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The Morning Ledger: Saudi Fund Becomes Pivotal for Technology Firms |
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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits Lockheed Martin in San Francisco, Calif., U.S., April 2018. PHOTO: REUTERS
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Good morning. Elon Musk's plans to take Tesla Inc. private highlight the ascent of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund to become a significant source of capital for technology firms around the world, write the WSJ's Rory Jones and Summer Said.
Impulsive bets: The $225 billion Public Investment Fund is leveraging up, sourcing direct deals and shifting into higher-risk tech startups. In a blog post on Monday, Mr. Musk said Saudi Arabia had reached out to him two years ago and he started face-to-face talks early last year with the PIF on a major stake. He also revealed a list of advisers before arrangements with all of them were completed.
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Who calls the shots?: Interviews with advisers and people close to the PIF said the fund sources its potential deals through political and business ties. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ultimately makes the call whether to go ahead with investments, and in many cases, has forged personal connections with the executives running the companies.
Away from oil: Officials at the Saudi fund are seeking Tesla’s expertise to create new industries in solar-power generation, battery storage and electric-vehicle production. The fund, which is in talks with banks to raise billions of its own debt, hopes its investments in technology will act as a hedge against a potential decline of the energy sector.
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U.S. retail sales data for July is due out at 8:30 a.m. E.T. Economists surveyed by the WSJ expect sales to rise 0.1% from the prior month.
Cisco Systems Inc., NetApp Inc., Macy's Inc. and MSG Networks Inc. are among the companies slated to report earnings today.
The WSJ's Jay Greene has four things to watch in Cisco Systems Inc.'s results.
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Ford CEO Jim Hackett at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev., U.S., Jan. 9, 2018. PHOTO: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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At Ford Motor Co., a company long ruled by a rigid operational structure, the cerebral, free-flowing management style of new Chief Executive Jim Hackett has won some fans and mystified others.
Kroger Co. will sell its products in China on an e-commerce site owned by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the grocer’s first foray into foreign sales amid a broader push into online retail.
One of Wells Fargo & Co.’s top risk management executives is leaving the bank months after it was slapped with an unprecedented enforcement action from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. increased its holdings of Apple Inc. stock by 12.4 million shares in the quarter, taking its stake to $46.6 billion by the end of June, according to a securities filing on Tuesday.
Diamondback Energy Inc. will acquire Energen Corp. in a roughly $8.4 billion all-stock transaction, a deal that comes as energy producers face pressure to control rising costs.
Edward Lampert, the chief executive of Sears Holdings Corp., has offered to buy the company’s Kenmore brand for $400 million in cash, according to a letter Mr. Lampert sent to Sears’s board, reports Reuters.
Three of Tinder’s founders and a handful of current executives say the popular dating app’s parent companies Match Group Inc. and IAC/InterActive Corp. cheated them out of as much as $2 billion by manipulating financial information to undermine its valuation, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
United Parcel Service Inc. has reached a tentative labor contract covering more than 1,000 aircraft mechanics, the delivery company’s third such deal with the Teamsters union in recent months.
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“We are going to enforce a boycott on U.S. electronic goods,” Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday. “If they have iPhones, there is also Samsung.” PHOTO: PRESS POOL
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that Turkey would boycott U.S. electronic goods, the latest move in escalating jousting between Ankara and Washington that has sent the Turkish lira to record lows.
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New York state filed a lawsuit Tuesday against opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma LP, alleging the company played down the health risks and overpromoted its signature opioid painkiller to bolster sales, officials said.
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday opened a new front in their campaign to crack down on fraud in the initial-coin-offering market by punishing Tomahawk Exploration LLC, a firm that didn’t sell any tokens.
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China’s Ministry of Commerce said U.S. subsidies for energy firms and tariffs on imported products have seriously distorted the global market. The country has lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization, reports Reuters.
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Used cars for sale in Lawndale, Calif., U.S., June 2017. PHOTO: SCOTT JACOBS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Gradually rising interest rates have yet to dent Americans’ appetite for borrowing, with the total stock of new debt climbing to $13.3 trillion in the second quarter, continuing a gradual rise in household borrowing over the past four years.
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U.S. foreign policy has driven sharp swings in European and Asian markets this summer, drawing investors into the safety of the U.S. It is also raising questions about how long U.S. markets can continue to outpace the rest of the world.
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Rising interest rates are undermining efforts to build more affordable housing, creating larger funding gaps for an industry already grappling with cuts in government subsidies and rising construction costs.
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As escalating trade disputes threaten to drive up the cost of imported goods for U.S. consumers and businesses, economists say a stronger U.S. dollar may be helping to offset some of the pain.
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The credit scores of millions of U.S. consumers have risen following a broad overhaul of how credit-reporting firms handle negative credit information.
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Annual inflation in the U.K. accelerated in July, suggesting inflationary pressures persist in the British economy despite disappointing wage growth, reports Bloomberg.
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U.K. chief executive pay rose by 11% last year to almost £4 million ($5.1 million); much higher than average rises for workers, reports the BBC.
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Destination Maternity Corp., the Moorestown, N.J. maternity apparel retailer, said Chief Financial Officer David Stern left the company, effective Aug. 10. The company has hired an executive search firm to find a successor.
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In the interim, Chief Accounting Officer Rodney Schriver and the finance and accounting team will oversee the company’s financial reporting, Chief Executive Marla Ryan said in a statement.
Mr. Stern had joined Destination Maternity as CFO in 2016, was previously CFO of Philadelphia-based automotive service chain The Pep Boys – Manny, Moe & Jack from 2012 to 2016.
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