LVMH confirms deal to acquire Tiffany for $16.2 billion - CNBC

A woman walks past a Tiffany & Co. store at a shopping mall in Beijing, November, 2018.

Mark Schiefelbein | AP

LVMH has reached a deal to buy Tiffany & Co. at $135 a share in cash, or $16.2 billion, in a move that will give the company more access to U.S. luxury consumers.

Confirming the deal, which CNBC first reported on Sunday, LVMH said in a statement that "the acquisition of Tiffany will strengthen LVMH's position in jewelry and further increase its presence in the United States."

It said it would also "transform LVMH's Watches & Jewelry division and complement LVMH's 75 distinguished Houses."

LVMH CEO Bernaud Arnault said that the company intended "to develop this jewel with the same dedication and commitment that we have applied to each and every one of our Maisons. We will be proud to have Tiffany sit alongside our iconic brands."

LVMH shares were trading 1.4% higher Monday morning following the announcement. 

LVMH has built up a large portfolio of luxury brands across different retail sectors, from fashion to perfume. Some of its well-known brands include Moët & Chandon, Dom Perignon, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton.

The boards of both LVMH and Tiffany approved the deal on Sunday and the transaction is expected to close in the middle of 2020, subject to approval from Tiffany's shareholders and regulatory approvals.

Tiffany was founded in New York in 1837 and became an iconic jewelry brand in the 20th century, but it has struggled with growth over the last several years. It experienced falling annual sales and profit since 2015, before a revenue turnaround in 2017. The jeweler has also pushed an expansion into China, but experienced a decline in sales in the U.S. and Asia from factors like the U.S.-China trade war.

LVMH has sweetened its bid for Tiffany from an original offer of $120 per share, made in October. That had been rebuffed by the company that said it significantly undervalued the jewelry maker. Shares of Tiffany, the iconic New York-based jeweler, have risen over hopes of a higher priced deal. Shares closed on Friday at $125.51. They had traded at about $140 in the middle of last year.

"It looks like a good match really," Raphael Pitoun, portfolio manager at CQS New City Equity, told CNBC Europe's "Squawk Box" on Monday.

"The branding of Tiffany has weakened a bit over the last few years and LVMH has great expertise in helping brands to develop internationally, they did that with Bulgari already — it was not an easy acquisition at the time and they managed to really grow the brand quite strongly over the last few years — so it really looks like a good fit, it makes sense," he said.

—CNBC's Emma Newburger contributed reporting to this story.

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2019-11-25 07:09:00Z
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LVMH nears deal to buy Tiffany for $16.7bn - Financial Times

France’s LVMH is nearing a $16.7bn deal to buy Tiffany & Co, after the US jeweller managed to squeeze another higher offer from Bernard Arnault’s luxury group, according to people close to the deal.

The boards of both companies are set to meet on Sunday to approve the latest $135 per share bid from LVMH for the US maker of diamond engagement rings. The all-cash bid values Tiffany shares at $16.3bn and the company has about $350m of net debt.

The takeover may be announced as soon as Monday, these people said, though they cautioned that there were still a few more hurdles to overcome before a transaction was signed.

The deal, one of the biggest in the career of Mr Arnault, Europe’s richest man, would deliver the French owner of Louis Vuitton, Dior and Sephora a new brand that has a considerable footprint in the US and which is popular with Asian customers.

The two sides have been in talks for weeks since it was revealed that LVMH tabled its first offer at $120. Last week, the French group increased its offer to $130 per share and was granted access to Tiffany’s books to conduct due diligence.

Tiffany and LVMH did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

More to follow . . .

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2019-11-24 14:30:00Z
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Tesla has already received 146,000 pre-orders for its divisive Cybertruck - The Verge

Two days after its big (and slightly botched) unveiling, the Cybertruck is already racking up a lot of interest. Tesla has received 146,000 preorders for the polarizing electric pickup truck, Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday. And with customers dropping $100 refundable deposits for each preorder, that’s a cool $14.6 million for Tesla’s bank account.

Tesla is offering three versions of the truck: single motor rear-wheel drive with 250 miles of range for $39,900; dual motor all-wheel drive with 300 miles of range for $49,900; and tri motor all-wheel drive with 500 miles of range for $69,900. Musk said that 42 percent of preorders are dual motor, 41 percent tri motor, and 17 percent single motor.

146k Cybertruck orders so far, with 42% choosing dual, 41% tri & 17% single motor

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2019

“With no advertising & no paid endorsement,” Musk said in a follow up tweet.

Customers preordering the Cybertruck will have to wait a while before the boxy pickup pulls into their driveways, though. Production on the single and dual motor versions isn’t slated to begin until late 2021, while the tri motor truck won’t roll off the assembly line until late 2022.

