sold

One of the first investors to buy Nvidia (NVDA 1.04%) for the artificial intelligence (AI) boom was Stanley Druckenmiller at his Duquesne Family Office investment fund. At the end of 2023, it was one of his largest positions, a year where the stock more than tripled for investors, putting it on the path to become the largest company in the world by market capitalization.

Then, in 2024, Druckenmiller began to sell down his stake in Nvidia. By the end of last year, he had completely exited his position. What has he been buying instead? Last quarter, Duquesne bought two other trillion-dollar AI stocks: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM -1.68%) and Microsoft (MSFT -0.43%).

Let’s see whether you should follow Druckenmiller and buy these two stocks for your portfolio today.

Image source: Nvidia.

Nvidia’s semiconductor supplier

Some readers may already know this, but Nvidia does not manufacture its advanced computer chips itself. It only designs them. The key manufacturing supplier of Nvidia chips is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, or TSMC for short. TSMC only makes computer chips for third parties and is known as a semiconductor foundry. These include Nvidia, but also the likes of Apple, Broadcom, and other technology giants.

With the insatiable demand for computer chips from the growing AI market, TSMC has been doing quite well in recent quarters. Last quarter, revenue grew 44.4% year over year to $30 billion. Not only is TSMC one of the largest businesses in the world, but one of the fastest growing.

As one of the only companies that can manufacture advanced semiconductors at scale, TSMC has been able to sell its computer chips to customers like Nvidia with fat profit margins. Last quarter, operating margin was close to 50%, which is unheard of for a manufacturing business.

At today’s stock price, TSMC trades at a price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) of 34. While this is slightly expensive, it is much better than Nvidia’s P/E ratio of 51. When you consider that both stocks will benefit from the growing demand for AI computer chips, it is no surprise that Duquesne sold its stake in Nvidia and owns TSMC today instead.

Microsoft’s opportunity in AI

Microsoft is a large customer of Nvidia as the company accelerates its buildout of cloud computing data center infrastructure to power the AI revolution. It has a relationship with OpenAI, the leading private AI company that is spending hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure. In 2025 alone, Microsoft is planning to spend $80 billion on capital expenditures to help catch up with AI demand.

Its cloud revenue is benefiting massively from the growth in AI. Its Azure cloud computing division grew revenue 34% year over year last quarter to $75 billion, making it the second-largest cloud business in the world apart from Amazon Web Services (AWS). Overall revenue is growing well due to Microsoft’s diversified assets in personal computing, Office 365 subscriptions, and other services such as LinkedIn. Revenue was up 17% year over year last quarter, with operating income up 22% (both in constant currency). Expanding operating margins to 45% makes Microsoft one of the most profitable businesses in the world.

Like TSMC, Microsoft trades at a much cheaper P/E ratio than Nvidia, at 37.5 as of this writing. With steady growth, margin expansion, and a clear line of new demand for Azure for AI solutions, Microsoft looks like a solid buy-and-hold stock for investors over the next decade and beyond.

At the end of the second quarter, TSMC was 4.3% of the Duquesne stock portfolio, according to its 13F filing, increasing its position by 27% more shares in the period. Microsoft was a completely new buy for the fund, but it is already a 2.5% position. Both stocks have done well throughout the second and third quarters, but can still be good long-term buys for investors looking for inspiration from super investors like Druckenmiller.

Over 35 years ago, Warren Buffett told investors, “When we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.” Since then, he’s bought and sold dozens of stocks for Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A 0.55%) (BRK.B 1.06%), proving that even the Oracle of Omaha doesn’t have a perfectly clear crystal ball.

Even when Buffett has made extremely successful equity investments, he’s often had reason to sell at least some of Berkshire’s stake — either to maintain a more balanced portfolio, or sell a stock that’s become overvalued, or for any number of other reasons. Those are factors that have come to the fore recently for Buffett and his team of investment managers. Berkshire Hathaway has sold more marketable equities than it bought in each of the last 11 quarters.

Those sales include one stock that Berkshire first bought in 2008 and will go down as one of Buffett’s (and Munger’s) most successful investments of all time.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Powering massive returns for investors

In late September 2008, as the global stock market was reeling amid the Great Recession, Buffett and Munger took the opportunity to buy a 10% stake in a Chinese auto company called BYD (BYDDY -0.94%) (BYDD.F -1.20%). They gradually increased Berkshire’s stake in the business, reaching about 20% at one point. Today, the company is the largest EV manufacturer in the world, surpassing Tesla.

