month-old Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel showed both had been killed deliberately by their captors, “in cold blood.” Israel’s Army Radio, citing the forensic conclusions, said Bibas was likely slain with her children. ****** says the Bibas family was killed by an Israeli airstrike. A group called the Mujahideen Brigades said it was holding the family, which was confirmed by the Israeli military. CEASEFIRE The ceasefire has brought a pause in the fighting, but prospects of a definitive end to the war remain unclear. ****** has been at pains to demonstrate that it remains in control in Gaza despite heavy losses in the war. The militant group triggered the conflict by its attack on Israeli communities that killed 1,200 and took 251 hostages, according to Israel. The Israeli campaign has killed at least 48,000 people, the ************ health authorities say, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble, leaving some hundreds of thousands in makeshift shelters and dependent on aid trucks. Both sides have said they intend to start talks on a second stage, which mediators say aims to agree the return of all remaining hostages and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops. (Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Hatem Maher and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Jana Choukeir in Dubai and Rami Amichay in Tel Aviv; Writing by James Mackenzie and Maayan Lubell; Editing by Diane Craft, William Mallard and Sharon Singleton) Source link #****** #frees #hostages #Gaza #body #Shiri #Bibas #returned Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Marvel Rivals’ New Airborne Meta Is Bound to Become a Nightmare for Strategists on Every Map Marvel Rivals’ New Airborne Meta Is Bound to Become a Nightmare for Strategists on Every Map Marvel Rivals is currently one of the best hero-shooter games in the industry right now. The title made by NetEase Games features a total of 37 (and increasing) popular Marvel characters that have caught the attention of both gamers and Marvel fans alike. Other than giving fans the chance to play as their favorite superhero, NetEase has also created a new meta in the hero-shooter genre. Marvel Rivals created a new airborne meta in the hero shooter genre | Image Credits: NetEase Games Now with the new mid-season update which was released on February 21, Marvel Rivals features an Airborne Meta where the characters can fly around and this is becoming more of an inconvenience than a feature, at least for the other players in the team. But why is this a problem for other teammates especially the strategists? Let’s find out. Marvel Rivals introduces the triple-flier meta The Human Torch is the newest addition to Marvel Rivals | Image Credits: NetEase Games NetEase Games has completely redesigned the hero-flight mechanics in their game. Although in other hero shooter games, flying characters are limited with a cooldown or a fuel gauge, Marvel Rivals takes that concept and throws it out of the window. In the game, characters like Iron Man and Storm can fly around the map indefinitely, giving players literally an ‘upper’ hand on their opponents. With the new mid-season patch, the game introduces two new characters and one of them is a flying hero we all know too well. The patch introduced us to the Human Torch a.k.a Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four. In the game, he is a duelist and an absolute powerhouse, his whole kit focuses mostly on fire-based attacks giving him the ability to damage both single and multiple enemies at once. This addition of the Human Torch to Marvel Rivals has brought in a new Airborne Meta where three players can pick the three flying duelists to reign fire over their enemies. Although this can and probably will pose a huge threat to the opponents, it is an even ******* annoyance for the team’s Strategists. It is already really difficult to land heals on the heroes in the game, and with the new meta, it might just make healing allies much harder. Why is no one talking abt how hard it is as a support to heal them esp with sue… maybe we buff her range soon — Su (@marieannfred1) February 22, 2025 we need a flying support next — Vhaega ♡ (@vhaega) February 22, 2025 Strategists in Marvel Rivals are already notorious for not healing their team enough and the game’s heavy visual clutter makes healing allies much more difficult for them. On top of that, the pressure of staying alive during a team fight also adds another layer of challenge. It is even harder to heal flying characters because they always keep to the skies and rarely stay on land. Now with the introduction of the triple flier meta, the struggle of keeping teammates at full health will only intensify, along with the whines from unhealed frustrated players. Players might stop playing Strategists in Marvel Rivals Airborne characters are insanely difficult to heal | Image Credits: NetEase Games This whole ordeal might keep the players away from playing the Strategist role because of the constant pressure of healing while getting complaints from their allies. A similar incident occurred in another hero-shooter game, Overwatch 2 where the developers removed a tank from the game, making it 5v5. This put immense pressure on the single tank in the team and a bit later, tank mains collectively stopped queueing for the role. While players are still playing Strategists in the game and the flying heroes are getting shot down by ****** Widow and Hawk Eye, we are yet to see what steps NetEase will take to balance out healing to our forever-flying teammates. Source link #Marvel #Rivals #Airborne #Meta #Bound #Nightmare #Strategists #Map Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Who Are the 6 Freed Israeli Hostages Who Are the 6 Freed Israeli Hostages ****** released six more hostages on Saturday as part of its cease-fire deal with Israel, the last living captives to be freed under the current truce in Gaza. As part of the cease-fire agreement, ****** committed to releasing at least 33 of the nearly 100 captives remaining in Gaza, a number of whom are believed to be dead, in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinians jailed by Israel and a partial Israeli withdrawal. Both sides are set to negotiate terms to extend the truce, but an agreement appears remote. Two of the captives freed on Saturday had been in ******’s hands for about 10 years. Four others were taken during the ******-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which prompted the Gaza war. Omer WenkertA poster of Omer Wenkert at the site of the festival in southern Israel where he was abducted.Credit…Amir Cohen/Reuters Omer Wenkert, 23, was kidnapped during the Oct. 7 assault as ************ militants attacked a music festival, the Tribe of Nova, being held near the Gaza border. Videos and photographs from the time of the attack show him being restrained, stripped to his underwear and surrounded by armed men in the back of a truck as he was taken away to Gaza. He was in touch with his family on the morning of the attack and had said that he was afraid. Relatives later saw video of his abduction. His grandmother, Tsili Wenkert, a Holocaust survivor who said that she had been saved by the Soviet Army, appealed to Russian officials for help in securing her grandson’s release. Mr. Wenkert managed a restaurant in central Israel and was supposed to start a restaurant management course in college. His father, Shai Wenkert, pleaded for his freedom near Mr. Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem on the first anniversary of the ******-led attacks. In a speech to a group of other relatives of hostages and their supporters, he said: “A whole year in which time has stopped. I’m still on the same day.” Eliya CohenA handout photo of Eliya Cohen.Credit…Bring Them Home Now Eliya Cohen, who was 27 when he was captured, had also been at the Nova music festival. He took cover with other festival attendees when militants threw grenades into their shelter and stormed it, ordering Mr. Cohen and two other men out with them, according to his girlfriend, Ziv Abud from Tel Aviv, one of the bunker’s few survivors. Ms. Abud had gone to the festival with Mr. Cohen, her nephew and her nephew’s girlfriend. Of the four, she was the only one to make it home. Mr. Cohen was shot in the leg during the raid, she said, and she hid with him under a pile of dead bodies until she felt him pulled away from her. Mr. Cohen’s mother, Sigalit Cohen, told The Guardian in December 2023 that she had quit her job as an accountant to lobby for the release of the captives. Near the first anniversary of the war and hostage crisis, she wrote in an editorial addressing Israelis: “Have we learned anything from that cursed day? Have we taken it upon ourselves to be better?” Hisham al-SayedA handout photograph of Hisham al-Sayed.Credit…Bring Them Home Now Hisham al-Sayed is a member of Israel’s Arab Bedouin ********* from the town of Hura. He is one of two Israeli hostages, along with Hadar Goldin, who were captured by ****** militants in the Gaza Strip many years before the Oct. 7 raids. Mr. al-Sayed entered Gaza in 2015 and was not seen again until 2022, when ****** released a video purporting to show him lying in a bed looking dazed and wearing an oxygen mask. Mr. al-Sayed has schizophrenia, according to his family, and had attempted to enter Gaza before. ****** accused Mr. al-Sayed of being an Israeli soldier and was thought to be holding him to pressure Israel to release ************ prisoners. In 2017, a Human Rights Watch investigation concluded that Mr. al-Sayed was not affiliated with the Israeli military or government. After ****** captured hundreds of hostages in the Oct. 7 assault, the families of captives who had been lobbying for their relatives’ release for years joined forces with relatives of the newer hostages. Mr. al-Sayed’s father, Shaban al-Sayed, said that the family was awaiting his son’s return with deep anxiety. “We don’t know in what condition he’ll return,” he said. “We’re waiting for him — and when we see him, we’ll know how much we have to celebrate.” Avera MengistuA cutout poster of Avera Mengistu at a site in Tel Aviv.Credit…Hannah Mckay/Reuters Mr. Mengistu, now 38, is the longest-held living Israeli hostage in Gaza. In 2014, nearly two weeks after a cease-fire ended a 50-day war between Israel and ******, Mr. Mengistu was seen in security camera footage walking along the beach before crossing a fence dividing Israel from Gaza. Born in Ethiopia, Mr. Mengistu immigrated to Israel with his family when he was 5 and lived in the coastal city of Ashkelon, some 10 miles north of Gaza. His older brother told Israeli media that Mr. Mengistu had been deeply affected by the death of another sibling and faced serious mental health issues. Mr. Mengistu was apparently last seen in a video released by ****** in January 2023, though the footage could not be independently verified. As with Mr. al-Sayed, Human Rights Watch later assessed that he was a civilian with a history of mental health problems. Omer Shem TovA sign calling for the release of Omer Shem Tov in Tel Aviv.Credit…Leon Neal/Getty Images Omer Shem Tov was 20 when he was abducted alongside two friends at the Nova music festival. His friends — Maya Regev and her brother, Itay Regev — were released during a weeklong truce between Israel and ****** in November 2023. In December 2023, after their release, the Regevs appeared in a video together wearing T-shirts that bore the face of Mr. Shem Tov, pleading for his return. “Every day there is like hell,” Ms. Regev said from a wheelchair, having undergone surgeries for a gunshot wound in her leg. “I have a friend named Omer, and I really, really miss him,” Itay said. “I know what he is going through in there, and I know how frightening it is.” Mr. Shem Tov’s older