Tesla uses preorders for its forthcoming vehicles to generate excitement and provide a short-term revenue infusion, which helps provide a cushion for the cash-strapped automaker. And Musk likes to tout preorder numbers to juice more sales. For example, the company received 276,000 preorders for the Model 3 a few days after its unveiling in 2016; a few days later that number grew to 325,000.

To be sure, Tesla doesn’t always release its preorder numbers. The company has yet to reveal how many customers have put down deposits for the Model Y, its electric crossover.

The Cybertruck is no Model 3 or Model Y, but the respectable number of preorders indicates that Tesla is still has its fingers on the pulse of what customers want to buy. That said, the Blade Runner-inspired design of the truck has been wildly polarizing to say the least.

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2019-11-24 12:55:51Z
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7 funky features on Tesla's Cybertruck - Fox News

The electric Tesla Cybertruck may have outlandish styling but, at heart, it's still just a four-wheel, four-door pickup that you can read more about by clicking here.

That said, it does offer plenty of features you won’t find on many other mass-market trucks, and not just its battery pack. Here are a few of the standouts:

IT LIGHTS UP

Along with its full-width LED headlight bar, there’s an auxiliary strip for off-road driving hidden at the top of its windshield, just below the unique peak in its roof.

IT’S MADE FROM SPACE AGE MATERIAL

The Cybertruck’s body is constructed of thick sheets of the same 30-times-cold-rolled stainless steel used on the SpaceX Starship. Along with being scratch- and dent-resistant, Tesla claims it can withstand a 9-mm. firearm round. (Then again, it said the “Armor” windows were super strong, too.)

IT’S A YOKE

Instead of a hoop, the Cybertruck has a steering wheel modeled after the type on an aircraft yoke with grips at 9 and 3 o’clock.

IT’S GOT WINGS

Along with a covered bed with a trunk in the floor and a “frunk” under the hood, each of the rear roof buttresses hides storage compartments beneath butterfly doors.

YOU CAN STEP ON IT

The powered bed cover is strong enough to walk on and fully retracts into the space between the bed and the cabin when it’s opened.

IT GETS DOWN

The Cybertruck will come with an optional Cyberquad electric ATV that you can drive into the bed using a ramp that extends from the tailgate as the pickup’s standard air suspension system squats.

IT HAS A SIX-PACK

Like some traditional trucks, the Cybertruck has three-across front seating thanks to a center jump seat that turns into an armrest when not in use.

IT COOKS

Tesla will offer a camping package that includes a polygonal tent to match its styling, a raised sleeping floor for the bed, and a slide-out electric stove that runs off the battery pack.

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2019-11-24 12:08:10Z
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Cybertruck: Tesla truck gets 150,000 orders despite launch gaffe - BBC News

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Tesla has received almost 150,000 orders for its new pickup truck, boss Elon Musk has said, despite an embarrassing hiccup at its launch.

Mr Musk was caught out on stage when the windows of the Cybertruck shattered during a demonstration supposed to show their durability.

Tesla shares dived 6.1% after the event on Thursday and several bad reviews.

With its distinct angular design, the electric truck was greeted with cheers but also bemusement.

But on Saturday Mr Musk tweeted: "146k Cybertruck orders so far, with 42% choosing dual, 41% tri & 17% single motor".

The demand had come despite "no advertising & no paid endorsement" for the truck, he said.

No date has been given for the Cybertruck's release, but analysts said it would not be ready before the end of 2021 at the earliest.

• Tesla's new pickup truck smashed during demo

The industrial-looking vehicle is covered in stainless steel alloy and will be able to go from 0 to 100km/h (62 mph) in about three seconds, Mr Musk said in his presentation in Hawthorne, California.

However, some analysts are concerned about the futuristic design, with Jessica Caldwell of Edmunds' vehicle marketplace saying: "It looks like a truck version of the DeLorean from Back To The Future."

The launch event's "fail" happened during a segment displaying how the truck's stainless steel exterior, and metal windows, could withstand bullets and sledgehammers.

Tesla's head of design, Franz von Holzhausen, proceeded to throw a metal ball at the front left window, causing it to smash.

He repeated the move on the rear left window and the same thing happened. Mr Musk was heard to swear before joking: "Room for improvement."

On Friday Tesla's share price dived by 6%, slashing Mr Musk's personal net worth by $768m (£598m) in a single day, according to Forbes.

The pickup market represents a significant opportunity for Tesla as it improves its battery technology, meaning carrying heavier loads over long distances is now practical.

According to vehicle marketplace Edmunds, large trucks have accounted for 14.4% of new vehicle sales in the US up until October, compared to 12.6% in 2015.

