Raphael Stevens

Nine states now have 70% of adult residents with at least one vaccine shot, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data published Sunday shows, as nationwide Covid case and death counts fell further.On Sunday, New Mexico became the ninth state to report that 70% of adult residents have had at least one shot, joining Vermont, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Jersey and Rhode Island.The seven-day average of new infections is about 25,300 per day as of Sunday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, down 24% from a week ago. The country’s daily death toll, which is currently at nearly 550 per day, is also declining.U.S. share of the population vaccinatedAbout 49% of the U.S. population has had at least one shot, according to the CDC, with 39% fully vaccinated.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsOf people ages 18 and older nationwide, 61% are at least partially vaccinated. President Joe Biden’s goal is to get that number to 70% by July 4.Vaccination progress varies across the country. While some states have a majority of adults jabbed, that figure is below 50% in 10 states, including Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Wyoming, which are all under 47%.U.S. vaccine shots administeredData from the CDC shows the U.S. is reporting an average of 1.8 million vaccinations per day over the past week.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsThe White House’s partnership with ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft begins Monday. Through the partnership, users can hail free rides to and from vaccination sites.U.S. Covid casesWith about 13,000 cases reported on Sunday, the seven-day average of daily new infections in the country dropped to 25,270.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsThe seven-day average is down 24% compared with one week ago.A CNBC analysis of Hopkins data shows that average case counts have declined by at least 5% in 41 states and the District of Columbia over the past week.U.S. Covid deathsThe U.S. is seeing an average of 546 Covid deaths per day over the last week, according to Hopkins data, the lowest since July 2020.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsThe U.S. counts more than 589,000 Covid deaths since the start of the pandemic.CNBC Health & Science Read CNBC’s latest coverage of the Covid pandemic:New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says public schools will be all in person this fall Two doses of Covid vaccines needed for strong protection against variants, study finds Covid vaccine passports: Everything we know so far Japan’s Osaka city crumples under Covid-19 onslaught as doctors warn of a ‘system collapse’ As Covid mutations spread, will herd immunity ever be possible?      More

In this articleNBABenjamin Chukwukelo Uzoh 2nd R of Rivers Hoopers of Nigeria vies with Wilson Nshobozwa of Patriots Rwanda during the opening game of the the inaugural Basketball Africa League BAL in Kigali, capital city of Rwanda, May 16, 2021.Cyril Ndegeya | Xinhua News Agency | Getty ImagesThe National Basketball Association has formed its Africa business operation, luring investors and former players, including Dikembe Mutombo, Grant Hill and Junior Bridgeman.NBA Africa will oversee the league’s business throughout the continent, including operating Basketball Africa League, which launched on May 16. The entity will establish corporate partnerships, expand content and media rights and provide support for local governments seeking to build new basketball arenas. The NBA envisions basketball being a top sport throughout Africa in 10 years.Specific terms of the investment in NBA Africa were not made available, but NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a press conference Monday that the enterprise value for NBA Africa is nearly $1 billion.Nigeria-based industrial group Yinka Folawiyo Group and Helios Fairfax Partners Corporation, an investment holding company that trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “HFPC,” are investors in NBA Africa. Former NBA players Luol Deng and Joakim Noah are also investors.Silver and NBA Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum will have NBA Africa board seats, joining Babatunde Folawiyo, CEO of Yinka Folawiyo, and Tope Lawani, co-CEO of Helios Fairfax. NBA Africa will be led by CEO Victor Williams.On the call with reporters, Williams said part of NBA Africa’s strategy is to accelerate the “development of basketball’s eco-system” by creating more youth academies that will serve as a pathway for talent and growing the NBA’s brand.”This growth will come to life by, amongst other things, increasing the NBA’s footprint in Africa and opening additional offices in priority markets across the continent starting in countries like Nigeria, where there is already a strong affinity for the game,” said Williams.The NBA’s business operation in Africa is similar to its NBA China, which has grown to an over $5 billion business. NBA China launched in 2008, with a $253 million investment from partners including Disney. NBA China allowed the league to gain more access to the world’s top marketplace, as