Audi Formula One deal with McLaren becoming unlikely -source

Audi Formula One deal with McLaren becoming unlikely -source

An Audi logo is pictured during the Volkswagen Group’s annual general meeting in Berlin, Germany, May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Axel SchmidtRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterHAMBURG, May 5 (Reuters) – An agreement for Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) premium brand Audi to join Formula One by investing in British luxury sports carmaker McLaren is becoming increasingly unlikely, a person familiar with the project told Reuters on Thursday.”The price expectations are too far apart,” the person said, adding that while the project had not yet failed, its prospects are now close to zero.Meanwhile, talks with Swiss-based Sauber, which runs the Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeo team, and Williams are continuing, the person said. Both Audi and Volkswagen declined to comment.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterManager Magazin reported earlier on Thursday that talks with McLaren were close to failing after months of negotiations.Volkswagen has not previously been involved in Formula One but has worked with Red Bull, notably in the world rally championship.On Monday, VW Chief Executive Herbert Diess said that its Audi and Porsche brands would join Formula One, after convincing the German automaking group that the move would bring in more money than it would cost. read more A source had told Reuters in March that Audi was ready to offer around 500 million euros ($556.3 million) for McLaren as a means to enter.Williams and Aston Martin, both currently powered by Mercedes engines, have said they would be interested in future ties with Audi.”I think for any team who has not a manufacturer on his side, it’s super appealing to have this possibility,” Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack told reporters at last month’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.Williams team principal Jost Capito is a previous head of Volkswagen Motorsport.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterReporting by Jan Schwartz/Alan Baldwin in London; Writing by Maria Sheahan, editing by Kirsti Knolle and Bill BerkrotOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. .

Levi Strauss to reimburse abortion travel for employees

Levi Strauss to reimburse abortion travel for employees

May 4 (Reuters) – Levi Strauss & Co said on Wednesday it will reimburse travel expenses for its full- and part-time employees who need to travel to another state for health care services, including abortions.The apparel company best known for its jeans is the latest U.S. company to offer the benefit as various states clamp down on access to abortions.And now, the U.S. Supreme Court looks set to vote to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide, according to a leaked initial draft majority opinion published by Politico on Monday. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegister“Given what is at stake, business leaders need to make their voices heard and act to protect the health and well-being of our employees. That means protecting reproductive rights,” the company said in a statement.Other companies have pledged to offer similar support to their U.S. employees who need to travel out of states like Texas and Oklahoma that have restricted access to abortion services.Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), the second-largest U.S. private employer, on Monday told employees it will pay up to $4,000 in travel expenses yearly for non-life threatening medical treatments, among them elective abortions. read more Crowd-sourced review platform Yelp, Inc (YELP.N) said it will start in May to cover expenses for its employees and their dependents who need to travel to another state for abortion services. read more One of the leading Hollywood talent agencies, UTA, said it would reimburse travel expenses related to receiving women’s reproductive health services that are not accessible in an employee’s state of residence.”We’re doing this to support the right to choose that has been a bedrock of settled law for almost half a century,” Jeremy Zimmer, UTA’s chief executive, wrote in a staff memo Wednesday that was seen by Reuters.Citigroup Inc (C.N) became in March the first major U.S. bank to make a similar commitment. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterReporting by Doyinsola Oladipo; Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Anna Driver, Alexandra Hudson, Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. .

