All posts tagged: Takeover

Evoke takeover talks by Bally’s Intralot confirm pressure on gambling group finances

Evoke takeover talks by Bally’s Intralot confirm pressure on gambling group finances

Published by skeptic

Evoke has confirmed it is talking with Bally’s Intralot S.A. about a possible takeover, ending days of market chatter around the debt-laden betting group that owns William Hill and 888. The London-listed company said the early-stage approach values the business at 50 pence a share ($0.68). Investors have been watching for signs of corporate interest after a difficult stretch marked by tax pressure, store closures and questions over leverage. In a stock exchange statement, Evoke said it “notes the recent media speculation and confirms that it is in discussions with Bally’s Intralot S.A. … regarding a possible offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of the Company at a price of 50 pence per share.” The company added that the proposal “is expected to comprise an all-share combination with a partial cash alternative.” The board said there “can be no certainty that an offer will be made or as to the terms on which any offer might be made,” and said shareholders “are advised not to take any action in relation …

Axel Springer given UK govt approval for Telegraph takeover

Axel Springer given UK govt approval for Telegraph takeover

Published by Sam Flores

Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner. Picture: Robert Downs/INMA Axel Springer’s planned £575m takeover of Telegraph Media Group has been approved by the UK Government. It is still awaiting regulatory approval in Ireland and Austria (due to there being a lower threshold for competition concerns in those countries although there is no expectation of any impact there). The publisher said it expects the deal to completed by the end of June. Axel Springer chief executive Mathias Döpfner said: “We are pleased to have received UK government approval to proceed with this acquisition. “After a long period of uncertainty, we can confirm that we will invest significantly in The Telegraph’s editorial excellence and international growth.” Axel Springer added that The Telegraph will keep “its distinct editorial voice and British identity”. Axel Springer owns Politico and Business Insider, which both have journalists in the UK, as well as German newspapers Bild and Die Welt. The Telegraph reported that the news was “greeted with relief” in its newsroom after almost three years of being in ownership limbo or, as …

Cuba’s president has a message for the US after Donald Trump said the island was ‘next’ for a takeover

Cuba’s president has a message for the US after Donald Trump said the island was ‘next’ for a takeover

Published by Sam Flores

Cuba’s president has said he won’t step down as he pushed back against mounting US pressure for change on the island. President Trump‘s rhetoric over displacing the communist regime has intensified recently, but Miguel Diaz-Canel told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News that “stepping down is not part of our vocabulary”. “In Cuba, the people who are in leadership positions are not elected by the US government, and they don’t have a mandate from the US government,” he told interviewer Kristen Welker. “We have a free sovereign state, a free state. We have self-determination and independence, and we are not subjected to the designs of the United States.” Mr Diaz-Canel took over from Raul Castro as head of the one-party system in 2018. “If the Cuban people understand that I am not fit for office, that I have no reason to be here, then I should not be holding this position of president, I will respond to them,” he said. Cuba’s 10 million or so people have been dealing with major blackouts in recent …

Billionaire investor launches -billion Universal Music takeover bid

Billionaire investor launches $65-billion Universal Music takeover bid

Published by Sam Flores

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has launched a $65-billion bid to purchase Universal Music, or UMG, the label representing some of music’s biggest names including Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny. As part of the proposed deal, UMG would merge with Ackman’s investment firm, Pershing Square Capital Management, and the company’s stock listing would be relocated from Amsterdam to the New York Stock Exchange. Pershing Square already holds more than 4.5% of the music giant’s shares. Ackman said the move to a U.S.-based stock exchange would increase the value of UMG. “UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business and importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction,” said Ackman in a statement. The proposed deal includes Universal Music merging with Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, an acquisition company approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2023. If approved by investors, the transaction could close at the end of the year, according to the company. Pershing is also calling …

Elon Musk found liable to Twitter shareholders in fraud lawsuit over US billion takeover

Elon Musk found liable to Twitter shareholders in fraud lawsuit over US$44 billion takeover

