Jason Calacanis used Block (NYSE:XYZ) as a case study on a recent This Week in Startups episode to argue that AI-driven productivity gains have become a prisoner’s dilemma for every public company CEO. Block cut over 4,000 people in February 2026, taking headcount from over 10,000 to under 6,000. Three months later, the company posted ... Block’s 40% Layoffs Will Drive 62% Earnings Growth: ‘If You...
Jason Calacanis used Block (NYSE:XYZ) as a case study on a recent This Week in Startups episode to argue that AI-driven productivity gains have become a prisoner’s dilemma for every public company CEO. Block cut over 4,000 people in February 2026, taking headcount from over 10,000 to under 6,000. Three months later, the company posted ... Block’s 40% Layoffs Will Drive 62% Earnings Growth: ‘If You Don’t Have Time to Use AI, You Don’t Have a Job’
Earnings Call Insights: CapsoVision (CV) Q1 2026 Management View "CapsoVision remains focused on advancing earlier, more accurate and more accessible detection of gastrointestinal disease for patients worldwide," said Co-Founder, President, CEO & Director Kang Wang, adding, "We are working towards a unified injectable capsule platform capable of screening for multiple cancers, including esophageal...
Earnings Call Insights: CapsoVision (CV) Q1 2026 Management View "CapsoVision remains focused on advancing earlier, more accurate and more accessible detection of gastrointestinal disease for patients worldwide," said Co-Founder, President, CEO & Director Kang Wang, adding, "We are working towards a unified injectable capsule platform capable of screening for multiple cancers, including esophageal, gastric, pancreatic, liver and colorectal through a single noninvasive procedure enabled by advanced imaging and AI." Wang said commercial activity showed steady underlying use trends even as top-line and account adds were stable: "While revenue and new account additions remained stable year-over-year, we saw further expansion of CapsoCams used to detect a widening range of the mobile diseases." He added, "Underlying procedure volume reflecting end user consumption continued to expand." Wang emphasized customer retention and the enterprise footprint: "During the quarter, we also secured key renewals for large GI networks, including Indiana University Health Systems, Providence Health Systems and the Gastro Health." On the near-term product catalyst, Wang said, "We previously submitted our 510(k) application for our AI-assisted reading capability for CapsoCam Plus," and added, "We continue to expect the clearance around midyear, and we are preparing for a commercial launch shortly thereafter." Compliance Officer, SVP of Finance, Principal Financial & Accounting Officer David Garcia provided the quarter’s commercial and financial snapshot: "For the first quarter of 2026, total revenue was $2.8 million, consistent with prior year period." He also said gross margin pressure came from trade costs: "Gross margin of 48% compared to 54% in the first quarter of 2025" and "The change in gross margin was primarily due to tariffs impacting our cost of goods sold." Outlook Garcia set directional expectations for the year without providing numeric guidance: "We expect second quarter re...
Guardiola can claim 17th City trophy, Arteta weighs up another Arsenal reshuffle and Brentford’s European dreams could edge closer A measure of Pep Guardiola’s greatness is to be found in Saturday’s FA Cup final being a 24th visit to Wembley leading Manchester City. As this born winner could depart in the close season, the meeting with Chelsea may be a third-last outing in charge, in which he seek...
Guardiola can claim 17th City trophy, Arteta weighs up another Arsenal reshuffle and Brentford’s European dreams could edge closer A measure of Pep Guardiola’s greatness is to be found in Saturday’s FA Cup final being a 24th visit to Wembley leading Manchester City. As this born winner could depart in the close season, the meeting with Chelsea may be a third-last outing in charge, in which he seeks the opposite result to the 2021 Champions League final . Yet Chelsea are now in a state of flux – Calum McFarlane is in a second caretaker spell of the season, following Liam Rosenior’s sacking last month, having also filled in when Enzo Maresca walked out on 1 January. This points to a City triumph and the 17th major trophy of Guardiola’s reign. But this is football, so who knows? Jamie Jackson FA Cup final: Chelsea v Manchester City, Saturday 3pm (all times BST) Aston Villa v Liverpool, Friday 8pm Manchester United v Nottingham Forest, Sunday 12.30pm Brentford v Crystal Palace, Sunday 3pm Everton v Sunderland, Sunday 3pm Wolves v Fulham, Sunday 3pm Continue reading...
Charity says calls to its Childline service about online sexual abuse and exploitation have risen 36% in a year Children reported a rise in online blackmail attempts involving sexual images in the UK last year, according to a leading charity. The NSPCC said contacts with its Childline service relating to online sexual abuse and exploitation rose by 36% last year, driven by an increase in cases rel...
