Rafe Swan/Cultura via Getty Images Equitable ( EQH ) and Corebridge ( CRBG ) are in talks to merge in an all-stock deal that would create a $22 billion retirement, wealth management, and asset management giant, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The joint business would be called Equitable and control $1.5 trillion in assets, with more than 12 million customers, ...
Rafe Swan/Cultura via Getty Images Equitable ( EQH ) and Corebridge ( CRBG ) are in talks to merge in an all-stock deal that would create a $22 billion retirement, wealth management, and asset management giant, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The joint business would be called Equitable and control $1.5 trillion in assets, with more than 12 million customers, the report said. Corebridge ( CRBG ) boss Marc Costantini is expected to be CEO of the combined business, while Equitable’s ( EQH ) Mark Pearson will be executive chair. Corebridge is expected to keep an asset management agreement with Blackstone ( BX ) but will also gain access to similar services through Equitable’s majority stake in AllianceBernstein, the report said. More on Corebridge Financial, Equitable Holdings Equitable: Private Credit Fears Are Overdone Corebridge: Aggressive Buybacks Set To Continue Corebridge Financial, Inc. (CRBG) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript Corebridge signals $2.55B individual retirement base spread income outlook for 2026 while accelerating digital investments Equitable targets $1.8B cash generation for 2026 while advancing capital-light strategy
tolgart/iStock via Getty Images MercadoLibre ( MELI ) is often described as the "Amazon of Latin America, " and that isn't completely wrong. MELI holds a dominant and expanding market share in e-commerce, even outcompeting Amazon and cheap Chinese competitors. The other portion of MELI is Mercado Pago, which is quickly disrupting traditional banks. Their Q4 earnings proved they are receiving great...
tolgart/iStock via Getty Images MercadoLibre ( MELI ) is often described as the "Amazon of Latin America, " and that isn't completely wrong. MELI holds a dominant and expanding market share in e-commerce, even outcompeting Amazon and cheap Chinese competitors. The other portion of MELI is Mercado Pago, which is quickly disrupting traditional banks. Their Q4 earnings proved they are receiving great ROI, accelerating revenue growth to 45% and driven by all segments. The stock tumbled because of the EPS miss headline, driven by margin compression from growth investments, bringing MELI down roughly 35% from its all-time highs. However, this is a deliberate strategy, echoing Amazon's iconic early philosophy of prioritizing scale and market share over short-term profitability. For example, MELI recently lowered free shipping barriers to customers, which caused the multi-year record growth: Q4 slides I rank MELI as a strong buy for long-term investors, as it's an incredibly fast-growing company trading at an unwarranted discount. Business Overview and Moat The economics of logistics comes from scale. MercadoLibre has the first-mover advantage, and management is pressing the gas pedal. Recently MELI announced it is investing $3.4b in Argentina for 2026, preparing for immense growth while sacrificing short-term margins. Mercado Envios is its proprietary logistics network. A decade ago, e-commerce in Latin America consisted of notoriously slow and unreliable national postal services (such as Correios in Brazil). Instead of relying on third-party shippers like Amazon often does in emerging markets, MELI spent billions aggressively building an in-house fulfillment network from scratch. This includes dedicated distribution centers, truck fleets, and even cargo planes. Today, Mercado Envios handles almost all items sold on the platform, in very competitive delivery times. This capital-intensive infrastructure is very difficult for new entrants or foreign competitors like Shopee t...
In this article @LCO.1 @CL.1 Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Tankers sail in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. Stringer | Reuters Iran is preparing legislation that would impose tolls on ships passing through th...
In this article @LCO.1 @CL.1 Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Tankers sail in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. Stringer | Reuters Iran is preparing legislation that would impose tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state-aligned media. Traffic in the waterway, a critical shipping route, has effectively come to a standstill since the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran began almost four weeks ago. Subsequent supply constraints, along with attacks on energy facilities and regional production shutdowns , have pushed oil prices into triple digits. Revolutionary Guard-aligned news agency Fars said overnight that a lawmaker had told its reporter the plans to impose tolls were also a bid to officialize Iranian supervision over the Strait of Hormuz. A draft had been prepared, but was not yet complete, Fars reported. It said lawmakers were planning to complete a draft bill by next week, so it would be ready to put to parliament. The lawmaker said Iran would collect tolls in exchange for secure passage through the Strait of Hormuz, according to a Google translation. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards CNBC Europe Multiple media reports have emerged in recent weeks that Iran has been charging ships vast sums to bypass traffic in the waterway. CNBC has not been able to independently verify those claims. As the conflict moves closer to its fifth week, Washington and Tehran are delivering mixed messages on whether they are in negotiations to bring the war to an end. Iran is reported to have received a 15-point peace plan from U.S. President Donald Trump, but Iranian media said Wednesday night that officials in Tehran have dismissed the proposal. Oil was last seen trading sharply higher, with Brent crude futures jumping more than 3% higher to $165.65 a barrel a...