China has a population of about 1.4 billion, according to United Nations data.”There are some structural similarities in that we’ve taken a geographical area and carved it into a distinct entity and added strategic partners because we recognize that was the best opportunity for growth,” Silver said when asked about NBA Africa’s comparison to its China business. “But I think the comparison probably ends there.”Another significant difference is the NBA is now operating a league in Africa, whereas the Chinese Basketball Association is state-run. But the NBA’s business relationship with China remains strained after a 2019 tweet by then Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey supporting pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong.CCTV, the state-run broadcast network, has yet to air games for the 2020-21 season after briefly returning NBA games to the air during the 2020 NBA Finals. Last year’s Finals featured the Los Angeles Lakers, a popular team in the country. NBA games are available for streaming due to Tencent’s $1.5 billion rights deal. And tensions between the U.S. and China aren’t making business in the country any easier to conduct.Dikembe Mutombo #55 of the Away Team poses for a photo during NBA Cares Special Olympics Unified Game as part of 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend on February 14, 2020 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois.Jeff Haynes | National Basketball Association | Getty ImagesStill, the NBA continues to eye more global markets, and Africa is one of the fastest-growing on the planet, with a sub-Saharan population of about 1.07 billion, according to the United Nations. The NBA opened its African headquarters in Johannesburg in 2010.Again, a big part of this business will be growing the BAL. The league consists of two conferences and 12 teams, and the top six clubs will compete in a single-game elimination tournament following the season to determine the champion. Amadou Gallo Fall is president of the league.Speaking to CNBC about the league, NBA team owner Robert Sarver said BAL can be used as a pipeline to grow basketball talent in hopes some players will end up playing in the NBA. And having teams play in selected areas will help with scouting, too. Currently, 55 players who are either from Africa or whose parents are native Africans play in the NBA.”From a talent perspective, one of the things that’s been a challenge in Africa is the continent is very large, and it’s very spread out,” said Sarver, who owns the Phoenix Suns. “So unlike the United States, where the top young players, regardless of what state you live in, come together and compete against each other a lot, that’s hard to do in Africa.”Getting them together to compete against each other really helps grow their game,” he added. “So I do think developing talent is one of the goals there but also just opening up a huge continent for more people to view the NBA.” More

In this articlePTONPeloton said Monday it will invest $400 million to build its first factory in the United States to speed up production and delivery of its popular cycles and high-end treadmill machines.After vetting a number of locations, it selected a 200-acre site in Troy Township in Wood County, Ohio, to construct more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing, office and amenities space, the company said.Peloton expects to break ground later this summer on the project, which should bring more than 2,000 jobs to the area. The facility should be up and running by 2023.”We had planned to do this for years, but I think the pandemic put an exclamation point on why it’s going to be awesome,” Peloton co-founder and CEO John Foley said in an interview. “Having more flexibility in running a global supply chain is also going to allow us to sleep better, as you can imagine.”The at-home fitness company currently manufactures its products at third-party facilities in Asia. Faced with heightened consumer demand during the Covid pandemic, it has run into lengthened delivery delays that have frustrated consumers and investors. In February, it said it would spend more than $100 million to speed up shipments using air and expedited ocean freight.It also acquired fitness manufacturer Precor for $420 million, gaining manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Washington. Peloton expects to make its Bike and Tread machines in these factories by the end of the year.Potential customers will be able to visit the Ohio facility to view its products or schedule tours to see the cycles and treadmills being made, the company said. The site will also have a fitness center for its workers.According to Foley, the extra space also means Peloton will have room to manufacture additional products in the years ahead.Earlier this month, Peloton recalled both of its treadmill machines over safety concerns. The company’s less-expensive model, the Tread, had been slated to go on sale in the U.S. this week, but the launch was delayed to add new safety features, which could come as soon as this summer.Meanwhile, Peloton continues to market its Bike and Bike+, which features a rotating screen for floor exercises, to consumers looking for ways to break a sweat at home. Pushing into new markets, Peloton will launch in Australia later this year.In the quarter ended March 31, Peloton’s total revenue surged 141% to $1.26 billion from $524.6 million a year earlier. Peloton expects sales in its current quarter to be $915 million.”We believe that working out at home is the future,” the CEO said. “That is why we’re investing in this facility.”Peloton shares were falling more than 1% Monday afternoon, having dropped about 35% year to date. The company has a market cap of $30 billion.— CNBC’s Diana Olick contributed to this reporting. More

