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Is the NCAA finally ready to change its rules that prevent college athletes from getting endorsements?

As states across the country are set to implement laws this summer allowing college athletes to make money off their image rights, NCAA president Mark Emmert told the New York Times on Friday that he wants the governing body to officially allow all athletes to make sponsor and endorsement money before those various state laws take effect.

From the Times:

In an interview with The New York Times on Friday, the N.C.A.A.s president, Mark Emmert, said he would recommend that college sports governing bodies approve new rules before, or as close to, July 1, when the new laws are scheduled to go into effect in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and New Mexico.

A rule change this summer going into immediate effect would mean that college athletes across the country including those in states where these laws haven't gone into effect would be able to take endorsement and sponsorship money.

This new apparent rush to approve new rules comes as the NCAA has delayed updating its archaic rules for years. The governing body was only pushed to act once California kicked off the state lawmaking process and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that would allow athletes to make money starting in 2023.

The NCAA attempted to call California's law "unconstitutional" in the fall of 2019. Months later and as other states followed California's lead the NCAA said it would start working to update its rules to allow players to make money off their own names. Now, as other states implemented laws that go into effect years before California's, the NCAA is scrambling to change its rules to avoid a massive legal headache.

While the NCAA has been signaling its intent to change its rules regarding athlete rights, it has publicly provided lots of generalities and few specifics about what the rule changes would look like.

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It's also been counting on the federal government to step in and give a huge helping hand. The NCAA has lobbied Congress to set a federal framework for updated name, image and likeness rules. The federal law would have two significant benefits for the NCAA: It would mean that the NCAA didn't have to navigate myriad state laws and it would place a lot of the onus for making the new rules on legislators and not NCAA members.

The NCAA and its members remain committed to providing a path for student-athletes to benefit from name, image and likeness opportunities, the NCAA Board of Governors said in an April statement. As we have previously noted, we recognize the importance of taking swift, appropriate action to modernize our rules. We also must collaborate with Congress to create a legal and legislative framework at the federal level to support name, image and likeness within the context of higher education. With several state laws taking effect this summer, we will continue efforts to adopt expanded name, image and likeness opportunities as soon as advisable.

The NCAA also delayed a vote on new NIL rules in January. It made the announcement that the vote was delayed on the day of the College Football Playoff's national championship game. That delay was reportedly at least in part due to pressure from the Justice Department. The department warned the NCAA that its new rules would have to comply with federal anti-trust rules and that it could be violation of anti-trust laws.

That pressure came from a Justice Department run by the former presidential administration. The announcement that the vote was delayed came nine days before President Joe Biden took office. Justice Department priorities often change when presidential administrations do.

The NCAA has signaled its support for a bill that's currently in the United States House. A day before it said it remained committed to changing NIL rules at an undetermined date in the future, the NCAA said it supported a bill sponsored by Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-Mo) and Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio).

We value the bipartisan nature of U.S. Reps. Gonzalez and Cleaver to again collaborate across party lines and sponsor legislation to support student-athletes. Their House bill will strengthen the college athlete experience and support the NCAA and its members to modernize name, image and likeness rules but not pay student-athletes or turn them into employees of their college or university. Moreover, the Gonzalez-Cleaver legislation would create a legal and legislative framework to preserve and enhance the mission of college sports: that students can play the sport they love and earn a degree often with a full scholarship and no debt and set themselves up for a lifetime of success. We look forward to continuing to work with both lawmakers, their co-sponsors and other members of Congress on these important measures.

The bill was first introduced in September and then reintroduced this spring. According to Gonzalezs website, the bill would allow athletes to make money off their images via contracts negotiated by agents. It would also prevent schools from directly compensating players for their image rights and protects the recruitment process.

Power Five commissioners made NIL recommendations to Congress in May of 2020. Among those recommendations was a provision requesting that incoming freshman have to complete a semester at school before being eligible to make money off their image rights. That provision would have meant that a player like Zion Williamson wouldn't have been able to make any endorsement or sponsorship money at Duke until the December of his only season at the school.

