DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

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

☆ Private astronaut crew, including first Arab woman in orbit, heads for splashdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File... Read moreMay 30 (Reuters) - An all-private astronaut team of two Americans and two Saudis, including the first Arab woman ever sent into orbit, headed for splashdown off Florida's coast on Tuesday, capping an eight-day research mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The SpaceX Crew Dragon vessel carrying the foursome, undocked from the ISS late on Tuesday morning to begin its 12-hour return flight. The return flight concludes the second space station mission organized, equipped and trained entirely at private expense by Axiom Space, a 7-year-old Houston-based company headed by NASA's former ISS program manager. In August 2022, Sara Sabry became the first Arab woman and the first Egyptian to fly to space on a brief suborbital ride operated by the Blue Origin astro-tourist venture of Jeff Bezos. NASA furnished the launch site at its Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and assumed responsibility for the Axiom crew during their stay aboard the space station, orbiting some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

Persons: Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Ali Alqarni, Joe Skipper, Read, NASA's, Rayyanah Barnawi, Sara Sabry, Jeff Bezos, Barnawi, Sultan Alneyadi, Elon Musk, Steve Gorman, Howard Goller Organizations: International, Kennedy Space Center, REUTERS, Space, SpaceX, ISS, NASA, U.S, Royal Saudi Air Force, United Arab, Twitter, Tesla Inc, Thomson Locations: Saudi Arabia, Florida, U.S, Florida's, Gulf of Mexico, Panama City , Florida, Houston, Alaska, Saudi, Gulf, United Arab Emirates, California, Cape Canaveral , Florida, Los Angeles

☆ Koepka chasing PGA Championship hat-trick as sun returns to Oak Hill
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Steve Keating | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ROCHESTER, New York, May 21 (Reuters) - After a nasty week of frost, wind and torrential rain the sun returned to Oak Hill on Sunday for the final round of the PGA Championship with Brooks Koepka holding a one shot lead looking to complete a Wanamaker trophy hat-trick. The big-hitting American will head out onto the challenging East Course at 2:30 pm ET (1830 GMT) paired with the 11th ranked Hovland. A victory by Koepka or DeChambeau would not end the human rights questions but would give the tour a bit of the credibility and legitimacy it seeks. McIlroy, an honorary member at Oak Hill, has looked out of sorts all week but the battling Northern Irishman has managed stay in the hunt at five back. Block, who has "Why Not" written on his golf balls, has become the every man bluecollar hero and gallery darling at Oak Hill by carrying the hopes and dreams of every duffer who has picked up a club.

☆ Rain and fireworks as PGA Championship third round gets underway
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Steve Keating | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ROCHESTER, New York, May 20 (Reuters) - Golfers were preparing for a long, wet slog as third-round play got underway at the PGA Championships on Saturday and torrential rains rolled across Oak Hill Country Club. But there could also be a few fireworks among the dark clouds with LIV Golf standard bearers Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, once famously embroiled in one of golf's most lively spats, paired together. Right behind Hovland and Suh are Koepka and DeChambeau. Once bitter foes the pair are now LIV Golf team mates united in the Saudi-bankrolled venture's feud with the PGA Tour, which they left to sign on with the big money rebel circuit. Reporting by Steve Keating, Editing by Ed OsmondOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ PGA Tour and LIV take feud to PGA Championship
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Steve Keating | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ROCHESTER, New York, May 15 (Reuters) - The PGA Tour and LIV Golf take their feud to Oak Hill Country Club for the PGA Championship this week with the Saudi-bankrolled rebel circuit again seeking major validation. That was until world number one Spaniard Jon Rahm came to the PGA Tour's rescue, finishing top of the leaderboard to leave Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson runners-up. Like the Masters there will be 18 LIV members in the field led by twice PGA Championship winners Koepka and 52-year-old Mickelson and Australian Cameron Smith, who signed on with LIV after winning last year's British Open. Rahm and world number two Scottie Scheffler both are in top form coming into Rochester. Spieth, who withdrew from the Byron Nelson citing a left wrist injury, needs only a PGA Championship to join the elite club that includes, Woods, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus.