It was Vice Chairman Charlie Munger who brought the company to Buffett’s attention. He found CEO Wang Chuanfu’s engineering and managerial skills extremely impressive. He had developed one of the largest battery manufacturers in the world before transitioning to the automotive business in the early 2000s. With its battery expertise and other vertically integrated components made through acquisitions, BYD looked poised to do well in the nascent electric vehicle market.

Sure enough, BYD has developed a broad lineup of vehicles sold around the world. Its global sales of fully electric vehicles surpassed Tesla’s in the fourth quarter of 2023 and for the full year of 2024. It’s not just success in its home country, either. BYD’s European sales surpassed Tesla’s in April this year. Management aims to sell half of its cars outside of China by 2030. It’s worth noting BYD has yet to enter the U.S. market due to tariffs and the political environment.

It’s no surprise, then, that BYD’s stock price has soared amid its success. With the acceleration in sales over the last few years, BYD’s stock is up more than eightfold since the start of 2020.

Buffett started decreasing Berkshire’s stake in BYD starting in August 2022, after Berkshire’s initial investment had already climbed about 20-fold. At one point, Berkshire’s shares were worth $9 billion. Based on financial reports from Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, the company gradually sold off shares until completely divesting its stake in the first quarter of this year.

Is the competition too much?

Buffett may have missed the absolute peak of BYD’s stock price, but shares have certainly struggled in the latter half of the year, as Chinese competitors take market share from its domestic business. BYD’s August deliveries were flat year over year, as were July’s. Not only has the intense domestic competition hurt unit sales, but it’s also hurt BYD’s margins.

But the company stands at a distinct advantage over the competition thanks to its significant vertical integration. As mentioned, BYD is one of the leading battery manufacturers in the world. That, in and of itself, is a significant advantage over other EV makers who need to source batteries from third parties. But BYD also makes many other components in its vehicles, including the motors, semiconductors, and practically everything else except the tires and glass.

That allows the business to adapt quickly and maintain better margins than its competitors. With plans for an aggressive international expansion, it’ll have to replicate its manufacturing capabilities all around the world. But management has proven quite adept at building systems and scaling them.

After the pullback in price, investors can buy shares for just 1 times sales and less than 16 times forward earnings expectations. That’s an attractive price for the leader in a growing industry, even if it’s seeing some pressure from the competition weighing on revenue growth and margins. It’s certainly a better valuation than investors could get with Tesla. While Buffett may have sold out of the stock, it might still deserve a spot in your portfolio.

Philippe Laffont was known for successfully investing in technology stocks before he founded Coatue Management, a technology-focused hedge fund, in 1999. Since then, he has grown the fund’s size to more $35 billion in assets under management.

Laffont has his finger on the pulse of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. His contrarian investment in Super Micro Computer, a company that manufactures high-end servers for data centers, turned some heads earlier this year.

Image source: Getty Images.

Coatue bought into Supermicro at a controversial moment, but it seems Laffont had a change of heart. At the end of June, there were zero shares of the custom server builder in its portfolio.

While Coatue was disposing of Supermicro with its left hand, it was buying up shares of Intuitive Surgical (ISRG -1.34%) with its right. The hedge fund snapped up 39,512 shares of the robot-assisted surgery pioneer in the second quarter.

Intuitive Surgical stock has tumbled this year, but Laffont has reasons to expect a rebound. Here’s a look at what they are to see whether this stock could be a good fit for your portfolio.

An unbeatable advantage

When the market closed on Sept. 12, 2025, shares of Intuitive Surgical were up 19,390% since its initial public offering (IPO) 25 years ago. A few years before its IPO, the Food and Drug Administration made the company’s da Vinci robotic surgical system the first one with clearance to assist with minimally invasive abdominal surgeries.

Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, and Stryker market surgical robots, but they entered the market after Intuitive Surgical. The pioneer is still the largest member of its industry. At the end of 2024, there were 11,040 Intuitive Surgical systems installed in hospitals worldwide.

Intuitive’s massive installed base of machines isn’t sitting idle either. Surgical teams trained to use da Vinci systems performed 2.7 million procedures last year. Plus, Ion, its more recently launched lung tumor biopsy machine, performed 95,000 procedures last year.

To date, competing systems generally address procedures that don’t already employ da Vinci systems, such as knee replacements and spinal surgeries. Hospital systems can spend more than $1 million installing a da Vinci system and then an even larger sum supporting and training the professionals who will use it. That’s a huge advantage over newer surgical systems that competitors probably won’t be able to overcome.

Placing systems and training surgeons to use them generates revenue for Intuitive, but these aren’t the main sources. Around 84% of total revenue last year came from recurring sources such as instruments and accessories that must be replaced before each procedure.