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After years of procrastination, NCAA's Mark Emmert says athletes should be able to make money starting in 2021 - Yahoo Sports

Back in January, when the world's second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, ethereum, was trading at just over $1,200, one investor made the bold call of predicting a spike to the mid-$3,000 level, claiming it was being "overlooked" by investors.

Just under five months later, that prediction has already hit with ethereum (ETH-USD) up roughly 400% on the year to cross the $3,500 mark as of Friday afternoon. Now, that same investor, Megan Kaspar, co-founder of the digital asset investment company Magnetic, is upping her price target to the $8,000 to $10,000 price range by year's end.

Kaspar explained her thesis Friday on Yahoo Finance Live, citing new updates coming to the cryptocurrency's network later this year. The network is planning a shift away from the same method used by bitcoin (BTC-USD) to confirm transactions to one that is far less energy intensive. Unlike bitcoin's so-called proof of work, which rewards miners who are competing against each other to use computers and energy to record and confirm transactions on its blockchain, ethereum plans to adopt the more efficient proof of stake model, which chooses a block validator at random based on how much ether it controls.

"The shift to proof of stake for block validation reduces carbon emissions by 99.9%, making ethereum a green technology," Kaspar explained. "So these two updates on the network alone could push ethereum to a trillion dollar market cap which is where bitcoin is at today that would make ethereum around $8,000 to $10,000 a coin.

Ether has outperformed bitcoin year-to-date. The former is up nearly 380%, while bitcoin is up about 90% over the same time period.

As high as Kaspar's price target sounds, which implies about 300% upside from current levels, it matches the $10,500 price target that came from Fundstrat Global Advisors earlier this year. Analysts there calculated their price target from rising activity on the ethereum network as more and more decentralized applications continue to be built on it. Decentralized finance applications, which allow users to earn yield on their crypto assets similar to the way they would at a traditional bank, have seen usage on the network explode from $10 billion in September 2020 to more than $65 billion as of April.

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After the network changes are implemented, Kaspar also believes a greener ethereum will begin to attract more institutional attention relative to bitcoin. Miners in China account for well over half of all the mining power on the network and investors like Kevin O'Leary of "Shark Tank" have increasingly taken issue with that connection. Kaspar says as more investors take note in the years to come, institutional dollars could propel ethereum to $100,000.

"Institutions are mandating that they invest in clean green technologies and thats what ethereum is becoming," she said. "Unfortunately, bitcoins proof of work network will not be that unless they choose to shift as well."

Nonetheless, Kaspar still sees upside for bitcoin, predicting the world's largest cryptocurrency could hit $200,000 by the end of the year. On Friday, bitcoin was trading at over $57,700 a coin. Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead expressed a similar level of confidence for bitcoin's upside with his $115,000 price target by August, citing his model that tracks bitcoin like a commodity.

As he explained to Yahoo Finance earlier this week, "stock-to-flow" models measure existing supplies, usually of commodities, against the flow at which new inventory is produced. In the case of bitcoin mining, that flow in the form of mining rewards is cut in half roughly every four years. When applying the measure to bitcoin over the last year, Morehead has shown bitcoin's price has moved in lockstep with projections.

"When people say, 'Oh this is crazy,' I push back. I don't think this is crazy. I've been doing this for 10 years, it's actually very predictable," he said.

Zack Guzman is an anchor for Yahoo Finance Live as well as a senior writer covering entrepreneurship, crypto, cannabis, startups, and breaking news at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @zGuz.

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Crypto analyst who nailed ethereum's climb to $3,400 says $10,000 is next - Yahoo Finance

DETROIT The Jalen Rose Leadership Academy serves some 400 students and 600 alumni from a brick, two-story, former middle school on this citys Northwest side. On Thursday afternoon, its namesake walked in.

The former local basketball star, Fab Five sensation and 13-year NBA veteran is a current ESPN broadcaster. First and foremost though, he is always quick to note, he is a Detroiter.

