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Wales Online
27-05-2025
- Sport
- Wales Online
Teenager dies from 'serious head injury' after playing viral rugby-style tackle game
Teenager dies from 'serious head injury' after playing viral rugby-style tackle game The game has recently soared in popularity on social media and has been endorsed by some professional rugby players The teenager died after playing 'run it straight' with friends in Palmerston North, New Zealand (Image: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images ) A teenager has died after suffering a "serious head injury" while playing a rugby-style tackling game popular on social media, police have confirmed. The 19-year-old from New Zealand - identified in local media as Ryan Satterthwaite - passed away in hospital on Monday, having played a game of 'run it straight' with friends in the city of Palmerston North the day before. The game sees two players, one with a ball and the other the tackler, charge at each other with no protective gear in order to recreate the high-impact collisions seen in rugby and knock each other down. While it has been played casually in Australia and New Zealand for years, 'run it straight' has recently become a viral challenge online, with videos of people running at full speed into one another clocking up tens of millions of views on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. In a statement, Manawatu Area Commander Inspector and police spokesperson Ross Grantham said: 'This young man's death is an absolute tragedy and my thoughts are with his family and friends. 'The tackle game … was based on a social media-driven trend, where participants compete in full-contact collisions without protective gear. "While this was an impromptu game among friends, not a planned event, this tragic outcome does highlight the inherent safety concerns with such an activity," Inspector Grantham added. Article continues below "We would urge anyone thinking about taking part in a game or event like this to consider the significant safety and injury risk." Despite critics warning that it could lead to head trauma and brain injury, the game has not just taken off online but has also been endorsed by some professional rugby players and has led to tournaments being held. Last week, one such event - Runit Championship League - was held in Auckland, having being first held in Australia in March, with a prize of around $20,000 up for grabs. The event saw two men retire from the competition due to head injuries, with videos showing one of them appearing to have a seizure following a collision, according to Radio New Zealand. Tournament organisers RUNIT promotes the game as "the world's fiercest new collision sport" with "strength and grit" being rewarded. A Runit Championship League final had been planned to be held in Auckland with a reported $200,000 prize on the line, but the Trust Arena - where the 'trials' had already taken place' now says it will not host the event. 'The initial Runit trials were held at the Trusts Arena, but a contract had not been signed in relation to hosting the final event,' said the stadium's general manager of community engagement Lynette Adams. 'Following the trials, it was clear from commentary that there was overwhelming concern for the high-risk nature of the event. Safety of all participants at our venue is paramount and this activity presented safety considerations that we could not overlook. 'We therefore made the decision not to allow any further Runit events at our venue and the event promoter was advised accordingly last week." Article continues below In a statement issued to the Guardian, RUNIT said the 19-year-old's death was tragic and said it did "not encourage any copying of the sport", adding that its events involve participant screening, medical assessments and strict guidelines on how and where to tackle. 'Any contact sport like boxing, martial arts or combat-style activities should only be held in highly controlled environments, which include professional medical supervision and support,' it said. 'We do not encourage any copying of the sport as it should only be done under the strict conditions.'
Forbes
21-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How Does The Dick's-Foot Locker Merger Impact Nike's Valuation?
