US Marine Corps amphibious combat vehicles conduct open water transit during Exercise Balikatan 24 in Palawan, Philippines.
US Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Peyton Kahle
The US Marines' new amphibious combat vehicle made its first overseas deployment in the Philippines.
US and Philippine troops conducted drills in the South China Sea to strengthen security in the region.
The service temporarily suspended ACV operations following multiple rollovers in 2022.
The Marine Corps' new amphibious combat vehicle, or ACV, debuted in the Philippines as part of its first overseas deployment after more than a year-and-a-half of limited operations.
Marines aboard ACVs launched from amphibious ships in the Pacific on Saturday to conduct live-fire training in the Philippines, the service said in a statement. The Marine unit involved in the training was the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU, a unit out of Camp Pendleton, California, which deployed this spring for partner exercises across the Pacific.
The ACV was involved in multiple rollovers in 2022, which did not result in any injuries or deaths then, but the Corps temporarily pulled the vehicles from service to better train Marines in operating them. Amid the preparation for its deployment to the Pacific this year, a Marine was killed in an on-land ACV rollover incident in December.
"The hard work and dedication of our Marines is what made today's training successful," Col. Sean Dynan, commanding officer of the 15th MEU, said in a statement Saturday. "Today's training is a proof of concept across the Marine Corps for successful ACV employment in its intended environment."
A US Marine Corps amphibious combat vehicle splashes off the amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) during Exercise Balikatan 24 in Palawan, Philippines.
US Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Peyton Kahle
The deployment of the vehicle occurred during Exercise Balikatan '24, which involved US training with the Philippine military meant to build the partnership and counter Chinese influence in the region.
A platoon of ACV Marines left the USS Harpers Ferry and attacked targets along the shore of Oyster Bay, Philippines, with MK19 grenade launchers. After wrapping up the attack, the ACVs reembarked aboard the Harpers Ferry.
In 2022, the vehicle rolled over twice on land, which prompted the Marine Corps to pull the ACV from surf operations while it recertified crews to operate it. Late last year, a Marine with the 15th MEU, Sgt. Matthew Bylski, died after the vehicle rolled over on land during an exercise to prepare for the unit's current deployment.
The following month, after the Corps said it had recertify its crews, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Chris Mahoney, announced that the ACV was again operating in the surf and the 15th MEU would be deploying with them to the Pacific.
US Marine Corps amphibious combat vehicles conduct a towing exercise during Exercise Balikatan 24 in Palawan, Philippines.
US Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Peyton Kahle
The new ACVs can deploy from amphibious ships, travel across the water and take beachheads. It replaced a decades-old platform that had a troubled history, including a 2020 incident thatresulted in the deaths of eight Marines and one sailor.
That vehicle, called the amphibious assault vehicle, or AAV, had been used since the 1970s. It was lighter and had tracks, different from the wheeled ACV, which weighs roughly 70,000 pounds when fully loaded.
The 15th MEU is deployed as part of the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, or ARG, which includes the Harpers Ferry and USS Somerset.
Part of the 15th MEU's deployment in April was met with trouble due to the readiness of the USS Boxer, the ARG's namesake. After suffering engineering issues, the Boxer returned to San Diego, causing Marines and sailors to be offloaded so repairs could be made.
If you are looking for an easy way to invest your hard-earned money, then exchange traded funds (ETFs)Â could be the answer.
Especially if you’re just wanting to take a set and forget or buy and hold approach to investing.
This is because ASX ETFs allow investors to buy large groups of companies in one fell swoop.
This means you don’t have to pick individual stocks to buy, nor do you really need to keep a close eye on the companies you’re invested in. You can just put your money to work and watch your investments grow.
But which ASX ETFs could be quality options for investors looking to make buy and hold investments? Let’s take a look at two:
When investing for the long term, it is never a bad idea to invest in the highest quality companies the world has to offer.
The BetaShares NASDAQ 100 ETF certainly ticks this box. It provides investors with access to 100 of the largest non-financial companies on the famous NASDAQ index. These are the giants of Wall Street (and the world) and include iPhone maker Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Facebook and Instagram owner Meta (NASDAQ: META), software giant Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), graphics card behemoth Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), and electric vehicle leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA).
Over the last 10 years, the index this ETF tracks has delivered investors a stunning average total return of 22.25% per annum. This would have turned a $10,000 investment into almost $75,000.
This fund has a focus on companies that are deemed to have sustainable competitive advantages (wide moats) and fair valuations.
