DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Sachem Head’s Andy Stafman joins Twilio’s board. Here’s how he may help grow margins
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-06 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

More recently, after nominating a majority director slate, Sachem Head settled for three board seats at US Foods. Taking board seats signifies both commitment and contribution, and this philosophy and style is really paying off for Sachem Head. After 2021, the revenue growth started slowing: It's 8.5% today, and it's estimated to be 5% to 10% in the coming years. As much as a growth market rewards hyper-growth stocks, it punishes those companies when revenue growth slows. On March 30, Sachem Head received a board seat for Andy J. Stafman, partner at Sachem Head, and agreed to withdraw its notice of shareholder proposals and nomination of candidates for election to the board at the 2024 annual meeting.

Persons: Scott Ferguson, Sachem, Ferguson, Olin —, Twilio, Twilio's, Jeff Lawson, Khozema, denigrate Lawson, Sinch, Andy J, Stafman, Anson, Sagar Gupta, Thomas Wyatt, Ken Squire Organizations: Pershing, Olin, US Foods, Sachem, Communications, Gartner, IDC, Twilio . Legion Partners, Anson Funds, Legion Partners, 13D Locations: Twilio

☆ Twilio board shakeup prompts renewed activist scrutiny
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

On Monday, Twilio announced a settlement with Sachem Head, an activist investor whose involvement in the company had been previously unreported. The agreement resulted in Twilio, which sells communications software, giving a board seat to Andy Stafman, a partner at Sachem Head. Two days later, Twilio said Byron Deeter, a prominent venture capitalist and early investor in the company, would be leaving the board. On March 11, less than a week after Twilio concluded the review, Sachem Head told the company it planned to nominate board candidates. "This issue remains relevant despite Mr. Deeter's departure given the continued directorship of another Bessemer partner," Gupta said.

Persons: Twilio, Jeff Lawson, Anson, that's, Andy Stafman, Byron Deeter, Sagar Gupta, Gupta, Lawson's, Legion, FactSet, Lawson, Sachem, Stafman, Deeter, Bessemer, Jeff Epstein Organizations: Anson Funds, Sachem, Board, Nasdaq, Legion Partners, CNBC, Bessemer Locations: Twilio, Europe, Anson, Bessemer

☆ Twilio begins operational review of activist-targeted business unit
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Twilio has been the subject of shareholder scrutiny over the performance of its Segment business, which it acquired at a large premium to its private-market valuation and has dragged on the performance of Twilio's longer-standing communications business. Activist investors at Anson Funds and Legion Capital have both said they would like the company to sell off either the Segment unit or the whole company. The company reported earnings per share, excluding items, of 86 cents, better than an LSEG, formerly Refinitiv, consensus estimate of 58 cents. The company reported a loss of $365.4 million in its fourth quarter. Analysts surveyed by StreetAccount had been expecting 311,000 active customers, but the company reported only 305,000 active customers.

Persons: Jeff Lawson, Twilio, Twilio didn't, Jeff Lawson's, Lawson, Khozema Shipchandler, Shipchandler, StreetAccount Organizations: Communications, Twilio Inc, New York Stock Exchange, Anson Funds, Legion Capital, Revenue, CNBC PRO Locations: New York City

☆ Trump media deal partner DWAC nears $50 million financing, sources tell Reuters
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

In this photo illustration, Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) logo is seen on a smartphone and Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) logo on a pc screen. Digital World Acquisition Corp. , the blank-check acquisition company that has agreed to take former U.S. President Donald Trump's social media platform public, is nearing a $50 million financing deal, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The deal, which could be announced in the next few days, is based on convertible notes and will help fund DWAC while it seeks to complete its merger with Trump Media & Technology Group, owner of social media platform Truth Social, the sources said. The sources requested anonymity because details of the deal discussions are confidential. Representatives for Anson Funds, All Blue Capital and Mangrove Capital Partners did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Persons: Donald Trump's, Eric Swider, Anson Organizations: Trump Media & Technology, Trump Media & Technology Group, Investment, Funds, Blue, Mangrove Capital Partners, Anson Funds