brother, Amit Shem Tov, expressed dismay after the end of the last truce. “The end of the cease-fire is the worst thing that could have happened because it seriously delays the release of my brother,” he said. Tal ShohamA handout photograph of Tal Shoham.Credit…Bring Them Home Now Tal Shoham was 38 when he was captured from Kibbutz Be’eri. His wife, Adi Shoham, and their son and daughter, ages 8 and 3 at the time, were freed in the first cease-fire deal. Early last year, Mr. Shoham’s father, Gilad Korngold, was among a group of relatives of hostages who burst into an Israeli Parliament meeting to demand action on the abductees. “The danger is increasing every day that passes,” Mr. Korngold said in an interview afterward. “Israel and the relevant countries in the region need to sit at the table — without eating or sleeping — and make this terrible situation end.” On the first anniversary of the attack, Mr. Shoham’s family was still waiting. His mother, Nitza Korngold, like other Israelis frustrated with the government’s lack of progress on a hostage release agreement, boycotted the official ceremony and attended an alternative commemoration. “My dear Tal, if you can see or hear me, we all miss you so much,” she said. “We are doing everything to bring you and all the hostages home soon. We will not give up on you.” Source link #Freed #Israeli #Hostages Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Porsha Williams’ ex Simon Guobadia detained by ICE amid mass deportations: report – Page Six Porsha Williams’ ex Simon Guobadia detained by ICE amid mass deportations: report – Page Six Porsha Williams’ ex Simon Guobadia detained by ICE amid mass deportations: report Page SixPorsha Williams’ Ex Simon Guobadia Detained by ICE Amid Mass Deportations (Exclusive) Us WeeklyPorsha Williams Speaks Out After Estranged Husband Simon Goubadia Detained by ICE PEOPLE‘RHOA’ star’s estranged husband’s citizenship request denied WSB AtlantaICE detains Real Housewives star’s estranged husband: US Weekly WPLG Local 10 Source link #Porsha #Williams #Simon #Guobadia #detained #ICE #mass #deportations #report #Page Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Harness Microsoft’s Copilot with this Surface Pro 11 ***** Harness Microsoft’s Copilot with this Surface Pro 11 ***** If you want a device that will maximize Copilot, Microsoft’s powerful AI assistant, it would make sense to go for the Microsoft Surface Pro 11. And if you buy it today, you can take advantage of Best Buy’s offer of a $350 discount for a package that bundles the 2-in-1 laptop with the Surface Pro Keyboard. Instead of $1,350, you’ll only have to pay $1,000, which is actually a pretty good price for a machine of this caliber. It’s not a good time to hesitate with your purchase though, as the savings may disappear as soon as tomorrow. Why you should buy the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 It’s not a surprise that the Microsoft Surface Pro 11, which is featured in our roundup of the best 2-in-1 laptops, is a Copilot+ laptop. It promises faster response times and enhanced security for Microsoft’s Copilot, for an even better experience when you’re using features such as Recall to instantly find documents or web pages, or generating and editing images. The device is equipped with components that will provide the power that Copilot needs — it comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor and Qualcomm Adreno GPU, alongside 16GB of RAM that’s on the level of top-tier machines, according to our guide on how much RAM do you need. This Microsoft Surface Pro 11 bundle comes with the Surface Pro Keyboard, which attaches to the device to transform it from a tablet into a laptop. Either way, you’ll enjoy working on a 13-inch PixelSense Flow touchscreen that’s sharp and colorful, and you can keep using the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 while you’re on the go because its battery can last up to 14 hours from a full charge. The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 bundle, which includes the device and the Surface Pro Keyboard, is on ***** from Best Buy at $350 off, knocking the package’s price down from $1,350 to $1,000. There’s always a lot of demand for Surface Pro deals, and with this one featuring the line’s latest model, we think it’s going to sell out quickly. If you want to get this Microsoft Surface Pro 11 bundle for a more affordable price than usual, we highly recommend pushing through with the transaction right now. Source link #Harness #Microsofts #Copilot #Surface #Pro #***** Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Lowest 30-year rate since December Lowest 30-year rate since December Interest rates have decreased on most mortgage terms today. According to Zillow, the 30-year fixed rate is down by four basis points to 6.50%. This is the first time the average 30-year rate has hit 6.50% since mid-December. With slightly lower mortgage rates, this could be a good weekend to interview real estate agents, shop for mortgage lenders, or go house hunting. You could also benefit from starting your home-buying journey before the peak spring buy season begins. Have questions about buying, owning, or selling a house? Submit your question to Yahoo’s panel of Realtors using this Google form. Here are the current mortgage rates, according to the latest Zillow data: 30-year fixed: 6.50% 20-year fixed: 6.25% 15-year fixed: 5.83% 5/1 ARM: 6.50% 7/1 ARM: 6.45% 30-year VA: 5.98% 15-year VA: 5.48% 5/1 VA: 6.06% Remember, these are the national averages and rounded to the nearest hundredth. Learn more: 5 strategies for getting the lowest mortgage rates These are today’s mortgage refinance rates, according to the latest Zillow data: 30-year fixed: 6.53% 20-year fixed: 6.25% 15-year fixed: 5.88% 5/1 ARM: 6.56% 7/1 ARM: 6.36% 30-year VA: 5.98% 15-year VA: 5.56% 5/1 VA: 6.08% 30-year FHA: 6.09% 15-year FHA: 5.55% Again, the numbers provided are national averages rounded to the nearest hundredth. Mortgage refinance rates are often higher than rates when you buy a house, although that’s not always the case. You can use Yahoo Finance’s free Yahoo’s free mortgage calculator to see how various interest rates and term lengths will impact your monthly mortgage payment. It also shows how the home price and down payment amount play into things. Our calculator includes homeowners insurance and property taxes in your monthly payment estimate. You even have the option to enter costs for private mortgage insurance (PMI) and homeowners’ association dues if those apply to you. These details result in a more accurate monthly payment estimate than if you simply calculated your mortgage principal and interest. There are two main advantages to a 30-year fixed mortgage: Your payments are lower, and your monthly payments are predictable. A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has relatively low monthly payments because you’re spreading your repayment out over a longer ******* of time than with, say, a 15-year mortgage. Your payments are predictable because, unlike with an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), your rate isn’t going to change from year to year. Most years, the only things that might affect your monthly payment are any changes to your homeowners insurance or property taxes. The main disadvantage to 30-year fixed mortgage rates is mortgage interest — both in the short and long term. A 30-year fixed term comes with a higher rate than a shorter fixed term, and it’s higher than the intro rate to a 30-year ARM. The higher your rate, the higher your monthly payment. You’ll also pay much more in interest over the life of your loan due to both the higher rate and the longer term. The pros and cons of 15-year fixed mortgage rates are basically swapped from the 30-year rates. Yes, your monthly payments will still be predictable, but another advantage is that shorter terms come with lower interest rates. Not to mention, you’ll pay off your mortgage 15 years sooner. So you’ll save potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest over the course of your loan. However, because you’re paying off the same amount in half the time, your monthly payments will be higher than if you choose a 30-year term. Dig deeper: 15-year vs. 30-year mortgages Adjustable-rate mortgages lock in your rate for a predetermined amount of time, then change it periodically. For example, with a 5/1 ARM, your rate stays the same for the first five years and then goes up or down once per year for the remaining 25 years. The main advantage is that the introductory rate is usually lower than what you’ll get with a 30-year fixed rate, so your monthly payments will be lower. (Current average rates don’t necessarily reflect this, though — in some cases, fixed rates are actually lower. Talk to your lender before deciding between a fixed or adjustable rate.) With an ARM, you have no idea what mortgage rates will be like once the intro-rate ******* ends, so you risk your rate increasing later. This could ultimately end up costing more, and your monthly payments are unpredictable from year to year. But if you plan to move before the intro-rate ******* is over, you could reap the benefits of a low rate without risking a rate increase down the road. Learn more: Adjustable-rate vs. fixed-rate mortgage First of all, now is a relatively good time to buy a house compared to the last couple of years. Home prices aren’t spiking like they were during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, if you want or need to buy a house soon, you should feel pretty good about the current climate. Mortgage rates aren’t predicted to fall drastically throughout 2025 like people were expecting a few months ago. So, now could be just as good a time to buy as in a couple of months from now. The best time to buy is typically whenever it makes sense for your stage of life. Trying to time the real estate market can be as futile as timing the stock market — buy when it’s the right time for you. Read more: Which is more important, your home price or mortgage rate? According to Zillow, the national average 30-year mortgage rate is 6.50% right now. But keep in mind that averages can vary depending on where you live. For example, if you’re buying in a city with a high cost of living, rates could be higher. Mortgage rates are expected to go down overall in 2025, though they probably won’t significantly drop anytime soon. Mortgage rates haven’t necessarily been dropping — they’ve been inching up and down. But most rates have fallen today. In many ways, securing a low mortgage refinance rate is similar to when you bought your home. Try to improve your credit score and lower your debt-to-income ratio (DTI). Refinancing into a shorter term will also land you a lower rate, though your monthly mortgage payments will be higher. Source link #Lowest #30year #rate #December Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

