CFRA upgrades Super Micro Computer ahead of second-quarter earnings release
CFRA upgrades Super Micro Computer ahead of second-quarter earnings release
CFRA is taking on a more bullish view of Super Micro Computer ahead of its second-quarter earnings release. The firm upgraded shares of the data center company to buy from hold. Analyst Shreya Gheewala also lifted her price target by $9 to $48, indicating nearly 13% upside. “SMCI’s dominant position in liquid cooling and advantage with NVIDIA Blackwell B200 rack solutions showcases its AI infrastructure leadership. SMCI’s confirmed February 25 financial filing deadline, coupled with its end-to-end datacenter solutions and competitive pricing, positions it to capture surging hyperscaler demand,” she wrote. “Near-term margin recovery to mid-teens and market share gains appear likely given SMCI’s proven rapid development capabilities and expanding product portfolio.” SMCI 1Y mountain SMCI 1Y chart However, Gheewala added that “critical risks” such as potential customer erosion from reputation damage and December rumors of privatization could cause further uncertainty for Super Micro. “While strong guidance could offset concerns, this high-risk/reward opportunity requires careful investor consideration,” she wrote. Shares of Super Micro Computer have tumbled 42% in the past 12 months. The stock surged 18% on Monday ahead of Super Micro’s second-quarter earnings release, slated for after Tuesday’s closing bell. Analyst sentiment on the stock is mixed. Of the 11 who cover Super Micro, three rate it a buy and six have a hold rating, per LSEG. The remaining two analysts have an underperform rating on shares.
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Donald Trump’s Anti-‘Woke’ Rant Ends With Awkward Admission
Donald Trump’s Anti-‘Woke’ Rant Ends With Awkward Admission
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President Donald Trump faced criticism and mockery on social media after he accused the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts of being “woke,” before admitting within seconds that he hadn’t actually seen any shows there.
Talking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump was asked why he wants to become the chair of the board of the national cultural center in Washington, D.C.
“I want to make sure it runs properly,” replied the president, who announced his new board position last week while also slamming drag performances hosted at the venue.
“We don’t need woke at the Kennedy Center,” Trump continued. “Some of the shows were terrible, a disgrace that they were even put on. So I’ll be there until such time as it gets to be running right.”
Trump was asked: “Have you seen any shows there? How do you know they are terrible?”
He conceded, “I didn’t go, no.”
“I got reports,” he added. “They were so bad, I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to go! There was nothing that I wanted to see.”
He then ended the conversation.
Trump supporters argued that the president didn’t need to have attended any shows at the center to know what they were about.
Critics, though, said the opinionated remarks without actual first-hand analysis were Trump and his MAGA movement “in a nutshell.”
Related…
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Leaked ****** Ops 6 Crossover Brings TMNT Characters And Their Melee Weapons To The Game
Leaked ****** Ops 6 Crossover Brings TMNT Characters And Their Melee Weapons To The Game
Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 and Warzone operators are reportedly teaming up with the TMNT characters in a surprising crossover.
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Affirm partners with FIS on Buy Now, Pay Later debit cards
Affirm partners with FIS on Buy Now, Pay Later debit cards
PayPal Inc. co-founder and Affirm’s CEO Max Levchin on center stage during day one of Collision 2019 at Enercare Center in Toronto, Canada.
Vaughn Ridley | Sportsfile | Getty Images
Affirm, the online lender founded by Max Levchin, expanded beyond credit and entered the debit market four years ago with a card that let users pay over time. Now the company is making it possible for banks to offer that service to their customers.
Affirm, which pioneered the buy now, pay later business (BNPL), has partnered with FIS in a deal that will allow the fintech company to offer the pay-over-time service to its banking clients and their millions of individual customers.
Any bank that partners with FIS will be able to provide its own version of the Affirm Card, which launched in 2021, without asking customers to adopt a new piece of plastic. Consumers can access Affirm’s biweekly and monthly installment plans and have the money automatically deducted from their checking account.
There are approximately 230 million debit card users in the U.S., according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. BNPL services have traditionally been tied to credit cards or standalone financing products, rather than to debit offerings.
“Consumers today are looking for innovative and user-friendly experiences that give them flexibility and control over their money,” Jim Johnson, co-president of banking solutions at FIS, said in the press release. Affirm’s offering can help banks “offer more competitive, differentiated services through their own banking channels,” he said.
Affirm has over 335,000 merchants in its network, ranging from travel booking sites and concert ticket providers to jewelry stores and electronics providers. By bringing BNPL into the debit world, Affirm aims to provide consumers more alternatives to credit.
In its earnings report last week, Affirm reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and posted a surprise profit from the holiday *******. The stock rocketed 22% after the announcement.
Affirm’s active consumer base grew 23% year over year to 21 million users. The Affirm Card now has 1.7 million active users, up more than 136% from the year-ago quarter. Card volume has more than doubled.
In June, Affirm and Apple announced plans for U.S. Apple Pay users on iPhones and iPads to be able to apply for loans directly through Affirm.
WATCH: PayPal shares plunge 12% despite earnings beat as growth slows in card processing
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*** copyright law consultation ‘fixed’ in favour of AI firms, peer says | Artificial intelligence (AI)
*** copyright law consultation ‘fixed’ in favour of AI firms, peer says | Artificial intelligence (AI)
A consultation on changes to *** copyright law is “fixed” in favour of artificial intelligence companies and will lead to a “wholesale” transfer of wealth from the creative industries to the tech sector, according to a crossbench peer campaigning against the mooted overhauls.
Beeban Kidron said the government was undermining its own growth agenda with proposals to let AI companies train their algorithms on creative works under a new copyright exemption.
Lady Kidron said the government consultation on amending copyright law appeared to be a foregone conclusion.
“We’ve got an open consultation but that consultation is fixed and inadequate,” she said.
The government has proposed four options in its consultation. It has indicated a preferred scenario where copyright restrictions are relaxed for AI developers, provided they flag what works they use and if the creative industries have the opportunity to “opt out” of the process. It describes such an outcome as “the primary object of this consultation”.
“Why have a preferred choice if it is an open consultation?” said Kidron.
The other options are: to leave the situation unchanged; require AI companies to seek licences for using copyrighted work; and allow AI firms to use copyrighted work with no opt-out for creative companies and individuals.
The row over copyright returns to the House of Commons on Wednesday with the second reading of the data (use and access) bill, which contains amendments from Kidron passed in the Lords last month.
“What I say to MPs is, if you are members of a government that has put all its chips on growth, why is that same government undermining creative industries that bring £126bn to the *** economy and is giving away for free the property rights of 2.4 million people who work in those industries? The creative industries impact every constituency, region and nation,” she said.
Kidron’s amendments aim to tackle the unauthorised use of copyrighted material to train the AI models that underpin products such as chatbots and image generators.
The amendments, which can be removed by the government in the Commons, subject AI companies to *** copyright law wherever they are based and allow copyright owners to know when, where and how their work is used in AI systems. It also requires the naming of web crawlers that are used to scrape copyrighted data for use in AI models.
“For more than 300 years we have had a gold-plated copyright regime but now the tech companies and the government are walking around saying it is unclear,” said Kidron. “Actually, it’s not unclear. Tech firms have come in with their [web] crawlers, taken all the copyrighted material, said ‘whoops it’s unclear’. But it is not unclear.”
She added: “My amendments mandate that companies have to account for where and when they take the material and make it transparent. It makes copyright law fit for the age of AI. It makes tech accountable.”
Campaigners for the protection of the rights of creative professionals have come out against the government proposal to allow AI companies to train the models on copyrighted work – unless creatives opt out of the process in what the government is calling a “rights reservation” system. The opt-out proposal has been met with scepticism from opponents of the government consultation, who say there is no evidence of a “water-tight” rights reservation process in any country.