An artist’s rendering of a Momentus Vigoride transfer vehicle deploying a satellite in orbit.MomentusShares of Stable Road Acquisition Corp. fell in trading on Monday after the firm disclosed in a securities filing that its merger target, in-space transportation company Momentus, no longer plans to conduct any missions for customers this year.”Momentus informed Stable Road that it does not expect to fly any missions in 2021 and that this determination was based on information from SpaceX that it was suspending its Momentus-related efforts while Momentus works to secure approvals from the U.S. government,” Stable Road wrote.Stable Road’s stock fell 13.4% in trading to close at $10.42.The firm was the first of several special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, which announced deals with space ventures in the past year, saying it planned to take Momentus public at a $1.2 billion valuation. But Stable Road’s merger with Momentus has been bogged down this year, largely due to national security concerns raised by multiple U.S. government agencies.Mikhail Kokorich – the Russian founder of Momentus, who investors learned was barred by U.S. law from using the company’s technology – resigned as CEO and director in January, after the Pentagon declared “Momentus posed a risk to national security.” In a statement at the time, Stable Road said Kokorich’s resignation was part of “an effort to expedite the resolution” of the company’s foreign ownership concerns.The next month, the deal and Kokorich was under review from the U.S. inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Stable Road said in February that Kokorich and his wife “will fully divest” ownership of Momentus by March 2024, “or as required by CFIUS.” Also in February, Momentus took a $25 million loan for “growth capital,” with an additional $15 million loan option – contingent upon the company receiving approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to launch payloads by the end of June.In April, Stable Road submitted a request to shareholders to extend the lifetime of the SPAC by three months to allow more time to complete its merger with Momentus.A Falcon 9 rocket launches the Transporter-1 mission in January 2021.SpaceXBut, early in May, the company learned that the FAA denied Momentus’ application to launching a payload on a SpaceX mission in June.”During an interagency consultation, the FAA was informed that the launch of Momentus’ payload poses national security concerns associated with Momentus’ current corporate structure,” Stable Road wrote in a securities filing on May 10.Stable Road, despite the recent FAA setback, on May 13 received shareholder approval to extend the merger’s deadline to August from May. The extension passed by a slim margin, with Stable Road receiving support from 66.2% of shareholders, needing 65% for approval.The SPAC’s disclosure on Monday comes as the latest blow to the deal. The firm says Momentus continues to seek “approvals from the U.S. government that are required for its missions.”Become a smarter investor with CNBC Pro.Get stock picks, analyst calls, exclusive interviews and access to CNBC TV. Sign up to start a free trial today. More

Birdies shoes sold out in late 2020, leaving the company unable to meet the year-end demand.Source: Bianca GatesAs women across the country ditched their heels during the pandemic, shoe company Birdies thrived.The direct-to-consumer brand touts itself as a “stylish flat that’s secretly a slipper.” The result: 300% year-over-year growth in April 2021.It could have been higher. The San Francisco-based company sold out of all its seasonal fashion items in November, even after purchasing double the amount of slippers in 2020 to meet demand. By the winter holidays, they only had core products available.”We were never really able to capture the tremendous upside,” said Bianca Gates, Birdies co-founder and CEO. “We learned the hard way that, in our business, you can only sell what you have.”She declined to share specific sales figures. The shoes range in price from $85 to $140 a pair.More from Invest in YouHere’s how this 26-year-old TikTok creator makes over $100,000 per monthLack of workers is hurting small businesses’ ability to keep up with demandHere’s how these small businesses pivoted to survive during the pandemicThe idea for Birdies was born when Gates and co-founder Marisa Sharkey, long-time friends from their days in Manhattan, realized they didn’t have a pair of go-to loafers to wear while entertaining friends at home.”I had this Mr. Rogers’ moment, when he puts on his house shoes,” Gates said.The pair put their heads together, developed a prototype in 2015 and sold 1,800 pairs to friends and family that year. Gates continued to work her full-time job at Facebook but left in 2017 as Birdies grew, and the founders decided to fundraise.Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, visit Redwoods Tree Walk on Oct. 31, 2018 in Rotorua, New Zealand.Pool/Samir Hussein | WireImage | Getty ImagesThe brand really took off in 2018 when Meghan Markle was photographed alongside Prince Harry in New Zealand wearing a pair of Birdies flats, causing the shoe to sell out and gain a 30,000-person waiting list.Playing it safeSince the shoes were already in demand during the pandemic, Birdies didn’t really have to make any big pivots.Top of mind for the founders were the health and safety of their team, customers and business, Gates said.”Let’s not do anything radical,” she recalled of their thinking at the time. “Let’s stay in business and play it safe.”Already engaged with customers over social media, they doubled down — listening to what customers wanted and responding by adjusting their offerings, like manufacturing more slides.”Being direct-to-consumer allowed us to get data and real time information from customers,” Gates said.Finding their voiceBirdies founders Bianca Gates and Marisa Sharkey.Source: Bianca GatesGates and Sharkey also became more thoughtful about their messaging last year after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer.”We had to do a lot of thinking internally,” Gates recalled. “Do we speak up right now?”Are we in the business of selling shoes or are we in the business of creating community?” she added.They also thought about the brand’s objective to uplift women, particularly when Kamala Harris became the nation’s first female vice president. When the company posted on Instagram about Harris’ win being a “monumental day for girls and women everywhere,” it lost thousands of followers. It was also its highest engaged post.”We took a big step back last year to really realize what the mission of our company means,” Gates said. “We are not just in the business of selling shoes.”We are in the business of leveraging our platform for good.”That led the brand to become a sponsor of a women’s soccer team, Los Angeles-based Angel City Football Club, this past March. It’s something Gates said would never have occurred to her in the past.”Coming out of the pandemic, it seems so obvious,” Gates said.She is also making sure they don’t have a run on their shoes again.”We are buying deeper and broader,” she said. “Leaning into comfortable shoes is going to stay for a very long time.”SIGN UP: Money 101 is an 8-week learning course to financial freedom, delivered weekly to your inbox.CHECK OUT: Self-made millionaire: If your goal is to be financially independent, ask yourself 4 questions via Grow with Acorns+CNBC via Grow with Acorns+CNBC.Disclosure: NBCUniversal and Comcast Ventures are investors in Acorns. More

In this articleTDISCADISNFLXJohn MaloneMatthew Staver | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe blockbuster WarnerMedia-Discovery deal is especially good news for HBO Max, billionaire media mogul John Malone told CNBC’s David Faber.In an interview that aired Monday, Malone said his previous reservations about HBO Max’s ability to be a dominant player in the crowded digital-streaming landscape will be addressed once the AT&T-owned service is under the same roof as Discovery.”I thought they were going to struggle with getting the kind of subscriber growth in the U.S. that they were hoping for. And I think, in fact, that’s true,” said Malone, a Discovery board member whose voting stake in the company is more than 25%.Malone thinks the new firm could join Netflix and Disney+ as a true global powerhouse.”I think we are not only going to be the third such platform, but I think we’ll be very competitive with the other two in terms of being able to satisfy the entertainment and curiosity and information needs of the world, basically, a worldwide platform,” Malone said.Disney+ ended the fiscal second quarter with 103.6 million subscribers, according to the company. Netflix said last month it had almost 208 million subscribers worldwide.AT&T said in April that HBO and HBO Max had a combined  44.2 million subscribers in the U.S. and nearly 64 million globally.HBO Max, WarnerMedia’s flagship streaming property, debuted in the U.S. last May and plans an international expansion. In Malone’s view, that push will be aided by Discovery’s global know-how.”For me, the problem with HBO Max is it had no ability to go international at the time. The combination with Discovery, given Discovery’s existing presence, large presence in 200 countries around the world with a great brand, … to me, that’s the great upside,” said the cable TV pioneer and longtime chairman of Liberty Media.Malone made his comments in a wide-ranging interview with CNBC about the deal announced last week involving Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia, which the telecom giant acquired less than three years ago.If the transaction receives regulatory approval, WarnerMedia’s various