Breakaway Brokers

This article focuses on asset-based fees that cover both advice and investment-related costs, which is a model that I believe is best-suited for most individuals, as advisors can add value across multiple dimensions.

After months of public pressure, OpenAI walked back part of its effort to create a more conventional for-profit company, but its restructuring plans still have not received the blessing of a major stakeholder: Microsoft Corp.

Lightspeed Venture Partners, one of Silicon Valley’s largest venture capital firms, has changed its regulatory status to broaden its range of investments — following similar moves by Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst as they shift away from the traditional VC playbook.

Operating as a one-person shop means you’ll wear many hats, but there are common pitfalls you can avoid — and marketing strategies that can help you make the most of your time and resources.

Right now, you don’t want to burn any bridges anywhere, as you don’t know how things will unfold. Be professional and be kind. But you also have every right to set boundaries and to protect yourself!

Private equity firms are scouring for investment opportunities in European defense, chasing the once shunned sector in an effort to benefit from a historic switch to military expansion in the region.

Tesla Inc. reported abysmal numbers for the first quarter on Tuesday evening. Naturally, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk kicked off the call with a discussion on why he must fix America’s finances, facing down an army of alleged moochers.

I’m not someone who believes you should let offensive things go by. Look for your opportunity and be ready!

For financial advisors, moving to independence and an RIA means navigating a sea of decisions, including business model types and vision.

In general, European countries have infused so much socialism and regulation into their economies that their economic growth has lagged behind the U.S. As a result, their GDP per capita is a third lower than in the U.S.

It’s always an honor for me to both attend and speak at the Barron’s conference. In thinking about this column, I am recalling many of the amazing presentations, great insights and fabulous speakers I heard.

Morgan Stanley’s willingness to stick it out with Elon Musk is giving its first-quarter results a healthy boost.

Many people who are not interested in seeing anything about their own behavior that is causing a problem. They either have over-developed egos, or a lack of confidence so deep it is threatening to find an area of opportunity for change.

President Donald Trump’s trade war has US stocks on track to enter their first bear market since the Covid pandemic.

To most people, black gold means oil, the substance that helped build the modern world while causing the climate crisis. But a new treasure on the market is getting prospectors excited, not least for the role it could play in fixing the problem fossil fuels created.

Runway AI Inc. has raised $308 million in a new round of funding that more than doubles the company’s valuation — a sign of investor enthusiasm for startups building artificial intelligence software that can generate videos.

In this column, I’ll share some marketing secrets I’ve seen work well, whether you are trying to do lead gen or whether you are in a “finals” situation competing against other advisors, or whether you are talking with a prospect in your office.

On Monday, OpenAI announced $40 billion in new financing, the largest funding round in history, and one that nearly doubled the artificial intelligence company’s valuation to $300 billion.

Life’s challenges often force us to become more present, to experience each moment fully. In doing so, I discovered the importance of celebrating small victories – not just the major milestones, but the everyday wins that mark progress.

I suspect many people yawned when the popular online brokerage Robinhood Markets Inc. announced it will offer sports and other prediction market derivatives, starting with betting on the NCAA March Madness basketball games.

Elon Musk’s social network X has raised close to $1 billion in new equity from investors, according to people with knowledge of the matter — a deal that gives the company a valuation in line with when Musk took it private in 2022.

I’ve spent much of my career coaching and providing learning opportunities for those professionals who want to improve. This week I had an experience that moved me to write a column about the difficulty in opening one’s self up to being willing to be coached, and of making behavioral change.

Microsoft Corp., the biggest backer of Sam Altman’s OpenAI, and BlackRock Inc., which has an executive on the artificial intelligence startup’s board, are joining forces with one of its chief rivals.

Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management LLC is cutting its stake in Meta Platforms Inc. for the first time in around a year, the latest sign of a downturn in fortunes for big US tech stocks.

Google parent Alphabet Inc. agreed to acquire cybersecurity firm Wiz Inc. for $32 billion in cash, reaching a deal less than a year after initial negotiations fell apart because the cloud-computing startup wanted to stay independent.

The wealth industry could be headed into an era of accelerated innovation, as advisory firms shift from zero to full speed ahead with artificial intelligence.

