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| Hello Insiders! Today's business newsletter covers: - 💊 Novo Nordisk, maker of Ozempic, becomes Europe's most valuable company.
- 🎥 Hollywood lost 17,000 jobs in August as the strike continues.
- 🛒 Walmart increases its stake in e-commerce platform Flipkart.
If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you. Arbër
p/Arber | |
| 1 | | Novo Nordisk, the maker of the diabetes drug Ozempic, has become Europe's most valuable company. The Danish pharmaceutical company closed on Friday's trading with a market cap of $428B. More: - Novo Nordisk's share price went up by 0.7% on Friday after the company's launch of its weight-loss drug Wegovy in the U.K. The drug is also believed to reduce the chance of a heart attack by 20%, according to a previous study.
- The drug is already available in the US, Germany, Norway, and Denmark.
- Novo Nordisk is the largest producer, by sales, of diabetes and new weight-loss drugs, a market that is expected to reach $140B globally.
- The company's share price has quadrupled since 2018 and has almost doubled in 2023 alone.
Question: Do you think diabetes drugs such as Ozempic will continue to be sold for weight loss without intervention from regulators? Let us know what you think here. |     | |
| 2 | |  What happened: Hollywood lost 17,000 jobs in August, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, as the writers' and actor's strike continues. The strike has paused all filming, making it even harder for major studios to generate revenue, as box-office earnings have seen a significant drop in the last three years, failing to reach the $11.3B figure from 2019.
More details: The strike is estimated to have cost California's economy $3B so far. Hollywood's negative jobs report contrasts with the overall U.S. economy, which added 187,000 jobs in August. The job losses for the motion picture and sound recording industries are a direct effect of the strikes from the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, which began in May and mid-July, respectively. Writers and actors are asking for better pay, as streaming services have disrupted the residuals model. Writers are also making demands regarding the use of AI, asking that companies ban the use of Artificial Intelligence in writing scripts, using actors' likenesses, etc. As of last month, the writers' union received a new proposal from companies such as Netflix, Disney, and Amazon, but negotiations have yet to conclude. Why it matters: Hollywood has a significant financial and cultural impact on the U.S. economy. If these strikes last for a long time and studios cannot convince writers and actors to come back, there is a major doubt if they could recover their ticket sales in the future, at least to the levels of previous years. | | | |
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| 3 | | Walmart has paid $3.5B to increase its stake in e-commerce platform Flipkart, which has now reached 80%. Companies that sold their stake include Tiger Global and Accel. More: - Flipkart is an Indian e-commerce platform that enables users to buy books, electronics, fashion products, etc. The company is Amazon's main competitor in India and has over 100 million users.
- Walmart's decision to continue investing in the Indian e-commerce sector starkly contrasts with Amazon, which has reduced its expenses in the region recently.
- In the long term, however, Amazon plans to invest $15B in the Indian market by 2030, almost all of which will be invested in cloud capabilities.
- In a recent SEC filing, Walmart showed a $3.5B gain on its $1.2B investment in Flipkart.
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| 4 | | The FTC has approved Amgen's $27.8B bid to acquire Horizon Therapeutics, settling a legal case with the company only days before going to court. As part of the agreement, Horizon will not be allowed to bundle its two flagship drugs. More: - The agreement specifically bans the company from bundling Tepezza, a therapy used for thyroid eye disease, and Krystexxa, a gout medicine.
- Amgen will also have to get the FTC's approval to acquire products that treat the same diseases as Tepezza and Krystexxa.
- On the other side, attorneys general for California, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Washington, and Wisconsin have agreed to dismiss their federal lawsuits.
- The acquisition is now expected to be finalized in Q4 2023.
Zoom Out: - The FTC is also reviewing Pfizer's $43B acquisition of cancer drug developer Seagen.
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| 5 | | Butternut Box has raised $354M to deliver freshly prepared meals to dog owners. The company has raised over $500M since its inception in 2016. More: - Butternut Box aims to offer healthy food for dogs, as 65% of dogs in the U.K. are estimated to be overweight.
- The pet food market is estimated to be worth around $100B as of 2022.
- L Catterton, White Star Capital, Five Seasons Ventures, Passion Capital, Literacy Capital, Claret Capital, and HSBC were the principal backers.
- The company claims it is going to use this funding round to expand in the European market.
- Butternut Bux is based in London, United Kingdom.
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| 6 | | Hero Motocorp has invested $66.5M in electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ather Energy. Prior to the investment, the company owned 33.1% of Ather Energy. More: - Due to their affordability, two-wheelers are the main form of transportation in India, representing 70% of all vehicles.
- Ather Energy aims to convert this market into EV buyers, which is estimated to represent 30% of all vehicles in India by 2030.
- Since its inception, Ather Energy has raised over $400M from investors such as Tiger Global, NIIF, and angel investors.
- The company had $218M in revenue in the fiscal year ending in March.
- The company was on track to reach $1B in revenue by the end of 2023 but was affected by a recent decision made by the government of India that cut subsidies.
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- Mercedes CEO Ola Kaellenius stated that the company does not expect to have 100% of sales come from electric vehicles by 2030.
- Lithium development giant Liontown has presented a best-and-final offer of $4.3B to acquire Albemarle.
- The U.K. government is set to announce new reforms that will end the ban on new wind farms.
- Nestle has announced that it has divested its subsidiary, Palforzia. The company develops peanut allergy treatments.
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INSIDE BUSINESS LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | Writer | | Arbër is an Inside writer who also has experience in entrepreneurship. He has experience covering Consumer Tech, Venture Capital, NFTs, Crypto, etc. Arbër holds a Bachelor's degree in Business from XAMK University in Finland. When he is not reading(and writing) business news, he chooses to watch sports or anime...and then read news about sports or anime. | | This newsletter was edited by Christopher Hachey | |
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