Per new bankruptcy filing, BlockFi has $227m in Silicon Valley Bank. The bankruptcy trustee warned them on Mon that bc those funds are in a money market mutual fund, they’re not FDIC secured — which could be a prblm w/ keeping in compliance of bankruptcy law
Charles Schwab is discontinuing its PAC. It will donate all remaining funds to The Boys & Girls Club of America and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Will others follow?
New: IBM CEO Arvind Krishna sent a letter to Congress Monday advocating for policies tackling racial injustice - and announcing some news: The comp is getting out of the facial recognition business, after criticism the tech has racial and gender bias.
“The main problem with moving to Florida is that you have to live in Florida,” said Jason Mudrick, who oversees $3 billion at Mudrick Capital Management and has resided in Manhattan for more than two decades.
Musk on Twitter:" "Given how the market has evolved this year, the price is on the high side"
He thinks it can ultimately be "one of the most valuable companies in the world"
NEW: McDonald's is leaving — not pausing — its Russian operations. It plans to sell its Russian business to a local buyer. It will “de-arch” those restaurants, meaning they will no longer use the McDonald’s name, logo or branding. $MCD
Per internal memo on Fri, Citi will pause all campaign contributions through its PAC this quarter. The bank says it gave $1,000 Sen. Hawley “who represents a state in which we have a significant employee presence.” $C
“We will not support candidates who do not support the law.”
There’s growing concern debt collectors could come for the direct payments when they start to go out.
@HawleyMO
&
@SenSherrodBrown
want the Treasury to step in before that happens.
President Biden will announce new steps on Tuesday to fight COVID including:
- Readying 1K military medical professionals to help at overburdened hospitals
- New federal testing sites
- Buying 500 million rapid tests to distribute free to the public.
Carl Icahn, who is pushing for 3 seats on the board of Illumina, told board he “would not even support Jesus Christ” as an independent candidate over an Icahn Nominee, as “my guys answer to me,” per new filing.
Twitter's lawyers read a text from Musk to his MS banker Michael Grimes in May, shortly before a Putin speech
"It won't make sense to buy Twitter if we are headed into WWIII"
New: Guitar Center has begun to prepare for a potential bankruptcy filing that could come as soon as next month, sources tell me. It missed an interest payment of roughly $45m earlier this month.
Twitter is sending out dozens of subpoenas to banks, investors, and others. It wants to know if Elon Musk quietly abandoned his deal to acquire Twitter even before he told the company that's what he was planning to do.
"The marginal activity that involves crowding into theaters, airports, small venues inside where there is spread is going to change," says
@ScottGottliebMD
. "We are going to have to do things differently with the
#coronavirus
...this is a fearsome pathogen."
The federal court ruling reinstating Biden's vax or test mandate cites "the possibility of new variants" to support the argument that the current situation is an emergency.
It adds in a footnote: "This possibility has borne out with the Omicron variant"
Guitar Center filed for bankruptcy last night, citing its significant debt burden and the "economic upheaval created by the persistence of the Covid-19 pandemic."
“Topps co-owner Michael Eisner on Thursday afternoon had a brief, heated call with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred asking why he hadn’t been given a heads-up or a chance to counter, a person familiar with the discussion said.”
No one really knows what to make of yesterday's story. But if Musk does sue to get out of the deal, Twitter is ready to go to court. It could be costly and potentially timely - but the most valuable part of Twitter right now is its deal with Musk.
New from me: the presidents of UPenn and Harvard were roundly criticized for their testimony at the hearing on antisemitismthis week. They were both prepped by the same law firm. ⬇️
SCOOP: Private equity is getting "crafty." Apollo and at least one other private equity firm have expressed interest in acquiring Michaels, sources tell me. The retailer has boomed as people have turned to arts & crafts during the pandemic. 🧵🪡 $MIK
The new CDC guidance raises a host of questions for businesses:
- Do frontline workers need to verify whether customers have been masked?
- How do companies work new guidance into policies for workers returning to the office?
An exclusive for
@dealbook
readers this AM
The day after Senate Dems passed their $3.5 trillion budget blueprint,
@VP
is bringing biz leaders to the White House to build support for one of the plan’s key pillars: child care.
Untuck this: Untuckit, the company known for its untucked shirts, is looking to raise money at a valuation greater than $600 million. w
@laurenthomasx3
New: Tyson was criticized for failing to do enough to protect its workers from Covid. It's now become a leader on corporate mandates.
@mcorkery5
and I take you inside its decision to mandate vaccines - and how it got 96% of its workers vaccinated.
BIG news in antitrust: The White House will nominate Jonathan Kanter to be the top antitrust official at the Department of Justice.
Kanter has built his career largely around working for the rivals of Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple.
When asked by
@andrewrsorkin
to respond to this tweet,
@SecYellen
says:
1) Yes, I know who cardi b is ("I don’t have a lot of time for her, but I am alive!")
