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Tag: acquisitions

  • Hewlett Packard Enterprises to buy Juniper Networks in $14 billion deal

    Hewlett Packard Enterprises to buy Juniper Networks in $14 billion deal

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    In an effort to keep up in the accelerating AI arms race, cloud-services provider Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. on Tuesday agreed to buy Juniper Networks, Inc. in a deal worth around $14 billion.

    Under the terms of the deal, Hewlett Packard Enterprises
    HPE,
    -8.92%
    will acquire Juniper
    JNPR,
    +21.81%
    — which makes communications-networking products and also has an AI segment called Mist AI — for $40 a share. The companies expect the deal to close late this year or in early 2025.

    “The acquisition is expected to double HPE’s networking business, creating a new networking leader with a comprehensive portfolio that presents customers and partners with a compelling new choice to drive business value,” the companies said in a release.

    After the deal is completed, Juniper Chief Executive Rami Rahim will lead the combined HPE networking business, and report to HPE CEO Antonio Neri.

    “This transaction will strengthen HPE’s position at the nexus of accelerating macro-AI trends, expand our total addressable market, and drive further innovation for customers as we help bridge the AI-native and cloud-native worlds, while also generating significant value for shareholders,” Neri said in a statement.

    HPE said the addition of Juniper will boost margins and result in up to $450 million in annual cost savings within three years of the deal’s completion, as well as accelerate growth. HPE’s networking segment was the company’s top source of quarterly earnings before taxes, $401 million, on $1.4 billion in revenue.

    HPE’s deeper plunge into networking closes a chapter of sorts. Then-Hewlett-Packard Co. acquired Aruba Networks for about $3 billion in March 2015, months before Silicon Valley’s original garage startup split in half, resulting in the formation of HPE, which sells servers and other equipment for data centers, and HP Inc.
    HPQ,
    -2.71%    ,
    which makes PCs and printers.

    The Wall Street Journal reported the possibility of a deal on Monday, sending shares of Juniper higher.

    Shares of Juniper
    JNPR,
    +21.81%
    rose 0.5% after hours, after jumping 21.8% during regular trading hours. Hewlett Packard
    HPE,
    -8.92%
    shares were down 0.4% after hours, after falling 8.9% during the day.

    As of Tuesday’s close, Juniper had a market cap of $9.64 billion, while HPE’s was $23.04 billion.

    The companies hope the deal can provide a much-needed jolt after a series of lackluster quarterly earnings. Juniper shares have gained 15.7% over the past 12 months, while HPE shares are down 5.4% over that span. The S&P 500
    SPX,
    in comparison, is up about 21.4% over the past year.

    For decades, Juniper has lagged rival Cisco Systems Inc.
    CSCO,
    -1.09%
    in the networking-equipment market. In its most recent quarter, Juniper reported net income of $76 million on revenue of $1.4 billion, down 1% from the same quarter a year earlier.

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  • WSJ News Exclusive | Hewlett Packard Enterprise Near Deal to Buy Juniper Networks

    WSJ News Exclusive | Hewlett Packard Enterprise Near Deal to Buy Juniper Networks

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    Updated Jan. 8, 2024 6:31 pm ET

    Hewlett Packard Enterprise is in advanced talks to buy Juniper Networks for about $13 billion, in a bid to better position the nearly 100-year-old technology company in the era of artificial intelligence. 

    A deal between the two companies could be announced as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter, assuming the talks don’t fall apart. 

    Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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  • AMC extends losing streak to five days, hits another record low close

    AMC extends losing streak to five days, hits another record low close

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    AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. extended its losing streak to five days Friday, with the stock ending the session down 2.5% to $5.15.

    AMC
    AMC,
    -2.45%
    shares are now on their longest losing streak since a seven-day slide that ended on Aug. 29, 2023. The movie-theater chain and onetime meme-stock darling ended Thursday’s session at a then-record-low close of $5.30. AMC was a top trending symbol on Stocktwits, a social platform for investors and traders, at Friday’s open.

    The stock’s previous record closing low had been $6.07, which was set on Dec. 21, 2023, according to Dow Jones Market Data, citing available information dating back to Dec. 18, 2013.

    Related: AMC hits another record-low close, extends losing streak to four days

    The decline in AMC’s share price is a far cry from its meme-stock heyday, when it hit an all-time closing high of $339.05 on June 2, 2021.

