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☆ Take a Look at Some of the Best Super Bowl Ads Ahead of the Big Game
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul return as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman in one of the much anticipated Super Bowl commercials. This year some advertisers have released what appear to be full-length Super Bowl commercials early, posting them to social media and YouTube. The Super Bowl has long been a kind of, well, Super Bowl for advertisers, leading companies to go bigger every year with their ads. The commercial pokes fun at corporate "rock stars" by splicing real rock and heavy metal icons into everyday office situations. Diddy does hitsA commercial released this week shows musician Diddy in a meeting with marketers from Uber who are asking him to write a song for the Uber One membership service.

☆ We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck that edtech startup Ignite! Reading used to raise $10 million from Rethink and Citadel founder Ken Griffin
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

So far, Ignite says students have learned to read 2.4 times faster than before with its lesson plan. Reading, a virtual tutoring startup that helps children from grades K-8 learn how to read through targeted, one-on-one sessions with an online tutor. While other tutoring companies like Varsity Tutors and GoStudent offer online tutoring and reading assistance, Ignite! Reading focuses specifically on teaching children the processes of reading and comprehension, with a main goal of reaching 1st grade students. Reading, tutors meet with students every day one on one virtually for 15 minutes a day, with a total teaching time of 75 minutes a week.

☆ Private equity giants are still racing to fill 2024 associate seats. See 8 firms — from Carlyle to Bain Capital — that have been recruiting first-year investment bankers for jobs that won't start for
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Emmalyse Brownstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Last year's on-cycle recruiting kicked off earlier than ever, and many junior bankers weren't ready. In an effort to win the war for talent that was raging last year, private equity firms pushed their recruiting efforts earlier than in ever— to late summer. To be sure, not all private equity firms kicked off on-cycle recruiting in August. It usually involves an intense week-long period (although sometimes shorter or longer) where private equity firms rush in to snag the top talent. The bottom line shows the month and year analysts started their roles, and the yellow line indicated when on-cycle recruiting began that season.

☆ The private equity industry is racing to fill 2024 associate roles after last year's hyper competitive hiring tactics backfired
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Emmalyse Brownstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

FRANKFURT, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Hellman & Friedman (H&F) is weighing options for its Italian cloud software maker TeamSystem, a business which could be valued at several billion euros, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Private equity investors are showing interest in TeamSystem, which may also attract sovereign wealth funds, they said. Hellman & Friedman acquired TeamSystem in 2016 and in 2021 moved the company from one of its funds to another. TeamSystem, which was founded in 1979, generated revenue of 545 million euros in 2021, while posting adjusted core earnings of around 235 million euros, according to company results on its website. While a decision on its valuation is still in flux, that could mean more than 6 billion euros including debt, the person said.

☆ Zendesk goes private in $10 bln deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

As part of the deal, Zendesk shareholders received $77.50 per share in cash. Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) had backed the deal, which Zendesk shareholders approved in September. Jana had pushed for the sale after San Francisco-based Zendesk failed to buy SurveyMonkey parent Momentive Global Inc (MNTV.O) in a $3.9 billion deal. The Momentive deal fell through after it was rejected by Zendesk shareholders. In August, Light Street Capital Management, which manages funds that own more than 2% of Zendesk, said it would vote against the private equity deal and proposed that Zendesk remain a standalone public company and find a new top boss.

☆ These 16 cloud-software companies could be acquired by tech giants or private equity as the economy sours, according to RBC analysts
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Here are the 16 software firms RBC analysts say are M&A targets for tech giants and private equity. More software M&A is in the forecast as valuations and stock prices continue to drop — and private companies aren't the only ones likely to get gobbled up. Additionally, private-equity firms will likely continue snapping up public cloud-software companies and taking them private while prices are low, according to analysts. "In other words, we believe larger scale debt-financed private-equity takeouts could be unlikely in the near-term," RBC analysts wrote. Here are the 16 software firms that are M&A targets, according to RBC analysts:

☆ Activist investor Starboard has sizable stake in Splunk
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 16 (Reuters) - Activist investor Starboard Value LP has a nearly 5% stake in Splunk Inc (SPLK.O) and plans to push the software maker to take steps that would boost its share price, a source familiar with the matter said. Starboard and Splunk did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterLast week, Splunk added two directors to its board, including a partner from Hellman & Friedman. The private-equity firm owns about 7.8% stake in the software maker. Last month, the activist hedge fund disclosed its stake in website development platform Wix, supporting Wix's bid to become profitable.

☆ Alzheimer's disease, retirement 'pacts,' and serving until you're 104 years old: Inside the federal judiciary's reckoning with age
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | Camila Dechalus | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +23 min

She was nearly two decades older than the median age — 68 — for all federal judges, according to an Insider analysis. More than a century later, in the 1920s, future Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes argued for a mandatory retirement age. In 1954, the Senate passed a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment that'd require retirement at age 75 for federal judges. A recent poll by Insider and Morning Consult found that 71% of 2,210 respondents said the federal judiciary should have a mandatory retirement age. For Scheindlin, the former federal judge in Manhattan, Weinstein was an example of an older judge who was "terrific to his last day."

☆ Zendesk shareholders vote in favor of $10.2 bln go-private deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterZendesk logo is seen in this illustration taken June 27, 2022. read moreThe firm said that the deal would close in the fourth quarter of the year. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterProxy firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) backed the deal and warned that there would be "significant downside risk" if Zendesk shareholders failed to approve it. read moreEarlier this month, Zendesk said that macroeconomic conditions and business momentum have continued to weaken since the go-private deal announcement in late-June from the consortium. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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