While Jeff Bezos Rides The Stock Market Boom, MacKenzie Scott Has Just Sold $8 Billion In Amazon Shares To Fund Charities Nationwide
While Jeff Bezos is enjoying the recent rise in the stock market, his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, is making news for her generosity. She recently sold another $8 billion worth of Amazon shares and is using the money to help charities nationwide.
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Scott, who was previously married to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has decided to use her money to try to change the world. Since their 2019 divorce, she has received a large amount of Amazon shares, making her one of the wealthiest people on the planet. But unlike many other billionaires, she isn’t keeping all that money for herself. Instead, she’s giving it away quickly, recently selling 11% of her Amazon shares to support nonprofits, per filings.
Since the divorce, Scott has sold or donated 255 million Amazon shares, worth about $37 billion. That’s huge, especially since she has done it in less than six years. Instead of holding onto her wealth, Scott focuses on giving back by providing grants to organizations working on education, health, poverty and economic opportunities.
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After graduating from Princeton University, she moved to New York City to follow her dream of becoming a writer. She had to take different jobs, like waitressing, just to pay her bills and these hard times taught her what it feels like to struggle with money, which made her want to help others in need.
Some groups that have received her donations include the Housing Trust Silicon Valley, which got $30 million to help make affordable housing and the Jewish Vocational Service in Boston, which received $7 million to help families become more financially stable. These donations are just a small part of her giving. Scott has already given more than $17 billion to over 2,300 nonprofits, making her one of the most generous people in the U.S.
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While Jeff Bezos’ net worth keeps growing with Amazon’s success, Scott’s net worth is shrinking – but that’s her goal. Forbes estimates that her wealth decreased from $59 billion in 2021 to about $30 billion in late September. She pledged to donate as much as she could over her lifetime when she joined The Giving Pledge in 2019.
AMMO, INC. DEADLINE: ROSEN, SKILLED INVESTOR COUNSEL, Encourages AMMO, Inc. Investors With Losses in Excess of $100K to Secure Counsel Before Important Deadline in Securities Class Action – POWW
NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —
WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of securities of AMMO, Inc. POWW between August 19, 2020 and September 24, 2024, both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”), of the important November 29, 2024 lead plaintiff deadline.
SO WHAT: If you purchased AMMO securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.
WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the AMMO class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=29426 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than November 29, 2024. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.
WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company at the time. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs’ Bar. Many of the firm’s attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.
DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) AMMO lacked adequate internal controls over financial reporting; (2) there was a substantial likelihood AMMO failed to accurately disclose all executive officers, members of management, and potential related party transactions in fiscal years 2020 through 2023; (3) there was a substantial likelihood AMMO failed to properly characterize certain fees paid for investor relations and legal services as reductions of proceeds from capital raises rather than period expenses in fiscal years 2021 and 2022; (4) there was a substantial likelihood AMMO failed to appropriately value unrestricted stock awards to officers, directors, employees and others in fiscal years 2020 through 2022; and (5) as a result of the foregoing, defendants’ positive statements about AMMO’s business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.
To join the AMMO class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=29426 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action.
No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor’s ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.
Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
——————————-
Contact Information:
Laurence Rosen, Esq.
Phillip Kim, Esq.
The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.
275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Tel: (212) 686-1060
Toll Free: (866) 767-3653
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3 High Yield Energy Stocks That Are Screaming Buys Now
These three stocks offer investors huge dividend potential for many years. The Global X MLP ETF (NYSEMKT: MLPA) invests in master limited partnerships (MLPs) in midstream pipelines and storage. Meanwhile, Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) and Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ: FANG) are oil and gas exploration and production companies set to gush cash in 2025 and use it to enhance dividends for long-term investors.
Whether you voted for President Trump or not, he will take office in January. That’s good news for gas pipelines and storage companies, not least because the Trump administration has promised to end the moratorium on new LNG export terminal licenses imposed by the Biden administration.
