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☆ How lip fillers and laser hair removal are plumping up private equity
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Sixth Street, Blackstone, and Ares have backed providers of treatments like laser hair removal. Laser hair removal, body contouring, filler injections — it's not just TikTok and Instagram where people are talking about their latest treatments. The space is another consumer-focused vertical, like dentistry and dermatology, that private equity firms, big and small, are aggressively pushing into. Christian Karavolas, who owns laser hair removal specialist Romeo & Juliette in New York City, said he's turned away offers by private equity investors. Laser hair removal, for instance, isn't considered a medical procedure in every state.

Persons: Ares, It's, Levine, Leonard Green, Blackstone, Levine Leichtman, Christian Karavolas, Juliette, he's, Karavolas, Alex Thiersch, Thiersch, Chanel, Dior, David Yurman, Louis Vuitton, isn't, Sevana Petrosian, Eva Longoria Bastón, SEV, Andrew Schwartz, Schwartz, Heravi Organizations: Sixth, Blackstone, Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, Leonard Green & Partners, Boston Consulting, Industry, KKR, SkinSpirit, Walmart, ORIX Venture Finance, TPG, General Atlantic, Wax Center, Med Spa Association, Getty, Consumers Locations: Blackstone, Milan, LaserAway, California, New York City, H.I.G, Manhattan, Burbank , California

NEW YORK, July 25 (Reuters) - Joe Lewis, the British billionaire and owner of the Tottenham Hotspur soccer team, has been criminally charged in New York for orchestrating a "brazen" insider trading scheme. Joe Lewis is a wealthy man," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a video on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter. Insider trading has long been a focus of Williams' office, dating to 2009 when a crackdown began under one of his predecessors, Preet Bharara. Prosecutors said that in some insider trading cases, Lewis lent money to recipients of his tips, including in Oct. 2019 when he wired $1 million to two pilots so they could buy more Mirati shares. Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Chris Reese and Lincoln Feast.

Persons: Joe Lewis, Lewis, Damian Williams, " Williams, Williams, Preet Bharara, Mirati, Boss, Marty, JPMorgan Chase, Jonathan Stempel, Luc Cohen, Chris Reese, Lincoln Organizations: YORK, Tottenham Hotspur, Prosecutors, U.S, Tavistock Group, Forbes, Therapeutics, Biosciences, Australian Agricultural, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, JPMorgan, Thomson Locations: New York, Tavistock, Bear Stearns

☆ Billionaire Joe Lewis has been charged with insider trading, with prosecutors saying he helped personal pilots, assistants, and romantic partners make 'millions'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tottenham Hotspur owner Joe Lewis has been charged by federal prosecutors with insider trading. The British billionaire passed information to his pilots, assistants, and romantic partners, an indictment says. In one case cited, Lewis is said to have lent his pilots $500,000 each to buy stock before insider information became public. British billionaire Joe Lewis has been charged by federal prosecutors with insider trading, with prosecutors saying that he passed information to personal pilots, assistants, romantic partners, and a friend he played poker with. According to the indictment, Lewis even gave his pilots $500,000 each in short-term loans so that they could buy stock before the news became public.

Persons: Joe Lewis, Lewis, Damian Williams, Williams, David M, Zornow, Mr, Mirati, couldn't Organizations: Tottenham Hotspur, Morning, Court, Southern, of, US, Bloomberg, Tavistock Group, English, Solid Biosciences, Australian Agricultural Company Locations: of New York, Bahamas, Argentina, Queensland, Tavistock, Mirati

☆ Analysis: Microsoft tests the limits of Britain's antitrust authority
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Paul Sandle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The European Union approved the deal in May, when it accepted commitments to license games to rival platforms. At the same time, Microsoft offered a "detailed and complex" new proposal to the CMA, prompting the regulator to take the unprecedented step of reopening talks. The CMA said it was awaiting further Microsoft submissions on what had changed and how it would restructure the transaction. "We will then consider whether the proposals create a new merger situation and address the CMA's competition concerns," a spokesperson said on Tuesday. CLOSED FOR BUSINESSAfter the CMA block, Microsoft thundered that Britain was closed for business; exactly what the government did not want to hear as it tries to reignite the economy after the uncertainty sparked by Brexit.

