What You Need To Know For June 6th

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The Main Story

The Latest on Roaring Kitty:

• As you saw, Keith Gil, aka Roaring Kitty or DeepF*******Value, came back on Reddit and Twitter on Sunday Night and has 120,000 GameStop call options. If he executes on or prior to June 21st, he can receive 12 million shares for $20/share.

• e*Trade is debating kicking him off the platform over stock market manipulation worries. The Massachusetts Securities Regulator is also investigating him. That’s a lot for an uno card tweet and stating his positioning….

• Roaring Kitty has been quiet since, while GameStop has zig zagged over the past couple of days and had a nice +19% run yesterday. His net worth is in constant flux as a result…but he’s estimated to be worth $320 million now per our last check

• Meanwhile Andrew Left, a short-seller who got burned shorting GameStop in 2021, is back for more

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Headlines 🔍

• Introducing the Texas Stock Exchange: The NYSE and Nasdaq has competition. Per the WSJ, the new exchange has raised $120mm from investors including Blackrock and Citadel. The exchange is meant to be 100% electronic and a cost-effective alternative to incumbents, but this sparks another story in the debate of whether Wall Street will migrate south. There will be a ton of regulatory hurdles for the upstart to tackle, but trading is expected to begin in 2025, with the first listing possible in 2026.

• Raising prices by $1 forever: Spotify and Max both announced they’re raising monthly subscription plans by $1/month - with Spotify now up to $11.99/month and Max now at $16.99/month (I’m canceling once House of the Dragon ends). This continues an annoying ongoing trend of firms raising prices incrementally over and over again..

• There’s more bad news for Warner Bros Discovery viewers, the parent of Max and TNT, The NBA is nearing a deal leaving TNT.

  • The NBA is reportedly getting a crazy bag of an 11-year $76B media deal, and is going to be showing games on Amazon, NBC (Peacock), and ABC/ESPN going forward.

  • Another win for Big Tech: Amazon paid up to join the party, taking advantage of belt tightening at Disney and Warner Bros.

• Paramount and Skydance keep dancing: The terms of a merger are agreed upon…but Shari is still doing some last minute negotiating..

• Things are getting worse for Diamond Sports…with Comcast at an impasse with the distressed regional sports network

• Payrolls Numbers Slowed: May Private Payroll growth slowed sequentially to 152k, lower than consensus of 175k and April’s downwardly revised number of 188k.

• Key Engines of US Consumer Spending Are Losing Steam (BBG)

  • The Savings Rate is now at a 16 month low and consumers are starting to lean more on their credit cards

• Lululemon’s earnings were a nice surprise to the street vs. last quarter

• Elon has been prioritizing thousands of NVIDIA chips to X and xAI over Tesla (CNBC)

• Google has a new CFO. The CFO of Pharma giant Eli Lilly is the new CFO, while Google’s outgoing CFO is getting promoted to a President role to focus on the overall business

• NYC Congestion Pricing has been delayed indefinitely

• Fed Member Neel Kashkari seems to be realizing that inflation is worse than a recession for a lot of people…

• Dollar Tree is looking to divest Family Dollar

• Seatgeek is evaluating an IPO later this year at a valuation >$1.35B

• Gulp…Instagram is testing unskippable ads. Presumably these would be a lot like the annoying unskippable Snapchat ads…

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M&A Transactions💭 

ChapStick, manufacturer of lip care products, was acquired for $510.0M by Suave. Citigroup advised on the sale.

Sogefi Filtration, manufacturer of filters for original equipment, was acquired for $404.58M by Pacific Avenue Capital Partners. BNP Paribas, Houlihan Lokey, and JP Morgan advised on the sale.

Infocom (TKS: 4348), a Japan-based company engaged in provision of information technology solutions and information communication services, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.67B by Blackstone (NYS: BX).