media and entertainment properties including CNN, HBO and the Warner Bros. studio would be spun out of AT&T and combined with Discovery’s brands including HGTV, Food Network and Discovery Channel.It would position the new company — which has yet to receive a new name — as a more formidable competitor in the fiercely competitive streaming video wars. In addition to WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, Discovery’s signature direct-to-consumer platform, Discovery+, launched in January.Malone confident in David Zaslav’s leadershipDiscovery CEO David Zaslav told CNBC last week he thinks the combined company could ultimately garner 400 million global streaming video subscribers — significantly more than any rivals.”Netflix is a great company, Disney is a great company, but we have a portfolio of content that is very diverse and broadly appealing,” said Zaslav, who will lead the new company.Malone said he has confidence in Zaslav’s management capabilities and believes in general that the tie-up between Discovery and WarnerMedia is beneficial. He also said he had no qualms about giving up his super-voting Discovery shares as part of the deal.According to FactSet, Malone owns more than 93% of Discovery’s class B shares, which account for 10 votes per share compared with one vote per share for class A. His ownership of those shares enables his significant voting power in the company. Discovery also has a third class of stock known as series C.The combined WarnerMedia-Discovery will have just one type of stock.”My reaction was fine, that I thought that the alphabet soup that we have had served its purpose, had protected the company and given it a long view for a number of years. It was time when its usefulness was coming to an end, so I was fine with that,” said Malone, whose Liberty Media spun out its ownership stake in Discovery Communications into a separate entity in 2005.Malone on AT&T CEO John Stankey’s ‘brave decision’AT&T’s decision to spin out WarnerMedia signaled the end of its attempt to pair a content-producing asset alongside a wireless phone company.Malone praised AT&T CEO John Stankey for pulling the plug on that integrated experiment, which some observers questioned from the moment the deal was initially announced in 2016. AT&T completed its acquisition of what was known as Time Warner in 2018 following a regulatory and court battle.”John Stankey showed a hell of a lot of courage in making this decision at this time because he found himself really chasing two capital intensive, very competitive rabbits,” Malone said.Stankey replaced Randall Stephenson as AT&T CEO in July 2020. He had been president and chief operating officer.”[Stankey’s] idea to refocus AT&T on their primary, traditional business and allowing other management to pursue, with a different balance sheet, the direct consumer opportunity was a brave decision,” Malone said. More

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 13, 2018: A First Student school bus picks up students in San Francisco, California. First Student Inc. is North America’s leading provider of school bus transportation.Robert Alexander/Getty ImagesBritish multinational transport company FirstGroup is facing a shareholder rebellion over the sale of its two U.S. bus businesses — one of which operates the iconic yellow school buses — to Swedish private equity firm EQT.The Aberdeen-based company’s two top shareholders, Coast Capital and Schroders, have announced public opposition to the $4.6 billion sale of First Student, the biggest school bus operator in the U.S., and outsourced public transport provider First Transit, to EQT Infrastructure.Glass Lewis, one of the world’s largest shareholder proxy advisors, will also vote against the deal at FirstGroup’s AGM on May 27, citing “poor transaction timing and inadequate valuation.”Coast Capital CIO James Rasteh told CNBC on Friday that it would be “very irresponsible to vote in favor of this transaction,” which he said represents “a clear destruction of value.”The two businesses constitute a significant majority of FirstGroup’s global revenue, but the company has opted instead to focus on its U.K. bus and train operations, along with the sale of U.S. intercity bus service Greyhound.Coast Capital owns a 14% stake in FirstGroup while Schroders owns 12%, according to Refinitiv data. The company’s third-largest shareholder, Columbia Threadneedle, has backed the EQT sale, along with proxy advisory agencies ISS, IVIS and PIRC.The backlash centers on FirstGroup’s dismissal of other proposals for the sale of its U.S. businesses. According to two senior banking sources with knowledge of the process, who wished to remain anonymous due to their professional standing, one alternative proposal would potentially have given higher long-term returns to shareholders than the proposed deal with Swedish private equity firm EQT.An email in late April from sale advisor JPMorgan Cazenove to senior executives at FirstGroup including CEO Matthew Gregory, seen by CNBC, addresses one proposal for a $4.7 billion acquisition of the U.S. businesses, which sources have confirmed was from the SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) division