    In a regulatory filing Tuesday, AMC said that between Dec. 28 and Dec. 29, 2023, the company entered into a series of privately negotiated exchange agreements to issue nearly 3.26 million shares of Class A common stock in exchange for $22.5 million of its notes due in 2026.  The common stock issued had an implied value of $6.94 per share, according to AMC. “The company may engage in similar transactions in the future but is under no obligation to do so,” AMC said in the filing.

    The move is the latest in AMC’s attempts to tackle its debt burden, which reached more than $5 billion in 2022. That year, AMC launched its APE special dividend, and in 2023 it completed the conversion of the APEs into AMC common stock and a reverse 1-for-10 split of common stock. 

    Related: AMC CEO slams ‘prophets of doom,’ says company is ‘blazing new trails’ as it enters 2024

    In December, AMC also completed its latest at-the-market equity offering, raising approximately $350 million. AMC CEO Adam Aron has repeatedly warned that the company faces liquidity challenges. 

    AMC shares are down 84.8% in the last 12 months, compared with S&P 500 index’s
    SPX
    gain of 20.6%.

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  • Berkshire Buys More Liberty SiriusXM Tracking Stock

    Berkshire Buys More Liberty SiriusXM Tracking Stock

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    Berkshire Hathaway purchased 2.8 million shares of the Liberty SiriusXM tracking stock in recent days, apparently seeking to capitalize on Liberty Sirius’ discount relative to the value of its stake in Sirius XM Holdings, the satellite radio company.

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  • CBD- And Manuka Honey-Infused Skincare Brand Cannuka Closes – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    CBD- And Manuka Honey-Infused Skincare Brand Cannuka Closes – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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    Cannuka, a brand combining CBD and Manuka honey that was an early mover in CBD beauty, has shuttered.

    The closure, which was announced via Instagram on Dec. 22 and is being communicated to consumers on Cannuka’s website, comes a little over two years after the brand was acquired by beauty and wellness company Better For You Wellness for an undisclosed amount. Married entrepreneurs Michael and Kelly Bumgarner launched Cannuka in 2017, and it subsequently entered 1,500 retail doors, including Ulta Beauty, Neiman Marcus and QVC, in the United States and United Kingdom with bestsellers such as CBD Calming Eye Balm and CBD Cleansing Body Bar. 

    BFYW was among a string of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) established from 2020 to 2022. Others are Hims & Hers, The Beauty Health Company, Powered Brands and Waldencast Acquisition Group. Due to its size, BFYW is characterized as a “micro-SPAC.” In September 2021, it secured around $30 million in funding to fuel acquisitions of companies generating $1 million to $15 million in sales in categories it calls appearance, health, nutrition, sleep, fitness and mindfulness. Along with Cannuka, BFYW acquired OEM skincare supplier Ironwood, Ironwood’s glacial oceanic clay range NENA Skincare and Mango Moi. 

    Cannuka was previously in 1,500 retail doors, including Ulta Beauty, Neiman Marcus and QVC, in the United States and United Kingdom. Married entrepreneurs Michael and Kelly Bumgarner launched the CBD…

    Original Author Link click here to read complete story..

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  • Mark Zuckerberg sold $428 million of Meta stock in the last two months of 2023

    Mark Zuckerberg sold $428 million of Meta stock in the last two months of 2023

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    Mark Zuckerberg cashed in on his company’s 2023 stock rally in a big way — selling nearly $428 million worth of shares in Meta Platforms Inc. over the final two months of the year.

    The Meta
    META,
    -0.53%
    co-founder and chief executive offloaded just under 1.8 million shares over the course of every trading day between Nov. 1 and the end of last year, according to a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. 

    The sales were in accordance with a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted by Zuckerberg in July and saw him capitalize on Meta’s rebounding stock price, which soared 194.1% in 2023 — and nearly threefold since it hit a seven-year low in November 2022. By comparison, the S&P 500
    SPX
    and the Nasdaq Composite
    COMP
    indexes gained 24.2% and 43.4%, respectively, in 2023.

