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Tag: Ownership changes

  • Here’s why you might not have to pay a 6% commission next time you sell a home

    Here’s why you might not have to pay a 6% commission next time you sell a home

    Going back decades, if you wanted to buy or sell a stock on the open market, you had to pay a 2% commission to buy and a 2% commission to sell. Then the advent of discount brokerage, led by Charles Schwab Corp.
    SCHW,
    +1.64%    ,
    made lower commissions available until eventually, with improved technology and efficiency, the entire industry changed to enable the average investor to avoid commissions completely.

    But the internet hasn’t done much to reduce the cost of selling a home in the U.S. Sellers typically pay a 6% commission to a real-estate agent to list and sell a home, with the seller’s agent splitting that commission with the buyer’s agent. But all of that may change because of a verdict this week in a class-action lawsuit in federal court against the National Association of Realtors.

    Aarthi Swaminathan covers the case, what may happen next and the implications for home sellers and buyers:

    Real-estate advice from the Moneyist


    MarketWatch illustration

    Quentin Fottrell — the Moneyist — works with three readers to answer tricky real-estate questions:

    Economic outlook

    On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell may have bolstered the case that the central bank is finished raising interest rates for this economic cycle. The federal-funds rate was left in its target range of 5.25% to 5.50%.

    Jon Gray, the president of Blackstone Group, spoke with MarketWatch Editor in Chief Mark DeCambre and said he expected the Fed to succeed in bringing down inflation without pushing the U.S. economy into a deep recession.

    Friday employment numbers: Jobs report shows 150,000 new jobs in October as U.S. labor market cools

    Bond-market trend switches again

    The U.S. Treasury yield curve has been inverted for nearly a year.


    FactSet

    Normally, longer-term bonds have higher yields than those with short maturities. But the yield curve has been inverted for nearly a year, with 3-month U.S. Treasury bills
    BX:TMUBMUSD03M
    having higher yields than 10-year Treasury notes
    BX:TMUBMUSD10Y.

    There has been elevated demand for long-term bonds, as investors have anticipated a recession and a reversal in Federal Reserve interest-rate policy. When interest rates decline, bond prices rise and vice versa.

    As you can see on the chart above, the yield curve was narrowing until mid-October. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes were close to 5% on Oct. 19, but they have been falling the past several days as the three-month yield has remained close to 5.5%.

    In this week’s ETF Wrap, Christine Idzelis reports on where all the money is flowing in the bond market.

    In the Bond Report, Vivien Lou Chen summarizes the action as investors react to the Federal Reserve’s decision not to change its federal-funds-rate target range this week and to other economic news.

    For income-seekers looking to avoid income taxes, here’s a deep dive into municipal bonds, with taxable-equivalent yields and a deeper look at those within four high-tax states.

    Ford’s good news — in the bond market

    Ford Motor Co.’s debt rating has been lifted by S&P to investment-grade.


    Getty Images

    Ford Motor Co.’s
    F,
    +4.14%
    credit rating was upgraded to an investment-grade rating by Standard & Poor’s on Monday. This takes about $67 billion in bonds out of the high-yield, or “junk,” market, as Ciara Linnane reports.

    A stock-market warning based on history

    The original Magnificent Seven.


    Courtesy Everett Collection

    By now you have probably heard the term “Magnificent Seven” used to describe stocks of the tremendous tech-oriented companies that have led this year’s rally for the S&P 500
    SPX
    : Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    -0.52%    ,
    Microsoft Corp.
    MSFT,
    +1.29%    ,
    Amazon.com Inc.
    AMZN,
    +0.38%    ,
    Nvidia Corp.
    NVDA,
    +3.45%    ,
    Alphabet Inc.
    GOOGL,
    +1.26%

    GOOG,
    +1.39%    ,
    Meta Platforms Inc.
    META,
    +1.20%
    and Tesla Inc.
    TSLA,
    +0.66%    .
    With Tesla’s recent decline, that company is now the ninth-largest holding in the portfolio of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
    SPY,
    which tracks the benchmark index. Here are the top 10 companies held by SPY (11 stocks, including two common-share classes for Alphabet), with total returns through Thursday:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 % of SPY portfolio

    		 2023 total return

    		 2022 total return

    		 Total return since end of 2021
    Apple Inc.

    		 AAPL,
    -0.52%         		7.2%

    		 37%

    		 -26%

    		 1%
    Microsoft Corp.

