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☆ Activist Starboard takes a stake in Vertiv, and an opportunity to boost margins is in sight
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Activist Commentary: Starboard is a very successful activist investor and has extensive experience helping companies focus on operational efficiency and margin improvement. Starboard sees Vertiv as a great business in a solid industry with secular tailwinds – more data is being generated every day requiring more data centers. After going public, Vertiv delivered solid results, which allowed management to continue to focus on revenue growth, rather than operating margins. This is a typical situation for Starboard: a private company CEO running a public company like a private company leading to underperforming operating margins. Both Starboard and Vertiv seem to be on the same page.

☆ Truth Social merger partner's shares slip after Trump weighs in on Elon Musk Twitter deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Jack Stebbins | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. , the blank check company set to take Trump Media and Technology Group and its Truth Social platform public, slipped Friday as Elon Musk took the reins at Twitter. The former president had around 88 million followers on Twitter, but he's amassed only 4.37 million on Truth Social. Barring legal intervention, Trump Media currently has until December to complete the merger with DWAC and go public. Trump posted on Truth Social Friday praising Musk's acquisition, but also touting his own platform. "TRUTH SOCIAL has become somewhat a phenomena.

[1/2] The Truth social network logo is seen displayed behind a woman holding a smartphone in this picture illustration taken February 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationOct 28 (Reuters) - Ever since former U.S. President Donald Trump launched a new media company aimed at rivaling Twitter, there has been a mystery over who provided the money. TMTG launched Truth Social in February in the Apple App Store and in Google’s Play Store in October. Truth Social has been downloaded 2.9 million times across both platforms, according to market tracker Appfigures. Trump had 4.37 million followers on Truth Social as of Oct. 27, compared to the more than 88 million followers he had on Twitter when the platform permanently suspended him.

[1/2] The Truth social network logo is seen displayed behind a woman holding a smartphone in this picture illustration taken February 21, 2022. The involvement of the previously unnamed financial backers of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) – parent company of social media app Truth Social – shows how Trump tapped his political supporters to launch an outlet aimed at political conservatives and libertarians after he was banned from Twitter and Facebook following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on Congress. TMTG launched Truth Social in February in the Apple App Store and in Google’s Play Store in October. Truth Social has been downloaded 2.9 million times across both platforms, according to market tracker Appfigures. Trump had 4.37 million followers on Truth Social as of Oct. 27, compared to the more than 88 million followers he had on Twitter when the platform permanently suspended him.

☆ Cramer's lightning round: Stay with Vertex Pharmaceuticals
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Loading chart...Warner Bros Discovery Inc : "I need to see them make some money. I'm not recommending stocks that are losing money." Loading chart...Getty Images Holdings Inc : "I think down here at $4, I'm not a SPAC guy, okay, but this one may be actually worth looking at." Loading chart...Cleveland-Cliffs Inc : "I continue to prefer Nucor . Loading chart...Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc : "I say stay with it, I think it's a really, really well-run company."

☆ Electric-truck maker Nikola lays off 15% of Romeo Power's workforce in post-$144 million acquisition restructuring
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Electric truck startup Nikola just bought battery firm Romeo Power for $144 million. Just weeks after completing its $144 million acquisition of Romeo Power, Nikola Motors laid off 45 employees of the young battery firm, the company confirmed to Insider. Cypress, California-based Romeo Power is a fledgling battery pack maker that went public via SPAC in December 2020. The Romeo employees whom Nikola later let go included nine corporate executives serving in what Brady called "duplicative roles." Are you a current or former Nikola or Romeo Power employee?

☆ Bitcoin miner Core Scientific issues bankruptcy warning and the stock is down 97% for the year
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Core Scientific, one of the largest publicly traded crypto mining companies in the U.S., raised the possibility of bankruptcy in a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the event of a bankruptcy, Core says that holders of its common stock could suffer "a total loss of their investment." Core Scientific mines for proof-of-work cryptocurrencies like bitcoin . Core, which primarily mints bitcoin, has seen the price of the token drop from an all-time high above $69,000 in Nov. 2021, to around $20,500. The Austin, Texas-based miner, which has operations in North Dakota, North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky, says that it may "seek alternative sources of equity or debt financing."

