[ad_1]
Good Friday. Want this in your inbox every morning? Sign up here.
Investors do not worry about Elon Musk's drug use. He does not.
The Tesla chief made a first appearance of an attempt to take the carmaker private. Overnight, on nearly three hours live on "The Joe Rogan Experience," a popular podcast, he mused on A.I. and contemplated the end of the universe. He also drank whiskey and took a drag from a tobacco-and-marijuana joint. (He was in California, so that was legal.)
Mr. Musk will probably be in touch with you. "I got text messages from friends asking," What are you doing smoking weed? "He told Mr. Rogan during the show.
In fact, he may have raised more questions. One, given that he says he sometimes works 120 hours a week, is where he found the time to make this appearance.
Mr. Musk, who has talked to you about Ambien to sleep, was also asked about it. "It's hard to run companies, especially companies," he replied. "He has told the NYT that the task can be" excruciating. "Stunts like this may not ease the pressure.
The Moonves may be on his way out from CBS
The broadcaster's longtime C.E.O. is in talks to leave. His departure would be one of the most honored runs by a media mogul: Mr. Moonves turned CBS from an as-ran into an industry titan. But it might not be a surprise: He is embroiled in a fight with the company's controlling shareholder and facing a sexual harassment investigation.
What Mr. Moonves would walk out with? CNBC reports that the board offered him $ 100 million in CBS stock – some of which they could claw back if the harassment allegations proved true. That figure is eye-popping, but then his contract promised $ 180 million.
And what next for CBS? The company's top shareholder, Shari Redstone, can refrain from pushing a CBS-Viacom merger as part of a legal settlement with the company. But the WSJ reports that the board wants insurances. There's plenty of negotiating left to do.
Third Place wants to replace Campbell Soup's entire board
Daniel Loeb seems unhappy with the canned soup maker's plan to sell just some of its businesses. His hedge fund plans to nominate candidates to replace all 12 directors, according to the WSJ. (One would be George Strawbridge Jr., a scion of Campbell's founding family who has pressed for change.)
Mr. Loeb has not tried to replace a whole board before. Not many activist investors do – pushing for a handful of seats is a win win.
Third Point is likely to face stiff opposition, which owns about 40 percent of the shares. But Mr. Loeb is one of the most tenacious activists around.
More in activist investor news: Elliott Management proposed a corporate restructuring plan for Hyundai Motor.
Emerging markets
Sell-offs of stocks in emerging economies are hard hitting. The WSJ reports that the MSCI Emerging Markets Index has fallen by 20 percent from its recent peak, the typical definition of a bear market. And Nader Naeimi, head of dynamic markets at AMP Capital Investors, told Bloomberg they could have another 10 percent to go.
Declines in highly indebted Turkey and Argentina, and spread as a rising dollar-denominated debt. Continued fears about trade.
But Nir Kaissar of Bloomberg Opinion argues that it's not yet time to panic. Some Asian currencies are holding steady, too: The Thai baht – which was the locus of the Asian financial crash.
Brace for more China tariffs
The consultation period for President Trump's proposed 25 percent tariffs on his next $ 200 billion worth of Chinese goods, from bicycles to digital cameras, ended last night. The White House could impose them as soon as today. ($ 50 billion worth of goods are already penalized.)
Companies pleaded with Mr. Trump not to do it. Cisco, Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Juniper Networks warned of "broad, disproportionate economic harm to US interests." The National Retail Federation and 150 organizations said tariffs were "counterproductive and so," importers, exporters and consumers. "
A spokesperson for Beijing's economic ministry said in a statement, "If the United States, regardless of opposition, adopts any new tariff measures, China will be forced to roll out necessary retaliatory measures."
Some economists expect two more years of this.
More trade news: How China turned from business opportunity to archenemy. Mr. Trump hinted that his next trade war opponent could be Japan. America may have weaponized the dollar. And do not expect a Nafta deal this week.
Twitter finally bans Alex Jones
Alex Jones, the right-wing creator of the conspiracy theorist website Infowars. It blamed violations of its abusive-behavior policy.
