Together with

Good Morning,

The S&P closed in the red as bond yields continued to rise, DC isn’t worried about Fitch’s downgrade, Elon is a big fan of T Bills, Amazon had a blowout earnings report, Airbnb bookings were lower than expected, BoE raised rates again, and ESPN created a strategic plan for its streaming business.

Work shouldn’t be the only hard thing in your life. If something else hasn’t been, today’s sponsor, Hims, might be able to help.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks edged lower yesterday as investors digested corporate earnings and struggled with rising bond yields

  • The S&P fell for a third-straight day

• Oil prices rose 2% as Saudi Arabia and Russia volunteered 1M bpd and 300k bpd production cuts in September

Earnings

• Amazon reported blowout Q2 earnings and beat analyst expectations for revenue thanks to ongoing cost-cutting efforts and advertising strength; its stock was up 9% (CNBC)

• Apple beat analyst expectations for Q2 earnings and revenue driven by stronger services sales, but revenue fell 1% YoY due to less iPhone, Mac, and iPad sales (CNBC)

• Booking Holdings’ stock rose 11% after the travel firm beat revenue estimates, earnings estimates by 30%, and forecasted a record summer travel season (B)

• Anheuser-Busch beat Q2 analyst expectations and held 2023 guidance as global revenue increased by 7.2% thanks to growth in China and Brazil, although US sales fell by 10.5% due to its Bud Light controversy (AX)

• Airbnb beat Q2 revenue and earnings estimates but missed on a key metric, reporting 115.1M nights and experiences booked versus the 117.6M expected (CNBC)

  • Today: Dominion Energy, Nikola

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US productivity jumps by most since 2020, blunting labor costs (BBG)

• Downgrade won’t break Washington’s spending habits (WSJ)

• Bank of England raised rates to 5.25% with warning that policy will remain tight (BBG)

• New business applications soared to over 5M in 2022, a 42% increase from pre-pandemic levels (BBG)

• Elon Musk says Treasury Bills are a ‘No-Brainer’ (BBG)

• Hyundia, Kia recall 91k US vehicles over fire risk (RT)

• Nikola wins shareholder approval to issue new stock (CNBC)

• Canadian Pacific Kansas City was sued by creditors after failing to replay $1B after missing a deadline tied to merger (RT)

• Amazon delivers strong profit in earnings call (WSJ)

• Union Square Ventures cut value of its VC funds by 26% this year (BI)

• Citi investment bank head Paco Ybarra will depart after 36 years (FT)

• US seeks to set aside convictions in KPMG audit scandal (FT)

• Trump pleads not guilty to charges that he tried to overturn election loss (RT)

• Cuban central bank banning businesses from using ATMs (RT)

• Two US Navy sailors arrested on charges of sharing secrets with China (RT)

• ESPN creates strategic plan for its streaming future (WSJ)

• Airbnb reports continued deceleration in nights and experiences booked (CNBC)

A Message From Hims

Life is Hard, You Should Be Too

We get it. You’re dealing with strict deadlines, an unreasonable boss, and long hours. Work has been hard lately… but something else hasn’t been.

It’s time to fix that (your love life, not your career) with Hims.

Hims offers 100% online, FDA-approved treatment options with free, discreet shipping (if prescribed) so you can get back on your A-game as soon as possible, and they offer treatments that are up to 95% cheaper than brand names.

It’s time to stop being soft in the one area that matters. Get started with Hims today.

*Prescription products require an online consultation with a healthcare provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Restrictions apply. See website for full details and important safety information. Actual price to customer will depend on product and subscription plan purchased.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Advent International, which was working with Goldman Sachs Asset Management to acquire Subway for ~$9B, is no longer pursuing a takeover deal (BBG)

• PE firms TDR Capital and Sycamore Partners are in partnership talks for a bid to acquire Subway (RT)

• Snack maker Shearer’s Foods, which is backed by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, is exploring a sale that could be worth up to $3B, including debt (BBG)

• KKR is in advanced talks to buy book publisher Simon & Schuster from Paramount Global for $1.7B (RT)

• Symphony Technology Group and Francisco Partners are among the PE firms competing to acquire media editing software maker Avid Technology, which has a market cap of $1B (RT)

• Barclays received offers from PE firms including Warburg Pincus and Centerbridge Partners to buy its German consumer finance subsidiary, which it’s selling for $547M (RT)

• Premier League football club Chelsea FC is looking to raise up to $500M from investors after a tough season (BBG)

• Lionsgate Entertainment will buy film and TV studio Entertainment One from Hasbro for ~$500M (RT)

• Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's Ambuja Cements will buy an 83% stake in rival Sanghi Industries for up to $295M (RT)

• Social media management software Sprout Social acquired Tagger Media, an influencer marketing and social intelligence platform, for $140M cash (GNW)

• PacBio, a sequencing solutions developer, will acquire short-read sequencer developer Apton Biosystems for up to $110M (FNS)

