Public Bank — the stock that made many millionaire

Public Bank Bhd, Malaysia's second largest listed banking group by market capitalisation and the third largest by assets, has been a worthwhile investment for many who stayed on as its shareholders over the years.

Founded by the late Tan Sri Dr Teh Hong Piow, the bank, whose first branch was opened in 1966 in Jalan Gereja here, was listed on Bursa Malaysia in 1967. Since then, it has grown from strength to strength, with a total of 293 domestic branches, 150 overseas branches, and a staff force of over 19,000 people, with presence in markets such as China, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Sri Lanka.

Known for its strong financial performance, consistent prudent management, as well as generosity to performing staff, the bank's market capitalisation hit a record high of RM98.3 billion in August 2018. At its Tuesday (Dec 13) close of RM4.39 per share, the bank's market cap stood at RM85.21 billion.

Just from the year 2000 — when Public Bank was trading at an adjusted price of 72 sen — the stock has climbed 510%, representing a compound annual growth rate of an impressive 8.56% in the last 22 years. Comparatively, Malaysia's retirement savings fund, the Employees Provident Fund, provided annual returns of between 4.25% and 6.9% in the same period.

An investor who bought into the company at the time and followed through with just one rights issue in 2014 would have enjoyed capital gains of a whopping 2,998%, even without reinvesting the healthy dividends obtained into the company.

Consider one who invested RM72,000 (adjusted) in 100,000 shares of Public Bank at the start of 2000. The same investor needed to only spend another RM10,600 to fully subscribe to a one-for-10 rights issue entitlement in 2014, totalling an investment cost of RM82,600. The value of that investment would have ballooned to RM2.56 million by now.

That means this investor would have enjoyed capital gains that amounted to RM2.48 million or 2,998% — not including dividends — based on the stock's Tuesday closing price of RM4.39 per share.

The huge gains are thanks to Public Bank's penchant for rewarding bonus issues to shareholders, which greatly compounded the gains from the share price appreciation. While many companies boast about making bonus issuances to reward shareholders, Public Bank represents a case study of how shareholders can really be rewarded when such issuances are done right.

Between 2000 and 2022, Public Bank made four bonus share issuances — in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2021 — and distributed stock dividends twice, once in 2009 and then in 2010.

Coupled with a two-to-one share consolidation back in 2004 and the rights issue in 2014, the 100,000 shares that the aforementioned investor acquired in 2000 would have multiplied to 583,000 shares presently, or an increase of 483%.

Besides the capital gains from the increase in share price, cumulative dividends for the said investor in the past 22 years, compounded by the increase in number of shares held, amounted to over a million ringgit. Should this amount be reinvested into the company, the investor would certainly have made way more returns.

Public Bank's ability in rewarding its loyal shareholders beats that of many other companies on Bursa Malaysia. Will there be more companies listed on the local bourse that will be able to provide similarly handsome returns to shareholders in the future?

Twitter Blue Relaunches, Adds Gold Checkmark

Twitter has relaunched its premium subscription service, Twitter Blue, for iOS and web users. The service initially launched last month but was quickly suspended after a series of high-profile impersonations thanks to the subscription’s offering of a blue checkmark.

This time around, Twitter Blue is rolling out with new review policies that hopefully mitigate the issues it saw during the last launch. Subscribers will need to confirm their phone number when signing up and if they make any changes to their profile photo, display name, or handle, they will temporarily lose the blue checkmark until the account is reviewed and validated.

Other features of the subscription include the ability to edit tweets, upload 1080p videos, use reader mode, undo tweets, and access some customisation options. The site also says that new features such as prioritised tweets, 50% fewer ads, and posting longer videos will be coming soon.

Huawei And OPPO Enter Patent Licencing Deal

Huawei Technologies has signed a patent licensing deal with fellow Chinese tech giant OPPO, the former announced via a press release. This will see both companies share patents of several key technologies with one another, though the exact figure of the agreement is still undisclosed at this time.

According to Huawei, the patents involved include those concerning 5G and Wi-Fi, as well as audio and video technologies. The mutual recognition of intellectual property value between companies is a major step towards fostering a positive cycle of innovation and research in high-value standards: investing, receiving returns from investment, and then reinvesting,” said Huawei Intellectual Property Department head Alan Fan in the press release. “This will enable our industry to keep innovating and provide consumers with more competitive products and services.”