Persons: we've, Becket McGrath, they're, Brexit, Tom Smith, Brad Smith, Jeremy Hunt, Meta, Smith, Marcus Smith, Gareth Mills, Charles Russell Speechlys, Sam Tobin, James Davey, Kate Holton, Sharon Singleton Organizations: CMA, Microsoft, U.S, Activision Blizzard, Markets Authority, Xbox, FTC, Reuters, European Union, Activision, CAT, Euclid Law, Geradin Partners, Brexit, Britain's, Facebook, Meta, Markets Unit, Thomson Locations: U.S, Barcelona, Brexit, London, Brussels, British, United States, Britain

☆ BlackRock to expand proxy voting choice to retail ETF investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Ross Kerber | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FILE PHOTO: The BlackRock logo is pictured outside their headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., May 25, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo(Reuters) - The world’s top asset manager BlackRock said it will offer proxy voting choices to U.S. retail investors of its biggest exchange-traded fund, expanding a strategy that could blunt criticism of how the firm considers environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. Investors will not be able to specify votes in specific company elections. While many clients will rely on the votes BlackRock will continue to cast, “consistent with our fiduciary duty as an investment manager, others want the choice to participate in proxy voting more directly,” said Joud Abdel Majeid, Global Head of BlackRock Investment Stewardship, in a statement. Rivals including State Street and Vanguard have their own programs to devolve proxy voting rights.

Persons: Carlo Allegri, BlackRock, Glass, ”, Joud Abdel Majeid Organizations: REUTERS, BlackRock, New, Services, Glass Lewis, managements, Investment, Rivals, State, Vanguard, Republican Locations: BlackRock, Manhattan, New York City , New York, U.S, New York, Republican U.S

☆ Opinion | Weighing the Morality of Giving Ukraine Cluster Munitions
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

To the Editor:Re “The Flawed Moral Logic of Sending Cluster Munitions to Ukraine” (editorial, July 11):Long may your civilized arguments, generated from your safe boardrooms, reign in the intellectual zone of a moral high ground, even as the good people of Ukraine die daily under the brutal and bloody existential terror of Russian aggression. But in the real world of territorial aggression, defense is a reality that supersedes such hermetically crafted moral arguments. Ukraine must be given latitude to protect and defend itself against Russian aggression. Were Russia to invade Manhattan, it would be interesting to see if such cool moral high ground would be maintained. Douglas KnehansCincinnatiTo the Editor:If we put as much effort into creating peace as is put into weapons procurement, perhaps we could encourage de-escalation, negotiation and resolution.

Persons: Ukraine ”, Douglas Knehans Organizations: Munitions Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Manhattan, Douglas Knehans Cincinnati

☆ Gen X Is in Charge. Don’t Make a Big Deal About It.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Emma Goldberg | More About Emma Goldberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It’s Gen X’s moment, that generation most known for being crowded out of sweeping cultural age analyses by millennials on one end and boomers on the other. Or as Patton Oswalt, a Gen X comedian, put it: “Gen X is trending, which probably means that, uh … eh, whatever. People are far more complicated than the year they were born — in Gen X’s case, some time between 1965 and 1980. Take Darby Equipment, a manufacturing company in Tulsa, where remote flexibility for years seemed like an alien concept. The former chief executive, Bob Darby, reigned the company, a family business, with a commitment to an in-person regimen.

Persons: —, millennials, Patton Oswalt, X’s, Darby, Bob Darby Locations: Tulsa

☆ Google is having productive talks with the EU on A.I. regulation, cloud boss says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Kurian said that Google is working on technologies to ensure that people can distinguish between human and AI generated content. Generative AI models are trained on huge sets of publicly available internet data, much of which is copyright-protected. The law, known as the EU AI Act, includes provisions to ensure the training data for generative AI tools doesn't violate copyright laws. "We have lots of European customers building generative AI apps using our platform," Kurian said. What generative AI is capable of, from producing music lyrics to generating code, has wowed academics and boardrooms.

