The court decision that enforces Gawker Media founder Nick Denton to pay $140 million damages to pro wrestler Hulk Hogan in an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit has seemed to do him in financially. Today, Denton has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Stay tuned to Sentifi to monitor the development of this event and other important events in the financial markets.
1/ Gawker Media: Founder seeks bankruptcy protection
The loss in a lawsuit against Hulk Hogan has put both Gawker Media and its founder in the position to seek bankruptcy protection. The company filed for bankruptcy on June 10, and Monday was its founder’s turn as Nick Denton is also liable for the $140 million damages award. Denton listed assets of $10 million to $50 million and liabilities of more than $100 million in the bankruptcy petition.
2/ Didi Chuxing: Merges with Uber China
The largest and most dominant ride-hailing service in China, Didi Chuxing, announced a merge with Uber China that will put its valuation at $35 billion. This is considered a victory for Didi in its attempt to fight off Uber. Last year, it merged with Kuaidi, another former leader in Chida’s ride-hailing market, to create a juggernaut to take market share from Uber. Since then, Didi has attracted many investments from the biggest and most valuable companies in China and overseas, including Alibaba Group, Tencent and Apple.
3/ SolarCity Corp: Merger is made official by Tesla
The U.S.’s largest provider of solar rooftop panels will merge with Tesla in a $2.6-billion all-stock deal, the electric car company announced. The critics have been expressing lots of skepticism about this deal ever since Tesla offered to acquire SolarCity back in June simply because neither company is profitable and the cash flow is “being sustained more through drumming up investment capital and less through product sales.” SolarCity shares fell 7.42 percent while Tesla shares dropped 2.04 percent, accurately reflecting the investors’ confidence in this deal.
4/ GlaxoSmithKline Pharma: Announces a joint venture with Alphabet
The U.K.’s largest drug company is teaming up with Alphabet’s life sciences division Verily to form Galvani Bioelectronics which focuses on using miniaturized, implantable devices to treat chronic diseases. Over the next seven years, both companies will invest up to £540 million.
5/ Uber Technologies: Forfeits the competition for China’s market
Uber has decided to put an end to the costly price war with Didi with the sales of its Chinese division to Didi. Approximately, the war has cost Uber $2 billion in China in two years. This deal will free up Uber to explore other markets and provide it with the necessary capital for future IPO.
6/ STOXX Europe 50: Drops Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank
The index has announced the deletion of Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank due to its fast-exit rule, which states that a component is deleted if it ranks 75 or below on the monthly selection list and the list of the previous month. Vinci and ASML will replace the two banks.
7/ Heineken NV: Warns on Africa
Strong performance from Asia has helped the Dutch brewer beat market expectations for its half-year profit. Unfortunately, it warns that developing markets, especially Africa, are experience a slowdown that could hurt its global earnings. The company’s shares went down more than 3 percent.
8/ Starz: Forecasts post-merger growth
Starz and Lionsgate predicted a 20% increase in revenues to $5.5 billion along with free cash flow up 104.2% to $774 million. A few analysts have spoken up that the companies are more optimistic about their future growth than they actually are due to concerns about subscription losses.
9/ ICICI Bank: Shares fall on plummeting quarterly profit
India’s largest private lender by assets reported a 25% drop in quarterly profit due to a rise in bad debt, resulting in a 5.1% drop in its shares, the steepest loss since April 5.
10/ Warren Buffett: Challenges Trump to exchange tax returns
The billionaire investor, who is a supporter of Hillary Clinton, has challenged Donald Trump to disclose his tax returns and criticized his business record and previous comments on Muslim immigration.
If you want to harness the wisdom and insights from the crowd to monitor your portfolio free of charge, please sign up for Sentifi.
