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    San Francisco 49ers explore 10% minority stake sale at about $9 billion valuation

    The San Francisco 49ers are considering a sale of up to 10% of the franchise to either a private equity firm or other investors, including wealthy individuals or families, according to a person familiar with the matter.
    The 49ers are hoping to value the franchise near $9 billion, the person said.
    The York family owns the 49ers, and Jed York is the 49ers’ CEO.

    A San Francisco 49ers helmet on the field during pregame warmups before an NFL game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Dec. 17, 2023.
    Ryan Kang | Getty Images

    The San Francisco 49ers may be the next National Football League franchise to sell a minority stake to private equity.
    The 49ers are considering a sale of up to 10% of the franchise to either a private equity firm or other investors, including wealthy individuals or families, according to a person familiar with the matter.

    The New York Giants are also exploring a minority stake sale, the franchise announced last week.
    NFL owners voted last year to allow private equity investment of up to 10% of a franchise. The Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills have already struck deals with investment firms, and the Philadelphia Eagles and Las Vegas Raiders have used the increased interest from private equity to generate higher prices from other individuals and families.
    The 49ers are hoping to value the franchise near $9 billion, the person said. CNBC valued the organization at $7.4 billion in its most recent valuations list.
    Bloomberg first reported the team’s interest in selling a minority stake.
    The NFL’s 49ers are both recently and historically one of the most successful NFL franchises in terms of wins and losses. The parent company of the 49ers, 49ers Enterprises, also owns the English football club Leeds United. The York family owns the 49ers, and Jed York is the 49ers’ CEO.

    Many teams are eager to sell minority stakes for increased liquidity for family members or for money that can be pumped back into the team for stadium repairs or future investments.
    Sales to private equity firms come with no voting rights. Still, firms have been willing to pay premium prices for small stakes because they come with perks, such as owner’s box seating, which can be used for clients and employees. More

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    Walmart is getting a bump from a surprising cohort: Wealthier shoppers

    Walmart is drawing more online sales from higher-income shoppers, as it expands its online assortment, remodels stores and grows its membership program, Walmart+.
    Households earning more than $100,000 made up 75% of the company’s market share gains in the fiscal third quarter, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said on the company’s earnings call in November.
    Yet some investors have questioned whether Walmart’s traction with affluent shoppers has staying power as it prepares to report fiscal fourth-quarter earnings, especially if the sticker shock of inflation cools.

    Shoppers at a Walmart store in Secaucus, New Jersey, U.S., in March 2024.
    Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Walmart is known for its low prices and no frills approach.
    So it may come as a surprise that wealthier shoppers are helping to fuel the retailer’s growth.

    For more than two years, the discounter has noticed more customers with six-figure incomes shopping on its website and in its stores. Households earning more than $100,000 made up 75% of the company’s market share gains in the fiscal third quarter, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said on the company’s earnings call in November.
    Those newer and more frequent customers have helped support the company’s aspirations to sell more higher-margin items, such as clothing and home goods. They are driving Walmart’s e-commerce sales, which have grown by double digits for 10 consecutive quarters. And they can boost the retailer’s newer revenue streams, such as subscription-based membership program Walmart+ and its advertising business Walmart Connect.
    As Walmart reports its latest earnings on Thursday, Wall Street will be watching whether those upper-income customers are sticking around, after market share gains helped the retailer’s shares soar about 83% in the last year. Yet some investors have questioned whether Walmart’s traction with affluent shoppers has staying power, especially if the sticker shock of inflation cools.
    In an interview with CNBC, Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner acknowledged that the retailer has gained and then lost upper-income customers before, such as in 2008 and 2009 during the Great Recession. Affluent shoppers stretched their dollars at the big-box retailer, but then ultimately returned to competitors.
    This time, Furner said the gains will last because Walmart can save shoppers both time and money with e-commerce options.

    “It’s different because we deliver to you at the curb [of the store],” he said in the late January interview. “We deliver to your house. We deliver to your refrigerator. That whole Supercenter, which is an amazing retail format, is available in an hour or two for a large part of the country and growing really quickly.”

