Latest news with #WarrenBuffet
Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
The DORKs are popular this week. Here's the new class of meme stocks retail traders are pumping to the moon.
The DORKs are popular this week. With stocks at record highs, there's a new class of meme stocks that's grabbed the attention of retail traders. Absent are the OG meme names GameStop and AMC. Those early favorites have been replaced by another group. The DORKs—an acronym being thrown around by bullish traders to refer to the ticker symbols of Krispy Kreme, Opendoor, Rocket Lab, and Kohl's—are spiking in the last few days, with the burst of enthusiasm sparked by a stunning rally in Opendoor stock that's mostly cooled off even as the rest of the group surges. It's looking similar to 2021, when everything from crypto to pandemic-era blank check firms to highly-shorted companies with weak financials were getting pushed to dizzying heights. And with recent legislation proposing to loosen day trading restrictions by lowering the minimum margin account threshold, there's never been a more retail-friendly time in the markets. To take a page from Warren Buffet's book, investors are getting greedy, which means extra caution may be warranted. Tony DeSpirito, head of US fundamental equities at BlackRock, is sensing some pockets of froth in the market as sentiment continues to rise and meme stocks surge. In particular, stocks with high multiples but low growth are concerning to DeSpirit. "Meme stocks are the epitome of greed," DeSpirito told Business Insider. "If I'm advising an individual, I'd tell them to stay away from the meme stocks and get the stocks that actually have good cash flow, good earnings, etc." Here's what's been moving in the meme stock world. Opendoor Technologies Prior to last week, Opendoor was an unloved penny stock on the verge of delisting from the Nasdaq. After hedge fund manager Eric Jackson shouted out the stock on X and gave it a hefty $82 price target, enthusiasm for Opendoor surged, activating the retail trader cohort who quickly went all-in. The stock has rallied over 440% in the last month alone, going from under a dollar to $2.88, even hitting $4.71 briefly at one point on Monday. The rally has stalled in recent days, with the shares down as much as 28% on Wednesday. The stock is still up 310% in the last month. Kohl's Corporation Kohl's stock jumped 38% on Tuesday, not on the heels of corporate news or earnings, but rather r/WallStreetBets chatter. Retail traders identified a short interest of nearly half of the company's float, making the stock a perfect candidate for a short squeeze. The frenzy caused trading in Kohl's shares to be temporarily paused during Tuesday's session. Krispy Kreme The doughnut chain Krispy Kreme surged 28% on Tuesday. The stock started 2025 trading at nearly $10 and proceeded to slide downwards in the following months after the company reported disappointing earnings—until this week. The stock soared again on Wednesday, up as much as 39%before paring gains. Krispy Kreme also has a significant short interest level of 33%, making it another target for Reddit short squeezer. GoPro Digital camera producer GoPro was also swept up in the meme-stock craze. In its heyday back in 2015, the stock traded at $67. A big influx of retail volume has propelled the stock from under a dollar to above $2 immediately upon Wednesday's open. The stock was up as much as 72% on Wednesday before paring the gain to around 40%. Nearly 10% of GoPro's float is shorted.