Why Intuitive Surgical stock is down

Intuitive Surgical has been a terrific stock for its long-term shareholders, but it’s been a stinker this year. It’s down about 26% from a peak it set in February.

Fear that tariffs will pressure profit margins has been a weight on Intuitive Surgical’s stock price. When reporting second-quarter results in July, management reduced its adjusted gross profit margin expectation to a range between 66% and 67%. That would be a minor decline from the 69.1% gross margin reported last year, but this temporary setback is hardly a reason to avoid the stock.

Earlier this year, Medtronic submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration to perform urology procedures with its Hugo RAS system. Roughly one-fifth of all procedures performed with da Vinci machines last year were in the urology category.

Investors concerned that the Hugo system will pull market share from da Vinci should know that its launch overseas hasn’t been very successful. It’s been authorized for sale in the European Union since 2021, but Medtronic still doesn’t tell investors how much revenue Hugo’s generating in its quarterly reports.

Time to buy?

In the U.S., hospitals considering a new surgical system for urologic surgeries could have a new option from Medtronic by the end of the year. Luckily for Intuitive Surgical, the da Vinci 5 system, which launched in March 2024, already makes Medtronic’s Hugo system seem outdated.

Despite tariff pressure, investors can expect significant growth from Intuitive Surgical. Management is forecasting overall procedure growth of 15.5% to 17.0% this year. High switching costs for hospitals could lead to procedure growth that continues rising for another decade or two.

With a stock price that’s been trading at 55.3 times forward earnings expectations, investors are already expecting profit growth at a double-digit percentage for years to come. Intuitive Surgical stock could fall hard if Medtronic or another competitor begins pressuring sales growth in the years ahead.

Given Hugo’s performance in the E.U., threats from well-heeled competitors appear toothless. Adding some shares to a diverse portfolio now could be the right move for investors with a high risk tolerance.

For decades, men in many countries were expected to spend two or even three months’ salary on a diamond engagement ring. This notion – and the iconic status of this gem – did not come about by accident.

The story goes back to 1870, when an Oxford University dropout named Cecil Rhodes set off to try his luck in the Cape Colony – modern-day South Africa, then a key British domain.

Seeing the burgeoning diamond mining sector there, he began renting water pumps to diamond prospectors to prevent flooding of the mines. Then, over the next 20 years, Rhodes and his partner Charles Rudd proceeded to buy out hundreds, and then thousands, of small mines and “claims” – landholdings believed to contain diamonds – often for a pittance when their owners faced bankruptcy. Most miners were small operators, and Rhodes and Rudd had access to serious financial capital – notably the Rothschild banking empire – through their connections in London. As the two partners combined claims into larger mining units, overhead costs were reduced, and operations became more profitable.

The partners incorporated as De Beers Consolidated Mines, De Beers being the name of one of the mines they took over. By 1888, the company had a near-monopoly of South African claims and active diamond mines. With diamonds making up more than 25 percent of South African exports in 1900, De Beers became a powerhouse of the country’s economy, controlling some 90 percent of the world’s total diamond supply. Rhodes himself became a leading imperial figure, serving as prime minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896.

De Beers was founded upon the racist policies of South Africa, which at the time was ruled by a white minority. The diamonds were extracted by Black miners earning subsistence wages, while De Beers’s white, European-origin shareholders enjoyed the profits.

Following Rhodes’s death in 1902, control of De Beers ultimately passed to German-born entrepreneur Ernest Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer used a combination of financial incentives, strategic pressure, and diplomacy to persuade diamond suppliers in other countries to sell exclusively through the London-based and De Beers-owned “Central Selling Organization” (CSO), which in the 1930s became the unified sales channel for virtually all the world’s pre-cut diamonds. This enabled De Beers to stockpile diamonds, strictly control the release of stones to the global market, and effectively control prices – thereby creating an illusion of diamond scarcity worldwide.

Meanwhile, De Beers sought to enhance global demand for diamonds. In 1946, the company hired NW Ayer, a Philadelphia-based advertising agency, which one year later came up with the legendary slogan, “A diamond is forever”. This reframed the diamond and, specifically, the diamond engagement ring, as a symbol of “eternal love”. Through mass advertising, product placements in films, and celebrity PR – for example, lending jewellery to actors for major events – the campaign transformed the diamond market in the US, Europe and Japan.

Lasting 64 years, until 2011, this campaign was an astounding global success, with Ad Age magazine naming “A diamond is forever” as the top advertisement slogan of the 20th century. De Beers had manufactured a social norm, with the diamond engagement ring becoming almost mandatory in every developed market. While previously, a fiance might give a locket, a string of pearls, or a family heirloom to his intended, the number of American brides with a diamond ring climbed from 10 percent in 1940 to some 80 percent in 1980. In Japan, this figure rose from less than 5 percent in 1960 to 60 percent by 1981.