    		 MSFT,
    +1.29%         		7.1%

    		 46%

    		 -28%

    		 5%
    Amazon.com Inc.

    		 AMZN,
    +0.38%         		3.5%

    		 64%

    		 -50%

    		 -17%
    Nvidia Corp.

    		 NVDA,
    +3.45%         		3.0%

    		 198%

    		 -50%

    		 48%
    Alphabet Inc. Class A

    		 GOOGL,
    +1.26%         		2.1%

    		 44%

    		 -39%

    		 -12%
    Meta Platforms Inc. Class A

    		 META,
    +1.20%         		1.9%

    		 158%

    		 -64%

    		 -8%
    Alphabet Inc. Class C

    		 GOOG,
    +1.39%         		1.8%

    		 45%

    		 -39%

    		 -11%
    Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class B

    		 BRK.B,
    +0.80%         		1.8%

    		 13%

    		 3%

    		 17%
    Tesla Inc.

    		 TSLA,
    +0.66%         		1.7%

    		 77%

    		 -65%

    		 -38%
    UnitedHealth Group Inc.

    		 UNH,
    -0.98%         		1.4%

    		 2%

    		 7%

    		 9%
    Eli Lilly and Company

    		 LLY,
    -2.15%         		1.3%

    		 60%

    		 34%

    		 115%
    Sources: FactSet, State Street (for SPY holdings)

    Five of these stocks (including the two Alphabet share classes) are still down from the end of 2021. SPY itself has returned 14% this year, following an 18% decline in 2022. It is still down 7% from the end of 2021.

    Mark Hulbert makes the case that a decade from now, the Magnificent Seven are unlikely to be among the largest companies in the stock market.

    More from Hulbert: These dividend stocks and ETFs have healthy yields that can lift your portfolio

    A different market opportunity: India is seeing a multidecade growth surge. Here’s how you can invest in it.

    The MarketWatch 50


    MarketWatch

    The MarketWatch 50 series is back, with articles and video interviews starting this week, including:

    PayPal soars after earnings report

    PayPal CEO Alex Chriss.


    MarketWatch/PayPal

    After the market close on Wednesday, PayPal Holdings Inc.
    PYPL,
    +1.89%
    announced quarterly results that came in ahead of analysts’ expectations, and the stock soared 7% on Thursday even though the company lowered its target for improving its operating margin.

    In the Ratings Game column, Emily Bary reports on the positive reaction to PayPal’s new CEO, Alex Chriss.

    A less enthusiastic earnings reaction: EV-products maker BorgWarner’s stock suffers biggest drop in 15 years after downbeat sales outlook

    Consumers drive mixed reactions to earnings results

    Apple Inc. reported mixed quarterly results.


    Mario Tama/Getty Images

    Here’s more of the latest corporate financial results and reactions. First the good news:

    And now the news that may not be so good:

    Harsh verdict for SBF

    FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.


    AP

    It might seem that some legal battles never end, but it took only a year from the collapse of FTX for the cryptocurrency exchange’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, to be convicted on all seven federal fraud and money-laundering charges brought against him. The charges were connected to the disappearance of $8 billion from FTX customer accounts.

    Here’s more reaction and coverage of the virtual-currency industry:

    Want more from MarketWatch? Sign up for this and other newsletters to get the latest news and advice on personal finance and investing.

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  • BP PLC 3Q EPS 27.59c

    BP PLC 3Q EPS 27.59c

    BP replacement cost profit of $3.29B misses forecasts, announces $1.5 bn buyback

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  • Leapmotor Shares Fall After Stellantis Takes Stake in EV Maker for $1.58 Billion

    Leapmotor Shares Fall After Stellantis Takes Stake in EV Maker for $1.58 Billion

    By Jiahui Huang

    Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology’s shares were lower at the mid-day break after initially rising on news of a 1.5 billion euro ($1.58 billion) investment by Stellantis in the Chinese electric-vehicle maker.
    

    Leapmotor shares ended the morning session down 9.4% at 33.40 Hong Kong dollars, reversing course from early gains of as much as 11.5%.
    

    

    Some of the whipsawing into negative territory arose from early investors in the company seeking an exit point, said Ke Qu, an analyst at CCB International Securities.
    

    “The stock price is under pressure due to selling pressure from pre-IPO investors,” Qu said in an email. “Most may think this partnership announcement creates [a] better exit window for their three-year or even longer investment.”
    

