Microsoft’s “acquihire” of Inflection AI probed by FTC
The Federal Trade Commission is looking into whether Microsoft hiring basically all of Inflection AI’s employees and licensing its tech was the same thing as an acquisition, which would have required...
Cannabis company CEO wants to get bought by Boston Beer, the maker of Sam Adams
Sometimes when you’re looking for a partner, you’ve just gotta shoot your shot. Ben Kovler, the CEO of cannabis company Green Thumb, did just that, The Wall Street Journal is reporting . On Sunday, Ko...
WeWork’s founder Adam Neumann gives up going after WeWork
After a $650 million bid earlier this year to buy back WeWork, the company’s cofounder Adam Neumann is bowing out — but not gracefully. Neumann intended to have his new venture, apartment rental compa...
The US government is putting private equity’s M&A model under the microscope
The US government continues to scrutinize a favorite tactic of the private equity industry — so-called roll-ups, or serial acquisitions — to determine if such M&A binges harmfully eliminate competitio...
3 theories on why Vivek Ramaswamy is buying up BuzzFeed
If you asked me, like, eight months ago, what would be the funniest activist investment into a struggling public company, I think “Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy making a strategic ...
Bumble looks to friendship to reinvigorate its stock price
You can’t buy friendship, but if you’re a dating app worried about slowing user growth and a slipping share price, acquiring a “community building app” could be the next best thing. The financial term...
The Athletic has become a bigger part of the New York Times
Athletic united Workers at The Athletic, the much-vaunted sports publication that the New York Times Co. picked up for $550M at the start of 2022, are reportedly in discussions to form a union, as the...
The FTC vs. Big Handbag
The Federal Trade Commission has sued to block big tech, big grocery, big vacuum, and now, big… “affordable luxury handbag.” Yesterday, the FTC sued to block Tapestry Inc’s $8.5B acquisition of Capri ...
Paramount's prized assets are up for sale
Picture perfect Paramount Global's stock soared 13% on Friday, following reports that Sony was considering joining Apollo's bid to purchase the historic film and TV studio . The news comes after a pre...
Google might buy what it can’t build
Google parent Alphabet is considering a bid for $34 billion marketing software solutions platform, according to Reuters. Why would Alphabet want to acquire Hubspot? And, related, what actually is Hubs...
Government regulators making startup acquisitions harder
An investor’s thought process before investing in a startup goes something like this: “My stake in this company won’t be liquid, and the odds of losing my money on this investment are probably, like, ...
Welcome back, Adam Neumann
Nobody is better at capitalism than Adam Neumann. A month after his attorneys published a letter detailing Neumann’s desire to purchase WeWork out of bankruptcy, the ousted founder made a $500 million...
Microsoft doesn’t acquire AI company Inflection, but kind of does anyway
It’s common practice for a large company to identify a smaller company that they would like to own, and say, “Hey, I would like to pay you millions (billions?) of dollars for technology.” To which the...