Latest news with #Moritz
Wales Online
16-05-2025
- Business
- Wales Online
Rarely-spotted man is the richest Welsh person to have ever lived
Rarely-spotted man is the richest Welsh person to have ever lived A row with Steve Jobs, a career switch into venture capital, and the subsequent billions - the tale of the richest Welshman Sir Michael Moritz and his wife Harriet Heyman, with who he shares his billions (Image: PA ) The richest 350 people across the United Kingdom have been declared again, and this time they have a combined wealth of £772.8 billion. While the list has seen some fluctuations, Wales' richest have largely remained the same. Billionaire Sir Michael Moritz, 70 and his American writer wife, Harriet Heyman have maintained the top spot in Wales with a wealth of £4.435bn. This is despite recording a yearly difference of £168m. Alongside being the richest person in Wales, Mr Moritz ranks 40th across the UK in terms of the wealth he has. However, Mr Moritz had humble beginnings in the Welsh capital. Born to a Cardiff University academic, Mr Moritz remembers feeling like an 'outsider' during his time growing up in Cardiff. Several well timed, and well thought of investments contributed to the billions earned by Sir Michael Moritz (Image: Getty Images for TechCrunch ) Both his parents were Jewish refugees who had fled Hitler's Nazi Germany. His father, Ludwig was a Cardiff University classics professor, and became its vice principal in the 1970s. Mr Moritz attended Howardian High School in the capital as grew up. During a clip, called 'Michael Moritz and the Underdog', he said: 'If you grew up in Wales it makes you understand what being an outsider is like. For money-saving tips, sign up to our Money newsletter here Article continues below 'Many of the kids I went to school with had dads who were unemployed or in part-time work. 'Many of them didn't have a lot of money and London was a long way away – we were outside the mainstream.' After he left Cardiff, Mr Moritz went on to graduate from Oxford, following which he moved to the United States and was hired by Time and worked as a journalist. It was during this time — in his early career as journalist when Moritz found himself having exclusive access to a new tech company, which has now turned into a technology giant worth trillions of dollars: Apple. It wasn't until Mr Moritz had a falling out with Apple founder Steve Jobs, that journalist finally made the leap to become a venture capitalist. He was the first person ever to document the development of the tech giant, and publish a book on it. It is believed that though Jobs cooperated with the Welshman initially, he reportedly did not authorise the final draft of the book for publication. Sir Michael Moritz being honoured as a Fellow of Aberystwyth University After a serious row over other articles in the Time Magazine, Jobs reportedly became so furious that he threatened to fire any employee that talked to Mr Moritz. Mr Moritz later said that a 1983 profile of Jobs that he originally wrote for the magazine's Man of the Year issue was "poisoned with a gossipy benzene' by Time. It was then he realised that he needed greater control over his work. He said the experience 'made me decide that I would never again work anywhere I could not exert a large amount of control over my own destiny or where I would be paid by the word.' Both Moritz and Jobs reportedly never resolved his differences. When he officially left journalism, Mr Moritz made a career switch and was employed at the Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital in 1986. The Welshman went on to co-found Technologic Partners, a company specialising in technology newsletters and conferences. His investments in internet firms include some of the top firms of the present like, Google, LinkedIn, PayPal, Yahoo!, Skyscanner, and YouTube. However, it is uncertain if even Moritz could have foreseen the behemoth that Google would become. In 2015, Moritz revisited his writing roots, collaborating with Sir Alex Ferguson on his book, Leading: Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United. Sequoia informed through a letter to its partners in 2023, that Moritz had left the firm after 38 years. Politically Mr Moritz is known for having donated to the Lincoln Project, which is a republican-led initiative which opposed the re-election of Donald Trump and the senators that support him. In 2010, he was also awarded an honorary fellowship by Cardiff University, while Aberystwyth University made him a fellow in 2014. Sir Michael Moritz at the Buckingham Palace when he was Knighted (Image: PA ) In recognition for his services towards promoting British economic interests and philanthropic work, Mr Moritz was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2013 birthday honours list. He has signed The Giving Pledge, committing to donate at least 50% of his wealth to charity. In 2008, Moritz and his wife gifted $50m US to Christ Church, his Oxford college, marking the largest single donation in the college's history. In 2012, Moritz donated £75m to Oxford University to fund £11,000 scholarships for students from families earning less than £16,000 annually, making it the largest financial donation to an undergraduate university in European history. Article continues below Though we continue to use several big tech applications everyday, not many know that most of them share a common denominator — Wales, and a Welshman.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Illinois woman slashes heat bill, got back $1.2K with popular tax credit — but there's ‘a risk' it'll go away