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The consultation also proposes measures that require transparency from AI developers on what content they have used to train their models. AI models such as the GPT-4o model powering the ChatGPT chatbot are “trained” on huge amounts of data taken from the internet, where they in effect learn to spot patterns in that information – allowing them to predict, for instance, the next word in a sentence or to create realistic images.
Kidron, an award-winning film director whose work includes Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, said pushing ahead with the changes would benefit the tech sector at the expense of its creative counterpart.
“The government is suggesting a wholesale transfer of wealth from a hugely successful sector that invests hundreds of millions in the *** to a tech industry that extracts profit that is not assured and will accrue largely to the US and indeed China.”
A government spokesperson said it was “important that everyone remains open-minded about this consultation and what it could deliver for all parties”.
The spokesperson added: “This consultation remains open and is part of an ongoing conversation, and no move will be made until we are absolutely confident we have a practical plan that delivers each of our objectives: increased control for right holders to help them license their content, access to high-quality material to train leading AI models in the ***, and more transparency for right holders.”
The technology secretary, Peter Kyle, said he “very, very deeply” respected the work produced by the *** creative industries. Speaking to the Guardian last week before Kidron made her comments, Kyle said the present legal situation regarding copyright was “not tenable”, a situation reflected by legal standoffs between tech businesses and the creative sector.
“I’m working really carefully with the tech sector so that we can produce the reassurance they need, that there will be technical solutions to things like transparency and making sure that those remarkable people, who create remarkable pieces of art, are respected for it.”
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Gatland set to leave role as Wales head coach: report
Gatland set to leave role as Wales head coach: report
Warren Gatland’s second reign as Wales head coach appears to be nearing its conclusion, according to reports.
The Welsh Rugby Union is reportedly set to call time on Gatland’s tenure with immediate effect on Tuesday, meaning he would not be in charge when Wales resume their Guinness Six Nations campaign at home to title favourites Ireland on February 22.
It follows a record run of 14 successive Test match defeats that began with Wales’ 2023 World Cup quarter-final loss to Argentina.
Gatland has found himself behind the eight-ball following opening Six Nations games that produced a 43-0 drubbing by France and 22-15 loss to Italy, which was Wales’ first defeat in Rome for 17 years.
If Gatland goes mid-tournament, the WRU would be required to appoint an interim head coach for remaining Six Nations fixtures against Ireland, Scotland and England.
Current Wales assistant coach Rob Howley filled that role during Gatland’s first reign as Wales boss when the New Zealander was on British and Irish Lions coaching duties.
A permanent successor to Gatland, should he depart, would ideally be in place for Wales’ two-Test summer tour to Japan.
Candidates in the mix could include current Glasgow head coach Franco Smith, former Australia boss Michael Cheika and Wales-based Simon Easterby, who is interim Ireland boss for the Six Nations while Andy Farrell prepares to take charge of the Lions in Australia later this year.
Wales are not expected to remotely trouble Ireland in their next game, and they will arrive there from a new World Rugby-rankings low of 12th, having been overtaken by Georgia.
The WRU assessed Wales’ ********** Autumn Nations Series campaign earlier this season, which featured defeats against Fiji, Australia and South Africa, before backing Gatland to continue.
But speaking at the time, WRU chief executive Abi Tierney said: “I’ve had a number of very honest conversations with Warren, and I will make no secret of the fact that his position was on the line as we undertook our review.
“Further than that, like any head coach in any sport, he knows the security of his position is directly related to the performances of the team, and that this is a situation that will continue to intensify.”
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Phasmophobia – 2025 updates roadmap announced, sales top two million on consoles
Phasmophobia – 2025 updates roadmap announced, sales top two million on consoles
PS Blog Japan: “We are announcing the download rankings for November 2024 on the PlayStation®Store! We will introduce five rankings in total, including PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®VR2, PlayStation®VR, and free-to-play titles. We also list the monthly rankings for the United States and Canada, so please check them out as well.
In the PS5 ranking, “Dragon Quest III: And into the Legend…”, which has been reborn with new visual expression, came in first place. Second place was “Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6”, and third place was “Phasmophobia”." ;
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Democrats aren’t whinnying. They’re fighting for Trump’s ‘Bond’ villains in court
Democrats aren’t whinnying. They’re fighting for Trump’s ‘Bond’ villains in court
Democrats are fight Trump and his ‘Bond’ villain
Re letter “Democrats are like my whiny second-grader,” Feb. 8: Dennis Coyne’s letter regarding DOGE is condescending and clueless. It betrays a complete lack of understanding of the basic framework of constitutional government in the United States.
Article 1 of the United States Constitution grants Congress, not the president, the power to make law and establish federal agencies. Congress determines the budget and what funds can be withdrawn from the Treasury.
Article 2 grants the executive branch, headed by the president, authority to execute the law. Execute means put into effect.
The president has no authority to unilaterally withhold funds or trash agencies established by Congress. He is to follow the laws established by Congress, including the budget.
Democrats are certainly doing more than complaining.
Letter : Democrats behaving like my whiny second grader. DOGE is about to school them.
Lawsuits are being filed by Democrats and others who respect the Constitution to stop the blatant ******** actions of Trump and his Bond villain sidekick Elon Musk.
Since Trump’s actions are grossly unconstitutional, even with the current U.S. Supreme Court, he will lose many if not most of these cases.
But before we get there, he will be spending a lot of taxpayer dollars to defend his ******** actions. Anyone who cares about controlling spending should focus on the costs of Trump’s giant ego.
Victoria E. Ullmann, Columbus
Anti-Donald Trump and anti-Elon Musk protesters march at the Ohio Statehouse and on N. High Street Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. It was part of the “50 Protests 50 States” movement
More than 200 people showed up at the Ohio Statehouse Sunday to show support for the Latino community and protest President Trump’s policies on immigration.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How Democrats are battling Trump, ‘Bond’ villain Elon Musk | Letter
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Wizard of Legend 2 Preview: A Promising Sequel in the Making | CGM
Wizard of Legend 2 Preview: A Promising Sequel in the Making | CGM
“The San Francisco-based (CA, the US) indie games publisher Humble Games and indie games developer Dead Mage, are today super happy and proud to announce that their fast-paced roguelite/RPG “Wizard of Legend 2″, is now available for PC via Steam Early Access.” – Jonas Ek, TGG.
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Coca-Cola (KO) Q4 2024 earnings
Coca-Cola (KO) Q4 2024 earnings
James Quincey, CEO of Coca-Cola, speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” outside of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2025.
Gerry Miller | CNBC
Coca-Cola is expected to report its fourth-quarter earnings before the bell on Tuesday.
Here’s what Wall Street is expecting the company to report, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
Earnings per share: 52 cents expectedRevenue: $10.68 billion expected
Analysts are expecting the beverage giant to report a 2.5% decline in quarterly sales. Like many consumer companies, Coca-Cola has seen many shoppers become more price sensitive, although premium brands such as Fairlife and Topo Chico have still been reporting strong growth.
Coca-Cola’s away-from-home business has taken a hit as consumers spend less at restaurants, which can often mean buying a burger without the soda or trading down to a smaller drink size. McDonald’s, which is Coca-Cola’s largest customer, reported on Monday the steepest drop in its quarterly U.S. same-store sales since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Coca-Cola will provide its full 2025 outlook when it reports fourth-quarter earnings, although the company is already expecting currency exchange rate changes to hurt its results. The company is projecting a low-single-digit headwind for comparable revenue and a mid-single-digit headwind for earnings per share.
Shares of Coca-Cola have risen 7% over the past year, raising its market cap to roughly $275 billion.
Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO
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Saudi puts $15bn into AI as experts debate next steps
Saudi puts $15bn into AI as experts debate next steps
The past two years of artificial intelligence (AI) have been like science fiction, but now it needs to move to the next stage, namely agentic AI that can work for us while being completely unobtrusive. Meanwhile, AI threatens to undermine our autonomy, even providing the ability to clone our identities and personalities.