☆ Activist investors in Gildan Activewear will have chance to bring back fired CEO at special meeting
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Browning West's move is unusual in the activist world, where investors are more often focused on replacing CEOs than backing them. Browning West, a long-time shareholder, points to Chamandy's success in an increasingly competitive industry as one reason why he should be CEO. Berg has served on Gildan's board since 2015 and has been chair since 2019. Browning West seeks to replace Berg and seven other directors with their own nominees, including Chamandy and Browning West's Lee. Last week, Gildan applied to a Quebec court to nullify Browning West's request and to cancel the meeting.

Persons: Gildan, Glenn Chamandy, Gildan's, Vince Tyra, Chamandy, Browning, It's, Browning West's, Peter Lee, Usman Nabi, Anson, Janus Henderson, Broder Brothers, Donald Berg, Forman, Berg, Browning West, Browning West's Lee, Bill Ackman Organizations: Asset Management, Brown, Coliseum Capital, CNBC Locations: Barbados, Montreal, Los Angeles, Connecticut, Quebec

☆ Twilio CEO Lawson steps down after bruising activist battles
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-08 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The move comes as Twilio grapples with two activist investors who have been pushing for significant changes. In a regulatory filing announcing the move, the company also said Twilio expected fourth-quarter revenue and income to come in above its prior guidance. Lawson will also step down from Twilio's board, where he had served as chairman. "I am honored to step into the CEO role," Shipchandler said in a release. We look forward to continuing to engage with Twilio's Board and management team going forward," he added.

Persons: Jeff Lawson, Spain Twilio, Twilio, Lawson, Khozema, Shipchandler, Jeff Epstein, we've, Jeff Lawson's, Sagar Gupta, Gupta, Partner's Organizations: Twilio, Mobile, Congress, Bessemer Venture Partners, Anson Funds, Legion Partners, CNBC, Qatalyst Partners, Twilio's, Partners, Twilio's Board, CNBC PRO Locations: Barcelona, Spain, Twilio

☆ Twilio lays off 5% of employees in unit activists want to divest
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Jeff Lawson, chief executive officer of Twilio Inc., during the Singapore FinTech Festival in Singapore, on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. Software provider Twilio said Monday it would lay off roughly 5% of its workforce citing underachievement in the growth of a unit that activist investors have targeted. The cuts will strike deepest in Twilio's Data and Applications unit, the same unit activist investors at Legion Partners and Anson Funds are pushing Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson to divest. Lawson said in his letter that Twilio will also change how it sells its Flex digital engagement product. Anson and Legion have pushed Twilio to sell the Data & Applications unit, if not the whole company.

Persons: Jeff Lawson, Twilio, Anson, Legion, Lawson, hasn't Organizations: Twilio Inc, Singapore FinTech Festival, underachievement, Legion Partners, Anson Funds, CNBC, Securities, Exchange Commission, Communications, Legion Locations: Singapore

☆ Activist fund Anson takes Twilio stake, urges board to sell
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Activist investor Anson Funds has built a stake in Twilio and sent a letter to the enterprise software company's board pushing for the sale of the entire business, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. The letter to the board urges Twilio to either sell itself or at a minimum, divest its data and applications business, the person familiar said. "Twilio regularly engages with shareholders and appreciates constructive input that furthers our goal of creating sustainable long-term value," a Twilio spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. The continued activist attention caps off a challenging year for Twilio, which makes software that helps businesses engage with their customers. In March, Silver Lake and CPP Investments announced a deal to take survey software company Qualtrics private in a $12.5 billion deal.

