💭 They responded
OpenAI responds to The New York Times; Bitcoin ETFs approved; Microsoft and Apple fight for the #1 spot; Tawain's election nears; DocuSign expects a buyout; and more!
Good morning, fellow enthusiasts! 👋
A big thank you to the 8 new enthusiasts who joined J. Nicholas this week! We now have 110 subscribers, which means we're 1% closer to our goal of 1,000 subscribers.
Once again, thank you to everyone who subscribed, and let's dive in.
IN THIS ISSUE
🚀 Bitcoin ETFs approved
👨💻 Microsoft and Apple fight for #1
🇹🇼 Taiwanese election nears
On this day. On January 11, 1964, American entrepreneur and billionare Jeff Bezos, who played a key role in the growth of e-commerce as the founder of Amazon.com, was born.
IMPORTANT
🤑 DocuSign expects a $12.5B buyout
Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman, two private equity firms, are fighting to acquire DocuSign Inc at a valuation of $12.5 billion.
The company is known for its online document signing services and has clients such as T-Mobile, United Airlines, and Thermo Fisher. When officially completed, the deal would be one of the largest, if not the largest, buyouts of 2024 and is expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Blackstone, the largest private equity firm in the US, was initially in talks with DocuSign; however, they no longer have the intention of acquiring the company. DocuSign shares rose 9.3% after the news.
💰 Hefty Facebook Problems
Meta offered $51 million on Thursday to settle a lawsuit in four Canadian provinces over the ‘unauthorized use of users' images in Facebook advertising’, primarily in the "sponsored stories" program from January 2011 to May 2014.
The lawsuit was originally filed in B.C., but since has grew to include Facebook users of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador. The settlement is still pending approval from a B.C. judge in March.
If approved, around 4.3 million people might qualify for a share of the settlement ($0.08/person (🤯)), and any disprovals have to be submitted by March 11.
🇵🇬 14-day state of emergency in Port Moresby
Also on Thursday, Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister declared a 14-day state of emergency in Port Moresby, after 15 people were killed in riots involving looting and arson. More than 1,000 soldiers are waiting to deploy.
The Chinese embassy stated that Chinese-owned businesses were targeted, which caused injuries to Chinese citizens. The United States embassy warned of remaining tensions, and Australia is monitoring the situation.
*The government also suspended the police chief and top officials for a review into the cause of the riots.
FINANCE
Image courtesy of Chesnot/Getty Images
🚀 Bitcoin ETFs approved
You heard that right, and you probably heard the news; Bitcoin ETFs (Exchange Trade Funds) have gotten approval. The SEC approved multiple spot Bitcoin ETFs on Tuesday, including ETFs from ARK Invest, BlackRock, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity, Invesco, Franklin, Hashdex, and Valkyrie.
Fun fact: The SEC's official Twitter account was hacked just before the Bitcoin ETF which led to the hackers posting about an approval before the genuine approval was confirmed. More on that here.
The ETFs approval comes after months of anticipation, leading to Bitcoin’s price rising to US$49,000. However, despite high expectations, many of the new ETFs went red on their first trading day.
Charles Schwab said they would allow the ETF on their platform, while massive names like Vanguard and Merrill Lynch made their choice against offering Bitcoin ETFs.
*For those of you who are unfamiliar with Bitcoin or cryptocurrency, here is an amazing video on it with an easy explanation. Not sponsored.
🤝 Chesapeake buys Southwestern
Chesapeake Energy hopes to acquire Southwestern Energy for $7.4 billion in an all-share deal, forming the biggest US natural gas producer.
The combined enterprise value will be almost $24 billion, and hopes to meet the growing demand for liquefied natural gas exports along the US Gulf Coast.
This represents the first major natural gas buyout since the many deals started in the US energy sector last year. The deal is expected to close in Q2 of 2024, due to regulatory and shareholder approval.
BUSINESS
Image courtesy of Dado Ruvic/Reuters
💻 Microsoft and Apple fight for #1
Microsoft briefly passed Apple as the world's most valuable company by market cap this week, reaching $2.87T until being dethroned by Apple again by the end of trading.
Microsoft's focus on cloud services, and the surge in generative AI, (mostly in Microsoft’s investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI), fueled the rise, while Apple faced concerns about weaker iPhone sales.
The rivalry between the two tech giants goes way back to the 1980s, with Microsoft briefly overtaking Apple during the COVID pandemic but reclaiming the top spot each time. However, the AI-craze is not only affecting Microsoft’s market cap, but also Nvidia’s, which is approaching Amazon's valuation.
🗞️ OpenAI responds to NYT lawsuit
OpenAI responded to The New York Times' lawsuit on Monday, wholeheartedly disagreeing with the claims of copyright infringement, and explaining their plans to collaborate with news organizations.
They even mentioned having ongoing discussions with the Times until the surprise lawsuit near the end of December.
According to OpenAI, their training falls under fair use, and that if needed, they do have an opt-out option. They took into account the issue of "regurgitation" (that’s really what they said) and are ‘actively working’ to get rid of it.
POLITICS
Image courtesy of CNN photo illustration/Reuters/AP/Getty Images
🇹🇼 Taiwanese election nears
On January 13, Taiwan will hold elections for the new president and parliament. The already in-office president, Tsai Ing-wen, cannot run due to term limits.
Taiwan voters have a few choices: including the Chinese nationalist party Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).
This marks the eighth presidential election and involves nearly 20 million eligible voters, including around 1 million first-time voters. Issues surrounding China seem to be playing a significant role in the political landscape.
🇺🇸 The Trump lawsuit continues
New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking over $370 million from Donald Trump and his family in a civil trial where she alleges he inflated financial statements and lied to banks. If won, the funds would go to the New York State Treasury unless sent elsewhere by the states’ controller.
Trump criticized the trial saying it's unfair without a jury. Trump's defense team presented witnesses, including former Deutsche Bank executives, and an accounting professor who actually found no evidence of accounting fraud.
📚 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.
I Will Teach You To Be Rich — Ramit Sethi
Book Description:
Buy as many lattes as you want. Choose the right accounts and investments so your money grows for you—automatically. Best of all, spend guilt-free on the things you love.
Personal finance expert Ramit Sethi has been called a “wealth wizard” by Forbes and the “new guru on the block” by Fortune. Now he’s updated and expanded his modern money classic for a new age, delivering a simple, powerful, no-BS 6-week program that just works.
I Will Teach You to Be Rich will show you:
How to crush your debt and student loans faster than you thought possible.
How to set up no-fee, high-interest bank accounts that won’t gouge you for every penny.
How to save hundreds or even thousands per month (and still buy what you love).
A set-it-and-forget-it investment strategy that’s dead simple and beats financial advisors at their own game.
How to handle buying a car or a house, paying for a wedding, having kids, and other big expenses—stress free.
…and more!
Buy a book, help cure cancer. Learn more.