    The moves also broke a two-year hiatus, dating back to November 2021, during which Zuckerberg did not sell any of his stock in the Facebook parent company, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news. Zuckerberg, who owns roughly 13% of Meta, is ranked the seventh-richest person in the world with a net worth of $125 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

    Nasdaq-listed Meta shares, which fell 0.5% on Wednesday to $344.47, are now roughly 11% off their all-time closing high of $382.18 from September 2021.

    Representatives for Meta could not immediately be reached for comment.

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  • Apple's stock falls after 'sell' call from Barclays

    Apple's stock falls after 'sell' call from Barclays

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    Shares of Apple Inc. are starting 2024 with a selloff, after Barclays analyst Tim Long said it was “time for a breather,” citing weak hardware sales as iPhone 15 demand disappoints.

    “We are still picking up weakness on iPhone volumes and mix, as well as a lack of bounce-back in Macs, iPads and wearables,” Long wrote in a note to clients. “The biggest takeaway from the latest checks is incrementally worse [iPhone] 15 data points out of China, together with developed markets remaining soft.”

    He cut his rating on the stock
    AAPL,
    -0.54%
    to underweight from neutral, and trimmed his price target to $160 from $161. The new target implies about 17% downside from Friday’s closing price of $192.53.

    The stock slumped 1.8% in premarket trading Tuesday, putting it on track to open at a seven-week low.

    Long said iPhone 15 sales have been “lackluster” and believes Phone 16 sales will be the same, as he expects other hardware categories to remain weak. He said it’s time for investors to take a “breather” on the stock, as he doesn’t think it can keep rallying in the face of downbeat demand data, like it did in 2023.

    “We expect reversion after a year when most quarters were missed and the stock outperformed,” Long wrote.

    He expects Apple to report “in-line” fiscal first-quarter results, which runs through December, but he trimmed his second-quarter to further below consensus expectations.

    He now expects earnings per share and revenue for the quarter through March to be down in the low-single-digit percentage range, while the FactSet consensus calls for EPS to be up 2.6% at $1.57 and revenue to rise 1.1% to $95.8 billion.

    Apple’s stock surged 48.2% in 2023, or almost double the S&P 500 index’s
    SPX
    gain of 24.2%, even as revenue for each quarter of fiscal 2023 through September was below that of a year ago.

    Long is now one of just four of the 44 analysts surveyed by FactSet who are bearish on Apple’s stock, while 27 (61%) are bullish and 13 are neutral. His $160 price target is 19.2% below the average target of $197.92.

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  • Uber and Lyft shares rallied in 2023 but may not go much higher, analysts say

    Uber and Lyft shares rallied in 2023 but may not go much higher, analysts say

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    Shares of Uber Technologies Inc. and the ride-hailing giant’s smaller rival, Lyft Inc., have sprinted higher this year. But analysts on Friday suggested there might not be much left in the tank for either stock heading into 2024.

    Nomura analysts Anindya Das and Masataka Kunugimoto on Friday downgraded Uber
    UBER,
    -2.49%
    to a neutral rating from buy, arguing that most of the things that could drive the stock higher are already baked into the price. They also downgraded Lyft
    LYFT,
    -3.54%
    to their equivalent of a sell rating from buy, saying the company failed to fully capitalize on the travel industry’s post-pandemic recovery.

    Shares of Uber, which closed out the year up 142%, were down 2.5% on Friday. Lyft’s stock gave up 3.4% and finished 2023 up 34.8%.

    Uber, the analysts said, had managed to grow this year while occasionally turning a profit, and consolidated its grip on the ride-sharing markets in the U.S. and Canada. Meanwhile, Lyft, they said, had stumbled in its efforts to take advantage of the travel rebound after pandemic restrictions eased, cutting more staff this year after doing the same in 2022.

    After years of losing money, they said Uber’s stronger financials this year allowed it to refinance its debt at a lower interest rate and extend the terms of that debt. They noted the company recently joined the S&P 500 Index
    SPX
    and that the market is expecting more stock buybacks from the company, as well as interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve next year.

    “Thus, most of the milestones and catalysts that we were anticipating to boost Uber’s stock value have been largely met,” they said.

    They added: “At this time, we think most of the catalysts for the stock are already priced in, and Uber is fairly valued at the current price. We therefore downgrade it to Neutral from Buy.”

    Lyft has tried to cut its prices to compete with Uber, and has held off on expanding into areas like food delivery. But as travel demand settles, the analysts suggested, the advantages would still flow to its archrival.

