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Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, aims to secure $1 billion in equity financing to compete with industry leaders such as OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google. The company, co-founded by Musk, has already garnered $135 million from investors, as revealed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
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After Bulgari And Dior, Arnault Wants to Add Jeweller Tiffany to the LVMH Luxury Crown
Tiffany & Co., the iconic US jeweler that featured in the Audrey Hepburn starrer Breakfast at Tiffany’s, has received a takeover offer from LVMH.
LVMH is the owner of the Louis Vuitton brand and the world’s largest luxury goods group. It reportedly made an all-cash offer of $120 per share of Tiffany, valuing the jeweler at $14.5 billion.
Corporates and Banks Rejoice: Bottomline Launches Real Time Payments
Fintech firm Bottomline Technologies enhances its Digital Banking product with the addition of a Real-Time Payments module.
Real-time payments are essential these days to a bank’s competitiveness, particularly in the enterprise arena. Bottomline’s innovation will enable corporate customers to send and receive real-time payments and as well, request payments.
Volatility and Returns: The New CIBC Income Pools Manage Both
CIBC Asset Management launches a suite of three Fixed Income Pools that provide access to advanced bond strategies.
The new CIBC Fixed Income Pools access leading portfolio managers from around the world. Investors can use one or more of the Pools depending on their need for regular income or modest capital appreciation, or anything in between.
Prologis and Liberty Property Trust Announce REIT Merger
Prologis and Liberty Property Trust announced a merger between the two firms. According to deal terms, Prologis will acquire Liberty $12.6 billion, including the assumption of debt. The board of directors of both REITs have approved the transaction.
AT&T Defuses Hedge Fund Elliott Management Pressure With Three-Year Plan
Activist hedge fund Elliott Management took aim at AT&T Corporation in September. Elliott had proposed cost cuts, divestment of certain businesses, and a freeze on further acquisitions. Now, the telecom giant has pushed back with a three-year plan to diffuse Elliott’s activist pressures.
Bitcoin Goes Vertical After Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Pro-Blockchain Remarks
Bitcoin rallied 16% after Chinese President Xi Jinping called for his country to “seize the opportunity” afforded by blockchain.
Speaking at a Politburo Committee session on blockchain technology trends Thursday, Xi told committee members: “We must take the blockchain as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies.”
Dan Loeb’s Third Point Holds a $700 Million Stake in EssilorLuxottica
Third Point, the New York-based activist hedge fund run by Dan Loeb, has built up a $700 million stake in Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica. It revealed this in its third-quarter investor letter.
The fund also said it saw plenty of potential for growth and profits at EssilorLuxottica, the world’s largest eye-wear company.
Price Cuts the Flavour of the Season: Vanguard Europe Slashes Fees on ETFs and Index Funds
Vanguard adds fuel to the fee cut fire in financial services by slashing fees across its ETFs and index-tracking funds. The passive investing giant cut its fees down to an average of 0.2% across its index and ETFs product offerings.
Revolut and Mastercard To Partner On US Debit Cards
Revolut, the digital challenger bank, and fintech unicorn have tied up with Mastercard for US debit cards.
Mastercard will handle Revolut’s debit cards when they launch in the US sometime within this year. Also included in today’s deal is Europe – the two businesses will partner on a minimum of 50 percent of all of Revolut’s existing and future cards in Europe.
Bank of America Joins the Zero-Commission Wars
Bank of America has joined the chorus of brokerages to slash commissions to zero through its Merrill Edge Self-Directed platform. The company said Monday that it will expand its zero-dollar to Preferred Rewards customers. It will also reduce commissions for all other customers.
Libra May Change to Many Country-Specific Stablecoins
The Libra stablecoin, which is to be backed by a basket of fiat currencies, may change its model. David Marcus, Libra’s head, revealed this at a banking seminar.
“We could do it differently,” he said. “Instead of having a synthetic unit … we could have a series of stablecoins, a dollar stablecoin, a euro stablecoin, a sterling pound stable coin, etc.”
Tim Melvin: The Case for Private Equity Replication
Private equity replication represents a unique opportunity for investors to avoid the high costs of PE investment. Forbes Magazine recently ran a story about the high barriers to entry for private equity investors.