By the early 1950s, a diamond ring typically cost about $170 – about $2,300 in today’s money. De Beers advertisements initially suggested spending one month’s salary on an engagement ring, but by the 1980s, they were posing the question: “How can you make two months’ salary last forever?” Consumers appeared undeterred by the fact that a diamond’s resale value was typically just 50 percent of its original retail price (in contrast to gold, which has an “official” benchmark price set twice-daily).

By the time Marilyn Monroe sang “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” in 1953 and the James Bond film “Diamonds Are Forever” was released in 1971, the diamond had become an icon.

‘Cartel behaviour’

By the late 1970s, De Beers was annually distributing some 50 million diamond carats, with sales of more than $2bn in the US alone.

But as the 1980s rolled around, problems started to emerge for the company.

De Beers came under increasing scrutiny as the anti-apartheid movement gained momentum in Europe and the United States. Reports of its working conditions were shocking: low pay for mineworkers, minimum safety training and crowded dormitory housing surrounded by barbed wire and security checkpoints. This negative publicity put De Beers firmly in the spotlight as one of the prime beneficiaries of apartheid.

De Beers had already fought off allegations of “cartel behaviour” from the US Department of Justice. But in 1994, the company was indicted by a US grand jury on price-fixing charges. The company was barred from doing business in the US, where its executives could no longer set foot for fear of arrest.

In the late 1990s, reports that the diamond trade was financing brutal civil wars in Angola, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo further soured consumer sentiment.

Rebel groups targeted “alluvial” diamond mines – relatively easy-to-extract surface deposits, often in riverbeds – selling stones into the informal “grey” market and using the profits to buy weapons. The phrase “blood diamonds” entered the lexicon as investigative articles depicted enslaved children with pickaxes and shovels. De Beers was accused of turning a blind eye, if not outright complicity. The company’s sales declined more than 20 percent in two years, from about $5.7bn in 1999 to $4.45bn in 2001, with other diamond suppliers such as Angola’s Endiama and Russia’s Alrosa equally affected.

But since the early 1990s, changes had been afoot at De Beers. Facing pressure from South Africa’s newly elected African National Congress (ANC), it had introduced better conditions and wages for its mainly Black mineworkers. At the same time, Black South Africans also began to occupy some management roles.

Meanwhile, the US indictment meant the company had no choice but to terminate its CSO in 2000, ushering in competition from other producers. Diamond prices, no longer set and dictated by the CSO, became more volatile, subject to fluctuating demand, economic cycles, and geopolitical conditions.

To counter the blood diamond backlash, De Beers helped implement the “Kimberley Process” in 2003, through which diamond dealers can trace the origin of diamonds and authenticate “clean’’ diamonds with a microscopic stamp.

Not forever?

Today, natural diamonds may have lost some of their allure with the rise of “lab-grown” stones and “diamond simulants” such as cubic zirconia, which are up to 90 percent cheaper than the mined variety and often distinguishable from the real thing only by experts using specialised equipment.

Over the past two years, the diamond industry has been hit by a “perfect storm” of cheaper synthetic stones, weak consumer demand in the US and China, sanctions against Russia and, more recently, high US tariffs. This has had a widespread adverse impact: the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) reported that rough diamond imports dropped 35 percent in 2024, with overall trade declining by 25 percent year-on-year (from $32.5bn to $24.4bn) – and in the Indian gem processing hub of Surat, at least 50,000 diamond workers were rendered jobless in 2024. At least 80 diamond workers in India have died by suicide in the past two years.

In 2011, the Oppenheimer family sold its interest in De Beers to the London-based mining corporation Anglo American, another major shareholder, for just over $5bn. De Beers is now once more up for sale, again with a $5bn price tag, as Anglo American seeks to exit the declining diamond market in favour of copper, iron ore and rare earth minerals.

Despite the volatile market conditions, total global consumer diamond sales were valued at approximately $100bn in 2024, with the average price of $6,750 for a diamond ring in the US, according to the Natural Diamond Council – about 1.3 months’ standard wage in the United States, but about eight months’ worth of the global median income. For those of greater means, London’s Harrods reportedly has a 228.31 carat, pear-shaped diamond available to view by private appointment – with a price estimated to be in excess of $30m.

This article is part of “Ordinary items, extraordinary stories”, a series about the surprising stories behind well-known items. 