    Qu added that Leapmotor is relatively short on cash compared with other listed startups in China, and can benefit from a partner to leverage its exposure and competitiveness in European or U.S. markets.
    

    “Greater access to [the] EU means better profitability than elsewhere in the world,” she said.
    

    Netherlands-based Stellantis said early Thursday that it is taking a roughly 20% stake in Leapmotor, with the companies planning to create a joint venture to sell Leapmotor products outside of China, starting with Europe.
    

    Leapmotor debuted in Hong Kong in September 2022 after raising about HK$6.06 billion (US$774.8 million) in its initial public offering.
    

    The Chinese company delivered 44,325 vehicles in the third quarter, up almost 25% from a year earlier. Revenue in the quarter rose 32% on the year to CNY5.66 billion.
    

    Write to Jiahui Huang at jiahui.huang@wsj.com
    

    

    


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  • 
		
		
    
			
    Chevron to Buy Hess for $53 Billion
    
			
    Chevron to Buy Hess for $53 Billion
    
			
    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    Updated Oct. 23, 2023 5:58 am ET
    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    Chevron said it would buy Hess in an all-stock deal worth $53 billion, in the latest sign of consolidation in an oil-and-gas industry flush with cash.
    

    The U.S. energy giant said buying Hess would upgrade and diversify its portfolio, adding a large oil asset in Guyana and bolstering its U.S. shale operations. Chevron also highlighted the attraction of Hess’s assets in the Gulf of Mexico and its natural-gas business in Southeast Asia.
    

    

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

    


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  • 
		
		
    
			
    Israeli exec who hired Palestinians in tech boom still hopes for peace while mourning slain daughter
    
			
    Israeli exec who hired Palestinians in tech boom still hopes for peace while mourning slain daughter
    
			
    

    

    When Eyal Waldman thinks of his youngest daughter and her boyfriend, he sees them dancing.
    

    “Danielle and Noam loved dancing, and I hope they continue dancing somewhere up there,” Eyal Waldman told MarketWatch.
    

    Danielle Waldman and Noam Shay were killed at a music festival in southern Israel last week, part of a campaign by the Hamas terrorist group that has led to further bloodshed. 
    

    

    Danielle’s father — an Israeli tech executive who co-founded Mellanox, which became the largest acquisition in Nvidia Corp.’s 
    
        NVDA,
    
        -3.16%
    
      history — spoke with MarketWatch as Friday turned to Saturday in Israel, in hopes of increasing attention on the hostages who are still held in Gaza as well as to memorialize his daughter, who was 24, and Shay, who was 26.
    

    

              
    

    

    

    “They loved to celebrate life,” Eyal Waldman said of his daughter and her boyfriend, before adding “they went down on Friday night to celebrate life, love and freedom, and they were massacred.”
    

          
    
            Courtesy of Eyal Waldman
    
          
    
  
    

    

    Danielle Waldman — who was born in Palo Alto, California, but moved back to Israel with her family at age 4 — and Israeli native Shay were students who met six years ago in the army, and her father said they had been inseparable since. They attended the Supernova music festival in early October with friends, and were killed while attempting to escape Hamas terrorists in a car that Eyal Waldman found bullet-riddled near the festival’s location.
    

    “Danielle and Noam have done nothing bad to anyone, and they were murdered only because they were Israelis,” he said.
    

    Eyal Waldman, a onetime Israeli combat fighter, founded Mellanox in 1999, and sold it 20 years later to Nvidia for $6.9 billion. He is known internationally for attempting to foster peace between Israelis and Palestinians through his work in technology — Mellanox hired Palestinian tech workers in Gaza, Nablus and the West Bank town of Rawabi, which led to a “60 Minutes” appearance.
    

    “We wanted to make peace, to work together, to bring prosperity to the Palestinian people, the same as we have in Israel,” he said. “I brought even Apple
    
        AAPL,
    
        -1.03%
    
      to open a design center in Rawabi and I brought other companies to open design centers in Rawabi.”
    

    The death of his daughter and Shay and the scope of the attacks and counter-attacks dominating headlines in recent days have not changed Waldman’s hope for peace in the future, he said, but not the near future. He believes this time, the violence “took us back several years, if not decades.”
    

    “We need time to build the trust, if at all, between the two nations and start working together to be able to talk about peace,” he said. “Until then, we will continue protecting ourselves in a very direct manner in Gaza and everywhere else around Israel.”
    