The charter high school Rose founded in 2012 is a bright light in a city that needs it. He's a regular here, but his arrival on this day was about a different kind of education convincing skeptical locals that they should get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Detroit, a city that is 78 percent African American, continues to lag behind much of the state of Michigan in vaccination rates.

There is a level of fear that Black people have in America sometimes, Rose said. An apprehension in trusting medicine or government or law enforcement or things of that nature. You need to remind them how important it is to be vaccinated.

Rose was speaking to a small gathering of local television cameras, but his work here wasnt just for publicitys sake. He spent much of his morning working on a granular level stopping at local restaurants and corner stores to hand out flyers and talk directly to people.

If it even helps one person come in, it matters, Rose said.

Its the kind of leadership we need, said Michigan Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist who was at the event. We need to have conversations directly with people. Hes someone who has a lot of respect in the community because he earned it.

Michigan's Fab Five from left, Jimmy King, Juwan Howard, Chris Webber, Jalen Rose and Ray Jackson. (AP)

Rose has been famous in his hometown dating back to his days at Detroit Southwestern High School. He became nationally known at Michigan, where he teamed with four other highly recruited freshmen to form the Fab Five, which took the Wolverines to two national championship games in the early 1990s and swept in a new era of fashion and flair.

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The Fab Five was both regaled and reviled, exposing a generational, and often a racial divide, in America. For some they were too brash, too bold, too Black. When NCAA rule violations eventually caused the two Final Four banners to be taken down, the critics felt they were proven right.

Yet here we are, nearly three decades since their arrival in Ann Arbor, and the story may not have turned out as the critics once expected. There is no greater example of that than Jalen Rose.

We were young, reckless, irresponsible and undisciplined but that is what all college kids are, Rose said with a laugh.

Its just that we were good at basketball so everything we said or did got judged and criticized, he continued. We had our own style. We wanted to listen to rap music and wear long shorts and black socks and black shoes and cut our hair bald. And it was, Oh my God, my kids in the suburbs are going to be looking like this.

Rose understands what much of America once thought and expected from him and his teammates Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson.

And he knows that it wasnt seeing Webber eventually become known as a thoughtful broadcaster, college professor and businessman. Or Howard taking over as the head coach at Michigan and going 42-17 in his first two seasons. Or King working as a high school coach, businessman and financial advisor. Or Jackson owning his own businesses while running a childrens charity.

You look back on it 20 to 25 years later, it is our intellect, how much we loved our community, how much we loved the game, how much it meant for us to be first generation to go to college and to take our families out of poverty [that drove us and continues to drive us].

Rose acknowledges it wasnt always smooth. There were mistakes and missteps. Regrets. But isnt that true of any group of five college friends? The highs vastly outnumber the lows. And the journey continues.

That is one of the things we try to teach young people here, Rose said. If you are going to be in any profession you have to reinvent yourself constantly. The idea that you are just going to go to school, get a job and be there for 50 years no, it doesnt work like that.

You are going to have multiple jobs, you are going to work for multiple companies. Technology changes, people change, opportunity changes, so you have to [change]. I am truly proud of my Fab Five brothers that we have been able to do that. We always understood that there was a score of the game, and there was the game of life.

For Rose, the work he was doing Thursday is beyond your typical athlete/charity deal. This was grassroots work, personal work, hard work. The man is rich and famous and plenty busy with his daily ESPN duties. He could easily live in New York or L.A. and cut checks back to his old hometown. Hed still be considered a hero.

He certainly doesnt need to be tacking up flyers and standing in grocery stores begging people he's never met before to come get vaccinated.

He wants to, though. He has to, even.

I take pride in this city, Rose said. I take pride in uplifting this city and the people in this city. For me, failure isnt an option.

I never removed myself from the community, regardless of what was happening in my life, Rose continued. When I chose college, I chose Michigan, not far from home. Wherever I played in the NBA [for six different teams], I always maintained a home in Michigan. It was always on my drivers license. It kept me grounded.

There are so many people who gave me confidence, put me in a position to be successful, who supported me. These are humbling things. This is the love that made you who you are. It makes me want to do anything I can to give back.

