Hey Community — We wanted to give you the Cliffs Notes on what should be focused on in 2023 to keep your HR sector up-to-date. How are we doing this? We are hosting a virtual HR Summit on April 18 & 19, created for our audience of executive business leaders who may want to level up their HR know-how. Register here to get the HR lessons in your inbox after the event takes place. | |  Christopher | |
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Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffett believes there could be more bank failures in the future. Even though this could be the case, he doesn't believe depositors should be worried, citing that the system is set up to protect the nation's deposits. More: - The collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which were the second- and third-largest bank failures in U.S. history, forced large changes from regulators.
- "We're not over bank failures, but depositors haven't had a crisis," he said. "Banks go bust. But depositors aren't going to be hurt."
- He foresees this continuing to be an issue because banks have mismatched assets and liabilities for years and will likely continue to do it in the future.
- But he doesn't believe that users of banks should be too worried because the federal government is set up to protect the nation's money.
Zoom Out: - Buffett has been known to help out banks in the past with a $5B loan to Goldman Sachs in 2008 and a $5B investment into Bank of America in 2011.
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Walmart, the largest retailer in the U.S., is closing four stores in Chicago after the stores in the city lost money over the past 17 years. This comes after the shopping conglomerate shut down other stores in urban areas, including Washington D.C., Atlanta, and Portland, Oregon. More: - Walmart has tried to figure out a way to make urban stores as profitable as the rural or suburban stores but to no avail.
- "Collectively, our Chicago stores have not been profitable since we opened the first one nearly 17 years ago," said Walmart Tuesday. "These stores lose tens of millions of dollars a year, and their annual losses nearly doubled in just the last five years."
- There are still four Chicago stores that will remain open, as Walmart hopes to drive sales to those.
- A spokesman said that theft wasn't a driving issue in the closures.
Zoom Out: - This has been an ongoing issue with Walmart, as executives have tried to figure out for years how to best reach urban customers.
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Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled its new streaming service, "Max." This will combine HBO Max and Discovery+, which the company has had trouble figuring out how to maximize. More: - It will launch on May 23 this year and be available for anyone to join.
- The pricing will work the same as HBO Max: $9.99 a month with ads and $15.99 a month without ads.
- There will also be a $19.99 tier labeled "Max Ultimate Ad Free" that allows for four concurrent streams, up to 100 offline downloads, and all streaming in 4K resolution.
- New series like DC's The Penguin, one from Chip and Joanna Gaines, and a new spin-off of The Big Bang Theory are all expected on the platform.
- Subscribers will get new seasons of HBO Max and Discovery shows and their archives.
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SoftBank is positioning itself to sell most of its remaining stake in Alibaba. The Japanese group, led by billionaire founder Masayoshi Son, is trying to limit its exposure in China and raise cash amid the market downturn on its technology investments. More: - SoftBank has sold about $7.2B of Alibaba shares this year, after selling a record $29B last year.
- Selling through prepaid forward contracts, SoftBank will eventually only have a 3.8% stake in Alibaba.
- At one point, SoftBank owned 34% of Alibaba.
- The contracts allow SoftBank to buy back the shares, but it has settled previous deals by selling the stock.
Zoom Out: - This all comes amid SoftBank trying to recoup money from failed investments and unprecedented losses. SoftBank is planning to list U.K. chip designer Arm to help soften the losses.
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Twitter Inc., the parent company of the social media platform, has changed its name to X Corp. and moved its incorporation to Nevada. According to a legal filing last week, Twitter Inc. "has been merged into X Corp. and no longer exists." More: - The company's principal business offices will remain in San Francisco under the leadership of Elon Musk.
- Twitter Inc. was incorporated in Delaware previously.
- X Corp. has a parent holding company, X Holdings Corp.
- Musk has said that his acquisition of Twitter was meant to help create "X, the everything app."
- This isn't the first of Musk's business interests in Nevada. Tesla Inc., for which he is also the chief executive, operates a plant near Reno.
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Thoma Bravo, the private equity group known for its notable acquisitions, lost out on a bid to buy Qualtrics, a software group focused on customer service, because of fears the U.S. would stop the deal on antitrust grounds. Buyout groups have faced higher scrutiny under the Biden administration as the FTC has pledged a more aggressive stance toward private equity deals. More: - Thoma Bravo had wanted to purchase Qualtrics and merge it with Medallia, a rival company it already owns.
- Qualtrics instead sold to Silver Lake and Canada's largest pension fund, CPP, for $12.5B last month.
- That is the biggest U.S. leveraged buyout so far in 2023.
- The company accepted Silver Lake's bid of $18.15 per share, but Thoma Bravo is said to have offered $21 per share.
- "The regulatory environment is having an impact," said Charles Rule, a lawyer at Rule Garza Howley and a specialist in antitrust cases. "In the last two or three years, the uncertainty over antitrust has led to certain deals not going forward that would have otherwise moved forward."
- Qualtrics feared regulators would not only block the Thoma Bravo deal but also spend a year reviewing it first.
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- An attorney for FTX has said that the company has recovered $7.3B in assets.
- ChatGPT, the AI chatbot, may be able to predict stock movements.
- Juul, the e-cigarette company, must pay $462M to settle underage vaping lawsuits.
- Studies show that online shoppers are more willing to wait for deliveries as the cost of fulfilling them continues to rise.
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Upcoming Events - April 12 - Monthly Meditation guided by Nicholas Whitaker (Register Here)
- April 13 - Inside Interview with Lacework - The Evolution of Cloud Security w/ Ulfar Erlingsson (Watch On Demand)
- April 13 - Inside Marketing Coffee Break w/ Paolo Dello Vicario (ByTek) (Register Here)
- April 14 - Inside Interview with Landing - The Ultimate Corporate Housing Resource with Torger Philosophos (Register Here)
- April 18 - Human Resources Summit'23 (Register Here)
- April 18 - Inside Interview with TravelBank: Why Employee Happiness Is Falling More Into The Financial Sector (Watch On Demand)
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 | | | Christopher Hachey is an editor based in the New York City area. Reach out to him at chris@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 and 1972 Fords. | |
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