Insight with Haslinda Amin, a daily news program featuring in-depth, high-profile interviews and analysis to give viewers the complete picture on the stories that matter. The show features prominent leaders spanning the worlds of business, finance, politics and culture. (Source: Bloomberg)
Insight with Haslinda Amin, a daily news program featuring in-depth, high-profile interviews and analysis to give viewers the complete picture on the stories that matter. The show features prominent leaders spanning the worlds of business, finance, politics and culture. (Source: Bloomberg)
Jonathan Kitchen Zhipu has increased the price of access to its most advanced AI model by at least 8%, joining other leading Chinese AI firms in seeking returns on years of research and heavy computing investment. The Beijing-headquartered company released its latest open source model GLM-5.1 this week, according to reports. It set prices for cloud-based usage — for instance, input tokens—between ...
Jonathan Kitchen Zhipu has increased the price of access to its most advanced AI model by at least 8%, joining other leading Chinese AI firms in seeking returns on years of research and heavy computing investment. The Beijing-headquartered company released its latest open source model GLM-5.1 this week, according to reports. It set prices for cloud-based usage — for instance, input tokens—between 8% and 17% higher roughly than for its older GLM-5 Turbo, according to official pricing on OpenRouter. That’s at least the second time the company, which debuted in Hong Kong in January, has raised prices for users in 2026, Bloomberg reported. One of the leading players in China's crowded artificial intelligence sector, Zhipu AI , reported revenue growth of 132% for 2025 in its first results update since raising HK$4.35 billion ($554.9 million) in a January listing. It's also a primary competitor to OpenAI ( OPENAI ) More on KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF, iShares MSCI China Multisector Tech ETF, etc. KWEB: Legacy Businesses Take Time To Phase-Out KWEB: Almost So Bad, It's Good, Where To Dip Your Toe CQQQ: A Strong Run, But No Case For Fresh Money Asian markets surge as Trump’s 'double-sided ceasefire' reopens Strait of Hormuz Asia markets muted amid uncertainty as Trump’s Iran infrastructure deadline looms
M. Suhail/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Thesis I don’t like dividends. Companies giving me money? Terrible. I’m being a bit tongue-in-cheek here, of course, but there are times when I believe even income-focused stocks should deemphasize dividends, at least for a limited time, to focus on the primary business. I’m more wary of stock buybacks and tend to view them as management struggling to co...
M. Suhail/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Thesis I don’t like dividends. Companies giving me money? Terrible. I’m being a bit tongue-in-cheek here, of course, but there are times when I believe even income-focused stocks should deemphasize dividends, at least for a limited time, to focus on the primary business. I’m more wary of stock buybacks and tend to view them as management struggling to come up with good ideas. I’m mentioning all of this because I believe Wendy’s ( WEN ) is fundamentally rather attractive right now, and if the leadership goes all in on executing a business (rather than stock) turnaround, I’d likely upgrade my rating from a hold to a buy. Wendy's has historically been rather focused on rewarding shareholders, however, so I want to see sustained resistance to near-term increases (or better yet, decreases) in said rewards. I previously rated WEN as a hold back in early November, when share prices were about $8.50. Share prices have dropped below $7 in recent days, and WEN looks more attractive now, but I can’t quite get over the line to buy just yet. I previously took a look at WEN’s cash buybacks, and today I want to take a closer look at the high dividend payouts as well. Wendy’s does appear to have paused stock buybacks, with no new purchases in Q4 2025 or so far this year. They have also cut dividend payments from $1 in 2024 to 67 cents in 2025 and are expected to pay out 56 cents in 2026. This is still a bit too high for me given Wendy’s rather urgent need to execute a business turnaround. If Wendy's were to further trim its dividend, it'd push me even closer (and possibly into buy territory). Further, if Wendy's management team ruled out near-term future stock buybacks, that would also push me closer to buy territory. As for the turnaround story, I do like the emerging pivot toward value, which has paid off for McDonald’s ( MCD ) and other restaurants, like Brinker International's Chili's chain ( EAT ). If WEN pivots from its investor rew...
Scorpio Tankers ( STNG ) announced pricing of a private offering of $325M of 1.75% convertible senior notes due in 2031. This amount is an increase from the initially planned $300M. The company also allowed the initial purchasers to buy an additional $50M of notes during a 13-day period after issuance. Alongside the offering, the company will repurchase about 1.34M shares of its common stock from ...