Meanwhile, OPPO Chief Intellectual Property Officer Adler Feng regarded this newly inked agreement as “a win-win deal” for both companies. “We are very pleased to enter into a patent cross-licensing agreement with Huawei,” he said. “It clearly demonstrates that the two companies recognise and greatly respect the value of each other’s intellectual property.”

In a statement to Nikkei Asia, OPPO revealed that the licence deal will give it access to Huawei’s most advanced 5G-related technologies. At the same time, the company will also provide some of its own patents to its fellow Chinese tech giant, likely in terms of audio and video technologies – two fields which OPPO has a long history in. 

Thanks to the sanctions imposed by the US government, Huawei was forced to abandon its development of 5G integrated chipsets and other products, and is also banned from acquiring US-based technologies, especially from the country’s top chipmaking suppliers. However, the company still controls a rich 5G patent portfolio, which it has decided to source out to other companies, including rivals such as OPPO and Samsung.

Speaking of which, Nikkei Asia reports that Huawei has signed a licence agreement with Samsung around the same time as well. However, details regarding the deal are still not known, though it could involve the former’s patents on 5G technology.

WhatsApp Avatar Is Now Official

The service might be late to the game when it comes to this particular feature but you are now able to create and utilize personalized avatars on WhatsApp. While it is only being officially revealed today, this particular feature has been in the works for a while.

A glimpse of it was first noticed by the biggest WhatsApp-centric site in the world, WABetaInfo back in June. Fast forward to October, certain beta testers of WhatsApp for Android version 2.22.23.9 have informed the site that they were finally able to set up their own avatar.

Once a user has configured his or her own WhatsApp avatar, the app will then create a pack of 36 custom stickers that are based on that very avatar. These stickers conveyed various actions and emotions that the user can utilize when they communicate with others on WhatsApp.

In addition to that, users can also set their avatar as a WhatApp profile photo. Do note that the visibility of the avatar profile photo followed the same privacy settings as per the existing profile photo which means you may want to tweak the profile photo’s visibility settings if you want to show it off to everyone.

As for its availability, WhatsApp said that it is being rolled out to users all over the globe starting today onwards. Since there is no exact timeline, the only way for you to know you are already able to create an avatar for your WhatsApp account is the appearance of the Avatar option inside the Settings section of the app.

Meta has already dabbled with this particular feature for Facebook and Messenger a few years ago. First launched in 2019, Facebook Avatars eventually made its way to Malaysia in September 2020 and it seemed rather natural that the company decided to implement a similar feature for WhatsApp as well.

Final Fantasy XVI Launching As Limited PS5 Exclusive On 22 June 2023

Square-Enix has shared the latest trailer for Final Fantasy XVI earlier during The Game Awards 2022. Apart from showcasing new in-game sequences, the video also included the much anticipated release date reveal for the latest installment of the publisher’s long-running role playing game series, which is now confirmed to be on 22 June 2023.

While the game itself has previously been confirmed to be available on multiple platforms, users on PC as well as Xbox Series X and S may have to wait a while longer before they’re able to sink their teeth in Final Fantasy XVI. As seen from the trailer, the game will first be released as a limited exclusive on the PlayStation 5, at least until 31 December 2023. In other words, gamers not on Sony’s current generation video game console will only get to play the game sometime in 2024, if not on the very last day of next year.

As for the latest trailer itself, shown are even more of Final Fantasy XVI’s fast-paced combat gameplay, with heavy emphasis on special moves, dodging, and summoning. While some scenes that were showcased are new, a majority of the video are things that we’ve already seen from the game’s past trailers from months back. And in case you missed our previous coverage, the 16th major installment of the series will also iinclude kaiju-scaled showdowns between summonable titans known, which are dubbed as “Eikons” in this particular entry’s lore.

Another interesting detail to highlight is that this is the third Final Fantasy title to receive an MSRB rating of M (Mature), and it is also the first numbered release to be classified as such. According to the game’s rating in Brazil, XVI’s mature direction will include explicit scenes and plenty of violence. Other games from franchise to score the same rating includes Final Fantasy Type-0 from 2011, and Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin that was released back in March this year.

Alleged NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Specifications Surfaces

As the rumours of NVIDIA’s Geforce RTX 4070 Ti continue to pile up, there’s actually been little or next to no news about the non-Ti version of the card. Up until now, that is.