These are the qualities that the king of buy and hold investing, Warren Buffett, looks for when he is making investments for Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B).
And given how the Oracle of Omaha has consistently outperformed the market since all the way back in 1965, I think it is fair to say that a focus on companies with wide moats and fair valuations has its merits.
The companies that the fund invests in will change periodically. But at present it includes tobacco giant Altria Group Inc (NYSE: MO), food company Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB), beauty products company Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL), sportswear leader Nike (NYSE: NKE), and entertainment juggernaut Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS).
Over the past 10 years, the index the fund tracks has generated an average total return of 17.1% per annum. This would have turned a $10,000 investment into over $48,000.
Wondering where you should invest $1,000 right now?
When investing expert Scott Phillips has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the flagship Motley Fool Share Advisor newsletter he has run for over ten years has provided thousands of paying members with stock picks that have doubled, tripled or even more.*
Scott just revealed what he believes could be the ‘five best ASX stocks’ for investors to buy right now. We believe these stocks are trading at attractive prices and Scott thinks they could be great buys right now…
Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nike, Nvidia, Tesla, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long January 2025 $47.50 calls on Nike, long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft, and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended BetaShares Nasdaq 100 ETF. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nike, Nvidia, VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
Cybertruck owner Joseph Fay injured his finger after deliberately allowing the frunk to close on his finger.
Joseph Fay
A Tesla owner posted a video trying out the new Cybertruck frunk update by closing it on his finger.
The experiment led to his finger getting hurt and ending up in a splint.
The video follows a trend of testing the frunk's safety by closing it on body parts, which isn't advisable.
Tesla owner Joseph Fay said the trend of sticking body parts in the Cyberfrunk frunk to test if it'll close on them needs to end, following an experiment that left his finger in a splint.
Fay stitched a video of a Cybertruck owner closing the frunk on his finger and initially tried out the trend himself prior to the update, which was said to improve the sensor. He placed his arm, hand, and finally finger in the frunk. The frunk left him sore the first time but didn't make a major impact, he said.
After receiving comments that he pointed his finger upward, which may have prevented the frunk from crushing it, Fay said he decided to retry the video with the new update.
Fay was heard struggling in the video and yelling "ow" as he tried to remove his finger from the frunk. The next shot in the video showed him with a splint on his finger. He said the whole trend of sticking body parts inside Tesla's frunk should stop.
"We can kind of cancel that now," Fay said in the video. "I think we can end that. Big thumbs down."
Fay told BI he didn't go to the doctor after he hurt his finger, but he probably should have. He said a previous video showing the wound was removed by TikTok. Business Insider viewed two videos that showed the injured finger, including one with a clear opening in the skin that appeared to extend down to his tendon. In the current version, viewers can see a less graphic version of a deep dent on both sides of his finger.
"The first couple days, I couldn't move my finger at all and I had it in that splint," Fay told BI. "The past couple days, I've had it out and could move it around but it's very tender."
The original video came from Tesla vlogger Jeremy Judkins, who tested out the new Cybertruck update by closing the frunk on his finger, leaving it with a dent and a small skin tear. Others have since tried out the experiment, with one user testing it with a pinky.
Fay said he didn't realize there was an algorithm that made the frunk close harder when it senses resistance. The Cybertruck owner said he closed the frunk on multiple items off-camera before eventually trying his finger.
"Unfortunately when I tried my finger, it was at max strength," Fay said.
"It got a lot of views and earned a little bit of money," Fay said. "But at the sacrifice of my finger, no I am not glad I did it."
Judkins, whose video of the finger test initially went viral, told BI he didn't mean to start a trend and made the original video as a "little experiment." While the update made it safer, Judkins concluded in his video that it still wasn't fully safe for a finger — and abstained from trying it again.
Tesla has a warning in the owner's manual that says to "use caution around the panel edges on Cybertruck," including the powered frunk. The manual states "neglecting to follow the correct opening procedure for front and rear doors can lead to injury."
An ayahuasca-inspired commencement speech didn't go too well at Ohio State University.
Alum and jewelry entrepreneur Chris Pan lauded bitcoin and sang songs. He got booed.
Pan said he was surprised by the hate and wants to talk to his critics.
A commencement address at Ohio State University (OSU) over the weekend took a wild detour.
Speaker Christopher Pan lauded the benefits of bitcoin — prompting groans and boos from the college students gathered in the stadium.