Those were some of the views put forward at this week’s Leap 2025 tech show in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at which the kingdom announced almost $15bn worth of planned investment in AI.
The announcement came in the context of Saudi Arabia’s multi-year plan Vision 2030, which seeks to diversify the country away from its historic heavy dependence on oil production revenues.
Saudi Arabia is placing big bets on IT, datacentre capability and AI in particular, with the latter a massive focus of the show and an agenda packed out with discussions around applications of AI and its next steps, particularly agentic AI.
Projects announced in AI included a $1.5bn agreement between AI infrastructure provider Groq and Aramco Digital – a subsidiary of long-established state oil company Aramco – to expand AI-powered inference infrastructure and cloud computing. Also, Saudi state-owned manufacturing conglomerate ALAT and Lenovo committed $2bn to establish an advanced manufacturing – including semiconductors – and technology centre that integrates AI and robotics.
Others included Google’s new AI-driven digital infrastructure and the launch of a computing cluster, and Qualcomm announcing availability of its ALLAM Arabic large language model (LLM) on Qualcomm AI Cloud.
The kingdom also revealed that $42.4bn had been invested in technology-related infrastructure since 2022.
These included Databricks investing $300m in integrated platform as a service (PaaS) for developers in AI tools; SambaNova committing $140m to build advanced AI infrastructure; Salesforce investing $500m to develop Hyperforce and enhance cloud capabilities for regional customers; and Tencent Cloud allocating $150m to establish the Middle East’s first AI-powered cloud region.
With a couple of years of generative AI behind us, most notably in the form of ChatGPT, a big theme at the event was the next stages in AI development and discussions of its longer-term effects on humanity.
Of the former, agentic AI is touted as one of the next big things in AI. Here, the challenge is to move beyond AI as something we seek out and use, but instead works as a barely noticed adjunct to human activities that operates for us.
That was a view expounded by Yaser Al-Onaizan, CEO of the National Center for AI in the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA).
“The promise of AI is that it will be in everything that we do and we touch every day,” said Al-Onaizan. “It needs to be invisible. It cannot be in your face – it should be listening to you, understanding you and doing things based on your opinion.”
Al-Onaizan said the new generation of models is about doing something on your behalf. For example, instead of just giving you information about flights, it can go on and reserve flights, for example, or make a hotel reservation for you.
But some speakers warned of the threats posed by AI. Among these were Lambert Hogenhout, chief of data, analytics and emerging technologies at the United Nations. He said AI brings huge potential for vastly multiplied productivity and for large numbers of people to work in better ways, but warned that it also brings threats to human autonomy, via fraud and undermining identity, purpose and connection to society.
He said: “We want to make sure AI increases living connections, that we are not eliminated. That it makes a good society. The society where a number of people are excluded is not going to work. It will create problems.”
Elsewhere, attendees focused on how to gain business value from AI. This included Aiden Gomez, CEO of ********* company Cohere, which specialises in use of LLMs in enterprises.
He said: “A generative model is kind of like a CPU – it’s a general piece of technology. You could deploy it inside any vertical for any purpose, like a CPU. But, in and of itself, just owning a CPU isn’t valuable. It’s what you build with it that is valuable.
“So, for that piece, you do have to be technical. You need to be a developer, to be able to build something on top of this model to create value on the other side.”
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If the CDC Goes Full Antivax, What Will Pediatricians Do? – Mother Jones
If the CDC Goes Full Antivax, What Will Pediatricians Do? – Mother Jones
If the CDC Goes Full Antivax, What Will Pediatricians Do? Mother JonesMAHA, RFK Jr. confirmation puts childhood vaccines in spotlight: MMR fact vs fiction Fox NewsThe future of measles Science
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The Sky Glass Gen 2 offers a brighter display and better sound
The Sky Glass Gen 2 offers a brighter display and better sound
Sky Glass, an all-in-one TV with a six-speaker sound bar and 4K Quantum Dot Display, came out in late 2021. Now the system is getting its successor: the Sky Glass Gen 2. One of the biggest improvements is sound quality, with a seven-speaker Dolby Atmos sound system, including a new dual sub-woofer.
The second gen Sky Glass model also has a brighter 4K Quantum Dot display, a wider viewing angle and a better contrast. It gets a newly designed stand, which just slots right into the TV without any nuts and bolts. The TV also now fits on universal wall mounts.
A lot of things do remain the same between the new and older model. The TV’s core offerings remain the same, filled with Sky Originals, Sky Exclusives and access to apps like BBC iPlayer and Netflix. The new model also keeps Playlist, a feature that lets you add your favorite shows and movies to their own tab. Plus, it’s still available in 43-inch, 55-inch and 65-inch models. However, the Gen 2 comes in three new colors: Volcanic Grey, Arctic Silver and Atlantic Blue.
Get the Sky Glass Gen 2 43-inch model for £699, 55-inch model for £949 or the 65-inch model for £1,199.
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Exclusive: OpenAI is not for *****, CEO Sam Altman says – Axios
Exclusive: OpenAI is not for *****, CEO Sam Altman says – Axios
Exclusive: OpenAI is not for *****, CEO Sam Altman says AxiosSam Altman says Musk aims to ‘slow down a competitor’ with his $97.4-billion bid for OpenAI CNBCElon Musk escalates Sam Altman feud in battle for AI’s future AxiosOpenAI Board Will Reject Musk’s ‘Embarrassing’ Takeover Bid, CEO Says The InformationAltman Says ‘No Thank You’ to Musk-Led Group’s OpenAI Bid Bloomberg
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Plates London becomes first vegan restaurant to get Michelin star
Plates London becomes first vegan restaurant to get Michelin star
Google
Plates London was founded by chef Kirk Haworth and his sister Keeley
A vegan restaurant in London has become the first ever to be awarded a Michelin star.
Several other restaurants, including one serving The Ritz hotel in London, were also awarded stars at a ceremony in Glasgow on Monday.
In all, nine restaurants in the capital received their first star, which included Plates London, on Old Street, which serves a fully plant-based menu.
Chef Kirk Haworth impressed judges by “taking his classical training and inventively adapting it to a vegan diet”, Michelin said.
Asked what he loved about vegan cooking at the ceremony, Mr Haworth said: “Trying to get rid of that word is everything that I love about it.
“It’s just about flavour; that’s all it’s about. Flavour, excitement, innovation, and trying to take it to a new space of deliciousness.”
The judges also praised the restaurant’s “earthy, natural vibe” and “warm hues”.
‘Thrilling cuisine’
Judges said The Ritz Restaurant on Piccadilly was “currently at the peak of its powers” and had earned two stars after “taking classically based dishes… and adding increasing amounts of originality and modernity”.
Soho’s Humble Chicken picked up a second star for “thrilling cuisine”.
Greek restaurant Oma, in Borough Market on London’s South Bank, received its first star after it had earlier won the Opening of the Year award.
Chef Jorge Paredes said: “I am super excited. It’s a dream come true for me.
“It has taken me a long time to show where I am, but now I’m very happy.”
Getty Images
Judges said The Ritz Restaurant on Piccadilly was “currently at the peak of its powers”, awarding it two stars
Moor Hall, in the village of Aughton in Lancashire, was awarded a third star, becoming only the 10th restaurant across the *** and Ireland to achieve the accolade.
A first Michelin star was awarded to 22 new restaurants in total – three in Ireland and two in Scotland – while Gorse in Cardiff became the first restaurant in the Welsh capital to achieve the feat.
This year’s ceremony was held as the Michelin Guide celebrates its 125th anniversary.
International director Gwendal Poullennec said the company was “incredibly proud” of the milestone.