Scorpio Tankers ( STNG ) announced pricing of a private offering of $325M of 1.75% convertible senior notes due in 2031. This amount is an increase from the initially planned $300M. The company also allowed the initial purchasers to buy an additional $50M of notes during a 13-day period after issuance. Alongside the offering, the company will repurchase about 1.34M shares of its common stock from the note purchasers at a price of $74.36 per share, based on the last reported sale price on April 7, 2026. The offering is expected to close on April 10, 2026. The notes will mature on April 15, 2031, and will bear 1.75% interest, paid semi-annually starting October 15, 2026. Holders can convert the notes under specific conditions before January 15, 2031, and at any time after that date until just before maturity. The initial conversion rate is 9.9615 shares per $1,000 of notes, with a conversion price of about $100.39 per share, which is 35% above the last reported stock price on April 7, 2026. The notes can be exchanged for cash at the company's choice starting April 20, 2029, under certain conditions, including if the company's common stock price exceeds 130% of the conversion price for a designated time. The company expects to raise around $314.7M from the offering, or about $363.3M if additional notes are fully purchased, after accounting for discounts, commissions, and expenses. It plans to use approximately $100.0M to buy back around 1.34M shares of common stock, with the rest for general corporate use. More on Scorpio Tankers Scorpio Tankers - Looking Closer At 2026E Oil Transportation Scorpio Tankers Inc. (STNG) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript Scorpio Tankers Inc. 2025 Q4 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Scorpio Tankers announces proposed offering of convertible senior notes Scorpio Tankers to invest $10M in nuclear propulsion venture
Dragon Claws/iStock via Getty Images By Zeno Mercer Investors are starting to understand that robotics and AI each represent an industry of industries. Not a sector. Not a theme. The foundational technology stack that every other industry increasingly depends on. In Q1, the market decided to stress-test that thesis, and the results tell a more nuanced story than the headline numbers suggest. In th...
Dragon Claws/iStock via Getty Images By Zeno Mercer Investors are starting to understand that robotics and AI each represent an industry of industries. Not a sector. Not a theme. The foundational technology stack that every other industry increasingly depends on. In Q1, the market decided to stress-test that thesis, and the results tell a more nuanced story than the headline numbers suggest. In this piece, we’ll recap what happened across both landscapes, highlight some of the quarter’s most consequential developments, and walk through the latest changes to the ROBO Global Artificial Intelligence Index ( THNQ ). Amazon Goes All In On Physical AI It would be easy to dismiss Amazon’s ( AMZN ) acquisition of Fauna Robotics as another big-tech acqui-hire, but it's not. Fauna, founded in 2024 by former Meta ( META ) and Google ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) engineers, built Sprout, a consumer-oriented humanoid designed to be approachable and software-developer-friendly. This was Amazon’s second robotics acquisition in a single week (following Swiss delivery firm Rivr). It also signals what we’ve been writing about since the Cambrian Explosion piece in January: the humanoid robotics market is no longer a science project. It is a land grab. Meanwhile, Amazon is reportedly in talks to acquire Globalstar ( GSAT ) for approximately $9 billion. A move that is less about satellites and more about spectrum. Globalstar holds globally harmonized, licensed orbital spectrum, a regulated asset that cannot be replicated. Apple ( AAPL ) already owns 20% of Globalstar and has reserved 85% of its network capacity for iPhone emergency services, making this a three-way negotiation between two of the world’s largest companies. For investors tracking the physical infrastructure layer beneath AI, this is one to watch. The Personal AI Wave & Its Quiet Little Powerhouse One of Q1’s biggest stories was the explosion of OpenClaw. The open-source autonomous AI agent went from being a side project to a global ...
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps recently issued a warning that explicitly mentioned major AI data center infrastructure in Abu Dhabi. The statement referenced the planned US$30b Stargate AI data center project, which Oracle co-leads with OpenAI, SoftBank, and local partners. This is one of the first public threats directly aimed at Oracle's high profile AI infrastructure, raising question...
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps recently issued a warning that explicitly mentioned major AI data center infrastructure in Abu Dhabi. The statement referenced the planned US$30b Stargate AI data center project, which Oracle co-leads with OpenAI, SoftBank, and local partners. This is one of the first public threats directly aimed at Oracle's high profile AI infrastructure, raising questions around geopolitical and operational risk. For investors following NYSE:ORCL, this development...