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orbemnews · 4 years ago

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Wall Street Rebels Against Exxon The little Engine … Exxon Mobil suffered a stunning loss at its annual shareholder meeting yesterday, as a small new activist investor focused on climate change, Engine No. 1, won at least two seats on its 12-member board. To corporate America, the upset was a clear sign that company boards and leaders need to pay attention to environmental, social and governance issues (known as E.S.G.) — or suffer rebukes. A big splash for a tiny fund. Exxon was the first activist campaign for Engine No. 1, which was founded last year by the energy and tech investor Chris James. Its head of active engagement is Charlie Penner, a veteran hedge fund executive who helped lead campaigns against companies like Apple while at Jana Partners. It was a victory long in the making. Engine No. 1 began agitating against the oil giant in December, calling on the company to diversify away from fossil fuels and reduce its carbon emissions. But it began work on the campaign last March, courting large investors like public pension funds that held far larger stakes in Exxon, and thus had more sway. That’s how it parlayed a stake of just 0.02 percent into seats on the oil giant’s board — a truly remarkable feat. Exxon’s shares rose 1.2 percent yesterday. Sources with knowledge of the matter told DealBook that the fund was betting on a confluence of events, including longstanding investor dissatisfaction with Exxon’s corporate governance and a growing appreciation on Wall Street for E.S.G. In a note explaining why it backed three of Engine No. 1’s board candidates, BlackRock — which owns nearly 7 percent of Exxon — said the company’s directors “need to further assess the company’s strategy and board expertise against the possibility that demand for fossil fuels may decline rapidly in the coming decades.” Exxon largely played down Engine No. 1’s concerns, and pressured the firm to drop its challenge after a much bigger hedge fund, D.E. Shaw, called off a campaign. But Engine No. 1 persisted, and also benefited from timing: It began its campaign while oil prices were still depressed by the pandemic. Had oil not rebounded in recent months, Engine No. 1 executives believe, all four of its directors might have been elected. Big Oil is facing a reckoning. A Dutch court ruled yesterday that Royal Dutch Shell must speed up its efforts to cut its carbon emissions. And Chevron shareholders backed a proposal to compel the company to help customers reduce their own emissions. One question we have: Is Darren Woods, Exxon’s C.E.O., who pushed back forcefully against Engine No. 1, now at risk of losing his job? HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING The Justice Department opens an inquiry into Archegos. Prosecutors have asked some of the fund’s lenders for information about its meltdown, Bloomberg reports. The rare blood clots associated with Covid-19 vaccines may have a fixable explanation. German scientists theorize that a feature of the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson shots, one they say could be modified, may be responsible. Russia puts pressure on U.S. tech giants. Moscow’s internet regulator now regularly demands that Facebook, Google and Twitter comply with its content restrictions and data storage requirements, or risk losing access to Russian users. It’s the latest instance of governments squeezing Silicon Valley companies. Ford pours billions more into electric vehicles. The company will increase spending on the technology by a third, to $30 billion. It now expects 40 percent of the vehicles it produces worldwide to be electric by 2030. Purdue Pharma’s restructuring plan is set for a vote. The judge overseeing the OxyContin maker’s bankruptcy case said he would let the company’s proposal — in which it would become a nonprofit, and both it and its founding Sackler family would be shielded from future legal liability — be voted on by 614,000 claimants. A culture of fear at the Gateses’ investment firm Bill Gates’s longtime money manager, Michael Larson, bullied co-workers, made sexually inappropriate comments and engaged in a broad pattern of inappropriate workplace behavior, an investigation by The Times found. For the past 27 years, Larson has run Cascade Investment, also sometimes known as Bill and Melinda Gates Investments (B.M.G.I.), which manages the Gateses’ enormous fortune. Among The Times’s findings: Larson made inappropriate comments about female employees. At a work party in the mid-2000s, he asked male employees which of three female colleagues they would want to have sex with. In another case, he asked an employee who was on a Weight Watchers program, “Are you losing weight for me?” Larson denied making any of the comments. A racist comment from Larson led to an internal investigation. When a Black employee mentioned on Election Day that she had not had to wait in line to vote, Larson replied, “But you live in the ghetto, and everybody knows that Black people don’t vote.” A spokesman for Larson, Chris Giglio, denied that he made the remark. At least one employee reported it to human resources, resulting in an internal investigation. Larson was known for “Larson bombs.” In emails, he sometimes called colleagues “stupid” or their work “garbage.” Some employees were moved to different floors in order to put distance between them and him. “Years ago, earlier in my career, I used harsh language that I would not use today,” Larson