He said: “It’s an opportunity to celebrate the core value that has shaped our identity since 1900 – unearthing exceptional gastronomic talent, showcasing local food culture and announcing life’s most meaningful moments, whether shared around the table with loved ones, enjoyed in a hotel for a well-deserved break, or marking life’s biggest celebration.”
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The MCU Was Never the Main Template for Marvel Rivals Heroes
The MCU Was Never the Main Template for Marvel Rivals Heroes
When Marvel Rivals burst onto the scene last December, many assumed it would be yet another attempt to cash in on the MCU’s popularity. After all, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe dominating pop culture for over a decade, it seemed like a safe bet that NetEase Games would follow that tried-and-true template.
Not your Hollywood trickster: Comics Loki means business. | Image Credit: NetEase Games
But here’s the thing: while the MCU’s success certainly helped pave the way for Marvel Rivals, the game’s DNA is pure comic book goodness. From character designs to abilities, and even those spicy cosmetics that have players reaching for their wallets, this hero shooter draws its inspiration from decades of comic book history.
And if you needed proof that NetEase isn’t just following the MCU playbook, look no further than the fact that one of their playable characters is literally a shark who once ate the Infinity Stones. Yes, really.
Going beyond the MCU template
When you first boot up Marvel Rivals, you might notice something different about your favorite heroes. The Hulk isn’t just a rage monster who smashes things—he’s manipulating gamma radiation in ways that would make Bruce Banner’s MCU counterpart green with envy. Loki isn’t restricted to daggers and basic illusions but wields the full might of his comic book powers.
This isn’t by accident. The development team at NetEase Games made their priorities clear from the start, as they explained to GamingBolt in a pre-release interview:
Accessing the entire Marvel multiverse for character selection has been an extensive process… While our designs draw from various sources, the primary inspiration originates from the comics, with most characters created based on their comic designs.
This commitment to comic book authenticity shows up everywhere, from the Hulk’s ability to manipulate gamma radiation (something we’ve never seen in the MCU) to Loki’s more comics-accurate mastery over illusions and shapeshifting. Of course, these aren’t just cosmetic differences—they fundamentally change how these characters play:
For instance, with the Hulk, we’ve designed and replicated his extraordinary leaping ability, enabling him to knock flying opponents out of the sky, making him a nemesis to airborne heroes, and adding a unique dimension to his combat style.
But perhaps the most delightful aspect is how Marvel Rivals introduces mainstream audiences to characters they might never have known existed.
Take Jeff the Land Shark, for example. This adorable chompy boy might be unfamiliar to MCU fans (for now), but comic readers know him as the lovable shark who once swallowed the Infinity Gauntlet and made off with Captain America’s shield. Now he’s out there in Marvel Rivals, healing teammates and swallowing enemies whole.
Cosmetics that tell their own stories
Sue Storm’s dark side would make the MCU blush. | Image Credit: NetEase Games
NetEase‘s commitment to comic book authenticity extends to its cosmetic offerings, which often serve as gateways to some of Marvel’s most intriguing storylines. Want to play as an evil Reed Richards? The Maker skin has you covered. Curious about what happened when Tony Stark’s moral compass went haywire? Try on the Superior Iron Man outfit.
Balancing the competitive aspect with the fun factor for players is a complex task, particularly when dealing with the array of abilities possessed by Marvel characters, which range from the realistic to the fantastical.
These aren’t just cool alternate looks—they’re windows into fascinating comic book storylines that many players might never have discovered otherwise. And yes, some of them are surprisingly spicy (looking at you, Malice Sue Storm), but they’re all rooted in actual comic book history.
The result is a game that doesn’t just pay lip service to its comic book roots but celebrates them in all their weird, wonderful glory. Whether you’re a longtime comic fan or someone whose Marvel knowledge begins and ends with the movies, Marvel Rivals has something to teach you about the rich history of these characters.
What’s your favorite comic-inspired element in Marvel Rivals? Have you discovered any new favorite characters through the game? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Wait! The Sims is a lot bleaker than I remember | Games
Wait! The Sims is a lot bleaker than I remember | Games
When I was growing up, the genre-defining dollhouse sim The Sims was the ultimate escape. I’d build dream homes, cultivate a neighbourhood of weird and wonderful friends and live out a fantasy adult life.
So when EA surprise-dropped a rerelease of The Sims 1 and 2 last weekend to celebrate the series’ 25th anniversary, with all expansions included (my nine-year-old self’s dream) naturally I was compelled to return to my happy place, revisiting my 10-hour pyjama-clad marathon sessions micromanaging the lives of the Newbies, Roomies, and the Goths, and occasionally removing their pool ladders when they were taking a little swim, and only taking a necessary pause for mum’s roast dinner.
While the familiar chaos of breezy music, tragic pool accidents, and my own personal french maid delivered a powerful dose of nostalgia, there is something else lurking beneath this game’s quirky and cheerful exterior, something that I wasn’t conscious of when I was a kid. To my surprise, the game now feels less like a chance to live out your dream life, and more like a struggle simulator. (I also forgot how much time my Sims spent playing chess.) Like a Lynchian picket-fence town, I realised, there’s a darkness lurking under suburban sheen.
The original Sims games were more dystopian than today’s perky, brightly coloured The Sims 4. The Sims 1 instead offers a desaturated daily grind. The contrast isn’t just the aesthetic – 20 years ago, Sims had no dreams or ambitions. Your virtual families worked long hours for expensive lives, where death – and some of the most gut-wrenching music in game history – lurked behind even mundane everyday tasks.
Forget personality, aspirations and tastes. The Sims 1 is a capitalist nightmare where survival trumps self-actualisation.
Mind the spontaneously combusting ovens! … Sims 1 + 2.
I forgot how much time the original Sims actually spend working. They do boring, dull jobs for little pay, out of your sight – making the simple message that you get when they are promoted (or passed over) strangely impactful. Put that meagre wage packet towards the cheapest oven on offer, and it’ll probably catch fire and kill you. This is a game that punishes you for being poor. It means that the rich, like the iconic Goth family, in their still-stunning graveyard-edged stone mansion stay, rich – while the poor stay poor. Social mobility in The Sims 1, I learned, is near impossible.
And having a social life? Forget it, at least when you’re on the bottom rung of your random career ladder. There’s simply no time to make friends, something I didn’t remember from my days as a Sims-obsessed tween. I now realise that my neighbourhood’s messy EastEnders-level entanglements were largely scripted in my head. Instead, you must chip away at ++ and – – relationship scores until you can finally, anticlimactically ‘Play in bed,’ thanks to the Livin’ it Up expansion pack that provided the world’s most basic sex education to a generation of 11-year-olds. There’s nothing dark about that expansion’s heart-shaped bed. I still want it in real life.
Even these moments with the most meaningful loves of my Sims’ lives seemed to offer them nothing – they were transactional, serving nothing more than to unlock new interactions. They are performing for my enjoyment, not theirs.
Friendship is also bleakly transactional here: you need a certain number of them to climb the ranks at work. Stay lonely, and you’ll stay poor, and probably die from having a cheap, spontaneously combusting microwave. It’s an especially sad existence for single Sims who live alone. Exhausted from work, if you don’t find time to call your friends on the phone for hours – or they decline to come over – your relationships decay rapidly. Like ****** Mirror’s award-winning Nosedive episode, losing social credibility quickly sees things spiral quickly downhill for your Sims.
And nothing flips a millennial’s stomach as quick as the music that heralds a terrifying, sudden burglary. It’s still horrifying 25 years later, so just hope that you had the foresight to spend your meagre savings on a burglar alarm. That’s before we even get into visits from the Grim Reaper, and creepy prank calls. These unexpected callers frighten me just as much now as they did then.
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A capitalist nightmare, but still an escape … Sims 1 + 2 rereleases.