Note: Nike's FY'24 concluded on May 31, 2024. Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images This month marks a second significant billion-dollar transaction—following Skechers' $9.4 billion sale—Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE : DKS) has declared a $2.4 billion purchase of Foot Locker (NYSE: FL). The agreement highlights the ongoing strength and strategic relevance of the sports retail industry, even in the face of persisting tariff pressures and varying consumer demand. Subject to s hareholder and regulatory clearances, the acquisition is anticipated to finalize in the second half of 2025. This action reflects a wider phenomenon among retail firms to future-proof their operations by achieving scale, diversifying, and enhancing leverage with leading brands like Nike (NYSE: NKE), Adidas, and Under Armour (NYSE: UA). For Nike, the ramifications are particularly notable as it navigates a shifting retail environment characterized by changes in consumer behavior, digital acceleration, and uncertainties in global trade, including tariff fluctuations. Additionally, if you seek growth with a steadier approach than an individual stock, contemplate the High Quality portfolio, which has surpassed the S&P, and achieved >91% returns since inception. In spite of a temporary relaxation of U.S.-China trade strains, with tariffs on Chinese imports cut to 30% from 145% and China reducing U.S. tariffs to 10% from 125%, Nike remains exposed. Approximately 24% of Nike's suppliers and 15% of its revenue are linked to China, and close to 50% of its footwear and 30% of its apparel are sourced from Vietnam. These dependencies render Nike vulnerable to future trade disruptions. A larger, more integrated retail partner such as the merged Dick's-Foot Locker entity could assist in mitigating some of these cost pressures, allowing Nike to optimize logistics , secure better terms, and maintain its pricing power without sacrificing margins. Nike had previously transitioned towards a Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) approach, disconnecting from certain wholesale partners, including temporarily trimming its association with Foot Locker. Nevertheless, under CEO Elliott Hill, Nike seems to be readjusting, acknowledging the significance of strong wholesale distribution—especially as consumer preferences change and macroeconomic headwinds continue. The merger brings together Nike's two largest wholesale partners, providing potential advantages such as: Broader omnichannel access: Dick's contributes solid digital infrastructure and suburban reach, while Foot Locker adds mall-based and urban retail penetration. Enhanced brand presentation: A concentrated retail presence enables Nike to bargain for premium in-store placement, effective product storytelling, and a consistent brand experience that aligns with its Consumer Direct Acceleration initiative. Strategic safeguard: A robust wholesale partner provides Nike with added flexibility during periods of DTC underperformance or inventory adaptations. Foot Locker is Nike's largest retail partner and has faced challenges with falling sales, down 6% year-over-year in the latest quarter, amid soft demand for Nike footwear. The company is poised to shut down 110 stores (4% of its footprint) in 2025. While Dick's could speed up Foot Locker's reformation, the risk of execution remains high. For Nike, achieving success depends on close collaboration with the newly merged entity to ensure fitting brand alignment and engagement with customers, especially with younger demographics that are increasingly hard to reach through traditional retail. Nike currently trades around $63 per share, or approximately 21x anticipated 2025 earnings, lower than its three-year average multiple of 30x. While analysts predict a 16% upside to a $73 target price, the short-term prospects seem challenging. In the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, which concluded on February 28, the company exhibited poor performance and has forecasted a revenue decline in the low-to-mid-teens for the fourth quarter. Furthermore, gross margin is anticipated to decrease by 4 to 5 percentage points due to aggressive inventory clearance strategies. For fiscal year 2025, revenue is projected to decline by 11%, while a slight 1% decrease is expected for fiscal year 2026, indicating a slow and gradual recovery. The Dick's-Foot Locker agreement represents a defining moment for Nike's wholesale channel. If executed effectively, the merger could offer Nike a more robust, digitally driven retail partner that could deliver scale, efficiency, and brand enhancement. However, short-term obstacles—ranging from tariff risks to DTC weakness and evolving consumer trends—demand a flexible strategy and strong execution. While it doesn't seem like there is significant near-term upside to NKE, investing in a single stock can carry risks. You may consider the Trefis Reinforced Value (RV) Portfolio, which has surpassed its all-cap stocks benchmark (combination of the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 benchmark indices) to deliver robust returns for investors. What's the reason behind that? The quarterly rebalanced mix of large-, mid- and small-cap RV Portfolio stocks offered a responsive way to capitalize on favorable market conditions while minimizing losses when markets decline, as explained in RV Portfolio performance metrics. It should also be emphasized that stocks can decline dramatically – 20%, 30%, even 50% –as witnessed during past market shocks. No stock is Preserve & Grow Wealth With Risk-Focused Quality Portfolios
Forbes
20-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Buy Or Sell INTU Stock Ahead Of Its Upcoming Earnings?
