Here’s how many fake reviews Tripadvisor found on its website in 2024
Here’s how many fake reviews Tripadvisor found on its website in 2024
Around 8% of the 31.1 million reviews submitted to Tripadvisor in 2024 were fake, according to the company’s “Transparency Report 2025.”
That’s more than twice the number detected in 2022, according to company reports.
But that doesn’t mean the number of fake reviews on the site doubled, said Becky Foley, vice president and head of trust and safety at Tripadvisor.
While submissions to the website increased, Tripadvisor’s policies on fake reviews also changed, she said, citing the company’s more aggressive stance against “incentivized reviews.” These occur when companies offer customers discounts or freebies in exchange for reviews, or provide incentives to employees whose names are mentioned in reviews.
“The employees get their mom, best friend or cousin to submit reviews, mentioning their names,” she said. “It ends up leading to businesses having reviews that aren’t actually valuable to our community.”
What is a fake review?
According to Tripadvisor, it is “any review submitted by someone who is knowingly submitting biased or non-firsthand content, in an effort to manipulate a property’s reputation.”
But there’s a ******* reason detections are on the rise, she said.
“Our system is always getting better,” she said, citing Tripadvisor’s three-pronged process that relies on auto-detection, human review and community feedback.
Some 7% of submissions in 2024 were auto-rejected before being posted, the report said. Auto-detections also flagged another 5% of submissions for human review.
However, Tripadvisor’s trust and safety team ultimately moderated more than 4.2 million reviews, amounting to more than 13% of all submissions in 2024, according to the report.
Another 244,000 reviews were disputed by members at the third stage of review, the report showed. Of these, some 72% remained on the site, and 28% were removed, it said.
How to spot a fake
Tripadvisor has four categories of fake submissions: boosting, vandalism, member fraud and paid reviews, Foley said.
There’s a misconception that vandalism accounts for most fake reviews, Foley said, adding that boosting (54%) and member fraud (39%) have long made up the bulk of those reviews.
Paid reviews (4.8%) are a smaller, but “more pernicious,” category of fakes, she said.
This includes “review farms,” she said, adding that these people are often involved in other types of online fraud too.
Most paid reviews originate in Asia, Foley said, even though only 17% of real submissions come from the continent.
In 2024, more than one-third of all paid submissions detected by Tripadvisor came from Indonesia and Vietnam, while in 2022 most paid reviews came from India, the company said.
A ‘cat and mouse’ game
Rooting out fake reviews is a constant “cat and mouse” game, Foley said. But Tripadvisor is getting better at detecting them every year, she said.
“We are the first to admit that we’re never going to reach absolute perfection,” said Foley. “We might not catch [a fake] the first time, but we’ll catch it eventually.”
Tripadvisor uses its own technology, developed over 25 years, to flush out fakes — a system that increasingly relies less on what a review says, and more on how it’s posted, she said. The company uses artificial intelligence and behavioral biometrics to find patterns, which can detect abnormalities like submission spikes and IP address masking attempts.
To catch paid reviewers, Tripadvisor investigators pose as fake review brokers, Foley said. When a bad actor posts their first paid review, “we have all of the data … hundreds of data points associated with it,” which the company uses to build patterns to identify other reviews submitted by the author in the past.
Violators aren’t pulled off the site, but their rankings are penalized for a year, Foley said. Repeat offenders receive a red badge on their listing “that says this property is trying to deceive you,” she said.
AI reviews: not fake, but not allowed
Most reviews written by AI are not fake, Foley said, calling that “one of the myths I love to bust.”
“‘It’s somebody that’s trying to use AI, because they’d like their writing to be more polished,” she said.
Still, the company doesn’t allow them — at least not for now.
In 2024, Tripadvisor removed more than 200,000 reviews that it suspected were written by AI, according to the company’s 2025 transparency report.
“We will continue to monitor the trends and patterns. But right now, we just don’t want travelers to come to TripAdvisor for a sea of sameness.”
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Here’s how many fake reviews Tripadvisor found on its website in 2024
Here’s how many fake reviews Tripadvisor found on its website in 2024
Around 8% of the 31.1 million reviews submitted to Tripadvisor in 2024 were fake, according to the company’s “Transparency Report 2025.”
That’s more than twice the number detected in 2022, according to company reports.
But that doesn’t mean the number of fake reviews on the site doubled, said Becky Foley, vice president and head of trust and safety at Tripadvisor.
While submissions to the website increased, Tripadvisor’s policies on fake reviews also changed, she said, citing the company’s more aggressive stance against “incentivized reviews.” These occur when companies offer customers discounts or freebies in exchange for reviews, or provide incentives to employees whose names are mentioned in reviews.
“The employees get their mom, best friend or cousin to submit reviews, mentioning their names,” she said. “It ends up leading to businesses having reviews that aren’t actually valuable to our community.”
What is a fake review?
According to Tripadvisor, it is “any review submitted by someone who is knowingly submitting biased or non-firsthand content, in an effort to manipulate a property’s reputation.”
But there’s a ******* reason detections are on the rise, she said.
“Our system is always getting better,” she said, citing Tripadvisor’s three-pronged process that relies on auto-detection, human review and community feedback.
Some 7% of submissions in 2024 were auto-rejected before being posted, the report said. Auto-detections also flagged another 5% of submissions for human review.
However, Tripadvisor’s trust and safety team ultimately moderated more than 4.2 million reviews, amounting to more than 13% of all submissions in 2024, according to the report.
Another 244,000 reviews were disputed by members at the third stage of review, the report showed. Of these, some 72% remained on the site, and 28% were removed, it said.
How to spot a fake
Tripadvisor has four categories of fake submissions: boosting, vandalism, member fraud and paid reviews, Foley said.
There’s a misconception that vandalism accounts for most fake reviews, Foley said, adding that boosting (54%) and member fraud (39%) have long made up the bulk of those reviews.
Paid reviews (4.8%) are a smaller, but “more pernicious,” category of fakes, she said.
This includes “review farms,” she said, adding that these people are often involved in other types of online fraud too.
Most paid reviews originate in Asia, Foley said, even though only 17% of real submissions come from the continent.
In 2024, more than one-third of all paid submissions detected by Tripadvisor came from Indonesia and Vietnam, while in 2022 most paid reviews came from India, the company said.
A ‘cat and mouse’ game
Rooting out fake reviews is a constant “cat and mouse” game, Foley said. But Tripadvisor is getting better at detecting them every year, she said.
“We are the first to admit that we’re never going to reach absolute perfection,” said Foley. “We might not catch [a fake] the first time, but we’ll catch it eventually.”
Tripadvisor uses its own technology, developed over 25 years, to flush out fakes — a system that increasingly relies less on what a review says, and more on how it’s posted, she said. The company uses artificial intelligence and behavioral biometrics to find patterns, which can detect abnormalities like submission spikes and IP address masking attempts.
To catch paid reviewers, Tripadvisor investigators pose as fake review brokers, Foley said. When a bad actor posts their first paid review, “we have all of the data … hundreds of data points associated with it,” which the company uses to build patterns to identify other reviews submitted by the author in the past.
Violators aren’t pulled off the site, but their rankings are penalized for a year, Foley said. Repeat offenders receive a red badge on their listing “that says this property is trying to deceive you,” she said.
AI reviews: not fake, but not allowed
Most reviews written by AI are not fake, Foley said, calling that “one of the myths I love to bust.”
“‘It’s somebody that’s trying to use AI, because they’d like their writing to be more polished,” she said.
Still, the company doesn’t allow them — at least not for now.
In 2024, Tripadvisor removed more than 200,000 reviews that it suspected were written by AI, according to the company’s 2025 transparency report.
“We will continue to monitor the trends and patterns. But right now, we just don’t want travelers to come to TripAdvisor for a sea of sameness.”
Source link
#Heres #fake #reviews #Tripadvisor #website
Pelican News
View the full article at [Hidden Content]
For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]
Trump says 50% tariff on European Union delayed until July
Trump says 50% tariff on European Union delayed until July
President Trump said Sunday that the U.S. will delay implementation of a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union from June 1 until July 9 to buy time for negotiations with the bloc.
That agreement came after a call Sunday with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who had told Mr. Trump that she “wants to get down to serious negotiations,” according to the president’s retelling.
“I told anybody that, they have to do that,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Sunday in Morristown, New Jersey, as he prepared to return to Washington. Von der Leyen, Mr. Trump said, vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out.”
In a social media post Friday, Mr. Trump had threatened to impose the 50% tariff on EU goods, complaining that the 27-member bloc had been “very difficult to deal with” on trade and that negotiations were “going nowhere.” Those tariffs would have kicked in starting June 1.
The announcement, along with threatened tariffs on Apple products, sent the stock market tumbling Friday.
“Just when markets believed the worst of the tariff battle had been overcome, President Trump threatened a 50% tariff against the EU this week, starting on 1 June, and a possible 25% tariff on iPhones produced abroad. This could all be a negotiating tactic, but the uncertainty caused by this back-and-forth is not good for global growth or markets,” Klaus Baader, an analyst with SG Securities, told investors in a report.