Perhaps my new darker perspective on the game comes from the world we live in now. I’m finally living my fantasy adult life – I just didn’t realise it would be less lounging in gothic-mansion dream homes, and more feeling overworked, underpaid and on the verge of a spiralling breakdown. In 2025, an era of economic anxiety and burnout, the grind of The Sims feels brutal.
For all its existential dread, The Sims 1 is still an escape. Sure, it presents a kind of capitalist nightmare. But, it is a capitalist nightmare you can control. No matter how hard the daily slog got, you can always type in a cheat code and wipe away financial stress with a click – the ultimate fantasy. It’s also weirdly accurate: just like in real life, external advantages (and cheating the system) are way more likely to lead to success than grinding away and following the rules.
Yes, The Sims 1 was and remains a dystopian suburban treadmill, but it also makes room for humour. It’s a world where chaos is funny, failure is temporary, and the worst tragedies could be undone with the click of a mouse.
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LIV Golf Adelaide: Cam Smith says British Open olive branch should have come sooner
LIV Golf Adelaide: Cam Smith says British Open olive branch should have come sooner
LIV Golf star Cam Smith says giving top performers on the circuit a pathway into major championships is overdue acknowledgement of the quality of players the breakaway league boasts as the sport edges towards a resolution to its three-year civil war.
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club announced Tuesday that the top five players on LIV’s individual standings following its Dallas tournament in late June, who were not already exempt, would be given a spot at the world’s oldest major, The Open Championship, the following month.
It followed a move last week by the US Open to also open places for LIV golfers in its field.
Smith, in Adelaide preparing for the LIV’s second event of the season which starts Friday at The Grange Golf Club, said the change by two of the four majors was “a step in the right direction”.
“I think it would have been nice to have that as soon as we moved over here but obviously things take time,” he said.
“I think it definitely needed to happen. I feel like there are some guys out here who have missed out on spots in majors over that past couple years that deserved them so it’s good to see that they are acknowledging us.
“It’s hard to win out here and it’s hard to compete and I think we have the strongest fields in golf week in and week out. I think it will be the best thing for the game.”
Smith has maintained a place in every major since his move to LIV thanks to his 2022 Open triumph at St Andrews, but Ripper GC teammates Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Matt Jones are among those who have missed out in recent years after sliding in the world rankings because LIV events do not attract points.
Herbert (fourth in individual standings) and Leishman (sixth) are in the early frame after their finishes at LIV Golf’s season-opening tournament in Saudi Arabia last weekend.
Leishman, a major championship runner up in 2015, hasn’t featured at any over the past two years. He said he accepted the likelihood of missing out on majors when he signed with LIV but was grateful the stand-off was heading towards and end.
“We do want to play those majors and I think it proves we are on the right track and are going to be around for a long time, that the majors are starting to recognise it,” he said.
R&A chief executive Mark Darbon said the decision followed an annual review of The Open’s exemptions “to ensure that we offer pathways into the championship based on results achieved on the leading professional tours”.
“We acknowledge that players competing in LIV Golf should also have the opportunity to secure places in the Open through its individual season standings as well as existing pathways,” Darbon said.
“We are proud to offer a wide range of opportunities to qualify globally and look forward to seeing which golfers will emerge to take their place at Royal Portrush in July.”
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The ‘world’s smallest’ robot vacuum is now available in a combo version, but for me it defeats the whole point
The ‘world’s smallest’ robot vacuum is now available in a combo version, but for me it defeats the whole point
SwitchBot attracted plenty of attention and praise with the launch of the K10+, a pint-sized robot vacuum for people who don’t have a ton of space at home – but while the dinky bot can get into a lot of nooks and crannies, it can’t clean your stairs or your sofa.
To get around this, SwitchBot has now unveiled the K10+ Pro Combo, which takes the latest model of the mini robovac and bundles in a lightweight stick vacuum that attaches to, and auto-empties into, the same dock. Said dock has gained a long chimney-like extension for the purpose, and now looks a little like a futuristic pizza oven.
This robovac scored highly in our SwitchBot K10+ Pro review, and the manual vacuum looks decent too. It promises many of the same features I’d look for in today’s best cordless vacuums, including an advanced filtration system, a roller designed not to get tangled with hair, a lie-flat design, and detailing tools for handling different cleaning tasks.
(Image credit: SwitchBot)
However, I’m not entirely sold on the new configuration. First, the stick vacuum attaches to the back of the dock, which means you can’t position the dock flush to the wall. This is perhaps to ensure that the bot can find its way back (you need to position the dock with clear space to the front and sides), but it does mean that you now have to have your dock sitting away from the wall and taking up more space in the room, if you want to avoid accidentally scraping the stick vacuum down the wall as you dock it.
I’m also not convinced that you’d be saving space compared to having a separate wall-mounted cordless vacuum dock – the kind you get with most Dyson vacuums. Sure, the two docks would be in separate spots, but cumulatively they wouldn’t take up much more space than this combination effort.
(Image credit: SwitchBot)
If you’re wondering why I’m fixating on space here, remember that the SwitchBot robovac’s whole USP is that it’s small. If you have space for a ******* dock, you’d just buy a regular-sized robot vacuum, and open up a world of other options (here are TechRadar’s best robot vacuum picks if you’re looking for inspiration).
With a capacity of three liters, the dust cup hidden in the dock is at least large enough to cope with a decent volume of dust, although it has lost a chunk of capacity compared to the standard K10+ Pro dock, which holds four liters.
If you are sold on this idea, now’s the time to buy, as there are discounts on the SwitchBot K10+ Pro Combo in both the US and the ***.
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Analysis: a self-emptying invasion?
SwitchBot is not the only vacuum brand to be offering such a setup. Take the Yeedi C12 Combo, for instance, which also combines a stick vacuum (with additional mopping head) and full-sized robovac, and comes with an absolute beast of a dock.
It’s also part of an interesting trend for self-emptying manual vacuums. Both of the newest and best Shark vacuums have optional auto-empty docks, for example. I see the appeal with robot vacuums, because the onboard bins are necessarily tiny, and the whole point is to be a hands-off solution. But if you’re manually vacuuming in the first place, it’s not a whole lot more effort to empty the dust cup yourself.
I’ve tested out the Shark PowerDetect, and while the auto-empty dock works well, it’s bulky and not terribly attractive. Personally, I would choose to empty my own bin over having the dock out in my home, so I’m interested to see if this growing trend takes off.
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Bitcoin Soared 120% in 2024. Could It Repeat That Performance in 2025?
Bitcoin Soared 120% in 2024. Could It Repeat That Performance in 2025?
In 2024, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) turned in yet another triple-digit performance. For the year, Bitcoin was up 120%, which far surpassed the performance of any other asset class. Best of all, Bitcoin ended the year on a high note, breaking through the $100,000 mark in December.
So it might come as no surprise that many crypto investors are expecting yet another encore performance from Bitcoin in 2025. But, after triple-digit returns in 2023 and 2024, is Bitcoin really capable of doubling in price yet again? Let’s take a closer look.
The first thing you need to know is that there is no shortage of investment and financial services firms predicting that Bitcoin will hit the $200,000 mark in 2025. For example, Standard Chartered thinks that Bitcoin will hit $200,000 by the end of 2025, $300,000 by the end of 2026, and $500,000 by the end of 2028.
Standard Chartered’s central investment thesis is that investors will continue to pile into the new spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). First-time crypto investors will continue to embrace the ETF investment product as the easiest way to get exposure to Bitcoin. At the same time, large institutional investors will continue to ratchet up their portfolio allocations to Bitcoin.
Right now, institutional investors are allocating about 1% of their portfolios to Bitcoin. But that number could easily double. According to BlackRock, the optimal allocation to Bitcoin is 2%. And other investment firms, such as Fidelity, now think that an allocation as much as 5% might be appropriate for some investors.
