Inflation inflates; Robinhood buys; Vivendi sells; Coinbase booms; and more!
Consumer prices rose quickly again in July. [NYT]
Prices increased by 5.4 percent last month compared with a year earlier, the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index showed on Wednesday. The inflation measure rose 0.5 percent from June…. The monthly figure did represent a moderation in the pace of increase — the C.P.I. rose 0.9 percent in June from May — but inflation is still faster than is typical.
Robinhood to buy fintech firm Say Technologies for $140 mln [Reuters via Yahoo! Finance]
New York-based Say, founded in 2017, has built a communication platform that crowdsources questions from retail investors and allows them to interact with the companies they invest in during annual meetings, earnings calls and other events.
Say also offers shareholders proxy-voting and polling services. Its platform has been used during Tesla Inc's earnings calls, according to media reports.
Vivendi Sells 7.1% of Universal Music Group to Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square for $2.8 Billion [Variety]
France-based Vivendi, parent of Universal Music Group, has sold 7.1% of that company’s share capital to Pershing Square Holdings, the investment firm managed by billionaire Bill Ackman, for $2.8 billion, with the possibility to sell him a further 2.9% by September 9, 2021…. It confirmed in an announcement that if Ackman’s share is less than 10%, it will sell the shortfall to other investors.
Coinbase rides cryptomania to a $1.6 billion quarterly profit. [NYT]
Revenue totaled $2.2 billion in the three months ending in June, up from $186 million a year ago. Profit was $1.6 billion, compared with $32 million a year earlier…. In a letter to shareholders, Coinbase cited data that said 13 percent of Americans have traded cryptocurrencies in the last year, compared with 24 percent who have traded stocks. “These adoption trends paired with recent government attention on crypto as a revenue source suggests we have reached an inflection point,” the company said. “Crypto has arrived.”
Wells Fargo Names Steve Black Chairman as Noski Steps Down [Bloomberg]
Black’s connections with Scharf reach back decades. Both had been seen as potential successors to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, and had previously worked with him at Citigroup Inc. as well. Black, 69, spent years as co-head of JPMorgan’s investment-banking unit, a business line Wells Fargo is now seeking to expand.
Blue Owl Plans Funds for Co-Investments and Secondary Deals [WSJ]
Blue Owl was created in May through a three-way combination of Dyal Capital Partners, Owl Rock Capital and blank-check company Altimar Acquisition Corp…. Blue Owl aims to raise $9 billion for its Dyal Capital Partners V LP fund, which the firm invests in fund managers, and held a first close for the vehicle in November, Mr. Rees said on the call. So far, the fund has committed 30% of its capital to four investments….