• Tom Brady purchased a minority stake in EFL Championship football club Birmingham City (BBG)

• Tiger Global built a big stake in PE group Apollo Global (FT)

VC

• Petal, a credit card and fintech startup, raised ~$240M in debt / equity: $200M in debt from Victory Park Capital and $20M in equity from Trinity Capital (FN)

• Newlight Technologies, a startup using natural microorganisms to convert greenhouse gas into high performance AirCarbon, raised a $125M round led by GenZero (FN)

• Tenstorrent, a Toronto-based computing company focused on building computers for AI, raised a $100M strategic financing round led by Hyundai Motor Group and Samsung Catalyst Fund (FN)

• Endor Labs, a startup helping companies secure their open source packages, raised a $70M Series A led by Lightspeed Ventures (TC)

• Lula, a startup aiming to be the ‘Stripe for insurance’, raised a $35.5M Series B led by NextView Ventures and Khosla Ventures (TC)

• Amber Bio, a gene editing startup, raised a $26M seed round led by Playground Global and a16z (BW)

• Generative design tools startup Transcend raised a $20M Series B led by Autodesk (BW)

• Luxury Presence, a proptech startup providing growth marketing solutions to agents, raised a $19.2M Series B-1 led by Bessemer Venture Partners (BW)

• Marketing intelligence platform Haus raised a $17M round led by Insight Partners (TC)

• Digital technology products provider Bending Spoons received a $13M investment from Baillie Gifford, Cox Enterprises, and NB Renaissance (BW)

• All-in-one financial services app Pockit raised a $10M round led by Puma Private Equity (TC)

• Knot, a startup enabling card issuers to automatically switch saved payment methods, raised a $10M Series A led by Nava Ventures (FN)

• Language I/O, a startup providing real-time, business-accurate translation technology, raised an $8M Series A1 led by Joint Effects (FN)

• Functional Finance, a startup integrating data and reporting functions for insurance companies, raised an $8M seed round led by New Enterprise Associates, Walkabout Ventures, and Altai Ventures (FN)

• Orbital, a London-based traditional finance and crypto payments platform, raised $6.4M in funding led by Golden Record Ventures (FN)

• Acelab, an NYC-based product selection platform for the construction industry, raised $5.3M in funding led by Pillar VC, PJC, and Draper Associates (FN)

• Hushmesh, a cyber security startup aiming to secure digital infrastructure, raised a $5.2M early-stage round led by Paladin Capital Group (BW)

• Customer engagement platform Odore raised a $5M seed round led by Fuel Ventures (FN)

• Nuada, a carbon capture startup, raised $4.3M in funding led by BGF (FN)

• Emtech, an African provider of central banking infrastructure, raised a $4M seed round led by Matrix Partners India (TC)

• Polars, a Rust-based data frame library, raised a $4M seed round led by Bain Capital Ventures (BW)

• Datasaur, a startup helping annotators train AI algorithms, raised a $4M seed round led by Initialized Capital (FN)

• Divirod, a real-time flood management and water risk analytics company, raised a $3.6M bridge round from GHD, Thin Line Capital, and TDK Ventures (FN)

SPAC

• LNG terminal operator Crown LNG Holdings is merging with Catcha Investment Corp in a $685M deal (RT)

Debt

• Media giant Warner Bros Discovery plans to buy back $2.7B worth of bonds maturing in 2023 and 2024 to reduce its debt load (BBG)

• Specialized cloud provider CoreWeave raised $2.3B in a debt facility led by Magnetar Capital and Blackstone (RT)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Tupperware Brands agreed with creditors to restructure its debt, which will reduce or reallocate $150M of cash interest and fees; its stock rose over 90% AH (RT)

• Norwegian PE firm Altor Equity Partners, the owners of Chilean salmon farmer Nova Austral, presented a restructuring plan that could transfer ownership to creditors (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• Crypto exchange HashKey became the first licensed crypto trading exchange in Hong Kong to offer services to retail users (RT)

• A couple pleaded guilty to laundering money stolen in a 2016, 120,000 bitcoin hack of crypto exchange Bitfinex through an elaborate scheme that included burying gold coins and burning documents in a trash can in Kazakhstan (RT)

Exec’s Picks

• Barron’s spoke with The Psychology of Money author Morgan Housel to discuss the secret to good investing.

• Derek Thompson explained how the recession doomers got the US economy so wrong.

Litney Partners - Financial Recruiting 💼

If you're currently a junior investment banker looking to break into the buy side, considering lateraling to another investment bank, or have recently been impacted by widespread layoffs, it's time you check out Litney Partners, a partnership between Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).

We aim to place strong candidates at leading private equity, hedge fund, venture capital, growth equity, and credit funds, as well as investment banks.

To get started, simply head over to the Litney website and create your profile by dropping your resume / filling out the form:

Meme Cleanser

Advertise with us // Visit our merch store // Invest alongside Lit Ventures // Book a call with Lit // Launch your own newsletter