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    Peloton competitor Tonal cuts 35% of workforce as it prepares for possible recession, IPO

    Tonal, the connected fitness equipment maker backed by Serena Williams and Amazon’s Alexa fund, is trimming 35% of its workforce.
    It is joining a list of companies, including competitor Peloton, which are reducing head count in order to slash expenses and readjust to new levels of consumer demand.
    Tonal CEO Aly Orady said the company is trying to become profitable so that it can successfully go public.

    Tonal in-home fitness.
    Source: Tonal

    Tonal, the connected fitness equipment maker that counts tennis superstar Serena Williams and Amazon’s Alexa fund as backers, is cutting 35% of its workforce, affecting all levels of its business, CNBC has learned.
    The company employs about 750 people today, compared with a little more than 110 before the Covid-19 pandemic, Chief Executive Officer Aly Orady said in an interview.

    Orady also emphasized the need to be profitable, particularly as the company eyes an initial public offering. Tonal hasn’t been profitable in the past, he said. But the job cuts will put the company on track to make money in a matter of months, he added.
    Tonal, which sells wall-mounted workout devices for $3,495, experienced rampant growth in 2020 and 2021 as consumers were stuck at home and seeking ways to break a sweat. Tonal’s brand awareness also exploded as it tapped star athletes such as LeBron James and Williams to appear in its commercials. It has raked in $450 million in funding, to date, and at one point in 2021 was valued at as much as $1.6 billion.
    But for now, Tonal is tapping the brakes. It joins a list of businesses – including competitor Peloton – that are reducing head count in order to trim expenses and readjust to new levels of consumer demand for their products. Businesses are simultaneously grappling with red-hot inflation on everything from raw materials to fuel to workers’ salaries, and many are preparing for an economic slowdown, even if a recession isn’t certain.
    “As we head into a recession — and many of us believe we’re headed into a recession — it’s really important that we become a business that’s here for the long term,” Orady said in an interview. “What we’re doing is effectively going from a hypergrowth business … to more of a sustained-growth business.”
    Tonal didn’t disclose exactly how much money it plans to save through the layoffs. It also didn’t say if its valuation has been adjusted in the private markets.

    “The public markets are no longer rewarding hypergrowth when it comes at the expense of profitability. And as such, private market investors are no longer investing as many dollars or as aggressively to support businesses through hypergrowth,” Orady said. “Those dollars just aren’t out there the way they were a year ago.”
    Investors are increasingly shying away from money-losing entities, he said. It shows in the stocks of some of the publicly traded companies that fit this bill.
    Shares of Peloton, for example, hit a fresh all-time low Wednesday of $8.66, having dropped more than 70% year to date. Peloton’s losses in the three-month period ended March 31 widened to $757.1 from a loss of $8.6 million a year earlier.
    Allbirds, a shoemaker that has booked losses since going public last year, has watched its stock price tumble more than 65% this year. Shares of eyeglasses retailer Warby Parker, which went public via a direct listing in 2021 and is also losing money, are down more than 70% year to date.
    Orady said Tonal is focused on cutting customer acquisition costs, and it will do that in part by scaling back on advertising. He said he attributes any slowdown in sales in the past 90 days to Tonal pulling back on marketing, but overall demand has remained steady.
    The company also recently hiked the price of its equipment by $500, to $3,495 from $2,995.
    All of Tonal’s employees who are impacted by the job cuts will receive a minimum of eight weeks of continued pay, the company said, as well as health-care benefits through the end of September.
    Tonal also said in its memo to workers that it is offering extended equity vesting for all employees to become shareholders, including accelerated stock option vesting and an extension on the window of time that option holders have to exercise their stock options for up to four years.

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    Nike is making a strategic shift in how it manufactures NCAA fan apparel in deal with Fanatics

    Sports merchandise platform Fanatics is entering into a long-term partnership with Nike to manufacture college sports fan apparel.
    Manufacturing is set to begin in summer 2024, according to sources familiar with the matter.
    Fanatics confirmed the news to CNBC, saying in a statement from Fanatics Commerce CEO Doug Mack that it is “excited to maximize the value of Nike’s college partnerships,” but declined further comment.