CTV News
21-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Kraft Heinz seeks to revive old brands by undoing 2015 mega-merger
The Kraft logo appears outside of the headquarters on in Northfield, Ill. on Wednesday, March 25, 2015. (AP / Nam Y. Huh) Kraft Heinz's potential spinoff of slower-growing brands such as Velveeta cheese is a risky last-ditch effort to boost returns by reversing its unsuccessful decade-old merger. The Chicago- and Pittsburgh-based foodmaker is studying a potential spinoff of a large chunk of its grocery business, including many Kraft products, into a new entity, a source said on July 11, confirming a report in the Wall Street Journal. That entity could be valued at up to US$20 billion on its own, which would make it the biggest deal in consumer goods so far this year. The company declined to comment on the move. Shares in the food maker have lost about two-thirds of their value since Kraft and H.J. Heinz merged in 2015 in a deal backed by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway that was aimed at cutting costs and growing the brands internationally. U.S. consumers, however, have been spending less on increasingly expensive name-brand packaged food after the pandemic. In addition, Kraft Heinz's convenience-oriented products like its Lunchables meal kit face scrutiny in the United States, its biggest market, amid the rise of the Make America Healthy Again or MAHA social movement led by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The $33.3 billion market-cap company said in May that it was 'evaluating potential strategic transactions to unlock shareholder value' as executives from Berkshire Hathaway left its board, most likely after losing faith in the food maker, bankers said. The potential move, yet to be confirmed by Kraft Heinz, would likely undo the approximately $45 billion 2015 merger, though the details of how the company's roughly 200 brands would be split up are unclear. It also is not a sure bet for investors, because they would reap the most value only if acquirers step in to buy either of the new companies, analysts said. Kraft Heinz's condiments division, led by ketchup brand Heinz and Philadelphia cream cheese, posted $11.4 billion in sales last year and has room to grow internationally. On a standalone basis, it would likely command a higher multiple than what the overall company is currently trading at, making it more valuable, analysts and bankers said. The rest of Kraft Heinz's products - with sales of $14.5 billion from legacy brands such as Oscar Mayer which face competition from cheaper private-label options - would likely be valued in line with the whole company, which currently trades just below nine times its earnings. Kraft Heinz did not immediately return a request for comment. Risky path This path is dicey because the separation alone may create only a small benefit for investors, according to analysts and investment bankers. Bigger returns hinge on Kraft Heinz eventually finding a buyer - and a premium - for either of its two businesses. 'It doesn't look like there's a whole lot of upside,' said Bank of America analyst Peter Galbo. 'It really is reliant on an acquisition down the line.' Kraft Heinz's board and management may have looked at the breakup of the Kellogg Co as a success story they could replicate, investment bankers said. Earlier this month, European candy maker Ferrero agreed to acquire Kellogg Co's cereal business, WK Kellogg KLG.N, for $3.1 billion. Last year, Mars scooped up Kellogg Co's other business, Pringles maker Kellanova K.N, for about $36 billion. Possible acquirers for the condiments business could be spice and hot sauce-maker McCormick Co MKC.N, Unilever ULVR.L or Nestle NESN.S, investment bankers said. McCormick declined to comment. Unilever and Nestle did not respond to requests for comment. The slower-growing Kraft-oriented business could meanwhile garner interest from another company that wants to build up its clout with grocers like Walmart WMT.N and KrogerKR.N, said Dave Wagner, a portfolio manager at Aptus Capital, which holds Kraft Heinz shares in an exchange-traded fund. But Wagner said finding buyers in a challenged segment may not be easy. Sales across the entire food maker fell 3% in 2024, and the company slashed its forecasts for sales and profit for the rest of this year. 'If you keep the company as it is now or split it, both are going to have some type of black eye,' Wagner said. 'They probably wouldn't be tier one acquisition targets.' (Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli and Abigail Summerville in New York. Editing by Lisa Jucca and Matthew Lewis)
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Analysis-Kraft Heinz seeks to revive old brands by undoing 2015 mega-merger
By Jessica DiNapoli and Abigail Summerville NEW YORK (Reuters) -Kraft Heinz's potential spinoff of slower-growing brands such as Velveeta cheese is a risky last-ditch effort to boost returns by reversing its unsuccessful decade-old merger. The Chicago- and Pittsburgh-based foodmaker is studying a potential spinoff of a large chunk of its grocery business, including many Kraft products, into a new entity, a source said on July 11, confirming a report in the Wall Street Journal. That entity could be valued at up to $20 billion on its own, which would make it the biggest deal in consumer goods so far this year. The company declined to comment on the move. Shares in the food maker have lost about two-thirds of their value since Kraft and H.J. Heinz merged in 2015 in a deal backed by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway that was aimed at cutting costs and growing the brands internationally. U.S. consumers, however, have been spending less on increasingly expensive name-brand packaged food after the pandemic. In addition, Kraft Heinz's