Apple, Facebook and Google's YouTube mostly barred Mr. Jones last month, for hate speech. Until now, Twitter had only been released.
Kate Conger and Nicas Jack of the NYT on what the move will mean:
Twitter's latest action cuts off Mr. Jones's final live channel to mainstream audiences, severely restricting his ability to attract new viewers and build his public profile. Facebook's and YouTube's bans have already drastically reduced its reach, according to a New York Times analysis.
Trump tweets are not sinking stocks anymore
President Trump has made a habit of attacking well-known public corporations, including Amazon, Harley-Davidson and Google. Peter Eavis goal of DealBook finds that Wall Street is learning to live with that:
A look back at the time of critical presidential tweets, and their effect on the prices, suggests that investors are shrugging off Mr. Trump's broadsides. The stocks of targeted companies typically recover, and there is little, if any, discernible harm done to their business.
What you think of Big Tech's government
On Tuesday, we asked for your thoughts on how to be a patriotic company when you vehemently disagree with your nation's leader. Here's what some of you told us:
Don Champagne: "I'm a 75-year old Vietnam-era veteran, so it is perhaps not surprising that I am appalled that Silicon Valley employees objected to doing A.I. work for the government. But, I am not surprised. I think we encourage selfishness and ignorance of the government when we discontinued the military draft. "
Paul Bishop: "The Tech Sr. Mgmt. and employees in general have to take the long view, and do what is in the long term best interests of this Country. The outside forces that contrasted us, would cheer wildly if they thought they had neutralized tech so easily. "
Norma P. Munn: "I also question the belief that innovation is best served by a partnership between technology and government, especially when the partnership is with any aspect of the military or security entities. There is simply too much secrecy. Innovation thrives on an open exchange of ideas and a wide exploration of questions. "
Revolving door
Tidjane Thiam, Credit Suisse's C.E.O., denied that he would leave the bank to run for president in Ivory Coast.
Nick TuostoBanker America Merrill Lynch, most recently co-head of internet and digital media, will join the merchant bank LionTree.
Thomas KurianOracle's president of product development, will take a hiatus.
Joseph Chancellor, a psychology researcher with the Cambridge Analytica, has left Facebook.
The speed read
Deals
• European regulators cleared Apple's takeover of Shazam. (NYT)
• Saudi Aramco is said to be a $ 1 billion tech investment fund. (WSJ)
• SoftBank has reportedly asked you to advise on the I.P.O. of its Japanese telecom unit to provide loans to other parts of its business. (Bloomberg)
• The stock-trading Robinhood app is prepared to go public. (TechCrunch)
Politics and policy
• The Education Department hopes to halt state clampdowns on student loan providers. (NYT)
• House Republicans want to extend the Trump tax cuts past 2025. They're getting little encouragement from the Senate. (WSJ)
• President Trump may risk a government shutdown over his border wall, but only after the midterms. (Bloomberg)
• Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase says that any law-abiding graduate of a U.S. university should receive a green card. (Business Insider)
Tech
• The Justice Department's antitrust chief says the size of tech giants alone is not grounds for investigating them. (Bloomberg)
• What Jack Dorsey and Sandberg Sheryl taught about the internet. (NYT)
• What changed after Equifax's data disaster? Not much. (Axios)
• Silicon Valley wants to get you fit. First, lighten your wallet. (NYT)
Best of the rest
• Burberry will stop burning unsold merchandise. (NYT)
• Women and people of color told American Bar Association that they still face discrimination at law firms. (NYT)
• The family behind OxyContin is trying to carry on as usual as their company becomes the boogeyman of the opioid crisis. (FT)
• Layoffs have reached a five-decade low. (WSJ)
• Private banks are now advising clients on art. (FT)
• Wall Street 's latest cash cow: carbon. (FT)
• Coming to your office: Generation Z. (WSJ)
Thanks for reading! We'll see you tomorrow.
We'd love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [email protected].
Source link