Top Financial Stories Tuesday, September 13: Elon Musk's Takeover Set To Get Twitter Shareholder Approval, Intel Slashes Mobileye IPO Valuation, Goldman Sachs To Layoff About 500 Jobs And More…

Wall Street Journal

Elon Musk's Takeover Set To Get Twitter Shareholder Approval By 'Wide Margin' Today

• Shareholders of Twitter Inc TWTR are likely to approve the $44 billion takeover led by Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA).
• CEO Elon Musk — a proposal the billionaire entrepreneur is no longer keen on seeing through.
• Early trends indicate investors approving the deal by a wide margin, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter. According to the Journal, the shareholder meeting is scheduled for Tuesday at 1 p.m. EDT.

Reuters

India Wins $20B Semiconductor Tech Investment From Apple Supplier, Vedanta Kicking Off Its Journey As A Chip Maker

• Vedanta Ltd and Apple Inc AAPL supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd HNHAF, operating as Foxconn, aim to invest $19.5 billion to set up semiconductor and display production plants in Gujarat, India.
• Vedanta Chair Anil Agarwal tweeted regarding the new plant describing it as the onslaught of India's journey from Chip Taker to a Chip Maker.

US Judge Dismisses Shareholder Lawsuit Over AstraZeneca's COVID-19 Vaccine Disclosures

• A U.S. judge dismissed a shareholder lawsuit claiming AstraZeneca Plc AZN concealed problems in developing its COVID-19 vaccine, making it unlikely to win FDA approval.
• The judge said the proposed action failed to identify any misleading statements or adequately allege that AstraZeneca intended to defraud shareholders.

Google Battles Two Separate Class Actions In UK, Dutch Courts With Claims Of €25B

• A law firm, on behalf of publishers, slapped damages claims for up to €25 billion ($25.4 billion) on Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL
• Google over its digital advertising practices in two suits filed in British and Dutch courts.
• Google's ad tech has drawn scrutiny from antitrust regulators following complaints from publishers.

Bloomberg

Intel Slashes Valuation Of Mobileye IPO As Chipmakers Cut Outlook Citing Uncertain Macro Environment

• Intel Corp INTC scaled back expectations for its Mobileye initial public offering amid a broader stock recession and could delay the share sale until 2023 from the prior mid of 2022, pending recovery.
• Intel expects the IPO to value the self-driving technology business at up to $30 billion, down from an initial valuation of over $50 billion.

Nintendo Shares Jump 6% As 'Splatoon 3' Makes Blistering Switch Debut In Japan

• Shares of Japanese multinational video gaming company Nintendo Co., Ltd NTDOY surged close to 6% in intra-day trade in Japan after its family-friendly online shooter game Splatoon 3 became the biggest Switch debut with 3.45 million units sold in the Asian country over its opening weekend.
• The report said that the long-awaited release ranked number 1 in initial domestic sales of any Switch title, surpassing Animal Crossing: New Horizons' 1.88 million units. It said that Animal Crossing had greatly boosted Nintendo's software sales during the COVID-19 pandemic and helped maintain hardware demand for the platform.

New York Times

Amid Slower Deal Making, Goldman Sachs To Layoff Some 500 Jobs

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS will cut jobs as soon as this month as a part of the bank's annual performance reviews suspended during the pandemic.
• The bank usually cuts about 1% - 5% of its staff each year, and the 2022 cuts will likely be in the lower end of that range.
• Goldman's headcount reached 47,000, and a 1% staff cut would imply a reduction of about 500 bankers.

CNBC

Amid Heat On Workplace Safety Issues, Amazon Loses Workplace Safety Head

• Amazon.com Inc's AMZN top executive supervising workplace health and safety is leaving in October.
• Heather MacDougall, who joined Amazon in 2019 from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, will depart effective October 7 to pursue other opportunities outside Amazon.
• Becky Gansert, VP of global specialty fulfillment, will succeed MacDougall as head of global workplace health and safety.

