Your Money Is Now ‘Government Property’ (Their Words)

What If Washington Declared That: YOUR Money ISN'T Actually Yours? Sounds insane, but that's exactly what the Department of Justice just admitted in court—claiming cash isn't legally your property. What does that mean? It means Washington thinks they can seize, freeze, or drain your accounts—whenever they want. Your savings? At risk. Your retirement? Up for grabs. Your financial future? Under their control. This isn't just some legal theory. It's happening right now. But you don't have to be their next target. Smart Americans are already making moves to keep their wealth out of Washington's reach—before the next financial lockdown. We put together a Brand New Wealth Defense Guide that reveals 3 powerful strategies to shield your savings before it's too late. Get your free guide now by clicking here >> Because once the trap snaps shut, it'll be too late to escape. Exclusive Content Why eBay’s Depop Acquisition Matters More Than the Earnings Beat Written by Chris Markoch. Published: 2/20/2026. eBay logo over a global digital marketplace graphic, highlighting e-commerce demand and EBAY stock outlook. Key Points eBay’s Q4 beat and GMV acceleration support a comeback narrative, even as the stock remains pressured by broader “AI trade” sentiment. Advertising and recommerce are emerging as durable growth engines, while Depop adds a targeted Gen Z/Millennial wedge. Depop integration costs, cyclical category tailwinds, and margin pressure remain the main risks to watch. Special Report: [Sponsorship-Ad-6-Format3] Shares of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) are up about 3.8% the day after the company delivered a strong Q4 2025 earnings report. On one level, the report makes sense. The company is a pure play on consumer spending, which has remained resilient despite conflicting macroeconomic data. Plus, eBay fits into that “discount” category of retail stocks that has performed solidly in a volatile market. There was a lot for investors to like in the report. Revenue of $2.97 billion exceeded expectations of $2.87 billion. A key metric, gross merchandise volume (GMV), climbed to $21.2 billion — up almost 6% globally and nearly 10% in the United States — suggesting the platform is expanding and attracting more customers. Have $500? Invest in Elon’s AI Masterplan (Ad) What if you could claim a stake in what’s set to be the biggest IPO ever… starting with just $500? Everyone is talking about Elon Musk’s SpaceX IPO. Click here to get the details and I’ll show you how to claim your stake…tc pixel Another headline was the announcement that eBay will acquire Depop, the secondhand clothing marketplace owned by Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY), for $1.2 billion in cash. The move is a strategic attempt to capture more of the Gen Z and Millennial customer base. Like many stocks with even minimal exposure to artificial intelligence (AI), EBAY was trading lower earlier in 2026 ahead of the report. One solid quarter won’t erase that trend, but there are several reasons to believe in eBay’s comeback. Ads, Fashion, and the Recommerce Angle The Q4 report highlighted three specific engines doing the heavy lifting. The first is advertising. On an annualized basis, eBay is approaching $2 billion in ad revenue — a line of business that was almost non-existent five years ago. Total advertising revenue was $544 million in Q4, representing GMV penetration of nearly 2.6%, with first-party ads growing over 17% to $517 million. About 4.8 million sellers adopted at least one promoted listing product during the quarter. The takeaway for investors is that advertising is becoming an embedded behavior on the platform, not just an optional feature for power sellers. The second growth engine is recommerce (pre-owned and refurbished merchandise). This category accounted for over 40% of the company’s GMV in 2025 and grew roughly 10% during the year. It’s an area where eBay is distinct from Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), and one that Amazon will be hard-pressed to replicate at meaningful scale. The third growth engine is the Depop acquisition. In 2025, the platform generated approximately $1 billion in gross merchandise sales for Etsy. Crucially, nearly 90% of Depop’s 7 million active buyers are under the age of 34 — a demographic eBay has struggled to attract. Depop’s focus on fashion — particularly fast-growing segments popular with younger shoppers — could help eBay gain a credible foothold in that cohort if those users migrate to the eBay platform, potentially driving revenue growth over time. A Marketplace Revamp With Real Teeth—or Temporary Tailwinds? Institutional sentiment toward EBAY has been bearish over the last three quarters, with selling outpacing buying by about $2 billion. Some of that selling may reflect the stock's run to an all-time high in August 2025; since then, EBAY has traded in a loosely defined range with support around $80 and resistance near $100. eBay (EBAY) stock chart shows range-bound trading near the 50-day SMA as note highlights persistent selling pressure. Analysts on MarketBeat have been quick to raise price targets on EBAY. Several of the new targets sit above the consensus price of $96.52 — roughly a 12% premium to the stock price at the time of writing. The highest comes from Needham & Company, which nudged its target up to $122 from $115. Investors should also factor in the company’s dividend. A dividend alone is rarely the right reason to buy a stock like eBay; investors would prefer to see the company reinvesting in growth, as it is with the Depop deal. Still, the dividend yield of 1.35% is above the S&P 500 average. The company has increased its dividend at an average rate of more than 14% over the past three years, and the annual payout is now $1.16. With a payout ratio just over 25%, the dividend appears sustainable and not burdensome on cash flow. Risks That Investors Shouldn’t Ignore While the bull case is compelling, several risks merit consideration. First, some of Q4's GMV growth was commodity-driven. Management noted on the earnings call that bullion, collectible coins, and Pokémon trading cards provided meaningful tailwinds in late 2025. Those categories are inherently cyclical and unlikely to repeat at the same rate. Second, the Depop deal, while strategically sensible, brings near-term costs. eBay expects the acquisition to be a low single-digit headwind to non-GAAP operating income growth and to dilute EPS growth in the near term, with accretion not expected until 2028. Third, non-GAAP gross margin slipped nearly 80 basis points year over year. Sustainable margin expansion