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While investors may enjoy picking winners in the sector, the Global X MLP ETF offers an alternative option. Currently holding 20 MLPs with Energy Transfer, Enterprise Product Partners, and MPLX each representing more than 10% of assets, the ETF offers a relatively stress-free way to get broad-based exposure to midstream pipelines and storage companies.
In addition to the new administration’s approach to LNG terminals, an increase in energy exploration and production is good news for energy infrastructure companies because it increases the likelihood of output increases in the fields they serve. That helps de-risk MLPs and improves their bargaining position when negotiating long-term contracts.
This ETF, with an 8.3% dividend yield and an expense ratio of 0.45%, is a buy for investors who are optimistic about the long-term future of energy production in the U.S.
I know what you are thinking: Devon Energy didn’t pay a variable dividend in the third quarter, and its quarterly fixed dividend of $0.22 equates to an annual dividend of $0.88. That figure would put Devon on a dividend yield of just 2.3%, so how is Devon Energy a high-yield stock?
The answer lies in understanding how capital is best returned to shareholders over time. In a nutshell, Devon Energy’s management is currently using its substantive cash flow to reduce its debt and make share buybacks after it pays its quarterly fixed dividend. It’s a strategy that makes sense when it’s gushing cash flow from good production and a relatively high price of oil. The debt reduction will improve future cash flow as it won’t have to pay the interest on the retirement debt, and the share buybacks will lower the share count, so existing shareholders will have a more significant claim on future cash flow.
SpaceX To Launch Tender Offer, Valuing Company At Over $250 Billion: Report
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.
SpaceX, under the leadership of Elon Musk, is reportedly preparing to initiate a tender offer next month.
What Happened: SpaceX’s tender offer will allow the sale of existing shares at $135 each, valuing the company at over $250 billion, as reported by Reuters.
Musk’s ambition for human Mars exploration could become a national priority under Trump’s administration. The NASA Artemis program, which intends to use SpaceX’s Starship for lunar missions as a precursor to Mars expeditions, is anticipated to shift focus towards Mars with uncrewed missions targeted this decade.
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SpaceX might push for relaxed regulations on worker and participant safety in private space flights under Trump’s presidency.
An investigation last year revealed over 600 worker injuries at SpaceX facilities, exceeding the industry average, raising concerns about the company’s adherence to safety standards.
Why It Matters: SpaceX’s valuation has seen a significant increase over the past year. In June, the company was reportedly set for a record $210 billion valuation in a tender offer, surpassing its previous $200 billion estimate. This was driven by substantial investor demand.
However, Musk has previously dismissed the possibility of a SpaceX initial public offering (IPO), citing the intense pressure for short-term results faced by publicly listed companies.
SpaceX’s dominance in the space sector is further highlighted by its control over two-thirds of the planet’s satellites, thanks to the rapid expansion of its Starlink satellite network.
As of September, SpaceX’s Starlink service connects over 4 million customers worldwide, demonstrating the company’s significant impact on global connectivity.
Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
The changing interest rate environment has created an incredible opportunity for income-seeking investors to earn massive yields, but not through dividend stocks… Certain private market real estate investments are giving retail investors the opportunity to capitalize on these high-yield opportunities and Benzinga has identified some of the most attractive options for you to consider.
Russia cuts gas to Austria in payment dispute, keeps EU flows
By Vladimir Soldatkin and Guy Faulconbridge
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia halted gas supplies to Austria on Saturday in a dispute over payments but was still pumping steady volumes to Europe via Ukraine after remaining buyers asked for more gas.
Russia, which before the Ukraine war was the biggest single supplier of natural gas to Europe, has lost almost all of its European customers as the EU tries to reduce its dependence and after the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany was blown up in 2022.
Now one of the last main Russian gas routes to Europe – the Soviet-era Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline via Ukraine – is due to shut at the end of this year, as Kyiv does not want to extend a five-year transit agreement which brings northern Siberian gas to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria.