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2019-11-24 10:10:57Z
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Musk touts 146000 orders for Tesla's electric pickup truck - Stars and Stripes

Musk touts 146,000 orders for Tesla's electric pickup truck

LOS ANGELES — Elon Musk says Tesla has received nearly 150,000 orders for its new electric pickup truck since the automaker revealed the futuristic vehicle earlier this week to mixed reviews.

The Tesla CEO tweeted Saturday that the company received 146,000 orders for the wedge-shaped "Cybertruck" since is unveiling Thursday night.

Musk said 17% of the orders are for the single-motor model, 42% are for the dual-motor version and 41% are for the tri-motor model.

The much-hyped unveiling went off script when its supposedly unbreakable window glass splintered twice when hit with a large metal ball. Some analysts panned the truck's blocky, angular looks.

Placing an order costs buyers $100, which Tesla says is fully refundable.

Tesla has said the "Cybertruck," which starts at $39,900, will be in production in 2021.
 

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2019-11-24 05:19:56Z
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Byron Allen Spares No One in Accusing Comcast of Racial Bias - The New York Times

He broke into the entertainment business as a teenager, playing comedy clubs in Los Angeles and making his first appearance on “The Tonight Show” at age 18. He gained fame as a host of the 1980s NBC hit “Real People” before founding Entertainment Studios in 1993. That company has grown into an empire, with a film division and nearly two dozen television properties, including the Weather Channel, which it acquired last year for $300 million.

Byron Allen offers his story as a model of African-American economic success. In recent years, he has also fashioned himself a civil rights crusader, battling what he says is the racism in corporate America with lawsuits and incendiary rhetoric.

In his $20 billion lawsuit against Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company, Mr. Allen has risked alienating would-be allies like Al Sharpton and the N.A.A.C.P. while drawing the Trump administration as one of his opponents.

“There’s nothing polite about this situation,” Mr. Allen, 58, said in an interview. “I’m going to be loud, proud and I’m going to make a change.”

He filed the lawsuit in 2015, contending that Comcast, after discussing a deal to carry six of his company’s channels, had turned it down in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The nation’s oldest federal civil rights law, it gives “all persons” the same right “enjoyed by white citizens” to “make and enforce contracts” and “to sue.”

The case was thrown out three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, ruled last year that the district court had “improperly dismissed” it.

Comcast appealed. When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, some black leaders were irked at the prospect that Mr. Allen’s lawsuit could undo longstanding civil rights protections.

At stake before the court in oral arguments on Nov. 13 was not the specifics of his dispute with Comcast, but the standard for proving racial discrimination. The justices seemed to focus on the narrow question of whether a plaintiff like Mr. Allen must make the case that racial discrimination was the main factor or just a contributing factor in the early stages of litigation.

The Supreme Court is not expected to issue its ruling until the spring. However it turns out, Mr. Allen will likely have to return to a lower court to prove that he was discriminated against.

Comcast has vigorously defended its record on diversity and refuted Mr. Allen’s claims of discrimination, arguing that the six networks he wants it to distribute are not interesting enough for its lineup or aren’t distinct from current offerings. His demand that Comcast carry all of them in high definition and the price he is asking are unreasonable, the company said.

“We feel he resorted to frivolous litigation and name-calling instead of business negotiations,” Sena Fitzmaurice, a Comcast spokeswoman, said. “We think he’s hijacking civil rights laws in an attempt to leverage personal financial gain.”

A key element of Mr. Allen’s argument centers on an agreement Comcast struck with black leaders and organizations in 2010 in order to get clearance to purchase NBCUniversal. As part of the deal, the conglomerate agreed to add four new African-American owned networks over eight years. Two of those networks were owned by Sean Combs, the mogul better known as Diddy, and Magic Johnson, the former basketball star and entrepreneur.

Mr. Allen has argued that the organizations that helped broker the deal — the National Urban League, Mr. Sharpton’s National Action Network and the N.A.A.C.P. — were essentially bought off by Comcast, which has donated money to them. The agreement provided only token investment in black-owned networks, Mr. Allen said, and has been used to justify blocking black entrepreneurs from getting a seat at the table.

“I never said you don’t put black faces out there,” Mr. Allen said. “I said you don’t provide true economic inclusion.”

Comcast said it spent $13.2 billion on programming last year, but a spokeswoman declined to say what share of that went to black-owned networks.

Mr. Allen’s criticism of civil rights groups has earned him critics who say he is in it for himself more than the greater good of black people.

But there have also been unlikely supporters.

One of them is Mr. Combs. Even after Mr. Allen suggested he was used by Comcast, Mr. Combs has publicly backed Mr. Allen’s point of view and leveled his own criticism against the company for not providing proper support for his television network, Revolt.