    Walmart has expanded its delivery options, including direct to fridge deliveries. Home deliveries are a key perk of its subscription program, Walmart+.
    Source: Walmart

    Delivering growth

    Walmart’s expanding digital services have helped convince higher-income shoppers to give it a shot, said Brad Thomas, a retail analyst and managing director at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Some of those newer or more frequent customers have joined Walmart+, a subscription-based membership program that includes perks like free home deliveries. Walmart+, which launched about five years ago, is Walmart’s answer to Amazon Prime.
    Walmart has not disclosed the program’s membership count, but it has reported double-digit membership income growth in each of the past four quarters.
    Thomas said e-commerce options wipe out a potential hurdle for affluent shoppers: a potential stigma about shopping at the big-box stores themselves.
    “There’s a customer in America that doesn’t think of itself as a Walmart shopper,” he said. “They think of themselves as a Target shopper or a Publix or a Whole Foods shopper and through the app and through the delivery capabilities, they can remain a non-Walmart core shopper, but get all the benefits of getting the branded items at Walmart prices.”
    As inflation forced shoppers of all incomes to hunt for deals, some wealthier consumers realized they can get the same national brands like Tide detergent or Bounty paper towels from Walmart cheaper and often faster than at Amazon because of Walmart’s nearby stores, he said.
    Walmart’s website and app have increased their selection, too, as the company has bulked up its third-party marketplace. Starting this summer, the company began offering premium beauty brands through its website, including hairdryers from T3 and perfumes from Victoria’s Secret.
    Shoppers can now find handbags from Chanel and Louis Vuitton, too. Last month, Walmart announced a deal with resale platform Rebag, which sells the items through Walmart’s marketplace.

    At Walmart’s flagship stores, similar to the one in Teterboro, NJ, the company plays up a lot of its exclusive brands such as activewear brand Love & Sports, and Beautiful, a kitchen and home decor line developed with Drew Barrymore.
    Melissa Repko | CNBC

    Yet as Walmart tries to keep those customers, it wants to encourage them to shop in person, as well. Walmart has stepped up investments in its stores to freshen its look and counter negative perceptions that higher-income shoppers might have.
    Walmart has sped up the pace of remodels for its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., with plans to revamp about 650 locations per year, an acceleration from a prior cadence of 450 to 500 per year, said Hunter Hart, senior vice president of Walmart Realty.
    Remodeled stores have brighter lighting, wider aisles and mannequins, said Alvis Washington, Walmart’s vice president of retail brand experience. The stores also feature Walmart’s newer and more fashion-forward brands like Scoop and Free Assembly, and national brands that shoppers would recognize, such as Reebok.
    The discounter launched a new grocery brand, BetterGoods, last year with colorful packaging and creative flavors that looks similar to merchandise that shoppers might find at Trader Joe’s or Target.
    Walmart U.S. CEO Furner said some of those changes have drawn upper-income customers to the company’s stores and app.
    He said Walmart’s market share gains with affluent shoppers have come from online and in-store shopping, but added curbside pickup orders showed early signs of popularity with those customers. Even before the pandemic, Walmart saw that people who shopped with curbside pickup bought more higher-priced items, such as prime beef and seafood, Furner added.
    He said that still rings true: Walmart sees more premium items in the shopping baskets of customers who buy online, get home deliveries or use curbside pickup.
    Washington said Walmart treaded carefully with its store redesign, realizing it could risk its reputation for low prices and resonance with core customers, who typically have lower incomes. It promoted newer brands, but mixed in familiar staples, such as folded piles of inexpensive bath towels and denim.
    “Having a great, elevated experience and great value aren’t mutually exclusive,” Walmart’s Washington said, recounting the company’s approach. “So when we looked at this, it’s like, how do we do both and make sure we can gain new customers and maintain the customers that we have?
    When comparing remodeled stores to the rest of the fleet, Washington said higher comparable store sales reflect that customers like the different look. Walmart declined to provide specific numbers, saying it won’t release sales numbers until it reports fourth-quarter earnings.
    Walmart’s customer mix for its U.S. e-commerce business hasn’t changed, even as it attracts higher-income shoppers, according to an analysis by market research firm Euromonitor. About 34% of Walmart’s online customers in the U.S. last year had incomes of $100,000 and above, which is roughly flat compared with two years prior.
    Michelle Evans, global lead for retail and digital shopper insights at Euromonitor, said that indicates that Walmart is also gaining market share from lower- and middle-income customers.
    Walmart still has a smaller share of higher-income shoppers than some key rivals: 49% and 48% of online U.S. shoppers at Target and Amazon, respectively, have incomes above $100,000.
    Amazon remains a formidable competitor, especially when it comes to wealthier shoppers and general merchandise categories, Evans said. But Walmart’s biggest edge is its grocery department.