Austria said on Friday that Moscow had informed it that the gas would be shut off following an arbitration award to OMV, Austria’s biggest energy supplier, over unfulfilled supplies to its German unit by Russia’s state firm Gazprom.
On Saturday, Austria’s energy regulator E-Control said Gazprom’s deliveries to OMV had stopped at 6 a.m. (0500 GMT), adding that prices and supplies to Austrian customers were steady.
OMV is seeking to recover the 230 million euro ($242 million) damages, awarded during arbitration, from Gazprom by offsetting the claim against invoices for deliveries to Austria – essentially stopping some payments for gas supplied via Ukraine.
Gazprom declined to comment on the suspension of flows to Austria, but the Russian company said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Saturday, the same volume as on Friday and during every other day in recent months.
Slovak state-owned firm SPP said it was still receiving gas from Russia and added others were buying more.
“The situation when a large consumer stopped taking gas from the east, but the same volume flows through the territory of Ukraine, shows that there is still great interest in this gas in Europe,” SPP said in a statement, without naming the other buyers.
OMV usually accounts for around 40% of Russian gas flows via Ukraine, or some 17 mcm per day.
Austrian grid operator AGGM said it was not currently substituting imports from Germany or Italy. Austria said earlier it had plentiful stocks to cover the shortfall.
GAS POLITICS
Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to President Vladimir Putin on Friday for the first time in nearly two years, as European leaders wait to hear Donald Trump’s ideas on ending the biggest land war in Europe since World War Two.
Is Plug Power Stock a Buy?
Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) has been a high-profile renewable energy company for more than a decade, hoping to transform how we use energy by making hydrogen fuel more available and cost-effective.
As big as the hydrogen opportunity is, however, the ride for investors has been volatile. Losses have grown despite improving revenue, and hopes for future profitability have been pushed off again and again. Is now a time to buy Plug Power stock or steer clear?
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Plug Power’s appeal to investors has always been about growth. In the mid-2010s, the growth was in materials handling. Then came opportunities in backup power, and recently the opportunity is in electrolyzers turning renewable electricity into hydrogen fuel.
For the most part, the growth story has played out according to plan, with revenue surging over 6,000% since 2000. But revenue doesn’t tell the full story.
Growth without profits isn’t sustainable, and Plug Power’s losses are especially concerning.
Plug Power hasn’t just lost money as it’s grown — losses have outpaced revenue. For each dollar in sales over the past year, the company has lost more than $2 in both net losses and negative free cash flow.
These are not the trends we should be seeing from Plug Power. And there’s no end in sight to the losses.
In the first half of 2024, $145.1 million in equipment sales cost the company $265 million to produce. Power purchase agreements generated $38 million in revenue, but cost $109.5 million in cost of goods sold. Fuel delivered to customers cost $116.9 million to generate and resulted in just $48.2 million in revenue.
If a company can’t make money on what it sells, before paying for operating costs, the business isn’t sustainable.
And these losses aren’t new or temporary. Plug Power has been promising it’s close to adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) break-even for over a decade, which I highlighted as far back as 2017!
What Plug Power has successfully done is raise funds for more than two decades in order to pay for its growth plans. You can see the share count is up 34,800% since the late 1990s, while the share price is down 98.7%.
Burning cash is costly, and investors pay for it through share dilution. But without dilution, the company would have run out of cash long ago.
Plug Power could keep this trend of share sales to fund growth going, but it now has debt on the balance sheet that makes the business riskier.
Palantir's CEO Is Selling Stock; Should Investors Follow Suit?
Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR) has been one of the hottest stocks in the market this year, with the stock trading up more than 246% year to date as of this writing.
CEO Alex Karp took a victory lap following his company’s most recent earnings, saying the results were so strong that “I almost feel like we should just go home.” Later he took a swipe at any critics who challenged his sanity in making such a comment.
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But while Karp has been celebrating the success of his company and its stock, he has also been aggressively selling shares of Palantir. This of course begs the question, should investors follow Karp’s lead and sell Palantir stock?