    A Nike logo shown on a Baylor University long sleeve shirt. Nike, which has apparel and equipment deals with many college sports programs, is entering into a deal with Fanatics for college fan apparel.
    Maddie Meyer | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

    Sports commerce platform Fanatics is entering into a long-term partnership with Nike to manufacture college sports fan apparel.
    The partnership will involve collaboration with the Fanatics College division, which already partners with most of the Nike-sponsored colleges and universities. Manufacturing is set to begin in summer 2024, according to sources familiar with the matter.

    Fanatics provided CNBC with a statement from Fanatics Commerce CEO Doug Mack saying that it is “excited to maximize the value of Nike’s college partnerships,” but declined further comment.
    Nike said in a statement it is making a strategic shift in how it serves NCAA university partners, and extending its licensing relationships with Fanatics and Branded Custom Sportswear, another collegiate partner, to include Nike NCAA retail fanwear and sideline products.
    Nike has some of the largest contracts with top college sports programs to outfit their school teams, worth millions of dollars. According to the Sports Business Journal, Nike and its Jordan Brand outfitted 48 teams in the most recent NCAA basketball tourney, its highest total ever. It also outfits more than half of the Division I football programs.
    Nike will continue to manufacture apparel and merchandise for its college team partners, including on-field apparel, according to sources.
    Fanatics will manufacture fan apparel, replica jerseys, sideline apparel, headwear and women’s fan gear, among other items. The new Fanatics’ deal will include a select group of Nike’s college and university partners, with Ohio State, Georgia, Clemson, Oregon, Oklahoma and Penn State among likely participants, according to sources, and investment in the growth of the women’s apparel business is among the aims of the partnership.

    Fanatics already has exclusive licensing deals with the NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, as well as various colleges and universities. Several of those deals, including the NFL, NBA and MLB, also overlap with Nike jersey and apparel deals.
    Fanatics is a major hub for sports merchandise, as well as sports-themed home, office and automotive consumer products. The company is expanding into online sports betting, too. The three-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company has a private valuation of $27 billion.
    It has completed several acquisitions in recent years as a closely held company. In 2020, it acquired sports merchandise manufacturer WinCraft, and earlier this year it bought trading card company Topps for $500 million. Last month, CNBC reported that Fanatics is in talks to buy sports betting company Tipico, though a deal hasn’t yet been reached.
    Topps will launch a line of trading cards that features college athletes this upcoming fall season, in a deal that parent company Fanatics said will cut some players in on the profits and pair them up with school logos on cards for the first time. The program will include more than 150 schools featuring both current and former athletes. The company also has deals with more than 200 individual student-athletes at those schools to use their names and likenesses. And the plan is to keep adding schools and athletes, Fanatics said.
    The majority of the Power Five conference schools will participate in the new Fanatics trading cards deal, including Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon, and Texas A&M.
    The recently expanded name, image, and likeness rules have allowed college athletes to sign sponsorship deals, opening additional opportunities around apparel and merchandise. Fanatics recently struck a deal that would allow fans to purchase customized college football jerseys with names and number of active players who would be compensated for it. More

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    Spirit Airlines delays vote on Frontier deal again amid concerns about lack of shareholder support

    Spirit Airlines has delayed a vote on its planned tie-up with Frontier Airlines for a fourth time.
    Concerns are mounting about a lack of shareholder support.
    Spirit said Wednesday it now plans to hold the vote, most recently scheduled for Friday, on July 27.

    Passengers check in at the Spirit Airlines counter at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on February 07, 2022 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
    Joe Raedle | Getty Images

    Spirit Airlines has delayed a vote on its planned tie-up with Frontier Airlines for a fourth time as concerns mount about a lack of shareholder support.
    Spirit said Wednesday it now plans to hold the vote, most recently scheduled for Friday, on July 27 so it can continue deal talks with Frontier and with JetBlue Airways, whose competing bid for Spirit has thrown the original deal into question.

    Over the weekend, Frontier Airlines’ CEO, Barry Biffle, wrote to his Spirit counterpart to ask for a delay on the vote.
    “We still remain very far from obtaining approval from Spirit stockholders,” Biffle said in the letter.
    In the event Spirit breaks its deal, first agreed to in February, and finds JetBlue’s offer superior, Spirit would owe Frontier a break-up fee of more than $94 million.
    Spirit previously rebuffed JetBlue’s all-cash takeover offers, even in light of repeatedly sweetened terms, in favor of the original Frontier deal. But it most recently said it is negotiating with both airlines, raising doubts about the fate of the tie-up with Frontier.
    JetBlue and Frontier didn’t immediately comment Wednesday.
    Either combination of airlines would create the fifth-largest U.S. carrier.

