Good Thursday Morning. With Trump and the NYTimes fighting like cats and dogs and Trump stuff dominating the news 24×7 – and by the way, most of it is not a story, such as the media trying to play HR and report who is mad at whom on the transition team – we are going to take a quick look at a couple of big things you need to know on the international front and cultural milestones.
Daylight – First thing this morning, Walmart shares drop three percent premarket, as revenue for last quarter missed estimates, and Walmart Chinese workers are striking all over China over low wages and working conditions.
M&A – Viacom has purchased Television Federal SA (Telefe), an Argentine broadcaster, from telecom carrier Telefonica SA for $345 million in an all-cash deal.
Charoen Pokphand Foods, owned by a Thailand Tycoon and Dhanin Chearavanont, has agreed to buy frozen food company, Bellisio Parent for $1.1 billion. Bellisio was established in 1990 as a wholesale distributor for brands, such as Chili’s, Boston Market and Atkins.
Renaud Laplanche, founder of Lending Club, who was fired by the board in the summer, has filed papers in several states to create a competitor, Credify, an online lending marketplace.
Economics – This morning, oil futures are up as a “Saudi Deal,” or side deal, is announced on reducing output. Side deal means OPEC minus Iran. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen repeats that an interest rate hike could come relatively soon, as she is leaving office and Trump is taking office. Trump has that tweet loaded and ready to go.
Live Rounds – Walmart employees in China are furious over low pay and exhausting schedules and have organized nationwide strikes and boycotts at 400 stores. Despite its commitment to the working class, Beijing has looked the other way, hoping the situation will take care of itself and not encourage a worker revolt throughout the country.
Buzzard’s Roost – China is on the political brink in a number of ways, including branch office problems. This month, China played the communist dictator card when it used a vague provision from its charter with Hong Kong and flat out denied two pro-democracy activists from taking their seats in the legislature. The single, biggest likely threat to the global economy is China blowing up. Their political instability makes ours look like a piece of cake. They just don’t tell you or anyone.
Hot – We see who the Entrepreneur is among the foreign leaders – the one who shows up first in person. Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, will be the first foreign leader to meet President elect Trump, following Trump’s victory last week. Mr. Abe made no bones about it, saying he wants to visit (lobby) Mr. Trump before hard policies and decisions are made and still in flux. Getting face-to-face with the decision-maker is the standard and secret for successful Entrepreneurs.
Yesterday, a fake news job hit Pepsi, and it went global in minutes. The totally fabricated story said Pepsi CEO told Trump supporters to take their business elsewhere. Pepsi stock dropped. The day after Trump’s victory, she spoke at the DealBook conference in New York and chided Trump for his past remarks, so fake news strategy is to take a tiny piece of context and blow it up in a big lie. Mark it down as a future business problem. What is your response to fake news?
Culture – Music Appreciation – What about Bob? Yesterday, Dylan said he would not attend the ceremony to receive his Nobel Prize in Literature. Last month, the Nobel committee had gotten a little annoyed because he had not yet RSVP’d, so he finally floated the statement that he would make every effort to be there. When somebody sends that as any RSVP, count it as a no. Yesterday, he said no – had a prior commitment on that date – too bad for him. He did not have a concert on the books for that day. By the way, Gregg Allman has canceled all his concerts in New York, which were being held at the City Winery. Now, he has canceled all concerts that were on the books. We hope Rambling Man is fine, but word is his health has dropped sharply.
Colson Whitehead won the National Book Award for fiction for: “The Underground Railroad,” a gripping novel on the human spirit and horrors of slavery.
Yesterday, Monet’s 1891 canvas “Grainstack” was bought for $81.4 million at Christi’s in New York City, a record auction price for a work by the French Impressionist.
Investment Banking – FFL Partners has agreed to acquire Crisis Prevention Institute, a St. Louis-based provider of crisis prevention, non-violent physical intervention, and dementia care training, from Brockway Moran & Partners.
Spotlight – Dan King of ENT Institute should be known as the King of Marketing. I saw his full-page ad yesterday that made about four different companies happy, including his wife, Dr. Debra King. I’ve got to get some pointers from Dan. The Morning Report will return Monday Morning. I am heading south to a Quail Gathering – distant cousin of the crow.