said. “I regret this greatly but have done a lot of work to change.” “Any issue raised over the company’s history has been taken seriously and resolved appropriately,” said Bridgitt Arnold, a spokeswoman for Bill Gates. Courtney Wade, a spokeswoman for Melinda French Gates, said, “Melinda unequivocally condemns disrespectful and inappropriate conduct in the workplace. She was unaware of most of these allegations given her lack of ownership of and control over B.M.G.I.” Today in Business Updated May 26, 2021, 4:06 p.m. ET “During his tenure, Mr. Larson has managed over 380 people, and there have been fewer than five complaints related to him in total,” said Giglio, Larson’s spokesman. “Any complaint was investigated and treated seriously and fully examined, and none merited Mr. Larson’s dismissal.” Overdraft math lessons Yesterday, the Senate Banking Committee held a three-hour hearing with C.E.O.s from the country’s six biggest banks. It lacked much of the heat of sessions in the aftermath of the financial crisis, when Congress routinely castigated Wall Street chiefs. (The C.E.O.s gather again today for a hearing in the House.) The most contentious moment came when Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase felt the wrath of Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts. Warren was a teacher before entering politics; she revealed her roots when she took Dimon and others to task for charging overdraft fees during the pandemic. The four biggest banks took $4 billion in overdraft fees from customers last year, Warren said. She singled out Dimon, asking him how much his bank, the nation’s largest, collected in 2020. “I think your numbers are totally inaccurate,” he countered. Dimon noted that JPMorgan waived fees upon request, didn’t go into overdraft at the Fed (which had waived its fees for banks), and provided $120 million in Covid relief. The senator kept pressing and finally provided the figure herself: “It’s $1.463 billion dollars.” “I did the math for you,” Warren said, calling their claims about stepping up during the pandemic “about $4 billion dollars’ worth of baloney.” When challenged to return the fees, none agreed. She asked Dimon directly twice, and he said “no” twice. Amazon, MGM and the streaming wars Amazon said yesterday that it would acquire the 97-year-old film and television studio MGM for $8.45 billion — about 40 percent more than what other potential buyers, including Apple and Comcast, were willing to pay. The deal reportedly made MGM’s owner, the hedge fund Anchorage Capital, a $2 billion profit. DealBook talked with Brooks Barnes, a reporter at The Times who covers Hollywood, about why Amazon was willing to pay so much and what this means for the streaming wars. Are Amazon’s motives different from other streaming platforms’? Amazon is mostly in the Prime membership business, whereas Netflix wants to sell subscriptions purely to its TV and movies. If you’re Amazon, you want to bolster Prime Video to make people even happier to pay for a Prime membership. Is there a risk that regulators won’t allow the deal? The regulatory scrutiny will be considerable. Representative Ken Buck and Senator Amy Klobuchar, both of whom have important antitrust roles, immediately voiced concern because Amazon is Amazon. But the deal is unlikely to be scuttled because MGM is relatively small and so is Amazon Studios. What does the acquisition mean for the streaming wars? If you’re Apple, you’re probably looking around and thinking, well, we don’t have a library, we don’t have a big franchise of our own. Do we need to go out and buy? People think that it will increase the pressure on other streaming services to bulk up. And that’s becoming harder, right? It’s becoming harder, which is partly, I’m sure, how Amazon justified some of the price. Disney isn’t for sale. Sony has repeatedly said its TV and movie operation is not for sale. It’s also becoming harder in part because the corporate sibling studios are not licensing out as much — they’re supplying their own streaming services. More takes on the deal: Jason Hirschhorn, a former MGM board member, has been thinking out loud on Twitter about the deal, including the intriguing possibility that Amazon could buy out the family that controls MGM’s James Bond franchise, gaining more freedom to expand the Bond “universe.” Brad Stone, the author of the new book “Amazon Unbound,” shared Jeff Bezos’s 12 ingredients for hit shows. MGM owns the rights to “The Apprentice,” including unaired material that some claim contains unflattering footage of the reality show’s former host, Donald Trump. The tapes’ contractual status is unclear, but the notion that they might belong to Bezos, a frequent target of Trump’s ire when he was president, has set tongues wagging. THE SPEED READ Deals HSBC plans to sell or close most of its U.S. retail branches, as it focuses on Asia. (WSJ) Investors in Bill Ackman’s $5 billion SPAC are increasingly worried that it won’t strike a deal. (Institutional Investor) Politics and policy How Covax, the multibillion-dollar global vaccination program backed by governments and drug makers, ran aground. (WSJ) Tech Best of the rest A record number of American workers tested positive for marijuana last year. (Insider) The white woman who called police on a Black bird-watcher in Central Park last year sued her former employer, Franklin Templeton, for firing her over the incident. (NYT) We’d like your feedback! Please email thoughts and suggestions to [email protected]. Source link Orbem News #Exxon #rebels #Street #Wall