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    Delta posts profit despite jump in costs, vows to improve reliability after airline 'pushed too hard'

    Delta is the first of the U.S. airlines to report second-quarter earnings this season.
    Delta posted a quarterly profit thanks to travelers willing to pay up to fly, more than making up for higher costs.
    The carrier said its third-quarter capacity would be 83% to 85% of 2019 levels.

    An Airbus A330-323 aircraft, operated by Delta Air Lines.
    Benoit Tessier | Reuters

    Delta Air Lines on Wednesday reported a quarterly profit thanks to travelers willing to pay up to fly, more than making up for higher costs.
    The carrier also vowed to improve reliability after an increase in delays and cancellations prompted it to scale back its summer schedule.

    The airline industry “was starved for revenue for the last two years,” CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday after the carrier released results. “We pushed too hard. We scaled back a bit … and in July we’re running a great operation.”
    The company’s shares were lower in premarket trading after Delta’s adjusted results fell short of analyst estimates.
    Delta said its third-quarter capacity would be 83% to 85% of 2019 levels, suggesting the airline is sticking with a conservative schedule compared with some rivals. The company expects a third-quarter profit and reiterated its forecast for full-year profitability.
    It expects to see third-quarter sales 1% to 5% higher than three years ago, along with increased costs.
    Delta is the first U.S. airline to report earnings for the second quarter. United Airlines and American Airlines announce next week.

    Here’s how the company performed in the second quarter compared with what analysts expected, according to average estimates compiled by Refinitiv:

    Adjusted earnings per share: $1.44 versus $1.73 expected.
    Revenue: $13.82 billion versus $13.57 billion expected.

    Despite issues during the start to the summer travel season, demand rose for both business and leisure travel, Delta said. Domestic corporate travel sales are 80% recovered from before the Covid pandemic, up 25 percentage points from the first quarter of the year, it said.
    Delta’s costs for each seat it flew a mile, excluding fuel, were up 22% from 2019 for the three months ended June 30. Its fuel expense rose 41% from three years ago to $3.2 billion.

    A surge in travel demand helped the airline post $735 million in net income. In a measure of how high fares have risen, Delta flew 18% less capacity in the second quarter than it did in the same period of 2019, but it generated $13.82 billion in revenue, 10% more than three years ago.
    Revenue for domestic travel was 3% higher, Delta said, noting it also logged improvements in trans-Atlantic travel.
    Delta and other airlines have been comparing their results to 2019 to show their progress in getting back to pre-pandemic performance.

    ‘Rough six weeks’

    Executives at Delta and its fellow airlines will face questions from investors about a rocky peak travel season and higher costs. Staffing shortages have exacerbated routine issues like bad weather, driving up the rates of flight cancellations and delays.
    Bastian said Delta is limiting its capacity and that it has already improved its performance.
    “We had a rough six weeks,” Bastian said, apologizing to customers for the disruptions. “We’ve issued compensation and the appropriate level of apology.”
    Over the key July Fourth holiday weekend, Delta allowed travelers to change their flights without paying a difference in fare, an unusual waiver that the airline said would allow customers to avoid potential flight disruptions.
    Airline executives and the Federal Aviation Administration have blamed each others’ staffing issues for contributing to the delays. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg publicly admonished airlines for not being prepared for summer travel.
    Bastian said Delta added 18,000 employees since the start of 2021 to bring it to 95% of its 2019 staffing. Delta urged and convinced a similar number of employees to take buyouts or early retirement packages earlier in the pandemic, an effort to cut costs.
    The carrier is in the process of training many of its new employees.
    Delta executives will discuss results with analysts and media at 10 a.m. ET Wednesday.

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    Polestar says it's still on track to deliver 50,000 vehicles this year despite Covid-19 disruptions

    Polestar confirmed that it still expects to deliver 50,000 vehicles in 2022.
    The company delivered just over 21,000 in the first half, as Covid-19 lockdowns hurt production in China.
    Its next new model, the U.S.-built Polestar 3 electric SUV, is on track to launch this fall.