The specifications of the alleged GPU were leaked by prominent hardware leakster, kopite7kimi (@kopite7kimi). According to Kopite, the card will be using a slightly watered-down version of the PG104 – similar to the one used by the RTX 4070 Ti – and from what is being listed, the same 12GB GDDR6X graphics memory, rather than the original 10GB that it was speculated to ship out with.

Additional details from Kopite’s tweet suggest that the RTX 4070 will feature 5888 CUDA cores, which is significantly lower than the previously rumoured 7168; a 192-bit memory bus that, again, is identical to its more powerful Ti sibling; a 36MB L2 Cache; and a TDP of 250W, which is 35W less than the Ti variant. Unfortunately, the tweet does not specify its base or boost clock, although those numbers could be closer to the RTX 3070, if we’re looking at trends and speculations.

And that’s all there is about the RTX 4070 by Kopite. Again, any and all news regarding the RTX 4070 has been dry, with the current focus of rumours being squarely on the imminent arrival of the Ti-based card. For another matter, there is also no specific timeline as to when the non-Ti card will launch, although if we were to look at NVIDIA’s habit and trend, it could make its debut within three months of each other, seeing how the RTX 3060 made its debut at around the same time frame from its Ti-powered sibling last year.

In a roundabout way about its performance, there is also AMD’s RDNA3-based Radeon 7000 series, or rather, what team Red would introduce as a contender to NVIDIA’s own RTX 4070 Ti and non-Ti variant. Technically speaking, the RX 7900 XTX and XT are meant to bump heads with the RTX 4080, but we’re going to have to wait for the reviews to see if that really is the case.

The Nokia 8210 4G Feature Phone Now Available Locally At RM 299

Launched for the global market back in July 2022 is Nokia’s most recent feature phone, the Nokia 8210 4G, which is a modern take on the brand’s classic device of the same name from 1999. Though several months late, the company has officially confirmed that the new throwback handset has finally arrived in Malaysia.

For the uninitiated, the original Nokia 8210 was the brand’s smallest and lightest mobile phone in the market. Most interestingly, it continued to be in popular demand well into the first decade of the new millennium despite its old shelf age. Though not as legendary as the Nokia 3310 model, the handset is a fan favourite amongst retro cell phone enthusiasts.

At a glance, the modernised Nokia 8210 4G closely resembles the vintage model in terms of design, but with certain differences. For starters, it is obviously larger than the original, measuring at 13.8 mm (h) x 131.3 mm (l) x 56.2 mm (w) and weighs around 107 g. The phone’s  screen is larger too, coming in at 2.8-inches and features a resolution of only 320 x 240 pixels. Of course, situated below the display is a physical keypad for typing and such, while on the bottom is a microUSB port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.

Under the hood of the phone is a 4G-capable Unisoc T107 chipset, which comes with 48 MB of RAM and 128 MB of internal storage. And yes, that wasn’t a typo – the memory configurations on the Nokia 8210 4G are offered in megabytes (MB) instead of gigabytes (GB). However, you’ll be glad to know that the phone comes with a MicroSD card slot that supports up to 32 GB. There’s no Wi-Fi function, but it does feature Bluetooth 5.0 support.

Like most of its retro-based feature phones, the 8210 4G runs on Nokia’s S30+ platform, which means you won’t have access to certain apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and so on. But hey, at least there’s Snake and a handful of other pre-installed games to keep yourself entertained. Besides that, also onboard is an MP3 player and FM radio function.

If you thought the memory offerings were humbling, wait till you see what Nokia has in store for the phone’s imaging system. About that, situated on the back is a 0.3 MP camera which is likely an intentional callback to the early days of mobile phone photography. And in that spirit, there’s no selfie camera in front, which means you have to take your selfies the old school way of shooting and hoping that you landed a presentable shot.

Lastly, powering the phone is a removable 1,450 mAh battery. Though small in current technology standards, Nokia says it actually provides enough juice which would allow the 8210 4G to last for weeks before needing to connect to a charger.

The new Nokia 8210 4G is priced at RM 299, and is available in Dark Blue and Red colours. Those interested can purchase the feature phone via authorised Nokia dealers nationwide, as well as the brand’s official online stores on Shopee and Lazada.