    Waldman also said he would continue to try to hire Palestinians and work with them to be a part of the Israeli tech ecosystem, as long as they state “that they are working for peace, and they are not supporting — not financially and not in any other way — any terror actions, or any actions that are not civilian economics between the two nations.”
    

    “Our hands are always reaching out for peace. But at the same time, before we do this, we need people to understand that Israel is strong, Israel is united, and we will never let anyone harm the citizens of the state of Israel again.”
    

    Read: Israel-Gaza war scenarios: Here’s what might lift oil prices to $95, $100 and $115 a barrel
    

    Waldman was thankful for U.S. aid and was forceful in discussing the need to find hostages that were still missing. One of Nvidia’s current employees was kidnapped, according to an email that Chief Executive Jensen Huang sent to employees that was obtained by Insider, which reported that the employee was also at the Supernova music festival. 
    

    Nvidia has more than 3,000 employees in Israel mostly working for Mellanox, which makes networking gear that connects Nvidia’s high-performance data-center products. In an emailed statement, an Nvidia spokesman said “our focus now is working with our Israel leadership to ensure our employees and their families are safe and well cared for. We will then turn our focus to shoring up [the company’s] execution if necessary to ensure continued operations of our business.”
    

    Waldman said the return of hostages is top of mind.
    

    “What’s important now is to focus on bringing back the hostages, and that is the No. 1 priority for the State of Israel and for the international community,” he said.
    

    Continuing to worry about others while suffering his own tragedy is a trait that Eyal Waldman seems to have passed down to his youngest daughter. He said that he had received a note from another festival attendee who was wounded in the eye in the initial attack. That victim told him that Danielle Waldman had stopped to attend to her and make sure she was safe before attempting to escape in a car that was later believed to have been attacked by Hamas terrorists with rifles.
    

    “They loved to celebrate life,” Waldman said of his daughter and her boyfriend.
    

    “And they went down on Friday night to celebrate life, love and freedom, and they were massacred.”
    

    

    


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  • 
		
		
    
			
    Microsoft’s Activision Deal Gets Green Light From UK Regulator
    
			
    Microsoft’s Activision Deal Gets Green Light From UK Regulator
    
			
    

    

    By Kim Mackrael
    

    Microsoft’s acquisition of videogame company Activision Blizzard won approval from U.K. competition authorities, clearing a path for the companies to close the $75 billion deal after a lengthy struggle with regulators.
    

    

    The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority said Friday that the proposed deal no longer poses a major threat to competition in cloud gaming. The shift comes after Microsoft offered to restructure the deal by forfeiting cloud-streaming rights for “Call of Duty” and other popular Activision franchises in much of the world.
    

    -Sarah E. Needleman contributed to this article
    

    Write to Kim Mackrael at Kim.mackrael@wsj.com
    

    

    


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  • 
		
		
    
			
    ‘Banks fail. It’s OK,’ says former FDIC chair Sheila Bair.
    
			
    ‘Banks fail. It’s OK,’ says former FDIC chair Sheila Bair.
    
			
    

    

    Higher interest rates may be painful in the short term, but banks, savers and the financial ecosystem will be better off in the long run, said Sheila Bair, former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. 
    

    “When money is free, you squander it,” Bair said in an interview with MarketWatch. “It’s like anything. If it doesn’t cost you anything, you’re going to value it less. And we’ve had free money for quite some time now.”
    

    

    Bair, who led the FDIC from 2006 to 2011, caused a stir recently in criticizing “moonshots,” the crypto industry and “useless innovations” like Bored Ape NFTs, which proliferated because of speculation and near-zero interest rates. 
    

    Her main message has been that the path to higher rates, while potentially “tricky,” ultimately will lead to a more stable financial system, where “truly promising innovations will attract capital” and where savers can actually save. 
    

    

              
    

    
          Former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair was dubbed “the little guy’s protector in chief” by Time Magazine in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis.
    
        
    

    

    Bair sat down for an interview with Barron’s Live, MarketWatch edition, to talk about the ripple effects of higher rates, what could trigger another financial crisis and why more regional banks sitting on unrealized losses could fail in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in March. 
    

    “We probably will have more bank failures,” Bair said. “But you know what? Banks fail. It’s OK. The system goes on. It’s important for people to understand that households stay below the insured deposit caps.”
    

    The FDIC insures bank deposits up to $250,000 per account. It also has overseen 565 bank failures since 2001.
    

    “I know borrowing costs are going up, but your rewards for saving it are going up too,” she said. “I think that’s a very good thing.” 
    

