Key Takeaways Christina Qi started a hedge fund as an undergraduate at MIT, building it to trade $7 billion per day. A “really bad year in 2020” caused the hedge fund to shut down. Qi then started her current venture, a market data provider called Databento. Christina Qi boasts an impressive resume. As a 21-year-old undergraduate at MIT, she quietly did something most finance veterans spend decades attempting: She started her own hedge fund. At its height, the fund, Domeyard, traded $7 billion in volume per day. In 2020, after eight years of running Domeyard, Qi and her fellow founding…
Author: Staff Writer
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways U.S. merchants paid a record $198.25 billion in card processing fees in 2025, up 219% since 2009. The card networks’ top interchange rates have barely moved in that time. Much of what merchants overpay is processor markup and add-on fees, and those can be negotiated. Five questions, answered in writing, can expose the markup before you sign and protect you after. In 2009, U.S. merchants paid $62.1 billion to accept credit and debit cards. In 2025, they paid $198.25 billion, according to Nilson Report figures published by the Merchants Payments…
ASIA: The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today: • NIKKEI 225 decreased 11.19 points or -0.02% to 69,030.92 • Shanghai increased 1.887 points or 0.05% to 3,813.791 • Hang Seng increased 425.56 points or 1.79% to 24,211.35 • ASX 200 increased 55.70 points or 0.64% to 8,716.60 • SENSEX increased 879.09 points or 1.23% to 72,472.33 • Nifty50 increased 288.65 points or 1.30% to 22,520.45 The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today: • AUDUSD increased 0.00237 or 0.34% to 0.69811 • NZDUSD increased 0.00069 or 0.12% to 0.56119 • USDJPY increased 0.36 or 0.23%…
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways More free time does not automatically bring fulfillment. You have to learn how you like to spend it. Money improves happiness when it buys back time and you decide deliberately where that time goes. At 36, I sold the fintech company I had spent years building and walked away with an eight-figure exit. No client needed an answer. No product roadmap demanded a decision. No inbox confirmed that I was useful. I thought it would feel like freedom. It felt like an identity crisis. As CEO, I had been time-starved…
The chicken franchise wars are getting extra crispy. Chicken chain sales grew 5.3% in 2025, compared with 3% for the restaurant industry overall and 1.5% for burger chains, according to Technomic data cited by Restaurant Business. Raising Cane’s, Dave’s Hot Chicken and Wingstop have all helped fuel the fowl. Now McDonald’s wants in. The Golden Arches’ new $8.5 billion modernization plan includes a goal of gaining 1.5 points of chicken market share by 2030. It’s already testing hand-breaded chicken in the U.S. and Ireland. Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy, whose chain leads the category, says he welcomes the pressure. “I love…
If you didn’t expect a candy bar’s worth of sugar in your latte, you may be entitled to compensation. A new federal lawsuit accuses Starbucks of misleading customers by labeling certain protein lattes and matcha drinks “sugar-free.” According to the suit, the drinks contain 13 to 21 grams of sugar per serving, sometimes as much as a Kit Kat bar, NBC News reports. Class action firm Hagens Berman filed the case on behalf of three consumers in California, New York and Washington. In a statement Tuesday, Starbucks denied misleading customers. It says it has clearly shared nutritional information and plans…
Key Takeaways Apple and LG are working on smart home products, including a doorbell and thermostat. The accessories will be LG-branded, with LG handling manufacturing and customer support. The partnership would put both companies in direct competition with Amazon and Google. Apple’s next move could change how you walk through your front door. According to a new Bloomberg report, Apple is developing new smart home devices as it pushes beyond phones, tablets and laptops. The iPhone-maker is teaming up with LG on a doorbell, lock and thermostat — and the unusual partnership will power its upcoming smart home initiatives. As…
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Careers rarely split on one big decision. They split on small daily choices that compound over 20 years. Before any significant decision about your time, health or money, ask whether your future self will thank you or pay for it. There is a difference between enjoying your youth and destroying your future, and most people don’t see it until they are well past it. I think about that difference often, as an executive evaluating young leaders and as a father and mentor to founders who are just starting out. The…
The Arlington County Board in Virginia filed a lawsuit Thursday opposing the construction of the Triumphal Arch, becoming the first governmental body to take legal action against President Donald Trump’s planned monument.The lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, criticized the speed at which the project slated for Memorial Circle has moved without going through the full review process.“The National Park Service, the agency responsible for projects on national park land such as Memorial Circle, is proceeding full-speed toward ground-disturbing construction,” the lawsuit said. “Although the agency has claimed that a final decision to construct the Arch has not…
The FBI has seized scanning and phishing tools used by a group of hackers that officials say is associated with the Chinese government and is believed responsible for disruptive cyber operations in the United States and abroad, including against the power industry, academia and critical infrastructure.The seizure of the tools, announced Thursday by the FBI and Justice Department, represents the latest law enforcement effort in recent years to go after a broad-based hacking campaign known to the private sector as Flax Typhoon.The tools at issue, called “Microscan” and “FishHub,” were used by the hackers to scan, phish and hack targets…