If you think about Disney, after you remember the characters and some of the stories, you might think about how much control of the characters Disney has and does maintain its control. Disney has some of the best copyright lawyers and have very active files. But times are a changing.

In an article by Brooks Barnes and Cade Metz of the New York Times News Service, Disney is buying a $1 billion stake in OpenAI and rings its characters to Sora, the AI’s short-form video platform.

The 3-year deal will allow a curated selection of videos made with Sora to stream on Disney+. Disney said it would work with OpenAI to build new products, tools and experiences as part of the agreement and integrate ChatGPT into its workflow.

Disney is the first major Hollywood company to cross this particular Rubicon. Disney, Universal Corp, Warner Bros Discovery and the like have sent the past couple of years trying to sort through major concerns about how generative AI software is build, how copyright holders are compensated and how Hollywood unions may react.

Disney President Bob Iger said let us be mindful of the fact that these are 30-second videos.

Sora was introduced in February 2024, Sora is a technology that lets people generate photorealistic videos simply by typing a sentence into a box on a computer screen. In the fall of 2025, released for social media. More than 1 million downloaded it within 5 days.

One of many things that Sora can do is Sora users could make videos of themselves in a lightsaber battle with Luke Skywalker or a happy birthday video using Buzz Lightyear.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the largest theme park of Disney is Walt Disney World Resort in Florida is situated that way because the founder of Disney, Walt Disney did not have control of Disneyland in California and wanted to control the entire guest experience at the theme park. The history of Disney is ensuring the broad appeal of Disney characters and behind the scenes the Disney Corp controlling what the public sees about their characters. Technology changes operations and companies have to change in order to stay in business. It is hard to change, but it is necessary and once they do change people sees the gravity of the changes. Will the company continue to make profits with the change, it makes investing interesting.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

A short time ago, prices were set to change Wednesday’s evenings, in time for the flyers which were delivered on Friday newspapers for the bulk of shopping was done on Saturday. The retailers had people to change the signs of the products and for the most part they were fixed until the process happened again the following week. Then came electronic pricing and now days prices can change any day.

In an article by Ben Casselman of the New York Times News Service, the changing of the prices is happening on a constant basis.

The notion of a single price offered to all customers for a predictable period, is breaking down in the digital age. Companies are using algorithms to adjust prices quickly in response to competitor’s offers and consumer behavior. Dynamic pricing strategies in which companies raise prices during periods of intense demand, have spread beyond sectors where they have become familiar, such as air travel and ride-hailing services, to other parts of the economy including restaurants and retailers.

Alberto Cavallo, a Harvard University economist said high inflation after the pandemic accelerated the trend by encouraging companies to adjust prices more quickly.

In a call with investors last year, Fidji Simo, Instacart’s CEO, said the technology from Eversight, a software company which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help grocery stores and packaged-goods manufacturers set prices. Mr. Simo said the technology helps retailers dynamically optimize their pricing both on-line and in-store to really figure out which categories of products a consumer is price sensitive on versus less price sensitive on and really adjust their prices based on that information.

At the present time, the information is not personal but based on aggregate amounts of information, but in the future who knows? will it cost you more?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, technology brings change and change means different expectations as a consumer and profit maximizer. For the consumer it can mean every retailer is more competitive for your dollar or you will be charged prices to reflect your value as a consumer. To the profit maximizer, it means ensuring the consumer perceives value while at the same time as fleecing them as much as possible (hopefully there is a middle ground) to be able to make a profit and pay dividends.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

In the complicated world of finance is the free flow of money, until countries object to what another country is doing. Often this is going a particular line in the sand and the ability to sanction or stop money from being moved around.

In an article by Eric Reguly of the Globe and Mail, the EU is looking at Ukraine and trying to figure how to pay for the operations of Ukraine. In early spring, at the present time, the money in the bank will run out to keep Ukraine’s budget intact and equip its armed forces.

What should the EU do? grants from countries along with euro bond offerings have been tried but the money is large. Went Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU imposed sanctions and froze Russian assets in the EU. The amount of assets is north of E$220 billion.