But Pan tells Business Insider he was surprised and pained that his well-intentioned speech became overshadowed by a "bitcoin rabbit hole," and that he's talking with angry detractors on social media in order to grow from the experience.
During his remarks on Sunday, Pan — an OSU grad who founded the inspirational jewelry brand MyIntent — called the cryptocurrency "a very misunderstood asset class," as the audience booed, according to a video posted on Reddit.
The boos could even be heard on the school's livestream of the speech, which featured Pan putting up a slide comparing bitcoin's value to that of a home.
He then did a magic trick on stage — calling up the university's president and turning quarters into a golden physical bitcoin.
He then tried to lead sing-a-longs and sang "What's Going On?" by the 4 Non Blondes and "This Little Light of Mine."
During the speech, he promised audience members free bracelets from MyIntent as an apology for the bitcoin remarks.
It was an unconventional address, to say the least.
"Would I have done it differently knowing what I know now? Yeah."
Before the commencement, Pan wrote on LinkedIn that he'd taken ayahuasca to help prepare the speech.
Pan told BI that he's been working with ayahuasca since 2019 to heal lifelong bullying. OSU even operates a psychedelic research center, he noted.
He also told BI that he'd always intended to donate the bracelets, which he said cost his company $250,000.
The taunts in and out of the stadium were painful, he told BI.
"Have you ever been booed by 70,000 people? It fucking hurt," Pan said. "I've never experienced this much hate in my life."
He said he only brought bitcoin up to underscore the importance of investing, having gotten into the cryptocurrency himself three months ago.
Still, bitcoin supporters have been cheering him online, and Pan said he thinks the hate was coming from a "vocal minority."
"I came in heart wide open," he said. "I came in wanting to really give the best I could to this community."
In the aftermath of the speech, Pan said he is communicating with angry commenters, while also feeling grateful for support during a difficult time.
He's working on a letter to students and parents to bring whatever resolution he can.
"Do I stand by the speech? A hundred percent because it's my truth," he said. "Would I have done it differently knowing what I know now? Yeah. I would've reshaped it to make it more of a traditional experience."
By Allison McLellan, Indeed senior content writer, employer content marketing
A staggering 99% of 300 US hiring managers say sourcing qualified talent is a challenge, according to a recent Indeed-commissioned survey with Harris Poll1, and over half of them have seen reductions in their recruiting personnel. With Indeed's new AI-powered Smart Sourcing tool, hiring managers can automatically receive a list of quality candidates who match the requirements of a job description.
Building on the Indeed Resume tool, which allows recruiters to search the 245 million resumes on Indeed, Smart Sourcing uses AI-powered algorithms to match active candidates to open roles, cutting back on time spent manually filtering through talent. Custom-generated messaging and collaboration tools can further streamline your workflow while maintaining an individualized approach to candidate communication. In fact, 90% of users agree that Smart Sourcing is the preferred product for sourcing quality talent.2
"Indeed has been invested in AI for a long time," Jason Kudrikow, Indeed senior talent strategy advisor, said. "Now, with the recent acceleration of large language models and generative AI technology, we're able to combine our enormous database of resumes with what we know employers are looking for in order to make smart matches — and help you connect with them faster."
Here are three ways Smart Sourcing can help you hire smarter and faster.
1. You're automatically matched with quality candidates
The Indeed-commissioned Harris Poll survey found that 74% of hiring managers would prefer to automatically match with qualified talent based on skills and relevant experiences instead of manually searching for them. Smart Sourcing's matched candidates does exactly that: Simply toggle between your jobs on Indeed via a drop-down menu to instantly view recommended candidates and then invite them to apply.
"As you accept or reject candidates, the Smart Sourcing AI will learn what you prefer over time," Kudrikow said. "It lets you curate your matched candidates' results like a Spotify playlist, tailored to your unique preferences."
You can still manually search and filter resumes or use automated recommendations to expedite the process. Matches are based on three things: The keyword relevancy of your job post, job seekers' resumes, job seekers' search activity on Indeed, and how recently job seekers have been on the site. This helps Indeed's matching algorithms present you with the most relevant candidates who are demonstrating interest in new opportunities.
Universal Health Services (UHS), a leading hospital and healthcare provider with 400 facilities across the US, Puerto Rico, and the UK, reported its candidate-response rate improved by 30% since using Smart Sourcing. "Smart Sourcing serves up appropriate candidates that tend to be more eager to respond and are active on Indeed. So we get both quality candidates that are a fit and a higher response rate than with another similar tool," said one director of recruiting at UHS.