But the call with von der Leyen appeared to smooth over tensions, at least for now.
“I agreed to the extension — July 9, 2025 — It was my privilege to do so,” Mr. Trump said on Truth Social shortly after he spoke with reporters on Sunday evening.
For her part, von der Leyen said the EU and the U.S. “share the world’s most consequential and close trade relationship.”
“Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively,” she said. “To reach a good deal, we would need the time until July 9.”
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Trump says ‘I’m not happy with Putin’ after Ukraine hit by Russian barrage – National
Trump says ‘I’m not happy with Putin’ after Ukraine hit by Russian barrage – National
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday expressed deep unhappiness at Russia’s weekend bombing of Ukraine, saying of Russian President Vladimir Putin, “I’m not happy with Putin.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with him. What the hell happened to him? Right? He’s killing a lot of people. I’m not happy about that,” Trump told reporters at the airport in Morristown, New Jersey, as he prepared to return to Washington.
Trump spoke in reaction to a Russian barrage of 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight on Sunday, including the capital Kyiv, in the largest aerial attack of the war so far, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more.
Trump has been trying to get both sides to agree to a ceasefire in the three-year-old war in Ukraine and he spoke for more than two hours with Putin last week.
He raised the possibility of imposing more sanctions on Russia in response to the ongoing attacks.
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“Always gotten along with him, but he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” Trump said.
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Keith Kellogg, Washington’s special envoy to Ukraine, condemned the Russian attacks on X, calling it “a clear violation” of the Geneva Protocols. “These attacks are shameful. Stop the killing. Ceasefire now.”
2:32
Co-ordinated Russian strike on Kyiv threatens prisoner swap
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian missiles and drones hit more than 30 cities and villages, and urged Western partners to ramp up sanctions on Russia — a longstanding demand of the Ukrainian leader but one that despite warnings to Moscow by the United States and Europe has not materialized in ways to deter Russia.
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“These were deliberate strikes on ordinary cities,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, adding that Sunday’s targets included Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Chernihiv, Sumy, Odesa, Poltava, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Cherkasy regions.
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“America’s silence, the silence of others in the world, only encourages” Putin, he said. “Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped. Sanctions will certainly help.”
There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the strikes.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defenses shot down 110 Ukrainian drones overnight.
In talks held in Istanbul earlier this month — the first time the two sides met face to face for peace talks — Kyiv and Moscow agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of war and civilian detainees each. The exchange has been the only tangible outcome from the talks.
The swap was completed in three stages this weekend amidst the Russian strikes on Ukraine.
—With additional files from the Associated Press
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The $325 Lord Of The Rings Deluxe Illustrated Box Set Is Only $146 For A Limited Time
The $325 Lord Of The Rings Deluxe Illustrated Box Set Is Only $146 For A Limited Time
The Lord of the Rings enthusiasts and anyone who loves beautiful books should check out the incredible deal on The Lord of the Rings Deluxe Illustrated Box Set at Amazon and Walmart right now. The premium, three-volume hardcover collection released last October with a staggering $325 price attached to it. If the high cost deterred you from picking up this gorgeous box set last fall, now’s your chance to get it for a price that could be far easier to stomach. The Lord of the Rings Deluxe Illustrated Box Set is on ***** for $146, saving you $179. This 55% price cut doesn’t have a listed end date, so interested Tolkien fans would be wise to snag it sooner rather than later.
You can take a closer look at the Deluxe Illustrated Box Set below. We’ve also included the 2024 Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Collector’s Editions for those who want nice copies of Tolkien’s iconic fantasy novels for budget-friendly prices. The Lord of the Rings Collector’s Edition Box Set is also on ***** for over 50% off at Amazon. Lord of the Rings fans should also check out our buying guide for two upcoming Tolkien box sets: Tolkien Myths and Legends and The Great Tales of Middle-earth.
$146 (was $325)
The Lord of the Rings Deluxe Illustrated Box Set is a revamped version of a gorgeous collection first launched in 1992. Across the three hardcover volumes–The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King–there are more than 50 new pencil sketches and full-color paintings by beloved Lord of the Rings artist Alan Lee. All told, the box set has 1,332 pages, which makes it longer than most, if not all, editions of LOTR currently in print.
The page edges are sprayed dark blue on the top and bottom, and the side edges have unique illustrations of billowing smoke from Mount Doom’s eruption. Lee created new artwork for the covers, too. Each cover has a framed rectangular drawing in the center. The illustrations are inset on gray cloth board and surrounded by an elegant, silver foil-stamped border. Each book is quarterbound in blue leather, and the pages are sewn into the spine. You can mark your spot using the attached ribbon bookmark.
The silver-foil text along the spine and on the covers was stamped onto each book. The custom display case was constructed from cloth board and features stamped circular emblems designed by Lee. The case has rounded front edges to make it easy to remove each book. With all three books removed, you can peer inside the fully illustrated interior of the case. Lee’s depiction of Mount Doom’s eruption covers every surface inside the lovingly crafted slipcase.
Inside each book, you’ll find a large art card that can be removed and displayed separately. Along with three art cards, you get a pair of foldout maps of Middle-earth drawn by Christopher Tolkien, the author’s literary executor who edited, expanded, and organized many supplementary writings about Middle-earth, including The Silmarillion and his legendarium, which formed the massive 12-part series now known as The History of Middle-earth.
To be clear, The Lord of the Rings Deluxe Illustrated is much different from the popular 2021 version illustrated by Tolkien, but the premium design is reminiscent of the Deluxe Special Edition of the Tolkien Illustrated version.
$49.45 (was $105)
While the discount on the Deluxe Illustrated Box Set is quite good, $146 is still a lot of money for a single novel. But the great thing about modern editions of Tolkien’s work is that there are beautiful collectible editions available at various price points. Case in point: The Lord of the Rings Collector’s Edition Box Set.
Published just a few weeks after the Deluxe Illustrated Box Set, the hardcover Collector’s Edition Box Set carries a $105 MSRP. Right now, however, you can buy this handsome collection for only $49.45.
Once again, the Collector’s Edition is split into the three distinct parts that make up Tolkien’s novel: Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers, and Return of the King. Each book can be stored in the included display box shown above.
The Collector’s Editions have foil-stamped cover art, stained page edges, illustrated maps as endpapers, and built-in ribbon bookmarks. The beautiful cover art was previously featured in collectible editions released in the ***, so it’s cool that American readers no longer have to import the books to admire the artwork up close.
The box set also comes with an exclusive foldout map of Middle-earth.
All three volumes in this box set are also sold separately, though it’d cost you about $15 more to buy them that way right now–and you miss out on the display case as well as the poster. But you may want to pair the box set with the matching Collector’s Edition versions of The Hobbit and The Silmarillion, which were also published last year and are discounted close to 50%.
$68.34 (was $125)
For a markedly different Tolkien experience, consider picking up The Collected Poems of J.R.R Tolkien. This three-volume hardcover collection follows a similar design philosophy as The Lord of the Rings Deluxe Illustrated Box Set, so they would look great next to each other on a display shelf.
This collection contains poems composed by Tolkien the teenager as well as Tolkien the aging literary giant. The nearly 200 poems across the box set’s 1,700 pages were written across nearly 70 years. The poetry is accompanied by commentary about the author’s work and life from two Tolkien scholars.
Just know that this collection isn’t related to Lord of the Rings or Middle-earth in general. While Tolkien included poetry in his famous fantasy novels, the verse in his Middle-earth novels barely scratches the surface of Tolkien’s lifelong love of poetry.
If you like the idea of reading poetry by Tolkien, you should also check out the upcoming hardcover box set titled Tolkien Myth and Legends. Releasing August 19, this eye-catching collection includes four books of epic poems. Two books feature Tolkien’s own poetry: a narrative poem about King Arthur and a Norse mythology-inspired classic poem. The set also comes with Tolkien’s personal translations of Beowulf and three other classic poems.
The History of Middle-earth Box Sets 1-4, Tolkien Myths and Legends, The Great Tales of Middle-earth
The aforementioned History of Middle-earth series edited and compiled by Christopher Tolkien was reissued as 15 stunning hardcover books spread across four box sets, each of which is on ***** for very low prices right now. Box Set 1 comes with four books, including The Silmarillion, and is on ***** for only $63 at Amazon (nearly 50% off).
Tolkien Myths and Legends is considered the fifth entry in William Morrow’s current series of hardcover Tolkien box sets. The books in these unique box sets have reversible dust jackets featuring the classic cover art on one side and beautiful wraparound illustrations on the other. Each set comes with a slipcase with exclusive, full-color artwork covering every side.