Jalen Rose, right, was in Detroit Thursday in an effort to promote vaccination for COVID-19. (Yahoo Sports)

His relationship with Detroit has never faltered. He is of them and they are of him. Elsewhere, it gets more complicated, including out at Michigan, where the Fab Five still isnt celebrated.

Our banners are not up, our numbers arent retired yet, he said. But when I see Juwan on the sideline, none of that matters."

There are no hard feelings, he said. He doesnt have time for it. Even if Michigan turned its back on him, he never did on Michigan. Nearly 20 years ago, he endowed four scholarships at the university that continue to this day.

Imagine this, Rose said. There was a period of time in my life where I was kind of banned from Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan. ... And I had four students going there. So I was getting the scholarship donor messages and emails welcoming me.

He just laughs. Nothing personal. He hopes it all gets worked out soon and they can have a Fab Five celebration. It's overdue, especially with Howard as coach. Rose isnt saying anyone was perfect, but those teenage years were a lifetime ago.

I'm almost 50, Rose, 48, said, laughing. Don't tell nobody.

Thursday his work was more serious, less glamorous and much more challenging. Its hand-to-hand, or mind-to-mind combat trying to get vaccines into arms. Hes up for the challenge of course. Hes always been up for the challenge. His people need him to be.

"Detroit matters so much to me," he said.

Once upon a time, he and his friends changed the world of basketball. Then they moved onto bigger things.

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The Fab Five changed basketball. Now they've moved on to bigger things - Yahoo Sports

InvestorPlace

AT&T (NYSE:T) continues to face strong pressures on multiple fronts and the companys longer term outlook appears to be particularly negative. As a result, I recommend that investors sell T stock into its recent strength. Source: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock Although AT&T reported better-than-expected first-quarter results on April 22, driven by the strength of its mobility business, the latter unit will likely face sizeable margin pressures and/or market share losses as inflation heats up. Also likely to drag down the telecom companys shares over time are its large debt and accelerated cord-cutting. Finally, in the long-term, the companys broadbands unit could be hit with tough competition from Elon Musks Starlink service. Mobility Margin Pressures In the wake of AT&Ts Q1 results, research firm MoffettNathanson stated that the company was able to continue offering attractive discounts to its wireless customers. But in the face of rising inflation, the company will likely have the uncomfortable choice of curtailing those discounts, potentially leading to major market share losses, or causing its wireless profit margins to fall meaningfully.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Further, the unit may have gotten a boost from the novel-coronavirus pandemic as many consumers likely spent less money on experiences and more on computer hardware, including cell phones and tablets. That trend, of course, is expected to fade going forward as the economy reopens. Debt, Cord Cutting and Ad Revenue As of the end of the first quarter, AT&T had a huge debt load of $169 billion., and its net debt was equal to 3.1 times its EBITDA, excluding certain items. There are some indications that the company could have trouble paying off its debt going forward. And if AT&T has to cut its dividend (the shares have a gigantic forward dividend yield of 6.6%) in order to pay down its debt, T stock is likely to dive sharply. 7 Stocks to Buy Right Now With All Eyes on Crypto Cord-cutting continues to be problematic for AT&T, as its premium video subscribers tumbled by 3 million last year and 620,000 last quarter. And according to S&P, in-line with previous predictions Ive made, cord-cutting is expected to generally accelerate going forward. The revenue of the companys Warner Media unit jumped 9.8% YOY as its ad sales jumped 18.5% YOY amid the economic reopening trend. Although the reopening will continue to boost ad revenue in the near-term and medium-term, I believe that, over the longer run, inflation may cause the companys ad revenue to fall meaningfully. Specifically, as companies profit margins drop due to higher input costs, many of them may react by cutting their ad budgets. Potential Competition From Starlink For many years, I have believed that tech companies could disrupt the somewhat antiquated broadband internet services offered by the cable and telecom companies. So far, this hasnt happened yet, but now Elon Musk, the man who revolutionized automobiles, is entering the sector. The Starlink satellite internet service, provided by Musks SpaceX company, has gotten off the ground (no pun intended). Although Starlink is only offering internet service in limited areas at this point, by the end of this year, its expected to be available in most of the world, although its only seeking to serve 5 million U.S. households at this point. Still, as technology and Starlinks innovations advance, I think that the services capacity will surge and its price will decrease. Since AT&T Fiber added a net total of 235,000 consumer subscribers last quarter, competition from Starlink would likely cause a serious problem for AT&T and T stock. The Bottom Line on T Stock AT&T faces an array of threats, including margin pressures, cord-cutting, inflation, and a huge debt load. Moreover, the company only expects its revenue to inch up 1% this year. Given these points, investors should sell T stock. On the date of publication, Larry Ramer did not have (either directly or indirectly) any other positions in the securities mentioned in this article. Larry Ramer has conducted research and written articles on U.S. stocks for 14 years. He has been employed by The Fly and Israels largest business newspaper, Globes. Larry began writing columns for InvestorPlace in 2015. Among his highly successful, contrarian picks have been GE, solar stocks, and Snap. You can reach him on StockTwits at @larryramer. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG It doesnt matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential 500% Winner Stock Prodigy Who Found NIO at $2 Says Buy THIS Now The post AT&T Is Ailing, and Investors Should Unload T Stock appeared first on InvestorPlace.

