📈 Bezos cashes out

Bezos sells $2 billion of Amazon shares, Musk ordered to testify in SEC Twitter probe, Diamondback and Endeavor to form $50 billion energy giant, and Cisco to cut thousands of jobs…

Author

Smart Owl
February 12, 2024

Good morning.

The Fast Five → Senate votes on Superbowl Sunday to move forward on Israel, Ukraine funding, Bezos sells $2 billion of Amazon shares, Musk ordered to testify in SEC Twitter probe, Diamondback and Endeavor to form $50 billion energy giant, and Cisco to cut thousands of jobs...

Here’s your 5-minute briefing for Monday, February 12:

BEFORE THE OPEN

As of market close 2/9/2024. Bitcoin as of 2/11/2024.

PRE-MARKET

MARKETS

  • US stocks mostly rose, as the S&P closed above 5,000 for the first time

  • The Nasdaq led indices with a 1.25% gain, while the Dow fell 0.14%

EARNINGS

  • PepsiCo shares fell ~4% after beating Q4 earnings expectations but missing on revenue, as net sales declined for the first time in nearly four years (link)

  • What we're watching this week:

    • Today: Waste Management

    • Tuesday: Airbnb, Shopify, Coca-Cola, Datadog

    • Wednesday: Sony, Cisco Systems, Kraft Heinz

    • Thursday: Coinbase, DraftKings, John Deere, Applied Materials

    • Friday: Cinemark

  • Full calendar here

NEWS BRIEFING

Jeff Bezos sold around 12 million Amazon shares for roughly $2 billion, according to a company filing on Friday, soon after laying out a plan to sell his shares over the next year.

A federal court in California is enforcing a subpoena for Elon Musk to testify before the SEC regarding potential violations of federal securities laws in connection with his purchase of Twitter.

  • The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in Super Bowl LVIII (link)

  • Senate moves forward with Israel, Ukraine funding after vote on Super Bowl Sunday (link)

  • Diamondback, Endeavor in talks to form $50B energy giant (link)

  • Cisco to cut thousands of jobs as it seeks to focus on high growth areas (link)

  • Apple’s Vision pro is an iPad killer - but not anytime soon (link)

  • Gyms face tough year as key January growth screeches to a halt (link)

  • The cost of Biden’s climate tax credits is soaring (link)

  • X sold million dollar-ad packages for Super Bowl Sunday (link)

  • Crowd sets Waymo self-driving vehicle ablaze in San Francisco (link)

  • The world’s smartest young minds just cracked a 2,000 year old mystery (link)

  • Investors in Airbnb arbitrage business allege they were defrauded in scheme promising ‘higher returns than the stock market’ (link)

  • Travelers ride the rails to save money (and the planet) as Amtrak chases pre-covid ridership (link)

  • Trump’s NATO remark sparks political storm in world capitals (link)

CRYPTO

  • Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis Global settled a New York fraud lawsuit (link)

  • A New York fraud lawsuit involving Gemini Trust and Digital Currency Group is now seeking $3B in restitution for investors (link)

  • According to JPMorgan, Bitcoin ETFs by BlackRock and Fidelity are gaining a liquidity edge over a larger rival from Grayscale Investments (link)

You Can Sponsor this Newsletter details here.​

BULLISH BITES

🏈 Cut’n’sew: How Super Bowl footballs are made.

🤫 Do not disturb: Want to avoid crowds while traveling? Here’s the ‘not hot’ list for 2024.

💔 Just in time: Timex and seconde/seconde/ have teamed up to offer a watch that is made for breakups.

🔥 Viral: What happens when TikTok is your marketing department.

DAILY SHARES

Keep the curation going! Buy the team a coffee ☕️