In the survey, 70% of 1,107 US workers agree that companies who have contacted them in the past could have done a better job of reviewing their skills and experience beforehand. This lack of preparation, personalization, and attention to detail in recruiting can reflect poorly on your company.
That's why matched candidates include candidate highlights, a generative AI capability that analyzes and summarizes each resume. This can help suggest why the candidate could be a great fit for your role, or point out potential gaps in their experience. This accelerated evaluation enables you to make better-informed hiring decisions to preserve both your employer brand and the candidate experience.
Matched candidates you invite to apply are 17 times more likely to apply to your job than job seekers who only see it when searching on Indeed, and employers who use this feature when sponsoring their jobs hire 20% faster.3,4
2. AI-powered messaging accelerates and personalizes candidate outreach
On average, employers contacting candidates through Indeed's resume search receive a positive response from a job seeker in just 10 hours.5 But, 95% of hiring managers believe that their productivity would be even better if administrative tasks like candidate outreach could be assisted by AI. Indeed's customizable AI-powered messages reduce the time and effort it takes to manually write, personalize, and proofread candidate communications.
This allows you to generate a customized message based on the content of the candidate's resume and your job posting. You can generate message variations by desired tone and refine the information before sending it."The AI-powered messages are very effective because they're personalized for each individual candidate. It's amazing how the AI pulls in the right pieces of a job description to describe the highlights of the job and uses information from a candidate's resume to say why it's a great fit," said the UHS recruiting director.
With a Professional Subscription, hiring managers gain the ability to automate post-outreach and follow-up with custom reminder messages. Message analytics track how your templates perform and provide actionable insights on candidate engagement, helping you maximize ROI.
3. Collaborative tools make the feedback process easier
Recruiting and hiring can be a complex task with work distributed across multiple people and platforms. To simplify the process, Smart Sourcing Professional Subscriptions allow you to invite collaborators to sourcing projects and accelerate the candidate feedback process with collaborative task management tools.
If you need to continue the hiring process on your company's applicant tracking system (ATS), Indeed offers integrations with Workday, iCIMS, and Greenhouse that automatically transfer candidate information for you. You can also take your sourcing with you on the go with the Indeed Connect for Employers app. Once you've reached out to potential candidates, notifications let you know when they respond to an application invite or a message, allowing you to reply in real-time and keep the hiring process moving forward.
Getting started with Smart Sourcing
Smart Sourcing subscriptions are available starting today, and existing Indeed Resume subscriptions have transitioned to Smart Sourcing. Available in both Standard and Professional options, subscriptions include access to candidate search and filters, matching quality candidates to your job, and offering faster candidate connections.
"No one gets into talent attraction for the legwork," Kudikrow said. "Indeed is harnessing the power of AI to make it easier than ever to get your opportunities in front of qualified talent, fast, and focus on what makes the profession so rewarding — the human connection."
This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Indeed from February 12–20, 2024, among 1,107 employed adults, ages 18 and older, and 300 hiring managers (those with sole or primary decision making in the recruiting and hiring process) with 2,000+ employees. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the employee sample data is accurate to within +/– 2.6 percentage points and the hiring manager sample data is accurate to within +/— 5.6% using a 95% confidence level.
1Harris Poll survey of U.S. hiring managers with 2,000+ employees (n=300) and employed adults, ages 18 and older (n=1107), conducted on behalf of Indeed, February 2024
Paul Heinerth rises out of a cave inside a fragment of iceberg B15, which calved from Antarctica in the spring of 2000.
Jill Heinerth
In 2000, the largest iceberg ever recorded — Iceberg B-15 — broke away from the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
Underwater explorer and photographer Jill Heinerth dove inside B-15 and snapped photos of this hidden world.
Today, nearly the entire Jamaica-sized iceberg has melted away. Heinerth's photos offer the first and last look inside it.
In 2000, when an iceberg the size of Jamaica cleaved away from the Ross Ice Sheet in Antarctica, Jill Heinerth saw an opportunity to make history.
Heinerth is a professional underwater explorer, cave diver, and photographer. She's been diving in the most remote parts of Earth's oceans for 35 years. Her trip inside B-15 marked the first time anyone ever dove beneath an iceberg.