The sixth set in the series, The Great Tales of Middle-earth Box Set, will be published on August 19. If you’re interested in reading Tolkien’s last three Middle-earth novels, you should also know that The Great Tales of Middle-earth received a different hardcover box set back in 2018, and you can buy it for only $50 (was $100) at the moment–less than half the price of the 2025 hardcover box set. Similarly, you can get the entire History of Middle-earth series in a three-book hardcover set for substantially less than the price of the newer editions.
Tolkien Illustrated Editions
And if you want to compare the Deluxe Illustrated Box Set to the Tolkien Illustrated Editions, we’ve included links to both the standard and Deluxe Special Editions of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion. The Tolkien Illustrated Editions contain sketches, paintings, and maps drawn by the author. Each book has sprayed edges with elvish script, foil-stamped cover art, ribbon bookmarks, and a pair of removable, foldout maps. The Deluxe Special Editions also come with other goodies, such as a slipcase, removable art pieces, and booklets. The Special Editions have cloth board covers quarterbound in leather and ribbing on the spines.
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Griffin hangs on for first PGA Tour solo success
Griffin hangs on for first PGA Tour solo success
Ben Griffin has his first individual PGA Tour victory a month after winning a team event, hanging on to beat Matti Schmid at Colonial after breaking a tie with his co-leader for good at the final round’s first hole.
The 29-year-old Griffin shot a one-over 71 to finish at 12-under 268 in the Charles Schwab Challenge, one stroke ahead of Schmid as both struggled through Sunday’s round on a warm and windy day at Hogan’s Alley.
Schmid (72), who took a four-shot lead into the final round, forced Griffin to make a four-foot par putt on the 72nd hole after his chip from the deep rough behind the green went in for birdie.
“I felt pretty good over it,” Griffin said.
“It was just a left edge and trust it, let it slide in there.”
Griffin and Schmid, the 27-year-old ******* seeking his first tour win in his 79th start, had matching scores each of the first three days in Fort Worth, Texas.
Schmid was the one who surged in front early in the third round, taking a three-shot lead. Griffin had a five-shot edge after just five holes in the final round, and finally let Schmid get within a stroke with a two-shot swing at 16 before getting the lead back to two with a hole to play.
Scottie Scheffler, the world No.1 and hometown favourite who won the PGA Championship last week, couldn’t match his Saturday surge from 10 shots back. The three-time major winner began the day six shots adrift, but had two birdies and a bogey in a 69 to finish eight under.
Scheffler, who fell short of becoming the first to win three consecutive starts since Dustin Johnson eight years ago, tied for fourth, one shot behind Bud Cauley (67).
“Overall, three of the four days I played what I felt was pretty solid,” Scheffler said.
“Just had one off day (on Friday), but outside of that, I did some good things this week as well.”
Tommy Fleetwood (68) shot 31 on the front nine to get into contention, lost the momentum with a bogey at 11 and then had one of the tournament highlights with his final stroke.
A birdie putt on 18 stopped on the lip of the cup, and he waited almost 30 seconds hoping the gusting wind would push the ball into the hole. Nature obliged.
*********** Karl Vilips (70) finished in a tie for 11th at six under after three bogeys in his final eight holes.
Griffin teamed with Andrew Novak (71), who finished six under at Colonial, for the victory at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans last month.
With AAP & Reuters.
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Trump says he’ll delay a threatened 50% tariff on the European Union until July
Trump says he’ll delay a threatened 50% tariff on the European Union until July
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that the U.S. will delay implementation of a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union from June 1 until July 9 to buy time for negotiations with the bloc.
That agreement came after a call Sunday with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who had told Trump that she “wants to get down to serious negotiations,” according to the U.S. president’s retelling.
“I told anybody that would listen, they have to do that,” Trump told reporters on Sunday in Morristown, New Jersey, as he prepared to return to Washington. Von der Leyen, Trump said, vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out.”
In a social media post Friday, Trump had threatened to impose the 50% tariff on EU goods, complaining that the 27-member bloc had been “very difficult to deal with” on trade and that negotiations were “going nowhere.” Those tariffs would have kicked in starting June 1.
But the call with von der Leyen appeared to smooth over tensions, at least for now.
“I agreed to the extension — July 9, 2025 — It was my privilege to do so,” Trump said on Truth Social shortly after he spoke with reporters on Sunday evening.
For her part, von der Leyen said the EU and the U.S. “share the world’s most consequential and close trade relationship.”
“Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively,” she said. “To reach a good deal, we would need the time until July 9.”
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Insurance firms like Munich Re, Swiss Re take $3.5 billion hit
Insurance firms like Munich Re, Swiss Re take $3.5 billion hit
Financial losses stemming from the California wildfires earlier this year have risen to at least $3.5 billion for European insurance giants, according to CNBC’s calculations.
The insured losses, mainly from reinsurance claims, are being borne by 10 large, listed firms in Europe, mainly centered in Germany, the U.K., Switzerland and France.
LA wildfires cost European insurers $3.5 billionTickerCompanyCost, millions (USD)MUV2-DEMunich Re 1,244.74 HNR1-DEHannover Re 714.30 SREN-CHSwiss Re 630.00 ZURN-CHZurich Insurance Group 200.00 HSX-GBHiscox 170.00 SCR-FRSCOR 167.48 LRE-GBLancashire 145.00 CRE-GBConduit Holdings 100.00 CS-FRAXA 100.00 BEZ-GBBeazley 80.00
Source: CNBC, Company Filings
Germany-listed Munich Re and Hannover Re, two of the largest reinsurance firms, together booked nearly $2 billion in losses. Switzerland-listed firms Swiss Re and Zurich collectively reported $830 million in hits.
London-listed companies Hiscox, Lancashire Insurance, Conduit Re and Beazley reported losses of amounting to nearly $500 million.
French companies Scor and AXA also reported $167 million and $100 million losses, respectively.
The total hit far exceeds the billion dollars expected from analysts in the immediate aftermath of the wildfires. While the total economic loss due to the disaster was expected to be around $50 billion, JPMorgan analysts had expected insured losses of around $20 billion.
Berenberg analyst Michael Huttner told CNBC that the losses were much larger than anticipated at most insurance firms because the wildfires were a “combination of unusual and big.” The uncontained nature of the wildfire was one factor leading to the large losses, he said.
However, the analyst added that profits generated by the companies far exceeded expectations, and pointed to the resiliency of the sector amid large natural disasters.
In late April, Swiss Re further raised the estimate for insured losses to $40 billion from the LA fires, making it one of the deadliest and most expensive disasters for California.
The death toll from the wildfires that ravaged the greater Los Angeles area, covering Eaton and Palisades, rose to 30 after human remains were found among the charred houses. Millions have been displaced, and thousands of homes and buildings have been destroyed.
CNBC’s tally would leave European companies on the hook for nearly a tenth of total insured losses.
Here’s how climate change is reshaping home insurance costs in California — and the rest of the U.S.
Reinsurance firms offer policies to primary insurance providers, like Chubb, which are present in California and directly deal with customers on the ground. The reinsurance policies typically only kick in after about 400 million euros worth of losses are absorbed by the primary insurance provider.
Outside of Europe, Japanese reinsurers Tokio Marine and Sompo disclosed nearly 50 billion yen ($348 million) in losses, significantly higher than the $63 million estimated by JPMorgan analysts in the days after the fire.
If Swiss Re’s forecast for total insured losses comes to fruition, the Los Angeles wildfire would be four times more devastating than wildfires of the past.
Notable California wildfiresWildfire Insured loss ($ billion) Buildings affected Camp fire (2018)1018,804Tubbs fire (2017)105,643Woolsley fire (2018)51,643Atlas fire (2017)42,352Glass fire (2020)31,955
Source: JPMorgan, Jan. 10
In 2018, wildfires in California cost the whole industry around $16 billion in losses. During that event, Munich Re absorbed the largest share of the loss at 500 million euros. The experience of that disaster and others has led to per-event deductibles (or excess) rising from 100 million euros to 400 million euros today.
The losses to insurers, both in the U.S. and Europe, have also been partly reduced by the introduction of the FAIR Plan, a pooled fund built with contributions from multiple insurance providers in California. The system is expected to absorb the bulk of the losses first before private insurance companies begin paying out.
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Knicks vs. Pacers odds, prediction, time: 2025 NBA Eastern Conference finals Game 3 picks by proven model – CBS Sports
Knicks vs. Pacers odds, prediction, time: 2025 NBA Eastern Conference finals Game 3 picks by proven model – CBS Sports
Knicks vs. Pacers odds, prediction, time: 2025 NBA Eastern Conference finals Game 3 picks by proven model CBS SportsRivalry renewed: Why this absurd Knicks-Pacers series could signal a massive shift in the East ESPNKnicks vs. Pacers live updates: 2025 NBA playoffs Game 3 start time, predictions, picks The New York TimesKnicks vs. Pacers Game 3 Predictions: Odds, expert picks, recent stats, trends and best bets for May 25 NBC SportsCleaning up turnover woes a Knicks necessity with season hanging in the balance New York Post
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Rate ‘rigging’ traders say they were scapegoated
Rate ‘rigging’ traders say they were scapegoated
Andy Verity
Financial investigations correspondent
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo were among 37 City traders prosecuted for “manipulating” the interest rate benchmarks Libor and Euribor
The Supreme Court is poised to rule on the cases of two former City traders jailed for rigging interest rates, amid concerns raised by senior politicians that there may have been a series of miscarriages of justice.
