Cosmetics giant Estée Lauder is in talks to buy luxury fashion brand Tom Ford for $3B or more. Tom Ford is best known for its menswear line; however, the brand also sells womenswear and accessories, cosmetics, and fragrances. According to people familiar with the matter, Estée Lauder is especially interested in Tom Ford’s fast-growing, high-end beauty business and could potentially license the clothing lines. Last month, Bloomberg reported Tom Ford was exploring a sale and was working with Goldman Sachs. More: - Tom Ford, a Texas native, founded his namesake company in 2005 after serving as Gucci’s creative director for about 10 years.
- Estee Lauder already has a longstanding cosmetics and fragrances licensing deal with Tom Ford.
- According to people familiar with the talks, Tom Ford has other suitors looking to purchase the fashion brand.
- If the deal closes, it would be Estée Lauder’s largest acquisition to date.
- Last year it acquired the rest of Canadian beauty company Deciem for $1B.
- In 2019, it purchased Korean skincare brand Have & Be for $1B.
- Estée Lauder brands include MAC, Clinique, La Mer, and Aveda. The company has a market cap of nearly $100B.
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Saudi Aramco has agreed to buy the global products business of U.S. Valvoline for $2.65B. The deal comes a year after Valvoline announced plans to split up its global products business, which sells lubricants and engine maintenance products, from its retail service business, which offers vehicle maintenance primarily in the U.S. More: - When the deal closes, Valvoline will own its name brand for all retail services globally, excluding China and certain countries in the Middle East and North Africa, while Aramco would own the Valvoline brand for all product uses globally.
- Valvoline plans to use proceeds from the sale to increase returns to shareholders, reduce debt, and invest in retail services.
- Saudi Aramco said the deal would help it expand its downstream activities and that adding Valvoline’s global products business fits perfectly with its growth strategy for lubricants.
- Saudi Aramco is the world’s largest oil producer, producing more than 10% of the global supply.
- In May, Saudi Aramco briefly overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable company.
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The SEC has charged 11 people for their roles in creating and promoting a fraudulent crypto pyramid and Ponzi scheme that raised more than $300M from retail investors globally, including in the U.S. The scheme, called Forsage, claimed to be a decentralized smart contract platform but allegedly operated as a pyramid scheme for over two years. Investors earned profits by recruiting others into the operation, SEC officials said. More: - The SEC said Forsage also operated a typical Ponzi structure where it allegedly used new investors' assets to pay earlier.
- Four of the 11 individuals charged by the SEC are founders of Forsage.
- According to the SEC, their current locations are unknown, but they were last known to live in Russia, the Republic of Georgia, and Indonesia.
- The SEC has also charged three U.S.-based promoters who endorsed Forsage on their social media platforms.
- Their names were not disclosed.
- Forsage was launched in Jan. 2020.
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The IRS has charged biotech firm Amgen with $10.7B in back taxes and penalties. The IRS claims Amgen underreported its taxable income by nearly $24B from 2010 to 2015 by inappropriately attributing its U.S. profits to a Puerto Rico subsidiary that oversees the manufacturing of the company’s drugs. More: - According to FactSet, Amgen has one of the lowest tax rates in the pharmaceutical industry, reporting a median 12.5% effective tax rate over the past decade.
- The 10 largest U.S. pharmaceutical companies reported an 18% median rate.
- Amgen’s lower tax burden is primarily due to its Puerto Rico manufacturing operations.
- Though a U.S. territory, Puerto Rico is considered a foreign country for corporate income tax purposes.
- In addition to billing Amgen for back taxes and penalties for 2010 to 2015, the IRS is currently auditing Amgen’s tax returns for 2016 to 2018.
- An Amgen spokeswoman said the company’s tax returns have always been compliant with the law and maintain the company’s claims that its tax allocations were appropriate.
- Amgen plans to challenge the IRS’s claims in court and said the dispute would likely take years to resolve.
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Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio beat out rivals to win the country’s 5G spectrum auction, spending $11B. According to Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s communications minister, bidders spent a total of Rs1.5T ($19B) at the first 5G auction, where companies bid on using certain frequency bands for telecoms. Operators are expected to begin introducing services later this year. More: - Indian authorities and companies hope 5G will boost the growth of the country’s digital economy, which has thrived due to the rapid adoption of mobile phones over the past decade.
- Jio was launched in 2016 and has about 400 million subscribers.
- The telecom is backed by Facebook and Google and has about a 37% market share.
- Reliance Jio founder Mukesh Ambani aims to use Jio to transform Reliance from a conglomerate focused on oil and petrochemicals into the leading Asian telecom and digital services group.
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PepsiCo has taken a $550M stake in energy drink company Celsius Holdings as part of a long-term distribution deal. The investment represents a minority stake of about 8.5% in Celsius. PepsiCo will also nominate a director to serve on Celsius’ board. Following news of the deal, Celsius shares rose over 10% on Monday, bringing the company’s market cap to over $7B. More: - Celsius was founded in 2005 and markets its beverages as “healthy” energy drinks geared toward active younger consumers.
- Celsius’ Q1 2022 U.S. revenue jumped 217% to $123.5M; it is the fourth most popular energy drink in the U.S.
- Besides alcohol, the fastest growing drinks segment is energy drinks, and PepsiCo has been investing in the sector in recent years as soda consumption falls.
- PepsiCo reported smaller margins in its Q2 earnings last month, indicating higher freight and commodity costs.
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- Ukraine’s first grain ship since late February left the port of Odesa headed for Sierra Leone on Monday, following weeks of negotiations brokered by Turkey and the UN. The vessel is carrying 26,000 tons of Ukrainian corn.
- All three major U.S. indexes rose in July, recording some of the strongest performances since 2020. The Dow gained 6.73% in July, its best month since Nov. 2020, and the S&P 500 rose 9.11%, its best month since Nov. 2020. The Nasdaq composite gained 12.35% in July, breaking a three-month losing streak, its best month since April 2020.
- Amazon has launched same-day delivery for some brick-and-mortar stores. Prime members in select cities can now get items from apparel stores PacSun and Superdry delivered to their doorstep in a few hours.
- Starbucks Workers United has asked the coffee giant to extend wage increases to workers at unionized stores. In May, Starbucks announced it would increase wages for workers at nonunionized stores. It added it is unable to make changes at organized stores without bargaining.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or through email at vanessa@inside.com |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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