Persons: Thomas Kurian, Kurian, wouldn't Organizations: Google, European Union, CNBC, EU Locations: European, London

The central bank's first female governor, Erkan is also its fifth chief in four years, underlining the challenge she may face delivering a lasting policy turnaround after Erdogan has all but stamped out the bank's independence in recent years. Analysts now expect Turkey's central bank to hike interest rates to between 20% and 25% from 8.5% as soon as this month. ORTHODOX FINANCE MINISTERErdogan, a self-proclaimed "enemy" of interest rates, has pressed the central bank to deliver stimulus in recent years and has been quick to replace its governor. The central bank slashed its policy rate to 8.5% from 19% in 2021, leaving real rates deeply negative and the lira largely managed by dozens of regulations covering credit and foreign exchange. But the last central bank governor to raise rates, Naci Agbal, was fired in 2021 after less than five months on the job.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Hafize Gaye Erkan, Goldman Sachs, Erdogan's, Erdogan, Kavcioglu, Selva Demiralp, Mehmet Simsek, Simsek, Erkan, Naci Agbal, Marsh, Kathryn Wylde, Wylde, Ali Kucukgocment, Jonathan Spicer, Daren Butler, Cynthia Osterman, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Lira, First Republic Bank, Official Gazette, Koc University, U.S . Federal Reserve, Princeton University, First, JPMorgan, Analysts, FINANCE, Greystone, Partnership, New, Thomson Locations: ISTANBUL, United States, unorthodoxy, Erkan, U.S, New York City

PinnedThe PGA Tour and LIV Golf, the insurgent league bankrolled by billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, said on Tuesday that they had agreed to a merger, ending a bitter and costly fight for supremacy of men’s professional golf that had divided top players, everyday fans and corporate sponsors. Now, by merging with the PGA Tour, it has gained a foothold that guarantees it outsize influence in the game’s future. The PIF also will have right of first refusal on new investments in the merged tour, according to the statement announcing the merger. “Going forward, PIF will have the exclusive right to further invest in the new entity, including a right of first refusal on any capital that may be invested in the new entity, including into the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour.” The PGA Tour will appoint a majority of the board, the statement said, and hold a majority voting interest in the combined entity. In a memorandum to PGA Tour players on Tuesday, Monahan said the wealth fund would have a minority position in the new for-profit company that will control men’s golf.

Persons: LIV Golf, bankrolling LIV, “, PIF, LIV, Jay Monahan, we’ve, LIV . Monahan, Yasir al, Monahan, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, LIV signees, Graeme McDowell, “ It’s, ” Organizations: PGA, Premier League soccer, Public Investment Fund, PGA Tour, ”, Public Investment, U.S Locations: Saudi, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

☆ Ranked: The 14 wildest past jobs of presidents, popes and prime ministers. And Zelenskyy's isn't even the strangest.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Next time you're sweeping the floor on a long shift, remember Pope Francis once did the same thing. Insider looked into the former lives of a handful of world leaders with unconventional pasts. Top editors give you the stories you want — delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Loading Something is loading. But on their way to high office, a handful of world leaders have tasted more interesting lives across a variety of fields — whether it's hawking goods, driving buses, or recording a funk album.

Persons: Pope Francis, Melania, — Organizations: Service

☆ Erdogan considering Erkan as Turkey cenbank chief, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Orhan Coskun | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Erkan met with Mehmet Simsek, Turkey's newly-appointed treasury and finance minister, in Ankara on Monday, one of the sources said. The two sources told Reuters she is set to meet Erdogan soon to discuss the possible role. Turkey's policy rate was cut to 8.5% from 19% in 2021, setting off a historic currency crash in late 2021. Erkan would be the country's fifth central bank chief in four years. The central bank has been the linchpin of Erdogan's programme of monetary stimulus and targeted credit to boost economic growth, exports and investments.