    “We expect 2024 to be more of a ‘normal’ year, in terms of people’s propensity to travel,” the analysts said. “Once the current rebound in travel subsides, we think Lyft’s subscale market positioning, and lack of cross-selling opportunities (unlike Uber), could constrain topline growth for the company.”

    “Offsetting a more moderate pace of ridership growth by raising prices would be challenging for Lyft,” they said, “as we think it would be bound by the actions of its larger and more profitable peer, Uber.”

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  • GE's stock has its best year on record ahead of final breakup

    GE's stock has its best year on record ahead of final breakup

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    General Electric Co. has saved its best year for its last.

    At the beginning of the second quarter, GE’s power and renewable-energy business will be spun off as GE Vernova, while its remaining business will be relaunched as GE Aerospace. That follows the conglomerate’s separation of GE HealthCare Technologies Inc.
    GEHC,
    -0.28%
    in December 2022.

    But rather than mourn the final breakup of the 150-year old company, which was co-founded by Thomas Edison, Wall Street cheered like it never had before.

    GE’s stock
    GE,
    -0.54%
    has rocketed 95.1% in 2023 as of afternoon trading Friday. That would be by far the stock’s best year on record, based on available data going back to 1972, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The next best year was 1982, when it gained 65.4%. In comparison, the S&P 500 index
    SPX
    has rallied 24.2% this year.

    Read: GE stock sees biggest rally in more than 2 years after a big earnings beat, raised outlook.

    As good as the stock’s performance has been leading up to the breakup, most analysts feel like investors still have more to gain. Keep in mind that in many cases, a company’s parts are worth more individually than they are valued as part of a whole.

    Wells Fargo’s Matthew Akers has a pre-breakup target of $144 on GE’s stock, which implies about 13% upside from current levels.

    “GE combines an attractive business with high aftermarket mix, solid management team with a clean balance sheet, L-T margin upside and built-in catalyst with the Vernova spin in early Q2,” Akers wrote.

    J.P. Morgan’s Seth Seifman said he believes the combined equity values of GE Vernova and GE Aerospace, when including the company’s equity stake in GE HealthCare, is about $149 billion. That compares with GE’s current market capitalization of about $139 billion.

    Of the 18 analysts surveyed by FactSet who cover GE, 12 are bullish and six are neutral, while there are no bears. And the average price target is $139.23, or about 9% above current levels.

    GE’s 2023 marks the culmination of a five-year turnaround for the stock engineered by current Chief Executive Larry Culp, who will remain as CEO of GE Aerospace.

    GE’s stock has nearly tripled in the five years that Larry Culp has been CEO, outperforming the S&P 500 by a wide margin.


    General Electric Co.

    The stock had suffered its worst year ever in 2018, plunging 56.6%, just after it had its fourth-worst year in 2017, when it suffered a 44.8% decline.

    Things got so bad for GE that it got booted from the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA
    in June 2018, ending a record 111-year run in the blue-chip barometer.

    Culp was named CEO in October 2018. During his tenure, GE’s stock has had only two down years. It fell 3.2% in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the aerospace business, and slumped 11.3% in 2022 as spiking inflation and interest rates fueled fears that a recession was on the horizon.

    But since the end of 2018, GE’s stock has climbed 181%, while the S&P 500 has rallied 90% and the Dow has gained 61%.

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  • Bristol Myers to Acquire RayzeBio in Deal Valued at $4.1 Billion

    Bristol Myers to Acquire RayzeBio in Deal Valued at $4.1 Billion

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    Bristol Myers Squibb will acquire radiopharmaceutical therapeutics company RayzeBio for $62.50 a share in cash.

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  • Synopsys and Ansys in talks to merge: report

    Synopsys and Ansys in talks to merge: report

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    Shares of Ansys Inc. soared 18% in trading Friday on reports the company is in discussions to be acquired by Synopsys Inc. in a deal that would create a design-software behemoth.

    The potential deal would kick off 2024 with a mega-merger, even as the Federal Trade Commission attempts to crack down on such transactions. Talks remain fluid and a third party might still emerge as a possible suitor of Ansys, according to a Wall Street Journal report, which cited people familiar with the situation.

