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Why SoFi Stock Soared 13% in May


SoFi Technologies (SOFI +2.14%) stock rose 13% in May, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The financial superstar announced the launch of SoFiUSD, a bank-issued U.S. dollar stablecoin, sending the sagging stock higher.

High growth, slow stock

SoFi has been demonstrating outstanding performance over the past few years, and it kept it up in the 2026 first quarter. Adjusted net revenue increased 41% year over year, and earnings per share rose from $0.06 to $0.12. It added a record 1.1 million new members for a total of 14.7 million, leaving open a long growth runway as it attracts new users.

There were strong results across most of the business. The lending business, which is the company’s core segment, has been gaining momentum despite stubbornly high interest rates. Revenue was up 55% year over year in the quarter, a comeback from low growth when interest rates started rising. All categories were strong, with a 137% increase in home loans.

Image source: Getty Images.

Financial services revenue was up 41%, which was a bit of a slowdown from previous quarters. The third segment, tech platform, has been a bit of a drag. Although it has had some stronger quarters, it was down 27% from last year. Management has praised it as a financial infrastructure that allows it to roll out products quickly, but the market has been skeptical about its value. The current decline was due to a large client that left the platform.

High innovation finance

SoFi touts itself as the “one-stop shop” for financial needs and “a member-centric, everything app for digital financial services.” It’s constantly launching new products and services, and although many of them are traditional financial services that underpin a strong foundation, like bank accounts and loans, it distinguishes itself with innovative offerings. It recently brought back cryptocurrency trading to the platform, and it has pledged to add more blockchain services to lower costs and improve speed.

SoFi Technologies Stock Quote

Today’s Change

(2.14%) $0.39

Current Price

$18.61

The latest release is the SoFiUSD stablecoin. Management says that it’s the first-ever U.S. bank-issued stablecoin available for use directly on a banking app, and it’s aiming to integrate more digital tools and assets within its platform, leveraging the blockchain to improve the user experience. Over the next few months, it plans to add more features to the product and offer a greater synthesis of its stablecoin with its standard financial offering.

SoFi stock has plunged this year despite its excellent performance, but it continues to impress the market with its disruptive financial platform, and investors might want to buy in on its way back up.

Jean-Sebastien Permal joins Warner Music as SVP of A&R, EMEA and Central Europe


Warner Music has appointed Jean-Sebastien ‘Seb’ Permal as Senior Vice President of A&R, EMEA and Central Europe.

In the newly-created role, Permal will lead all domestic frontline activity across Warner Music Central Europe and its domestic labels in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium.

He joins from Sony Music, where he most recently served as VP of A&R for Continental Europe and Africa.

Permal will also lead A&R strategy, artist discovery and signings, and strategic partnerships across EMEA.

He reports to both Simon Robson, President, Warner Music EMEA, and Niels Walboomers, President, Warner Music Central Europe, and will be based in Berlin.

Warner Music combined its recorded music businesses in Benelux with those in Germany, Switzerland and Austria under the WM Central Europe banner in October, with Walboomers named President of the expanded region.

The company says the territories that make up WM Central Europe represent the third-largest recorded music market in the world, after the US and Japan, based on IFPI trade revenue figures.

Across a career spanning over a decade, Permal has worked with Amelie Lens, DYSTINCT, Oxlade, Purple Disco Machine, and Sam Feldt.

At Sony Music, he built partnerships including Avalon (Netherlands and Morocco), Crux Global (Ghana), and Signatune (France).

He also founded the electronic label ‘noted. records’, home to Anfisa Letyago and Victoria De Angelis of Måneskin.

“Seb is a world-class A&R executive who pairs an intuitive ear for talent with a sophisticated grasp of the cultural nuances shaping today’s global market.”

Simon Robson, Warner Music

Simon Robson, President of EMEA, Warner Music, said: “Seb is a world-class A&R executive who pairs an intuitive ear for talent with a sophisticated grasp of the cultural nuances shaping today’s global market.

“His appointment underscores our commitment to the vibrant talent across EMEA and ensures our artists are supported by the industry’s best.

“With Seb’s leadership, we’re perfectly positioned to amplify our artists’ reach and connect them with audiences on a truly global scale.”