Read more from the series:

How the inventor of the bouncy castle saved lives

How a popular Peruvian soft drink went ‘toe-to-toe’ with Coca-Cola

How a drowning victim became a lifesaving icon

How a father’s love and a pandemic created a household name

How Nigerians reinvented an Italian tinned tomato brand

How a children’s chocolate drink became a symbol of French colonialism

Billionaire Steve Mandel and his hedge fund Lone Pine Capital have been a great one to follow for individual investors. Although some hedge funds have a poor record of underperforming the broader market, Mandel has substantially outperformed the market over the past three years. So, when he makes a move in his portfolio, investors should pay attention.

One thing Mandel did during Q2 was sell off some of his Microsoft shares. Although it wasn’t a massive move, the hedge fund reduced its position by about 5%. Then, Mandel used some of those funds to invest in another promising AI stock that has increased in value by nearly 800% over the past decade.

That stock? Amazon (AMZN -1.16%).

Image source: Getty Images.

AWS is the best reason to invest in Amazon right now

Amazon may not be the first company that comes to mind when you think about AI. Instead, it probably seems more like an e-commerce investment. While that sentiment is true for the consumer-facing portion, the reality is that a large chunk of Amazon’s profits comes from AI-related revenue streams.

The biggest is from Amazon Web Services (AWS), its cloud computing arm. Cloud computing firms are having a strong year, thanks to the massive demand generated by AI workloads. Because more companies can’t justify spending millions (or even billions) of dollars on a data center dedicated to training AI models, it’s far more reasonable to rent computing power from a firm that already has the capacity. That’s the idea behind cloud computing, and it has translated into strong growth for the business unit.

In Q2, AWS’s sales rose 17% to $30.9 billion. That’s strong growth, but it is a bit slower than its peers, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, which each grew revenue by more than 30% in Q2. However, AWS is much larger than both of these units, so it shouldn’t surprise investors that AWS is growing at a slower rate. AWS accounted for about 18% of Amazon’s total revenue in Q2, but it made up 53% of its operating profit. That’s because AWS has far superior margins compared to its commerce business units, making AWS a critical part of the Amazon investment thesis.

AWS is experiencing a significant boost from AI, making it a strong stock pick in this space.

But Microsoft is also a solid AI pick, so why is Mandel moving from Microsoft to Amazon?

Amazon’s stock looks more promising over the long term

From a valuation perspective, both companies trade at fairly expensive levels for their growth. However, they’re both priced about the same from a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) standpoint.

AMZN PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts

One thing Amazon has going for it that Microsoft doesn’t is the steady upward pressure on Amazon’s margins. Thanks to AWS and its advertising service business units being the fastest growing in Amazon, its margins are steadily improving. Although Amazon’s revenue growth rate appears to be somewhat slow, its operating income growth rate is actually quite rapid.

AMZN Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts

This trend still has years to unfold, which is a solid reason to transition from Microsoft to Amazon. I believe this will be a winning trade over the long term, as Amazon’s profits are expected to grow at a significantly faster rate than Microsoft’s, resulting in the stock outperforming its peer over the long term due to their similar valuations.

However, both stocks are still solid AI picks, and you can’t go wrong with either one.

A small airport which catered for up to 75,000 passengers in one single year was forced to close after funnelling £1m losses – and despite ambitious reopening plans, it never operated again

A tiny UK airport that has been left to rot for almost two decades has finally been given a new lease of life.

Back in its heyday, Sheffield City Airport handled a whopping 75,000 passengers in one single year – whizzing Brits over to the likes of Belfast, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, and London. However, just years after its grand opening in 1997, the hub’s popularity plummeted.

According to The Sheffield Star, passenger numbers fell to 60,000 in 2000 and to just 13,000 by 2002. Struggling to keep up with the boom in low-cost travel, and unable to expand its short runway needed to accommodate larger planes used by budget airlines – it eventually closed its doors in 2008.

READ MORE: Airport chaos as EU strikes begin with 3 UK hubs affected and Brits ‘stranded’

That year, it reported losses of more than £1 million, and is believed to have been sold off for just £1. Attempts to revive the hub were short-lived, despite petitions for its reopening garnering thousands of signatures.

In 2012, a mystery bidder is believed to have contacted the Federation of Small Businesses with bold plans to re-start the airport – despite proposals already in the works to convert it into a business park. Local media says the anonymous would-be buyer was ‘no stranger to the aviation industry’ and believed operations for scheduled flights to the UK and European cities could viably return.

However, such promises never transpired, and now the site – which is owned by the University of Sheffield – has become part of the 100-acre Runway Park development. Featuring the UK’s ‘first reconfigurable digital factory’, a materials lab, and large-scale testing facilities, Runway Park consists of distinct zones for innovation, manufacturing, and leisure – while a central hub links the community together.