DeepSeek invites users behind the curtain of its open source AI code DeepSeek invites users behind the curtain of its open source AI code The ******** startup, DeepSeek plans to become even more transparent about the technology behind its open-source AI models, such as its R1 reasoning model. The company detailed in a post on X on Friday that it will make several code repositories available to the public, starting next week. This will give developers and researchers a deeper understanding of the nuances of the key parts of DeepSeek’s code. It is an especially bold move for a tech company. However, bold moves are already par for the course for DeepSeek, which entered the AI space as an industry disrupter. It has especially stood out because its models have performed as well, if not better than many of the top AI brands in the industry, such as OpenAI and Meta– that use proprietary technologies. Day 0: Warming up for #OpenSourceWeek! We’re a tiny team @deepseek_ai exploring AGI. Starting next week, we’ll be open-sourcing 5 repos, sharing our small but sincere progress with full transparency. These humble building blocks in our online service have been documented,… — DeepSeek (@deepseek_ai) February 21, 2025 “We’re a tiny team exploring AGI. Starting next week, we’ll be open-sourcing 5 repos, sharing our small but sincere progress with full transparency,” DeepSeek said on X. By making its AI models open source, DeepSeek made its codes available for others for further development without charge. Now, the brand is giving the public access to get behind the veil of the original code that took the world by storm. This move has the potential to make DeepSeek’s AI models even more popular, by making knowledge about the brand and its technologies more available and dispelling any concerns. The company said it plans to continue revealing more data after the initial code repository launch. The public will be able to see “every line of code, configuration file, and piece of data lives there together,” the Cryptopolitan noted. According to Bloomberg, DeepSeek’s effort to be more transparent may also aid the company in quelling various security concerns that have been raised by several government entities, including those in the U.S., South Korea, Australia, and Taiwan. Since DeepSeek’s introduction into the AI space, several companies have either introduced or recommitted themselves to incorporating more open-source development into their AI technology. The ******** brand aims to continue its current strategy. “As part of the open-source community, we believe that every line shared becomes collective momentum that accelerates the journey…No ivory towers – just pure garage-energy and community-driven innovation,” DeepSeek said. Source link #DeepSeek #invites #users #curtain #open #source #code Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

White House and Ukraine nearing rare earths deal that would tighten relationship, AP source says – The Associated Press White House and Ukraine nearing rare earths deal that would tighten relationship, AP source says – The Associated Press White House and Ukraine nearing rare earths deal that would tighten relationship, AP source says The Associated PressTrump says deal with Ukraine for US access to its rare earth minerals is ‘pretty close’ Fox NewsUkraine is not ready to sign subsoil deal with the US due to “problematic issues” – Sky News Ukrainska PravdaTrump ramps up Zelenskyy attacks as US official says mineral deal close Al Jazeera EnglishUkraine Promises Swift Deal for Minerals as Trump Cuts Kyiv Out of Peace Talks The New York Times Source link #White #House #Ukraine #nearing #rare #earths #deal #tighten #relationship #source #Press Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Microsoft prepares for major GPT-5 updates from OpenAI Microsoft prepares for major GPT-5 updates from OpenAI Microsoft is set to get a major AI update and is preparing its server capacity to support the next iteration of OpenAI’s models. As OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman has previously indicated the brand will soon release the GPT-4.5 large language model in the coming weeks, the Verge has reported that the new model could be available “as early as next week.” As with other technology advancements, OpenAI has made claims of GPT-4.5 being significantly more powerful than its prior version, GPT-4. The model, codenamed Orion, is set to be OpenAI’s last “non-chain-of-thought model.” Also indicating the coming launch of GPT-5 flagship model with major updates to its functionality, will also affect how partners, such as Microsoft incorporate the technology as well. X Microsoft is set to receive the GPT-5 code in May; however, the publication noted that this time frame is not set in stone. Previously, reports suggested OpenAI intended to release GPT-4.5 in late 2024, but that launch was delayed. In its place, the company began introducing its series of reasoning models, which differ from large language models in that they require less training to produce a better result. They also allowed OpenAI to frequently release several new reasoning models in standard and mini versions in a short *******. However, the GPT-4o model clashed with subscription-based AI features on Microsoft’s Azure cloud service. The company’s team was at a loss on how to integrate some of the speech and translation functions. However, with enough time the engineers can sort out any hiccups, according to Android Headlines. OpenAI’s most recent reasoning models are the o3 and o3 mini models. The company has indicated plans to combine its large language models and reasoning models to avoid confusion and get closer to its goal of achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI). Currently, users must select a model option for the type of processing result they desire. However, GPT-5 is set to be integrated with o3 mini, allowing users to have the power of both models in one option. Altman recently took to X to express his dissatisfaction with the breakdown of all the different AI models that are now available for his platform, stating that he believes in the “magic of unified intelligence.” Source link #Microsoft #prepares #major #GPT5 #updates #OpenAI Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Macs finally get a taste of an overhauled Mail app Macs finally get a taste of an overhauled Mail app Apple redesigned the Mail app on iPhones with the release of iOS 18.2 update back in December, but strangely skipped the treatment for iPads and Macs. The company has finally made a course correction with the macOS 15.4 and iPad OS 18.4 developer beta updates, which are now available for testers. The biggest change introduced by the new Mail app are categories. All your emails are now neatly slotted across four categories. Here’s a brief breakdown of how it works: Primary: For personal messages and time-sensitive content. Transactions: A section for keeping a tab on confirmation emails, receipts, and shipping-related alerts. Updates: All the content that you’ve signed up to receive via an email agreement, such as news, newsletters, and social media updates. Promotions: This is the section where you get marketing and shopping material, such as coupons and sales-related notifications. Apple, however, notes that if any of your emails across the last three categories contain time-sensitive details, they will appear in the Primary bracket. Apple is also taking an approach similar to social media profiles, when you open messages from a specific sender within these three categories. Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends “When you tap a Transactions, Updates, or Promotions message, a digest view of messages from that sender opens,” says the company. This is a great way to catch up on activities such as alerts from your banking service provider, as you see all your payments neatly slotted in a vertically-scrolling card-like format. Of course, you can always choose to disable categories and enable the classic list view that shows all your emails in the same order as they landed in your inbox. The idea is neat, as it separates unimportant jargon from relevant communication, but it’s not perfect. The arrival of the updated Mail experience on iPads and Macs solves a big problem, even though it add some versatility, like letting users create their own categories. iPhones have had the new interface for a while now, and if you got used to it, not having a consistent experience on your Mac or iPad was a bummer. With the arrival of macOS 15.4 and iPadOS 18.4’s first developer beta updates, there is finally some respite. It’s now only a matter of time before the developer and public beta testing comes to an end, and the overhauled Mail experience is available across the entire mobile and desktop ecosystem. As far as other AI-powered tricks in the Mail app are concerned, Mac users can also take advantage of email summaries, smart replies, and priority messages. Source link #Macs #finally #taste #overhauled #Mail #app Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Scotland’s first ‘slap fight’ event in Glasgow cancelled Scotland’s first ‘slap fight’ event in Glasgow cancelled Getty Images Slap fighting became a viral sensation after emanating from Russia The first-ever slap fighting competition to take place in Scotland has been cancelled following a health warning. BritSlap/SlapFight *** was due to hold the event at Glasgow University Union (GUU) on Saturday evening as part of a wider weightlifting meet. However, a leading expert on brain injury said it was “inconceivable” the bouts should go ahead due to the elevated risk of concussion. A spokesperson for the student union said the event had been cancelled “in discussion with organisers”. Slap fighting began in Russia and expanded into Eastern Europe and the United States after going viral on social media. Unlike in boxing, MMA and Muay Thai where there is a defensive element, here competitors exchange forceful bare-handed blows to the side of the head without defending themselves. The winner is decided either by knock out, a points win or a stoppage by a medic or referee. SlapFight ***, which has no independent regulation or governance, is the first independent league to be set up in this country and was due to host its first Scottish meet after several events in England. But Dr ******* Stewart, a leading researcher at the university’s school of neuroscience, urged competitors not to “risk their brain health in the name of sport”. Dr Stewart said the university had led research into traumatic brain injuries for over 50 years, including the “catastrophic outcomes” to brain health suffered by former footballers and rugby players. He told BBC Scotland News: “There is no question that the University of Glasgow’s research has provided the clearest evidence that brain injuries should never be considered trivial or encouraged as ‘sport’. “In this context, it seems inconceivable, if not ill-considered, that a students’ union of this university would be hosting such an event. “I’d suggest that rather than encouraging people to risk their brain health in the name of ‘sport’, the event organisers spend a few hours in my laboratory and educate themselves on the consequences of brain injuries.” Force of strikes ‘amplified’ An American study on slap fighting last year warned of a high risk of concussion for participants. The University of Pittsburgh research analysed footage of 78 fights and found more than half of participants displayed visual signs of concussion. Its lead author, Dr Raj Swaroop Lavadi said the lack of defensive element meant each blow was “amplified”. He also said promoters should be “more transparent about its risks”. GUU previously said it was “satisfied” with safety measures in place. A statement released late on Friday said: “In discussion with the event organisers, the slap fighting element of this weekend’s weightlifting competition is no longer going ahead.” BBC Scotland has contacted the union for further comment. A spokesman for the University of Glasgow said it did not “endorse or sanction” the event. He added: “Given the strength of the evidence outlined by our own academic colleagues, and echoed by published peer-reviewed research, we regard this as a dangerous sport and do not believe that the GUU or the university should be associated with it.” SlapFightUK have also been contacted for comment. Source link #Scotlands #slap #fight #event #Glasgow #cancelled Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Block, Affirm, PayPal battling to be your all-in-one online bank Block, Affirm, PayPal battling to be your all-in-one online bank Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter Inc., speaks during the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami, Florida, U.S., on