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16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
AI researcher ‘turns down $1bn pay offer from Mark Zuckerberg'
A tech worker has reportedly turned down a $1bn (£750m) pay deal to join Mark Zuckerberg's artificial intelligence (AI) unit amid an escalating war for talent in Silicon Valley. Mr Zuckerberg's Meta reportedly offered several researchers who work at Thinking Machines, a San Francisco-based AI start-up, packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars to join the social media giant. One of those packages would have been worth as much as $1bn over several years, according to a report from Wired, while some researchers were also offered between $200m and $500m over a four-year period. Most deals included an award worth $50m to $100m in the first year. So far, no staff at the start-up have taken up an offer from Meta. Last month, Thinking Machines raised $2bn at a $12bn valuation, despite having no product. A spokesman for Meta disputed the claims, although confirmed it had made a 'handful' of offers to staff at Thinking Machines. 'We made offers only to a handful of people at Thinking Machines and while there was one sizeable offer, the details are off,' the spokesman said. Thinking Machines was founded by 36-year-old Mira Murati, a former OpenAI executive who has become one of the powerful women in tech since launching the company. AI arms race The eye-watering pay offers come amid an AI arms race, with tech giants trying to tempt leading AI scientists and programmers to join their efforts over those of rivals. Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI which owns ChatGPT, previously claimed Meta had offered his staff deals worth as much as $100m. Mr Zuckerberg has been personally leading a recruitment drive to attract leading scientists and developers to a new lab within Meta in a race against rivals to build highly powerful AI tools. The Meta chief executive has reportedly been reaching out to dozens of targets with personalised WhatsApp messages and bumper pay deals. Meta is spending tens of billions of dollars on AI data centres that will be used to help create more powerful machine-learning tools that Mr Zuckerberg has claimed could soon transform the economy and society. He has also already recruited around 50 leading researchers and experts for a new 'superintelligence' lab within Meta, after growing frustrated at the lack of progress by his own engineers. Earlier this year, Meta delayed a major update to its AI technology, dubbed Behemoth. Mr Zuckerberg also engineered a $14.3bn deal to poach Alexandr Wang, the founder of AI business Scale AI, to lead his new team, acquiring a 49pc stake in the start-up in the process. Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
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What Does QUBT Actually Do -- and Is the Stock a Buy Right Now?
Key Points Quantum Computing aims to build photonic circuits, which leverage the quantum properties of light particles. The company has a lot of work to do to make an exciting story a reality. The stock's valuation may be challenging to accept at the moment. 10 stocks we like better than Quantum Computing › Companies are racing to develop quantum technology to power new and future applications, ensuring the progress of innovation over the coming decades. Someday, the quantum computing market could be worth hundreds of billions. Among them is Quantum Computing Inc. (NASDAQ: QUBT), which, despite its name, differs from the other quantum computing stocks on the market. It's not a pure-play on quantum computers, but rather on light-based technology, which manipulates photons -- particles of light -- to achieve high computing performance. The company outlined a business path that, if successful, could be a game-changer. So, what does the company actually do, and should investors consider buying the stock right now? Here is what you need to know. What does Quantum Computing Inc. actually do? Quantum Computing Inc. (QCI) is developing photonic technology that leverages light and its quantum mechanical properties for high-performance computing applications, including quantum computing, machine learning, cybersecurity, and others. The company states that photonic technology is capable of high bandwidth and fast processing while consuming low amounts of energy, and can operate in room-temperature environments. That could make it more practical and affordable than some traditional quantum computers, which often require low temperatures or lab-controlled environments. QCI's long-term goal is to become an Nvidia of sorts, selling chips integrated with photonic circuits for various real-world applications. Most of today's chips are made from silicon. QCI is building with thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN). The company recently established a foundry to produce the TFLN components for its quantum machines. Eventually, it aims to refine the technology and miniaturize it to the size of an Nvidia GPU. The business is far more potential than tangible results, at least for now Now might be a good place to pump the brakes a bit, as Quantum Computing Inc. is an extremely early-stage company. QCI recently completed construction of its foundry and has received only five orders as of the first quarter of 2025. The company offers hardware products and software services, but QCI's current customer base is primarily limited to government and academic researchers. As a result, the business has generated about $385,000 in total revenue over the past year. Yes, that's less than half a million dollars. There is no quick ramp-up looming, either. Wall Street analysts expect Quantum Computing Inc. to finish 2025 with $600,000 in revenue and just $2.9 million the following year. Research by Mordor Intelligence estimates the addressable market for photonic integrated circuits was $15.4 billion in 2024 and projects it will grow to $38.4 billion by 2029. Given QCI's virtually non-existent revenue, it's clear that the company is not yet ready to capitalize on the opportunity. Meanwhile, QCI has numerous competitors in the space, including Cisco Systems, International Business Machines, and Marvell Technology. Is the stock a buy now? Putting all of this together It may take at least a few more years to gain a clear understanding of Quantum Computing Inc.'s position in the Photonic Integrated Circuit industry or the broader quantum computing market. That means investors who buy the stock today are taking a massive leap of faith in the company. Such limited revenue makes the stock's current $2.6 billion market cap, roughly 90 times next year's revenue estimate, tough to stomach. It leaves investors at risk of severe losses if something happens to the company that sours the market's sentiment. Quantum Computing Inc. may be trying to replicate Nvidia's business, but its limited revenue suggests it's lagging in the Photonic Integrated Circuit field, rather than leading it. Consider allowing Quantum Computing Inc. to prove itself, establish a larger revenue base, and then reevaluate the stock's investment potential. It's just not there yet. Should you invest $1,000 in Quantum Computing right now? Before you buy stock in Quantum Computing, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Quantum Computing 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 $633,452!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,083,392!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,046% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% 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 July 29, 2025 Justin Pope has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Cisco Systems, International Business Machines, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Marvell Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. What Does QUBT Actually Do -- and Is the Stock a Buy Right Now? was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