    Ansys
    ANSS,
    +18.08%    ,
    which has a market value of nearly $26.3 billion, makes software that helps predict how products in aerospace, healthcare and automotive applications will work in the real world. A deal could be struck early in 2024, according to people familiar with the matter. Ansys reported revenue of $2.1 billion in 2022.

    Synopsys
    SNPS,
    -6.34%    ,
    with a market value of $85.1 billion, makes software that engineers use to design and test silicon chips used in smartphones, self-driving cars and other forms of artificial intelligence. Its stock has climbed 65% this year as investors have hopped on the AI bandwagon boom. Shares of Synopsys dipped 6% in late trading Friday.

    Synopsys’s customers include Nvidia Corp.
    NVDA,
    -0.33%    ,
    Intel Corp.
    INTC,
    +1.95%
    and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
    AMD,
    -0.22%    .

    Representatives from Synopsys and Ansys were not immediately available for comment.

    Should the companies strike a merger, it would offer a fresh test for the FTC and its chair, Lina Khan, who have opposed large tech mergers and acquisitions. The agency unsuccessfully sued Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.
    META,
    -0.20%
    in its pursuit of VR developer Within, as well as Microsoft Corp.’s
    MSFT,
    +0.28%
    $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc.

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  • U.S. Steel Stock Soars on $14.9 Billion Acquisition by Nippon Steel

    U.S. Steel Stock Soars on $14.9 Billion Acquisition by Nippon Steel

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    U.S. Steel Stock Soars on $14.9 Billion Acquisition by Nippon Steel

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  • Activision Blizzard to pay $55 million to settle California civil-rights lawsuit

    Activision Blizzard to pay $55 million to settle California civil-rights lawsuit

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    Videogame maker Activision Blizzard has agreed to pay nearly $55 million to settle a California civil-rights lawsuit brought over complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination and pay disparities by women employees that helped trigger the company’s acquisition by Microsoft.

    The settlement, announced by the California Civil Rights Department on Friday evening, resolves the lawsuit filed against the “Call of Duty” videogame studio by the agency in 2021 over claims that it “discriminated against women at the company, including by denying promotion opportunities and paying them less than men for doing substantially similar work,” CRD said.

    The agreement, subject to court approval, will see Activision pay nearly $46 million into a settlement fund dedicated to compensating women employees and contract workers at the company, plus more than $9 million in attorneys’ fees and costs. Additionally, Activision will take steps “to help ensure fair pay and promotion practices at the company,” including retaining an independent consultant to evaluate its compensation and promotion policies.

    Yet the settlement also sees CRD withdraw its initial claims alleging a culture of widespread, systemic workplace sexual harassment at Activision, according to a copy of the agreement provided to MarketWatch. The document notes that the department is filing an amended complaint that removes the sexual-harassment allegations against the company and focuses on the gender-based pay and promotion claims.

    CRD made no note of its prior sexual-harassment claims against Activision in its announcement Friday. A spokesperson for the department said the statement “largely speaks for itself with respect to the historic nature of this more than $50 million settlement agreement, which will bring direct relief and compensation to women who were harmed by the company’s discriminatory practices.

    Representatives for Activision declined to comment.

    The Wall Street Journal first reported the news of the settlement Friday.

    The California agency’s complaint was one of several high-profile investigations by both state and federal regulators in recent years into alleged workplace misconduct at Activision and failures by its leadership to respond appropriately. 

    While Activision repeatedly denied the allegations, they ramped up pressure on the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company and its CEO, Bobby Kotick, and eventually led to a $68.7 billion takeover bid by Microsoft
    MSFT,
    +1.31%
    in January 2022. The acquisition closed this October after receiving approval by U.K. and E.U. antitrust regulators, though the U.S. Federal Trade Commission continues to challenge the deal in court. Kotick is expected to leave the company, which he led for more than three decades, at the end of this year.

    The settlement would be the second-largest ever for the California Civil Rights Department, according to the Journal, after its $100 million agreement with another Los Angeles-area videogame developer, Riot Games, to resolve gender-discrimination allegations in 2021. The agency had initially sought a much-larger settlement with Activision, the publication reported, citing how the state had estimated the company’s liability at nearly $1 billion to some 2,500 employees with potential claims.