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bigyack-com · 5 years ago

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DealBook: Elon Musk Hits Back at Critics

Good morning. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.)

Tesla has 105 million more reasons to celebrate

The electric carmaker reported a $105 million quarterly profit yesterday, giving boosters of the company more occasion to crow.“The numbers suggest that Tesla has overcome the problems that plagued it in the first half of last year, when it lost more than $1 billion and scrambled to raise capital,” writes Niraj Chokshi of the NYT.And production of its Model Y compact S.U.V. was ahead of schedule, the company said. Deliveries of the vehicle would begin in the spring, at least three months earlier than expected.Shares in Tesla rose 12 percent in after-hours trading. The company’s market value is currently $104.7 billion, more than double that of traditional rivals like G.M. and BMW. (It also puts Elon Musk closer to fulfilling the requirements for a big bonus.)Mr. Musk taunted critics yesterday, saying, “A lot of retail investors have deeper and more accurate insights than many of the big institutional investors.”But there’s still plenty of fodder for doubters:• Charley Grant of Heard on the Street notes that revenue for the quarter grew just 2 percent from the same time a year ago, while operating income fell 13 percent.• And Tesla warned that car production would outstrip supply this year.____________________________Today’s DealBook Briefing was written by Andrew Ross Sorkin in New York and Michael J. de la Merced in London.____________________________

Markets continue sell-off over coronavirus fears

U.S. stocks are poised to open down today, after Asian and European markets fell amid more signs that the Chinese coronavirus outbreak is continuing to worsen.Here’s the latest:• The death count as of this morning stands at 170, while the number of cases has grown to 7,711 — officially more than in the SARS epidemic.• Countries are quarantining people to prevent mass outbreaks.• Google, Microsoft and Ikea are the latest companies to temporarily shutter offices or prevent employees from traveling to China.S&P futures are down 20 points, while the Dow is set to fall nearly 140 points at market open today. Stocks in Hong Kong were down 2.6 percent, while those in Europe declined about 1 percent.And China’s currency, the renminbi, slipped below 7 to the dollar for the first time this year.It remains hard for businesses and political leaders to figure out their responses to the crisis. “Literally, we are evaluating on an ongoing basis in real time,” said a spokesman for Cummins, an engine maker with operations in China, “and I imagine other places are in the same position as we are.”More: Stop hoarding face masks. That’s doing more harm than good.

Les Wexner, Victoria’s Secret owner, may step down

Les Wexner, who has run the retail empire known as L Brands for 57 years, is in talks to relinquish his C.E.O. title, according to the WSJ and other media reports. His run has been dogged recently by both business underperformance and a longtime connection to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.The business angle: Shares in L Brands fell 29 percent last year, as sales at Victoria’s Secret have dropped amid changing beauty ideals among American women. (The NYT reports that the company is preparing for layoffs.)The Epstein angle: Mr. Wexner had employed Mr. Epstein as his longtime financial adviser, giving him broad authority over his billions. Mr. Wexner has denied knowledge of alleged sexual abuse committed by Mr. Epstein.Mr. Wexner has become an uncomfortable distraction to L Brands. He has already had to address his ties to Mr. Epstein to shareholders.His departure could help L Brands sell a stake in Victoria’s Secret, raising money for the company, according to the FT. One potential investor is Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm specializing in retailers, the WSJ reports, citing unnamed sources.