Quest VR Headsets To No Longer Require A Facebook Account For Login

Meta has recently announced that a Facebook account is no longer needed for Quest VR headset logins. Instead, owners are now required to create a new Meta account and a Meta Horizon profile in order to fully utilise the virtual reality headgear – both of which are currently being rolled out on a gradual basis across the globe.

As some may recall, this isn’t the first time Meta has shifted the login policy for its headsets. Prior to this, the company discontinued the original Oculus accounts in 2020, requiring users to log in to their Quest VR devices with a Facebook account instead. The move proved to be unpopular, with existing headset owners – those with and without an existing Facebook account –  raising privacy concerns due to the tech giant’s well-known (but infamous) track record on the subject.

This supposed U-turn may seem like an attempt to quell users of any fears related to the stigma that Meta possesses. However, all this does is raise even more eyebrows at best, as you’re still required to register with the company anyway – this time around with another account made directly under the brand itself, which is undeniably redundant.

Despite all this, Meta is adamant that this move is the best course of action moving forward. “Our new Meta account structure gives you more flexibility and control, letting you choose how you do and don’t show up—and whether Facebook and / or Instagram is part of your experience in VR and other surfaces where you use your Meta Horizon profile,” the social media conglomerate said in its recent blog post.

If you’re cool with this (not like we’re given much of a choice to begin with), you can create a new account through the Meta mobile app using an email address, Facebook account, or Instagram account. Once it is created, all that’s left is to set up a linked Meta Horizon social profile for your Quest VR headset. Additionally, you can also choose to remove your Facebook profile from your newly created Meta account afterwards.

1 in 4 Gen Z-ers plan to become social media influencers

With the rising popularity of social media came the fame and fortune of young social media influencers such as Addison Rae, Charli D’Amelio and James Charles.

Now, new survey results from HigherVisibilty show 1 in 4 members of Gen Z want to emulate these celebrities, who make millions of dollars through brand sponsorships and advertisements but are also subject to intense public scrutiny on- and off-line. Sixteen percent of those surveyed said they would pay money to become an influencer.

A total of 1,000 individuals in the United States between the ages 16 and 25 completed the survey in July 2022.

Results varied slightly by region. More than 40 percent of respondents in the West said they want to become a social media influencer, compared with 33 percent in the Midwest, 36 percent in the South and 39 percent in the Northeast.

Broken down further, data showed “41% of New York Gen Zs intend on becoming an influencer in the future, whilst 30% from [Los Angeles] also feel the same way.”

According to authors, “just 7.13% of Gen Z responded that they would not want to be a social media Influencer.”

Social media influencers can find audiences on a variety of platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The rise of the industry was so strong that in 2020 creators launched the American Influencer Council.

More famous celebrities can even make up to $1 million for posting a single sponsored image or video on Instagram.

When queried, the majority of respondents guessed the average yearly income of an influencer was between $75,001 – $100,000, and many pointed to free products, earnings and meeting other influencers as the top perks of the profession.

Over a quarter of individuals also said they regularly post on social media with the intent to gain followers, while 35 percent of men report caring about their follower account compared with 31 percent of women.

Notably, the survey revealed more men, at 20 percent, than women, 13 percent, feel being an influencer is the only career option for them, and 49 percent of males said they consider the path a “good career choice.” Almost one in five Gen Z members said they would quit their job to become a social media influencer compared with over 12 percent who said they’d quit college to do so.

A quarter of respondents also think there should be social media influencer training in high school.

When it comes to parents’ responses, more 20 percent of individuals felt older generations didn’t understand social media influencing, and only 8 percent reported their parents like them using social media

Man Orders RTX 3090 Ti From Amazon, Receives Sand

Ah, scammers. As much as many of us hate these degenerate sub-species of the human race, they are, unfortunately, a difficult bunch to properly be rid of. Recently, a man in Brazil recently fell victim to a scam when he made an order on Amazon and got a whole load of sand, literally.

The Brazillian man, whose name is Mauricio Takeda, had posted his plight on the social media platform, TikTok. Here’s the story: Takeda had pulled the trigger and decided to purchase an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card from Amazon Brazil. What makes this purchase extra special, though, is that the multinational brand was also having its Prime Days sale period, which in turn meant that products were being sold at a discount.

In Takeda’s case, his Palit GeForce RTX 3090 Ti GameRock graphics card was purchased for 14500 Brazillian Real (~RM12179). If we’re being honest here, that’s still a little on the high side, and that is despite the fact that the prices of graphics cards have been on a steady decline or if you’re in China, crashing hard.

