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Financial Times launched a venture arm, SBF is advising prison guards on crypto, the SEC is investigating OpenAI, Wendy’s canceled its surge pricing plans, OpenAI accused NYT of manipulating ChatGPT, Universal Music is escalating its feud with TikTok, and Bitcoin’s rally caused Coinbase to crash.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks dipped slightly yesterday ahead of today’s key PCE inflation report

• Bitcoin rallied, crossing $60k for the first time in two years, and on track for its biggest monthly jump since 2020

Earnings

• Salesforce beat Q4 earnings and revenue estimates but forecast lower-than-expected fiscal 2025 revenue due continued weakness in professional services (CNBC) 

• AMC shares fell ~11% after reporting Q4 earnings that fell short of analyst estimates; they nonetheless posted a 23% YoY revenue growth (BBG) 

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Birkenstock, Best Buy, Dell

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Crypto leverage is roaring back (BBG)

• US Q4 GDP reveals strength in economy (RT)

• OpenAI accused New York Times of manipulating ChatGPT to build copyright lawsuit (RT)

• Wendy's canceled surge pricing plans after social media backlash (RT)

• Tech companies cash in on ‘frothy’ stock rally with convertible bond sales (FT)

• Elliott was sued for having too much boardroom influence (FT)

• Hedge fund Eisler plans hiring spree to take on industry giants (FT)

• ECB will continue with 'floor' system to prop up lower-bound rates (RT)

• Japan plans to actively manage its FX volatility (RT)

• Financial Times launched a venture arm (AX)

• Apple will disclose AI plans later this year (RT)

• The SEC is investigating OpenAI (WSJ)

• Universal Music escalates fight with TikTok (BBG)

• SpaceX will help design the Tesla Roadster (WSJ)

• Netflix named Dan Lin as film chief (HW)

• Meta will launch a new AI language model Llama 3 in July (TI)

• 32 media groups sued Google for $2.3B (RT)

• Uber CEO unlocks $136M in shares after hitting $120B valuation (FT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Swisscom is nearing a deal to buy Vodafone's Italian unit for $8.7B on a cash and debt-free basis (BBG) 

• Walt Disney and Reliance Industries signed an $8.5B deal to merge their media operations in India (FT) 

• Financial services company Fiserv and Amadeus IT Group are competing to acquire Shift4 Payments, a payments processor with a $7.1B market cap (RT) 

• UK motor insurer Direct Line rejected a preliminary $3.9B takeover offer from Belgian insurer Ageas, calling the offer undervalued (FT) 

• KKR is exploring options including selling its $3B controlling stake in India’s JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (BBG) 

• Infrastructure-focused PE firm I Squared is seeking to sell Energia Group in a deal that could value the Irish utility at up to $3B, including debt (RT) 

• China's CDH Investments is in advanced talks to buy a 10% stake in Bach Hoa Xanh from Vietnam retailer Mobile World in a deal that could value the grocery chain at up to $1.7B (RT) 

• Golden Energy and Resources and M Resources will acquire Australian diversified miner South32’s Illawarra metallurgical coal business in NSW for up to $1.7B (RT) 

• Stripe and some of the firm’s investors will acquire over $1B of stock from current and former employees at a $65B valuation (BBG) 

• Thailand’s biggest bank SCB X agreed to buy consumer lender Home Credit’s business in Vietnam for ~$860M (BBG)

• Shell's US solar business Savion put ~25% of its assets up for sale (RT)

VC

• Vertical indoor strawberry farmer Oishii raised a $134M Series B led by NTT (TP)

• Range Energy, a startup building powered trailers for the commercial trucking market, raised $23.5M in funding led by Trousdale Ventures (BW)

• Dubai-based crypto-native financial institution Backpack raised a $17M Series A at a $120M valuation led by Placeholder VC (FN)

• Digital health startup Redi Health raised a $14M Series B led by Blue Heron Capital (PRN)

• Coverdash, a startup offering commercial insurance products for startups, raised a $13.5M Series A led by Nyca Partners (TC)

• tvScientific, a performance advertising platform for connected TV, raised $9.4M in convertible note financing led by S4S Ventures, BDMI, and Progress Ventures (FN)

• Flexnode, a data infrastructure startup, raised a $9M seed round led by Zacua Ventures (FN)

• Slice, an AI-powered global equity management platform, raised a $7M seed round led by TLV Partners (PRN)

• Web3 infrastructure startup Validation Cloud raised $5.8M in funding led by Cadenza Ventures (PRN)

• Gradial, a startup building AI solutions to help marketing teams, raised a $5.4M seed round led by Madrona (BW)

• Intelligent automation startup HuLoop raised a $5M seed round led by Moneta Ventures (PRN)

• Crystal Fun, a decentralized gaming studio, raised a $5M seed round from Kucoin Ventures, Actoz Soft, Waterdrip Capital, and more (FN)

• NayaOne, a UK-based financial services company providing a sandbox platform, raised $4.7M in funding led by EJF Capital (FN)

• FamilyWell, a tech-enabled health company, raised a $4.3M seed round led by .406 Ventures (FN)

• ContributionDAO, a Singapore-based provider of an institutional-grade staking platform, raised a $2.8M seed round led by KASIKORN X (FN)

• Lionize, an influencer marketing platform, raised a $2M round led by Cultivation Capital (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• EQT plans to kick off an IPO of skin-care business Galderma in Switzerland as soon as March; Galderma could attract a ~$20B valuation (BBG) 

• PE firm BC Partners is exploring options, including a potential IPO as soon as H2 2024, for its 47% stake in German academic publisher Springer Nature, which could be valued at up to $9.7B, including debt (RT)

• Vodafone's India unit is planning to raise $2.4B through a share issuance or equity linked instruments (BBG) 

• Saudi Arabia’s Modern Mills for Food Products received ~$40B in demand for its $320M IPO (BBG) 

• Italy's second-largest gas distributor 2i Rete Gas is working with Goldman Sachs to list on the Milan stock exchange (RT) 

SPAC

• Online trading platform Webull will merge with SK Growth Opportunities in a $7.3B deal (BBG) 

• Malaysia’s Capital A, the operator of regional low-cost carrier AirAsia, agreed to merge its brand management unit with Aetherium Acquisition Corp. in a $1.2B deal (BBG)

Debt

• China rolled over a $2B loan to Pakistan (RT)

• Struggling luxury EV maker Polestar raised $950M in debt financing through a three-year loan facility from a syndicate of 12 banks (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Thrasio, one of the biggest third-party sellers of consumer products on Amazon, filed for bankruptcy to cut ~$500M of debt (WSJ) 

Fundraising

• Saudi investment bank and asset manager SNB Capital launched SNB Capital Oil & Gas Fund I with $230M to invest in oil and gas under a shariah-compliant structure (RT) 

Crypto Corner

• Winklevoss twins' Gemini will return at least $1.1B to customers though the Genesis Global Capital bankruptcy as part of a settlement with New York (BBG)

• BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF saw a record $520M in daily inflows on Tuesday (BBG) 

• SBF is advising prison guards to invest in Solana (CT)

• SBF is citing autism in plea for shorter prison sentence (AX)

• The Bitcoin rally caused Coinbase to crash (TC)

Exec’s Picks

• Financial Times explained why Uber’s $7B buyback is linked to its CEO’s $136M payout.

• Nitish Pahwa wrote an interesting piece on why he thinks TikTok has already peaked.

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