The development, which also features cafes, gyms, nurseries, and leisure spaces, was recently launched to industry and is designed to ‘attract investment, create high-quality jobs and accelerate economic growth’. Professor Koen Lamberts, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, said: “The evolution of the University’s innovation district with the launch of Runway Park marks a significant milestone in our mission to help the region reach its full potential, while making an even stronger contribution to economic growth.

“We have seen the impact of innovation-led growth, with the University’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) transforming the Sheffield/Rotherham border into a global hub for advanced manufacturing over the last 20 years. As part of the UK’s first government-backed Investment Zone in South Yorkshire, our vision for Runway Park will build on this considerable momentum.”

Do you remember Sheffield City Airport when it was open? Let us know in the comments section below

The majority stake of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball franchise is being sold in what will mark the most expensive sale of a US sports team in history, according to a source familiar with the deal.

The Buss family has owned the team – one of the most iconic in sports globally – since 1979 and now has made a deal with TWG Global CEO Mark Walter, the source said.

The sale is reportedly worth an estimated $10 billion (£7.45bn) – though it could increase once finalised.

Mr Walter also has a controlling stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers, the professional US baseball team that won the World Series last year.

The BBC has contacted the Lakers for comment.

A spokesperson for Mr Walter’s company confirmed the billionaire financier was in the midst of a deal with the Lakers.

“Mark Walter is entering into an agreement to acquire additional interests in the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, of which he has been a stakeholder since 2021,” the spokesperson said.

In 2021, Mr Walter became a co-owner of the team with a 20% stake. He has investments with various sports teams globally, including the Chelsea Football Club and the Cadillac Formula 1 Team, which is set to enter racing in 2026.

The deal comes after the March sale of the Boston Celtics basketball team to Bill Chisholm for $6.1 billion – which at that time was dubbed the priciest sale of a US sports franchise. It had surpassed the 2023 sale of the Washington Commanders American football team for $6.05 billion.

US media reported Wednesday that the National Basketball Association team’s valuation is at least $10 billion. Its sale will surpass those record-breaking deals by about $4 billion.

Jerry Buss bought the team in a $67.5 million deal in 1979 that included the Los Angeles Kings hockey team and a Los Angeles arena, known as the Kia Forum.

Since that time, the Lakers have won more championship titles than any other NBA team. They’ve appeared at the NBA Finals 17 times under the Buss family ownership and won the championship 11 times.

The team – currently led by superstar LeBron James – made it to the playoffs the last three seasons but was eliminated.

After Mr Buss died in 2013, ownership was passed to his six children in a trust. The family owns a 66% stake in the franchise.

Jeanie Buss has served as the Lakers’ governor since that time – a position she’s reportedly going to keep under the terms of the sale to Mr Walter.

The Los Angeles Times reports the trust required the majority of the six children to agree on any sale of the team.

Lakers legend Magic Johnson, who previously owned a stake in the team, said fans should be ecstatic about the sale and that Mr Walter will carry on the team’s legacy – noting his ownership of the Dodgers led to a World Series win.

“I just talked to my sister Jeanie Buss to tell her congratulations, and that I’m so happy for her and family,” Mr Johnson said on X.

“She’s witnessed him build a winning team with the Dodgers and knows that Mark will do right by the Lakers team, organization, and fans!” he said in another post. “Both are extremely intelligent, visionaries, great leaders, and have positively impacted the greater Los Angeles community!”

BBC

‘Relationship breakdown’

‘Drive up transparency’

Flekken, who has signed a three-year deal with Leverkusen, had been at Brentford since joining from Freiburg in May 2023.

The 31-year-old made 77 appearances for the west London club and helped them finish 10th in the Premier League last season.

“Mark has proven to be a seamless replacement for David Raya, who set an extremely high standard during his years with us,” added Giles.

“We were expecting Mark to be our goalkeeper for many more years, however when Bayer Leverkusen made it known that they wanted to do this transfer, and Mark made it clear that he was interested in moving closer to home and with a possibility of Champions League football, we turned our attention towards how all parties could make this happen.

“Mark has done a great job for us and leaves with our thanks and support.”

Leverkusen recently appointed former Ajax and Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag as their new manager following the departure of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid.

“Mark Flekken possesses a wide range of skills that a goalkeeper in modern top-flight football must possess,” said Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes.

“Mark exudes an impressive physical presence; from a footballing perspective, he has certainly been one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League over the past two years.”

DISPOSABLE vapes are being sold for as little as 29p in a “crazy” fire sale before they are banned this weekend. 

It means they are being flogged for less than a Cadbury’s chocolate Freddo bar — which now costs 30p in supermarkets. 