Friday, June 4, 2021. Eva Marie Uzcategui | Bloomberg | Getty Images Jack Dorsey’s Block got started as Square, offering small businesses a simple way to accept payments via smartphone. Affirm began as an online lender, giving consumers more affordable credit options for retail purchases. PayPal upended finance more than 25 years ago by letting businesses accept online payments. The three fintechs, which were each launched by tech luminaries in different eras of Silicon Valley history, are increasingly converging as they seek to become virtual all-in-one banks. In their latest earnings reports this month, their lofty ambitions became more clear than ever. Block was the last of the three to report, and the high-level numbers were troubling. Earnings and revenue missed estimates, sending the stock down 18%, its steepest drop in five years. But to hear Dorsey discuss the results, Block is successfully implementing a strategy of offering consumers the ability to pay businesses by smartphone, send money to friends through Cash App, and access credit and debit services while also getting more ways to invest in bitcoin. “In 2024, we expanded Square from a payments tool into a full commerce platform, enhanced Cash App’s financial services offerings, and restructured our organization,” Dorsey said on Block’s earnings call on Thursday after the bell. Block and an expanding roster of fintech rivals have all come to see that their moats aren’t strong enough in their core markets to keep the competition away, and that the path to growth is through a diverse set of financial services traditionally offered by banks. They’re playing to an audience of digital-first consumers who either didn’t grow up using a brick-and-mortar bank or realized at an early age that they had no need to ever set foot in a physical branch, or to meet with a loan officer or customer service rep. “Longer term, we see a significant opportunity to grow actives, particularly among that digital-native audience like Millennial and Gen Z,” Block CFO Amrita Ahuja said on the earnings call. As part of its expansion, Block has encroached on Affirm’s turf, with an increasing focus on buy now, pay later (BNPL) offerings that it picked up in its $29 billion purchase of Afterpay, which closed in early 2022. Block’s market share in BNPL increased by one point to 19%, while Affirm held its position at 17%, according to a recent report from Mizuho. Both companies are outperforming Klarna in BNPL, the report said. Block’s BNPL play is now tied into Cash App, with an integration activated this week that gives users another way to make purchases through a single app. With Cash App monthly active users stagnating at 57 million for the last few quarters, the company is focused on engagement rather than rapid user acquisition. “We think that there is significant opportunity for growth longer term, but there are some deliberate decisions we’ve made as part of our banker-based strategy in the near term” that have kept user numbers from increasing, Ahuja said. “This is a part of our continuous enhancements to drive healthy customer engagement as we bank our base.” Compared to Block, Wall Street had a very different reaction to Affirm’s earnings earlier this month, pushing the stock up 22% after the company’s results sailed past estimates. Affirm founder and CEO Max Levchin, who was previously a co-founder of PayPal, built his company with the promise of giving consumers lower-cost and easy-to-tap intstallment loans for purchases like electronics, jewelry and travel. The BNPL battlefront In its latest earnings report, Affirm posted a 35% increase in gross merchandise volume to $10.1 billion. Revenue surged 47% to $770 million, while its active consumer base grew 23% to 21 million. Beyond BNPL, Levchin has pushed Affirm into debit with the Affirm Card, which now has 1.7 million active users, up 136% year-over-year. “Anything we can do to personalize the experience, to give people a chance to feel like this is the best alternative they have to their debit or their credit card is what we’re busy with,” Levchin said on the earnings call. He said the goal is to get the card to 20 million users, spending on average $7,500 per year. Affirm is also partnering with FIS to bring its debit card functionality to traditional banks. Levchin left PayPal in 2002, after the company was acquired by eBay. It was a decade before he’d start working to help popularize the modern day BNPL market. Now his former employer, which spun back out from eBay in 2015, is in on the BNPL game. Under the leadership of CEO Alex Chriss, who took over the company in September 2023, PayPal is in the midst of a turnaround that involves working to better monetize products like Braintree and Venmo and joining the world of physical commerce with a debit card inside its mobile app. Investors responded positively in 2024, pushing the stock up almost 40% after a brutal few years. But the stock dropped 13% after its earnings report, even as profit and revenue were better than expected. PayPal’s total payment volume for the quarter hit $437.8 billion, slightly below projections, while transaction margins rose to 47% from 45.8% — a sign of improving profitability. One of Chriss’ big pushes is to get more out of Venmo, which has long been a popular way for friends to pay each other but hasn’t been a big hit with businesses. Venmo’s total payment volume in the quarter rose 10% year-over-year, with increased adoption at DoorDash, Starbucks, and Ticketmaster. PayPal is also promoting Venmo’s debit card and “Pay With Venmo,” which saw 30% and 20% monthly active growth in 2024, respectively. The company is introducing new services to improve merchant retention, including its Fastlane one-click checkout feature, designed to compete with Apple Pay and Shopify’s Shop Pay. Last year, the company launched PayPal Everywhere, a cashback-driven initiative designed to boost engagement within its mobile app. Chriss said on the earnings call that it’s “driving significant increases in debit card adoption and opening new categories of spend.” As with virtually all financial services products, the new offerings from Block, Affirm and PayPal are designed to produce growth but not at the expense of profit. Banks operate at low margins, in large part because there’s so much competition for lower-priced loans and better cash-back options. There’s also all the costs associated with underwriting and compliance. That’s the environment in which fintechs have to operate, though without the costs of running a network of physical branches. Levchin talks about helping customers spend less, not more. And Block acknowledges the need for hefty investments to reach the company’s desired outcome. “This is a part of our continuous enhancements to drive healthy customer engagement as we bank our base,” Ahuja said. “We’ve made investments in critical areas like compliance, support and risk. And as we’ve done that, we’ve progressed more of our actives through our identity verification process, which in turn, unlocks greater access to those actives to our full suite of financial tools.” WATCH: CNBC’s full interview with PayPal CEO Alex Chriss Source link #Block #Affirm #PayPal #battling #allinone #online #bank Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Arab countries outline plan for rebuilding Gaza – Le Monde Arab countries outline plan for rebuilding Gaza – Le Monde Arab countries outline plan for rebuilding Gaza Le Monde Arab states scramble to counter Trump’s Gaza ‘Riviera’ plan ReutersArab Leaders Scramble to Counter Trump’s Gaza Plans The New York TimesArab leaders scramble for alternative to Trump’s Gaza proposal The Washington Post Source link #Arab #countries #outline #plan #rebuilding #Gaza #Monde Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Five Israeli hostages released in Gaza Five Israeli hostages released in Gaza Five Israeli hostages are now back in Israel after being handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza. Avera Mengistu and Tal Shoham were freed by ****** on Saturday morning, in a highly-choreographed event in Rafa. Hours later, in Nuseirat, Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov and Omer Wenkert were handed over amid similar scenes. Hisham al-Sayed, the last of the six hostages to be freed today, will be released without a public ceremony later today – according to Israeli media. Source link #Israeli #hostages #released #Gaza Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Girl, 3, killed in ****** between tram and van Girl, 3, killed in ****** between tram and van BBC A three-year-old girl has been killed in a ****** between a van and a tram, police have said. Greater Manchester Police said the girl was taken to hospital following the ****** in Manchester city centre where she passed away from her injuries. No arrests have been made and enquiries are ongoing. Roads are closed and public transport services have been cancelled following the collision in Mosley Street. The force advised commuters there would be “a lengthy closure of surrounding streets near to St Peter’s Square”. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version. You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts. Source link #Girl #killed #****** #tram #van Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

A volatile tech stock worth owning for the long-term because of its dominance of a niche area A volatile tech stock worth owning for the long-term because of its dominance of a niche area This is one of the stock profiles of StockStory , a fintech investing company seeking to identify long-term ideas that beat the market using an AI-driven approach. Previously StockStory covered Cloudflare (NET) and Howmet Aerospace (HWM) . As the world digitizes, buying advertising inventory is moving from power lunches to programmatic platforms that leverage data and automation. The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) is the clear leader in this space, allowing brands to target custom audiences, place ads in relevant media, and measure return on spend. Key Highlights: TTD is the best and largest independent platform for ad buyers. This is why revenue increased 12x from 2016 to 2024. New and expanded partnerships, especially a recent one with Netflix, will power growth for years to come. From there, the company’s low variable cost base will mean explosive margin increases. Co-Founder Jeff Green remains at the helm as TTD’s Chairman and CEO roughly 25 years after starting the company. He’s adamant about making decisions for the next 100 years, and we love this long-term focus. The Trade Desk revolutionized the way digital ad campaigns are bought, executed, and measured. The company hasn’t just pioneered and dominated the market serving online ad buyers, but it has done so consistently and profitably. For this, the market has rewarded TTD’s stock with over a 25x return since the stock closed on its first day of trading in late 2016. For years, we’ve admired the secular tailwinds, the TTD platform, and the company’s leadership from afar, searching for a compelling entry point. We now have one coupled with two attractive short-term tailwinds. First, the confluence of recent partnerships gives the brand a big boost in street cred and provides major tailwinds to revenue. Second, the launch of a connected TV (CTV) operating system removed major frictions from CTV advertising and the incremental dollars flowing into that market will benefit TTD for many years to come. Buying the Dip TTD saw its stock drop over 30% after Q4 2024 earnings last week. The company missed Q4 2024 revenue and expectations, with Q1 2025 guidance also falling short. This was largely due to internal reorganizations to sales and engineering teams that temporarily disrupted execution. Specifically, the company restructured