Persons: Erdogan, Tayyip Erdogan, Hafize Gaye Erkan, Erkan, Mehmet Simsek, Sahap Kavcioglu, Goldman Sachs, Simsek, Kathryn Wylde, Wylde, Naci Agbal, Marsh, Jonathan Spicer, Daren Butler, Angus MacSwan, Emelia Organizations: Reuters, First Republic Bank, Treasury, Ivy League, Princeton, New, First, JPMorgan, Greystone, Thomson Locations: Turkey, ANKARA, United States, Ankara, New York City, U.S

☆ Facebook-Giphy sale shows how fear of regulators is slowing M&A market
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri touted Giphy's "amazing team" and "expressive" userbase, and stressed Giphy's user data was "not the motivation." The sale was forced by the U.K.'s antitrust regulator, which ruled Meta's acquisition posed a risk to the social media and advertising markets. Jonathan Kanter, who helms the Department of Justice's Antitrust Unit, and Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission's chair, have been given wide latitude by President Joe Biden to pursue potentially anticompetitive behavior. Prior to his DOJ posting, Kanter worked in private practice, advising directors and executives on potential deals and attendant regulatory pitfalls. Van Grack, the former chief of the DOJ's Foreign Agent Registration Act unit, noted regulatory scrutiny was increasing for years prior to the current administration.

☆ The China Hawk in Washington Rattling Corporate Boardrooms
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( James T. Areddy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/thechinahawkin-washington-rattling-corporate-boardrooms-a9c10117

☆ Ron DeSantis: What to expect from his presidential campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Ron DeSantis is expected to make his presidential campaign official next week. WOLF: More than any other Republican, DeSantis has generated national media scrutiny and buzz that he could be the candidate best positioned to challenge Trump. Are he and his advisers concerned that all that attention has not translated to a stronger position in GOP primary polls? CONTORNO: As we previously reported several months ago, DeSantis’ political operation believes he has the money and the name recognition to launch a national campaign out of the gate. CONTORNO: Some of Trump’s top advisers once ran DeSantis’ political operation, and several former Trump operatives and donors are now in DeSantis’ camp, so the sniping is already becoming pronounced.

☆ Premarket stocks: Senators blame excessive CEO pay for regional bank failures
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Joseph DePaolo, the former CEO of Signature Bank, received about $8.6 million. Becker said his cash and stock bonuses were “predetermined” and that he wasn’t aware of when they would be paid out. “If you’d bought those hedges [against Treasuries purchased by the bank], that would have cut into your profits, wouldn’t it? “And when the banks blow up, Mr. Becker and Mr. Shay get to keep all the money. And that is just plain wrong.”ChatGPT goes to WashingtonOpenAI CEO Sam Altman also made his way to the Senate on Tuesday.

☆ Vivek Ramaswamy's firm courts GOP officials as he pushes businesses to stay out of politics
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Scott Olson | Getty ImagesRepublican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy built his White House bid around urging companies to stay out of politics. The messages show Ramaswamy's firm actively engaged with GOP state leaders who have defended the fossil fuel industry and criticized environmentally conscious investment standards. Ramaswamy on Thursday defended the firm's engagement with GOP officials, saying bigger firms BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street have conducted similar practices with state officials across the country. Strive has become one of the more vocal opponents of ESG investing and has gained enough notoriety to challenge the likes of fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil . Ron DeSantis, have often attacked ESG investing standards and corporations that support social causes — an increasingly common refrain within the GOP.

☆ Opinion | The Harry Belafonte Speech That Changed My Life
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Charles M. Blow | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the summer of 2013, I participated in a daylong series of talks at the Ford Foundation in Midtown Manhattan. The event, the Road Ahead for Civil Rights: Courting Change, was meant to mark the semicentennial of the civil rights movement. My panel was in the morning, but I stayed for the lunch session because Harry Belafonte was participating in it, along with the activist Dolores Huerta. I didn’t know the Belafonte my parents knew, the young, handsome calypso singer. But there were no notes that I could see; we were witnessing the brilliance of Belafonte in real time.

