🎯 There are two stocks in my portfolio that I will never sell, because I admire both their operators and what they have done.

$AST SpaceMobile(ASTS.US) and $Nebius(NBIS.US)

Two CEOs, two completely different stories, yet with the same outcome. They are both pioneers who never give up.

In 1999, Abel Avellan started from scratch and founded his first satellite company. He grew it into one of the world's largest private satellite operators, and for many consecutive years, it was rated as the world's fastest-growing satellite service provider. In 2016, he sold the company for $550 million.

Most people would choose to retire after achieving such success.

But he took a year off. In 2017, he founded $AST SpaceMobile(ASTS.US), proposing an idea that all experts considered physically impossible: launching satellites large enough into orbit to connect directly to the billions of phones in people's pockets. No new hardware, no new apps, achieving global coverage.

Since the company went public, he has never taken any salary. No wages, no bonuses. His only compensation is stock. His success depends on shareholder interests, not on cashing out a day early.

He co-invented 24 U.S. patents, raised $3.9 billion in funding, and companies like AT&T, Verizon, Google, and Vodafone have already signed on. He completed the world's first two-way space call, and the BlueBird 6 satellite is already in orbit.

To date, the largest commercial communications array deployed in low Earth orbit has successfully deployed.

He is launching every one to two months until the end of the year.

He is building the internet for the next 4 billion people who are not yet connected.

Next is Arkady Volozh.

He was born in Soviet-era Kazakhstan and is an applied mathematician. In the late 1980s, he started importing computers from Austria. In 1997, he co-founded Yandex, a year before Google.

Over 25 years, he built Yandex into a $30 billion business empire. Its businesses spanned search, ride-hailing, e-commerce, autonomous vehicles, and payments. The most powerful tech company in the world's largest country.

Then, Putin invaded Ukraine.

The EU sanctioned him overnight. He resigned from all positions. He watched helplessly as the company he poured his life's work into was carved up and sold to Russian buyers for far less than its value.

He lost everything.

Most people would never recover from that.

He publicly condemned the war. Renounced his Russian citizenship. With a lean team, a data center in Finland, and $2.5 billion rebuilt from the ruins, he re-listed on Nasdaq under a new name.

Then, Microsoft extended an olive branch. A $20 billion acquisition offer. Meta followed with a $27 billion acquisition. NVIDIA also became a shareholder. The company he rebuilt from the ruins is now worth more than the one Putin took from him.

Revenue grew 547%. Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is projected to reach $7-9 billion by 2026. Has 16 data centers globally.

Two builders. No excuses. Both are still fighting on the battlefield today.