Albert Manifold and his board refused to put a request from investor group on annual meeting agenda – leading to an investor revolt BP has fresh faces in the boardroom and a rigged strategy: it’s pivoting back to oil and gas and away from its low-carbon assets in an attempt to improve a weak share price . One can agree or disagree with the approach. But it was a silly act of overreach for a newish...
Albert Manifold and his board refused to put a request from investor group on annual meeting agenda – leading to an investor revolt BP has fresh faces in the boardroom and a rigged strategy: it’s pivoting back to oil and gas and away from its low-carbon assets in an attempt to improve a weak share price . One can agree or disagree with the approach. But it was a silly act of overreach for a newish chair to try to stifle debate on such matters. That, in effect, was what Albert Manifold did when he excluded a resolution for Thursday’s annual meeting from Follow This, a Dutch investor group. The proposal itself cannot be described as explosive. It was pitched in investor-friendly terms and would merely have obliged BP to describe how it would protect shareholder value if demand for oil and gas falls. Nor is Follow This some two-bob outfit within the ranks of climate groups. It was claiming support from investors with $1tn under management. Continue reading...
Blackstone Inc. ’s secondaries business reached $100 billion of assets under management in the first quarter, making it one of the biggest players in the market for selling secondhand stakes. Its flagship secondaries fund collected an additional $6 billion in the first quarter of this year, bringing the total raised for that fund to $11 billion, Blackstone President Jon Gray said on a call with an...
Blackstone Inc. ’s secondaries business reached $100 billion of assets under management in the first quarter, making it one of the biggest players in the market for selling secondhand stakes. Its flagship secondaries fund collected an additional $6 billion in the first quarter of this year, bringing the total raised for that fund to $11 billion, Blackstone President Jon Gray said on a call with analysts to discuss the firm’s first-quarter results Thursday. Read More: Blackstone Sees ‘Best Year’ for Its IPOs as Earnings Beat The secondaries unit, called Strategic Partners and run by Verdun Perry , has completed more than 2,350 transactions. It buys portfolios sold by clients of private fund managers and also participates in secondaries deals initiated by those managers. Last year, it bought a $5 billion portfolio of private equity holdings from the New York pension system, one of the largest sales of its kind. The firm is also an investor in the $2.4 billion continuation fund raised by EQT AB to hold on to data center operator EdgeConneX for longer, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing non-public information. Blackstone declined to comment on the transaction. The $22.2 billion Strategic Partners VIII generated an internal rate of return of 18% as of March. The market for secondaries has been on a tear, with overall volume jumping 48% since 2024 to hit a record of $240 billion last year, according to Jefferies Financial Group . Higher interest rates slowed dealmaking and fundraising for private markets, compelling managers to turn to continuation funds to hold assets for longer and return profits to existing investors. Clients of private funds also tapped the market to generate liquidity in the absence of profits from their investments.
Athlete who collapsed on track in 2024 ready for London Warner-Judd admits hitting ‘rock bottom’ after seizure There are sporting comebacks. And then there is Jessica Warner-Judd’s remarkable return from a focal seizure during the 10,000m at the European Championships in 2024. Those of us in Rome that night watched Judd wander distressingly across the track with 600m to go before collapsing and be...
Athlete who collapsed on track in 2024 ready for London Warner-Judd admits hitting ‘rock bottom’ after seizure There are sporting comebacks. And then there is Jessica Warner-Judd’s remarkable return from a focal seizure during the 10,000m at the European Championships in 2024. Those of us in Rome that night watched Judd wander distressingly across the track with 600m to go before collapsing and being carried off and sedated . What we didn’t see was what followed: the trauma therapy, depression and fears she would never run again. Continue reading...
A phone for people who like pens. The 2026 edition of Motorola's stylus phone is plenty appealing. My review unit is a charming lilac color, has a pleasantly textured back panel, and includes a MicroSD slot and what might be the last surviving headphone jack on a mainstream phone sold in North America. The namesake stylus is no longer just a fancy plastic stick, it's active and comes with some nea...
A phone for people who like pens. The 2026 edition of Motorola's stylus phone is plenty appealing. My review unit is a charming lilac color, has a pleasantly textured back panel, and includes a MicroSD slot and what might be the last surviving headphone jack on a mainstream phone sold in North America. The namesake stylus is no longer just a fancy plastic stick, it's active and comes with some neat tricks. Motorola Moto G Stylus (2026) The latest version of Motorola's stylus phone comes with an active pen, as well as old favorites like a headphone jack and MicroSD support. Score: 6 Pros Cons Active stylus Headphone jack! MicroSD card support! IP68/69 rated Big screen for the p … Read the full story at The Verge.
Lock Stock/DigitalVision via Getty Images Reassessing My Previous "Buy" Call On INCY When I first looked at Incyte Corporation ( INCY ) stock in mid-January 2026, the stock looked interesting as it started to consolidate a little after a strong run-up throughout 2025. The growth story looked strong at the time—the firm's profitable biotech business doubled since 2021, and the non-Jakafi portfolio ...