Investment firm Bernstein also thinks Bitcoin will hit $200,000 in 2025. The investment thesis here also builds in the narrative around the spot Bitcoin ETFs. But it also layers in what the firm calls the “Infinity Age” of crypto. This is basically a belief that, under the pro-crypto Trump administration, there will be a broad flowering of all things crypto. Bitcoin will become a ******* and ******* part of the global financial system, entering the investment mainstream.
Amid all that pro-crypto exuberance, Bitcoin has nowhere to go but up, right? After all, if the U.S. government does decide to move ahead with a strategic Bitcoin reserve, that could unlock an unprecedented amount of Bitcoin buying. The current plan is to buy 200,000 bitcoins per year, over a five-year time *******, for a total of 1 million bitcoins.
What could possibly go wrong if so many people are buying Bitcoin? Well, if you dig a bit deeper into the numbers, you’ll see it’s possible that the market might be wildly overestimating just how much higher Bitcoin might go this year.
Story Continues
For example, let’s consider the $1.5 million Bitcoin price target from Cathie Wood of Ark Invest. She’s fully expecting Bitcoin to hit that price by the year 2030. But there’s the thing: Even in her ultra-bullish, best-case scenario, she’s only assuming a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 58% for Bitcoin.
Image source: Getty Images.
Let’s assume a base price of $100,000 for Bitcoin at the start of 2025. Let’s also assume that it grows at a steady 58% clip, year in and year out. Bitcoin will hit $158,000 by the end of this year, $250,000 by the end of 2026, $400,000 by the end of 2027, $625,000 by the end of 2028, and $1 million by the end of 2029. Finally, it will hit $1.5 million by the end of 2030.
So, while it might sound counterintuitive, it’s quite possible that Bitcoin could be on a path to $1.5 million, but still not crack $200,000 this year. In fact, Cathie Wood’s base-case scenario calls for Bitcoin to grow at a CAGR of 40%. So it’s entirely within the realm of possibility that Bitcoin might not even get to $150,000 this year.
It really depends on how much new money flows into Bitcoin this year. According to the “money multiplier effect” model used by some crypto analysts, every $1 in new money flowing into Bitcoin can lead to a market cap gain of anywhere from $2.50 to $6.73. Based on current assumptions, Bitcoin could hit a price of anywhere from $150,000 to $250,000 in 2025.
Obviously, the more money that flows into Bitcoin, and the stronger the money multiplier effect, the higher the price of Bitcoin might go. So you should be rooting for corporations, institutional investors, and governments to ratchet up their buying of Bitcoin and for members of the Bitcoin ecosystem to explore new use cases for crypto.
The moral of the story here is: Before blindly buying into any new price forecast for Bitcoin, make sure you dig into the numbers yourself. Sometimes the math just doesn’t work.
The good news, if you’re a Bitcoin investor, is that even if Bitcoin doesn’t hit a price of $200,000 in 2025, it’s still fully capable of hitting the $1 million mark by 2030. So, if you’re thinking of buying Bitcoin, keep a long-term outlook and focus on the big picture rather than month-to-month fluctuations.
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Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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How Meta abandoned Silicon Valley’s most ambitious diversity goals | Meta
How Meta abandoned Silicon Valley’s most ambitious diversity goals | Meta
The sticker Zuckerberg and fellow employees wore at San Francisco’s Pride parade in 2013. Illustration: Guardian Design
In 2019, Facebook set a goal for itself: ensure half of its workforce was from diverse or underrepresented backgrounds by 2024.
The lofty ambition made the company stand out among its Silicon Valley peers. Maxine Williams, a longtime employee and chief diversity officer at the time, wrote in a 2021 blog post that Facebook was up to the challenge.
“We’ll keep working toward these goals regardless of whether we’re able to meet them within five years because progress in representation is critical to serve a global audience,” wrote Williams.
By 2022, the company said it had doubled its number of ****** and Hispanic employees in the US, and women accounted for more than a third of its workforce globally. There was still work to be done, though. Even after that increase, ****** workers only made up 4.9% of the overall US workforce, and Hispanic workers made up 6.7%.
But, as of 10 January, 2025, the vast majority of that work has been summarily abandoned. Just days after 2024 had come and gone, Meta (now Facebook’s parent company) announced that instead of forging ahead with diversity goals, it would do away with corporate inclusion efforts entirely. The diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs would be shuttered. The company would end “representation goals”. Williams would be relegated to a new role focused on accessibility and engagement.
“The term ‘DEI’ has … become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others,” wrote Janelle Gale, the company’s vice-president of human resources, in an internal memo.
The diktat came directly from Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
Those changes didn’t come in a vacuum. Earlier this month, Zuckerberg announced Meta was ending its factchecking program in the US and easing content restrictions around immigration and gender identity to focus on “free expression”. Meta’s “hateful conduct” policy was changed to allow users to accuse transgender or gay people of being “mentally ill”.
‘A lot of the corporate world is pretty culturally neutered,’ Mark Zuckerberg said recently on Joe Rogan’s podcast, suggesting that modern businesses would benefit from more ‘masculine energy’. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Zuckerberg himself has also undergone a transformation from the sweaty, gray-hoodie-clad boy of Facebook’s early years. He wears a gold chain and practices mixed martial arts, exuding what he calls “masculine energy”, which he now preaches American companies need more of. He sat prominently alongside other tech billionaires at Donald Trump’s inauguration. The day after Zuckerberg ended Meta’s DEI programs, Trump issued a similar executive order for the federal government.
It’s a far cry from the Zuckerberg who once banned Trump from Facebook, founded an organization to help immigrants and marched in a Pride parade. And a steep change for a company that was considered the gold standard for diversity and inclusion work in Silicon Valley.
“Facebook used to be the place to be if you wanted to work on diversity,” said a former recruiter on the DEI team, who asked not to be named for fear of professional reprisal. “Everyone wanted to work with Maxine Williams. Everyone wanted to follow what Facebook was doing. We were the leaders in this.”
Seven former Facebook employees who worked on the company’s DEI and trust and safety teams say the shift had been a long time in the making. As Zuckerberg’s priorities have shifted with political winds, the company’s emphasis on diversity and other policies have followed suit, they said.
The former employees said it was never clear how personally invested Zuckerberg was in making Meta a more inclusive workplace. Many of the initiatives lacked substance because they were often rolled out in response to external pressure or specific events, including the ******* of George Floyd, according to the employees. These efforts rarely went beyond company-wide pronouncements and did little to change or improve the recruitment or retention of employees from under-represented backgrounds.
Some initiatives did make a meaningful difference, such as the diverse slate program that ensured qualified women and people from underrepresented backgrounds were considered for open roles. But former employees say executives slowly chipped away at those when they stopped being convenient.
The decline of diversity goals at Meta began in earnest with the departure of chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, many of the former employees said. She resigned as the company’s second-in-command in 2022 and stepped down from the board in 2024; Dana White, the Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO, replaced her.
The stark contrast between the two illustrates Meta’s about-face. Sandberg authored Lean In, considered by many the playbook for feminism in the workplace, while White leads the Maga movement’s ultra-masculine de facto sports league and was filmed slapping his wife at a party in 2022. Former employees say Sandberg’s exit was a signal that DEI goals would be deprioritized, especially if left to Zuckerberg. The Facebook founder shares his ex-employees’ opinion; he told Trump adviser Stephen Miller that Meta’s culture of inclusivity was the result of Sandberg’s efforts, according to the New York Times.
“The business case for diversity was only valid as long as Sandberg was around to enforce it,” Bärí A Williams (no relation to Maxine), former senior counsel at Facebook, wrote in an op-ed earlier this month. “Now that it’s not politically in vogue, Zuckerberg is abandoning the business use case for diversity and fact-checking.”
Meta declined to comment. Sandberg didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Facebook’s diversity heyday
Former employees paint a picture of a former version of Facebook that, while still largely white and male, stood out among its tech industry peers for its innovative approach to diversify its ranks.