☆ Harley profit rises as pent-up demand fuels improved shipments
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 26 (Reuters) - Harley-Davidson Inc (HOG.N) reported a 60% jump in quarterly profit on Wednesday as higher shipments and strong pricing allowed the 119-year-old motorcycle maker to navigate cost inflation. Harley has doubled down on its production targets to make up for a two-week shutdown that suspended bike shipments in mid-May. Last month, the company spun off its electric motorcycle division in a SPAC deal and retained a 74% stake in the newly listed firm. Net profit rose to $261 million, or $1.78 per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 25, from $163 million, or $1.05 per share, a year earlier. Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj KalluvilaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Chamath Palihapitiya blames the Fed for 'perverted' market conditions that benefitted him
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Billionaire investor and so-called SPAC King Chamath Palihapitiya said the zero interest rates the Federal Reserve allowed to persist for years created the "perverted" market conditions he benefited from at the height of the pandemic. "We are learning what went wrong, which is that we had a decade-plus of zero interest rates," Palihapitiya said of the market. Low interest rates mean lower returns on savings accounts, which can encourage more spending in the economy, which can be a boon for high-growth assets. So on the same way that I sort of blame Jay Powell for zero interest rates, I think I massively benefitted from Powell, and Bernanke and Janet Yellen before," he said, referencing past Fed chairs. WATCH: Chamath Palihapitiya unwinds two SPACs, cites high valuations and market volatility

☆ Archer Aviation plans to build 250 air taxis in 2025
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Aishwarya Nair | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Adam Goldstein (R) and Brett Adcock, co-founders and co-CEOs of flying taxi company Archer Aviation, pose for a picture as they rehearse for the unveiling of their all-electric aircraft from a facility in Hawthorne, California, U.S. June 8, 2021. REUTERS/Mike BlakeOct 24 (Reuters) - Archer Aviation Inc (ACHR.N) said it aims to make about 250 battery-electric air taxis in 2025 and scale up production in the following years, after setting a goal of getting its aircraft certified by the end of 2024. "In our first year, we will build 250 aircraft, our second year will build 500 aircraft, our third year will build 650 aircraft and then we scale it up to around 2,000 aircraft per year," CEO Adam Goldstein told Reuters in an interview. Archer aims to certify its pilot-plus-four-passenger aircraft, 'Midnight', by end-2024, though the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is still in the process of drawing up certification rules for these futuristic aircraft. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"In terms of aircraft production, we have estimated in our Archer model ~20 units in 2025," JPM analyst Bill Peterson said.

☆ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene suffers large financial loss one year after buying stock in a company that's trying to merge with Trump's 'Truth Social' platform
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

One year ago, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene invested between $15,001 and $50,000 in a SPAC that wants to merge with Trump's "Truth Social" platform. It's been a tumultuous year for Truth Social and Digital World Acquisition Corp. since Greene and Bucshon invested. Trump — still banned from Twitter — uses Truth Social to post statements and screeds, and Google this month added the Truth Social app to its Google Play Store. But Truth Social usage is underwhelming, even after an uptick in downloads following the FBI's raid in August on Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. An Insider analysis previously found Perry Greene invested hundreds of thousands into corporations that openly champion social causes Marjorie Taylor Greene opposes.

☆ The major space players and diverging strategies in the race to connect your smartphone via satellites
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

It's long been a dream of satellite communications visionaries, but bulky, specialized and typically expensive satellite phones fell short of mass appeal. While SpaceX has launched more than 3,000 first generation satellites so far, adding a direct-to-phone service will require thousands more. Private venture Lynk Global likewise aims to provide a cell tower in space from satellites, with plans for a constellation of several thousand in a few years. And while some build out satellite networks, other major players are eyeing Earth-bound innovations, with systems dependent on a specialized antenna in phones. In partnership with Globalstar , the feature allows users to send compressed text messages from iPhone 14s via satellites.