When clients are scared, you want to be there for them and respond to their concerns. However, if you don’t pause from time-to-time to make sure you are responding in the most effective ways, you will find yourself continually frustrated and even possibly resentful of the interruption.

I recommend you hold what I call an “obstacles session.” This is when you ideally have a third party in to ask your team what success would look like to them, and what obstacles are getting in the way of achieving this success.

Many major stocks connected to artificial intelligence have lost their luster of late, but perhaps none more so than Microsoft Corp.

The Chinese artificial intelligence startup that rocked global markets earlier this year with its low-cost and high-performance AI models has outlined a potential path to major profitability.

Tencent Holdings Ltd. became the latest tech company to unveil or enhance an AI model intended to eclipse DeepSeek, joining a spate of rollouts since the startup’s emergence energized the US-China technology race.

Investors hoping that Nvidia Corp.’s earnings would rejuvenate the artificial intelligence trade didn’t exactly get the report they wanted.

Nvidia Corp., the chipmaker at the center of an AI spending boom, delivered good-but-not-great quarterly numbers on Wednesday, drawing a muted response from investors accustomed to blowout results.

Nvidia Corp.’s earnings are set to dictate whether artificial intelligence can regain its status as the key driver behind Wall Street gains — or trigger more weakness after the Magnificent Seven group of technology stocks fell into correction territory.

The truth is that most of your prospects have some kind of financial problem or issue. Otherwise, they wouldn’t agree to meet with you. Their lack of commitment to you at the end of your process is not necessarily because they're an unqualified lead.

Unfortunately, I hear stories about people unwilling to seek HR help for many reasons. It is a tragedy when this happens because good HR support can be the key to helping with so many things.

Don’t choose technology for the firm that you were, or even the firm you are now. Choose technology for the firm you want to become in five years.

Donald Trump’s administration is sketching out tougher versions of US semiconductor curbs and pressuring key allies to escalate their restrictions on China’s chip industry, an early indication the new US president plans to expand efforts that began under Joe Biden to limit Beijing’s technological prowess.

At least three of Bytedance Ltd.’s major investors have marked up the TikTok-owner’s valuation to more than $400 billion, a sharp rebound for a Chinese social video leader that has been threatened with a US shutdown.

I have – painfully – learned one thing, in particular. Even if you can see what’s happening and could find the words to share your insights, if you have a leader that only wants to listen to an echo chamber, you aren’t going to get heard, no matter what you do.

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI debuted its updated Grok-3 model, showcasing a version of the chatbot technology to challenge OpenAI days after the billionaire’s unsolicited cash bid to buy the company was rejected.

DeepSeek may be that catalyst, forcing investors and technologists alike to question long-held assumptions and reevaluate the competitive landscape in real time.

A hedge fund startup that uses artificial intelligence to do work typically handled by analysts has outperformed the global stock market in its first six months while slashing research costs.

Nvidia Corp. investors have typically rushed to buy the stock on any dips. But the mood since the DeepSeek-driven rout has been different, signaling that fears of a slowdown in AI spending aren’t going away.

The AI flight is taking off, and DeepSeek is the final call for India to show up at the boarding gate. Since its private sector is too risk averse to back research projects with uncertain payoffs, the state will have to step up.

It’s not easy when someone doesn’t want to look at their own culpability in relationships. But you can only control what’s controllable, and we don’t control others, much as we endeavor to do so.

Startup investors including Alphabet Inc.’s Google and SoftBank Group Corp. are betting that quantum computing, often thought of as a fantastical science experiment, is getting closer to having sweeping real-world applications.

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman rebuffed Elon Musk’s $97.4 billion offer to take control of the artificial-intelligence startup for the second time in less than a day, accusing the world’s richest man of making the bid just to gain a competitive advantage.

At the start of this week, the question was whether the shock of China’s supercheap AI DeepSeek would compel Silicon Valley’s big artificial-intelligence companies to reduce their spending.

Investors are hungry for a piece of the US data centers powering the artificial intelligence boom, and a handful of initial public offerings expected in 2025 would feed that appetite.