Peter Thiel is one of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest and most influential investors; unlike Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, though, most of his fortune doesn’t come from one single company. Thiel has spent decades building a network of investments across various industries like technology, finance, defense, and politics. His rise began with PayPal. After initially investing $100,000 into the company that became PayPal, he received an even bigger payout after eBay acquired it in 2

The video game industry should be having its best years ever. More people are playing games, spending more time playing, and buying more in-game content. The video game industry currently generates between $200 and $350 billion in annual revenue, making it one of the largest forms of entertainment in the world. However, many of the companies behind these games are struggling internally. One of the major problems is that gamers are spending more time playing fewer games. In 20

Exactly two years ago, Leopold Aschenbrenner launched a hedge fund centered around one core idea: artificial intelligence was going to reshape the economy. He managed to raise $225 million from prominent Silicon Valley figures such as Patrick and John Collison, Nat Friedman, and Daniel Gross. For a while, the bet worked; through an explosive 439% return in the first half of 2026, Aschenbrenner and Situational Awareness scaled that initial seed capital into upwards of $45 bill

You may have heard that over the past few years, some of the world’s largest tech giants have laid off tens of thousands of employees. Meta alone has eliminated almost 40,000 positions through multiple rounds of cuts. Other big names like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have all announced major layoffs of their own. However, despite cuts, these companies still employ almost the same number of people as they did before the layoffs. So what’s the point? Originally, companies arg

Over the past several months, oil prices have been fluctuating wildly. Some days, reports of peace talks between Iran and the US send prices lower. Later, new attacks in the Strait of Hormuz push them right back up. This cycle has repeated itself so many times that investors are wondering why the market continues to react so strongly to new headlines. Part of the reason is that oil futures are not just investments; they are critical to the global economy. Shipping companies,

One of the most common places people learn about investing today is social media. A FINRA survey found that 61% of adults between 18 and 34 have made an investment decision based on advice that they received from a social media post. With financial content continuing to grow online, many regulators are becoming concerned about how investments are being promoted. A rising concern deals with influencers being paid to promote publicly traded companies without properly explainin

Last year, private equity had one of its biggest years ever, with many firms completing hundreds of billions of dollars in acquisitions and sales. At first glance, this looks like one of the most successful years for the industry. However, recent events reveal that the market may not be as healthy as the numbers suggest. Over the past few weeks, many warning signs have appeared. BlackRock, one of the largest asset managers, limited withdrawals from its private credit funds. A

Although vehicle sales have remained exceptionally strong, this year has been one of the roughest in decades for the world’s largest automakers. The most famous automakers like Toyota, General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Nissan, and Stellantis have all reported major profit declines. Furthermore, Honda posted its first annual loss in almost a century, and Porsche and Jaguar both had profits fall by about 99%. These losses come as a surprise, since global vehicle sales have grea

Travel has become increasingly expensive over the past year, and the recent shutdown of Spirit Airlines is another sign that budget-friendly travel could be becoming harder to find. After filing for bankruptcy multiple times, Spirit officially shut down its operations earlier this year, removing one of the largest low-cost airlines from the market. For decades now, cheap airlines have helped make travel more accessible to millions of people across the globe. The competition

Last year, companies, industry groups, and organizations came together to spend a record of $5.24 billion on federal lobbying in the United States. Even so, this number does not even include any state-level lobbying or other forms of political influence. Even though lobbying has always been a key part of American politics, the amount of money flowing into the system continues to grow because it produces enormous returns for many organizations. Lobbying is the process of infl

Is getting a good job still sufficient to build wealth? This question has become increasingly common in Silicon Valley, with a new phrase gaining traction: the “permanent underclass”. This idea describes how advances in artificial intelligence could eventually make many jobs much less valuable, which would make it harder for people to improve their financial situations with work alone. Although AI has significantly highlighted these concerns, the trend itself is not entirely

Inflation in the U.S. has been reported at around 2.5-3% over the past year, but it doesn’t feel that way for most people. Everyday expenses such as food, housing, insurance, and even fast food feel as though they are rising much faster. This creates a gap between what the inflation data shows and how citizens are actually affected. Inflation is measured using something called the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which tracks the cost of a “basket” of goods and services over a pe

Recently, the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, limited withdrawals from one of its private credit funds, which holds about $26 billion in assets. Amidst all of the geopolitical tensions around the world right now, this may not seem like a huge deal at first. However, it could be an early sign that something is off within a market that has grown rapidly over the past few years. When investors try to take their money out, and funds can’t fully return it, concerns about

So far in 2026, OpenAI has not had a great year. Originally, Sam Altman described OpenAI as a nonprofit organization working for the betterment of humanity. Now, the company has shifted its focus to shareholders, specifically gearing up for one of the largest initial public offerings in history. But as a direct result of this, the company has faced many problems, such as legal challenges over the fair use of intellectual property, legal challenges over its governance, legal c

Mortgage rates are influenced by two main types of factors: those you can control and those you can’t. On the personal side, lenders typically offer better rates to borrowers with strong credit scores, lower debt relative to income, and larger down payments. Comparing lenders can also help you secure a lower rate. When the economy is weak, rates often drop to encourage borrowing. When it’s strong, rates tend to rise to slow spending. 15-Year vs. 30-Year Mortgages The two most

On February 28, 2026, the United States worked with Israel to attack Iran’s military and nuclear facilities. In response, Iran quickly launched missiles on Israeli and US bases in the Gulf. As markets open on March 2, investors are assessing how these escalations will affect oil prices, the stock market, and the global economy as a whole. Around 20 million barrels of oil are transported through the Strait of Hormuz each day, which is a crucial waterway between Iran and Oman.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) The Consumer Price Index, widely known as CPI, is an economic data point that gives key information on market movements specifically regarding inflation. CPI reports the average change monthly of consumer spending for a chosen group of goods and services. This chosen group is called the market basket, where there is a certain group of goods and services that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics takes into account when measuring CPI. This basket of go

Over the past 20 years, no industry has generated more wealth than software. It turned physical tools into digital ones, manual procedures into automated ones, and developing startups into multi-trillion dollar companies. However, in early 2026, that same dominance over industries is being questioned. Duolingo has fallen more than 60% in less than a year. Monday.com is down over 50%. Even Figma, one of the most anticipated IPOs of 2025, has lost almost 75% of its value. Thes

What are Bonds? Key Concepts Bonds, often known as fixed-income loans, are a sort of loan. A bond issuer draws money from a lender for a certain length of time with a fixed repayment schedule. The amount borrowed = Principle Interest paid = Coupon Each bond provides its principal, maturity, and coupon rate (interest rate). This additional interest is also called the yield of the bond(coupon rate), and yields have an inverse relationship with credit rating and are heavily

The U.S. economy during the early months of 2026 continues to grow, but so do the costs. On paper, the economic growth has been exceptional, with GDP expanding by 4.4% in Q3 of 2025 and an estimated 4.2% in Q4. However, inflation continues to remain above target and the labor market continues to weaken. Although the headlines may seem to suggest economic growth, there are many underlying indicators that reveal declines in employment and concerns on stability. One of the