    Francesca and Sam Frink, who live in the Chicago area, started shopping each week at Walmart after signing up for its membership program, Walmart+. As two working parents, they said they appreciate saving time by getting groceries delivered to their home.
    Courtesy of Francesca and Sam Frink

    Grocery gains

    One of Walmart’s newer, higher-income shoppers is Francesca Frink. The 30-year-old lives in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, Illinois, with her husband, Sam, 1-year-old son and their English setter. The Frink family’s combined annual household income is more than $200,000.
    Last fall, Francesca Frink signed up for Walmart+ after her mother-in-law ordered a stroller from Walmart’s website and got it dropped at her door three hours later.
    Initially, she said she hesitated to order fresh foods from Walmart. She bought packaged items like pasta and flour. Yet over time, the couple began ordering a larger portion of groceries, dog treats and even clothes for their son from Walmart.
    The Frinks have stopped going to their old grocery store, Kroger-owned supermarket Mariano’s. They estimate that their weekly grocery bill is about 20% cheaper.
    Previously, the couple said they avoided Walmart because their nearest store is outdated. Yet Sam Frink said the game has changed with curbside pickup and home deliveries.
    “You don’t have to go in,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing.”
    Francesca Frink said home deliveries from Walmart, included in their Walmart+ membership, save the couple time while they juggle two careers, a toddler and a dog. Plus, she said she found that Walmart had the grocery items she wanted and even those she didn’t expect, including organic blueberries, natural peanut butter and specialty mushroom ravioli.
    Still, Francesca Frink said she still faces some apprehension from friends and family about buying groceries from Walmart.
    But she said they’ve been surprised when they’ve tried and liked food items from Walmart.
    In her day job, Euromonitor’s Evans tracked Walmart’s digital gains with higher-income shoppers. Yet she also saw it firsthand in her household.
    Her husband signed the family up for Walmart+. During the holiday season, he told her all of his Christmas purchases would be coming from the discounter.
    “He made a comment that all the gifts were coming from Walmart, and obviously that comes with a certain impression,” she said.
    So she was surprised when she opened his gift and discovered it was a Michael Kors tote.

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    Aviation industry urges Congress to approve emergency air traffic control funding

    U.S. aviation industry groups urged lawmakers to approve emergency funding for air traffic control.
    Their letter came three weeks after a deadly collision between a regional jet and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C.

    An American Airlines Airbus A319 airplane takes off past the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, January 11, 2023
    Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

    The U.S. aviation industry on Wednesday urged Congress to approve “robust emergency funding” for air traffic control technology and staffing.
    Three weeks after a deadly midair collision near Washington, D.C., marked the worst air disaster in the U.S. since 2001, groups representing industry heavyweights like Boeing, major U.S. airlines, private aviation and a host of labor unions wrote to lawmakers calling for urgent funding and improvements to U.S. airspace.

    They also said the Federal Aviation Administration should be exempt from government shutdowns “to ensure a predictable funding stream to ensure continued safety and air traffic control personnel hiring and training.”
    A 2019 government shutdown left federal workers without pay for several weeks, including air traffic controllers and airport screeners. That shutdown ended hours after staffing shortages snarled flights at several major U.S. airports.

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    Hims & Hers to offer at-home blood draws and lab testing with new acquisition

    Hims and Hers Health has acquired at-home lab testing facility Trybe Labs.
    The acquisition will allow the telehealth company to provide at-home lab testing through its platform.
    The deal was completed through cash on hand and is expected to roll out over the next year.