    However, Bair isn’t focused only on money traps and pitfalls for grown-ups. She also has two new picture books coming out that aim to explain big financial themes to young readers, including where easy-money ways, speculation and inflation come from. 
    

    “One thing that I’ve learned from the kids is to not ask them what a loan is, because when I did that, a little hand when up, and she said: ‘That’s when you’re by yourself,’” Bair said.
    

    

    


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  • 
		
		
    
			
    Birkenstock’s stock falls  10% in trading debut after IPO priced at lower end of range
    
			
    Birkenstock’s stock falls  10% in trading debut after IPO priced at lower end of range
    
			
    

    

    Iconic German sandal maker Birkenstock Holdings Ltd.’s stock fell 10% out of the gate in its trading debut Wednesday,  signaling that investors remain cautious about new deals and the casual-footwear market remains competitive.  
    

    The company’s  initial public offering priced at $46 a share late Tuesday, a bit shy of the midpoint of its expected range. The company
    
        BIRK,
    
        -11.63%
    
       is trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “BIRK.” Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley were the lead underwriters on the deal. 
    

    

    The deal was expected to prove the latest test for the IPO market, which recently saw three key deals perform strongly on their first day of trade, only to fall back in subsequent sessions.
    

    Chip maker Arm Holdings Ltd.
    
        ARM,
    
        -1.09%
    
      ; Klaviyo 
    
        KVYO,
    
        -3.11%
    
       a digital marketing company; and Instacart, which trades as Maplebear Inc. 
    
        CART,
    
        -7.04%
    
      ; all enjoyed strong gains on their first day of trade but pared those in the following sessions. Instacart was quoted at $25.50 on Wednesday, well below its issue price of $30.
    

    Birkenstock clearly has its fans, as its customers are brand loyal, with 70% of existing U.S. consumers, for example, purchasing at least two pairs of its shoes, according to its filing documents.
    

    A survey found 86% of recent purchasers said they wanted to buy again, while 40% said they did not even consider another brand while buying.
    

    But as Kyle Rodda, Senior Market Analyst at Capital.com, said the Birkenstock deal was to be a good measure of broader market sentiment and sentiment toward consumer-sensitive stocks. 
    

    “It might tell us, too, whether cashed-up millennials like to buy the stocks of products they commonly find on the bottom shelf of their wardrobes,” he said in emailed comments. 
    

    The valuation of around $8.6 billion also looks rich, he said. Based on the company’s latest revenue release, the stock’s price-to-sales ratio is above 6, “which is at the higher end of comparable consumer discretionary companies on Wall Street.
    

    “In a higher interest rate environment, these multiples may be hard to sustain in the short term, especially if consumer spending slows as expected next year as interest rate hikes bite households,” Rodda said.
    

    David Trainer, Chief Executive of independent equity research company New Constructs, said ahead of the deal that the valuation was far too high, noting that it was higher than peers such as Skechers USA Inc. 
    
        SKX,
    
        -0.67%    ,
    
       Crocs Inc.
    
        CROX,
    
        -0.12%
    
       and Steve Madden Ltd. 
    
        SHOO,
    
        +0.60%    .
      
    

    “Even more shockingly, the only footwear companies with a larger market cap are Nike Inc. 
    
        NKE,
    
        +0.80%
    
       and Deckers Outdoor 
    
        DECK,
    
        -0.07%    ,
    
      ” he said, referring to the maker of Uggs. 
    

    “While Birkenstock is profitable, we think it is fair to say that the $8.7 billion valuation mark is too high, especially for a company that was valued at just $4.3 billion in early 2021. Not a whole lot has changed since then,” Trainer said in a report. 
    

    For more, see: Birkenstock is going public: 5 things to know about the iconic German sandal maker’s IPO designs
    

    Trainer estimated that Birkenstock would need to generate more than $3.8 billion in annual revenue to justify its valuation, which is more than three times the $1.24 billion chalked up for all of 2022, according to its filing documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
    

    “We don’t doubt that Birkenstock has strong brand equity and produces stylish sandals, but there is really no reason for this company to be public,” said Trainer. “We don’t think investors should expect to make any money by buying this IPO.” 
    

    The Renaissance IPO exchange-traded fund
    
        IPO
    
       has gained 29% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
    
        SPX
    
       has gained 13%. 
    

