Weekly Brief
Good mornin’ !! ⛄️
On this day. December 1, 1925, Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, and Italy signed the Pact of Locarno, a series of agreements intended to guarantee peace in western Europe.
Image courtesy of Moneycontrol
Charlie Munger passes away
Tuesday, Charlie Munger, the Vice chairman of Berkshire Hathway, and long-time friend and business partner to Warren Buffet, passed away.
Munger was vital to the growth of Berkshire Hathaway over the years, and alongside Warren Buffett, became one of the most successful investors of our time, amassing a $2.5 billion fortune.
Even though Munger was never always in the spotlight, Buffett repeatedly credited him to his success.
The 99 year old investor passed away peacefully in a hospital in California.
💰 Google settles with Canada
Google and the Canadian government finally settled on a deal regarding the Online News Act.
The act, which was passed earlier this year, essentially stopped Google and Meta’s platforms from showing any Canadian news, unless they compensated Canadian media outlets.
Meta’s response was completely banning Canadian news off of their platforms, but Google has just been negotiating a price tag.
The federal government had estimated earlier this year that Google's compensation should be about $172 million.
Google basically said, “nuh uh,” and argued it was only $100 million, which is what this agreement…agrees with.
🦈 Shark bite
Mark Cuban, the billionaire businessman and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has decided to part with his majority stake in the basketball team.
His plans are to sell it to casino billionaire Miriam Adelson for a whopping $3.5 billion, but will still retain control over operations.
That’s not the only thing Cuban is out from, though.
He announced that he's permanently out from 'Shark Tank' after the 16th season, saying in a podcast, 'Next year, our 16th year, is going to be my last year, so I've got one more year to go.'
Cuban has been on the show for almost 10 years and has completed over 86 deals. However, ABC has not confirmed his leave yet.
Image courtesy of CNBC
🛍️ Shein is having an IPO?
Yes, and not a small one.
The Chinese clothing giant recently filed a U.S. confidential IPO, and is planning on going public sometime next year.
Shein is said to be worth $66 billion, and has an annual $30 billion in revenue. These numbers would place it as the biggest fast-fashion retailer in the world, surpassing names like Zara and H&M.
Their target IPO? A $90 billion valuation.
🚗 Tesla just sued Sweden…and won…
Elon Musk does a lot of things. He agrees to buy Twitter, then tries not to buy Twitter, and then agrees to buy it, and now he’s suing the Swedish government.
Here’s what happened:
State-owned PostNord went on an industrial action on November 20, trying to force Tesla to sign a collective bargaining agreement for mechanics.
The transport agency declined to deliver license plates to Tesla, saying they were contractually bound to only use PostNord. So, Tesla brought PostNord (essentially the Swedish government) to district court.
Norrkoping district court ruled in favor of Tesla and ordered the plates to be delivered within seven days, or else pay a fine of 1 million Swedish crowns ($90,000).
🏦 “Big Five” earnings
The “Big Five” is a commonly used nickname to describe the monopolistic grip that only five banks have on the Canadian financial sector.
The Toronto-Dominion Bank, the Royal Bank of Canada, the Bank of Nova Scotia, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and the Bank of Montreal.
These are the kings of the Canadian financial sector, and just these 5 stocks alone make up around 20% of the TSX Composite (essentially the Canadian stock market).
This week, four of the “Big Five” released their earnings.
King Charles III at the COP28 Summit / Image courtesy of Getty Images / Chris Jackson
🚭 Net zero
The COP28 Summit started on Thursday in Dubai.
What is COP28? It’s a gathering of world leaders focused on ensuring the whole globe is fighting against global warming, all within lines of the Paris Agreement.
Some, like Europe, China, and the U.S., are taking aggressive efforts into adding solar, wind, and all-around renewable energy sources.
The COP28 just makes sure everyone is putting as much effort as the countries mentioned above.
Without doing anything, the world is currently on track for a 3°C (5.4°F) temperature rise, according to a UN report.
That number is double the Paris Agreement’s target of 1.5°C (2.7°F).
📚 Book of the Week
Poor Charlie’s Almanack
This book “has been written and compiled with both Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett's encouragement and cooperation.
So pull up your favorite reading chair and enjoy the unique humor, wit and insight that Charlie Munger brings to the world of business, investing and life itself.
Charles Helman Lea once said, "It will generally be admitted that the true test of all books is the influence they have upon the lives and conduct of their readers."
We hope this book passes that test, exerting a lasting influence on you.”
That’s it for today. Thank you for reading!
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