convenience-oriented products like its Lunchables meal kit face scrutiny in the United States, its biggest market, amid the rise of the Make America Healthy Again or MAHA social movement led by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The $33.3 billion market-cap company said in May that it was "evaluating potential strategic transactions to unlock shareholder value" as executives from Berkshire Hathaway left its board, most likely after losing faith in the food maker, bankers said. The potential move, yet to be confirmed by Kraft Heinz, would likely undo the approximately $45 billion 2015 merger, though the details of how the company's roughly 200 brands would be split up are unclear. It also is not a sure bet for investors, because they would reap the most value only if acquirers step in to buy either of the new companies, analysts said. Kraft Heinz's condiments division, led by ketchup brand Heinz and Philadelphia cream cheese, posted $11.4 billion in sales last year and has room to grow internationally. On a standalone basis, it would likely command a higher multiple than what the overall company is currently trading at, making it more valuable, analysts and bankers said. The rest of Kraft Heinz's products - with sales of $14.5 billion from legacy brands such as Oscar Mayer which face competition from cheaper private-label options - would likely be valued in line with the whole company, which currently trades just below nine times its earnings. Kraft Heinz did not immediately return a request for comment. RISKY PATH This path is dicey because the separation alone may create only a small benefit for investors, according to analysts and investment bankers. Bigger returns hinge on Kraft Heinz eventually finding a buyer - and a premium - for either of its two businesses. "It doesn't look like there's a whole lot of upside," said Bank of America analyst Peter Galbo. "It really is reliant on an acquisition down the line." Kraft Heinz's board and management may have looked at the breakup of the Kellogg Co as a success story they could replicate, investment bankers said. Earlier this month, European candy maker Ferrero agreed to acquire Kellogg Co's cereal business, WK Kellogg, for $3.1 billion. Last year, Mars scooped up Kellogg Co's other business, Pringles maker Kellanova, for about $36 billion. Possible acquirers for the condiments business could be spice and hot sauce-maker McCormick Co, Unilever or Nestle, investment bankers said. McCormick declined to comment. Unilever and Nestle did not respond to requests for comment. The slower-growing Kraft-oriented business could meanwhile garner interest from another company that wants to build up its clout with grocers like Walmart and Kroger, said Dave Wagner, a portfolio manager at Aptus Capital, which holds Kraft Heinz shares in an exchange-traded fund. But Wagner said finding buyers in a challenged segment may not be easy. Sales across the entire food maker fell 3% in 2024, and the company slashed its forecasts for sales and profit for the rest of this year. "If you keep the company as it is now or split it, both are going to have some type of black eye," Wagner said. "They probably wouldn't be tier one acquisition targets." Solve the daily Crossword
Fast Company
13-06-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
How to turn jealousy into a career superpower
I've been feeling grossly inadequate, career-wise. Some of this has been driven by my perception that the economy is failing and I'm going down with it, and my addiction to reading industry trends on LinkedIn. Don't get me wrong, I love LinkedIn. The anticipation of logging on and, fingers crossed, earning my long-awaited prize of a new client, job invite or contract is what drives me. But lately, I've been opening up to anxiety-inducing posts like, 'Last night, an AI destroyed my career opportunities, but now I have a million-dollar business,' or 'My startup sold for $20 million, and I'm an investor now,' and 'I built an app that was so dumb, and then a community of millions downloaded it; here's how I did it!' or 'I just earned a massive sponsorship and partnership with [name your favorite celebrity],' and I just lost it. The upside of envy It seems like everyone but me is thriving in their new super-fab job, reaping the benefits of AI, or sharing highly informed commentary on a topic I know nothing about; then I see 15,000 engaging comments on their posts! Some people take selfies, use skin filters, and celeb-obsess on Instagram. But for me, I'm all about LinkedIn and it's been killing my creator spirit. But the real truth is very painful and inconvenient: I am coldly and blisteringly envious. Warren Buffet quipped: 'As an investor, you get something out of all the deadly sins—except for envy. Being envious of someone else is pretty stupid. Wishing them badly, or wishing you did as well as they did—all it does is ruin your day. Doesn't hurt them at all, and there's zero upside to it.' But what if you could prevent this awful feeling, and turn it into a business opportunity? Even when you aren't religious, this quote from the bible makes sense: 'For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice,' James 3:16. Right now, jealousy seems to be at an all-time high in the United States. Some people are having such extreme career and financial success these days. If you are like me, you scratch your head daily and ask yourself, 'How they are doing this amid layoffs and a souring political and economic environment?' And then, 'What am I doing wrong that I can't succeed too? Don't I deserve success? I work so hard.' I imagine that many of you who are reading this are, like me, not feeling successful or satisfied. I know this to be true because after I read yet another 'I'm winning' post, I go right to the comments. I'm not seeing the glass half full