    

    


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  • 
		
		
    
			
    ChargePoint Stock Plunges on Capital Raise
    
			
    ChargePoint Stock Plunges on Capital Raise
    
			
    

    





    If anyone wanted evidence that the market feels skittish just look at stocks related to electric vehicles. They are getting hammered on 











capital raising activity that, frankly, should surprise no one. 
    


    




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  • 
		
		
    
			
    Exxon Mobil’s top shale exec arrested on sexual assault charge in Texas
    
			
    Exxon Mobil’s top shale exec arrested on sexual assault charge in Texas
    
			
    

    

    David Scott, the head of Exxon Mobil Co.’s shale oil and gas production business, was arrested in Texas and faces a charge of sexual assault.
    

    According to public records from the Montgomery County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office,  Scott, 49, was arrested Thursday afternoon on second-degree felony sexual-assault charges. According to the records, he was released on $30,000 bond. Police records show he was arrested at a La Quinta Inn & Suites hotel in Magnolia, Texas, near Exxon’s headquarters in Spring, Texas, just north of Houston.
    

    

    No further details of the incident were made clear.
    

    According to his LinkedIn profile, Scott is vice president of Exxon’s upstream unconventional unit, and has worked for Exxon for 26 years at the company’s operations in Australia, the U.K., the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Angola and the U.S.
    

    In a statement Sunday, Exxon Mobil
    
        XOM,
    
        -1.67%
    
       said it was “aware of the allegations and cannot comment on a personal matter.” However, “we can say that this individual will not continue work responsibilities as the investigation proceeds.”
    

    Scott’s arrest comes as Exxon Mobil is reportedly closing in on a roughly $60 billion deal to buy shale driller Pioneer Natural Resources
    
        PXD,
    
        +10.45%    ,
    
       as it looks to become the dominant player in the oil-rich Permian Basin in western Texas and New Mexico.
    

    Scott oversees Exxon’s operations in the Permian Basin, but it was unclear if or how he might be involved in the Pioneer deal.
    

    

    


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  • 
		
		
    
			
    Bristol Myers Squibb to buy Mirati Therapeutics in deal worth up to $5.8 billion
    
			
    Bristol Myers Squibb to buy Mirati Therapeutics in deal worth up to $5.8 billion
    
			
    

    

    Bristol Myers Squibb Co. said Sunday it will buy Mirati Therapeutics Inc. in a deal valued at up to $5.8 billion.
    

    The pharmaceutical giant announced it will pay $58 a share for Mirati, for a total equity value of $4.8 billion. Mirati stockholders will also receive one non-tradeable Contingent Value Right for each share they hold, potentially worth $12 a share in cash, representing an additional $1 billion of possible value.
    

    

    Mirati shares closed Friday at $60.20, with the company’s market cap at about $4.21 billion.
    

    Mirati develops commercial-stage oncology therapies, and through the deal,  Bristol Myers Squibb will add lung-cancer medicine Krazati, among others, to its portfolio.
    

    “We are excited to add these assets to our portfolio and to accelerate their development as we seek to deliver more treatments for cancer patients,” Giovanni Caforio, Bristol Myers Squibb’s chief executive and chairman, said in a statement. “With a strong strategic fit, great science and clear value creation opportunities for our shareholders, the Mirati transaction is aligned with our business development goals.”
    

    The deal is expected to be dilutive to Bristol Myers Squibb’s non-GAAP earnings per share by about 35 cents a share in the first 12 months after the transaction closes. The merger is expected to close by the first half of 2024.
    

    Bristol Myers Squibb, with a market cap of about $118.4 billion, has seen its shares
    
        BMY,
    
        +0.43%
    
      sink 21% year to date. Mirati shares
    
        MRTX,
    
        -3.49%
    
       are up 33% this year. The S&P 500
    
        SPX,
    
       in comparison, has gained about 12% in 2023.
    

    

    


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  • 
		
		
    
			
    Exxon-Pioneer merger: Here’s why FTC’s Khan may shy from a fight with the ‘800 pound gorilla.’
    
			
    Exxon-Pioneer merger: Here’s why FTC’s Khan may shy from a fight with the ‘800 pound gorilla.’
    
			
    

    

    Exxon Mobil Corp.
    
        XOM,
    
        -1.67%
    
       is reportedly nearing a deal to buy energy-exploration company Pioneer Natural Resources Co.
    
        PXD,
    
        +10.45%
    
       for $60 billion, a combination that could shake up Texas’ storied and oil-rich Permian Basin. 
    