Why Wall Street’s climate pledges will fall short

Financial giants have made news recently by focusing more on environmental concerns in their investment decisions and threatening to sell shares in some offenders. But Greg Ip of the WSJ presents the argument for why that ultimately won’t amount to much.• Big oil companies aren’t that dependent on stock market investors, Mr. Ip writes, since they “generate plenty of cash and don’t need to issue new equity or debt to finance capital spending; in fact, most are buying back stock.”• If the largest banks stop financing oil exploration companies, regional ones would rush to replace them.• And many oil producers are owned by sovereign governments and don’t need to bow to public opinion.“Divestment isn’t going to shrink the fossil-fuel industry,” Mr. Ip adds. What will is “changing the underlying economics” through financing cleaner energy producers and governmental measures like carbon taxes.More: Venture capitalists are conspicuously absent from this round of the climate change fight.

Facebook’s sales growth hits a speed bump

The internet giant yesterday reported a slowdown in revenue growth, something it had warned would happen. But it’s coming at a time when Facebook faces plenty of tough challenges.The main points of Facebook’s latest earnings:• Fourth-quarter revenue grew 25 percent, to $21.1 billion. That’s the slowest pace in Facebook’s history as a publicly traded company, according to the WSJ.• Expenses also rose, reducing Facebook’s operating margin to 42 percent from 46 percent.• Daily users of the core Facebook platform grew to 1.66 billion, beating analyst expectations of 1.65 billion.But the company also said it would pay $550 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over its use of facial-recognition technology. It’s the latest sign of the legal headaches that continue to bedevil Facebook, which also include new regulations around the world.Shares in Facebook fell 7 percent in after-hours trading yesterday, with investors worrying that the company has peaked and faces only downside now.Yet some analysts think there’s reason for optimism. Rich Greenfield of Lightshed told Bloomberg that Facebook’s business model “is not broken.” And Tim Culpan of Bloomberg Opinion thinks the company can make more money from its overseas users.

Warren Buffett gives up on newspapers

The billionaire announced an end to his 43-year career as a newspaper owner yesterday when Berkshire Hathaway agreed to sell its 31 papers to Lee Enterprises for $140 million in cash, Michael de la Merced of the NYT reports.The papers being sold include The Buffalo News, which Berkshire bought in 1977, and 30 other papers that Mr. Buffett had acquired over the past decade, including a collection of publishers in Virginia.Mr. Buffett is bowing to reality. In an interview last year, he said that most papers were “toast” because of falling ad sales — a sharp turnaround from his declaration in 2012 that he was an “addict” who wanted to keep buying newspapers.But he’s still going to profit from the news industry. Berkshire will lend Lee $576 million, some of which will pay for the newspaper deal, at a 9 percent annual interest rate.

Japanese billionaire isn’t looking for love (on camera) anymore

Yusaku Maezawa has backed out of an online documentary detailing his search for a girlfriend to take on his trip around the moon on SpaceX’s inaugural tourism flight.“Due to personal reasons, I have informed AbemaTV yesterday with my decision to no longer participate in the matchmaking documentary,” he tweeted this morning.

The speed read

Deals• The casino operator Penn National agreed to buy a 36 percent stake in Barstool Sports, the popular website, for $163 million. (CNBC)• AT&T’s latest quarterly results show the company is still trying to justify its $85 billion takeover of Time Warner. (Bloomberg Opinion)• The investment bank Evercore plans to lay off up to 6 percent of its employees. (Bloomberg)• The parent company of MoviePass filed for bankruptcy. (Business Insider)Politics and policy• President Trump signed into law the new North American free trade deal known as the U.S.M.C.A. (NYT)• The European Parliament approved Britain’s withdrawal from the E.U. yesterday. (NYT)• Mike Bloomberg’s latest attack on President Trump: health insurance protections for people with pre-existing conditions. (NYT)Tech• The E.U. recommended that its members put limits on using Huawei in their 5G wireless networks — but not ban the Chinese company outright. (NYT)• Apple and Broadcom were ordered to pay $1.1 billion in damages for infringing on Caltech patents on Wi-Fi technology. (Bloomberg)• The ride-hailing service Lyft plans to lay off employees in its marketing and enterprise sales divisions. (NYT)Best of the rest• Boeing said that it expects costs tied to the 737 Max to surpass $18 billion. (NYT)• U.S. life expectancy rose in 2018 for the first time in four years, in large part because of a decline in fatal drug overdoses. (Politico)• Why you don’t need to be an accountant to be a modern C.F.O. (WSJ)• Greta Thunberg wants to trademark her name to prevent commercial misuse. (Bloomberg)Thanks for reading! We’ll see you tomorrow.We’d love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [email protected]. Read the full article

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mastcomm · 5 years ago

Text

DealBook: Elon Musk Hits Back at Critics

Good morning. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.)