As homeowners, we've all likely been hit with a crazy high utility bill during peak winter and summer. In fact, U.S. households recently faced average natural gas bills of $602 per month during the past winter. You can cut those costs by retrofitting your home with efficient upgrades, like adding insulation, sealing gaps and heat pump water boilers. Fortunately, a federal tax credit might help offset those expenses. I'm 49 years old and have nothing saved for retirement — what should I do? Don't panic. Here are 5 of the easiest ways you can catch up (and fast) Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how Nervous about the stock market in 2025? Find out how you can access this $1B private real estate fund (with as little as $10) That's exactly what worked for Megan Moritz, a Chicago homeowner who recently received a tax break after upgrading her home for better energy efficiency. After purchasing her 1930s dream home, she soon learned it came with all the 1930s-era insulation problems. Moritz spent around $5,700 on retrofits and saw a big payoff: a much warmer house and a heating bill slashed in half. 'The biggest perk to me, honestly, was not freezing my butt off,' Moritz told CNBC. 'Then it was the monthly bill going down as much as it did.' Even better, she was able to claim those expenses on her taxes, which gave her a $1,200 credit. That financial relief made the investment even more worthwhile. This tax break — called the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit — is used by millions of homeowners to insulate drafty homes or upgrade to energy-efficient appliances. It's a part of a broader push to cut greenhouse gas emissions and prevent another 1970s-style energy crisis. While upfront costs can be a barrier, the credit helps by covering up to 30% of the cost of eligible projects. The extremely popular tax credit, which American homeowners claimed $8.4 billion of in 2023, has been extended through 2032 by the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act. But for those planning future upgrades, its lifespan may be threatened by the Trump administration, which has pledged to cut IRA spending. As Republicans search for ways to fund a $4 trillion tax cut package, the home improvement credit could be at risk. Freezing IRA funds was one of Trump's first executive orders for this presidency. 'There is a risk in the current budget bill that these credits would be changed or go away completely,' said Haas Energy Institute economist Lucas Davis, who has written on the history and use of the energy credit. A group of congressional Republicans is siding with Democrats to keep the credit alive. With slim margins of Democrats to Republicans in both the House and Senate, it may still have a fighting chance. If the federal tax credit does get slashed, check whether your state or local government offers energy rebates. The Department of Energy provides a rebate search tool, and the NC Clean Energy Technology Center maintains an online database of state energy incentives. Read more: This hedge fund legend warns US stock market will crash a stunning 80% — claims 'Armageddon' is coming. Don't believe him? He earned 4,144% during COVID. Here's 3 ways to protect yourself Whether or not you're able to get the energy tax credit, making energy-efficient upgrades to your home is good for the environment and your wallet. If you're like Moritz and live in a house that's nearly 100 years old, there are several ways to improve energy efficiency without compromising its historic charm. Insulation: Attic insulation is often a high-priority, yet cost-efficient upgrade for older homes. It can lower heating and cooling costs by 15%, and it's generally easier and more affordable to install than wall or floor insulation. Upgrade your furnace or boiler: In older homes, the heating system may also be outdated. Replacing it with a 95% efficiency model could save you up to $525 per year. You might also save $300-800 annually on parts, repair and boiler maintenance by upgrading to a newer system. Start small: If big-ticket improvements aren't in your budget right now, start with low-cost changes — like switching to LED lighting, gradually upgrading to ENERGY STAR appliances and using power strips to reduce phantom energy use when electronics are idle. Energy audits: Many utility companies and local governments offer free or discounted energy audits. These professional evaluations help identify areas of energy waste and provide a plan for increasing efficiency. Want an extra $1,300,000 when you retire? Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan 'works every single time' to kill debt, get rich in America — and that 'anyone' can do it Rich, young Americans are ditching the stormy stock market — here are the alternative assets they're banking on instead Here are 5 'must have' items that Americans (almost) always overpay for — and very quickly regret. How many are hurting you? This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
This Underrated Thriller Set In The Aftermath Of WWII Needs To Be Your Next Series Binge
That's how a character describes post-World War II Berlin in Måns Mårlind's underrated historical thriller series: The Defeated (titled Shadowplay in Europe). The comment, of course, refers to the way in which the victorious Allied powers — the United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and France — divided the beleaguered German capital into four different sectors at the end of the conflict. By the time V-E Day rolled around in May 1945, however, the city was a depressing shell of its former self; a bombed-out wasteland of rubble, death, hunger, corruption, general lawlessness, and the rumblings of a frigid geopolitical stalemate between America and Russia. The last bit of cordial cooperation between the two was the main Nuremberg Trial against the surviving members of the Nazi High Command. At the same time, war criminals still at large were desperately looking for a way to get out of the country or keep a low-profile at the very least. 'We have a billion films about the war and we have a billion films and series about the Cold War,' Mårlind says over Zoom. 