    It’s also bound to attract attention from the Biden Administration’s antitrust enforcers, including Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, given the paramount political importance of oil and gasoline prices. 
    

    

    “You can be sure that the FTC will give this acquisition a serious look,” Stephen Calkins, former general counsel at the FTC told MarketWatch, adding that the agency has long paid special attention to the oil and gas industry at the behest of Congress, which has long been sensitive to anything that may increase  prices at the pump. 
    

    Read more: Exxon near $60 billion deal to buy shale driller Pioneer Natural Resources
    

    The high cost of living after several years of historic inflation is one of President Joe Biden’s most important political vulnerabilities ahead of the 2024 election. A recent poll by Investors Business Daily showed only 24% of voters approve of his economic record. 
    

    The president has campaigned on gasoline prices specifically, telling an audience in Maryland last month, “I’m going to get those gas prices down again, I promise you.” 
    

    But any decision to challenge a merger must be based on the facts of the market in question and whether it would present a threat to competition that could lead to higher prices for consumers or other adverse effects. 
    

    Frederick Lawrence, director and energy analyst at Capital Alpha Partners told MarketWatch that there is much greater competition in the market for oil exploration and production, where Pioneer is a major player, than in other segments of the industry including gasoline stations, pipeline operators or refining.
    

    Independent oil companies produce roughly 85% of natural gas and 65% of oil in the U.S., he said, and that fact will make it difficult for the Exxon acquisition to meaningfully reduce competition in oil exploration.
    

    “People just think about big oil and they forget that there’s a very healthy independent community out there competing,” he said. “That said, this is Exxon Mobil we’re talking about, the 800 pound gorilla of the upstream oil value chain, so it’s important to acknowledge they’ll get more scrutiny.”
    

    See also: Why gasoline prices are set to fall even as oil marches toward $100 a barrel
    

    Investors should be prepared for the deal to take longer to consummate than a similar acquisition in another industry, Lawrence added, pointing to a recent deal between private equity firm Quantum and natural-gas producer EQT that was slowed because of additional information requests from the FTC. 
    

    The deal was ultimately consummated in August, nearly a year after it was announced. 
    

    Former FTC official Calkins said that investors should also be prepared for the FTC to get creative as it studies the deal, noting that Biden administration antitrust enforcers “have been receptive to unusual theories of competitive harm” and will study the impact of the merger on downstream businesses, like refiners and gasoline retailers. 
    

    The agency will also scour the deal for “any part of the business where there’s an anticompetitive story,” Calkins said, noting that large complex mergers often involve the transfer of a more obscure but valuable asset that could illegally boost an acquiring company’s market power.
    

    Meanwhile, the FTC also has to contend with an already heavy workload, with ongoing cases against well-resourced companies like Amazon.com Inc.
    
        AMZN,
    
        +1.59%    
      
    

    “The FTC right now is doing a lot of litigating,” Calkins said. “There is a resources question of whether they have the ideal number of staff with the right skill set to add to their already full plate.”
    

    

    


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    Exxon near $60 billion deal to buy shale driller Pioneer Natural Resources: report
    
			
    Exxon near $60 billion deal to buy shale driller Pioneer Natural Resources: report
    
			
    

    

    Exxon Mobil Corp. is close to a deal to buy shale-drilling company Pioneer Natural Resources for about $60 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday.
    

    Citing sources familiar with the matter, the Journal said the deal could be finalized in the coming days. The Journal had reported in April that the two companies had held preliminary talks.
    

    

    The acquisition would be one of the largest in the U.S. this year, and Exxon’s biggest since it bought Mobil in 1999. The Journal noted that Exxon has been flush with cash since posting record profits last year, and is looking to become the dominant player in the oil-rich Permian Basin in western Texas and New Mexico.
    

    Exxon has a market cap of about $446 billion, as of Thursday, while Pioneer is valued at about $50 billion.
    

    Exxon shares
    
        XOM,
    
        -2.25%
    
       have fallen about 1% year to date, while Pioneer
    
        PXD,
    
        -0.17%
    
       stock is down about 6% in 2023, The S&P 500
    
        SPX,
    
       in comparison, is up about 11% year to date.
    

    

    


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  • 
		
		
    
			
    Bed Bath & Beyond Shares Have Finally Been Extinguished
    
			
    Bed Bath & Beyond Shares Have Finally Been Extinguished
    
			
    

    Bed Bath & Beyond Shares Have Finally Been Extinguished
    


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    Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders urge FTC’s Khan to finalize controversial merger rules
    
			
    Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders urge FTC’s Khan to finalize controversial merger rules
    
			
    

    

    A group of Democrats in the House and Senate are imploring the country’s top antitrust enforcement cop to implement sweeping new changes to its merger-review protocol, according to a new letter viewed exclusively by MarketWatch. 
    