6 Stablecoins Account For 95% of the Value of the Stablecoin Market. Here Are the 2 Best Bets for Investors.
Key Points Just a handful of stablecoins account for 95% of the value of the stablecoin industry. The choice of which stablecoins are best for your portfolio depends on how you plan to use them. USDC stands out as a top choice for transactions, while Ethena USDe stands out as a top choice for generating yield. 10 stocks we like better than USDC › As the latest Motley Fool stablecoin research points out, just a handful of top stablecoins account for 95% of the market cap of the $250 billion stablecoin industry. The two clear leaders are Tether (CRYPTO: USDT) and USDC (CRYPTO: USDC), with market caps of $164 billion and $64 billion, respectively. After these two stablecoin behemoths come a handful of stablecoins with market caps ranging between $1.5 billion and $5.5 billion. Altogether, the top six stablecoins have a combined market cap of about $235 billion. So which of these stablecoins deserve a place in your portfolio? A simple stablecoin strategy for investors The choice of a "best" stablecoin really comes down to one single question: How do you plan to use it? For the typical long-term investor, there are two basic use cases: Using stablecoins to pay for everyday transactions, and using stablecoins as part of a passive income yield strategy. Since the value of a stablecoin is always $1, you should not view it as a typical investment. No matter how popular a stablecoin becomes, or how many people use it, it will always be worth $1. So, with that out of the way, let's just focus on two primary use cases. We can forget about all the ways that short-term traders might use stablecoins, or all the ways that businesses might use stablecoins. We will simply focus on how the average investor might use them. The best stablecoin for transactions If you're thinking about using your stablecoins as a way to pay for things, it's really just a choice between the two stablecoin leaders: Tether and USDC. The goal is to find a stablecoin that's accepted as widely as possible. Think about it from the perspective of credit cards. Why would you want to have a credit card that's never accepted anywhere you try to use it? So, solely from this perspective, USDC is the clear winner. There are simply more places where you can spend your USDC. Yet, it's not like you can walk into your favorite restaurant or retail store and start using USDC. Stablecoins are still in their infancy. The good news is that there are now some websites where you can type in your zip code, and they will churn out a list of nearby places where you can use USDC. Usually, these are places like barber shops, cafes, and other small local businesses that are trying to reduce their credit card processing fees by accepting stablecoins. USDC, which is issued by Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL), is starting to line up some high-profile partnerships. For example, Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP) announced a new partnership with USDC in June As a result, some merchants using Shopify will now accept USDC as a form of payment. Just keep in mind: There's a sleeping giant waiting to play a more active role in stablecoin transactions, and that's PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL). In August 2023, the company officially launched its own stablecoin, called PayPal USD (CRYPTO: PYUSD). In the Motley Fool stablecoin research, it comes in at No. 7, with an $923 million market cap. So keep your eyes out for ways that PayPal will look to get more actively involved with stablecoins. The best stablecoin for yield Now comes the really fun part: Passive income strategies for making money with your stablecoins. These are typically referred to as stablecoin yield strategies. This describes a broad spectrum of strategies using decentralized finance (DeFi). Obviously, you can use USDC to generate yield. It's an all-purpose stablecoin that you can use for just about anything. For example, if you hold your USDC on Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN), it will pay you a "reward rate" of 4.1%. However, other stablecoins offer the potential for significantly higher yields. One that really stands out is Ethena USDe (CRYPTO: USDE), which is now the fourth-largest stablecoin by market cap. It started to make waves in early 2024 as the fastest-growing dollar-denominated asset in the history of crypto. In just a few months, it grew to a $2 billion market cap. Ethena USDe was purpose-built for extracting maximum yield from super-risky trading strategies. In April 2024, Fortune reported that some investors in Ethena USDe were generating triple-digit yields on their stablecoin holdings! The yields were so incredible, in fact, that there is now some debate about whether Ethena USDe should even be considered a stablecoin. Fortune, for example, referred to it as a "synthetic dollar." So buyer beware. While Ethena USDe has only been around for 18 months, it has already attracted a lot of attention from some heavy-hitters in the crypto world. For example, if you poke through the holdings of World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture affiliated with the Trump family, you will find Ethena (CRYPTO: ENA), the issuer of Ethena USDe. The effect of new stablecoin legislation The really exciting part about stablecoins is that we're just getting started. The passage of the new GENIUS Act this summer was a really big deal. It opens the door to new players getting involved with stablecoins, as well as many more use cases. All that new competition should benefit the average investor. At the end of the day, my top stablecoin pick is USDC. It's issued by a company (Circle) that's based in the U.S., and the stablecoin is highly liquid, highly regulated, and highly trusted. If you're just getting started with crypto, this should be the first stablecoin in your portfolio. Should you buy stock in USDC right now? Before you buy stock in USDC, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and USDC 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 $633,452!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,083,392!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,046% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% 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 July 29, 2025 Dominic Basulto has positions in Circle Internet Group and USDC. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends PayPal and Shopify. The Motley Fool recommends Coinbase Global and recommends the following options: long January 2027 $42.50 calls on PayPal and short September 2025 $77.50 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 6 Stablecoins Account For 95% of the Value of the Stablecoin Market. Here Are the 2 Best Bets for Investors. was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