of UBS.The sources claim the deal would have enabled the two businesses to list as a U.S. company with current shareholders retaining their stake and maintaining the value created from the sale. The EQT offer is characterized in the email as worth $4.5 billion with around $1.17 billion worth of deductibles.The representative from JPMorgan Cazenove, which advised on the EQT Infrastructure sale alongside Rothschild & Co. and Goldman Sachs, explains that Coast Capital will likely perceive the proposal to be “probably at least 25% more attractive than offer EQT,” although the representative doesn’t confirm that it is worth 25% more. The email also adds that Coast Capital “will want to feel we looked at it with an open mind and were not too quick to dismiss it.”FirstGroup responseIn a statement Friday, FirstGroup accused Coast of relying on a “grossly misleading” EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) figure due to errors in factoring in exchange rates, earnout (future compensation for the sellers of the business based on financial performance or future sale), working capital and deferred capital expenditure. The company also attacked the hedge fund’s book value multiple and peer comparisons.Coast Capital issued its own lengthy response to these claims in a statement Monday, alleging multiple inaccuracies in FirstGroup’s representation of the figures and claiming the company has attempted to “use accounting tactics to try to hide the plain inadequacies and exceptionally low valuation that this bidplaces on shareholders’ most prized assets.””The board also does not seem to understand that these businesses stand to benefit from material federal subsidies and a re-opening and rebounding U.S. economy,” it added.FirstGroup has reiterated that it embarked on a “comprehensive and competitive sale process,” which included more than 40 bidders, and said all of Coast Capital’s proposals over several years had been carefully considered.CINCINNATI – JULY 22: FirstGroup America Headquarters, as photographed from the Carew Tower observatory deck in Cincinnati, Ohio on July 22, 2017.Raymond Boyd/Getty ImagesFirstGroup cited an earnout structure for First Transit in which the company will receive 62.5% of First Transit’s value above $380 million “either on the third anniversary of the sale or sooner if Transit is sold to a third party.””When I joined the Board in August 2019, I clearly stated my objective was to unlock the value within the Group,” FirstGroup Chairman David Martin said in the statement on Friday.”Following a full strategic review, we undertook a comprehensive and well-publicised sale process, which achieves a full value and enables the Group to return value to shareholders, address its legacy challenges and strengthen its position for the future.”Coast Capital has disputed this, claiming that if EQT does not sell the business on for a higher value within three years, a messy arbitration process will likely follow as the private equity firm and shareholders try to arrive at a fair equity value for the business.”We’re certainly happy to include the earnout as part of the multiple if they paid it up front,” Coast Capital Partner Chad Tappendorf said. “But they don’t, and it’s not market practice at all to include something that’s not certain in a headline multiple.”When management first announced the sale with its representation of the value it generated, FirstGroup’s share price rallied 17% to an intraday high of 101.30p on April 23, 2021. However, Tappendorf noted that as shareholders reviewed the presentation and began to question the value assigned by the company, the share price declined by around 27% to 73.10p over the following two weeks.The two senior banking sources claimed that having begun the process prior to the Covid-19 crisis, FirstGroup had refused to consider any options beyond the EQT deal, having entered into a “no-shop clause” with the Swedish private equity firm prior to announcing intentions to sell the business.”The decisions that they made 18 months ago were the right decisions, but they didn’t update those decisions for the new world,” one source said.”For the process that they ran, this was a fair price, but the process was the wrong process.”One source, an independent transatlantic M&A expert with direct knowledge of the sale process, who preferred to remain anonymous due to commercial sensitivities, told CNBC that “the absence of the fairness opinion suggests that in the rush to complete this transaction, FirstGroup management tripped over a bad deal.”A fairness opinion is a summary letter prepared by an investment bank or independent third party professional determining whether the terms and finances of a merger or acquisition are fair.”The lack of fairness opinion. rendered by an independent advisor, as well as increasing evidence obtained by Coast Capital that more attractive alternatives exist which continue to be ignored, are all evidence of a board failing to meet its fiduciary responsibilities,” Coast added in its statement Monday.A representative for FirstGroup wasn’t immediately available for comment on the fairness option or the no-shop clause when contacted by CNBC. More