Putin's Wealth Riddle | Top 100 Goldilocks Stocks | Mattel’s Disney Play

Plus: Amazon’s Devoted Cloud Customers Face A Decision After Outages: Leave, Stay or Diversify?

Good morning.

As the U.S. considers personal sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin to deter a further incursion into Ukraine, we've looked into the rumors surrounding Putin's wealth. We're also covering the top performing “goldilocks” mid-sized stocks, and why Mattel is betting it can give Disney princesses a profitable makeover. Finally, don’t miss this story looking at how recent Amazon Web Services outages have its clients questioning their reliance on the king of the cloud.

In The News Today

A recent poll looking into Americans’ attitudes toward the coronavirus pandemic shows fewer than half (47%) of respondents thought booster shots for adults are essential in getting life back to normal.

Jeopardy! contestant Amy Schneider lost on Wednesday, ending a streak of 40 consecutive victories that earned her nearly $1.4 million in prize money, and will go down as the second-longest winning streak in the tv show’s history. 

Top Take-Aways

Figuring out Russian President Vladimir Putin’s net worth is probably the most elusive riddle in wealth hunting—and complicates efforts to enforce personal sanctions against him. Over the years, Forbes has developed three theories on how Putin makes his millions.

Former Senator Kelly Loeffler’s husband Jeff Sprecher has crossed the billion-dollar threshold, largely thanks to an increase of about 30% over the last two years in the shares of the firm he leads, Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange.

Mattel has regained control of the Disney princess and Frozen franchises from rival Hasbro after a six-year separation, betting that it can work its same magic on Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, and other classic characters as it did on Barbie.

While mega-companies like Tesla and Amazon may win headlines and attention, mid-cap firms like Tempur-Sealy tend to have more room to run, while presenting less risks than small-caps. Not too big, not too small—these 100 top performing mid-sized “goldilocks” stocks are just right.

Akili Interactive, a digital therapeutics company with an FDA-cleared prescription video game to treat ADHD symptoms in kids, will go public in a SPAC deal led by Chamath Palihapitiya. Expected to close in mid-2022, the deal values the 10-year old company at around $1 billion.

A growing number of athletes are jumping on the bitcoin bandwagon, but the latest market swoon highlights the risk of getting paid in cryptocurrency. These sports stars are taking the biggest hits.

Today's Must Read

In Case You Missed It

The Covid-19 pandemic has made life hard for cruise passengers, but a sudden change of course for vacationers on the Crystal Symphony’s two-week luxury cruise had nothing to do with the novel coronavirus—instead, they were caught in a legal storm.

Tips You Can Trust

Becoming a high performer at work takes more than just completing projects on time and under budget, you’ll have to dedicate yourself to developing solid work habits—make these five your priority.

The most common reasons people struggle to keep their resolutions include not being specific enough, using negative language, and making resolutions about what you don’t want. Consider these four steps to avoid those pitfalls.

Today's Must Watch

Recommendations
From Beyond The Newsroom