'But the complete aftermath [of WWII] is the most disturbing, distressing, and painful time, because that's when the civilians suffered the most. It's a direct aftermath of the war and the horrors and confusion of that.' New York City police officer Max McLaughlin (Taylor Kitsch) hopes to tame that chaos when he arrives in the sweltering summer of 1946, with a mission to establish a viable law enforcement body in the American Sector. Not the easiest job in the world when you need to navigate both the rising distrust between countries who refuse to collaborate on the most basic of issues, as well as the dangerous machinations of a thriving criminal underworld. Everyone left standing is pretty much out for themselves and everyone has a price, which means incomplete intelligence, morally questionable decisions, and cold-blooded betrayal are all cozy bedfellows. 'When you can get away with anything, do you do that or do you not do that?" muses the show's creator. 'Do you help the poor, or do you exploit the poor? That was the thing that always kept the storyline going. It's not about good or evil, and that's why I don't like the American title, because it's so simple. It's [really] For Max, the entire situation is — to borrow an acronym oft-used by American GIs during World War II — FUBAR. But he's not leaving Berlin until he finds his missing older brother, Moritz (Logan Marshall-Green), who went AWOL after the liberation of Dachau and set off on a vigilante campaign of murdering Nazi war criminals — from concentration camp guards to members of the Einsatzgruppen death squads — in gruesome fashion. Think of the cathartic revenge against ardent acolytes of the Third Reich featured in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds and David Weil's Hunters. 'I think that I became Moritz [while] writing [the series] because reading about all the atrocities in the concentration camps, I felt the rage and the hate,' Mårlind admits. 'I think it's very important to sympathize with your your villain, because otherwise, you just write a Bond villain. You have to understand what drives him, and I could understand him completely. Moritz is a good guy, but he's doing horrible things. He's a killer, but he he saw something that cracked him. Max is a cop, but he is also doing bad things [from a position of authority]. So it's all about the shadow at play within ourselves, which is enhanced in the most violent place on Earth at the time — Berlin.' While he could not fully escape the influence of The Third Man, Mårlind forbade his cast and crew from watching the noir classic set in post-war Prague. 'I didn't want to hear a single f—ing reference saying, 'This is kind of like The Third Man,'' he says with a smile. 'It's one my favorite films, and I tried to erase it from my head, but I couldn't.' Ironically, the entire show was filmed in Prague, with the city itself and 'three big backlots' standing in for a muggy Berlin, circa 1945. 'I'm very, very conscious watching other people's history things, because I think so many of them look stiff and fake,' adds the creator. 'That's why the heat was really important, people needed to be sweaty … There were six to eight bombed-out blocks that were made [to look like post-war] The estranged brotherhood element is just one of several intersecting storylines that Mårlind juggles with the aplomb of revered historical/thriller storytellers like Robert Harris (Fatherland) and Joseph Kanon (The Good German). In addition to his search for Moritz, Max also crosses paths with a number of memorable characters: Elsie Garten (Nina Hoss), head of the newly-formed police precinct; Tom Franklin (Michael C. Hall), the smarmy US Vice-consul to whom Max reports; Claire Franklin (Tuppence Middleton), Tom's seductive, femme fatale wife; Gad (Maximilian Ehrenreich), a young Jewish Holocaust survivor and police officer with a talent for illustration; Karin Mann (Mala Emde), a loyal lieutenant of the charismatic crime-lord known only as 'Angel Maker' (Sebastian Koch); and General Alexander Izosimov (Ivan G'Vera) ruthless head of the Russian sector. Mårlind's stunning exploration of nearly every post-war viewpoint is what makes The Defeated/Shadowplay must-watch television. He even found room to include a brief appearance from Nakam, a vengeful band of Jewish Holocaust survivors who wanted to even the score by killing six million Germans. 'I just love to read about these fearless Jewish people who weren't running away,' Mårlind says. 'They're like, 'We're staying put, we're going to die, and we're going to kill six million Germans.' I think that was…maybe not courageous; it was destructive, of course, but I still love it.' If you ever find yourself bouncing around Europe, it is completely worth checking out Shadowplay, which the creator prefers as his definitive 'director's cut.' Despite sharing a lot of similarities, the two versions are completely different shows. Nevertheless, The Defeated came and went in the United States with little fanfare, a disappointing eventuality that Mårlind chalks up to the fact that average Americans were lucky enough to avoid the utter devastation WWII wrought upon the European continent. 'In America, when we had test screenings, [audiences asked] 'Where is Berlin?' and then, 'What do you mean sectors?'' the creator remembers. 'The Second World War is so close to Europeans' hearts. America, of course, has its own memories, but they don't have very much [knowledge of] the aftermath. Another unfortunate outcome is that Mårlind never got to finish the saga in a planned second season, which would have seen Moritz audaciously going after Pope Pius XII in response to the Vatican's role in helping war criminals escape Europe. 'He's killing the Pope in the first couple of episodes and I'm super happy with the tension,' Mårlind reveals. 'People would be very upset about it, but I really like that. And then, of course, the story returns to Berlin. It's [set] All eight episodes of The Defeated are now streaming on Netflix
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
No evidence smart meters impacted homes during LA fires