Tesla has 105 million more reasons to celebrate

The electric carmaker reported a $105 million quarterly profit yesterday, giving boosters of the company more occasion to crow.

“The numbers suggest that Tesla has overcome the problems that plagued it in the first half of last year, when it lost more than $1 billion and scrambled to raise capital,” writes Niraj Chokshi of the NYT.

And production of its Model Y compact S.U.V. was ahead of schedule, the company said. Deliveries of the vehicle would begin in the spring, at least three months earlier than expected.

Shares in Tesla rose 12 percent in after-hours trading. The company’s market value is currently $104.7 billion, more than double that of traditional rivals like G.M. and BMW. (It also puts Elon Musk closer to fulfilling the requirements for a big bonus.)

Mr. Musk taunted critics yesterday, saying, “A lot of retail investors have deeper and more accurate insights than many of the big institutional investors.”

But there’s still plenty of fodder for doubters:

• Charley Grant of Heard on the Street notes that revenue for the quarter grew just 2 percent from the same time a year ago, while operating income fell 13 percent.

• And Tesla warned that car production would outstrip supply this year.

____________________________

Today’s DealBook Briefing was written by Andrew Ross Sorkin in New York and Michael J. de la Merced in London.

____________________________

Markets continue sell-off over coronavirus fears

U.S. stocks are poised to open down today, after Asian and European markets fell amid more signs that the Chinese coronavirus outbreak is continuing to worsen.

Here’s the latest:

• The death count as of this morning stands at 170, while the number of cases has grown to 7,711 — officially more than in the SARS epidemic.

• Countries are quarantining people to prevent mass outbreaks.

• Google, Microsoft and Ikea are the latest companies to temporarily shutter offices or prevent employees from traveling to China.

S&P futures are down 20 points, while the Dow is set to fall nearly 140 points at market open today. Stocks in Hong Kong were down 2.6 percent, while those in Europe declined about 1 percent.

And China’s currency, the renminbi, slipped below 7 to the dollar for the first time this year.

It remains hard for businesses and political leaders to figure out their responses to the crisis. “Literally, we are evaluating on an ongoing basis in real time,” said a spokesman for Cummins, an engine maker with operations in China, “and I imagine other places are in the same position as we are.”

More: Stop hoarding face masks. That’s doing more harm than good.

Les Wexner, Victoria’s Secret owner, may step down

The business angle: Shares in L Brands fell 29 percent last year, as sales at Victoria’s Secret have dropped amid changing beauty ideals among American women. (The NYT reports that the company is preparing for layoffs.)

The Epstein angle: Mr. Wexner had employed Mr. Epstein as his longtime financial adviser, giving him broad authority over his billions. Mr. Wexner has denied knowledge of alleged sexual abuse committed by Mr. Epstein.

Mr. Wexner has become an uncomfortable distraction to L Brands. He has already had to address his ties to Mr. Epstein to shareholders.

His departure could help L Brands sell a stake in Victoria’s Secret, raising money for the company, according to the FT. One potential investor is Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm specializing in retailers, the WSJ reports, citing unnamed sources.

Why Wall Street’s climate pledges will fall short

• Big oil companies aren’t that dependent on stock market investors, Mr. Ip writes, since they “generate plenty of cash and don’t need to issue new equity or debt to finance capital spending; in fact, most are buying back stock.”

• If the largest banks stop financing oil exploration companies, regional ones would rush to replace them.

• And many oil producers are owned by sovereign governments and don’t need to bow to public opinion.

“Divestment isn’t going to shrink the fossil-fuel industry,” Mr. Ip adds. What will is “changing the underlying economics” through financing cleaner energy producers and governmental measures like carbon taxes.

More: Venture capitalists are conspicuously absent from this round of the climate change fight.

Facebook’s sales growth hits a speed bump

The internet giant yesterday reported a slowdown in revenue growth, something it had warned would happen. But it’s coming at a time when Facebook faces plenty of tough challenges.

The main points of Facebook’s latest earnings:

• Fourth-quarter revenue grew 25 percent, to $21.1 billion. That’s the slowest pace in Facebook’s history as a publicly traded company, according to the WSJ.

• Expenses also rose, reducing Facebook’s operating margin to 42 percent from 46 percent.

• Daily users of the core Facebook platform grew to 1.66 billion, beating analyst expectations of 1.65 billion.

But the company also said it would pay $550 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over its use of facial-recognition technology. It’s the latest sign of the legal headaches that continue to bedevil Facebook, which also include new regulations around the world.

Shares in Facebook fell 7 percent in after-hours trading yesterday, with investors worrying that the company has peaked and faces only downside now.

Yet some analysts think there’s reason for optimism. Rich Greenfield of Lightshed told Bloomberg that Facebook’s business model “is not broken.” And Tim Culpan of Bloomberg Opinion thinks the company can make more money from its overseas users.

Warren Buffett gives up on newspapers

The papers being sold include The Buffalo News, which Berkshire bought in 1977, and 30 other papers that Mr. Buffett had acquired over the past decade, including a collection of publishers in Virginia.

Mr. Buffett is bowing to reality. In an interview last year, he said that most papers were “toast” because of falling ad sales — a sharp turnaround from his declaration in 2012 that he was an “addict” who wanted to keep buying newspapers.

But he’s still going to profit from the news industry. Berkshire will lend Lee $576 million, some of which will pay for the newspaper deal, at a 9 percent annual interest rate.

Japanese billionaire isn’t looking for love (on camera) anymore

Yusaku Maezawa has backed out of an online documentary detailing his search for a girlfriend to take on his trip around the moon on SpaceX’s inaugural tourism flight.

“Due to personal reasons, I have informed AbemaTV yesterday with my decision to no longer participate in the matchmaking documentary,” he tweeted this morning.

The speed read

Deals

• The casino operator Penn National agreed to buy a 36 percent stake in Barstool Sports, the popular website, for $163 million. (CNBC)

• AT&T’s latest quarterly results show the company is still trying to justify its $85 billion takeover of Time Warner. (Bloomberg Opinion)

• The investment bank Evercore plans to lay off up to 6 percent of its employees. (Bloomberg)

• The parent company of MoviePass filed for bankruptcy. (Business Insider)

Politics and policy

• President Trump signed into law the new North American free trade deal known as the U.S.M.C.A. (NYT)

• The European Parliament approved Britain’s withdrawal from the E.U. yesterday. (NYT)

• Mike Bloomberg’s latest attack on President Trump: health insurance protections for people with pre-existing conditions. (NYT)

Tech

• The E.U. recommended that its members put limits on using Huawei in their 5G wireless networks — but not ban the Chinese company outright. (NYT)

• Apple and Broadcom were ordered to pay $1.1 billion in damages for infringing on Caltech patents on Wi-Fi technology. (Bloomberg)

• The ride-hailing service Lyft plans to lay off employees in its marketing and enterprise sales divisions. (NYT)

Best of the rest

• Boeing said that it expects costs tied to the 737 Max to surpass $18 billion. (NYT)

• U.S. life expectancy rose in 2018 for the first time in four years, in large part because of a decline in fatal drug overdoses. (Politico)

• Why you don’t need to be an accountant to be a modern C.F.O. (WSJ)

• Greta Thunberg wants to trademark her name to prevent commercial misuse. (Bloomberg)

Thanks for reading! We’ll see you tomorrow.

We’d love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [email protected].

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/dealbook-elon-musk-hits-back-at-critics/

#Business

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mastcomm · 5 years ago

Text

DealBook: Elon Musk Hits Back at Critics

Good morning. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.)

Tesla has 105 million more reasons to celebrate

The electric carmaker reported a $105 million quarterly profit yesterday, giving boosters of the company more occasion to crow.

And production of its Model Y compact S.U.V. was ahead of schedule, the company said. Deliveries of the vehicle would begin in the spring, at least three months earlier than expected.

Mr. Musk taunted critics yesterday, saying, “A lot of retail investors have deeper and more accurate insights than many of the big institutional investors.”

But there’s still plenty of fodder for doubters:

• Charley Grant of Heard on the Street notes that revenue for the quarter grew just 2 percent from the same time a year ago, while operating income fell 13 percent.

• And Tesla warned that car production would outstrip supply this year.

____________________________

Today’s DealBook Briefing was written by Andrew Ross Sorkin in New York and Michael J. de la Merced in London.

