Stocks
Yahoo has set an April 11 deadline for preliminary bids on its core Internet business and Asian assets, in an effort to trim down the field of about 40 players, WSJ reports. The process looks open, as Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) is sending letters asking suitors for prices and what assets they hope to acquire. Bidders are also being pressed on financing details and tax implications for separating Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and Yahoo Japan (OTCPK:YAHOY) assets from the company’s core.
The boards of Sharp and Foxconn Technology will meet separately tomorrow to discuss a revised takeover package that could slash at least ¥245B ($2.2B) off the price tag for the troubled Japanese electronics maker. Over the past month, Foxconn (OTC:FXCOF) has sent hundreds of people to take stock of everything from Sharp’s (OTCPK:SHCAY) information-technology infrastructure to its inventories, uncovering issues related to factory overcapacity and China sales that helped convince Sharp’s lenders to agree to revised terms.
Virtual reality company Oculus has started shipping pre-orders of its highly awaited Rift headsets, about two years after the company was acquired by Facebook (NASDAQ:FB). The black headgear, priced at $599, comes with a remote, an audio system, a sensor and an Xbox One wireless controller. Oculus said there were more than 30 games available in the Oculus Store and it would soon add “feature-length movies, new partners and lots more content.”
After successfully hacking the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone without Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) help, the FBI is seeking to drop its legal case forcing the tech giant to unlock the device. “This case should never have been brought,” Apple said in a statement, but both sides still left important questions unanswered: How did the FBI how to break into the iPhone? Are newer devices vulnerable to the same hacking technique? Will the FBI share its information with state and local police agencies?
With Affymetrix spurning its deal in favor of an existing bid from Thermo Fisher (NYSE:TMO), Origin Technologies has withdrawn its higher $17/share cash offer. “We disagree with Affymetrix’s assessment of the perceived risks of our proposal,” said Origin President Wei Zhou. “It is an unfortunate outcome.” Affymetrix (NASDAQ:AFFX) shares have risen 60% since Jan. 8, the last trading day before Thermo Fisher made its $14/share offer.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals slumped over 7% yesterday in response to the news that CEO Michael Pearson had been subpoenaed to testify before the Senate Special Committee on Aging on April 27. The committee is one of two investigating aggressive drug pricing. Will the committee get more cooperation from Valeant’s (NYSE:VRX) Pearson than the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform did from Martin Shkreli in February?
Upstart clinical diagnostics firm Theranos has gotten another black eye about its operations. In a study conducted by scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, blood samples from 60 healthy adults were sent to Theranos (Private:THER), LabCorp (NYSE:LH) and Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) to compare the accuracy of 22 common tests. The results of the study showed Theranos’ test results were 160% more likely to be abnormal (the specific analyte cited was cholesterol, which Theranos showed a systematic bias toward lower values).
SunEdison plunged 21% in after-hours trading on Monday on reports that the SEC was investigating disclosures to investors about how much cash the solar company had on hand amid its stock crash last year. On a Nov. 10 call, SunEdison (NYSE:SUNE) reported $1.4B in cash and said it had “sufficient liquidity” to weather a share price downturn and cover coming obligations, but WSJ sources say the figure was largely made up of money the firm could not access. SUNE has fallen 95% over the past 12 months.
Tesla is hoping to capture mainstream auto buyers with its Model 3, but it may need a federal court ruling to succeed, as the carmaker’s direct-to-consumer sales are still prohibited by law in six states that represent about 18% of the U.S. new-car market. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is banking on a combination of new legislation, pending dealer applications and other factors to open doors to selling directly, but the company’s legal staff is ready to use a 2013 federal appeals court ruling in New Orleans (that determined St. Joseph Abbey could sell monk-made coffins to customers without having a funeral director’s license) if necessary.
Warren Buffett’s stake in Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) hit 9.9% as of Dec. 31, most of which is held by Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B). At 10%, Buffett would have to pass a review by the Federal Reserve in order to keep accumulating shares. While the central bank typically tries to limit the ties between non-financial companies and lenders, it has at times accepted a pledge by investors that they don’t plan to influence a bank; this happened in the ’90s when Buffett’s stake in AmEx (NYSE:AXP) rose above 10%.
Sears Holdings CEO Eddie Lampert has acquired a portion of the company’s new $750M loan in his latest bet on the parent of Sears department stores and Kmart discount shops. The loan is helping Sears (NASDAQ:SHLD) pay down some of its older debt as shoppers move away from malls in favor of Internet shopping and the company, which has lost more than $8B over the last five years, sees its sales plummet. Lampert, whose net worth is pegged by Forbes at $2.4B, is buying the debt through his hedge fund ESL Investments.
Virgin America has received buyout offers from JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU) and Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK), according to Bloomberg. The airline is still discussing the offers with the bidders, and a deal could be announced next week at the earliest. It is also unclear if other suitors will emerge, and Virgin America (NASDAQ:VA) may yet decide to abandon sale negotiations in favor of remaining independent.
Takata is likely to seek more capital around September as it expects its finances to take a hit from a rise in costs to recall potentially defective airbag parts. The Japanese supplier is expected to narrow down which companies to approach for investment, sources told Kyodo News, adding that candidates would include automakers such as top client Honda Motor (NYSE:HMC). More than 50M airbags around the world have so far been recalled to replace Takata’s (OTCPK:TKTDY) inflators.
Investors in Uber and staff hoping for a fast flotation from the world’s biggest ride-hailing service are set to be disappointed. “I’m going to make sure it happens as late as possible,” CEO Travis Kalanick told CNBC, adding that he had no idea if Uber (Private:UBER) would go public in the next three to five years. That’s because the unicorn, valued around $62.5B as of December, is in no shortage of private funding – which gives the company more freedom to manage its affairs.
While the battle for automated car driving roars ahead, the chief executive of the world’s second-largest motorcycle maker thinks it will take at least a decade to bring the same technology to two-wheelers on a commercial basis. “It’s not a sense of crisis, but I want to make sure we stay ahead of the race,” Yamaha Motor (OTCPK:YAMHF) CEO Hiroyuki Yanagi told FT. The company is starting with investments of up to $20M in Silicon Valley, where it set up a venture last summer to hunt for technologies in autonomous vehicles, robotics and drones. |