Charity says calls to its Childline service about online sexual abuse and exploitation have risen 36% in a year Children reported a rise in online blackmail attempts involving sexual images in the UK last year, according to a leading charity. The NSPCC said contacts with its Childline service relating to online sexual abuse and exploitation rose by 36% last year, driven by an increase in cases related to online blackmail. Continue reading...
Private equity firm Lightrock , which was spun out from Liechtenstein’s LGT Group , has raised a new $500 million fund to back businesses advancing access to affordable and clean energy in Asia and Africa. Lightrock’s Accelerate7 will invest $10 million to $50 million in growth-stage companies across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, according to a statement reviewed by Bloomberg ...
Private equity firm Lightrock , which was spun out from Liechtenstein’s LGT Group , has raised a new $500 million fund to back businesses advancing access to affordable and clean energy in Asia and Africa. Lightrock’s Accelerate7 will invest $10 million to $50 million in growth-stage companies across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, according to a statement reviewed by Bloomberg News . The fund drew investment commitments from energy companies Equinor ASA , Shell Plc , TotalEnergies SE and LGT Group, the private banking and asset-management firm of Liechtenstein’s royal family, among others. “The fund’s LPs include strategic energy companies looking to support solutions further down the value chain than their current operations, as well as potential future acquirers of the portfolio companies,” Lightrock Chief Executive Officer Pal Erik Sjatil said in an interview. The new strategy is focused on investing in companies across three core sectors: access to electricity, clean cooking and technologies such as electric mobility and energy storage. Singapore-headquartered investment firm TRIREC will help deploy the fund in Southeast Asia. “Accelerate7 is investing at the intersection of infrastructure and growth equity, or infra growth equity, targeting businesses that provide essential infrastructure or enabling services,” Sjatil said. The new fund has already made four investments: SolarSquare , a rooftop solar system provider; Sun King , an off-grid solar energy company; Euler Motors , an electric vehicle manufacturer; and ATEC Global , an IoT-enabled clean cook-stove provider. “The fund is specifically designed to bridge the equity gap in emerging markets, focusing on United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7: affordable and clean energy,” said Ademidun Edosomwan , a partner and head of energy access at Lightrock. “While there is significant debt available in these markets, there is a chronic shortage of equity.”
AMD’s first quarter results were marked by significant growth in its data center segment and broad-based demand across all business units. Management credited the results to a surge in AI infrastructure spending, particularly highlighting a 57% increase in data center revenue driven by strong sales of EPYC CPUs and Instinct GPUs. CEO Lisa Su emphasized that “data center is now the primary driver o...
AMD’s first quarter results were marked by significant growth in its data center segment and broad-based demand across all business units. Management credited the results to a surge in AI infrastructure spending, particularly highlighting a 57% increase in data center revenue driven by strong sales of EPYC CPUs and Instinct GPUs. CEO Lisa Su emphasized that “data center is now the primary driver of our revenue and earnings growth,” noting that both cloud and enterprise customers ramped up adopti
Long lines stretching across several blocks have formed in Hong Kong as shoppers turned up days ahead of the launch of the “Royal Pop” pocket watches – a collaboration between luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet and Swatch. A South China Morning Post reporter observed about 50 people queuing in Causeway Bay on Thursday evening, a few metres from the Swatch store on Kai Chiu Road. “If you don’t try, ...
Long lines stretching across several blocks have formed in Hong Kong as shoppers turned up days ahead of the launch of the “Royal Pop” pocket watches – a collaboration between luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet and Swatch. A South China Morning Post reporter observed about 50 people queuing in Causeway Bay on Thursday evening, a few metres from the Swatch store on Kai Chiu Road. “If you don’t try, you don’t win,” said one hopeful, who only gave his name as Jackson. “How many opportunities do you...
India’s government is ratcheting up steps to curb foreign outflows and cushion the economy from the fallout of the Iran war. On Thursday, authorities tightened rules for importing gold into the country and told government employees in the capital region of Delhi to work from home twice a week to save fuel. The government also temporarily banned exports of sugar to protect local supplies. Separatel...
India’s government is ratcheting up steps to curb foreign outflows and cushion the economy from the fallout of the Iran war. On Thursday, authorities tightened rules for importing gold into the country and told government employees in the capital region of Delhi to work from home twice a week to save fuel. The government also temporarily banned exports of sugar to protect local supplies. Separately, Bloomberg News reported that the Reserve Bank of India proposed a significant reduction in the taxes paid by foreign investors on the nation’s bonds, another way to boost inflows. India is the world’s third-largest importer of oil and heavily reliant on energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway effectively blocked for more than two months because of the Iran war. Higher energy bills have led to a surge in foreign outflows from India, putting pressure on the rupee, which has plunged to a record low. The latest moves are part of emergency steps the government considered to cushion the impact of the war on the economy. Officials are also discussing hiking fuel prices for the first time since the conflict began, Bloomberg News reported earlier this week. Gold and consumer electronics are considered non-essential imports, officials said, and restricting purchases would help to preserve foreign currency. “The government is undertaking various precautionary measures to conserve foreign exchange reserves amid pressure on the rupee,” said Teresa John , economist with Nirmal Bang Securities. The measures to restrict gold imports are similar to previous periods of “external stress,” she said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi , whose party won a landslide in recent state elections , warned the public on the weekend that austerity measures were coming. Since then, top officials have been laying the groundwork for fuel price hikes. Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said Tuesday that Indian refiners are incurring substantial losses by keeping retail fuel prices unchanged. ...