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From Sunday it will be illegal to sell single-use e-cigarettes in the UK under new laws to protect kids and reduce landfill. 

But online sellers are desperate to avoid being stuck with illegal stock with £200 fines looming. 

One site boasting a “UK Vape Bargain Blast” is selling Flavaah Bar disposable vapes for 29p each, down from £5. 

Elf Bars are on sale for 49p each, also down from a fiver. 

And a packet of 20 e-cigs can cost just £10, which would have been £100 a year ago. 

Kate Pike, from the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, told The Sun: “This is crazy. 

“We are anticipating a challenging spike in illegal operations and supply during the changeover. 

“Shops have been warned and told to run down their stocks and I’ve seen some unbelievably low prices. 

“This is an addictive product and we shouldn’t be selling them for these prices, but they aren’t doing anything wrong at this stage.” 

Campaigners We Vape said it showed the new law will create a black market and is “impossible to enforce”. 

Ministers have brought in the rule as part of a drive to deter children and teenagers, who often use single-use vapes in fruity flavours, with flavours also set to be banned. 

They also acted on environmental concerns about huge amounts of plastic and lithium batteries being thrown out, with an estimated one million vapes binned every day. 

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BRITS are being urged to check down the backs of sofas and rifle through their purses after a rare coin sold for £69.

Cash is being uses less and less nowadays, with many preferring the convenience of tapping contactless cards to make payments.

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And whilst many of us increasingly see loose change as an annoyance, which we shove deep into our jeans pockets, never to be touched again, it can actually be extremely valuable.

The rarest coin currently in active circulation is His Majesty King Charles III’s 50p coin, depicting the Atlantic Salmon.

Just 200,000 of the coins were released back in 2023, 10,000 less than 2009’s Kew Gardens 50p coin, which was previously the rarest in circulation.

The commemorative coin features a salmon jumping out of the water on one side, and the word ’50 pence’ on the other side.

On the other side of the coin is a picture of King Charles III.

Over 100 different 50p designs have been released since the coin was first introduced, making it the nation’s most collectable coin.

And if you happen to have a rare 50p gathering dust in your piggy bank, it make you a decent bit of cash.

This week, an Atlantic Salmon coin sold on eBay for a whopping £69, after a fierce 16 bid showdown.

There are countless other listings for the coins, with sellers charging upwards of £100 for the rare 50p.

Royal Mint revealed that one in 355 people have the likelihood of finding a salmon coin in their wallet, so why not check now to see if you could make some cash.

On October 7 one coin sold for £164 with six bidders fighting for the prize.

Another sold for £147 on December 16 with a whopping 37 bids.

If you’re ever unsure of how much a coin should be sold for, it helps to look at what prices other people are listing.

You can also run it through Change Checker’s Scarcity Index to get a sense of its value.

Rare coins, especially those with low mintages, can fetch hundreds and even thousands of pounds.

Coins that have mistakes on them are also extremely rare, and collectors will pay thousands for them.

How to Sell a Rare Coin

If you’re lucky enough to find a rare coin amongst your spare change, you can sell them through online marketplaces such as eBay.

You can also sell coins via auction, through the Royal Mint Collector’s Service.

If you choose to do it this way, a team of experts will authenticate and value your coin, and advise you on how to sell.

The Ferrari driven to victory by Formula One legend Michael Schumacher at the 2001 Monaco Grand Prix has been sold for 15.98m euros (£13.43m) at auction.

He also raced in the F2001 to win the Hungarian Grand Prix and clinch the fourth of his seven world titles in that year.

The car was sold by RM Sotheby’s before qualifying for this year’s Monaco Grand Prix and became the most expensive car driven by the German, 56, to be sold at auction.

It was also the fourth most expensive F1 car ever sold – the world record was set in February when a Mercedes ‘streamliner’ raced by Sir Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio went for £42.75m.

Previously, the most paid for a car driven by Schumacher was the £9.75m bid for his F2003 back in 2002.

Ferrari will hope to emulate Schumacher’s 2001 success in Monte Carlo with Charles Leclerc second, behind McLaren’s Lando Norris, on the grid for Sunday’s race.

A “RARE” 50p coin has hit eBay with a whopping £10,000 price tag – and now collectors are scrambling to check their change.

The coin, is said to mark a significant national celebration and has drawn attention for its sky-high listing.

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Released by the Royal Mint in 2006, the coin commemorates 150 years since the creation of the Victoria Cross medal, Britain’s highest honour for military bravery.

Two designs were issued: one featuring the medal itself, and the other showing a soldier carrying a wounded comrade to safety.

The Victoria Cross was first awarded during the Crimean War and has remained a powerful symbol of heroism.