client-facing teams to better serve agency and brand clients while reorganizing engineering into 100 “scrum teams” to speed up development. However, these changes delayed the launch of Kokai, for example, TTD’s AI-powered advertising tool. CEO Jeff Green and the rest of management remain steadfast that nothing is amiss, citing a stable macro environment, strong digital ad market growth, and TTD’s leadership as the top independent DSP. While this move is notable, TTD has a history of sharp short-term swings but strong long-term gains. A similar 30+% drop after Q3 2023 was followed by a 50% rebound since, outperforming the S & P 500. TTD 1Y mountain TTD, 1-year With this and the company’s business quality in mind, we are recommending the stock. One weak quarter and the resulting volatility doesn’t change TTD’s status as an elite business, making it a compelling long-term investment at this price. Keep reading to understand why this is such a special company. The Advertising Industry – A Brief History With the most recent quarter out of the way, let’s get into the business now! Advertising used to be a world of power suits and power lunches, as depicted in the popular TV series Mad Men . A senior exec at Omnicom (NYSE:OMC) might wine and dine the Chief Marketing Office of McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) over lobster and a bottle of Château Palmer, schmoozing his/her company’s way into a lucrative ad-buying contract. These deals typically included fixed retainer payments plus a commission—often 15% of total ad spend. It was an opaque system. McDonald’s ads ran during ********** sitcoms, top-ten radio countdowns, and on billboards in major cities, but measuring return on investment was murky at best. Worse yet, in 2016, the Association of National Advertisers exposed widespread kickbacks between agencies and TV networks. For example, a broadcast network like CBS might offer a $5 million rebate if a client like Procter & Gamble committed $50 million in ad spend — except the agency would pocket the rebate without telling its client (and also earn its commission on the inflated $50 million instead of the true $45 million). The internet changed everything. Traditional advertising was all about reach, targeting broad demographics with little precision. Digital advertising, dominated by Alphabet (formerly Google, NASDAQ:GOOGL ) and Meta (formerly Facebook, NASDAQ:META) , introduced audience segmentation based on searches, likes, and group memberships. Suddenly, an advertiser could target people searching for “best weight loss drugs” or those in a local pickleball group. But a new conflict arose. Alphabet and Meta, known as walled gardens , controlled their own ad sales and were incentivized to inflate or at least obfuscate performance metrics — like a commission-based appliance salesman telling you that your fridge is terrible and pushing you to buy a new one (from him, of course). Beyond the walled gardens lays the open internet — websites, blogs, streaming platforms, and mobile apps—with seemingly endless ad inventory. Unlike Alphabet and Meta, these publishers didn’t force advertisers to use ad-buying proprietary tools, eliminating some conflicts of interest. But without centralized tools, buying ads and optimizing ad spend was inefficient. Lastly, traditional media was mostly premium content — professionally produced TV, movies, and music. The internet ushered in a flood of user-generated content, from posts to videos, some of which contained misinformation, explicit material, or hate speech. Alphabet and Meta have little incentive to fully ensure brand safety, leaving advertisers to fend for themselves in the chaos of the open web. The Trade Desk – A Company Overview TTD emerged from the shift toward data-driven digital advertising, offering a self-serve, cloud-based platform that helps advertisers optimize ad spend with greater transparency. As an independent demand-side platform (DSP), TTD serves only ad buyers—agencies and brands—eliminating conflicts of interest and ensuring accurate performance measurement. TTD powers programmatic advertising, replacing the manual, relationship-driven deals of the past that we detailed above. When a webpage or app loads, an unfilled ad spot is created, triggering an automated auction. DSPs like TTD analyze metadata (ad type, placement, audience) and bid in real time, with the highest bidder winning the spot—all in milliseconds. If you prefer a video explaining programmatic advertising, here’s a great one that’s under two minutes. Beyond automation, TTD offers key value-add features: Data-driven targeting – Combines first-party, third-party, and contextual data to refine audience segmentation based on demographics, behavior, purchase history, and real-time intent. Real-time bidding – Enables dynamic ad buying across desktop, mobile, digital audio, and connected TV (CTV), ensuring advertisers pay only for high-value impressions. Performance analytics – Tracks impressions, clicks, conversions, and return on ad spend for continuous optimization. AI-powered decisioning – TTD’s Koa and Kokai AI products dynamically adjust budgets, audience targeting, and campaign strategies using real-time data to maximize efficiency. Unlike Alphabet and Meta, which sell ads within their own walled gardens and don’t let customers own the data or use third-party tools for analytics and measurement, TTD gives advertisers access to the broader open internet—websites, streaming platforms, and apps. This independence allows greater transparency, control, and flexibility in ad spend. While the walled gardens have incentives to report favorable results, TTD is aligned solely with ad buyers, ensuring unbiased measurement and optimization. Competitive Landscape TTD is the leading independent DSP, and its data-driven, cloud-first approach meets customers where technology is going. Still, the company doesn’t just operate in a vacuum and competition is evolving. We think about competition in two categories. Walled gardens (Alphabet, Meta, TikTok) Other DSP competitors The Walled Gardens When it comes to digital ad revenue, Alphabet and Meta are the #1 and #2 players globally. TikTok has emerged in recent years to establish a major presence in social media. As mentioned, these companies are referred to as walled gardens because they exclusively control the platforms on which you buy Google Search, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok ad inventory. User data to target and assess ad campaigns is limited and belongs to these companies, and the walled gardens prohibit use of third-party tools and data for execution and measurement. On the one hand, most companies must allocate some ad dollars to the walled gardens simply because of how many people worldwide engage with their apps and web properties. On the other hand, there is lack of transparency and misalignment of incentives when buying from the walled gardens because they simply want to sell more ads, not necessarily tell customers that certain spend on the platform may not be worth it. The Other DSPs The independent DSP landscape is fairly fragmented, with TTD as the clear leader (measure by ad spend on the platform and revenue). This is a market where network effects matter, so we think that TTD’s lead will mean continually more customers, more data, and more partnerships, leading to an even larger lead. Still, we keep a close eye on two independent DSP competitors in particular. Amazon DSP Over the last decade, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has been leveraging its supremacy in e-commerce to grow its advertising business. Amazon DSP is part of this effort and grants customers access to ad inventory on Amazon-owned properties (amazon.com, Twitch, Fire TV, etc.), making it part walled garden. Amazon DSP offers first-party, proprietary purchase data and shopping insights for audience segmentation and targeting purposes, making it highly attractive for retail, CPG, and performance marketers. Amazon DSP is also expanding third-party inventory, turning it from more of a walled garden into a direct competitor with TTD. This is a big move in the industry, but we’re confident that the market is sufficiently large and TTD’s independence (Amazon competes with roughly half of the companies in the S & P 500) will sufficiently insulate TTD. Xandr Invest Formerly a part of telecom giant AT & T (NYSE:T) , Xandr was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in 2021. The company was somewhat mismanaged while under AT & T’s ownership, but it has always had a solid reputation in CTV and with larger enterprise customers. Microsoft wants to continue building on this CTV strength, an area where TTD is also strong, and expanding Xandr’s reach. We note that Xandr had an exclusive DSP relationship with Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) just as the streaming giant was ramping its ad-supported subscription tier, but that exclusivity is no more as Netflix announced a partnership with TTD in May 2024. Why We Love The Trade Desk There’s plenty to like about TTD, but we are most excited about three dynamics: the market, the company’s leadership position, and its history of elite financial performance. The Market The global advertising market is massive, currently at $900 billion and expected to exceed $1 trillion in about two years. This market is closely tied to global GDP, with ad spend fluctuating based on the economy. Of the $900 billion, $135 billion is spent on digital ads outside of search and social media—areas dominated by Google, Facebook, and TikTok. This $135 billion digital ad market has grown at 12% annually since 2016, compared to 4% for the overall market, and this outperformance is expected to continue as traditional media like TV and print decline. For TTD, this $135 billion represents its core addressable market. In 2016, TTD captured 2% of it, with $1 billion in gross ad spend. At the end of 2024, that grew nearly 12x to $12 billion, or 9% of the market. TTD is now the leading independent demand-side platform (DSP), with just under 10% market share. While 10% might seem low, programmatic ad buying is still in its early stages, and the market remains fragmented. On the company’s dominance, a former Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) salesperson remarked just last week: “If you’re running programmatic, you’re running in The Trade Desk. The only clients that I worked with who were not running in The Trade Desk were those 1% of clients where I told you I was working a client directly and not an agency, and it was usually just due to lack of knowledge” Given how efficient, transparent, and data-driven programmatic ad buying is, we think that over the next decade, nearly all digital ads will be purchased in this manner. Secondly, it is still a fragmented market, with numerous DSPs out there. Many of them such as Adform, Quantcast, and StackAdapt are niche or specialized DSPs that excel in one geography or one strength such as audience insights. Market Leadership & Value Proposition We at StockStory are attracted to market leaders for obvious reasons, but we also dig into how they got into that coveted pole position. For TTD, customers love the platform because it helps them either boost brand awareness, lower costs, increase ad performance, or some combination. This helps explain the nearly 12x increase in gross spend on the TTD platform from 2016 to 2024. Marriott, HP, and Neutrogena are among TTD’s customers who have documented tangible benefits from using the platform ranging from higher brand awareness to better click-through rates. Individual customers who regularly use the TTD platform to plan, execute, and measure ad campaigns are also largely happy with their experiences and outcomes. These two quotes are quite representative of the general feedback on TTD