If the traders are successful in their application – which is opposed by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) – it could lead to the quashing of all remaining convictions secured in nine criminal trials.
Tom Hayes, a former trader at the Swiss bank UBS, became the first banker to be jailed for “rigging” interest rates in August 2015.
He was accused at the age of 35 by the United States Department of Justice and the Serious Fraud Office of being a “ringmaster” of an international fraud conspiracy and sentenced to 14 years in jail.
Together with former Barclays trader Carlo Palombo, he is now awaiting a crucial Supreme Court judgement.
Hayes and Palombo were among 37 City traders prosecuted for “manipulating” the interest rate benchmarks Libor and Euribor, which track the cost of borrowing cash between the banks and are used to set the interest rates on millions of mortgages and commercial loans.
In criminal trials on both sides of the Atlantic from 2015 to 2019, 19 were convicted of conspiracy to defraud and nine were sent to jail.
Reuters
Tom Hayes was convicted of conspiracy to defraud in 2015
As they served time, evidence emerged that central bankers and government officials across the world, including a top adviser at 10 Downing Street at the time, had pressured banks such as theirs to engage in very similar conduct to what they were jailed for – but on a much greater scale.
No central banker or government official was prosecuted.
Then, soon after they were released after serving their full jail tariffs, a US appeal court decided such conduct wasn’t a crime after all; nor even against any rules.
The US Department of Justice revoked the charges against Tom Hayes, and the US courts then threw out all similar convictions.
Yet in the ***, they remain convicted criminals.
The Serious Fraud Office, which prosecuted the cases, says the defendants were convicted of conspiracy to defraud and points to a number of previous unsuccessful attempts to overturn convictions at the Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court’s now being asked to decide if judges were wrong to tell juries their conduct was unlawful.
If it does so, it could lead to the overturning of all remaining convictions, throwing a global 17-year scandal into reverse.
Senior politicians including former shadow chancellor John McDonnell say they’re concerned the traders have been “scapegoated”
It’s also likely to prompt renewed calls for a public inquiry into evidence of much larger interest rate “rigging” – ordered from the top of the financial system by central banks and governments worldwide.
This is the first time the cases have reached the Supreme Court following public pressure from senior politicians, including former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and former Brexit Secretary David Davis.
They have told the BBC they’re concerned the traders have been “scapegoated” in a scandalous series of miscarriages of justice that runs “deeper than the Post Office”.
They want a public inquiry.
What is Libor ‘rigging’?
What the FTSE 100 or the Dow Jones are to share prices, Libor is to interest rates: an index, updated every day, that tracked the cost of borrowing cash between the banks from 1986 until 2024.
Each day at 11am, 16 banks across London would answer a question: at what interest rate could they borrow money?
Before answering, traders on the banks’ cash desks would look at the range of interest rates at which other banks on the market were offering to lend cash, which normally differed from each other by just one or two hundredths of a percentage point (e.g. HSBC offering to lend funds at 3.14%, Bank of China at 3.16%, JP Morgan at 3.15%).
Each bank would then select a rate from that range of offers to submit as their answer.
An average would then be taken to get the official benchmark, Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate).
A similar process was used to get Euribor, the equivalent of Libor for euros.
The evidence against Hayes and Palombo were messages they had sent to the cash traders asking them to select a ‘high’ or ‘low’ rate from that range, depending on what might benefit their banks’ trades – which went up or down in value linked to Libor (or Euribor).
Their requests might make no difference to the average; or they might nudge it very slightly in their bank’s favour – up or down by no more than one eighth of one hundredth of a percentage point (0.00125%).
But it was seen as worth the effort of making the requests, which had been industry practice for years, in case it might help their bank make more money or lose less.
Prosecutors alleged Hayes was dishonestly seeking to manipulate the Libor rate to benefit the bank’s trading positions and therefore his bonuses while “cheating” others trading on the market, “motivated by pure greed”.
The SFO accused Palombo of being a “crook” and a “cheat” who had “left his moral compass at home”.
Julia Quenzler for BBC
A court drawing of Tom Hayes in 2015. Prosecutors alleged Hayes was dishonestly seeking to manipulate the Libor rate to benefit the bank’s trading positions
The traders protested that any potential gains to their bonuses from a nudge to Libor of a maximum 0.00125% were far too little to motivate a criminal conspiracy.
What they saw as the clerical task of choosing ‘high’ or ‘low’ rates based on the commercial interests of the bank – was merely what every bank had done since the 1980s, long before they started work.
But according to the SFO, it was interest rate “manipulation” that amounted to evidence of an international conspiracy to defraud.
At his 2015 trial, Hayes said he had not asked for any false answers to be given to the Libor question – but merely tried to ensure his bank selected a commercially advantageous rate from the range of accurate interest rates at which it could genuinely borrow.
But the judge, Mr Justice Jeremy Cooke, decided that any attempt to take into account commercial interests when submitting a Libor rate was “self-evidently” unlawful.
Sentencing Hayes to 14 years, he dismissed the argument that it was City practice.
“The fact that others were doing the same as you is no excuse, nor is the fact that your immediate managers saw the benefit of what you were doing and condoned and embraced it, if not encouraged it.[…] The conduct involved here must be marked out as dishonest and wrong and a message sent to the world of banking accordingly.”
The defendants say court rulings retrospectively criminalised not only their actions years before, but also those of senior bankers and civil servants, much higher up the financial pecking order, who had sought to influence Libor on a much greater scale.
Audio recordings, documents and data uncovered by the BBC indicate that in the 2008 financial crisis, governments and central banks from the Bank of England to the Banque de France and Banca d’Italia pressured banks to push Libor and Euribor down artificially in order to make real interest rates appear lower than they were and quell speculation about banks’ solvency – a highly commercial motive.
The difference, though, was that whereas the traders were asking for shifts of one hundredth of a percentage point, the central banks sought moves up to 50 times the size, giving rates that were obviously false, far away from the range of interest rates where cash was being borrowed or lent on the money markets.
In a BBC Radio 4 podcast series exposing the scandal, The Lowball Tapes, Palombo asks despairingly, “If that’s not criminal, how can I be a criminal?”
Reuters
Documents previously uncovered by the BBC indicate that in the 2008 crisis, the Bank of England pressured banks to push Libor and Euribor down artificially
Contemporary emails and phone transcripts, official interviews by the FBI and first-hand accounts of witnesses point to the involvement of top officials at Downing Street and the Treasury.
They were not shown to the juries at the traders’ trials.
Palombo describes his life since being prosecuted as a “Kafka nightmare” where he could barely understand the accusations made against him, with no sense of having done anything even vaguely wrong.
To him and to Hayes, one of the most serious implications is that what happened to them could happen to anyone in the workplace – to them, if normal commercial practice can be retroactively criminalised, no-one can be sure that the daily tasks they’re currently engaged in at work won’t, in years to come, be condemned and prosecuted.
The Treasury has said it did not seek to influence individual bank Libor submissions.
The Bank of England has said Libor was not regulated at the time. The Banque de France, Banca d’Italia and the Federal Reserve have declined to comment.
In the traders’ cases the Court of Appeal, led by judges including Lord Chief Justice John Thomas and Lord Justice Nigel Davis, blocked the path to the Supreme Court five times from 2015 to 2019.
In 2021, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) initially said it would turn down Hayes’s application.
But then in January 2022 a US appeal court fully acquitted two former Deutsche Bank traders, Matt Connolly and Gavin ******, saying prosecutors had failed to produce any evidence they had asked for false rates to be submitted at which their banks could not borrow.
Getty Images
The cases are being heard in the Supreme Court for the first time
All US convictions for ‘rigging’ Libor were subsequently thrown out.
The pair had initially been convicted in 2018 on similar charges to Hayes and Palombo.
The following year, the CCRC was persuaded to change its mind.
In 2024, Court of Appeal judges certified, for the first time in these cases, that there was a point of law of general public importance at stake, finally clearing the path to the Supreme Court.
Two months ago, the Supreme Court heard arguments that judges in the lower courts had told juries that Hayes and Palombo’s requests were wrong as a matter of law – when it should have been left as a matter of fact for the jury to decide.
The SFO told the court the defendants didn’t challenge the jury directions at the time.
Hayes and Palombo now await the Supreme Court’s judgement.
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DCE in line with Klein as skipper rubbishes subterfuge
DCE in line with Klein as skipper rubbishes subterfuge
Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans has slammed suggestions there was anything untoward about his recent friendly chat with State of Origin referee Ashley Klein.