In a video posted to TikTok on January 11, 2025, a social media user points to an aerial image of a single home seemingly untouched amid a fire scorched neighborhood and asks if there "is something else that could be at play" in determining which structures escaped destruction from the Los Angeles fires. The video, which has accumulated more than 12.3 million views, then cuts to a clip, originally posted to TikTok on January 10. In it, a woman claims to be filming a single property in Pasadena where one structure burned down while the other did not. She alleges that the surviving house did not have a smart meter. Reposts of the video as well as similar claims about smart meters circulated elsewhere on Facebook and X. The clip was also shared in Dutch and French-language posts. The wildfires, which erupted around January 7, ravaged Los Angeles County, killing about 30 people, and destroying more than 10,000 homes. The fires were the focus of widespread disinformation, with conspiratorial claims and AI-generated images rocketing across social media. The cause of the blazes is currently under investigation, but researchers said human-driven climate change set the stage for the devastating wildfires by reducing rainfall, parching vegetation, and extending the dangerous overlap between flammable drought conditions and powerful Santa Ana winds. Homes in the impacted region may use smart meters to track their energy usage, but Max Moritz, wildfire specialist at University of California Santa Barbara (archived here), said that presence of the electrical devices is not the reason why some homes burned. "Most homes tend to burn 'from the inside out' meaning that burning embers manage to enter into the building," Moritz said in a February 3, 2025 email. "Burning structures are the fuel that carries the fire through a neighborhood, not the vegetation around the homes. That is why we often see green trees or shrubs still there." Environmental factors such as wind also play a role in determining a fire's path, according to experts (archived here). Precautions taken to make a home fire resistant have a larger impact on whether it will be ravaged during a wildfire. "Some may have combustible siding, single paned windows, and less attention to defensible space. All of these vulnerabilities increase the chances of some homes burning and others not," Moritz said. "Many structures that survive did so because someone was there defending them, while other structures were not able to be defended." Protecting a home from the ember showers that set so many houses ablaze is among the most pressing considerations, Yana Valachovic, a specialist in fire-resistant construction at the University of California (archived here), told AFP. That means hardening or stopping any ingress points, such as vents. Other important considerations are using tempered glass -- which is heat-resistant -- and rethinking the way a garden is laid out. AFP was not able to confirm the location of the home said to have survived the wildfire because it lacked a smart meter. An analysis of footage shared online by David Benterou, a fire ecologist at University of California, Berkely (archived here), indicated potential human efforts to defend the surviving house. "Someone came through and did some emergency tree burning," Benterou said on January 31, 2025, pointing to the scorched Cypress tree shown on the right side of the front house. "This house may have survived just for that." Smart meters have been the target of multiple conspiracy theories. But experts say that like any electrical device, they pose only a slight risk of starting a fire and require regular checks on the connections. "Just as much as any other appliance in your house, you just have to check," Benterou said. But Benterou said the devices are "not known to start fires in a pattern like this," instead pointing to the documented relationship between high-powered electrical transmission lines and ignitions. Southern California Edison (SCE) is currently being sued by homeowners and renters in Altadena who allege that the company failed to de-energize its electrical equipment, namely power lines, despite high wind and red flag warnings by the National Weather Service. In a February 6 statement (archived here), Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of SCE's parent company, Edison International, said: "While we do not yet know what caused the Eaton wildfire, SCE is exploring every possibility in its investigation, including the possibility that SCE's equipment was involved." The statement said SCE has not identified "broken conductors, fresh arc marks in the preliminary origin area, or evidence of faults on the energized lines running through that area." AFP reached out to SCE, but a spokesperson said the company could not speak to safety questions on smart meters, which are manufactured externally. Itron Inc, SCE's smart meter manufacturer for the Pasadena area, said its smart meters comply with standards laid out by the American National Standards Institute and Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and have "rigorous quality assurance processes to ensure the safety" of the meters, according to an official statement by the company (archived here). The image of the lone-standing, red-roofed house used as supporting evidence is unrelated to the recent fires in Los Angeles. A reverse image search revealed that the photo was taken in Laguna Beach by Alexander Gallardo in 1993 (archived here), following a fire, which destroyed more than 400 homes in Southern California. The photo was included in an article by The Orange County Register in 2017, reflecting on the historic fire (archived here). Fire protection techniques such as installing double paned glass and extra insulation when building the home and including concrete, stucco and tile as primary building materials likely helped the structure survive, the owner told the Los Angeles Times (archived here and here). Smart meters are unrelated to this fire as SCE only began rolling them out in 2009 (archived here). More of AFP's reporting on misinformation surrounding wildfires can be found here.