Stericycle (NAS: SRCL), the largest provider of medical waste disposal and data-destruction services in the United States, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $7.2B by Waste Management (NYS: WM). Bank of America advised on the sale.

Rytec, manufacturer of spiral rigid rolling doors, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $565.0M by Nucor (NYS: NUE).

Park Lawn (TSE: PLC), provides goods and services associated with disposition and memorialization of remains in Canada and the Unites States, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.2B by Birch Hill Equity Partners and Homestead Life Company. National Bank Financial Markets advised on the sale.

Navig8 Group, operator of an independent pool and commercial management company, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.04B by ADNOC Logistics and Services (ADS: ADNOCLS).

Motion Recruitment Partners, provider of information technology staffing services, was acquired for $485.0M by Kelly Services (NAS: KELYA). Robert W. Baird & Co advised on the sale.

ILC Dover, designer and manufacturer of engineered products, was acquired for $2.35B by Ingersoll Rand (NYS: IR).

Hu-Friedy Mfg., manufacturer and provider of dental instruments, was acquired for $787.5M by Peak Rock Capital. Guggenheim Partners advised on the sale.

Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance, provider of insurance services, was acquired for $345.0M by Marsh McLennan Agency. Morgan Stanley advised on the sale.

EnGlobe, provider of environmental services, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $475.0M by Colliers International (TSE: CIGI). AEC Advisors advised on the sale.

Edwards Lifesciences Critical Care Products Group has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $4.2B by Becton, Dickinson and Company. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs advised on the sale.

Beta Simulation Solutions, developer of computer-aided engineering software, was acquired for $1.24B by Cadence Design Systems (NAS: CDNS). Houlihan Lokey advised on the sale.

Bailey Metal Products, provider of metal products, was acquired for $643.89M by Saint-Gobain (PAR: SGO).

Arriva, operator of a passenger transport company, was acquired for $1.73B by I Squared Capital. Citigroup advised on the sale.

Tabular, developer of a data automation platform, was acquired for $1.0B by Databricks.

Monalisa (KRX: 012690), operates in the households and personal products industries, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $293.15M by Asia Pulp & Paper Group. Citigroup advised on the sale.

Elevated Facility Services, provider of elevator maintenance, repair and modernization services, was acquired for $570.0M by APi Group (NYS: APG). Piper Sandler advised on the sale.

2-10 Home Buyers Warranty, provider of a home warranty service, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $585.0M by Frontdoor (NAS: FTDR). Evercore Group advised on the sale.

WalkMe (NAS: WKME), a cloud-based digital adoption platform, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.5B by SAP (ETR: SAP).

Garuda Yamato Steel, manufacturer of steel products, was acquired for $358.0M by Yamato Kogyo Company (TKS: 5444).

Champion Europe, operator of an athletic apparel brand, has entered a definitive agreement to be acquired for $1.2B by Authentic Brands Group.

Beat Capital Partners, operator of a venture capital firm, has reached a definitve agreement to be acquired for $282.0M by Ambac Financial Group (NYS: AMBC).

Atlantic Carbon Group, operator of an anthracite mining and processing company, has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired for $122.4M by PT Delta Dunia Makmur (IDX: DOID).

Private Placement Transactions💭 

Country Delight, operator of a dairy-platform, raised $760.0M of series E1 and F venture funding led by Alteria Capital.

Xcimer, developer of a scalable laser-driven fusion technology, raised $100.0M of Series A venture funding led by Hedosophia.

Sword Health, developer of an artificial-intelligence powered digital therapeutic system, raised $130.0M of venture funding from undisclosed investors at a pre-money valuation of $2.97B.

Oishii, operator of an indoor vertical farming technology, raised $144.0M of Series B, Series B2, and Series B3 venture funding led by Nippon Telegraph & Telephone at a pre-money valuation of $400.0M.

Noteworthy Chart 🧭

Best of YouTube ⌚️

Kyla Scanlon on the Labor Market:

Meme Cleanser 😆 

In Other News

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