    Hims & Hers Health announced Wednesday it has acquired New Jersey-based at-home lab testing facility Trybe Labs.
    The deal will allow the telehealth company to offer at-home blood draws and more comprehensive pretreatment testing to its users.

    “Access to richer data allows us to deepen the insights that providers can use on our platform to guide their clinical decisions for each individual patient,” said Dr. Patrick Carroll, Hims & Hers chief medical officer.
    “At-home lab testing is one more exciting step towards elevating the personal, comprehensive care customers in this country should expect,” Dr. Carroll added.
    Hims & Hers did not disclose terms of the deal, but said it funded it through cash on hand. The company told CNBC it will share pricing for the new testing options when the offering is made available to customers over the next year.
    The acquisition by Hims & Hers will offer competition to blood-drawing services such as Labcorp and Quest Diagnostics.
    The startup is expanding its services less than one year after it started offering compounded GLP-1 weight loss drugs. As Hims & Hers casts itself as a cheaper alternative to established companies, it recently took aim at the pharmaceutical industry in a Super Bowl ad, saying the industry is “priced for profits, not patients.”

    “The health care that customers expect and deserve today is on-demand care with treatments designed specifically for them,” said Dr. Carroll.
    While the company’s stock has been volatile, Wall Street has bought in this year. Shares had soared 141% in 2025 entering trading as of Tuesday’s close. The stock spiked more than 20% in trading Wednesday after the deal announcement.
    The new acquisition will add testing capabilities for LDL cholesterol, lipoprotein(a), cholesterol and apolipoprotein, the company said. It will also expand the company’s ability to offer access to care and treatments across a range of conditions including low testosterone and perimenopausal and menopausal support.

    The Tasso+ device is a blood lancet that collects whole liquid blood samples.
    Courtesy: Tasso Inc.

    Hims & Hers users will be given a blood lancet provided by home diagnostic testing company Tasso. The lancet is a single-use device that collects whole liquid blood samples and is cleared for premarket use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
    Users attach the device to their upper arm and press a button that triggers the lancet to prick the skin and draw a small amount of blood collected in a microtube.
    Providers on the platform will use the information collected as part of determining a treatment plan for patients.
    Hims & Hers said it will use data from the blood work — with patient identities removed — to accelerate its development of artificial intelligence-powered health care.
    Clarification: This story was updated to reflect that the new testing services will aid the company’s perimenopausal care.

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    JetBlue talking to ‘multiple airlines’ about a new partnership

    JetBlue is talking with carriers about a potential new partnership.
    A federal judge blocked JetBlue’s planned purchase of Spirit Airlines last year.
    Another judge ruled the carrier’s partnership with American Airlines was anticompetitive.

    A JetBlue plane takes off from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Jan. 03, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. 
    Mario Tama | Getty Images

    JetBlue Airways is talking with “multiple airlines” about a potential new partnership after federal judges struck down two previous deals, the carrier’s president said Wednesday.
    “If we find a deal that’s accretive, we’ll absolutely do it,” JetBlue’s president, Marty St. George, said at a Barclays industry conference.

    A federal judge in 2023 ruled the New York airline’s partnership in the Northeast with American Airlines was anticompetitive, while a different judge last year blocked JetBlue’s plan to acquire budget carrier Spirit Airlines, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year.
    JetBlue representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
    JetBlue, which marked its 25th year of flying this month, has been searching for partnerships and deals to grow, contending it must do so to better compete with larger carriers like Delta, American and United.
    St. George said a potential tie-up would benefit the company’s loyalty program, noting that customers say the frequent flyer points on JetBlue are not as strong as those of the big three U.S. carriers.
    “Given that we really don’t have full global earn and burn, I think to be able to add that to our network would be very, very helpful,” he said.

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    Embattled EV maker Nikola files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

    Nikola filed for bankruptcy protection after failing to secure a buyer or raise additional funds to maintain operations.
    The filing marks the finale of the company’s yearslong fall from grace.
    Nikola’s core products are all-electric and fuel cell electric semitrucks.
    At its peak in 2020, Nikola was valued more than Ford Motor at $30 billion, inked a multibillion-dollar deal with General Motors and was considered the pinnacle of auto startups.

