Poison Pilled

It's tax day, Twitter's board adopts a poison pill to discourage Musk's (or others') takeover bid, China Eastern put Boeings back in the air, Beijing's crackdown hurt Alibaba's profits, the Evergreen ship is no longer stuck in the Chesapeake, and Thoma Bravo might make its own Twitter bid.

April 18, 2022

Together with

Good Morning,

It's tax day, Twitter's board adopts a poison pill to discourage Musk's (or others') takeover bid, China Eastern put Boeings back in the air, Beijing's crackdown hurt Alibaba's profits, the Evergreen ship is no longer stuck in the Chesapeake, and Thoma Bravo might make its own Twitter bid.

If you’ve been slacking and haven’t filed your taxes yet, you might want to look into filing an extension. 

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 4/15/2022 market close. US and London markets were closed for Good Friday.

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

Markets

  • Equity, bond, and commodity markets were closed in observance of Good Friday

  • Investors will be watching this week's jobless claims, Fed Presidents' speeches, and PMI data for new economic data

Earnings

  • What we’re watching this week:

    • Mon: Bank of America

    • Tues: Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Netflix, IBM

    • Wed: Procter & Gamble, Nasdaq, United Airlines, Tesla

    • Thurs: American Airlines, AT&T, Snap

    • Fri: Verizon, American Express

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Evergreen ship that was lodged in Chesapeake for a month is moving again (BBG)

  • Twitter brings on JPMorgan as adviser alongside Goldman (BBG)

  • Beijing crackdown derails Alibaba’s bid for Amazon-size profit (BBG)

  • China Eastern puts type of Boeing jet that crashed back in the air (BBG)

  • Twitter adopts ‘poison pill’ as challenger to Musk emerges (RT)

  • Ukrainian forces in Mariupol rebuff Russian ultimatum to surrender (WSJ)

  • Officials adopt new message on Covid-19 behaviors: It’s your call (WSJ)

  • Elon Musk’s 2018 tweets about taking Tesla private were false, new court filing says (CNBC)

A Message From Shift4

Shift4 (NYSE: FOUR) is boldly redefining commerce by simplifying complex payments ecosystems across the world. As the leader in integrated payments and commerce technology, Shift4 powers billions of transactions annually for hundreds of thousands of businesses in virtually every industry – including hotels, restaurants, stadiums, casinos, retail, nonprofit, ecommerce and more.

The company recently expanded into the cryptocurrency space with the acquisition of The Giving Block, the leading crypto donation platform. To celebrate, Shift4 launched “Caring with Crypto” – a $20 million fundraising campaign for nonprofits on the platform, with Shift4’s CEO matching $10M in donations. You can visit thegivingblock.com/caringwithcrypto for more information about this initiative or to donate.

Learn more about Shift4 at shift4.com.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Thoma Bravo contacted Twitter to express interest in putting together a buyout offer to rival Elon Musk’s $43B bid (RT)

  • Investment firm GBL is nearing a deal to buy health-care services firm Affidea in a potential ~$1.7B deal (BBG)

  • A consortium led by US radio station industry veteran Jeff Warshaw agreed to buy radio station owner and operator Cumulus Media in a ~$1.2B deal (RT)

  • Alternative asset manager Investcorp is in exclusive talks to buy Italian soccer team AC Milan in a potential $1.1B deal (BBG)

VC

  • Bike taxi startup Rapido raised a $180M Series D led by Swiggy (TC)

  • Corporate expensing automation startup Itilite raised a $29M Series C led by Tiger Global and Dharana Capital (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Apollo is weighing an IPO for country club operator ClubCorp that could be worth ~$4.5B (BBG)

  • China Resources Holdings is considering a Hong Kong IPO of its bottled water unit C’estbon that could raise up to $1B (BBG)

  • The 169-year old piano builder Steinway has filed for a NY IPO (BBG)

  • DiDi plans shareholder meeting in May to vote on US delisting (BBG)

Restructuring

  • Companies owned by far-right radio host Alex Jones are getting advice from restructuring advisers and considering opinions including a potential bankruptcy filing after being hit by lawsuits over Jones’s conspiracy theories (BBG)

Crypto Corner

  • Fan tokens from Manchester City to PSG prove disappointing (BBG)

  • Louis Vuitton releases new NFTs as fashion brands continue experiments in gaming (TBC)

Exec's Picks

  • Investing is always better when you do it with friends. Hedge is a collaborative trading platform where you can pool money & invest together in stocks, options, crypto, & NFTs. Hedge is also one of Lit’s angel investments, and they’re launching a private beta later this month, which you can get access to by signing up for their waitlist here 🤝

  • Jon Haidt wrote a great piece in The Atlantic about how social media has fueled distrust and discontent in our societies, and what we can try to do to right the ship. Check out his latest here.

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.

Meme Cleanser

Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube 🤝 

Reply

or to participate.