____________________________

Markets continue sell-off over coronavirus fears

U.S. stocks are poised to open down today, after Asian and European markets fell amid more signs that the Chinese coronavirus outbreak is continuing to worsen.

Here’s the latest:

• The death count as of this morning stands at 170, while the number of cases has grown to 7,711 — officially more than in the SARS epidemic.

• Countries are quarantining people to prevent mass outbreaks.

• Google, Microsoft and Ikea are the latest companies to temporarily shutter offices or prevent employees from traveling to China.

S&P futures are down 20 points, while the Dow is set to fall nearly 140 points at market open today. Stocks in Hong Kong were down 2.6 percent, while those in Europe declined about 1 percent.

And China’s currency, the renminbi, slipped below 7 to the dollar for the first time this year.

More: Stop hoarding face masks. That’s doing more harm than good.

Les Wexner, Victoria’s Secret owner, may step down

Mr. Wexner has become an uncomfortable distraction to L Brands. He has already had to address his ties to Mr. Epstein to shareholders.

Why Wall Street’s climate pledges will fall short

• If the largest banks stop financing oil exploration companies, regional ones would rush to replace them.

• And many oil producers are owned by sovereign governments and don’t need to bow to public opinion.

More: Venture capitalists are conspicuously absent from this round of the climate change fight.

Facebook’s sales growth hits a speed bump

The internet giant yesterday reported a slowdown in revenue growth, something it had warned would happen. But it’s coming at a time when Facebook faces plenty of tough challenges.

The main points of Facebook’s latest earnings:

• Fourth-quarter revenue grew 25 percent, to $21.1 billion. That’s the slowest pace in Facebook’s history as a publicly traded company, according to the WSJ.

• Expenses also rose, reducing Facebook’s operating margin to 42 percent from 46 percent.

• Daily users of the core Facebook platform grew to 1.66 billion, beating analyst expectations of 1.65 billion.

Shares in Facebook fell 7 percent in after-hours trading yesterday, with investors worrying that the company has peaked and faces only downside now.

Warren Buffett gives up on newspapers

But he’s still going to profit from the news industry. Berkshire will lend Lee $576 million, some of which will pay for the newspaper deal, at a 9 percent annual interest rate.

Japanese billionaire isn’t looking for love (on camera) anymore

Yusaku Maezawa has backed out of an online documentary detailing his search for a girlfriend to take on his trip around the moon on SpaceX’s inaugural tourism flight.

“Due to personal reasons, I have informed AbemaTV yesterday with my decision to no longer participate in the matchmaking documentary,” he tweeted this morning.

The speed read

Deals

• The casino operator Penn National agreed to buy a 36 percent stake in Barstool Sports, the popular website, for $163 million. (CNBC)

• AT&T’s latest quarterly results show the company is still trying to justify its $85 billion takeover of Time Warner. (Bloomberg Opinion)

• The investment bank Evercore plans to lay off up to 6 percent of its employees. (Bloomberg)

• The parent company of MoviePass filed for bankruptcy. (Business Insider)

Politics and policy

• President Trump signed into law the new North American free trade deal known as the U.S.M.C.A. (NYT)

• The European Parliament approved Britain’s withdrawal from the E.U. yesterday. (NYT)

• Mike Bloomberg’s latest attack on President Trump: health insurance protections for people with pre-existing conditions. (NYT)

Tech

• The E.U. recommended that its members put limits on using Huawei in their 5G wireless networks — but not ban the Chinese company outright. (NYT)

• Apple and Broadcom were ordered to pay $1.1 billion in damages for infringing on Caltech patents on Wi-Fi technology. (Bloomberg)

• The ride-hailing service Lyft plans to lay off employees in its marketing and enterprise sales divisions. (NYT)

Best of the rest

• Boeing said that it expects costs tied to the 737 Max to surpass $18 billion. (NYT)

• U.S. life expectancy rose in 2018 for the first time in four years, in large part because of a decline in fatal drug overdoses. (Politico)

• Why you don’t need to be an accountant to be a modern C.F.O. (WSJ)

• Greta Thunberg wants to trademark her name to prevent commercial misuse. (Bloomberg)

Thanks for reading! We’ll see you tomorrow.

We’d love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [email protected].

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/dealbook-elon-musk-hits-back-at-critics/

#Business

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