when comments I read are lined with the bitterness of regret and the sour taste of envy. You know those posts, the ones where the first comment makes a resentful or snarky complaint about the privileged, the well-connected, or the trust fund baby, or how they slept their way to the top. The morally upright you tries to dismiss such comments, but the envy in us feels some satisfaction knowing that we are not alone. Feeling envious or jealous is no way to work or grow a brand or a business. At some point, it will consume your entrepreneurial spirit, your happiness, and your time, just like it did mine. But I decided to repackage how to approach my feelings of envy, and it placed me on a path of professional and creative recovery. Give these five ideas a try to see if they help you like they are helping me. 1. Define success Have we forgotten how to do this since we are so focused on other people? Do you define success as financial stability and comfort, or do you define it as having optimal health? Maybe you define success as finding hope, happiness, and abundance even in moments of despair? What does the outcome look like and what does it feel like for you? Defining your own version of success can arm you against self-pity, anger, and most certainly envy. Your version of success will be unique to you. After you define what success is for you, put the vision of success at the beginning of a journey map or flowchart and backtrack to get to where you are now. I find that seeing success first can prevent stagnation. As you build toward your vision of success, know that you will find 'envy potholes' filled with people who appear to have already reached the goals you've been trying to reach for yourself. You may feel that the grass is greener on the other side, and that might be true. But this part of the story is about you finding a place in your own heart first—where you can see your own success on paper and begin to act. 2. Embrace social comparison Social media, with repeated use and exposure, makes us feel that we know successful people like they are friends, and that they see us. Social media is not real, and the people we see on it are not our friends. This actually reminds me of the woman on the plane who screamed ' That MF is not real! ' Remember her crash out the next time you see a person social posting their perfection. But scrolling with the intention to conduct research can help you learn, copy, admire, then repackage what you've learned to align with your own brand. Study competitive products, watch how your perceived competitor creates content, read their posts, add them to a social media monitoring platform and run analytics. Study, study, and study more. Become a student of your jealousy. Identifying insights instead of flaws is empowering—not spiritually depleting and extractive. Copy what you are jealous of and apply your own creativity to it. Replacing your competitiveness with curiosity will be a mental and career game changer. Of course, you could put blinders on and never consume anyone else's success content to keep your sanity. But if you are in business and are an entrepreneur like me, you'll need to use all your social media tools for business outreach and to broadcast what problems you're solving for others. 3. Express gratitude Speaking your gratitude out loud instantly changes your energy. Have you noticed that when you doomscroll you forget where you are and your surroundings go dark? I combat this when I do my morning runs. The first 10 minutes I express thanks for my health, my children, whatever is left over in my bank account, my current clients, current contracts—no matter how small, the sun, moon, air, trees, and light. I also use a mantra. One of my mantras is I will bring health and wealth to Birk Creative this quarter. Gratitude and mantras pull me from barbed wire thoughts and back to the present moment, which is always the best place to be. Force yourself to speak positivity into existence. What also works for me is to put away my screens, take a deep breath, relax my shoulders, roll my neck, and stretch. This helps me to remember I am a human and connected to the earth. 4. Beat the algorithm Nope. There's no way to beat the algorithm, but you can try to trick it. Force yourself to not look at, linger on, or tap at content that triggers your envy. Find and like content that is the opposite of what you typically consume. Click 'like' on things that bring you joy, a smile, or a laugh. Just make sure something about it brings you to a place of learning that lines up with your vision of success. Focus on your body's response to this feeling. Does your body relax or tense up? Do you keep scrolling or do you hang on and rewatch? Rewatching content to understand it is better for this exercise than empty scrolling to the next post. There's no way to stop unwanted content on social media channels from showing up, but you can program new content. Delete an app and don't visit it for a few days, maybe a week, and then reinstall it. Visit the profile of a person you are jealous of—make a screen shot and repost something of theirs you like or recreate it to add your own spin. Experiment with this strategy every day for at least a week. As another idea, look for business inspiration quotes and like them or repost them. Prompt an LLM to give you five quotes on positivity, then plug them into Canva to make your own positivity quotes. Write an essay based on the quotes; relate it to your experience and share it. What's your favorite color? Prompt and create a beautiful image online that includes your favorite color and use that image to accompany the post. Here's a prompt: A [fill in your color] flower floats above the ocean, under a [fill in your favorite color] sky with white fluffy clouds [water color painting style]. Use this image to accompany