“He has a proven track record of nurturing artists from the ground up and helping them maintain their authentic voice.”

Niels Walboomers, Warner Music 

Niels Walboomers, President, Warner Music Central Europe, added: “I have long admired Seb’s creative vision and his data-driven, yet artist-centric, approach to A&R.

“He has a proven track record of nurturing artists from the ground up and helping them maintain their authentic voice while achieving big success. Having him join our team in Berlin is a major win for Central Europe and the wider EMEA region.”

Commenting on his appointment, Permal added: “I joined Warner Music because of its ambition not just to discover talent, but to redefine how artists break at home, across the region, and globally.

“I’m excited to work with our teams to build the partnerships and infrastructure that turn local sound into global culture.”

“I joined Warner Music because of its ambition not just to discover talent, but to redefine how artists break at home, across the region, and globally.”

Jean-Sebastien Permal, WARNER MUSIC

Born and raised on Mauritius, Permal moved to Europe in 2014, first to Vienna and then to Germany, where he launched his career as an independent manager and music publisher.

He joined Four Music, Sony Music Germany’s label, in 2017, before expanding his A&R remit across Continental Europe and Africa in 2018. He was named Director of A&R for Continental Europe and Africa in 2021, before his promotion to Vice President of A&R in 2022.


His appointment follows the launch of Spinnin’ Records Germany in April, as Warner Music Central Europe continues to build out its operations across the region.

Elsewhere at Warner Music globally, the company promoted Jieun Kim to President of Warner Music Korea in May.

Also in May, Warner Music Finland launched Atlantic Records Finland, a frontline label led by Fredi Lundén and Kristiina Wheeler.Music Business Worldwide

AmEx Offers: Get 15% Back At Aldi Grocery Stores (Up To $6 Statement Credit)


Update 6/1/26: Back until 6/14/26. 

Update 5/11/26: Deal is back until 5/24/26. 

Update 2/9/26: Deal is back at 15%, up to $6 back. Expires 2/13/26. Can buy an Aldi gift card. (ht RM) 

The Offer

Check your AmEx Offers for the following deal:

  • Get 10% back as a statement credit by using your enrolled eligible Card to make purchases in-store at Aldi or online at aldi.us for in-store pick up by 12/31/2023. Excludes delivery. Limit of $15 back in total statement credits.

The Fine Print

  • Offer valid in-store at Aldi locations in the US and for in-store pick up orders placed online only at US website aldi.us.
  • Excludes online delivery orders, and orders placed through third parties.
  • Valid only on purchases made in US dollars.

Our Verdict

Sweet offer, a lot of people will consider Grocery Store credits as good as cash. I found this offer on all of my cards. Be sure to save it on a card that earns high rewards at the Grocery.

Some (all?) Aldi stores carry a nice selection of gift cards – including Shell, Ebay, Amazon, Lowes, Home Depot and more.

Thanks to all those who let us know about this offer. There’s a similar Chase Offer available for Aldi as well.

View more Amex offers here & if you have any questions about American Express offers then read this post.

  • AmEx Offers: An Introduction & Profitable Examples
  • How To Sign Up For Multiple American Express Sync Offers
  • Amex Offer Credit Not Posting, What to Do?
  • How Does American Express Decide Who Receives What AmEx Sync Offer?
  • Do I Need To Make A Single Purchase For AmEx Offers, Or Is It Cumulative?
  • What Happens When You Have Two Active AmEx Offers For The Same Store?
  • Amex Offers: Do Electronic Wallets Trigger the Offer Credit?
  • Do Amex Offer Deals Work on the Purchase of Gift Cards?

Mortgage groups urge FHFA to modernize appraisals


Multiple organizations in the mortgage industry sent a joint letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency expressing support in President Donald Trump’s March executive order and asking Director Bill Pulte to update the appraisal process.

Processing Content

The consortiums requested Pulte and the agency to consider expanding the use of hybrid valuation methodologies, increasing the deployment of value acceptance and sharing more data with appraisers, according to the letter sent Friday.

“Everything can always be optimized, especially as technology becomes better and better,” said Brendan McKay, co-founder of the Broker Action Coalition, one of the eight organizations that signed the letter. 