Twitter set to accept Musk’s $43 billion offer

Twitter set to accept Musk’s $43 billion offer

Elon Musk’s twitter account is seen through the Twitter logo in this illustration taken, April 25, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterNEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) – Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) is poised to agree a sale to Elon Musk for around $43 billion in cash, the price the CEO of Tesla has called his “best and final” offer for the social media company, people familiar with the matter said.Twitter may announce the $54.20-per-share deal later on Monday once its board has met to recommend the transaction to Twitter shareholders, the sources said, adding it was still possible the deal could collapse at the last minute.Musk, the world’s richest person according to Forbes, is negotiating to buy Twitter in a personal capacity and Tesla (TSLA.O) is not involved in the deal.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterTwitter has not been able to secure so far a ‘go-shop’ provision under its agreement with Musk that would allow it to solicit other bids once the deal is signed, the sources said. Still, Twitter would be allowed to accept an offer from another party by paying Musk a break-up fee, the sources added.The sources requested anonymity because the matter is confidential. Twitter and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Twitter shares were up 4.5% in pre-market trading in New York at $51.15.Musk, a prolific Twitter user, has said it needs to be taken private to grow and become a genuine platform for free speech.The 50-year-old entrepreneur, who is also CEO of rocket developer SpaceX, has said he wants to combat trolls on Twitter and proposed changes to the Twitter Blue premium subscription service, including slashing its price and banning advertising.The billionaire, a vocal advocate of cryptocurrencies, has also suggested adding dogecoin as a payment option on Twitter.He has said Twitter’s current leadership team is incapable of getting the company’s stock to his offer price on its own, but stopped short of saying it needs to be replaced.”The company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form,” Musk said in his offer letter last week.Up to the point Musk disclosed a stake in Twitter in April, the company’s shares had fallen about 10% since Parag Agrawal took over as CEO from founder Jack Dorsey in late November.The deal, if it happens, would come just four days after Musk unveiled a financing package to back the acquisition.This led Twitter’s board to take his offer more seriously and many shareholders to ask the company not to let the opportunity for a deal slip away, Reuters reported on Sunday. Before Musk revealed the financing package, Twitter’s board was expected to reject the bid, sources had said. read more The sale would represent an admission by Twitter that Agrawal is not making enough traction in making the company more profitable, despite being on track to meet ambitious financial goals the company set for 2023. Twitter’s shares were trading higher than Musk’s offer price as recently as November.Musk unveiled his intention to buy Twitter on April 14 and take it private via a financing package comprised of equity and debt. Wall Street’s biggest lenders, except those advising Twitter, have all committed to provide debt financing.Musk’s negotiating tactics – making one offer and sticking with it – resembles how another billionaire, Warren Buffett, negotiates acquisitions. Musk did not provide any financing details when he first disclosed his offer for Twitter, making the market skeptical about its prospects.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterReporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York, additional reporting by Krystal Hu;
Editing by Mark Potter
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VW to scrap models and focus on premium market -CFO tells FT

VW to scrap models and focus on premium market -CFO tells FT

A new logo of German carmaker Volkswagen is unveiled at the VW headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany September 9, 2019. REUTERS/Fabian BimmerRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterBERLIN, April 6 (Reuters) – German carmaker Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) will axe many combustion engine models by the end of the decade and sell fewer cars overall to concentrate on producing more profitable premium vehicles, its finance chief was quoted as saying on Wednesday.”The key target is not growth,” Arno Antlitz told the Financial Times newspaper. “We are (more focused) on quality and on margins, rather than on volume and market share.”Antlitz said VW would reduce its range of petrol and diesel cars, consisting of at least 100 models spread across several brands, by 60% in Europe over the next eight years.The paper said VW’s new strategy was a sign of profound changes in the auto sector, which has attempted for decades to increase profits by selling more cars each year, even if that required heavy discounting.Former VW chief executive Martin Winterkorn, who resigned in the wake of a diesel emissions scandal, had made it his goal to beat Toyota and General Motors to the title of “volume number one” by 2018.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterReporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Clarence FernandezOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. .

Sycamore can relieve Ted Baker from its misery

Sycamore can relieve Ted Baker from its misery

The Ted Baker logo is seen in Central Valley, New York, U.S., February 15, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew KellyRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterMILAN, March 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) – Sycamore Partners is digging in the fashion discount corner. The U.S. fund, which specialises in struggling retail assets, said on Friday that it could make a cash offer for hard-pressed British fashion firm Ted Baker (TED.L), triggering a 19% rally in its stock. For investors, the approach is a way of escaping the clutches of founder and former Chief Executive Ray Kelvin, whose overenthusiastic hugging habits led to his resignation in 2019 and a share price rout. Ted Baker shares are worth less than a tenth of their value before the scandal erupted.For Sycamore, it looks like an easy win. Assuming the U.S. fund pays 230 million pounds, a roughly 30% premium to Thursday’s market value, it could make a chunky 30% internal rate of return by simply growing revenue at 5% a year for five years and hiking the EBITDA margin to 12%, Breakingviews calculations show. That suggests the retailer may be worth more. Despite uncertainties in Europe because of the Ukrainian conflict, Ted Baker has worked hard to reduce its discounted sales to protect margins. Sycamore has ample wiggle room to pull investors from their misery. (By Lisa Jucca)Follow @Breakingviews on TwitterRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterCapital Calls – More concise insights on global finance:Tencent WeChat Pay rejig would have 1 bln problems read more KKR property deal threads the needle in Japan read more Electric-car makers need to stay on their diet read more Online grocer woes imply fresh price wars read more China Swiss IPOs as predictable as a cuckoo clock read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterEditing by Ed Cropley and Oliver TaslicSign up for a free trial of our full service at https://www.breakingviews.com/trial and follow us on Twitter @Breakingviews and at www.breakingviews.com. All opinions expressed are those of the authors. .