Lock Stock/DigitalVision via Getty Images Reassessing My Previous "Buy" Call On INCY When I first looked at Incyte Corporation ( INCY ) stock in mid-January 2026, the stock looked interesting as it started to consolidate a little after a strong run-up throughout 2025. The growth story looked strong at the time—the firm's profitable biotech business doubled since 2021, and the non-Jakafi portfolio (Jakafi, ~60% of INCY's sales driver, is set to go through an LOE process in 2028) looked promising. Most things were looking good, so it is a bit frustrating to see the stock's price action following my bullish call—INCY has lost over 8% of its market capitalization since I posted, even though my undervaluation findings at the time pointed to a 33% upside potential. Seeking Alpha, my previous article on INCY Despite the sell-off, the core turnaround story hasn't really changed, as far as I can see. The non-Jakafi business line is still growing rapidly, and the firm holds a lot of cash on its balance sheet, which de-risks this turnaround to some extent. The undervaluation has become even wider, so I think INCY still deserves its "Buy" rating. In my opinion, 2026–2027 is very likely to be another strong period for the stock, similar to what we saw throughout 2025. Why Do I Think So? In its fiscal Q4 2025 , INCY had a nice 28% YoY growth in revenues ($1.51 billion), beating the consensus estimate by over 11%, according to Seeking Alpha data . On the bottom line, however, we saw a miss of 6%, so it drove down the whole sentiment, and the stock closed the earnings trading session with a steep 9%+ correction: TrendSpider Software, INCY, notes added The reason there was that EPS miss is in INCY's reinvestment back to its business—the company ramped up some parts of its OPEX to support an aggressive slate of late-stage clinical trials and prepare for four major product launches in the next 12 to 18 months (that's my understanding based on the management's commentaries). For our la...
The first quarter of 2026 wasn't a good one for technology investors. The Middle East conflict led investors to press the panic button, prompting them to book profits in technology stocks that have appreciated strongly in recent years amid the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). While it is understandable that investors have been rotating out of tech stocks to preserve capital in unc...
The first quarter of 2026 wasn't a good one for technology investors. The Middle East conflict led investors to press the panic button, prompting them to book profits in technology stocks that have appreciated strongly in recent years amid the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). While it is understandable that investors have been rotating out of tech stocks to preserve capital in uncertain times, the pullback in this sector has also opened up buying opportunities. Some AI stocks that were overvalued earlier can now be bought at relatively lower valuations. Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) is one such stock that has retreated by almost 18% so far in 2026. Let's see why the sell-off in Palantir is actually good news for the stock. Continue reading
Tech can scale cyber-attacks and defences alike, raising questions about private power, public risk and the future of a shared internet Anthropic announced its latest AI model, Claude Mythos , this month but said it would not be released publicly, because it turns computers into crime scenes. The company claimed that it could find previously unknown “zero-day” flaws, exploit them and, in principle...
Tech can scale cyber-attacks and defences alike, raising questions about private power, public risk and the future of a shared internet Anthropic announced its latest AI model, Claude Mythos , this month but said it would not be released publicly, because it turns computers into crime scenes. The company claimed that it could find previously unknown “zero-day” flaws, exploit them and, in principle, link these weaknesses in order to take over major operating systems and web browsers . Mythos did so autonomously, writing code and obtaining privileges. The implications are significant. It’s like a burglar being able to target any building, get inside, unlock every door and empty every safe. The Silicon Valley company has so far named 40 organisations as partners under Project Glasswing to help mount a defence – asking them to “patch” vulnerabilities before hackers get a chance to exploit them. All are American, sitting at the heart of the US-led digital system. Anthropic shared Mythos with only Britain outside the US, allowing the AI Security Institute to test frontier models. After seeing it up close, British ministers warned : AI is about to make cyber-attacks much easier and faster, and most businesses are not ready. Banks in Europe are likely to test it next. Continue reading...
The Tories’ flagship scheme has aided higher earners most. The latest analysis of its flaws should lead to a rethink The results are in. The biggest winners from the Conservatives’ help to buy scheme were high-earners who were already likely to buy a house. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) examined who benefited from the policy, and concluded that the top 10% of earners received the largest ...
The Tories’ flagship scheme has aided higher earners most. The latest analysis of its flaws should lead to a rethink The results are in. The biggest winners from the Conservatives’ help to buy scheme were high-earners who were already likely to buy a house. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) examined who benefited from the policy, and concluded that the top 10% of earners received the largest cash benefit. Rather than helping people to buy, it more likely helped the already fortunate to accumulate wealth quicker (by helping them buy earlier, or more expensive properties). Of course, this distorted the market: pushing prices up in some areas, and largely increasing competition rather than supply. That its flagship housing policy accelerated housing and wealth inequalities during a time when the government insisted deep cuts to public finances were needed is not just shocking – it underlines how deep the Tory project of redistribution went. In the 12 years to 2022-23, net spending by councils on housing, per person, was cut by 35% , while spending on planning and development was cut by a third – but clearly there was some cash to go around. Continue reading...
US president says Tehran hobbled by infighting as Pentagon reportedly briefs mine clearance may take six months Middle East crisis – live updates Donald Trump has again said that the US has “total control over the strait of Hormuz,” adding that Iran’s leadership was so hobbled by infighting that it was unclear who was in charge. But the US president’s claim seemed questionable in the face of the s...
US president says Tehran hobbled by infighting as Pentagon reportedly briefs mine clearance may take six months Middle East crisis – live updates Donald Trump has again said that the US has “total control over the strait of Hormuz,” adding that Iran’s leadership was so hobbled by infighting that it was unclear who was in charge. But the US president’s claim seemed questionable in the face of the seizure of two container ships by Iranian commandos and a US report warning it could take six months to clear the strait of mines. Continue reading...