Published by Sam Flores

SAN FRANCISCO: A US federal jury found Elon Musk liable on claims he defrauded Twitter shareholders by trying to drive down the social media company’s stock price so he could renegotiate or back out of a US$44 billion takeover in 2022. The verdict from a jury in San Francisco federal court came in a closely watched civil trial where Musk, the world’s richest person, was accused of falsely claiming on social media that Twitter underreported how many fake and spam accounts, known as bots, were on its platform. Damages have yet to be calculated but Francis Bottini, a lawyer for the shareholders, estimated they could total about US$2.5 billion. “Musk’s status as the world’s richest man is not a free pass,” Bottini said in a statement. “If you’re able to move markets with your tweets you’re responsible for the harm you cause to investors.” In a joint statement, Musk’s lawyers at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan called the verdict “a bump in the road. And we look forward to vindication on appeal”. The civil trial …

Elon Musk misled investors during Twitter takeover, US jury finds | US News

Elon Musk misled investors during Twitter takeover, US jury finds | US News

Published by skeptic

A US jury has found Elon Musk misled investors by deliberately driving down Twitter’s share price in the months leading up to his $44bn (£33bn) takeover of the social media company. But the tech tycoon, and the world’s richest person, was cleared of some fraud allegations in the civil trial in San Francisco. The case centred on a class-action lawsuit, filed just before Mr Musk took control of Twitter, which he later renamed X. Jurors were asked to decide if two tweets and comments Mr Musk made on a podcast in May 2022 amounted to him intentionally defrauding Twitter shareholders, who sold their shares based on his statements. It is not clear what amount in damages Mr Musk will have to pay to thousands of shareholders, many of them institutional investors, but it is likely to be in the billions. Image: Elon Musk denied defrauding shareholders during a court appearance earlier in March. Pic: AP His fortune is currently estimated at about $814bn (£610bn), much of it tied up in Tesla shares. Much of the …

Trump’s Wall Street–Style Takeover of Venezuela

Trump’s Wall Street–Style Takeover of Venezuela

Published by Daniella Wilson

Since shortly after the United States military’s 2 a.m. seizure of Nicolás Maduro from his bedroom in early January, people in Venezuela and Washington, D.C., alike have struggled to characterize what exactly the Trump administration was doing. Regime change, finally! was the chorus in Caracas, at least for a few hours. Then President Trump said he would back Maduro’s No. 2, Delcy Rodríguez, sidelining the democratic opposition. That was more like regime management, said the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in Washington. The U.S. had left pretty much the same people in power, but following orders from afar. The Guardian settled on regime tweak. The benefit of 11 weeks of hindsight suggests that a different framing might best explain what happened in Venezuela. Think of the whole drama as Chairman Trump’s hostile corporate takeover of a resources-extraction company (or country) with all the plot twists, headaches, and possibilities such foreign acquisitions typically entail. Trump is not the only president to see commercial opportunity in an overseas foray. But he may be the first to …

Contributor: A Democratic takeover of the Senate is now imaginable

Contributor: A Democratic takeover of the Senate is now imaginable

Published by Sam Flores

I’ve seen enough. It’s time to revise our expectations about the midterms. For more than a year now, conventional wisdom has been that Democrats would take back the House — but not the Senate — in the November midterms. That’s because this year’s Senate map would require Democrats to win numerous seats in red states. In fact, if you had asked me a couple of months ago, I would have told you that, yes, Democrats have a shot at the Senate, but in the same way my teenage son has a shot at someday dating Sydney Sweeney. Which is to say, technically possible but cosmically unlikely. But recent developments (such as President Trump’s plunging approval ratings on the economy) are encouraging me to revise my thinking. I’m not alone. Independent journalist Chris Cillizza recently observed that for the first time ever, prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi showed Democrats with a narrow edge. Now, prediction markets are not scientific. Neither, for that matter, is licking your finger and holding it up to the wind — …

Trump’s takeover of DC landmarks reaches legal apex

Trump’s takeover of DC landmarks reaches legal apex

Published by Sam Flores

President Trump’s government real estate projects in the nation’s capital are reaching an apex in court.  Environmental groups, a Democratic congresswoman and even golfers have sued.  Judges so far have largely declined to stop the president’s projects, from rebuilding the Kennedy Center to constructing a planned archway, from East Potomac Park to the Eisenhower Executive… Source link