🗞️ TimesGPT
The New York Times just sued OpenAI... Royal Bank officially acquires HSBC, Delimobil files for a 2024 IPO, Trump removed from Maine primary ballot, and more.
Good morning fellow enthusiasts 👋,
Christmas may be over, but winter is still here.
One of the best things to do in the winter is to make yourself a warm and tasty hot chocolate. Here is a good recipe if you want it. It’s completely free. (This isn’t an advertisement).
— Jacob
IN THIS ISSUE
🚘 Delimobil files for a 2024 IPO
🏦 Royal Bank officially acquires HSBC
🇺🇸 Trump removed from Maine primary ballot
On this day. On December 29, 2022, Brazilian football (soccer) legend Pelé, one of the greatest players of all time, and one of the first athletes to become a global celebrity, died at age 82.
IMPORTANT
🤑 US markets break record highs
The year is ending, but the stock market is still on a massive rally. Markets zoomed past expecations and broke records following an announcement by the Federal Reserve two weeks ago that they might cut rates in early 2024. Coupled with the AI craze and a soft landing for the U.S. economy, all of it starts to make sense.
The Nasdaq 100, the holy grail index of tech conglomerates, is on track for its best year since 1999, and not only that, but the S&P 500 and Dow Jones reached all-time highs. Thursday, the Dow Jones was up by 0.09%, the S&P 500 by 0.10%, and the Nasdaq by 0.14%.
🚗 We’ve got a recall problem
Toyota and Tesla, the two biggest car brands that start with ‘T,’ have recalled around 3 million cars in the past three weeks. What if I told you the number is now 3.12 million?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found a second flaw in 120,000 more Teslas: the side doors can unlock in crashes. This whole fiasco comes just 9 days after the previous recall that affected basically every Tesla in the United States.
This time, the affected cars are the 2021-2023 Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles, which failed to meet federal safety standards for side impact protection. Tesla plans to solve the issue with an over-the-air software update, just like last time.
🇺🇸 G7 to seize $300 billion from Russia
The G7, including Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, the USA, and the UK, all agreed to funnel $300 billion in "immobilized" Russian central bank assets to Ukraine.
This is a easy solution to help Ukraine despite additional funding from the U.S. and EU repeatedly getting rejected.
FINANCE
Image courtesy of Reuters/Maxim Shemetov
🚘 Delimobil files for a 2024 IPO
Speaking of Russia, Russian carsharing company Delimobil is on track to having the first Russian IPO in 2024, with a goal on raising up to 4 billion roubles ($43.5 million).
Thoughout the entire year of 2023, Russian firms raised around 29 billion roubles ($323 million) through IPOs and others, which is a significant drop from previous years, and shows the effects of sanctions from the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
As comparison, US firms raised $20 billion from IPOs in 2023, which would be around 1.8 trillion roubles.
📉 China loses investor support
Almost 90% of all foreign investor cash that entered China's stock market has disappeared this year as China’s growth slowed down.
Foreign investment in Chinese stocks peaked at $33 billion in August, dropping 87% to a measly $4 billion, all despite solid growth in the Chinese economy, improved US-China relations, and efforts to strengthen the financial system.
The CSI 300, representing the 300 largest Chinese companies, fell 12% YTD, while the S&P 500 rose 25%, and the S&P/TSX Composite rose 8% in the same period.
BUSINESS
Image courtesy of The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick
🏦 Royal Bank officially acquires HSBC
Last Thursday, the Minister of Finance of Canada approved Royal Bank of Canada's C$13.5 billion all cash acquisition of HSBC Canada, marking it as the largest deal in Royal Bank's history.
Royal Bank plans to close the deal in Q1 2024 and sees it as a great opportunity for growth and expansion in its domestic operations by acquiring HSBC's 780,000 customers and $120 billion in assets.
(This technically should’ve been in last week’s issue, but I only found it out last Friday, which is when the issue was sent).
🗞️ The New York Times sues OpenAI
The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft (who owns 49% of OpenAI) on Wednesday, alleging copyright infringement over the use of its content to train AI models, including ChatGPT.
The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan Federal District Court, and claims that millions of articles from The NYT were used without permission to train chatbots.
The NYT is seeking "billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages" and demands the end of chatbot models training data using copyrighted sources. The lawsuit could have pretty heavy implications for AI technology and the news industry as a whole.
POLITICS
Image courtesy of AP Photo/Reba Saldanha
🇺🇸 Trump removed from Maine primary ballot
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, has now removed former President Donald Trump from the Republican primary ballot in the state.
According to Bellows, the removal is related to Trump's role in ‘promoting a false narrative of election fraud and inciting violence on January 6, 2021.’
All of this makes Maine the second state after Colorado to disqualify Trump from the presidential nomination using the Amendment. The Colorado Republican Party has already asked the Supreme Court to appeal the decision, so another appeal from Maine is likely to happen.
🇨🇦 Canadian government pays
The Canadian government is willing to approve settlement packages for Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, compensating them for their nearly three-year jailing in Chinese prisons.
The Canadian government has put forward approximately C$3 million to each, but Spavor's lawyer is seeking C$10.5 million, saying that there was gross negligence in Ottawa's handling of security operations in China.
The Canadian men were detained in China following the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of Huawei, by Canadian police on a U.S. warrant.
📚 Book of the Week
Note: I don’t recommend books that I haven’t read or that I would never read. The books I recommend are books I have already read or that I will eventually read.
Shoe Dog — Phil Knight
Book Description:
”It’s a messy, perilous, and chaotic journey, riddled with mistakes, endless struggles, and sacrifice. Phil Knight opens up in ways few CEOs are willing to do.” — Bill Gates
Fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed fifty dollars from his father and launched a company with one simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost running shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the trunk of his car in 1963, Knight grossed eight thousand dollars that first year. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion. In this age of start-ups, Knight’s Nike is the gold standard, and its swoosh is one of the few icons instantly recognized in every corner of the world.
But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always been a mystery. In Shoe Dog, he tells his story at last. At twenty-four, Knight decides that rather than work for a big corporation, he will create something all his own, new, dynamic, different. He details the many risks he encountered, the crushing setbacks, the ruthless competitors and hostile bankers—as well as his many thrilling triumphs. Above all, he recalls the relationships that formed the heart and soul of Nike, with his former track coach, the irascible and charismatic Bill Bowerman, and with his first employees, a ragtag group of misfits and savants who quickly became a band of swoosh-crazed brothers.
Together, harnessing the electrifying power of a bold vision and a shared belief in the transformative power of sports, they created a brand—and a culture—that changed everything.
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