    U.S. Nikola’s logo is pictured at an event held to present CNH’s new full-electric and Hydrogen fuel-cell battery trucks in partnership with U.S. Nikola event in Turin, Italy, on Dec. 3, 2019.
    Massimo Pinca | Reuters

    DETROIT — Nikola Corp. — an auto startup that was once a favorite of Wall Street analysts and retail investors — filed for bankruptcy protection after failing to secure a buyer or raise additional funds to maintain operations.
    Nikola said Wednesday that it plans to pursue an auction and sale process of its assets, pending court approval. The company said it has approximately $47 million in cash to fund its bankruptcy activities, implement the sale process, and exit Chapter 11.

    “Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic factors that have impacted our ability to operate,” Nikola CEO Steve Girsky said in a release. “Unfortunately, our very best efforts have not been enough to overcome these significant challenges, and the Board has determined that Chapter 11 represents the best possible path forward under the circumstances for the Company and its stakeholders.”
    The proposed bidding procedures, if approved by the court, would allow interested parties to submit binding offers to acquire Nikola’s assets, purchased free and clear of Nikola’s indebtedness and certain liabilities. 
    The filing marks the finale of the Phoenix-based company’s yearslong fall from grace. At its peak in 2020, Nikola was valued more than Ford Motor at $30 billion, inked a multibillion-dollar deal with General Motors and was considered the pinnacle of auto startups to go public through reverse mergers and special purpose acquisition companies.

    Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola Corp., arrives at court in New York, on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022.
    Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    The company’s downfall has played out over years, ignited by scandals and lies involving its founder and former CEO and chairman Trevor Milton. The fast-talking, energetic, disgraced executive was convicted of wire fraud and securities fraud in 2022 for misleading investors about Nikola’s operations and zero-emissions technology.
    The controversies were first made public by short-seller Hindenburg Research after the deal with GM that included the Detroit automaker taking a $2 billion stake in the startup.

    Nikola’s core products are all-electric and fuel cell electric semitrucks, which it began producing in 2022. As of the third quarter of last year, the company had only produced 600 of the vehicles since then. Many of those vehicles have been recalled due to defects, costing the automaker tens of millions of dollars.
    Since moving from chairman to CEO in 2023, Girsky has kept Nikola moving forward, including its production of zero-emissions trucks, but the company’s capital has been dwindling.
    Nikola warned investors on its third-quarter conference call that the company only had enough cash to support its business into the first quarter of 2025 but not beyond. Nikola reported $198 million in cash to end the third quarter.

    Stock chart icon

    Nikola’s stock

    Girsky on the call in October said Nikola was “actively talking to lots of potential different partners who value what we do and value what we’ve built.”
    Girsky, a former bank analyst and GM executive, took Nikola public through his SPAC in June 2020. It was a catalyst for more EV companies to go public through SPACs.
    Similarly to Nikola, most, if not all, have failed to live up to their initial expectations. Many were the center of federal investigations, scandals and executive upheavals.
    Nikola’s stock has traded under $2 per share since early December. Factoring out a 1-for-30 reverse stock split last year, FactSet reports Nikola’s all-time closing price was nearly $80 in June 2020. More

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    How the world’s largest asset manager is using nearly $28 billion of acquisitions to reinvent itself

