What we’re reading (8/19)
“WeWork Announces 1-For-40 Reverse Stock Split To Avoid Getting Kicked Off The New York Stock Exchange” (CNN Business). “The reverse stock split is a bid to boost WeWork’s ailing stock price and save its shares from getting delisted. Stocks must retain a $1 minimum closing price to continue listing on the NYSE. If a stock remains below that level for a ‘substantial period of time,’ NYSE rules state that the exchange reserves the right to remove it.”
“Aldi Is Getting Bigger. Here’s Why The No-Frills German Grocer Is Looking To The Southern U.S. For Growth” (CNBC). “The German retailer announced this week that it plans to acquire about 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket locations across the Southern U.S. As part of the deal, it would take over operations of the stores, which are in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, and put at least some of them under the Aldi name.”
“Wall Street, yields Tread Water As Investors Await Fed At Jackson Hole” (Reuters). “Yields on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries stepped back after flirting with 16-year highs earlier in the week. Investors expected the Fed may hold interest rates higher for longer as the U.S. economy continued to show strength. ‘August historically has been a weak month for markets and it isn’t surprising that after a big rally to start the year, that investors would take a breather. The headlines haven’t changed all that much, but the lens with which investors are viewing those headlines has,’ said Blake Emerson, global investment specialist at JP Morgan Private Bank.”
“Something Has Changed On City Streets, And Amazon Is To Blame” (New York Times). “By law, two-way residential streets in Washington are supposed to be 34 feet from curb to curb, but many are a few feet narrower. The average car is about six feet wide, so parked cars on either side constrict a roadway quickly. Once you account for mirrors, swinging doors and the occasional mis-parked minivan or S.U.V., the two lanes of moving traffic might have only 13 or 14 feet of road space to work with. Drivers can move freely but cautiously, braking to pass. For Jacobs and other urban theorists, that’s perfect — these are not neighborhoods that shortcut-seeking motorists consider worthwhile to barrel through, or where playing children need to fear sudden surprises.”
“Failing Upward” (City Journal). “The FTC has had a busy summer. It proposed severe new disclosure requirements for parties seeking to merge. Joining forces with the Justice Department, it moved to de-modernize the government’s merger guidelines. (‘Weighted by the number of citations,’ observe Gus Hurwitz and Geoff Manne, ‘the average year of the 50 cases the FTC and Justice Department cite in support of their approach is 1975—ages ago in antitrust law.’) The agency launched an investigation of OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, and signaled its intent to regulate artificial intelligence more broadly. It accused Amazon of using so-called dark patterns to trick users into subscribing to Amazon Prime. (It also claims that Prime is too hard to quit. Never mind that one can do so in fewer clicks than it takes to file a comment with the FTC.) And any day now, Khan is expected to file her biggest lawsuit of all: her long-planned quest to break up Amazon. The more Khan loses, it appears, the more ambitious she becomes.”