It's not uncommon for Heinerth to be among the first humans to venture inside these hidden places. But with B-15, she was also among the last.
Professional diver Jill Heinerth has been exploring Earth's oceans for 35 years.
Jill Heinerth
When B-15 broke free, it was among the largest moving objects on the planet. Today, it's lost 99% of its size and only one piece remains — a chunk measuring roughly 40 square miles, smaller than Disney World.
Luckily, Heinerth and her dive team seized the opportunity to explore and photograph the inside of B-15 while it was still a behemoth 23 years ago. And they risked their lives to do it.
But for Heinerth, the work is worth the risk. "For me, diving in these icy environments is almost like documenting an endangered species," she said.
Through her underwater photography, she brings the story of these disappearing ice caves to the surface, aiding scientific discovery and raising awareness about the rapid progression of climate change.
Swimming in uncharted waters
To reach B15, Heinerth and her dive team sailed for 12 days across the tumultuous Southern Ocean, weathering 60-foot swells and knocking ice off the boat with baseball bats. When they finally reached their destination, even more dangers lay ahead.
"During the trip, we had many close calls," Heinerth said. She tells the full story of her three death-defying dives in a 2019 WBUR article.
Icebergs like B15 are filled with crevasses and caves for divers to explore.
Jill Heinerth
On the initial dive, the team faced its first brush with danger. After descending through a long vertical crevasse in B15 all the way to the sea floor, 130 feet down, Heinerth spotted the entrance to a cave leading into the iceberg.
Once inside, Heinerth described it as "this dynamic environment that's beautiful. You see how the sea has sculpted the ice, like there's these great scallops that are carved by the hand of the sea," she told BI.
But suddenly, they heard a deep groaning sound.
Swimming through an iceberg comes with serious risks. Strong currents and calvings presented Heinerth and her team with deadly challenges.
Jill Heinerth
Massive chunks of ice had fallen into the cave entrance, blocking their way out. Luckily, they found a way through and escaped with their lives, ready to return the next day.
During their second dive inside B15, they got caught in a powerful current sucking them deeper inside the iceberg. They couldn't fight it and instead rode the current through until eventually it took them to another exit on a completely different side of the iceberg.
Despite some unexpected perilous situations, Heinerth and her team managed to collect photographs and data during their dives.
Jill Heinerth
But even that wouldn't prevent them from taking a third and final visit, when they faced the most dangerous dive of all. On that day, the powerful current hit again. This time, there was no backdoor to escape through, and the flow was so intense that even when they fought their way back to the cave entrance, they couldn't rise back up through the crevasse.
"On our very last dive in this environment, we were pinned down from the currents inside the ice and having difficulty getting out," she told BI. "Our one-hour dive turned into a three-hour flight for our lives."
On their third and final dive, Heinerth and her team had to climb up through the crevasse.
Jill Heinerth
What saved their lives was when Heinerth remembered the burrows that fish make in the crevasse walls. Using these holes as climbing holds, she and the team slowly climbed their way against the current and eventually made it to the surface.
Then, just hours after they resurfaced, "The entire piece of ice that we'd just been inside of literally exploded and turned into a sea of slush ice as far as the eye could see," Heinerth said.
"I was just standing there, gobsmacked on the ship's rail. I realized that if we had been in the water, we'd be dead," she wrote for WBUR.
Documenting a disappearing world
Between moments spent fighting for her life, Heinerth managed to snap photos of B15's inner world. As a citizen scientist, she hopes that documenting these rapidly changing environments helps researchers better understand them.
Since Heinerth's dive, iceberg B15 has almost entirely melted away. The caves she and her team explored no longer exist.
Jill Heinerth
"We are now living in a time of very clear existential threats — a time when we need an army of citizen scientists that can provide reflections, anecdotal evidence, but also data gathering streams," she said.
Over the last two decades, Antarctica has lost an average of 150 billion metric tons of ice per year, NASA reports. This rapid melting means iconic arctic species like humpback whales and emperor penguins are losing critical resources and habitat.
Loss of Antarctic sea ice threatens a multitude of animal species, including penguins.
Jill Heinerth
It also means sea levels are rising. "When [B15] broke off — when you have ice that moves from land to sea — that's going to change sea levels globally," Heinerth said. "And that's the thing we need to be concerned about."
Exploring the below-surface geomorphology (the shape and structure) of icebergs like B15 can help climatologists understand how quickly they're disappearing, she said. As they melt, water moves downward through cracks in the iceberg, carving out new caves and crevasses for intrepid folks like Heinerth to investigate.