Starbucks To Reveal Reinvention Plan Today

• Starbucks Corp SBUX is expected to reveal a reinvention plan today as it battles changing consumer behavior and the call for unionization in the U.S.
• The plan is the work of the outgoing interim CEO Howard Schultz, whom Laxman Narasimhan will succeed in April.

Benzinga

Bitcoin Spikes, Ethereum, Dogecoin Drop: Why This Analyst Is Warning Not To Get 'Too Comfy'

• Bitcoin spiked Monday evening as the global cryptocurrency market cap rose 0.4% to $1.1 trillion.
• Justin Bennett warned cryptocurrency investors not to get too comfortable because the S&P 500 is "doing the same thing it's done all year."
• "The only difference is the length of this retest, which just means more trapped longs if it repeats," said the trader sharing a chart tracking the index.

KKR Scraps A$14.5B Takeover Bid Of Australia's Ramsay Health Care

• Talks regarding KKR & Co KKR-led consortium buying Australian hospital operator Ramsay Health Care Ltd RMSYF RMYHY have fallen apart.
• The consortium sent a letter reconfirming it would not offer A$88 a share and could not increase its alternative proposal.
• In April this year, a KKR-led consortium offered to buy Ramsay Health Care Ltd for roughly $14.9 billion.

Tesla Has Access To All The Battery Cells It Needs For First Time Ever, Says Senior Exec

• COVID-19 brought to the fore the problems electric vehicle makers face when the supply chain is challenged. Tesla Inc TSLA seemed to have removed the risk from the equation as far as its battery supply is concerned.
• For the first time, according to Business Insider, Martin Viecha, vice president of investor relations at Tesla, has access to all the battery cells required.
• He made the comments at an invite-only Goldman Sachs Tech Conference.

Nio Surges 18% On Upbeat Analyst Coverage: Hong Kong Stocks Mixed As Xi-Putin Meeting, US Inflation Data In Focus

• Shares of electric-vehicle maker Nio surged 18% in Hong Kong on Tuesday morning, following positive analyst coverage, even as domestic stocks opened on a mixed note.
• Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu has named Nio his top pick among Chinese EV makers. At the same time, BofA Securities reiterated its 'buy' rating and raised its price target based on healthy momentum for its offerings.

US Chips Act Draws Momentum; Micron Breaks Ground On US Chip Fab

• Micron Technology Inc MU broke ground on its leading-edge memory manufacturing fab in Boise, Idaho. It will be the first new memory manufacturing fab in the U.S. in 20 years.
• CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said, "The investment, made possible by the anticipated grants and credits provided by the CHIPS and Science Act, also enhances Micron's supply chain resilience and will establish a new strategic capability for the U.S."

SEC Charged VMWare With Fraud But Settled For Just $8M In Penalty

• The Securities and Exchange Commission said it had charged the cloud computing giant VMware Inc VMW for "misleading investors about its order backlog management practices.
• The alleged order backlog management practices enabled the company to push revenue into future quarters by delaying customer product deliveries, concealing its slowing performance relative to its projections."
• The SEC has already settled with a mere $8 million in a penalty for the company that boasts a $52 billion market cap right now.

Honda Plans To Fasten Sales Of Electric Motorcycles

• Honda Motor Co Ltd HMC plans to launch more than ten electric motorcycle models globally in the next three years. It aims to achieve carbon neutrality in its motorcycles by 2050.
• So, starting in 2023, Honda will introduce flex-fuel (gasoline-ethanol blend fuels) models in India and Brazil.

UBS To Boost Its Dividend By 10%; Expects Buybacks To Surpass $5B

• UBS Group AG UBS looks to increase its dividend by 10% to $0.55 per share, adding that its board intends to propose at the 2023 annual meeting and expects its 2022 share repurchases to exceed $5 billion.
• As of September 9, UBS bought back $4.1 billion in shares.
• UBS would guide next year's capital return with fourth-quarter earnings and expects "to continue to have share repurchases and a progressive dividend."

Photo by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay