DropoutEdu

?? Reddit shares soar after first public earnings release Reddit shares climbed 11% at the open Wednesday after strong results and revenue guidance that surpassed expectations. The company posted a 48% increase in revenue y/y and loss per share came at ($8.20) versus the ($8.71) estimate. The earnings beat was driven by growth in Reddit’s advertising business. ?? Consumer Credit report indicates slow growth and lower debt The Federal Reserve posted the most recent Consumer Credit report yesterday, which indicated that total borrowing growth slowed to a 1.5% annualized rate in March. That translates to a $6B gain in total consumer credit, compared to an estimate of $15B. The report is good news for markets, as economists were worried that US consumers were approaching unstable levels of borrowing, due to high prices for goods and higher interest rates. ?? FTC sues to block Kroger’s $24.6B merger with Albertsons The US DOJ backs Colorado’s lawsuit against the proposed $24.6B merger between Kroger and Albertsons. Colorado filed the lawsuit in state court, arguing that the merger would negatively impact competition and residents. If the merger were approved, the combination of the two stores would create a massive supermarket chain, potentially reducing competition and consumer choice. Mergers and Acquisitions KKR will acquire Perpetual’s corporate trust and wealth management businesses for $990M. Private Equity Bain is seeking to purchase Powerschool, a K-12 education platform, valued at $3B. Initial Public Offerings General Beverage is planning a $222M Singapore IPO. Venture Capital Wiz Raised a $1B series E at a $12B valuation.?

Are you destined to be a deal maker? Let's find out. Today, we're sharing 10 investment banking questions that will test your financial statement analysis skills. It's timed. Speed and accuracy are everything in banking. What does the quiz test? - Income Statement Analysis - PP&E Schedule - Other Intangibles - Amortization Schedule and more... To have a look: ?? Sign up for our finance question of the day newsletter: https://lnkd.in/efzVXx3e ?? Create an account and take the quiz: https://lnkd.in/eT_XkT5a Enjoy these questions? Joining our mailing list of over 1,800 finance students will let you continue receiving more practice and education for free.

??TikTok sues the U.S. government over sale-or-ban law TikTok filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government over a new law that forces parent company Bytedance to sell the app to a U.S. company, or face a nationwide ban. ByteDance argues that the federal government’s sale-or-ban law violates the first amendment right to free speech. Bytedance stated they will not sell their US platform by the mid-January 2025 deadline, meaning that the company will proceed with the litigation process as its best hope to keep the platform in the U.S. market. ?? Palantir meets earnings, stock still plummets Palantir reported Q1 earnings on Monday with revenue up 21% y/y and EPS up 60% y/y, yet the stock still fell 15% at market close on Tuesday. The company provided Q2 revenue guidance that met expectations, but full year projections? appeared weaker than consensus estimates. Poor revenue guidance, combined with slowed US government revenue, has investors concerned about the momentum Palantir had been building leading into Q1. ?? Wayve a self-driving car startup raises $1B in Series C Wayve, a startup developing AI-powered solutions to driving technology, has raised $1B in a Series C funding round, with investor participation from SoftBank, Nvidia, and Microsoft. The company plans to use the recent funding to develop its assisted driving, automated driving, and other AI-assisted automotive applications. Wayve’s approach to autonomous driving is similar to Tesla, but Wayve plans on selling its automated driving model to automakers across the globe. Therefore, Wayve will gather training data from several car companies rather than one, accelerating the development of their platform.? Mergers and Acquisitions Global Infrastructure Partners and CPP Investments acquired Allete for $6.2B Private Equity EQT acquired Perficient in a cash deal worth $3B Initial Public Offerings Chinese self-driving firm Momenta filed for US IPO, seeking to raise $300M Venture Capital Privateer, a space data startup, raised $56.5m in Series A ***? P.S. If you found this helpful, DropoutEdu writes about finance and business mindset. Join our minute newsletter for quick insights dropoutedu.com/newsletter/