your essay; post it to your favorite social media channel. Stumbling across someone else's path of success can distract you with jealousy. Instead, try to find just one thing to authentically celebrate about the person or product you are jealous of. You know the saying: If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Make a habit of finding something nice to say to combat your envy. 5. Create or refine your own brand If there was ever a time to get to know AI it would be right now. Even if you are tired of hearing about professional branding, creating your own is the one thing that will keep you from looking outward and being jealous and force you to look within and reinvent yourself. A professional and personal brand also helps to keep focused on creating your own platform for business growth and personal development. For those with a reservoir of content, go back to your saved articles, essays, YouTube videos, and social media posts, and repurpose them all using an AI tool like Whisper, Opus if it's video, or Perplexity. Copy the words or YouTube link, paste it in the AI tool, and prompt it to create fresh buckets of bite-sized content that you can share. Or feed it to the AI and ask it to analyze your content and write your new professional brand statement. (To accompany this article, I created a playlist on YouTube called Songs to Help You Not Be Jealous.) Use these tools to help you hone in on what you are good at by reviewing your content or by helping you write new content. Be honest, talk about your interests and your skills with these AI tools; use them to help you create a fresh personal brand even if you've never had one. The exercise here is to get you to navel gaze a little bit and focus on your own ideas in order to avoid becoming lost in greener pastures. Transform your thoughts The bottom line is there's no real way to avoid business envy and jealousy. Unless you are the rare person able to feel altruistic joy for someone else's success, it's unrealistic to not wish that what somebody has could be yours. But each time you see something that you're jealous of or envious of, transform your thoughts and actions, learn from them, express gratitude, and create away. Eventually, if you stay consistent with learning, your professional jealousy will turn into greater self-awareness, which most often leads to your vision of success.
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Trump ally proposes shocking Elon Musk-backed move to keep Congress accountable for inflation
One Republican senator is proposing a move that may cost himself and his colleagues their jobs if enacted. Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) is proposing a constitutional amendment that would expel all members of Congress whenever inflation is over 3 percent. 'I'm drafting a constitutional amendment To oust every member of Congress Whenever inflation exceeds 3% It's better to disqualify politicians Than for an entire nation to suffer under the yoke of inflation Please let me know what you think And share if you like the idea,' Lee posted on X Wednesday evening. Lee's proposal gained praise from billionaire Elon Musk, who, borrowing a line from the Star Wars Mandalorians, reposted Lee's idea for the amendment with a comment of 'This is the way.' Lee's idea is one that has previously been articulated by another billionaire - Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffet. In a decades old video clip, shared by Lee, Buffet says 'I can end the deficit in five minutes. Just pass a law that says that any time there's a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for reelection.' Lee is one of several Senate Republicans who doesn't support President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' of a spending package which is currently headed to the U.S. Senate after being passed by the House of Representatives back in May. Lee and Musk also joined forces earlier in the week to describe the bill as 'debt slavery' in a back and forth exchange on X. Well said, @elonmusk — Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) June 4, 2025 The U.S. inflation rate is currently 2.31 percent, but was at the 3 percent mark in January when Trump took office. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is another member of Trump's own party who opposes the substantial additions to the deficit included in the current Republican spending package. New additions to the the national debt are a non-starter for Paul, who has noted that he does want to see the 2017 tax cuts made permanent. Paul has also described the current $5 trillion in new debt as 'Biden spending levels.' 'This will be the largest increase in the debt ceiling ever in our history. We've never raised the debt ceiling without meeting the target. You can say it doesn't directly add to the debt but if you reach the ceiling you'll meet that. We won't discuss it for a year or two. I think it is a terrible idea to do this' Paul told Fox News. Appearing On CBS' Face the Nation last weekend, Paul told host Margaret Brennan that the math in Trump's 'big beautiful bill' 'doesn't really add up.' 'Well, the math doesn't really add up. One of the things this big and beautiful bill is, is it's a vehicle for increasing spending for the military and for the border. It's about $320 billion in new spending,' Paul said. In a nod to Musk and his budget slashing efforts across federal agencies, Paul compared the spending package with the funds anticipated to be saved by spending cuts pushed for by the Depart of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 'That's more than all the DOGE cuts that we found so far. So, the increase in spending put into this bill exceeds the DOGE cuts. When you look just at the border wall, they have $46.5 billion for the border wall,' Paul said on Face the Nation.