The problem is Belgium and Euroclear, the Brussels based bank that is the world’s biggest depository of securities, including E$ 184 billion of sovereign Russian assets are against the plan. Euroclear is against because freezing assets is okay but taking them is not unless they are ill-gotten or i.e. drug money laundering. Most of the Russian assets came from selling oil and gas to Europe. Euroclear wonders when the war ends, Russia will want its assets back, they will sue or Euroclear wants liability protections. Belgium fears Russia might nationalize European-owned businesses in Russia

The US has offered a peace plan, and the White House has floated the idea of using some of the frozen assets to help fund US-led postwar reconstruction efforts, with the US claiming half the profits. President Trump does not support using frozen Russian assets to back a Ukraine bailout.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, many issues boil down to who is paying and who gets to benefit from the actions. Fortunately, most of the time the larger company with ability to wait until they get the right deal, wins most of the time. The odds are reasonable the profit-making companies will get a better deal, because they have resources needed to have both patience and file lawsuits to win in courts. There are exceptions, but most of the time, delays help the profitable companies stay profitable.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

In the world of banking and politics, the intersection is what will the Federal Reserve Bank do? For generations, politicians love lower interest rates, but the economy moves in cycles. To battle inflation, interest rates need to go up for the Federal Reserve to try to ensure inflation does not get out of control. During President Trump’s second term, President Trump wants interest rates to fall even further, but the economy moves in cycles.

In an article by Vidya Ranganathan of Reuters, the US central bank policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee is the most divided it has been in years.

The largest investment banks Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and BofA are watching the Fed very carefully and make their calls before the meetings.

Analysts expect as many as 5 of the 12 voting members of the FMOC will have divergent views, reinforcing the refrain in markets that the Fed is turning more political.

The policy committee has not had 3 or more dissents at a meeting since 2019, and that has happened just 9 times since 1990. Analysts now expect such dissent will persist.

President Trump’s appointees to the Fed’s 7-member Board of Governors have been dovish.

Fabio Bassi, head of cross-asset strategy at JPMorgan says investors should not focus only on the December meeting. Powell’s Fed which is in charge now, is not leaning towards very aggressive action, they are delivering insurance cuts.

President Trump, however seems bent on lowering costs ahead of the US midterm elections next year.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the yield is the yield and as interest rates get cut, the yield on dividend paying stocks relative to bonds gets better. When you add in the possible increase in the value of the stock for a total return, often times dividend paying stocks beat holding many bonds. This means you need to listen to what the Fed has to say, but take advantage of it because there are many variables in any economy.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

As an investor it is important to read and understand how markets work and although you may have a bias towards larger profitable dividend companies, it is still important to thing about the small companies. One book of many on the subject is called How to Become a Microcap Millionaire written by Justin Waite, published by Harriman House, Hamshire Great Britain, 2024.

the book has many quotes in it

The first rule of investments is don’t lose money. The second rule of investment is: don’t forget the first rule. Warren Buffett

The Chinese do not have a word for crisis. What they do have, however, is a two-word idiom: crisis equals danger and opportunity Bennett Goodspeed

Successful investors are disciplined. Their investment decisions are not driven by greed, fear and emotions Anon

Remember the two benefits of failure. First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn’t work; and second, the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach Roger Von Oech

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest Benjamin Franklin

Don’t look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack John C Bogle

Maybe you’re right 5 or 6 times out of 10. But if your winners go up 4- or 10- or 20- fold, it makes up for the ones you lost 50%, 75% or 100%. Peter Lynch

I don’t think it’s productive to wallow in regret. But if you’ve lost money in a stock and you don’t learn anything, that’s wasted money. Figure out what it is that you did wrong and don’t do it again Joel Tillinghast

You can only know so many companies. If you’ve managing 50 or 100 positions, the chances that you can add value are much, much lower Lou Simpson

Fortunes are made and lost by thousands of men in the stock market; they are made and kept by a few dozen Edwin Lefevre

I think the secret is if you have a lock of stocks, some will do mediocre, some will do OK, and if one or two of ’em go up big time, you produce a fabulous result Peter Lynch

Some stocks go up 20-30% and they get rid of it and hold onto the dogs. And it’s sort of like watering the weeds and cutting out the flowers. You want to let the winners run Peter Lynch

The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing Phillip Fisher

A river is honored for its fish, not its size. Matshona Dhliwayo

It’s not whether you’re right or wrong that’s important, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong. George Soros

I will tell you how to become rich …. Be fearful when others are greedy, Be greedy when others are fearful Warren Buffett

Once a business is well established, the greatest opportunity for gain is afforded during the period of growth in earning power T. Rowe Price

All intelligent investing is value investing – acquiring more than you are paying for. You must value the business in order to value the stock. Charlie Munger

Hope is not an investment strategy. Hope is a component of a healthy state of mind, and the opposite of negativity that we see all around. But then, when it comes to the stock market, hope is dangerous. Anon

The greatest wealth is health. Anon

If you find 3 wonderful businesses in your life, you’ll get very rich. Warren Buffett

If you invest nothing, the reward is worth little. Anon

Under the tenets of behavioral finance, markets are not always efficient. It is human behavior that moves markets and not the universal information shared market participants. Gary Antonacci

The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator Ben Graham

It amazes me how people are often more willing to act based on little or no data than to use data that is a challenge to assemble. Robert Shiller

It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Rocky Balboa

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all the quotes are famous because they are true, but they are also hard to do. It is difficult to find companies, it is difficult to learn from failures, it difficult to let winners run because taking profits is a good thing. It is easier to buy profit making companies that pay dividends because the total return is a good return. If you invest in micro stocks, you will lose money, but you have great gains, it is risky. The non riskier method is to buy profitable companies and hold them as long as they stay profitable.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

As an investor it is important to read and understand how markets work and although you may have a bias towards larger profitable dividend companies, it is still important to thing about the small companies. One book of many on the subject is called How to Become a Microcap Millionaire written by Justin Waite, published by Harriman House, Hamshire Great Britain, 2024.

Always Check the Cash

One type of business will, in general, always be riskier that the other. 1. Profit-generating and 2. Loss-making.

If a company is loss-making, you should break it down into 2 further categories are 1. revenue-generating and 2. pre-revenue.

If they are revenue-generating I analyze 6 metrics:

1. Growth – looking for double-digit revenue growth, ideally closer to 20%
2. Value – a market capitalization of less than 2 times its revenue and less than 20 times net revenue (P/E)
3. Health – ideally a company will have a little debt and net cash
4. Efficiency – gross margins to exceed 40% operating margins to exceed 10% and net margins to exceed 5%
5. Momentum – there are 3 basic states a share price can exist in 1. downtrend 2. range and 3. uptrend What you are trying to do is avoid a downtrend.
6. Potential research, research, research, companies that fulfill the 1-5 filters.

When researching loss-making companies, the most important metric to look for is cash.

The cash flow statement is broken down into 3 areas: 1. operating activities 2. investment activities and 3. finance activities.

A company is either generating cash or using it. If they are loss-making, they are using it. To be on the safe side, the author likes to make sure a loss-making company has more than 12 months’ worth of cash.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all investors have a system and that system involves continuous learning to fit your metrics. Whether the stock is large or small in price, the idea is not to lose money and overtime ensure compound interest works for you.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

As an investor it is important to read and understand how markets work and although you may have a bias towards larger profitable dividend companies, it is still important to thing about the small companies. One book of many on the subject is called How to Become a Microcap Millionaire written by Justin Waite, published by Harriman House, Hamshire Great Britain, 2024.

How many stocks should you hold?

If you hold a low-cost, well-diversified fund, then you are diversified. It’s important to remember that.

The more stocks you hold, generally, the less risk there is to your portfolio value. That is because holding many stocks means they take up less of a percentage of your total portfolio value. If a stock only takes up 1% of your total portfolio value and the business goes bust, you have only lost 1%.

The author personally finds it hard to manage more than 20 companies. You are investing in businesses. Everyone is unique, with different management, products, services, and financial metrics. There is a lot of information to absorb on each one. Jim Cramer of the Mad Money on CNBC talks about the best in the breed, quality over quantity.

Maximum exposure?

There is no hard and fast rule to this but as long as a company’s share price keeps going up, you should keep buying it- but there are 3 caveats to this:

Caveat one – as long as the company keeps releasing excellent financial results showing they are still growing at a good rate, and they are not overvalued.

Caveat two – 1-3%, but that is not the same as having a company take up more than 10% of my portfolio due to its share price rising.

Caveat three – if you are investing in a microcap, you should always pay attention to the average daily volume of that company. You do not want to be unable to sell if you want to sell.

Limit your downside, never limit your upside – let your winners run. If you manage to find a company that goes on to be a superstock – or rises by 1,000 or more, if you play it correctly you only need one big winner in your lifetime. Superstocks are rare.