2) I don't think there's going to be a recession
#dealbook
President Biden traveled to Chicago today to appeal to private companies to mandate coronavirus vaccinations for employees
“Businesses have more power than ever before to change the arc of this pandemic and save lives," he said.
w/
@katierogers
Twitter just dropped its response to Musk, again making its case for an expedited trial.
“Musk’s alleged core issue—the number of spam Twitter accounts—is a contractually irrelevant sideshow that Musk wants to use to disparage Twitter and prolong this litigation”
New: Turns out the banks may not be the only ones stung by the $44 billion Twitter deal.
Advisory firm Innisfree M&A sued Twitter today for nearly $2 million in what it says are unpaid bills in connection with work it did on the deal
We hope you can join us for the first day of the
#DealBook
Online Summit. The sessions start today at 10 a.m. Eastern with Tim Cook of Apple, and there is still time to register to attend.
@PPathole
@Twitter
Twitter legal just called to complain that I violated their NDA by revealing the bot check sample size is 100!
This actually happened.
Barneys has filed for bankruptcy. Rent is an issue, but so is the business model. CEO Daniella Vitale previously told employees “the entire industry is in survival mode.”
The S.E.C. put out two notes about SPACs today. The main thrust of both is that companies considering SPAC deals should ensure they're actually ready to be public companies.
1)
2)
The Murdochs control over their media empire is about to be scrutinized in court. It’s also now the target of the activist investor Starboard
@dealbook
Important news not about oil:
Bank and creditors are seizing people's $1,200 stimulus checks. Amid bipartisan criticism, Treasury Department attorneys are reviewing whether that's legal.
Of course, Congress could also fix this w/new law
by
@JStein_WaPo
One of Twitter’s concerns in sharing the info Musk wants re bots is he has said he was considering starting a rival social media service, sources tell me (Usually you can address those kinds of things with guardrails, negotiated prior to striking a deal)
SCOOP in today's
@DealBook
: L Brands has decided to spin off Victoria's Secret rather than sell it, sources tell me. It received bids for more than $3 billion — but expects to be valued between $5 and $7 billion as an independent public company. $LB
New from me
@alanblinder
and Kevin Draper
The PGA Tour board had its first in person meeting since announcing the Saudi deal. Here’s how it all went down.
…And stay tuned for more in
@dealbook
tomorrow.
This was just uploaded by the SEC. They sent Elon a comment in early June saying his lawyer never responded to their questions about his “this deal cannot move forward” tweet.
It is unclear whether Elon’s team has since responded.
The NFL's decision to move *away* from testing reminds me of a conversation I had with
@j_g_allen
a few days ago about the fact that companies may need to — once again — readjust their playbook.
What is the new normal? And what is the goal?
This is a leveraged buyout deal with a venture capital mentality. Elon Musk is making Big Promises — and investors are backing him because, basically, he is Elon Musk.
lots of scoopy details w/
@eringriffith
@PreetaTweets
@MikeIsaac
Somehow, it's been exactly a YEAR since I joined
@dealbook
- and I still can't believe I got the job!
I couldn't be more grateful to
@andrewrsorkin
&
@jkaraian
for the opportunity, & proud of what we've accomplished as a team. Also, you should subscribe:
A
@dealbook
scoop w/
@brooksbarnesNYT
🎥🎞️
Mark Cuban’s Magnolia Pictures is exploring a sale. It was once part of a bigger play to bring big-media style vertical integration to the art-house world — but Netflix has emerged as an art-film superpower
Bed Bath and Beyond says it has concluded there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. It continues to explore all alternatives, including bankruptcy.
$bbby
The OSHA rule requiring workers to vax or test is back on (for now), but the deadline is delayed. Tests are running short. Omicron is spiking. The meaning of fully vaccinated is unclear.
Inside the latest whiplash facing CEOs w/
@emmabgo
@charlie_savage
McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski: "Some might argue that providing access to food and continuing to employ tens of thousands of ordinary citizens is surely the right thing to do. But it is impossible to ignore the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine."
Some big businesses have been snapping up Covid tests, while smaller firms are struggling to find them. This highlights what critics say is a weakness in the federal gov's approach to to rapid testing which, unlike vaccines, has not been centralized.
Schulman told analysts he envisioned PayPal becoming a “super app” that folds in numerous services and functions, like some apps in Asia. He outlined a “huge road map” for tools related to shopping, including “universal shopping carts."
W/
@eringriffith
Thrive is in talks to invest $1 billion in Stripe as part of a broader fundraising round. The deal values Stripe sharply less than its valuation two years ago — but could allow Stripe employees to sell their company shares. W
@maureenmfarrell
Is this the beginning of the u turn on Wall Street back to work plans?
BlackRock and Wells Fargo are pushing back their return to offices dates via
@katekelly
&
@LananhTNguyen