How much personal buy-in they had from company executives wasn’t always clear, they say, but in the beginning, that didn’t seem to matter because Facebook was pouring millions into their efforts. There was the diverse slate program in hiring and a leadership mentor program for underrepresented employees. Facebook also started allowing for more remote roles, which led to an increase in staff from different backgrounds.
While Sandberg and Williams led the charge on DEI efforts, Zuckerberg would often follow, former employees say. Mike Rognlien worked at Facebook from 2011 to 2017, ultimately landing a job as a head of learning and development. He helped write the company’s DEI training program. He recalled an incident in 2013 when employees were upset that Zuckerberg had fundraised for the re-election campaign of the Republican New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, because Christie had been vocal about not supporting marriage equality. Rognlien said he asked Zuckerberg about the donation during an all-staff Q&A.
“Is that consistent with our company values? Is that consistent with your values?” Rognlien asked. Zuckerberg responded saying he understood the frustration but that he donated to Christie because of an ongoing program the governor had begun with New Jersey schools. Zuckerberg said he also donated to Cory Booker, the Democratic mayor of Newark at the time.
“If there’s anything that you think I should do to kind of neutralize any negative feelings about that, I’m all ears,” Rognlien recalled Zuckerberg saying.
Rognlien got together with leaders of employee resource groups about the incident, and they decided to ask Zuckerberg to march with them in San Francisco’s Pride parade. The CEO agreed immediately.
Decked out in a purple T-shirt with a “I [heart with rainbow flag] Facebook” sticker, Zuckerberg joined more than 700 employees for the parade. Company videos show him riding in the float with other executives, dancing and waving his hands in the air. That day, Zuckerberg posted on Facebook that he stood with the millions of people marching in Pride parades worldwide.
Photograph: Mike Rognlien
“I’m committed to make Facebook a safe place for members of the LGBT community everywhere,” Zuckerberg wrote. “Because as far as we have come in the fight for equality, we have a lot more work to do.”
Eleven years later, Zuckerberg, pushing for “masculine energy”, would allow Facebook and Instagram users to call any non-standard ******* orientation a mental illness, deride a transgender person with the pronoun “it”, and assert that there had only ever been two genders – that transgender people had never existed at all.
With Sandberg, Facebook becomes a DEI leader
Around the time of Zuckerberg’s purple Pride ride-along, Sandberg ramped up development of Facebook’s DEI training program. The idea was to create a mandatory employee training that didn’t just check an HR box, Rognlien said, but rather generate genuine reflection and introspection. Gale, who’d later write the internal memo dismantling DEI at Meta, was also instrumental in the inception of this program, according to Rognlien.
“If you can rewind your brain back to 2014, unconscious bias was not in the zeitgeist,” Rognlien said. “So, that’s what the first iteration of the program really focused on. How do we educate people? … And when I say educate people, I mean primarily white male software engineers.”
Rognlien said Facebook employees seemed to be taking the lessons of anti-bias workshops to heart. He cited an enthusiastic example of their success: a group of male engineers who’d taken the training printed posters of Kanye West’s face and hung them in the company’s conference rooms. Captioned with “Imma let you finish” in reference to West cutting off Taylor Swift at the Video Music Awards five years prior, the oversized heads served as reminders not to interrupt women in meetings.
Rognlien and Sandberg also conducted the training with Zuckerberg and his leadership team of about 15 people in the fall of 2014. Sandberg often said “meritocracy is a myth”, according to Rognlien, and during the training she instructed the leaders to think about their biases. Rognlien said the room was receptive.
“The whole push for this type of education was 1,000% Sheryl,” Rognlien said. “Sheryl wanted to do this and was really flying the flag internally.”
At the same time, Facebook’s COO was also working on creating a more diverse staff, Rognlien said. It became integral to Facebook’s mission of “bringing the world closer together”.
“Sheryl’s belief was, if we don’t build a company that looks like the population of the world that we’re trying to connect, we’re not going to succeed,” Rognlien said.
In 2014, Facebook released its first-ever diversity report. In a blog post, Williams said diversity was “essential to achieving our mission”. The goal was to have a broad range of people from different geographical, age, gender, ******* orientation and cultural backgrounds. While the report showed the vast majority of Facebook employees were white males, Williams said the company was “absolutely committed to achieving greater diversity”.
The unraveling
Four years later, the number of women employed by the company had risen by 5%. Asian representation had risen by more than 7%, but the number of ****** and Hispanic employees at Facebook had crept up by just one percentage point.
Progress in leadership ranks was also incremental. Diversifying the workforce was challenging because it wasn’t a priority from day one, Williams wrote at the time. “The later you start taking deliberate action to increase diversity, the harder it becomes,” she said.
By the end of 2018, an employee memo, first circulated internally, illustrated just how much more work Facebook had to do. In it, Mark Luckie, then a strategic partner manager for global influencers at the company, detailed the racial discrimination he said he and other ****** employees faced. The teams that worked on diversity were not given adequate resources, and they felt their efforts served more for public relations than for genuine change, he said.
“For some, their work devolves into serving as an address book to add a few names of color to projects,” Luckie wrote. “Efforts that promote inclusion, not just diversity, are being halted at the managerial level.”
When Luckie didn’t hear back from the executive team, he made the memo public. “Facebook does not make any meaningful change on a company level unless it is being held accountable publicly,” he wrote.
A year later, the company announced its new “50 in 5” diversity goal: in five years, the company aimed to have at least 50% of its workforce be comprised of women; people who are ******, Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islanders; people with two or more ethnicities; people with disabilities; and veterans.
These efforts gained momentum in 2020 amid the US’s wider corporate reckoning. Williams’ role was elevated to report directly to Sandberg; the company announced a goal to increase diverse representation among senior leaders to 30% by 2025; and it committed to spending $1bn with diverse suppliers.
But the fervor and urgency around these efforts dissipated within a matter of months, said employees who were at the company around that time.
Two former employees who worked on recruiting and diversity said company executives became increasingly skittish about how they talked about DEI internally. Already in September 2020, Zuckerberg announced new limitations to employee political speech in internal chats and designated specific channels for those discussions. The announcement came after employee debates over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, became so heated that Zuckerberg himself stepped in to end it.
Facebook also created exceptions to its own diversity goals over the course of 2020. Engineering leaders pushed back against the diverse slate approach because they wanted to hire quickly, two former employees who worked on recruiting and DEI said. Before the exceptions were made, hiring managers needed to ensure there was at least one qualified woman and one person from an underrepresented background considered for 90% of open roles – a requirement former DEI employees say already didn’t go far enough. But in response to pushback, the company pared down the requirement for tech roles: Now engineering managers only needed to ensure that there was one woman or one person from an underrepresented background considered for just 75% of the roles they were hiring.
DEI leaders were also asked to trim the quarterly diversity reports that were once prioritized. The leadership mentor program for underrepresented staff was paused, restructured and eventually scaled down.
Much of the shift solidified in 2022 when Facebook changed its name to Meta and Sandberg left the company, these employees say. Budgets got slashed, including for teams handling diversity, and Zuckerberg dubbed it the “year of efficiency”. This marked the last year the company published a diversity report. By the end of 2023, more than 11,000 employees had been laid off, including many remote workers and DEI staff. At least one DEI leader was told their budget would be cut in half and to make adjustments to their contracts and team accordingly.
Now, as of last month, the DEI team is gone entirely, with traces of its existence disappearing from the internet. Links to many of the company’s public diversity reports are no longer accessible on the internet, leading to empty webpages with the message “This content isn’t available right now.” The DEI training video that Rognlien made with Williams has likewise vanished.
Employees told the Guardian they wonder what will happen in 2029 when a new administration takes office.
For Rognlien, it’s disappointing, he said, because work on DEI is still far from being done. “Facebook’s market cap is what, one and a half trillion dollars?” he said. “They have the money and the resources to actually make a significant dent in the universe, and instead, Mark is wearing chains and going to Trump’s inauguration.”
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UBS upgrades this residential real estate broker, calls for nearly 50% upside ahead
UBS upgrades this residential real estate broker, calls for nearly 50% upside ahead
UBS thinks investors have yet to appreciate the full benefits of Compass ‘ recently closed acquisition. The bank upgraded shares of the residential real estate broker to a buy rating from neutral. Analyst Chris Kuntarich simultaneously lifted his price target to $11 from $7. The revised price objective is approximately 49% above Monday’s close. Kuntarich highlighted Compass’ recently announced acquisition of Christie’s International Real Estate’s @properties for $444 million. “While the upside in large part reflects ests not fully incorporating the contribution of the Christie’s acquisition, COMP’s execution track record on organic growth and cost containment still strikes us as underappreciated,” he wrote. “Christie’s represents COMP’s entry into the franchise model (30-35% margins) and also comes with strong tech and brand equity. Bottom-line we believe COMP will deliver on the $30M of acquisition synergies, and possibly more, as well as move closer to delivering 30% market share in their top 30 markets.” Compass’ stock could further benefit from the company’s launch of its Compass One platform. Kuntarich described this as a “one-stop-shop portal for home buyers/sellers” that should serve to further drive referrals and strengthen relationships between agents and clients. The analyst pointed to other tailwinds that could future drive Compass’ organic market share gains. “While the 4Q EPS call on [Feb. 18] should clean up street estimates, we see scope for other catalysts — asymmetric upside from a potentially favorable Clear Cooperation Policy decision, accelerated home purchase activity in LA post wildfires (~3% of GTV), upside to the $30M of acquisition related cost savings over the next 3-years and the potential for Existing Home Sales trends to accelerate in 2H25 and FY26,” he added. The stock popped 5% after the upgrade. Analysts are split on the stock, however. LSEG data shows that three analysts rate Compass a buy or strong buy, while another five have a hold rating on it.
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Ceasefire is only way to bring Israeli hostages home, ****** official says – Reuters.com
Ceasefire is only way to bring Israeli hostages home, ****** official says – Reuters.com
Ceasefire is only way to bring Israeli hostages home, ****** official says Reuters.comIsraeli Hostages’ Accounts of Abuse Raise Alarms for Remaining Captives The New York TimesHamas Responds To Trump: ‘Threats Will Only Complicate Matters’ | LIVE BLOG i24NEWSHamas says it’s delaying next hostage release, claiming ceasefire violations Fox NewsHamas says it will delay the release of more hostages, putting Gaza ceasefire at risk The Associated Press
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This ‘Tariff-Proof’ 10.4% Dividend Could Shine in 2025
This ‘Tariff-Proof’ 10.4% Dividend Could Shine in 2025
Contrarians that we are, we know when we hear things that sound like “common wisdom,” we need to look just a little bit deeper.
Today, that’s what we’re going to do, with a common refrain we’re hearing a lot—that tariffs will lead to a spike in interest rates.
Then we’ll look at a bond play that’s set to benefit from this misunderstood mantra. This smartly run fund pays a dividend that yields 10.4% and comes our way monthly, too.
Tariffs Here, Tariffs There …
To be sure, tariffs have arrived. President Trump imposed a 10% levy on all products China exports to the US (and 15% on liquefied and certain types of coal), effective last Tuesday.
Canada and Mexico, for their part, secured 30-day reprieves on the 25% tariffs Trump threatened on each of them after striking border-security deals with the administration.
One thing we can be sure of is that more tariffs are coming. Trump has been talking about tariffs since 1989 when he advocated for a 15% to 20% tariff on imports from Japan because of unfair trade practices.
And at the end of last week, Trump said he would impose “reciprocal tariffs” on many nations aimed at matching tariffs they apply to US goods.
So tariffs—and the higher prices on imports they bring—are naturally going to lead to higher here in the US, right? And of course, higher inflation begets higher interest rates.
Well, lucky for us, we have a way to gauge that in real-time: the movements of the yield on the 10-year Treasury note.
Bond Market Shrugs
If the bond market were worried about tariffs jacking inflation, you’d expect the —benchmark for the rates businesses and consumers pay for all sorts of loans—to spike. Instead, the opposite has happened.
Just look at the last year, as the possibility of Trump’s re-election gained in probability, then became a reality on November 5:
10-Year Rate Bumps Against the “5% Ceiling” Into (and Since) Election Day
As you can see, each time the 10-year yield gets close to 5%, it hits its head and drops again.
What’s going on here?
Well, contrary to popular belief that these levies are inflationary, a recent study shows otherwise. The Centre for Economic Policy Research found that tariffs do not boost inflation because rising prices depend on a hot economy—and a trade war brings in the opposite, since tariffs are a short-term headwind on growth.
The Financial Times recently reached a similar conclusion. Yes, tariffs compress company margins due to upward wage pressure and higher costs. But these are typically absorbed by the firms—and their shareholders!
All of this sets up a buy window for us in bonds, which are despised now, partly on tariff-driven rate fears. (As rates and bond prices move in opposite directions).
“Despised?” You have our attention, bonds!
Our 2-Part Bond-Buying Strategy (and 1 Ticker to Put It to Work)
When we want to boost our bond exposure in my Contrarian Income Report service, we always use a two-part strategy:
Look below the investment-grade line. This is where the best bargains are, as pensions, for example, aren’t allowed to own this paper. That leaves more room in the bargain aisles for us!
Buy through closed-end funds (CEFs) so we get most of our return in safe dividend cash, thanks to CEFs’ high yields. We also get our bond holdings managed by an expert (essential in this corner of the market) and the opportunity to get in at a discount.
With that in mind, the DoubleLine Income Solutions Fund (NYSE:) is our contrarian tariff play here. As mentioned, it yields 10.4% and is run by one of the savviest bond minds on the planet—the so-called “Bond God,” Jeffery Gundlach.
Gundlach puts his deep connections to work running DSL and DLY, and the results are hard to argue with. Since we added the fund to our CIR portfolio back in April 2016, it’s returned a tidy 84.4% as of this writing. That was good enough for DSL (in purple below) to smoke the go-to ETF for corporate bonds, the SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF (NYSE:):
DSL Outruns the Bond Benchmark
As you’ve probably guessed by now, DSL does this by investing well outside the investment-grade space, with 75.5% of the portfolio in below-investment-grade bonds. Another 6.2% of its holdings are unrated.
The average duration of these bonds is on the long side: 5.5 years. That means Gundlach has smartly locked in higher-paying bonds, and he (and we) can look forward to those high-income streams coming in for years yet, even as rates move lower from here.
He also charts a prudent course on the leverage front, borrowing against about 22% of the portfolio. That’s the “sweet spot”—enough to boost returns while minimizing harm in a downturn. And of course, a move to lower rates (even if it’s not as fast as we thought it would be a few months back) will cut DSL’s already reasonable cost of borrowing.
All of this helps sustain that 10.4% dividend, which means we’re getting essentially all of our return in cash here. The fund did trim the monthly payout in 2020 (understandable), but has held it steady since, including through the 2022 nightmare. Gundlach & Co. even threw in a special dividend at the end of that year:
A Reliable 10.4% Dividend? DSL Delivers
Source: Income Calendar
A final word on our buying opportunity here: It may be time-limited. As I write this, DSL isn’t far below my buy-up-to price and trades at a roughly 1% premium to net asset value (NAV). With 10-year Treasury rates contained below 5%, it could pop above that level at any time.
Disclosure: Brett Owens and Michael Foster are contrarian income investors who look for undervalued stocks/funds across the U.S. markets. Click here to learn how to profit from their strategies in the latest report, “7 Great Dividend Growth Stocks for a Secure Retirement.”
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