Forbes

2022-04-09 17:09:01 Freedom of speech in college campuses. What threatens it? Jim Jordan talks in the video. Open / Comment

2022-04-09 14:09:00 HP Stock Skyrockets After Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Reveals $4.4 Billion Investment

Shares of legacy technology giant HP Inc. surged Thursday morning after legendary investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed the purchase of more than 104 million shares this month — becoming HP’s largest shareholder and marking the storied conglomerate’s latest investment in a crop of legacy stocks.

HP shares skyrocketed as much as 18% Thursday to more than $41, the stock’s highest level since its split from enterprise-focused segment Hewlett Packard Enterprise in 2015.

Berkshire disclosed in a series of regulatory filings that it holds nearly 121 million HP shares — a roughly 11.5% stake worth about $4.4 billion at the time and $5 billion after the Thursday surge.

According to the filings, Berkshire, through various subsidiaries, held a more than 10% stake in the firm on Friday and piled on to its investment every day this week, buying 11.1 million shares for about $398.5 million. Open / Comment

2022-04-08 19:07:00 The Richest People In Europe 2022

Out of a global total of 2,668 billionaires worth $12.7 trillion on Forbes’ 2022 list of the World’s Billionaires, Europe accounts for 592 billionaires, down from 628 a year ago. The combined wealth of European billionaires has fallen from last year’s $3 trillion highpoint to $2.8 trillion, driven down by a single global hotspot.

The European country with the most billionaires this year: Germany, with 134 worth a collective $608 billion. France remains a billionaire hotspot as well – especially for its luxury and fashion super maisons; the total wealth of the nation’s 43 billionaires has risen 7% since last year to $550 billion. Sweden, meanwhile, is the darkhorse: from a country of just 10 million people, there are 45 billionaires. Open / Comment

2022-04-08 17:07:00 Hypebeast To List On Nasdaq With Backing From Tom Brady, Naomi Osaka, Jonah Hill

Hypebeast, a Hong Kong-listed streetwear and culture company, has announced that it plans to list on Nasdaq through a merger with Iron Spark, a U.S. special purpose acquisition company, in a deal that will generate up to $180 million in proceeds.

The transaction will see American football player Tom Brady, tennis star Naomi Osaka and Hollywood actor Jonah Hill, among others, become investors in the company by acquiring $13.3 million worth of shares in Hypebeast.

The merger, which will be subject to approval by shareholders and regulators, will value Hypebeast at $534 million. The transaction is projected to be completed by the third quarter of this year. The proceeds from the deal will be used for investments in technology, talent, brand experiences and marketing, the company said.

Hypebeast launched its first non-fungible token art sale in 2021, and it intends to curate and seek new Web 3.0. Open / Comment

2022-04-08 14:07:00 World's Billionaires

War, pandemic and sluggish markets hit the world’s billionaires this year. There are 2,668 of them on Forbes’ 36th-annual ranking of the planet’s richest people — 87 fewer than a year ago. They’re worth a collective $12.7 trillion — $400 billion less than in 2021.

The most dramatic drops have occurred in China, where a government crackdown on tech companies has led to 87 fewer Chinese billionaires on the list.

Still, Forbes found more than 1,000 billionaires who are richer than they were a year ago. And 236 newcomers have become billionaires over the past year — including the first ever from Barbados, Bulgaria, Estonia and Uruguay.

America still leads the world, with 735 billionaires worth a collective $4.7 trillion, including Elon Musk, who tops the World’s Billionaires list for the first time. China remains number two, with 607 billionaires worth a collective $2.3 trillion. Open / Comment

2022-04-07 21:00:12 JetBlue Offers To Buy Spirit Airlines For $3.6 Billion — Throwing Planned Spirit-Frontier Merger In Doubt

JetBlue on Tuesday made a nearly $3.6 billion "unsolicited offer" to purchase all outstanding shares of Spirit Airlines, Spirit announced in a news release, sending the company's stock soaring but leaving the budget airline's future unclear.

The proposed all-cash deal would value Spirit at $33 per share, far higher than the $23 implied value Spirit agreed to in February as part of a merger with Frontier Airlines.

The Frontier merger still faces a regulatory review process, and Spirit stockholders have not yet approved the move, which would combine the nation's two biggest ultra-low-cost airlines.

Spirit's board of directors will now "evaluate JetBlue's proposal and pursue the course of action it determines to be in the best interests of Spirit and its stockholders," the company said.

Spirit's stock soared more than 28% and closed at $26.91 per share Tuesday afternoon. Open / Comment

2022-04-07 17:00:15 Major Bank Is First To Forecast A Recession — More Could Follow

An increasing number of Wall Street experts are now forecasting a possible economic downturn on the horizon, with alarms growing louder after the widely-observed yield curve inverted last week and indicated a looming recession.

Deutsche Bank on Tuesday became the first major bank on Wall Street to forecast a recession next year, albeit a “moderate” one, thanks to the combination of surging inflation and rising interest rates.

The firm’s economists predict the U.S. economy will take a “major hit from the extra Federal Reserve tightening by late next year and early 2024,” while also predicting “two negative quarters of growth and a more than 1.5% rise in the U.S. unemployment rate.”

Goldman Sachs analysts similarly warned in a recent note that the period of stagflation that occurred in the 1970’s is the most “clear example” of the economic environment investors are facing today. Open / Comment