that we’ve heard in our conversations. Director of Paid Media at a mid-market company : “What I like best about The Trade Desk is its innovative approach to programmatic advertising, empowering advertisers with cutting-edge tools and data-driven insights to achieve impactful results. Its emphasis on transparency, collaboration, and customer success sets it apart in the industry. It is a huge learning curve but the implementation has been seamless with the help of our customer account team. Our team is in the platform everyday.” Marketing & Advertising employee in Gaming & Casinos : “Simplicity to self serve and UI friendliness. The platform is made so a user can find its way around and accomplish things very easy. At the same time, if you are an experienced media buyer, you have a lot of different advanced options to support your needs. Customer support and account management teams are super helpful and very quick to respond and address all issues.” Elite Financials We previously mentioned the nearly 12x increase in spend on the TTD platform from 2016 to 2024. Because TTD’s take rate or cut of this spend has stayed stable over that time, the company’s revenue has also grown roughly 12x. A stable take rate is an underappreciated dynamic that helps us sleep better at night. It shows that TTD hasn’t faced pricing pressure over the long term from either heightened competition or a deflationary product. For example, broadband internet is generally deflationary, forcing providers to increase volumes (connected households) faster than prices decrease since it is a competitive market where the cost to deliver the service falls as technology improves. It is a treadmill we’d rather avoid in our investments. Topline growth is important, but we also value profits and unit economics. TTD, with its consistent 80+% gross margins and positive operating profits every year since 2014, impresses us. Oh yeah, and we’re talking about GAAP gross and operating margins, not the adjusted numbers that many software companies spotlight so they can exclude stock-based compensation, which we consider a real (although non-cash) expense. Said differently, if you don’t pay SBC, you’d be paying cash salaries and bonuses instead. This translates into rock-solid cash generation. TTD will have achieved five straight years of 25+% free cash flow margins. Software investors like to look at the ‘Rule of 40′, which is revenue growth plus free cash flow margin. Anything above 40 is deemed a very good business. TTD hovers around 50%. Why Is Now The Time To Buy? It’s always a good time to invest in a high-quality company like TTD if you’re holding for multiple years (we prefer three to five). Our backtests show business quality outweighs entry price in driving market outperformance, so don’t overthink valuation timing. Holding that guiding principal aside, it’s a good time to buy TTD due to two big upcoming revenue tailwinds: New and expanded partnerships with big names in content and advertising A recently-announced a CTV operating system (OS) Partnerships Any single partnership may seem small, but TTD’s recent deals are significant in aggregate: New partnershipsMarch 2024 – NBCUniversal (NASDAQ:CMCSA) enabled programmatic ad sales for the Paris Olympics, marking its first automated Olympic ad inventory.May 2024 – Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) ended its exclusive DSP deal with Xandr and brought TTD on board as a DSP partner to support its growing ad business . October 2024 – Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) launched its own ad exchange and named TTD as its first DSP partner for video ads, with plans to expand to audio. Expanded partnershipsJune 2024 – Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA) broadened its TTD deal to include more premium content and improved ad measurement.January 2025 – Disney (NYSE:DIS) expanded its programmatic capabilities with TTD, enabling real-time purchases of live sports and events ad inventory. These partnerships greatly enhance TTD’s brand and validate its approach. The Netflix deal is particularly exciting given the company’s dominance in streaming. We estimate Netflix’s ad revenue could grow from under $1B in 2024 to well over $3B in 2026. If TTD captures 20% of the ad spend on Netflix’s platform and maintains its 20% take rate, it could add 4-5 percentage points to TTD’s 2026 growth—potentially shifting from decelerating to accelerating revenue, which the market rewards handsomely. A New CTV OS Streaming and CTV are the future. Just compare Charter’s and Netflix’s five-year stock performances. Both companies are dominant in their industries and feature very strong, astute leadership. The big difference is that Charter largely provides linear TV connections to households in a traditional cable package offering whereas Netflix is a streaming-only platform. CHTR NFLX 5Y mountain Charter vs. Netflix, 5 years On Nov. 20, 2024, TTD announced Ventura, a streaming TV OS aimed at solving industry challenges: Better user experience – Cross-platform content discovery, personalization, and fewer but more relevant ads. More transparent ad supply chain – Improved pricing and impression data across platforms. TTD will partner with smart TV OEMs but won’t enter the commoditized, low-margin hardware business. Unlike other TV OS providers, Ventura won’t charge licensing fees or take a share of streaming service ad revenue. This, combined with TTD’s reputation in the industry, should ensure rapid adoption. So what’s the point of Ventura, and how will TTD monetize it? We see this as TTD developing its own distribution platform (similar to how the walled gardens control their own distribution platforms). It is also a long-term play to streamline CTV advertising and cut inefficiencies, which will facilitate adoption. Here’s how a typical CTV ad is bought today: Advertiser (Nike, Burger King, etc.) wants to show a streaming ad They use a DSP like TTD to bid on ad inventory that fits its needs The DSP buys from a Supply-Side Platform (SSP) (Magnite, PubMatic) The SSP connects to an Ad Exchange, where streaming publishers (e.g., Disney+, Hulu, Roku) list inventory The Ad Exchange links to the Publisher’s ad server Finally, the ad gets served to a viewer—but each step takes a cut of the ad spend This fragmented process enables arbitrage and fraud, driving up costs. Middlemen resell inventory at a markup, and a lack of transparency allows bad actors to misplace ads, as seen in 2022 when premium PeacockTV ads ended up on low-quality sites. With Ventura, lack of licensing fees and ad revenue shares will power adoption. From there, a simplified CTV ad supply chain means more dollars flowing into CTV—already the path of least resistance given consumer habits. While revenue impact may not be visible until late 2025, we expect it to be meaningful in 2026 and beyond. What Does The Future Hold? This quarter may have sent the stock down drastically, but we still view TTD as a continuity story. It exhibits an elite profitable growth, and a market overreaction to a single quarter doesn’t change this. We think TTD will continue to grow profitably going forward, just as it has in its history. Key drivers of TTD’s topline growth will be a mix shift to digital ad formats as eyeballs and ears continue to move from traditional formats such as linear/cable TV, print, and radio to streaming video, web and mobile app, as well as digital audio. With revenue growing at a 20+% annualized rate for the next few years, the profit potential is very exciting for TTD. Our research suggests that the company’s variable cost base is quite small, roughly 20% of total operating expenses. We show why this matters in the detailed graphic below, but in short, a higher percentage of fixed costs means higher margin potentials for fast-growing businesses. Putting it all together, we expect TTD’s revenue to grow from $2.4 billion in 2024 to $5.7 billion in 2028, a 24% annualized growth rate. Operating margin should go from 17% to roughly 30% during that *******, which bakes in a level of conservatism based on the math above. Free cash flow margin will follow a similar path, reaching 35% in 2028. At the end of 2028, roughly four years from now, we expect a stock price more than double today’s price, good for an annualized return of slightly over 20%. Why Do We Believe In Company Management? We’re drawn to high-quality businesses still led by their founder(s). While somewhat dated, the most comprehensive study of the topic is from Bain & Company, which analyzed founder-led companies from 1990 to 2014. It found that founder-led public companies outperformed others by 4x. There are founder-led companies, and then there’s TTD. With co-founder and CEO/Chairman Jeff Green at the helm, TTD priced its IPO at $18 in the Fall of 2016, closed its first day at $30, and now trades at roughly $800 if we reverse the July 2021 10-for-1 stock split—Exhibit A of why we trust Green as a steward of our investment. Green, who co-founded TTD in 2009 after selling an earlier ad-tech business he founded to Microsoft, takes a long-term approach. He has repeatedly emphasized building a company to last 100 years rather than chasing short-term gains, and we admire this greatly. Internally, he’s highly respected, with a 92% Glassdoor approval rating and 78% of employees recommending TTD to a friend—compared to 80% and 69% for fells SaaS company of a similar market cap HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS) or 34% and 43% for privately-held DSP competitor MediaMath. His ownership further aligns with shareholders. Excluding options and RSUs, Green holds over 8% of TTD’s stock—worth well over $3 billion. If shares rise 25%, his net worth jumps by over $800 million. With a $1 million annual salary, his financial success and legacy are largely tied to TTD’s share price. Regarding his recent stock ***** (filed Jan. 30, 2025), Green converted ~128,000 B shares into A shares, selling them for ~$15 million. The timing was certainly curious given the subsequent stock price drop, but we don’t think this is thesis-changing for two reasons: 128,000 shares represent less than 1% of his common ownership. He has plenty of skin left in the game The sales were part of a 10b5-1 plan, a pre-arranged trading schedule that allows executives to gain liquidity and diversify holdings—meaning Green didn’t actively time this particular *****. What Are The Key Risks And How Do We Feel About Them? The three most prominent risks associated with an investment in TTD are: Technological change Competition Valuation Technological Change Digitization of workflows and the advent of programmatic ad buying greatly disrupted the business models of ad agencies such as Omnicom (NYSE:OMC), Interpublic (NYSE:IPG), and WPP (LSE:WPP). TTD was a major beneficiary of these tectonic shifts, but we understand that another change in technology could leave TTD on the losing end. We are keeping a close eye on AI in particular, as it has the potential to upend business models, especially data-driven ones like ad buying and measurement. So far, TTD is leaning into AI. Koa, launched in 2018, automates ad buying with AI-driven predictions based on audience segmentation data and historical data on ad performance. Kokai, launched in 2023, is an improvement from Koa, using generative AI to automate entire ad campaigns, from planning to execution to measurement to applying the learnings from one campaign to the next. On a recent earnings call, TTD CEO Jeff Green didn’t ****** words: “AI is the backbone of everything we do at The Trade Desk. We are leveraging it to drive better ad spend efficiency, particularly in the fast-growing CTV and retail media spaces.” Competition As mentioned, TTD broadly competes with the walled gardens as well as other DSPs. We think TTD can co-exist with the walled gardens