Layoffs and fights over employees' work-from-home desires are challenging HR pros in new ways. Insider put out a call for talent heads navigating the changing norms around workplace culture. Meanwhile, many employees and the corporate leaders who oversee them are engaged in a tug-of-war over work-from-home policies. We asked questions about how standout HR leaders are navigating economic uncertainty, how they're supporting efforts around diversity, equity, and inclusion, and how they might be reimagining work. Listed in alphabetical order based on last name, here are 14 HR leaders making waves.

☆ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addresses letter from Musk and other tech leaders calling for A.I. pause
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Altman made the remarks during a Thursday video appearance at an MIT event that discussed business and AI. OpenAI makes ChatGPT, an AI bot that can create human-like responses to questions asked by a user. GPT technology underpins Microsoft 's Bing AI chatbot, and prompted a flurry of AI investment. Earlier this year, Altman acknowledged that AI technology made him a "little bit scared." Questions about safe and ethical AI use have come up at the White House, on Capitol Hill, and in boardrooms across America.

NEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters) - Private equity firm KKR & Co Inc (KKR.N) has agreed to buy a significant stake in FGS Global in a deal that values the financial communications group at about $1.4 billion. As part of the deal, KKR will buy up a 30% stake from senior employees at FGS Global and its largest investors, including London-based advertising giant WPP Plc (WPP.L). WPP, which was founded by Martin Sorrell, will retain a majority stake in FGS Global. Existing investor Golden Gate Capital is selling its entire stake to KKR, which is investing in FGS Global through its $8-billion European Fund VI. FGS Global currently employs more than 1,200 people across 27 offices globally.

☆ Gavin Newsom heckles Ron DeSantis over latest Disney power struggle, on the Florida governor's home turf
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Gavin Newsom of California praised Walt Disney World for its "masterclass" of putting Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida "back in his place" after the company created a loophole to maintain control of its land. News broke this week that a law giving the Florida governor power to take over Disney World's governing board is likely toothless. Democratic governors frequently criticize DeSantis' policies in Florida, and DeSantis last month mocked people who do so yet "end up being spotted on the beach somewhere vacationing in Florida." As for a potential 2024 GOP nomination contest between the former president and DeSantis, Newsom predicted Trump would "clean his clock."

☆ Another cultish cost-saving formula gets off-track
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Jeffrey Goldfarb | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

Despite its multiple interpretations and approaches, success is widely gauged by a railway’s operating ratio, a simple measure of how much it spends to make a buck. Union Pacific’s peers improved similarly, indicative of the antiquated ways the industry had been deploying resources. Union Pacific also found itself unable to bring back enough furloughed workers in areas where they were most needed. “In a significant departure from the railroad industry's recent past, we deliberately moved away from a singular focus on operating ratio,” he told lawmakers. “If we wanted to drive [operating ratio] lower over time, we could,” the board wrote in a letter to shareholders in late 2021.

☆ Will the ‘Korea Discount’ for Stocks Finally Disappear?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Jacky Wong | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Korean stocks have long traded at a discount to other markets, despite a roster that includes some of the world’s largest and most important tech companies. More little dramas are unfolding across South Korean boardrooms as activist investors become more assertive after a long period of somnolence. That could help boost the country’s stocks, which have long traded at a discount to other markets—despite a roster that includes some of the largest and most important technology companies in the world. A few proposals from activist investors will be put to a vote this week as Korean companies hold their annual shareholder meetings.

CNBC: You were the first Hispanic woman to serve on one of the top five Fortune 100 corporate boards, but as of 2022, corporate boards continue to remain majority white and male. What do you see as the biggest obstacle to diversifying corporate boards? Ford director Kimberly Casiano was the first Hispanic woman to serve on a Fortune 100 top five corporate board. I also believe entrepreneurs, who have much more limited resources and leverage than major corporations, are better at compromise and subtle persuasion. Casiano: It is important to remember that gender diversity on corporate boards came years before ethnic diversity started to show its head.

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