    Attendees view a Polestar 2 electric vehicle (EV) during the Electrify Expo in Irvine, California, U.S., on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021.
    Jill Connelly | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Swedish electric vehicle maker Polestar said Wednesday that it still expects to deliver 50,000 vehicles in 2022, in line with its earlier guidance, despite Covid-related production challenges at its factory in China.
    Polestar said in a statement that it delivered about 21,200 vehicles in the January-to-June period, up 123% from the same period in 2021.

    That total was limited by government-mandated Covid-19 lockdowns that idled Polestar’s Chinese assembly line for several weeks in the first half. The factory is now up and running on two shifts, Polestar said, and it will aim to make up the lost production over the next several months.
    Polestar is a joint venture between Sweden’s Volvo Cars and Volvo Cars’ corporate parent, the Chinese automaker Geely. The company went public via a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company in June. It plans to begin production of its third model, an electric SUV called the Polestar 3, at a U.S. factory owned by Volvo this fall.
    CEO Thomas Ingenlath said in a statement that the Polestar 3’s launch will be “an important next step” toward the company’s standing goal of selling 290,000 vehicles worldwide in 2025. Two more Polestars will follow the 3: a smaller coupe-like SUV called the Polestar 4, and the Polestar 5, a flagship luxury sedan based on the company’s well-regarded Precept concept car. Both are expected to launch before the end of 2025.
    Polestar also provided an update on its growing retail network. The company is now operating a total of 125 retail locations in 25 countries, up from 103 locations in 19 countries at the end of 2021. It expects to open about 30 more stores by the end of this year.

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    Shares of Tianqi Lithium fell as much as 10% in first day of trading in Hong Kong

    Shares of Tianqi Lithium fell as much as 10% in their Hong Kong market debut Wednesday before closing flat.
    The stock fell as much as 11%, hitting a low of 72.65 Hong Kong dollars ($9.25). It later recovered to close at its offer price of HK$82 ($10.45) a share.
    “We are listed in China already and it is already a very good, big platform for financing. But it is limited in China,” Frank Ha, the executive director and CEO at Tianqi Lithium, told CNBC’s “Streets Signs Asia” on Wednesday.

    Shares of Tianqi Lithium fell as much as 10% in their Hong Kong market debut Wednesday before closing flat.
    The stock fell as much as 11%, hitting a low of 72.65 Hong Kong dollars ($9.25). It later recovered to close at its offer price of HK$82 ($10.45) a share.

    The Chinese company raised about $1.7 billion in the city’s biggest listing so far this year.
    Tianqi Lithium, which was already listed in Shenzhen, is one of the world’s top suppliers of rechargeable battery components for electric vehicles.
    “We are listed in China already and it is already a very good, big platform for financing. But it is limited in China,” Frank Ha, the executive director and CEO at Tianqi Lithium, told CNBC’s “Streets Signs Asia” on Wednesday.
    “We going into the Hong Kong market that is our strategy of crossing the globe. We need to make an international platform for financing. That’s why that we considered and then evaluate the situation. I think the current time is the best time that we can come here to list in the market,” he added.

    Read more about China from CNBC Pro

    The company sold 164.12 million shares in its secondary listing in Hong Kong, according to its regulatory filings. The share sale breaks a monthslong drought for large offerings in Hong Kong, where funds raised between January and June fell more 90% from the previous year. 

    Tianqi’s Hong Kong offering has drawn seven cornerstone investors that are set to snap up about 38% of the listing, the prospectus showed.

    Tianqi Lithium’s outlook

    Ha said the electric vehicle market is showing strength globally and is not just limited to China.
    “We can see that in Europe and in the other places in the world there is still very strong demand of EV,” he said. Ha added electric vehicle demand in the next five to six years is likely to stay elevated as more countries pledge to become carbon neutral by 2050.
    The current market sentiment is quite challenging but given fundamentals of Tianqi Lithium, the company’s earnings potential is better than others given “very high lithium prices,” said Dennis Ip, head of power and utilities, at Daiwa Capital markets.
    “Tianqi Lithium share price is very driven by the lithium compound prices as well,” he told CNBC on Wednesday.
    “We still think that lithium price will remain strong in the second half this year, but next year will be challenging,” as demand can be affected by the macroeconomic environment, he added.

    Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro

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    Black Rifle Coffee names former Wendy's CEO executive chair as it looks to open more stores

    Black Rifle Coffee Company has tapped former Office Depot and Wendy’s CEO Roland Smith executive chair, effective immediately.
    Smith, who is already a member of Black Rifle Coffee’s board of directors, is moving into the role to work more closely with the company’s C-suite to open new brick-and-mortar locations.
    Smith was Wendy’s CEO in 2011, and he led Office Depot from November 2013 until February 2017.

    Black Rifle Coffee Company
    Courtesy: Black Rifle Coffee Company

    Black Rifle Coffee, a veteran-founded beverage company that went public earlier this year, said Tuesday that it has named former Office Depot and Wendy’s CEO Roland Smith executive chair, effective immediately.
    Smith, who is already a member of Black Rifle Coffee’s board of directors, is moving into the role to work more closely with the company’s C-suite to open new brick-and-mortar locations and help to boost direct sales to businesses.

    Smith was Wendy’s CEO in 2011, and he led Office Depot from November 2013 until February 2017. He was appointed CEO of Office Depot shortly after it completed its merger agreement with OfficeMax. At the time, he had a reputation for turning around businesses, including the grocery chain Food Lion.
    He’s assuming the chairmanship at Black Rifle Coffee from founder Evan Hafer, who will remain as CEO and as a sizable shareholder, a spokesperson said. Co-CEO Tom Davin will also remain with the company, the representative added.
    Black Rifle Coffee, founded in 2014 and based in Salt Lake City, is known for selling firearms-themed coffee products such as its “AK-47 Espresso Blend” and “Murdered Out Coffee Roast.” Most of its sales are made online, and it also sells through major retailers like Walmart.
    At the end of the first quarter of 2022, Black Rifle Coffee had 18 locations, up from just four a year earlier. It has said it plans to have 78 stores by the end of 2023.
    Black Rifle Coffee’s net sales totaled $233 million for 2021, and it sees that number growing to $315 million this year.

    “I see significant opportunities for us to reach more customers through new channels and additional distribution points,” said Smith, in a statement.
    In February, Black Rifle went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, SilverBox Engaged Merger Corp. The deal valued the beverage business at about $1.7 billion.
    As of Tuesday’s market close, the company was valued at about $1.8 billion.
    The company recently was caught up in a controversy involving the Dallas Cowboys.
    The NFL team faced backlash after it announced a partnership with Black Rifle Coffee just a day after the deadly shooting in Highland Park, Illinois. In a statement, Black Rifle Coffee said the deal with the Cowboys had been in the works for a long time.

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    Four cases lawyers for Twitter and Elon Musk will be examining as they head to court

    Elon Musk and Twitter appear to be heading to court to settle whether Musk can walk away from his $44 billion agreement to buy the company.
    There are several previous cases of sellers suing for “specific performance.”
    The cases illustrate the potential outcomes of a Musk-Twitter court battle.

    SpaceX founder Elon Musk reacts at a post-launch news conference after the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft, lifted off on an uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., March 2, 2019. 
    Mike Blake | Reuters

    After Elon Musk said he was terminating his acquisition of Twitter, the social media company sued the billionaire to enforce the transaction and cited a contract provision intended to prevent a party from backing out of a deal.
    The clause, known as specific performance, is often used in real estate cases to prevent buyers and sellers from calling off deals without good reason. But it’s also included in corporate merger agreements as a way to force a buyer or seller to close on a deal, barring material breaches such as fraud.

    In notifying Twitter on Friday of his plans to end the deal, Musk’s lawyers made three arguments for why Twitter breached the contract. First, they claim Twitter fraudulently reported the number of spam accounts, which the company has long estimated to be about 5% of users. Musk would need to prove the number of so-called bots is much higher and show a “material adverse effect” on Twitter’s business for grounds to end the deal.
    Second, Musk’s lawyers say Twitter “failed to provide much of the data and information” Musk requested, even though the contract says Twitter must provide reasonable access to its “properties, books and records.”
    Last, Musk’s lawyers argue Twitter did not comply with a contract term that required the company to get his consent before deviating from its ordinary course of business. Musk cites Twitter’s decision to fire two “high ranking” employees, laying off a third of its talent acquisition team and instituting a general hiring freeze as examples of decisions made without consulting him.
    In its lawsuit filed with the Delaware Court of Chancery Tuesday, Twitter said Musk’s reasons for wanting to end the deal are “pretexts” and accused him of acting against the deal since “the market started turning.” The company asked the court for a trial in September.
    The Delaware Court of Chancery, a non-jury court that primarily hears corporate cases based on shareholder lawsuits and other internal affairs, has ruled on a number of cases where a company cited the specific performance clause to force a sale. None were nearly as large as Musk’s Twitter deal — $44 billion — and the details underpinning them differ as well.

