2 weeks Ago
hapabapa Listen below or on the go on Apple Podcasts and Spotify General Motors ( GM ) ends robotaxi development to focus on AD for personal vehicles. (00:21) Bausch & Lomb ( BLCO ) falls amid report Blackstone may drop out of takeover bid. (01:50) Microsoft ( MSFT ) shareholders vote no on bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) despite Michael Saylor's pitch.
(02:35) This is an abridged transcript of the podcast. General Motors (NYSE: GM ) is realigning the development of robotaxis and will pivot to focus on autonomous driving ("AD") for personal vehicles only. As a result of the realignment, the automaker will halt funding of its Cruise robotaxi division, combining the teams and technology associated with Cruise into a single effort with GM technical teams.
“GM is committed to delivering the best driving experiences to our customers in a disciplined and capital efficient manner,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement . The restructuring is expected to save the company $1B annually after the proposed plan is completed, which is expected to occur in the first half of 2025. The decision to end funding into the majority-owned Cruise division was due to the considerable time and resources necessary to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market.
Last week, Google (GOOG, GOOGL) announced plans to expand its autonomous vehicle unit Waymo into the Miami metropolitan area through a new fleet partnership with Moove. As part of the decision surrounding Cruise, GM ( GM ) will raise its ownership in the company to 97% from its current 90% by acquiring remaining shares. Contingent upon the repurchase of these shares and Cruise board approval, GM ( GM ) will work with the Cruise leadership team to restructure and refocus operations.
Bausch & Lomb (NYSE: BLCO ) is down 9% premarket after a report that private equity firm Blackstone ( BX ) may drop out of a group bidding for the eyecare company. According to a Financial Times report on Tuesday, which cited people familiar with the matter, Blackstone ( BX ) may no longer be interested in being a part of a joint bid with PE firm TPG Inc. ( TPG ) for Bausch & Lomb ( BLCO ) due to the seller's high price expectations.
According to the report, this reduces the odds of a deal getting done. Bausch + Lomb’s ( BLCO ) board wanted an offer at a sizeable premium to $20 a share in a deal, but the consortium of TPG and Blackstone appeared to be averse to such a high price, according to the report. Blackstone, TPG and Bausch + Lomb declined to comment to the FT.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) shareholders have rejected a proposal by National Center for Public Policy Research and Michael Saylor, co-founder of MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR ), to explore diversifying its balance sheet with bitcoin ( BTC-USD ). Saylor claimed in a presentation at the annual shareholder meeting that bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) has the potential to contribute $155-$584 per share to Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT ) stock price while reducing shareholder risk, and create between $1T and $4.9T in shareholder value.
Microsoft's ( MSFT ) board recommended that shareholders reject the proposal, pointing to crypto volatility, but said it continues to monitor developments and trends in the space. Saylor has turned MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR ) into the world's largest corporate bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) holder , with 423,650 BTC valued at $41.45B (2% of BTC's total supply).
Notably, the National Center for Public Policy Research has pitched a similar proposal to Amazon's ( AMZN ) board. More articles on Seeking Alpha: Which subsectors to own and which to avoid – Wolfe Research The public companies with the 'most bored' workforces Auto disruption: Amazon joins Costco as a source for consumers to buy cars Catalyst watch: Now let’s take a look at the markets as of 6 am. Ahead of the opening bell today, Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in mixed territory.
Crude oil is up 1% at $69/barrel. Bitcoin is up 0.3% at $98,000.
In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is flat and the DAX is also flat. The biggest movers for the day premarket: Dave & Buster’s Entertainment ( PLAY ) is down 15% following a downbeat FQ3, with a wider-than-expected loss. On today’s economic calendar: 8:30 am The Consumer Price Index .
The CPI is expected to show a 0.3% M/M increase, accelerating from 0.2% in October.
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