Monday night, xAI co-founder Yuhuai (Tony) Wu announced he was leaving the company. “It’s time for my next chapter,” Wu wrote in a late-night post on X. “It is an era with full possibilities: a small team armed with AIs can move mountains and redefine what’s possible.” Less than a day later, on Tuesday afternoon, xAI co-founder Jimmy Ba, who reported directly to Musk, said that he, too, is bouncin...
Monday night, xAI co-founder Yuhuai (Tony) Wu announced he was leaving the company. “It’s time for my next chapter,” Wu wrote in a late-night post on X. “It is an era with full possibilities: a small team armed with AIs can move mountains and redefine what’s possible.” Less than a day later, on Tuesday afternoon, xAI co-founder Jimmy Ba, who reported directly to Musk, said that he, too, is bouncing, posting a gracious note on X on his way out. “Enormous thanks to @elonmusk for bringing us together on this incredible journey. So proud of what the xAI team has done and will continue to stay close as a friend of the team,” it read in part. On their own, both were pretty standard tech departure announcements — but they’re part of a troubling pattern for the lab. Six members of the company’s 12-person founding team have now left the company, with five of the departures coming in just the last year. Infrastructure lead Kyle Kosic left for OpenAI in mid-2024, followed by Google veteran Christian Szegedy in February 2025. This past August, Igor Babuschkin left to found a venture firm, and Microsoft alum Greg Yang departed just last month, citing health issues. By all accounts, the splits have all been amicable, and there are lots of reasons why, nearly three years in, some founders might decide to move on. Elon Musk is a notoriously demanding boss, and with the SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI complete and an IPO pending in the coming months, everyone involved has a pretty big windfall coming. It’s a great time to be fundraising for an AI startup, so it’s only natural for high-level researchers to want to strike out on their own. There are also less amicable reasons that might factor in. The company’s flagship product, the Grok chatbot, has struggled with bizarre behavior and apparent internal tampering — the kind of thing that might easily create friction on the technical team. Then there were the recent changes to xAI’s image-generation tools that flooded the platform with dee...
Douglas Rissing/iStock via Getty Images XOMA Royalty Corporation ( XOMA ) ( XOMAO ) accumulates financial income from royalties, milestones, and other fees. They receive those cash inflows from programs run by other biotechs or pharmaceutical firms. However, note that XOMAO is not the common stock itself; instead, it's the 8.375% cumulative perpetual preferred depositary share. Thus, their investm...
Douglas Rissing/iStock via Getty Images XOMA Royalty Corporation ( XOMA ) ( XOMAO ) accumulates financial income from royalties, milestones, and other fees. They receive those cash inflows from programs run by other biotechs or pharmaceutical firms. However, note that XOMAO is not the common stock itself; instead, it's the 8.375% cumulative perpetual preferred depositary share. Thus, their investment case is about dividend reliability, capital structure, and call risk. In 2025, XOMA added 24 new assets with a reported strategy that combines royalty interests with tax-related value and selective monetization. All in all, over time, they could definitely improve their cash cushion, but at this point, I still feel XOMAO offers a nice dividend opportunity for long-term investors. Dividend Angle For Biotech XOMA Royalty Corporation is a biopharma royalty aggregator that buys royalties, milestones, and fees tied to drug candidates developed by other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. XOMA pays with non-dilutive capital and gets the upside if the underlying programs progress and generate sales. XOMAO is the ticker for Series B 8.375% cumulative perpetual preferred depositary shares. The company was incorporated back in 1981 as XOMA Corporation, and it was rebranded to its current name in 2024. It's now currently headquartered in Emeryville, California. I also previously covered XOMAO in April last year, and since then, they've continued making regular $0.52 dividend quarterly payments per share. Source: Corporate Presentation. January 2026. Having said that, last year, XOMA bought 24 new assets. XOMA claims that by acquiring certain biotech companies that spend heavily on R&D, it can unlock future tax deductions under Section 174 of the US tax regulations, which requires that certain R&D costs be treated more like a long-term investment than a regular expense. Therefore, instead of deducting the full R&D amount in the year it is spent, the company must amortize th...
Earnings Call Insights: Mattel (MAT) Q4 2025 Management View Ynon Kreiz, Executive Chairman & CEO, opened by noting, "In the fourth quarter, we achieved 6% growth in gross billings, including 7% in North America and 4% internationally. However, the growth in the U.S. was less than anticipated, which impacted our full year results relative to expectations." Kreiz also announced, "We have several st...
