What You Need To Know For April 4th, 2024

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The main stories 📰

Disney beats Peltz: Disney’s full board retained their seats after a lengthy campaign against activist investors. Activist Investor Nelson Peltz (who owns 2% of Disney) lost his bid to enact board changes at Disney. Peltz lost by a healthy margin (a 2-to-1 margin), and smaller activist HF Blackwell Capital also lost resoundingly. Peltz spent a cool $25mm on marketing efforts, but to be fair, Disney stock has rebounded over the past few months and given him and investors +31% in YTD gains. Now Disney will turn their attention towards improving profitability at their streaming platform, managing the decline of linear TV (ESPN is going DTC in ‘25), finding a successor for CEO Bob Iger, and improving movie productions. Iger himself has agreed that Marvel has been overplayed and that Disney has been focusing too much on “messaging” so time will tell on whether Disney enacts changes that improve the profitability and quality of their productions.

The Largest Egg Manufacturer in the U.S. is dealing with the Bird Flu: 

The H5N1 bird flu was found at a Cal-Maine Foods poultry plant in Texas. Cal-Maine is the largest producer of fresh eggs. 1.6mm laying hens and 337k pullets are in the process of being culled. While this might not be a widespread public health issue, we’ll always raise a warning flag on these types of mass health issues, just in case they do become a serious risk for people; as well as investments. The full report is here.

A 4-Day Work Week (not for us though):

Hedge Fund Mogul, Steve Cohen says a 4-day work week is coming. However, he said this is for non-market participants, NOT people who need to be working when the markets are open. Because of this belief that AI will drive a shorter work week, he’s investing more into the Golf industry. I’d love to be golfing more instead of working too Steve.

Layoffs ⛈️ 

• McKinsey is offering PIP employees 9-months of pay to leave now

• Synctera is the latest banking-as-a-service startup to lay off staff

• Full list of major US companies slashing staff this year, from IBM to google and Microsoft

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Headlines and articles 🔍

• Powell says the Fed needs more time to assess inflation coming down before cutting rates

• Rate Cut odds for June are now <50%

• Taiwan Semis were briefly rattled after Taiwan experiences their worst earthquake in 25 years. This may impact Nvidia’s inputs.

• Jon Stewart revealed Apple wouldn’t let him interview FTC Chair Lina Khan

• GoldenTree raised over $1.35B for their first private credit fund

• PVH, the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfinger, saw shares slide on European demand weakness

• WeWork is looking to exit bankruptcy on May 31st, trimming $8B of rent expenses

• Paramount is in exclusive merger talks with Skydance, turning down Apollo’s $26B bid (for now)

• Tesla fell after a poor orders guide. 1Q Deliveries fell -8.5% y/y

• Barclays and AGL Credit are launching a private credit platform

• Apparel Retailer Express may file for bankruptcy next week

• Chipmaker Cerebras Systems Picks Citigroup for IPO

• Job openings data shows US labor market remains ‘quite healthy’

Transactions 💭 

AdTheorent Holding Company (NAS: ADTH), a digital media platform that focuses on performance first, privacy-forward methods to execute programmatic digital advertising campaigns, entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $324.0M by Cadent, via financial sponsor Novavap. Canaccord Genuity advised on the sale.

American National Bankshares (NAS: AMNB), a one-bank holding company, was acquired for $444.0M by Atlantic Union Bank (NYS: AUB), a subsidiary of Keycorp. Benefit Capital Companies, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, and Stifel Financial advised on the sale.

CSI Compressco, a provider of compression services and equipment for natural gas and oil production, was acquired for $854.0M by Kodiak Gas Services (NYS: KGS). Jefferies Financial Group advised on the sale.

Acclarent, a developer of medical devices intended to address conditions affecting the ear, nose, and throat, was acquired for $280.0M by Integra Lifesciences (NAS: IART).

Destaco Manufacturing, a manufacturer of reed valves and material handling tools catering to defense, aerospace, food processing, consumer goods, and automotive companies, was acquired for $680.0M by Stabilus (ETR: STM).

Endeavor (NAS:ETR), the entertainment company who operates a talent agency and is the majority of the WWE and UFC, is being taken private by Silver Lake, who already had a majority stake, for $13B.

Blue Owl Capital (NYSE:OWL) acquired Kuvare Asset Management for $750mm, adding $20B of AUM.

Noteworthy Chart 🧭

Rivian’s production numbers remain inferior to Tesla 👇️ 

Best of YouTube ⌚️

How Boeing Lost Its Way. This 21 minute video highlights Boeing’s fall from grace over the past few decades.

Meme Cleanser 😆 

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