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Twitter CFO: No changes to our thinking on Trump's account - Yahoo Finance

Greetings!

For digital history buffs, Verizons $5 billion sale today of its Yahoo-AOL media group to Apollo is an opportunity to take a stroll down memory lane, marveling at how much the value of the two former internet titans has shriveled in 20 years. But the pitiful amount of money the business fetched isnt just of academic interestit's a travesty for Verizon shareholders.

What possible explanation can there be for Verizon to sell a business that generated $7 billion in revenue last year, at what is probably a 10% profit margin, for less than one times revenue? The price implies a 34% drop in the value of the businesses from what Verizon paid to acquire them in separate deals in 2015 and 2017. The combined business has declined a little since thenits revenue shrank 9% between 2018 and 2020, although it grew 10% in the first quarterbut not enough to account for the sale price. And under different management, what will now be called Yahoo might be able to grow even faster, given how well the rest of the digital media sector has been doing.

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Verizon Dumps Yahoo-AOL for Rock-Bottom Price - The Information

Billionaire Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda Gates, announced on Monday that they would end their 27-year marriage, likely fueling speculation about how the high-profile divorce will play out.

Family lawyer Randy Kessler, who has handled divorce cases involving professional athletes and entertainers, accurately predicted what court documents show that the Gates worked out in advance how to separate their estimated $130 billion in net worth.

A petition for dissolution of marriage that Melinda Gates filed on Monday noted that, while the couple did not have a prenuptial agreement, they did have a separation agreement. The petition simply asks the court to divide the property as laid out in that agreement and does not ask for ongoing spousal support.

My guess is they're going to work this out very privately, and that they will both be very comfortable with the way it turns out. Kessler said. I cannot imagine that she won't be happy or he won't be happy, financially.

According to the petition filed in Washington states King County Superior court on Monday afternoon, Melinda Gates, 56, filed for the divorce stating, This marriage is irretrievably broken. We ask the court to dissolve our marriage and find that our marital community ended on the date stated in our separation contract.

Bill Gates is represented in the divorce by lawyers at Munger Tolles & Olson, which was originally co-founded by Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B) Vice Chairman Charlie Munger. Lawyers at Paul Weiss are representing Melinda Gates.

Gates PetitionforDissolution by Erin Fuchs

If it was about the money, Kessler said, theyd stay married.

People that have extraordinary wealth, have it for a reason, Kessler added. They know what not to waste money on, and what not to be in the press about. Divorce is not something to waste money on.

Melinda and Bill Gates each posted to their Twitter accounts on Monday a statement about their decision.

