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Good morning,

Microsoft offers $69B to buy Activision (which means you can VLOOKUP your K/D ratio), Peloton plans to lay off 41% of sales & marketing staff, Europe energy bills are through the roof, OnlyFans hires federal lobbyists (OnlyFeds?), Coinbase & MasterCard partner to let users buy NFTs with credit cards, and Shopify expands in China.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

• Major indexes sold off on Tuesday, with the Dow getting tugged down by Goldman’s stock and the Nasdaq dropping 2.6% after a jump in interest rates

• The 10-Yr yield topped 1.87%, its highest level in two years, and the 2-Yr yield crossed 1% for the first time in two years

• More big earnings are on deck today with companies such as Morgan Stanley, BofA, and Procter & Gamble reporting

• With it being a quiet week for economic data, investors will be continuing to eye earnings reports and interest rate movements

Earnings

• Goldman Sachs shares slid 7% after its earnings report showed a 13% profit decline due to a slowdown in trading revenues and 23% OpEx increase fueled by compensation expenses (WSJ)

• Charles Schwab fell slightly after beating last year’s earnings but coming in lower-than-expected for Q4 (YHOO)

• PNC saw rising revenue but decreased profits after the merger and integration costs from the acquisition of BBVA; the bank announced an $88B plan to expand economic opportunities for minorities and low- and moderate-income individuals and communities (PG)

• What we’re watching today: Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, United Airlines, Procter & Gamble

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Peloton plans to lay off 41% of sales and marketing staff (BI)

• Europe car sales plunge 22%, punctuating worst year in decades (BBG)

• Europeans rush to reduce energy use as household bills soar (BBG)

• Egypt could see military owned firms list on Bourse in 2022 (BBG)

• Bond yields hit two-year high as stock futures fall (WSJ)

• Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct (WSJ)

• Shopify steps up China expansion through tie-up with e-commerce giant JD.com (CNBC)

• NSFW streaming platform OnlyFans hires federal lobbyists (POLITICO)

• Ex-pharma CEO aided opioid sales to addicts, US says (BBG)

• Goldman’s record expenses show ballooning costs of talent war (BBG)

• Coinbase partners with Mastercard to let users buy NFTs via cards (TBC)

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Deal Flow

M&A

• Microsoft agreed to buy video game company Activision Blizzard in a ~$69B all-cash deal (WSJ)

• Bain Capital is looking to bid for a stake in the benefits and rewards services unit of French food caterer Sodexo that has a current market value of $13.7B (RT)

• Triton Investment Management raised its offer for pharmaceutical company Clinigen to a ~$1.8B valuation to win backing of shareholders (BBG)

• Taiwan’s Fubon Financial Holdings is in talks to buy Citigroup’s mainland China consumer business in a potential $1.5B deal (BBG)

• Affinity Equity Partners is launching a sale of its Burger King fast-food businesses in South Korea and Japan that could fetch $1B+ (RT)

• Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries agreed to buy a majority stake in Indian robotics startup Addverb Technologies for $132M (BBG)

• Aerospace manufacturer Rocket Lab agreed to buy SolAero, a supplier of space solar power products and precision aerospace structures, for $80M (TC)

• Swedish robot developer Furhat Robotics agreed to buy Colorado-based Misty Robotics (BBG)

• Tech-powered media company The Arena Group announced plans to acquire multimedia content company AMG/Parade (BW)

• Vivendi agreed to buy an 8.5% stake in digital communication group Progressif Media (RT)

VC

• Blossom Capital closed a $432M fund for Series A deals in Europe (TC)

• Animoca, a Hong Kong-based startup which manages several popular metaverse brands, raised ~$380M at a $5B valuation led by Liberty City Ventures (TC)

• Istanbul gaming startup Dream Games raised a $255M Series C led by Index Ventures at a $2.75B valuation (TC)

• British autonomous vehicle startup Wayve raised a $200M Series B led by Eclipse Ventures (TC)

• Satellogic, a geospatial data startup, received a $150M investment from Liberty Strategic Capital (BW)

• Financial data analytics company Canalyst raised a $70M Series C led by Dragoneer Investment Group (PRN)

• Curbio, a startup building a pay-at-closing home improvement solution for real estate agents, raised a $65M Series B led by Revolution Growth (PRN)

• Payroll connectivity platform Pinwheel raised a $50M Series B at a $500M valuation led by GGV Capital (TC)

• Clockwise, a platform to help teams free up their the workday, raised a $45M Series C led by Coatue (BW)

• Mexican revenue-based investment startup Fairplay raised a $35M Series A consisting of $15M in equity co-led by Dila Capital and Kayyak Ventures and $20M in debt from Architect Capital (TC)

• Contract automation platform Juro raised a $23M Series B led by Eight Roads (BW)

• Faeth Theraputics raised a $20M seed round co-led by Khosla Ventures and Future Ventures (TC)

• Wellster, a German integrated healthcare company, raised a $20M Series B extension from Claret Capital and Mangrove Capital Partners (PRN)

• Philadelphia-based pharmaceutical development company Dermaliq Therapeutics raised a $15M Series A led by 3E Bioventures Capital (PRN)

• Appvance, an AI-driven autonomous driving software testing platform, raised a $13M Series C led by Arrowroot Capital (PRN)

• Verica, a company using constant verification to make systems more reliable, raised a $12M Series A led by Intel Capital (BW)

• Plant-based omega-3 protein products producer Qualitas Health received a $8M investment from GP Capital Partners (PRN)

• Castiron, an ecommerce solution for independent chefs, raised a $6M seed round led by Bowery Capital, Foundry Group, and High Alpha (TC)

• Cloaked, a consumer-first privacy company, raised a $4M seed round led by Human Capital (BW)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Indian startup Oyo Hotels is eying a ~$9B valuation in upcoming potential IPO (BBG)

• Brazil state-owned oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro and industrial conglomerate Novonor are seeking to raise ~$1.5M by selling shares in petrochemical firm Braskem (BBG)

Debt

• Health information technology company Athenahealth is looking to raise $6.75B in debt to partially fund its LBO led by Hellman & Friedman and Bain Capital (BBG)

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Big Swinging Decks Podcast

🗣 ICYMI: Lit and Mark welcome the FIRST guests ever on the pod: FRIDAY BEERS.

The Barrett bros behind Friday Beers open up about their backgrounds, cover the development of the business, and make a few EXCLUSIVE announcements, including a highly confidential JV with Litquidity.

Catch the latest episode on Spotify and Apple Music 🤝

The Hiring Block

If you're looking to break into finance, lateral, or move out, check out our job board on Pallet, where we curate highly relevant roles for you. We've got 40+ jobs spanning IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

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