Persons: Jeff Lawson, Anson, Twilio, Sagar Gupta, Gupta Organizations: Twilio Inc, New York Stock Exchange, CNBC, Legion Partners, The, Twilio, Communications, Tech, Investments, IBM, Cisco, CNBC PRO Locations: New York, Twilio, Silver

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: PDD Holdings, Micron, Boeing, Twilio and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday: PDD Holdings — U.S.-listed shares of the international ecommerce company jumped more than 18% after PDD posted a big earnings and revenue beat . PDD, the parent of Pinduoduo and Temu, reported a whopping 94% year-over-year increase in revenue for its third quarter. Micron Technology — Micron Technology's stock fell nearly 3% even after the memory chipmaker boosted its revenue guidance for its fiscal first-quarter. Twilio — The enterprise software stock jumped nearly 4% after CNBC reported activist investor Anson Funds has built a stake in Twilio. U.S. Steel — Shares added 1.7% in midday trading.

Persons: PDD, Ken Herbert, Twilio, Anson, Crocs, Raymond James, it's, CNBC's David Faber, Ogsiveo, Dow, Carlyle, Jefferies, nLight, Alex Harring, Samantha Subin, Lisa Han, Spencer Kimball, Jesse Pound Organizations: PDD Holdings —, Micron Technology, Micron, Boeing —, RBC Capital Markets, CNBC, . Steel, Steel, U.S . Steel, SpringWorks Therapeutics, Food and Drug Administration, Therapeutics, Carlyle, Dow Jones Indices, underperform Locations: Ireland, China, Twilio, Cleveland, United States

☆ SoftBank's Arm soars in market debut to notch $60 bln valuation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Arm executives and CEO Rene Haas gather outside Nasdaq Market site, as Softbank's Arm, chip design firm, holds an initial public offering (IPO), in New York, U.S., September 14, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Acquire Licensing RightsSept 14 (Reuters) - Shares in SoftBank's Arm Holdings ARM.O opened 18% above their offer price in their Nasdaq debut on Thursday, valuing the British chip designer at nearly $60 billion in its return to the public markets after seven years. The stock opened at $56.10 per American Depositary Share compared with the initial public offering (IPO) price of $51, and steadily extended gains to just over $60. "The Arm IPO is the most hyped listing we've had in the markets for a while." Compiled by the Global Finance & Markets Breaking News teamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Rene Haas, Brendan McDermid, SALMAN MALIK, ANSON, ” OWEN LAU, JORDAN STUART, “, ” “, ’ ” DANIEL KLAUSNER, HOULIHAN, haven't, ”, ” KYLE RODDA, ANDREW Organizations: Nasdaq, REUTERS, Holdings ARM.O, OPPENHEIMER, FEDERATED HERMES, OF, PUBLIC, ROSENBLATT, Global Finance, Markets, Thomson Locations: New York, U.S, “

Five hedge funds shared five trading ideas on global property markets, adding that they cannot reveal trading positions for regulatory reasons. CM REITs are companies that own mortgages of multi-family residential homes as well as commercial real estate loans. Cell phone data Litt bought to research a REIT run by Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE.N), showed that buildings which that were supposed to be almost fully occupied were only half full. Alexandria Real Estate responded pointing to public filings which said that it was the advancement of science and related intellectual property in Alexandria’s Labspace buildings, and not employee foot traffic that drove its demand for space. But Litt believes that the shift away from office working will also hurt life and sciences real estate, generally.

Persons: Jonathan Mizrachi, CMBSs, David Amaryan, Ben Hunsaker, Hunsaker, Jonathan Litt, Litt, ANSON, Moez Kassam, Vistry, Kassam, Nell Mackenzie, Dhara Ranasinghe, Alison Williams Organizations: Property, Capital, Beach, Beach Point Capital Management, REITs, Alexandria Real, Reuters, Vistry, Thomson Locations: York, Russia, Russia's, Ukraine, Armenia, Beach Point, Alexandria, Alexandria’s, London, Carolina, New York

For most of the day, stocks struggled for direction amid disappointing earnings from Tyson Foods and Catalent and a short-lived rebound in regional banks. The struggle for a clearer direction comes after a rally on Friday, when U.S. jobs data pointed to a resilient labor market. Producer prices, weekly jobless claims and consumer sentiment data are all lined up for the week. Shares of regional banks tumbled for much of last week on worries tied to the collapse of First Republic Bank. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc's Class B shares rose after posting a $35.5 billion first-quarter profit, boosted by gains from stocks such as Apple.