☆ Grindr Public Listing Can’t Keep It Casual
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Laura Forman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Investors will soon be able to hook up with the world’s most-popular gay-dating platform. A merger with the special-purpose acquisition company Tiga Acquisition, announced in May, values Grindr at $2.1 billion and is expected to close by the end of the year. Grindr’s popularity relative to its total market size is impressive. A study commissioned by Grindr estimates the size of the LGBTQ+ population as of 2021 was just about 7% of the global tally. Meanwhile, Grindr had amassed 601,000 paying users as of last year, according to its registration filing, about 40% of the number of paying users of Bumble , the No.

☆ Investing in Space: Cash crunch
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter offers a view into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. We're now in the final quarter of the year, and for several space companies, it's survival time. They weren't proven businesses and the tide went out," a banker familiar with the sector told me about the environment for space stocks. While not a definitive metric, the cash burn rates of de-SPAC space companies – from AST SpaceMobile to Redwire and more – give a window into the urgency of the situation. Private space companies are feeling the pinch as well.

☆ Payments tech firm Super Apps to list in U.S. via $1.1 bln SPAC deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Makiko Yamazaki | David Carnevali | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Oct 19 (Reuters) - Super Apps Holdings said on Wednesday it would go public in the United States through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, in a deal that values the Malaysian payments technology firm at $1.1 billion. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini GanguliOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ SPAC liquidations top $12 billion this year as sponsors grapple with tough market, new buyback tax
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Chamath Palihapitiya, Social Capital Founder and CEO CNBCA new buyback tax has motivated more and more SPAC sponsors to close up shop before the year-end, adding another headwind to the blank-check space already roiled by a tough market environment. A total of 27 SPAC deals, worth $12.8 billion, have been liquidated this year, according to data from SPAC Research. Under the new provision in the Inflation Reduction Act, SPAC sponsors could face a 1% exercise tax if they return cash to investors starting in 2023. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards"Market condition is the driving factor, and apart from that, there is the 1% exercise tax," said Melanie Chen, a partner at UHY LLP. There are still more than 450 deals on the market for a merger target ahead of their 2023 deadlines, according to SPAC Research.

☆ BP Bets Big on Biofuel
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Rochelle Toplensky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BP $4.1 billion biofuel deal makes strategic sense, but it comes at a SPAC-tacular price. The British oil-and-gas giant is buying Archaea Energy a leading U.S. producer of so-called renewable natural gas, a greener version of the fuel because it is recovered from waste rather than pumped out of the ground. The acquisition adds to BP’s new-energy business and there could be synergies in the two companies’ complementary skills—energy trading in BP’s case and gas production in Archaea’s.

☆ EV Charging Still Has Speed Bumps Ahead
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Jinjoo Lee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

America’s EV-charging industry filled up on a fair share of government spending commitments in the past year. Yet after starting their public market debuts with a bang in 2021—many through mergers with special-purpose acquisition companies—they have lost their spark, possibly offering a more accessible price point for investors looking for exposure to electric-vehicle industry growth. ChargePoint Holdings trades at $12.59 a share, a far cry from the $30.11 price tag it commanded shortly after its SPAC merger closing. EVgo goes for around $7.04 per share; less than half of what it fetched following the close of its SPAC merger. And Volta which traded for roughly $9 a share following its public-market debut, is now $0.99 per share.

☆ FlyExclusive to Go Public Through $600 Million SPAC Merger
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Lauren Thomas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

On-demand private-jet provider flyExclusive has struck a deal to go public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company that would value the combined entity at $600 million. The Kinston, N.C., business is set to merge with EG Acquisition a SPAC led by Gregg Hymowitz, chairman and chief executive of investment firm EnTrust Global, executives with the companies said. The SPAC, which is also backed by Gary Fegel’s private-investment platform GMF Capital, raised $225 million through an initial public offering in late May of 2021.