The coin was part of a special release to honour those who have shown outstanding courage in battle.

While collectors often believe these coins are rare, the Royal Mint says a combined 22,087,500 of them were put into circulation, meaning there’s still a decent chance of finding one in your spare change.

According to a report by the Eastern Daily Press, the seller has listed the 2006 Victoria Cross Coin- which honours Britain’s highest military bravery medal – for £10,086.72 on the auction site.

In their description, the seller wrote: “Add this circulated 50p coin to your collection to celebrate the bravery of Victoria Cross recipients.

“This coin is a great addition to any collection and is perfect for those interested in British history and military honours.”

The coin is marked as “ungraded and uncertified”, meaning it hasn’t been professionally appraised.

Collectors usually pay top prices for coins in mint condition or with an official grading, so the value of this listing may come down to personal interest or sentiment.

Some sellers on eBay list coins for high prices in hopes that a keen buyer will pay a premium, but it doesn’t always mean the coin is worth that amount.

It’s important to compare with similar listings and see what items have actually sold for.

The Royal Mint has released dozens of 50p designs over the years, many of which have become popular with hobbyists and seasoned collectors alike.

Coins linked to key moments in British history or iconic figures tend to attract the most attention.

The Kew Gardens 50p, issued in 2009, is widely considered the “holy grail” of coin collecting due to its limited run of just 210,000 coins.

Because of its scarcity, it regularly sells for over £140 and has even reached prices of £700.

Another standout is the Blue Peter 50p, designed by nine-year-old Florence Jackson.

Released ahead of the 2012 Olympics, it features a childlike drawing of a high jumper and has gone for over £200 at auction.

Olympic-themed coins remain especially collectible. The 2012 Football 50p, known for its diagram explaining the offside rule, has a strong following and has sold for up to £24.

More recently, the King Charles III Atlantic Salmon 50p, launched in 2023, has made a splash with collectors.

With its new royal portrait and striking wildlife design, it has been fetching upwards of £85 online.

There’s also value in unusual minting errors, which can make an ordinary coin instantly more desirable.

Misprints, off-centre designs or double striking can turn everyday change into valuable finds.

Experts always recommend checking sites like Change Checker or the Royal Mint’s collector page to learn more about the coins in your wallet.

These resources offer guides, mintage figures and a scarcity index to help buyers and sellers know what’s genuinely rare.

And it’s not just coins raking in the cash.

Banknotes with rare or significant serial numbers can sell for thousands.

A Jane Austen £10 note with a birth year serial made headlines after selling for £3,600.

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A POPULAR Amazon gadget has been urgently recalled over fears it could give users a deadly electric shock.

A universal power supply, sold under the Wefomey brand, has been banned from entering the UK.

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The dodgy device, model LGY-363000, was flagged by border officials and stopped from reaching British customers.

The plug-in gadget is advertised on Amazon as a “universal power adapter” that “fits almost all DC input sockets”.

The product is made in China and was being shipped to UK buyers.

However, it was found to be “inadequately earthed”, according to an advisory issued by the UK government.

The advisory reads: “The product presents a serious risk of electric shock due to a lack of protection from access to its live parts.”

It adds: “The insulation may break down during normal use, meaning the metal parts accessible to the consumer may be live.

“If a consumer were to touch the product during use, they may receive an electric shock.”

Officials confirmed that the product breaches the UK’s Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016.

As a corrective measure, the import was rejected at the border to prevent it from entering the UK.

Owners have been urged to stop using the product immediately.

It comes as Amazon has issued an urgent product recall over fears an item of clothing could catch fire.

Customers have been urged to return the iHEAT Heated Jacket for Women.

According to an advisory issued by the UK government, the product presents a serious risk of fire as the lithium-ion battery pack is poorly constructed and does not provide sufficient protection to prevent thermal runaway.

The advisory reads: “Additionally, the power supply is fitted with a non-compliant plug, with the plug pins too close to the edge of the plug face, exposing the user to live parts.

“The product does not meet the requirements of the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 or the Plugs & Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1994.”

Owners have been urged to stop using the product immediately and contact the distributor you purchased from to request redress.

Meanwhile, a bedroom lamp sold on Amazon has been urgently recalled over fears it could spark a house fire.

The Murcher Bedside Table Lamp, sold under models WDF-YW-02 and WDF-FX01, poses a high fire risk due to a critical design fault, according to a new safety alert.

The issue lies in the lack of proper cord anchorage inside the lamp.

Over time, the power cord can shift and place dangerous strain on the lamp’s internal connections.

This can cause wires to detach, short-circuit and overheat – which could trigger a fire.