The struggle for a clearer direction comes after a rally on Friday, when U.S. jobs data pointed to a resilient labor market. Producer prices, weekly jobless claims and consumer sentiment data are all lined up for the week. A rally in regional banks' shares proved short-lived, with PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O) rising 5.6% after gaining as much as about 30% earlier in the session after the lender sharply cut its quarterly dividend to boost capital. Shares of regional banks tumbled for much of last week on worries tied to the collapse of First Republic Bank. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc's Class B shares rose 0.9% after posting a $35.5 billion first-quarter profit, boosted by gains from stocks such as Apple.

☆ Investors tiptoe back into US bank stocks, regulators probe SVB collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Chris Prentice | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

March 14 (Reuters) - Bruised U.S. bank stocks regained some ground on Tuesday, as a sell-off sparked by Silicon Valley Bank's collapse gave way to bargain-hunting by investors hopeful that efforts to shore up confidence would avert a wider financial crisis. The S&P 500 regional banks index (.SPLRCBNKS) rebounded 1.4%, leaving it with a 26% loss over the past five sessions. Investors worry about the health of smaller banks, the prospect of tighter regulation and authorities' preference for protecting depositors before shareholders. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsINVESTIGATIONSAs markets adjusted to the impact of SVB's collapse, regulars turned their focus to the circumstances around the bank's collapse. Officials are also examining stock sales by officers of SVB Financial Group, which owned the bank, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

That works out to a 31.2% return on total average short interest of $973.6 billion throughout the year, according to S3 Partners. Stanphyl Capital portfolio manager Mark Spiegel, who has been short Tesla "constantly, in varying size" since 2014, said a bet against Tesla was his fund's most profitable individual short position this year. While higher interest rates have punished growth stocks, some investors believe Tesla CEO Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter is diverting his time running the electric car company. Long-short hedge funds, which bet on stock prices rising or falling, posted a 9.7% loss through November, according to data provider HFR. Charles Lemonides, portfolio manager at $226 billion hedge fund ValueWorks LLC, believes tight monetary policy will weigh on risk appetite next year.

A "substantial majority" of policymakers agreed it would "likely soon be appropriate" to slow the pace of interest rate hikes, the minutes showed. Since the Fed's last meeting on Nov. 1-2, investors have been more optimistic that price pressures have started to ease, meaning smaller rate hikes could curtail inflation. Heavyweight stocks, including Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Meta Platforms Inc (META.O), rose 1.00% and 0.72%, respectively. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.97-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.61-to-1 ratio favored advancers. The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 97 new highs and 126 new lows.

☆ SoftBank's View just narrowly escaped running out of money. Here's how it went from investor darling to one of the worst SPAC deals ever.
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-08 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | Aaron Weinman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The California glassmaker announced on October 27 that it raised $200 million in convertible senior notes due in 2027. View has struggled since going public less than two years ago via SPAC, and was nearly delisted by the New York Stock Exchange for failing to file numerous financial statements. For those looking from the outside, View's troubles came on suddenly, but insiders said the company burned cash and struggled with product failures for years. Insider spoke with 27 former employees and two current employees across View's finance, sales, marketing, factory-operations, engineering, recruiting, and IT departments. "He's always been able to pull a rabbit out of a hat when it comes to procuring more money for the company," one banker familiar with View said.

Search resuls for: "Anson Funds"

17 mentions found