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Good Morning,

Exxon and Chevron posted record high profits, US consumer spending is still hot, Meta has lost $647B in market value in 10 months, Evergrande is failing to meet debt obligations, and the crypto collapse is sending luxury watches to the secondary market.

Might have to buy the watch market dip if these Patek prices keep falling 👀

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• The positive market momentum continued on Friday, with all three major indexes closing the week in the green

  • The S&P 500 ended the session at 4,130, its highest close since early June

• The pan-European benchmark rose 6.3% in July, its best month since November 2020

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release July's jobs report on Friday

Earnings

• ExxonMobil shattered their profit records after reporting a Q2 net profit of $17.9B. Their shares gained 4.3% on Friday (FT)

• Chevron also broke records after netting $11.6B in Q2 profits. Their shares jumped 8.5% on the report (FT)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Activision Blizzard, ON Semiconductor, WWE

  • Tuesday: AMD, Airbnb, PayPal, JetBlue, Starbucks, Uber, Ferrari, Caterpillar

  • Wednesday: Robinhood, Moderna

  • Thursday: Alibaba, AMC Entertainment, ConocoPhillips

• Full calendar here 

Headline Roundup

• The euro zone economy grew 0.7% in Q2, despite record high inflation and the ongoing energy crisis (CNBC)

• US consumer spending rose 1.1% in June (WSJ)

• US and Japan launched a new high-level economic dialogue aimed at preserving global open economic order (JT)

• Farm giants expect food-supply problems to continue (WSJ)

• OPEC secretary general said Russia's membership is vital for OPEC+'s success (RT)

• Jersey City is now America's most expensive city for renters, with rents averaging $5.5k (NYT)

• Millennials are twice as rich as they were before the Covid pandemic (AX)

• China’s factory activity unexpectedly contracted in July, reversing earlier economic momentum (BBG)

• Jack Ma's plans to give up control of Chinese fintech giant Ant Group will further delay the company's planned $300B IPO (FT)

• The SEC added Alibaba to list of firms facing US delisting (BBG)

• Hungary will allow companies to pay taxes in euros or dollars (RT)

• Meta has lost $647B in market value in 10 months (WS)

• Asset manager Morrison sees cloud-based technology and software services as its best investment opportunity right now (BBG)

• Renault plans to split its electric and combustion-engine businesses even without their Japanese partner Nissan's support (BNN)

• An Illinois resident is the winner of the $1.337B Mega Millions jackpot (CNBC)

A Message From The Milk Road

The Only Crypto Newsletter I Read

I have a love hate relationship with crypto.

I love it when it goes up, and hate it when it goes down.

This year has been rough for crypto, but one bright spot has been this new crypto newsletter I’m reading (The Milk Road).

I heard about it 3-4 times from people I respect on Twitter before I finally subscribed…and I have to say… it’s awesome.

If you like Exec Sum, you’ll like The Milk Road.

It’s got that great mix of smart stuff & jokes. And crypto is changing so fast, it’s great to just read a super quick & simple summary of the big news each day.

It was started by @shaanvp, so it got pretty popular quickly (100k+ subscribers this year).

If you wanna keep up with crypto —> highly recommend checking it out.

here’s the link to subscribe (it’s free)

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Media firm Antenna Group is in talks to acquire news and entertainment company Vice Media, which was once valued at $5.7B (RT)

• Telecommunication companies Liberty Global and Telefonica created a JV with infrastructure investor InfraVia Capital Partners to invest $5.5B in a new fiber network in Britain (BBG)

• Indian state-owned oil companies ONGC Videsh and Indian Oil are in talks to acquire up to a $3B stake in gas company Tullow Oil's $3.4B Kenya project (BBG)

• PE firm Permira emerged as the lead bidder for bankruptcy and distressed-debt information provider Reorg Research for a potential ~$1.3B takeover deal (BBG)

• Gulf of Mexico oil explorer Talos Energy is in talks to acquire neighbor EnVen Energy for ~$1B, including debt (RT)

• Italian logistics company Bcube is exploring a minority stake sale that could value the company at ~$1B (BBG)

• French construction company Vinci is nearing a deal to acquire a 30% stake in Mexican airport operator OMA for ~$815M, including some debt (BBG)

• British bank NatWest Group is considering a bid for UK wealth management firm Quilter (BBG)

• Telecommunications group Telecel agreed to buy the majority stake of telecommunications giant Vodafone's Ghanian unit (BBG)

VC

• Sustainable energy firm Octopus Energy raised $550M in new funding: $325M from existing shareholders and $225M in commitments from asset manager Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (BW)

• Crypto wallet maker Ledger is in talks to raise $100M+ in a funding round at a $1.5B+ valuation (BBG)

• Cancer therapy biotech startup Novasenta raised a $40M Series A led by UPMC Enterprises (PRN)

• German bicycle brand Canyon raised ~$30M at a ~$750M valuation in a strategic funding led by the (disputed) GOAT LeBron James' family office LRMR Ventures (FT)

• AI-based compliance startup Kompliant raised a $14M seed round led by Level One Fund (TC)

• UneMeta, a Singapore-based NFT incubator and trading/SocialFi platform, raised a $5M funding round led by Japan's top IoT blockchain platform Jasmy Foundation (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• PE firms Carlyle Group and Advent International will each buy up to 10% stakes in Indian lender YES Bank as part of the bank's $1.1B capital raise (BBG)

SPAC

• UK gambling software provider Playtech ended talks with Mexican sports betting firm Caliente Interactive for their Caliplay unit to list in the US via a SPAC (RT)

Debt

• A unit of Evergrande was ordered to pay a guarantor $1.08B for failing to honor debt obligations (RT)

• Fintech real estate startup Orchard is looking to raise ~$75M in convertible note funding (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Struggling developer Chinese Evergrande Group failed to meet a self-imposed deadline for a proposal to restructure its $300B in liabilities (FT)

• Sustainable energy firm Octopus Energy asked the UK government for a ~$1.22B funding package to help acquire failed electricity supplier Bulb Energy; Octopus will pay up to $244M for Bulb's customer base (BBG)

• Free Speech Systems, the parent of conspiracy website InfoWars, filed for bankruptcy protection as the company and its founder Alex Jones face up to $150M in lawsuit damages (RT)

Fundraising

• Ex-NBA star Metta World Peace's investment firm Artest Management Group is targeting a $1B fund to focus on startups in health, sports, blockchain technology and real estate in US and Asian markets (BZ)

• Climate-focused VC firm Buoyant Ventures raised $50M for a new $100M fund to continue their focus on solutions for carbon-heavy industries (TC)

Crypto Corner

• ~75% of retailers plan to accept cryptocurrency payments by 2024 (CNBC)

• The cryptocurrency collapse has flooded secondary watch markets with Rolexes and Pateks (BBG)

Exec's Picks

• Last week, Packy McCormick joined Derek Thompson on the Plain English podcast to discuss the future of Web3. Check out their conversation here.

• Jefferies CEO Rich Handler shared "Wall Street's 100 Highest Paid" from July 1992. Take a trip down memory lane to see some of the legends who made the list 30 years ago.

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 aim to curate jobs across IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We'll sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

If you're a company looking to hire candidates and want to list a job opening on our board and feature on Exec Sum, click the button below:

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