Earnings Call Insights: Mattel (MAT) Q4 2025 Management View Ynon Kreiz, Executive Chairman & CEO, opened by noting, "In the fourth quarter, we achieved 6% growth in gross billings, including 7% in North America and 4% internationally. However, the growth in the U.S. was less than anticipated, which impacted our full year results relative to expectations." Kreiz also announced, "We have several strategic updates to cover, including our agreement to acquire full ownership of Mattel163 announced today, details on the evolution of our strategy, guidance for 2026, as well as midterm expectations and an update on our capital allocation priorities." Kreiz reported Mattel ended the year with over $1.2 billion of cash after repurchasing $600 million of shares, and that the Board has authorized a new $1.5 billion share repurchase program through 2028. Kreiz highlighted, "Today, we announced that we have reached an agreement with our joint venture partner, NetEase, to acquire full ownership of the Mattel163 mobile games studio... The acquisition values Mattel163 at $380 million with a purchase price of $159 million for NetEase's 50% interest." The CEO detailed the evolution of company strategy, emphasizing a move to a "brand-centric organization and integrated operating model" and five strategic priorities, including scaling digital play and leveraging AI across systems and supply chain. Kreiz noted, "2026 will be an important year for Mattel as we implement our new brand-centric strategy to grow our IP-driven play and family entertainment business." Paul Ruh, CFO, stated, "Gross billings grew 6% in the fourth quarter, including 7% in North America, and POS was positive across every region, including the U.S. However, U.S. gross billings in December ended up growing less than we anticipated, impacting our full year results relative to expectations." Outlook Guidance for 2026 is for net sales growth in the range of 3% to 6% in constant currency, with FX expected to add a 1.5 p...
Key Points Starbucks' dividend grew at a hefty average annual rate of 24.5% for a decade, but has slowed dramatically since 2021. The company's 1.6% payout increase last year reflects some distressing fundamentals. While turnaround efforts may well succeed, short-term pain for shares is likely to come first. 10 stocks we like better than Starbucks › For 15 years, Starbucks' (NASDAQ: SBUX) dividend...
Key Points Starbucks' dividend grew at a hefty average annual rate of 24.5% for a decade, but has slowed dramatically since 2021. The company's 1.6% payout increase last year reflects some distressing fundamentals. While turnaround efforts may well succeed, short-term pain for shares is likely to come first. 10 stocks we like better than Starbucks › For 15 years, Starbucks' (NASDAQ: SBUX) dividend growth couldn't be stopped. In 2010, in the shadow of the Great Recession, it issued its first dividend of $0.05 per share, which doubled less than three years later. Up through 2025, payouts grew by 1,140%, and anyone who had invested $1,000 on the eve of its first dividend in April 2010 would now be enjoying a yield on cost of 28% each year. That's great income, but alas, this dividend growth is very likely in the past. As a shareholder, it pains me to say this, but I believe Starbucks' dividend growth will come to an abrupt halt later this year, as the company typically announces dividend hikes in October. Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue » Here are the signs. Starbucks' dividend growth has sputtered big-time in recent years From 2010 to 2020, the company hiked its dividend by an average of 24.5% a year. But since 2021, dividend growth has slowed dramatically, as you can see below. Year Quarterly Payout Annual Dividend Increase 2021 $0.49 per share 8.9% 2022 $0.53 per share 8.2% 2023 $0.57 per share 7.5% 2024 $0.61 per share 7% 2025 $0.62 per share 1.6% Slowing dividend growth may not tell us much by itself, not even a slowdown as sharp as this. After all, I argued recently that Coca-Cola's dividend growth will soon pick back up after a years-long slowdown. But Starbucks' token dividend growth in 2025 came alongside some worrying fundamentals. 2. Starbucks' payout ratio is soaring Over th...
Little Rock combines affordability, amenities, and great weather to make it a desirable spot for retirees. When people think about warm weather, they might imagine cities in Florida, Texas, and California. However, there is another big city that offers warm weather, along with great amenities and affordable living. Little Rock, Arkansas, can reach 70 degrees Fahrenheit in February, and it may be o...
Little Rock combines affordability, amenities, and great weather to make it a desirable spot for retirees. When people think about warm weather, they might imagine cities in Florida, Texas, and California. However, there is another big city that offers warm weather, along with great amenities and affordable living. Little Rock, Arkansas, can reach 70 degrees Fahrenheit in February, and it may be one of the best places to retire in the South, according to research from The Motley Fool. It has plenty of attractions and walking areas to keep you busy. Here are some more reasons retirees like Little Rock. There is access to top-ranked healthcare Research from The Motley Fool found that retirees prioritize healthcare when choosing new locations. With the University of Arkansas Medical Center located in the heart of Little Rock, it's easy to see why retirees feel confident living in Arkansas' capital city. U.S. News ranked it as the best hospital in the Little Rock metropolitan area, in a tie with Baptist Health Medical Center, and also gave it "high performing" designations in nine treatments and procedures. CHI St. Vincent and Arkansas Heart Hospital are also in the city, giving retirees additional options. Little Rock homes are much cheaper than the national average Realtor.com data indicates that the median house price in Little Rock is $274,000. The median rent comes to $1,250 per month. Both of those numbers are much lower than national averages. Realtor.com found that the national median list price was $399,950 in December. Meanwhile, the median national asking rent across the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas was $1,689 in December. These prices show that you can get a lot more mileage out of your money in Little Rock. Lower housing costs will give your nest egg more time to grow and reduce financial stress. Big-city amenities provide variety for retirees It's important for retirees to have things to do and plenty of amenities. Luckily, Little Rock has a lot to o...