Signage for financial software company Intuit (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images). Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU), a financial technology platform, is set to announce its earnings on Thursday, May 22, 2025. An analysis of the past five years indicates that Intuit's stock has registered a positive one-day return following its earnings announcements in 69% of instances. These positive returns have had a median of 2.2% and a maximum of 12.6%. For traders focused on events, these historical trends can provide a possible edge, although the actual market response will mainly depend on how the reported results align with consensus forecasts and market anticipations. Two primary strategies can be employed to potentially utilize this historical data: At present, consensus forecasts suggest that Intuit will report earnings per share of $10.91 on revenues of $7.56 billion for the upcoming quarter. This is in comparison to the same quarter last year when the company reported earnings per share of $9.88 on revenues of $6.74 billion. From a fundamental viewpoint, Intuit currently holds a market capitalization of $188 billion. Over the past twelve months, the company generated $17 billion in revenue, achieving an operating profit of $4.1 billion and a net income of $3.0 billion. For more information, see – Buy or Sell Intuit Stock. However, if you are looking for an upside with less volatility compared to individual stocks, the Trefis High Quality portfolio offers an alternative — having outperformed the S&P 500 and yielded returns exceeding 91% since its inception. See earnings reaction history of all stocks Some observations on one-day (1D) post-earnings returns: Additional data for observed 5-Day (5D), and 21-Day (21D) returns following earnings are summarized along with the statistics in the table below. INTU 1D, 5D, and 21D Post Earnings Return A relatively less risky strategy (though not beneficial if the correlation is low) involves understanding the correlation between short-term and medium-term returns after earnings, identifying a pair with the highest correlation, and executing the appropriate trade. For instance, if 1D and 5D exhibit the strongest correlation, a trader might position themselves as 'long' for the next 5 days if the 1D post-earnings return is positive. Here is some correlation data derived from 5-year and 3-year (more recent) history. Note that the correlation 1D_5D pertains to the correlation between 1D post-earnings returns and subsequent 5D returns. INTU Correlation Between 1D, 5D and 21D Historical Returns Occasionally, the performance of peers can impact post-earnings stock reactions. In fact, the pricing may begin before the earnings are disclosed. Here is some historical data on the recent post-earnings performance of Intuit stock in comparison with the stock performance of peers that announced their earnings just before Intuit. For a fair comparison, peer stock returns also reflect post-earnings one-day (1D) returns. INTU Correlation With Peer Earnings Discover more about Trefis RV strategy that has outperformed its all-cap stocks benchmark (a combination of all three, the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000), yielding strong returns for investors. Separately, if you are looking for upside with a more stable experience than an individual stock like Intuit, consider the High Quality portfolio, which has beaten the S&P and recorded >91% returns since inception.
