What You Need To Know This Week — November 23rd, 2019
What You Need To Know This Week
A weekly recap to keep you informed on the most important events this week impacting markets, business, tech and the global economy.
CHARLES SCHWAB IN TALKS TO ACQUIRE RIVAL TD AMERITRADE TO CREATE $5 TRILLION BROKERAGE BEHEMOTH
Brokerage firm giant Charles Schwab is in discussions to acquire TD Ameritrade for $26 billion. The combination would create an online discount brokerage behemoth with $5 trillion in assets. The potential deal comes off the back of the recent move to zero trading commissions, which has hurt the share prices of the companies in the sector. Shares of Schwab surged 8% while TD Ameritrade’s stock rallied more than 20% on the news.
FORMER UBER CEO TRAVIS KALANICK SELLS NEARLY $1.5 BILLION OF UBER SHARES AS THE IPO LOCK-UP EXPIRES
Uber Co-Founder Travis Kalanick, who was pushed out as the company’s CEO prior to its recent IPO, sold nearly $600 million of Uber shares this week. The most recent share sale took his total tally of Uber shares sold to nearly $1.5 billion since the IPO lock-up expired on November 6th. He continues to hold roughly $1.3 billion of shares. Uber’s stock is down -34% since its initial public offering in May of this year.
THE BIG SHORT 2.0: BILLIONAIRE CARL ICAHN BETS BIG AGAINST SHOPPING MALLS
Octogenarian investor Carl Icahn has become the largest short seller of shopping mall debt, structuring a bet against shopping malls that could pay out $400 million. The bet tracks the performance of the CMBX 6 index, which tracks the value of 25 commercial-mortgage-backed securities. The index has climbed 20% year to date.
HEDGE FUND LEGEND LOUIS BACON SHUTTERS MOORE CAPITAL AFTER A 30-YEAR RUN
Louis Bacon founded hedge fund Moore Capital in 1989 with a $25,000 inheritance. It was one of the storied global macro hedge funds of its era, delivering a net annualized return of 17.6% (and over 21,000% on a cumulative basis) since inception. He decided to return client capital and run the firm as a family office, following other hedge fund legends of his generation.
Recommended Articles, Podcasts, Books and Tweets
Listen to Alpha Architect’s Jack Vogel talk about factor investing on The Investor’s Podcast.
CNBC’s David Faber sits down with renowned “cable cowboy” John Malone in a far-reaching interview.
Fashion house LVMH gained access to Tiffany’s books after it raised its unsolicited offer for the company from $120 to $130 per share.
In the face of shareholder push-back, billionaire Jim Pattison won’t raise his $16.00 per share bid for forestry company Canfor.
Tesla’s revealing of its new Cybertruck was embarrassing, as they broke the “unbreakable” windows during the event.
Bitcoin drops below $7,000, a 6-month low, as China’s central bank launched a new crackdown on cryptocurrencies.
Former Chief Economist of Gluskin Sheff and Merrill Lynch David Rosenberg plans on launching his own research shop.
Softbank is mulling trimming its tender offer for its WeWork bailout, which would reduce the payout to former CEO Adam Neumann.
Russell Investments, index provider and inventor of smart beta, has hired Goldman Sachs to sell the company. It is currently owned by private equity firm TA Associates.
Canadian inflation held steady at 1.9% in October, it’s third consecutive month around that level.
“The survey results showed that institutions are attracted to liquid alt ETFs because of their enhanced liquidity, improved portfolio diversification benefits and heightened transparency.”
Contrary to many countries’ emissions reductions efforts, this year China will add new coal-fired power plants equivalent to Europe’s entire capacity.
Reality television star Kylie Jenner sold a $600 million stake in her beauty business to cosmetics company Coty.
Richardson GMP discusses alternative allocations in their client portfolios, which include 10–20% of client portfolios in alternative investments.
Major Encana shareholder, who holds 4% of the company, blasts the company’s plan to re-domicile to the U.S. as “highly discriminatory” against Canadian investors.
Some countries, including Turkey and South Korea, are considering plans to curb short selling of shares in their stock markets.
After a decade of underperformance, value stocks are making a comeback and outperforming since the beginning of September.