    BlackRock has been on a buying spree that will change the makeup of the world’s biggest asset manager. BlackRock announced last year a slew of high-profile acquisitions — including a $12 billion deal to buy private credit manager HPS Investment Partners (HPS), which is expected to close in mid-2025; a $12.5 billion purchase of infrastructure investment firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which closed in October; and a $3.2 billion agreement to buy alternative assets data provider Preqin, which is expected to come on board this quarter. “That’s a real change in the complexion of BlackRock and kind of the leverage that we have to markets,” BlackRock CFO Martin Small said at last week’s Bank of America financial services conference. “It’s a big change.” The deals come at a time when BlackRock’s portfolio of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other funds faces tough competition — highlighted by Vanguard announcing on Feb. 3 fee cuts for nearly 100 of its funds. That led to a slide in BlackRock’s stock. We bought the dip — at the time, calling it overblown. Our view was amplified by Small who said the fee reductions won’t have a material impact on BlackRock financials. “These three acquisitions will help BlackRock accumulate more assets,” said Jeff Marks, the Investing Club’s director of portfolio analysis. “The deals should strengthen BlackRock’s earnings power and could help the stock re-rate to a higher price to earnings multiple.” We have been slowly building a position in BlackRock since mid-October. BLK 1Y mountain BlackRock 1 year Looking at the merits of each deal, the HPS purchase will add $148 billion in assets to BlackRock’s existing $89 billion private debt platform. It will also expand BlackRock’s presence in the lucrative market of private credit in which companies or investors lend money directly to businesses — allowing them to bypass traditional banks or other parts of the public market. There’s been a tremendous amount of growth in the sector over the past several years. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, regulators cracked down on banks by placing stricter requirements on lending. Private credit funds, in turn, stepped in to fill the gap. That’s because it can cater to more diverse financial needs, helping borrowers access capital they might not get through public debt markets or bank loans. HPS is not BlackRock’s first move into private credit, though. The firm has had a footprint in the market for years. BlackRock bought private credit manager Tennenbaum Capital Partners in 2018, which had some $9 billion in committed capital in late 2017 before the acquisition was completed. To be sure, that’s a fraction of the asset size of the HPS deal, which reflects BlackRock’s increasing interest in the space. Evercore analyst Glenn Schorr told CNBC recently that BlackRock decided that “there’s too much growth [in private credit.]” He added, “It makes too much sense for their client base. They thought, ‘We should be bigger in this,’ so they decided to buy the biggest and best among the very biggest and best private credit managers that are out there. They just decided: ‘Enough, let’s go big.'” The CNBC Investing Club’s other financial names Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo have made strides to grow their private credit businesses as well. In January, Goldman Sachs announced a new division to focus on providing loans to corporate clients and financing larger deals in an effort to deepen its private credit presence. The division, dubbed Capital Solutions Group, combined three businesses under the company’s global banking and markets unit. Before that, Goldman was also listed as the sole adviser to Intel ‘s $11 billion investment from private credit firm Apollo Global as well. CEO David Solomon has described the growth of private credit as “one of the most important structural trends taking place in finance.” Reflecting on last week’s conference and meetings with bank CEOs, Bank of America analysts on Tuesday reiterated their Goldman Sachs buy rating, in part, citing its private credit business. “Private credit has existed at GS since the 1980s, and GS continues to grow the alternatives business, which should drive economies of scale,” the analysts wrote. Wells Fargo, meanwhile, has a partnership with money manager Centerbridge Partners since 2023 to provide direct lending to middle-market companies through Overland Advisors. Centerbridge and other investors provide the capital for this direct-lending fund, while Wells Fargo makes the loans to existing customers as an alternative to other financing options. “What that does is give us an opportunity to still be relevant for clients where it’s not something we’re going to put on our balance sheet, but we can offer them a solution,” Wells Fargo CFO Mike Santomassimo previously said of the partnership. The Wall Street giant also lends directly to private credit funds. As of the third-quarter 2024, loans to asset managers and funds represented $57 billion, or 6% of Wells Fargo’s total loans. Bank of America on Tuesday praised Wells Fargo for viewing “private credit as an opportunity as opposed to an existential threat.” BlackRock’s purchase of GIP, the world’s largest independent infrastructure fund manager with over $100 billion in assets under management, adds to BlackRock’s current $50 billion in client infrastructure money. We’re assured by GIP’s immense growth in assets in recent years — increasing its $22 billion in 2019 five-fold. Infrastructure, in particular, is forecasted to be one of the fastest-growing segments of private markets in the years ahead, according to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. “A number of long-term structural trends support an acceleration in infrastructure investment such as increasing demand for upgraded digital infrastructure, like fiber broadband, cell towers, and data centers; renewed investment in logistical hubs such as airports, railroads, and shipping ports as supply chains are rewired; and a movement toward decarbonization and energy security in many parts of the world,” BlackRock wrote in its GIP acquisition announcement. Bringing Preqin under the BlackRock umbrella will bolster the asset manager’s existing Aladdin portfolio management platform — giving clients more insights into the opaque world of alternative assets. “Private markets are the fastest growing segment of asset management, with alternative assets expected to reach nearly $40 trillion by the end of the decade,” Blackrock wrote in the Preqin deal release. Evercore’s Schorr said each of these deals is a classic example of how BlackRock continues to cater to its clients’ ever-growing needs while managing to rake in more and more assets. The firm had $11.6 trillion in assets last quarter, its highest level in history. “BlackRock’s amazingly adaptive to the world. Think about it,” Schorr said. “They were just mostly just a fixed income manager, and then they bought [Merrill Lynch Investment Managers] and got the equity side of the business. And then, they were mostly an active manager and then they bought iShares from Barclays.” He added: “They are always seeing around corners, seeing where the world’s headed, and then adapting.” For now, however, there are no other big-name acquisitions on the table. BlackRock’s Small said at the Bank of America conference that these deals “round out our near- to intermediate-term agenda for private markets, data, and tech.” “What I’d emphasize is the BlackRock of today is not the BlackRock of the last three to five years,” Small continued. “The BlackRock of today is going to have pro forma 20% of our revenue base in alternatives, private markets, and technology — secular areas that have less market sensitivity, more structural growth that I think should deliver more stability in earnings, more earnings diversification through the cycle.” (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long BLK, GS, WFC. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