against competitors — including Amazon's logistics network and Shopify's (NASDAQ: SHOP) seller ecosystem — remains the central question holding EBAY back. Management attributes the margin dip primarily to scaling managed shipping and the Authenticity Guarantee programs. Those investments are necessary to protect trust on a peer-to-peer marketplace, but they carry real costs. Exclusive Content How Berkshire Hathaway Performed During Buffett's Final Quarter Written by Jordan Chussler. Published: 3/3/2026. Imaginative depiction of Warren Buffett seated in an office, with the Berkshire Hathaway logo highlighted in the foreground. Key Points Warren Buffett officially retired in December, ending a nearly 61-year tenure that delivered a 6,099,294% return for Berkshire Hathaway. During Buffett’s final quarter as CEO, Berkshire earnings took a hit, but much of that was attributed to impairment charges and write-downs. Berkshire is still sitting on a cash reserve of $373.3 billion, giving new CEO Greg Abel plenty of funds to deploy as he takes over the company’s portfolio. Special Report: [Sponsorship-Ad-6-Format3] More than 60 years after taking a controlling interest in Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B), Warren Buffett — the company's longtime CEO — stepped away from the role he held on the final day of 2025. On Saturday, Feb. 28, the holding company reported full-year and Q4 2025 earnings, marking the final fiscal year and quarter with the Oracle of Omaha at the helm. And although it was new Berkshire CEO Greg Abel who penned his first annual letter to shareholders, the results the company announced over the weekend were the last to bear the fingerprints of his predecessor and mentor. Have $500? Invest in Elon’s AI Masterplan (Ad) What if you could claim a stake in what’s set to be the biggest IPO ever… starting with just $500? Everyone is talking about Elon Musk’s SpaceX IPO. Click here to get the details and I’ll show you how to claim your stake…tc pixel Here’s how Berkshire performed in 2025 and in its final quarter under Buffett, and what investors can expect going forward under its new chief executive. Berkshire’s Final Quarter Under Buffett On the surface, Berkshire’s last quarter under Buffett was not the going-away party the market envisioned. Insurance investment income fell nearly 25%, operating earnings were down more than 29%, and insurance underwriting profits declined by roughly 54%. The company — which, through its subsidiaries, operates in industries ranging from insurance and freight rail transportation to global utilities — attributed the lower earnings to $4.5 billion in impairments and write-downs, including charges related to Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ: KHC) and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY). (Berkshire’s newly entrenched CEO Abel subsequently exited the Kraft Heinz position in Q1 2026.) Overall, earnings per share (EPS) of $4.73 missed analyst expectations by $0.44, while revenue of $94.23 billion beat expectations of $92.91 billion. Full-year operating profit fell 6% to $44.49 billion, and net income for the year dropped 25% to $66.97 billion. Still, the company maintained a near-record cash reserve of $373.3 billion — down from a record $381.6 billion in Q3 — which positions Abel to pursue major acquisitions and bolster the portfolio. Buffett left the portfolio in strong shape, helped in part by his final moves in Q4. Since taking the reins in 1965, Buffett led Berkshire to average annual gains of 19.7%, nearly double the S&P 500's compounded gains over the same period. During that time, Berkshire’s cumulative gain with reinvested dividends was roughly 6,099,294%, compared with the S&P 500's 46,061%, as Abel noted in his inaugural letter to shareholders. Buffett’s Concluding Portfolio Moves for Berkshire According to the company’s most recent Form 13F filing, which shows the securities Berkshire bought, sold, and held in Q4, Buffett was not resting on his laurels before stepping down. Unsurprisingly, Magnificent Seven member Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) remains Berkshire’s largest holding at nearly 228 million shares. Perhaps less expected was Buffett’s top buy in Q4: the company increased its position in global property-and-casualty insurer Chubb (NYSE: CB) by 0.59%, and CB shares have gained nearly 10% year-to-date (YTD). Buffett also expanded Berkshire’s stake in oil major Chevron (NYSE: CVX) by 0.15% — a move that has looked prescient as the energy sector has dominated the S&P 500 this year, up more than 23%. For context, materials are the second-best performing sector with a gain near 17%, while tech is down more than 2% so far in 2026. Chevron is up nearly 20% YTD. Media company The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) saw the third-largest position increase for Berkshire, as the company added 0.13% to its stake. The stock is up more than 14% YTD, leaving Buffett’s three biggest Q4 buys with an average gain of 14.66% through the first two months of the year. Meanwhile, the firm reduced numerous positions, most prominently Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) (down 77% of the position), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (reduced by almost 9%), and DaVita (NYSE: DVA), a leading provider of kidney care services that operates outpatient dialysis centers. That timing has worked out. Amazon’s well-publicized struggles continued in 2026, with the stock down more than 7%. Bank of America has been pressured by weakness in the financials sector, whose 4.14% YTD return is the weakest among S&P 500 sectors; BAC shares have fallen nearly 11% YTD. The reduction in DaVita may look like a misstep—shares are up more than 36% YTD—but Buffett sold those shares back to DaVita as part of a scheduled share repurchase agreement, so the sale was non-discretionary. When he departed, Berkshire’s top five portfolio holdings were: Apple: 22.6% American Express (NYSE: AXP): 20.46% Bank of America: 10.38% Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO): 10.2% Chevron: 7.24% Thank you for subscribing to Insider Trades Daily, which covers the most recent insider buying and selling activity from Wall Street CEO's, CFO's, COO's and other insiders. This message is a sponsored email for Priority Gold, a third-party advertiser of InsiderTrades.com and MarketBeat. If you need help with your account, please feel free to contact our South Dakota based support team at contact@marketbeat.com. If you no longer wish to receive email from InsiderTrades.com, you can unsubscribe. Copyright 2006-2026 MarketBeat Media, LLC. 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