because of their distinct value propositions. Advertisers need to run campaigns on Google Search, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok because of the huge audiences there. They don’t always love working with the walled gardens though, as these platforms don’t grant access to any other ad inventory, are restrictive in their data and analytics, and are not properly incentivized to promote brand safety. This dynamic is what gave TTD its start, and we continue to think its value proposition resonates. As for other DSPs, we are watching two in particular. Amazon DSP has largely operated as a walled garden, granting advertisers access to its valuable e-commerce purchase data and access to ad inventory on amazon.com, Twitch, and FireTV. It has recently started offering third-party ad inventory, though, putting it in more direct competition with TTD. On this topic, customer and industry expert interviews have some recurring themes: Amazon DSP is a real competitor TTD will compete well due to its scale, reputation as the industry standard, and user friendliness coupled with strong customer support Amazon’s advantage, like Google and Facebook, is having its own distribution platform that it controls (amazon.com site, Twitch, FireTV), but TTD’s Ventura launch will also give it a distribution platform Valuation The final risk worth discussing is valuation. At 13x forward revenue, bulls will argue that this is well below the five year average of roughly 20x, de-risking an investment. Bears will say that 13x is still a premium multiple and still higher than some solid businesses out there. Said differently, it’s still not cheap after a big move down. We argue that when adjusted for past and future financial performance, TTD is attractively-priced. Still, a high absolute multiple can lead to short-term volatility on macro events such as rate expectation changes and company events such as the next earnings report. Over a multi-year *******, though, we think the company’s growth and quality will smooth out the bumps. Who Is This Investment For? Our research says that a portfolio of approximately 20 stocks achieves diversification while allowing investors to stay on top of the companies they own. TTD deserves a roster spot due to the secular tailwinds at its back. its business quality, and a founder-led team that has done right by shareholders over the last near-decade. Given its premium valuation, TTD is strictly an investment for the patient, long-term investor willing to hold the stock for multiple years through some volatility. We recommend making TTD a 7% position, larger than average in a 20-stock portfolio. We also suggest averaging into the position over a month or two as prices can decouple from fundamentals, especially with Q4 earnings clearly injecting some market skepticism into the stock. Closing Thoughts As we approach TTD’s ten-year anniversary as a public company, we note that it has had a magnificent run, even accounting for the recent move down. Returns aren’t tapped out, though, and we think there’s more outperformance to come, driven by consumers’ continued shift to digital media and TTD’s dominant position in the DSP market. We’d also bet that its new and expanded partnerships with some of the biggest names in streaming will result in stronger-for-longer revenue growth, justifying its premium valuation. Any further questions about TTD? Reach out to our lead analyst Anthony Lee at *****@*****.tld . Disclosure: Anthony Lee and some members of the StockStory team hold positions in The Trade Desk (TTD). Source link #volatile #tech #stock #worth #owning #longterm #dominance #niche #area Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

‘We are in danger’: Migrants deported from US were locked in hotel and held at remote camp in Panama, lawyers say – CNN ‘We are in danger’: Migrants deported from US were locked in hotel and held at remote camp in Panama, lawyers say – CNN ‘We are in danger’: Migrants deported from US were locked in hotel and held at remote camp in Panama, lawyers say CNNTrump deports hundreds to third countries, leaving them in legal limbo The Washington PostAs Trump ‘Exports’ Deportees, Hundreds Are Trapped in Panama Hotel The New York TimesPanama says it has recaptured ******** woman who escaped from a hotel holding deportees ABC NewsU.S. Deports Asylum Seekers, Including Children, to Detention Camp in Panama Jungle Democracy Now! Source link #danger #Migrants #deported #locked #hotel #held #remote #camp #Panama #lawyers #CNN Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

*** weather: warnings issued for wind and rain *** weather: warnings issued for wind and rain The weather for much of the month so far has been dominated by an area of high pressure stuck over central and northern Europe. This prevented rain-bearing Atlantic weather systems from reaching us and was also responsible for the continuous influx of cold air from the east, which kept daytime temperatures below normal for this time of year. However, recently we have seen another surge of frigid arctic air across Canada and the US which has helped fire up a strong jet stream across the Atlantic. This has helped to the development and movement of deep areas of low pressure near our shores, bringing wind and rain. While the jet stream will weaken next week, we will still see our weather come in from the Atlantic, rather than from Europe. This will lead to fairly changeable conditions and temperatures closer to the seasonal average of 7 to 10 Celsius (45 to 50F). On the clearer nights we will also see the return of a frost in places. Source link #weather #warnings #issued #wind #rain Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Legacy – Reawakening is a Myst-like with a mysterious underground world, out now on iOS and Android Legacy – Reawakening is a Myst-like with a mysterious underground world, out now on iOS and Android Legacy – Reawakening is out now, a Myst-like in the Legacy series No Signal Productions have expanded the gameplay for a fully 3D world Solve escape room-style puzzles and reactivate an ancient robotic guardian When it comes to puzzlers, few stand head and shoulders above the rest as Myst does. This classic of first-person exploration, which placed you on a mysterious island, has inspired innumerable spiritual successors. And the latest that’s caught our eye is none other than today’s subject: Legacy Reawakening. Little surprise then that, given its inspiration being drawn from something like Myst, Legacy Reawakening presents you with a mysterious and surreal environment to explore. The underground mines, forgotten structures and bizarre technology are all equally inscrutable and fascinating, making it the perfect set-up for a puzzler and presenting plenty of challenges for you to solve. Your objective is, essentially, to reawaken the robotic guardian of this labyrinth. To do so you’ll explore ruins and steampunk mechanisms of this underground world, solve escape room-style puzzles and slowly piece together this ancient guardian’s memories. You’ll also experience an atmospheric soundtrack and have access to a dynamic hints system to help nudge you along if you get stuck. Beyond the Myst Developer No Signal Productions has not exactly hidden their inspiration from Myst. But Legacy Reawakening may leave some not as experienced with prior releases out in the cold, yet it does innovate with a fully explorable 3D world rather than the fixed perspective and movement of its predecessors. It’s certainly done enough to make me curious about this underground world and what it’s all about. And if you’re a fan of classic adventure gameplay and cerebral puzzlers, maybe it’s one that’ll suit you down to the (under)ground too. Want to test your brain cells even further? Why not check out some of the entries on our list of the top 25 best puzzle games for iPhone and Android? We’ve got all of the best and most challenging puzzlers in one place for you to peruse at your leisure. Source link #Legacy #Reawakening #Mystlike #mysterious #underground #world #iOS #Android Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Boise clinic owner, a former Idaho political candidate, accused of ******* abuse of a minor Boise clinic owner, a former Idaho political candidate, accused of ******* abuse of a minor The owner of a Boise mental health clinic has been accused of repeatedly ********* assaulting a young girl. Ryan Jenks — who also ran as a Republican for a state representative position in 2014 — was charged last week with several felonies related to the ******* abuse of a minor after prosecutors alleged that he ********* assaulted a 12-year-old girl nearly a decade ago. Jenks, now 45, was arrested on a $1 million warrant and charged with three felonies: lewd conduct with a child under 16 years old and two counts of child ******* abuse of a minor under 16 years old, court records showed. The Meridian resident is the owner and CEO of Brighter Future Health, a mental health clinic that provides counseling and other types of care to children, teens and adults in the Treasure Valley, private attorney Jeff Brownson said in court last week. Business records reviewed by the Idaho Statesman confirmed Jenks owns the clinic. Austin Sosynski, a legal intern for the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office, alleged during a hearing last week that Jenks assaulted the child on four separate occasions between May and September 2016. Jenks also admitted over a phone call that he knew that he had molested the girl, Sosynski added. “The danger to the community that this poses is significant,” Sosynski said. “The defendant in this case committed ******* acts on a child which poses a massive threat to the safety of the community — both to children and to parents of other children as well.” Sosynski asked 4th District Magistrate Judge Cathleen MacGregor Irby to keep Jenks’ bond at $1 million. But Brownson argued for a $75,000 bond. He said that while the allegations against his client were “serious” the charges were from nearly a decade ago, so his client was not a current danger to society. “For the last 10 years, essentially, he’s been a contributing member of our society,” Brownson added. He said that Jenks has “exceptionally strong” ties to the community, and that he’s lived in Idaho for over 30 years. Jenks previously worked as a family and criminal defense attorney but no longer practices law since he started Brighter Future Health, Brownson said. Jenks isn’t a treatment provider but he employs about 25 people between the clinic’s Boise and Nampa offices. “Idaho is this man’s life,” Brownson said. “This is where he is, his family, his businesses. He’s not going anywhere.” MacGregor Irby agreed with the defense and set bond at $75,000. Jenks posted his bond and bailed out of the Ada County Jail after last week’s hearing, court records showed. His next hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Ada County Courthouse. Source link #Boise #clinic #owner #Idaho #political #candidate #accused #******* #abuse #minor Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Activist ValueAct sees an overlooked opportunity at Liberty Live Group Activist ValueAct sees an overlooked opportunity at Liberty Live Group Linka A Odom | Stone | Getty Images Company: Liberty Live Group (LLYVA) Business: Liberty Live Group is a tracking stock that represents Liberty Media Group’s ownership stake in Live Nation Entertainment. Live Nation operates as a live entertainment company worldwide. It operates through the following segments” Concerts, Ticketing, and Sponsorship & Advertising. The Concerts segment promotes live music events in its owned or operated venues, and in rented third-party venues. The Ticketing segment manages the ticketing operations, including the provision of ticketing software and services to clients and