    Marquee at the main entrance to BlackRock headquarters building in Manhattan.
    Erik Mcgregor | Lightrocket | Getty Images

    BlackRock has been on a buying spree that will change the makeup of the world’s biggest asset manager.  More

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    Bill Ackman raises bid for Howard Hughes, says he will turn it into ‘modern-day Berkshire’

    Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman hiked his takeover offer for Howard Hughes Holdings.
    The billionaire investor said Tuesday that his firm has submitted a proposal to acquire 10 million newly issued Howard Hughes shares at $90 per share.

    Bill Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, speaks during an interview for an episode of “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations,” in New York on Nov. 28, 2023.
    Jeenah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman hiked his takeover offer for Howard Hughes Holdings to create a “modern-day” Berkshire Hathaway.
    The billionaire investor said Tuesday that his firm has submitted a proposal to acquire 10 million newly issued Howard Hughes shares at $90 per share. Back in January, Ackman proposed forming a new subsidiary of Pershing to merge with Howard Hughes, offering current holders $85 a share.

    If the newly proposed transaction goes through, Pershing Square will own 48% of the real estate developer based in The Woodlands, Texas. The revised transaction does not require regulatory approvals, a shareholder vote or financing, so can be completed in a few weeks.
    Shares of Howard Hughes fell nearly 5% in extended trading following the news. The stock had closed up 6.8% at $80.60 in anticipation of the announcement.
    Ackman will become chairman and CEO of Howard Hughes if the deal comes to fruition. Pershing Square would receive an annual fee, paid quarterly, of 1.5% of Howard Hughes’ equity market capitalization.
    “We will make available the full resources of Pershing Square to HHH to build a diversified holding company, or one could say, a modern-day Berkshire Hathaway,” Ackman said in a post on social media site X. “The new HHH will acquire controlling interests in private and public companies that meet Pershing Square’s criteria for business quality.”
    Ackman said he took inspiration from the unusual career path of the legendary “Oracle of Omaha.” The 94-year-old Warren Buffett started out, essentially, as an activist investor and hedge fund manager running a series of private partnerships, until the 1960s when he closed his partnerships and took control of Berkshire Hathaway, a struggling textile business.

    Today, Berkshire is worth $1 trillion with businesses in industries including insurance, energy, railroad and retail as well as a massive equity portfolio and more than $300 billion in cash.
    Ackman said Howard Hughes will continue to develop and own “master planned communities” such as The Woodlands in Houston and Summerlin in Las Vegas.
    “Owning small and growing MPCs that will eventually become large cities in the best pro-business markets in the country is a great long-term business,” he said in the post. “It’s a lot better than a dying textile company.” More