CNN —A former executive at Donald Trump’s media company claims the former President retaliated against a board member who refused to give Melania Trump shares of the company, according to a report from The Washington Post. Wilkerson told the Post that Litinsky believes his ouster was retribution for his failure to cede his shares to Melania Trump. Wilkerson told the Post that Trump refused to put any of his own money into the company despite demanding to own 90% of its shares. A liquidation would have also threatened the additional $1 billion the Trump media company has raised. Digital World shares fell 8% on Monday to $16.11, leaving them down nearly 70% so far this year.

☆ The stock market crash is exposing Wall Street's biggest charlatans
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Linette Lopez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

In a market bubble, it's easy to confuse opportunity for genius. While many of these new investors invested wisely, a pack of them got swept up in a social-media-driven market mania. For the past decade-plus, the stock market loved this. It's really never a good sign when you see celebrities hanging around the stock market, and during the bubble they were everywhere, pumping crypto and investing in SPACs. Good information about the stock market does not come easy, and Gordon Gekko was right to say that if you want a friend on Wall Street, you should buy a dog.

☆ SPAC Sponsors Were Winners Even on Losers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Eliot Brown | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Since AEye went public by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company in August 2021, shareholders have had a rough go. The laser-technology company’s stock is down over 90% in the midst of missed revenue projections and the broader rout in growth stocks. The company that ran the SPAC has fared far better. The financial-services firm Cantor Fitzgerald LP invested less than $10 million in the deal, but has since reaped at least $35 million in fees related to the listing, share sales and the value of remaining holdings, securities filings show.

Former President Donald Trump's media company fired an executive Thursday after he shared internal documents from a Securities and Exchange Commission whistleblower complaint with The Washington Post and spoke with the newspaper, the news outlet reported Saturday. In the article, he also described strife within Trump Media, including tension with CEO Devin Nunes, who, as a Republican congressman, was one of Trump's most loyal defenders. Digital World Acquisition Corp. , the SPAC seeking to take the media company public, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump Media fired Wilkerson for making "unauthorized disclosures" to the Post, the newspaper said. The report comes as DWAC pushes its shareholders to vote to delay its planned merger with Trump Media, which was announced last year.

☆ Dish Network chairman-backed SPAC in talks to buy wireless business unit
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 12 (Reuters) - Blank-check firm CONX Corp (CONX.O), backed by Dish Network Corp (DISH.O) Chairman Charles Ergen, said on Wednesday it has begun preliminary discussions to acquire Dish's retail wireless unit, Boost Mobile. Dish confirmed that it was in preliminary talks with CONX. Dish acquired Boost Mobile in 2020 as part of the T-Mobile (TMUS.O) and Sprint merger after the companies agreed to divest some assets including some wireless spectrum to create a new wireless competitor. read moreCONX also asked its stockholders to vote in favor of a proposal to extend the date by which it must complete a business combination with Boost Mobile from Nov. 3, 2022 to June 3, 2023. A special meeting of its stockholders will be held on Oct. 31, it added.

☆ Trump SPAC stock jumps after Google adds Truth Social to Play Store
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Jack Stebbins | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Truth social network logo is seen displayed behind a woman holding a smartphone in this picture illustration taken February 21, 2022. Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp ., the company aiming to take former President Donald Trump's media company public, jumped during after-hours trading after Google added the Truth Social app to its Play Store. Google reinstated Parler, a platform similar to Truth Social, to the Play Store in September after the app was substantially modified to comply with Google's policies. DWAC's private investors were set to provide $1 billion to Trump Media upon the merger's completion. Meanwhile, a whistleblower from within Trump Media, William Wilkerson, has provided the SEC with internal documents.

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