 Upon receiving his newly purchased “GPU” in the mail from Amazon, red flags began to rise for Takeda when he picked up the package and realised something was very clearly off with its weight. With his suspicions already at a heightened state, he then proceeded to ask his wife to record him opening the package and, upon doing so, discovered that he was not, in fact, an owner of a new RTX 3090 Ti, but multiple jars and pots filled with sand.

But Takeda’s story doesn’t even end there. Realising that he was a victim of a very expensive scam, he attempted, attempted, to liase with Amazon, asking them for a resolution, but to no avail. Then, after repeatedly receiving calls from the centre over a course of several days, they finally sent him an email containing a link that would permanently remove the affected Amazon account.

Takeda ultimately got restitution, though, after he filed a lawsuit in the Brazillian Small Claims Court and his issue actually became a national headline. At that point, even Amazon couldn’t take the issue lightly and began to fix the problem.

Motorola Razr 2022 To Get Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen1 Chipset

The Motorola Razr of 2022 has made a physical appearance in some capacity, confirming leaks that it will look quite different compared to before. But the way it looks aside, other things that we know of the device come from leaks. Though on this front, some things have changed, as the company has revealed two bits of info on what the phone packs.

As Android Authority reports, the company has shared on Chinese social media Weibo that the Motorola Razr 2022 will come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen1 chipset. Considering that it hasn’t gotten an official launch yet, this is good news. The base Snapdragon 8 Gen1 would be just a little out of date by the time the phone becomes available.

Separately, one post which the report attributes as coming from a Motorola executive states that the Razr of 2022 will also get a 3500mAh battery. By today’s standards, that is a pretty small battery for a smartphone. But hopefully with the more efficient chipset, it would be enough for the foldable phone to last a day at the very least. The executive also claims that the phone will also have good battery management, which would be nice if it’s true.

Beyond these two points though, we’ll still have to go with what we know from previous leaks. Leakster Evan Blass has claimed that the Motorola Razr 2022 will have a Full HD+ display, either 8GB or 12GB of RAM, 256GB or 512GB of storage space, a 50MP primary + 13MP wide angle and macro camera combo, and a 32MP punch hole secondary camera.

Whether or not these are accurate, we will have to wait for the launch to find out. On that note, the report claims that Motorola will be officially unveiling the Razr 2022 on 2 August, so it won’t be too long a wait.

Mercedes-AMG Unveils Its First Ever “Office” Chair

Mercedes-AMG, the high performance focused sub-brand of Mercedes, is now looking to deliver its luxurious and comfortable seating experience from its cars and straight into your workplace. Recently unveiled is the all-new and aptly named AMG Office Chair, which is also its first ever product of this category.

Now, some of you may recall a somewhat similar throne by Noblechairs that was released in 2019, which also featured the AMG branding (or rather its official F1 team). This new chair, on the other hand, isn’t a collaborative release, and is actually designed and manufactured by the Mercedes high performance arm itself. Amusingly, the first-party AMG throne isn’t marketed as a gaming chair despite featuring a design that is often reflected on similar products from the likes of Secret Lab, Razer, and the previously mentioned Noblechairs. And for car brands releasing their own chairs, consider this circle now complete.

The AMG Office Chair bears similarities to the brand’s A45 performance seats – complete with a bucket form factor with an integrated headrest, a metal badge featuring the company’s branding, black high quality Artico artificial leather upholstery, as well as red decorative stitching and stripes. Unique to it is a black powder-coated steel base, black back shell, chrome castors, and adjustable padded armrests. Other than that, the throne also comes with height adjustability and a control lever to adjust its reclining position. Weight-wise, Mercedes-AMG says the entire chair comes in at around 39 kilograms.

Unfortunately, you won’t find the usual fancy features that are typically offered by Mercedes in their cars, such as memory seat adjustment, massage functions and so on. But that’s actually a good thing, as the inclusion of such things will further bump up the chair’s price even further.

Speaking of which, the cost of bringing the Mercedes-AMG certified comfort into your own home (or workplace) will only cost you EUR 3,500 (~RM 15,900). The new AMG Office Chair is available for pre-order now via its official online store, though the company notes that the first 50 units will first ship out exclusively for Private Lounge members.