☆ How El Chapo’s sons built a fentanyl empire poisoning America
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +23 min

Headed by Iván, El Chapo’s oldest son, the siblings have emerged as key figures in the Sinaloa Cartel, U.S. and Mexican anti-narcotics officials said. But he was killed in 2008 in Culiacán in a hail of bullets amid infighting between warring factions of the Sinaloa Cartel. The agency in April placed Iván on the list of its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, joining Jesús Alfredo and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a Sinaloa Cartel legend and El Chapo’s alleged former business partner. They also kidnapped eight soldiers and surrounded military housing where wives and children of Mexican soldiers lived, Mexican officials said. Despite that blow to the Sinaloa Cartel, fentanyl keeps flowing north.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at a press conference at the American Police Hall of Fame & Museum in Titusville, May 1, 2023. Ron DeSantis, accusing the Republican leader of doubling down on his "retribution campaign" against the company by signing legislation to void Disney's development deals in Orlando. Disney's amended lawsuit also noted that Florida's Republican-led legislature passed legislation last week targeting Walt Disney World's monorail system. On Friday, the final day of the state's 2023 legislative session, DeSantis signed a bill that included language effectively targeting Disney's development contracts. Linda Stewart, a Democrat representing Florida's 13th Senate district and a staunch critic of DeSantis' actions against Disney, called the feud between DeSantis and Disney "insane" and laid blame with her Republican counterparts.

☆ Youth climate activists plan to protest the biggest social event for Washington's political-media class
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

On Saturday, the group plans to blockade the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, DC. So the White House Correspondents' Association dinner is an appropriate target, Salamon said. The White House did not return requests for comment. Haught acknowledged she had little political choice because GOP candidates have shown paltry interest in prioritizing climate action. "If you're putting your body on the line and risking a record of arrest, that shows you're serious," Haught said.

☆ Defeat for many culture war 'extremists' who tried to take control of school boards and lost to liberal, union-backed candidates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

But many right-wing candidates lost their school board elections in Illinois and Wisconsin. A group of conservative candidates in Barrington, a northwest suburb of Chicago, endorsed by 1776 PAC, Moms For America Action, and Awake Illinois, also lost their race for the school board, Politico reports. JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, said, "Fortunately, the voters saw through the hidden extremists who were running for school board." In the Wisconsin school board elections, which took place earlier this month, Politico reports that GOP-backed candidates in the city of Wauwatosa largely lost to candidates backed by teaching unions. Kim Anderson, executive director of the National Education Association labor union, told Politico that, "Where culture war issues were being waged by some school board candidates, those issues fell flat with voters."

☆ Inside the Rise and Fall of Kittyhawk, Larry Page's Failed Flying Car Company
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Hugh Langley | Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +22 min

Killing off projects had become something of a tradition at Kittyhawk, the secretive flying-car startup launched by the Google cofounder Larry Page. Larry Page has used his Google money to found a series of flying car companies with one common goal: "to free the world of traffic." "When Bloomberg did their original exposé, that's when urban air mobility became a thing," a former Kittyhawk employee recalled. Everyone thought: If Larry Page is in this space, there must be something here." Interpreting "Larry-isms" or "learning to speak Larry" were essential skills for any Kittyhawk employee who wanted to retain their sanity.

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve's Board of Governors on Friday said it has approved UBS Group AG's acquisition of the U.S. subsidiaries of Credit Suisse, clearing another major hurdle for the completion of the Swiss-brokered rescue deal. UBS has committed to give the U.S. central bank an implementation plan for combining its U.S. business and operations with those of Credit Suisse within three months of consummating the deal, the Fed's Board said in a statement. UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.3 billion), a fraction of its earlier market value. UBS has said it expects the deal to create a business with more than $5 trillion in total invested assets. Under the takeover deal, holders of Credit Suisse AT1 bonds will get nothing, while shareholders, who usually rank below bondholders in compensation terms, will receive $3.23 billion.

☆ Koepka and Rahm set for Masters showdown as Woods withdraws
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Steve Keating | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Critics of LIV Golf have branded the Saudi-bankrolled big-money venture as uncompetitive and little more than a sportwashing enterprise by a country eager to polish its human rights record. A Koepka victory will not end the human rights questions but would give the rebel circuit some of the credibility and legitimacy it craves. The 47-year-old American has won the Masters five times, most recently in 2019, but he has struggled since his car crash. "I am disappointed to have to WD (withdraw) this morning due to reaggravating my plantar fasciitis," Woods said on Twitter. "Thank you to the fans and to The Masters who have shown me so much love and support.