Newsweek
20-05-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
We're About To Lose One of the Best Things the Government Ever Built
One of America's most effective public-private partnerships is under threat. Not from foreign adversaries, but from proposed budget cuts that would eliminate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program. At first glance, Energy Star might seem like just a government label slapped on refrigerators or laptops. But behind that small, bright blue star, recognized by 90 percent of American households, is the nation's most trusted and impactful energy efficiency program. According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, eliminating Energy Star would create chaos for consumers and businesses alike, replacing a consistent, science-based standard with a confusing tangle of inconsistent, often pay-to-play private certifications. Close-up of Energy Star logo. Close-up of Energy Star logo. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images Energy Star is more than a label. It's infrastructure. As of 2024, the EPA reports that the program saves American families an average of $450 per year on energy bills. It keeps mission-critical facilities—like hospitals, schools, and data centers—running efficiently and reliably. And it's a foundational tool for grid stability, helping utilities and building operators cut demand and emissions without sacrificing performance. By reducing overall energy consumption and improving the resilience of critical infrastructure, Energy Star also strengthens national security. Lower energy demand makes the grid less vulnerable to disruptions—whether from cyberattacks, natural disasters, or supply shortages—while energy-efficient buildings are better equipped to maintain operations during emergencies. In an era of growing threats to our energy infrastructure, programs like Energy Star are essential for safeguarding both our economy and our national security. In an age of soaring energy demand, aging infrastructure, and rising utility costs, Americans need more tools to improve efficiency, not fewer. Gutting Energy Star would pull the rug out from under efforts to modernize our buildings, decarbonize our economy, and keep costs manageable for families and businesses alike. I've spent over 30 years helping health systems, schools, and commercial real estate owners achieve Energy Star certification and realize measurable savings and resilience. In the early 1990s, I worked with the EPA to help design and scale the very tools that underpin the program's commercial building platform. Today, through my work with RE Tech Advisors and Legence, we've helped more than 25,000 buildings—totaling 5 billion square feet—track and improve performance using Energy Star tools. This work has real, tangible impact. Take our recent partnership with Avanath Capital Management, a national affordable housing provider. Since 2021, Avanath has used Energy Star tools to analyze utility usage and create best-practice operating standards that ensure greater efficiencies and economies of scale. More than a quarter of its properties are now Energy Star certified, and they were recognized as an Energy Star Partner of the Year in 2024. These improvements helped the company reduce energy and water use by 10 percent—years ahead of schedule—freeing up capital for property repairs while keeping rents affordable for residents. At Harvard Law School, our team developed a decarbonization roadmap across 22 buildings and 1.2 million square feet. Energy Star tools were critical to ensuring compliance with local building performance standards and benchmarking ordinances. But beyond compliance, the plan is delivering lower emissions, cleaner air, and improved energy performance. This is why federal agencies, per the U.S. General Services Administration, require the office space they lease to meet Energy Star certification standards. It's not about politics. It's about performance. Energy Star-certified buildings use, on average, 35 percent less energy than non-certified ones. If the program disappears, those gains evaporate—and utilities, taxpayers, and the planet all pay the price. Despite decades of bipartisan support, Energy Star now faces the chopping block. Yet no private organization has the impartiality, scientific rigor, or nationwide trust to replace it. The federal government has the data, lab research, and technical expertise needed to run Energy Star effectively and transparently. Eliminating it would be a reckless mistake—and a costly one. Congress and the administration must recognize Energy Star for what it is: critical national infrastructure that has saved billions of dollars, reduced pollution, and strengthened our energy system for more than 30 years. It's a rare government success story—one where the public and private sectors work together to solve complex challenges and deliver real results. If we want to stay globally competitive, reduce grid strain, and keep energy costs down for households and businesses, we can't afford to lose Energy Star. Contact your representatives. Tell them to protect a program that works—for all of us. Deb Cloutier, CRE, is the chief sustainability officer at Legence, president and founder of RE Tech Advisors, and a senior advisor at Blackstone. With over 30 years of experience in commercial real estate and environmental sustainability, she has played a pivotal role in shaping national programs such as EPA's Energy Star and the Department of Energy's Better Buildings Initiative. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Forbes
15-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Metamorphosis: How VC Funds Are Evolving And Stepping Away From The Classic Model