    Still, past cases can provide context for how the Musk-Twitter dispute might end.

    IBP v. Tyson Foods

    In this 2001 case, Tyson agreed to acquire IBP, a meat distributor, for $30 per share, or $3.2 billion, after winning a bidding war. But when Tyson and IBP’s businesses both suffered following the agreement, Tyson tried to get out of the deal and argued there were hidden financial problems at IBP.
    Judge Leo Strine found no evidence that IBP materially breached the contract and said Tyson simply had “buyer’s regret.” That didn’t justify calling off a deal, he said.

    The exterior of a Tyson Fresh Meats plant is seen on May 1, 2020 in Wallula, Washington. Over 150 workers at the plant have tested positive for COVID-19, according to local health officials.
    David Ryder | Getty Images

    Strine ruled Tyson had to buy IBP given the contract’s specific performance clause.
    “Specific performance is the decisively preferable remedy for Tyson’s breach, as it is the only method by which to adequately redress the harm threatened to IBP and its stockholders,” Strine wrote.
    More than 20 years later, Tyson still owns IBP.
    The Tyson deal differs in a few key ways, however. Tyson hoped a judge would allow it to walk away from the deal in part because of significant deterioration to IBP’s business after the agreement was signed. Musk is arguing false and vague information about spam accounts should allow him to walk.
    Also, unlike Tyson’s deal for IBP, Musk’s acquisition of Twitter involves billions of dollars in external financing. It’s unclear how a decision in favor of Twitter would affect potential funding for a deal or whether that could impact closing.
    Strine now works at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the firm Twitter hired to argue its case.

    AB Stable v. Maps Hotels and Resorts

    In this 2020 case, a South Korean financial services company agreed to buy 15 U.S. hotels from AB Stable, a subsidiary of Anbang Insurance Group, a Chinese company, for $5.8 billion. The deal was signed in September 2019 and scheduled to close in April 2020.
    The buyer argued Covid-19 shutdowns were cause for a material adverse effect on the deal. The seller sued for specific performance.
    Judge J. Travis Laster found that hotel shutdowns and dramatic capacity reductions breached the “ordinary course” of business clause, and ruled that the buyer could get out of the deal.
    The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the decision in 2021.

    Tiffany v. LVMH

    In another Covid-related case, LVMH originally agreed to buy jewelry maker Tiffany for $16.2 billion in November 2019. LVMH then attempted to scrap the deal in September 2020 during the pandemic, before it was set to close in November. Tiffany sued for specific performance.
    In this case, a judge never issued a ruling, because the two sides agreed to a lowered price to account for the drop in demand during the Covid-induced global economic pullback. LVMH agreed to pay $15.8 billion for Tiffany in October 2020. The deal closed in January 2021.

    A Tiffany & Co. store front in Mid-Town, New York.
    John Lamparski/SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

    Genesco v. Finish Line

    Footwear retailer Finish Line initially agreed to buy Genesco for $1.5 billion in June 2007 with a closing date of Dec. 31, 2007. Finish Line attempted to terminate the deal in September of that year, claiming Genesco “committed securities fraud and fraudulently induced Finish Line to enter into the deal by not providing material information” concerning earnings projections.
    As with the Tyson case, the Delaware Chancery Court ruled Genesco had met its obligations and that Finish Line simply had buyer’s remorse for paying too much. Markets had begun to crash in mid-2007 during the start of the housing and financial crisis.
    But rather than going through with the deal, both sides agreed to terminate the transaction, with Finish Line paying Genesco damages. In March 2008, with the credit market cratering, Finish Line and its primary lender UBS agreed to pay Genesco $175 million, and Genesco received a 12% stake in Finish Line.
    Genesco remains an independent publicly traded stock to date. JD Sports Fashion agreed to buy Finish Line for $558 million in 2018.
    WATCH: Elon Musk backs out of Twitter deal, possibly heading to court

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