☆ Clarence Thomas said he loves RVs and Walmarts in a documentary financed by the billionaire who was taking him on luxury vacations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas once said in a documentary that he prefers RV parks and Walmarts. A new ProPublica report found Thomas has been taking luxury vacations paid for by a GOP megadonor for years. A Supreme Court spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Insider on Thursday. "Justice Thomas and Ginni never asked for any of this hospitality," Crow said. "We have never asked about a pending or lower court case, and Justice Thomas has never discussed one, and we have never sought to influence Justice Thomas on any legal or political issue," said Crow.

☆ A New Twist for the Tradition-Bound Masters: The LIV Golf Era
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Alan Blinder | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The mystery started in earnest last spring and lasted until autumn’s twilight. But Phil Mickelson — among the most famous frontmen for LIV Golf, the league bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund — insists that he believed he would be allowed to play the 2023 Masters Tournament, which opens Thursday. Never mind any discomfort, or how on-course rivalries had transformed into long-distance furies tinged by politics, power, pride and money. No, Mickelson reasoned, tradition would prevail at Augusta National Golf Club, surely among sports’ safest wagers. “I wasn’t really worried,” said Mickelson, who spent the 2022 Masters in a self-imposed sporting exile after he effectively downplayed Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses.

☆ Swiss regulator deflects blame for Credit Suisse debacle
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( John O'Donnell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BERN, April 5 (Reuters) - Switzerland's financial regulator deflected blame for the collapse of the country's second-biggest bank, Credit Suisse, saying it had been quick to respond, calling instead for more powers to take lenders to task. Axel Lehman had told shareholders he was 'truly sorry" for taking Swiss bank to the brink of bankruptcy. "Our instruments hit their limits ... as seen in the case of Credit Suisse," said Amstad, making a rare public appeal for more power. But, as we have seen, Credit Suisse paid billions in fines and that didn't change its catastrophic business strategy," said Dominik Gross of the Swiss Alliance of Development Organisations. While the takeover of Credit Suisse has been agreed, many hurdles, such as winning regulatory approval from countries around the world, lie ahead.

Public Investment Fund LIV Golf Trump World Performance54 LIV Golfers PLUS 45 OTHERS CONSULTANTS LAWYERS McKinsey & Company PwC Public Investment Fund Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan White & Case M. Klein & Company Teneo Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Majed al-Sorour Newcastle United Aramco Golf Saudi Benjamin Quayle Yasir al-Rumayyan Ari Fleischer Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LIV Golf Performance54 Trump World Greg Norman Donald J. Trump Gary Davidson Jed Moore Eric Trump Jared Kushner LIV Golfers Cameron Smith Phil Mickelson Dustin Johnson PLUS 45 OTHERSLIV Golf has cleaved men’s professional golf like no other force since the 1960s. Some of the world’s top players, including Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, have become the faces of LIV Golf. The Public Investment FundDiagram of the major figures in LIV Golf that are connected to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Public Investment Fund Jared Kushner’s firm accepted a $2 billion investment from the Public Investment Fund. LIV Golf Trump World Eric Trump Jared Kushner Donald J. Trump Public Investment Fund Jared Kushner’s firm accepted a $2 billion investment from the Public Investment Fund.

ZURICH, April 4 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) will face shareholder anger on Tuesday at what will be its final annual general meeting after the bank was rescued last month by Swiss rival UBS (UBSG.S). Tuesday's shareholder meeting marks an ignominious end for the 167-year-old flagship bank founded by Alfred Escher, a Swiss magnate affectionately dubbed King Alfred I, who helped build the country's railways and then Credit Suisse. After a run on deposits, the Swiss government turned to UBS, which agreed to buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.3 billion), a fraction of its earlier market value. In the lead up to Tuesday, Credit Suisse said it had withdrawn certain proposals from the meeting's agenda. Meanwhile, the office of the attorney general on Sunday said Switzerland's Federal Prosecutor has opened an investigation into the Credit Suisse takeover.

☆ Gavin Newsom says he's taking a road trip through red states to fight the policies and 'anger machine' of DeSantis and other GOP governors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is traveling to red states to tout the progressive agenda. Gavin Newsom of California already had a plan in the works to go on offense against Republican governors. California Gov. California Gov.

☆ UBS gets temporary EU green light for Credit Suisse deal, pending review
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, April 4 (Reuters) - UBS (UBSG.S) has secured a temporary green light from EU antitrust regulators to complete its acquisition of Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) but will still have to request clearance under EU merger rules, the European Commission said on Tuesday. UBS came to Credit Suisse's rescue last month with a merger engineered and bankrolled by the Swiss authorities. According to European Union merger rules, companies can only complete deals after securing EU antitrust approval or face fines as much as 10% of their aggregate turnover. The EU antitrust enforcer said the Swiss banks had asked for an exemption from this standstill obligation. "The Commission found that the requirements for a derogation were met and therefore it approved on 4 April 2023 the derogation request subject to conditions."