A superstock formula or traits

1. Revenue – all these companies generated revenue (not hope, hype or potential)
2. Growth – all these companies experienced revenue growth
3. Value – all these companies were of a good valuation
4. Momentum all these companies’s shares prices had momentum
5. Size all these companies’s market capitalization sat below $100 m when the journey to 1,000% began

You should not fight the market; it will always win.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, no matter what company you buy, doing your homework and buying quality, for the idea is to lose less money. You can always learn from the small companies because they have hope, hype and sometimes actually revenue.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

As an investor it is important to read and understand how markets work and although you may have a bias towards larger profitable dividend companies, it is still important to thing about the small companies. One book of many on the subject is called How to Become a Microcap Millionaire written by Justin Waite, published by Harriman House, Hamshire Great Britain, 2024.

The book has 3 parts – What – fundamental analysis; When – technical analysis and How – portfolio management.

How to Buy: Portfolio Management

1. Put a meaningful amount of your trading capital in a low-cost diversified fund. This means you’re guaranteed to capture a chunk of market performance no matter how the rest of your portfolio does. It takes pressure off. Everything else is gravy.
2. Aim for 10-20 low-risk companies with meaningful potential. Low-risk is more important than high potential, because high potential is by definition not highly probable. And diversification is your ever-present help in times of trouble.
3. Avoid denial when things go wrong. Cut losses. Learn lessons. Move forward.
4. Make equal bets by giving initial weights to your investments. And avoid risking everything by keeping those initial positions small 2-3% of your trading capital.
5. Don’t neglect your portfolio. Trim losses, secure wins – stop losses will do both for you automatically. Set them 20% away. Do not sell your winners – guarantee them by moving stops us as they grow.

We all want to make money on the stock market, but reality is some decisions we make will lose money. What do you do? You need discipline armed with facts.

This is the gain you need to breakeven a drop

% drop % rise to breakeven

10 11

15 18

20 25

30 43

40 67

50 100

If a share price drops 50%, you need a 100% gain to get back to breakeven. This is an uphill struggle. Sometimes you have to accept you got it wrong and move on. The financial press which shows a stock market in a newspaper has a column % gain over the year. How many are over 100?

One solution is to use stop loss, because investing is about avoiding big losses. Then it’s about making gains. Big losers wipe out gains, so wipe out the big losers and you are left with the gains.

Eggs and chickens

The author invests in eggs (microcaps) with the hope they will hatch and grow into chickens. However, by investing in a big fund, which owns mature companies you get the benefits of owning chickens.

1. Stability – it reduces portfolio volatility. Holding many big companies will always be less volatile than a few small companies.
2. Diversity – holding a fund means you can achieve instant low-cost diversification.
3. Probability – you will have a higher chance of a positive return.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, at the early stage of investing you looking to make money but the reality is that you need an anchor which takes time to build up. Along the line, it is very hard not to look at microcaps but before you jump in have an anchor if the price of the stock price goes down. The dividends allow you choice but the discipline and portfolio management skills need to be complemented.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

When industries are going through disruptions, some will see the industry as half empty and others will see it as half full. The half full means companies will consolidate in order to grow differently. One of the industries that is changing is the movie industry. For generations it meant going to the movies and with the internet it became streaming. This means all kinds of things although people still enjoy and want movies to tell stories.

In an article by Michelle Chapman of the Associated Press, Paramount Skydance launched a hostile takeover offer for Warner Brothers Discovery of rival bidder Netflix.

Warner Bros Discovery is the studio behind HBO, CNN, DC Studios and much more. Recently the Board of Directors of Warner Bros Discovery accepted Netflix’s $72 billion purchase.

Paramount Skydance offered $108.4 billion and willing to buy all of Warner’s business including the cable business that Netflix does not want.

The deal includes more cash than Netflix – $18 billion. and Paramount Skydance noted it is more likely to pass antitrust scrutiny from the Trump administration.

Netflix offered cash and stock valued at $27.75 a share or a total of $82.7 billion

Paramount Skydance has offered $30 a share and has gone to the Middle East for partial funding tapping into Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Qatar Investment Authority, Affinity Partners, the investment firm run by Jared Kushner, and the largest owner of Oracle Software – Larry Ellison who is the father of Paramount SkyDance CEO David Ellison.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when mergers are announced they are often backed by the stock price of a company, if people do not want to keep the shares they can sell and some do because they own a different company in the same business, they see opportunities elsewhere, mergers take time before the results are seen, so you can watch from the sidelines and then possibly buy down in 6 months to a year at a lower price or you will need to do portfolio management and that is a good thing to have to do.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.