Heinerth believes that citizen scientists like herself have an important role to play in driving progress toward climate solutions.
Jill Heinerth
Through her dive photography, she hopes to spread awareness about how quickly these hidden ice environments are changing.
"We're at the point where we need to make some climate interventions, and that is going to require political will. And it's going to require a global citizenry to be relatively educated about what we face in the very near future," Heinerth said.
Photos courtesy of Jill Heinerth. Learn more about her work at: www.IntoThePlanet.com
Former President Donald Trump will host a private reception for people who spent big money on his NFTs.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Donald Trump is spending his day off of court thanking NFT buyers.
The former president will host a reception at Mar-a-Lago for people who spent roughly $10,000 on digital collectibles.
Trump gets little time away from Manhattan court during the week.
Former President Donald Trump gets rare reprieves from his Manhattan criminal trial. He's spending one of them thanking buyers of his latest digital collectible series.
On Wednesday, Trump will host buyers who spent roughly $10,000 on the "Mugshot Edition" of the Trump digital trading cards at his private Mar-a-Lago resort. Wednesdays are typically an off day for Trump's trial, where he's facing charges of falsifying business records to cover up alleged hush money before the 2016 presidential election.
It's the latest example of how Trump has spent part of his time seeking a second term on private business interests. The former president previously appeared at a shoe-focused convention in Philadelphia to tout his officially licensed $199 shoes. (There was also a limited-edition gold $399 offering, which the company has said sold out.)
According to his most recent financial disclosure, Trump reported income of between $100,001 and $1 million from past NFT sales.
Like many Trump products over the years, he licenses his name and the respective companies handle the rest. Still, the deals underline a mixing of private interests and public service, a major feature of Trump's presidency. The largest deal of all, Trump's social media platform Truth, would be nowhere near as large without his backing.
In comparison, President Joe Biden spent part of his day in the key state of Wisconsin. While Biden's was official, he could also tout a $3.3 billion investment at the site of a mostly failed Trump-era project.
TikTok hasn't drawn a huge list of buyers. Who's going to step up?
Getty; BI
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has decided against buying TikTok.
That leaves a really tiny list of people who say they want to buy TikTok. Like, really tiny.
What gives? Here are some theories.
Who's going to buy TikTok?
Not Eric Schmidt. The former Google CEO says he thought about buying the video platform — he doesn't say when he thought about it — but isn't thinking about it now.
And as far as (theoretical) public bidders, that's it. Everything else you read is more of an idea, at best: Earlier this year The Wall Street Journal reported that former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was at a conference and told OpenAI's Sam Altman he should help him buy TikTok. But we've never heard anything about that since.
Other theoretical bidders include Oracle, Walmart, and Microsoft because they either already work with TikTok or considered buying it during the Trump administration. For good measure, the stories usually list other Big Tech companies like Amazon or Apple. But there's zero reporting that indicates that any of the names in this paragraph are actually seriously considering a bid.
And sure, there are most definitely lots of bigcos out there who have a room full of McKinsey-esque strategery people gaming out potential bids for TikTok. Because it's their job to do that. But it really is striking that there isn't a single credible buyer who has raised their hand in public, or has been reported to be mulling a deal, for real.
What gives? I have some theories. They are not mutually exclusive.
The reason we're not hearing about a serious bidder is because there is no serious bidder because no one wants to waste time on a deal that could never come to pass. Maybe the US courts will overturn the law forcing ByteDance to divest US TikTok. Maybe ByteDance will simply refuse to sell even if the law is upheld. Maybe Donald Trump, who says he's against a TikTok ban (now) gets elected in the fall and becomes president in January, when the forced sale or ban is supposed to happen, and finds a way to ignore the law.
The reason we're not hearing about a serious bidder is because no one knows what a forced sale of US TikTok would really look like. What would a US bidder be buying? ByteDance has already said, in its suit challenging the law, that even if it wanted to sell, the Chinese government wouldn't allow it to sell crucial parts of TikTok — notably its recommendation engine. So that leaves what — a brand name and a user base that could easily leave?
The reason that we're not hearing about a serious bidder is because it's impossible to imagine a serious bidder — a Big Tech company with the resources and talent to actually operate a US TikTok — actually getting antitrust approval to buy a giant tech platform. Not in the Biden administration, at least. And if they're hoping to get it done in the Trump administration? Well … see above.