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Tweet posted by Bill Gates Monday, May 3, 2021

In addition to the couples wealth gained through Microsoft's empire, the couple will also need to decide on the future of their philanthropic entity Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to the divorce filing, the Gates had transferred $20 billion of Microsoft stock to the non-profit.

I think it's going to remain as it is, Kessler predicted about the enterprise that focuses on global health and poverty initiatives. It's a testament to them if they can get divorced and still be working together on that...never underestimate bill or Melinda Gates, right?

Because the foundation is not an asset that either Gates needs to be able to pay their bills, Kessler said, it shouldnt present a challenge, financially. To add, he said, the foundation's management team will likely play the most important role for its future. Currently, Bill and Melinda Gates serve as foundation co-chairs.

Its more of an image thing, he said. I think the focus will be on not changing that image. They don't want their contributors or donors to worry that there's going to be anything different than it was.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance and former litigation attorney. Follow Alexis Keenan on Twitter @alexiskweed.

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Bill and Melinda Gates already decided how to divide wealth: 'Divorce is not something to waste money on' - Yahoo Finance

Hollywood has long created unrealistic standards for peoples bodies. The truth is that the average person cannot look like a celebrity, because having a body like that of the average A-lister requires personal training, a dedicated nutritionist and chef, and the buckets of money and free time it takes to maintain the right eating and exercise schedule. In a new interview with Kelly Clarkson, Channing Tatum became the latest celeb to admit that thats the case.

Talking about his physique, which has certainly helped make him famous with roles in movies like Magic Mike and Step Up, Tatum acknowledged the amount of work it takes to maintain his body and that that standard is unrealistic for most people who arent famous actors.

I literally get to work out as a job and its still hard, he said. I cant imagine people who have a 9-5 job, who have kids at home, and where do they get the energy and the time to actually focus on themselves?

Thats what it really comes down to. If you dont have the time and resources to eat just the right food and do just the right workouts, well, its going to be virtually impossible to look like that. But thats not the story that diet culture tells us. Thats why its so refreshing to hear celebrities acknowledging this truth. We need to hear that its OK to not have bulging muscles, flat stomachs, and six-pack abs just doing your best to take care of your body in a way that makes you feel good is the best you can do.

Tatum also joked that his body has pigeon-holed him a little bit during his career.

As someone who works out for a job, I promise you I would not look like this unless I had to be naked in most of my movies mostly, he joked to Clarkson. At some point I have to get better at acting so I dont have to be naked in all of them.

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Speaking as someone who regularly turns on Magic Mike when I need a pick-me-up, let me just say, its OK if you dont, Channing.

Tatum is just the latest celebrity to speak out about his role in setting unrealistic expectations for human bodies. Kumail Nanjiani has also recently made headlines for his own body transformation for a film role, and hes also spoken out about the unrealistic amount of time, money, and dedication it took.

See the original article on ScaryMommy.com

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Channing Tatum Knows Its Not Realistic For Most People To Have His Body - Yahoo Lifestyle