↗️ Olaplex (OLPX): Henkel struck a deal to acquire the California premium hair-care brand for about $2.06 a share. Shares in Olaplex, which closed at $1.33 Wednesday, rallied 48% premarket. Henkel (XE:HEN) shares in Germany were little changed.
↗️ Olaplex (OLPX): Henkel struck a deal to acquire the California premium hair-care brand for about $2.06 a share. Shares in Olaplex, which closed at $1.33 Wednesday, rallied 48% premarket. Henkel (XE:HEN) shares in Germany were little changed.
Photo: VCG China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. reported a 44.1% increase in net profit for 2025, driven by a sharp rise in equity investments amid a stronger stock market. The company’s annual report, published Wednesday, shows its net profit rose to 154.1 billion yuan ($21.7 billion), while revenue climbed 16.5% to 615.7 billion yuan. A key driver was expanded stock market investment. The state-owned i...
Photo: VCG China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. reported a 44.1% increase in net profit for 2025, driven by a sharp rise in equity investments amid a stronger stock market. The company’s annual report, published Wednesday, shows its net profit rose to 154.1 billion yuan ($21.7 billion), while revenue climbed 16.5% to 615.7 billion yuan. A key driver was expanded stock market investment. The state-owned insurer increased its open-market equity holdings by more than 450 billion yuan, bringing the total to over 1.2 trillion yuan. As a result, stocks and mutual funds accounted for 16.9% of its 7.4 trillion yuan in investment assets at the end of last year, up from 12.2% a year earlier, according to the report.
PM tells Jo Boydell of concerns about her lack of availability to discuss how staff gave man access to victim’s room • UK politics live – latest updates Keir Starmer has written to the chief executive of Travelodge to press the hotel chain to “seriously engage” with MPs raising concerns about its protocols after a woman was sexually assaulted by a man who was given her room number and a key card b...
PM tells Jo Boydell of concerns about her lack of availability to discuss how staff gave man access to victim’s room • UK politics live – latest updates Keir Starmer has written to the chief executive of Travelodge to press the hotel chain to “seriously engage” with MPs raising concerns about its protocols after a woman was sexually assaulted by a man who was given her room number and a key card by staff. MPs who had sought an urgent meeting with Jo Boydell said the case of Kyran Smith, 29, who was jailed for seven and a half years last month, raised “deeply concerning” questions. He attacked the woman after a party in December 2022. Continue reading...
Regulatory clarity in cryptocurrency has been a long time coming, and it looks like it's finally arrived. On March 17, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) delivered new joint guidance classifying crypto assets into five categories for the first time. But does that change anything for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) , and if it does, does it make t...
Regulatory clarity in cryptocurrency has been a long time coming, and it looks like it's finally arrived. On March 17, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) delivered new joint guidance classifying crypto assets into five categories for the first time. But does that change anything for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) , and if it does, does it make the coin worth buying with $1,000 right now? Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
Hungary To Halt Gas Deliveries To Ukraine Over Its Energy 'Blackmail': Orban Hungary is moving to choke off gas flows to Ukraine, escalating an energy standoff after Kiev halted Russian oil transit via the Druzhba pipeline. Prime Minister Viktor Orban in a fresh social media video address reiterated that Ukraine has blocked the Soviet-era route for a month, and he newly warned: "As long as Ukraine...
Hungary To Halt Gas Deliveries To Ukraine Over Its Energy 'Blackmail': Orban Hungary is moving to choke off gas flows to Ukraine, escalating an energy standoff after Kiev halted Russian oil transit via the Druzhba pipeline. Prime Minister Viktor Orban in a fresh social media video address reiterated that Ukraine has blocked the Soviet-era route for a month, and he newly warned: "As long as Ukraine does not provide oil, it will not receive gas from Hungary," according to a translation. via Reuters Orban added that diverted supplies will be stockpiled domestically, filling up the country's own reserves, arguing the move is justified as Ukraine "is also attacking the southern gas pipeline that supplies Hungary," referring to the TurkStream corridor. Framing the dispute as an energy security battle, Orban declared: "We will defend Hungary’s energy security, the protected petrol price, and the reduced gas prices" - adding Hungary has so far "successfully defend against Ukrainian blackmail." Orbán further called the Russian oil stoppage "Ukrainian blackmail" . According to more from The Associated Press : There was no immediate comment from Kyiv and a Hungarian government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by The Associated Press. Ukraine imports a major portion of its gas needs through Hungary, amounting to around 45% of all gas imports last year , according to Ukrainian energy consultancy EXPRO. That number dropped to 38% by January . This comes amid inter-EU turmoil and growing Brussels distrust of and anger toward Budapest : The EU is limiting the flow of confidential material to Hungary and leaders are meeting in smaller groups — as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned of long-standing suspicions Viktor Orbán’s government is sharing information with Russia. But there will not be any formal EU response to a fresh set of allegations because of the possible impact on the Hungarian election on April 12, according to five European diplomats and offi...