“Our relationship with Comcast is the illusion of economic inclusion,” Mr. Combs said in a statement on Thursday.

Civil rights groups that were once the target of Mr. Allen’s barbs have also come around, signing amicus briefs supporting Mr. Allen’s position in the Supreme Court case.

Before the oral argument, the N.A.A.C.P. held a teleconference in which Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker denounced Comcast for actions that they felt were putting civil rights at risk.

“This is a major corporation that is deciding to defend themselves in this case by tearing down a significant aspect of our civil rights protections,” Mr. Booker said during the call.

Bernice A. King, a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Representative Bobby Rush, Democrat of Illinois, have written letters to Comcast, questioning its decision to pursue the case before the Supreme Court.

If there is any indication that some black leaders remain uneasy with Mr. Allen, it is that many have avoided expressing a firm opinion on whether or not he was discriminated against by Comcast.

“If that can be established in court, that ought to be established,” said Mr. Sharpton, the activist who also hosts a show on MSNBC, which is owned by Comcast. “What I know is that I had wished that this had been settled, so that we don’t have a constitutional threat to the community.”

The 2010 agreement between Comcast and the civil rights groups failed to position the black-owned networks for success, said Paula Madison, the former chief diversity officer at NBCUniversal who helped broker the deal. An issue raised during negotiations, Ms. Madison said, was whether the company would guarantee the networks a certain number of subscribers. In the end, Comcast agreed to launch the channels, with no guarantee of how many subscribers they would reach.

Ms. Fitzmaurice, the Comcast spokeswoman, said that all of the agreements the company struck with the new black-owned channels included guarantees to distribute them to millions of subscribers.

Television networks generally get paid a fee for each subscriber, and that accounts for a vital funding stream. Although she left Comcast and NBC before the black-owned networks started, Ms. Madison said that former colleagues have told her the networks have struggled to get wide distribution.

Ms. Madison, who is black, has personal experience with the challenge of getting Comcast to distribute a black-owned network. Her family owns the Africa Channel, which Comcast has carried for more than a decade. The channel has lost subscribers in recent years, she said, despite Comcast’s assurances to help it grow.

Ms. Madison said she felt that Comcast had a duty to try to help the new black-owned networks succeed, because they were integral to the company’s gaining federal approval to acquire NBCUniversal. But at a time when streaming becomes dominant and cable operators are looking to shed channels, Ms. Madison said she believed Comcast executives would not blink if the black-owned networks went away.

“It’s laissez-faire,” Ms. Madison said of Comcast’s treatment of the channels. “It’s, ‘They want channels, we’ll give them channels.’”

Ms. Fitzmaurice, the spokeswoman, said that Comcast alone cannot be responsible for the ultimate success of the channels, which needed the buy-in of other cable providers. She also defended Comcast’s handling of the channels, saying, “We have fulfilled to the letter and beyond what we’ve promised to do.”

Comcast’s distribution of the black-owned networks varied widely. The company made Mr. Johnson’s Aspire network available to about three-quarters, or 15.5 million, of its subscribers in the second quarter of this year, according to estimates provided by Kagan, a media market research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence. Mr. Combs’s Revolt was in about 45 percent, or 9.3 million, of Comcast households.

In his statement, Mr. Combs said that Comcast had not provided Revolt with the necessary support. The network is not included in Comcast’s most affordable packages or in the markets that would help it to reach its target audience, he added.

Marc H. Morial, the president of the National Urban League and a negotiator of the 2010 agreement, defended Comcast. The deal created opportunities for minorities at the company, Mr. Morial said, including three people of color joining its board and the company tripling its contracts with minority businesses.

“We did an innovation in corporate diversity that has moved the needle to a greater extent than was moved in the past by laissez-faire, handshake agreements,” said Mr. Morial, who sits on a Comcast advisory council.

One black network owner, Yves Bollanga, praised the company, saying that it had come through with a minimum subscriber guarantee last year when it started distributing his network, Afro.

Comcast offers the channel in its 13 largest markets, Mr. Bollanga said, adding that more than 80 percent of Afro’s 11 million subscribers are through Comcast. The millions of dollars his company collects from Comcast in subscriber fees has allowed it to expand, including the construction of a 35,000-square-foot studio in Orlando, he said.

Mr. Bollanga said he had been in discussions with Comcast since 2007, and the operator had rejected him in the past. He gathered data to make his case to Comcast executives that they should carry his channel.

“Rejection should not always equate to racism,” Mr. Bollanga said. “Byron Allen is putting civil rights protections on the line.”

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2019-11-23 10:00:00Z
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