Success is about failing in and out without losing enthusiasm. You need to be persistent. Hey, even outright crazy. The ability to fall, stand up, fall, stand up. It’s not taught in school. This is known. But even then we do so little to change it. I have struggled to build this muscle. Because most things I do require little risk. Most paths I have chosen are risk averse. By definition most jobs are a safe, risk-averse bet. You will get paid for the unit of labor that you put in. But most of business and life is not like that. The reality is that long-term success from my experience is found in those that can keep doing things for long enough time horizons. And when you extend the time horizon far enough, you inevitably run into challenges. Challenges that make you feel like your world is ending. But if you can make it through. Well, then those challenges often feel trivial. By doing things that have no pre-defined outcome, I have been able to build a new muscle. Tolerance. Tolerance for uncertainty. Uncertainty makes being enthusiastic very hard. We want to know the outcome. We want to know the answer. But we can’t always. Having enthusiasm through the peaks is easy. That’s human nature. Feeling down and out but still finding the enthusiasm to continue. That’s irrational. It’s crazy. Bottom-line? We need to be irrational. Almost crazy. About what it is we are doing. ***? P.S. If you found this helpful, DropoutEdu writes about finance and business mindset. Join our minute newsletter for quick insights dropoutedu.com/newsletter/

??Chinese EV company Zeekr prepares for U.S. IPO Premium electric vehicle company and Chinese Tesla competitor Zeekr targets $5B valuation, marking the first significant IPO by a China-based company in the U.S. in over two years. The electric vehicle maker intends to raise $367M by offering 17.5M American depositary shares (ADS) priced at $18 - $21. ?? Berkshire Hathaway reports earnings and high cash balance Berkshire Hathaway, led by Warren Buffet, reported a strong Q1 performance with operating profit increasing 39% y/y to $11B. This growth was driven by the strength in the company’s property and casualty insurance business, as well as higher investment income. Berkshire’s cash reserves reached a record $189B in Q1, as the company spent $3B on stock and sold approximately $20B. Buffet explained that the company’s significant cash position is due to insufficient attractive acquisition opportunities. ?? Synopsys enters agreement to sell application security business for $2B Semiconductor design company Synopsys has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its software integrity (SIG) business to Clearlake and Francisco Partners. Synonpsy’s divestiture in their software integrity business comes at a critical time, as the company recently acquired Ansys in a $35B cash-and-stock deal, solidifying the company’s position in the chip design market. Mergers and Acquisitions Uniti Group merges with telecom services provider Windstream in a $13.4B cash-and-stock deal. Private Equity EQT Partners bought digital consultancy Perficient for $3B. Initial Public Offerings Tamboran Resources, a natural gas E&P filed for a $100M IPO. Venture Capital Allozymes, an AI biotech startup, raised a $15M Series A. https://lnkd.in/eZVtVgnr

The source of our stress is knowing that we are stressed. Why are we constantly living in a world of stress? Because there is a lot around us. There is constant stimulation in the external world. Things “needing” our attention. And, knowing that there are things that need our attention creates stress. Knowing that we have more unfinished tasks than time creates stress. That stress creates more stress. Aka stress compounds. Imagine I had no responsibilities. Now the only responsibility that I have is to complete a write-up. There is not just one source of stress. There are two. I not only have to write. But, I am also consciously thinking about the fact that I must write the paper. So there is the cause of stress (task) plus the thought of stress (thought itself). Both create stress. So, what’s one solution I have learned and tried to implement? My brain is for thinking not for storing. When ideas strike, write it down. Today– my index card has 11 things on it (too much, I know). But, I am always the person that stores things in my head. And this creates more stress. So I just write it down to clear my mind and just think about the one task. Bottom-line? Stress compounds. We want to limit how much we think about stress. Limit our stress to the actual work. The source of the stress. Thinking about it does no good.?

Find something that lets you reminisce about the past and remember how far you have come. For me that thing is running. Whenever I come back home, I like to go for a run. I used to run a lot in high school. Cross country. Track and field. Recreationally. I vividly remember the school bell ringing at 2:19pm and getting to practice by 2:35 pm. We used to do speed workouts 3 days a week and distance runs twice a week. Those distance runs would be across many neighborhoods. But, we would always make a stop at a local coffee shop to stretch. Running through the coffee shop sitting area always makes me remember those fun conversations and how easy life used to be. Almost stress free. But definitely did not feel that way going through it. Easy to say looking back. But, every year I run through there, I always think back to those times. And how much things have changed in my life. It makes me grateful for the effort and consistency. That I have showed up day in and day out trying to improve my skills. And, slowly things compound. At that time, I did not fully understand where I would be 4-5 years later. And, I’m sure the same is the case now. But, that’s the beauty of it. Small moments like these allow me to cherish time. And consistent improvement. We all overestimate what we can do in 1 week or month. But, then underestimate how much change really happens over the course of a few years. Moments like this help.