The Maroons skipper has also poured cold water on claims that the playing group has an issue with Brisbane outside back Selwyn Cobbo, who was overlooked for selection for the Origin series opener at Suncorp Stadium.
A story in Nine Newspapers on Sunday contained an image of the Manly captain in conversation in the stands a fortnight ago at Brookvale Oval with Klein, who will take charge of the clash on Wednesday night.
NSW legend Ben Elias threw fuel on the fire by stating “it is that time of year again when Queensland start buttering up the referees”, implying the Maroons were trying to get some kind of competitive advantage.
“I’m not going to be able to remember the conversation exactly because I don’t remember it being nothing more than just a conversation,” Cherry-Evans said when asked about the chat.
“We have referees come out to our training sessions weekly at Manly. They are humans. They are people. They have families and more often than not we’re just talking about our kids and how much they are misbehaving.
“Read into it what you will, but there’s nothing really there for me. We are all human and like to talk about our problems. It’s just as simple as that really.”
The Maroons captain was asked if he had a good relationship with Klein.”I’d like to think I have a good relationship with all referees … respectful, empathetic for the way they have to sometimes play to the rules,” he said.
“I have a lot of respect and love for the referees. I don’t think I’ve had too many situations where I’ve crossed the line there.”That’s a weekly occurrence for us. If you come down to Manly training on any given week you will be able to snap me with the referees at training.”
The Maroons were also targeted by NSW subterfuge in last year’s series with claims that coach Billy Slater was not on good terms with Cobbo. He was not selected in game two after performing strongly in the win in game one.
Slater, who gave Cobbo his Origin debut in 2022, called such reports “fake news” at the time. Cobbo was recalled and played in the decider.
Cobbo, who has been playing fullback for the past month, injured his wrist in his last game for the Broncos against St George Illawarra and initial fears were that he had suffered a fracture.
He was cleared of any break after scans last Monday, well after the Maroons team had been named.
The Cobbo issue raised its head again when Cherry-Evans was asked on Sunday if the players had something “against Selwyn”.
That theory had been raised in Sydney last week, with the Maroons suspecting another attempted destabilisation tactic.
“Have you guys made it a thing, that we don’t like Selwyn? They are doing a great job of creating content, aren’t they. Good on them,” Cherry-Evans shot back.
“I have really enjoyed playing footy with Selwyn. He is a fantastic footy player and an even better person.
“It’s so ridiculous sometimes that we have to justify our relationship with people, especially someone as good-natured as Selwyn Cobbo. How and who picks the team, it’s got nothing to do with the players.
“It’s a selector and coach thing and we always back them to make the right decision.”
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Can Pope Leo remain a U.S. citizen now that he’s a foreign head of state?
Can Pope Leo remain a U.S. citizen now that he’s a foreign head of state?
Pope Leo XIV’s election as the first U.S.-born leader of the Catholic Church elevated him to the extremely rare, and legally thorny, position of being an American citizen who now is also a foreign head of state.
Born in Chicago as Robert Prevost in 1955, the new pope for the past decade has held dual citizenship in the U.S. and Peru, where he spent time as a missionary and bishop.
As pope, Leo serves as leader of both the Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church, and ******** City, an independent state.
Can the pope remain a U.S. citizen while leading a foreign government? Here are things to know about Leo’s citizenship.
Is the ******** considered a sovereign nation?
In addition to being the spiritual leader for what the church says is roughly 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, Leo is also the head of what’s recognized as the world’s smallest nation.
******** City covers just 0.17 square miles (0.44 square kilometers) and has a population of a few hundred people. It became an independent state in 1929 under a treaty between Italy and the Holy See.
Could Leo be stripped of his U.S. citizenship?
Americans working for foreign governments aren’t automatically at risk of forfeiting their U.S. citizenship.
But the U.S. State Department says on its website that it may “actively review” the citizenship status of Americans who “serve as a foreign head of state, foreign head of government, or foreign minister.”
“Such cases raise complex questions of international law, including issues related to the level of immunity from U.S. jurisdiction that the person so serving may be afforded,” the policy states.
The State Department declined to comment on the pope’s status. A spokesperson said the department doesn’t discuss the citizenship of individuals.
The core issue is whether foreign leaders should hold American citizenship when they also enjoy broad immunity from U.S. laws, said Peter Spiro, a Temple University law professor and an expert on citizenship law. Such immunity clashes with the constitutional principle that no U.S. citizen should be above the law.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1980 decision ruled that Americans can’t be stripped of their citizenship unless they intentionally renounce it.
“The State Department never assumes that you intend to lose your citizenship unless you specifically say so through the renunciation process,” Spiro said.
He said it would be hard to argue that Leo, by becoming pope, demonstrated an intent to give up being a U.S. citizen.
“I think it’s highly unlikely that the U.S. moves to terminate the pope’s citizenship,” Spiro said.
Can the pope remain a citizen of Peru?
Peruvian law has no conflict with Pope Leo remaining a citizen, said Jorge Puch, deputy director of registry archives at Peru’s National Registry of Identification and Civil Status.
Leo was granted Peruvian citizenship in August 2015, the month before Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Chiclayo in the South American country’s northern region. To qualify, he had to live in Peru for at least two years and pass a civics test.
“It is the most praiseworthy thing our beloved supreme pontiff could have done: Wanting to have Peruvian nationality without having been Peruvian by birth,” Puch said.
All adult Peruvians, including naturalized citizens, are required to vote in elections through age 69. Voting in Peru’s presidential election next April won’t be mandatory for Leo. He turns 70 in September.
Did prior popes retain citizenship in their home countries?
It’s not clear what happened to the citizenship status of Leo’s predecessors once they became pope. That’s not information the ******** discloses.
Pope Francis renewed his passport in his home country of Argentina in 2014, the year after he became pope. *******-born Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II, a native of Poland, never publicly relinquished citizenship in their home countries.
John Paul was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.
Margaret Susan Thompson, a Syracuse University history professor and expert on American Catholicism, said she doubts Leo would renounce his U.S. citizenship. But she believes the new pope was sending a message when he delivered his first speech in Italian and Spanish without using English.
“I think he wants to stress that he is the pope of the universal Catholic Church,” Thompson said, “and not an American holding that position.”
Have other US citizens served as leaders of a foreign government?
Yes. Here are a few notable examples.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was born in New York to British parents in 1964. He left the U.S. as a young boy and renounced his American citizenship in 2016 while serving as the U.K.’s foreign secretary. Johnson became prime minister three years later.
Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed was an American citizen when he was elected president of Somalia in 2017. Born in Somalia, he moved to the U.S. in 1985 and became a citizen in the 1990s. Mohamed gave up his U.S. citizenship two years into his presidency.
Valdas Adamkus became a U.S. citizen after his family fled Lithuania to escape Soviet occupation. He returned to win Lithuania’s presidency in 1998, years after the Soviet Union collapsed. He relinquished his American citizenship after being elected.
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Trump delays 50% tariffs on EU to July 9
Trump delays 50% tariffs on EU to July 9
President Donald Trump meets with European Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen at the World Economic Forum, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020, in Davos, Switzerland.
Evan Vucci | AP Photo
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he agreed to an extension on the 50% tariff deadline on the European Union until July 9.
“I received a call today from Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, requesting an extension on the June 1st deadline on the 50% Tariff with respect to Trade and the European Union,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“I agreed to the extension — July 9, 2025 — It was my privilege to do so,” he added.
Trump’s post came after Von der Leyen said that she had a “good call” with Trump, but needed until July 9 to “reach a good deal.”
“The EU and US share the world’s most consequential and close trade relationship,” she wrote on X.
“Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively,” she continued.
Read more CNBC politics coverage
Trump imposed 20% tariffs on the EU as part of his sweeping “reciprocal tariffs,” but slashed the rate down to 10% for 90 days.
But Trump last week suggested a “straight 50% tariff” on the EU, saying that the 27-nation bloc “has been very difficult to deal with.”
“Our discussions with them are going nowhere!” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social.
He later said that he was not planning to strike a deal with the EU before June 1, when the steep tariffs were initially set to go into effect.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
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'I am Roman,' Pope Leo says, as he becomes the bishop of Rome – NPR
'I am Roman,' Pope Leo says, as he becomes the bishop of Rome – NPR
‘I am Roman,’ Pope Leo says, as he becomes the bishop of Rome NPRView Full Coverage on Google News
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Smart planning needed and government incentives available to help you step into the property market
Smart planning needed and government incentives available to help you step into the property market
While strong price growth over the past couple of years has made buying your first home more challenging, Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) President Suzanne Brown said it was still achievable but might require some compromises.
“First homebuyers remain very active in the WA market, with data from the *********** Bureau of Statistics showing first-time homeowners made up 37.7 per cent of all owner-occupier loans in 2024,” she said.
“However, many have had to reassess their expectations, potentially shifting their focus from houses to more affordable options like units, villas or townhouses to get into the market.
“They’re also needing to broaden their search to suburbs further from the Perth CBD, where prices tend to be lower.
“Currently, suburbs in Perth’s south-east and south-west, along with Midland to the east, are the most affordable suburbs for houses.
“For people looking to be closer to the city, units in Wembley and Bayswater offer affordable opportunities.”
Ms Brown encouraged first homebuyers to do their research thoroughly and to not be deterred by median house prices when considering where to buy.
“It is important to remember the median is the middle, and 50 per cent of sales will be below this price,” she said.
“There will still be affordable options in many suburbs – it may just take time and patience to find them in some areas.
“If your preferred suburb is out of your price range, look at neighbouring areas, which are sometimes called bridesmaid suburbs.
“They will be close to the same amenities you find desirable but are usually more affordable.
“I also remind first homebuyers their first house is often a stepping stone along the homeownership path not the final destination.
“Buy what you can afford, pay down the mortgage, and build some equity and upgrade later.”
Ms Brown said saving a deposit was one of the greatest challenges facing first homebuyers, particularly in a climate of rising prices.
She encouraged them to start saving as soon as possible and to make use of government schemes to help them build a deposit and get a loan.
“The Federal Government’s first home super saver scheme lets first homebuyers save a deposit through their superannuation,” Ms Brown said.
“You can apply to withdraw a maximum of $15,000 of your voluntary superannuation contributions from any one financial year to buy your first home.
“Across all years, the maximum amount you can withdraw is $50,000 of personal contributions, plus earnings.
“First homebuyers should also know you don’t need to have a 20 per cent deposit to get a loan.
“However, if you have less than 20 per cent, you will have to pay lenders mortgage insurance (LMI).”
Ms Brown said there were further government schemes addressing this.
“Keystart is a State Government initiative allowing eligible buyers to get a loan with as little as a two per cent deposit and pay no LMI,” she said.
“The Federal Government’s First Home Guarantee scheme allows eligible buyers to access a loan with a five per cent deposit.
“The government guarantees the remaining 15 per cent, negating the requirement for LMI.
“The Federal Government is also expected to launch its Help to Buy shared equity scheme later this year.
“It will allow buyers to benefit from a smaller mortgage and lower repayments, with the government taking an equity share of up to 40 per cent of the purchase price of new homes and 30 per cent of the purchase price of existing homes.”
Ms Brown said there were several other grants and measures, which could help first homebuyers get their foot on the property ladder.
“If you buy or build a new home, you may be eligible for the $10,000 First Home Owner Grant,” she said.
“First homebuyers may also qualify for a $2000 grant from the Home Buyer Assistance Account to help with the incidental costs of buying a home such as settlement fees.
“Stamp duty is another major challenge facing homebuyers, as it is an additional cost on top of saving for a deposit.”
According to Ms Brown, earlier this year, 63 per cent of 15,000 respondents to a Housing Issues Survey on reiwa.com agreed stamp duty was a significant barrier to homeownership in WA.
“There are stamp duty concessions to help address this,” she said.
“If first homebuyers buy a home valued at $500,000 or less, they will pay no stamp duty, saving up to $18,000.
“They will pay a concessional rate on purchases valued up to $700,000 in the Perth metropolitan area and Peel region or up to $750,000 outside of these areas.
“REIWA has been advocating for these thresholds to be lifted for some time, and we were pleased when the State Government announced an increase in March.
“However, rising prices mean these changes could quickly become redundant.
“We would like the State Government to go a step further and link the thresholds to REIWA’s median ***** prices – as Keystart has done for its products – so they can move with the market and remain accessible to as many first homebuyers as possible.”
Ms Brown offered some additional tips for first homebuyers.
“Visit a mortgage broker to get an accurate idea of how much you can borrow,” she said.
“Get your finance pre-approved and speak to the selling agent about what you can do to strengthen your offer.
“Consider using a buyer’s agent and, lastly, leave plenty of time for settlement.”
reiwa.com is the home of Western *********** real estate, representing more than 1350 member agencies or 90 per cent of the sector. With more than 100 years of industry leadership and local knowledge, it is uniquely placed to provide in-depth market intelligence free of charge.
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After 5 Years of Holding, Here’s Why I Reluctantly Just Sold These 2 Stocks (and What I’m Looking for Now)
After 5 Years of Holding, Here’s Why I Reluctantly Just Sold These 2 Stocks (and What I’m Looking for Now)
Block isn’t the same company that I invested in back in 2020, making me uneasy about its long-term vision.
Pinterest is growing but it’s not growing the way I had hoped it would, making me think it’s time to move on.
Wingstop and Comfort Systems differ greatly from each other but share some of the characteristics I’m looking for in future investments.
10 stocks we like better than Block ›
In 2020, I had a special year as an investor. My retirement account with my employer previously had money invested in target funds — investment vehicles with a retirement date in mind. I didn’t have a choice. But after leaving that job in late 2019, I rolled my account into an individual retirement account (IRA), giving me total control over the cash value of the account.
I wasted no time in putting the cash to use, diversifying my portfolio into individual stocks that I believed in for the long haul, including some stocks I still own such as Floor & Decor and Five Below.
Also among my 2020 investments were financial technology (fintech) company Block (NYSE: XYZ) and image-browsing platform Pinterest (NYSE: PINS). But after holding this pair for five years, I’ve finally, and reluctantly, decided to sell both.
Image source: Getty Images.
A sell decision is never easy and every investor will have unique things to consider. But allow me to explain why I sold Block stock and Pinterest stock. And allow me to also explain how I’ve changed when it comes to knowing what I’m looking for.
When I first purchased shares of this company in early 2020, it had a different name and a different ticker symbol. Changing its name from Square to Block in 2021 and changing its ticker symbol from “SQ” to “XYZ” earlier this year aren’t necessarily problems. But it reflects the reality that this is a vastly different business today than the one I invested in back in 2020.
When I purchased Block stock, I had a clear understanding of the investment thesis — why I believed it would go up in value. The company had a strong merchant business but it also had a fast-growing consumer business with its Cash App. Having fintech for both merchants and consumers seemed like a powerful combination and something that I believed would stimulate growth and profits long term.
This is still true for Block. However, the company now has business segments for buy now, pay later with Afterpay, music with Tidal, and cryptocurrency with Bitkey. I’m now uneasy about the company’s vision. And with Bitkey specifically, I can’t see how it moves the needle with the business. But it does take away resources and it divides managerial attention.
When buying stocks, it’s important to look for growth and Block has delivered for me in that regard. That said, it’s acquired other companies and used stock-based compensation, which has diluted shareholders. So while its 300% revenue growth over the last five years looks impressive, the revenue growth per share is much lower. This partly helps explain why this investment underperformed the S&P 500 during my holding ******* in spite of its robust growth.
XYZ Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts
To recap, I sold Block stock because I no longer believe in the company’s long-term vision and I’m not a fan of how my shares have been diluted. Pinterest is a different story. Yes, there has been some dilution due to stock-based compensation. But in this case, I’m disappointed with its growth relative to its potential.
When I bought Pinterest stock, I called it an exponential growth opportunity. The user base was relatively small and under-monetized. By growing the user base and increasing its monetization, I believed this stock would shock investors. But I’m the one who’s been shocked by how hard it’s been to live up to its potential.
At the end of 2019, Pinterest had 335 million monthly active users and it generated revenue of $1.22 per user in the fourth quarter of that year. Fast-forward to the end of 2024, and Pinterest had 553 million monthly active users and generated revenue of $2.12.
Pinterest, therefore, has grown. Its user base was up 65% over five years and its monetization was up 73%, meaning its revenue has roughly tripled. However, I expected more with its monetization efforts. And what concerns me from here is its tendency to be slowed down by headwinds.
In the first quarter of 2025, Pinterest’s pricing for advertisements plunged 22% year over year. The company’s revenue still grew because it increased ad impressions by a whopping 49%. To me, growing revenue this way risks over-saturating the platform with ads, which could be counter-productive in the long term. But the more troubling issue is that some advertising businesses have improved pricing in spite of economic headwinds whereas Pinterest has often come up short.
Don’t get me wrong, either Pinterest or Block could still be a great long-term investment. But after holding for five years, I have concerns about the next five years and decided it was time for me to move on.
In short, after analyzing my underwhelming investments in Block and Pinterest, I have a greater appreciation for growth companies that can push past headwinds, deliver consistent and sustainable profits, and don’t dilute shareholders. Two companies that are doing this better than most are Wingstop (NASDAQ: WING) and Comfort Systems USA (NYSE: FIX).
For starters, both of these companies have above-average growth but each one has also bought back stock to reduce its share count over the last five years, as seen below.
WING Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts
For Wingstop, it’s on a stunning 21-consecutive-year streak of growing its same-store sales — that’s some consistency in spite of the ups and downs in the economy during that time. It has nearly 2,700 locations but intends to more than double this long term, presenting an ongoing growth opportunity. And as a mostly franchised business, it’s consistently profitable and is generous in rewarding shareholders. These factors are a huge reason why Wingstop stock is up 164% over the last five years.
