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THE HEADLINES
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“NORTH CAROLINA, C’MON AND RAISE UP”
David Tepper, a minority owner of the Steelers, is expected to purchase the North Carolina Panthers for a whopping $2.2B. Grab your umbrellas Carolina residents because Mr. Tepper is making it rain.
The deal will go down as the largest in the history of the NFL, besting the sale of the Buffalo Bills for $1.4B back in 2014. This deal will be finalized once it’s approved by the NFL financial committee and three-fourths of the owners, who will meet on May 22nd.
The Panthers went up for sale in 2017 after their former owner was accused of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct. Not a bad consolation prize.
Water Cooler Talking Point: “As part of his agreement to buy the Panthers, Mr. Tepper will be forced to sell his 5% interest in the Steelers. Do you mean to tell me that the global elite doesn’t get to own their favorite team, but are forced into buying whichever one is available on the free market? Hard pass on being a one-percenter.”
NEW WORLD (ECONOMIC FORUM) ORDER
Michael Bloomberg is planning his own economic forum, a New Economic Forum if you will, that will be hosted in and focused on mostly China and its meteoric rise.
Along for Mr. Bloomberg’s Wild Ride™ are former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and former US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.
The new forum, while not occurring at the same time, is meant to challenge the World Economic Forum, which has been taking place in Davos, Switzerland since Klaus Schwab started it in 1974.
Water Cooler Talking Point: “This is a valiant effort by Mikey B, but it’s tough to compete with a country where most of the world’s billionaires park their untraceable bank accounts.”
“IT’S A RARE CONDITION, THIS DAY AND AGE …”
” … to read any good news on the newspaper page.”
All news is good news from Facebook, Twitter, and Uber today. No, you didn’t read that wrong. Big tech is doing some spring cleaning.
Facebook: The ‘Book has taken action against close to 600M (roughly 4% of “active users”) fake accounts in the first quarter of 2018. Zuck has also shown that he won’t negotiate with terrorists, removing 2M pieces of terrorist-related content.
Uber: Dara is saying #MeToo, following in the footsteps of Microsoft by removing a clause in the company’s user agreement that does not allow employees and workers to have their day in court regarding sexual harassment allegations.
Twitter: “They see me trollin’, they hatin'” – the collective internet today. @Jack plans to adjust its algorithms to suppress useless responses that hinder conversation (read: unsolicited crying Jordan memes) on Twitter.
Water Cooler Talking Point: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
IN OTHER NEWS
- The Volcker Rule, which more or less banned proprietary trading (read: banks trading customer money for their own profit), is getting a rewrite.
- Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao is stepping down after 10 years at the helm of the world’s second-largest mobile carrier (by subscribers).
- Coinbase announces a new custody service geared towards institutional investors. Because everybody should have a fair shake at losing money in the crypto game.
- You can now get your Meditteranean fix at … Arby’s? The king of “the meats” is now offering lamb.
- Bill Ackman joins Dan Loeb in a bid to break up United Technologies Corporation. “Conglomerate, shmonglomerate.”
- US indices were down yesterday:
- DOW: -0.78%
- S&P 500: -0.68%
- NASDAQ: -0.81%