Back Home – Death Valley, straddling Nevada and California, is the hottest and driest place in North America with less than two inches of rain per year. Due to an unexpected deluge, a density of gold, yellow and purple wildflowers popped up all over the landscape of the desert floor like no one has seen in a decade. It turns out Morning Reports also popped up like wildflowers all summer long. Some in my own backyard. Thanks to readers for sending a few this way – Entrepreneurs can learn a lot from competition. I love it that Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, spent his Saturdays walking through competitor stores. His goal was to find one good idea from each store to take back to his team. One good idea can go a long way.
Deal Stream>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
IPO – Many of you were surprised Trivago, online discount travel agency, was going public. Don’t laugh, although I realize you recognize the company as the commercial of the guy who does their ads on TV not wearing a belt. By the way, it is one of the best companies under a billion dollars in the marketplace, and the Average Joe guy in the TV ad was brilliant – you remembered it. The company was actually started in Germany by three college students who still run it like an off-campus dorm, although it now has hundreds of employees. But there is always a secret sauce and never an accident – they have successfully recruited the smartest computer engineers in Germany.
Exits – GE has acquired Bit Stew Systems, a machine learning platform, and Wise.io, an advanced machine learning technology.
Anchorage Capital Group and Littlejohn & Co. have sold Contech Engineered Solutions, a provider of infrastructure services for engineers, contractors, and architects, to QUIKRETE Holdings.
Virtual Instruments, an infrastructure performance management company, has acquired Xangati, a hybrid cloud and virtualization performance management company.
Venture Capital – Souche.com, a used vehicle retailer that operates an online platform for selling pre-owned cars, raised $100 million.
Magenta Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing stem cell and bone marrow-based therapeutics, raised $48.5 million.
MOD Pizza, a fast-casual pizza chain, raised $42 million.
Mavenlink, a provider of project management and organization software, raised $39 million.
SUN Behavioral Health, an operator of psychiatric hospitals, raised $34 million.
Womply, a provider of front office software for SMBs, has raised $30 million.
&pizza, a pizza chain, raised $25 million.
Aperia Technologies, a company that provides tire-inflation technology for the transportation industry, raised $16 million.
AnalyticsMD, a software platform that streamlines workflow at hospitals using data analytics, raised $13 million.
SeaLights, a cloud-based, continuous testing platform for quality assurance cycles, raised $11 million.
Invincea, a cybersecurity firm, raised $10 million.
Skedulo, a provider of workforce management software, raised $9.2 million.
Procurify, a cloud-based platform for making purchases and organizing receipts, raised $7 million.
P2Binvestor, a lender that extends accredited investor-funded credit to businesses, raised $7.7 million.
Apptentive, a provider of software that enables app developers to connect with users to get their feedback, raised $3.6 million.
Scroll, Chartbeat founder Tony Haile’s digital subscription service that allows users to read ad-free content from multiple publishers, raised $3 million.
Mobalytics, an eSports company, has raised $2.6 million.
Orbital Shift, a provider of employee scheduling and communication software, raised $1.25 million.
Private Equity – Koch Equity Development, the investment arm of Koch Industries, has invested $2.5 billion for a stake in Infor, which sells financial and manufacturing software to businesses.
Wireless communications provider NewNet Communication Technologies has agreed to sell its RCS Business to Samsung.
Brown & Root Industrial Services, an operator of engineering, construction, and maintenance services, has acquired MEI Group, a full-service turnaround specialist for industrial facilities globally.
Spectrum Equity has invested in Tenstreet, a provider of driver recruiting and workflow management software for the trucking and transportation industry.
Teakwood Capital has invested in HomeSphere, a provider of digital lead generation and customer retention tools for builders and contractors.
Peak Rock Capital has sold Koroseal Interior Products, a company that distributes and manufactures commercial interior products, to Sangetsu Corp.
FineLineTechnologies, a provider of data and RFID solutions, has undergone a recapitalization from Summit Partners.
Phononic, a provider of solid-state cooling and heating technology, closed a $71 million.
And that’s what’s ahead, Cliff
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The post Dylan Didn’t RSVP, Media – the New HR, Pepsi Takes Fake Hit, Lending Club Founder Comeback, Deluge of Wildflowers and Morning Reports appeared first on Oxford Entrepreneurs.