The organizations said the marketplace and consumers can benefit from technological advancements through the use of hybrid valuations, which utilizes a scanning technology to complete appraisals at a significantly lower cost. The process includes allowing borrowers, real estate agents and loan officers to photograph the interior and exterior of a property, and then the appraiser uses the data obtained by the scanning technology to complete their report. This protocol was successfully used during the pandemic, the letter said.

This method is cheaper and five times more efficient than the typical appraisal process, which requires an appraiser to drive to the property, record the measurements and drive back, McKay said.

“The requirements to become an appraiser are extremely high, and that … has made it very difficult to recruit new people as appraisers,” he added. “The scanning technology will help with that, in addition to lowering some of the too high requirements to become an appraiser in the first place.”

The organizations also recommended expanded value acceptance, permitting waiver of the appraisal requirement for low-risk properties, by the government-sponsored entities. Value acceptance has been confined to properties with values at or below $1 million since Fannie Mae first introduced it in 2016, when the high-cost area loan limits for GSE loans were $625,500. That limit has since increased to $1.25 million.

The letter proposed raising the value acceptance limit to $2-million properties, but McKay said there shouldn’t be a limit at all and the data should speak for itself.

“I don’t think the logic holds up to having a hard cap ceiling,” he added. “I’m generally a believer that any time you have policies like this, they should include automatic increases over time.”

The final suggestion made was that the entities should allow greater access to the GSE Uniform Collateral Data Portal, which the letter described as the most expansive set of property data. The organizations recommended the entities provide appraisers with limited access to the appraisal dataset, possibly using features from Collateral Underwriter and Loan Collateral Advisor, to improve appraisal reliability, reduce costs and improve borrower experience.

The Housing Policy Council organized the joint letter to share the industry’s excitement for the executive order and offer a few recommendations, McKay said. Section six of the executive order, issued March 13 and titled “Promoting Access to Mortgage Credit,” said Pulte will consider modernizing appraisal regulations and guidance, simplifying appraiser qualification requirements and reducing appraisal requirements for low-risk transactions.

Many of the same organizations sent joint letters to the Federal Housing Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs over the last two months regarding appraisal issues as well.



Business Administration Course | In Malayalam | In Kerala | Best Management Course After Degree



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You’re Never Too Old to Chase FIRE


Name Neil Whitney
Location Picayune, Mississippi
Occupation HVAC business owner & real estate investor
Assets 23 doors (2 fourplexes, 6 duplexes, 3 single-family homes)
Investment strategy Long-Term Rentals
Financing Conventional loans & HELOCs

At age 47, Neil Whitney was running an HVAC company in Slidell, Louisiana, and working every hour he had. He and his wife weren’t struggling in any dramatic way. They were just stuck living paycheck to paycheck, with no cushion and no retirement plan. 

Then one rainy weekend, his wife dragged him to the back room to watch a Lifetime movie. A man gets hit by a dump truck, loses his job, and ends up living in a minivan under a bridge with his family. It freaked Neil out, and he felt like he was one bad accident away from being like that guy.

The next Monday, his boss happened to hand him a copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. After reading, he told his wife that they needed to get into real estate. She said fine, but on one condition: He couldn’t touch their bank account. So he signed up for Uber, and 18 months later, he had $16,000 saved and bought his first rental property.

Less than a decade later, Neil owns 23 doors and clears $8,000 a month in passive income. Here’s how he did it.

You had no savings and couldn’t touch your bank account. How did you fund your first deal? 

I drove Uber every free moment I had: Friday nights, Saturdays, Sundays. I had a spot near a swamp tour that came in every day at 11, and I’d grab that airport run into the city every single week. 

After about 18 months, I had saved enough to buy a little 900-square-foot, two-bedroom house in Pearl River, Louisiana, for $70,000. I put $14,000 down on a conventional loan. The previous owner had already fixed it up with new tile, crown molding, and fresh paint, so we were able to rent it out for around $800 a month and cleared about $100 after the mortgage. It wasn’t life-changing money, but we were in the game.

How did you go from one single-family home to 23 doors? 

The second deal changed everything. I discovered how much equity I had built in my primary home and pulled a HELOC to buy a fourplex listed on the MLS for $312,000. Put 25% down using that line of credit, kept the tenants already in place at $650 per unit, and renovated each unit as people moved out with new cabinets, countertops, and vanities. 

Our rents went from $650 to $1,000 per unit. The fourplex now brings in $4,000 a month. We paid off the HELOC pretty fast and kept repeating the same formula: Find a deal on the market, buy it with conventional financing, fix it up over time, raise the rents, repeat.

What do you tell someone who thinks they’re too old or too broke to start? 

Make a decision. Not “I’ll try.” Just make a real decision. 

At 47, I had nothing. I drove Uber in the middle of the night to scrape together my first down payment. Nobody handed me anything. But I decided I was never going to be that guy in the movie, and I never looked back. 

If I can do this, anybody can. The basics really do work. You buy properties, get them to cash flow, treat your tenants like the best customers you ever had, and never sell. 

It’s not rocket science. It’s just boring fundamentals executed consistently over a long period of time.

6 years of jersey design, 4 years of prep, 4 weeks of games: Execs at U.S. Soccer and Nike know how much this World Cup means



With less than two weeks until kickoff, the 2026 World Cup—co-hosted by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico—has not been without some headaches, including sky-high ticket prices and unfilled hotel reservations. But for Nike and U.S. Soccer, the focus has been purely on putting the national team in position to make a deep run on home soil.

Speaking at Fortune’s COO Summit in Scottsdale on Monday, Dan Helfrich, COO of the U.S. Soccer Federation, said the team’s jersey alone reflects those stakes. Designed in close collaboration with Nike, it was the result of a six-year process involving supply chains, manufacturing innovation, and, crucially, the players themselves.

“It involved putting our players at the center of it,” Helfrich said. “We actually had two years of focus groups and design sessions with Nike designers and our players—both for the aesthetic look [and] the performance feel.”

Helfrich, the former CEO of Deloitte Consulting, said all the players—which includes star forward Christian Pulisic—have described it as the best-looking and best-feeling jersey they’ve worn.

“You’re looking for an advantage,” he said. “The margins are very thin on the field… that kit holds in its performance feel, but also the energy it’s giving our players, because they like the way they look. We believe it’s a real advantage.”

Nike used obsessive procession to design jerseys for 18 soccer federations, including the U.S.

For Nike, which outfits 18 national soccer federations—including also France, Croatia, and China—the World Cup is an operational challenge measured in Olympic-scale complexity.

Venkatesh Alagirisamy, Nike’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, described the undertaking as years of preparation for a tournament that lasts only weeks.

“It takes four years of preparation to execute four weeks of World Cup games to leave a lasting impression for the next four years,” Alagirisamy said on the Fortune panel titled “Game On: The Operational Engine Behind the World Cup.”

This year, heat became a central design challenge amid concerns the 2026 tournament could become one of the hottest World Cups on record.

Nike’s solution relied on computational modeling to determine exactly where airflow vents should sit and how they should be structured to cool athletes most effectively. The jerseys are built with custom knit materials and engineered yarn designed to sit slightly off the skin, creating channels for air flow. According to Alagirisamy, the result is roughly double the ventilation of a conventional jersey.

“That’s the level of obsession that we put in place as we think about these games,” Alagirisamy said.

How U.S. soccer is using AI to find its next World Cup-ready stars

Looking beyond the tournament itself, Helfrich said a central part of his mission is ensuring the World Cup-inspired soccer obsession doesn’t become a “fleeting moment” — but instead serves as a broader jumpstart for the sport across the country.

“We feel a deep responsibility. We are a nonprofit that is charged with growing the game, making the game safe, making the game more affordable and accessible to people in every community in America,” he said.

U.S. Soccer is increasingly using AI to identify American-eligible players competing in leagues around the world—a talent pool traditional scouting methods have historically struggled to reach. On any given day, he estimated, between 50 million and 70 million boys and girls are playing soccer globally. Many may qualify to play for the U.S., but scouting them manually is nearly impossible.

“Historically, how do you get your scouts, your humans, to all of those places? You can’t,” he said. “So automatically you’re excluding 99-and-a-half percent of people.” 