AT&T and Activist Elliott Management Said to Be in Talks
According to the sources, AT&T and Elliott Management have held discussions, and there is an ongoing dialogue. The two parties may likely agree as early as this month, the Wall Street Journal said. However, there is still a risk that talks could break down.
“What’s Next? Investment Trends for the Future” – A New Study Gauges the Institutional View Three Decades Into the Future
The poll explores institutional investors’ sentiment and allocations regarding the dominant economic trends in the global economy.
Investcorp, a leading global provider and manager of alternative investment products, conducted the new study. It showed that 78% of respondents were very confident that an aging population would be the most important trend over the next thirty years.
Nearly 770,000 Indexes Scrapped In 2019, Most from Equities
A survey of the global index universe by the Index Industry Association (IIA) shows the count of indexes declined by 20% in 2019 from 2018.
The total number of indexes had grown from 3.29 million in 2017 to 3.73 million in 2018 but has declined sharply to 2.96 million in 2019.
Ex-CFTC Heads Warn of Digital Challengers; Propose A Blockchain Dollar
Could a new-fangled digital currency move the US dollar’s cheese? “Complacency in the face of this threat risks lasting damage to the U.S. economy,” warn the former CFTC officials.
In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, J. Christopher Giancarlo and Daniel Gorfine recommend a digital blockchain dollar. They say that recent developments in digital currencies threaten the dollar’s pre-eminent status as a global reserve currency.
Peter Thiel and Others Pony Up $50M for Wind and Solar Powered Crypto Mining in Texas
Layer1 is building a chips-to-substation crypto mining facility in Texas that will run on renewable energy.
Never mind that crypto mining is best undertaken in cool climes – Iceland, for instance. But Layer1 has an ace up its sleeve – a proprietary new technology for cooling the chips that mine cryptocurrencies. So the Layer1 crypto mining facility lies 150 miles west of Midland, Texas.
Is a WeWork Bailout on Tap?
A WeWork bailout could be coming from JPMorgan or Softbank. Two weeks after the office-sharing giant pulled its IPO, its cash position has deteriorated. CNBC reports that the two banks are examining a plan to offer debt and equity to WeWork.
French Pension Fund Dodges U.S. Treasury Market
ESG Concerns Shun the World’s Most Liquid Market A French pension fund and several other ESG funds are shunning the U.S. Treasury market. The funds found fault this week with the United States government and listed reasons for divestment. According to Bloomberg, ESG funds at Erste Asset Management, Joh. Berenberg Gossler, and Union Investment are…
JP Morgan: Fund Flows May Point to Higher Recession Risk
JP Morgan suggests that retail investors and consumers are losing confidence in the U.S. economy. The bank cited the outflows of capital from the equity markets and the rush of capital into bonds as a reason. In 2019, $683 billion has moved into bond funds. Meanwhile, stock funds have seen outflows of $177 billion. These figures come from the Investment Company Institute, EPFR, and Bloomberg.
Libra Association Dealt A One-Two-Punch: Defections, And Now, The G7
Last week, eBay, Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe followed PayPal out of the Libra Association; now, the G7 warns against digital currencies.
Last week, fears of regulatory uncertainty (and repercussions) probably forced eBay, Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe to depart the Libra Association. They followed on the heels of PayPal, which walked out earlier.
Nubank, the Brazilian Fintech, Hits a Purple Patch
Brazilian fintech startup Nubank has added three million users since August this year.
Speaking at the Brazil Investment Forum in Sao Paulo, Nubank founder and CEO David Vélez said the fintech now had 15 million users.
Temasek Will Sit Out the Saudi Aramco IPO on Environmental Concerns
Singapore’s Temasek Holdings will not invest in Saudi Aramco’s mega-IPO, sources said, according to Bloomberg.
Temasek, which focuses on sustainability and environmental, social and governance principles, will, therefore, be unable to participate in the Saudi Aramco IPO. Moreover, it has a 2030 target to reduce the carbon footprint of its portfolio companies by 50%.
Kroll Bond Rating Agency Conference Recap in New York City
The Kroll Bond Rating Agency and New York University’s Stern School of Business joined forces recently to hold their very first credit conference. The conference included keynote talks from several thought leaders. The list includes Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Darrell Duffie, President of the Boston Fed Eric Rosengren, and NYU Stern professor and bankruptcy guru Edward Altman.