We’re in sandbox mode. As young people, we have the benefit of being able to fail. And fail multiple times. We are only limited by the level of our ambition and effort. The beauty is that if we fail there is a lot less to lose. As we grow older the stakes rise. Friends. Family. Career. Mortgage. Student loans. Health. Etc. There is a lot more responsibility as we get older. But, the benefit of being young. We don’t have much of that responsibility. We can live the way we want. On our own terms. We can design the life we so desire. That’s the beauty. It’s like a sandbox. In programming terms, this refers to the testing environment where software can be deployed with test users to identify any issues that need to be addressed. That’s our life. It is our chance to try the new things. The new sports. Clubs. Classes. Internships. Jobs. Etc. Bottom-line? There is not much to lose. We are in sandbox mode. It’s time to make mistakes.

??Sony and Apollo Offer Paramount $26B Sony and Apollo submitted a $26B joint bid to acquire Paramount Global on Wednesday. This development comes as Sony and Apollo seek to challenge the existing deal that Paramount has been negotiating with Skydance Media. Investors and analysts are closely watching this situation, as a successful bid from Sony and Apollo could offer Paramount shareholders a more favorable all-cash deal, compared to the current stock and cash proposal from Skydance. Here’s some important M&A background– with any deal the board of directors (BoD) has a fiduciary duty to shareholders to get the highest value in an all-cash deal. This is known as the Revlon Rule. Notice I said value. Not price. Highest value means you account for … 1. Price 2. Certainty of close 3. Speed to close ??Apple posts earnings, announces record share buyback program Apple posted their Q2 results which included a 4% decline in sales and a 2% decline in net income. The company’s losses stemmed from a downturn in global iPhone sales as they face significant competition from smartphone rivals in China. So why were the company’s shares up 6% pre-market trading on Friday? Apple announced a record $110B share buyback program and raised its quarterly dividend 4%. However, this is simply a way for companies to return excess cash to investors. And Apple has a lot of cash. $32B. Plus lots more in marketable securities. Returning cash does not increase shareholder value. Even though the buyback and dividend boosts themself do not fundamentally increase shareholder value, investor perception can change. Prices trade on investor’s price-implied expectations. That is where investors think the price-affecting fundamentals are moving. Dividends and buybacks signal increased stability and can positively adjust future forecasts, resulting in upward price movements. ??US labor market report falls significantly short of expectations In April, the U.S. labor market added 175,000 jobs, falling short of the 241,000 expectation, registering the lowest job growth in the past six months. The unemployment rate increased to 3.9%, surpassing the forecasted 3.8%. The report follows the Fed’s recent decision to keep rates between 5.25% - 5.5% as it wrestles with persistent inflation. Powell highlighted in Wednesday's meeting that unexpected downturns in the labor market may prompt the Fed to consider reducing rates. Mergers and Acquisitions Energy Capital Partners seeking $2.5B acquisition of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure. Private Equity Clearlake Capital and Francisco Partners seeking $2B acquisition of Synopsys. Initial Public Offerings Games Global, an online betting and casino platform, priced IPO shares at $16-$19. Venture Capital Karius, a provider of blood-testing for infectious disease, raised $100m in Series C funding.

There’s no such thing as time. Time is manmade. This is something profound I learned today. The only thing that really exists is the present moment. We use time to measure the distance between two present moments. But, at its core time is irrelevant. If we are trying to live for the future, we are actually living for a present moment. That present moment is t=0. So why does this matter? It matter because what we choose today is an exact reflection of what we get at the next present moment aka tomorrow. The future that we so dream is actually happening today. Because if we don’t choose to do the things that get us where we want to be. It won’t happen. Time is not relevant. It’s the actions we take that remains relevant.