For Comfort Systems stock, it’s up a far more impressive 1,300% over the last five years thanks to some important growth trends. The company’s air conditioning and electrical services are benefiting from a surge in spending for data centers to support artificial intelligence. It’s a case in which a legacy, profitable business suddenly enjoys a boost from new technology. And its growing backlog of nearly $7 billion points to strong financial results in upcoming years.
In closing, Wingstop and Comfort Systems have demonstrated dependability through economic cycles, have large runways for growth, and have strong profits that are used to reward shareholders. That’s what I’m looking for more than ever and both of these stocks are on my list of stocks that I could buy in the near future.
These things have always been on my investing radar to an extent. But my underperforming investments in Block and Pinterest have renewed my focus on the things that create long-term shareholder value. From this perspective, these two investments weren’t a total loss. Hopefully they’ve prepared me to be a better investor today compared to the investor I was yesterday.
Before you buy stock in Block, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Block wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $639,271!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $804,688!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 957% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 167% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
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*Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025
Jon Quast has positions in Five Below and Floor & Decor. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Block, Comfort Systems Usa, and Pinterest. The Motley Fool recommends Five Below and Wingstop. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
After 5 Years of Holding, Here’s Why I Reluctantly Just Sold These 2 Stocks (and What I’m Looking for Now) was originally published by The Motley Fool
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EU urges Trump to return to 90-day trade negotiation ******* – Financial Times
EU urges Trump to return to 90-day trade negotiation ******* – Financial Times
EU urges Trump to return to 90-day trade negotiation ******* Financial TimesTrump delays 50% tariffs on EU to July 9 CNBCEU needs until 9 July for US trade talks, chief says BBCTrump Extends Deadline for 50% Tariffs on EU to July 9 BloombergEU seeks to lower Trump trade tensions The Hill
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Pheobe Bishop: Brother’s heartbreaking question for missing teen as search enters 11th day
Pheobe Bishop: Brother’s heartbreaking question for missing teen as search enters 11th day
The mother of missing teenager Pheobe Bishop has issued another heartbreaking message to her daughter, who has been missing for 11 days.
The 17-year-old was last seen 11 days ago after she was due to fly from Bundaberg to Brisbane before travelling to Western Australia to see a friend on May 15.
However, she failed to board the plane and hasn’t been seen for 11 days.
Camera IconPheobe Bishop disappeared without a trace on May 15. Facebook Credit: SuppliedCamera IconThe teenager was supposed to fly to Brisbane but failed to board the plane. Credit: News Corp Australia
In a social media post, Kylie Johnson, the teenager’s mum, said not knowing what had happened to her daughter was causing them to live in a “cyclone of uncertainty”.
“As we enter day 11 of Pheobe still not being home our numbness to our tears, to our hearts breaking and this hell is heavy,” she said on Monday morning.
“Not knowing what to say, what to do or even how to continue to live in this cyclone of uncertainty.
“The tears come, the anger and frustrations come and most of all our hearts are shattering more and more each day.”
Ms Johnson recalled how Pheobe’s disappearance affected her younger brother, sharing images of the siblings together.
“Your little man/brother asked yesterday ‘Why won’t Phee take our calls? She always takes our calls!’” she wrote.
“Mate I wish I knew but we have to believe that the police and the lights that our amazing community are leaving on will going to bring her home to us.”
For the past two days, police have been searching the bushland within the Good Night Scrub National Park, south of **** ****.
Cadaver dogs, which are specially trained to locate human remains, were introduced to the investigation on Sunday,
On Saturday, Ms Johnson deliver another impassioned plea for her daughter’s safe return.
“Another day and minimal answers … Phee still isn’t home and someone somewhere has to know something,” she posted to Facebook.
“I’m absolutely begging anyone with any information to contact the Queensland Police Service.
“It could be the smallest of details, you might even think it’s irrelevant information but it could be the key to bringing Pheobe home.
“Thank you to our family, friends and community! Your thoughts love, respect and kindness are appreciated more than you could know or imagine.”
Camera IconPheobe’s mother Kylie Johnson posted this photo to her Facebook page on Saturday morning. Facebook Credit: Supplied
In a statement released with Queensland Police on Saturday, Ms Johnson described her daughter as a “wild Gypsy banshee” who “has always been strong willed and followed her own beat to life”.
“I’ve always called her my ‘Wild Gypsy Banshee’,” Ms Johnson said.
“I’ve told everyone since Phee’s birth that she’s the one I always expected to call me from overseas saying, ‘Hey Mumzie mate; I’m in Amsterdam and checking in’.
“You can’t tame Phee’s spirit, empathy or fight for life. She is sassy, feisty and loves harder than anyone I’ve ever met.
“Phee loves beyond comprehension and is loyal to her siblings.
“Phee just loved life; music blaring, she’d say, ‘come on Mumzie, let’s dance’.”
Camera IconHomicide detectives and the dive squad are searching for the missing teenager. Paul Beutel/ NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia
Ms Johnson urged the teenager to return home.
“We need her home,’ she said.
“We need to hear her music, feel her hugs and hear her voice.”
Pheobe is described as about 180cm tall, with a pale complexion, long dyed red hair and hazel eyes.
Police are urging anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers, including any movement in the Good Night Scrub area on May 15, particularly in the Mingo Rd and Gayndah Rd areas.
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3 High-Yield Dividend Stocks to Buy Right Now to Boost Your Passive Income
3 High-Yield Dividend Stocks to Buy Right Now to Boost Your Passive Income
Buy Dominion Energy for the 4.8% yield; keep it for the unfolding turnaround.
Western Midstream Partners pays a monster cash distribution.
The recent drop in Chevron’s stock price is a solid buy opportunity.
10 stocks we like better than Dominion Energy ›
Buying dividend stocks is one of many ways to generate passive income. Many companies offer attractive yields that are much higher than the S&P 500’s average, which is currently below 1.5%.
Dominion Energy (NYSE: D), Western Midstream Partners (NYSE: WES), and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) stand out to a few Fool.com contributors for their higher dividend yields. Here’s why they believe these stocks are great options for those seeking ways to boost their passive income.
Image source: Getty Images.
Reuben Gregg Brewer (Dominion Energy): Some turnarounds are very risky, with companies working back from the brink of financial disaster. Then there are the turnarounds like the one Dominion Energy is undertaking. Dominion is basically a well-run utility that got over its skis because of an overly complicated business model.
It has been slimming down by selling assets such as pipelines and natural gas utilities. Now it is largely just a regulated electric utility operating in attractive regions. That makes the 4.8% yield on offer fairly attractive, noting that the average utility yields only around 2.9%.
Investors can buy for the yield, with management stating clearly that the dividend is safe at current levels as the turnaround progresses. What the dividend isn’t doing, however, is growing. That will be a problem for some income-focused investors and really highlights the current turnaround effort.
D data by YCharts. EBITDA = earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. TTM = trailing 12 months.
Dominion is currently working on strengthening its financial position and trimming its payout ratio so that it’s more in line with industry peers. Essentially, the heavy lifting here is on the balance sheet. Progress is being made, but it will probably take at least another few years before dividends are reliably growing again because the payout ratio remains elevated. But with earnings projected to grow between 5% and 7% a year, that, too, will change for the better in time.
A payout ratio below 70% will likely be a major dividend turning point. Meanwhile, while you wait for dividend growth to resume, you get to collect that well-above-average yield, which seems like a reasonable trade-off.
Matt DiLallo (Western Midstream Partners): Western Midstream Partners is a master limited partnership (MLP) that owns and operates midstream assets that gather, process, and transport oil and natural gas for energy companies, including its parent company, Occidental Petroleum. Most of its assets generate stable fee-based cash flows, which support a cash distribution that yields nearly 9.5%.
Story Continues
More often than not, a payout approaching 10% is a red flag. However, that’s not the case with Western Midstream Partners. The MLP expects to produce $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion in free cash flow this year. That’s enough money to cover its lucrative distribution and planned capital expenditures to maintain and grow its business with room to spare.
Meanwhile, the company has a strong balance sheet, with its leverage ratio currently below its 3.0 times target. That gives it ample financial flexibility to make bolt-on acquisitions and approve additional growth capital projects as opportunities arise. It’s targeting organic investments that deliver mid-teens returns and acquisitions that enhance its asset footprint.
Western Midstream’s growth investments and financial flexibility fuel its view that it can grow its already monster distribution at a low- to mid-single-digit rate in the future. It recently hiked its payout by 4%. The company’s high-yielding and growing distribution can boost your passive income as long as you’re comfortable with receiving the Schedule K-1 federal tax form that the MLP sends its investors each year.
Neha Chamaria (Chevron): With lower oil prices triggering a sell-off in oil stocks, shares of Chevron have slumped nearly 20% over the past month and a half as of this writing. The drop has pushed the oil stock’s yield to 5%, making it an attractive dividend stock to buy now for years of passive income.
Chevron has been an incredible dividend stock when it comes to stability and dividend growth. It has increased its dividend for 38 consecutive years, including a 5% hike earlier this year. Chevron is on solid footing right now and should be able to continue its dividend increase streak for years to come. In 2024, the oil major returned a record $27 billion in cash to shareholders, including $11.8 billion in dividends.
Chevron expects to grow production by a compound annual rate of 6% through 2026 and could generate $9 billion in incremental free cash flow between 2024 and 2026 at a Brent crude oil price of $60 per barrel. Its cash flows could grow faster if Chevron wins the ongoing arbitration proceedings and acquires Hess to gain a stake in Guyana’s oil-rich Stabroek Block. All that excess cash, with or without the Hess acquisition, should mean ******* dividends for Chevron shareholders. That makes Chevron a highly reliable, high-yield dividend stock to buy now.
Before you buy stock in Dominion Energy, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Dominion Energy wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $639,271!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $804,688!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 957% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 167% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025
Matt DiLallo has positions in Chevron. Neha Chamaria has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Reuben Gregg Brewer has positions in Dominion Energy. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Chevron. The Motley Fool recommends Dominion Energy and Occidental Petroleum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
3 High-Yield Dividend Stocks to Buy Right Now to Boost Your Passive Income was originally published by The Motley Fool
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Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds Results, Stats, and Recap – May 25, 2025 Gametracker – CBS Sports
Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds Results, Stats, and Recap – May 25, 2025 Gametracker – CBS Sports
Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds Results, Stats, and Recap – May 25, 2025 Gametracker CBS SportsSuzuki’s 3-run blast caps Cubs rally from 5 runs down to top Reds MLB.comSeiya Suzuki and Reese McGuire homer in the 8th to rally Cubs to victory over Reds CBS NewsCubs 11, Reds 8: Reese McGuire and the comeback Cubs do it again Bleed Cubbie BlueReese McGuire’s storybook two-homer game powers Cubs’ comeback win Marquee Sports Network
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Election autopsy sparks new mutiny within WA Liberal party
Election autopsy sparks new mutiny within WA Liberal party
Failed Curtin candidate Tom White has launched a bid to lead the WA Liberal party’s resurrection that sent shockwaves through senior party ranks, it can be revealed.
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New RCAF plane completes 1st operational parachute rescue deep in B.C. mountains
New RCAF plane completes 1st operational parachute rescue deep in B.C. mountains
Members of the Royal ********* Air Force are celebrating the successful rescue of a pilot who crashed deep in the mountains north of Prince George, B.C.
The mission involved Canada’s newest fixed-wing search-and-rescue aircraft. The CC-295 Kingfisher carried out its first operational parachute jump on Wednesday after only three weeks on the job.
The air force says the Kingfisher, which is based out of ********* Forces Base Comox on Vancouver Island, is specifically designed for search-and-rescue operations, and comes equipped with sensors that allow crews to locate people or objects from more than 40 kilometres away, even in low-light conditions.
“The modernization on this plane is night and day compared to what we used to fly previously,” said Capt. Greg Harris, who piloted the Kingfisher during the mission.
The CC-295 Kingfisher search-and-rescue plane based at Comox Air Force Base entered operational service on May 1. Crews successfully executed the aircraft’s first operational parachute jump on Wednesday. (Airbus/Handout)
The aircraft officially went into operation on May 1, Harris said, and completed its first operational jump Wednesday to help save a civilian pilot who had crashed near Mount Kinney.
Harris said the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria notified them at around 1:30 p.m. of a spot beacon being activated by a single-passenger airplane, indicating a ******.
An RCMP helicopter reached the ****** site, approximately 130 kilometres northeast of Prince George, and recovered the injured pilot.
Search-and-rescue technicians then parachuted out of the Kingfisher, approximately 10 kilometres south of where the plane crashed, and established a temporary care site.
RCMP then took the injured pilot to the SAR technicians. They stabilized the patient, who was then picked up by a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter and flown to Prince George for treatment.
‘Ended up being pretty challenging’
Harris credited his colleagues for handling challenging terrain and bad weather.
“You never know what you’re going to get, and it’s never simple,” he said. “There’s always variables that come up that you weren’t thinking were going to come up. So it ended up being pretty challenging.”
Master Cpl. Alain Goguen was among the SAR technicians who parachuted out of the plane carrying medical equipment and other gear.
Goguen said the technology on the Kingfisher helped them assess where they were going to land, saving them precious minutes in a mission where time was of the essence.
Harris said with stormy weather looming, they were minutes away from not being able to have the SAR technicians jump, and the injured pilot would have had to wait “a substantial time.”
He said he and his colleagues were thrilled to play a role in getting the pilot to safety, working closely with RCMP and the crew of the CH-149 Cormorant. He added that the mission allowed them to test their new aircraft in a real-life situation.
“A lot of time these situations where airplanes crashed, the outcome is often not a good one, so the fact that the first operational jump of the Kingfisher was so successful and the outcome was so positive, it led to a pretty jubilant base here,” Harris said.
Goguen described the rescue in more straightforward terms.
“That’s what we trained for, so that’s what we did. And things worked out.”
LISTEN | Harris and Goguen describe their mission:
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2025 Charles Schwab Challenge leaderboard live updates: Golf scores, coverage in Round 4 at Colonial – CBS Sports
2025 Charles Schwab Challenge leaderboard live updates: Golf scores, coverage in Round 4 at Colonial – CBS Sports
2025 Charles Schwab Challenge leaderboard live updates: Golf scores, coverage in Round 4 at Colonial CBS SportsScheffler 6 shots away from leaders at Colonial ESPNCharles Schwab Challenge purse, payout: Prize money breakdown, PGA Tour winner USA Today2 leaders set to ‘duel’ for breakthrough win on Sunday at Charles Schwab GOLF.comSurging Matti Schmid, Ben Griffin keep strong battle going into final round at Colonial PGA Tour
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Newcastle: ‘Now Isak has the stage he craves as Magpies secure golden ticket’
Newcastle: ‘Now Isak has the stage he craves as Magpies secure golden ticket’
Despite the anti-climax of this performance, it capped a superb season for Newcastle and their inspirational manager Howe.
The start to their campaign was overshadowed by financial uncertainly as Howe became a reluctant seller to avoid the club breaking profit and sustainability rules. It has ended in glory, with the estimated £100m riches of the Champions League flooding into the coffers.
The notion of Newcastle winning silverware and qualifying for the Champions League seemed a distant prospect during those troubled times.
A transfer of England forward Anthony Gordon to Liverpool was considered, while there was a concern a £100m buy-out clause for Brazil midfield man Bruno Guimaraes might also be activated.
No offer came from Anfield for boyhood Liverpool fan Gordon, nor for Guimaraes, so it was talented young duo Yankuba Minteh and Elliott Anderson who were sacrificed to Brighton and Nottingham Forest respectively.
To add to Howe’s frustration, the summer-long pursuit of Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi also ended in failure, with no deal done and the England defender remaining at Selhurst Park.
Howe, though, managed the instability superbly, recovering from an indifferent start to lead his side to that long-awaited trophy, then changing the club’s landscape even further by taking them back into the Champions League.
It has been a remarkable piece of management, clearing away any clouds of uncertainty still lingering at St James’ Park.
And Howe sounded in the mood to move Newcastle forward in a significant manner when he discussed this summer’s transfer business.
“Yes, it is going to be a big transfer window,” he said. “It’s difficult to say on numbers, but I do think it’s a window that we have to be active in and I’m sure we will be.
“The power of the Champions League and the pull of the Champions League is huge and we can’t get away from that, the excitement that this will bring for the people here.
“And of course it’s a selling point for us now, it’s an opportunity for us to sell that dream to future players that might be considering coming to us.
Newcastle’s resolve – which in their defence has never wavered – to keep outstanding striker Alexander Isak may just have been tested had they failed to finish in the top five. Now the Swede has the stage he craves, and which his ability deserves. Talk of a new contract will replace any speculation about a departure.
The same will apply to coveted, and influential, midfield duo Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali.
Jacob Murphy, at 30, finally fulfilled the potential Howe believed he had with eight goals and 12 assists in 30 Premier League games, while Isak, inevitably, was the spearhead with 23 goals and adding six assists in 34 league appearances.
At the heart of it all is Howe, whose legendary status on Tyneside has been cemented even further by this landmark and memorable campaign.
He believes Newcastle will be in better shape following their last Champions League appearance during the 2023-24 campaign, when they had an outstanding 4-1 home win over French champions Paris St-Germain but failed to reach the knockout phase.
“The experience we had there the first time will help us no end, I think,” admitted Howe.
“We felt we grew through the competition, so I think we are stronger. I think we are better prepared both physically and mentally for the competition ahead.”
Newcastle have already had one big parade and party for the Carabao Cup success. The celebrations on Sunday may not reach those heights, but the significance of what has been achieved, albeit with their season ending in defeat, cannot be underestimated.
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