The reason we're not hearing about serious bidders is because serious bidders don't go on TV and talk about how they're going to buy TikTok. They do all the work quietly, with a small team, and keep the whole thing buttoned up until they're ready to announce it. Which means there's no reason to read a story like this. Fortunately, this one is over.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) stock Lovisa Holdings Ltd (ASX: LOV) has already delivered enormous profit growth over the past several years and it’s predicted to see even more in the coming years.
This is a retailer of affordable jewellery with a global store network. At the end of the FY24 first-half period, it had at least ten stores in the following countries: Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, USA and Canada.
Store growth continues for ASX 200 stock
The business has added many stores to networks in its existing countries, while also expanding into new countries.
For example, in the last couple of years, it has expanded into a number of countries including Mexico, Canada, the UAE, Romania, Hungary, Spain, Botswana, Vietnam, mainland China and Taiwan. Many of these countries have much bigger populations than Australia, so there’s plenty of growth potential for Lovisa’s store network.
Australia had 175 stores at the end of HY24, with its total network being 854 stores.
With the HY24 result, Lovisa said:
With a footprint now in over 40 markets and increased support structures in place we are well placed to continue our global rollout across both existing and new markets.
The ongoing store growth is helping the ASX 200 stock’s total sales. Trading in the first seven weeks of FY24 saw comparable store sales growth of 0.3% year-over-year. Total sales were up 19.6% year over year, thanks to those new stores.
In HY24 it opened another 53 stores and in the first several weeks of the second half of FY24 it had opened another nine stores and it recently opened a new store in Dublin, Ireland.
Huge profit growth expected for ASX 200 stock
The broker UBS has predicted that Lovisa can deliver huge profit growth in the next few years.
In FY23, the business generated revenue of $596 million and earnings per share (EPS) of $0.62. UBS suggests that Lovisa could grow its revenue by 18% to $703 million and improve EPS by 12.9% to 70 cents per share in FY24.
Ongoing store growth could help the ASX 200 stock grow its EPS by 134% to $1.45 in FY28 compared to FY23, according to UBS.
The broker suggests Lovisa’s revenue could grow by 15.5% to $812 million in FY25 and EPS could rise by 21.4% to 85 cents.
In FY26, UBS suggests Lovisa’s revenue could increase by 15.1% to $935 million and EPS could rise 24.7% to $1.06.
FY27 could see the revenue rise by another 15% to $1.075 billion and EPS go up 17.9% to $1.25.
FY28 could see Lovisa’s revenue rise by 13.2% to $1.2 billion, while EPS could go up 16% to $1.45.
Foolish takeaway
There is no guarantee that Lovisa’s store network growth will continue at the same growth rate as it has over the past several years.
Lovisa shares have been a strong performer â in the past five years they have risen around 220%. If the store count, revenue and profit keep rising, then Lovisa could be one to watch. However, it has risen significantly in the last six months, so it’s not as cheap as it was in November. The market is expecting a lot of success from this business.
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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has positions in Lovisa. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Lovisa. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Lovisa. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
The 40-year-old Theranos founder is now projected to be released a few months earlier. Her projected release date is now August 16, 2032, a change from her previously listed December 29 projected release for later that same year, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records.
Attorneys for Holmes did not immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comment ahead of publication. The Federal Bureau of Prisons said it could not comment on the release plans of any specific individual in its custody "for privacy, safety, and security reasons" but said prison time could be affected by factors like good conduct or completion of rehabilitation programs or activities.
Holmes has also been ordered to pay more than $452 million in restitution as part of her sentence. Her attorneys have objected to the restitution payments and said she would be financially unable to pay it.
Holmes was seen as a Silicon Valley success story for years while at the helm of her now-defunct blood-testing startup Theranos, which promised to revolutionize healthcare by performing hundreds of tests with a single drop of blood. Behind closed doors, however, Theranos' proprietary technology didn't work and the company leaned on third-party devices to run its blood tests. Prosecutors alleged that Holmes defrauded investors, doctors, and patients by concealing this for years before a blockbuster Wall Street Journal exposé uncovered the fraud in 2015.
Holmes pleaded not guilty to the charges, and her attorneys argued during the course of her trial that while she made mistakes, none were crimes.
"I am devastated by my failings," she said at a sentencing hearing in November 2022. "Every day for the past few years I have felt deep pain for what people went through because I failed them."