Karp has been a pretty consistent seller of Palantir stock since late 2020, using what is called a Rule 10b5-1 plan. Under these plans, company executives and other insiders set up selling instructions to brokers to sell shares based on a variety of parameters. It can be as simple as selling a set amount of shares on set dates regardless of price, or it could use a set of much more complicated triggers.
Karp appears to be using a more complicated set of triggers, but whatever they are have led to a huge increase in selling by the CEO in the couple of months. All of these recent sales have been through the exercise and then sale of stock options.
Karp’s increased selling began in mid-September when he exercised options and sold 9 million shares at an average price of $36.18, worth $325.6 million.
Just ahead of earnings he exercised options and sold an additional 5.66 million shares at an average price of $45.01, taking home $254.6 million. Then immediately after earnings, he exercised options and sold more than 12.3 million shares at an average price of $52.71, good for proceeds of $650.6 million.
Before the acceleration in selling, Karp’s sales were more in the $15 million to $22 million range.
Karp wasn’t the only insider to sell shares after earnings. Chief Accounting Officer Heather Planishek and Director Lauren Friedman Stat also sold shares via 10b5-1 plans.
This isn’t the first time Palantir has seen big insider selling, with Chairman Peter Thiel setting up a Rule 10b5-1 plan and quickly disposing of more than 28.5 million shares in September and early October.
Palantir is undoubtedly a great company. It initially proved itself by providing data gathering and analytic services to the U.S. government and helping it with such mission-critical tasks as fighting terrorism and tracking COVID-19 cases. It has since become a big artificial intelligence (AI) winner, with the U.S. commercial sector now embracing its AI platform.
Palantir's CEO Is Selling Stock; Should Investors Follow Suit?
Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR) has been one of the hottest stocks in the market this year, with the stock trading up more than 246% year to date as of this writing.
CEO Alex Karp took a victory lap following his company’s most recent earnings, saying the results were so strong that “I almost feel like we should just go home.” Later he took a swipe at any critics who challenged his sanity in making such a comment.
Start Your Mornings Smarter! Wake up with Breakfast news in your inbox every market day. Sign Up For Free »
But while Karp has been celebrating the success of his company and its stock, he has also been aggressively selling shares of Palantir. This of course begs the question, should investors follow Karp’s lead and sell Palantir stock?
Karp has been a pretty consistent seller of Palantir stock since late 2020, using what is called a Rule 10b5-1 plan. Under these plans, company executives and other insiders set up selling instructions to brokers to sell shares based on a variety of parameters. It can be as simple as selling a set amount of shares on set dates regardless of price, or it could use a set of much more complicated triggers.
Karp appears to be using a more complicated set of triggers, but whatever they are have led to a huge increase in selling by the CEO in the couple of months. All of these recent sales have been through the exercise and then sale of stock options.
Karp’s increased selling began in mid-September when he exercised options and sold 9 million shares at an average price of $36.18, worth $325.6 million.
Just ahead of earnings he exercised options and sold an additional 5.66 million shares at an average price of $45.01, taking home $254.6 million. Then immediately after earnings, he exercised options and sold more than 12.3 million shares at an average price of $52.71, good for proceeds of $650.6 million.
Before the acceleration in selling, Karp’s sales were more in the $15 million to $22 million range.
Karp wasn’t the only insider to sell shares after earnings. Chief Accounting Officer Heather Planishek and Director Lauren Friedman Stat also sold shares via 10b5-1 plans.
This isn’t the first time Palantir has seen big insider selling, with Chairman Peter Thiel setting up a Rule 10b5-1 plan and quickly disposing of more than 28.5 million shares in September and early October.
Palantir is undoubtedly a great company. It initially proved itself by providing data gathering and analytic services to the U.S. government and helping it with such mission-critical tasks as fighting terrorism and tracking COVID-19 cases. It has since become a big artificial intelligence (AI) winner, with the U.S. commercial sector now embracing its AI platform.