Opera Software AS owns and operates the browser 'Opera'.
The Chinese Investors owns SurfEasy (the VPN), AD Colony and so on.
Exactly the opposite. because of the acquisition, Opera Software ASA was split in two: Opera Software AS and another one that kept the Opera Software ASA name.
Opera Software AS is owned by the Chinese group and is responsible for the browsers. Opera Software ASA is what remains from old Opera Software and runs Surfeasy and so on.
but the stock thing, i don't understand.
I guess there's nothing much to understand, they are just buying there own shares.
It appears that uBlock Origin is still the way to go as it has been for a while.
During my testing, the built-in ad blocker was not only noticeably slower but also blocked content that it should not block forcing you to white list sites for no reason.
The mainstream extensions do not cause you such headaches while offering additional features like subscribing to different filters. I doubt any extensions will be able to use less CPU than a built-in ad blocker, but it simply is not quite there yet to be considered a full replacement in my opinion.