    The Federal Trade Commission, along with the Justice Department’s antitrust division, recently proposed changes to forms that companies proposing deals of a certain size must submit to the government, which critics say would suppress the market for mergers and acquisitions. 
    

    

    The new form will require companies to provide much more information to antitrust enforcers before they seek to consummate a deal. Most controversially, that would include narrative information about the strategic rationale for a transaction as well as studies, surveys, analyses and reports which were prepared by the company as it considered the deal.
    

    “The new proposed [form] and associated instructions will facilitate efficient premerger review and ensure effective enforcement of antitrust laws,” wrote the lawmakers, including  Sens. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who votes with Democrats.     
    

    The letter, dated Sept. 27, was also signed by Democrats including Sen.  Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, and Reps. Becca Balint of Vermont, Henry Johnson of Georgia,  Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Lori Trahan of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, Katie Porter of California and Greg Casar of Texas. No Republicans signed the letter.   
    

    The lawmakers lament the state of the U.S. economy today, arguing that the updated premerger process is necessary to combat growing concentration of industry and the digital transformation of the economy. 
    

    “Unchecked consolidation hurts consumers, small businesses, workers, and the economy,” the letter reads. “Consolidation leads to higher prices, less innovation, and reduced quality for consumers. It prevents small businesses from entering markets or competing fairly: for example it is twice as expensive for small businesses to borrow money compared to dominant ones, and there are fewer startups in states where a few companies dominate markets.”
    

    The lawmakers note that since the current premerger notification process was instituted nearly 45 years ago, the required forms have not been updated, and only require companies to provide basic information that don’t “give regulators clarity as to whether a deal may substantially lessen competition.” 
    

    The FTC and DOJ proposed the changes in July, and then extended the period for accepting public comments on the proposal to Sept. 27, and it’s possible the final rule is amended before the agencies adopt it. There is no set timeline for when the FTC will vote to adopt any changes.
    

    Some antitrust experts are skeptical that the proposed changes will hold up in court, if they are implemented as proposed. 
    

    “The proposed changes are likely to face a rocky path ahead,” wrote Justin Hurwitz of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition, in a recent analysis. 
    

    “They appear to violate legislative intent that [the premerger process] not unduly delay transactions or require the production of materials the firms did not already create as par of evaluating the transaction.” 
    

    Hurwitz added that “the premerger notification process serves an important function, but it is a tax on on all mergers,” and predicted that the proposed changes will likely not “survive judicial review.”
    

    

    


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  • 
		
		
    
			
    Potential Bids for U.S. Steel Keep Getting Weirder
    
			
    Potential Bids for U.S. Steel Keep Getting Weirder
    
			
    

    

    
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    Microsoft’s Revised Activision Deal Addresses Competition Concerns, Says UK Regulator
    
			
    Microsoft’s Revised Activision Deal Addresses Competition Concerns, Says UK Regulator
    
			
    

    

    By Elena Vardon
    

    Microsoft’s proposals to modify its $75 billion Activision acquisition address the concerns with the U.K. antitrust authority, the regulator said in a provisional decision Friday.
    

    The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said that the new deal submitted by Microsoft should lessen any harm to competition in cloud gaming.
    

    

    The CMA said that the restructured transaction–through which Activision would sell its cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft–opens the door to the deal being cleared.
    

    The regulator is consulting on remedies put forward by Microsoft to address residual concerns it has before making a final decision, it said.
    

    The CMA opened a consultation on these remedies which will last until Oct. 6, it added.
    

    Write to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com
    

    

    


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    By buying Splunk, Cisco is closer to becoming a software company
    
			
    By buying Splunk, Cisco is closer to becoming a software company
    
			
    

    

    

    With Cisco Systems Inc.’s pending acquisition of Splunk Inc., the networking giant is making another major step toward becoming a software company. 
    

    On Thursday, Cisco CSCO said it was buying Splunk SPLK in a deal valued at about $28 billion, or $157 a share in cash, for the cloud-security company. The match had been speculated about for years, and Cisco has been on a buying binge this year, as it seeks to grow with more security and software offerings.
    

    “Together, we will become one of…
      
    

    

    


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