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  • Broadcom now ranks among 10 largest U.S. companies after big 2023 stock gains

    Broadcom now ranks among 10 largest U.S. companies after big 2023 stock gains

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    Nvidia Corp. has catapulted up the list of the most valuable U.S. companies this year, rising eight spots from the end of last year to sit in the fifth position with a market capitalization of $1.2 trillion.

    But other chip companies have seen their positions rise even more. Just look at Broadcom Inc.
    AVGO,
    +2.10%    ,
    which has climbed 16 spots over the course of 2023 and on Friday cracked the top 10 for the first time, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Broadcom eclipsed Visa Inc.
    V,
    -0.27%
    at Friday’s close to take the No. 10 spot, with a valuation of $527.7 billion.

    Read: Could Nvidia’s stock — up 231% this year — actually be a bargain?

    Admittedly, Broadcom had some help along the way. The company acquired VMware in late November, and its market capitalization gained about $50 billion at the close of the transaction, according to FactSet data.

    But Broadcom’s ascent also reflects how chip stocks have gotten more shine this year amid the artificial-intelligence frenzy. Broadcom’s stock has doubled so far in 2023.

    Mizuho desk-based analyst Jordan Klein expects “an order acceleration in networking silicon for AI clusters” in the second half of 2024, as calendar year 2025 could bring a big year of capital-expenditure investments in AI for ethernet back-end high-speed connections.

    Broadcom “is the KEY WINNER in that investment cycle as the arms dealer to all networking OEMs,” or original equipment manufacturers, wrote Klein, who’s associated with Mizuho’s sales team and not its research arm.

    Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
    AMD,
    +0.83%
    has also seen a nice march up the charts, rising 48 spots so far in 2023 to rank 30th in terms of market cap. AMD was valued at $223.9 billion as of Friday’s close.

    “We view AMD as well-positioned to gain incremental share of the hugely profitable $100 billion-plus accelerator market while continuing to make progress in server [central processing units] against incumbent [Intel],” BofA Securities analyst Vivek Arya wrote in a recent upgrade.

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  • Shari Redstone reportedly in talks to sell Paramount parent to Skydance

    Shari Redstone reportedly in talks to sell Paramount parent to Skydance

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    Media tycoon Shari Redstone is in talks to sell controlling interesting in Paramount parent National Amusements to media and entertainment company Skydance, Puck and the New York Times reported Sunday.

    On Friday, shares of Paramount Global Inc. rallied 13% after Deadline reported Skydance and private-equity firm RedBird Capital were kicking the tires on National Amusement, which has a 77% stake in Paramount.

    According to the Times, Redstone — the daughter of late Paramount CEO Sumner Redstone — has held talks with Skydance in recent weeks, though the Times said it was unclear if a deal would be reached.

    Skydance, which is led by David Ellison, son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, is one of Hollywood’s top independent studios, and has produced Paramount blockbusters such as “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning” and “Top Gun: Maverick.” RedBird is a financial backer of Skydance.

    A sale would be a major reversal for Redstone, who waged a bitter battle for control of the company in 2016, and who later led the effort to merge CBS Corp. and Viacom, which led to the creation of the current Paramount Global.

    Deadline had reported that Skydance would be more interested in Paramount’s IP and movie studio, and could look to sell its TV assets, including CBS.

    A deal could signal the start of a major shakeup across the media industry, as traditional TV companies are struggling to make money in the streaming age. Comcast Corp.
    CMCSA,
    -0.17%    ,
    which owns NBCUniversal, could be looking to expand, while Warner Bros. Discovery
    WBD,
    +6.01%
    could be a potential seller. Disney
    DIS,
    +0.84%
    CEO Bob Iger recently floated the idea of selling ABC, but quickly walked that back.

    Paramount Global shares
    PARA,
    +12.11%
    have surged nearly 40% in the past month, but are still about flat year to date.

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  • WSJ News Exclusive | Cigna Calls Off Humana Pursuit, Plans Big Stock Buyback

    WSJ News Exclusive | Cigna Calls Off Humana Pursuit, Plans Big Stock Buyback

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    Updated Dec. 10, 2023 4:47 pm ET

    Cigna Group abandoned its pursuit of a tie-up with Humana after shareholders balked at a deal that would have created a roughly $140 billion giant in the health-insurance industry.