☆ In San Francisco, some people wonder when A.I. will kill us all
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

If the super-powerful AI is aligned with humans, it could be the end of hunger or work. Or, as a sign at the Misalignment Museum says: "Sorry for killing most of humanity." Most of the works are around the theme of "alignment" with increasingly powerful artificial intelligence or celebrate the "heroes who tried to mitigate the problem by warning early." As AI technology becomes the hottest part of the tech industry, with companies eying trillion-dollar markets, the Misalignment Museum underscores that AI's development is being affected by cultural discussions. Even as companies and people in San Francisco are shaping the future of artificial intelligence technology, San Francisco’s unique culture is shaping the debate around the technology.

☆ The SVB Tremors Will Shake SoftBank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Jacky Wong | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SoftBank has invested in hundreds of startups through the $100 billion Vision Fund and its successor. SoftBank isn’t a bank, but the Japanese company—which has bankrolled many tech startups—will still be rocked by the seismic waves triggered by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Shares of the Japanese tech investor have lost 14% in the past week. Some of the worst potential outcomes for SoftBank—such as mass failures of startups it invested in—seem unlikely after the U.S. government stepped in this week to fully guarantee the bank’s deposits, which are mostly from startups and venture capital funds. SoftBank said SVB’s demise is unlikely to have a material impact on its portfolio companies after the government’s decision.

☆ Factbox: Who has run Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

BAGHDAD, March 16 (Reuters) - The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was designed to pave the way for a thriving democracy but the mostly ineffective governments elected since 2003 have left many Iraqis disappointed. Sadr led an armed insurgency against the U.S. occupation of Iraq after American and international troops toppled Saddam. But the tables turned in 2003 with the U.S.-led invasion that ushered in Shi’ite dominance leaving Sunnis, vulnerable. Sunnis have been divided by clan and ideological rivalries since 2003, which Sunni voters complain makes them weak against Shi'ite rivals. Halbousi, an engineer from western Iraq, has formed good relations with Shi'ites and Kurds who helped him become speaker.

☆ LIV ratings trail rival PGA Tour in first CW Network broadcasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Amy Tennery | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LIV Golf did not immediately respond to a request for comment. LIV Golf is the first sport to broadcast on the CW Network, after the two parties agreed a multi-year deal in January. Perry Sook, the chairman and CEO of CW Network parent company Nexstar, said on Tuesday's earnings call that the three-day tournament was viewed by more than 1.4 million across the network and its digital platform. "We're very pleased with our first weekend of LIV Golf," said Sook. Bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, LIV Golf attracted some of the sport's biggest names with the promise of supersize paydays and a truncated schedule.

☆ Gautam Adani’s woes were in banks' plain sight
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Una Galani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

MUMBAI, Feb 8 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Gautam Adani’s recent woes have vindicated persistent doubts in India about the tycoon’s rise. The Indian group dismisses those claims as a “malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations”. By contrast, other big Indian groups like Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (DBKGn.DE) and those carrying the Tata name are more popular with institutional investors. Fee-hungry international banks were much less picky. Deutsche, Barclays and StanChart pocketed $57 million of the $260 million of investment banking revenue generated by the Adani group since Dealogic records began.

☆ Israel's NewMed predicts $15 bln gas boost for sovereign wealth fund
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Israel's NewMed Energy forecast on Tuesday that the country's nascent sovereign wealth fund will get a 52 billion shekel ($15 billion) injection in the coming decade from its two main natural gas fields. NewMed Energy (NWMDp.TA) Chief Executive Yossi Abu said that the company, which is the largest stakeholder in the Leviathan offshore gas project, is also promoting plans for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to boost exports. "From today until 2033, an amount of about 52 billion shekels will accumulate in the wealth fund just from the Tamar and Leviathan reservoirs," Abu told a parliamentary panel, referring to Israel's two largest natural gas fields. Its sovereign wealth fund kicked off last year, after lengthy delays, with the aim of insulating an overheated currency from the sudden expansion in national wealth due to a windfall from gas sales. NewMed is partners with Chevron (CVX.N) and Ratio (RATIp.TA) in Leviathan, which supplies gas to Israel, Jordan and Egypt through a network of pipelines.

Search resuls for: "bankrolled"

25 mentions found