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AT&T (NYSE:T) continues to face strong pressures on multiple fronts and the companys longer term outlook appears to be particularly negative. As a result, I recommend that investors sell T stock into its recent strength. Source: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock Although AT&T reported better-than-expected first-quarter results on April 22, driven by the strength of its mobility business, the latter unit will likely face sizeable margin pressures and/or market share losses as inflation heats up. Also likely to drag down the telecom companys shares over time are its large debt and accelerated cord-cutting. Finally, in the long-term, the companys broadbands unit could be hit with tough competition from Elon Musks Starlink service. Mobility Margin Pressures In the wake of AT&Ts Q1 results, research firm MoffettNathanson stated that the company was able to continue offering attractive discounts to its wireless customers. But in the face of rising inflation, the company will likely have the uncomfortable choice of curtailing those discounts, potentially leading to major market share losses, or causing its wireless profit margins to fall meaningfully.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Further, the unit may have gotten a boost from the novel-coronavirus pandemic as many consumers likely spent less money on experiences and more on computer hardware, including cell phones and tablets. That trend, of course, is expected to fade going forward as the economy reopens. Debt, Cord Cutting and Ad Revenue As of the end of the first quarter, AT&T had a huge debt load of $169 billion., and its net debt was equal to 3.1 times its EBITDA, excluding certain items. There are some indications that the company could have trouble paying off its debt going forward. And if AT&T has to cut its dividend (the shares have a gigantic forward dividend yield of 6.6%) in order to pay down its debt, T stock is likely to dive sharply. 7 Stocks to Buy Right Now With All Eyes on Crypto Cord-cutting continues to be problematic for AT&T, as its premium video subscribers tumbled by 3 million last year and 620,000 last quarter. And according to S&P, in-line with previous predictions Ive made, cord-cutting is expected to generally accelerate going forward. The revenue of the companys Warner Media unit jumped 9.8% YOY as its ad sales jumped 18.5% YOY amid the economic reopening trend. Although the reopening will continue to boost ad revenue in the near-term and medium-term, I believe that, over the longer run, inflation may cause the companys ad revenue to fall meaningfully. Specifically, as companies profit margins drop due to higher input costs, many of them may react by cutting their ad budgets. Potential Competition From Starlink For many years, I have believed that tech companies could disrupt the somewhat antiquated broadband internet services offered by the cable and telecom companies. So far, this hasnt happened yet, but now Elon Musk, the man who revolutionized automobiles, is entering the sector. The Starlink satellite internet service, provided by Musks SpaceX company, has gotten off the ground (no pun intended). Although Starlink is only offering internet service in limited areas at this point, by the end of this year, its expected to be available in most of the world, although its only seeking to serve 5 million U.S. households at this point. Still, as technology and Starlinks innovations advance, I think that the services capacity will surge and its price will decrease. Since AT&T Fiber added a net total of 235,000 consumer subscribers last quarter, competition from Starlink would likely cause a serious problem for AT&T and T stock. The Bottom Line on T Stock AT&T faces an array of threats, including margin pressures, cord-cutting, inflation, and a huge debt load. Moreover, the company only expects its revenue to inch up 1% this year. Given these points, investors should sell T stock. On the date of publication, Larry Ramer did not have (either directly or indirectly) any other positions in the securities mentioned in this article. Larry Ramer has conducted research and written articles on U.S. stocks for 14 years. He has been employed by The Fly and Israels largest business newspaper, Globes. Larry began writing columns for InvestorPlace in 2015. Among his highly successful, contrarian picks have been GE, solar stocks, and Snap. You can reach him on StockTwits at @larryramer. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG It doesnt matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential 500% Winner Stock Prodigy Who Found NIO at $2 Says Buy THIS Now The post AT&T Is Ailing, and Investors Should Unload T Stock appeared first on InvestorPlace.

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4 surprising stocks Goldman Sachs thinks could triumph over inflation - Yahoo Finance

During their trip to Georgia last week, President Biden and first lady Jill Biden met with former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter at their residence in Plains, Ga. It was their first in-person get-together since Biden took office.

The meeting was held in private, without any reporters present Jimmy Carter, now 96 years old, has had health problems, and his abilities to speak and hear are diminishing. But the Carters and Bidens did pose for a photo, which was released late Monday by the Carter Center.

The release of the image of the current and former presidents and first ladies begged two obvious questions:

Are the Bidens giants?

Or are the Carters tiny?

The answers to both questions would seem to be no.

Joe Biden is listed as being 6 feet tall; Jill Biden is 5-foot-6; Jimmy Carter is 5-foot-10; and Rosalynn Carter is 5-foot-5.

The likely explanation is that the photographer used a strong flash and a wide-angle lens to capture the group in a tight space, and created an optical illusion in the process.

Although President Biden is kneeling much farther in front of Rosalynn Carter, the flash reduces shadows, a key part of what allows objects to have depth, the Washington Post explained. The resulting effect is that Biden and Rosalynn Carter appear to be side-by-side on the same plane.