Iconic sign for Sand Hill Road, with a green traffic light signaling "Go", on Sand Hill Road in the ... More Silicon Valley town of Menlo Park, California, August 25, 2016. In Silicon Valley culture, "Sand Hill Road" is used as a metonym for the venture capital industry, as many prominent venture capital firms have offices along the road. (Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images). For decades, venture capital operated with a relatively straightforward playbook: find promising early-stage startups, invest modest sums across a portfolio of companies, and hope a few breakout successes would deliver outsized returns. But a quiet yet radical transformation is underway, with Lightspeed Venture Partners' recent move to become a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) representing perhaps the most telling signal yet of venture capital's dramatic evolution. This seemingly technical regulatory change actually represents a profound shift in strategy and capability. By registering as an RIA, Lightspeed—one of Silicon Valley's most prominent venture firms—has effectively given itself permission to expand far beyond traditional venture investments. The firm can now purchase public stocks, execute private equity-style buyouts, build roll-up strategies, and dramatically scale its secondary market activities. This metamorphosis isn't happening in isolation. Several top-tier venture firms have been steadily expanding their scope and scale: Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) became an RIA back in 2019, a move that initially raised eyebrows but has since proven prescient. The firm has since participated in the Twitter deal alongside Elon Musk, built an expansive crypto empire spanning both investment and infrastructure, and launched a wealth management platform. Ben Horowitz even recently said in a recent interview "The classic VC model is dead." Sequoia Capital, long considered the gold standard in venture investing, has evolved toward an "evergreen" model designed to hold investments for much longer periods, moving away from traditional fund structures with fixed time horizons. Thrive Capital, founded by Josh Kushner, recently raised a specialized one billion dollar vehicle specifically designed to build and buy AI-native companies, blurring the lines between venture investing and company creation. Perhaps most dramatically, General Catalyst has pursued healthcare investments so aggressively that it acquired an entire hospital system—and has openly dropped the VC label in favor of describing itself as an 'investment company.' This transformation comes amid several converging factors creating both opportunity and necessity for leading venture firms: First, the traditional venture model is showing signs of strain. The "spray and pray" approach—making 25 early bets and hoping for two unicorns—no longer delivers the same reliable returns in a market where company-building costs have escalated and exit timelines have extended. Second, the explosion of secondary market activity has created significant new opportunities. As private companies stay private longer, providing liquidity to early investors and employees has become a massive business opportunity that traditional VC fund structures weren't designed to capture. Third, artificial intelligence is creating unprecedented opportunities to transform existing businesses. As one industry insider put it, "AI is a horizontal technology that creates vertical opportunities across every industry—opportunities that often involve buying and transforming existing businesses rather than starting from scratch." Finally, the boundaries between public and private markets continue to blur. Traditional venture firms increasingly recognize that arbitrary distinctions between private and public investing can leave significant value on the table. As these changes accelerate, a new investment playbook is taking shape. Rather than simply making passive minority investments in early-stage companies, leading firms are now: For Lightspeed specifically, the RIA status opens doors to a staggering expansion of its addressable market. Beyond the roughly 20 billion dollar annual U.S. venture capital market, the firm can now tap into the 100 trillion dollar-plus global public equities market and the rapidly growing 100 billion dollar-plus secondaries market. Industry insiders project several key developments over the next three to five years: For entrepreneurs, these changes create both opportunities and challenges. The emergence of more sophisticated, well-resourced investors means potentially more support for company building, but also more complex relationships with investors who may have multiple objectives beyond simply supporting a founder's vision. For limited partners (LPs) who invest in venture funds, the transformation creates new considerations around manager selection, fee structures, and portfolio construction. As venture firms expand their mandates, LPs must evaluate whether these broader platforms deliver superior returns or simply more fee revenue for the managers. The transformation underway has led some industry observers to characterize leading venture firms as "mini-Blackstones in hoodies"—combining the comprehensive investment approach of major private equity platforms with the technological focus and cultural orientation of traditional venture capital. This description captures both the ambition and the inherent tension in this evolution. Venture capital emerged as a specialized form of investing precisely because building early-stage technology companies required a different mindset, skillset, and structure than traditional asset management. Whether firms can successfully expand their mandates while maintaining their distinctive capabilities remains an open question. What seems certain is that this is just the beginning of a profound transformation. As Lightspeed's move to become an RIA demonstrates, the industry's leaders are betting that the future belongs to comprehensive investment platforms rather than specialized venture funds. For entrepreneurs, investors, and the broader technology ecosystem, the stakes couldn't be higher. The mutation of venture capital is reshaping not just how companies are funded, but how they're built, scaled, and ultimately realized—a transformation that will influence the technology landscape for decades to come.