As video availability expands across youth sports and AI tools improve, Helfrich said U.S. Soccer increasingly sees a future where nearly every game played by an eligible athlete can be analyzed. Models can be trained to identify positional traits and performance indicators, surfacing prospects regardless of where they play.

But he was careful not to declare the human scout obsolete. 

“There’s other stuff we care about that we can’t train AI on yet,” Helfrich said. “What’s the tone of voice of a player to a teammate when the teammate makes a mistake? What’s the body language when the team goes up or goes down? And how does it evolve?” 

The future, he said, is unambiguously a humans-and-machines model—and one he finds genuinely energizing: “In my old job I had a lot of examples that weren’t as fun. This one is a fun one to relate to.”

The World Cup opens June 12. The U.S. men’s national team will face Paraguay that same day in Inglewood, California.

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[INTERVIEW] Skip and CIBC Expand Collaboration



Today, we welcome back Rachel MacAdam, from [December 13, 2025] From Flights to Food – Skip and WestJet Team Up, VP of Marketing at Skip. This follow up interview introduces an expanded collaboration with CIBC. Thank you Rachel so much for taking the time to explain your expansion initiative, it’s always nice to see companies team up to give more reward opportunities to consumers!

The post [INTERVIEW] Skip and CIBC Expand Collaboration appeared first on Pointshogger.

Marie Wilson Allocated Finance Ministry In CM Vijay-Led Tamil Nadu Govt | TVK Govt



🔴Tamil Nadu News LIVE: TN Cabinet Expansion LIVE: CM விஜயின் அமைச்சரவை விரிவாக்கம் | புதிய அமைச்சர்கள் யார்? | CM Vijay | Tamil News LIVE | Tamil Nadu Congress | CNBC TV18
முதலமைச்சர் விஜயின் அமைச்சரவை விரிவாக்கம் | புதிய அமைச்சர்கள் யார்? | CM Vijay Cabinet Expansion
விஜயின் அமைச்சரவை விரிவாக்கம் தொடர்பான முக்கிய LIVE Updates இங்கே!
புதிய அமைச்சர்களின் பட்டியல், முக்கிய அரசியல் மாற்றங்கள், தமிழக அரசியலில் ஏற்படும் தாக்கம், மற்றும் முழு பகுப்பாய்வு அனைத்தையும் நேரலையாக பார்க்குங்கள்.
🔥 புதிய அமைச்சர்கள் யார்?
🔥 எந்த தொகுதிக்கு முக்கியத்துவம்?
🔥 விஜயின் அடுத்த அரசியல் திட்டம் என்ன?
🔥 தமிழக அரசியலில் புதிய திருப்பம்!
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay will expand his cabinet today. Rajesh Kumar, leader of Congress legislature party and P. Viswanathan, Melur MLA, will be inducted into the cabinet. This is the first time after 1967 that Congress members will join the State Cabinet.
Twenty-one ministers are set to be sworn in tomorrow at 10 am at Lok Bhavan, including 19 from TVK and 2 from the Congress. A decision on ministerial berths for the VCK and IUML is expected either tomorrow morning or later. TVK leadership now appears to have concluded that accommodating the rebels would cost more than the numerical stability they might provide. Tamil Nadu minister Aadhav Arjuna, one of Vijay’s key political negotiators, publicly signalled the new direction on Wednesday. Congress general secretary K C Venugopal confirmed that party president Mallikarjun Kharge had approved the induction of Congress legislators S Rajesh Kumar and P Vishwanathan into the ministry. “This is a historic occasion for us, as the Congress joins the Tamil Nadu cabinet after a long gap of 59 years,” Venugopal said.
On Tuesday, CPI(M) state secretary P Shanmugam had openly warned that the party would reconsider its support if the AIADMK rebels were inducted into the Cabinet. The Left argued that their support to TVK was intended to prevent “backdoor BJP rule” and ensure governance by the single largest party elected by the people, not to facilitate the entry of legislators associated with a BJP-aligned opposition formation.
#tvkvijay #cmvijay #tamilnadugovernment #tamilnadunews #cnbctv18 #livenews
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