Canons website offers further explanation:

On images shot with a wide-angle lens, perspective appears to be exaggerated: Nearby objects may look much bigger (and hence nearer) than they really are, and faraway objects look even smaller and further away. This effect also amplifies distances between objects, i.e., things look further away from each other. The shorter the focal length, the bigger the perspective exaggeration effect. The perspective exaggeration effect is why wide-angle lenses are not ideal for shooting portraits or any other subject where it is important for the shape of the subject to be faithfully captured.

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No matter, the internet has had a field day with the photo of the seemingly giant Bidens and tiny Carters.

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The current season of Jeopardy! is still in full swing, but its not too soon to look ahead to the next season especially after the announcement the showrunner of the long-running game show just made.

According to executive producer (and recent guest host) Mike Richards, when filming for season 38 kicks off in late July or early August, it will do so with its next official host at the helm. That means fans will learn wholl get the chance to follow in the footsteps of the late Alex Trebek this summer.

But for now, that remains a mystery even to Richards.

Related: 'Jeopardy!' guest host and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers kept some important reminders behind the podium during his time on the show.

Its going to come down to the heads of Sony (Entertainment) to make that decision, ultimately, and itll come down to testing, the 45-year-old told The Wall Street Journals podcast The Journal. Theyve been a part of it. They know whats going on in the studio. Theyre watching the feed, the tapings. Its very extensive. Its unlike anything Ive ever been a part of, as far as testing in its size and scope.

So no playing favorites or trusting fate with this casting call.

You want to make an informed decision, Richards continued. In the end, were a pretty cerebral group, the Jeopardy! team. We want to go at this with real analytics and real testing and not just go, Hey, how about this guy? which is kind of how a lot of these decisions have been made historically.

As for the audition process, audiences have been witnessing that for themselves ever since Trebeks final episodes aired in January, two months after the venerable host died following a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Week after week, familiar faces from broadcasting, entertainment, sports and more have stepped up to the podium to serve as guest hosts. And while not all of those whove taken the temporary gig are looking to fill it permanently, some, like NFL star Aaron Rodgers, have voiced an interest.

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Richards said that while he wouldnt rule anything out, he would be surprised if the job went to anyone who didnt serve as one of those guest hosts. That means fans who are tuning in and speaking out about the rotating lineup of talent will get a say in the process ... sort of.

Its definitely going to play into it, and I think theres different ways fan response can play into it, Richards explained. What we are working on, as far as really understanding what the fans are saying and whos saying it, is very important.

However, when youre talking about a show that can average, according to Richards, 70 million-plus viewers in a week, its not just a matter of listening to the loudest responses on social media. Its about listening to the ones that carry the spirit of the fans.

Whether the powers that be decide the gig should go to Rodgers or upcoming guest host Levar Burton or anyone else that has the support of the fanbase, Richards envisions it becoming that persons sole job.

I feel like it worked out pretty well for Alex as one job, he noted. Its not a side hustle to me, and weve been clear about that.

Related: The widow of the late "Jeopardy!" host also shared how much a specific moment on a 2019 episode meant to him.

On top of all of that, the candidate has to possess one important qualifier Trebek had credibility.

Do you believe in them when theyre making a ruling in the game? Richards mentioned. The host of Jeopardy! is the arbiter of the game. So do you buy them going, Yes, thats correct?

Trebek, who hosted the show for 36 years, really is the ultimate hard act to follow, with some longtime Jeopardy! viewers believing no one with the possible exception of Trebek-inspired A.I., which one Journal listener recommended could possibly fill his place.

I think one of the beautiful things, the blessings that came, if you can call it a blessing, is that he got to really see the outpouring of love and admiration that he gave to the world, Trebeks widow, Jean, recently told TODAYs Savannah Guthrie of the impact he had. Some people just, you know, you don't see that while you're still embodied, you don't get to really witness all the love that people feel for you. And I know that that was in and of itself a huge inspiration for Alex.

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Heres when Jeopardy!' is expected to name Alex Trebek's official successor - Yahoo Entertainment