My back-to-work morning train WFH reads:
• The Stealthy Lab Cooking Up Amazon’s Secret Sauce: The online giant bought a mysterious chip startup 10 years ago. It now looks like one of the smartest deals in tech history. (Wall Street Journal)
• Warren Buffett Reveals He Stepped Down After Finally Feeling His Age: The legendary investor, 94, opens up about his decision to hand the top job to Greg Abel; ‘How do you know the day that you become old?’ (Wall Street Journal) see also 7 life lessons from Warren Buffett that have nothing to do with picking stocks: We all have the ability to emulate the Oracle of Omaha in the ways that really matter. (Marketwatch)
• Tariffs Won’t Reindustrialize America. Here’s What Will: To revive manufacturing, the US needs to borrow from China’s playbook. (Businessweek)
• 4 Fund Fee Trends to Watch in 2025: What to make of Vanguard’s low-cost stronghold, new but expensive ETFs, and more. Investors continue to pour money into low-cost ETFs, but new ETFs are by and large high-fee. (Morningstar.com)
• Tipping Point: How America’s Gratuity System Got Out of Hand: From its shady roots to modern absurdities — why tipping culture in the U.S. needs a serious reckoning. (Scraps to Stacks)
• The Old Model of Billionaire Philanthropy Is Ending: The new generation of Silicon Valley elite is far less interested in giving away its wealth. (Bloomberg) but see The Rise of the Selfish Plutocrats: Instead of pursuing philanthropy, many now seek to evade social responsibility. (The Atlantic)
• AI is printing the rocket engine that could beat SpaceX at its own game: Leap 71 is developing AI to build rocket engines faster and cheaper than ever before. (Fast Company)
• Harvard Paid $27 for a Copy of Magna Carta. Surprise! It’s an Original. Two British academics discovered that a “copy” of the medieval text, held in Harvard Law School’s library for 80 years, is one of seven originals dating from 1300. (New York Times)
• Scientists in a race to discover why our Universe exists: The current theory of how the Universe came into being can’t explain the existence of the planets, stars and galaxies we see around us. Both teams are building detectors that study a sub-atomic particle called a neutrino in the hope of finding answers. (BBC)
• The Five Days That Destroyed the Celtics’ Dynasty: The Boston Celtics suffered a shocking playoff loss to the New York Knicks. Now they face impossible questions about how to keep one of basketball’s best teams together. (Wall Street Journal) see also The Knicks Have Been Bad-Luck Losers This Entire Century. Monday Night, It All Changed. When the Knicks beat the Boston Celtics in a pivotal playoff game, it didn’t win them the series. But it hinted at a major transformation for one of the longest-suffering franchises in pro sports. (Wall Street Journal)
Be sure to check out our Master’s in Business with John Montgomery, founder and CEO of Bridgeway Capital. The firm, which was founded in 1993, manages ~$5B in assets; they have become known for donating 50% of their annual company profits to non-profit organizations.
Oil Reserves and Oil Production
Source: Information Is Beautiful
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