A recent surge in Chinese chip stocks has made them some of the most expensive among global peers, and investors are growing increasingly cautious. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. trades at about 128 times forward earnings for its mainland-listed shares, while peer Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd. trades at 181 times. In comparison, both US-chipmaker Intel Corp. and South Korea’s Hanmi ...
A recent surge in Chinese chip stocks has made them some of the most expensive among global peers, and investors are growing increasingly cautious. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. trades at about 128 times forward earnings for its mainland-listed shares, while peer Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd. trades at 181 times. In comparison, both US-chipmaker Intel Corp. and South Korea’s Hanmi Semiconductor Co. trade at the lower end of 90 times. “Valuation concerns are emerging as chip stocks rally, and potential bubble risks may be more pronounced across China’s broader chip sector, where premiums are largely driven by localization expectations rather than strong earnings,” said Xiang Xiaotian , director at Shanghai Chengzhou Investment Management. Hua hong reported net income for the first three months of the year that were below estimates, with forecast revenue for the second quarter also missing expectations. SMIC, one of the country’s largest chipmakers, reported a net income miss for the January-March period. Beijing’s push to localize the chip supply chain and achieve tech self-sufficiency is lifting sentiment for the sector. That helped drive the country’s chip-focused STAR50 index to a record high this week, amid an artificial intelligence-led rally across Asian markets. “These companies may benefit materially from the domestic market growth, as overseas peers, no matter how strong they are, won’t have a similar chance to compete,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Steven Tseng . “Investors might have started to recognize their value, especially given the backdrop of a massive rally of chip names in the US, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.” Still, signs of crowding are beginning to emerge in onshore equities, with turnover topping 3 trillion yuan ($442 billion) for a seventh straight session and outstanding margin financing climbing to high levels — both pointing to increasingly frothy positioning in some of the market’s most crowded trades. Investors will be...
Explore the exciting world of TopBuild (NYSE: BLD) with our contributing expert analysts in this Motley Fool Scoreboard episode. Check out the video below to gain valuable insights into market trends and potential investment opportunities! *Stock prices used were the prices of March 11, 2026. The video was published on May 7, 2026. Continue reading
Explore the exciting world of TopBuild (NYSE: BLD) with our contributing expert analysts in this Motley Fool Scoreboard episode. Check out the video below to gain valuable insights into market trends and potential investment opportunities! *Stock prices used were the prices of March 11, 2026. The video was published on May 7, 2026. Continue reading
buradaki/iStock via Getty Images The last couple of months have been a really stellar time for shareholders of Iridium Communications Inc. ( IRDM ). I have long been a big fan of the company. But even I have been surprised by the fact that shares are up 77.5% since I rated the business as a Buy candidate back in March of this year. Over that same window of time, the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) is up only 12...
buradaki/iStock via Getty Images The last couple of months have been a really stellar time for shareholders of Iridium Communications Inc. ( IRDM ). I have long been a big fan of the company. But even I have been surprised by the fact that shares are up 77.5% since I rated the business as a Buy candidate back in March of this year. Over that same window of time, the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) is up only 12.3%. That article actually represented a downgrade from the Strong Buy I had assigned the company previously. And that was driven by a 35.6% surge in price since the previous article that I had written about it, as well as some fundamental softness that the company had been exhibiting. That softness has continued on the bottom line. But on the whole, management continues to focus on slowly expanding the company while simultaneously generating significant cash flows to pay down debt and return to shareholders. The latest big move from the company came on May 14th, when the company announced that it is acquiring the rest of Aireon LLC, an interesting business that it used to own several years ago that it subsequently sold off in order to pay for its satellite constellation. That business seems to be growing at a nice pace. And even though the purchase might make Iridium Communications just a bit more expensive on an EV-to-EBITDA basis, I consider this to be a wise move by management. I do think that the easy money has already been made for investors. However, I would also argue that enough upside still exists to justify a bullish rating. Flying Higher Before I get into the big news development for Iridium Communications, I think it would be helpful to look at the most recent fundamental data that management has provided. This data came out on April 23rd and covers through the first quarter of the 2026 fiscal year. Revenue for that time came in at $218.1 million. That was up from the $214.9 million that the business reported a year earlier. This expansion for the company was f...