consumers with a marketplace for tickets and event information through mobile apps, other websites, retail outlets and its primary websites: livenation.com and ticketmaster.com. The Sponsorship & Advertising segment sells international, national and local sponsorships, as well as the placement of advertising and promotional programs. Stock Market Value: ~$7B ($75.85 per share) Stock Chart IconStock chart icon Shares of Liberty Live Group in the past year Activist: ValueAct Capital Ownership: 5.51% Average Cost: $51.17 Activist Commentary: ValueAct has been a premier corporate governance investor for over 20 years. ValueAct principals are generally on the boards of half of the firm’s core portfolio positions and have had 56 public company board seats over 23 years. Additionally, the firm is a long-term, thoughtful and diligent investor known for creating value behind the scenes. ValueAct has previously commenced 105 activist campaigns and has an average return of 55.02% versus 21.76% for the Russell 2000. What’s happening ValueAct filed a 13D on Feb. 11, reporting a 5.51% position in Liberty Live Group (LLYVA). Behind the scenes Liberty Live (LLYVA) is a tracking stock that represents Liberty Media Group’s 30% ownership stake in Live Nation (LYV), a global live entertainment company. John Malone’s Liberty Media Group has historically used tracking stocks as a huge part of the company’s toolbox to allow investors to have a more focused exposure to the businesses they liked without having to jump through the legal and tax hoops of a spinoff. He used this in the past with the Atlanta Braves and Sirius XM, and he presently uses it with Live Nation and F1. ValueAct has taken a 5.51% position in Liberty Live, but it also owns a 0.44% stake in Live Nation, bringing the firm’s effective ownership of Live Nation to approximately 2%, which would make it a top shareholder. There are two characteristics that are core to ValueAct’s investing philosophy and that permeate many of its investments: First, the firm likes companies that it thinks are somewhat misunderstood by the market. Second, it’s a long-term investor that can tolerate short-term pain. Both of those aspects are present here. As an active shareholder of Spotify, ValueAct has seen firsthand how the music industry has transformed over the last several years. It is much easier today for a talented artist to build a global following through streaming services and the marketing power of social media, but the monetization that follows is not as easy. The payouts from streaming services are relatively meager and just get smaller as additional artists are added to the platforms. As a result, live performances and touring have become the most lucrative ways for artists to earn – and Live Nation dominates this market. The company owns all facets of this ecosystem, which allows Live Nation to manage an artist’s entire tour without any external involvement. Other than private peer Anschutz Entertainment Group, no company comes close in scale, and even Anschutz lacks the full vertical integration of Live Nation. However, while this dominance is certainly an asset, it can also be viewed as a liability by some, mainly the U.S. Department of Justice. In May 2024, the DOJ sued to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster, sending the stock down about 8% from $101.40 to $93.48. While this development may cause a lot of investors to run in fear, ValueAct saw it as a buying opportunity in a great company that was having a market overreaction. The firm invested in Microsoft during concerns over the PC market, in Spotify when people thought streaming was dying and in Disney during the writers’ strike, so it is no surprise that the firm saw an opportunity in Live Nation at a time of heightened uncertainty. The worst thing that the DOJ could do is force the breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, a structural remedy that is rarely resorted to by the Justice Department (AT&T’s 1984 breakup being a notable exception). It is more likely that Live Nation agrees to certain changes like amending its venue booking policies and shortening the length of Ticketmaster contracts to allow for more competition to assuage the DOJ. However, even if the worst case happens and the two companies separate, Live Nation stockholders would own two great businesses with strong tailwinds and best-in-class market positioning. It would likely even be another buying opportunity for investors like ValueAct. The final piece of hidden or misunderstood value at the company is its venue expansion. While in major U.S. cities with NBA and NHL teams, there are massive arenas for concerts, in other cities and globally there are not nearly as many readily available venues. Looking to address this gap, Live Nation is pursuing these projects, successfully developing the University of Texas at Austin’s new arena and working on similar projects around the world. As a result, the company has been dedicating a lot of capex to its venue expansion goals: Capex has increased by 48% over the past two years and total debt has tripled since 2015 and has almost doubled since 2019. Moreover, the company’s disclosure around this has been somewhat opaque adding to more market confusion and uncertainty. Building these venues is expensive in the short term but should pay off handsomely in the long term, a dynamic that ValueAct is familiar with. Consider that the firm invested in Adobe when it was converting from a product purchase to a subscription, sending short-term revenue down but creating significant long-term value. Owning these venues will give Live Nation more value to its clients and more revenue from venues (as opposed to renting venues). As these venues are built and utilized, investors will start realizing that there will be a good return on the investment. Assuming the thesis above is accurate, there is significant value to be had by buying the tracking stock or the common shares of Live Nation. So, why buy the tracking stock? The answer is because the tracking stock trades at a sharp discount to Live Nation, and it could provide even more value above and beyond the fundamental undervaluation of the business if this discount goes away. That would happen if the same plan were followed as with previous Liberty tracking stocks such as Sirius. Liberty Media has already announced plans to spin off Liberty Live into a separate public company later this year, which is what it did with Sirius. At that time, the Liberty Live discount should compress a little but will only go away entirely if merged into Live Nation. That is what eventually happened with Sirius. For many reasons, including the relationship between John Malone and Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, we think the spinoff and subsequent merger will take less time. ValueAct is the kind of investor that is happy holding for five years or more as value is being created. Ken Squire is the founder and president of 13D Monitor, an institutional research service on shareholder activism, and the founder and portfolio manager of the 13D Activist Fund, a mutual fund that invests in a portfolio of activist 13D investments. Source link #Activist #ValueAct #sees #overlooked #opportunity #Liberty #Live #Group Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Buy Nvidia ahead of earnings, Bank of America says Buy Nvidia ahead of earnings, Bank of America says There’s a slate of tech stocks that are well positioned ahead of earnings – and worth snapping up, according to Bank of America. The firm said that investors should take advantage of any pullback in shares of companies like Nvidia . Other buy-rated stocks include Workday , Dell and Marvell Technology. Nvidia Buy the recent dip in shares of the chip giant, the firm said. Nvidia is down more than 4% in the past month. “The next important test for AI bulls comes on Feb-26 when NVDA reports FQ4 results,” analyst Vivek Arya said. The analyst said that despite the stock’s choppiness, he still sees a slew of positive catalysts ahead. These include “NVDA’s leading new product pipeline and TAM expansion into robotics and quantum technologies at [its] upcoming GTC [global processing unit tech] conference,” according to Arya. The analyst said that the quarterly report should have enough earnings per share “substance even if less sizzle.” Marvell Technology Arya also said positive catalysts are building for Marvell. The firm is expecting solid fiscal fourth-quarter earnings results when the semiconductor company reports in early March . “We note overall improving AI visibility into FY26/27E as the cloud capex outlook continues to increase, and MRVL’s custom silicon pipeline/execution remains solid amid a fast-growing TAM [total addressable market],” Arya wrote. The company also has a much-anticipated investor day coming up in early June, which should be a key tailwind for the stock, the firm said. Arya thinks the company could raise its near-term artificial intelligence revenues at the event. Meanwhile, shares are down 6% in 2025. “Buy on AI share gains,” the analyst said. Dell Analyst Wamsi Mohan is sticking with shares of Dell. “Dell will report F4Q on Feb 27th and we believe the discussion will be focused on AI server backlog/Blackwell delays,” he said. Blackwell is Nvidia’s graphic processing unit, which Dell utilizes. Mohan acknowledged that Dell’s AI server segment could be “challenged,” but the firm ultimately sees the issue as “transitory.” “As Dell begins to deliver on the demand for AI servers and customers shift more enterprise/sovereign, revs/margins should shift higher over time,” he wrote. The analyst did lower his price target on the stock to $150 per share from $155, but he said Dell remains well positioned for the long haul. Shares are up nearly 45% over the last 12 months. Workday “WDAY’s topline growth rate has likely bottomed at 14%, and any improvement would serve as a catalyst for the stock. We believe there are some leading indicators for a better enterprise applications spending environment, which could drive the growth higher as we move through FY26. … WDAY has a differentiated SaaS platform that leads in Human Capital Management (HCM) and is emerging as a leader in Financials.” Marvell Technology “Buy on AI share gains. … We note overall improving AI visibility into FY26/27E as the cloud capex outlook continues to increase, and MRVL’s custom silicon pipeline/execution remains solid amid a fast-growing TAM. … We also flag the upcoming Jun-10 Investor Day as a catalyst, where MRVL could raise n-t [near term] AI target to $8bn.” Dell “Dell will report F4Q on Feb 27th and we believe the discussion will be focused on AI server backlog/Blackwell delays. … While the near-term set-up could be challenged on AI server revs/margins, we believe this to be transitory. As Dell begins to deliver on the demand for AI servers and customers shift more enterprise/sovereign, revs/margins should shift higher over time.” Nvidia “EPS could have enough substance even if less sizzle. The next important test for AI bulls comes on Feb-26 when NVDA reports FQ4 results. … The stock could be volatile post results, but we expect positive momentum to resume as investors look forward to NVDA’s leading new product pipeline and TAM expansion into robotics and quantum technologies at upcoming GTC conference.” Source link #Buy #Nvidia #ahead #earnings #Bank #America Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Inzoi is really trying to eat The Sims 4's lunch by including seasons in its base game Inzoi is really trying to eat The Sims 4's lunch by including seasons in its base game Inzoi’s game director explains how seasons and weather-appropriate outfits are going to work. Source link #Inzoi #eat #Sims #4039s #lunch #including #seasons #base #game Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]