    The companies couldn’t come to agreement on price and other financial terms, according to people familiar with the matter. In the near term, Cigna is turning its focus toward smaller, so-called bolt-on, acquisitions.

    Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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  • Mortgage rates' dip to 7% could be brief if jobs market stays strong, Fannie Mae economist says

    Mortgage rates' dip to 7% could be brief if jobs market stays strong, Fannie Mae economist says

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    November’s sharp pullback in 30-year fixed mortgage rates may not last if the labor market remains strong, said Mark Palim, deputy chief economist at Fannie Mae.

    Palim was speaking to the robust jobs report released on Friday, showing the U.S. added 199,000 jobs in November and that wages rose, albeit with the figures somewhat inflated by the return of striking workers from the auto industry and from Hollywood.

    Homebuyers can benefit from a robust labor market and the near 80 basis point decline in mortgage rates since the end of October, Palim said. But if the “labor markets remain this strong, we believe the pace of mortgage rate declines will likely not continue in the near term or may partially reverse,” he said in a statement.

    The benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate was edging down to 7.05% on Friday, after surging to nearly 8% in October, according to Mortgage Daily News.

    Optimism around the potential for falling mortgage costs to thaw home sales helped lift shares of Toll Brothers Inc.,
    TOL,
    +1.86%
    and a slew of other homebuilders tracked by the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF, 
    XH,
    to record highs earlier this week, even while investors in some homebuilder bonds have been sellers in recent weeks.

    Yields on 10-year
    BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
    and 30-year Treasury notes
    BX:TMUBMUSD30Y
    were up sharply Friday, to about 4.23% and 4.32%, respectively, but still below the highs of about 5% in October. The surge in long-term borrowing costs was stoked by tough talk by Federal Reserve officials about the need to keep rates higher for longer to bring inflation down to a 2% annual target.

    Read: Solid job growth, sharp wage gains sends Treasury yields up by the most in months

    U.S. stocks were up Friday afternoon, shaking off earlier weakness following the jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA
    was 0.2% higher, further narrowing the gap between its last record close set two years ago, the S&P 500 index
    SPX
    and the Nasdaq Composite Index
    COMP
    also were up 0.2%, according to FactSet data.

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  • The Cost of Doing Business With China? A $40,000 Dinner With Xi Jinping Might Be Just the Start

    The Cost of Doing Business With China? A $40,000 Dinner With Xi Jinping Might Be Just the Start

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    Updated Nov. 28, 2023 12:54 am ET

    Broadcom Chief Executive Hock Tan shelled out $40,000 to sit at Xi Jinping’s table for the Chinese leader’s recent dinner in San Francisco with the heads of American businesses. Tan had a lot more at stake—a $69 billion deal he was waiting on China to approve.

    For months, Chinese regulators wouldn’t clear the U.S. chipmaker’s bid to buy enterprise software developer VMware, leading Broadcom to put off its date for completion of the deal—first announced in May 2022—three times. Beijing had held up previous mergers involving U.S. companies. Intel’s planned acquisition of Israeli firm Tower Semiconductor, for more than $5 billion, was scuttled in August after Chinese regulators failed to approve it.

    Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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  • No, Jeff Bezos hasn’t been unloading Amazon stock

    No, Jeff Bezos hasn’t been unloading Amazon stock

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    A number of Amazon.com Inc. executives have disclosed sales of some of their Amazon stock holdings in recent weeks, but Jeff Bezos, the company’s executive chair and a mega-shareholder, was not among them.

    Despite some reports to the contrary, Bezos hasn’t disclosed any sales of Amazon shares AMZN for two years, but he has given some shares away to nonprofit organizations.

    There…

    Master your money.

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  • Bayer CEO Says Breakup Wouldn’t Fix All of the Company’s Ills

    Bayer CEO Says Breakup Wouldn’t Fix All of the Company’s Ills

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    BERLIN—Bayer Chief Executive Bill Anderson said the company would bounce back quickly from a recent spate of bad news, and warned that a breakup of the pharmaceutical and agricultural company was no universal cure for its ailments.

    A stream of negative news has rekindled calls from investors for Bayer to unlock value by spinning off its units into separate businesses. But in an interview with The Wall Street Journal this week, Anderson said the company couldn’t be distracted from the tough restructuring to fix the businesses.

    Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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